NPR brings us this story of lawlessness ahead of the 2016 Olympics in Brazil:
A reported abduction in Brazil is sending shock waves through the sporting world, as the mother-in law of Bernie Ecclestone, the billionaire who runs the Formula One Group, is apparently being held for ransom. From Rio de Janeiro, NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro reports for our Newscast unit:
"Bernie Ecclestone is the head of the Formula One car racing franchise and one of the richest men in Britain. His wife is Brazilian, and her mother was apparently grabbed by criminals in Sao Paulo, who are asking for a $37 million ransom from the billionaire.
"Information is scant and local press have said they won't report details in order to protect the victim. NPR contacted the anti-kidnapping police in Brazil, who declined to comment. Kidnapping in Brazil is rare these days, but security across the country has deteriorated on the back of a historic recession."
While most Olympic events will be held in Rio de Janeiro, some will take place in Sao Paulo and other cities.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by martyb on Thursday July 28 2016, @02:58AM
I personally met Bernie Ecclestone a few times while working on a special project for Formula 1's new digital broadcast channel. Say what you will about him, but I could find no fault on the professionalism of the people he had working for him. Everything we did was precisely detailed and organized. I certainly didn't mind having a press pass which gave me nearly total access at major racing venues like Silverstone, Monza, and Nürburgring. Was very saddened to hear of this happening to him, but even more concerned that this might trigger a rash of kidnappings around the Summer Olympics.
Wit is intellect, dancing.
(Score: 2) by Dunbal on Thursday July 28 2016, @07:01PM
Nice athletes you have here. Shame if something were to.... happen.... to them.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Thursday July 28 2016, @07:12PM
Have her bronzed.
You're betting on the pantomime horse...
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 28 2016, @09:05PM
Every cloud has a silver lining.
(Score: 1) by DECbot on Friday July 29 2016, @01:28AM
This is just golden....
cats~$ sudo chown -R us /home/base
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 28 2016, @09:01PM
Bernie wasn't so nice when negotiating with Watkins Glen over the Formula 1 race, which they had hosted successfully for about 20 years (~1960-80). His demands for more, more, more, eventually bankrupted the W. G. Grand Prix Association which was originally part of the village of Watkins Glen.
Recently I read "No Angel", a bio of Ecclestone written with considerable access to Bernie and many others in F1. It's by a tabloid writer, so some may be made up?
If even half the sleazy business dealings are true, the level of dirty dealing in F1 is far, far beyond what I had expected. Nice book review,
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/mar/05/no-angel-bernie-ecclestone-tom-bower-review [theguardian.com]
I found a used copy of the paperback for a buck or so...and then gave it to a friend when I was done (and thoroughly disgusted).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 28 2016, @09:27PM
Could "Tom Bower" be martyb's other nom de plume?
(Score: 3, Informative) by martyb on Friday July 29 2016, @03:04AM
My dealings with Bernie were, necessarily, relative brief. On the order of 10 minutes each time, and always wrt the project we were working on for him. In general, I let my manager handle the majority of the conversation.
As the guy who was financing the whole shebang, his main concern with us was how far along was our project, what were the problem areas, what did we need in order to advance things along, and when would it be ready. Basically PHB stuff.
OTOH, all of the people I worked with on-site at the various race venues were absolutely top-notch professionals. I can't remember the name of the guy who was responsible for the broadcast studio that got hauled around to all the tracks, but he was organized and did not accept sloppy work. Ran a very tight ship. Probably explains the caliber of the people with whom I worked. One of the best jobs I ever had.
As to Bernie's business dealings, I have no first-hand experience, but from what I've read, he's pretty universally recognized for getting the best deal he possibly could for himself, and then getting some more, and then more.
Wit is intellect, dancing.
(Score: 5, Funny) by jcross on Thursday July 28 2016, @07:05PM
It's a risky move kidnapping someone's mother-in-law. There's always a chance they might see it as a service.
(Score: 5, Funny) by Anne Nonymous on Thursday July 28 2016, @08:08PM
Pay us $30mm or we'll release her.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 28 2016, @08:10PM
Or if that's not the case, asking for a $37 million ransom from a billionaire seems quite a risky movie [imdb.com].
Ransom Trailer HQ (1996) [youtube.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 28 2016, @10:11PM
How much would Dr. Evil ask, I wonder. Enough to annoy Tork?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 29 2016, @12:54AM
Begs the question, how much would it cost to have her found with the kidnappers heads removed as a bonus
(Score: 4, Funny) by turgid on Thursday July 28 2016, @08:37PM
Les Dawson, is that you?
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 28 2016, @07:10PM
He doesn't have any skin in this game. It's not like there's a shortage of women half his age that want to hang around with him.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Thursday July 28 2016, @07:15PM
Ecclestone is 85.
His "Mother-in-law" a mere, spry 67!
You're betting on the pantomime horse...
(Score: 2) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Thursday July 28 2016, @09:25PM
He's old enough to be her father.
Game of Thrones.
You're betting on the pantomime horse...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 28 2016, @11:45PM
If he's his mother-in-law's father, then he's his wife's grandfather. If they have children together, his children are also his great-grandchildren.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Friday July 29 2016, @12:36AM
In West Virginia, this type of situation is described as "a Christian family."
You're betting on the pantomime horse...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 29 2016, @01:02AM
A friend's (inbred) family is from North Carolina and she told a similiar story. There is an entire town/county over there somewhere where her mother is from. Apparently the whole town is like a soap opera of incest, with the mayor/sheriff as the 'elders' of the villiage.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 28 2016, @07:37PM
yeah right.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 28 2016, @08:57PM
What did you expect? It's your typical south american third world toilet. This is what happens when you bring modern living to savages. It's a shock for them and they just cant cope with it. Hell, just look at Africa as another example. Pearls before swine.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 28 2016, @09:37PM
Take up the White Man's burden—
Send forth the best ye breed—
Go bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives' need;
To wait in heavy harness,
On fluttered folk and wild—
Your new-caught, sullen peoples,
Half-devil and half-child.
Take up the White Man's burden—
In patience to abide,
To veil the threat of terror
And check the show of pride;
By open speech and simple,
An hundred times made plain,
To seek another's profit,
And work another's gain.
Take up the White Man's burden—
The savage wars of peace—
Fill full the mouth of Famine
And bid the sickness cease;
And when your goal is nearest
The end for others sought,
Watch Sloth and heathen Folly
Bring all your hope to nought.
Take up the White Man's burden—
No tawdry rule of kings,
But toil of serf and sweeper—
The tale of common things.
The ports ye shall not enter,
The roads ye shall not tread,
Go make them with your living,
And mark them with your dead.
Take up the White Man's burden—
And reap his old reward:
The blame of those ye better,
The hate of those ye guard—
The cry of hosts ye humour
(Ah, slowly!) toward the light:—
"Why brought ye us from bondage,
Our loved Egyptian night?"
Take up the White Man's burden—
Ye dare not stoop to less—
Nor call too loud on Freedom
To cloak your weariness;
By all ye cry or whisper,
By all ye leave or do,
The silent, sullen peoples
Shall weigh your Gods and you.
Take up the White Man's burden—
Have done with childish days—
The lightly proffered laurel,
The easy, ungrudged praise.
Comes now, to search your manhood
Through all the thankless years,
Cold, edged with dear-bought wisdom,
The judgment of your peers!
(Score: 4, Interesting) by esperto123 on Friday July 29 2016, @12:47AM
Actually it is rare this days, at least the "classical" kidnappings, a couple of decades ago there were several high profile kidnappings and the police did a good job for once around here and either jailed the gangs or made it unprofitable.
What is common these days are a kind of "very short kidnapping", where a group of criminals (and sometimes cops...) grabs you, usually in traffic, and drive you around to ATMs withdrawing as much money as possible, then lets you go. This usually takes only a couple of hours.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 29 2016, @06:56AM
I think that's properly called "highway robbery", not "kidnapping".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 29 2016, @06:20PM
(Score: 0, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 28 2016, @08:39PM
And I care because why?
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday July 28 2016, @08:43PM
Because you're a compulsive commenter?
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Thursday July 28 2016, @09:13PM
NPR brings us this story of lawlessness [soylentnews.org] ahead of the 2016 Olympics in Brazil:
Not with that stuffed-up link, it doesn't!
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Thursday July 28 2016, @09:23PM
Oops, <quote> etc
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday July 28 2016, @09:32PM
Saw that same shit on another user's submission in the past two days, so now I don't know if it was my mistake or a bug (it's in the original submission, too, so not an editor's fault).
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 28 2016, @10:05PM
There were 14 comments before wonkey_monkey spoiled the fun by trying to follow the link. Goes to show that "most people don't RTFA" applies to editors too. Ho hum, an audience of one is better than solitude. I'm off to find more "two girls one cup" mirrors.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 28 2016, @11:20PM
Should I scratch?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 29 2016, @12:49AM
No. I got to it first.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 29 2016, @08:11AM
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11683640 [nzherald.co.nz]
The entire planet should walk out right now and go home. Why support a clearly corrupt and out of control country?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 29 2016, @12:57PM
One option would be to buy a nice contract to fix the problem.
I think the better option is that the govt should be very motivated to sort this out before it impacts the games.
This probably wasn't the best timing on the part of the bad guys.