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) Capello had told him to be professional, not only on the pitch but 'around the hotel'," the judge said.

"In the past, the Claimant (Ferdinand) had not behaved in a professional manner around the hotels into which he had tried to sneak Ms Storey.

"Whether or not he had done that in the few weeks since he had been made the permanent captain of England, his relative recent past failings could legitimately be used to call into question his suitability for the role."

Former England captain Ferdinand, who has three children with wife Rebecca, had told the judge at an earlier hearing that, "I do not see why I should not be entitled to a private life just because I am a famous footballer."

Sunday Mirror editor Tina Weaver hailed the judge's decision.

"The Sunday Mirror is very pleased that the court has rejected Rio Ferdinand's privacy claim," she said.

"The judge found that there was a justified public interest in reporting the off-pitch behaviour of the then England captain and discussion of his suitability for such an important and ambassadorial role representing the country.

"We are pleased the judge ruled that Mr Ferdinand had perpetuated a misleading public image and the Sunday Mirror was entitled to correct this impression.

"There has never been greater scrutiny of the media than now, and we applaud this ruling in recognising the important role a free press has to play in a democratic society."

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 entered the room behind him. "Paris screamed out 'Daddy' and she was crying. "Dr Murray said to me 'Don't let them see their dad like this see'. "I ushered the children out and told them 'Don't worry, we will take care of it, everything is going to be OK'." Mr Alvarez asked what had happened, to which Dr Murray replied: "He had a bad reaction". Two paramedics who tried to save Jackson's life are also due to give evidence on day three of the trial. Martin Blount and Richard Senneff are expected to say that Jackson already appeared to be dead when they arrived at his home on June 25, 2009. The court will also hear from another key witness - Jackson's personal chef Kai Chase. Sky's US correspondent Greg Milam, who is at the court, said: "There are fewer demonstrators, fans of Michael Jackson, and supporters of Dr Murray here today - but they are still being very vocal in their support of both sides in the case." On Wednesday, Jackson's security chief revealed how the star's children crumpled in shock, as they saw their apparently dead father being given heart massage in his bedroom. The court also heard that Dr Conrad Murray, accused of involuntary manslaughter over Jackson's death two years ago, asked aides if any of them knew how to do cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). "Paris was on the ground balled up crying, and Prince was standing there, and he just had a real shocked, you know just slowly crying type of look on his face," bodyguard Faheem Muhammad, referring to two of Jackson's three children, said. "I went and gathered them together, and I kind of talked to them for a second, got the nanny... and we walked downstairs and put them in a different location," he said. He was describing the scene after he was called up to the master bedroom of Jackson's rented Los Angeles mansion where the star died after an overdose of a powerful sedative. The defence team for the doctor insists Jackson self-administered other sedatives, prompting the overdose while his physician was outside the bedroom. Dr Murray, 58, faces up to four years in jail if convicted of involuntary manslaughter for administering the overdose of Propofol.

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 service providers, online payment companies and delivery companies during the operation, in order that the whole supply chain of fake drugs be broken down. "We cannot halt the illicit online supply of medicines without a consistent, constant and collective international effort involving all sectors," said Aline Plancon, head of Interpol's fake drugs department. "The operation itself was only made possible thanks to a combined effort involving the 165 different participating agencies sharing and exchanging live information via Interpol's headquarters in Lyon," she said. Interpol has also posted messages on Internet video sharing sites warning punters "Don't Be Your Own Killer" by buying unlicensed pharmaceuticals.

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 section of the sub after it failed inspections, Winchester Crown Court heard.

Hero ... Royston Smith, right, on sub visit

Gangsta rap fan Donovan — who called himself Reggie Moondog — told a fellow sailor hours before his rampage: "I'm going to kill somebody. I'm not f****** kidding, and then watch the news."

He admitted murder and attempted murder and was caged for a minimum of 25 years. The widow of the dead officer — a dad of four — wept just feet away.

Outside court Gill Molyneux paid tribute to her Weapons Engineer Officer husband, describing him as "my hero and true love".

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 reason why people were so outraged by the invasion of the privacy of the Dowler family is that they weren't celebrities, they weren't politicians, they hadn't asked to be put on the front page of the nation's newspapers. I have met them and they are a lovely, strong, every-day family who lost their daughter and were dealing with that terrible tragedy and even then these journalists - it's just grotesque - were invading their privacy. "In a sense I think, and I am sure the Dowlers feel the same, that no amount of money can absolve people for what they did." News International is reported to have set aside £20 million for payments to phone hacking victims, but a source said the size of the expected compensation for the Dowlers reflected the "wholly exceptional circumstances" of their case. Sources close to the Dowlers have said any agreement will feature a donation to charity. It is not yet known which cause, or causes, would benefit. A News International spokesman said: "News International confirms it is in advanced negotiations with the Dowler family regarding their compensation settlement. No final agreement has yet been reached, but we hope to conclude the discussions as quickly as possible."

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 friend dead and maintain a façade that he's still alive while staying at his home for the weekend.

Boys night out: The men visited Shotgun Willie's strip club, pictured

Strip off: The two men went to a strip club, using their dead friend's money

One of Mr Jarrett's relatives, who asked not to be named, told the Denver Post Mr Jarrett had invited Mr Young, a former college friend, to stay with him for a few months while he had money struggles.

It is thought that on August 27, Mr Young arrived home at about 11pm and found his friend unresponsive.

Rather than call authorities, however, he went to see Mr Rubinson at a restaurant where he works to tell him about the find.

The pair then went back to Mr Jarrett's home, loaded him into Mr Rubinson's car and took the body with them to Teddy T's bar and grill, where they drank on his tab while the body was hidden in the vehicle.

'Young stated ... that it was obvious Jarrett was dead while all three are at Teddy T's,' Denver Detective Ranjan Ford wrote in the affidavit.

Weekend at Bernie's: The allegations are similar to the premise of the 1980s movie

The went on to eat at Mexican restaurant Viva Burrito and withdrew $400 on their dead friend's card at strip bar Shotgun Willie's, where they stayed until closing time.

Only then did the pair report their friend dead by flagging down a police officer at 4am.

'This is a bizarre and unfortunate crime,' Denver Police Department spokesman Sonny Jackson told the Denver Post. 

'This isn't anything you want to have happen to a loved one. You want them treated with respect in death.'

The relative of Mr Jarrett, a father who sold real estate, added: 'We just want to make sure they're prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.'

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 was not alleged that Interscope Records or its staff knew or were involved in any drug shipments. The allegation was contained in a letter detailing evidence against James Rosemond, a music-industry manager and head of Czar Entertainment. Mr Rosemond, 46, known as ‘Jimmy Henchmen', is a rap music manager who represents artist The Game. He was indicted three months ago on drug trafficking charges. Federal prosecutors say Interscope employees knew nothing about Mr Rosemond’s alleged drug smuggling. However, it is not yet understood how Mr Rosemond's team got access to Interscope's Californian headquarters to drop off and take the shipments. The ring is alleged to have used a New York recording studio at the other end for the drugs and cash shipments, the Wall Street Journal reported. The cases were shipped by music gear specialists RockIt Cargo, which is the company responsible for shipping U2's musical equipment around the world — including during their latest 360 tour. However, there is no suggestion in the filing that RockIt Cargo knew what was inside the cases. RockIt has not commented. Interscope chairman Jimmy Iovine, long a highprofile executive within the music industry, has recently become something of a household name thanks to American Idol, which he joined last season to provide creative guidance to contestants. His company, which is part of Universal, released a statement yesterday afternoon. “Interscope Records has been informed by the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York that there is no evidence that any employee of UMG or Interscope Records had any involvement in the drug trafficking ring being prosecuted by that office,” the statement read.

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 started to recover after it almost collapsed during the financial crisis and faced a damaging U.S. investigation into aiding wealthy Americans to dodge taxes. "Loss even more. Reads like they're making excuses," said Helvea analyst Peter Thorne of the UBS statement. The new scandal has prompted calls for its top managers to step down and for its investment bank to be split into a separate unit from its core wealth management business. Chief Executive Oswald Gruebel, who was brought out of retirement in 2009 to turn the bank around, was quoted in a newspaper on Sunday as saying he is not considering quitting over the crisis, but said it was up to the board to decide. In a memo to staff on Sunday, he said: "Ultimately, the buck stops with me. I and the rest of senior management are responsible for dealing with wrongdoing." Swiss newspapers quoted unnamed insiders as saying the UBS board and important shareholders such as the Singapore sovereign wealth fund were still backing Gruebel, with immediate changes at the top the last thing the bank needed. Gruebel is widely expected to present plans to drastically cut back the investment bank at an investor day in November. INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION The bank, whose three keys logo symbolise "confidence, security, discretion," has pulled its "We will not rest" global advertising campaign for now, that was designed by advertising agency Publicis to try to rebuild its image. Meanwhile, UBS client advisers have been writing to customers to reassure them of the underlying financial strength of the bank despite the trading loss, a spokesman said. "That we now suffer this setback at this point in our efforts to improve our reputation is very disappointing. This incident also sets us back somewhat in our capital-building efforts," Gruebel said in his memo. "However, I wish to remind you that our fundamental strengths as a firm remain intact... we remain one of the best capitalized banks in the industry. UBS said its board of directors had set up a committee chaired by independent director David Sidwell, former chief financial officer at Morgan Stanley, to conduct an independent investigation into the trades and the bank's control systems. The bank said it had covered the risk resulting from the unauthorised trades, and its equities business was again operating normally within previously defined risk limits. It said the trader had allegedly concealed the fact his trades violated UBS risk limits by executing fake exchange-traded fund (ETFs) positions. "Following inquiries directed to him by UBS control functions that were reviewing his positions, the trader revealed his unauthorised activity," the bank said. "The positions taken were within the normal business flow of a large global equity trading house as part of a properly hedged portfolio," UBS said. "However, the true magnitude of the risk exposure was distorted because the positions had been offset in our systems with fictitious, forward-settling, cash ETF positions." The Sunday Times cited unnamed insiders saying the trader placed bets worth $10 billion before his losses were detected. ETFs are index funds listed on an exchange and can be traded just like regular stocks. They try to replicate index performances and offer lower costs than actively managed funds, but regulators have warned about risks from some complex ETFs. In the past three months, DAX futures have fallen 22 percent, Eurostoxx 50 futures have dropped 20 percent and S&P 500 futures have dipped 4 percent. The instruments involved in the UBS case are similar to those that Jerome Kerviel, the rogue trader at Societe Generale, traded when he racked up a $6.7 billion loss in unauthorised deals in 2008. Christoph Blocher, vice-president of the right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP) -- the country's biggest -- renewed his calls for a splitting off of the investment bank. "One has to seriously examine a ban on investment banking for commercial banks," he told the SonntagsZeitung, adding his party might team up with the center-left Social Democrats to push for such a move.

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 to come. Now, as a court-ordered mandate forces California to reduce the number of low-level criminals in its overcrowded prisons, protests of inhumane conditions for the most hardened, violent criminals are forcing the state to rethink another problem: How can powerful and savvy prisoners be stopped from directing violence on the outside without their rights against cruel punishment being violated on the inside? Life in 'The SHU' Yandell and the other 1,110 men in the Pelican Bay Security Housing Unit -- known as "The SHU" -- spend at least 22 1/2 hours each day in their concrete, bathroom-size cells. Some inmates have a cellmate and some do not. Prisoners can have TVs but little human interaction. Their daily outing is a solitary 90-minute break in a barren exercise pen lined with 15-foot-high concrete walls and a limited view of the sky. Hearing about the hunger strike through a network of family members and activists, more than 6,000 inmates across California joined in. The prisons weighed each hunger striker daily, finding only about 11 percent of Pelican Bay's protesters lost weight during the 21-day strike. One lost 30 pounds. No one died, but after weeks of unwanted attention and a legislative hearing in late August, top prison officials now say they are reviewing how long and why they segregate and isolate some inmates in the state's harshest cellblocks. "Everything we're doing with these men is lawful and constitutional," said Pelican Bay Warden Greg Lewis. "I really didn't see the need to negotiate anything. On the other hand, in the department, we need to evolve and change with the conditions that are going on." Dogged with mistreatment complaints and lawsuits since its inception, Pelican Bay's conditions were found by a federal judge in 1995 to "hover on the edge of what is humanly tolerable." But judges have also repeatedly upheld California's practice of confining inmates in isolated conditions, and in March commended Pelican Bay for improving conditions. Still, experts say, the prison realignment prompted by the court order to reduce prison populations offers an opportunity to reconsider the practice of isolating criminals. "There's a growing consensus that these ultra-isolation prisons are a bad mistake," said criminologist Barry Krisberg, director of research at UC Berkeley's Earl Warren Institute. "The theory behind these prisons was we'll collect all the worst people in one place and that will make the rest of the prisons safer and easier to manage. But they weren't necessarily the most dangerous, violent criminals. " And the levels of violence in the other places didn't really go down." 'Living like dogs' Prisoners promise another fast could begin next week inside the remote facility, just south of the Oregon border, if their demands for better conditions and an easier path out of isolation are not met. Prison officials said the strikes are a dangerous, costly and ineffective way for prisoners to voice their complaints. Yandell said it is the only way anyone will pay attention. "We're tired of living like dogs," the former Contra Costa County resident wrote in a handwritten letter to this newspaper, one of several interviews conducted between the newspaper and self-defined leaders of the strike. "Not even terrorists at Guantánamo Bay are treated like this." Convicted of killing two men in El Sobrante a decade ago during a drug deal, Yandell was placed in Pelican Bay's SHU -- the oldest and biggest of three similar units around the state -- after prison officials designated him a member of the Aryan Brotherhood, a white-only gang. The only way out of solitary confinement was to "debrief" -- to convincingly denounce his gang affiliation and ideology and name former collaborators. But many prisoners never find their way out of the SHU; the average time spent inside the state's isolation units is 6.8 years, and some prisoners have been there for decades.

Thieves regularly put their lives at risk by hacking away live copper cabling to try and cash in on increasing scrap metal prices.

British Transport Police has said the thefts cost a staggering £43m pounds in the past three years.

Risky: Criminals are endangering their lives to steal live cabling from power lines and railway tracks

While some of the thieves are believed to know how to cut the 1,500 volt cable without being electrocuted, there are fears that teenagers are also being used to carry out some raids.

In July, a 16-year-old boy who broke into a disused power station in Leeds was killed after touching a high-voltage cable.

Commuters are suffering during rush-hour with more than 16,000 hours of delays in the past 12-months.

Travellers were also left stranded last week when overhead power cables were stolen and caused delays between London Liverpool Street and Stansed Airport.

Bermondsey in south London was also targeted when 65-metres of cable was ripped up. It led to 146 trains being cancelled with 840 being delayed.

Callous criminals are also targeting grave sites and and only last week more than 50 brass memorial plates were taken from a crematorium in Crawley, West Sussex.

Loved ones of the deceased were left devastated when boss Adrian Barbour contacted families to break the bad news.

Homes are also being stripped of highly-prized metal garden ornaments and telephone cables are also being hacked away.

BT has reported 900 cable thefts in just six months and has said 100,000 customers have been affected and left without vital communications.

Farm animals are also being targeted and a 1,500-strong flock was stolen

There have been calls for tougher sentencing for cable thieves, some of whom come from other European countries to carry out the crimes.

Deputy chief constable Paul Crowther for British Transport Police said: 'There have been incidents around the country in which homes, businesses and even hospitals have suffered power cuts and surges as a result of criminals stealing copper from power substations.'

He told the Sunday Express that police were devoting hours of manpower to try and tackle the problem.

There has also been a massive increase in sheep rustling with highly organised gangs using lorries and sheep dogs to round up farm animals.

A 1,500-strong flock was taken from fields in Lincolnshire in what is believed to be one of the biggest cases of rustling in the UK.

NFU Mutual insurance company said it was a 'remarkable achievement', which has left authorities baffled.

A spokesman told the Sunday Times: 'It would have involved sheepdogs, up to five articulated lorries and three men with each truck.

'There would have been a lot of whistling and calling to the dogs.'

A California cop has learned to tell the difference between a true Nebraska fan and a red-clad gang member. And some Bay Area high schools have banned Big Red jerseys and related apparel. The reason? The Norteños, a Mexican street gang in northern California, have taken a liking to Husker gear. It's red -- their color -- and it usually has a big "N" -- for Norteños, in their world. But they're not fans, says a Tulare County, Calif., gang unit task force member. And they know little -- if anything -- about what the Cornhuskers football team is doing, said detective Steve Sanchez. "When you ask them about (quarterback) Taylor Martinez or their record, they don't know anything about that," Sanchez said. "They have zero knowledge of the team." Gangs have long worn sportswear to represent their groups. The Latin Kings use the Los Angeles Kings hockey team logos, multiple gangs use Michigan's M logo for "murder" and now, Arizona State's redesigned pitchfork logo is being used by a Chicago gang, the Satan's Disciples. ASU currently is taking legal action to stop the gang from using its trademarks. Michael Stephens, the University of Nebraska's assistant athletic director for licensing and marketing, said he was aware of the gang sportswear trend, but didn't know NU's team logos were in the mix. "We don't endorse or condone use of our brand with gang affiliation," he said. "Obviously our products are in the marketplace, and we can't control who is purchasing them." "We'll keep an eye on the situation and do what's best for Nebraska." For now, he doesn't think Nebraska will take legal action like Arizona State, he said. In addition to distributing drugs like meth and cocaine, the Norteños are well known for violence. They've been involved in assaults, carjackings, home invasions, robberies and homicides, according to the FBI's National Gang Threat Assessment study. The Nebraska "N" is among many of the gang's symbols. They also use XIV, or 14, because N is the 14th letter in the alphabet. San Francisco 49ers gear also is a favorite, and they wear University of Nevada, Las Vegas gear. Gang members say UNLV stands for "Us Norteños Love Violence." It's unknown just how prevalent the Norteños are, but their larger parent organization, la Nuestra Familia, has as many as 40,000 members. The Norteños started as a prison gang and has filtered into the streets. So how can a real Husker fan avoid being confused with a gang member on the West Coast? "You can't," said Charlie Johnson, FBI Special Agent on the gang squad in San Francisco. "It's a problem in the gang world. You wear the wrong colors in the wrong place at the wrong time and things could happen. "And it has." The gang symbols are so prevalent that University of Nebraska jerseys and related sports apparel are banned in some California high schools. "What we look for in dress codes with gangs is a preponderance of evidence. A Nebraska sweatshirt alone isn't going to do it -- it's that, plus red shoe laces, belt, the number 14 and identified behaviors," said principal Amy McNamara of Union City (Calif.) High School. "It's about student safety. We don't want to see them shot or jumped ... because they are wearing something." DeJon Gomes, a former Husker safety who went to high school in the same district, said there was a lot of gang activity before and after school. He never had problems with gangs when he returned home on breaks and worked out at the high school in his Husker gear. "It's about who you hang out with, and it wasn't really in my neighborhood or anything," Gomes said. "I just work out with my friends and didn't spend too much time out on the streets or anything like that." David Pegg, president of the Bay Area Huskers, saw a story about the gang and the Nebraska connection years ago. "I thought, 'Oh God. This is exactly what we need,'" Pegg said. "I've always worried about some idiot coming up to me with my Nebraska hat and starting something. "It hasn't happened yet, and I don't want it to."

drugs gang responsible for smuggling cocaine with a street value of up to £40m into the UK has been convicted at the High Court in Glasgow. They were involved in importing the drugs from Spain between 2007 and 2009. The ringleaders were Keith Blenkinsop, of Annan, and Lindsay Harkins from Helensburgh. Three men who acted as mules - Andrew Burns, of Helensburgh; Robert Dalrymple, of Gretna; and James Elvin, from Clydebank - were also convicted. The cocaine was concealed inside suitcases and holdalls flown by couriers into Prestwick, Glasgow and Newcastle airports. The court heard how the drugs were concealed beneath a false bottom sewn into suitcases The court heard how the operation came to an end when one of the gang's couriers, David Harbinson, 41, of Annan, was caught with some counterfeit £20 notes and blurted out details of the drugs scheme to police. A teller at a Marks and Spencer bureau de change in Carlisle noticed the currency among a bundle of sterling he wanted to convert to euros. Mr Harbinson subsequently gave evidence against his former associates and has now been placed on a witness protection programme. He told advocate depute Iain McSporran, prosecuting, that the gang had a direct connection to Colombian drug barons. He said Blenkinsop and Harkins were the brains behind the operation while the other accused were couriers paid to take euros to Spain and bring back drugs. In fact, the gang exchanged so much sterling into euros that Blenkinsop's local post office won an award for the amount of euros it sold. The jury was told they sourced their cocaine from Colombians based in Barcelona and transferred it to Harkins' house in the Spanish city. Harkins, a former upholsterer, would then put the drugs inside a suitcase and sew in a false bottom. The cocaine brought in by the gang was mostly destined for the Glasgow area, although some of it was also sold in Dumfries. Refuted claims Mr Harbinson also gave the court a detailed breakdown of how he was approached to become a courier and the payments made to transport the drugs. All of the accused claimed that he was a liar and a self-confessed cocaine addict and said that nobody would have used him as a drugs courier. After a five-week trial Blenkinsop, 43, of Winterhope Road, Annan; Harkins, 44, of West Princes Street, Helensburgh; Burns, 56, of Old Luss Road, Helensburgh; Dalrymple, 43, of Loanwath Road, Gretna; and Elvin, 35, of Garscadden View, Clydebank, were all convicted of being concerned in the supply of cocaine in Scotland, England and Spain. Blenkinsop was also convicted of being involved in the supply of cannabis and amphetamines while Harkins was found guilty of supplying amphetamines. Dalrymple and Elvin were only convicted of being involved in the drugs operation as couriers in 2009.

The St Lucia police Monday said they had detained six persons whom they believed had been involved in the ambush and rape of two British women while on an isolated beach on the island's north east coast.
Police said that the women, whose names were not given and in their early 30s, were on an environmental expedition which entailed camping at the location.
"We are pleased with speed at which the officers were able to apprehend the suspects in this case, and we are very thankful to members of the public who might have provided information leading to their arrests," Police Commissioner Vernon Francois said.
The men are due to appear in court later this week.
The incident is also being investigated by officials of the Ministry of Agriculture who explained that officers from the department would normally accompany students undertaking such assignments in these isolated locations.
British High Commissioner Karl Burrows described the attack on two women as a "dreadful crime" but has endorsed the island as a "friendly and welcoming country".
Burrows has advised British nationals visiting the island to exercise caution, as they would anywhere else, and pointed out that crime against UK tourists was not widespread.
"To put it into context, we have about 75,000 British to St Lucia each year and the vast majority of visits are incidents free," the high commissioner said.
"Our advice to British nationals is that common sense rules apply. There is crime as there is everywhere, but St Lucia is a friendly and welcoming country. Overall crime rates are low but common sense rules do apply. We advise against being in isolated areas after dark."
The British high commissioner expressed disappointment that news of the attack reached his office via the media and not through official channels.
"That's not the way things work and we are disappointed we were not contacted directly by the police, but hopefully we will be able to put procedures in place in order to remind the St. Lucia police of what sort of procedures should be followed," he told a local newspaper.

Sean Devalda, now 25, of Cheetham Hill, admitted conspiracy to rob and carrying a firearm with intent to commit an offence at Manchester Crown Court on Tuesday.

He was part of a gang planning to rob a Group 4 cash-in-transit van in 2007.

He was arrested during a police raid on a house in Amsterdam.

Devalda was then extradited from the Netherlands under a European arrest warrant in February.

The robbery was abandoned when the group realised police were following them, a police spokesman said.

Officers discovered a balaclava, a pistol and seven rounds of ammunition dumped in a bin by the gang.

Two men were arrested but Devalda and another man fled.


Dutch police raided the house in Amsterdam
His three accomplices were jailed for conspiracy to rob and possession of a firearm at Leeds Crown Court in March 2008, police said.

Amsterdam Police worked with the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) to arrest him four years later.

The operation involved a team of armed officers, a helicopter and police divers.

A firearm, £50,000 in cash and a number of expensive watches were recovered during the raid.

Det Insp Aaron Duggan, of Greater Manchester Police, said: "This case proved we will stop at nothing to bring criminals to justice."

Ch Supt Kevin Mulligan, of the Salford division, added: "We have been working hard to tackle organised crime in the city and make it a safer place for local residents.

"I hope the Salford community will be reassured that we are leaving no stone unturned in our continued efforts to track down fugitives on the run."

A wealthy gold dealer confessed he masterminded the murder of his estranged wife to a prison cellmate, a court heard.

Businessman James Fayed also allegedly plotted from behind bars to kill one of the men he is accused of paying to carry out the hit.

Prosecutors claim Fayed arranged the 2008 killing of his wife, Pamela, because he was embroiled in a costly divorce battle and feared she would give evidence against him in a federal probe into their international gold trading business.

Deputy Los Angeles District Attorney Eric Harmon said the case amounted to a love story, but one that involved 'boy meets gold' rather than 'boy meets girl.'

'It's that greed, that love of gold, that caused this man to have his wife murdered for financial gain,' he added.

Jurors at Los Angeles Superior Court heard excerpts of a tape secretly recorded by the inmate in which Fayed, 48, talked about his 'money-grabbing' wife.

'If she'd just kept her mouth shut,' he said.

Mr Harmon said the jailed businessman complained to the inmate that the hitmen passed up several better opportunities to kill his wife before choosing a crowded parking garage.


I DID kill Joanna Yeates: Shock as engineer Vincent Tabak admits to manslaughter of 25-year-old landscape architect
Mrs Fayed, 44, was attacked on July 28, 2008, on the third floor of a Los Angeles garage as she walked to her car after a meeting earlier that afternoon with her husband and their lawyers.

She was seeking $66,000 per month in support and attorney fees and was battling with her husband for control of their precious-metals business.


In court: Businessman Mr Fayed also allegedly plotted from behind bars to kill one of the men he is accused of paying to carry out the hit on his wife

She also demanded nearly $1million from Fayed, alleging that he had failed to give her access to the company's books.

The couple were supposed to be back in court the day after the murder. Mrs Fayed was getting into her car when she was stabbed 13 times by a hooded attacker.

The man fled in a red Suzuki truck that had been rented by the Fayeds' business, Goldfinger Inc., said prosecutors.

Police later found the victim's blood inside the SUV, even though it had been cleaned after the killing.

According to Mr Harmon, Fayed also discussed paying the cellmate to arrange the killings of the men he had used to carry out the attack on his wife.

Fayed could face the death penalty if he is convicted of murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

Defence lawyer Mark Werksman claimed his client's cellmate, Shawn Smith, was a habitual liar who tried to trick Fayed into plotting the murder of at least one of the men who allegedly carried out his wife's killing.

'He's an innocent man wrongly accused of a crime he didn't commit,' said Mr Werksman.

Prosecutors allege that Fayed paid Jose Moya, an employee at his Moorpark ranch, $25,000 to carry out the murder-for-hire.

Mr Harmon said Moya, a gang member, hired another gang member, Gabriel Marquez, to help - then Marquez, in turn, hired Steven Simmons, a member of the same gang, to stab Pamela Fayed.

The three are expected to be tried separately and have pleaded not guilty.

The Mexican Navy has said it has captured a suspected leader of the Zetas drug gang allegedly behind the mass killings of more than 100 people in northeastern Mexico.

Martin Omaar Estrada Luna, said to be the local leader of the gang, was captured on Saturday. He is accused of masterminding the murders of 145 people in Tamaulipas state near the US border.

Their remains were discovered in a mass grave earlier this month.

A navy statement said Estrada Luna, alias "El Kilo", is also the main suspect in the massacre of 72 central and south American migrants last August, also in the same township of San Fernando in Tamaulipas.

He was one of six people arrested in a navy operation on Saturday, the statement added.

A series of bus hijackings alerted authorities to the killings. Since April 1, officials have found about 20 mass graves in San Fernando alone.

The Zetas, a notorious gang formed in the 1990s by ex-military commandos, is now engaged in a fight to death with its former bosses.

Seven major drug gangs are operating in Mexico, and over 34,000 people have been killed since December 2006 in the raging wars for control over smuggling routes and government efforts to crack down on illegal activities.

Thursha Kamaleswaran was visiting her uncle’s convenience store in Stockwell, south London, with her brother, sister and their parents on Tuesday evening when three teenagers dressed in black scarves cycled past and opened fire, shooting her in the chest.
Thursha, who started school in September, remained in a critical condition in hospital last night but opened her eyes for the first time since the attack.
Roshan Selvakumar, the 35-year-old tenant of the flat above the shop who had dropped in to buy beer when he was shot in the face, was also in a critical but stable condition.
Detectives said that a teenager, believed to be one of the intended targets of the gang, had come forward to help police trace the attackers. The boy, said to be in his late teens, was one of two youths who ran into the shop to take cover, moments before two shots were fired. Yesterday it was reported that another boy aged around 16 had stopped at a nearby shop to boast that he was one of the targets.

organised crime squad has charged two men over the discovery of a clandestine drug laboratory at a motel in Perth's eastern suburbs.

Police say an investigation into two pharmacy burglaries led investigators to the men who were staying at a motel in Wattle Grove.

In the room, police allegedly found pseudoephedrine-based medications, a large quantity of cold and flu tablets and other drug making materials.

A 31-year-old Gosnells man and a 30-year-old Gosnells man have been charged with two counts of aggravated burglary and attempting to manufacture methylamphetamine.

A 29-year-old Gosnells woman, who was also in the motel room at the time, was charged with breaching her bail.

The 22-year-old PA went missing last weekend after leaving the Swindon nightclub Suju.
Her body was found in a roadside ditch 15 miles east of Swindon, near Uffington, on Thursday.
Christopher Halliwell was arrested on Thursday and charged with one count of murder on Saturday night.
He remains in custody and will appear before magistrates in Swindon on Monday.

Hundreds of tributes have been paid to Miss O'Callaghan
Police are continuing to search a field in Eastleach, Gloucestershire, after the remains of a second body were found.
The body has not been formally identified but police say the bones found so far belong to a woman aged 23-30.
Detective Superintendent Steve Fulcher, who is leading the investigation, said: "It has been indicated to me that this young woman was taken from the Swindon area between 2003 and 2005.
"The remains will now be subject of further forensic laboratory tests and a post-mortem examination.

Nearly 200 people remain in custody in London after violent riots erupted during a huge anti-austerity protest on Saturday.

Up to 500,000 protesters converged on the centre of the capital to protest against cost-cutting measures brought in by prime minister David Cameron's Conservative government.

A breakaway group of 300 anarchists caused havoc in the city's exclusive West End, smashing into banks, throwing fire bombs and paint at shops, and setting off missiles in Trafalgar Square until the early hours of the morning.

A total of 201 people were arrested and 84 were injured, including 31 police officers.

The main protest was the biggest union-organised rally in London's post-war history, with teachers, students and nurses marching to Hyde Park to tell the Government its deficit reduction plan was too savage.

But business secretary Vince Cable says the government is unmoved.

"No government would change its fundamental economic policies simply in response to a demonstration of that kind," he said.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has revealed that intelligence reports suggest Libyan loyalist forces have placed bodies of people they have killed at the sites of coalition air strikes so they can blame the West for the deaths.

Mr Gates told the CBS Face The Nation programme: 'We do have a lot of intelligence reporting about Gaddafi taking the bodies of the people he's killed and putting them at the sites where we've attacked.'

A U.S.-led coalition began air strikes against Libya a week ago to establish a no-fly zone over the oil-exporting North African country and to try to prevent Gaddafi from using his air force to attack people rebelling against his rule.

Pirates board, take control of Italian oil tanker | Reuters: "A spokesman so no one was injured in the attack on the Savina Caylyn, which took place some 500 miles off the coast of India and some 800 miles off the coast of Somalia.

He said it was believed that at least five pirates took part in the attack, which took place at about 0625 GMT. The crew was made up of 17 Indians and five Italians. A navy frigate was heading to the scene"

Russia: Suspects held over airport bomb - Europe, World - The Independent: "Several people with information on last month's suicide bombing at a Moscow airport have been detained, Russia's top security official said yesterday. Alexander Bortnikov added that the bomber was under the influence of mind-altering drugs.

Relatives of a woman who was killed while allegedly preparing a New Year's Eve suicide bombing in Moscow are suspected of providing assistance in the airport bombing, General Bortnikov said.

It was not immediately clear if any of them were among those detained, but General Bortnikov, who is director of the FSB, said some suspects were still being sought.

The bombing in the international arrivals terminal at Domodedovo Airport on 24 January killed 36 people and wounded 180.

Investigators said last week that the bomber was a 20-year-old man from the Caucasus region in Russia's south, which is gripped by an Islamic insurgency. The bomber's name has not been released and officials have provided only vague details of the investigation."

"The Comancheros are understood to have linked up with a Mexican drug cartel importing cocaine into Australia and are sharing the technology.


''There is nothing strange in organised crime having better access to technology than the authorities,'' said Michael Kennedy, a former police detective and an academic at the University of Western Sydney.

''The bikies are becoming more entrepreneurial and, after all, organised crime is a business enterprise. Crime groups will share technology if it helps them.''

The Comancheros are believed to use the phones sourced from Mexico with global roam activated. The roaming facility is expensive but criminals believe it is priceless to have communications that cannot be monitored.

What makes the BlackBerry so hard to ''tap'' is that Mexico has no reliable register of handsets, mobile numbers, or users."

BBC News - Thousands of stolen iTunes accounts for sale in China: "Tens of thousands of fraudulent iTunes accounts are for sale on a major Chinese website, it has been revealed.

Around 50,000 accounts linked to stolen credit cards are listed on auction site TaoBao, the country's equivalent of eBay.

Buyers are promised temporary access to unlimited downloads from the service for as little as 1 yuan (10p) a time.

Apple, which recently stepped up iTunes' security after a series of break-ins, declined to comment."

Godfather inspiration was a fraud - Hindustan Times: "historian has claimed that the mobster who inspired the 1970s movie The Godfather was a “fake”. It was believed that Charles “Lucky” Luciano was the father of organised crime and experts hailed him as the model for legendary mafia boss Don Corleone, played by Marlon Brando. 


Luciano was credited for running New York’s underworld, and was linked to extortion rackets, punishment attacks and gangland murders.

But US author Tim Newark, in his new book Lucky Luciano: Mafia Murderer and Secret Agent, claims that his reputation was fabricated by the US government to justify the expense of tracking him down."

Incendiary devices go off at Maryland state buildings - CNN.com: "Two Maryland state employees suffered burned fingers when they opened packages containing incendiary devices that set off a flash of fire, smoke and a sulfur smell, authorities said.
The packages were sent through the mail to two state office buildings. One was addressed to Gov. Martin O'Malley, said Greg Shipley, a spokesman with Maryland State Police. The other was addressed to the Maryland Department of Transportation, officials said."

Teen actor’s dad jailed for murder | Celebrities | Entertainment | Toronto Sun: "The teenage star of Scottish actor/director Peter Mullan’s gritty new film about a blade-wielding gang of Glasgow youths is the son of a real life convicted knife murderer.

Newcomer Connor McCarron has won acclaim for his role as a youth who becomes embroiled in gangland violence in the 1970s in new movie Neds.

The 17 year old recently claimed his father, John, was a 'role model' who kept him away from dangerous gang culture as he was growing up.

But the actor's comments have now come under fire from grieving parents Ronald and Helen Auld, whose son William was stabbed to death by John McCarron following an argument in a Glasgow bar early last year.

He was sentenced to a minimum of 18 years behind bars last August.

Ronald Auld tells Britain's Daily Record, 'Connor was saying his dad was a role model and that got us upset. His father is doing 18 years for murder.'"