Russian billionaire and British newspaper proprietor Alexander Lebedev hurled punches at a fellow Russian businessman during a television talk show, sending the property developer flying across the studio. Sergei Polonsky, himself once a billionaire who lost part of his fortune during the economic crisis, goaded Mr Lebedev on the pre-recorded show, announcing that he would […]
Turning up the voltage of smoking shock warnings
News from Australia. CONFRONTING images of a 34-year-old man dying from lung cancer and a premature baby struggling to breathe are among the new warnings that will cover the front of cigarette packs from next year. Fifteen new pictures will replace the photographs that have been used since 2006 as the federal government steps up […]
Pleasure doing business – now here’s your AK-47
A US company is giving new clients a voucher to buy an AK-47 assault rifle to defend themselves from violent crime. Sarasota-based MerchantService.com provides small stores and businesses with cash machines and credit card processing services. Its No Merchant Victim program now offers a voucher that can be used to buy a gun such as […]
The $6 million model car
Bejewelled scale model Lamborghini expected to fetch more than six times as much as the real car. One highly detailed toy car, or six Lamborghini Aventadors? To most the decision makes itself, but an elaborate new scale model of the range-topping Lambo has been tipped to fetch nearly five million dollars when it comes up […]
Proof Nic Cage is a vampire
An unknown antiques seller has posted an aged Civil War dated photo on online retail site, eBay, claiming that he has proof that A-list actor Nicolas Cage is a vampire, according to a report on Cinema Blend’s website. The photo, which dates from 1870 and carries a US $1 million asking price, bears an uncanny […]
Perry blasts Obama for ‘dangerous’ Mid-east policy
Texas Governor Rick Perry slammed President Barack Obama’s ‘appeasement’ of Palestinians as dangerous and naive on Tuesday, in his first major foreign policy address since emerging as the top Republican White House hopeful. Seizing on the diplomatic conflagration over UN recognition of Palestinian statehood, Mr Perry blasted Mr Obama for not being strong enough in […]
China shuts solar plant in the east after pollution protest
China has ordered the closure of a solar panel plant in the east of the country after hundreds of local residents staged violent protests over pollution, authorities said on Monday. The protesters broke into the factory in Zhejiang province, ransacking offices and overturning vehicles before being forced back by police in a three-day protest that […]
Crew makes safe return to Earth after space crash
Three astronauts returned safely to Earth from the International Space Station on Friday aboard a Soviet-era capsule whose mission follows an unprecedented spate of Russian space accidents. Space officials said the Soyuz TMA-21 capsule landed on its side in the wind-swept steppes of the ex-Soviet republic of Kazakhstan at 0400 GMT. ‘A bulls-eye landing for […]
Arctic ice at second lowest level since 1979: US report
The frozen Arctic has shrunk to its second lowest level since satellites began measuring it in 1979, capping a decade of ‘rapidly decreasing summer sea ice,’ United States scientists said on Friday. The Colorado-based National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) said the ice cap appeared to have reached its lowest level for the summer, […]
Weather sours Italian wine harvest
ITALY is set for one of its smallest wine harvests after an arid, torrid summer and will almost certainly cede its title as the world’s biggest wine producer to France. Growers say scorching temperatures and meagre rainfall have affected crops, but add that predicted autumn rains could save the quality of a vintage that has […]