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29 March 2024

Crazy World: 33 girls in 60 days?...

Published
By Staff & Agencies

33 girls in 60 days?

(AP)

ITALY: Sex-scandal PM Silvio Berlusconi yesterday declared he was too over the hill to have bedded 33 women.

The Italian tycoon, 74, said: "Even though I'm a bit of a rascal - 33 girls in two months is too many, even for a 30-year-old."

He hit out weeks before facing trial in Milan over his infamous Bunga Bunga parties. Prosecutors say he paid a belly dancer dubbed Ruby the Heart-stealer for under-age sex.
 
Karima El Mahroug was 16 at the time - below the legal age for prostitution.

In a newspaper interview, media billionaire Berlusconi - whose wife is divorcing him - admitted giving cash and gifts to beauties he invited round out of generosity, saying: "I am like a charity." One bank transfer was for a girl's parents in "dire straits".

Prosecutors claim that "stripteases and erotic dances" at his parties were a prelude to sex.

But he said: "They were carefree, elegant dinners."

And Berlusconi said he had a girlfriend who was always there - admitting something he has previously denied.

He refused to identify her but joked: "If I had done everything I am said to have done, she would have gouged my eyes out."

The woman who has failed her driving theory test NINETY times

LONDON: Taking a driving test can be a nervewracking experience for even the most accomplished driver.

But this one takes the cake. The 26-year-old woman, who is from Southwark in south London, last sat her theory test in November 2010, but failed again at her 90th attempt - a UK record.

The failure has cost her a staggering £2,790 before she even sits the practical test.

The Driving Standards Agency revealed the figures after a Freedom of Information request to find the worst drivers in the UK.

The driving theory test cost £31 to sit and is a multiple choice exam in which a wannabe driver has to get 43 or more questions out of 50 correct within 57 minutes before taking to the road for their practical test.

The figures also revealed that the person who has sat the most number of practical tests in the UK is a 39-year-old man from the West Midlands.

Thirty police officers and a lion expert... all to catch two dangerous dogs

UK: More than 30 police officers in riot gear surround a suburban house. Some are carrying rifles.

But this was not a deadly stand-off with an armed gang or a lone gunman.

Instead the huge police operation was aimed at two dogs. It went on for 30 hours and is estimated to have cost £30,000.

It only ended when a vet more used to tranquillising lions finally went into the house with two officers and subdued the dogs. They were later put down.

The animals had turned on a teenage friend of their owner while he was looking after them. Daniel Boardman, 19, was badly bitten on the legs, arms and bottom but somehow managed to dial 999.

Two armed officers arrived to find Boardman being pulled in opposite directions by each dog. They broke down the door and shot the dogs with Taser stun guns to free him and drag him to safety.

But then, because of the danger they posed, the dogs were left in the boarded-up house in Rishton, Blackburn, for 24 hours with a guard outside.
 
Is it a chicken or a turkey? No, it's a churkey

(AGENCY)

The Transylvanian fowl has the neck of a turkey and the body of a chicken.

Its naked neck has long ruffled feathers among both scientists and poultry fanciers.

Is it there because this fowl is a hybrid of a turkey and a chicken? Many once mistakenly believed that to be true, with the result the bird is sometimes still called a 'turken'.

In fact, the Transylvanian Naked Neck, to use its proper name, is a chicken.

But the reason for its mysterious bald patch has continued to intrigue, with home-spun theories abounding.

Some like to think it is Mother Nature's way of giving us something easier to pluck than the average bird. Others have archly speculated (bearing in mind the province the bird is named after) it is to give vampires easier access.

Now, at last, the heated debate over its curious appearance can cease. For a DNA study by scientists at a British university has discovered the bird developed its distinctive look to stay cool.

Dr Denis Headon, who led the research at the Roslin Institute at the University of Edinburgh, said the findings could help breeders produce chickens more suited to hot countries.

'Naked neck chickens have no feathers whatsoever on their necks, and if you were to pluck one you'd discover fewer feathers on their bodies as well,' he said.

'But they behave like normal chickens, they do lay good eggs and are also very popular for their meat. They are, however, more resistant to heat than normal chickens.'
 
Is this Britain's unluckiest woman?

(AGENCY)

BRITAIN: A woman who dumped her truck-driver boyfriend for being dull, only to see him scoop a Lotto fortune, has been branded Britain's unluckiest woman.

Kerry Graves, 31, has known self-confessed Mr Boring Matthew Breach, 37, since schooldays.

They were a couple for 14 years but Ms Graves then walked out, telling pals she wanted "lots of sex".

She is now in a dingy bedsit with failed web cafe owner Travis Mains-Marten, 28, and their baby Blake.

Meanwhile Mr Breach, who admits his hobby is sleeping, is working out how to spend his jackpot, which was worth almost $30 million.

A friend said: "Kerry's got to be the unluckiest woman in the country. She was with Matthew through all the hard times and that inevitably caused strains - but after she walked out on him he struck it rich."

His mum Sandra, 67, added: "It's a shame because she was a lovely girl and we really liked her."

Kerry texted Matthew to congratulate him after his win.

He said: "We still get on. We still talk. We just grew apart. She's possibly kicking herself but I don't know."
 
The million-pound mutt

(AGENCY)

CHINA: They say money can't buy love – but £1million will get you man's most expensive best friend.

A red Tibetan mastiff has become the priciest dog in the world after being sold for 10 million Chinese yuan, or £945,000.

Big Splash, or Hong Dong in Chinese, was bought by a coal baron from the north of China.

And it's lucky his new master is a multi-millionaire, because the hefty price tag doesn't factor in Big Splash's diet – enough chicken and beef to fill a growing 180lb dog, spiced up with Chinese delicacies such as sea cucumber and abalone.

His owner will need a big house too, as adult Tibetan Mastiffs have been known to weigh as much as 286lb, or more than 20 stone – the same as a sizeable rugby player. However the typical weight for a fully grown Tibetan Mastiff is around 13 stone.

But according to breeder Lu Liang, Big Splash is a 'perfect specimen' and the extravagant price for the 11-month-old is completely justified.

He said: 'We have spent a lot of money raising this dog, and we have the salaries of plenty of staff to pay' – adding that the new owner could charge almost £10,000 a time for Big Splash to breed with a female.

The high price paid for the dog is a sign that the red Tibetan mastiff has become a status symbol in China, replacing jewellery and cars as a way for the super-rich to show off their wealth.

Not only is red considered a lucky colour, but Tibetan mastiffs are thought to be holy animals, blessing their owners' health and security.

Tibetans believe the dogs have the souls of monks and nuns who were not good enough to be reincarnated as humans or into Shambhala, the heavenly realm. 

Owners of the breed have included Queen Victoria, King George IV and  Genghis Khan – who supposedly took 30,000 of the dogs with his army in his bid to conquer Western Europe.