Savvy young heirs give Mexico drug cartels new face

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Shunning the gem-studded pistols and gold chains flaunted by their fathers, a savvy new generation of drug smugglers is moving up the ranks of Mexico's cartels wielding college degrees and keeping low profiles to outsmart police.

The fashionably-dressed sons of two prominent drug bosses were recently arrested in smart Mexico City neighborhoods, suspected of laundering money for the Juarez and Sinaloa cartels while moving seamlessly among the country's elite.

They typify a new wave of leaders of Mexico's warring drug cartels, whose turf wars killed 6,300 people last year. Often the urbane offspring of cartel founders, they bring a clean-cut management style to the murky multibillion dollar enterprise.

"These people are usually better prepared, better educated and very useful for the cartels because they're professionals," said political analyst Jorge Chabat.

"They're harder to identify because they don't look like typical drug traffickers," he said. "You can't detect them by saying 'Oh look, he has a big truck with wide tires and automatic weapons, gold chains, snakeskin boots and a big belt buckle and dark glasses.'"

President Felipe Calderon has put dozens of top traffickers behind bars, along with thousands of low-level hitmen and drug runners, in an army-led war on cartels that has Washington worried about a possible spillover of violence.

For years the classic image of a Mexican drug baron has been of a macho gunslinger who revels in an ostentatious lifestyle of bad taste. But that may be changing.

Vicente Carrillo Leyva, the suave 32-year-old son of legendary drug lord Amado Carrillo Fuentes, was nabbed last week while jogging in a park near his house in the capital's most exclusive district and paraded in front of news cameras in a slick white Abercrombie & Fitch sweatsuit and trendy specs.

His late father was known as the "Lord of the Skies" for flying jets full of cocaine to the United States in the 1990s. A high-living patriarch, when he died he was building himself an extravagant four-level palace in the Mexican border city of Nogales with soaring white domes and a 12-foot exterior wall.

Carrillo Leyva, nicknamed "The Engineer", grew up among a wealthy elite, was educated abroad and enjoyed frequent trips to Europe. He reportedly speaks English and French well and had invested in a high-end boutique selling Versace clothes.

Neighbors said he lived a low-profile life.

"No parties, no noise; these neighbors were very discreet. The young man went out running in the morning and his wife was very nice," a local resident told El Universal newspaper.

FAR FROM THE DIRTY WORK

Also captured this month, Vicente Zambada, 33, the son of Sinaloa cartel boss Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, lived a little larger, with luxury cars and five armed body guards.

But in his toned-down outfit of jeans, pressed shirt and jacket, he was undistinguishable from the young professionals who crowd Mexico's upscale bars and restaurants. Read full story here

Reuters 8 Apr 2009

The mass media unfortunately idolises and romatiscises the drug industry.

The authorities are fully aware of the large drug cartels, and it's only the small fry that are uncomfortable, that are usually prosecuted or exterminated. Far too little is done to kerb the drug problem.

Since Politicians, Law Makers and the Police are involved there is a PHENOMENAL amount of money to be made in drugs ($18 Billion in Australia for 2008), which are distributed to the children of the masses.

Pressure to rein in 'corrupt' colleges

THE Federal Government is facing mounting internal pressure to launch a co-ordinated nationwide crackdown on corrupt training colleges that are making millions of dollars a year exploiting foreign students by breaching immigration and education laws.

Senior officials from government departments have told The Age that widespread rackets among private trades colleges are "out of control" and undermining Australia's education, immigration and employment systems.

Complex networks linking unscrupulous private colleges, migration agents, education agents and businesses offering work experience indicated the involvement of organised crime, one official said.

The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said serious problems existed at several levels: colleges and agents were fleecing students using forged certificates and immigration fraud; government agencies charged with checking the credentials of students entering the country were "lackadaisical"; and some students were complicit in scams aimed at securing permanent residency in Australia.

They said that while individual government departments and agencies were belatedly stepping up efforts to deal with the problem, a unified response from the Commonwealth was being hampered by a lack of co-ordination, confusion over jurisdictions, and a reluctance to upset a lucrative industry.

"It's out of control," one of the officials said. "In the current economic climate … I think people are fairly reticent to try to fiddle with this huge earner in Australia."

International education is a $13.7 billion industry, making it the nation's third largest export after coal and iron. Australia has the highest proportion (19 per cent) of international students of any OECD country. Full story here

The Age 14 Apr 2009

Corrupt Colleges / Universities is really nothing new. Australian learning institutions have been doing this for quite some time. Even with recorded acts it would be difficult to prosecute.

Since the advent of GLOBALISATION (ie. the deliberate breakdown of economic barriers) the market is rife. Universities are prone to discriminate and take in 'foreign' students as the BUY the degrees from the institution.

This move is supported by Politicians, coporations and Law makers are there are HUGE benefits in all aspects ofthe community, including cheap 'slave' labour.

It is NOT in the interest of the ruling hirarchy to stop this kind of behaviour.

Britain's Parky slams late TV star Goody

British veteran chat show host Michael Parkinson slammed late reality TV star Jade Goody as "all that's paltry and wretched about Britain".

Goody found tabloid fame after appearing on the British edition of Big Brother in 2002 and transforming her 15 minutes of fame into a full-time celebrity career.

She died last month of cervical cancer aged 27, milking the media spotlight until the last in deals with broadcasters and publications to make money for her two sons.

"Jade Goody has her own place in the history of television and, while it's significant, it's nothing to be proud of," Parkinson wrote in the Radio Times weekly magazine.

"Her death is as sad as the death of any young person, but it's not the passing of a martyr or a saint or, God help us, Princess Di," added Parkinson, known as Parky in Britain, Australia and elsewhere.

He added: "When we clear the media smokescreen from around her death, what we're left with is a woman who came to represent all that's paltry and wretched about Britain today."

Goody's example has been hailed by cancer charities as well as Prime Minister Gordon Brown for prompting a surge in the increase of young women taking tests for cervical cancer.

She released an autobiography, a perfume and an exercise video, and saw her notoriety go global when she subjected Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty to racist bullying on Celebrity Big Brother in 2007.

ninemsn 8 Apr 2009

Said it the way it should be said.

The Mass Media DELIBERATELY focuses on this type of 'trash' entertainment.

AFL club investigates chicken sex film

AFL club North Melbourne says it will not punish the player responsible for posting on the internet a degrading video that depicts a toy rubber chicken performing sex acts.

Chief executive Eugene Arocca this morning confirmed that an internal investigation is underway and once identified, the player at the centre of the tasteless video would be "re-educated" rather than disciplined.

The four-minute video, posted on video sharing website YouTube, features the rubber chicken, always wearing a condom on its head and manoeuvred by an unidentifiable hand, seeming to sexually penetrate a real chicken carcass, The Age newspaper reported today.

The real chicken, depicted as a woman, is hurled into a wall and run over by a van before the rubber chicken returns to again penetrate it, The Age said.

Mr Arocca today said the video was "stupid and thoughtless".

"We pride ourselves on being an inclusive club. Most of our employees are female, in fact many of the volunteers who come to this club are female," he said.

"We really take umbradge to the suggestion that this club treats women poorly or is disrespectful to women."

Parts of the film, titled The Adventures of Little Boris, were recorded in the club's locker room, including the locker of senior player Brady Rawlings, on the desk of a staff member, at a supermarket and in a hotel toilet.

The film's soundtrack is Move Bitch, a song by US rapper Ludacris. No players, coaches or staff are seen in the video.

Mr Arocca said he was "embarrassed" about the video and ordered it to be removed from YouTube when alerted to it by The Age.

"Foolishly, one of the younger members of our group placed it on his Facebook (page). It then found its way onto YouTube. It's now been removed," he said.

"I'm furious to say the least that it's gotten out, though I haven't had the advantage of seeing it."

AFL corporate affairs manager Brian Walsh said the video was "infantile and inappropriate".

8 Apr 2009

Do NOT expect any ROCKET SCIENCE Brain work from a bunch of Infantile Neanderthals handling a ball.

Just more Quality News to keep the plebs amused.

Banks need a kick up the bum, says Swan

Banks that fail to pass on the latest interest rate cut to borrowers need "a good kick up the bum", federal Treasurer Wayne Swan says.

The Commonwealth Bank has said it will only pass on a cut of 0.1 percentage points from the 0.25 point cut in the cash rate announced by the Reserve Bank on Tuesday, while the National Australia Bank says it will not pass on any of it.

Westpac and the ANZ have yet to make a decision.

"Certainly I'm pretty disappointed with their decision or the decisions that have been announced so far," Mr Swan said on Wednesday.

The banks would have to justify their commercial decisions in the court of public opinion, he told Fairfax Radio Network.

"You know what they're like, they do need a good kick up the bum occasionally," Mr Swan said.

The failure of the banks to pass on the latest rate cut had blunted the effectiveness of monetary policy, he said.

"It's not helpful when we're trying to get everyone in the community working together to deal with this global financial crisis."

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd had asked the two banks to reconsider their decisions, Mr Swan said.

But he said he would not contemplate a suggestion that the government could put pressure on banks by withdrawing its guarantee of their deposits.

"The beneficiary of the guarantee is not the banks, it's the Australian people," Mr Swan said.

"(Ending it) would in fact fundamentally rebound not just on the banks but on the Australian economy and that is absolutely something that we can't consider.

The guarantee had been essential to the stability of the Australian financial system, Mr Swan said.

Meanwhile, Federal Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull is demanding Australia's big four banks pass on the latest interest rate cut, saying they are doing "very, very well" at the moment.

"The least they can do is pass on these cuts in official rates," Mr Turnbull told ABC Radio.

"The banks are doing very, very well at the moment, particularly the big four, they are doing well competitively and in every other way."

The banks had received enormous support from the government, through the deposit guarantee and a wholesale term funding guarantee, he said.

Mr Turnbull warned that monetary policy would not work if the banks did not pass on rate cuts.

"The rate cuts are only effective in terms of stimulating the economy if they are passed on by banks," he said.

Government pressure has helped keep Australia's banks honest and home buyers in reasonable shape, federal Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner says.

"And we'll keep that pressure on," he told Sky News on Wednesday.

The government had kept up a constant "drum beat" of pressure on the banks to cut rates, Mr Tanner said.

"That pressure has had an effect, it's helped to keep the banks honest, to keep Australian homebuyers in reasonable shape."

ninemsn 8 Apr 2009

Four nations blacklisted as tax havens

Four nations were blacklisted as uncooperative tax havens Thursday after G-20 leaders declared the age of banking secrecy was over and said they would no longer tolerate shady havens draining away badly needed tax revenue.

At the request of the Group of 20 summit of rich and developing nations, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development named the Philippines, Uruguay, Costa Rica and the Malaysian territory of Labuan as the worst offenders, saying they had refused to adopt new rules on financial openness.

Leaders also said nations that refuse to exchange tax information could in the future face tough sanctions - including the withdrawal of financing by the World Bank or International Monetary Fund.

"The time of banking secrecy has passed," French President Nicholas Sarkozy said following the summit. "Everyone around the table wants an end to tax havens. Everyone knows we need sanctions."

The announcement reflects mounting concern that banking secrecy in tax havens has helped to worsen the economic crisis by disguising the true value of some global assets. Anti-poverty activists say such places provide corrupt officials places to stash illicit funds, often depriving poor nations of needed resources.

The OECD has divided countries into three categories: those who comply with rules on sharing tax information, those who say they will but have yet to act and nations which have not yet agreed to change banking secrecy practices.

Switzerland and Liechtenstein, which both have strong banking secrecy traditions, said last month they would adopt international rules on tax cooperation and were ready to comply with G-20 demands.

Liechtenstein, Switzerland's tiny Alpine neighbour, said it has already met with British officials to prepare for the new standards. Monaco said earlier that it would be more transparent with foreign tax authorities.

In return they were spared the fate of being blacklisted but were left in a grey area of countries that still have to implement their commitment to accept new information-exchange standards.

China supported the blacklisting, but would not agree to have two territories, Hong Kong and Macau, classified as uncooperative tax havens.

Potential sanctions for transgressors include extra audits of those who use tax havens and curbs on tax deductions claimed by businesses using the territories.

In their communique, leaders said they may consider further penalties in their bilateral relations with tax haven territories.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Brown and President Barack Obama played a key role in pushing for a crackdown on tax havens.

At least 35 offshore tax havens, from Britain's Channel Islands to the Cayman Islands in the Caribbean, are under increasing pressure to provide more information to international authorities to prevent people from evading taxes or hiding income by shifting money to such places.

Stephen Timms, financial secretary to the British Treasury, said a culture of banking secrecy had worsened global economic problems.

"That lack of transparency - that opaqueness - has contributed to the severity of the problems we are seeing in the world economy at the moment," he said.

3 Apr 2009

This is NOT brand new News. This is OLD NEWS.

These nations have been set up FOR THAT VERY purpose.

It's just that now the lay people 'may' be able to use those services which is the concern.

The Banking and Finance sector is fully aware of this and takes advantage of this fact.

Parts of TELSTRA are registered in the Bahamas and Tasmania for Tax evasion purposes, and there is NO reprisals by the ATO (Australian Taxation office) BUT they target EASY 'offenders' like Greg Norman, Paul Hogan, Dick Smith.

Daughter drugged so she'd get pregnant

Police say a mother drugged her 13-year-old daughter so the woman's boyfriend could get the girl pregnant.

Police say 32-year-old Shana Brown is no longer able to have children, but wanted a baby with her boyfriend.

A detective says Brown and her 40-year-old boyfriend, Duane Calloway, attempted to impregnate the girl on three occasions. He says the girl prevented the rapes.

The girl's paternal grandmother reported the incidents to police in Uniontown, in western Pennsylvania, about 80km south of Pittsburgh.

Brown is facing several charges, including endangering the welfare of children. Brown's lawyer didn't immediately return a call for comment.

Calloway faces charges of attempted rape. It wasn't immediately clear if he has a lawyer.

ninemsn 3 Apr 2009

ANZ to shift 400 jobs offshore

In another attempt to boost profits, ANZ has resorted to shifting its operations offshore to India.

In a move publicly denied by ANZ, but confirmed within sources in the bank, jobs will go from Australia.

This brings an average saving to the bank of approximately 1/5th or even 1/10th of the cost of an Australian employee. There is NO savings to the customer by the cheap / unskilled labour offered by the developing nations.

Globalisation / Outsourcing are terms coined by the multinational corporations, and propagated as a benefit to society, whereas in real terms it means LARGE profits for the corporations concerned.

The sacking of a $50,000 Australian employee to be replaced by a $5,000 (outsourced) unskilled worker from a developing nation, whilst the cost for their services to the end customer is NOT reduced is ONLY of benefit to the multinational / firm concerned.

Globalisation / Outsourcing is supported by the Law Makers / Politicians around the World as is reaps LARGE profits for the exploiters, and is another form of LEGAL slavery, which was abolished in the US of A many moons ago.

Australia agrees at G20 to billions in loan guarantees to poor nations

Australia will stump up billions of dollars in loan guarantees for struggling nations after the G20 summit opened in London.

And bankers will be subjected to extraordinary limits on pay and bonuses in a bid to curb reckless stock market speculation.

The summit in London’s Docklands area also endorsed tough regulations for the finance industry, most of which already exist in Australia.

An international “college of regulators” would ensure countries were imposing strict conditions to prevent another collapse of markets such as the insurance industry caused by dodgy business practices.

And sources said the summit wanted a battle against protectionism, with the World Trade
Organisation to audit the openness of individual nations.

Full story in the Herald Sun HERE

The Government cannot even sort out it's priorities as the Water Storage Capacity in Victoria has reached CRITICAL levels, and it has been estimated that by the year 2012 there will be NO WATER in Victoria.

This is NOT a priority, as the Government indicated that it will outsource the building of a desalination plant (to a private company), and Victorians until then will be paying a price of 25% increase per annum in their water bill for the next 4 years.

Since the privatisation of Melbourne's Water Services there has been NO increase in infrastructure over the past 25 years, with an increase in population of 30%.

Vic govt defends justice system

Victoria's attorney-general has defended the state's justice system following the conviction of a serial burglar who brutally bashed a 91-year-old woman.

John Kelsen was sentenced to 11 years' jail on Wednesday for attacking Rachel Williams in August 2007, after breaking into her Broadmeadows home six times.

She died a month later, but there was not enough evidence to link her death to the attack.

It was revealed Kelsen had numerous previous convictions for burglary, theft and assault, but he had never spent time in jail prior to his attack on Mrs Williams.

Attorney-General Rob Hulls defended the system on Thursday, saying he believed entirely in judicial discretion.

"I wasn't privy to anything heard before that court," Mr Hulls told reporters.

"I'm not privy to the actual nature of the charges, whether or not the person pleaded guilty. I'm not privy to background information in relation to those charges. That's why I continue to support judicial discretion."

He was happy with the "checks and balances" that were in place in the system.

"It is entirely up to the court what sentences they deem appropriate, based on the facts presented before them and based on the sentencing act which takes into account a whole range of matters."

He said if a magistrate or judge got a sentence wrong, the decision could be appealed, as happened in a "small number" of the 90,000 cases heard in Victoria every year.

"I do not think that politicians should be the one who are the judges and also the juries and also the sentencers.

"I'm firmly of the view that an independent judiciary is the cornerstone of a true democratic system and judicial discretion is absolutely essential."

aap 2 Apr 2009

It's VERY simple, if the justice system worked, then there would be NO NEED to defend it.

Too many times criminals have been let out, with full knowledge that there is NO chance of rehabilitation, and they re-offend, quite often with more violent crimes.

The law system is fully aware that once in jail, the criminals become more hardened. The statistics prove it.

The biggest problem is that these criminals are let out into society, where John Citizen is effected, and NOT the law and policy makers.

The Anglo - Masonic Judicial System favours Corporate Crime, and in general is too lenient on violent crimes against Mr. Citizen.

As an example statistics shown by the Herald Sun on crimes committed by Celebrities / Sports Stars versus the SAME crime (Drink Driving) committed by Mr. Average, Mr. Average receives a conviction, whereas Celebrity figure gets a slap on the wrists.