Arrest over '£28bn plot' to defraud Bank of England
Police in New Zealand have arrested a man in connection with an alleged £28 billion conspiracy to defraud the Bank of England. Officers said Brian Archer, 59, was to appear at a court in Tauranga today, where he faces extradition to the UK.
The alleged scam involved an audacious bid to cash fake bank notes with face values of up to £500,000. Six other people, including an Australian solicitor, are on trial at London's Southwark Crown Court.
The court has heard how the gang told bank officials the notes were owned by former Chinese nationalist officials, one of whom was 116 years old. But prosecutors said their plan was flawed because genuine £500,000 notes never existed and only 63 £1,000 notes were unaccounted for by the bank.
All six men deny one count of conspiring to defraud the Bank of England between December 1, 2006 and March 27 this year. The trial, expected to last six weeks, continues.
#2
This reminds me very little of the kooky counterfeiters who decided to knock off bills with a $17.00 denomination. After printing up a batch they sent the dimmest of their gang into a store to get change for one of them.
A minute later the gleeful cohort came ambling out of the store with a fistful of cash. The excited counterfeiters ask him, "Whaddidya get?!?" The dim guy gloated, "Two sevens and a three!"
#1
I've heard of "pounding the pavement" before, but never like that.
Posted by: Mike ||
11/06/2007 9:23 Comments ||
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#2
Was the pavement over 18? And is he related to the guy who had sex with his bike? ;)
But seriously....I can't forget the time I saw a crazy homeless guy have a domestic dispute with his winter coat. Apparently his winter coat was so sexy it was trying to steal his woman....
#11
Time for the future OWG-SWO/CWO to install ground/foot-level surveillance cameras??? REDDIT/TOPIX > Traffic cameras have reportedly actually led to a decline in local-State revenues, NOT an increase, since auto drivers tend to slow down near camera stations.
* D *** NG IT, "LAW AND ORDER:SVU" SOLVED A CASE VIA FOOT-LEVEL, PERSONAL CAMERA FOOTAGE!
#12
*in honor of late night tv strike*
From the picture it looks like his love life is on the rocks, explains the vodka - ta ta
Seriously, on the sex offenders list? Was there a manhole involved? - ta ta ta
(booing)
Hey, hey, hey! I'm trying to curb my jokes but like him, can't get my thoughts out of the gutter...
(road apples thrown, falls off stage)
DALLAS All three young children of a wounded Iraq veteran have died following a car accident that happened on their way to visit their father in a hospital. Three weeks after his two siblings died in the Oct. 13 accident, 9-year-old Tyler Johnson died Saturday at Children's Medical Center Dallas.
Army Spc. John Austin Johnson was waiting for his wife, Lisa, and the children to visit him at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio when the crash occurred on Interstate 10 about 12 miles east of Ozona.
Authorities said Lisa Johnson overcorrected the steering in her sport utility vehicle when she encountered a gust of wind on the drive from El Paso, and the vehicle rolled at least four times. Two-year-old Logan and 5-year-old Ashley died at the scene. Tyler suffered massive head injuries. The mother survived.
Investigators blamed the accident on a combination of high speed, drowsiness and powerful wind, but said Lisa Johnson was driving at the speed limit. The three children were in the back seat. Logan was in a child seat, but the other two children were not wearing seat belts.
A family spokesman, Sgt. 1st Class Eugene Schmidt, said the Johnsons were too upset to talk publicly.
Johnson, who is stationed at Fort Bliss, survived five brushes with improvised explosive device blasts during two years in Iraq, Schmidt said last month. The latest caused a traumatic brain injury and he speaks with a severe stutter. I believe in God but stories like this make me ask "Why God?". I will read the book of Job tonight. My prayers are with this man and his family.
From Michelle Malkin: "You can donate to the family through any Bank of America branch. The account is the Ashley and Logan Johnson Memorial Fund. Tell the bank associate that the account is domiciled in Texas."
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
11/06/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Speed limit in Texas on those wide open highways is 70 mph. And then folks behind you try to pass because you are not doing 75. And the wind like the old song El Paso says, "One night a wild young cowboy came in,Wild as the West Texas wind". It will turn over a tractor trailor.
If I was a preacher man, I'd tell the soldier, "When we get old enough to be held responsible for what we do on judgement day, we may not make it to heaven. But all children go to heaven, for the Kingdom is like these little children." God decided to let his kids on in for good. They will be waiting for him, just be good.
#4
Glotle -- what incredible words you have spoken.... this soldier is from my next door growing up town.... all in the same county... and this story is felt throughout the county....
I remember talking to my mother, my dad had died, my husband had died, and then, my brother died. My conversation with her that night, after my brother had died, was that I could grieve with her as a wife losing a husband, but I had no words, no thoughts, no experience that could even begin to show me the horrors of losing a child.
#5
God grant him the strength and courage to forgive what the wind did to his wife and children, and enable them to cleave to one another and mourn together. May their hearts heal even as their bodies heal, and may they together find peace.
The God I understand gave us human free will. With that comes consequences. We want to be above animals but we don't want the consequences - not in the deal. ".., but the other two children were not wearing seat belts." It's sad, it's unfortunate. However, if given a 'Groundhog Day', I'd believe there are rational actions which could have avoided the situation.
#7
Logan was in a child seat, but the other two children were not wearing seat belts.
Crapola, I missed that one, P2k. Your post is absolutely warranted. When carrying passengers, my own car does not move until all belts are engaged. Especially so when there are children on board, simply as an example to them. We will never know if the deaths of those two young children were avoidable. What we do know is that insufficient measures were taken regarding their safety.
#9
I know how little time can heal such a loss, GORT. Please accept my deepest sympathies for what has befallen you. I hope your children can give you strength.
#12
Sh!T happens, and entirely too often it happens to good people. The child in the car seat died, just as did those who were unbelted, which leads to the thought they would have died anyway, no matter how the mother had prepared.
You've been in my thoughts and prayers for a while, GORT. I've got a gmail address now -- drop me a line if you'd like.
#14
Hear, hear. GORT, I can't even fathom the loss of a child, so my heart is with you. RIP little ones, and may I get 1/10th of the guardian angel that Spc. Johnson has. He survived 5 "brushes with IEDs"???? Jeebus, God was definitely on his side.
Now, if only we could convince the muzzies to lay down arms because God (not Allan) is on our side.
Posted by: BA ||
11/06/2007 9:55 Comments ||
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#15
My condolences to the Johnson family. Also, to you Gort. Well spoken Glotle.
Last year I had a close call when my wife's minivan got rear ended by a kid driving his mothers sports car. He blew through a intersection to beat the light and hit the van. Because they were near the house, the children were starting to unbuckle their seatbelts when the van got hit. The van was stopped and was preparing to turn into the driveway behind the house.
The impact destroyed the car and bent the van rear frame and shifted the rear axle in the van making the van undrivable. The van was a total loss, but other than being shook up, my wife and children did not suffer any injuries; neither did the other driver because of the airbags and seatbelt.
I sweated the ride home that evening. The Police in the area where I work, contacted the Police where my wife and children live and confirmed that they were OK. I later wrote to the Police Chief thanking him and his staff for their help.
#16
Gort, take comfort in the possibility that the heavenly trip their souls experience is far better than the selfish, materialistic, miserable experience of life on earth.
#17
I read about this yesterday. Just awful. God challenges us all, but this is steep. I hope that the parents are still able, one day, to find the joy that remains in this world while they look forward to reuniting with their children in the next.
Gort, my condolences to you as well. My parents and my step-mom each lost a child about one year apart. It still affects them, and all of us, every day. I was thinking this morning how much I miss my brother. And yet, I have the luxury of looking into the faces of my daughters and hearing their laughter, and it makes me smile. I would guess your other children give you the same.
#18
Perhaps some of the good that can be reclaimed from this tragedy is the object lesson: Make sure everyone in the car has their seat belt on.
Gorb's thoughts and seatbelt ROEs:
If my car is out of the driveway or parking space, everyone's seat belts are on. If I'm parked on the side of the freeway, everyone's seatbelts remain fastened because you can still get hit.
Most so-called "high speed" crashes occur at under 30mph after the drivers hit their brakes.
I heard a policeman say that he had never unbuckled a dead child.
I once saw a slow-speed rollover that claimed the life of the driver. Some fog/light drizzle had put a skim of water on the ground that had just frozen and she wasn't aware of it. She was going to get her kid from daycare or something. She wasn't wearing a seat belt and she hit the steering wheel with her chest. She had a blood vessel torn from a lung. What struck me is that she didn't bring up the subject of her husband or kids.
Unsecured passengers, tool boxes, and packages can kill you just as thoroughly as you could be killed by being thrown through a windshield and hitting a tree, the asphalt, or the oncoming vehicle at 30mph. Especially in a rollover. Secure those items, too.
The driver has a steering wheel to hold onto, unlike the rest of the passengers. That fact kept an unbuckled friend of mine alive in a 100+ mph multiple end-over-end crash. He only broke his toe. His unbuckled passenger got ejected through the closed trunk. He only lived for a few minutes. What struck me as odd here is that before he died he claimed to be the driver so my friend wouldn't have to take the blame. My friend's parents got sued because the car or insurance was in their name.
#19
See MVARIETY Op-Ed Tribute > THE AMERICAN WARRIOR by Dave Davis. FREEREPUBLIC is also doing a tribute to a Madison, WI soldier whom died in the ME but wanted to become a police officer like his father when he returned from duty [PATRIOT GUARD present].
Bangladeshi snake king Tota Miah, who became a national celebrity after starting the countrys first commercial snake farm, has died after failing to charm two cobras, police said Monday.
He was bitten on his hands by two cobras on Saturday as he was playing with them and went into coma. He died late Sunday, police sub-inspector Abdul Wahab said. He said at least 8,000 people and several very sad snakes attended his funeral. Miah, 38, was a household name in Bangladesh. He established a cobra farm in 1998 after training in India, and would catch snakes, hatch their eggs in an incubator and sell snakes to professional charmers.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/06/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
He was bitten on his hands by two cobras on Saturday as he was playing with them and went into coma". He died late Sunday
Snake lesson contained within this story:
Beware,
If you Play with your Snake you may git bitten and pay with your life.. OR your checkbook could git bitten and then you'd really pay a s'hitload of child support.
/worth the price of admission...
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
11/06/2007 0:47 Comments ||
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Peter Damon, a former Sergeant in the National Guard, had a less than pleasant experience while serving in Iraq. While working on a Blackhawk Helicopter in 2003, the former electrician lost both his arms, and saw his military buddy from Alabama, Paul Bueche killed, after a tire on the helicopter exploded.
The explosion created a world of hurt for Damon, necessitating his removal from Iraq and a lengthy rehabilitation at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Maryland, where he was fitted with a prothesis on his left arm and the process of healing mind and body began for him.
Peter was having a difficult time while recuperating at Walter Reed, coping with the loss of his arms and the limitations he suddenly faced. As he told Alice C. Elwell of the Brockton Enterprise, I was bummed out, I couldn't do anything I liked to do...
Even in the most trying of circumstances, the ingenuity endowed with the human spirit, the drive to overcome can shine through, and Peter found himself with an inspiration, One day I practiced writing... I thought, If I can write, why can't I draw?
And draw he did, though his first efforts were shaky. Peter had to relearn to draw and eventually paint with his prosthesis, a slow going process, but progress was made and he produced his first picture, a pencil drawing of a stuffed bear.
His wife Jenn almost cried when she saw the drawing, and it became one of her most precious possessions. For her, it symbolized that her husband was getting better. As she said in a recent interview, He doesn't want to be known as the guy with no arms...
After his rehabilitation was completed at Walter Reed, Peter and Jen, and their two children Allura and Danny moved from their native Brockton to a house in South Middleboro, Massachusetts, which was given to them by Homes for our Troops, a group that provides houses for injured Iraq war veterans.
The Damons also benefitted from his government pension, an insurance policy he took out before the war and cashed in, and legislation approved by Congress that provided a lump sum payment to service people injured in Iraq or Afghanistan.
With his family and finances secure, there was no need for Peter Damon to work another day in his life. Still at age 33, he was restless. As his wife Jen asks, Where's the satisfaction in sitting back and watching the world go by? As Peter notes, I didn't have to go back to work, but I wanted to...I couldn't see sitting around, but I knew I had to work for myself. Certain times of the day I have to sit. I get tired easy, and that would make it hard working for someone else.
Clearly hungry for something more in life, and with a burgeoning interest in drawing and painting, old Architecture, and his wife's background in retail business, Peter and his family purchased the former Prescription Pharmacy on Center Street in Middleboro, a historic building originially constructed in 1880, with the goal of transforming it in to an art gallery by the Fall of 2006.
As Peter told the Middleboro Gazette, We want to create an outlet for area artists to display and sell their work...We hope to get a lot of up and comers here, people who weren't sure they were good enough to offer their work for sale or exhibit...
And there is the added pride for Peter, whose artistic muse is Ray Ellis, a painter from Martha's Vineyard, of owning his own gallery, allowing him to showcase his own works,There's a huge sense of 'Now I can still do something.' A sense of worth and the extra drive to get better...
#1
For those not familiar with aircraft tires and wheels, the wheel halves are bolted together and the tires can be inflated to extremely high pressures ( 400 psi for a carrier based jet is not unknown) but even at a 'low' 160 or so for a helicopter, the force of that wheel half hitting you can be devestating. While the cause of the accident is not stated, it is not uncommon for the wheel bolts to suffer damage during normal operations. deflating the tire before removing the axle nut is the only sure way to ensure you don't get a faceful of Goodyear when the trapped pressure overcomes that last thread on the axle. Damon is lucky he is alive. And God bless his wife.
Belgium is poised to break a record on Tuesday for its longest period without a new government as its politicians struggle to form a ruling coalition nearly five months after a general election. Unless Belgium's squabbling parties agree a coalition before then, Tuesday marks the 149th day the linguistically divided country has gone without a new government since the 10 June election, one more day than the previous record from 1988.
Doesn't seem to have hurt them any.
The major parties' failure so far to hammer out a coalition has fuelled speculation that the country could split along the linguistic faultline of its richer Dutch speaking half and the poorer French speaking half. As the crisis grinds on, a broad state of concern about the country's future has begun to emerge among the general public, which often struggles to keep up with the ins and outs of Belgium's complex politics.
The country's largely French-speaking capital is increasingly bedecked with Belgian flags hung from windows and balconies by individuals concerned about the political morass gripping their country.
"The year 2007 will either be the beginning of the end of this country or the beginning of a new era when we decide to defend what unites rather than what separate us," said internationally renowned Flemish choreographer Anna Teresa De Keersmaeker.
#3
The old government continues to run things until replaced. I imagine they're quite satisfied with the current quagmire.
The article omits a few key words that help bring clarity to the current situation. The country is split between its richer, Dutch speaking, peasant half (the Flems) and the poorer, French speaking, aristocrat half (the Wallons). Even yet, the Flems are the labourers, the plumbers, the laboratory technicians, the secretaries. The Wallons are management, they all went to the right schools, and they moan about the cost of maintaining the family's 14th century manor house. (I got to listen to that last at length from the real estate agent who found us a house when we transferred there.) Oh, and the Flems deeply resent their taxes going to support maintaining the manor houses their former overlords are living in.
#5
Thanks, TW. Interesting! Richer peasants and poorer aristocrats? My irony meter is pegged!
Posted by: Bobby ||
11/06/2007 7:46 Comments ||
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#6
TW:
Since I am married to a Belgian who happens to be Flemish and we continue to travel there and understand daily what is happening I take exception to your description. Obviously, you lived in Brussels (which is the capital of Flanders but has been Franconized). The nobility in Belgian is evenly split - actually lately it is leaning more Flemish than Walloon. The management of the country, if you consider commerce, business and industry is decidedly Flemish - it is the opposite of what you prosist. Walloonia is stuck with a French model of economics, culture and life-style and it is one of the reasons they have been unable to keep up with the Flemish who are industrious, intelligent, multi-lingual (unlike the Walloons who refuse to learn even Dutch) and more productive. Their education and finance systems are equal only to the German and Dutch systems. The Walloons are the brakes and the Flemish the gas pedal. The Walloons cannot exist with the Flemish but the Flemish can exist very easily and more comfortably without the Walloons. The problem is what to do with Brussels since it is part of Flanders but because of the EU it has become more and more French speaking and culturally Francophile. Sooner of later there is going to be a break-up and it is the Walloons who will suffer because of their intransigence and world opinions of them that are completely 180 degrees out of reality.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
11/06/2007 8:59 Comments ||
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#7
Jack, thank you for bringing an insider's view. You're right that I came from the Brussels angle -- we lived in Overijse (across the woods from the royal residence in Tervuren, outside Brussels, for the rest of you) for the year we were there. In terms of the aristo/management:peasant/labour thingy, Mr.Wife explained that was the situation at the Belgian branch of the multinational corporation he works for, not because of innate ability or corporate desire, but because of a somehow French-enforced caste system.
I didn't realize that Belgian nobility is split; I always had the idea that the royal court spoke French. Agreed, however, that the strength of the country is Flemish, and the French are a drag in every way they can be.
#8
IIUC, Wallonia actually used to be the most prosperous and industrialized area of the two, but it has fared very badly since the post-industrial turn of the 70's, and is now stuck in a client/socialized type way of doing politics. In many way, this is quite similar to the north of France, which is very close culturally, and has the same history (prosperous heavy industries area, that went downhill).
What Flanders has is a tradition of business and entrepreneurship, that has allowed it to make the best out of the post-industrail socieies.
#10
Sorry, JFM. Just because the French look down on them as the hillbillies of the Francophone world, just as the Dutch look down on the Flems the same way (I was positively shocked by the things my mother casually said when I told her I taking a Dutch class put on by the Overijse commune, and she only spent about the second decade of her life in Holland!), doesn't change what they are. The same with the French Swiss and the French Canadians. They are all French people who did not make it into the nation of France when the borders were finalized, although technically the French Canadians were deserted by the Motherland when France lost to England in America.
I suspect the French-speaking Swiss would have about as little qualms in shooting at the French Army than the German-speakers had when they shot German planes who had violated their airspace. French speaking Switzerland never belonged to France and I am unaware of any special positive feelings towards the French.
About Quebecois, the nationalists between them could want their own state but union with France that is another thing. One of their favourite sentences is "Maudit français, mange donc de la marde" (Bloody French, eat shet <- not a typo)
For the Wallons that is more compliacted. Belgium was an artificial creation aimed at avoiding France becoming a military island (that is the only border who is not covered by the sea, tall mountains or major rivers, it is also the border who is closer to Paris). For most of her history France would have had more resources than needed to build a fleet far stronger than the English one, provided it had secure borders and no need to keep a large army, thus the need for her rivals and specially for England of preventing France of gobbling what is today Belgium. Now I am not so sure about how Wallons feel toward the French but I am certainly alarmed at the perspective of having them in France if half of the horror stories the Flemish tell of them are true. AFAIK in France we haven't families who have been living from welfare for three generations (except perhaps in Corsica, who has a lot of privileges dating from Napoleon).
PS: A couple decades ago there was a showman who specialized in "Belgian jokes" where Belgians appeared like morons. Example: "How do you sink a Belgian submarine: you knock at the door"
Belgium was originally a landholding of the Duke of Burgandy and up until the late 1930's even the Flemings were required to speak French. French was the language of education and commerce basically up until the end of WW2. The royal family (remember he is The King of the Belgians not Belgium) still speaks primarily in French but have now been forced to also speak in Dutch especially in appeareances in Flanders. I believe the statistic is something like - for every Fleming that speaks French there are 6 Walloons that don't speak Dutch. But now the issue is not so much language or culture but responsibility, growth, leadership, etc. that is dragging down the socialist/green types that are predominantly Walloon and the more center right pro-business, pro-trade, pro-expansion Flanders.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
11/06/2007 12:08 Comments ||
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#15
Bloody French, eat shet <- not a typo
The Quebecois say that about everyone, as far as I can tell. ;-) My darling mother-in-law was thrilled to take American citizenship and give up her last tie to the place.
#17
Actually speaking more than one language is a very good thing for uniting people.
The difference is, there must be a primary common language that everyone speaks (common core culture), before you get into the second language.
This does not exist in many of the old feudal contructs in Europe like Belgium, the former Yugoslavia, the former Czechoslovakia (which wisely split thus avoiding the issue), etc.
When I said was an artificial construct I wasn't referring to the country ever having been French (they were vassals of the King of France but that nwas before the hundred years war). More about hearts and minds: many Wallons and Flemings served with distinction in Napoleon's armies. Now, of course, the forced coexistence under a corrupt state (the Belgian reigning dynasty has had an extraordinary level of corruption) has alinated the Flemings of everything speaking French but I am not sure that in 1830 they would have rejected becoming French. After all we have Flemish speakers in France.
Yeah, but it's said with that great québecquois accent, so it actually sounds very nice. I knew a french canadian who could mimicry perfectly *french* accent, that was really impressive, and really funny.
About Belgium, there's this book by Belien which seems interesting, haven't read it, of course.
#20
I go to Walloon Lake (northern part of the lower peninsula of Michigan) and the time spent there is decidedly unproductive. Hell on the liver too. Some things translate well from the old country.
#2
So, with nearly unanimous opposition to such an idea, how is it that our politicians continue to think that this should happen? Their "we know better than you" attitude needs to be rewarded at the voting booth. Furthermore, if the real reason for this stance is: Democrats wanting more voters and: Replublicans wanting more cheap labor, then the entire system has gone off of its rails as our leadership now serves their own ends while completely disrgarding the electorate's wishes. In reality, either scenario is just plain evil.
#5
What's your guess for the percent for lobbyists?
Lobbyists currently represent one of the most corrupting external forces in our government today. If a company seeks to have favorable legislation passed upon its behalf, they should explain why to their workers and encourage them to help persuade the local community regarding this. Our secret ballot makes sure no reprisals are possible and if workers honestly view the company's aims to be in alignment with theirs, they will rally to the cause.
The current model whereby influence and access are bought and sold amounts to nothing but legalized corruption. We now have a government riddled with incumbent career politicians who are more dedicated to raising re-election funds than doing their actual jobs.
From the Oval Office on down, these sort of campaign fund-raising tactics have resulted in consistent conflicts of interest and must no longer be tolerated. We have already seen America's industrial might gutted. Confronted with the export of vital technologies that our nation's very defense and security rely upon, there had better be some serious changes made if we expect to win the next big war.
#6
I don't oppose illegals getting driver's licenses. What I oppose is the fact that the said document is used as a form of identification and most of us don't know who the fuck the illegal is. Hence the term illegal. If you don't have verifiable documentation from where you are from so we know who the fuck you are, you don't get one. Ride the bus or something. That is what it is there for. They could be Hugo Chavez for all we fucking know coming in to get money for his bankrupt country. I am sick and tired of every rout being tried to make the illegals not illegal in a don't ask, don't tell sort of way so they can get legal. You sneak in without a visa, you are a fucking illegal. End. Of. Fucking. Story. No rights for you, since you are not a citizen. No bennies. No perks. No job. Please fuck off and return from the 3rd world from whence you came lest we throw your ass back.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Arrest over '£28bn plot' to defraud Bank of England
Bangladeshi snake king Tota Miah, who became a national celebrity after starting the countrys first commercial snake farm, has died after failing to charm two cobras, police said Monday.
