Herald Sun: Scammers scan $3.2m roulette win

THREE gamblers who pulled off an audacious coup at the Ritz in London using James Bond-style gadgetry to calculate where a roulette ball would land can keep their $3.2m winnings.

Scotland Yard, which seized cash and froze bank accounts during a nine-month investigation into the sting, has decided there are no grounds to prosecute the gamblers.
The decision will prompt the Ritz and other casinos to heighten security.

The gaming trio — described by police sources as a chic Hungarian woman, aged 32, and two elegant Serbian men, aged 33 and 38 — were alleged to have smuggled a laser scanner linked to a micro-computer into the casino inside a mobile phone.

The scanner measured the speed of the ball as the croupier released it, identified where it dropped, and measured the wheel’s declining orbit.

These factors were beamed to the micro-computer, which calculated into which section of numbers on the wheel the ball would settle.

This information was then flashed onto the screen of the mobile just before the wheel made its third spin, by which time all bets must be placed.

Having reduced their odds from 37-1 to 6-1, the trio bet on all six numbers in that section to ensure they would win.

On the first night they won almost $250,000. They returned the next night to win almost $3 million. The gamblers cashed their chips, declined offers of a free caviar-and-champagne dinner to celebrate and left.

The casino’s security experts examined closed-circuit television footage and officers from Scotland Yard’s gaming squad arrested the trio at a hotel nearby on suspicion of obtaining their winnings by deception.

They had been reporting to police on bail but have now been told they are free to leave Britain.

The Yard said: “The case has been stamped ‘no further action’. All the money impounded at the outset of the inquiry has been returned.”

Legal sources said the gamblers had to be let off because they had not violated any law. The scanner did not interfere with the ball or wheel. It provided information but did not manipulate the game. – SUNDAY TIMES

Washington Post: Tidal Waves Kill More Than 10,000 in Asia
Huge Earthquake Sparks Tsunamis Throughout Southeast Asia

JAKARTA, Indonesia Dec. 26 — A gargantuan earthquake centered off the west coast of Indonesia unleashed a series of tidal waves Sunday morning that crashed into coastal towns, fishing villages and tourist resorts from India and Sri Lanka to Thailand and Malaysia, killing more than 10,000 people and leaving many more missing.

The U.S. Geological Survey measured the earthquake at 8.9 on the Richter scale, making it the fifth strongest since 1900. It was the largest since 1964, when Alaska was jolted by a quake measuring 9.2.

The initial quake struck the western tip of Indonesia’s Sumatra island shortly after 7 a.m. local time, flattening buildings and sending a wall of water about five yards high into the cities and towns of Aceh province, according to witnesses reached by telephone.

Reuters: 100 Die in Russian School Siege Shootout

One hundred or more people were killed when Russian troops stormed a school Friday in a chaotic battle to free children, parents and teachers who had been held hostage for 53 hours by Chechen separatists.

Amid confusion and carnage, authorities said they had been forced into an unplanned operation by hostage-takers who opened fire on fleeing children. Some children were still being held hours after the raid, officials told Interfax news agency.

Machinegun fire and explosions boomed out and helicopters clattered overhead as naked children ran for safety, screaming.

Circuit architects Hermann Tilke and Peter Wahl on their creation: “The 5.4 kilometre racing track is shaped like the Chinese character ‘shang’, which stands for ‘high’ or ‘above’. Other symbols represented in the architecture originate from Chinese history, such as the team buildings arranged like pavilions in a lake to resemble the ancient Yuyan-Garden in Shanghai. Here, nature and technology are carefully used to create harmony between the elements.”

Not only will the course be remarkable for its change of acceleration and deceleration in different winding turns, but also for its high-speed straights making high demands on the driver as well as the car. This should offer many opportunities for overtaking and give an intense and exciting motorsport experience to the spectators. The Main Grandstand with 29,000 seats provides a spectacular view of almost 80 percent of the circuit – one of the new features in race track design realised in Shanghai.