Datasets:

kartikagg98

/

HINMIX_hi-en

like 0

In a police interview he said he ran an office at his home address as well as work place and clients would call at his house on legal business.

But the court heard he would call major players in the drugs supply chain, some of whom he had previously represented, after key arrests to tell them what detectives knew about them.

Prosecuting, Anne Whyte said: "If anyone should know not to the break the law, it is a criminal solicitor."

Mr Ditta is accused of abusing his position as a criminal solicitor, having become too involved with specific clients.

The relationship we are talking about is not simply a drug dealer, but a drug dealer providing his own lawyer with drugs.

Some of his communications will undoubtedly have been legitimate ones because he was their lawyer.

But this went way beyond the ordinary confines of a lawyer-client relationship.

He thwarted the police's investigation as much as possible to enable them to continue in their criminal activities.

Mr Ditta was not honouring his profession, but dishonouring it.

He got too close to certain clients, in particular Scarborough, and he allowed his independence to be compromised.

Ditta denied wrongdoing and claimed: "If I was a corrupt lawyer, which I am not, and I wanted to feed information to Mr Scarborough, I would not wait 15 hours, I would do it immediately."

But after the hearing Supt Lee Halstead from Lancashire Police said: "Mr Ditta turned from criminal solicitor to a criminal himself the moment he started obtaining drugs from organised criminals."

His addiction to cocaine left him hopelessly compromised and vulnerable to the motives of leading members of organised crime groups who tasked him to obtain valuable information regarding police investigations.

Solicitors should uphold the highest standards of integrity and should instil trust and confidence in the public.

Mr Ditta has betrayed this trust and attempted to hide behind the veneer of his profession.

Lancashire's Serious and Organised Crime Unit led the investigation into Mr Ditta which has also seen him convicted of three counts of possession of cocaine and now perverting the course of justice, demonstrating our commitment to bringing criminals to justice.

Let this case serve as a warning to criminals that no one is beyond the reach of the law.

We will find you and put you before the courts.

Scarborough himself was jailed for 14 years after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply heroin, cocaine and cannabis.

Thirty five other men involved in the racket were jailed for a total of 153 years for drugs offences.

On his website Ditta gave a question and answer session about himself in which he says his fantasy job would be a lawyer representing clients on Death Row in America, his ultimate dinner guest as being Mohammed Ali and inequality as his motivation for work.

Kenyan press outraged at controversial media law

It is a frightening place, and it is valid to ask: what is there to prevent Parliament from simply sweeping away the independence of the judiciary tomorrow? the paper said, challenging the bill as unconstitutional.

This law is draconian and very punitive and we reject it, said Cyrus Kamau, managing director for Capital Group - home to CapitalFM, one of Kenya's most respected independent radio stations and news websites.

He said the new media tribunal "will always be biased because it's an extension of the government," and that restrictions on content and advertising would damage Kenya's place in the global economy.

I hope the president will listen to us, and we appeal to him to reject this bill and return it to the MPs, he said.

According to The Star newspaper, the new bill will effectively hand the government "a stranglehold over the media," while The Standard said democracy and free speech in Kenya had been "dealt a major blow" and lambasted the bill as "draconian."

The passing of the bill comes amid a string of measures to reinforce national security in the wake of the September's attack by Islamist gunmen on the Westgate shopping mall.

Kenya media drew the ire of authorities by broadcasting security camera footage of troops who were dispatched to the scene of the attack purportedly robbing the upmarket mall.

Police chief David Kimaiyo reacted by summoning two journalists and a media executive for questioning, although the summons was retracted following a media outcry.

Under the new bill, media houses can be fined up to 20 million Kenyan shillings and individual journalists up to one million with the additional risk of being "de-listed," or barred from receiving official press accreditation.

The tribunal also has the power to seize the property of an offender if a fine is not paid.

According to the Daily Nation, "even one fine is enough to cripple most FM stations."

It also said the measures could have a devastating effect on what it described as Kenya's "lively blogosphere."

By silencing the media, politicians know they can do whatever they like with impunity.

No one will ever know, wrote Nation journalist Mutuma Mathiu, describing the Kenyan media as a key source of checks and balances in public life.

Left to themselves, politicians would bankrupt the country and take us back to hunting and gathering, he wrote.

Kenyan lawmakers have been the target of public anger in the past.

In May they voted to overturn cuts ordered by the national salaries commission and reinstate their hefty salaries of around 532,000 shillings a month tax-free - ranked among the highest in the world.

Although Nita Ambani, the wife of the world's richest Indian, Mukesh Ambani, celebrates her birthday on November 1st, as the clocks struck twelve on the night of October 30th, the whole of Jaipur began to celebrate Nita Ambani's birthday.

Prior to that, the mood of the occasion had already been set by A.R. Rahman and his group's performance.

A.R. Rahman sang his signature songs in the musical evening that started at 8 p.m.

Priyanka Chopra was on stage to add colour with her dances.

Guests arrived in around 32 chartered aircraft to attend Nita Ambani's birthday party.

As space at Jodhpur Airport was inadequate, the chartered planes landed at Jaipur, Delhi, Udaipur and Jodhpur.

same way 135 luxury cars were also used, including BMWs and Jaguars.

Sood said that the city's sanitation system and street lights had totally broken down.

No steps were being taken by the municipal corporation and HUDA to run Panchkula city centre.

He demanded the complete abolition of house tax in Panchkula.

On Friday, while addressing a press conference here, V.K. Sood said that, after the municipal corporation elections the city got a new councillor and mayor, but they do not have the powers necessary to get the work done.

So the city councillors have become dummies and officers are doing as they pleased.

Sood said that the municipal corporation has crores of rupees at its disposal, but all the money is in the form of Bank FDs and interest is being earned on it.

So no steps are being taken to use that money for the development of the city.

V.K. Sood said the refuse dump issue is the most serious problem.

By creating a dump in Sector 23, people living in sectors beyond Ghaggar are forced to live a hellish life.

The municipal corporation officers have been talking about shifting the dump to the village of Jhuriwala for the past several years now, but the inhabitants of the Barwala area are already facing a serious problem with flies.

He said that healthcare and educational facilities are extremely bad.

No work has yet been started to provide facilities for rural inhabitants.

UN hails new goals to tackle poverty

The United Nations is to start work immediately on a new set of goals to replace the millennium development goals, which were put place 12 years ago to tackle global poverty.

Australian diplomats played a key role in pushing for "sustainable development goals" to replace the MDGs, which expire in 2015, ahead of the UN sustainable development summit that began in Rio de Janeiro overnight.

They were included in the final draft of the document, which will be endorsed by world leaders including Ms Gillard during the summit.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the summit overnight that now is the time to "rise above national interests."

I am pleased that member states have agreed to launch and take ownership of a process to establish universal sustainable development goals - SDGs, he said.

These SDGs will build on our advances under the millennium development goals, and they will be an integral part of the post-2015 development framework.

I will spare no effort to implement the mandate given to me by member states to realise our vision of sustainable development goals that build on the success of the MDGs.

Mozambique security concerns mount as powerful personalities clash

With a statue of Samora Machel, Mozambique's founding president, staring down on them, thousands of people gathered in central Maputo to chant peace slogans in a rare public demonstration.

We want peace back; we want stability, said Vanessa de Sousa, chief executive of an investment company.

Fearful about the future of her country, she swapped her corporate attire for a T-shirt emblazoned with "we demand security" in Portuguese as she joined the crowds in the capital's Independence Square on Thursday.

For two weeks, there have been almost daily reports of clashes between government forces and Renamo, some of the worst skirmishes since a peace deal more than 20 years ago.

Renamo was once a notorious rebel movement, initially backed by white-ruled Rhodesia and then South Africa's apartheid government as part of efforts to destabilise the country's independent government.

After a 1992 peace deal, it became an opposition party.

Analysts believe the country is unlikely to slide back into full-blown conflict, but recent events have unnerved foreign investors and locals.

The stakes are high for the fast-growing economy as the discovery of huge offshore gas reserves and coal deposits in the northwest could bring in more than $50bn of investment over the next few next years from companies including Rio Tinto, Vale of Brazil, Eni of Italy and Anadarko of the US.

The ruling Frelimo party, the dominant political force since 1975, and Renamo blame each other for the tension.

Renamo says the government initiated the latest clashes by launching an attack on its members in Sofala province, traditionally a Renamo stronghold, on October 17.

Assaults on the former rebels then escalated as government forces attacked Renamo bases and attempted to kill Afonso Dhlakama, the group's leader, Fernando Mazanga, Renamo's spokesman, told the Financial Times.

The government blames Renamo for triggering the clashes, accusing it of attacking soldiers.

President Armando Guebuza has sought to play down concerns about instability.

Mr Guebuza told AFP, the French news agency, on Wednesday that Mr Dhlakama saw himself as a "loser" who wanted to use "whatever remains of his forces to try to prove that he can impose on the government his own decisions."

Both Frelimo and Renamo insist they want to avoid war.

But concerns have grown after Mr Mazanga was quoted as saying Renamo was abandoning the 1992 peace accord.

He told the FT that he meant the agreement was no longer being respected by Frelimo.

Our vision is to come back to negotiations, but with seriousness, Mr Mazanga said.

Previous talks between the parties have done little to ease tensions fuelled by a series of clashes this year.

It's two big men (Guebuza and Dhlakama) butting heads together, said Joseph Hanlon, a lecturer at the Open University and Mozambique expert.

Neither of them are good negotiators and neither of them are prepared to make the kind of concessions that are necessary.

Renamo, which has been pushing for electoral reforms, had already said that it would boycott municipal elections due in November.

Presidential and parliamentary polls are scheduled for next year.

Some commentators have interpreted its use of force as the attempt of an ailing movement to win concessions and financial spoils from the government.

Renamo's share of the vote has been declining since 1992, while a newer party, the Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM) which was formed by a former Renamo member, is expected to improve its showing at the elections.

Mr Mazanga says Mr Guebuza - who is due to step down when his second term ends next year - wants to destroy the country's democracy.

He does not want multi-party democracy, he does not want transparent elections he does not want peace because he does not want to leave the presidency, Mr Mazanga said.

It is unclear how much capacity Renamo has, but it has carried out disruptive hit-and-run attacks on police stations and vehicles on a key north-south highway.

Most of the skirmishes have taken place in Sofala province, which is several hundred kilometres north of Maputo, but hosts Beira, the port that miners, including Rio Tinto and Vale, rely on to export coal.

In June, Rio suspended its use of the railway for about a week after Renamo threatened to attack the line.

Mr Mazanga was coy when asked about whether Renamo would repeat this threat.

Renamo wanted to "warn the international community that things were not going well in Mozambique," Mr Mazanga said.

The instability has added to frustrations with the government, says Fernando Lima, head of Mediacoop, an independent media company, with many people also concerned about corruption, the slow pace of development and a recent spate of kidnappings.