bomb-rigged truck exploded in Lahore

bomb-rigged truck with government plates exploded in Lahore on Wednesday, killing one person in a heavily guarded neighbourhood that is home to many government officials in the eastern Pakistani city. Two TV stations quoting anonymous intelligence officials reported that authorities had arrested an Indian national in connection with the blast in the city, which is around 19 miles from the Indian border. Lahore's police chief said his force had not detained an Indian, but said intelligence agencies could have done so without his knowledge. Tensions between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan have risen sharply over the deadly terror attacks in Mumbai last month, which Indian authorities have blamed on Pakistan-based militants. Islamabad has promised to cooperate with New Delhi, but has said it...

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Exposure to Madoff

Entity: Access International Advisors Exposure: $1.5 billion Date of disclosure: Dec. 24 Notes: The investment-advisory firm's co-founder Thierry Magon de La Villehuchet, 65, was found dead in his Manhattan office Tuesday in an apparent suicide. Access International Advisors oversaw Luxalpha Sicav, a fund with Madoff-run assets. Luxalpha Sicav had been previously run and managed by UBS AG, at which point it also had Madoff exposure. Entity: Tremont Group Holdings Inc. Exposure: $3.3 billion Date of disclosure: Dec. 23 Notes: Tremont is owned by Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. Tremont said in a letter to investors that it believes it "exercised appropriate due diligence in connection with the Madoff investments." The loss is more than half of all assets...

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Mexican Drug Cartels have teamed with the notorious Italian ‘Ndrangheta crime syndicate.

Violent Mexican cartels that have killed thousands in a drug war at home this year are increasingly smuggling drugs to Europe by way of Africa.Under pressure from a government and army crackdown at home, the Mexican Drug Cartels are seeking new lucrative markets.Recent high-profile arrests of Mexicans around the globe show how the Gulf cartel and its main rival, the “Sinaloa Outfit” run by Joaquin “Shorty” Guzman, are moving beyond their traditional market in the United States.A 15-month international drug sweep called “Project Reckoning” captured 500 Gulf cartel collaborators in the United States, Mexico and Italy, where the The powerfull Mexican Drug Cartels have teamed with the notorious Italian ‘Ndrangheta crime syndica...

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AK-47 Bandits longest and most violent crime sprees in the city's recent history

The leader of a violent gang of bank robbers who shot a teller and a police officer and made off with more than $750,000 over two years was sentenced Wednesday in federal court to 227 years in prison. "These were horrific crimes and very, very violent crimes," U.S. District Judge Sean F. Cox told the group's leader, Andre Jones, 28, of Detroit. "The emotional trauma to those bank employees ... is something they will never overcome." Jones, leader of the gang known as the "AK-47 Bandits" because of the type of weapons members carried, admitted to robbing nine banks in Livonia, Southfield, Dearborn Heights, Southfield, Troy, Sterling Heights, Flint and Toledo in 2006 and 2007. The non-fatal shootings committed by Jones happened during a Sterling Heights robbery in November 2007 and a police...

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World Bank has barred Satyam Computer Services from doing any business with it for the next eight years

World Bank has barred Satyam Computer Services from doing any business with it for the next eight years even as the share prices of India’s fourth-largest IT firm tanked 13.5 per cent on rumours that B Ramalinga Raju, founder and chairman, has resigned.Speculation was also high on news that Wipro Technologies, India’s third-largest IT firm, might acquire Satyam, something both companies denied.The company’s share closed at Rs 140.4 at the end of the day.Foxnews.com today reported that the World Bank ban started in September this year “due to alleged malpractice’s including bribery”. The news report said the World Bank debarment — the harshest sanction ever made by the bank since 2004 — was meted out for ‘improper benefit to bank staff’ and ‘lack of documentation on invoices’.“The information...

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