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Crime Blotter, Dec. 8: Power generator, porcelain statue, $33,000 in cash stolen

Area 1

3800 block of Park Place: A power generator valued at $1,000 was stolen from a hiding place outside an apartment building between 2 and 6 a.m. on Dec. 4. The generator had been left hidden in bushes and tied around the base of a tree with a chain and lock that were cut to get to it.
5400 block of Pinecone Drive: A mountain bike valued at $500 was stolen between 6:30 a.m. and noon on Dec. 1 from inside a home’s attached garage where the door had been left open.
Area 2

4900 block of Terracita Lane: An original painting by Conrad Buff valued at $10,000, a porcelain statue valued at $5,000 and a gold necklace worth $5,000 were stolen from a home sometime between 7:30 p.m. Dec. 2 and 11:30 a.m. on Dec. 3. The home security system was not working due to power outages.

4600 block of Lasheart Drive: A cell phone charger and children’s clothes were stolen from a locked car sometime between 5:30 p.m. on Dec. 2 and 8 a.m. on Dec. 3. The loss was valued at $135.

4500 block of Lasheart Drive: A wallet containing $10 in cash and $20 in Starbucks gift cards was stolen from a locked car between 9 p.m. on Dec. 2 and 7:15 a.m. on Dec. 3.

5000 block of Ocean View Boulevard: A cassette adapter valued at $25 and two packs of cigarettes worth $12 were stolen from a locked car sometime between 9 p.m. Dec. 1 and 6:30 a.m. Dec. 2.

4900 block of Ocean View Boulevard: Arnoldo Pena Lopez, 25, of Sun Valley, Hector Junior Lopez, 23, of Glendale, and Richard Rudy Liendo, 24, of Sun Valley were arrested after 2:30 a.m. on Dec. 2 in connection with several recent area vehicle burglaries. Deputies responded to a suspicious persons call about men driving around Ocean View and stopping in front of numerous cars. Deputies found the men hiding in a parked car that contained stolen property.
Area 3

700 block of Hillcrest Avenue: A gold and diamond tennis bracelet valued at $10,000, other jewelry and an unspecified amount of cash were burglarized from a home that was broken into between 6 and 7:15 p.m. on Dec. 4. The victim arrived home from dinner to find the home’s rear sliding-glass door had been pried open.

900 block of Flintridge Avenue: A family who left their home at 5:30 p.m. on Dec. 3 to stay at a hotel during a power outage returned at 10:15 a.m. the next day to find their front door forced open, the home ransacked and several items missing. Losses included four flat-panel LCD television sets valued at a combined $15,000, plus an unspecified amount of cash and other items. The home’s surveillance system was inoperable due to the power outage, but a screwdriver used in the break-in was recovered as evidence. A neighbor told deputies that he had seen a group of four to six males moving items from the home into a white van.

4400 block of Cornishon Avenue: A man reported his wallet and cell phone stolen from his unlocked truck between 3:20 and 5:10 p.m. on Dec. 3. At least $74.75 in fraudulent charges were made at Pasadena gas stations to missing credit cards. The cell phone was valued at $250. A National Parks pass valued at $80 was also stolen.

700 block of Saint Katherine Drive: A man and woman who left their home at 9 a.m. on Dec. 2 returned just before 3 p.m. to find their home broken into and ransacked. Losses included $33,000 in cash, more than $11,000 worth of designer men’s suits, three unregistered handguns valued at a combined $1,000, plus cash, jewelry, watches, coins and electronics of unspecified value. The point of entry appeared to be a pried-open living-room window.

SEKIDO CO LTD

Sekido Co., Ltd. operates stores that sell various types of products in Japan. It operates in three divisions: Household Electric Appliances Business, Fashion Business, and Special Stores Business. Household Electric Appliances Business division sells household electric appliances, audiovisual devices, office automation devices, personal computer related goods, and computer games and software.

Fashion Business division sells imported brand goods, such as jewelry, bags, watches, apparel, cosmetics, chinaware, and giftware. Special Stores Business division sells household ware, do-it-yourself goods, interior and exterior goods, pet ware, food stuff, stationery goods, and toys. It also engages in the sale and maintenance of sports ware, leisure goods, automobile ware, motorbike ware, and bicycles. Sekido operates approximately 56 stores.

Ivanisevic checks in at Loftus Road to boing with his beloved Baggies

Tennis star Goran Ivanisevic took the opportunity to show his love for West Bromwich at QPR on Saturday.

The 2001 Wimbledon champion has been an Albion fan since 2005 but had yet to attend a game. He changed that by going to Loftus Road to watch the 1-1 draw, following his match against Mark Philippoussis in the AEGON Masters at the Royal Albert Hall.

He played the Australian at 1pm, cancelled the rest of his commitments and made his way across west London to boing with the Baggies.

Heidar Helguson put the home side in front in the first half but Shane Long equalised with nine minutes to go and Ivanisevic made quite a racket in the directors' box as the ball hit the net.

After the game the Croat went down and held court in the dressing room, getting an Albion shirt signed by the team and chatting with the players.
Ireland ace Long said: 'It was cool to meet him after the game but obviously nicer that we got a point for him to see.

'I like to watch tennis but I wouldn't have any favourites. There are not many Irish people playing tennis!'

West Bromwich manager Roy Hodgson, a tennis fan, added: 'He (Ivanisevic) spoke to all the players and went around shaking hands. He was fixed up with a shirt with his name on. It's not big enough but he can frame it for his wall. I'm a tennis fan and thought he was a very good player, although there were others I followed more closely.'

The game changed when Peter Odemwingie came on, and the Nigeria forward set up the winner for Long. Hodgson will hope the pair can form an effective partnership, insisting that he was 'lucky to have' Long and said of Odemwingie: 'Peter has been doing quite well. What he needs is the match experience and of course a bit of confidence and this match will give him that because it was an excellent bit of play for the goal.'

It was just a shame, for Ivanisevic's sake, that Albion could not hit a winner.

Louis Vuitton and the rise of luxury

Louis Vuitton's new mega flagship store in Sydney ups the ante for luxury shopping in Australasia.
If, like a growing number of discerning consumers, you have an insatiable appetite for luxury, you will be booking your first class tickets to Sydney the minute you've read this story. This Saturday, Louis Vuitton, the world's most famous luggage brand, will open its biggest store in this part of the world - a 1200sq m flagship "maison" on Sydney's George St. Here, Australasians will be able to see under one roof the widest collection of what Louis Vuitton has to offer and indulge in the luxury shopping experience the French label has built its reputation on.

As Time magazine once said, it was the French who "practically invented the notion of luxury in the 17th century, and in the 18th century, when Marie Antoinette took up residence in Versailles, and added her own twist to the genre". After conducting a survey on global luxury, the magazine concluded Europeans regard "luxury as a means of expressing their individuality and style while placing high authenticity and pedigree".

In this part of the world there is a growing echelon of affluent consumers who are proving just as discriminating and unique.

And though New Zealanders as a whole are generally patriotic when it comes to supporting our designers and producers, there is still a desire to buy international labels and to use luxury goods to express our own individuality.

"The last 10-15 years, 10 years in particular, has seen very strong growth in the luxury goods market in both Australia and New Zealand," explains Phil Corne, CEO of Louis Vuitton Oceania, down the phone from Sydney.

"While that is part of the globalisation of the world, it also reflects that the consumer is now very highly appreciative of brands that deliver real quality of product and real customer service. They appreciate companies that are creative and innovative in the way they produce, design and present their products to the market."

Though today, how we spend our "cake" is a little more reserved than it might have been in the 18th century, current reports show that internationally the luxury market has been left reasonably untouched by the economic troubles affecting markets around the world.

Indeed, in many markets luxury brands have shown an increase in profits.

"Sydney is a global city, and the Australian and New Zealand markets are significant for Louis Vuitton," continues Corne. "It's all relative, of course: the population [in Australia] is 22 million and New Zealand's is 4 million, so they're not major in terms of population, but the business that Louis Vuitton has in both markets is really well represented."

The Sydney store is the 13th maison in the Louis Vuitton empire - it has more than 460 stores internationally - and has been created by a central team of architects based in Paris which is responsible for the look of all the company's stores worldwide.

In this protected historical building, the team has worked carefully to capture what makes it unique and protect heritage features. On the ground floor, where you'll find leather goods and an impressive area dedicated to watches and jewellery, 6m-high ceilings soar generously overhead. A wide art deco staircase sweeps the shopper upstairs firstly to the men's section and on up to the light and airy women's area. A large void cuts between the top two floors, adding to the sense of space and sophistication.

"One of the rules that we stick to with the brand is that we will only present the product if the space that we have allows us to present it properly. We now have the space to show the depth and breadth of product Louis Vuitton has to offer, so it's very exciting. Our customers will see a much broader and deeper offer in all categories.

"It won't immediately change what is in store in New Zealand, but what it does create is the opportunity to have very readily available products that can be moved to New Zealand for specific customers.

"When you see this new store in George St you will understand that Louis Vuitton, while very much respecting the tradition of the brand which is more than 150 years of history, is really at the same time very forward looking in the way in which the brand is presented to the market.

"We are long overdue in this market to have a store of this scale."

In a world of mass-production and cheap knock-offs, as consumers are becoming more discerning and demanding.

Recognising this, the new Louis Vuitton store will also offer two new services - made-to-order shoes for men where the customer can choose from a variety of leathers and colour combinations, and a Haute Maroquinerie service which will allow women to personalise their handbags by choosing from a selection of iconic shapes, leathers, colours and finishes.

"People today are looking for individuality - through design or a monogram," says Corne. "It's just another level of detail in the luxury market that is highly appreciated by the consumer. The only other place in the world at the moment where these services are offered is in our Milan store."

The store opening coincides with Louis Vuitton's 25th anniversary in Australia; the event will also be celebrated by a limited selection from its L'Ame du Voyage jewellery collection being available only for the month of December.

For now, Corne is off to put the finishing touches to what is guaranteed to be one of Sydney's most impressive events of the year - a cocktail party in the store followed by another party nearby - taking place this Friday. VIPs will fly in from around the globe to join Sydney's A-list. Look out in Viva next week for photos of the event.

Judge orders Google, Facebook and others to delist counterfeit goods web sites

A US JUDGE has ruled that Google, Yahoo, Twitter and Facebook, along with other search engines and social networks, must remove links to web sites selling fake goods, marking a landmark victory against the online black market.

Fashion vendor Chanel launched the case by suing 600 web sites that were deemed to be selling counterfeit Chanel products, usually at significantly cheaper prices than the genuine products. The web sites primarily sold handbags, watches and sunglasses.

Judge Dawson of the Nevada US District Court ordered Google, Microsoft and Yahoo to delist the offending web sites from their search engines, and also told Facebook, Twitter and Google to remove the links from their social networks, according to the BBC.

The judge also ordered domain name company Godaddy to take control of the web site domains and block them from being accessed.

Finally, the defendants were told to cease selling Chanel products or using Chanel's name, logo and related trademarks.

Google has previously fought against counterfeit goods sellers exploiting its Adwords network, closing down thousands of accounts, but this ruling will force it to address listings on its search engine and in Google+.

Ebay was also ordered to take greater involvement in weeding out fake product listings when the EU Court of Justice told it in July that it might be liable for trademark infringement if it does not remove sellers of counterfeit L'Oreal products.

The INQUIRER contacted Facebook about the court order, but it refused to comment. We are awaiting responses from some of the other companies cited in the ruling.