100 posts
Combating money laundering: EU law in an international context
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Money laundering is a global phenomenon, the scope of which cannot be reliably estimated. It takes a plethora of forms, characterised by varying degrees of sophistication. Prevention is a crucial element of anti-money laundering (AML) actions...
ExxonMobil executive gunned down in Belgium
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By DON MELVIN BRUSSELS — So far, it’s still a mystery. A British oil executive gunned down in front of his wife in the Belgian capital of Brussels. Helmeted assailants escaping on a motorcycle. No arrests. A driver of a white van who has not...
Berlusconi gets four-year jail term (but likely won’t serve time)
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Silvio Berlusconi’s conviction for tax fraud certainly warmed Scrapbook’s cockles cold Friday afternoon. A look through the history books, however, shows that the former PM has a habit of getting away with it: Year: 1990 Conviction: Per...
Organised crime in Italy
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Italy is the location of one of the five criminal hubs in the EU, according to Europol. Criminal hubs are concentrations of criminal logistics which receive illicit flows from numerous sources, and whose influence extends throughout the EU. The Sou...
Ben Needham's disappearance is a matter for Greek police | Martin Kettle
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South Yorkshire police's decision to send officers to the island of Kos is astonishing at a time when services are being cutWhat could possibly explain why a squad of British police officers want to leave wet and windy Yorkshire in October and spend...
Focus on trafficking in human beings
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Eleni Mavrou and Cecilia Malmström speaking @ anti-trafficking conference 18 oct 2012 “What does the EU do to fight trafficking?”. That is one of the questions I am most frequently asked when I receive visitors groups in my cabinet in th...
European Union Anti-Trafficking Day - 18 October
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*** OSCE Special Representative calls for redoubled efforts against modern-day slavery on Anti-Trafficking Day ***VIENNA, 18 October 2012 – The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Special Representative and Co-ordinator for...
Jimmy Savile: If we caught Gary Glitter, why did he get away with it?
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Following up on yesterday’s post about the importance of understanding why the media failed to reveal the full story of allegations about Jimmy Savile during his life, our Ian Kirby gives his view based on his experience working in the newspape...
14 year-old girl expelled from school for being raped
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A 14 year-old girl was expelled from her school after being abducted and gang raped by members of a child trafficking syndicate. The private school in the Jabodetabek metropolitan region of Indonesia has now been forced to reinstate the student after...
Corruption in China "goes right to the top"
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The leaders of China's Communist Party are nothing but bunch of corrupted thugsFor years apologists for the Chinese communist government have been spreading the myth that massive corruption in China is only a local...
Book Review: Writing History in International Criminal Trials
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In this engaging and accessible book, Richard Ashby Wilson addresses key questions related to the legal relevance of history in international criminal trials. Should history play a role in trials, what form should it take, and why does it matter? ...
Boosting online child safety in Europe
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Just as children need to how to safely cross the street, they need to learn how to safely surf the web. I just finished a trip in Europe, which underlined the emergence of an inspiring movement bringing together NGOs, governments and private business...
Rape victim was accused of indecency. Does it tell us something about Tunisia?
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It is probably useless to make any fundamental conclusion based on this story. But my question is: How women fit into Tunisian society after the political changes? Answer: Fatima El Issawi, Research Fellow, London School of Economics Tunisian women a...
Hungary: Parliament Forced to Take Domestic Violence Seriously
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Despite initial setbacks, the Hungarian public has succeeded in convincing the Parliament to treat the issue of domestic violence seriously.
Hermès counterfeiter sentenced to life
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The AmeriKat, definitelynot sporting a Hermesscarf...sadly... The AmeriKat was saddened to have missed her and the IPKat's good friend, Michael Lin (Marks & Clerk - Hong Kong) during his recent visit to London and was further saddened when she w...
Human trafficking on the agenda
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Trafficking strategy press conference, July 2012 It’s been a rainy day in Brussels, the autumn has definitely arrived now. The day started with one of my main priorities as Commissioner – the fight against trafficking in human beings. I...
Compared with Hitler’s Holocaust or Stalin’s gulag, Mao Zedong’s organized famine has been one of the more or less forgotten crimes against humanity
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About 100 official documents concerning the “The Great Famine in China, 1958-1962” have been published by the historian Zhou Xun writes Helmut Dahmer.In her review of this work (“Uncovering a great leap into an abyss,” Sept. 6), Didi Kirst...
Fighting organised crime: our products that support the EP’s work
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For our part, we have produced a set of library products aiming to support the work of the Committee and will continue to do so. Now, in order to provide a comprehensive and complete overview of the topic, we present them all here. If you need a shor...
Secrets beyond the grave
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During World War Two, the United States colluded in the cover-up of a mass murder, perpetrated by a Nazi ally, of 22,000 Allied officers.Put like that, it sounds inconceivable, especially for those brought up to believe that the war was simply a stru...
Lucrece Still Lives
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Further to my last post, the attitudes towards rape as shown in the poem The Rape of Lucrece are still prevalent in many parts of the world. Sixteenth century England was an “honour” culture. In Turkey, outside big cities, social life c...
Rights and protection for victims of crime
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According to the EU Treaties and the Stockholm programme, criminal law should focus not only on repression, but special attention should also be paid to victims in the area of freedom, security and justice. While protection measures exist in specific...
Convicted Serb rapists from Vukovar 1991 – flee Croatia
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This is the stuff horror movies are made of. Only, horror movies are usually fiction. It is incredulous that persons charged of mass rapes during the Serb aggression in Croatia (early 1990’s) are still allowed to roam the streets freely over almost...
Macedonia, Bulgaria: Social Media Users Help Expose Forgery
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A fact-checking intervention - a joint effort by Macedonian and Bulgarian social media users - has helped independent journalists expose forged documents used as lure for suspicious humanitarian donations.
Organised Crime in the Western Balkans
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A combination of its political and cultural history, as well as its geographical location, has allowed the Western Balkans to become a nucleus for international organised crime. Under Communist rule extensive black markets were established and flouri...
Breivik verdict: Norway's enduring legacy | Editorial
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This was no military tribunal on Guantanamo Bay. This was an open trial in an open societyOslo district court and the Norwegian justice system are to be congratulated on the way they conducted the trial of the worst killer in the country's history. T...
Breivik - delusional or part of counter-jihadist conspiracy?
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Was terrorist Anders Breivik simply a madman or a foot soldier for sinister forces? Defence analyst Anthony Tucker-Jones attempts to find out...
Breivik’s Legacy: Any Influence on Extreme Right?
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Norway jails Anders Breivik for maximum term, 21 years. A short interview with Jean-Yves Camus, Political Analyst, Research Fellow, Institut de Relations Internationales et Stratégiques (IRIS) follows. Camus is an expert on the right-wing extremism...
Anders Breivik jailed for 21 years for Norway killings
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Right-wing extremist Anders Behring Breivik has been declared sane by a Norwegian court and sentenced to the maximum 21 years in prison...
Greece: August 15 Celebration Overshadowed by Brutal Athens Murders
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On August 15, 2012, as user @northaura points out: ”Greece celebrates the Assumption of Mary, one of the biggest Greek orthodox days”, yet “2 people are found murdered thrown in a dustbin”. Journalist and human rights activi...
Daily Digest: Hollande promises order after youths riot in French city
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A youths riot has broken out in the northern French city of Amiens, where buildings and cars have been set on fire and 17 police officers have been injured in clashes. The youths have been reported to shoot live rounds at the police, something the Fr...
A Status Report from Socially Managed Paradise
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Waifish, helpless “Youts” who just can’t help themselves are rioting in Amiens over a traffic stop. Apparently this justifies trashing public goods such a kindergarten “for the people”. A leisure centre, school and cars were burned overnig...
Britain's foreign criminal base is a revolving-door.
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There was an interesting documentary last night on Channel 4, the topic being pickpockets in London. These uncaring individuals pick out victims to nick items from, in many cases the type of items that hold on them irreplaceable photos and family vid...
La confiscation des produits du crime organisé. L’UE veut durcir sa législation
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Le crime organisé dans l’UE générerait des profits de plusieurs milliards d’euros par an. La confiscation des avoirs d’origine criminelle est considérée comme un outil efficace de lutte contre celui-ci. Des instruments internat...
British policing 'plagued' by political correctness
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Despite all the talk from politicians about being tough on crime, nothing ever happens – claims Godfrey Bloom as he joins the race to become one of Britain's new elected police commissioners...
How strong is the white supremacist scene in the US?
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It is unclear if Wade Michel Page was a part of the bigger group. But Sikh temple shooter was a member of the neo-Nazi scene. Questions: Is it possible to say how strong is the white supremacist scene in the US? How capable are these groups of carr...
France's sexual harassment crackdown is welcome but beware the grey areas | Agnes Poirier
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New law will help victims of harassment come forward but seduction à la française will live on – so we must be vigilantAs Libération put it last week: "The end of harassers' licence to hunt freely is imminent." Yesterday, France's parliament app...
What killed Yasser Arafat? France could find the truth | Clayton Swisher
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Polonium has been found in samples from the Palestinian leader. His body must be exhumed quickly or it will be too lateThe best opportunity to definitively prove What Killed Arafat – the name we gave the documentary investigation that appeared on a...
Tunnel vision
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SLOVAK officials discovered a 700-metre tunnel complete with its own train used to smuggle goods and maybe people from neighbouring Ukraine into the European Union (EU). They seized some 13,100 boxes of cigarettes and arres...
VIDEO: Vigil for Aurora shootings victims
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FSN has a team of correspondents in Colorado covering the aftermath of the shootings in a cinema complex in Aurora last week. Our Lindsey Mastis filed this report for Channel News Asia on people gathering to remember the 12 victims.
AURORA MOVIE THEATRE MASSACRE: is this the stupidest Socialist Unity posting yet?
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Socialist Unity was once a reasonably serious left-wing blog. It long ago degenerated into a crude mixture of Stalinism, apologetics for the Chinese and Syrian ruling classes, soft porn (yes!) and (from one contributor, at least) rank antisemitism.
Banks must answer for their manipulation
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Monday, 23 July 2012 By Arlene McCarthy MEP Last week I met with US regulators who have led investigations into the Libor interest rate rigging. The more information that comes to light on the extent and gravity o...
Men, Privilege and Violence
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Today, one year ago, a young man set off a bomb in the middle of a city, then drove to a near-by island, calmly crossed the water, and started shooting dozens of teenagers. Today, a couple of days ago, a … Continue reading →...
Modes of Liability: The Art of Pinning War Crimes
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Further to my post “Gotovina and Markac ICTY Appeals take an unexpected development” (21 July 2012) Mishka Gora has written an article well worth reading and taking in. Reblogged from: Eyes of the Mind – The Official Blog of Mishka Gora...
Gotovina and Markac ICTY Appeals take an unexpected development
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ICTY Appeal Chamber July 20 ordered Prosecutor in Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac case that: The Prosecution file by 10 August 2012 a submission explaining whether, in the event that Gotovina and Markac are not found liable for unlawful artillery att...
Greece: Fake Dyslexia Certificates for Children
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In ‘Where Everything Is Possible‘ [el], blogger Theodoris Georgakopoulos criticizes the news that Children's Hospital employees in Athens, Greece, have been involved into issuing fake documents certifying dyslexia. He mainly puts the...
Croatia: Red Cross – after 17 years still searching for human remains
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Barbara Hintermann Marclay (head of ICRC operations for North America, Western, Central and South-Eastern Europe) said, July 18, at the launch of third edition of the Book of Missing Persons on the territory of Croatia: “In 1995, when the armed con...
Enabling Non-Empathetic Leaders: Paterno at Penn State
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In January 2011, the illustrious football coach at Penn State University, Joe Paterno, learned that prosecutors were investigating his longstanding assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky, for sexually assaulting young boys in the football team’s locker ro...
Muslim Toulouse Killer: I Dressed and Acted Western to "Fool the Enemy"
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"War amounts to ruse" declared a Muslim terrorist to the French police as he was besieged in his apartment during the last hours of his life. According to the transcript of negotiations between Mohamed Merah and the French police (illegally) obtained...
The Sewer of Revisionism Eventually Flows into the River of Implausible Stupidity
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Jean Birnbaum writing in France’s newspaper of record, Le Monde uses his unresolved feelings about a violent murder to pen a loving portrait of Karl Marx. lumpenproletariat was not a sub, but an anti proletariat.Mikhail Kalashnikov is part of this...
Cybercrime - new EU statistics
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Cybercrime is internet users worst nigthmare. Due to the worries that if they give their personal information online, someone will record them and misuse them later, many EU internet users do not conclude any transactions online, which does not help...
Lest We Forget – Srebrenica Massacre July 1995
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Late on 9 July 1995, emboldened by early successes and little resistance from largely demilitarised Bosniaks, as well as the absence of any significant reaction from the international community, Radovan Karadžić issued a new order authorising the V...
Greece: Attack on Athens Microsoft Headquarters
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On June 27, 2012, arsonists attacked Microsoft's headquarters in Athens, Greece. On Athens Indymedia, a group took responsibility [el] for the attack as an “act of war against suspicious silence and general captivity”. Greek-America...
