Duisburg braces for trial amid biker war

The Hells Angels and Bandidos biker gangs are at war in Germany. Michael Remmert reports on how Duisburg is bracing for what’s being billed as the most dangerous trial of the year

Last week, more than 600 police officers locked down the centre of the Duisburg to prevent a gang war from spilling out onto the streets of the gritty industrial city in North Rhine-Westphalia. 

The massive police presence was aimed at discouraging open confrontation between rival bikers – the infamous Hells Angels and Bandidos. The two sides are involved in a bloody turf war across Germany that culminated in the murder of a police officer earlier this month.

“Germany is in the midst of a war between these gangs,” said Thomas Jungbluth, a lead investigator with North Rhine-Westphalia’s state police. “When it comes to defending their turfs, they can be brutal and ruthless”.

The authorities in Duisburg are now afraid the trial of Timur A., a pimp with ties to the Hells Angels, could lead to more violence. Timur A. is accused of shooting dead Rudolf Heinz “Ashley” E., a 32-year old member of the Bandidos, in October 2009. He also faces two counts of attempted manslaughter for narrowly missing two women suspected of working as prostitutes for the Bandidos.

The first day of the trial last week ended prematurely due to a legal technicality postponing it until March 31, but police will be on alert for as long as it continues to prevent another spasm of biker violence.

Immediately after Ashley E.'s death, the Duisburg Chapter of the Bandidos declared war on the Hells Angels on their website by posting: “Expect no mercy”.

The state police believe the Bandidos have already mapped out several routes of revenge.

“A lot of it is about losing face and money,” said Jungbluth. “The Bandidos and Hells Angels are involved in gambling, both legal and illegal, prostitution, arms dealing, extortion, money laundering and drug trafficking”.

But the Hells Angels, with strongholds in nearby Düsseldorf and Dortmund, signaled that they were not in the least afraid of their rivals. There was an uncontrollable melee involving more than 100 bikers last November as Bandidos attempted to storm a Duisburg bordello controlled by the Hells Angels. Police only managed to restore order after several hours of violence and a state-wide call for backup.

That sparked the German authorities to crack down on both gangs with a series of raids, confiscating illegal weapons, drugs, counterfeit money, stolen motorcycle parts and other contraband. Several powerful members from both the Hells Angels and the Bandidos were arrested and taken out of circulation for months, leading to relative calm.

Until March 17. On that day, a Hells Angel allegedly murdered a member of Rhineland-Palatinate's special police unit by firing two shots through the door of his house when officers were trying to serve a search warrant. This led Germany's powerful police union GdP to demand a total ban on bikers gangs.

But Udo Potthoff, a spokesman for the Duisburg police, said that would drive criminal biker elements underground.

“If we let them operate under their colours and from their various headquarters in different cities, at least we’re able to know where they are and keep some control over their actions,” he told The Local.

The biker war began to escalate about six years ago in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Cities like Kiel, Flensburg, Lübeck and Hamburg used to be “controlled” by the Hells Angels, but the Bandidos – who began their march through Europe after gaining their first bridgeheads in Denmark and Sweden in the early to mid 1990’s – are moving southward into the lucrative German market.

The result is an angry and fearful public caught in the crossfire.

Gina Holstenbrink, 31-year old mother of two young children, lamented the exorbitant cost of security in Duisburg during the 13-day trial.

“They said on the radio that the cost of having this excessive police force here in Duisburg is roughly €180,000 per day,” she said outside of the courthouse. “That’s insane. How many meals can be cooked for kids at kindergarten? How many unemployed folks could start on schooling programs for that kind of money?”

But the authorities are determined not let the bikers have any opportunity for violence.

“We won´t be caught with our guard down, that's for sure,” said Potthoff. “We'll be here with those big numbers, each and every day”.

The Local | Germany

Republicans spent $1,946 at topless club

By CHARLES BABINGTON

WASHINGTON — The Republican National Committee spent $1,946 last month at a sex-themed Hollywood club that features topless dancers and bondage outfits. Now the GOP wants its money back.

Listed in a monthly financial report, the amount is itemized as expenses for meals at Voyeur West Hollywood.

RNC spokesman Doug Heye said Monday the committee doesn't know the details of how the money was spent, all who may have attended or the nature of the outing, except to say it was an unauthorized event and that the expenditure was inappropriate.

The RNC will be reimbursed by Erik Brown of Orange, Calif., the donor-vendor who billed the committee for the club visit, Heye said.

Brown did not respond to an e-mail and phone message seeking comment. The transaction was first reported by the Daily Caller.

Since November, the RNC has paid Brown's company, Dynamic Marketing Inc., about $19,000 for printing and direct-mail services, campaign spending reports show. He has contributed several thousand dollars to the party.

The most recent financial disclosure report said the RNC spent more than $17,000 for private planes in February and nearly $13,000 for car services. Heye said such services are used only when needed.

The $1,946 for meals at Voyeur West Hollywood was the most eye-catching item in the monthly report. RNC Chairman Michael Steele, whose spending decisions have angered some donors in this midterm election year, had nothing to do with the nightclub expenditure, Heye said.

The conservative group Concerned Women for America said the RNC should disclose more about the episode.

"Did they really agree to reimburse nearly $2,000 for a bondage-themed night club?" group president Penny Nance asked in a statement. "Why would a staffer believe that this is acceptable, and has this kind of thing been approved in the past?"

Much of the most lavish spending by the major political parties is associated with fundraisers, which often target wealthy people.

The RNC spent $144,549 for rooms at the Four Seasons Resort in Jackson Hole, Wyo., in 2009. On March 19, 2009, it spent $31,980 for catering by the Breakers Palm Beach in Florida.

The RNC paid $18,361 over the past several months to the "Tiny Jewel Box" in Washington for "office supplies," which may have included trinkets or gifts for big donors. It spent $13,622 at Dylan's Candy Bar in New York City.

Some Republican officials and donors have complained about Steele's spending decisions, saying the party should devote every available dollar to trying to win House and Senate races this fall. He held this year's four-day winter meeting at a beachfront hotel in Hawaii, although it often takes place in Washington.

Some donors grumbled when Steele spent more than $18,000 to redecorate his office. Steele, a former Maryland lieutenant governor, also has received substantial fees for making speeches, even though the RNC pays him a full-time salary.

Steele's supporters say he has brought a refreshing frankness and energy to the party's leadership.

Associated Press writer Sharon Theimer contributed to this report

Associated Press

Falkland Islands oil disappoints for Desire Petroleum

Shares in Desire Petroleum have almost halved after the oil explorer said a well being drilled off the Falkland Islands may not be economically viable.

Shares in other companies operating off the Falklands also fell amid fears that the region's reserves may disappoint.

The well is the first to be drilled in the area for a decade and has prompted Argentina to renew its claim to the Falklands, sparking a row with the UK.

Shares in Desire ended Monday trading in London down 49.5%.

In a stock market announcement, Desire said that initial results from the Liz 14/19-1 well, in the North Falkland basin, showed that the quantities of oil may be small and of poor quality.

However, the company said it would release a more detailed statement on the drilling later in the week. It is possible that Desire will need to drill deeper to find better quantities of oil and gas.

Until further tests are carried out "it will not be possible to determine the significance of the hydrocarbons encountered and whether the well will need to be drilled deeper, suspended for testing or plugged and abandoned," the company said.

Two other UK companies drilling in the area are Rockhopper and Falkland Oil and Gas, whose shares were down 26% and 11.4% respectively. Rockhopper has a 7.5% interest in the Liz well.

Despite Desire's disappointing announcement, Alan Sinclair, analyst at Seymour Pierce, thought the share price fall was overdone.

"Whilst the market may have been looking for seagull-scorching test results from Liz, it should be borne in mind that this is the first of a potential six-well programme by Desire," he said.

Diplomatic row

The start of drilling off the Falklands last month led to a furious response from Argentina, which claims sovereignty over what it calls the Islas Malvinas.

Argentina has threatened to take "adequate measures" to stop oil exploration in the waters around the islands, and is seeking support from Latin American countries.

UK Defence Minister Bill Rammell said the government had a "legitimate right" to build an oil industry in its waters.

The drilling rig contracted by Desire was towed to the Falklands from Invergordon on the Cromarty Firth in the Scottish Highlands.

The project has also involved the largest consignment of gear to be shipped from Aberdeen - a key port for the North Sea oil and gas industry - to the region.

About 9,000 tonnes of equipment was loaded at Aberdeen harbour for shipment to the Falklands.

BBC News

iPad to hit stores Saturday as consumer test begins

By REUTERS

SAN FRANCISCO: After months of hype, speculation and secrecy, Apple Inc. will finally put the iPad tablet to the test that truly matters: the buying public.

IPad sales are widely expected to rocket out of the gate this Saturday, helped by the scores of core Apple fans who are expected to line up hours before US stores open at 9 a.m. on the East Coast, to be among the first to play with the new gadget, which costs a minimum of $499.

Although those who preordered the iPad will be able to pick it up on April 3, those placing online orders more recently have been told that their device may not ship until April 12.

But putting the launch hype aside, what is less certain is whether the iPad can attract a mainstream following beyond the first few months of excitement and into next year, defining a new category of devices that bridges the gap between a smartphone and notebook computer.

Forecasts for first-year sales vary widely - from 2 million to 5 million units - reflecting the difficulty in predicting the size of a yet-to-be-proven market.

Apple is offering the iPad as a new type of media device that fuses the mobility and simplicity of a smartphone with the speed and screen-size of a laptop.

"It's high-risk, high-reward because given the narrowness of Apple's portfolio, if you bring out a product that falls on its face, it does damage to you," said Gartner analyst Van Baker, who expects the iPad to be a hit.

The iPad resembles a large iPhone, with a 9.7-inch touch screen, and can run most of the 100,000-plus applications, games and entertainment that have made the iPhone so popular.

It is a typically sleek Apple creation at a half-inch thick and 1.5 pounds, with WiFi and 10 hours of battery life.

Wireless-compatible 3G versions will come later in April, with the most expensive model topping out at $829.

Technology enthusiasts have praised the iPad's beautiful screen and fast Web browser, but also noted flaws: it does not have a camera for video chat, it cannot run more than one app at a time, and it cannot view popular video sites.

These early reviews were based on brief tests after Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad in January. 

Media deals

Another factor that will affect sales is how many media companies Apple is able to eventually bring on board. Companies such as Sports Illustrated publisher Time Warner Inc and Wall Street Journal publisher News Corp are planning digital editions for the iPad, although Apple's talks with some others have reportedly been bogged down by pricing.

Apple is also launching its own digital book business to compete with the Kindle from Amazon.com Inc and other e-readers and e-books.

If the iPad is successful, it could set the standard for a wave of tablets later this year and provide a bridge for print media to a digital future.

Apple has sold more than 40 million iPhones in the less than three years it has been on the market.

"I think we need Joe Six-Pack in the retail stores touching the iPad to understand the true importance of it. Then a light bulb will go off and he'll say 'a-ha!,'" Broadpoint Amtech analyst Brian Marshall said.

Research group ComScore recently released a survey showing 15 percent of respondents were "seriously" considering buying an iPad in the next three months.

"Steve Jobs has a very good feeling for what makes sense for the consumer," said Tim Bajarin, president of consulting company Creative Strategies. "He's not going after the tech crowd with the iPad, he's going after the mainstream consumer.

"The first six to nine months, it will come out of the block fast, but the measure of success will be how it's doing after its first full year," he added.

Arab News

Sun shines on Sania … again

By IANS

HYDERABAD: Indian tennis star Sania Mirza’s family Monday confirmed that she was all set to marry Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik. An Indian news channel quoted Sania’s father Imran Mirza as saying that the reports of her proposed marriage with Malik were true. According to the channel, he said that the marriage would take place in a month and that the couple would settle down in Dubai after tying the knot.

Imran said that both Sania and Malik would continue to represent their countries in their respective games.

However, Sania’s father or any family member did not come out of the house to speak to mediapersons waiting outside to get a confirmation of the news first aired on a Pakistani television channel. According to Geo News, Shoaib Malik’s mother met the family of Sania, and sought Sania for her son. The channel claimed that Sania’s family has accepted the proposal and the two families are all set to conduct the engagement of the two. The channel even claimed that the engagement ceremony was expected to take place next month. The news of Sania’s proposed marriage with Malik came two months after she called off her engagement to childhood friend Sohrab Mirza, citing “incompatibility.”

Six months after the engagement took place here amid much fanfare, Sania decided to part ways with Sohrab. Interestingly, Shoaib Malik was also engaged to a girl from this southern Indian city a few years ago but he later called it off. The family of the girl had even claimed that he had married her but the Pakistani star denied this.

Malik had said in January 2008 that his marriage plans with Ayesha Siddiqui ended because both families could not reach an understanding on certain issues. However, the girl’s family claimed that they entered the wedlock through ‘nikah’ over telephone in 2002. Ayesha’s father M.A. Siddiqui had even threatened to sue Malik for cheating and demanded him to give a formal divorce.

Malik was also quoted by Pakistani media as saying that Ayesha was not the girl he met in Dubai and that her family cheated him by sending a photograph of another girl.

Malik had reportedly met Ayesha in Dubai and they decided to marry. The Pakistani cricket team was given a grand reception by Ayesha’s parents at their residence here when the team toured India in 2005.

Interestingly, Ayesha had not come out at the reception and did not even meet Shoaib, saying she was down with some allergic problem.

Arab News

Rothschild quartet helped China's Geely snare Volvo Cars

* Rothschild leads global auto M&A tables

* Citi, JPMorgan, and Hogan & Hartson advised Ford

By Quentin Webb

LONDON, March 29 (Reuters) - One of China's most senior female bankers, two top Swedish industrialists and a childhood friend of London's mayor led the Rothschild team that helped Geely seal China's biggest-ever overseas autos takeover.

Signing the deal helps cement Rothschild's [ROT.UL] standing as the busiest adviser to the automotive industry -- and underlines the family owned bank's impeccable establishment credentials.

On Sunday, Li Shufu's Zhejiang Geely agreed to buy Volvo Cars from Ford for $1.8 billion. That capped months of painstaking negotiations over the future of the Swedish maker of robust sedans, which Ford has owned for a decade.

Even before the Volvo transaction, Rothschild had worked on $89.25 billion worth of auto deals over the last 12 months, according to Thomson Reuters data, more than any other bank. Recent clients include Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE), BMW (BMWG.DE) and the British and U.S. governments.

People familiar with the matter said Jennifer Yu, Rothschild's top investment banker in greater China, and London-based Meyrick Cox, one of the three co-heads of the bank's automotive team, helped lead the deal.

Yu is married to the adopted son of former Chinese President Jiang Zemin, according to a 2008 article by French business magazine Challenges.

She helped smooth relations with the Chinese government, whose support was vital for Geely, the people said. "She's one of those people who tends to get whisked through security at airports -- it's very impressive," one said.

The car-obsessed Cox, a former Goldman Sachs (GS.N) partner who switched banks in 2002, was key in negotiating complex intellectual property issues, one person said.

As a child, Cox won a scholarship to the elite Eton College alongside his friend Boris Johnson, now London's mayor.

Also instrumental were Rothschild adviser Hans-Olov Olsson and Pehr Gyllenhammar, vice-chairman of Rothschild Europe, who have ties stretching back decades to Volvo Cars and its former parent Volvo AB (VOLVb.ST).

Olsson served as chief executive and then chairman of Volvo Cars, and later as Ford's chief marketing officer. A "restrained, analytical, archetypal Swedish businessman," he helped communicate with Volvo Cars employees, unions and suppliers, one of the people said.

Gyllenhammar, who ended a 23-year career at Volvo AB as executive chairman in 1993, is also chairman of the Thomson Reuters (TRI.TO) (TRI.N) Trustee Directors.

Freshfields corporate lawyer Chris Bown and intellectual property specialist Avril Martindale also advised Geely.

Ford turned to Hogan & Hartson LLP partner Bill Curtin, who advised the Detroit giant on the 2008 sale of two of its other premier car marquees, Jaguar and Land Rover, to India's Tata Motors Ltd (TAMO.BO).

Citigroup (C.N) bankers including Leon Kalvaria, vice chairman of Citi's institutional clients group, and Eric Levengood, managing director in the bank's global industrials group, also advised Ford, as did a team from JPMorgan (JPM.N), the people said. 

Additional reporting by Michael Flaherty in Hong Kong; Editing by Maureen Bavdek

Reuters

Battle Continues Over US Rules on Gays in Military Service

Last week, the Pentagon announced changes in enforcement of a 1993 U.S. law that compels gay service members to hide their sexual orientation.  If discovered, homosexuals still face discharge from the military, but the regulations stipulate new rules for investigations.  In the last of a two-part series, President Barack Obama's promise to fully repeal the ban on openly gay military service, and the opposition it is generating.

In his January State of the Union address, President Obama said the following. "This year, I will work with Congress and our military to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are," he stated.

That call renewed a long-simmering debate over "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" - the U.S. law that allows gays and lesbians to serve in the armed forces so long as their sexual orientation remains a secret.

Several high-ranking military officials back the president's call for repeal.  Defense Secretary Robert Gates testified on Capitol Hill. "I fully support the president's decision," he stated.  "The question before us is not whether the military prepares to make this change, but how we best prepare for it".

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, said allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly would be "the right thing to do". "No matter how I look at this issue, I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow-citizens," he said.

But chiefs of individual military branches who would be tasked with implementing a policy change are less enthusiastic about repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell".   Marine Corps Commandant James Conway recently said that, if the ban is repealed, he would urge separate living quarters for homosexual and heterosexual personnel.  He has also said that current policy "works" and should remain.

"This particular argument has to do with the supposed right to declare oneself to be sexually attracted to a certain segment of the population, and insist on continuing to live in the most intimate proximity with them.  Retired Marine General John Sheehan said. "In my experience, homosexual Marines create problems on the battlefield".

Bills to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" have been drafted in the House and Senate.  Backers of ending the ban point to America's closest allies, like Israel and Britain, that ended bans on gay service members with little if any apparent consequence.  

"Nobody will say that the Israeli army is not a very effective fighting force, New York Congressman Jerrold Nadler said. "And they have had gays and lesbians in the military, openly, for a long, long time".

During a visit to Washington, British Member of Parliament Nick Herbert gave a similar assessment. "In the U.K., we have allowed gays to serve openly in our military for 10 years.  No one, no one can credibly claim that our troops' effectiveness serving alongside U.S. forces in Afghanistan has been compromised by this policy," Herbert said.

But some argue that America's armed forces bear unique responsibilities and burdens on the world stage, and that any potential disruption to the military should be avoided in wartime.  Senator John McCain of Arizona was a Navy pilot and prisoner of war in Vietnam.  He opposes repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell".

"It would present yet another challenge to our military in a time of already tremendous stress and strain.  Our men and women in uniform are fighting two wars and guarding the front lines against a global terrorist enemy," McCain said.

President Obama repeatedly pledged to end the ban on openly-gay military service during his successful 2008 campaign.  Backers of repeal cheered the president's January announcement, but some worry that the Pentagon's efforts to study the matter amount to a delaying tactic that will give opponents time to mount a campaign stoking anti-gay fears and stereotypes.

Two gay Iraq War veterans recently chained themselves to the White House fence to draw attention to their cause, and pledged similar acts of civil disobedience until the law is changed.

VOA News