It seems as if everything is for sale in Afghanistan. From the IHT: When it comes to governing this violent, fractious land, everything, it seems, has its price. Want to be a provincial police chief? It will cost you $100,000. Want to drive a convoy of trucks loaded with fuel across the country? Be prepared to pay $6,000 per [...]

The Los Angeles Times has an article highlighting the rampant corruption that is taking place in China.  From Mark Magnier of the LA Times, Corruption taints every facet of life in China: Corruption is an everyday experience for millions of Chinese that taints not just schools, but relations in business, on farms and in factories, and potentially [...]

Pirated streams of professional sports games are spreading across the Internet, creating concern for the professional sports league. From the IHT: After years of focusing on the pirating of highlight clips and photos on the Web, the major professional sports leagues are finding that pirated feeds of live games are now common and becoming a menace to [...]

A recent case in Houston, Texas highlights the increasing number of Chinese nationals who are being smuggled into the United States. According to Department of Homeland Security, there was a 49 percent increase in the number of illegal immigrants from China in the United States between 2000 and 2007.  Currently, the department estimates 290,000 Chinese immigrants [...]

The Associated Press has a report out on children who are trafficked into the United States to work as domestic maids.  From the AP (via Yahoo News): The trafficking of children for domestic labor in the U.S. is an extension of an illegal but common practice in Africa. Families in remote villages send their daughters to work [...]

Bootleg copies of movies that have yet to premier at film festivals are being traded amongst prospective buyers, according to a report by Reuters. Completed and partially completed movies are being traded and watched by film distribution companies before the films can even be viewed at film festivals such as the Sundance Film Festival. From Reuters: Sundance DVDs [...]

The Washington Post highlights the plight of young girls who are trafficked to work as domestic helpers. From the Washington Post: The number of girls like Adiza, who leave their communities or even their countries to clean other people’s houses, has surged in recent years, according to labor and human rights specialists. The girls in the maid [...]

A man was detained in Egypt after airport security officials found mummies in his luggage. According to a report from the BBC, the man was attempting to smuggle numerous antiquities out of the country. From the BBC: An airport official said the mummies of a cat and an ibis, a long-beaked bird, dated back to 300 BC. He said [...]

Wired Magazine has a fascinating article on a hackers attempt to gain control over the online black market trade in stolen credit cards. The report follows the trail of Max Butler, a computer hacker who attempted to consolidate the online marketplace of stolen credit cards. From Wired Magazine: Settling into his chair and resting his fingers on his [...]

Two web portals in South Korea were indicted for allowing users to post unlicensed songs on their servers. From the AP (via Google News): Two subsidiaries of NHN Corp. and Daum Communications Corp. were charged with allowing users to post music files on their blogs and personal sites and let other users copy and post the files [...]