jueves, 31 de enero de 2013

Police: LSU students were after inheritance in attempted murder - WBXH

BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) -

A 19-year-old allegedly offered an 18-year-old $50,000 to help kill her mother so she could inherit money.

LSU student Nicole Lea Boover, 19, of New Orleans, was arrested for attempted first degree murder. Her step father told police she fired several shots at her mother early Monday morning while at their home in New Orleans. Her step father told police Boover left the residence and went back to the LSU campus with an unidentified male. 

NOPD confirmed the incident and issued an arrest warrant for Boover. In police documents, it states that Boover's mother heard a knock on the door. When she went to open the door, she saw her daughter standing there with a silver handgun. The mother immediately shut the door, but the documents say Nicole fired three shots into the door before running away. The mother was not injured.

LSUPD officers found Nicole's vehicle on South Campus Drive, with the male inside. Officers were able to find Nicole a short time later in her on-campus residence.

NOPD officers, along with LSU officers executed a search warrant on the vehicle and her residence. Officers found marijuana in both places. LSU PD also charged Boover with simple possession of marijuana.

The male inside Boover's vehicle has been identified as Nathan Andrew Yuhas, also an LSU student. Yuhas is from Conshohoken, PA. He was arrested on the LSU campus around 4:30 p.m. on Oct. 9 for principal to attempted 1st degree murder.

In Yuhas' statement to police, it was learned that Boover asked him to go to New Orleans with her on a plan to murder her parents. She told Yuhas the motive was to get the inheritance and his cut would be $50,000. Yuhas admitted to police he was with Boover when she purchased gloves, duct tape and "Scream" masks. Yuhas told police they were going to leave the state and if they were stopped by police they would be vague with their answers and not admit what happened.

Boover was booked into East Baton Rouge Parish Prison then transferred to the New Orleans Police Department. Yuhas was booked into East Baton Rouge Parish Prison as a fugitive from New Orleans.

NOPD's investigation is still ongoing.

Copyright 2012 WAFB. All rights reserved.

Police Blotter: Arrests for DUI, Aggravated Battery, Cannabis/Other Drugs - Patch.com

Danilyus A. Day, 25, 619 Mendota, Romeoville, arrested by the Shorewood Police Department and booked into the Will County jail on Sept. 26 on charges of manufacture/delivery of cannabis: 10 to 30 grams and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Faraz Akhtar, 26, 532 W. Briarcliff, Bolingbrook, arrested by the Romeoville Police Department and booked into the Will County jail on Sept. 28 on a charge of manufacture/delivery of cannabis: 30 to 500 grams.

Brandon Dean Buckley, 27, 508 Concord, Romeoville, arrested by the Will County Sheriff's Office and booked into the Will County jail on Sept. 28 on a charge of driving on a revoked/suspended license.

Edward A. Gladstone,48, 703 Belmont, Romeoville, arrested by the Will County Sheriff's Office and booked into the Will County jail on Sept. 28 on charges of driving under the influence and driving on a revoked/suspended license.

Darius Lee Wicks, 36, 14234 S. Hillsdale, Plainfield, arrested by the Romeoville Police Department and booked into the Will County jail on Sept. 28 on a charge of aggravated battery.

Amanda M. Bice, 20, 23524 W. Renwick Road, Plainfield, arrested by the Romeoville Police Department and booked into the Will County jail on Sept. 27 on a charge of possession of a controlled substance.

Oscar Chaidez, 35, 743 Union Ave., Romeoville, arrested by the Will County Sheriff's Office and booked into the Will County jail on Sept. 27 on a charge of driving on a revoked/suspended license.

Seneka J. Drdak, 35, 300 Hamrick, Romeoville, arrested by the Will County Sheriff's Office and booked into the Will County jail on Sept. 27 on a charge of manufacture/delivery of a controlled substance.

Steven Patrick Stead, 57, 336 S. Emery Ave., Romeoville, arrested by the Will County Sheriff's Office and booked into the Will County jail on Sept. 27 on a charge of aggravated driving under the influence of alcohol.

Sylvia L. French, 49, 328 Morgan Valley Drive, Oswego, arrested by the Romeoville Police Department and booked into the Will County jail on Sept. 26 on a charge felony retail theft.

Nicholas Williams, 40, 15 Arlington, Romeoville, arrested by the Lockport Township Park District Police and booked into the Will County jail on Sept. 26 on a charge of possession of a controlled substance.

634 arrested for bringing in banned drugs worth SR 886m - Arab News

The Interior Ministry said yesterday that it had arrested 634 drug smugglers and traffickers including 207 Saudis during the past three months.
Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki, spokesman of the ministry said the arrested criminals had attempted to smuggle various types of drugs worth SR 886.31 million.
The arrested men included 174 Yemenis and 253 foreigners belonged to 32 countries. The arrest took place during the Hijri months of Shawwal, Dul Qaada and Dul Hijjah.
"Saudi security officers faced armed confrontation from the smugglers," the spokesman said. In such gun battles 12 policemen were injured while two died and four injured among the smugglers.
Spelling out the different types of drugs seized from smugglers, he said they included 7.4 kg of heroin, 10,623 kg of hashish and more than 1.55 million amphetamine tablets.
Police have also seized cash worth SR 11.07 million from the smugglers and traffickers during the operations that took place in various parts of the country.
The spokesman commended the efforts of border guards, customs officers and other security agents in preventing drug smuggling and arresting drug traffickers.
Gen. Al-Turki said security officers had arrested 762 people in Jamad Al-Awwal, Jamad Al-Thani, Rajab, Shaaban and Ramadan.
Drug abuse is a major problem facing the Kingdom. The government has adopt tough measures to prevent criminals from bringing narcotics into the Kingdom.
According to a previous report security forces seized SR1.7 billion worth of narcotics and arrested 681 men involved in drug smuggling and trafficking in four months.
"While 96 arrested men were Saudis, 585 of them belonged to 33 nationalities," Al-Turki said in a press conference in Riyadh. Al-Turki said 20 officers were injured in 43 operations against drug smugglers during this period.
The forces seized 6.3 kg of heroin, 10.61 tons of hashish, 13.26 million narcotic pills, and 1.69 kg of cocaine, apart from SR16.73 million in cash from the smugglers, Al-Turki said.
One notable operation in the period led to the discovery of 100,000 amphetamine pills hidden in the island of Tiran off the coast of Tabuk after the interrogation of two Egyptian smugglers.
In another operation two Saudis, a Kuwaiti and a Jordanian were arrested for their involvement in smuggling 1 million amphetamine pills, he said. Al-Turki said three Umrah pilgrims were arrested for smuggling 40,000 narcotic pills.
He said officers foiled an attempt by a gang comprising five Iranians and six Pakistanis to smuggle half a ton of hashish across the Arabian Gulf. He said there were five cases of drug smugglers taking their families with them to deceive anti-narcotic officials.

“Hot Coffee” Scandal was an Attack on Video Games, says Grand Theft Auto Maker - Kotaku

"Hot Coffee" Scandal was an Attack on Video Games, says Grand Theft Auto MakerThe "Hot Coffee" scandal—a sex minigame found by a modder inside the code of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas—still weighs on Dan Houser, co-founder of Rockstar Games, which makes the series. In an interview with The Guardian, Houser said he views the seven-year-old incident as an attack on video gaming in general.

"We never felt that we were being attacked for the content, we were being attacked for the medium, which felt a little unfair," Houser said. "If all of this stuff had been put into a book or a movie, people wouldn't have blinked an eye."

The Guardian goes so far as to suggest "Hot Coffee" has shaped how Rockstar deals with the press today although Houser said he and brother Sam's reluctance to do many interviews comes from a Rockstar culture in place well before Hot Coffee.

I think Houser's right but it's also important to remember this took place in 2005, an eon ago in the relationship of video gaming to the mainstream press and culture. Since then, adversaries like Jack Thompson have vanished, screwups like Fox News had in covering Mass Effect, and Call of Duty making everyone comfortable with casual violence thanks to ads like these, have toned down the mainstream's knee-jerk reaction to video games. Thoughtful releases from Rockstar like L.A. Noire and Red Dead Redemption have also set an expectation that an M-rated game is no less meritorious a work than an R-rated film is.

Grand Theft Auto's name alone may still incite some stupid reactions but I'd be surprised if its next game is treated like anything other than a mainstream work of entertainment, with all the privileges given to it.

How Dan Houser helped turn Grand Theft Auto into a cultural phenomenon [Guardian]

Owner: Furnace may be behind Indiana blast that killed 2 - Fox News

The owner of a house that exploded in Indianapolis, killing two people and damaging dozens of homes so severely officials say they must be demolished, said Monday that a problem furnace could be at fault.

John Shirley, 50, of Noblesville, told The Associated Press that his daughter sent him a text message last week complaining that the furnace in the home where she lives with her mother and her mother's boyfriend had gone out and required them to stay at hotel.

But Shirley also said when he asked if the furnace had been fixed, his daughter said yes, and he wasn't aware of any additional problems until he heard from his daughter again Sunday morning.

"I get a text from my daughter saying `Dad, our home is gone. Then I called my ex-wife and she said what happened," he said.

His ex-wife, Monserrate Shirley, declined to comment Monday.

Investigators said they have not determined a cause for the Saturday night blast that sparked a massive fire, blew out windows, collapsed ceilings and shook homes up to three miles away. Public Safety Director Troy Riggs said the search for answers could take some time.

Utility workers have been inspecting gas mains in the neighborhood but so far have detected no leaks, a spokesman said.

The blast forced about 200 people out of their homes in the once-tidy neighborhood of one- and two-story single-family houses.

Some were allowed to return Sunday, and others were able to retrieve a few belongings. But those whose homes suffered the most damage will never be allowed back inside, officials said. They have estimated about 30 homes will need to be demolished.

Indianapolis code enforcement officials met Monday with homeowners at a nearby church to discuss insurance and demolition procedures and to make arrangements to take some to their homes for an hour to collect more belongings later in the day.

The blast flattened the house Shirley co-owns with his ex-wife and one next door that belongs to second-grade teacher Jennifer Longworth and her husband, John. The coroner's office has not yet identified the two people killed in the blast, but a candlelight vigil was held Sunday night at the school where Jennifer Longworth teaches.

Indiana real estate records show Shirley's house had been for sale for a year until it was taken off the market in March.

Rise in road deaths blamed on traffic policing shake-up - This is Plymouth

THE number of people killed on the roads of Devon and Cornwall has risen for the first time in seven years after dedicated traffic officers were axed because of budget cuts.

Fatal accidents reached a modern-day low in 2011 when 42 people died in fatal collisions in the two counties. It continued a year-on-year fall in road deaths since 2005 when 100 people were killed.

But the downward trend has been reversed with 50 deaths in crashes already this year, with winter months yet to come.

It follows the decision by Devon and Cornwall Police, in May 2010, to axe its dedicated traffic officers as part of a new operating model designed to cope with four-year, £50 million budget cuts and the loss of hundreds of personnel.

Traffic officers have been integrated into the "response" department to deal with 999 calls.

At the time of the reorganisation, concerns were raised by some senior officers as well as the Police Federation, a staff association for constables, sergeants and inspectors.

Sergeant Nigel Rabbitts, chairman of the Federation in Devon and Cornwall, said he was "not surprised" by the increase.

"I do think there's a correlation between the two," he said, "because there is very little enforcement going on. It is too much of a coincidence and that is what our members are telling us.

"The first responsibility of response officers is to answer those urgent calls to assist the public, and rightly so. Roads policing is a secondary tasking and they just don't have the time to do it."

Devon and Cornwall Police has said it has no plans to re-instate its traffic department albeit with fewer officers, despite strong and long-running rumours to the contrary.

Roads deaths in the region have fallen significantly over the last decade from a high of 109 in 2002. The last increase was from 2004, when there were 86 fatalities, to 2005 when there were 100.

Assistant Chief Constable Paul Netherton said there was no pattern to indicate either specific problems with driving standards or issues at particularly locations.

He stressed that the numbers remained "low" and that the roads of Devon and Cornwall were rated as the safest in the country.

"We are still on the roads, we are still out there, and are encouraging all our response officers to take a proactive approach and running operations on different subjects on different dates," he said.

News Nearby: Victim of Domestic Violence Dies, Suspect Charged with Felony ... - Patch.com

 

Police Charge Suspect with Felony Murder after Victim Dies - Alpharetta-Milton Patch

Police have upgraded charges to felony murder against a 26-year-old Alpharetta man after a victim of apparent domestic violence died from a gunshot wound to the head.

The suspect had been charged with aggravated battery after Sanaa Merani was taken to the hospital for injuries she suffered in the incident. She died in North Fulton Hospital from those injuries, leading Alpharetta police to charge Alamin Nanji with felony murder for allegedly shooting the victim. Visit Alpharetta-Milton Patch for more on this story.


Suspect Sought in Sexual Assaults
East Atlanta Patch

Atlanta police have released a sketch of a man they say posed as an undercover police officer and fondled two teenaged girls last month in Lakewood Heights.

The victims, 16 and 17, told police the suspect identified himself as an undercover police officer and walked them to the far wall of a building next to a gas station and fondled them as he conducted a "pat-down."

The girls then said he ordered them to kneel and after they complied, he told them to strip. Visit East Atlanta Patch for more on this story.


Attorney General Appeals Ruling in Kennesaw 'Self-Defense' Killing
- Kennesaw Patch

Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens will ask the state's highest court to reject a ruling that could have freed a Kennesaw man convicted of killing an armed trespasser in 2005.

Despite pleas from the nation's oldest civil rights organization not to do so, Olens Wednesday filed a notice of appeal in Baldwin County. A judge there ruled last month that John McNeil received "ineffective" counsel during his trial and suffered prejudice because jurors were not informed that they could acquit him "based on his justified defense of his son." See Kennesaw for more on this story.

LeAnn Rimes tearful meltdown after Brandi Glanville's obscene slam - Examiner.com

LeAnn Rimes, who is married to Brandi Glanville's ex-husband Eddie Cibiran, supposedly broke down and cried after "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star told Rimes to "go f**k yourself," Daily Mail reported on Tuesday, Jan. 29.

A tearful LeAnn was supposedly photographed being comforted by a friend as she left a restaurant on Monday, Jan. 28. The country music singer has admitted that she "hates Mondays" because she has to meet with her publicist and discuss her ongoing feud with husband Eddie Cibrian's ex-wife, "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star, Brandi Glanville.

Glanville reportedly said, "She can go f**k herself" during a recent question and answer session to promote her new book, "Drinking and Tweeting and Other Brandi Blunders." Brandi, speaking about her marriage said, "I did everything right. I loved hard. I loved my children and my family was perfect. I did everything I could do for him and the boys and to make him [Eddie Cibrian] not want to stray. So, when it happened, especially with someone as attractive as her [LeAnn Rimes]."

This is not the first time country singer LeAnn Rimes has publicly broken down and cried. In an interview with Giuliana Rancic for E! LeAnn broke down in tears when talking about her affair with Eddie Cibrian and the end of both their marriages.

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Several Australian Towns Flooded, 4 People Killed - NPR

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Thousands of Australians huddled in shelters Tuesday as torrential rains flooded cities and towns in the northeast, killing four people and prompting around 1,000 helicopter evacuations.

With floodwaters expected to peak in most of the worst-hit areas later Tuesday, officials were rushing to move those in the highest-risk areas to safety.

In the hard-hit city of Bundaberg, 385 kilometers (240 miles) north of Brisbane, rescue crews plucked 1,000 people to safety after the river that runs through town broke its banks, sending fast-moving, muddy water pouring into streets and homes. Around 1,500 residents fled to evacuation centers, while patients at the local hospital were being airlifted to Brisbane as a precaution.

"Listen to the roar of the water — that's not helicopters," Queensland Premier Campbell Newman said. "You see a lot of locations where there are literally sort of rapids. There's white water out there, so it is very dangerous."

Between 2,500 and 3,000 homes and 200 to 300 businesses were inundated with water, Bundaberg Mayor Mal Forman said.

Queensland residents and officials were being particularly cautious, after floodwaters from heavy rain in late 2010 and early 2011 left much of the state under water in the worst flooding Australia had seen in decades. The 2010-2011 floods killed 35 people, damaged or destroyed 30,000 homes and businesses and left Brisbane, Australia's third-largest city, under water for days.

The current flood crisis was not as severe, though some areas in northern New South Wales were hit by more than half a meter (about 20 inches) of rain, State Emergency Services Deputy Commissioner Steve Pearce said. Four people have died, including a 3-year-old boy who was hit by a falling tree in Brisbane.

"We're expecting flash flooding, we're expecting trees to be brought down, wires to be brought down by these winds," Pearce said. "We're expecting a very challenging 24 hours in front of us."

In the New South Wales city of Grafton, 600 kilometers (370 miles) north of Sydney, the river peaked just below the top of the levee wall, prompting relief among officials who had ordered an evacuation affecting 2,500 residents.

"It does appear as though the worst of it is over," New South Wales Premier Barry O'Farrell said.

The flooding was caused by the remnants of a tropical cyclone that sparked tornadoes and created sea foam that came ashore on the Queensland coast. The foam covered roads in places, causing traffic to be diverted. Elsewhere, beach-goers waded into the bubbles to pose for photographs.

Australia has been suffering through a summer of weather extremes, with blistering temperatures and dry conditions igniting hundreds of wildfires across the southern half of the country.

Felony drug charges tossed for 3 arrested by jailed Schaumburg cops - Chicago Sun-Times

John Cichy is one three Schaumburg police detectives who were ordered held $750000 bond Thursday after prosecutors alleged they were

John Cichy is one of three Schaumburg police detectives who were ordered held on $750,000 bond on Thursday after prosecutors alleged they were ripping off drug dealers and reselling the heroin and cocaine they stole on the street.

Cook County prosecutors dropped felony drug charges Monday against three people arrested earlier by Schaumburg cops now accused of stealing and reselling illegal drugs.

An additional 12 pending drug cases soon will be dismissed because the three accused officers worked on them, a spokeswoman for Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez said.

"We're doing this as quickly as possible," spokeswoman Tandra Simonton said.

But prosecutors still plan to continue with four other drug cases investigated by the now-jailed Schaumburg tactical officers, Simonton said.

Officers Terrance O'Brien, Matthew Hudak and John Cichy were charged in DuPage County earlier this month with skimming marijuana and cocaine seized in arrests, then reselling the drugs through a street dealer.

All three cops face charges that include drug conspiracy, official misconduct and armed violence.

Their arrests tainted at least some of the cases they had worked, prompting the string of dismissals, authorities said.

But the numbers so far are much lower than the 30 to 40 cases authorities earlier estimated could have been tossed because of their arrests.

"So far, they've done the right thing," Cook County Public Defender Abishi Cunningham said of the move by prosecutors. His office represented two of those whose charges were dismissed Monday: Alex Garcia, 18, of Palatine, and Marleny Gutierrez, 20, of Wheeling.

China threatens reporter who exposed sex-tape scandal - Yahoo! News (blog)

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese police threatened a muck-raking investigative reporter on Monday with arrest for concealing evidence if he did not hand over further tapes in his possession after a sex video he released of an official with a mistress went viral online.

Zhu Ruifeng, who runs a whistleblowing website called "People Supervision Net", released the video last year of Lei Zhengfu, a district party chief in the southwestern city of Chongqing, having sex with his much younger mistress.

Communist Party officials are banned from having mistresses, and the video came to symbolize in many people's eyes the excesses and corruption of the ruling elite, which the government is trying to stamp out.

Lei was fired shortly after the graphic images were splashed across microblog websites and the case was widely discussed in state media.

Zhu subsequently said he had sex tapes of other officials and that he would also release them.

That prompted a visit to his home in Beijing on Sunday night by police from Chongqing, Zhu's lawyer Li Heping told Reuters.

Zhu eventually agreed to go with them to a police station on Monday to answer questions.

"The police want him to hand over the other tapes," Li said by telephone. "If he does not, they are threatening to charge him with being a witness and concealing evidence.

"As one of his lawyers, we believe that he has the right to protect his sources. If sources are threatened, then they will no longer be willing to hand clues over," he added.

Zhu was released later in the day. He did not answer his telephone on Monday.

The case underscores the government's quandary in fighting graft and allowing enthusiastic outsiders to get involved and exercise independent oversight.

While the government has been keen to encourage the country's hundreds of millions of Internet users to expose graft online, it remains extremely wary of giving people too much free rein, and senior officials remain off limits.

Chongqing is especially sensitive because it was the power-base of now-disgraced former top leader Bo Xilai, who was dramatically sacked last year amid lurid allegations of corruption and murder.

While the party has stepped up its rhetoric against corruption, seeking to counter anger from citizens over regular reports of graft and debauchery among officials, efforts to root out the problem have hardly made a dent.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Robert Birsel)

Video: Scandal of Asian sex gangs left to prey on children in West Yorkshire - Yorkshire Post

Ann Cryer, who was MP for Keighley for 13 years before stepping down in 2010, said there had been a total failure by police, social services, schools and hospitals in West Yorkshire to work together to address evidence of child sex exploitation which emerged a decade ago.

"There has to be inter-agency working – and that wasn't happening then," Ms Cryer told MPs last night.

"The West Yorkshire Police, Bradford local authority, social services, schools, even hospitals – because abortions were taking place – none of them were working together. None of them were giving information.

"I feel pretty convinced that at that time, there was a fear of being called racist."

Child sex exploitation has become a burning issue over the past 12 months following a series of high-profile court cases, many of them involving gangs of British-Pakistani men.

Newspaper reports exposed cases of girls being sexually exploited in Rotherham, while a high-profile ring in Rochdale was found to have links across West Yorkshire.

Parliament's Home Affairs Committee has launched an investigation, and at a hearing last night the scale of the issue was revealed by chairman Keith Vaz.

"We've had figures from the Deputy Children's Commissioner that shows in her view there are 16,500 children at risk, and 2,409 who've been sexually exploited over a 14-month period," Mr Vaz said. "They sound to us to be phenomenally high figures."

Ms Cryer's successor as the MP for Keighley, Kris Hopkins, insisted the issue is now being dealt with properly by the police, and told the committee there are "ongoing cases" of child exploitation in the Bradford district – adding that "30 people have been arrested in the last two months".

But when Ms Cryer first raised the issue back in 2003, having been contacted by several worried mothers in her constituency, she felt something of a lone voice.

"It was one of those things that wasn't really talked about," she said.

The former Labour MP told the committee she always knew it would be a difficult subject to raise because of the sensitivities involved – but felt she had no choice but to speak out.

"If I had a terrific concern of being called racist, I wouldn't have done it," she said.

"I didn't allow it to get in my way of taking care of and doing right by some very vulnerable, very young girls – we're talking about ages 11 to 13."

She added: "I have three grandchildren who are half-Indian, and another grandchild who is half-African. It would have upset me if anyone had called me a racist – but I wasn't going to let that?get in the way of protecting children."

But for the local authorities in West Yorkshire 10 years ago, she said, the picture seemed different.

"It didn't make sense, the lack of activity – particularly by Bradford social services and West Yorkshire Police," Ms Cryer said. "I formed the opinion that they were terrified about being called racist."

Committee member David Winnick described older men who exploit young teenage girls for sex as "degenerate and criminal", and said "the sooner they face justice, the better it will be for all concerned." But Ms Cryer said she felt there was a broader cultural issue in the way that some young British-Pakistani men view white girls.

"They take great pride in their girls, and how their girls are very careful in the way they dress and are always covered in some way –and then they see the other side of the situation," she said.

"Young white girls, as young as 12 or 13, where their cleavage is almost meeting their hemline.

"And I don't think these lads understand this is just part and parcel of fashion. It isn't that they're throwing out an invitation to them.

"Somebody, somewhere needs to get this over to them."

She made clear that the vast majority of Bradford's Asian communities are disgusted by such

cases.

"It's bringing shame on their community, and they are very embarrassed about it," she said.

"They regard these young men as completely beyond the pale.

"Perhaps it's unfortunate that they're thinking they are also beyond their influence."

Mr Hopkins said local authorities must take action, but that "the most powerful voices" need to be women within the Asian communities. He said he has already spoken with Home Secretary Theresa May about a project to help Asian women find a stronger voice.

"Mums, grandmas, future mums in those families need to be empowered," he said.

"I've spoken to the Home Secretary, I'm about to see (Communities Secretary) Eric Pickles, and what I want to try and do is

get women empowered in that community, and really become the voice in that community and the challenge to these young men."

Mr Hopkins also paid tribute to Ms Cryer's "absolutely rigorous" efforts to expose the issue.

Mr Vaz told her recent events were "almost a total vindication of what you've been saying since 2003".

But Ms Cryer said: "I have mixed emotions. I'm please people are recognising that what I was saying was right. But I'm also very upset that after all these years, we're still getting these cases."

miércoles, 30 de enero de 2013

Whistleblower urges probe into officials' sex scandal - China.org.cn

A Chinese whistleblower has called for a thorough investigation into a Chongqing sex video scandal after it emerged more officials have been seen in secretly filmed footage.

The scandal was initially made public on Nov. 20 after a video featuring one official, later confirmed to be Lei Zhengfu, Communist Party chief of Beibei district of the southwestern Chongqing Municipality, went viral online.

Lei was removed from his post three days after.

Zhu Ruifeng, an independent investigative journalist, brought the scandal to light and he runs a whistleblowing website "People Supervision Net."

On Thursday, Chongqing authorities said 10 more officials, almost all of them district-level Communist Party of China chiefs, governors and executives of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), had been removed from their posts for allegedly appearing in sex videos.

Chongqing police busted a criminal ring suspected of using secretly filmed sex videos to blackmail the officials, local authorities said Thursday.

The Chongqing Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection found that the criminal ring had hired women to seduce local officials, covertly filmed their sexual acts and used the videos as tools of extortion to get government contracts.

Zhu told Xinhua that some officials featuring in the videos had not been punished and urged the city authorities to launch a thorough investigation.

He claimed to have seven videos, six from a source with the Chongqing municipal public security bureau, and one from a member of the criminal ring.

On Monday, Zhu rejected demands from police officers that he surrender the videos. He said he wanted to protect his source as he believed Chongqing police authorities wanted to use the videos in order to find out who the source is.

In November 2009, Wang Lijun, a former police chief of Chongqing, once organized a special team to investigate the scandal. However, officials in the videos were not punished and some even received promotion, Zhu said.

The source from the Chongqing municipal public security bureau was punished when Wang was the bureau director and he wanted to make the sex videos public to take revenge on Wang, he said.

Zhu said he might make public the other sex videos to help in the anti-corruption campaign in Chongqing.

He added that he had received death threats after making public the first video of Lei Zhengfu.

Sex tape scandal snares 11 high-profile Chinese officials - Toronto Star

BEIJING—A Chinese whistleblower holding secretly filmed sex tapes featuring city bureaucrats has come under pressure from police to hand them over for an investigation into an embarrassing scandal that has already cashiered 11 officials.

Lurid sex tape used to fight corruption

Police questioned Zhu Ruifeng, a former journalist who triggered the scandal in the southwestern city of Chongqing, for seven hours Monday about the tapes and said he could be liable for prosecution if he did not surrender them.

"The police were very polite but they said they wanted the videos. I firmly refused to give it to them because I have to protect my source. This is impossible," said Zhu, who lives in Beijing but was, he said, interviewed by Chongqing police officers. "They threatened me with the law, saying I could be accused of concealing evidence."

The first high-profile case broke in November after Zhu released online a video of a 50-something Communist Party district official having sex with a woman allegedly hired by developers in an extortion bid.

The leak led to the official's firing but the scandal broadened Friday as 10 other officials also caught on sex tapes were sacked.

Few details have been officially released but state media reports say the bureaucrats had sex with women hired by developers who secretly videotaped the trysts and later used the footage to extort construction deals from them.

The expanding scandal comes as China's newly installed leadership has vowed to crack down on rampant official corruption that threatens the party's legitimacy. Even as China's new Communist Party chief Xi Jinping has repeatedly pledged to strike hard against graft, authorities have been faced with a steady stream of bribery cases and other malfeasance.

Zhu said Monday's interview followed a visit by two police officers to his home in Beijing late on Sunday night in which they banged on the door and yelled at him to let them in.

Police are entitled to question a witness and request evidence in the process of an investigation, said one of Zhu's lawyers, Li Heping, who accompanied Zhu at the police station. But the whistleblower should also have a right to refuse on the basis of needing to protect his source, Li said.

He said such police pressure could discourage others from reporting official malfeasance. Zhu says he obtained the video from someone inside the Chongqing Public Security Bureau who gave it on condition of anonymity.

"If a person acts as a whistleblower and police come and demand that they hand over everything, it will not be helpful for fighting corruption and protecting media freedom," Li said.

An officer who answered the phone at the Beijing Dewai district police station where Zhu was questioned said he was not clear about the case. He referred further questions to the city's public security bureau, which did not immediately respond to a faxed list of questions.

Searches net drug arrests in PV - Pauls Valley Daily Democrat

bporterfield@pvdemocrat.com — Searches of two Pauls Valley homes have resulted in a whole slew of arrests on allegations of illegal drug activity.

Unrelated searches conducted by officials from the Garvin County Sheriff's Department over the past few days finished with a total of nine arrests and more could come later.

In one search a single resident was taken into custody after authorities found a large amount of marijuana.

The other search resulted in eight arrests as methamphetamine is believed to have been sold from the local house.

Sheriff Larry Rhodes said it was some tips that led deputies to the marijuana bust, while an old fashioned investigation was at the heart of the meth related arrests in the local Jackson Hill area.

"On the hill field deputies did some good work," Rhodes said on Monday. "That led to a search warrant, the methamphetamine and the arrests of several people.

"Hopefully we're making a little head way into illegal drugs around here. We've had a number of significant arrests just in January," he said.

Arrested last week was Carl Edward Prince, 63, also known as Sambo, during the search of his home in the 400 block of North Earl by county deputies and Pauls Valley police.

Officials found about a half pound of marijuana inside the house, along with several items commonly used in the distribution of the illegal drug. About $1,300 in suspected drug proceeds were also seized.

The three felony charges filed against Prince on Friday adds to his lengthy felony conviction record dating back to 1967.

Prince's criminal past included nine convictions in Garvin and Pontotoc counties, including former convictions for the selling of marijuana.

The arrest of Prince by Sheriff Rhodes has an ironic twist in that Rhodes' stepfather, former Garvin County Sheriff Bill Branch, handled Prince in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

A separate narcotics investigation led by sheriff's deputies ended with the service of a search warrant at a Jackson Hill residence.

Deputies with the assistance of PV police officers served a "no knock" warrant in the 1400 block of Denson.

The resident, identified as Brenda Blakeley, 53, was arrested on multiple drug related charges, while seven other people, two on outstanding arrest warrants, were also arrested in conjunction with the investigation.

About one-half ounce of methamphetamine was found inside the residence during the search.

The residence was found to have a counter surveillance system in place, which included cameras and multiple monitors and a police scanner was in use at the house.

"The investigation into suspected narcotics activity at the Denson Drive address was successful in part by the long hours and hard work of field deputies Jared White, Shane Rich and Chaz Pyle with the assistance of Undersheriff Jim Mullett and Captain Travis Crawford," Rhodes said.

Rhodes reminds the public if anyone sees what they believe to be drug related activity they should call the sheriff's office or Garvin County Crime Stoppers.

Police arrest 3 men on drug charges in Rangeley - Kennebec Journal

Posted: 4:39 PM
Updated: 8:04 PM

Police arrest three on drug charges in Rangeley

By Kaitlin Schroeder kschroeder@centralmaine.com
Staff Writer

RANGELEY -- Three people face charges connected to selling heroin, after police seized drugs and money during search of a motel and a Main Street home.

A photograph, contributed by the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, shows cash, heroin, crack cocaine and pills seized during recent raids in Rangeley.

Contributed photo

Jami Driscoll, 23, of Auburn

Contributed photo

Additional Photos Below

The three, Tyler McFarland, 31, of Gray; Jami Driscoll, 23, of Auburn; and Michael Chandler, 33, of Philadelphia, were arrested Monday during an investigation into an alleged crack cocaine and heroin distribution ring in the area, according to Steve McCausland, spokesman for Maine Department of Public Safety.

Police found $8,200 in cash, 157 bags of heroin, 20 grams of crack cocaine, oxycodone pills and amphetamine capsules, he said.

Police obtained a search warrant for the home and motel, and they allege that Chandler delivered crack cocaine and heroin from Philadelphia to the area, according to McCausland.

All three are charged with trafficking in heroin, and additional charges are expected, he said.

McFarland is on probation after a conviction in 2007 for robbery, burglary and elevated aggravated assault when he attacked a man with a baseball bat while stealing drugs, McCausland said.

The suspects are being held at the Franklin County Jail and are scheduled to make their first court appearance Wednesday in Franklin County Superior Court.

Kaitlin Schroeder-- 861-9252
kschroeder@mainetoday.com

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FEMICIDE REPORT: Domestic violence killed 14 women in Minnesota last year - FOX 9 News

ST. PAUL, Minn. (KMSP) -

The Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women released its 2012 Femicide Report on Tuesday, showing 14 women died from domestic violence last year, down from 23 in 2011.

One man and three friends or family members were also victims of domestic homicide in 2012.

The Femicide Report documents the domestic violence homicides in Minnesota each year. The coalition gathers its information from news articles and reports provided by law enforcement, county attorneys, court administrators, battered women's programs and family and friends of murder victims.

After the report was made available to lawmakers, Ramsey County Attorney John Choi told members of the Minnesota House that 45 underage girls are trafficked for sex on any given night in Minnesota. He said such statistics highlight the need for a statewide network of teen runaway shelters for sex trafficking victims too.

LAST DECADE OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE MURDERS

2002

At least 16 women died from domestic violence
At least 13 children died from child abuse

2003

At least 14 women died from domestic violence
At least 10 children died from child abuse

2004

At least 13 women died from domestic violence
At least 11 children died from child abuse
At least 3 family members/friends were murdered

2005

At least 26 women died from domestic violence
At least 1 women was murdered while being used in prostitution
At least 4 children died from child abuse
At least 2 family members/friends were murdered

2006

At least 20 women died from domestic violence
At least 20 children died from child abuse
At least 1 family member/friend was murdered

2007

At least 22 women died from domestic violence
At least 10 children died from child abuse
At least 3 family members/friends were murdered

2008

At least 23 women died from domestic violence
At least 7 children died from child abuse
At least 2 family members/friends were murdered
At least 1 man died from domestic violence from his male partner

2009

At least 12 women died from domestic violence
At least 10 children died from child abuse
At least 2 family member/friends/intervener were murdered
At least 1 man died from domestic violence

2010

At least 15 women died from domestic violence
At least 7 children died from domestic violence
At least 4 family members/friends were murdered.
At least 2 men died from domestic violence

2011

At least 23 women died from domestic violence
At least 4 children died from domestic violence
At least 6 family members/friends were murdered
At least 1 man died from domestic violence

2012

At least 14 women died from domestic violence
At least 3 family members/friends were murdered
At least 1 man died from domestic violence

Please contact Safia Lovett at slovett@mcbw.org or 651-646-6177 ext. 16 if you have updated or more complete information on any homicide.

Gang violence in Pimlico - another teenager killed. First London murder of 2013. - Pimlico People

Let's not pretend all is well on the streets of Pimlico. Another teenager has died at the hands of a knife and sword wielding gang. Another mother grieves. Like other parts of London, groups of boys hang out together, boys form gangs, boys are victims of violence. Are the Police only acting in a reactive manner to incidents rather than proactively? What help can be given to the community to end such incidents? 

The problem of local gangs is to be discussed at a meeting on Monday 28th January between Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe and local councillors. Let's hope they come up with a constructive plan of action. One stabbing is one too many....                                                                                                                    

On Sunday 27th January, a 16-year old boy, Hani Abou El Kheir was stabbed in the abdomen in Lupus Street near Westmorland Place in Pimlico and the Police were called at 6.50 p.m. The former Pimlico Academy boy, who left the School in 2010, died two hours later in a south London hospital.  The brazen gang scattered after the attack and no arrests have been made. Newspapers report that his mother attended the scene as an attempt was made by medics to save him. 

Westminster Councillor Nickie Aiken, spokesperson for community protection, said: "Our thoughts are with the family of this teenager and we will offer whatever help we can....Once more we have seen the tragic blight that knife culture has inflicted on the capital."

Pimlicat commented on twitter that it was "horrific. So so sad." sarah86goldie said "Another kid stabbed to death in Pimlico *** is going on in the area?? It's (sic) was never like that when i was growing up !!"

There have been several gang related incidents connected to the Churchill Gardens estate. In 2012 trainee football coach, Oliver Husseini, 17, was stabbed in nearby Gloucester Street.

   

Traffic diversions were still in place on Monday morning affecting the routes some people use to travel to work.

An incident room has been opened to gather information  about the murder in Pimlico. Anyone with information is asked to call police on 020 8345 3715.

Task force arrests 6 on drug-related charges - Willows Journal

The Glenn Interagency Narcotics Task Force arrested six people suspected of buying, using or selling drugs at a North Butte Street home on Friday.

Agents had the house under surveillance around 9 p.m. and arrested all but one person after they left the house, officials said Tuesday.

Brandon McWilliams, 37, of Willows, reportedly bolted from his vehicle during a traffic stop on Wood Street, according to Task Force Secretary Chirs Hinde.

McWilliams was arrested a short distance away by Task Force agents and the California Highway Patrol, who had responded to assist the Willows police.

Hinde said during the foot pursuit, one of the officers thought they saw a shiny object in the possession of McWilliams.

An empty holster was reportedly found on the waist band of McWilliams after he was caught.

Agents searched the area and located a .38-caliber revolver that they said had been discarded by McWilliams, Hinde said.

McWilliams was booked into the Glenn County Jail on suspicion of criminal conspiracy, being a convicted felon with a firearm, being a prohibited person owning ammunition and receiving known stolen property.

His bail was set at $287,000.

A passenger in the vehicle McWilliams' abandoned was Michael Jackson, 39, of Willows, who was reportedly found to be in possession of .4 grams of cocaine and .7 grams of methamphetamine and counterfeit $50 and $100 bills, Hinde said.

He was also reportedly found to be in possession of a crack pipe when he was booked into the jail.

Jackson was arrested on suspicion of possession of drugs or alcohol in jail, four counts of being in possession of a controlled substance, criminal conspiracy and the manufacture, import, sale, supply or possession of metal knuckles.

He bail was set at $170,000.

Jackson and McWilliams lived on the 300 block of North Butte Street, where the Task Force agents were conducting surveillance.

Agents reported a number of suspected drug-related activities and vehicles coming and going from the house.

Among those leaving the residence after her vehicle was parked there a short time was Kathleen Grimes, 28, of Willows, who was arrested following a traffic stop on suspicion of being under the influence and in possession of a control substance.

A search of her vehicle reportedly revealed .6 grams of methamphetamine, Hinde said.

Hinde said Steven Woods, 34, of Orland, and a passenger in Grimes' vehicle, reportedly admitted to methamphetamine use shortly before his arrest.

He was booked into jail on suspicion of possessing .1 grams of methamphetamine and possession of a hypodermic syringe.

Agents served a search warrant on the residence, locating approximately 6.1 pounds of marijuana, hashish, as well as scales, packaging material and two handguns, one of which was determined to be stolen, Hinde said.

Danielle Humphreys, 29, an occupant of the residence, was arrested on suspicion of being in possession of marijuana or hashish for sale, criminal conspiracy and receiving known stolen property.

The street value of the narcotics seized Friday was approximately $15,422, Hinde said.

Agents also arrested Donald Haggerty, who had been in the area of the residence during the arrests.

He was found to be under the influence of a stimulant and was arrested on suspicion of violating his probation.

12 people face drug charges after arrests in York - York Dispatch

York City's Narcotics Unit arrested a dozen people on separate stings over the past two weeks, with those arrested representing the diversity of people involved in the illegal drug trade, police said.

"Just the amount of women and older people involved," said Detective Andrew Shaffer. "It just goes to show the wide range of people who distribute heroin or illegal drugs, when most of it's attributed to younger males. That's a fallacy that people believe."

Despite the common perception of drugs being a trade for younger males, the arrests made were "pretty typical" for a two-week period in the Narcotics Unit, he said.

The arrests are typically made after individual sources tell police they're aware of drug activity. Police conduct surveillance, which is sometimes followed by undercover purchase, Shaffer said.

Among those arrested were three women and four people older than 50.

Women were involved in the two largest monetary-value arrests.

Police said they seized $5,200 in marijuana from the home of Donna Perez, 25, of 53 Eberts Lane. She was arrested at her house and charged with possession with intent to deliver "numerous varieties" of marijuana, Shaffer said.

Bobbi Brooks, 31, of 301 N. Newberry St., was arrested in the 500 block of Maryland Avenue. She was charged with delivery and possession with intent to deliver heroin. Police said they seized $3,860 in heroin, $671 in cash, and a 1999 Jeep.

Police said they also arrested the following individuals.

* Rigoberto Monier, 66, of 310 W. Philadelphia St. Arrested in the first block of North Newberry Street and charged with delivery of cocaine. Police said they seized $400 in cocaine and $79 cash.

* Luis Cordero, 37, of 710 W. Mason Ave., arrested in 300 block of South Pine Street. Charged with delivery of heroin. Police said they seized $200 of heroin.

* Theron Robinson, 30, of 318 S. George St., arrested in the 500 block of Wilson Avenue. Charged with delivery of marijuana. Police said they seized $50 of marijuana.

* Katherine Almeyda, 48, of 637 W. Princess St., arrested in the first block of South Pershing Avenue. Charged with delivery and possession with intent to deliver heroin. Police said they seized: $900 in heroin, $415 cash, and a 2006 Honda.

* Felex Perez, 58, of 115 S. Pershing Ave. 2nd floor, Carlos Vazquez, 53, of 90 N. Newberry St., and Angel Cruz, 55, of 364 W. Gas Ave. were arrested in the 100 block of South Pershing Avenue. Perez was charged with possession with intent to deliver heroin. Vazquez and Cruz were charged with possession of heroin. Police said they seized: $1,800 in heroin and $188 cash.

* Antoin Bailey, 36, of 41 N. Belvidere Ave. Arrested in the first block of North Belvidere and charged with delivery of heroin. Police said they seized: $80 in heroin.

* Hardira Jennings, 38, of 430 E. Prospect St. Arrested in the 400 block of East Prospect Street and charged with delivery of heroin. Police said they seized: $200 in heroin.

* Tyrone Lowe, 39, of Harrisburg. Arrested in the first block of North Harrison Street and charged with delivery of heroin. Police said they seized $200 in heroin.

Assisting in the arrests were York City's Nuisance Abatement and West End Neighborhood Units, Springettsbury Township Police Department, West Manchester Township Police Department, and York Area Regional Police Department.

- Reach Christina Kauffman at ckauffman@yorkdispatch.com.




City's top cop says violence not as bad as it seems, but concedes 'We have to ... - Chicago Sun-Times

Updated: January 29, 2013 11:10PM

Chicago's top cop said the city's deadly weekend wasn't as bad as it seems when compared to last year.

There were seven murders from gunshots and other causes from 6 p.m. Friday until 12:01 a.m. Monday , according to the police department. Altogether, the city saw 10 shootings during that period, including victims who were wounded but did not die.

"That's just not the way those numbers usually play out," Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy said Tuesday, adding that as of Friday afternoon the murder rate had been down nearly 30 percent for the month when compared to last year. He said there had been 13 fewer shootings last week compared to the same week in 2012.

But the number of murders for the week compared to last year remained about the same.

"Unfortunately that's the way it goes sometimes ... more people die percentage-wise from the shootings," he told reporters at a news conference in which he spoke of a White House meeting where he and other officials discussed gun policy.

"By reducing the shootings you expect to reduce the murders," he added, saying the number of deaths was "frustrating."

On Tuesday, the number of murders kept rising.

Three people had been murdered Tuesday, and eight others had been wounded by gunfire, police said.

Among the dead was 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton who was shot in the back in the Kenwood neighborhood about 2:30 p.m. A teen boy was also shot in the leg during the attack, which happened near King College Prep High School.

Earlier in the day, Devin Common, 27, was shot dead, and two other men were critically wounded in a Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood shooting, family and police said. He is the second son his mother has lost to gun violence, she said. Over the weekend, another mother lost her last-living son to a shooting. Her three other children had also been murdered with a gun.

And early Tuesday, Gino Angotti, 20, was found dead on the East Side with a gunshot wound to the head.

Of the continuing murders, McCarthy said,"I'm not pleased with it, but the fact is we're going to continue to refine our strategies."

He said the shock of murders doesn't mean the department's strategy to curb violence isn't working.

"You don't throw out everything you're doing because you had a bad couple of days, which is what happened here," he said.

McCarthy added the department is going to roll out new strategies soon because some officers will be freed from desk duties, though he offered no other details.

In the end, he said, "We have to do better"

Contributing: Sun-Times Media

Sex video whistle-blower refuses to hand over footage - Global Times

 

The whistle-blower responsible for exposing the sex video scandal that has toppled six local Party and government officials and another five State-owned enterprise executives in Chongqing declined Monday to hand over more evidence on the case to Chongqing police, citing concerns over the safety of his source.

Zhu Ruifeng, a Beijing-based blogger with the Hong Kong-registered anti-corruption website jdwsy.com, walked out of a Beijing police station Monday after a seven-hour negotiation session with two Chongqing police officers.

Zhu told the Global Times that he had rejected the request made by the two officers, who had been seeking more tapes involving other high-ranking officials.

"I also turned down their demand for the original version of those already exposed clips, for the safety of the person from Chongqing's police bureau who fed me the information," said Zhu, adding that he is not ready to publish the remaining evidence, as time is needed to authenticate them.

The negotiations came after Zhu claimed some local officials involved in the scandal haven't yet been netted and accused local police of a coverup and destroying evidence.

Sun Lida, president of a State-owned construction company in Chongqing, was named by Zhu as the latest executive to be implicated in the scandal. Sun still holds his position.

Zhu posted five entries on his Sina Weibo Sunday night saying that five police officers were about to enter his home in Beijing's Xicheng district. Zhu also said that the officers searched his ex-wife's apartment in Beijing on Sunday night.

In a statement that was posted hours later on both Sina Weibo and his website, Zhu entrusted a group of six lawyers to represent him, and claimed that if he was ever detained by the Chongqing police he would exercise his right to silence. He also said that any action aimed at replacing the lawyers he had appointed was invalid.

Four lawyers, Zhang Kai, Cheng Hai, Li Heping and Wang Peng, showed up to accompany him to the police station Monday morning in a conciliatory move to show he was willing to negotiate with the two officers.

The officers, who belong to the investigation team behind the scandal that has recently shaken the municipality, "threatened to charge Zhu for hiding evidence," Li told the Global Times.

The two Chongqing officers were not available for comment on Monday.

In an interview with local news portal cqnews.net, the head of the investigation team confirmed that officers have been sent to Beijing to involve Zhu in the probe. The officer also said that Zhu is obligated to cooperate with the police and provide evidence.

A press officer surnamed Zhang from Chongqing's public security bureau told the Global Times that the police are doing all they can in terms of the investigation and will inform the public of any updates in a timely manner.

Si Weijiang, a Shanghai-based lawyer, told the Global Times there is no crime of withholding evidence, and that the process to compel Zhu to be a witness is not clear. The police have no right to forcibly request the evidence, he said.

Zhu became famous after posting the secretly-shot sex video in November showing Lei Zhengfu, the former Party chief of Chongqing's Beibei district, having sex with a young woman at a hotel room years ago.

The scandal claimed Lei's career in the Party, before he was sent to the municipal discipline authorities for investigation.

The municipal government said Thursday that during the probe into Lei's illegal deeds, discipline inspectors also busted a criminal network suspected of using secretly filmed sex videos to extort officials.

Ten more officials were removed from their posts for allegedly appearing in the videos, said statements from the municipal government.

Police Quiz Sex Tape Reporter - Radio Free Asia

Police in the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing are putting pressure on a whistle-blowing journalist to hand over incriminating sex tapes exposing a local member of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, after 10 city officials were reportedly fired in connection with the scandal.

Beijing-based investigative journalist Zhu Ruifeng, who runs the whistle-blowing website Supervision by the People, published a five-year-old video last year, showing Lei Zhengfu having sex with an 18-year-old female while he was Party secretary of Chongqing's Beibei district.

The tape was one of several formerly held in the Chongqing police department vaults and was leaked by an insider, who has already been detained by police.

Lei was removed from his post after the 36-second video clip went viral online, sparking widespread outrage on China's popular microblogs, where users often vent anger about official excesses and abuse of power.

Threatened with arrest

Chongqing police visited Zhu's home in Beijing on Sunday, and questioned him at a Beijing police station, threatening him with arrest if he refused to hand over the remaining sex tapes still in his possession, Zhu said on Monday.

"Yesterday at about 6:00 p.m., five police came knocking on our door and told me to open up ... [they said they were from] the Dewai police station," said Zhu.

"But there were three policemen from Chongqing behind them."

Zhu refused to open the door at the time, but was later summoned for questioning which lasted for seven hours, and during which he had lawyers present.

"They wanted to know all the details of my sources, and the tapes that I still have in my possession," he said. "I refused to hand them over."

"They can use technology to discover who my sources were, anyway," he said. "My professional ethics as a journalist mean that I don't care. I will face up to this."

"I told them that I wasn't afraid of anything they would do."

Better government?

One of the lawyers present, Li Heping, said there was no problem with Zhu being called as a witness.

"Perhaps they want to find out how he got hold of the tapes," he said. "But there isn't enough to charge him with any crime, in my opinion."

"If officials are corrupt, and they break the law, then this should be dealt with in the light of day."

Li said Zhu's role as a whistle-blower could promote better government.

"There would be a lot less corruption if all of China's citizens did the sort of thing that Zhu Ruifeng did," he said.

The threats to Zhu came as the authorities fired 10 mid-ranking Chongqing officials as part of the ongoing probe into the Lei Zhengfu scandal.

Blackmail

The Chongqing sex tapes were made by a property developer as a way of blackmailing top municipal officials.

The company paid young women aged 18-20 U.S. $48 to have sex with the officials and to record the liaisons secretly.

Zhu has said in previous interviews that the woman in the tape was described to him as a "gift" sent to Lei by a businessman in the construction industry who wanted to seal a lucrative property deal.

"Government sources said the 10 officials ... were removed for being involved in the same sex video scandal as Lei," the China Daily newspaper reported.

The paper said local authorities were treating the blackmail operation as "a criminal ring that used young women to seduce officials and then used secretly filmed sex videos to extort them in 2008 and 2009."

Among those already detained was Xiao Ye, 45, head of property developer Yonghuang Group, it said.

Zhu began working as a print journalist for the magazine Fang Yuan, which is sponsored by China's Supreme People's Court, in 2000, before leaving to set up as a freelancer in 2006.

Reported by Xin Yu for RFA's Mandarin service and by Wen Yuqing for the Cantonese service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.

Six arrested during drug bust - Parkersburg News

VINCENT - One of Washington County's largest suspected dealers of heroin was among six people arrested during a Tuesday morning drug bust in Vincent.

Agents from the Major Crimes Task Force executed a search warrant just after midnight Tuesday at the home of Michael V. Richards, 35, of 1110 Moody Ridge Road, Vincent, said Lt. Josh Staats with the Washington County Sheriff's Office.

Officers believe Richards has been dealing drugs in the area for about two months.

Article Photos

Michael V. Richards, Eric B. Siders, Chelsie M. Cochran, Shawn J. Sims, Ali R. Martin and Heather D. Thompson were arrested Tuesday in a drug bust in Vincent, Ohio.

"That's what he told me and that is around the same time we started getting anonymous calls from concerned parties," said Staats.

However, Richards is believed to be a major player in the local heroin scene because of how frequently he was making trips to Columbus to purchase drugs for resale in the Washington County area, officers said.

"Richards has been under surveillance for the past month. He told me he makes roughly three trips a month to Columbus and he is typically buying between five to nine grams at a time," said Staats.

Each gram of heroin contains approximately 10 unit doses, he added.

The timing was right Tuesday to try to make an arrest, said Washington County Sheriff Larry Mincks.

"We felt that something was about to happen because local addicts had been coming to Richards and not spending a lot of time there, which indicated they weren't buying anything (and a new shipment might be coming)," he said.

Five task force agents and three deputies were ready with a search warrant when Richards returned from a suspected drug run, said Staats.

Richards' residence is technically a three-stall detached garage, he said. The sparse living quarters contained a pool table, a mattress, a wood stove, a refrigerator and a kitchen table with some chairs around it, Staats said.

"Basically we were able to see everyone as soon as we walked in. They didn't have a bedroom to hide in," he added.

Agents observed Richards, seated at a table with Eric B. Siders, 24, of 6070 Sandhill Road, Marietta, and Chelsie M. Cochran, 19, of 121 Warner St., Marietta. On the table was a syringe and a spoon, both containing what is believed to be heroin, said Mincks.

"Richards told us that Siders and Chelsie Cochran were getting ready to shoot up," said Staats.

On the floor near where Richards was seated were three bags of heroin, weighing a total of 5.04 grams, said Mincks. The heroin was the largest quantity the agency has seized in some time, he said.

It was enough to charge Richards with a third-degree felony count of possession of heroin, he added.

Cochran and Siders were each charged with a fifth-degree felony count of possession because they possessed smaller quantities, said Mincks.

Also arrested was Shawn J. Sims, 22, of 550011 Hudson Road, Reedsville, for tampering with evidence, a third-degree felony.

After being handcuffed and advised to sit still, Sims was observed attempting to conceal a syringe, said Mincks. Sims admitted the needle had fallen out of his pants and he was trying to hide it, he said.

While officers attempted to secure individuals inside the structure, Heather D. Thompson, 24, of 116 Harmar St., Marietta, continued to yell at the investigating officers, said Mincks. She was highly intoxicated and subsequently arrested for disorderly conduct, a fourth-degree misdemeanor.

While officers were still inside, Ali R. Martin, 23, of 101 Stonecrest Drive, Marietta, arrived at the residence, said Mincks. A syringe, syringe caps and cotton were found in Martin's vehicle. She was subsequently arrested for possession of drug abuse instruments, a second-degree misdemeanor.

"It's pretty common when a load comes back into the county that everybody just shows up to start buying it," said Staats.

Two other people inside Richard's residence were not arrested.

Agents seized a 26-inch television and an ATV that were believed to have been stolen and used to pay off drug debt, said Mincks. Additionally, agents seized the pickup truck Richards had been using to make drug runs, he said.

Richards could face additional charges including receiving stolen property and drug trafficking, said Mincks.

According to Marietta Municipal Court records, Richards has previous charges for obstructing justice, possession of drugs, breach of recognizance, and disorderly conduct.

Other individuals in the home could also face additional charges, said Mincks.

Richards is being held in the Washington County Jail on $15,000 bond.

martes, 29 de enero de 2013

Two People Killed as Egypt Clashes Continue for Fifth Day - Arutz Sheva

Deadly unrest gripped Egypt for a fifth straight day on Monday, as the main opposition bloc turned down an invitation to hold talks with President Mohammed Morsi and called instead for fresh mass protests.

AFP reported that a man was killed as police and protesters clashed in Cairo and lobbed rocks at each other on a bridge in an underpass leading to the capital's iconic Tahrir Square, as tear gas hung heavily in the air.

Late Monday, medics said one person was shot dead outside a police station in Port Said, where dozens of people have been killed in confrontations between demonstrators and police since Saturday.

The latest clashes in the capital continued sporadically throughout the day, witnesses said, accusing gunmen of opening fire on the demonstrators from rooftops.

"There are many people wounded by gunfire," Ahmad Doma, an activist at the scene, told AFP. He blamed the shootings on Muslim Brotherhood-linked militiamen.

A security source said two officers and nine soldiers were also injured in clashes around Tahrir Square, and that protesters torched two personnel carriers.

As the unrest showed no signs of abating, Egypt's Islamist-dominated Senate ratified a law that would grant the armed forces powers of arrest, a day after Morsi announced a crackdown.

Morsi, who hails from the Muslim Brotherhood, on Sunday declared a month-long state of emergency in Port Said, Suez and Ismailiya provinces where around 50 people were killed and hundreds wounded over the weekend.

He also slapped night-time curfews on the three provinces after police stations were attacked following death sentences passed on Saturday against 21 supporters of a Port Said soccer club over stadium violence last year that killed 74 people.

Thousands of protesters, however, flooded the streets of Port Said, Suez and Ismailiya after the 9:00 p.m. curfew went into effect in defiance of the measure, witnesses said.

Earlier in the day, hundreds of mourners marched in Port Said on a second day of funerals for those killed in the canal city. Hundreds more took to the streets of the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, the official MENA news agency reported.

Although most of the bloodshed has focused on Port Said, the violence erupted on Thursday in Cairo on the eve of the second anniversary of the uprising that overthrew Hosni Mubarak, with police and protesters clashing.

Disgruntled Egyptians say the revolution failed to reach its goals of social justice.

Meanwhile, the National Salvation Front, a coalition of mainly liberal and leftist movements, called for countrywide protests on Friday.

"We will not participate in dialogue that is empty of content," leading dissident Mohamed ElBaradei told reporters after a meeting of the NSF.

The bloc wants the formation of a national salvation government and the amendment of the Islamist-drafted constitution, before it agrees to any talks.

An NSF statement called "on the Egyptian people to take to the streets in all Tahrir Squares (across the nation) on Friday to stress the sanctity of the blood of the martyrs and achieve the goals of the revolution."

The White House on Monday condemned the unrest and urged Egyptian leaders to make clear violence is never acceptable.

"We strongly condemn the recent violence that has taken place in various Egyptian cities. We look to all Egyptians to express themselves peacefully and look to Egyptian leaders to make clear that violence is not acceptable," it said, according to AFP.

The State Department said Washington was looking to Morsi's government "to bring to justice those who were responsible for deaths and injuries, whether they were sustained by protesters, whether they were sustained by the police."

Task force makes several drug arrests - Parkersburg News

MARIETTA - The Major Crimes Task Force aided in the arrest of three area residents in connection with illegal drugs in the past few days, according to the Washington County Sheriff's Office.

Sheriff Larry Mincks said the use of methamphetamines and heroin are on the rise in the Mid-Ohio Valley and his office has seen an increase in both drugs in connection with arrests.

The first of the three recent arrests was on Jan. 23, when Kyle L. Sparks, 24, 830 Ridge St., Marietta, was arrested on a charge of violating the terms of his parole. Following the execution of a search warrant of his home, Sparks was subsequently charged with a fifth-degree felony offense of possession of drugs. This felony charge stems from the alleged discovery of five unit doses of powder heroin in a heating duct of Sparks' home.

Article Photos

Kyle Sparks

"Sparks has a history of arrests in connection with drugs," said Mincks. "He has been arrested six times for breaking and entering to feed his drug habit and this is just the latest arrest for him."

Sparks previously served a 12-month prison term for trafficking in drugs.

Sparks remains in the Washington County Jail on $5,000 bond and is under investigation on other heroin-related charges, Mincks said.

In Wood County, authorities are investigating five recent heroin overdoses in recent weeks.

"We have overdoses under investigation, as well," Mincks said. "Whatever is going on on one side of the river is going on on both sides; officials on both sides are fighting the same battle."

The other two drug arrests involved a husband and wife based out of Morgan County who were charged with manufacturing methamphetamines by the McConnelsville Police and Morgan County Sheriff's Office with the aid of the Major Crimes Task Force.

Heather Greeno, 26, of 659 Halcyon Ave., McConnelsville, is being held at the Southeast Ohio Regional Jail on a charge of the illegal manufacture of drugs.

Herbert Mullins, 56, of 5400 Mountville Road, Chesterhill, was arrested on one count of illegal manufacture of drugs and two counts of unlawful purchase of pseudophedrine. Mullins remains in custody at the Southeast Ohio Regional Jail. Mullins and Greeno are married.

Their arrests came following the execution of a search warrant at Greeno's McConnelsville residence, which stemmed from a traffic stop, officials said. The warrant resulted in the discovery of drug paraphernalia and a consentual search of Greeno's residence at 5400 Mountville Road in Chesterhill, officials said.

This search yielded numerous items used in the manufacturing of methamphetamines, officials said.

While being questioned, Greeno allegedly admitted to using the "one pot" method of methamphetamine manufacturing earlier that day for her and Mullins.

"This new 'one pot' cooking method for meth has really changed the concept of what meth labs are," Mincks said. "Manufacturing meth used to be several processes and now people are doing it in one and that has really made us step up our game."

Because making the drug has become easier, Mincks said, the number of arrests for manufacturing has increased since the beginning of the year.

"Since Jan. 1, we have busted 15 or 16 meth labs and that is a real spike," he said. "I don't think we had that many meth labs in the last two years."

The Major Crimes Task Force is composed of representatives from the Marietta Police Department, the Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Identification and the Morgan and Washington County Prosecuting Attorney and Sheriff's Offices.

"We are experiencing a huge increase in the use of both meth and heroin in the area and we are working diligently to get to the bottom of it and stop it," Mincks said. "Since I took office in 2005, taking control of the drugs issue in the area has been a major concern of mine and it continues to be."

Ten Chinese officials fired over sex scandal in former Bo Xilai fiefdom - The Guardian

Chinese authorities have fired 10 officials caught in a sex and blackmail scandal in Chongqing, the former fiefdom of the disgraced politician Bo Xilai, state media have reported.

Developers hired women to have sex with the men, then secretly filmed the meetings and used the videos to extort construction deals from the officials in the south-western city. The state news agency Xinhua said police had now broken up the criminal ring responsible.

But questions remain about how and why the videos emerged and the links between the case and Wang Lijun, the former police chief who sparked the downfall of Bo, previously his patron. It is the latest in a series of scandals over corruption and other abuses of power under Bo and Wang's watch to be aired in the Chinese media.

The Beijing-backed Hong Kong newspaper Ta Kung Pao reported on Friday that Bo would go on trial in south-western Guiyang on Monday, but a Guiyang court official told Reuters: "The case has not yet even been put forward for prosecution".

China's foreign ministry refused to comment, as did one of Bo's lawyers. The charismatic politician has been accused of taking huge bribes, of abusing power and of having major responsibility for his wife's murder of the British businessman Neil Heywood.

The sex video case first hit the headlines in November, when a clip of a 54-year-old district party chief having sex with an 18-year-old woman went viral. Lei Zhengfu was instantly and widely mocked and was fired within 63 hours of the video's appearance. Now 10 of his colleagues in the city have been ousted, Xinhua said.

But the Oriental Morning Post reported that Chongqing police were aware of the scheme three years ago and placed one of the men under house arrest between 2009 and 2010 – under the watch of Wang. It said the then police chief, now serving 15 years for helping Bo's wife Gu Kailai conceal Heywood's murder, assigned the investigation to Guo Weiguo – another officer jailed for his role in the coverup.

The newspaper said the videos were held by police and only resurfaced when a citizen journalist, Zhu Ruifeng, uploaded the clip of Lei in November. Zhu told the Post he got the video from the police investigation team.

"It's hard to see how it could be purely coincidental," said Steve Tsang, an expert on Chinese politics at the University of Nottingham.

If the details of how the video emerged were correct, "the fall of Bo Xilai and Wang Lijun seem to have something to do with it".

Tsang said it could be that whistleblowers had wanted to hold the officials to account but had previously been unable to do so because they were protected, or that airing the wrongdoing was also a way of highlighting the problems in Chongqing under Bo, a highly divisive figure who was feared by many in the city and the party – but remains missed by others.

"The two are not necessarily mutually exclusive – it could be people knew there were problems, couldn't do anything about it and now can. But it is also politically convenient to clean up after Bo Xilai, particularly in the runup to his trial," he said.

"Having seen Xi Jinping [China's new leader] saying he's going to sort out abuses, what better time to make sure that what was done wrongly under the Bo Xilai regime is used as an example?"

As general secretary of the party, Xi has repeatedly vowed to fight corruption and other official misbehaviour at all levels, tackling both lowly "flies" and mighty "tigers".

Liu Shanying, a politics researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, said the blackmail case hinted at the widespread nature of official misbehaviour.

"The incident in Chongqing is not accidental or exceptional. It should be said that it is rather common and that the problem is with corrupted lifestyles," he said. "Many local officials have lower moral standards than ordinary people, and the power they enjoy makes it easier for them to do immoral things."

Xinhua Insight: Chinese officials' sex video scandal sparks public anger - Shanghai Daily (subscription)

by Xinhua writers Li Baojie and Mou Xu

CHONGQING, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese public has been left in shock and outrage again after more officials in southwest China's municipality of Chongqing were revealed to be implicated in a sex video scandal.

Ten officials, almost all of them district-level Communist Party of China (CPC) chiefs, governors and executives of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), have been removed from their posts for allegedly appearing in such videos, municipal authorities said late Thursday.

The announcement ended months of online speculation that a number of local officials had been involved in the case.

The scandal emerged in November after a sex video featuring one official later confirmed to be CPC Secretary of Chongqing's Beibei district Lei Zhengfu went viral online.

Lei, the first of nearly a dozen officials to be implicated in the sex scandal, was removed from his post three days after the scandal was exposed.

Police in Chongqing have broken up a criminal ring suspected of using secretly filmed sex videos to extort the officials, local authorities said late Thursday.

The Chongqing Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection found that the ring had hired women to seduce local officials, covertly filmed their sexual acts and used the videos as tools of extortion to get government contracts.

PUBLIC BACKLASH

The implication of more officials in the sex scandal in Chongqing has caused quite a stir on the Internet.

"It's all shame and sorrow for senior CPC officials. It's time to take drastic measures to crack down on similar cases and to restore the public's trust of, and support for, government officials," wrote one user on Sina Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter.

"The sex video, like a powerful nuclear bomb, brought down ten senior officials from their posts," said another Weibo user.

"The government officials should be locked in a cage of regulations where they would not dare or be willing to turn corrupt. This is the key in tackling corruption. Otherwise, they will continue to become corrupt, one after another," the microblogger added.

Some netizens have even jokingly hailed the young women involved the sex scandal as "national heroes" in the fight against corruption.

ONLINE CORRUPTION-FIGHTING

Many have described the removal of the 10 officials and executives as the latest success in online anti-corruption efforts that have boomed with the rise of social media in China.

The exposure of corrupt officials on popular microblogging sites is becoming an effective tool in fighting corruption.

The expansive reach of social media, combined with a disgruntled public that has become increasingly intolerant of corruption, has resulted in multiple exposures and prompted anti-graft authorities to launch investigations.

More officials have realized that Internet is a major channel for public opinion and an important tool in fighting corruption, said Liu Xiaoying, a professor at the Communication University of China.

The Internet offers a convenient platform for the general public and can drive authorities to crack down on alleged corruption, said Chen Wanzhi, a former top official of the China Democratic League.

The Internet has also led to increased personal attacks and intrusions of privacy, however, leading some experts to call for improved laws and regulations to tackle the root causes of corruption.

POWER IN A CAGE

"When facing various kinds of temptation, officials should keep clear minds," said a local official from Chongqing who declined to be identified.

"When women say they love your charm, they are actually eyeing your power and how much interest you can bring to them,"the official added.

Behind most corrupt officials in China, there are mistresses. In many cases, tip-offs from mistresses have led to official corruption investigations.

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, vowed Tuesday to unswervingly fight against corruption and keep power reined within a "cage of regulations" while delivering a speech at a plenary session of CPC's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

Although government pledges to eliminate corruption have made the public more optimistic, many are setting their sights on the next concrete step in the fight against graft.

"What I care more about is whether the officials will be put under 'shuanggui' (a form of detention used for government officials) and investigated to see if they have committed economic crimes," said a government worker in Chongqing who also declined to be named.

"In that case, it would not only mean the end of their official careers, but could also result in jail terms," the government worker said.