Mexico arrests drug kingpin Edgar 'the Barbie' Valdez

MEXICO CITY: Mexican authorities on Monday announced the capture of one of the country's most sought after drug kingpins, US-born Edgar Valdez Villarreal, alias "the Barbie."

Valdez, 37, is believed to have been a key lieutenant of Arturo Beltran Leyva, who headed the cartel that bears his name and was Mexico's third most-wanted man until his December 2009 death in a military operation.

As a head of the Beltran Leyva's assassination squad, Valdez was thought to be involved in a power struggle to replace Arturo, competing with his brother, Hector Beltran Leyva.

The arrest, which is a major coup for the government amid spiralling drug violence, was confirmed by the attorney general's office, the interior and public security ministries and even Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Twitter.

The Beltran Leyva gang, one of a string of violent drug gangs operating in Mexico, was dealt a severe blow with the death of chief Arturo last December and then the arrest of his younger brother, Carlos.

It broke off from the powerful Sinaloa drug trafficking organization in 2008.

READ MORE - Mexico arrests drug kingpin Edgar 'the Barbie' Valdez

HDFC Bank in Mumbai Robbed of Rs.26 lakh

Mumbai: Armed men looted about Rs.26 lakh at gunpoint from a branch of the HDFC Bank in suburban Borivli area here on Monday morning, officials said.

The armed heist took place around 9.30 a.m. at the branch located on Shimpoli Road. 'We are awaiting more details,' said a police official from the Borivli police station.

'Five armed men held the security guards at gunpoint and entered the bank. They made away with Rs.26 lakh,' said an HDFC spokesperson.

The bank had just opened. 'There were a few customers in the bank, but they were not hurt,' the spokesperson said.

READ MORE - HDFC Bank in Mumbai Robbed of Rs.26 lakh

Plotting ex-wife gets 7-14 years in jail

BRENTWOOD – Kristin Ruggiero will spend 7 to 14 years in state prison for what police say was part of a years-long ploy to use the criminal justice system against her ex-husband, who was thrown in jail and nearly lost his career during a bitter divorce.

Judge Kenneth McHugh said Ruggiero's attempt to set up her ex-husband and use the legal system as a weapon was unlike any other case he has seen.

"There's a lot of people, usually women, who have been subjected to abuse by their significant others," McHugh said, during Ruggiero's sentencing yesterday. "As a result of her actions, their cases, their safety, their security has been damaged. The web for this is much greater than what has just happened to Mr. Ruggiero."

A jury found that Kristin Ruggiero registered a disposable cell phone under her ex-husband's name and sent herself a dozen threatening and suicidal text messages. She then reported to East Kingston police in May 2008 that her ex-husband had violated bail conditions tied to a criminal threatening case, which police learned was also fabricated by the 34-year-old mother.

RUGGIERO

By portraying herself as a victim, she duped local police and portrayed her ex-husband, Jeffrey Ruggiero, as a violent monster while the couple was going through a contentious divorce in family court, according to prosecutors.
The couple battled over finances and their 7-year-old daughter.
While Jeffrey Ruggiero was being investigated, his ex-wife called him at all hours and taunted him over the phone, according to court testimony.
"She mocked him. She laughed at him. (She said) 'I took all your money, I took your daughter and now I am going to take your career'," Assistant County Attorney Jerome Blanchard said in court yesterday.
Video: Click below to view some of Judge Kenneth McHugh's comments during sentencing.
He said Ruggiero's folly came because claims in criminal court had to be backed up -- unlike in family court where she made repeated claims about ex-husband's behavior.
"Unfortunately for her, we're not in family court anymore," Blanchard said.
Blanchard argued that Ruggiero continued to try to manipulate the justice system, even after her conviction in May from her jail cell.
In a series of recorded phone calls from the jail played in court, Ruggiero asked her mother to get a letter from a doctor, which would claim that Ruggiero suffered a form of psychosis stemming from addiction to Adderall and alcohol.
"I'm going to pull the mental health card, you know what I mean?" Ruggiero says during the call, which was played in court. "It has to be outpatient in the United States and I can live at home."
But yesterday, Ruggiero sobbed to McHugh. She apologized for comments she made about the judge and his heart bypass surgery during another phone call.
"Dad, guess what? Judge McHugh had a quadruple bypass!" Ruggiero said during the phone call, only a small portion of which was played in court.
McHugh told prosecutors to skip over that call, saying it wasn't necessary for the sentencing hearing.
McHugh said it's likely that Ruggiero cannot be rehabilitated. He told Ruggiero he found her apology yesterday disingenuous.
Defense lawyer Chuck Keefe argued that his client was a caring mother whose judgment may have been affected because she suffered from drug and alcohol dependency.
"I want to say here what the state offers is a sentence of extermination," Keefe said, while proposing a 12-month jail sentence for Ruggiero.
Before her arrest in September 2008, Ruggiero nearly had the criminal justice and family court system fooled, according to prosecutors. A district court judge convicted Jeffrey Ruggiero of misdemeanor criminal threatening and related charges, but refused to jail him before sentencing.
That allowed Jeffrey Ruggiero to remain free on bail and return to his job as a petty officer in the U.S. Coast Guard.
It enraged Kristin Ruggiero so much that she came up with the scheme about receiving a series of threatening and suicidal text messages. Ruggiero was sentenced on 12 counts of falsifying physical evidence, which each carry a potential 3 1/2 to 7-year prison term.
The case that McHugh repeatedly described as "bizarre" yesterday may not be over.
Prosecutors revealed during Ruggiero's sentencing hearing that a new criminal investigation related to her is under way.
Ruggiero was also ordered to pay $19,000 in restitution to the East Kingston police department, which conducted the investigation.

READ MORE - Plotting ex-wife gets 7-14 years in jail

Amish brothers on multiple incest and bestiality charges

Two Amish Men Face Incest, Bestiality Charges In Grant County

Grant County Authorities Conducted Three-Month Investigation

LANCASTER, Wis. -- Two Amish brothers are facing a string of sexual assault charges, including committing incest and engaging in bestiality, on a Grant County farm.

The Grant County sheriff said it's one of the strangest and most disturbing cases he has seen.

Authorities issued two criminal complaints on Tuesday for the men -- Christian G. Stolzfus, 19, of Fennimore, and Dannie G. Stolzfus, 18, of Fennimore. They were the subjects of a three-month investigation by the Grant County Sheriff's Department and the county's Department of Social Services.The men face charges involving at least six different family members and multiple animals.

Christian Stolzfus is charged with repeated sexual assault of a child, four counts of first-degree sexual assault of a child under the age of 13 without great bodily harm; attempted first-degree sexual assault of a child under the age of 13 without great bodily harm; two counts of incest; exposing genitals or pubic area; and two counts of sexual gratification with an animal.

Authorities said that they believe these incidents occurred during a four-year period.

Dannie Stolzfus is charged with two counts of incest and sexual gratification with an animal. Authorities said that they believe these incidents occurred over a three-year period.Investigators said that the some of the incidents occurred at an Amish farm in Hickory Grove Township.

Additionally, some of the actions that Christian Stolzfus is accused of committing are alleged to have occurred at another farm in Mount Ida Township.Authorities said the victims, at the time, ranged in age from 5 to 16 years old."The age of (the victims) is a concern to us," Grant County Sheriff Keith Govier said. "There was also some developmental issues with some of the victims.

And hopefully their work with Social Services will address those things."The sheriff said that surprisingly, and contrary to the Amish culture, the family reached out for help and contacted Social Services. By law, the agency got in contact with the Sheriff's Department about the alleged incidents.The allegations were investigated over the past three months and on Tuesday charges were filed against the two brothers."I don't believe this is indicative of the Amish community here in Grant County, because through this, this family has reached out and accepted Social Service services," Govier said. "They've also accessed mental health services to deal with this."Govier said that that the animals allegedly involved were a cow and a horse.

The two men have not yet been arrested. Instead, the Grant County Sheriff's Department said they will be summoned to court to face the charges against them.If convicted of the charges, Christian Stoltzfus faces more than of 400 years in prison. Dannie Stoltzfus faces nearly 90 years in prison, if convicted.No court dates have yet been set.

READ MORE - Amish brothers on multiple incest and bestiality charges

Marijuana worth Rs one crore seized in Chhattisgarh

Raipur, Aug 28 (PTI) Three persons were arrested when they were attempting to smuggle marijuana worth around Rs one crore in Bastar district, police said today.

Bastar superintendent of police Sunder Raj P told PTI today that around 25 quintal marijuana was recovered from a truck belonging to Andhra Pradesh during a checking at Highway No 221 in Darbha area of the district.

The marijuana is worth Rs 98 lakh, he said.

The arrested were identified as Buchi Raju, Maggal Baji and Yahan, he said.

READ MORE - Marijuana worth Rs one crore seized in Chhattisgarh

Michael Enright Charged With Hate Crime: Ahmed Sharif, Muslim Cab Driver, Attacked For Religion

NEW YORK — A college student who did volunteer work in Afghanistan was charged Wednesday with slashing a taxi driver's neck and face after the driver said he's Muslim.

A criminal complaint alleges Michael Enright uttered an Arabic greeting and told the driver, "Consider this a checkpoint," before the brutal bias attack occurred Tuesday night inside the yellow cab on Manhattan's East Side. Police say Enright was drunk at the time.

A judge ordered Enright, 21, held without bail on charges of attempted murder and assault as hate crimes and possession of a weapon. The handcuffed defendant, wearing a polo shirt and cargo shorts, did not enter a plea during the brief court appearance.

Besides a serious neck wound, cabbie Ahmed H. Sharif suffered cuts to his forearms, his face and one hand while trying to fend off Enright, prosecutor James Zeleta said while arguing against bail.

Defense attorney Jason Martin told the judge his client was an honors student at the School of Visual Arts who lives with his parents in suburban Brewster, N.Y.

To deny bail, given his background, "I don't think is warranted," Martin argued. The lawyer declined to comment outside court.

Enright volunteered for Intersections International, a group that promotes interfaith dialogue and has supported plans for an Islamic center and mosque two blocks from ground zero.

A group representative, the Rev. Robert Chase, called the situation "tragic."

"We've been working very hard to build bridges between folks from different religions and cultures," Chase said. "This is really shocking and sad for us."

Sharif, a 43-year-old Bangladeshi immigrant who's driven a cab for 15 years, was quoted in a news release from the New York Taxi Workers Alliance as saying the attack left him shaken.

"I feel very sad," he said. With the tension over the mosque, he added, "All drivers should be more careful."

Sharif accepted an invitation from Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a staunch supporter of the mosque, to visit City Hall on Thursday.

"This attack runs counter to everything that New Yorkers believe no matter what god we pray to," the mayor said in a statement.

About 6 p.m. Tuesday, Enright hailed the cab at East 24th Street and Second Avenue, police spokeswoman Deputy Inspector Kim Royster said.

Sharif told authorities that during the trip Enright asked him whether he's Muslim. When he said yes, Enright pulled out a weapon – believed to be a folding tool with a knife blade called a Leatherman – and attacked him, Royster said.

After the assault, the driver tried to lock Enright inside the cab and drive to a police station, police said. The attacker jumped out a rear window at East 40th Street and Third Avenue, 17 blocks from where he hailed the cab, police said.

An officer there noticed the commotion, found Enright slumped on the sidewalk and arrested him.

A case for the tool was found inside the cab, but the tool was missing, police said.

Chase said Enright has been volunteering for the group for about a year on a project that involved veterans.

He did a video project that sent him to Afghanistan for about six weeks this spring to document the life of an average soldier, Chase said. He was embedded with a unit there.

Intersections has come out in support of the mosque project, but Chase said Enright wasn't involved in that.

Enright faces a maximum eight to 25 years in prison if convicted of the attempted-murder count.

READ MORE - Michael Enright Charged With Hate Crime: Ahmed Sharif, Muslim Cab Driver, Attacked For Religion

Mumbai diamond heist: Thieves brought from Dubai

Mumbai: Four thieves who carried out the diamond heist of over Rs 6.6 crore from a jewellery show here and fled to Dubai were brought to Mumbai early Thursday, a senior official said.

"We have brought them here. We will present them in the magistrate's court in the afternoon," Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Deven Bharti told a news agency.

Three Mexicans, one of them a woman, and a Venezuelan stole the diamonds from the India International Jewellery Show-2010 (IIJS-2010) Monday and fled to Dubai. They were detained by the Dubai police Tuesday after a request from the Indian Home Ministry.

The suspects put the diamonds in small plastic bags before swallowing them. The Dubai police made them purge out the valuables after taking them into custody.

The case was cracked and the suspects identified after studying the CCTV footage and checking records of over 1,500 visitors to the IIJS-2010. The records at the immigration offices at Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport were also checked.

Police swung into action after Guy Ezekeil Vaz, the Asia sales manager with Dalumin Hongkong, a diamond company based in Hong Kong, lodged a complaint late Monday over the theft of a box containing diamonds.

The four suspects -- Guerrero Lugo Elvia Grissel, 24, Gonzalez Maldonado Mauricio, 24, Campos Molan Elias, 39 -- all Mexican nationals, and Gutierez Orlando of Venezuela -- are now in the custody of Mumbai police.

READ MORE - Mumbai diamond heist: Thieves brought from Dubai

Rape, torture by landlords forces Karnataka villagers to flee

BUDIHALLI (KARNATAKA): It's the untold tale of a village in the grip of the feudal system, and a quiet revolt brewing. Budihalli village of Karnataka's Chitradurga district is a glaring example of caste discrimination and bondage, with a yawning gap between communities.

Here, landlords hold sway. They allegedly rape and torture women of lower castes while the men work as bonded labourers, paying off debts accumulated over generations.

Breaking the stranglehold, 25 families of Madiga (scheduled caste) community left the village to look for self-respect and a new life. They reached Venkateshwaranagar in Chellakere taluk, 30 km from Budihalli, and set up tent.

The exodus took place a fortnight ago. Women, men, children and the elderly took their possessions and began walking until they reached a settlement abandoned by nomads. For now, they are living in thatched huts.

For them, this migration is symbolic: a breaking away from sexual harassment, rape and torture by the Gollas and Nayaks. The penniless families had no money to even buy bus tickets to their destination.

Sitting cramped in the huts — two families in each — they recounted the horrors of their life in Budihalli. "We didn't know where to go. We left our village without taking our belongings. We don't have jobs or money to send our children to school. We are struggling for two meals a day. The government has not helped us in any way. We have lost hope, and have no place to go," cries Kollamma T, a Madiga woman.

Savithramma (name changed), fighting back her tears, said, "Every day, drunk landlords would barge into our houses. They harassed and raped us. All these years, we were scared to talk because of social stigma."

"They abused us. Our men went to work in the fields of the landlords as bonded labourers to repay the loans taken by our grandparents. We were unable to bear the harassment, and wanted to work independently. So we began to sell firewood and cultivate government land," she said. When the Madigas began earning independently, the Golla and Nayak landlords socially boycotted them.

H N Shivamurthy, state organizing convener of the Human Rights Forum for Dalit Liberation in Karnataka, said, "The families of the dalit community had protested several times. One woman, Palakka Durgappa, lost her life while protesting. She sat in the rain for three days, protesting. But it hasn't helped them."

READ MORE - Rape, torture by landlords forces Karnataka villagers to flee

3 Colombian Teens on Facebook 'Hit List' Killed

A status update nobody wants to see: Three Colombian teenagers have been killed after their names appeared, along with 97 others, on a multipart "hit list" posted on Facebook, according to multiple international reports.

Even more frightening, police don't know who is responsible for the killings and the list itself, or the reason for the selection of names that appear upon it, although some of the victims allegedly had ties to members of drug gangs.

Colombian news website El Espacio reports that it was the work of Los Rastrojos ("The Stubble"), which has been described as "one of the most powerful neo-paramilitary drug organizations of the country," and has a history of making and following through on death threats.

Some reports suggest that the list could be the work of rival paramilitary groups -- possibly even Colombia's most infamous, FARC -- that operate in the region around Puerto Asis, a small city close to the southern border with Ecuador. For the past 10 years, the town has been "ground zero for the US-backed military assault on coca-growing areas in Colombia," according to Mother Jones.

The first two killings took place on Aug. 15. "On that day, officials say, 16-year-old student Diego Ferney Jaramillo and 17-year-old CD retailer Eibart Alejandro Ruiz Munoz were shot and killed while riding a motorcycle on the road between Puerto Asis and the town of Puerto Caicedo," reports CNN.

Then, the first portion of the list was published on Aug. 17, containing 69 names of local young men, including those killed, and a warning: Get out of town within three days or suffer the same fate as the victims. The note has since been blocked by Facebook.

Initially, police thought it was a hoax, like many other Facebook death threats the world over. But when another list of 31 women appeared online days later, public defender Volmar Perez called a special security council to address the situation.

However, on first day of the council's meeting, Aug. 20, the unidentified assailants gunned-down 19-year-old Norbey Alexander Vargas and wounded his friend, 16-year-old Juan Pablo Zambrano Anacona, who attempted to pursue them as they fled the scene of the crime. They remain on the lam. No arrests have been made, and police have yet to release the names of any suspects to the press.

Terror-stricken parents have already begun sending some of the children listed out of the town for safety as authorities continue to scramble in their attempts to pinpoint the perpetrators of both the note and the killings. Facebook, for its part, has yet to respond to requests for comment from the media.

READ MORE - 3 Colombian Teens on Facebook 'Hit List' Killed

As Many as 200 Women, Babies Gang-Raped in Congo

As many as 200 women were systematically gang-raped by Rwandan and Congolese rebels over a four-day period last month less than 20 miles from a U.N. peacekeeping base in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the United Nations and aid groups reported.

The Associated Press reported that four baby boys were also raped in the attacks that began in a key mining district on July 30. U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky told reporters today the rebels blocked a key road during the raping and looting spree.

The eastern Congo is known as the "rape capital of the world" where savage mobs use sexual violence to subdue the population and vie for control of the "conflict minerals" used to make cell phones and laptops around the world.

Between 200 and 400 armed men began looting and raping women in the village of Ruvungi, which lies near a key mining center, in front of their families and in their homes, The New York Times reported.

A local coordinator for the International Medical Corps, Will F. Cragin, told the Times that when the rebels arrived, they told villagers not to worry and explained they just there for "food and rest."

They lied, Cragin said.

"After dark another group came," Cragin said. "They began to systematically rape the population. Most women were raped by two to six men at a time."

Many women were dragged in the forest and gang-raped, Cragin said. Later they emerged from the forest naked.

The perpetrators have been identified as Hutu rebels from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, or FDLR, which is made up in part of those who took part in the Rwandan genocide in 1994.

The FDLR is one of many predatory armies and militias that have been vying for political power and control of Congo's vast mineral reserves – including gold, cassiterite and coltan -- since the late 1990s.

They use rape as a weapon of war, aimed at civilians, and its incidence has been increasing. According to an Oxfam report released in April, rape in the eastern Congo has risen 17-fold since 2004.

Men, as well as girls as young as 4 years old, have been the victims of rape in eastern Congo.

"It's been an incredibly effective weapon of war," David Sullivan, an expert on Congo at the Washington-based Enough Project, told AOL News. "The soldiers and rebels have been able to control, humiliate and dominate whole communities by using sexual violence and terrorism. Rape has become horrifyingly normalized."

The women who are raped are victimized again after being attacked because of the enormous cultural taboos involving sexual violence in the Congo.

"They're excommunicated from their villages and their families," Francisca Vigaud-Walsh of Catholic Relief Services, who is an expert in sexual violence in Congo, told AOL News. "They lose their entire support structure."

News of the attacks came a little more than a year after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton visited the region to demand an end to the sexual violence, saying she was making ending the widespread tragedy a personal priority.

There was no immediate explanation as to why the attacks were not reported until today.

READ MORE - As Many as 200 Women, Babies Gang-Raped in Congo

Film actresses among 9 held for prostitution

HYDERABAD: Telugu film actresses Saira Banu and Jyoti and seven others were caught red-handed in a prostitution racket busted by Hyderabad police here on Monday.

Saira, who played lead role in few Telugu films, and Jyoti, a supporting actress in many films, were arrested along with a woman from Uzbekistan and their customers from an apartment in the upscale Kundan Bagh neighborhood.

The police have not revealed the identity of the other arrested but sources have not ruled out involvement of some rich and famous in the racket. Kundan Bagh is a high-security area having houses of ministers, bureaucrats and other VIPs.

The Commissioner's Task Force raided the apartment in the early hours of on Monday on specific information.

This is not the first time that a Telugu film actress has been arrested for prostitution. In 2009, Seema was arrested during a raid in Hyderabad's Tarnaka area.

The latest sex racket has come as yet another shocker for the Telugu film industry and comes close on the heels of the arrest of the two brothers of actor Ravi Teja while buying drugs from a Nigerian national.

Police Commissioner A K Khan has gone on record that they were keeping a watch on 60 personalities, including Telugu film actresses, suspected to be consuming drugs.

READ MORE - Film actresses among 9 held for prostitution

'We made mistakes': Police admit blunders in Philippines

Criticism of police failure to shoot hostage-taking former policeman earlier

• Relatives of victims fly from Hong Kong as nation mourns dead

By Richard Shears
Police in the Philippines admitted today they had blundered in trying to end the hostage drama that resulted in eight tourists being shot dead by a crazed gunman as they sat in terror on a hijacked bus.        
Commandos fired dozens of bullets into the bus and struck at its windows with sledgehammers as they tried to storm it, but were forced to wait outside helplessly for more than an hour as the  maddened hijacker used the tourists as human shields.
As a storm of criticism about police tactics erupted, Manila police commander Leocadio Santiago admitted: 'We made mistakes.'
Scroll down for video

Final moments: Police move in to finally end the bus siege in Manila, Phillipines in which eight tourists and the hostage-taking former policeman were killed, sparking criticism of police tactics

Bungling: Police enter the bus after failed attempts to break in with a sledge hammer. Tourists on the vehicle, a group which included two British nationals, were sprayed with gunfire during the raid

'We saw some obvious shortcomings in terms of capability and tactics used, or the procedure employed, and we are now going to investigate this.'
But an investigation after the bloody event has failed to placate Hong Kong's government after it watched its nationals - as well as two British citizens who survived - live through hours of terror on the hijacked bus after it had been commandeered by disgruntled policeman Rolando Mendoza, 55.
One of the survivors, who identified herself only as Mrs Leung, said as she scrambled from the bus after Mendoza had finally been shot dead: 'The police should not have waited so long.
'There were so many people on the bus but no-one came to our rescue. Why?'

Distraught: Family members of some of the victims weep and offer prayers during a Buddhist ceremony today

Tragic: A grieving relative sits with the body of one of the victims of the shootings as it arrives at a police laboratory for a post-mortem examination

That was a question also being asked by Philippines president Benigno Aquino, who promised to investigate all aspects of the 12-hour ordeal, which began when Mendoza boarded the bus in a tourist area and demanded to be given a ride.        
But shortly afterwards the Hong Kong tourists realised they were in trouble when he ordered the driver to lock the door and began waving his M-16 assault rifle around.        

As police eventually closed in on the bus he sprayed the hostages with bullets, killing Mrs Leung's husband as he dived across her to try to protect her.

Destruction: Scenes of crime officers in Manila have placed labels on bullet holes on the bus as officials begin an investigation into the deaths of the holidaymakers

Tourist attraction: People gather to watch forensic investigators examining the bus as police officers stand guard 24 hours after the siege began

Sickening: Students pose for photographs near the damaged tourist bus as people gather to watch the investigation

'This tragedy highlights many flaws in the ability of Philippine security forces to hand hostage situations,' said President Aquino, who came to power two months ago.

'There are a lot of things that resulted in a tragedy. Obviously we should be improving.'

He claimed that one of the problems was the way the crises was played out through the media, with the gunman being allowed to speak on radio and watch events live on the bus's tv, giving him insights into police actions.

Rescued: An injured hostage is pulled clear of the bus by emergency service workers after the gunman was shot dead by police

Rescue attempt: Police surround the bus as their colleagues attempt to smash their way in to reach the gunman

Hostage-taker: Former Senior Inspector Rolando Mendoza, stands at the entrance of the bus earlier in the siege

But the President insisted that waiting for more than 10 hours had been the right thing for the police to do. 'Up to that point the police believed they could convince the gunman to stand down.'

During a tense few minutes police had the opportunity to shoot Medoza with a sniper's bullet as he stood in the open doorway of the bus talking to police negotiators.

Had they decided no chances were to be taken with a man who had already shown himself to be dangerous by hijacking the bus with an assault rifle, eight lives would not have been lost.

In Hong Kong relatives of the victims expressed anger over the bloody end to the stand-off. 'The way it was handled - particularly the outcome - is very disappointing,' said Hong Kong Chief Executive
Donald Tsang.

Horrific ordeal: A terrified woman is helped from the bus after the final shoot-out

Released: Four hostages - a mother and three children - are escorted from the bus after being freed

Demands: A list of the gunman's grudges against the Manila police department are taped to the windscreen

Opportunity? Former police officer Rolando Mendoza looks out of a window during the siege, making himself a potential target for snipers who could have ended the crisis earlier by shooting him

Safety: A police officer helps a hostage freed by Mendoza after tense negotiations

Bizarre: Earlier in the day, a random man appeared to cycle past the bus, watched by the armed kidnapper inside the vehicle

Killed: Mendoza hangs from the door

Hong Kong newspapers criticised the opportunities that had been lost to end the siege much earlier.

'A large group of police failed to get into the bus after surrounding the vehicle for nearly half an hour,' said the Hong Kong Economic Journal.
'Their appalling professional standards and the lack of strategic planning made observers both angry and sad. This tragedy could have been avoided.'

In the former British protectorate flags flew at half mast and the Hong Kong stock exchange held a minute's silence.
Mendoza had seized the bus to make public his demands to be reinstated as a police officer after his sacking amid claims of extortion against him.

Before being discharged, he had been regarded as a model officer, once being named as among the top 10 policemen in the country.

Last night two chartered flights were on their way to take relatives of the hostages to Manila. Psychologists, doctors and social workers were also on the flights.

READ MORE - 'We made mistakes': Police admit blunders in Philippines

Philippines hostage drama ends, hijacker shot dead

Manila: Philippine police stormed a bus on Monday on which a sacked former police officer was holding 15 Hong Kong tourists and local media reported the hostage-taker had been killed.

Police could be seen removing a body from the front of the bus before entering the vehicle. At least four hostages left the bus alive, but TV images also showed more bodies being removed.

The end of the day-long stand-off came more than an hour after police commandos had moved in to surround the bus following a series of shots heard by a Reuters reporter at the scene. The driver of the bus was seen running to safety after the gunshots.

A police spokesman said commandos had earlier shot out the tires of the bus to immobilize the vehicle.

The gunman, identified as 55-year-old Rolando Mendoza who was armed with an M-16 assault rifle, had stopped the bus, which initially had 25 people on board, across a wide road in Manila's biggest park on Monday morning.

Mendoza had threatened to kill the hostages in a live telephone interview with a local radio station.

"I can see there are many SWAT teams arriving, they are all around," Mendoza, speaking in Tagalog, had said. "I know they will kill me, I'm telling them to leave because anytime I will do the same here."

Earlier, via a handwritten note stuck to the bus door, Mendoza said a "big deal" would happen after 3 p.m. (0700 GMT), but the deadline passed without incident.

Some hostages freed

Six Hong Kong nationals and two Filipinos, mainly women and children, had been released before the deadline and a ninth, another Filipino, was freed after it had passed.

Mendoza had earlier asked for food for those remaining on the bus, which was delivered, and fuel to keep the air-conditioning going during the heat.

Mendoza's brother, Gregorio, told a local TV station that his brother was upset by his dismissal from the force. Local media said he had been sacked for reasons including extortion, and due to his sacking he had lost his retirement benefits.

"His problem was he was unjustly removed from service. There was no due process, no hearing, no complaint," said Gregorio, who was later taken into custody by police.

Stuck to the bus door was a piece of paper with the handwritten message: "BIG MISTAKE TO CORRECT A BIG WRONG DECISION." A larger piece of paper on the front windshield was headed "RELEASE FINAL DECISION" and then what appeared to be details of his case.

The road was cordoned off, with the bus isolated inside the park. Several ambulances and a fire engine were on standby.

A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy said it wanted police to "take all the necessary measures to secure the release and to protect the security and safety of our nationals."

Hong Kong's Secretary for Security Ambrose Lee told reporters authorities were very concerned about the incident. Two officials were being sent to Manila and a hotline was being set up in Hong Kong for families of the hostages.

READ MORE - Philippines hostage drama ends, hijacker shot dead

Video of lynch mob killing two teenage brothers sparks mass demonstrations across Pakistan

A horrifying video of a crowd watching a mob beat two teenage brothers to death has sparked mass demonstrations in Pakistan.
The video, broadcast on Pakistani news channels, shows a lynch mob taking turns to savagely beat the two boys with sticks, drawing blood from them before dragging and hanging their dead bodies from a nearby pole.
But perhaps just as shocking is that none of the dozens of people and police watching tried to stop the vicious attack.

Left to hang: The brothers' dead bodies were hung from poles after a mob, believing them to be robbers, beat them to death with sticks

It is now thought the boys, who were on their way to play cricket in Sialkot, an eastern Punjab province, may have been mistaken for robbers by the group who decided to
deliver brutal justice for their supposed crime last Sunday.
The scenes have outraged Pakistanis, some who are questioning how their society could passively watch the shocking killings without intervening.
The News, an English-language daily newspaper, wrote: 'Is this what we are? Savages? So utterly bereft of a speck of humanity that a crowd of ordinary men are passive spectators to public murder?'

 

The government has responded to the attack after civic groups condemned the killings and youths held demonstrations.
As details have emerged authorities appear increasingly confident the two boys - Moiz Butt, 17, and his brother Muneeb, 15 - were innocent.
The two went to play cricket after praying and eating breakfast, carrying a bag with them containing game equipment, said Mujahid Sherdil, a top government official in the district.

Outraged and anguished: A group of youths hold a demonstration to condemn the killing of the two brothers by a lynch mob

They were sons of a middle-class man who deals in fabric for soccer balls. Moiz was honoured with the title 'Hafiz' for having memorized the Muslim holy book, the Quran.
An armed robbery had taken place in the vicinity of the cricket field so residents were on alert and police were nearby.
When the boys appeared with a bag they were thought to be the robbers Mr Sherdil said.
He added, however, that more information was still being sought.
The boys were believed to have been in fights over the past few days for the right to play on the cricket ground, which was about a mile from their home.
Stations showing the video blurred out some of the more graphic images of the boys' bloodied bodies, but several faces in the crowd are clearly identifiable, including several police officers in uniform who watched.
Punjab province Police Chief Tariq Saleem said the government has ordered two separate inquiries into the killings.
'This incident is highly condemnable, especially in the police presence,' Saleem said after visiting the boys' family. 'All accused, including police, will be arrested soon.'

Calling for justice: A group of Pakistani youths have demanded justice for the two beaten teenagers

Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik visited the family of the two boys Sunday in Sialkot and issued an appeal for citizens to come forward with evidence to help the
investigation.
He said at least 10 suspects have been arrested, including four police officers.
Malik criticised the spectating police officers' lack of action, saying they should have at least fired their guns in the air to disperse the crowd.
He also said the disgusted nation are baying for the mob's blood.
'It is not the kind of incident any civilized society can afford,' he said. 'The whole of Pakistan wants the people involved to be punished. And we are getting demands
from the nation that they should be hanged at the very place where they murdered the two brothers.'
The brothers' killings came as Pakistan's government is reeling from other crises, including the worst flooding in decades. The calamity appears to have further eroded confidence in the government.
One newspaper commentator Ghazi Salahuddin wrote that the Sialkot attack and the desperation of the poor caught in the floods that have ravaged the country are "rooted in the potential inability of the state to protect and look after the citizens.'
'These things are possible because the successive ruling elites do not really love Pakistan,' he wrote.
'They have never loved this country and the present government does not deserve to be blamed more for its lapses than the previous ones.'
Over the past two years, police and even soldiers have been caught on video beating suspects. In 2008, in two separate incidents in less than a week, crowds set fire to suspected robbers in the southern city of Karachi.
In the first incident, a picture of men lying like logs in a fire made the front pages of newspapers.

READ MORE - Video of lynch mob killing two teenage brothers sparks mass demonstrations across Pakistan

Hells Angels, Vagos Shootout Leads To 27 Arrests In Arizona

CHINO VALLEY, Ariz. — Arizona authorities say 27 people have been booked on charges ranging from attempted murder to participation in a criminal street gang after shootings involving members of rival motorcycle gangs, the Vagos and Hells Angels.
Detectives estimate at least 50 rounds were fired Saturday during the shootings in the small community of Chino Valley, north of Prescott.
Yavapai sheriff's spokesman Dwight D'Evelyn says at least five people were shot but none of the wounds was life-threatening.
He says detectives are trying to locate one injured gang member who was helped away from the scene in an unknown vehicle.
The shootings brought dozens of Arizona law enforcement officers to the scene.

READ MORE - Hells Angels, Vagos Shootout Leads To 27 Arrests In Arizona

British Baptist Church minister arrested on child sex charges in the U.S

Arrested: A police handout of Robert Dando, a British Baptist Church minister who has been charged with child sex offences in the U.S.

A leading Baptist minister has been charged with molesting young boys during trips to America.
Robert Dando, 46, was arrested this week during a visit to Fairfax County, Virginia.
He is said to have sexually abused two boys, starting when they were aged seven and eight, over a period of up to five years during visits to a family friend in the U.S..
Dando has resigned from Worcester Park Baptist Church near Kingston in South-West London.
But further enquiries may be conducted in Britain. Dando had personal contact with boys here, working with the Boys' Brigade. He has also worked for a children's charity in India.
He has been charged in the U.S. with four counts of aggravated sexual battery.
A spokesman for Fairfax County Police Department said yesterday: 'In December 2009, a 21-year-old victim of sexual abuse came forward to Fairfax Police.
'The victim, who was between eight and 13 at the time of the abuse, alleges he was assaulted by a visiting family friend in a private residence in Fairfax County.
'Police initiated an investigation and discovered a second victim, who is 17, who said he was abused under similar circumstances when he was seven or eight.'
Dando was executive assistant to the president of the Baptist World Alliance. He is due in court in a month.
His wife Janice, 50, is a vice president of the Boy's Brigade. Last night a spokesman for the youth movement said it was 'deeply concerned' and had removed Dando's membership.

Scandal: Dando has resigned from Worcester Park Baptist Church in Surrey, above

READ MORE - British Baptist Church minister arrested on child sex charges in the U.S

Plane unable to land as police chase suspect on to Dallas runway

A plane was forced to make a second landing attempt after police chased a suspected carjacker on to the runway of a U.S. airport.
Officers had been chasing the man for an hour yesterday when he crashed through a locked chain-link fence and raced across the runways at Dallas Love Field.
Both major runways were shut down, flight departures were shut down, and at least one flight was forced to stay in the air and attempt a second landing as police carreened across the runways in pursuit.
See video here

Pursuit: Police cars give chase as a carjacking suspect in a grey pick-up truck careens onto a runway in Dallas, Texas

Dangerous: The suspect's car was rammed by police just feet from where taxiing flights were waiting on the runway

Gotcha: The suspect - who appears to be shirtless - is arrested and taken away by police

The drama came to an end when the man's pickup truck was surrounded and rammed by officers, who were prepared to use deadly force.
The chase began when an undercover police officer spotted a truck that had been reported stolen a day earlier in Fort Worth, Deputy Chief Jesse Reyes said.
Television footage showed police appearing to patiently pursue the slow-moving pickup from expressways to side streets until it drove through the airport fence.
It raced along the airport taxiways and past one end of its busiest runway.
Reyes said that once the chase was on a runway 'police were prepared to use deadly force'.

Desperate measures: Officers inspect the suspect's truck, which had been rammed by a patrol car

Not a comforting sight from the air: What passengers in the planes overhead may have seen as they passed over the drama yesterday

Instead, a patrol car rammed the truck, disabling the vehicle.
Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway, chairman of the City Council Public Safety Committee, said he was concerned that the subject of an apparently routine police chase was able to get onto airport grounds so easily.
'I think that the whole game changed when he ended up on the runways and threatened multiple lives,' Caraway said.
The driver was a suspect in several offences in both Dallas and Fort Worth, including a carjacking and robberies, Reyes said.
Reyes said the man, whose identity has not been released, complained of chest pains after his arrest and was taken to a hospital.
He would not be charged until he is released from the hospital, Reyes said.
See video here

READ MORE - Plane unable to land as police chase suspect on to Dallas runway

Family On Camping Outing Pulled Over On Freeway, Handcuffed On Ground

MISSION HILLS -- A case of mistaken identity led to a family of five, headed on a camping trip, being frisked on the 405 Freeway and placed in handcuffs.

Los Angeles Police Department officials came across the family's white van around 5:45 a.m. Friday, which came back as a stolen vehicle.

Watch the video and click here for the rest of the story

 

READ MORE - Family On Camping Outing Pulled Over On Freeway, Handcuffed On Ground

Police seize 10 kg fake saffron

AHMEDABAD: In a raid on Wednesday, Madhavpura police station officials have seized 10 kg saffron, stocked in a shop in Thakorvaas. The market price of the stock is estimated to be over Rs 2 lakh.

"We raided a shop and found numerous packets of saffron along with the packaging material. The owner, Sohanlal Jain, a native of Rajasthan and a resident of Ramnagar, Sabarmati, used to sell fake saffron under three brand names across the state," said KC Rathwa, sub-inspector of Madhavpura police station.

Forensic investigation report of the seized stock revealed that most of the stock consisted of thinly-cut betelnut which was coloured and soaked in fragrance to make it look authentic. Jain bought this in bulk and after processing it at his shop, sold it in the market.

"We are now looking into health hazards of this fake saffron and have intimated health department. The stock was packed in 5 gm and 10 gm packets. We are also investigating the distribution channel to prevent the stock from entering the market," said Rathwa.

READ MORE - Police seize 10 kg fake saffron

Unmarried mom charges lover of rape

AHMEDABAD: A 23-year-old dalit woman has charged her lover with rape after he dumped her when her baby was born. The police has decided to do a paternity test on the baby.

Poonam (name changed) had lodged a complaint with the women's police station and the SC/ST cell which was later transferred to the Vejalpur police station. A resident of Vejalpur she told the police she was tricked into a relationship by the youth who promised to get her a job abroad and to marry her. But after she got pregnant and had his baby, he rejected her.

Poonam was working with a private telecom operator's call centre on SG Highway. She claimed she occasionally go out for tea with a colleague called Hafiz. During one such trip, she was introduced to Muzaffar Nawaz Husain, a resident of Kalupur. Husain claimed to contacts in the industry and could help her get a better job. They kept in touch and got close.

He told her he was in Dubai for five years and had a girlfriend who had ditched him and he had vowed never to get into a relationship. "He claimed that she had forced him to change his opinion about women", said a police officer.

Last year, Husain called her to a guest house near Lal Darwaja and forced her to have sex. When she protested, he said he would commit suicide and also kill her parents so that she was left alone. He tried again, this time calling her to a flat in Vejalpur and she fell for the bait.

She realised she was pregnant when she was in the fifth month. She started skipping jobs and important functions. In April, she gave birth to a child in a private hospital against the wishes of her family. She was hopeful that Husain would marry her. "However, when she broke the news to him, he cut all ties with her claiming he was not the father of the child. Her parents met Husain's family but even they called it a cheap stunt to force their son into marriage," said the officer.

"We are in a process of determining the father of the child and are treating the case as rape. Soon, the accused's statement will be registered," said a senior Vejalpur police station official.

READ MORE - Unmarried mom charges lover of rape

Thieves use breasts to distract victim

Police in France are looking for two attractive female thieves who bared their breasts at a man at a cashpoint to distract him before stealing his money.

The incident was captured on CCTV at the cash machine on Paris's

The women in their 20s exposed themselves to the victim as he punched his pin code into an ATM machine in Paris.

As he stared at one, the other then withdrew 300 euros from his account before the pair fled with the money.

 

The incident was captured on CCTV at the cash machine on Paris’s Left Bank, but the women could not be identified, a French police spokesman said.

“We would advise anyone withdrawing cash from a machine to focus on what they are doing and not allow themselves to be distracted, however attractive the view,” the spokesman added.

READ MORE - Thieves use breasts to distract victim