Ms Sandiford to be executed for drug trafficking.

A British grandmother has been sentenced to death by firing squad for smuggling almost 5kg of cocaine into Bali.Lindsay Sandiford was arrested in May last year after she tried to enter the Indonesian holiday island with illegal drugs worth £1.6 million hidden in her suitcase.Local prosecutors had called for the 56-year-old housewife to be jailed for 15 years. But today there were gasps in the Bali courtroom when a panel of judges announced Ms Sandiford would be executed for drug trafficking.As the shock verdict was announced, Ms Sandiford, from Gloucestershire, slumped back in her chair in tears before hiding her face with a brown sarong as she was led out of the courtro...

Read more »

Posted in: Ms Sandiford to be executed for drug trafficking.

Breaking Free of the Co-dependency Trap presents a groundbreaking developmental road map to guide readers away from their co-dependent behaviors and toward a life of wholeness and fulfillment.

Breaking Free of the Co-dependency Trap presents a groundbreaking developmental road map to guide readers away from their co-dependent behaviors and toward a life of wholeness and fulfillment.UK CitizensThis is the book that offers a different perspective on codependency and is strongly recommended by Dream Warrior Recovery as part of a solution based recovery. This bestselling book, now in a revised edition, radically challenges the prevailing medical definition of co-dependency as a permanent, progressive, and incurable addiction. Rather, the authors identify it as the result of developmental traumas that interfered with the infant-parent bonding relationship during the first year of life.US CitizensDrawing on decades of clinical experience, Barry and Janae Weinhold correlate the developmental...

Read more »

Posted in: Breaking Free of the Co-dependency Trap

The number of Britons arrested overseas is on the rise, official figures have shown.

 The Foreign Office (FO) handled 6,015 arrest cases involving British nationals abroad between April 2011 and March 2012. This was 6% more than in the previous 12 months and included a 2% rise in drug arrests. The figures, which include holidaymakers and Britons resident overseas, showed the highest number of arrests and detentions was in Spain (1,909) followed by the USA (1,305). Spanish arrests rose 9% in 2011/12, while the United States was up 3%. The most arrests of Britons for drugs was in the US (147), followed by Spain (141). The highest percentage of arrests for drugs in 2011/12 was in Peru where there were only 17 arrests in total, although 15 were for drugs. The FO said anecdotal evidence from embassies and consulates overseas suggested many incidents were alcohol-fuelled, particularly...

Read more »

Posted in: official figures have shown.,The number of Britons arrested overseas is on the rise

Pattaya Cops Nab US Man With Three Fake Credit Cards

Pattaya police Transnational Crime Coordination Center division arrested a U.S. citizen using fake cards to withdraw money from ATM machines. Bank of Ayudhya loses one million THB. PATTAYA – May 4, 2012 [PDN]; Pol. Lt. Col. Chitdecha Songhong and Pol. Capt. Prajakphong Suriya were notified by Mr. Satit Kalanuson, an officer of Bank of Ayudhya bank about a foreigner using fake credit cards to withdraw money from ATM machines.From the CCTV footage the police identified the suspect as he was standing in front of the Bank of Ayudhya ATM unit in South Pattaya, Banglamung, Chonburi province.Pattaya police rushed to inspect the suspect and having...

Read more »

Posted in: Pattaya Cops Nab US Man With Three Fake Credit Cards

A Prisoner Locked Up For 13 Years Makes 700,000 THB Dealing & Wheeling

A man called “Ton”, aged 40 was sentenced to 13 years prison for drug offences. The court of first sentenced him to life in prison but the sentence was later reduced to 13 years. He said that money was not important for people in jail, so they used money to buy anything they wanted both goods and services.He had been in jail many years when he saw an opportunity to make many.He began with washing prisoners’ clothes.He had had 40-50 clients. 300 THB per month per prisoner.He said it was easy since the prisoners’ clothes were thin and there were just 2 shirts and shorts per day per prisoner.And the second work was standing in line to receive...

Read more »

Posted in: Prisoner Locked Up For 13 Years

Mysterious Death of Canadian Sisters Poisonous Mushroom Suspected

The two Canadians Miss Noemi Balenger, 26, and her sister, Miss Audrey, 20, we're found dead in their room on Phi Phi Palm Resident on Phi Phi island on June 15. The case is under investigation. Next post mortem examination in Bangkok. KRABI – June 17, 2012 [PDN]; Pol.Maj.Gen.Jamroon Ruenrom- commissioner of Krabi police conducted a forensic investigation of room #103. The police did not find any trace of violence but found several pills in the room. Including Ibuprofen an anti-inflammatory drug which should be taken with precaution and should not be mixed with alcohol.Pol.Maj.Gen.Jamroon could not conclude the cause of their death, they...

Read more »

Posted in: Mysterious Death of Canadian Sisters Poisonous Mushroom Suspected

Inmates at Rayong Central Prison have Assistance with Smuggling Contraband and Drugs

The height of a prisons’ walls are unable to separate the prisoners from the outside world. Sometimes the prisons become the murderers or drug dealers' Headquarters. They should be the cleanest places , if the Prison Authorities are honest, truthful and upstanding Thai citizens, but unfortunately they are not as some of the authorities are as corrupt as the prisoners that they house and guard. Thai society expects that prisons should be the place that control the prisoners and through discipline and guidance, turn the prisoners away from their previous criminal activities, When and if the prisoners are released back in to Thai society, they...

Read more »

Posted in: Inmates at Rayong Central Prison have Assistance with Smuggling Contraband and Drugs

Australian tourist killed in Phuket armed robbery

One Australian tourist was killed while another was seriously wounded in an armed robbery on the grounds of their hotel in Phuket Wednesday night.  Michelle Elizabeim, 60, was fatally stabbed in the compound of the Katathani Phuket Beach Resort, an upmarket tourist hotel at Kata Beach in the provincial seat. Her companion, not identified but also an Australian tourist, was severely wounded and remains hospitalised. A preliminary police investigation found that two men on a motorcycle, aged between 18-25 years old, followed the tourists as they walked back to their hotel from a restaurant. One of the men snatched Ms Elizabeim’s handbag, but the victims fought back and the attackers stabbed them. The men fled and are still at large, but a surveillance camera captured their images.  The...

Read more »

Posted in: Australian tourist killed in Phuket armed robbery

Singapore authorities urged to save Malaysian man from execution

Yong was 19 when he was first arrested for possessing 47g of heroin in 2007© Save Vui Kong CampaignA young Malaysian man under threat of imminent execution in Singapore for drug trafficking should be granted clemency, Amnesty International and the Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN) have said.Yong Vui Kong, who was 19 when he was first arrested for possessing 47g of heroin in 2007, has no other options left.On 4 April, the Supreme Court rejected his third and final appeal, which was made on the basis he was subjected to unequal treatment before the law.“Countries around the world have abolished the mandatory death penalty because it does...

Read more »

Posted in: Singapore authorities urged to save Malaysian man from execution

...

Read more »

British terror supergrass sentence cut by two years

jailed British terrorist has had his sentence cut by two years in a supergrass deal after giving evidence about an al Qaeda-linked “martyrdom” plot in New York, it was revealed today. Former teacher Saajid Badat was jailed for 13 years in 2005 for plotting with shoe bomber Richard Reid to blow up a transatlantic airliner in 2001 in what an Old Bailey judge said was a “wicked and inhuman” plot. He has now had his term reduced by two years under the first “supergrass” deal involving a terror convict, after providing intelligence to US prosecutors investigating an alleged plot to blow up the New York subway on the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 attack. Details of the deal — kept secret for more than two years — were revealed today by the Crown Prosecution Service as a trial of the alleged...

Read more »

Posted in: British terror supergrass sentence cut by two years

Western embassies targeted in Afghanistan attacks

 Gunmen have launched multiple attacks across the Afghan capital Kabul. Western embassies in the heavily-guarded, central diplomatic area are understood to be among the targets as well as the parliament building in the west. There are reports that up to seven different locations have been hit. The Taliban has admitted responsibility, saying their main targets were the British and German embassies. There is no word at this stage on any casualti...

Read more »

Posted in: Western embassies targeted in Afghanistan attacks

Taliban free hundreds from Pakistan prison

Hundreds of prisoners are believed to have escaped from a jail in northwest Pakistan after it was attacked by anti-government fighters armed with guns and rocket-propelled grenades. Some of those who escaped from the facility in the town of Bannu, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, early on Sunday morning were "militants", an intelligence official told the Reuters news agency. "Dozens of militants attacked Bannu's Central Jail in the early hours of the morning, and more 300 prisoners have escaped," Mir Sahib Jan, the official, said. In Depth   Profile: Pakistani Taliban "There was intense gunfire, and rocket-propelled grenades were also used." Many of those who escaped following the raid were convicted Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) fighters,...

Read more »

Posted in: Taliban free hundreds from Pakistan prison

Canadian man detained in Spain 'extremely thin and weak,'

Philip Halliday, the Nova Scotia man who has been detained in Spain for more than two years on drug-trafficking charges without a trial date, is extremely weak and thin but in good spirits, his family said Monday, hours after returning home from their first visit to him in jail. "It was pretty emotional. It's hard to describe. Definitely a lot of hugs, some tears," Halliday's son, Daren, told Postmedia News. Philip Halliday, 55, was arrested in December 2009 about 300 kilometres off the coast of Spain aboard a converted Canadian Coast Guard research vessel, the Destiny Empress. Inside a hidden compartment, authorities found more than 1,000 kilograms of cocaine with an estimated street value of $600 million. Halliday, an ex-fisherman who spent more than 30 years dragging scallops off the...

Read more »

Posted in: ',Canadian man detained in Spain 'extremely thin and weak

$10 mln bounty on LeT founder Hafiz Saeed

 The United States has put up a $10 million reward to help arrest Pakistani Islamist leader Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, suspected of masterminding two spectacular attacks on Mumbai and the parliament building in New Delhi. The offer comes at a time of heightened tension between Washington and Pakistan and increases pressure on Pakistan to take action against the former Arabic scholar, who has recently addressed rallies despite an Interpol warrant against him. India has long called for Saeed's arrest and said the bounty - one of the highest on offer - was a sign the United States understood its security concerns. Only last week Saeed evaded police to address an anti-U.S. rally in Islamabad. "India welcomes this new initiative of the government of the United States," External Affairs Minister...

Read more »

Posted in: $10 mln bounty on LeT founder Hafiz Saeed

Pakistani Taliban training Frenchmen

Pakistani intelligence officials say dozens of French Muslims have been training with the Taliban in northwest Pakistan. The officials said on Saturday they were investigating whether Mohamed Merah, a Frenchman of Algerian descent suspected of killing seven people in southern France, had been part of this group. Merah traveled to Pakistan in 2011 and said he trained with al-Qaida in Waziristan. He was killed in a gunfight with police Thursday in the French city of Toulouse. The officials said 85 Frenchmen have been training with the Pakistani Taliban in the North Waziristan tribal area for the past three years. Most have dual nationality with France and North African countries. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the med...

Read more »

Posted in: Pakistani Taliban training Frenchmen

British man, wife killed at Thai resort

 POLICE say a British man and his Thai wife have been robbed and beaten to death at a seaside resort south of Bangkok. Police Major General Wichean Tantawiriya says three Thai men - a security guard and chef at the resort and their friend - were arrested today and had confessed to killing the couple and taking a mobile phone and 5000 baht ($155). Wichean says the bodies of Michael Raymond, 68, and Suchada Bowkamdee, 52, were discovered yesterday in their bungalow at the Jack Beach Resort in Prachuap Khiri Khan province, 350km south of Bangkok. He says they had checked in a day earlier. Wichean says two of the three suspects were addicted to methamphetamine, a stimulant, and needed money to buy dru...

Read more »

Posted in: British man,wife killed at Thai resort

Spanish tax authorities are cracking down on tax offenders

Hacienda has announced it will be keeping a close eye on fiscal engineering from e-commerce firms trading on the Internet. The Agencia Tributaría will also be keeping a close watch on sportsmen and women and artists. A new anti-fraud plan also includes alerts for contraband tobacco and the Secretary of State for Hacienda, Miguel Ferra, says they expect to recover 8.171 billion more from the measures. Hacienda has been told it cannot take on staff but it can substitute one in ten of the retirees. The number of inspections on elite sportsmen will go up by 14%, there will be greater control on house rental and undeclared businesses, using evidence of electrical consumption. Hacienda is also looking more closely at people who declare themselves insolvent when they are not, when they hide their...

Read more »

Posted in: Spanish tax authorities are cracking down on tax offenders

How HMRC finally caught Nasir Khan

 Nasir Khan had a successful accessories business, a jet-set lifestyle and reputation as a pillar of the community. But all that vanished in December when he was jailed for his part in a £250m VAT fraud. Jasper Jackson discovers how a 10-year investigation by HMRC led to his downfall At the start of 2001, Nasir Khan was the owner and managing director of a moderately successful accessories business called The Accessory People, which had an annual turnover of £13 million. By the end of that year, however, he was knee-deep in a £250 million VAT fraud involving the import and export of mobile phones. Khan’s journey from businessman to criminal finally ended at Southwark Crown Court fi ve days before Christmas last year,...

Read more »

Posted in: How HMRC finally caught Nasir Khan

Phuket 'Body Parts' Found in Expat's Luxury Mansion

 Police have found what they believe are human remains at the Phuket mansion of a wealthy Scandinavian man - and they say he may have murdered his Thai girlfriend. Thirty police raided the man's seven-bedroom 15 million-baht home in the west coast holiday destination of Kata and discovered suspicious bones in plastic bags in a basement bin. The man, who studied medicine for two years, has denied murdering his girlfriend. Aged 50, the man was being held at Chalong Police Station today on a charge of illegal possession of al firearm - a gun that was registered in the name of the missing woman. In what is one of Phuket's most sensational missing persons cases, perseverance by the family of the Thai girlfriend, who disappeared in 2009, may yet produce a remarkable conclusion. The...

Read more »

Posted in: Phuket 'Body Parts' Found in Expat's Luxury Mansion

grisly secret kept by Norwegian Stein Dokset.

The Commander of Police on Phuket is to investigate why Phuket and Region 8 police ignored requests from the family of a missing woman to properly investigate her disappearance. Only this week, when officers from Bangkok's Crime Suppression Division raided a luxury villa in the beachside Phuket suburb of Kata, did police discover the grisly secret kept by Norwegian Stein Dokset. The body of his beautiful but tempestuous lover Rungnapa 'June' Ratchasombut had been decomposing in a lower-level bathroom-laundry for two-and-a-half years. When police lifted the lid of the green council trash bin that concealed the remains of Khun June, 30 at the time of her death, they also lifted the lid on Phuket police inaction. Why did officers at Kathu Police Station take no action on the family's...

Read more »

Posted in: grisly secret kept by Norwegian Stein Dokset.

Thai police net 4 million methamphetamine pills

Thai police said they confiscated more than 4 million methamphetamine tablets Friday in northern Thailand in one of the largest such seizures in the country in recent years. The pills were seized when a pickup truck was stopped at a checkpoint early Friday morning in Chiang Rai province, which borders Myanmar, a police department statement said. The government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, which took office last August, has declared suppression of the drug trade one of its priorities. In late January, police made another major seizure of methamphetamine, confiscating 3.8 million tablets and 156 pounds (71 kilograms) of crystal meth found hidden in an empty house in Bangkok's northern outskirts. Thailand is a leading market and transit point for methamphetamine, much of which is produced...

Read more »

Posted in: Thai police net 4 million methamphetamine pills

INDONESIAN authorities claim an Australian man arrested this week allegedly carrying 1.1kg of hashish inside his body was couriering for an international drug network.

 INDONESIAN authorities claim an Australian man arrested this week allegedly carrying 1.1kg of hashish inside his body was couriering for an international drug network. Because the amount exceeds 1kg, Edward Norman Myatt, 54, could face the death penalty if convicted of importing the drug, said I Made Wijaya, chief of Customs at Bali's Ngurah Rai international airport. "We believe he is a courier," Mr Wijaya yesterday told a press conference at which the Ballarat-born suspect was exhibited along with the drugs. "He is covering up information on the network in Indonesia." Speaking later in Denpasar, Gories Mere, chief of the national counter-narcotics agency BNN, said international drug syndicates were supplying illegal drugs into Bali. The trade had been in methamphetamines, Mr Gories...

Read more »

Posted in: INDONESIAN authorities claim an Australian man arrested this week allegedly carrying 1.1kg of hashish inside his body was couriering for an international drug network.

Radio bombs, mysterious stickers probed in Bangkok blasts

 A series of blasts last week in Thailand that set off accusations between Iran and Israel involved bombs disguised as radio sets, police said Wednesday. The devices used explosive materials that are not available in Thailand and were likely smuggled in, police said. Police are also looking at a series of stickers reading "SEJEAL," which were found found in busy areas of Bangkok. In all 18 have been collected so far from phone booths and street signs, authorities said. "Sejeal" is an Arabic word found in the Quran, referring to small pieces of stone. The Bangkok blasts did not kill anyone, and their intended targets are not clear, although authorities have said they were intended for Israeli diplomats. Suspect taken to Bangkok blast site Israeli diplomats targeted in Thailand Explosions...

Read more »

Posted in: mysterious stickers probed in Bangkok blasts,Radio bombs

Guards flee again as Kerobokan jail violence flares

 Police and prison officials at Bali's troubled Kerobokan prison have once again abandoned their post in the face of a fresh outburst of rioting. Security forces responded with an hour or more of warning shots fired around the prison perimeter in an attempt to deter prisoners from starting a second night of full scale rioting. Two missiles made of rocks bound in flaming cloth were hurled over the prison walls at about 10pm local time Defiant prisoners look through the broken windows of Kerobokan. A barrage of rocks and other debris followed, forcing police stationed inside the prison in the wake of the previous  night's destructive riot to quit their posts. Witnesses to the violence say prisoners were yelling: "Everyone is a liar, give back our friends, where are our friends?"....

Read more »

Posted in: Guards flee again as Kerobokan jail violence flares

The great Asian gold theft crisis

 Two small faces pull the curtain back in a side room and peer round to see who is at the door. After they run back inside, their mother, Mrs Rashid, unlocks the front door. Five weeks ago, she came home one evening to find the door ajar. The downstairs floor of her house was relatively untouched but upstairs the bedrooms had been ransacked – drawers opened, wardrobes emptied, clothes and belongings scattered everywhere. "It was such a huge shock," she says, sitting on the sofa, her voice breaking slightly. Her husband, Mr Rashid (neither want to give their full names), a big man sitting across the room, shakes his head. "They took it all," he says. The thieves who broke into this semi-detached house in Earley, near Reading, stole around £70,000-worth of gold jewellery. To those who...

Read more »

Posted in: The great Asian gold theft crisis

Russian couple Antonina Pavlova, 23, and Denis Skvortsov, 31, have been accused by Pattaya police of a series of robberies at upmarket Pattaya hotels.

 Russian couple Antonina Pavlova, 23, and Denis Skvortsov, 31, have been accused by Pattaya police of a series of robberies at upmarket Pattaya hotels. Ms. Pavlova would meet a hotel guest, go to his room and have sex, steal the room key and hand it over to Mr Skvortsov who would come in later and steal belongin...

Read more »

Posted in: 23,31,and Denis Skvortsov,have been accused by Pattaya police of a series of robberies at upmarket Pattaya hotels.,Russian couple Antonina Pavlova

Five people were killed and at least five were injured when a bar fight in Bangkok triggered a high-speed vehicle chase

 Five people were killed and at least five were injured when a bar fight in Bangkok triggered a high-speed vehicle chase and car crash, police said. Investigators said the chase followed a dispute in the X-Zyte Pub where two groups of people were drinking. Passengers in a Civic allegedly tried to shoot out the tires of the truck when both vehicles crash...

Read more »

Posted in: Five people were killed and at least five were injured when a bar fight in Bangkok triggered a high-speed vehicle chase

Police have found bomb-making materials in another house rented by Swedish-Lebanese terror suspect Hussein Atris

 Police have found bomb-making materials in another house rented by Swedish-Lebanese terror suspect Hussein Atris in the Mahachai area of Samut Sakhon. Voranai Vanijaka writes: At the end of the day, as an ordinary citizen I have no idea what's going on, other than that the whole ordeal stinks, and I have a feeling that the real conspiracy here is the concerted effort by the Thais, Israelis, Americans, Swedes and Hezbollah to confuse the hell out of ...

Read more »

Posted in: Police have found bomb-making materials in another house rented by Swedish-Lebanese terror suspect Hussein Atris

Huge Billion Baht Drugs Haul

 Police have seized 3.8 million methamphetamine tablets in Thailand's largest drug bust in years. The haul was estimated as worth more than one billion baht ($31.7 million). Police Maj. Gen. Comronwit Toopgrajank said the pills and 71 kilograms of crystal meth were found hidden in an empty house in Bangkok's northern outskir...

Read more »

Posted in: Huge Billion Baht Drugs Haul

A grisly event in South East Asia highlights the region's developing meth-driven drug war

 The Mekong River in Thailand Photo via By Jed Bickman 10/11/11 | Share Uppers Rock the World New Life for Asia’s Golden Triangle China Unveils Radical New Approach to Drug Treatment Vietnam's Rehab Gulag Revealed Spinning to Cambodia! In one of the grisliest incidents of the drug war in South East Asia in recent memory, the corpses of thirteen Chinese sailors have been found by Thai authorities on the Mekong River. The victims, including two female cooks, were blindfolded, bound, and shot dead. They're believed to be the crew members of two Chinese cargo ships that were hijacked last week by Thai drug gangs—the boats were recaptured in a firefight with Thai police and 950,000 methamphetamine pills were discovered on board. It's unclear whether the meth was loaded onto the boats by the...

Read more »

Posted in: A grisly event in South East Asia highlights the region's developing meth-driven drug war

Switch to olive oil for better health

 Indian households should completely switch to olive oil as a cooking medium as its nutritional value is very high, it is rich in monounsaturated 'good' fats and, when used daily, can bring instant and easy wellness to a family's diet, celebrity chef and noted cookery expert Nita Mehta says. "Even though we have such a wide range of olive oils in our market, people don't seem to use them because of their mental block that the flavour of olive oil doesn't gel with Indian flavors," Mehta said at the launch here Satuday her latest book, "Indian Cooking With Olive Oi...

Read more »

Posted in: Switch to olive oil for better health

Ricky Martin and Benicio del Toro now have Spanish nationality.

The concessions were granted by the Spanish cabinet on FridayBenicio del Toro and Ricky Martin - Archive photos EFE Ricky Martin and Benicio del Toro now have Spanish nationality. The news of the concession was given by the Government on Friday to the artists who were both born in Puerto Rico. Spokesman José Blanco made the announcement after the Friday cabinet meeting.He said that the two ‘recognised in different artistic facets’ wanted to share their Spanish nationality with all the Spanish people and therefore the Government congratulated them for it.There is widespread speculation that the decision will allow Ricky Martin to marry...

Read more »

Posted in: Ricky Martin and Benicio del Toro now have Spanish nationality.

Ricky Martin granted Spanish citizenship

 Puerto Rican pop singer Ricky Martin was given Spanish citizenship today, the country’s government said. The star, who came out in 2009 reportedly wants to take advantage of Spain’s gay marriage laws. Spokesman Jose Blanco told a news conference that ministers had agreed to grant him a “letter of naturalization”, issued in special circumstances, because of his “personal and professional links with Spain”. Spanish newspaper El Pais reported that Martin sought citizenship in order to marry boyfriend Carlos Gonzalez Abella, with whom he is bringing up his twin three-year-old sons. Spain passed legislation allowing same-sex marriages in 2005, only the third country to do so at the time, with 20,000 gay couples entering into marriage since. Appearing on the Larry King show last year,...

Read more »

Posted in: Ricky Martin granted Spanish citizenship

Man arrested over alleged police payments named as Sun journalist

 A Sun journalist has been arrested as part of Scotland Yard's investigation into alleged payments to police officers by newspapers. The reporter is believed to be Jamie Pyatt, district editor of the paper. The arrested journalist was taken to a South West London police station at 10.30am on Friday. Pyatt, 48, has been working at the Sun since 1987. He is the sixth person arrested by detectives working in Operation Elveden, which was set up in July following allegations that police officers had received up to £130,000 over several years from the News of the World for information, including contact details of the royal family. News International refused to comment on the arrest and saying it had "a very clear duty of care to employees and would not be making any comment on individuals"....

Read more »

Posted in: Man arrested over alleged police payments named as Sun journalist

Italy government hangs by thread as coalition crumbles

 Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's fate hung by a thread Friday and desertions from his crumbling centre-right coalition may have already robbed him of the parliamentary numbers he needs to survive. Berlusconi, caught in the crossfire from European powers and a party revolt at home, agreed at a G20 summit in France to IMF monitoring of economic reforms which he has long promised but failed to implement. But this may soon be irrelevant for the Italian leader, who will return to Rome later Friday to face what looks increasingly like a deadly rebellion by his own supporters. With financial markets in turmoil over the situation in Greece and Italy viewed as the next domino to fall in the euro zone crisis, calls are mounting for a new government to carry through reforms convincing...

Read more »

Posted in: Italy government hangs by thread as coalition crumbles

Funeral held for Hells Angel killed at fellow biker's burial begins

 The only gunfire at the funeral of Hells Angel Steve Tausan on Saturday came as a salute from the U.S. Marine honor guard. The former Marine, professional boxer and legendary biker was memorialized Saturday morning at Jubilee Christian Church before being buried at Oak Hill Memorial cemetery in San Jose -- exactly two weeks after he was shot and killed at the funeral of another member of the motorcycle club. Although about 1,000 bikers rumbled in from all quarters, there was no trouble, dissension or arrests. There were only bear hugs, tears and memories of the Santa Cruz "enforcer" who called himself Mr. 187, after the penal code for murder. On top of Sunrise Hill they buried his red-and-white casket in the Hells Angels tradition -- by shovel. Sonny Barger, a founding member of the...

Read more »

Posted in: Funeral held for Hells Angel killed at fellow biker's burial begins

Boy, 17, shot in back in Poplar, east London

 teenager has been shot in the back in east London. The 17-year-old boy was wounded in East India Dock Road, Poplar, in the early hours of the morning. A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "A 17-year-old male had a gunshot wound to the back and is in hospital in a serious condition." The attack happened just before 01:00 GMT, police said. Any witnesses to the shooting should call the Metropolitan Poli...

Read more »

Posted in: 17,Boy,east London,shot in back in Poplar

Armed guards are to be deployed on British civilian ships for the first time to protect them from pirates,

Armed guards are to be deployed on British civilian ships for the first time to protect them from pirates, David Cameron announced today.A legal ban on weapon-toting protection staff will be relaxed so that firms can apply for a licence to have them on board in danger zones.The Prime Minister said radical action was required because the increasing ability of sea-borne Somali criminals to hijack and ransom ships had become 'a complete stain on our world'.He unveiled the measure after talks at a Commonwealth summit in Australia with leaders of countries in the Horn of Africa over the escalating problem faced in waters off their shores.Under the...

Read more »

Posted in: Armed guards are to be deployed on British civilian ships for the first time to protect them from pirates