Oz MPs paid ‘big bucks’ to attend wedding in Hyderabad
Sydney: Three Australian politicians have reportedly accumulated a collective wealth of more than 12,000 dollars in ”overseas study” allowances to pay for their flights home from an Indian wedding attended by 10,000 guests.
MPs Barnaby Joyce, Julie Bishop and Teresa Gambaro had been flown in to Hyderabad in a private jet by Australian mining heiress Gina Rinehart in June 2011 to attend the wedding of the granddaughter of her business partner G.V. Krishna Reddy, the founder of GVK, one of India”s largest energy and infrastructure companies.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Rinehart, who was about to clinch a one billion-dollar coal deal with Reddy, had invited Australian politicians to be her guests at the wedding although then Labor”s resources minister Martin Ferguson rejected the offer, saying that he felt it was ”inappropriate” of him to attend. The report mentioned that Joyce claimed 5500 dollars as a part of the allowances; Bishop claimed a 3445-dollar flight home to Perth from Hyderabad and Gambaro claimed 3446 dollars in ”overseas study travel” for the trip. (ANI)
White House correspondent Helen Thomas ‘went on a date with JFK’
Washington: White House correspondent, Helen Thomas went on a date with John F. Kennedy, when he was a young Democratic congressman from Massachusetts, it has been revealed.
Thomas, who died in July at the age of 92, covered 10 presidents, from Eisenhower through Obama in her time as a correspondent, the Politico reported.
The information emerged during a memorial service held for the Thomas, by her niece.
Suzanne Geha said that the acclaimed correspondent was hired by United Press, shortly after she graduated from Wayne State University.
Thomas had reportedly told one of her friends that Kennedy was too fresh, when asked about her date. (ANI)
Tiger attacks US zoo worker
Washington: A tiger has yanked a US zoo worker’s arm through a narrow gap in his cage after she put her hand inside, park officials said.
Garold Wayne Interactive Zoological Park in Wynnewood, Oklahoma closed yesterday for several hours and said the worker “violated safety protocol” by inserting her hand inside the adult male big cat’s cage around 10:00 am (2030 IST).
The worker “was wearing a large goose down jacket which got bunched up inside the cage wire not allowing her to get her hand back outside the cage wire fast enough and the tiger grabbed her hand pulling her left arm through a four-inch (10-centimetre) square hole,” park president Joe Schreibvogel said in a statement. The woman, who was not identified because her family had not been notified, received emergency medical treatment from park medics and was then airlifted via helicopter to a nearby hospital. “She is in surgery and stable” at OU Medical Centre, Schreibvogel added. (AFP)
600 pumpkins worth USD 4200 stolen!
New York: These thieves are going to have a grand pumpkin pie feast on Halloween! Some enterprising thieves have stolen about 600 pumpkins from a Long Island farm, with the loot worth a whopping USD 4,200.
The pumpkins were stolen from Rottkamp’s Fox Hollow Farm on Long Island, New York, last weekend. It is not yet known how the thieves got onto the property in Calverton, or how they managed to steal and take away 600 pumpkins without being seen.
The 250-acre farm has been owned by the Rottkamp family since 1967. “Obviously, whoever took them is going to sell them,” said Detective Timothy Hubbard of the Riverhead Town Police.
“I can’t imagine anybody having another use for 600 pumpkins. That would be a lot of pie,” he was quoted as saying by the ‘New York Daily News’. Pumpkins — either uncut, as jack-o’-lanterns or in pie – are a hot favourite for Halloween, observed in a number of countries on October 31. (PTI)
US bartender receives USD 17,500 ‘tip’
Washington: A ‘lucky’ bartender in the US received a tip of a lifetime after a lottery ticket handed over to her by a costumer won a cash prize of USD 17,500.
Aurora Kephart, who works at the Conway’s Restaurant and Lounge in Springfield, Illinois, was on a closing shift last week when one of her costumers gave her a tip in the form of an unplayed Keno ticket. As Kephart ran the ticket, it won a prize of USD 17,500, ‘kezi.com’ reported. Kephart immediately tried to give it back to the generous customer but he did not accept it, saying it belonged to her. “You don’t even expect anything like that. It’s fantastic. I kind of teared up and got misty-eyed. (PTI)