Banks may be crashing in the US and shaky in Switzerland, but in Germany bank business in booming. Literally, because thieves are blowing up ATMs (aka cashpoints, cash machines, automatic teller machines). There have been more than 450 incidents so far this year where explosives and incendiary devices were used to blast open German ATMs for unauthorized withdrawls. German authorities just arrested 42 suspects in the robberies, many of them Dutch, presumably because banks in the Netherlands have already closed down ATMs due to these kinds of attacks.
More:
“German police nab 42 suspects over ATM explosions,” Richard Connor, DW News
In the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, battery-powered trucks get recharged while they’re rolling down eHighway truck lanes, using the century-old technology of catenary wires and pantographs. Tom Scott explains.
Last Friday evening in Paris, 80,000 people watched France play Germany in a friendly soccer match at the Stade de France. Spectators included French President François Hollande and his guests, relatives of people who died in a German plane crash in the French Alps in March. 15 minutes into the game, President Hollande left to take a phone call and learned that a loud noise outside the stadium was caused when a man, stopped as he tried to enter the packed Stade de France, exploded his suicide vest. M. Hollande consulted the Interior Minister and a sports official and decided to keep the news from other spectators, avoiding panic and mass injuries. Elsewhere in Paris, as the game continued, over a hundred people were shot to death as they sat in cafes and restaurants and at a concert.
By the second half most spectators had learned about the terror attacks through social media, and players on both teams were informed at end of the match and asked to remain in the heavily guarded stadium instead of venturing onto the streets. Mattresses were found, and players and coaches slept at the Stade de France until a team bus arrived for Germany’s Die Mannschaft at about 2 AM.
“It isn’t clear whether Bosch provided Volkswagen with the software at the heart of the scandal, or whether any of the Bosch-built components interacted with the software.
‘How these components are calibrated and integrated into complete vehicle systems is the responsibility of each auto maker,’ the Stuttgart-based company said.
Still, questions over how the software worked and who was responsible for installing it have spilled over to include Bosch.
German newspapers have reported that Bosch told Volkswagen in a 2007 letter that the use of Bosch-made software to manipulate car emissions was illegal. Volkswagen declined to comment Friday on the reports.”
— “Bosch Could Get Drawn Into Volkswagen Emissions Litigation,” Robert Wall, Wall Street Journal
Germany’s anti-trust agency (Bundeskartellamt) has fined 21 sausage manufacturers and 33 individuals $460 million for illegal price-fixing over two decades. Gott im Himmel!
The ring is alleged to have met in Hamburg’s luxurious Hotel Atlantic. Wonder what they ate?
Sausages are central to the German identity, second only to beer. In related German crime news, thieves in the city of Krefeld broke into a warehouse and stole 300,000 liters (80,000 gallons) of beer. Ten truckloads. Worth $3 million. Right before Germany’s big World Cup celebration party.
More:
“German sausage makers in meaty fine over price-fixing,” BBC News
“Bundeskartellamt imposes fines on sausage manufacturers,” press release
“German politicians are considering a return to using manual typewriters for sensitive documents in the wake of the US surveillance scandal.
The head of the Bundestag’s parliamentary inquiry into NSA activity in Germany said in an interview with the Morgenmagazin TV programme that he and his colleagues were seriously thinking of ditching email completely.”
More:
“Germany ‘may revert to typewriters’ to counter hi-tech espionage,” Philip Oltermann, The Guardian
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At the Vatican, Argentina’s Pope Francis will now retire and Germany’s Pope Benedict XVI will return to the Papal throne for the next four years. Consult L’Osservatore Romano for details.
The big Sunday news: Today’s World Cup Final is a match between Argentina, home of His holiness Pope Francis, and Germany, home of retired Pope Benedict XVI. Good Lord!
More:
“World Cup final? No, it’s battle of the Popes,” Sophie Gadd and Martin Belam, Daily Mirror
“World Cup 2014: Battle of the Popes,” Terry Elkady, Global News
“World Cup: Germany, Argentina each have pope in corner,” Eric J. Lyman, USA Today
“World Cup final: It’s Pope versus Pope,” Daniel Burke, CNN Belief
“Who has God on their side? Popes to battle it out in World Cup final,” Carey Lodge, Christian Today
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