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☆ Nord Stream sabotage probe turns to clues inside Poland, Wall Street Journal reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

June 10 (Reuters) - German investigators are examining evidence suggesting a sabotage team used Poland as an operating base to damage the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea in September, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. The investigators have reconstructed the two-week voyage of the "Andromeda", a 50-foot (15-metre) yacht suspected of being involved in the sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, the newspaper said. The Journal cited people familiar with the voyage as indicating the sabotage crew had placed deep-sea explosives on Nord Stream 1, before they set the vessel on a course towards Poland. The destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines hastened the region's switch to other energy suppliers. Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2, each consisting of two pipes, were built by Russia's state-controlled Gazprom to pump 110 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas a year to Germany.

Persons: Stanislaw Zaryn, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Shivani Tanna, Karol Badohal, William Mallard, Helen Popper Our Organizations: Wall Street, Germany's Federal Criminal Police, Polish, Special Services, Twitter, Nord, Gazprom, Washington Post, Wednesday, Thomson Locations: Poland, Baltic, Germany, Germany's, Russian, Warsaw, Kiev, Ukraine, Nord, Sweden, Denmark, Ukrainian, Bengaluru

"The FSB has uncovered an intelligence action of the American special services using Apple mobile devices," the FSB said in a statement. The FSB said the plot showed "close cooperation" between Apple and the National Security Agency (NSA), the U.S. agency responsible for cryptographic and communications intelligence and security. The FSB provided no evidence that Apple cooperated with, or had any awareness of, the spying campaign. "The hidden data collection was carried out through software vulnerabilities in U.S.-made mobile phones," Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said all officials in the presidential administration knew that gadgets such as iPhones were "absolutely transparent."

Persons: Russia Apple, NSA Kaspersky, Apple, Eugene Kaspersky, Igor Kuznetsov, Kaspersky, Dmitry Peskov, Guy Faulconbridge, Raphael Satter, James Pearson, Zeba Siddiqui, Mark Potter, Andrew Heavens, Matthew Lewis, Diane Craft Organizations: NSA, Apple, Federal Security Service, FSB, Apple Inc, Soviet, National Security Agency, Twitter, Reuters, NATO, Harvard University's, Federal Guards Service, Kremlin, Kommersant, San, Thomson Locations: Moscow, Russia, MOSCOW, Soviet Union, U.S, Israel, Syria, China, States, United Kingdom, Australia, Washington, London, San Francisco

The FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said that several thousand Apple phones had been infected, including those of domestic Russian subscribers. "The FSB has uncovered an intelligence action of the American special services using Apple mobile devices," the FSB said in a statement. 'SOFTWARE VULNERABILITIES'The FSB said the plot showed the close relationship between Apple and the NSA, the U.S. agency responsible for U.S. cryptographic and communications intelligence and security. "The hidden data collection was carried out through software vulnerabilities in U.S.-made mobile phones," Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement. Officials in Russia, which Western spies says has constructed a very sophisticated domestic surveillance structure, have long questioned the security of U.S. technology.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Putin, Sergei Kiriyenko, Guy Faulconbridge, Gareth Jones, Mark Potter Organizations: NSA, Apple, Russia Apple, Russia, Federal Security Service, . National Security Agency, FSB, Soviet, NATO, U.S, Harvard University's, Officials, Kremlin, KGB, Kommersant, Thomson Locations: Russia, Russian, Soviet Union, Israel, Syria, China, U.S, United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Ukraine

In 2012, Maslov and Shiplyuk presented the results of an experiment on hypersonic missile design at a seminar in Tours, France. In 2016, all three were among the authors of a book chapter entitled "Hypersonic Short-Duration Facilities for Aerodynamic Research at ITAM, Russia". The cases showed that "any article or report can lead to accusations of high treason", the open letter said. It said such cases were having a chilling effect on young Russian scientists. Asked about the letter, Kremlin spokesman Peskov said: "We have indeed seen this appeal, but Russian special services are working on this.

May 16 (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Tuesday its agencies were tracking Western spy activity after the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency published a video encouraging Russians to make contact via a secure internet channel. Published nearly 15 months into Moscow's war with Ukraine, the video invites Russians to take a colossal risk. Asked about the video, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he had not paid attention to it, but added: "I am convinced that our special services are monitoring this space in the necessary way." Some Russians reacted sceptically to the video on social media, saying it looked like a "provocation" by Russia's FSB security service. "The CIA wants to know the truth about #Russia, and we are looking for reliable people who know and can tell us this truth," it said.

☆ Birthday cakes, Ulta runs, and hundreds of rose petals: Inside the job of a service stylist at a luxury NYC hotel
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( Britney Nguyen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Sarah Chelli is a service stylist at The Langham hotel in New York City and works with VIP guests. She talked to Insider about what her job is like, and took us on the job to set up a guest's room. Britney Nguyen/InsiderAs a "service stylist," Chelli is responsible for communicating with guests to handle special requests. Her background in musical theater helps her as a service stylist, she said. Chelli taping balloons around a guest's hotel room before they arrive to celebrate a birthday.

☆ Zakhar Prilepin: Russia says bombing of military blogger is 'a terrorist act'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Mariya Knight | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Russia has blamed the “Kyiv regime” and several Western nations for the bombing of military blogger Zakhar Prilepin’s car on Saturday. The claim was made by a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, but she provided no proof for the allegation. The incident follows the death of another Russian military blogger last month. The Russian Investigative Committee called the latest incident “a terrorist act” and said it plans to investigate the blast as such. Russian pro-Kremlin newspaper Izvestia reported that Prilepin had surgery earlier on Saturday and is at the hospital in stable condition.

The novelist is an outspoken champion of Russia's war in Ukraine and has boasted of taking part in military combat there. He was the third prominent pro-war figure to be targeted by a bomb since Moscow's full-scale invasion of its neighbour in February 2022. [1/2] A view shows a destroyed vehicle, which transported Russian writer Zakhar Prilepin allegedly wounded in a car bombing in the Nizhny Novgorod region, Russia, May 6, 2023. On Wednesday, Russia accused Ukraine of trying to kill President Vladimir Putin with a night-time drone attack on the Kremlin. TASS quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as declining to comment on Saturday's car bomb in the absence of information from investigators.

☆ Video appears to show drone attack on the Kremlin after Russia accused Ukraine of trying to assassinate Putin
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Russia accused Ukraine of orchestrating a drone attack on the Kremlin on Wednesday. Putin was not there at the time and there was no damage to the Kremlin, Russian officials said. Two drones allegedly attacked Putin's residence, located in the Kremlin citadel, but were disabled by Russian defenses before impact, state news outlet RIA reported. Putin's spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said the Russian leader was not in the Kremlin at the time of the alleged attack, The Guardian reported. Unverified footage circulating online shows what appears to be a drone exploding over the citadel.

The Kremlin said Russia reserved the right to retaliate, and hardliners demanded swift retribution against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said in comments sent to Reuters: "Ukraine has nothing to do with drone attacks on the Kremlin. Another video circulating on Russian social media appeared to show a plume of smoke over the Kremlin after the purported attack. Russia marks the occasion with a huge military parade on Red Square, for which seating has already been erected. Ukraine typically declines to claim responsibility for attacks on Russia or Russian-annexed Crimea, though Kyiv officials have frequently celebrated such attacks with cryptic or mocking remarks.

☆ Suspect in killing of Russian war blogger says she was set up
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"Most of all I want to die," the 26-year-old told the St Petersburg online news channel Rotonda, which posted extracts of its interview online. "The most unbearable thing is that they killed a man with my hands, and maimed dozens. Trepova did not say who had asked her to present the package - a bust of Tatarsky, with explosives concealed inside - to the blogger as he was meeting other supporters of the war. "I pray for the health of the victims and will try to organise a collection of funds to help the victims of the tragedy recover." Rotonda did not say when the interview had been given.

☆ Ukraine tried to assassinate Putin by drone, Kremlin says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Shortly after the Kremlin announcement, Ukraine reported alerts for air strikes over the capital Kyiv and other cities. "The Russian side reserves the right to take retaliatory measures where and when it sees fit," the Kremlin added. "When the enemy can achieve nothing on the battlefield, it strikes at peaceful cities," Ukrainian military spokesperson Serhii Cherevatyi said. Elsewhere, oil depots were ablaze in southern Russia and Ukraine alike as both sides escalated a drone war ahead of Kyiv's promised spring counteroffensive against Russian forces. Blinken said later the U.S. government had authorised another $300 million worth of arms and equipment for Ukraine.

☆ Russia wanted a quick victory in Ukraine, and it sent its spies after Ukrainian nuclear power plant workers to make it happen
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Stavros Atlamazoglou | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Ukraine's nuclear power plants were a central part of Russia's plan to force Kyiv's capitulation. So when Russia started planning its invasion, Ukraine's nuclear energy infrastructure was a top target. According to the RUSI report, Ukraine's nuclear energy infrastructure "played a significant role" in Russia's invasion plan and in the Kremlin's public narratives about the conflict. Moscow's big planRussian military personnel at Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in May 2022. Although Russian forces still control the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, that has not won the Kremlin any leverage over Kyiv.

CNN —Jailed Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny said he faces a new “terrorist case,” in what could mean decades more in prison for the outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin. His comments come as his daughter, Daria Navalnaya, told CNN that the Russian authorities were depriving her father of food. Navalny is currently serving a nine-year jail term at a maximum-security prison east of Moscow after being convicted of large-scale fraud by a Russian court last year. Alexey Navalny, pictured in Moscow on August 27, 2018, said on Wednesday that he faces a new "terrorist case," despite being imprisoned. Zhdanov also said that the investigator in the terrorism case was considering the killing of military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky as part of the charges.

☆ UPS and FedEx are clawing back ground from smaller package-delivery firms. Here's how the little guys plan to defend their share.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Emma Cosgrove | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Amazon, FedEx, UPS, and the postal service hold 97% of the US package delivery market. Smaller delivery companies were major beneficiaries of the pandemic boom times for e-commerce. "There was a long runway for these delivery companies when FedEx and UPS didn't want your business," said Derek Lossing, an Amazon Logistics alum who now advises investors. Smaller carriers are competing less with UPS and FedEx, and more with each other. UPS and FedEx will still be in the picture, but the smaller players can outperform them in some areas.

☆ U.S. reviewing whether Ukraine war documents were leaked
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

A member of the Ukrainian special force engages in zeroing his weapon prior to a mission, amid Russia?s attack on Ukraine, in the region of Bakhmut, Ukraine, April 6, 2023. They are not war plans and they provide no details on any planned Ukraine offensive. If the published documents are authentic to any degree, however, the leak of classified data is troubling and raises questions about what other information about the Ukraine war — or any coming offensive — could be distributed. The Justice Department released a statement Friday night saying, "We have been in communication with the Department of Defense related to this matter and have begun an investigation." One U.S. official said the documents resemble data produced daily by the Joint Staff, although some numbers are wrong.

☆ Russia's ultranationalists appear increasingly vulnerable after pro-war blogger's killing
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Holly Ellyatt | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

The blast killed Tatarsky and injured at least 30 others, the authorities said, before detaining a woman on suspicion of involvement in what they described as a "high-profile murder." The death also sent shockwaves through Russia's pro-war commentariat which has burgeoned since Russia invaded Ukraine over a year ago. Tatarsky was one of Russia's more prominent and outspoken pro-war bloggers, with 572,000 followers on the popular messaging app Telegram. Unsettling ultranationalistsTatarsky's death is the second apparent assassination of a prominent Russian pro-war commentator on home soil. A leading Russian military blogger was killed on April 2, 2023 in an explosion in Russia's second-largest city of St. Petersburg, the interior ministry said.

☆ 'People want to do the right thing': Why 79% of hotel guests say you should tip — but only 30% do
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-01 | by ( Ryan Ermey | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

They want to do the right thing," says Diane Gottsman, an etiquette expert and owner of the Protocol School of Texas. Run your credit card at a restaurant, and your server will hand you a receipt with a "tip" line. In a recent survey from hotel software firm Canary Technologies, 79% of hotel guests said they think workers should get tips. But hotel workers in the survey said only about 30% of guests typically tip. As for a tip, you don't need to break out your wallet for directions to a nearby coffee shop, says Gottsman.

☆ Poland Says Russian Spies Sought to Sabotage Western Arms Transfers to Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Thomas Grove | Karolina Jeznach | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

U.S. Patriot Missile systems protect an airport outside the Polish town of Rzeszow where military aid flows into Ukraine. WARSAW—Poland’s domestic security agency detained nine foreigners suspected of planning to sabotage Western weapons shipments to Ukraine, in the largest known attempt by Russia to target arms deliveries from within Europe. Interior Minister Mariusz Kamiński said Thursday that the nine people, who have been detained in recent days, had been paid by Russian special services.

☆ Polish mayor targeted by Pegasus spyware-media
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Caitlin Tremblay | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WARSAW, March 3 (Reuters) - An opposition-linked Polish mayor had his phone hacked using Pegasus spyware, Gazeta Wyborcza daily reported on Friday, amid allegations that the country's special services have used the technology against government opponents. It said that his number appeared on a list that it had access to as part of the investigative journalism initiative the Pegasus Project. Polish government spokesman Piotr Muller told private broadcaster RMF FM that he did not know about actions taken by special services concerning specific individuals, but that no laws had been broken. A spokesman for the Polish security services could not immediately be reached for comment. NSO has said it cannot confirm or deny any existing or potential customers for Pegasus.

☆ Putin ignores German tank decision, dispenses career advice on Moscow University visit
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Jan 25 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin avoided commenting on Germany's landmark decision on Wednesday to supply tanks to Ukraine during a visit to Moscow State University, instead dispensing career advice to students and fielding questions on other topics. Putin, 70, thanked him for his service and said he would definitely take his FSB ambitions into account. "People like you understand most acutely the importance of action to protect people... and Russia itself," the president said. A young woman named Darya told Putin she dreamed of working in the presidential administration, and he responded that he would "definitely tip off the personnel department". Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Mark Trevelyan and Gareth Jones; Editing by Bernadette BaumOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Putin ally Patrushev says Russia is now fighting NATO in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Guy Faulconbridge | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev (L) looks at President Vladimir Putin during a meeting with the BRICS countries' senior officials in charge of security matters at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, May 26, 2015. "The Westerners' plans are to continue to pull Russia apart, and eventually just erase it from the political map of the world," Patrushev said. The United States has denied Russian claims that it wants to destroy Russia, the world's biggest producer of natural resources, while President Joe Biden has cautioned that a conflict between Russia and NATO could trigger World War Three. "The American state is just a shell for a conglomerate of huge corporations that rule the country and try to dominate the world," Patrushev said. The United States, Patrushev said, had sown chaos in Afghanistan, Vietnam and the Middle East, and had been trying for years to undermine Russia's "unique" culture and language.

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☆ Aldi is the US's fastest-growing grocery chain and more middle-income households are shopping there. Here are the no-frills tactics that help make it so cheap.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

More middle-income households are shopping there, lured by low prices and Aldi's "treasure hunt" approach. Smaller properties are cheaper to buy and maintain, and Aldi has said that its store layout enables "quick and easy shopping." Monford added that consumers "don't mind" that products aren't taken out of their boxes because they're shopping at Aldi for value. Campbell said the Aldi stores near her generally had just four or five aisles. Vadakkepatt said Aldi's stores have fewer employees and shorter hours than at other chains.

To Russian security agencies operating in Ukraine, he said late on Monday in comments translated by Reuters: "Yes, it is difficult for you now. The situation in the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions is extremely difficult." Both Putin and Lukashenko were also at pains to dismiss the idea of Russia annexing or absorbing Belarus. Russian troops that moved to Belarus in October will conduct battalion tactical exercises, Russia's Interfax news agency reported, citing the defence ministry. It also said Ukrainian air and artillery forces carried out more than a dozen strikes on Russian troops and hardware, including ammunition dumps, and shot down two helicopters.

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