China busts $11b online gambling ring
SHANGHAI: Chinese authorities have busted what is reportedly the country’s biggest online gambling ring, which allegedly handled bets of more than 70 billion yuan ($11 billion), state

media said on Friday. The Shanghai-based gang ran a website linked with overseas gambling sites which allowed Chinese users to play online card games and bet on sport, including European football matches, the Global Times newspaper said. Shanghai police broke up the ring in July, seizing 13 million yuan and arresting more than 50 people after a three-month investigation, it said. The group was estimated to have handled bets estimated to be worth more than 70 billion yuan in the January to July period this year, the newspaper said, describing it as China’s biggest such case by value. The gambling website used overseas servers while its more than 20 allied websites were mainly based in Southeast Asia and operated by overseas Chinese.

Taiwan court extends ex-leader’s jail term
TAIPEI: Taiwan’s high court said on Friday that it has extended ex-leader Chen Shui-bian’s prison sentence by one more year to 18 years and six months following a conviction earlier in the year for money laundering. The court in 2010 handed out the original sentence after convicting Chen on two accounts of bribery in a final verdict. It found him guilty of money laundering in July in another final ruling. Chen, 62, was arrested in November 2008 less than six months after he left office, on corruption claims stemming from his two terms as president between 2000 and 2008. Chen and family members have been accused of laundering millions of US dollars by sending political donations and secret diplomatic funds abroad, and taking kickbacks on government contracts.

Freddie Starr bailed in Britain’s Savile abuse
LONDON: A man named by media as British comedian Freddie Starr was released on bail on Friday after he was arrested by police investigating sexual abuse allegations against the late TV star Jimmy Savile. Police arrested a man in his 60s on suspicion of sexual offenses on Thursday before releasing him in the early hours. The BBC and Sky News named him as Starr, who has previously denied claims that he groped one of Savile’s alleged victims. The arrest follows claims by a woman who has publicly accused Savile of abusing her that Starr touched her while they were both in a BBC dressing room in the 1970s, when she was just 14. Starr becomes the second person arrested in the investigation after former glam rocker Gary Glitter was held and then bailed on Sunday.                  
AFP