You are browsing the archives of 2007 October.

According to a report from the BBC, the Italian Mafia is generating a huge amount of money from its extortion rackets. 
The Mafia has turned into one of Italy’s biggest business enterprises with a turnover of more than $120bn (£60bn) a year, a new report says.
The report, prepared by Italy’s leading retailer’s association, warns of growing [...]

In Phoenix, police took 54 people into custody after raiding a drop house for illegal immigrants smuggled into the United States. Law enforcement officials are reporting that the illegal immigrants were tortured by the smugglers as they demanded for money.
One man’s head had been wrapped in a plastic bag and submerged in a waste-filled toilet, [...]

From the Associated Press:
While piracy is the bane of many musicians trying to control the sale of their songs, tecnobrega artists see counterfeiters as key to their success. Artists, who make their money off of live shows, deliver their CDs directly to the street vendors, who determine the price that market can bear. This “mixtape” [...]

The top US General in Afghanistan stated that 40 percent of the Afghan insurgency is being financed by opium sales.
From AFP:
The top US general in Afghanistan said Thursday he estimated that Afghanistan’s rampant opium poppy cultivation was funding up to 40 percent of the Taliban-led insurgency.
General Dan McNeill, head of the NATO-led International Security [...]

Tian Lipu, the Intellectual Property Chief in China, gave a defiant interview to Reuters where he defended the actions taken by China in combating piracy.
Here are some of his quotes:
“Have you ever heard of another country whose whole leadership, including the president, study together intellectual property rights?” Tian asked reporters on the sidelines of a [...]

Guatemalan lawmakers are attempting to create policies to ensure the legitimacy of the adoption process in Guatemala.
Guatemalan President Oscar Berger said Tuesday that his government is simply working to make adoptions more secure and not trying to interfere with U.S. families already in the process of adopting some 3,700 children from the Central American nation.
In [...]

In the first nine months of this year, pirate attacks have increased 14 percent around the world, with a majority of attacks occurring of the coast of Somalia and Nigeria.
Pirates in Somalia have targeted humanitarian aid.
Pirates even targeted vessels on humanitarian missions, such as the MV Rozen which was hijacked in February soon after it [...]

From Reuters:
There are an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants living in the U.S.
The government has already stepped up raids of companies employing illegal workers, deporting a record 185,421 in fiscal year 2006.

As the political and security situation in Lebanon remains uncertain, local Cannabis growers have been able to harvest their crops without fear of eradication.
From The Christian Science Monitor:
Hashish production is illegal in Lebanon, and each year since the early 1990s police backed by troops bulldoze the crops before they can be harvested, leaving farmers [...]

Last week in Paris, four or five masked men entered a Harry Winston store and committed one of the largest jewelry thefts ever.
A brazen and meticulously planned robbery of the Harry Winston store in central Paris last weekend netted the unknown thieves about €20 million, or $28.4 million, in gems, one of the largest jewelry [...]