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WEEKLY UPDATE
Audrey Hepburn auction raises 177,000 dollars
NEW YORK: The auction of a collection of Audrey Hepburn’s dresses, handbags and jewellery has raised 177,000 dollars for children’s charities, Sotheby’s announ-ced on Tuesday.
The family of the former UN goodwill ambassador and star of Breakfast at Tiffany’s put 14 lots up for auction, with the proceeds going to the Audrey Hepburn Children’s Fund, which the actress set up in 1993 to benefit children in need. The Fund was to transfer the money to UNICEF.
The most sought-after lots were two crocodile skin handbags with matching gloves, a black set fetching 36,000 dollars and a brown one 25,000.
Other lots included Louis Vuitton luggage and photographs and portraits of Hepburn. — APP/AFP
Whale fossil found in 700,000-year-old sand layer
TOKYO: Japanese resear-chers have found the fossilized skeleton of a whale believed to have been a 15-metre-long humpback in a layer of sand some 700,000 years old, a museum official said.
The six-metre fossilized section of the body, including the head and lower jaw, were found in the sand deposit on a hill in Kimitsu City in Chiba about 300 metres from the present seashore.
The other nine-metre section of remains is missing, probably because sand in the area had been taken away for industrial use, Yoshimura said, adding it was still rare for such a large piece of fossilized whale to be uncovered. The fossilized skeleton is anatomically identical to humpback whales in the oceans today.
At the time the whale lived, the sand layer is believed to have been the seabed of a channel between Japan’s main island of Honshu and what is now the Boso Peninsula jutting out from it, Yoshimura said. — AFP
Madonna’s new album released
NEW YORK: Madonna’s latest album, American Life, hit stores on Tuesday and left critics asking if the Material Girl, after 20 years atop the musical heap, had lost her touch as pop’s most successful chameleon.
As with all of the singer’s offerings, her latest opus has come with its fair share of controversy aimed at stoking the public’s interest before the album’s release, her first in almost three years.
While controversy and a publicity blitz are nothing new when Madonna has something fresh to sell, this time the critics say the music fails to live up to the hype. — Reuters
Andretti may be oldest to qualify for Indy 500
NAZARETH: Mario Andretti, 63, is back behind the wheel of a racing car and could become the oldest driver ever to qualify for the Indy 500, even though he has agreed not to take part in the race.
American Andretti, the 1969 Indy 500 winner, 1978 Formula One world champion and multiple CART champion, retired from open wheel racing in 1994 but will test a Dallara/Honda for his son Michael’s team at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval on Wednesday.
Michael Andretti’s newly-formed team have been hit by injuries to drivers Dario Franchitti and Tony Kanaan.
“It’s a kind of insurance,” Andretti senior told Reuters. “Michael asked me ‘would you like to try it?’ and I’ve never been one to back from a challenge.”
Even though he may qualify for the Indy 500, the team have agreed that Mario will stand aside for the race in favour of an unnamed replacement driver. This is permitted under the unique rules of the event. — Reuters
Opposite-sex twins more social than other children
HELSINKI: A survey carried out among 4,000 Finnish twins and their 22,000 classmates has revealed that opposite-sex twins are more socially adept and emotionally developed than other children, a Finnish resear-cher said on Tuesday.
“The results show that it’s good for a child to be a twin, particularly if the twins are of the opposite sex,” Lea Pulkkinen, a professor at the Finnish University of Jyvaeskylae said.
“We did not find differences between twins and non-twins, except from the cases where the twins are of opposite sex, who scored higher in positive characteristics,” Pulkkinen said.
“These twins tend to shape and modify each others’ behaviour, so the girls become more active, and boys more socially skilful,” she pointed out.
Previously many believed it was a disadvantage to be a twin, as they are smaller at birth and often lag behind their peers in language and general development, she said. — APP/AFP
Oldest person in US dies
LOS ANGELES: Mary Christian, who in Novem-ber was certified by the Guinness Book of World records as the oldest person in the United States, has died at the age of 113, said Tamara Pierce of the Creekside Healthcare Centre in San Pablo.
Friends and family said Christian, born in Massachusetts in 1889, refused to live with family members in 1992 saying she did not want to be a bother.
A Japanese woman, Kamato Hongo, is believed to be the world’s oldest person, aged 115. — AFP
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