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Vast swathes of ancient primary forests in Bhutan have been felled by the "timber mafia" from neighboring Assam in India's northeast, setting alarm bells off in the Himalayan kingdom. In recent years, timber smugglers have been most active in Assam's border district of Udalguri, once a hotbed of insurgency. Udalguri district administration has ordered the forest, police, and SSB to firm up a plan to prevent smugglers from entering the Bhutan forests. [Extracted from the article]

The article discusses the illegal operations of the water mafia in Delhi, India. Topics include the method used by the network of illegal suppliers who supply water from the Yamuna river through trucks to many parts of the nations capital, the failure of the government plans to supply adequate drinking water to the city of Delhi, how the activities of the water mafia like digging thousands of boreholes is fast depleting india's water resources and a 2010 World Bank report on India's drinking-water supply shortage.

Focuses on the influence of mafia in the film industry of India. The assassination of film producer Gulshan Kumar; His refusal to pay extortion to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim; Kumar as the third film personality in 1997 to be killed by the ever increasing underworld; The range of problems facing the film industry in India.

The article reports on the illegal sand mining in Maharashtra's Kalba Devi beach in Ratnagiri district in India. Topics discussed include the prevalence of beach sand mining in the district, the illegal activity's impact on human settlements, and the actions taken by local residents to oppose the mining. Also mentioned are the violence and threats received by residents from sand mafia and the local administration's actions to stop them.

This article presents a random collection of news items. A former gangster-turned-informant gave officials new info on how thugs from Sicily came to plague Milan, Italy. As Canada looks to a three-peat at the World Junior Hockey Championships in Sweden, Jonathan Toews, a Chicago Blackhawks top prospect, emerged as one of the team's stars. Aishwarya Rai was accused of allowing drunken bodyguards to enter Brahma Temple in Pushkar, and rough up worshippers who approached her.

The article discusses the developments in the police investigation conducted by the Bangalore Police on the death of S.P. Mahantesh, deputy director of cooperative audit of Karnataka in India. Despite the security cameras not working and the single witness to have vanished, Bangalore Police claim to have multiple leads in their investigation of the bludgeoning to death of Mahantesh including it being a land mafia hit or an extramarital relationship that went wrong.

The article discusses the illegal auction of scrap metal in India by criminal organizations as of February 2011. It states that each year, the Indian Railways auctions off 120,000 tons of scrap metal from decommissioned cars, worth about 35 billion rupees. These are not sold by federal authorities, however, but by criminal groups called the mafia, who operate in the eastern Indian states of Bihar, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. It reports that these groups have political connections, and that attempts to mitigate their actions have been unsuccessful.

The article discusses India's underground organizations as of February 2011. It states that the murder of Yashwant Sonawane, the Additional District Collector of Malegaon in Maharashtra in early 2011 brought renewed attention to the country's criminal gangs and their involvement in oil. It states that revenues generated by such operations produce between 18% to 50% of the entire country's gross domestic product (GDP), but specific figures are hard to come by because of complicity by police and politicians, who allow these criminals to operate openly.

The article reports on the prevalence of sex, drug and mafia operation in Goa, India. The city did not only become the main point of international trade but also become the leading consumer of illegal drugs. It exports drugs to markets in South-east Asia, Europe and Africa. Tourists or foreigners are usually involved in political-drug cartel in Goa. The arrest and conviction of Yaniv Benaim for drug possession was the first gang-related case in Goa.

The article reports on the rising strength of land mafia in Bangalore, India. Bangalore is the technology outsourcing capital of India with more than 500 multinational conducting their operations from here. As a result, the real estate prices in Bangalore have sky rocketed which is creating law and order problems in the city as land mafia has entered the real estate sector. The biggest of these land mafia is Muthappa Rai, accused for several murders and extortion incidents, who allegedly acquires land for firms through intimidation and violence. Alleged corruption in local authorities including the police system is also responsible for this scenario as they are considered to facilitate the land mafia in return of monetary favors.

Profiles law enforcement officers who use physical force to patrol and clean-up the streets in Bombay, India. Remarks from Inspector Pradeep Sharma about why he carries an Uzi submachine gun and handcuffs informs to a refrigerator during interrogation; Number of gangsters that Sharma has gunned down; Other officers who use force, including Praful Bhosle and Vijay Salaskar, members of Bombay's Criminal Intelligence Unit; Mob crime in bombay; Number of police shoot-outs in bombay since 1982; Effects of police on crime in bombay; Human-rights groups that feel that police killings endanger democracy in India; Corruption in India's judicial system. INSET: MAKE MY DAY.

The article presents information on setting up a Bollywood film fund to lessen dependence on funding from the local Mafia.