Source: AME Info, May 20, 2008.

Israel Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will step down in September after being caught up in a corruption investigation. From the Washington Post: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced Wednesday he will resign in September, throwing his country into political turmoil and raising doubts about progress for U.S.-backed Mideast peace efforts. Olmert’s brief address, given at his official Jerusalem [...]

The United Nations Office on Crime and Drugs is reporting that Afghan drug lords are recruiting foreign chemists to assist in their drug production. From the Financial Times: Drug lords in Afghanistan, where poppy growing has soared in spite of the billions that western powers have spent in trying to stamp it out, have started to recruit [...]

Chinese authorities are stating that the amount of counterfeit goods being made in China is being exaggerated. From Reuters (via Yahoo News): A Chinese intellectual property official said on Tuesday the world is overestimating the amount of counterfeit goods made in China, and blamed “expensive” copyright goods for driving consumers to fake goods. “There is [...]

A study from a professor in Canada is urging the United States and Canada to legalize and regulate online gambling. From Reuters: The study — conducted jointly by academics of the University of Western Ontario in Canada and the University of Nevada at Las Vegas — found that online gambling is readily accessible via the Internet even [...]

Black British passports were stolen by hijackers in Northern England. From the AFP (via Yahoo News): Hijackers made off with boxes of blank British passports worth a fortune on the black market in a raid on a delivery van, police said Tuesday, in the latest blow to the government’s record on security. Detectives said the 24 boxes of [...]

Israel is creating a witness-protection program to assist law enforcement officials in their fight against organized crime. From the Jerusalem Post: After years of calls for the establishment of an Israeli witness-protection program, the plan is expected to be operational by 2009, thereby dealing a serious blow to organized crime, the Knesset Internal Affairs Committee was told [...]

Former NBA referee Tim Donaghy has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for his role in an illegal gambling ring that severely attacked the credibility of professional basketball. From the AP (via Yahoo Sports): Donaghy pleaded guilty last August to conspiracy to engage in wire fraud and transmitting betting information through interstate commerce for taking payoffs [...]

US Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) has been indicted by a federal grand jury on making false claims on his financial forms. From the Washington Post: Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens (R) was charged with seven counts of making false statements on his financial disclosure forms in an indictment unsealed in federal court in the District this afternoon. The indictment [...]

In a report to be released on Tuesday, researchers have found that hackers and online criminals are moving at a much quicker pace that the security community can not keep up at times.  The AP previewed the report and highlighted two key finds in a report filed on Monday. From the AP (via Yahoo News): The first is [...]