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High-tech thieves rob Berlin bank vault

Alyssa Danigelis
Discovery News
Fri, 18 Jan 2013 18:12 UTC
Bank Robbery
© Paul Zinken, Corbis
The thieves’ tunnel in an underground parking garage.
Danny Ocean, you've got competition. Wiley thieves spent months using special machinery to burrow into an underground bank vault in Berlin, making off with more than $15 million in cash and valuables this week.

The thieves started by renting a small garage unit, where they began tunneling, according to the BBC's Lucas de Jong (video). Then, over the course of several months, they used special machinery to dig a 100-foot tunnel leading into the safe deposit room of Berliner Volksbank.

All the while, nobody on the surface had any idea what was happening. On Monday, the thieves made their move, taking valuables and cash from more than 100 safe deposit boxes. One estimate in The Mirror said more than $15 million was stolen, but the police are still trying to determine what valuables were in the vault. Then the thieves lit a fire in the tunnel to cover their tracks.
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Eye 2

Famous Russian chef dismembered his wife -- and then asked his Facebook friends to help find her

Kevin Morris
Daily Dot
Fri, 18 Jan 2013 18:35 UTC
Image
After allegedly strangling and mutilating his wife earlier this week, a Moscow chef enlisted his 1,300 Facebook friends in a phony and macabre search for a woman they thought was still alive.

"The police are saying that she will come back and everything will be alright," Alexey Kabanov wrote on his wall Jan. 6. "If one of our common acquaintances knows what's happened to her, then just say she's alive."

On Jan. 12, Police intercepted Kabanov as he attempted to dispose of the remains. He'd tossed his wife's arms, legs, and head into the trunk of a car, which he'd borrowed from one of his Facebook contacts after asking for help so he could supposedly take his kids to school.

Later, in police custody, Kabanov confessed to the grisly murder.
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Dollar

Chipotle prices may rise on higher food costs


Huffington Post
Fri, 18 Jan 2013 18:16 UTC
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The next time you go to Chipotle, you may be forced to utter three words you thought you'd never say: hold the guac.

The burrito seller announced on Thursday that it will likely raise prices later this year to combat the higher cost of ingredients, the Wall Street Journal reports. Currently, an average meal at Chipotle will set you back $9, according to the WSJ.

With more than 1,400 locations, Chipotle is also under the pressure of increased competition from other burrito makers like Taco Bell that offer lower prices, Bloomberg reports. On Wednesday, Chipotle stock saw its biggest decline since October after disappointing fourth-quarter profits.
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Windsock

Indonesia: Food prices soar as bad weather strikes

Slamet Susanto and Wasti Atmodjo
The Jakarta Post
Fri, 18 Jan 2013 18:13 UTC
Image
© Antara/Andreas Fitri Atmoko
Imported dry fish for sale at Bitingan market in Kudus, Central Java, on Thursday. Local fishermen are reporting poor catches due to bad weather in recent days, leading people to buy imported dry fish, sales of which have surged from 1,200 to 3,600 kilograms a day
Extreme weather, marked by storms and floods across the country, is being attributed to the spiraling prices of basic foodstuffs in the past week. In addition, crops are rotting and many fishermen cannot take to the sea due to high waves.

The price of staple foods in Bantul, Yogyakarta has soared following crop failure caused by the extreme weather in the regency.

Subariyoto, the head of the Bandul administration's domestic trade, industry and cooperatives division, said on Thursday that the bad weather ruined many crop fields in the regency.

"The bad weather also disrupted the distribution of produce. As the transport of supplies was halted, resulting in price increases," he said.
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Arrow Up

India: Inflation dips but food prices soar


Daily Pioneer
Fri, 18 Jan 2013 18:10 UTC
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Though the inflation based on wholesale prices has dipped to three years' lowest, according to Government, prices of food items including rice, wheat and pulses in retail have surprisingly gone through the roof during the last 12 months. In December 2012, the inflation was 7.18 per cent - a little lower than it was in December 2011 at 7.74 per cent.

The rates of food grains and pulses have increased manifold in the last three years. In 2011, in wholesale market, various qualities of rice were available at Rs20-52 per kg but within a year the price have increased by 20 per cent and are still on the rise. Currently, the price of rice is Rs25-70 per kg. The rate of pulses, milk, sugar and wheat are also on a constant rise offering absolutely no relief to the common man. The inflation rate in December 2010 was 9.47 per cent.
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Eye 2

Chicago man allegedly broke into ex-girlfriend's home, stabbed her cat


Huffington Post
Fri, 18 Jan 2013 17:55 UTC
Image

Miguel Vazquez, of Chicago, was arrested Thursday for allegedly breaking into his ex-girlfriend's apartment and stabbing her cat as a "surprise."
A 22-year-old Chicago man was arrested Thursday after he allegedly entered his ex-girlfriend's home and stabbed her cat multiple times on Monday evening.

Police say Miguel Vazquez, of the 4500 block of North Kimball Avenue, broke into his ex-girlfriend's home in the city's Uptown neighborhood around 9 p.m. Monday. CBS Chicago reports that he was confronted by his ex-girlfriend when he left her apartment around 1 a.m., at which time he allegedly told her he had "left a surprise" for her inside the apartment.
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Pistol

Brazil cop shot dead in prank hold-up

Stan Lehman
Associated Press
Fri, 18 Jan 2013 17:19 UTC
Image
A Brazilian police officer playing a prank on a colleague by simulating a hold-up has been shot and killed.

An officer in the city of Rondonopolis was pulling out of his garage to go to work, when his friend rode up on a motorcycle wearing a helmet saying it was a hold-up.
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Bug

"Strange creatures" in ready-made clothes

Manh Hoai Nam
VietNamNet Bridge
Fri, 18 Jan 2013 16:38 UTC
Soaking a new shirt that was brought from a local market in detergent water for about 15 minutes, when washing the shirt, Ms. Phung was appalled to discover thousands of creatures like leeches crawling, growing and reproducing very quickly.
Strange Creatures
© VietNamNet Bridge
Many curious people flocked to Ms. Ngo Thi Kim Oanh's house in Quang Hung hamlet, Hoa Quang Nam commune, Phu Hoa district, Phu Yen province, to see these "aliens."

Mrs. Nguyen Thi Phung, 55, Oanh's mother, said, on January 13, she bought the shirt at the Hanh Lam market.

Coming home, she soaked the shirt in soapy water for about 15 minutes. She then found several small white spots emerging on the cloth. She continued to soak it for a while and when washing the shirt she was appalled to discover thousands of creatures, looking like leeches, small as grains, crawling on the shirt.

"These creatures grew more and more and then laying eggs and reproducing very quickly," Ms. Oanh said.
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Gold Seal

Racism, hunger and laziness: A First Nations youth perspective on Idle No More media coverage

Sasha Cabot Gaspe
rabble.ca
Fri, 18 Jan 2013 16:21 UTC
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As Chief Theresa Spence has demonstrated since December 11th, there is supreme hunger in this country. For too many First Nations people, that hunger is literal, as they struggle to find a way to feed themselves despite the wealth that is being extracted from their lands. For others, this hunger is more abstract.

As a Kanien'kehá:ka and Anishinàbeg woman (that's Mohawk and Algonquin) who was raised off-reserve, I have been sustained throughout my life by strong connections to my home communities and my First Nations identity.

I have followed the Idle No More movement ravenously, consuming online Canadian media coverage, as well as the commentary section following every article. In these comments, it is clear that, in a purportedly enlightened country like Canada, racism against First Nations people is everywhere.

In particular, I'm struck by the repeated accusation of the laziness of First Nations people. The hypocrisy of such a characterization is astounding. In fact, few Canadians have taken any time to find out the facts, preferring instead to regurgitate the racist stereotypes that we've been fed by the media and the mainstream education system for generations.
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Stock Down

The Boeing debacle: Seven lessons every CEO must learn

Steve Denning
Forbes
Fri, 18 Jan 2013 14:28 UTC
Image
© REUTERS/Issei Kato
U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) inspection charge Lorenda Ward (C), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) technical advisor Eric West (2nd L), unidentified Boein Co. official (R) and members of the Japan Transport Safety Board (JTSB) inspect All Nippon Airways' (ANA) Boeing Co's 787 Dreamliner plane
Brake problems. A fuel leak. A cracked windshield. One electrical fire. Then another. An emergency landing in Japan. A safety investigation imposed by the FAA. Then two premier customers - Japan's two main airlines, ANA and JAL, ground their fleet of Boeing [BA] 787s. Then the FAA grounds all 787s used by the only American carrier. Now other regulators around the world follow suit, grounding all 50 of the 787s delivered so far. The regulatory grounding of an entire fleet is unusual - the first since 1979 - and relates to a key to the plane's claimed energy-efficiency: the novel use of lithium ion batteries, which have shown a propensity to overheat and lead to fires - fires that generate oxygen and hence are difficult to put out.

And keep in mind: Boeing's 787 project is already billions of dollars over budget. The delivery schedule has been pushed back at least seven times. The first planes were delivered over three years late. In fact, out of a total of 848 planes sold, only 6 percent have been delivered.

Yet grave as these issues seem, they are merely symptoms of a deeper disease that has been gnawing at the US economy for decades: flawed offshoring decisions by the C-suite. Offshoring is not some menial matter to be left to accountants in the backroom or high-priced consultants armed with spreadsheets, promising quick profits. It raises mission-critical issues potentially affecting the survival of entire firms, whole industries and ultimately the economy.
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