Crime Correspondent

Dog 'The Bounty Hunter' Chapman's Show Canceled

Dog 'The Bounty Hunter' Chapman's Show Canceled

Dog "The Bounty Hunter" Chapman will have more time on his hands to catch criminals, because his show on A&E is being canceled...

Rebbeca Brooks learned this morning that she will be taken to court over accusations of perverting the course of justice in relation to the phone hacking scandal.

The former editor of the News of the World and the Sun is to be charged with five others, including her husband Charlie Brooks. Alison Levit...

Shootings not my fault, says ex-bikie Wissam Amer

<p>THE man believed by police to be the central figure in a bikie feud has declared he is not at fault for Sydney's spate of drive-by shootings and says they are the "act of a coward". Wissam Amer, 28, broke his silence to The Sunday Telegraph to say he was not at the heart of the current shootings between the Hells Angels and Nomads outlaw motorcycle gangs.  Last week The Sunday Telegraph revealed police believe Amer was the source of the conflict after he defected from the Hells Angels to the rival Nomads.  Speaking through his lawyer Maggie Sten, the former bikie said unequivocally that he was no longer part of any gang and disputed police claims he's responsible for the feud.  "The conflict between the Hells Angels and the Nomads is dead and buried - it has been for a while," Mr Amer said through his lawyer.  "It has got nothing to do with me."  Mr Amer was previously a member of the Bandidos, but left the group during a large scale "patch-over" of its members to the Hells Angels more than a year ago.  Police believe he then tried to leave the Hells Angels to join the Nomads and burned bridges along the way - however he disputes this.  Ms Sten said Mr Amer now wants to clear the record and confirm he is not part of any gang and is attempting to get on with a "normal life".  What is not in dispute, however, is that Mr Amer was the target of two drive-by shootings over the past seven months. One was a drive-by at a Merrylands Oporto, two days after he was released on bail; the other happened three days later at his previous address at Canley Vale.  Police believe both attacks were committed by Hells Angels, however Mr Amer said he could not prove this and neither could police.  Mr Amer is unsure who the perpetrators were. "It could have been anybody - it's a dirty game, it could have been someone that I'd had a run-in with years ago," Ms Sten said on Mr Amer's behalf. "I live my life with no fear - I live now as a normal person."  What Mr Amer was sure about was that drive-by shootings on himself or anyone else was a despicable act.  "It's as weak as scratching somebody's car - anybody who drives a car and attacks you at 1am is a coward," he said through Ms Sten.  "Especially when you know the people you're looking for are not there," referring to cases where the alleged targets were in jail.  He could not explain the forces behind the current wave of shootings, but agreed with a police theory - revealed by The Sunday Telegraph - that a third party is trying to reignite animosities between the groups.  Authorities brokered a peace agreement between the two gangs in January, but that faltered on April 16 when shots were fired at a home and car in Pemulwuy.  "We believe it's other people trying to stir the pot," Ms Sten said for Mr Amer. "This is the perfect time for people to attack because they know the Hells Angels and Nomads were in a previous conflict which no longer exists."  Police Strike Force Kinnarra has locked up 13 people in relation to the nine shootings that happened last month. Detective Superintendent Arthur Katsogiannis said the conflict was firmly between the two gangs.</p>

Shootings not my fault, says ex-bikie Wissam Amer

THE man believed by police to be the central figure in a bikie feud has declared he is not at fault for Sydney's spate of drive-by shoot...

Rebekah Brooks turns screw on Jeremy Hunt with 'hacking advice' email

<p>Jeremy Hunt, came under renewed pressure when the former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks disclosed an email appearing to show he had sought the company's advice over how Downing Street should respond to the mounting phone-hacking scandal.  The email, which also suggests Hunt sought to avoid a public inquiry into phone hacking, emerged on another day of extraordinary disclosures about the intimacy between Rupert Murdoch's company and government ministers.  The email from News Corporation lobbyist Frédéric Michel written in June 2011 told Brooks that Hunt was poised to make an "extremely helpful" statement about the company's proposed acquisition of BSkyB, saying the takeover would be approved regardless of phone-hacking allegations.  Michel also warned her, days before the Guardian revealed that murdered teenager Milly Dowler's voicemail had been targeted by the News of the World, that "JH [Jeremy Hunt] is now starting to looking into phone-hacking/practices more thoroughly" and that he "has asked me to advise him privately in the coming weeks and guide his and No 10's positioning".  During five hours of testimony, Brooks revealed she dined with George Osborne on 13 December 2010, when she discussed Ofcom's initial objections to News Corp's £8bn bid. The objections had been sent in a confidential "issues letter" by the media regulator to her company three days before. Following a short discussion, the then News International boss reported to James Murdoch the next day that Osborne had expressed "total bafflement".  In a steely and at times tetchy performance, Brooks said her lobbying of the chancellor had been "entirely appropriate" because she was "reflecting the opposite view to the view he had heard by that stage from pretty much every member of the anti-Sky bid alliance". But Robert Jay QC, counsel to the inquiry, said that the email demonstrated that it was "obvious that he was supportive of your bid, wasn't he", a suggestion Brooks rejected. The disclosures about her conversations with the chancellor will increase the likelihood that he is called to appear before the inquiry. He is the only one of eight ministers who have submitted statements to Leveson not to have been asked to appear.  Though less damaging than some in Downing Street had feared, Brooks' testimony also proved embarrassing for David Cameron. She revealed the prime minister signed texts "DC" or sometimes "LOL" – until she explained that the phrase meant "laugh out loud", not "lots of love". She said she typically texted Cameron once a week, and twice a week during the 2010 election campaign, dismissing as preposterous reports that he sometimes texted her up to 12 times per day.  Brooks said any email correspondence between her and politicians was now held by News International. She had only copies of emails and texts that were on her BlackBerry during a six-week period in June and July 2011, but a single message from Cameron had been "compressed" and could not now be read.  Brooks confirmed that she had socialised with Cameron at least twice within four days in Oxfordshire during Christmas 2010, the culmination of a year in which they had already met at least five times. The first contact of the festive season was at a dinner at her house on 23 December, when there was a conversation about the BSkyB bid. The second was a previously undisclosed "mulled wine, mince pie" party organised by her sister-in-law on Boxing Day 2010, an event at which she was unsure if she had spoken to Cameron or his wife, Samantha, although "my sister-in-law tells me they were definitely there".  Although Brooks has been arrested in connection with phone hacking and bribery investigations, and on suspicion of perverting the course of justice, the inquiry also heard that she had discussed the growing hacking allegations with Cameron at some point during 2010.  She said the prime minister – who at that point was still employing former News of the World editor Andy Coulson – had asked her for an update. "I think it had been on the news that day, and I think I explained the story behind the news. No secret information, no privileged information, just a general update," Brooks said. The disclosure will add to the pressure on Cameron to explain why he failed to challenge Coulson about the hacking allegations against him at any time after the Guardian broke the story in July 2009.  However, the most serious evidence to emerge regarded Hunt, whose fate has been hanging in the balance since Rupert Murdoch provided 163 pages of News Corp emails to the Leveson inquiry, which suggested that Michel had obtained a large amount of information about the progress of ministerial approval of the BSkyB bid.  Finding a fresh email from Michel that had eluded Murdoch's legal team last month, Brooks showed that she had been told that Hunt would essentially approve the long-delayed takeover because he believed "phone hacking has nothing to do with the media plurality issues" that were increasingly concerning rivals. Michel told Brooks that the sought-after approval would happen later in the last week of June 2011.</p>

Rebekah Brooks turns screw on Jeremy Hunt with 'hacking advice' email

Jeremy Hunt, came under renewed pressure when the former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks disclosed an email appearing to s...

Rebekah Brooks refused to name source of Brown son story

<p>Rebekah Brooks has denied that The Sun hacked the medical records of Gordon Brown's four-year-old son - and refused to disclose the source of the information to the Leveson Inquiry  She also insisted that the paper had permission from the former Prime Minister and his wife before publishing an article about the child's medical condition.  Brooks said that she and Gordon's Brown wife Sarah "were good  In a written response to the Inquiry's questions submitted in October last year Brooks set out a detailed description of safeguards put in place to check stories.  The former tabloid editor and News International chief executive also denied commissioning any computer hacking or feeling any "negative pressure" from proprietor Rupert Murdoch.  Much of the 12-page statement consists of explanations of the processes used to check accuracy and sources, train staff and decide whether to run a particular story.  Despite those efforts, there were "failures from time to time" - significantly so at the News of the World, Mrs Brooks conceded.  "I was horrified when I learned of them and I was and am deeply sorry about the further anguish that was caused to Milly Dowler's parents in particular," she wrote.  Corporate governance was taken "seriously" within the newspaper group though, she added.  Mrs Brooks also told the inquiry:  :: She was not aware of any use of computer hacking: "I have been specifically asked by the Inquiry whether I or the newspapers where I worked ever used or commissioned anyone who used 'computer hacking' in order to source stories or for any other reason. I did not and I was not aware of anyone at either the News of the World or The Sun who did."  :: There was a crackdown on the use of private investigators following highly critical reports by the Information Commissioner's Office and the Commons media and sport select committee.  "I believe their use is now virtually non-existent," she wrote - noting there were exceptions such as using them to track down convicted paedophiles who had broken their bail conditions.  :: The use of cash payments had been "considerably tightened up".  :: It would be "highly unusual and not practical" for an editor to check the accuracy and sources of stories going into their paper other than the biggest or most controversial.  :: There were "numerous examples" of times when she resisted publishing a story because the invasion of privacy outweighed any public interest or because it was more important to alert the police to criminal activities than to secure an exclusive.  "It is quite wrong to believe that the press simply publishes what it can get away with, irrespective of the ethical requirements," she insisted.  :: The industry felt privacy laws had "slowly crept in through the back door", stymieing legitimate journalism but failing to regulate inaccurate internet gossip.  :: In her decade as a national newspaper editor she "never experienced or felt any negative pressure either financial or commercial from the proprietor. In fact the opposite is true. There was always constant advice, experienced guidance and support available." There was no financial motive to print exclusive stories. "Professional pride was the biggest incentive."</p>

Rebekah Brooks refused to name source of Brown son story

Rebekah Brooks has denied that The Sun hacked the medical records of Gordon Brown's four-year-old son - and refused to disclose the sour...

David Cameron sent commiserations to Rebekah Brooks after she resigned as News International chief executive over the phone hacking scandal

<p>David Cameron sent commiserations to Rebekah Brooks after she resigned as News International chief executive over the phone hacking scandal, the Leveson Inquiry has heard. Ms Brooks said the indirect messages from the Prime Minister were "along the lines" of "keep your head up" and had also expressed regret that he could not be more loyal in public.  She also received sympathetic messages from other senior figures in 10 and 11 Downing Street, the Home Office, the Foreign Office and some Labour politicians, including Tony Blair.  The glimpse of Ms Brooks's network of high-powered friends and contacts came as she took to the witness box, despite being under investigation by police.  Ms Brooks said she only had access to around six weeks of texts and emails from her time as NI chief executive, from the beginning of June to July 17 last year. Only one of those emails was relevant to the inquiry, according to her evidence. One of the text messages had been from Mr Cameron, but the content was compressed and unreadable, she said.  Robert Jay QC, counsel for the inquiry, asked Ms Brooks about reports that she had received sympathetic messages after her resignation last July.  "I had some indirect messages from some politicians but nothing direct," she replied. "A variety - some Tories, a couple of Labour politicians. Very few Labour politicians. I received some indirect messages from Number 10, Number 11, the Home Office, the Foreign Office..."  She said Tony Blair had been among them but Gordon Brown had not. "He was probably getting the bunting out," she added, provoking laughter in the courtroom.  Questioned on whether reports were correct that Mr Cameron's message had urged her to "keep your head up", Ms Brooks responded: "Along those lines."  Pressed on whether the premier had also conveyed regret that political circumstances meant he could not be more "loyal", Ms Brooks replied: "Similar, but very indirect."</p>

David Cameron sent commiserations to Rebekah Brooks after she resigned as News International chief executive over the phone hacking scandal

David Cameron sent commiserations to Rebekah Brooks after she resigned as News International chief executive over the phone hacking scandal,...

Rebekah Brooks to lift lid on David Cameron friendship

<p>Former Sun and News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks is expected to lift the lid on her close relationship with the Prime Minister in evidence to the Leveson Inquiry. David Cameron is said to have texted Mrs Brooks, telling her to "keep her head up" after she resigned from News International last July. It has also been claimed that the 43-year-old former editor sent Mr Cameron more than 12 text messages a day.  After her editorships Mrs Brooks went on to become chief executive of Rupert Murdoch's UK newspapers division News International in September 2009 until she resigned in the wake of the hacking scandal last July.  She and racehorse trainer husband Charlie are key members of the influential Chipping Norton set, which also includes Mr Cameron and his wife Samantha, Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson, and Mr Murdoch's daughter Elisabeth and her PR guru husband Matthew Freud.  The inquiry has already heard that Mrs Brooks regularly met Mr Cameron and other top politicians along with Rupert and James Murdoch.  She hosted a Christmas dinner on December 23 2010, just two days after Business Secretary Vince Cable was stripped of his responsibility for media takeovers for saying he had "declared war" on the Murdochs' News Corporation empire. Mrs Brooks's wedding on June 13 2009 was attended by Mr Cameron and former prime minister Gordon Brown, and in March Mr Cameron was forced to admit that he rode a retired police horse loaned to Mrs Brooks by Scotland Yard from 2008 to 2010.  An updated biography of Cameron: Practically A Conservative, claims he told Mrs Brooks she would get through her difficulties just days before she stood down over the phone hacking scandal.  There has speculation that the Leveson Inquiry could release emails and text messages sent between Mr Cameron and the former News International chief executive. According to Daily Telegraph columnist Peter Oborne, Mrs Brooks has kept all the texts she received from the Prime Minister.  Mrs Brooks has twice been arrested by Scotland Yard detectives investigating allegations of phone hacking, corrupt payments to public officials, and an attempt to pervert the course of justice. She was bailed and has not been charged. She will not be questioned about anything that could prejudice the continuing police investigation into phone hacking or any potential future trials.  Mr Cameron set up the Leveson Inquiry last July in response to revelations that the now-defunct News of the World hacked murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler's phone after she disappeared in 2002. The first part of the inquiry, sitting at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, is looking at the culture, practices and ethics of the Press in general and is due to produce a report by October.</p>

Rebekah Brooks to lift lid on David Cameron friendship

Former Sun and News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks is expected to lift the lid on her close relationship with the Prime Minister in evid...

US blacklists sons of Mexico drug lord Joaquin Guzman

<p>The US treasury department has put two sons of Mexico's most wanted man Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman on its drugs kingpin blacklist.  The move bars all people in the US from doing business with Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar and Ovidio Guzman Lopez, and freezes any US assets they have.  Joaquin Guzman, on the list since 2001, runs the powerful Sinaloa drug cartel.  Mexico has seen an explosion of violence in recent years as gangs fight for control of trafficking routes.  The US administration "will aggressively target those individuals who facilitate Chapo Guzman's drug trafficking operations, including family members," said Adam Szubin, director of the department's Office of Foreign Assets Control .  "With the Mexican government, we are firm in our resolve to dismantle Chapo Guzman's drug trafficking organisation."  Ovidio Guzman plays a significant role in his father's drug-trafficking activities, the treasury department said.  Ivan Archivaldo Guzman was arrested in 2005 in Mexico on money-laundering charges but subsequently released.  As well as the Guzman brothers, two other alleged key cartel members, Noel Salgueiro Nevarez and Ovidio Limon Sanchez, were listed under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act.  They were both arrested in Mexico in 2011 and are still in custody.  Under the Kingpin Act, US firms, banks and individuals are prevented from doing business with them and any assets the men may have under US jurisdiction are frozen.  More than 1,000 companies and individuals linked to 94 drug kingpins have been placed on the blacklist since 2000.  Penalties for violating the act range include up to 30 years in prison and fines up to $10m (£6m).  The US has offered a reward of up to $5m a for information leading to the arrest of Joaquin Guzman, who escaped from a Mexican prison in 2001.</p>

US blacklists sons of Mexico drug lord Joaquin Guzman

The US treasury department has put two sons of Mexico's most wanted man Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman on its drugs kingpin blackli...

FBI offers up to $100,000 for info leading to capture of Eduardo Ravelo

<p>Eduardo Ravelo, born on October 13, 1968 was added as the 493rd fugitive to the FBI 10 most wanted list on October 20, 2009. He is originally from Mexico, however he holds permanent residency status in the United States which gives him free movement across the border.  An FBI informant and former lieutenant in the Barrio Azteca, a prison gang active in the U.S. and Mexico, testified that Ravelo told him to help find fellow gang members who had stolen from the cartel. In March 2008, he became the leader of the gang shortly after betraying his predecessor, stabbing him several times and shooting him in the neck. (Eduardo Ravelo: Wikipedia)  Eduardo Ravelo was indicted in Texas in 2008 for his involvement in racketeering activities, conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, and conspiracy to possess heroin, cocaine and marijuana with the intent to distribute. His alleged criminal activities began in 2003. He is believed to be living in an area of Cuidad Juarez controlled by the Barrio Ravelo, with his wife and children just across the border from El Paso, Texas. He is also said to have bodyguards and armored vehicles to protect him from rival gangs as well as rival cartels.</p>

FBI offers up to $100,000 for info leading to capture of Eduardo Ravelo

Eduardo Ravelo, born on October 13, 1968 was added as the 493rd fugitive to the FBI 10 most wanted list on October 20, 2009. He is originall...

Sam Ibrahim headed to jail

<p>Former Sydney bikie boss Sam Ibrahim has been sent back to jail for allegedly breaching his parole. The 46-year-old was arrested yesterday at his home in Sydney's north-west at Bella Vista by a police strike force targeting the city's bikie gun war. The New South Wales Parole Authority revoked parole for the former Nomads boss after receiving a report from parole officers alleging he had been taking prohibited drugs and failing to obey directions. The arrest followed a police raid of his house last Friday, which was part of an operation targeting 18 homes and businesses linked to feuding Hells Angels and Nomads bikies. The house had been sprayed with bullets only a week earlier, in one of nine tit-for-tat shootings between the gangs in just over a week. Ibrahim is being held at Silverwater jail, ahead of a public hearing by the NSW Parole Board later this month. The board will decide whether to keep the former Nomads boss in prison until his sentence expires on October 7, or whether to extend his jail time. Ibrahim spent five months in jail as part of the 15-month sentence over the violent kidnapping of a 15-year-old boy in 2009. His arrest was part of a crackdown by the Gangs Squad's Strike Force Kinnara, which was set up to combat an escalation in bikie gun crime. The strike force also arrested convicted Sydney drug boss Bill Bayeh a fortnight ago for an alleged breach of parole.</p>

Sam Ibrahim headed to jail

Former Sydney bikie boss Sam Ibrahim has been sent back to jail for allegedly breaching his parole. The 46-year-old was arrested yesterday a...

Rupert Murdoch was branded “not a fit person” to run a major company

<p><br /> Rupert Murdoch was branded “not a fit person” to run a major company in a bombshell report by MPs today.  His son and business heir James was accused of “wilful ignorance” towards phone hacking, while Murdoch executives were accused of lying to cover it up.  The verdicts leave the 81-year-old tycoon fighting to justify his leadership of a worldwide empire including the broadcaster BSkyB. He faces being dragged before Parliament to apologise.  The force of the report was partly diminished by a row between members of the culture select committee. Four Conservatives voted against the final draft because they felt the attack on Rupert Murdoch’s fitness  to run a company was over the top.  However, the final 100-page report backed by the Labour and Lib-Dem MPs on the committee amounted to one of the most scathing parliamentary verdicts on an international business.  The MPs said Rebekah Brooks, former News of the World editor and chief executive of News International, “should accept responsibility” for the culture that led to Milly Dowler’s phone being hacked, along with hundreds of others.  The report also found editors, lawyers, the police and prosecutors guilty of a catalogue of failings. Several former Murdoch lieutenants were singled out for misleading Parliament, including former News International executive chairman Les Hinton, former News Group  lawyer Tom Crone, and former News of the World editor Colin Myler.  It criticised the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer, and the former Metropolitan Police acting deputy commissioner John Yates, saying “they both bear culpability for failing to ensure that the evidence ... was properly investigated.”  Rupert Murdoch was accused of “wilful blindness” about the mounting evidence of phone hacking. The verdict will add muscle to shareholders seeking to topple Mr Murdoch and to critics demanding that media regulator Ofcom strip him of his broadcasting licence.  The report accused the Murdoch companies of trying to “buy the silence” of victims by awarding huge payouts to victims of hacking such as football players’ union boss Gordon Taylor.  Verdicts on some figures who have been arrested by the police were held back in case they hampered fair trials. Among these was Andy Coulson, the former News of the World editor who was hired by David Cameron as his spin chief at No 10.  The ferocious conclusion, which divided the committee in a series of votes on the final wording, was that Mr Murdoch was ultimately to blame and therefore not fit to hold his position.  It said: “On the basis of the facts and evidence before the committee we conclude that, if at all relevant times Rupert Murdoch did not take steps to become fully informed about phone-hacking, he turned a blind eye and exhibited wilful blindness to what was going on in his companies and publications.  “This culture, we consider, permeated from the top throughout the organisation and speaks volumes about the lack of effective corporate governance at News Corporation and News International. We conclude, therefore that Rupert Murdoch is not a fit person to exercise the stewardship of a major international company.”  The committee branded it “simply astonishing” that Rupert and James said it was not until December 2010 that they realised that News International’s claim that hacking involved a single “rogue reporter” was untrue. It poured scorn on James Murdoch’s “lack of curiosity” that raised “questions of competence”.  Mr Hinton was “complicit in the cover-up at News International” that included paying inflated compensation to victims. Mr Crone and Mr Myler misled the committee by answering questions “falsely”.  The final devastating verdict on Mr Murdoch was a triumph for Labour MP Tom Watson who drafted the conclusions. But the 11-member committee divided along party lines, with the full denunciation being passed by the vote of a single Liberal Democrat member.  Mr Watson said of Rupert Murdoch: “More than any individual alive, he is to blame. Morally, the deeds are his. He paid the piper and he called the tune.”  Conservative MPs Louise Mensch and Philip Davies insisted the MPs had no right to make such a ruling and hit out at “partisan” voting by Labour members led by Mr Watson and Paul Farrelly.  Mrs Mensch said Tory members could not back the declaration, describing it as “wildly outside the scope” of the committee and “improper attempt to influence” watchdog Ofcom.”  Mr Davies said Mr Murdoch was “very clearly” a fit and proper person to run a major firm, pointing to the jobs he had created.  He added: “Many people may conclude that some people’s conclusions were written before any of the evidence was heard, and that is very sad.”  Mr Watson said he was disappointed there had been splits, but insisted Mr Murdoch must be held to account for crimes at News Corporation.  Committee chair John Whittingdale said he did not vote on any of the amendments in the report, but hinted at his opinion on whether it should have branded Mr Murdoch unfit, saying: “I would merely observe that as well as being the chairman of the committee, I am a Conservative MP.”  Lib-Dem member Adrian Sanders who was effectively left with the casting vote, sided with the Labour view. He said he would have faced accusations of party bias whichever way he had decided. After the report was published Mr Watson said he had “reason to believe” that even more the material in the form of hard drives was in the hands of the Serious Organised Crime Agency.  He sought to extend the probe into new areas — including claims News Corp could be in contempt of Parliament over claims they sought to use private investigators to dig dirt on committee members.  He also said politicians — including Tony Blair and Gordon Brown as well as David Cameron and George Osborne — should reveal their email and text message contacts with News Corp executives.</p>

Rupert Murdoch was branded “not a fit person” to run a major company

Rupert Murdoch was branded “not a fit person” to run a major company in a bombshell report by MPs today. His son and business heir James w...

Lock your doors alert as Whitby double murder suspect spotted on run

Detectives hunting double murder suspect James Allen have urged Yorkshire residents to lock their doors and windows after reported sightings...

Gas canister man storms office

One of the country's busiest shopping streets has been closed as a man wearing gas canisters stormed into an office and threatened to bl...

Busy London street evacuated over ‘hostage situation’

<p>POLICE have been called to a potential hostage situation after Tottenham Court Road in London, one of the country’s busiest shopping streets, was closed.  Businesses and shoppers were evacuated from the area at midday.  Scotland Yard said it had sent a negotiator to the scene after reports of a man throwing furniture out of a window several floors up.  A spokesman said it was “too early to say if the suspect was armed or indeed had taken any hostages”.  Joaqam Ramus, who works at nearby Cafe Fresco, said before being evacuated: “There was talk of a bomb and somebody having a hostage in a building.  “All Tottenham Court Road is closed and so are we - the police told us to shut.  “We don’t know what it is but it seems someone has a hostage.”  A spokesman for Transport for London could not confirm details of the ongoing operation but confirmed they were “aware of an incident”.  Staff from news website The Huffington Post UK were evacuated from their building after a man reportedly wearing a gas canister threatened to blow himself up in the adjoining building, they said.  People near the scene reported shots being fired and said computers and equipment had been thrown out of the windows of the office block housing the Huffington Post.  Huffington Post UK executive editor Stephen Hull posted a video on Twitter of an office worker who saw the man enter the building.  Abby Baafi, 27, the head of training and operations at Advantage, a company which offers HGV courses, told Mr Hull the man had targeted her offices and was currently holding four men hostage.  In a video posted on YouTube, she said: “What happened is, we were in the office and someone came in. He asked him what his name was and he said it was Michael Green.  “I recognised him because he was one of our previous customers but he is not quite stable - mentally stable.  “He turned up, strapped up with gasoline cylinders, and threatened to blow up the office.  “He said he doesn’t care about his life. He doesn’t care about anything, he is going to blow up everybody.  “He was specifically looking for me but I said ‘My name’s not Abby’ and he let me go.”  Ms Baafi said the man failed the HGV training course and wanted his money back.</p>

Busy London street evacuated over ‘hostage situation’

POLICE have been called to a potential hostage situation after Tottenham Court Road in London, one of the country’s busiest shopping streets...

Credit card fraud websites shut down on three continents

<p>Three men have been arrested and 36 criminal websites selling credit card information and other personal data shut down as part of a two-year international anti-fraud operation, police have confirmed.  The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), working with the FBI and US Department of Justice, as well as authorities in Germany; the Netherlands; Ukraine; Australia and Romania, swooped after identifying the sites as specialising in selling card and bank details in bulk.  The move comes as a blow to what is a growing black market for stolen financial data. Detectives estimated that the card information seized could have been used to extract more than £500m in total by fraudsters. SOCA claimed it has recovered more than two and a half million items of compromised personal and financial information over the past two years.  “The authorities have shut down 36 websites but it is difficult to know how many other people had access to that data. They could spring back up somewhere else if a gang is not eradicated completely,” said Graham Cluley of internet security firm Sophos.  He added: “This is big business and, just as in any legitimate company there are people who specialise in different things, so there are those who actually get their hands on the personal data and those who sell it on; they are not often the same person.”  An investigation by The Independent last summer found that scammers were making a “comfortable living” getting their hands on sensitive information and selling it online. Card details were being offered for sale for between 4p and £60 per card – depending on the quality – according to one source in the business. Some cards would be sold with incomplete or unreliable information; others ready to use.  Some of the card details for sale on the websites shut down by SOCA were being sold for as little as £2 each. Investigators said that the alleged fraudsters were using Automated Vending Carts, which allowed them to sell large quantities of stolen data. They are said to be a driver of the growth in banking fraud over the last 18 months because of the speed with which stolen data can be sold.  Lee Miles, Head of Cyber Operations for SOCA said: “This operation is an excellent example of the level of international cooperation being focused on tackling online fraud. Our activities have saved business, online retailers and financial institutions potential fraud losses estimated at more than half a billion pounds, and at the same time protected thousands of individuals from the distress caused by being a victim of fraud or identity crime.”  An alleged operator in Macedonia was one of those arrested, while two British men accused of buying the information were also detained. Britain’s Dedicated Cheque & Plastic Crime Unit also seized computers suspected of being used to commit fraud.</p>

Credit card fraud websites shut down on three continents

Three men have been arrested and 36 criminal websites selling credit card information and other personal data shut down as part of a two-yea...

Shooting a 'warning' from rival bikie gang

<p>SIMMERING tension between rival bikie gangs exploded on the Gold Coast yesterday with the drive-by shooting of a tattoo parlour in the heart of Bandidos territory.  Police fear the attack could be a push for territory by the Hells Angels as the outlaw gang seeks a toehold on the lucrative Glitter Strip.  Less than 24 hours after police commissioner Bob Atkinson told the Bulletin that bikie gangs were "one of the greatest challenges to face law enforcement", the Bandido-protected Mermaid Beach tattoo shop was hit by at least four shots in the early hours of yesterday morning.  High-ranking police yesterday said it was "inevitable" that the violence that has plagued Sydney would eventually spill across the border.  "We do not believe it is directly connected to the war between the Hells Angels and the Nomads that has been unfolding in New South Wales," said police.  "But it is a similar style of attack.  "We know the Hells Angels have been pushing to establish a chapter on the Gold Coast -- that push is coming from Sydney.  "Tradelink Drive is not their most profitable chapter."  While detectives have attempted to play down the shooting, police say there is "no doubt" it was intended as a warning.  The Bandidos are the largest and one of the most secretive bikie gangs on the Gold Coast.  The club has gained strength as its main rival -- the Finks -- have been severely weakened with so many senior members behind bars and Bandido territory stretches south from Broadbeach.  Police said last month's Hells Angels National Run was intended as a direct message to all gangs on the Gold Coast.  More than 200 patched gang members descended on Surfers Paradise for the run.  "These clubs are so well organised, they do nothing without a reason," police said.  "You can bet they had some purpose in coming to the Gold Coast.  "They taunted the Finks and nothing happened, now the Bandidos tattoo shop is shot up in the same way the gym controlled by the Hells Angels was hit a few months ago.  "You join the dots."  The shop is owned by a senior member of the outlaw gang who has been a patched member of the Bandidos "for years", police say.  In an exclusive interview with the Bulletin, Mr Atkinson said the danger of bikie gangs was "under-rated" by the community.  "The outlaw motorcycle gangs nationally present one of the greatest challenges to police.  "I think the degree of that challenge and the risk they present to our society is underrated."  The Gold Coast has one of the highest populations of bikie gangs in the country.  Mr Atkinson said he would not be surprised if the Hells Angels were not considering a move closer to the Glitter Strip.  "They are businesses, they look for opportunity so that wouldn't be a surprise," he said.  "They market themselves as a group of mature men who have a love and interest in motorbikes and they do that very cleverly. The reality is they are highly sophisticated, well organised criminal enterprises that pose a genuine risk to the community and many are well represented by the finest and best lawyers who they retain to represent them."  South East Region Assistant Commissioner Graham Rynders said the gangs were constantly looking to expand.  "One of things about OMCGs is they look for opportunity for criminal enterprise," Mr Rynders said.  "Throughout Queensland, throughout the country, probably throughout the world they are looking to expand. It is obviously dictated to by territory, depending on who or what other groups exist in what areas."</p>

Shooting a 'warning' from rival bikie gang

SIMMERING tension between rival bikie gangs exploded on the Gold Coast yesterday with the drive-by shooting of a tattoo parlour in the heart...

Jury hears grisly details about murder scene

<p>Police discovered a grisly scene on Sept. 10, 2000, when they entered a Cogmagun Road home in Hants County.  “It was a very brutal scene,” Cpl. Shawn Sweeney, who was a constable with the Windsor rural RCMP detachment that day, testified Tuesday in Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Kentville.  It was the second day of trial for Leslie Douglas Greenwood, 42, who is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of Barry Kirk Mersereau, 48, and his wife, Nancy Paula Christensen, 47.  Sweeney, a Crown witness, testified that he and four other police officers who responded to a 911 call found Christensen sitting upright in a chair in the living room of her Centre Burlington home with a bullet wound in her left cheek, under her glasses.  She had a cup of tea in her hand and a small dog was sitting in her lap. There were several bullet casings and lead fragments scattered on the floor.  Mersereau was lying face down, with pools of blood around his head and body.  Another dog, believed to be a German shepherd-Rottweiler mix, was hiding under covers on the bed in the master bedroom. A third dog was tied to the front porch and another had run off into the woods.  Sweeney told Chief Justice Joseph Kennedy and the seven-woman, five-man jury hearing the case that the house appeared to be neat and orderly, with no signs of struggle.  “It didn’t appear to be a house that was rifled through or things thrown around,” Sweeney testified.  Const. Glenn Bonvie told the court it was immediately obvious that Mersereau and Christensen were dead.  “There was no movement. There was no doubt that they were deceased.”  Crown witness Ronald Connors owned a hunting cabin in the woods about half a kilometre away from the couple’s house. He testifed that he heard several shots at about 8:15 p.m. on Sept. 9.  Connors said he heard six shots fired in quick succession, followed by a pause and a couple more shots. Moments later, there were more shots.  He said he thought at first someone might be jacking deer, but Connors concluded that the shots didn’t sound like those from a high-powered hunting rifle.  The jury was shown a video of the two bodies as they were found.  Former RCMP officer David Clace, then in charge of the RCMP’s forensics identification unit in New Minas, said a large amount of money was found in plastic bags in a gym bag in one of the bedroom closets. The bag was later determined to contain about $65,000 in cash.  Crown attorney Peter Craig has told the court that the victims were shot to death in their home in an execution-style killing as part of a Hells Angels-ordered killing.  “They were killed in their home in a quiet community, with a teapot on the stove, with no signs of struggle and their baby in the next room,” Craig told the jury.  He said evidence presented by as many as 40 Crown witnesses will show that Michael Lawrence and Greenwood murdered the couple on the orders of Jeffrey Lynds, a former Hells Angels operative who died recently in a Montreal jail of an apparent suicide.  Lawrence, who owed Lynds money, pleaded guilty last January to three charges of first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 25 years. Also killed that day, by Lawrence, was Charles Maddison, an innocent man who picked Lawrence up hitchhiking.  Lawrence shot him to take his truck to commit a planned robbery.  Craig said Lawrence, expected to be a crucial Crown witness, will testify that he and Greenwood shot the couple, one with a .357 Magnum, the other with a 32-calibre handgun, in what he called “planned and deliberate” killings.  The couple’s 18-month-old baby boy was safely recovered from the house by neighbour Ruby McKenzie, who went to the victim’s home the day after the shootings.  McKenzie said she brought the baby back to her mobile home and called police.  Greenwood sat quietly during the proceedings, occasionally exchanging comments with his lawyer, Alain Begin. Begin is expected to argue that Greenwood went to the Mersereau house the day of the shootings to buy drugs, and that Lawrence shot the couple while Greenwood was waiting outside.  Also charged with first-degree murder in the killings is Curtis Blair Lynds, 36, who is serving time in a federal prison for drug trafficking. A preliminary inquiry in his case is scheduled to begin July 16.</p>

Jury hears grisly details about murder scene

Police discovered a grisly scene on Sept. 10, 2000, when they entered a Cogmagun Road home in Hants County. “It was a very brutal scene,” C...

Reopen Madeleine case, police urge

<p>Scotland Yard has urged Portuguese authorities to reopen the search for Madeleine McCann as detectives said there are 195 potential leads to finding her alive. The detective leading the Metropolitan Police review said the case can still be solved before officers released a picture of what she might now look like as a nine-year-old. Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood said he believes her disappearance was a stranger abduction, as he said there are 195 "investigative opportunities". Police refused to say what evidence they had uncovered to suggest Madeleine is alive. Mr Redwood confirmed that his team of more than 30 officers involved in the case had been out to Portugal seven times, including a visit to the family's holiday flat in Praia da Luz. It will be five years ago next week since the three-year-old went missing as her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, dined with friends nearby. A spokesman for the McCanns said the family was pleased with the image. Mr Redwood said his 37 officers had dealt with 40,000 pieces of information but the "primacy still sits in Portugal" in the attempt to find her. Commander Simon Foy said: "Most significantly, the message we want to bring to you is that, on the evidence, there is a possibility that she is alive and we desperately need your help today to appeal directly to the public for information to support our investigation." Mr Redwood said "evidence that she is alive stems from the forensic view of the timeline" that there was the opportunity for her to be taken. Investigations show "there do appear to be gaps", he added. Detectives in Portugal are also understood to want the case reopened but must gain judicial approval via the courts.</p>

Reopen Madeleine case, police urge

Scotland Yard has urged Portuguese authorities to reopen the search for Madeleine McCann as detectives said there are 195 potential leads to...

Insecure websites to be named and shamed after checks

<p>Companies that do not do enough to keep their websites secure are to be named and shamed to help improve security.  The list of good and bad sites will be published regularly by the non-profit Trustworthy Internet Movement (TIM).  A survey carried out to launch the group found that more than 52% of sites tested were using versions of security protocols known to be compromised.  The group will test websites to see how well they have implemented basic security software.  Security fundamentals The group has been set up by security experts and entrepreneurs frustrated by the slow pace of improvements in online safety.  "We want to stimulate some initiatives and get something done," said TIM's founder Philippe Courtot, serial entrepreneur and chief executive of security firm Qualys. He has bankrolled the group with his own money.  TIM has initially focused on a widely used technology known as the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL).  Experts recruited to help with the initiative include SSL's inventor Dr Taher Elgamal; "white hat" hacker Moxie Marlinspike who has written extensively about attacking the protocol; and Michael Barrett, chief security officer at Paypal.  Continue reading the main story “ Start Quote  Everyone is now going to be able to see who has a good grade and who has a bad grade”  Philippe Courtot Many websites use SSL to encrypt communications between them and their users. It is used to protect credit card numbers and other valuable data as it travels across the web.  "SSL is one of the fundamental parts of the internet," said Mr Courtot.  "It's what makes it trustworthy and right now it's not as secure as you think."  Compromised certificates TIM plans a two-pronged attack on SSL.  The first part would be to run automated tools against websites to test how well they had implemented SSL, said Mr Courtot.  "We'll be making it public," he added. "Everyone is now going to be able to see who has a good grade and who has a bad grade."  Early tests suggest that about 52% of sites checked ran a version of SSL known to be compromised.  Companies who have done a bad job will be encouraged to improve and upgrade their implementations so it gets safer to use those sites.  The second part of the initiative concerns the running of the bodies, known as certificate authorities, which guarantee that a website is what it claims to be.  TIM said it would work with governments, industry bodies and companies to check that CAs are well run and had not been compromised.  "It's a much more complex problem," said Mr Courtot.  In 2011, two certificate authorities, DigiNotar and GlobalSign were found to have been compromised. In some cases this meant attackers eavesdropped on what should have been a secure communications channel.  Steve Durbin, global vice president of the Information Security Forum which represents security specialists working in large corporations, said many of its members took responsibility for making sure sites were secure.  "You cannot just say 'buyer beware'," he said.  "That's not good enough anymore. They have a real a duty of care."  He said corporations were also increasingly conscious of their reputation for providing safe and secure services to customers.  Data breaches, hack attacks and poor security were all likely to hit share prices and could mean they lose customers, he noted.</p>

Insecure websites to be named and shamed after checks

Companies that do not do enough to keep their websites secure are to be named and shamed to help improve security. The list of good and bad...

Anti-depressants likely do more harm than good, study suggests

<p>Commonly prescribed anti-depressants appear to be doing patients more harm than good, say researchers who have published a paper examining the impact of the medications on the entire body. See Also: Health & Medicine Pharmacology Birth Defects Mental Health Research Mind & Brain Depression Disorders and Syndromes Psychiatry Reference COX-2 inhibitor Psychoactive drug Seasonal affective disorder Anti-obesity drug "We need to be much more cautious about the widespread use of these drugs," says Paul Andrews, an evolutionary biologist at McMaster University and lead author of the article, published recently in the online journal Frontiers in Psychology. "It's important because millions of people are prescribed anti-depressants each year, and the conventional wisdom about these drugs is that they're safe and effective." Andrews and his colleagues examined previous patient studies into the effects of anti-depressants and determined that the benefits of most anti-depressants, even taken at their best, compare poorly to the risks, which include premature death in elderly patients. Anti-depressants are designed to relieve the symptoms of depression by increasing the levels of serotonin in the brain, where it regulates mood. The vast majority of serotonin that the body produces, though, is used for other purposes, including digestion, forming blood clots at wound sites, reproduction and development. What the researchers found is that anti-depressants have negative health effects on all processes normally regulated by serotonin. The findings include these elevated risks: developmental problems in infants problems with sexual stimulation and function and sperm development in adults digestive problems such as diarrhea, constipation, indigestion and bloating abnormal bleeding and stroke in the elderly The authors reviewed three recent studies showing that elderly anti-depressant users are more likely to die than non-users, even after taking other important variables into account. The higher death rates indicate that the overall effect of these drugs on the body is more harmful than beneficial. "Serotonin is an ancient chemical. It's intimately regulating many different processes, and when you interfere with these things you can expect, from an evolutionary perspective, that it's going to cause some harm," Andrews says. Millions of people are prescribed anti-depressants every year, and while the conclusions may seem surprising, Andrews says much of the evidence has long been apparent and available. "The thing that's been missing in the debates about anti-depressants is an overall assessment of all these negative effects relative to their potential beneficial effects," he says. "Most of this evidence has been out there for years and nobody has been looking at this basic issue." In previous research, Andrews and his colleagues had questioned the effectiveness of anti-depressants even for their prescribed function, finding that patients were more likely to suffer relapse after going off their medications as their brains worked to re-establish equilibrium. With even the intended function of anti-depressants in question, Andrews says it is important to look critically at their continuing use. "It could change the way we think about such major pharmaceutical drugs," he says. "You've got a minimal benefit, a laundry list of negative effects -- some small, some rare and some not so rare. The issue is: does the list of negative effects outweigh the minimal benefit?"</p>

Anti-depressants likely do more harm than good, study suggests

Commonly prescribed anti-depressants appear to be doing patients more harm than good, say researchers who have published a paper examining t...

Madeleine McCann, the British girl who went missing while on holiday in Portugal half a decade ago, could still be alive, Scotland Yard said on Wednesday.

<div><h2></h2><div><div id="storyEmbSlide"><div><img alt="Madeleine McCann as she might look aged 9 " height="387" src="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02202/madeleine-mccann-1_2202512b.jpg" width="620" /><div><div></div><div>Madeleine McCann as she might look aged 9  Photo: Teri Blythe</div></div></div></div></div></div><div><div></div><div id="mainBodyArea"><div><p>Detectives released a new “age progression” image of the toddler, which they said showed what she would look like today at the age of nine.</p></div><div><p>On Wednesday, Britain’s biggest police force said that as a result of evidence uncovered during a review “they now believe there is a possibility Madeleine is still alive”.</p></div><div><p>Officers have so far identified nearly 200 new items for investigation within historic material and are also “developing what they believe to be genuinely new material”.</p></div><div><p>Scotland Yard urged Portuguese authorities to reopen the search for her amid the new "investigative opportunities".</p></div><div><p>Police said the image, created ahead of what would have been her ninth birthday on May 12, had been created in “close collaboration with the family”.</p></div></div></div>

Madeleine McCann, the British girl who went missing while on holiday in Portugal half a decade ago, could still be alive, Scotland Yard said on Wednesday.

Madeleine McCann as she might look aged 9 Photo: Teri Blythe Detectives released a new “age progression” image of the toddler, which they s...

Mike Tyson has for the first time revealed his lowest point ever in a searingly candid interview.

<p>Once known as the ‘baddest man on the planet’, his life has taken more than a few dark twists and turns.</p><p>But now Mike Tyson has for the first time revealed his lowest point ever in a searingly candid interview.</p><p>The former heavyweight champion said that back in 2009 he was in a hotel room with seven prostitutes, a morphine drip in his arm, a pile of cocaine and a bottle of cognac when he began to feel paranoid.</p><div><div><img alt="tyson" height="423" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/16/article-0-127763A6000005DC-653_306x423.jpg" width="306" /></div><div><img alt="tyson" height="423" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/16/article-0-129A31DC000005DC-721_306x423.jpg" width="306" /></div><p>Candid: The former world champion gave his most honest interview yet - revealing the drug-fuelled night that made him turn his life around and get clean and sober</p></div><p>Convinced the women were trying to steal from him he started beating them up and threw them out - to stop them from 'taking his soul'.</p><p> </p><div> Tyson said: ‘That’s when I realised it wasn’t just demons - it was the devil himself.</div><p>‘It was the lowest point of a very low life, but it was my own knockout punch to clean up life, get whole, get well - and I haven’t done anything in three years now. </p><p>‘I’m clean. I’m sober.’</p><p>Tyson’s recently swapped the boxing ring for the cabaret stage in a six night comedy show at the MGM Grand Casino in Las Vegas, where some of his biggest fights took place.</p><div><img alt="tyson" height="347" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/16/article-0-129BD3E6000005DC-119_634x347.jpg" width="634" /><p>World Champion: Mike Tyson lands the knockout punch to the jaw of challenger Larry Holmes during fourth round of the World Heavyweight Championship in Atlantic City 1988</p></div><p> </p><p>In an interview with <a href="http://www.lasvegasweekly.com/blogs/luxe-life/2012/apr/13/part-2-tysons-undisputed-truth-drugs-hookers----an/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Las Vegas Weekly</a> to promote the show, he was asked to talk about the moment he realised he had to turn his life around.</p><p>Tyson, 45 said: ‘Laying in bed in a hotel room - I try never to be alone, even if it’s a prostitute, a dog. </p><p>‘This is really dark. I am in my hotel suite, I’ve got seven women there, and I have a morphine drip, and I had my cocaine, and I had my (Viagra like pill) Cialis, I had my marijuana, I had the Hennessy, and I am at my lowest point because I got paranoid and I thought these women were trying to rob me and set me up. </p><p>‘I started beating them. I was in a dark place. There was a purpose, though, because I didn’t want to give them any more of my soul.</p><p>‘So this is my devil, this is where I am, I am locked up alone. There is nobody there telling me that I’m doing too much. </p><div><img alt="tyson" height="405" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/16/article-0-127C620C000005DC-817_634x405.jpg" width="634" /><p>Troubled: Tyson's first marriage to actress Robin Givens fell apart amid allegations of him being violent - he is now married for the third time</p></div><p> </p><div><img alt="tyson" height="377" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/16/article-0-1292B19C000005DC-965_634x377.jpg" width="634" /><p>Mug shot: In 1992 Tyson was jailed for raping Desiree Washington - a beauty pageant contestant - he was released from prison after three years</p></div><p>‘That is the devil, he won. I kicked them all out. So that was my lowest point. Oh, man. I am just very grateful to be here - my heart should have blown apart. I was sweating wide awake. No more cocaine. No more. Three years clean.’</p><p>In his turbulent life Tyson has been married three times, fathered eight children and became the youngest heavyweight champion the world has ever seen at just 20.</p><p>But fame ruined him and his troubled upbringing - his mother was a prostitute and he never knew his pimp father - came back to haunt him.</p><p>In the interview he claimed to have earned $300million in winnings but admitted that he was so bad with money he was ‘forced to live paycheck to paycheck’.</p><p>In 1992, three years after his first marriage to actress Robin Givens fell apart, he was jailed for six years for raping Desiree Washington, a contestant in the Miss Black America pageant.</p><p>Released having served three years, he fought Evander Holyfield in the fight that became one of the most notorious bouts in boxing history when he bit part of his opponent’s ear off.</p><p>Reflecting on his life Tyson told Las Vegas Weekly that he was now the happiest he has ever been, and is just trying to be a good husband to his third wife, and a good father to his children.</p><p>Tyson said: ‘In order to wear the crown, you have to have a miserable life, and that is the one that inherits the crown. </p><p>‘I don’t know, you have to go from the worst to reach the best. I’m just that extreme type of person. That is who I am, the guy that has no limits.’</p><p><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; text-align: left;"><br /><br /></span></p>

Mike Tyson has for the first time revealed his lowest point ever in a searingly candid interview.

Once known as the ‘baddest man on the planet’, his life has taken more than a few dark twists and turns. But now Mike Tyson has for the firs...

EU condemns Repsol state seizure

<p><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17783208"> </a>The European Parliament has passed a resolution condemning a nationalisation that has strained relations between Spain and Argentina.  Argentina has nationalised YPF, wiping out the Spanish firm Repsol's controlling-stake in the oil firm.  The resolution asks the European Commission to consider a "partial suspension" of tariffs that benefit Argentine exports into the EU.  Shares in Repsol has another decline, falling 2.3% on Friday.  Over the week, Repsol stock has lost almost a fifth of its value.  MEPs in the European Parliament said the institution "deplores" the decision taken by Argentina and describes it as an "attack on the exercise of free enterprise".  Decisions such as that taken by the Argentine authorities "can put a strain on the climate of understanding and friendship needed to reach" a trade agreement between a South American bloc and the EU, it said.  The resolution, which is non-binding, received 458 votes in favour, 71 against and 16 abstentions.  'Not valid' It also emerged that Repsol may be obliged to buy a minority shareholder's YPF stake if it ever lost majority control, which Repsol denied.  Twenty-five percent of YPF is owned by Argentina's Eskenazi family through its firm, Peterson.  Continue reading the main story Nationalising YPF  Spain's Repsol has hitherto owned 57.4% of shares with 25.5% belonging to Argentina's Petersen, 0.02% to the Argentine government and 17% traded on stock exchanges The Argentine government proposes to seize 51% of the shares, all of which will be taken from Repsol's stake, leaving the Spanish firm with 6.4% The expropriated shares will in turn be divided between the Argentine government and provincial governors Following the expropriation, Petersen will retain its 25.5% stake and 17% of the shares will continue to be traded Argentina's risky energy seizure According to regulator filings of a 2008 agreement, Repsol must "maintain directly or indirectly through controlled companies an ownership interest greater than or equal to 50.1%".  If it does not, Repsol is obliged to buy back the loans used to secure the Eskenazis' shares.  But Repsol told the BBC that the expropriation of its stake in YPF had invalidated the agreement.  "The agreement is not valid under Spanish law in these conditions," said Kristian Rix, a Repsol spokesman. "The law is unequivocal, there is no debate."  Trade war brewing? Spain has threatened retaliation against Argentina over the forced nationalisation of oil firm YPF, raising the prospects of a trade war between the nations.  Spanish Trade Secretary Jaime Garcia Legaz said the European Union would intervene over Argentina's seizure of YPF.  Argentina is taking over 51% of YPF, wiping out Repsol's 57.4% majority stake.  The move has wide support in Argentina but has provoked outrage in Spain.  Spain's Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had also offered support.  Repsol has said it wants around $10bn (£6.2bn) for its stake in YPF, but Argentina has said it does not accept that valuation.  YPF, Argentina's biggest oil company, was privatised in 1993. Last year it announced huge new finds of shale oil and gas.</p>

EU condemns Repsol state seizure

The European Parliament has passed a resolution condemning a nationalisation that has strained relations between Spain and Argentina. Arg...

Hacking scandal: the net tightens on the Murdochs

<p><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/hacking-scandal-the-net-tightens-on-the-murdochs-7661722.html"> </a>Rupert Murdoch's grip on his media empire was dramatically challenged yesterday after his company was labelled a "toxic shadow state" which launched a dirty tricks campaign against MPs and now faces a salvo of phone-hacking claims in the United States.  On a tumultuous day for the media mogul, the lawyer who brought the first damages claims against the News of the World in Britain said he had uncovered new allegations of the use of "dark arts" by News Corp in America and was ready to file at least three phone-hacking lawsuits in the company's backyard.  The sense of a legal net tightening around Mr Murdoch and News Corp was heightened by the announcement that he and his son James will testify separately next week before the Leveson Inquiry into press standards during three days of what is likely to be uncomfortable scrutiny of alleged widespread criminality in their British tabloid newspapers.  In a separate development, the royal editor of The Sun became the latest journalist on the paper to be arrested on suspicion of making corrupt payments to public officials.  The arrest coincided with the publication of an incendiary book on the scandal which levelled new accusations that the NOTW set out on an extraordinary campaign of intimidation of MPs to try to blunt their investigations into its alleged law breaking.  Last night senior MPs called for News International (NI) to be investigated by the Commons for potential contempt of Parliament over the claims that members of the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee were targeted by attempts to dig dirt on their private lives. Dial M for Murdoch, written by the Labour MP Tom Watson and The Independent's Martin Hickman, also alleges that:  l Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of NI, was bugged in her own office shortly before she resigned last summer over the phone hacking of Milly Dowler, the murdered schoolgirl.  l On his release from prison, Glenn Mulcaire, the convicted NOTW hacker, allegedly was contracted to give security advice to a private security company, Quest, whose chairman is Lord Stevens, a former Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.  l NI intermediaries approached Mr Watson with a "deal" to "give him" former NOTW editor and Downing Street press chief Andy Coulson but that Ms Brooks was "sacred".  NI, which runs Mr Murdoch's British newspapers, said it had no comment to make on the book.  At a packed Westminster press conference, Mr Watson, who is a member of the Culture, Media and Sport committee, said the claim that the NOTW set out in 2009 to undermine the MPs investigating it came from Neville Thurlbeck, the NOTW's former chief reporter.  In the book, Mr Thurlbeck, who has been arrested in connection with phone hacking, says: "An edict came down... and it was find out every single thing you can about every single member: who was gay, who had affairs, anything we can use." Mr Thurlbeck told The Independent last night that the order to target the MPs, which involved assigning two politicians each to a group of six reporters, had not originated from inside the paper but instead came from "elsewhere inside News International". He insisted that NOTW staff had been reluctant and there was a "degree of procrastination" before the plan was "suddenly and unexpectedly halted about 10 days later".  Mr Watson, who has received an apology from NI after he was placed under surveillance, said he believed the campaign was nonetheless successful and had contributed to a decision by the media committee not to demand that Ms Brooks give evidence to it in 2010.  He added: "Parliament was, in effect, intimidated. News International thought they could do this, that they could get away with it, that no one could touch them; and they actually did it, and it worked."  Labelling News Corp a "toxic institution", he added: "We conclude that the web of influence which News Corporation spun in Britain, which effectively bent politicians, police and many others in public life to its will, amounted to a shadow state."  Former Plaid Cymru MP Adam Price, who is gay and was a member of the DCMS committee, is described in the book as having been warned by a Conservative colleague that their private lives would be raked over if they called Ms Brooks to give evidence – "effectively they would delve into our personal lives in order to punish us".  Hours after publication of the book, Mark Lewis, the lawyer who has doggedly pursued hacking claims, told a press conference in New York that he was investigating allegations of impropriety at Mr Murdoch's US media companies, including Fox News. He said a high-profile trip to America to prepare claims on behalf of victims whose phones were allegedly hacked on US soil had generated a slew of new allegations about wider use of "dark arts" to obtain private information.  He said: "The investigation in the UK began with one claim by one client and look where it is now. While it starts in America with three cases, it seems likely it might end up with more."  The allegations will provide an awkward backdrop for the Murdochs to their appearances before the Leveson Inquiry. Rupert Murdoch, who is the first witness before the inquiry to be scheduled for two days of testimony, will be questioned about practices in his British newspapers and whether he had knowledge of those activities.  Chris Bryant last night confirmed that he would be asking Parliament to investigate the claims that NI carried out targeted intimidation.  Royal editor of The Sun arrested  The royal editor of The Sun was arrested yesterday after News Corp handed over information to detectives investigating alleged illegal payments to public officials.  Duncan Larcombe, 36, who had previously worked as the newspaper's defence editor, was arrested during an early morning raid at his home in Kent on suspicion of conspiracy to corrupt and conspiracy to cause misconduct in a public office.  Officers from Scotland Yard's Operation Elveden also arrested a 42-year-old former member of the armed forces and a woman, 38, at their home in Lancashire. All three were later released on bail.  Mr Larcombe was the paper's royal correspondent from 2005 to 2009 before being appointed defence editor for 14 months. He returned to the royal beat last year and led the newspaper's coverage of the wedding of Kate Middleton and Prince William. He was the second Sun defence editor to be arrested during the police inquiry.</p>

Hacking scandal: the net tightens on the Murdochs

Rupert Murdoch's grip on his media empire was dramatically challenged yesterday after his company was labelled a "toxic shadow st...

British police arrested three people, including the royal editor of Rupert Murdoch's Sun tabloid

<p id="yui_3_4_0_22_1334864027112_197" class="first" style="font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;">British police arrested three people, including the royal editor of <span id="lw_1334848925_0" class="yshortcuts cs4-ndcor" style="cursor: pointer;">Rupert Murdoch</span>'s Sun tabloid, a source familiar with the situation said, in an escalation of a long-running phone hacking scandal which reaches into Britain's political establishment.</p><p id="yui_3_4_0_22_1334864027112_207" style="margin-top: 11px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px;">Thursday's arrests and the fact they stemmed from information given to the police by <span id="lw_1334848925_3" class="yshortcuts cs4-ndcor" style="cursor: pointer;">Murdoch</span>'s company itself is likely to reignite tensions within the media group, just days before parliament gives its verdict on how the culture of illegality came about.</p><p style="margin-top: 11px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px;">Next week Rupert Murdoch and son James will also appear before a judicial inquiry to answer questions over the conduct of the press, which will focus on the close ties between Murdoch, his executives and the political establishment.</p><p id="yui_3_4_0_22_1334864027112_203" style="margin-top: 11px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px;"><span id="lw_1334848925_1" class="yshortcuts cs4-ndcor" style="cursor: pointer;">James Murdoch</span> will appear in court room 73 at the Royal Courts of Justice on Tuesday while lawyers at the inquiry have cleared a day and a half to grill the 81-year-old Rupert on Wednesday and Thursday.</p><p id="yui_3_4_0_22_1334864027112_296" style="margin-top: 11px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px;">"This was always going to be an important six weeks in this affair, with the Murdochs and politicians going before the Leveson judicial inquiry, but it will be exacerbated by the arrests and the imminent committee report," said Steven Barnett, communications professor at the University of Westminster.</p><p style="margin-top: 11px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px;">Police made the arrests one day after prosecutors confirmed they had started to examine the police case against four journalists and seven others to establish whether they should be charged with a range of offences including perverting the course of justice.</p><p style="margin-top: 11px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px;">Press reports have speculated that one of those named in the files is Rebekah Brooks, a former editor of the News of the World and Sun tabloids and a close friend of both Murdochs and Prime Minister David Cameron.</p><p style="margin-top: 11px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px;">Brooks has been arrested twice, once for corruption and intercepting communications, and more recently for perverting the course of justice, along with her husband, Charlie Brooks.</p><p id="yui_3_4_0_22_1334864027112_323" style="margin-top: 11px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px;">The three arrested on Thursday were detained at dawn and questioned over inappropriate payments made to police and public officials.</p><p style="margin-top: 11px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px;">The source familiar with the situation said one of those was Duncan Larcombe, royal editor and a former defence correspondent at the Sun, Britain's biggest selling daily newspaper.</p><p id="yui_3_4_0_22_1334864027112_205" style="margin-top: 11px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px;">A spokeswoman for Murdoch's British newspaper arm <span id="lw_1334848925_2" class="yshortcuts cs4-ndcor" style="cursor: pointer;">News International</span> confirmed that one of those arrested was a Sun journalist but declined to give further details.</p><p style="margin-top: 11px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px;">Larcombe was previously a defence correspondent at the Sun and another person arrested on Thursday was described by police as a 42-year-old former member of the armed forces. A woman aged 38 has also been arrested on suspicion of aiding and abetting misconduct in a public office.</p><p style="margin-top: 11px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px;">ROUTINE HACKING</p><p style="margin-top: 11px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px;">Murdoch's British newspaper arm has been rocked in the last year by allegations that journalists at the Sun's sister title, the News of the World, had routinely hacked into phones to generate salacious front-page stories.</p><p style="margin-top: 11px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px;">The police investigation, which forced the closure of the 168-year-old News of the World, has since moved on to the Sun newspaper and whether its journalists paid police and public officials for stories.</p><p style="margin-top: 11px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px;">While damaging the reputation of Murdoch, the intense spotlight has also revealed the extremely close links he and his executives have with politicians and senior police officers, embarrassing many with tales of horse rides and Christmas drinks between the upper echelons of Murdoch executives and politicians.</p><p style="margin-top: 11px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px;">Police said the latest arrests were prompted by information provided by the Management and Standards Committee, a small team set up by Murdoch's News Corp to co-operate closely with the police in a move that has infuriated newspaper staff.</p><p style="margin-top: 11px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px;">The 81-year-old Murdoch was forced to travel to London in February to reassure journalists of his commitment to the Sun after a string of earlier arrests caused a showdown at the paper by staff who felt they had been abandoned by their management.</p><p style="margin-top: 11px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px;">Since then, the Sun has launched a Sunday version and both the Sun and Murdoch's Times newspaper have noticeably hardened their position towards the government, which turned on Murdoch at the height of the hacking scandal last year.</p><p id="yui_3_4_0_22_1334864027112_321" style="margin-top: 11px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px;">That antagonism is likely to be exacerbated in the coming weeks when the parliamentary select committee, which summoned James and Rupert Murdoch at the height of the scandal last year, publishes its findings.</p><p id="yui_3_4_0_22_1334864027112_319" style="margin-top: 11px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px;">The committee investigated allegations of phone hacking after they first surfaced in 2006 and it has since looked at whether it was misled in its initial inquiry by a host of News International executives who pleaded innocence.</p><p id="yui_3_4_0_22_1334864027112_317" style="margin-top: 11px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px;">Paul Farrelly, a leading member of the committee, told Reuters they hoped to publish the long-awaited report by May 1.</p><p id="yui_3_4_0_22_1334864027112_315" style="margin-top: 11px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px;">Tom Watson, a member of the committee who has campaigned against Murdoch, told reporters he thought News Corp had become a toxic institution which operated like a shadow state</p>

British police arrested three people, including the royal editor of Rupert Murdoch's Sun tabloid

British police arrested three people, including the royal editor of Rupert Murdoch 's Sun tabloid, a source familiar with the situation...

Secret Service scandal sheds light on sex tourism in Latin America

<p><br />Type in "sex tourism" and "Brazil" in Google, and the first site that comes up is not a news report or academic study, but advice on going rates and how to hire prostitutes.  But ahead of the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics, officials are starting to clamp down on the country's image as a haven for sex tourism. Brazil's Tourism Ministry recently said it identified more than 2,000 sites advertising the South American giant's sex industry, many of them hosted in the US. To counter the reputation, the tourism ministry has stepped up efforts to advertise Brazil's natural beauties like beaches and the Amazon, instead of bodies for sale. And they have circulated information reminding visitors that sexual exploitation of minors is a crime.    Brazil's preventive efforts seem more crucial than ever after the scandal in Cartagena, Colombia, during the Sixth Summit of the Americas last weekend. Some 11 US Secret Service agents were sent home for allegedly hiring prostitutes in the steamy colonial city, also a major destination for sex tourism.   “Large events create an obvious clientele and traffickers recognize an opportunity to make money,” says Heather Smith-Cannoy, who teaches international relations at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon.  “I think that in many places around the world there is a 'boys will be boys' attitude about the patronizing of prostitutes," Ms. Smith-Cannoy says. But when considering the combination of large profits for traffickers, and pimps or hustlers, and a relaxed cultural attitude about visiting prostitutes "we can begin to understand both the supply and the demand side of this industry,” says Smith-Cannoy.  The trafficking–tourism link Sex “tourism" is nothing new. By some accounts it dates back to the 15th century, with Columbus's arrival to the Americas. As the middle class grew in industrialized nations, and the opportunities to travel with it, the formal industry was developed.   Prostitution is tolerated to varying degrees in Latin America, but it is the human trafficking associated with sex tourism, especially that of minors, that alarms officials most. (The case of Cartagena did not involve minors.)  According to the Coalition Against Trafficking of Women and Girls in Latin America and the Caribbean (CATW-LAC), 500,000 women and girls from Latin America and the Caribbean are sexually exploited each year.  Not all prostitution involves sex trafficking, a multibillion dollar industry, but the nongovernmental organization World Vision estimates that up to a quarter of women in prostitution have been trafficked.  At the same time, the majority of human trafficking victims — 79 percent — are brought into the sex trade, according to the United Nations. Countries in Asia, notably Thailand, have long been at the center of the problem, but Latin America is starting to play a larger role.  “While most trafficking victims still appear to originate from South and Southeast Asia or the former Soviet Union, human trafficking is also a growing problem in Latin America,” writes Clare Ribando Seelke in a 2012 Congressional Research Service report.  Poverty, displacement from rural areas, and increased demand for prostitution all play a role in the growth of sexual exploitation, says Humberto Rodriguez, the communication officer of Fundacion Renacer, a Colombia-based group that combats the sexual exploitation of youths in the country. Anywhere the tourism industry grows, he says, so does the opportunity for sexual tourism.  'Not enough is being done' Within sex tourism, the exploitation of children is the biggest concern.  According to the US State Department 2011 report on the trafficking of persons, Brazil, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, and Nicaragua all have significant child sex tourist industries. Colombia, it says, is also “a destination for foreign child sex tourists from the United States and Europe, particularly to coastal cities such as Cartagena and Barranquilla.”  Countries around the globe have addressed the problem of human trafficking in general since the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, was adopted in 2000, but many say not enough is being done.  The US State Department assesses efforts around the globe to combat human trafficking. In 2010, 80 percent of countries in South America were placed on the Tier 2 list, which means they were not fully complying with the US Trafficking Victims Protection Act, while 60 percent of countries in Central America and the Caribbean were on the Tier 2 Watch List.  Cuba fell to the lowest level of cooperation, Tier 3. The State Department says that prostitution of children over 16 is legal in Cuba, leaving those over the legal age vulnerable to commercial sexual exploitation. Venezuela fell to Tier 3 in the 2011 report.  Colombia sits on the Tier 1 list, and while the case of the US Secret Service agents does not fall into Fundacion Renacer's work — as it did not involve children — Mr. Rodriguez says the case may not have generated so much attention in the past. “People are paying attention to it now,” says Rodriguez.  Through their work and an international certification program called The Code, which brings tourism operators into the fight to prevent the use of children in sex tourism, society in general is more aware of prostitution, he says.  Efforts like these are particularly important as countries become hosts to big events like the Summit of the Americas, or as crises occur.  An increased demand for prostitution increases human sex trafficking rings, says Cannoy-Smith. She and a co-author have researched the impact of UN peacekeeping forces in Kosovo, Haiti, and Sierra Leone on trafficking.  “When the UN intervenes in civil conflicts, the peacekeepers themselves have often been linked to running and patronizing trafficking rings,” Smith-Cannoy says. “Again, I think that poverty, desperation, the specter of large profits, and relaxed cultural attitudes make these dynamics possible.”</p>

Secret Service scandal sheds light on sex tourism in Latin America

Type in "sex tourism" and "Brazil" in Google, and the first site that comes up is not a news report or academic study, b...

Sex Robots Will Revolutionize Sex Tourism,

<p> </p><p>They don't spread disease and they can't be sold into sex slavery.  Those are just two of the advantages of robot prostitutes, which will be edging out their human competition in the sex tourism market by the year 2050, according to an article published in the journal Futures.  The Dominion Post, which found the study, writes that sex tourists will shell out about $10,000 Euros for services ranging from massages and lap dances to intercourse, according to the article.  The researchers lay out why this scenario will be the future of sex tourism:  Human trafficking, sexual transmitted diseases, beauty and physical perfection, pleasure for sex toys, emotional connection to robots and the importance of sex in Amsterdam are all driving forces. But some are not so sure that robots will be replacing female sex workers any time soon.  CBS Las Vegas spoke to Dennis Hof, owner of the Moonlite Bunny Ranch in Carson City, Nev.  “Those Australian researchers ought to come to the Bunny Ranch to see what real American sex is like – there’s no way to duplicate it,” Hof told CBS Las Vegas. “At the Bunny Ranch, we say ‘it’s not just the sex, it’s an adventure’ – and often times it’s more about the adventure than it is the sex.”</p>

Sex Robots Will Revolutionize Sex Tourism,

They don't spread disease and they can't be sold into sex slavery. Those are just two of the advantages of robot prostitutes, whi...

A PRISON officer who was found naked in bed with one of Scotland’s most dangerous prisoners was tonight locked up

<p style="margin-top: 15px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.091em; line-height: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">A PRISON officer who was found naked in bed with one of Scotland’s most dangerous prisoners was tonight locked up after she was convicted of harbouring the notorious con.</p><p style="margin-top: 15px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.091em; line-height: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"> </p><p style="margin-top: 15px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.091em; line-height: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Christine Robertson was found naked in bed with feared thug Jimmy Holland hours after he ran from Castle Huntly open prison on 16 March last year.</p><p style="margin-top: 15px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.091em; line-height: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">The warder - who was suspended from her post over another matter when she sheltered Holland - showed no emotion as the verdict was read out and she was remanded in custody ahead of sentencing.</p><p style="margin-top: 15px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.091em; line-height: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Friends of Robertson, who had supported her throughout the case, broke down in tears as she was led to the cells.</p><p style="margin-top: 15px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.091em; line-height: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">A six day trial at Dundee Sheriff Court heard how Holland walked out of the jail, near Longforgan, Perthshire, around 8pm on 16 March last year.</p><div id="1.2241308" class="left" style="border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; float: left; color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><img alt="" src="http://www.scotsman.com/webimage/1.2241308!image/2199264355.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_215/2199264355.jpg" style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; line-height: 1.25; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;" width="215" /></div><p style="margin-top: 15px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.091em; line-height: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Police found intelligence suggesting Holland was at Robertson’s address - and at 6.25am the following morning a team of ten riot and firearms officers burst their way into her flat in a quite Monifieth street.</p><p style="margin-top: 15px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.091em; line-height: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">They found the pair naked together in Robertson’s bed - the warder hiding under the covers and Holland crouching on the bed holding a kitchen knife.</p><p style="margin-top: 15px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.091em; line-height: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Holland waved the knife at the officers - forcing them to shoot him with a Taser stun gun.</p><p style="margin-top: 15px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.091em; line-height: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Cops investigating the case found a stash of letters sent by Holland to Robertson in a bedside table in her flat - as well as messages on her phone.</p><p style="margin-top: 15px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.091em; line-height: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">They also found Holland’s diary sitting on a bedside table in the room where the pair were found.</p>

A PRISON officer who was found naked in bed with one of Scotland’s most dangerous prisoners was tonight locked up

A PRISON officer who was found naked in bed with one of Scotland’s most dangerous prisoners was tonight locked up after she was convicted of...

British terror supergrass sentence cut by two years

<p><br />jailed British terrorist has had his sentence cut by two years in a supergrass deal after giving evidence about an al Qaeda-linked “martyrdom” plot in New York, it was revealed today.  Former teacher Saajid Badat was jailed for 13 years in 2005 for plotting with shoe bomber Richard Reid to blow up a transatlantic airliner in 2001 in what an Old Bailey judge said was a “wicked and inhuman” plot.  He has now had his term reduced by two years under the first “supergrass” deal involving a terror convict, after providing intelligence to US prosecutors investigating an alleged plot to blow up the New York subway on the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 attack.  Details of the deal — kept secret for more than two years — were revealed today by the Crown Prosecution Service as a trial of the alleged al Qaeda plotters began in New York.  Defendant Adis Medanjanin, a 27-year-old Bosnian-born US citizen, is charged with conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction, conspiring to commit murder in a foreign country, and providing “material support” to al Qaeda.  He is said to have had terrorist training in Pakistan in 2008 and then returned to begin a plot to use beauty parlour chemicals to blow up the subway.  Badat, from Gloucester, joined Reid’s shoe bomb conspiracy but pulled out at the last minute.</p>

British terror supergrass sentence cut by two years

jailed British terrorist has had his sentence cut by two years in a supergrass deal after giving evidence about an al Qaeda-linked “martyrdo...