| Uttar Pradesh plans special law against organised crime
Lucknow, Oct 30 - The Uttar Pradesh government is ready with a draft bill that will expand the definition of organised crime to include even copying in examinations and enhance the powers of prosecuting agencies in a bid to nail 'powerful white collared criminals'. The draft of the proposed 'Uttar Pradesh Control of Mafia (Organised Crime) Act - 2007' was finalised at a meeting chaired by Chief Secretary Prashant Kumar Misra Sunday and would be passed by the cabinet before being tabled before the house in the winter session of the assembly that began here Tuesday. 'The need for a special law to deal with the organised mafia was felt because the existing provisions of law were not strong enough to nail powerful white-collar criminals,' a top government official told IANS. 'Under the proposed act, it will not be as simple for those falling under its net to get bail,' he said.
The perils of going long on oil, China
Oil stocks look tempting given the daunting array of geopolitical powder kegs out there. Crude broke the $90 (U.S.) per barrel threshold earlier this month even before Kurdish rebels began tempting Turkey into a conflict with their border-region attacks on Turkish forces in recent weeks. Then there's Iran. U.S. sabre-rattling over the Tehran regime's "unacceptable" nuclear program has ratcheted up the threat level of potential U.S. attacks on that massive oil producer. And it's a rare week in which Nigerian rebels don't make news with supply disruptions in that major oil-producing region, including the recent kidnapping of another group of foreign oilfield workers. Yet while a "superspike" in crude prices would undoubtedly result from either a full-blown invasion of northern Iraq by Turkey or a rain of U.S.
Sexual assault trial set to begin Monday
SEGUIN � A Guadalupe County man who fled to Oregon last year rather than facing allegations of sexual assault of a young girl goes on trial Monday in 274th Judicial District Court.
District Attorney Vicki Pattillo, Assistant District Attorney Carrie Moy and defense attorney Lowell Kendall will choose a jury Monday morning before 274th Judicial District Judge Gary Steel in the trial of John Clarence Farris.
Farris, 53, faces aggravated sexual assault charges for alleged assaults of a young girl in Guadalupe and Wilson counties.
In addition, he is charged with bail jumping for leaving the state rather than going to trial in 2006.
If convicted for aggravated sexual assault of a child, Farris could get between five and 99 years in state prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
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FURIOUS residents have stepped up their campaign against proposals to convert a former community centre into a hostel for homeless youngsters. Hundreds turned up at a consultation meeting at Morton Jubilee Hall to express their concerns about the hostel, which would be operated by Macclesfield Accommodation Care and Concern (MACC) at the Black Road Community Centre. After being told the centre would be sold for affordable housing, councillors branded the proposals a “serious breach of trust" and more than 300 people have signed a petition against the project. Speaking at the meeting, a resident of Brynmore Drive, said: “Many residents who would be affected by this have not even received any information from the council. “It is right on the doorstep of Puss Bank Primary School and many local families, including mine, with young children.
Bar shooting suspect still unidentified
Lawrence police still are trying to determine who fired a gunshot early Sunday morning that wounded a man outside AllStars, a North Lawrence strip club. But police did make an arrest after they arrived at the club, 913 N. Second St., where several people were fighting in the parking lot. Anthony L. Kennon, 26, Lawrence, was taken to Douglas County Jail for threatening another man with an SKS assault rifle, according to information in Douglas County District Court. Kennon was charged Monday with one count of aggravated assault. Judge Pro Tem Peggy Kittle set Kennon's bail at $4,000. He is to appear in court again at 9:30 a.m. today. If convicted, he could be sentenced to a maximum of 34 months in prison. The shooting victim, a 32-year-old Weatherby, Mo., man, was taken to Lawrence Memorial Hospital.
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