China jails gangsters in southwest for extortion, rioting over teenage girl’s death

September 23rd, 2009 11 indicted in China brawl that led to riotsBEIJING — Chinese prosecutors have indicted 11 people in a factory brawl that led days later to deadly rioting in the Muslim far west. The June 26 fight at the Xuri Toy Factory in Shaoguan pitted workers from the Uighur minority group against Han Chinese, who make up most of China's population.

September 11th, 2009 American guilty of statutory rape of Kenyan girlsNAIROBI, Kenya — A magistrate in Kenya has sentenced an American who founded a popular chain of coffee shops to 15 years' imprisonment for the statutory rape of three teenage Kenyan girls. Principal Magistrate Teresia Ngugi says Jon Cardon Wagner paid two women $500 to bring the 13-year-old and two 14-year-olds to his house.

September 3rd, 2009 New protest reported in China city of UrumqiBEIJING — Witnesses report a new protest has broken out in the western Chinese city of Urumqi, which was torn by deadly ethnic rioting in July. People living near the city center reached by telephone said hundreds, possibly thousands of members of China's majority Han ethnic group had gathered downtown to denounce the regional government and deteriorating law and order in the city.

August 21st, 2009 Police investigated in China gang bustBEIJING — At least six district police chiefs are being investigated on suspicion of protecting local gangs in a major crackdown on crime in the southwest city of Chongqing, state media said Friday. The six are suspected of being "protective umbrellas" for gangs, the official China Daily reported.

August 4th, 2009 NANNING - A teenager in a Chinese camp meant to help people fight Internet addiction was beaten to death by camp workers. Public security authorities in south China's Guangxi Zhuang said they have detained four people in Nanning City in association with the death of the teenager.

August 4th, 2009 PATNA - Police Tuesday busted an illegal gun factory run by notorious gangster Prakash Mandal and arrested 50 of his aides in Bihar's Munger district. Seventeen pistols, a rifle, some crude bombs, two horses were also recovered during the crackdown on the gangsters.

July 8th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Indian prisons are overpopulated by more than a third of their capacity, severely testing the facilities and the living conditions that were intended for only 277,304 inmates, the Rajya Sabha was told Wednesday. Replying to a question on overcrowding in Indian jails, Minister of State for Home Ajay Maken said till the end of 2007, jails in the country were overcrowded to the extent of 135.7 percent.

June 24th, 2009 GANGTOK - A housewife lost sight in her right eye in a fight with three teenage girls over a loud party in her house in Arithang locality of the Sikkim capital, police said Wednesday. The accused teenagers have been arrested on charges of grievous assault on their neighbour.

June 17th, 2009 NYC jails rabbi resigns after mitzvah at lockupNEW YORK — A rabbi who's a chaplain for the New York City jails has resigned amid an investigation into a catered bar mitzvah held for an inmate's son at a lockup. A spokesman for the Department of Correction says Rabbi Leib Glanz voluntarily resigned Tuesday.

June 16th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Taking a cue from TV footage on India's most-wanted gangsters Dawood Ibrahim and Chhota Rajan, a 32-year-old man tried to extort Rs.5 million from a city businessman but has landed behind bars, Delhi police said here Tuesday. Aslam Firoz, a resident of Champaran in Bihar, was arrested Monday from Badarpur in south Delhi on the complaint of a factory owner from whom he had demanded Rs.5 million as 'protection money' in the name of Chhota Rajan.

June 3rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - A 34-year-old wrestler, who has represented India at international tournaments, has been arrested here on charges of murder and trying to extort money from Delhi-based businessmen, police said. Ranbir alias Dhillu Phalwan, a suspended railways train ticket checker, was arrested Tuesday from a gas station in Rangpuri area and an Italy made .30 bore pistol loaded with two live cartridges was recovered from him, police said.

April 29th, 2009 2 Bahamians plead not guilty in Travolta caseNASSAU, Bahamas — An ambulance driver and a former senator have pleaded not guilty to charges that they tried to extort $25 million from actor John Travolta following the death of his teenage son in the Bahamas. Former Sen. Pleasant Bridgewater remains free on $50,000 bail as does Tarino Lightbourne.

February 21st, 2009 BEIJING - A court in southwestern China's Sichuan province has sentenced two Tibetan Buddhist nuns to nine and 10 years in prison after a court convicted them of crimes linked to protests last March, a Tibetan exile group said Friday. The Ganzi (Kardze) County Intermediate People's Court sentenced the two nuns from the Pangri Na Convent for taking part in a mass protest in support of Tibetan autonomy and the exiled Dalai Lama, the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) said.

February 2nd, 2009 RAIPUR - A total of 11,361 prisoners are at present in Chhattisgarh's 27 jails that have a total capacity to hold 5,219, state Home Minister Nankiram Kanwar told the state legislature Tuesday. In a written reply, the minister said the state has been housing 11,361 inmates at 27 jails - five central jails, 10 district jails and 12 sub-jails, of which two sub-jails based at Maoist strongholds Sukma and Narayanpur in Bastar region are at present closed temporarily.

December 26th, 2008 LUCKNOW - Days after an Uttar Pradesh engineer was allegedly beaten to death by a ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) legislator, the victim's predecessor in the public works department (PWD) has accused the same politician of regularly extorting money for party funds. C.D. Rai, an executive engineer with the PWD, told reporters in Mathura where he is now posted: 'MLA Shekhar Tiwari and his supporters often used to pressurise engineers for money for party funds.' Tiwari and his supporters have been accused of lynching PWD engineer M.K.