image from Der Spiegel...

At the specialty chemicals giant Evonik, managers are required to store their mobile phones in cookie tins during meetings, the idea being that the tins will serve as Faraday cages that prevent anyone from listening in on the conversations.

Ferdinand Piëch, the chairman of Volkswagen's supervisory board, has conference rooms regularly swept for bugs, and the company even has its own airline, Volkswagen Air Services. The planes are registered in the Cayman Islands, but not in order to avoid paying taxes. Instead, the point is to make the aircraft less recognizable as VW planes so that passenger lists are not readily accessible.

Dear Mr Murdoch

Beef prices were already rising because ranchers sold off a lot of cattle during last year's dry weather.

The Insiders: Another UN global climate warming report, AR5, may fuel Democrats’ defeat

SURE: THE UN REPORT MAY NOT BE UNDERSTOOD BY ALL, ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO DO NOT WISH TO UNDERSTAND IT

By Ed Rogers, Updated: August 5, 2013

CORRECTED AUGUST 6, 2013 by GUS