Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
| Subscribe to Newser's RSS feeds RSS | Follow Newser on Twitter Twitter

NEWS ABOUT: black market

black market stories: 13 news summaries

Contractor Bought Guns on Black Market:
Ex-Employees

Triple Canopy accused of funding insurgents

Sep 18, 09 2:33 PM CDT
(Newser) - Triple Canopy, the company that succeeded Blackwater as the top US security contractor in Iraq, bought its weapons on Iraq’s black market, former employees allege in court documents obtained by ProPublica. “We’re spending a lot of money on these rifles, millions of dollars—where do you think... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Iraq • Blackwater • black market • Triple Canopy • security contractors • Xe Services • military contractors • Ronald Boline

Suspect in NJ Probe Sold Black-Market Kidneys

Corruption bust yields strange side business

Jul 25, 09 12:22 PM CDT
(Newser) - The FBI says it's made the first organ trafficking arrest in US history, a strange byproduct of the sweeping corruption probe that nabbed dozens of New Jersey officials and rabbis, the Star-Ledger reports. Levy Izhak Rosenbaum is accused of dealing in kidneys: He'd buy them from donors in Israel... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Israel • FBI • New Jersey • corruption • black market • kidney • organ trafficking • money laundering • arrest

(Newser) - The Internet has lured Cuba's black marketeers online, GlobalPost reports. In a nation that bans most private commerce, a Craigslist-style website has emerged offering everything from American razor blades to True Blood DVDs. Buyers with fatter wallets can pick up computer equipment, a $6,000 illegal Internet hookup, or a... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Internet • Fidel Castro • Cuba • black market • Raul Castro

(Newser) - Phonemaker Nokia is flummoxed as to why hackers are offering more than $32,000 in underground forums for old handsets, NetworkWorld reports—though bank fraud is a distinct possibility. “We have not identified any phone software problem that would allow” misuse, the company said. But a 2003 model manufactured... More »

MORE ABOUT:
cell phones • Germany • Nokia • black market • hackers • cybercrime • bank fraud • SIM cards • online banking • mobile phones

Blackwater Faces Hefty Fine for Iraq Gun Violations 

Contractor shipped firearms without permit; some may now be on black market

Nov 13, 08 4:08 PM CST
(Newser) - The government will hit security firm Blackwater USA with a multimillion-dollar fine for shipping hundreds of unauthorized guns to Iraq, McClatchy reports. A lengthy State Department investigation has concluded that the security contractor shipped some 900 weapons to the country—some of which likely wound up on the black market—... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Blackwater • black market • security contractors • Iraq contractors • weapons • Iraq war • defense contractors

9M% Inflation Crushes Zimbabwe

As cash becomes worthless, citizens
face starvation

Jul 18, 08 9:56 AM CDT
(Newser) - The political violence that ravaged Zimbabwe has subsided since Robert Mugabe's sham reelection, but another devastation continues unabated: economic meltdown. Zimbabwe's inflation rate has now hit 9 million percent, and a $50-billion Zimbabwean note is worth just 34 cents and falling in American currency. The Guardian investigates the surreal economic... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Zimbabwe • Robert Mugabe • black market • starvation • economy • hyper-inflation

 'Sketchy' Plane Parts
 For Sale Online 

Unauthorized vendors in China, US offer uncertified Boeing, Airbus hardware

Jun 4, 08 10:20 AM CDT
(Newser) - Spare Boeing and Airbus parts of dubious origin have been found for sale on Internet sites such as Craiglist, BusinessWeek reports. The parts, including vital valves and gears, are being sold by at least 24 vendors—mainly in China and the US—without FAA approval or documentation that they've been... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Boeing • Airbus • black market • Craigslist • aviation • aircraft • classified ads

Burmese Buy Up Black-Market Cyclone Videos

People want 'to see what's happening,' says vendor

May 19, 08 8:45 AM CDT
(Newser) - Black-market videos of floating bodies, famished survivors, and cyclone-ravaged villages have become best-sellers in Burma, AP reports. The tapes are illegal because the nation's military junta wants to hide the extent of the devastation. "People buy them because they are interested in seeing what happened out there," said... More »

MORE ABOUT:
cyclone • black market • Myanmar • Burma • junta • military junta • Cyclone Nargis

 Steal the Pipes, Ditch the House 

As metal prices soar and housing prices dives, thieves find value in copper

Apr 2, 08 3:04 PM CDT
(Newser) - Rising metal prices have rendered some foreclosed homes worth less than their plumbing, and thieves are stripping the vacant abodes of copper, aluminum, and brass to fuel a lucrative overseas trade. Several states have hardened penalties for metal theft, but skyrocketing nonferrous metals prices have thieves risking steel cages for... More »

MORE ABOUT:
foreclosure • black market • burglary • housing crisis • subprime crisis • copper • metal prices

Cheating Is
No Longer
Child's Play

Jobseekers flock to
web for answers to professional exams

Dec 26, 07 8:24 PM CST
(Newser) - Crib sheets have gone high-tech, the Boston Globe reports, as legions of job seekers from would-be medical technicians to school bus drivers resort to the Web for a leg-up in passing professional qualifying exams. The result is a booming black market for “braindumps,” or exam answers. Some... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Microsoft • Asia • black market • Department of Homeland Security • certification • professional exams • information technology • cheating • braindumps • HP • security systems • study guides

iPhone Ignites
'Love Craze'
in China

Black market phones flooding country from Hong Kong

Nov 20, 07 7:45 AM CST
(Newser) - The iPhone is not sold in China yet, but already black market iPhones—known as "Ai Feng" or "Love Craze"—have flooded in from Hong Kong. Wired News reports computer superstore shelves are full, and supplies so plentiful the black market price is plummeting. "It's like... More »

MORE ABOUT:
China • iPhone • Apple • black market • Shenzhen • George Hotz • Sina

Cubans Ignore Static on Illegal TV

Even committed commies crave US satellite shows despite Castro ban

Jul 12, 07 7:54 AM CDT
(Newser) - Cubans are turning to black-market satellite TV to watch soap operas, US news and music videos, and even the Chicago White Sox—in defiance of a national ban on the programs, the Christian Science Monitor reports. "If there is censorship, there is business," said one  provider who faces... More »

MORE ABOUT:
television • DirecTV • cable TV • Fidel Castro • Cuba • censorship • black market • satellite TV • Committee for the Defense of the Revolution • soap operas • VH1 • boob tube

Kidney Sales Brisk On India's Black Market

Desperate tsunami survivors
sacrificing their kidneys, getting ripped off by doctors and dealers

May 9, 07 10:58 AM CDT
(Newser) - Women impoverished by the catastrophic tsunami of 2004 are selling their kidneys on India's lucrative black market in ever increasing numbers. Wired reports on an international organ-donor scandal in which desperate donors are often ripped off by unscrupulous doctors and dealers who take the organs and keep the money. More »

MORE ABOUT:
organ harvesting • India • women • black market • organ donor • kidney • organ trafficking

13 Stories


from our news partners