WASHINGTON — The gang problem in the United States is growing and there are an estimated 1.4 million members in some 33,000 gangs, the federal government said Friday.
Gangs are collaborating with transnational drug trafficking organizations to make more money and are expanding the range of their illicit activities, engaging in mortgage fraud and counterfeiting as well as trafficking in guns and drugs, according to the national gang threat assessment for 2011.
Gang membership “continues to flourish” and gang leaders are striking new alliances with other criminal organizations for profit, FBI agent Jayne Challman told reporters during a briefing at FBI headquarters.
The gang member estimate of 1.4 million was up from 1 million two years ago, a 40 percent increase, but the report attributed the rise in part to improved reporting by law enforcement agencies.
White-collar crime is an increasing focus for gangs. The report cited the arrest of a member in a Los Angeles gang called Florencia 13 for operating a lab that manufactured pirated video games.
Apocalypse apparently postponed
SAN FRANCISCO — A California ministry that warned the end of the world would come Friday awoke to discover that Earth was undergoing its usual gyrations with no signs of a cataclysmic event.
Oakland-based Family Radio International stirred a global frenzy when it predicted the rapture would take 200 million Christians to heaven on May 21. Its most recent pronouncement said natural disasters would destroy the globe on Friday.
Though two moderate quakes did jolt the San Francisco Bay area on Thursday and floods still threaten to swamp Bangkok, the planet remained intact.
Restaurant offers ‘ridiculous’ 338-pound burger
SOUTHGATE, Mich. — The Detroit News reports that Mallie’s Sports Grill & Bar in Southgate made a 338-pound “Absolutely Ridiculous Burger” on Thursday. A crowd of people gathered to salivate over the unveiling of the $2,000 menu item.
The 3-foot-high sandwich packs 540,000 calories and takes 22 hours to cook.
Manager Jason Jones says it comes with fries and a drink.
Murdoch to pay $3.2 million to schoolgirl’s family
LONDON — Rupert Murdoch’s company said Friday it has agreed to pay $3.2 million to the family of a murdered schoolgirl whose phone was hacked by the tabloid News of the World.
News International and the family of Milly Dowler confirmed the settlement in a joint statement. It said Murdoch also will donate $1.6 million to charities chosen by the Dowler family, including youth and cancer research groups.
Murdoch shut down the 168-year-old News of the World in July after evidence emerged that its reporters had eavesdropped on the telephone voice mail messages of the 13-year-old who disappeared in 2002 and was later found murdered.
That touched off a storm of public outrage that rocked Murdoch’s media empire and ricocheted through Britain’s political, police and media establishments.
Gadhafi’s death energizes Syrian, Yemeni protests
BEIRUT — Energized by the killing of Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi, thousands of protesters in Syria and Yemen poured into the streets Friday and said their longtime rulers will be next.
Syrian President Bashar Assad’s security forces opened fire on protesters, killing at least 24 people nationwide, according to activists. It did not stop the crowds from chanting, “Your turn is coming, Bashar.”
Yemenis delivered a similar message to President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who survived an assassination attempt in June. “Gadhafi is gone, and you’re next, oh butcher,” they chanted.
The armed rebellion that drove Gadhafi from power — with NATO air support — appears to have breathed new life into the uprisings elsewhere in the Arab world.
“Our souls, our blood we sacrifice for you, Libya!” Syrian protesters chanted Friday.
Gadhafi was killed Thursday under still-murky circumstances