In an effort to combat organized crime in the region, representatives from several Western Balkan states have pledged to work together on policing and prosecution, according to the Serbian news outlet Tanjug.

Mexican drug cartels are increasingly looking to move onto the European mainland to secure their preeminence in the global drug trade.

In response to the high-profile posthumous trial of Sergei Magnitsky, the Russian lawyer who died in jail after exposing a massive tax fraud in the Kremlin, the United States Senate published on Friday a list of 18 Russians who would be forbidden to enter the United States, White House spokesman Jay Carney announced in a press conference.

Europol arrested 19 people for their participation in an organized network of Albanian drug traffickers, according to a statement the law enforcement agency released Thursday. The arrests took place in Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Albania. The accused are  primarily Albanian nationals.

The operation came after more than two years of investigation into the group's activities. That investigation began in Italy in 2010, led by an Anti-Mafia Prosecution office, and culminated in an international effort.

The Albanian Organized Crime groups constitute one of the  most expanding and networked criminal groups  in Europe, according to Europol.

A multi-agency operation targeted two groups from Austin, Texas, with alleged ties to a violent Mexican organized crime group for drug production and trafficking.

The Czech government approved a measure that would, if passed by parliament, require political parties to publicly disclose financial statements on the Internet. The bill is meant to fight corruption ahead of elections in 2014, but serious shortcomings may limit its success.

As part of its extensive philanthropic program, Google announced on Tuesday that it would award a $3 million grant to fight global human trafficking.

An estimated 600,000 migrant workers are victims of forced labor in the Middle East, according to the United Nations International Labor Organization (ILO), and these workers often find themselves without recourse due to flawed legal systems.

Tourists can reduce demand for illicit goods and services which fund transnational organized crime operations by making ethical consumer choices and by being aware of the most common illicit goods and services offered to international travelers, the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in a joint statement.

Central to the plan, which will be implemented later in 2013, is that even seemingly harmless products can have “devastating effects on the lives of innocent people, on wildlife, or on cultural property,” the UNODC and UNWTO said. Global demand is magnified by the fact that over one billion tourists now cross international borders every year.

Authorities have confirmed that rampant bribery surrounded the construction of an illegal building in Thane, India, about 12 miles northeast of Mumbai; 74 people were killed and 60 oinjured when the building collapsed on April 4.