Cyber cafes blamed for murder

The Californian city of Garden Grove has placed restrictions upon cyber cafes after blaming the popular businesses for a killing in the city.

Garden Grove has seen massive growth in the number cyber cafes, with 21 businesses springing up - fuelled by huge demand from the city's teenage population who use the cafes as a meeting point and to play games.

However, it is the violent nature of the online games, such as Quake III, which is being blamed for a murder outside one of the cyber cafes on 30 December, when a teenage boy was stabbed in the head with a screwdriver.

The city is also concerned that gangs are starting to form in the cyber cafes and as such have imposed strict curfews as part of the crack down.

No new cafes will be allowed to open for the next 90 days - during which time existing businesses with be forced to implement new rules, including ejecting all minors from the premises after 20:00 (local time) and closing no later than 02:00.

Garden Grove is not the first city in California to try and stamp out the link between violent juvenile crime and cyber cafes through stringent legislation.