In China, a lawmaker has proposed making group sex for gays illegal. It already is for heterosexuals. Thoughts the government’s role in the bedroom (even if it’s crowded).
Tag: crime
SALVADOR — There’s nothing quite like a barbecue with friends and beer, lots of it, to go down cool and easy with the sizzling steaks — and of course the photos to brag about the good time. The scene would be nothing remarkable if it wasn’t for its location: Lemos Brito Penitentiary, in Salvador, one […]
Bogota residents are increasingly braving reckless car drivers, crime and pollution to cycle their way through the Colombian capital. It’s one way people are taking back public spaces.
People are increasingly disgusted with crime and shoddy government in Mexico. Whatever happened to President Pena Nieto’s promises to take on the country’s vested interests?
BEIJING — Beginning in January, China will abandon harvesting organs from executed prisoners, and organs needed for transplants will all come from donations, authorities have announced. Many Chinese don’t necessarily understand the profound meaning of this reform. Five years ago, I was personally involved in developing a report entitled, “Where Do Organs Come From?” published […]
The Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm in Puerto Princesa is known as the “prison without walls,” because even violent convicts here can work and live on this vast land with relative autonomy.
MUNICH — It began nearly a year ago, on the weekend after Christmas. On Saturday night, unidentified individuals broke into a church in the Cologne district of Porz-Urbach. They broke open the safe in the sacristy and got hold of the key to the church. They ended up stealing money from the collection boxes, liturgical […]
SAO PAULO — During my time in the early 1980s as a correspondent for Folha de S. Paulo in Buenos Aires, I covered more demonstrations of the “Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo” — and then of the “Grandmothers” — than I could count. Brave women, their faces furrowed by time and pain, their heads […]
BUENOS AIRES — A bit bored by that class on basic accounting? How about a course instead on money laundering? Or maybe one on how to stop transnational mafia groups? Some Argentine students will soon have access to just that kind of course material because certain universities, concerned about the expansion of organized crime in […]
BERLIN — A historically loaded conflict with potentially serious consequences about compensation for Nazi crimes looms between Germany and Italy. The Italian Supreme Court in Rome has ruled that Nazi victims can sue Germany for compensation in Italian civil courts. The court ruled last week that international law’s principle of “state immunity,” which would normally […]
Some 70% of prisoners in India’s jails are still awaiting trials, or verdicts of trials long passed. In some cases the wait goes on for decades. For around 100,000 prisoners, the wait may end.
-OpEd- BEIJING — There has been a recent spate of Chinese celebrities, including Jaycee Chan, son of the Hong Kong martial arts film star Jackie Chan, detained on drug charges. Others in the entertainment business have been accused or frequenting prostitutes. Last week, China’s State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) issued a formal […]
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In Mexico, The Horrors We Have Seen
New revelations point to collusion between authorities and a drug cartel that may have led to the killing of 40 Mexican teenagers. Like Colombia a generation ago, a nation faces its deepest evils.
CHABAS — Residents in the small town of Chabás, northwest of Buenos Aires, recently put Internet chatting to good use, effectively using the free mobile texting application WhatsApp to police their neighborhood. The “real time” neigborhood watch scheme achieved what more traditional methods — such as waiting for the Argentine police to arrive, for example […]
Justice is twisted in a country where a man is jailed for stealing candy from a store, while gangsters and corrupt politicians are always able to negotiate prison reductions.
CHENGDU — It’s common practice in every country to confiscate property that criminals attained illegally. In China, criminal law stipulates three concrete measures: confiscation of the instruments of crime and contraband, recovery of illegal gains from criminals, and confiscation of the personal property of criminals who commit certain offenses. It’s worth recognizing that the law […]
BUENOS AIRES — Twelve Argentine policemen were being questioned for their suspected role in beating and “crucifying” a detainee, who was found strapped to a street pole in the district of San Francisco – Frontera, northwest of Buenos Aires. A witness called police early after spotting the victim on Saturday; his head and face were […]
It may be a new weapon to strike fear in store clerks around the world: a grocer in Colombia has died days after two individuals injected him with an unknown poison outside his store, in the district of Facatativá west of Bogotá. The Colombian daily El Espectador reported this past weekend that authorities had not […]
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The Psychology Of The Most Heinous Crimes
Behavior psychology, first introduced in the U.S. during the 1960s, is now a widely accepted part of criminal investigation tactics. A French special unit handles some 40 extreme cases a year.
In serving the plundered art worth hundreds of millions, historical justice is being served. But it comes at the expense of legal rectitude.
With French unemployment at record levels, times are tough for clients and workers of an unemployment agency in one of Marseille’s poorest, most crime-ridden areas.
A heinous mob killing in Italy, an abusive nurse in France and a bad idea at the Arc de Triomphe made our latest global police blotter…
Odd and cruel episodes from police blotters around the world…
Odd and cruel episodes from police blotters around the world…
SANTIAGO – Latin America has a long and checkered history of technological innovation spreading with the confusion and occasional lawlessness of the Wild West. This is particularly troubling now with the spread of drone technology, as more and more of the unmanned craft are hovering around the region with no regulations to speak of. In […]
A Spanish pianist faces seven years of prison…for practicing; Italian thieves clean up; An Argentine doctor’s zealous anti-abortion move; and more from the week in global crime.
ACAPULCO — Before coming to Acapulco, I had heard many disturbing things about the city. For example, that six Spanish girls were brutally raped on the top floor of a beautiful beachfront villa last February as their boyfriends, handcuffed, were made to watch. That Acapulco had suddenly become the most violent city in Mexico — […]
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Crime Int’l, September 12-18
This past week has seen a philosophy-related shooting, a Justin Bieber impostor, and more.
A port city just like Marseille, but less riddled with crime, Rotterdam is nonetheless equipping itself with an unlikely new unit to fight illegal activity. Forensic police plan to use five big brown rats to shed light on criminal plots. After two years of training that will soon end, Derrick, Magnum, Poirot, Dupond and Dupont […]
REUTERS, AP, BBC Worldcrunch CLEVELAND — Ariel Castro, the Cleveland man sentenced to life in prison for the kidnapping, rape and beatings of three Cleveland women he held captive in his house for nearly 10 years, was found hanged in his prison cell late Tuesday evening, Reuters reports. According to a prison official quoted by […]
IL TEMPO, ANSA (Italy) Worldcrunch ROME – Italian police arrested at least 116 people Friday, in two major anti-mafia operations in Rome and the southern Calabria region. In pre-dawn raids along the coast near Rome, some 500 police officers apprehended 51 people. A helicopter, dog units and maritime police took part in what the Italian […]
–OpEd– SANTIAGO – After four long years in court, the 10 Chilean pharmaceutical executives prosecuted for colluding to raise the prices of 222 medicines can breathe easy. These business leaders from the companies Salco-Brand, Ahumada and Cruz Verde were in fact convicted, but the sentence amounted to a meager fine — the equivalent of $445,000 […]
Shiva was not like the other detainees in the Argentina prison. For one thing, this convicted kidnapper was studying to be a lawyer — which turned out to be the ticket for his daring escape.
MILAN – “Prestanome for hire: thirty years old, good credit rating, permanent job…” More and more advertisements like this one are finding their way onto the Internet. Literally a “lend-name,” the prestanome has made the leap from mafia-esque dodgy dealings into the real world. “The only thing I had left was my name: so I […]
ALEPPO — The atmosphere was tense in Bustan al-Qasr after a Friday protest turned into a fight between two groups, one calling for an Islamic state after President Bashar al-Assad’s fall and the other demanding a free and liberal future for Syria. The shabiha — pro-government militias or spies in civilian clothing — were spotted […]
After the death of Hugo Chavez, Venezuela is set for the second presidential election in less than six months. Chavez’s handpicked successor Nicolas Maduro faces challenger Henrique Capriles.
El UNIVERSAL (Mexico) Worldcrunch MEXICO CITY – Let’s call it spot-a-cop! The Mexico City’s Ministry of Public Security has dubbed it Mi Policia (My Police), a smartphone app launched this week that uses GPS technology to allow smartphone users to communicate with their local police directly, and in real-time, reports El Universal. This is believed […]
BERLIN – The Berlin chapters of the Bandidos gang, whose members have a reputation for being armed and dangerous, had been considerably weakened of late with many members in jail. But the Berliner Morgenpost has learned from law enforcement officials that all 15 members of the “Midtown” chapter of the Bandidos – the last remaining […]
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, THE TIMES OF INDIA, ASIAN AGE (India) AFP Worldcrunch NEW DELHI – Eighteen days after the violent gang rape of a 23-year-old physiotherapy student set off a worldwide outcry, police filed charges in court against the five men arrested in the case, reported the Indian Express. The young woman, who was brutally […]