Couple Steals Southwest Tickets Estimated at $1.8 Million
Serb Rioters Set Fire to US Embassy
Who Will Benefit From Open Skies Agreement?
NASA To Build Wireless Phone System on the Moon
Honor-System Wine Bars in Berlin
COUPLE STEALS SOUTHWEST TICKETS ESTIMATED AT $1.8 MILLION - MSNBC
A former Southwest Airlines employee and her husband stole more than 5,000 plane tickets and sold them to friends, coworkers, and others, but they pleaded guilty on Tuesday to wire fraud. Althea Jackson stole nearly 5,600 courtesy airline tickets during the time she worked at Southwest from 2001 to 2005. Courtesy tickets generally are given to inconvenienced passengers or passengers who help flight crews. The couple sold the tickets below market value. The scam is estimated to be worth as much as $1.8 million, but the couple’s attorney disputes this cost.
Link: MSNBC
SERB RIOTERS SET FIRE TO U.S. EMBASSY – Washington Post
During a large demonstration against Kosovo’s declaration of independence, Serb rioters broke into the U.S. Embassy and set an office on fire on Thursday. At least one person was killed in the fire. It took nearly 45 minutes for police and firefighters to arrive at the scene. The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad was “outraged” by the attack and said he would request the U.N. Security Council to issue a statement “expressing the council’s outrage, condemning the attack, and also reminding the Serb government of its responsibility to protect diplomatic facilities.” For several days, Kosovo’s Serbs have been destroying U.N. and NATO property, detonating small bombs and staging loud rallies.
Link: Washington Post
WHO WILL BENEFIT FROM OPEN SKIES AGREEMENT? – San Francisco Chronicle
Based on the announced plans after the Open Skies agreement takes to the skies, it seems that only a few, namely business travelers, will benefit. Frequent fliers who travel from major U.S. hub cities to Heathrow and those who travel from other major European cities to New York are expected to reap the rewards. So far, budget travelers and those looking for new options in non-stop routes stand to gain the least. The Open Skies agreement states that any U.S.-based airline can fly from any U.S. city to any city in the European Economic Community (EEC), with no government restrictions on routes, fares or schedules. Reciprocally, airlines based in the EEC can fly from any EEC point to any city in the U.S.
Link: San Francisco Chronicle
NASA TO BUILD WIRELESS PHONE NETWORK ON MOON – Information Week
NASA and the British National Space Centre are partnering up to develop a mobile phone system for the colony that eventually will live on the moon. For some time now, plans have been made to create a colony at Moon’s south pole sometime after 2020. The colony, of course, will primarily include scientists studying low gravity. NASA and BNSC will use a system of satellites and will bounce radio signals around the orb, so colonists can transmit text and voice messages to robots. The system will be called MoonLite, and it also will be able to transmit information back to Earth.
Link: Information Week
HONOR-SYSTEM WINE BARS IN BERLIN – The New York Times
Weinerein—or wine bars—in Berlin neighborhoods, like Prenzlauer Berg and Mitte, may place too much faith in patrons because these wine bars are based on an honor system. For €1 (around $1.50), customers rent a wine glass and can sample as many wines as they want. When it’s time for them to stumble home, they place bills or coins into a jar, depending on what they think a fair price is. Jürgen Stumpf owns three honor-system wine bars, and more than half of the wines he carries are from Germany. Even food prices are on the honor system, and diners usually pay around €10 to €15 for an entrée, salad and a few glasses of wine.
Link: The New York Times
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