German Kim Dotcom – AKA Kim Schmitz – was apprehended with three others in the city of Auckland on 20 January after a raid that was specially-requested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Schmitz is accused of internet piracy as well as money laundering.

In the meantime, US officials released a press statement that claimed Dutch police have managed to arrest a fifth suspect, an Andrus Nomm, aged 32. An American indictment identifies Nomm as an Estonian citizen and the main force behind the file-sharing site’s Development Software Division.

Schmitz’s lawyers have said that his company merely offered online storage, protesting that their client isn’t guilty of committing any crimes. Judge David McNaughton commented that Schmitz posed a flight risk, which is why he was remanded in custody until the morning of 22 February. This date was chosen as it is when the US’ application for his extradition will be heard.

Anne Toohey, prosecuting, had previously argued of there being a danger that Schmitz would attempt to flee New Zealand, citing his multiple passports, vast financial resources and prior criminal convictions for both hacking and insider trading.

The judge also pointed to a gun being found during the raid that resulted in the German being arrested as one of the factors in denying bail.

Government officials say that the children were chained and locked up at a private residence in the city of Temixco, central Mexico. Inside the home, soldiers found a decapitated body of a male, whose head was dumped on Tuesday.

At least thirteen people suspected of being part of a criminal gang that specialises in theft, kidnappings, and drug trafficking are now in custody after being arrested during the raid. As of yet, no information about the children has been released, such as where or when they might have been abducted, with officials only saying that they would be undergoing psychological counselling.

The military said that the body found belonged to a Mr Eduardo Gonzalez Mora. Mora’s head was found hidden in a motorcycle helmet on Tuesday in the town of Nueva Morelos de Xochitpec. There was a threatening message left directly next to the head and it was signed by a gang of criminals calling itself the Red Ones, or Los Rojos in Spanish. The authorities say that, at present, little is known about Los Rojos.

The state of Morelos, where Temixco is situated, has seen a string of violent incidents in the past few weeks. At the start of the week, unidentified gunmen murdered the police chief of the town of Zacatepec, which is also in Morelos.

They are accused of having an involvement five incidents that saw the hair and beards of Amish males and females cut, an act that is deemed particularly offensive within Amish culture. It has been alleged that internal religious disputes involving Samuel Mullet’s group spurred the attacks.

The state of Ohio, home to such cities as Cleveland and Cincinnati, has a considerable Amish population of around 61,000 – which makes it second only to nearby Pennsylvania. Most Amish believe that women should wear their hair long while men should altogether stop shaving after they are married.

Within the Amish community, severe punishments are often given out internally with crimes rarely reported to local authorities such as the police. Many of the victims of these attacks have refused to press charges. Among the twelve males that have been charged, seven were first apprehended in November in the aftermath of a wave of assaults. The rest were arraigned last month.

At Wednesday’s hearing, females dressed in the traditional Amish clothing commonly seen in documentaries and movies filled the Cleveland City Courts’ public gallery. Prosecutors have been arguing that charges of conspiracy, evidence tampering, and assault amounted to hate crimes that were triggered by religious differences.

La Redoute said in a tweet on Twitter that it would like to apologise for the photograph published on its website and is doing what is necessary to make sure that it is removed. Despite this though, little can be done to prevent the montages that have already appeared that show the naked man in iconic images, including the Moon landing. Thus far, the nudist hasn’t been identified.

Dominique Strauss-Khan, the now disgraced ex-International Monetary Fund head that spent most of 2011 embroiled in a sex scandal, appears in a spoof image with his face pasted onto the naked man. At present, La Redoute remains one of France’s largest mail-order retailers. One of its spokeswomen was quoted by AFP, the news agency, saying than internal inquiries have already been launched with a view to determining exactly how the error happened.

The error was coupled with the fact that the company provided a magnifying glass for people to examine the beachwear closer. Many tweeters remarked that a bad buzz surrounding La Redout’s photo might actually end up being useful publicity for it.

Victoria Nuland, a State Department spokeswoman, branded the comments both horrific and reprehensible, adding that they aren’t even worthy of a response. Yesterday, Chavez said that it was strange how he and other leftist presidents have all been diagnosed with cancer. It was pointed out though that the leader was thinking out loud but not making rash accusations.

Chavez – who received cancer treatment in Cuba earlier this year – was speaking just a day after the announcement that Argentine leader Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner now has the disease. Additionally, Paraguay’s Fernando Lugo, and Brazil’s current and former presidents, Dilma Rousseff and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva respectively, have also had cancer.

Chavez said that the instances of cancer across Latin America and its leaders are difficult to explain even through applying the law of probabilities. Chavez asked during a televised speech whether it would be so strange to believe that the Americans have developed technology capable of inducing cancer.

Aged 57, the Venezuelan leader is now free of all cancer after having the required surgery and chemotherapy earlier this year. Due to the exact details of his illness not being made public yet, speculation has been fuelled that his condition might be worse than previously thought.

Back in October, Huang Kexue admitted to stealing secrets on both a pesticide and new food product before sending them back to his homeland and Germany. Previously, he faced a sentence of 25 years. The case is just the latest in a string of similar allegations being made about trade secrets that were handed to Chinese companies.

Mr Huang was born on Chinese soil but has permanent resident status in America. He pleaded guilty to stealing Dow AgroSciences’ secrets while working for them over a five-year period that stretched from 2003 to 2008. Additionally, he also passed on valuable information that Cargill Inc. held dear to it.

According to official court papers, Cargill put the value of their stolen information at a whopping $12m. Although Dow didn’t give a specific figure, it said that it was also in the millions. In his plea, Huang confessed to passing the information on to a Chinese university, in addition to the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Chinese government’s 863 Program – an initiative aimed at developing acquiring high-level technologies.

The sentence was delivered on the same day the Wall Street Journal published a report that detailed how Chinese hackers have stolen vital information from the Chamber of Commerce, with a particular focus on the organisation’s Asian policy team.

Authorities say that Rafiqul Islam, aged 30, attacked his wife because she sought higher education without receiving his permission. It has also been said that Islam, a migrant worker, confessed to the crime not long after he returned home from the Gulf.

As of yet, there isn’t any independent confirmation from Islam that he attacked his wife. The incident is just one in a string of domestic violence incidents that have targeted educated females over recent months.

Police say that Islam, who is employed in the UAE, tied up Hawa Akther Jui, his wife, aged 21, earlier this month then taped her mouth before cutting off the five fingers. Medical experts say that the fingers can’t be re-attached. Additionally, it appears as though Ms Akther must live with permanent disfigurement.

Ms Akther told the BBC that her husband blindfolded her then tied her hand before taping her mouth while saying that he was about to surprise her with gifts. Instead, he cut off her fingers. The victim says that her husband, who isn’t well educated, doesn’t approve of her enrollment at the college she has been attending, which is for higher studies.

Mr Joe Gordon, a Colorado man that once sold used cars salesman but was born in Thailand, confessed to insulting the king at an earlier hearing. He was originally meant to be sentenced to a five year prison term if convicted of lese-majeste but the judges hearing the case decided to half this after Gordon entered his guilty plea.

Not for the first time, Washington DC has expressed its concern with the use of the lese-majeste law, with US officials having repeatedly urged their counterparts in Thailand to guarantee freedom of expression for its citizens and guests. A statement from the US called the decision to imprison Gordon disappointing.

Gordon, aged 55, reportedly translated sections of the widely available yet controversial biography entitled The King Never Smiles, written by Paul Handley. He posted them on his blog several years ago while living in the US and running his used car business.

Although the American initially denied the charges levelled against him, he apparently changed his previous plea to guilty upon repeatedly being refused bail. Outside the court, Gordon told reporters that Thailand has many laws in place that don’t allow individuals to express opinions.

The mentioned dismembered corpses were discovered between December 2010 and April of this year on a desolate beachfront road. Five of the murdered victims, who are all women, have already been identified and worked as prostitutes. The other five victims were three women, a man, and a baby. Their murders date back as far as 1996.

Each body was dumped at the side of a windswept road that runs the entire length of a barrier island located at Gilgo Beach. Additionally, some body parts of the victims were discovered on Fire Island, located in the eastern parts of Long Island, which is some 50 miles away.

Detectives initially refrained from linking all of the 10 deaths to the same murderer. They now say that a single serial killer seems to have been responsible while adding that the perpetrator is quite likely from the local area. A reward of $25,000 has led to over 1,200 tips that relate to the case yet not a single suspect has been identified as of yet.

The first remains were found on 11 December last year when an NYPD officer and his sniffer dog went out looking for the corpse of a New Jersey sex worker who went missing sometime in May of the same year.

The US protectorate scraped a 2-1 victory over rivals Tonga after an alarming 30 straight defeats across almost two decades. Reporters said the Samoan players and their manager acted as though they had just clinched a major championship, such as the World Cup, once the final whistle sounded. Citizens of the small Pacific nation also joined in the celebrations and partied well into the next morning.

Ten years ago in 2001, American Samoa was on the receiving end of a 31-0 defeat at the hands of Australia – officially the heaviest defeat in football history. Currently, American Samoa stand joint bottom of the world governing body Fifa’s rankings.

Their coach said that the win is now a part of football history and added that his men might now have an opportunity to make something special beyond just one match. He concluded that, for now, his players should enjoy the feeling of winning with family and friends, as well as the rest of the country.

Officially the US’ southernmost territory overseas, American Samoa is home to less than 60,000 inhabitants and is only slightly bigger than Washington DC.