Images

Volkswagen is putting it’s own unique spin on a London icon. The VW London Taxi Concept, which is built upon the Up! city car platform, is an electric cab with an estimated range of 186 miles. Though the overall length of 3,730 millimeters means the Taxi concept is shorter than a VW Fox, its minimal front and rear overhang allow for plenty of room to accommodate the driver and two full-size adult passengers plus luggage. Inside, the Volkswagen London Taxi Concept features touchscreen displays that provide information on the surrounding area and the route being traveled. (via Volkswagen crafts a London Black Taxi for the future — Autoblog)

Read more

The traffic lights use sim cards, modem and use GPRS to send and receive information, a system intended to save time and manpower by alerting the road agency’s head office when any lights malfunction. According to Thulani Makhubela, a spokesman for the agency, the robberies have been “systematic and co-ordinated”, possibly by a syndicate. An internal investigation has now been launched.

…

Makhubela said the road agency was meeting its suppliers to discuss how to make the traffic lights more secure. It has blocked all the stolen sim cards so that they can not be used to make further calls.

(via No stopping Johannesburg’s traffic light thieves | World news | The Guardian)

Read more

Saudi Arabia will help China build a $1.3bn luxury hotel modelled on Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, according to newspaper reports from Beijing. (via China plans Burj Khalifa copy – Travel & Hospitality – ArabianBusiness.com)

Read more

The all-female Forty Elephants – or Forty Thieves – worked alongside the notorious Elephant and Castle gang, a sprawling, powerful army of all-male smash-and-grab artists, burglars, receivers, hard men and crafty villains operating across south London. The Forty Elephants, in contrast, was a tightly run, neatly organised collection of cells, whose operations extended across London and into other cities.

Presided over by a formidable “queen”, the Forty Elephants were responsible for the largest shoplifting operation ever seen in Britain between the 1870s and 1950s. The gang was first mentioned in newspapers in 1873, but police records suggest it had existed since the late 1700s.

Dressed in specially tailored coats, cummerbunds, muffs, skirts, bloomers and hats sewn with hidden pockets, they mounted raids on London’s West End shops, where they plundered goods worth thousands of pounds.

(via Girl gang’s grip on London underworld revealed | Books | The Guardian)

Read more

a new analysis of Neanderthal remains from across the world has found direct evidence that contradicts the chemical studies. Researchers found fossilised grains of vegetable material in their teeth and some of it was cooked.

Although pollen grains have been found before on Neanderthal sites and some in hearths, it is only now there is clear evidence that plant food was actually eaten by these people. (via BBC News – Neanderthals cooked and ate vegetables)

Read more