Criminality worldwide generates proceeds in the trillions of dollars each year, making crime one of the world's ``top 20 economies,'' a senior U.N. official said MondayWith the scope of global crime _ and particularly organized crime _ threatening emerging economies and fomenting international instability, Yury Fedotov called for concerted world action to combat the trend.``We need to recognize th

Seven businesspeople have been detained on charges of illegally releasing the personal information of more than 11 million people, selling some of the data to insurance companies for profit, police said Monday.The Gyeonggi Provincial Police Agency said they apprehended two people who operate an Internet shopping mall on suspicion of sharing the private information of 11.75 million clients and memb

North Korean soldiers, students and civilians surround giant portraits of late leaders Kim Il Sung, left, and Kim Jong Il at Kim Il Sung Square in central Pyongyang, North Korea, for a rally denouncing South Korean President Lee Myung-bak on Friday, April 20, 2012. North Koreans said Lee's radio comments about North Korea last week "hurt the dignity" of the North Korean people. (AP-Yonhap News)Nor

Angelina Jolie visited a refugee center in Sucombios province north Ecuador, Friday, June 18. The center houses thousands of refugees who have fled the conflict in adjacent Colombia. UNHCRHollywood star Angelina Jolie has visited with displaced Colombians forced to seek refuge across the border in Ecuador, as a special envoy of High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres, the UNHCR announced S

A Texas teenager was arrested for allegedly conning folks in the El Paso area with a false story about battling cancer.Angie Gomez, 19, Horizon City, was indicted by an El Paso County grand jury on theft-by-deception for allegedly accepting about $17,000 in donations based on claims she had been stricken with leukemia.She was locked up Friday on $50,000 bond.Gomez had told her high school classmat

A prize-winning, super-energy-saving LED bulb from Dutch electronics giant Philips said to last over 20 years went on sale Sunday to coincide with Earth Day.The bulb that won the US Department of Energy's "Bright Tomorrow Lighting Prize" was available from retailers for $50, down from an initial $60 price tag. The company said it was planning discounts to bring the cost down to as little as $25.Th

China and Russia on Sunday launched their first joint naval exercises amid tensions between China and its Asian neighbors over regional territorial claims.The six days of drills are talking place in the Yellow Sea off China's east coast, the official China News Service said, adding these were the first dedicated exercises involving the two navies.Taking place near Qingdao city off the coast of Sha

French voters headed to the polls on Sunday for the first round of a presidential election that is expected to mark the end of Nicolas Sarkozy's turbulent term in office.Predictions of a high abstention rate and strong protest vote left the outcome uncertain, but recent opinion polls pointed to the right-wing incumbent coming second to his Socialist challenger Francois Hollande.The two 57-year-old

U.S. finance regulators said 21-year-old twins from Britain sold investors on a fraudulent computer program they said would make investment choices.The brothers Alexander and Thomas Hunter created a newsletter called Doubling Stocks and sold investors on a robot program called Marl, which made their investment decisions, The Financial Times reported Saturday.The Securities and Exchange Commission

 A U.S. man who became internationally famous for bearing three children after switching from his previous female identity says he and his wife have separated. Thomas Beatie appeared on the syndicated television show "The Doctors," where he announced both that he has completed gender reassignment surgery, presumably making him incapable of child bearing, and has split from the woman he has been ma

An Australian girl who suffered severe brain damage and was left paralysed by food poisoning won a court case against fast food giant Kentucky Fried Chicken, in a judgment published Saturday.Monika Samaan was seven years old when she suffered salmonella encephalopathy -- a brain injury linked to food poisoning that also left her with a blood infection and septic shock -- in October 2005.Several ot

When a 17-year-old girl said to have the mental capacity of a 5-year-old was reported missing four weeks ago in the sprawling South African township of Soweto, police distributed her photo and asked neighborhood residents for help.Then a video emerged of seven men and boys raping the girl. Within a day of media alerting them to the video, police said, they found the girl Wednesday in a house acros

South Korea has deployed new cruise missiles capable of destroying targets such as missile and nuclear bases anywhere in North Korea, the defense ministry said Thursday.The ministry released a video clip of the test-launch of the missiles, saying they could hit "any place" in the North."With such capabilities, our military will sternly and thoroughly punish reckless provocations by North Korea whi

A high-tech worker who stripped naked at Portland International Airport as a protest against airport security screeners said Wednesday he was being ``nude but not lewd,'' and characterized his act of defiance as protected political speech. John E. Brennan, 49, of Portland was charged with disorderly conduct and indecent exposure after taking off far more than this belt and shoes during the screeni

North Korea urged South Korea Thursday to offer an apology over the alleged defamation of Pyongyang's milestone festival, a day after its military threatened to blow up Seoul.The latest harsh rhetoric comes amid tensions following the North's failed rocket launch last week. The U.N. Security Council has condemned the launch and called on member states to find ways to tighten sanctions on the commu

The US Secret Service said Wednesday that three employees will leave their jobs over the sex scandal in a hotel in Colombia which tarnished the elite presidential protection agency's image.Two leading congressmen meanwhile revealed in a letter to Secret Service chief Mark Sullivan obtained by ABC News that agents accused of consorting with prostitutes may have been careless with "sensitive securit

A 6-year-old who threw a tantrum at her U.S. school was taken away in handcuffs, firing up a debate over whether teachers and police are overreacting with disruptive students.Salecia Johnson's family lashed out Tuesday over her treatment and said she was badly shaken, while the school system and the police defended their handling of the incident.Civil rights advocates and criminal justice experts

A newborn boy was abducted from his screaming mother after she was repeatedly shot outside a Texas medical center Tuesday, and the suspected shooter sped off with the infant in a blood-stained Lexus, investigators said.Montgomery County sheriff's officials said the mother, 28-year-old Kayla Marie Golden, was killed.Golden was walking to her truck after a checkup with her 3-day-old son, Keegan, whe

China has stopped sending fleeing North Koreans back across the border, in retaliation for Pyongyang failing to consult its ally over last week's rocket launch, a Japanese report said Wednesday.The Yomiuri Shimbun quoted two Chinese officials as saying the long-standing policy of swiftly returning any North Korean who made it across the border and into China -- despite the punishment they face --

The chiefs of iPhone-maker Apple and smartphone giant Samsung have agreed to meet in the coming months to try to resolve patent disputes before the matters go to trial, legal filings showed.At the behest of a San Francisco federal court, Apple boss Tim Cook and Samsung chief Gee-Sung Choi will take part in settlement talks presided over by a judge, according to filings posted online at Foss Patent