Criminology and Psychology

  In total, the retailer has asked for nearly £3m in compensation from police forces around the country, following the riots that tore through some high streets in August. It is likely that this is the biggest request from a single retailer. The company is claiming under the Riot Damages Act, a piece of Victorian legislation that allows businesses and individuals affected by riot damage to claim directly from the police, rather than their own insurer. In the immediate aftermath of the civil disturbances, the British Retail Consortium urged small retailers to put in their claims to make sure their businesses were not harmed. However, the Greater Manchester Police Authority, which has been hit with 280 claims totalling £4.4m, has criticised Tesco for using the Act, saying there was no guarantee the police force would be able to afford all of the compensation. The force faces £134m budget cuts in the next five years. It added that J Sainsbury was one of a number of large companies that ha

  Anthony McErlean, 66, was jailed for six years for faking his own death in Honduras in 2009 to get a life insurance claim worth £520,000. He also admitted two counts of theft from a pension fund from the Port of London Authority of £27,000 pounds and £40,658 pounds from the Department of Work and Pensions. The pensioner had impersonated his wife to claim he himself had died after being hit by a truck as he was changing a tyre on a road in the Central American country. A fake witness statement was produced to back up story which said farm workers took his body away to the village of Santa Rosa De Aguan. Suspicious officials at the insurance company contacted the Insurance Fraud Bureau, who alerted the Police.

  The News of the World's former chief reporter has broken his silence over the phone-hacking scandal to insist he played "no part" in the matter that led to his sacking. Neville Thurlbeck, 49, was fired by News International earlier this month after being arrested in April on suspicion of conspiring to intercept voicemails while working at the now-defunct Sunday tabloid. He issued a strongly-worded statement in which he vowed to fight his unfair dismissal claim against his former employers "to the end". Mr Thurlbeck's alleged role in the scandal has been closely scrutinised since details emerged of a June 2005 email headed "for Neville" which contained transcripts of illegally intercepted voicemail messages. The email, which surfaced in April 2008, appeared to contradict News International's previous stance that phone hacking was confined to a single "rogue reporter". Speaking out for the first time since his name was linked to the s

  Displaying the Hell's Angels badges is now an offense Hell's Angels motorbike gangs have been outlawed from the German city of Frankfurt. State authorities banned the bikers after accusing of them of criminal activity and seizing control of the streets.     State authorities have banned the Hell's Angels motorbike gangs in Frankfurt, on the grounds that they were engaged in criminal activity. Boris Rhein, interior minister for the state of Hesse, accused the gangs of running drug and prosecution rackets through which they had seized control of the streets. "This is a clear signal that we won't allow a state within the state," said Rhein, adding that the gangs were disciplined by a vow of silence. All assets of the outlawed Westend and Frankfurt chapters of the Hell's Angels were seized under the ban. Each chapter is believed that have around 90 members. Two other Hell's Angels groups were banned in other parts of Germany in June and last year, althou

  Montreal police believe a firebombing in the east-end borough of Pointe-aux-Trembles Wednesday night may be linked to street gangs. Police are investigating after someone threw a Molotov cocktail between two vehicles parked behind and apartment building on the corner of Marien Avenue and De la Gauchetière Street at around 8:30 p.m. “It's a citizen who was near the scene who put out the fire,” said Const. Danny Richer of the Montreal police. “So far the investigation seems to indicate that the vehicle targeted is linked to street gangs. That's why the investigation has been transferred to the Montreal police arson squad.” One of the vehicles belongs to a suspected member of a street gang, he said. No one was injured in the attack. Arson investigators are now speaking to witnesses.

  The jury in the trial of seven men charged over a fatal bikie brawl at Sydney Airport has retired to consider its verdict. Hells Angels associate Anthony Zervas died after being bashed and stabbed during a fight between rival bikie clubs at the airport domestic terminal in March 2009. Six Comancheros stood trial for his murder, while a Hells Angels member stood trial for riot and affray. After a four-month trial that heard evidence from airport staff and passengers, Justice Robert Hulme summed up the Crown and defence cases. He directed the jurors to reach a unanimous verdict. The judge told them to be fearless and impartial in reaching it and to make their own assessment of CCTV footage and witnesses. The jurors retired this afternoon and will continue their deliberations in the morning.

  Prosecutors are demanding long prison sentences for those suspected of involvement in an international drug smuggling case. The proceedings got underway on Thursday at the Helsinki District Court. Nine defendants, all of whom belong to the Hell’s Angels motorcycle gang face a variety of charges. Eight are accused of aggravated narcotic offences. Other offences include drug offences, money laundering, and the importation of illegal goods and firearms offences. One of the accused is a member of the Rogues Gallery group while two others belong to the 1-800 gang. The proceedings are taking place in a secured court room. Prosecutors are demanding jail terms for the accused and financial compensation to the state for losses incurred. In one case, a 12 year prison term is being demanded. It is thought one of the accused is the president of the Hell’s Angels Finnish organization. The gang is suspected to have made millions of euros on drug trafficking over a period of several years. Earlier

  In a news conference Thursday morning, Ottawa police, Ontario Provincial Police and the RCMP announced they had worked together in a yearlong investigation called "Project Finale." Police towed away this Hells Angels motorcycle from a clubhouse Wednesday after a raid also found drugs, weapons and Hells Angels paraphernalia.   Ottawa police The culmination of that work ended up in all three tactical units executing 16 search warrants, including one at the Hells Angels clubhouse at 5416 8 Line Rd. in south Ottawa. Police were seen taking away a Harley Davidson motorcycle and revealed they also confiscated illegal drugs, cash and weapons. There were 107 charges laid against 12 people including a 37-year-old Ottawa man police say is a full patch member of the Hells Angels. He faces five charges. "It's going to have a major dent in the Ottawa region and eastern Ontario region. The numbers seized yesterday, we're very pleased with the numbers," said Insp. Samir

  Police are preparing for hundreds, perhaps thousands of bikers expected to ride into Oak Hill Memorial Park in San Jose sometime next month to honor the memory of Jeff "Jethro" Pettigrew, the president of the city's Hells Angels chapter who was shot to death in a gun battle at a Sparks casino. There will be Henchmen, East Side Riders Car Club, Devil Dolls, Top Hatters and more. Alongside them, also paying their respects, will be members of the South Yard Heavy Equipment Crew. That is not a motorcycle club. It is the San Jose Department of Transportation's pavement repair team. They knew Pettigrew from his day job. To them, he was not the local president of a biker club that law enforcement sees as a violent criminal motorcycle gang. He was as a veteran backhoe operator who paved potholes. Hans Larsen, director of the city's Department of Transportation, said he was not even aware that Pettigrew was a Hells Angel. Nor did he care. "We have many employees who

The England and  Manchester United  star will now be saddled with paying the estimated £500,000 legal bills incurred by the Sunday Mirror in defence of the lawsuit. Ferdinand sued the newspaper for misuse of private information after they published details of his 13-year relationship with interior designer Carly Storey, who accepted £16,000 for telling the tale of her liaisons with the defender. But Mr Justice Nicol dismissed the case at London's high court on Thursday, and refused Ferdinand's legal team permission to appeal. "Overall, in my judgment, the balancing exercise favours the defendant's right of freedom of expression over the claimant's right of privacy," he said. The judge was not swayed by Ferdinand's claims that he had not tried to meet Storey after being made England captain, despite claims in the newspaper that he had snuck Storey into the team hotel. "I did not find this answer persuasive. In his evidence the claimant said that (Fabio

  Alberto Alvarez was in charge of back stage during Jackson's final rehearsal on June 24, 2009. He described Jackson as "happy and in good spirits" during the performance. "He was doing very well for the most part," he told the Los Angeles court. He explained that he later drove Jackson back to his rented Holmby Hills home and saw Dr Murray's car parked there. He said the last time he saw Jackson alive was when he said "good night" to the singer. Mr Alvarez was the first person who went into Jackson's bedroom after Dr Murray telephoned for help as he was trying to resuscitate the singer. He said Jackson was lying on his back, with his hands extended out to his side, and his eyes and mouth open. "When I came into the room, Dr Murray said 'Alberto, hurry, we have to get to hospital, we have to get an ambulance'." Jackson's logistics director Alberto Alvarez He then described how Jackson's children Paris and Prince ent

  Dutch authorities say raids have been conducted in seven countries in connection with an alleged $200 million investment fraud scheme, and four men have been arrested. The country's financial crime prosecutors say they suspect hundreds of investors were conned into fraudulent investments in U.S. life insurance policies by a firm called Quality Investments BV. Prosecutors said Wednesday four Dutch men have been arrested, two in the Netherlands and one each in Switzerland and Turkey. Raids were also conducted in Spain, Dubai, England and the United States, in which millions of euros in assets were seized in hopes of recovering some money for duped investors.

  Police and customs officers from 81 countries have seized 2.4 million doses of counterfeit medicine sold over the Internet during a one-week operation, international police body Interpol said Thursday. Fifty-five people were arrested during the September 20-27 operation, codenamed Pangea 4, and more than 13,000 websites closed down, Interpol said. More than 100,000 illegal doses were seized in France, over half of which were for supposed to be for treating male erection problems, France's medical security agency that took part in the operation, AFSSAPS, said. The operation was carried out for the fourth successive year in an effort to inform the public about the risks of buying medicines online. "Interpol's member countries and partners have shown through the success of Operation Pangea IV the Internet is not an anonymous safe haven for criminals trafficking illicit medicines," said Interpol secretary general Ronald Noble. The agency said it had targeted Internet se

  Danish court has sentenced 15 motorbike gang members to jail for six murder attempts on rival gang members. The court said Thursday the bikers would spend from three to 15 years in prison, following the country’s biggest biker-related trial. Loading... Comments Weigh InCorrections? Copenhagen’s city court ruled earlier this month that members of the Hells Angels and their support group, AK81, were guilty of a series of shootings in the Danish capital in 2009. No one was killed but one victim had his leg amputated. The gangs have been feuding over control of criminal markets, including drug trade.

  Missouri National Guard soldiers and airmen were still on "alert" Saturday afternoon to "avoid wearing a military uniform in public" because of a "direct threat" in retaliation to a gang-related shooting around Fort Sill, Okla., earlier in the week. The cautionary warning  was issued Friday. According to an internal memo leaked to the Columbia Missourian, "soldiers ... shot Crips gang members; in retaliation Crips has asked its members to shoot any soldiers on sight." MoreStory Related Articles Oklahoma shooting leads gang to threaten Missouri National Guard According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Crips is a collection of gangs throughout the U.S. with an estimated membership between 30,000 and 35,000 operating out of 221 cities in 41 states. Missouri is one of those states. Lt. Col. Levon E. Cumpton, who issued the memo, said the message "came out through Army channels"; Fort Sill is an Army base in Lawton, Okla. He called th

  THE mother and girlfriend of slain gang boss 'The Panda' wept last night at his removal mass. More than 100 people turned out to mourn notorious criminal Michael 'Micka' Kelly, who was gunned down in broad daylight as he left his girlfriend Caoimhe's apartment in Clongriffin last week. Silence surrounded St Benedict's church in Kilbarrack yesterday evening, as the 30-year-old's remains were brought inside. There was a strong garda presence outside the church with officers on high alert given the gangster's serious criminal connections. During a service that lasted fewer than 10 minutes, parish priest Fr David Lumsden spoke of the "horrific" effect the death had on Kelly's family. "This has been a horrific time for you as a family. And we know even to this day that there was a little gap to when he died but it is still a great shock to the family." At no point did the priest speak about the victim, or mention his criminal p

  Poor Frankie. A whiny wiseguy told a federal judge that he wants to stay clear of the criminal life, but it's just too tough while living on Staten Island, what with all the mobsters everywhere. Frank "Frankie Steel" Pontillo made the statements at a sentencing in Brooklyn federal court -- before the same judge he asked leniency of because the FBI traumatized his Yorkie puppy during a January 2010 raid. The Daily News reported the Wednesday exchange between Pontillo and Judge I. Leo Glasser: "I didn't invite the Five Families to gather at the opening of a bar," said Pontillo said, referring to On The Rocks, where, the paper reports, he runs the grill. "Staten Island is very small. There's lots of felons on the island... Every time I go somewhere, I see someone from my past." Glasser responded, "That's a problem with people who grew up in Bensonhurst or Staten Island, spent a good part of their life in prison... People they've kn

  The longtime girlfriend of former Boston crime boss James "Whitey" Bulger has renewed her request to be released on bail while she awaits trial for allegedly helping Bulger elude authorities. A lawyer for Catherine Greig filed a notice in court Thursday asking a judge to consider releasing her. Greig's lawyer, Kevin Reddington, said he plans to file "voluminous documents" to support his request, including real estate appraisals. Reddington has said Greig and her sister would put up their homes as collateral. Prosecutors say Greig helped Bulger escape capture for 16 years. Her lawyer says she was in love with Bulger and didn't know the extent of his alleged crimes when she fled with him. Bulger is accused of participating in 19 murders. The couple was apprehended in Santa Monica, Calif., in June.

  The body armour worn by gangster Sanjeev Mann stopped some of the bullets fired at him by masked gunmen, a Calgary court heard Wednesday. Det. James Hands, of the Crime Scenes Unit, detailed the exhibits he seized in connection with the 2009 New Year's Day massacre of Mann and two others. Among the items collected by the officer was the Kevlar body armour Mann regularly wore after he had been shot at months earlier outside his parent's home. Hands showed jurors the back panel of the three piece vest Mann was wearing when two assailants opened fire at the Bolsa restaurant, on Macleod Tr. S. He said the vest, seized during Mann's autopsy, showed he had been hit in the back three times. "We found (the bullets) and cut them out," Hands said, as he showed jurors three holes in the outer lining of Mann's vest. Turning the panel around, Hands showed how the inside of the body armour remained unaffected. "The vest stopped the three bullets from penetrati

  Moments before he was put to death, Troy Davis lifted his head from the gurney to which he was strapped and looked the family of Mark MacPhail, the police officer for whose murder he was convicted, directly in the eyes. "I want to talk to the MacPhail family," he said. "I was not responsible for what happened that night. I did not have a gun. I was not the one who took the life of your father, son, brother." He then appealed to his own family and friends to "keep the faith", said to the medical personnel who were about to kill him "may God have mercy on your souls", and laid his head down again. He was administered with a triple lethal injection of pentobarbital, pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride, and at 11.08pm he was pronounced dead. The debate about what happened in Georgia's Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson late on Wednesday night will continue long after the gurney has been put away. In the final gruesome ho

  GUNMEN used an AK47 assault rifle to shoot notorious gangster 'The Panda' in Dublin, gardai believe. Michael 'Micka' Kelly was gunned down in a hail of bullets in Marrsfield, Clongriffin, last Thursday afternoon. He was hit up to six times by bullets from a rifle and handgun -- and reports today said one of the gunman used a Kalashnikov, the rifle favoured by IRA dissidents, to kill him. The Russian-designed assault rifle is the most widely used in the world, carried by everyone from Osama bin Laden to Mexican drug gangs. The gun can be bought for as little as €300 in eastern Europe, according to Europol, the European police organisation. Gardai have seized a number of the weapons over the past few months and last year recovered two of the deadly 7.62mm automatic weapons, which fire at a rate of 600 rounds per minutes, in counties Wicklow and Kildare. The rifle's 30 shot magazine can be emptied in just a couple of seconds when fired on full automatic. Two g

  Two brazen, targeted shootings of known British Columbia gangsters in less than a month may be the kindling that sparks renewed gang warfare in the Lower Mainland, say police. The officer who heads the province's gangs task force issued an "unusual" alert Tuesday to anyone with links to two notorious crime families after a known gangster was shot and wounded last week in Surrey, B.C. Supt. Tom McCluskie told reporters both that incident and the high-profile slaying of Red Scorpions' gang boss Jonathan Bacon in August amount to a high expectation by his 80 investigators that more attacks are on the way. "We're anticipating retaliatory violence, yes," he said at a news conference held at an office of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit in Delta, B.C. "I'm not trying to instill fear in the citizens, but certainly there's enough tension in there that we're concerned there will be a retaliation, that there will be further viole

  Gang violence moved from West Bay to George Town on Monday night when teenager Jason Christian became the fourth fatal shooting victim of the week.  A second victim, 22-year-old Keith Montique, was also shot but survived.  Police Chief Superintendent John Jones described how a police patrol officer had been answering an unrelated incident around 9.30pm Monday in Birchwood Drive, off Crewe Road, when an obviously injured Mr. Montique staggered up to the police car and opened the door, saying he had just been shot.  As the officer was transporting the gunshot victim, who had been shot four times, to the Cayman Islands Hospital, the wounded man told him his friend had also been shot and was still in nearby Cranbrook Drive.  When police went to Cranbrook Drive, they found 18-year-old Jason Christian in the driver’s seat of a white Toyota LiteAce van. He had suffered a gunshot wound to the head. Mr. Jones said he was “barely alive” when police arrived, but died very shortly afterwards

  highly sophisticated drug ring has been smashed by federal authorities with the seizure of a record haul of a precursor drug capable of producing $70 million worth of ecstasy. Customs intercepted more than 2800 litres of safrole oil (an extract of the sassafras plant) in three shipments from China to Sydney's Port Botany between April and August. The oil was concealed in bottles labelled as shampoo and cleaning products. Advertisement: Story continues below In a joint statement, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) said there was enough of the banned chemical to produce almost 235kg of MDMA or 2.3 million ecstasy tablets. Three Australian men were arrested during an operation involving more than 50 Australian Federal Police officers in Sydney on Wednesday morning. If found guilty, they face up to 25 years in jail and fines of up to $550,000. "We're not here to play. We're here to do as much damage to these people as we possibly can," AFP Assistant Commissio

  Suspected drug traffickers dumped 35 bodies at rush hour beneath a busy overpass in the heart of a major Gulf coast city as gunmen pointed weapons at frightened drivers. Mexican authorities said Wednesday they are examining surveillance video for clues to who committed the crime. Horrified motorists grabbed cell phones and sent Twitter messages warning others to avoid the area near the biggest shopping mall in Boca del Rio, part of the metropolitan area of Veracruz city. The gruesome gesture marked a sharp escalation in cartel violence in Veracruz state, which sits on an important route for drugs and Central American migrants heading north. The Zetas drug cartel has been battling other gangs for control of the state. Prosecutors said it's too soon to draw conclusions from the surveillance video. "We're not going to confirm or deny anything," Veracruz state Attorney General Reynaldo Escobar Perez told the Televisa network Wednesday. "We're looking at i

  Scotland Yard had intended to take the Guardian newspaper to court on Friday in an attempt to force the newspaper into revealing how it obtained information that missing schoolgirl Milly Dowler’s mobile phone had been hacked. However, following discussions with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), the force has abandoned its application for production orders against the newspaper. The decision comes following heavy criticism of the force’s attempt to make the Guardian, and one of its journalists, hand over information which would have revealed the source of many of the newspaper’s phone hacking stories. Various MPs, including the shadow culture secretary Ivan Lewis, questioned the Yard’s attempt. While many national newspapers carried leading articles condemning the Metropolitan Police’s apparent attack on press freedom. And today the former Attorney General Lord Goldsmith told the Daily Telegraph that the force’s decision to invoke the Official Secrets Act was “unusual” and could th

  A boy left for dead after being shot several times in South San Francisco Sunday night has been identified as Joseph Maharaj, 14, according to the Coroner’s Office. While police have yet to determine whether the fatal shooting of the boy was gang-related, residents who live near where he was found in the street with another 14-year-old shooting victim suspect that it was. The fatal shooting was the first homicide in South San Francisco this year but last year the city suffered a spate of gang-related murders that shook the city, including a triple homicide Dec. 22. Sunday night’s shooting happened just before 9 p.m. and when police arrived they found two gunshot victims, both 14, and another teen, 15, on the 600 block of First Lane between Magnolia and Orange avenues. The teens were treated at the scene and transported to a hospital where one of them was later pronounced dead. The other 14-year-old was shot at least four times but is expected to survive. The third victim, who was not

Ryan Donovan, 23, fired his SA80 semi-automatic rifle after his hopes of a voyage on a surface ship were dashed as punishment for his shoddy work. He was also obsessed with violent video games and told a friend he wanted to carry out a Grand Theft Auto-style "kill frenzy". Yesterday the HMS Astute able seaman was jailed for life by a judge who heard he opened fire on two superiors he blamed — only to miss.   Victim ... Ian Molyneux  with wife Gill   The shots were heard by Lieutenant Commander Ian Molyneux, 36, who rushed to tackle him during a goodwill visit by the sub to Southampton in April. Donovan murdered him with a bullet to the head, then stepped over his body to the control room. There he wounded Lt Cdr Christopher Hodge, 45, in the stomach before being wrestled to the ground by Southampton council leader Royston Smith and chief executive Alistair Neill — who were touring the sub. Three days earlier Donovan of Dartford, Kent, disobeyed a direct order to clean a secti

  No amount of money can absolve News International from hacking in to the phone of Surrey murder victim Milly Dowler, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has said , following the disclosure that the company was about to settle its case with the teenager's family. Rupert Murdoch is set to donate £1 million to charity from his own pocket, while the Dowlers themselves will receive in the region of £2 million in a separate payout from News International, the publishers of the now-closed News of the World. The company has confirmed it is in "advanced negotiations" with relatives of the 13-year-old, who was abducted and killed by Levi Bellfield in 2002. On Tuesday Mr Clegg said no amount of money could absolve the company for what happened. He said: "It is not for me to decide what money News International offer the Dowlers. I think it is very, very important we now give the Dowler family the time and space they need to rebuild their lives and move on. "I think the re

  The man who bludgeoned Carl Williams to death has claimed the gangland boss offered him $200,000 to kill former Victorian detective Paul Dale. Barwon Prison inmate Matthew Johnson has taken the witness stand for the first time and has told the court Williams talked about murdering people like others talked about football. He has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Williams on the grounds of self defence. Johnson bludgeoned Williams to death with the stem of an exercise bike in their maximum-security prison last year. He said his relationship with Williams soured in the months before his death, but has denied having any problem with Williams helping police. The 38-year-old told the court Williams treated him badly and had to be the boss, even asking him on one occasion to murder Dale. He said Williams boasted of having 15 murders to his name. Johnson told the court Williams knew how to "push his buttons". He said there were "many times" when he would have loved to

   The feared criminal - who is the son of slain mobster Kieran Keane - confronted the rival gang members following a night out in Limerick city centre. A source claimed Keane believed the car contained gangsters who knew Darren Coughlan, the innocent man he helped kick to death in November 2005. Earlier this month, gangster Joe (23) was released from prison after serving six years for Darren's manslaughter. Gardai claim Keane's release has seriously raised tensions in Limerick's criminal underworld. The notorious thug had previously vowed to get revenge on rival gang members who were behind the murder of his father, Kieran Keane snr. A source claims Keane clashed with Moyross crime figure Erol Ibrahim last week after he boxed in a car he was a passenger in. Tense Ibrahim is well known to gardai and is a close associate of senior members of the McCarthy-Dundon mob. The source said: "Keane blocked in the car because he thought it contained an associate of Darren

Two men took their friend's corpse on a night out with them to a strip club so they could use his ATM card to buy drinks, police claim. Robert Jeffrey Young, 43, and Mark Rubinson, 25, discovered their friend Jeffrey Jarrett dead but delayed reporting the find to police so they could first have a free night out. While keeping Mr Jarrett's body in their car, they stopped at a Mexican restaurant in Denver, used their friend's ATM card and withdrew $400 at a strip club before finally reporting him dead. With friends like these: Robert Jeffrey Young, left, and Mark Rubinson allegedly delayed reporting the find to police so they could first have a free night out The men, who are now free on bond, have been charged with abusing a corpse, identity theft and criminal impersonation. It's unclear how Mr Jarrett died, but the men have not been charged with his death. The bizarre scenario is reminiscent of the 1980s movie Weekend at Bernie's, in which two men discover their fri

  THE record company behind Irish rockers U2 has allegedly been unwittingly used by a multi-million dollar drugs trafficking ring. A year-long investigation by the US Drugs Enforcement Authority (DEA) is alleged to have uncovered a racket where the band's record company, Interscope Records, was being used to transport Class A drugs and money inside the United States. It is understood that the record company's Californian headquarters was being used for pick-ups and deliveries of hundreds of kilograms of cocaine while a New York recording studio at the other end was also being used for the drug and cash shipments. Members of the drugs ring allegedly used musical equipment called “road cases” for shipping cocaine from Los Angeles to New York, between January 2010 and June 2011. On the way back, the same cases were filled with hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, according to documents filed in a US court. The illegal trading was allegedly going on for 18 months, but it w

  Swiss bank UBS on Sunday increased the amount it said it had lost on rogue equity trades to $2.3 billion and alleged a trader concealed his risky deals by creating fictitious hedging positions in internal systems. UBS stunned markets on Thursday when it announced unauthorised trades had lost it some $2 billion. London trader Kweku Adoboli was charged on Friday with fraud and false accounting dating back to 2008. "The loss resulted from unauthorised speculative trading in various S&P 500, DAX, and EuroStoxx index futures over the last three months," UBS said in a brief statement. "The loss arising from this matter is $2.3 billion. As previously stated, no client positions were affected." Global stock markets have been extremely volatile in recent months, plunging on concerns over euro zone and U.S. debt crises and then rebounding on hopes for their resolution. The loss is a disaster for the reputation of Switzerland's biggest bank, which had just start

  The sun rarely shines on the kingpins of California's prison gangs. To stop them from orchestrating mayhem on prison yards and neighborhoods across the state, prison officials condemned hundreds of reputed gang members to years of isolation in windowless cells. For five years, the tough strategy worked, wardens insist. Quarantined crime bosses lost contact with their followers. No one could hear what they had to say. At least, not until July 1, when some of the most securely held prisoners at Pelican Bay State Prison stopped eating and broke through their shuttered lines of communication with a mass hunger strike that spread into prisons across the state. "Am I an innocent lamb? By no means, but I can tell you this: I never deserved to be locked up in a dungeon for seven years just because they allege I'm a gang member," said Ronnie Yandell, one of the leaders of the hunger strike that lasted three weeks and spread to 12 other prisons with promises of more strikes t