Elizabeth Taylor’s collection of jewellery, art, designer clothing and other memorabilia will be taken on an international three-month tour before being sold at auction.
Christie’s said that the tour will begin in September and include stops in Moscow, London, Dubai, Geneva, Paris, Hong Kong and Los Angeles.
It will end in New York, where an exhibition of the late actress’ collection will fill Christie’s entire gallery space from December 3 to10.
The auction will be held in December. Ms Taylor died in March at age 79. (AP)
Veteran trapped
An 86-year-old woman is recovering in hospital after hanging from a cellar ladder by her foot for 24 hours.
Paramedics were called to a house in Ipswich, UK, just after 10 a.m. yesterday after being alerted to the woman’s plight by a friend.
She was found suspended upside down after her foot had become trapped on Tuesday in a ladder that led down to a cellar.
The friend had visited to check on her after concerns were raised because no-one had heard from the woman.
Paramedics and firefighters rescued the woman before treating her and taking her to Ipswich hospital where she is continuing treatment for hypothermia and leg injuries. (AP)
Fatal snake bite
A snake breeder has died after being bitten by one of his venomous reptiles.
UK police were investigating the death of the man in his 40s in Eastwood, Nottingham, yesterday.
He is believed to be Luke Yeomans, a snake breeder who was due to open the King Cobra Sanctuary breeding colony to the public this weekend.
Nottinghamshire Police said officers were called at around 2 p.m. to a property in Brookhill Leys Road, near Eastwood, where the man had suffered a suspected heart attack.
It is believed he had received a bite from a venomous snake, a spokesman said, adding he was pronounced dead at the scene.
She said the snake has been contained and there was no danger to the public. (AP)
Gory souvenirs
An Israeli couple has confessed to stealing objects from the Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi death camp memorial and have settled for a suspended prison term and a fine, officials said.
The couple were detained at Krakow airport on their way to Israel after border guards found a few old items, including knives, scissors and spoons inside a plastic bag in their luggage, memorial spokesman Bartosz Bartyzel said.
The 60-year-old man and 57-year-old woman, whose names have not been released, said they took the items from the memorial site. Police took them back there and the couple indicated a place in Birkenau where, during World War II, belongings robbed off the death camp victims were stored. (PA)
Killer sponge
Just when you thought it was safe to get in the bath... Scientists have discovered a rare predatory sponge in deep waters of the Mediterranean off Spain and Italy.
Experts are now anxious to protect the creature, which measures less than an inch across.
Asbestopluma hypogea feeds on small crustaceans, which it spends more than 10 days digesting. Previously, the sponge had been identified only at three sites in the Mediterranean, in French and Croatian underwater caves. The discoveries were reported in the journal Zootaxa. (PA)
At last...
Keepers at a zoo have succeeded in breeding three rare parrots after 19 years of trying.
Three Philippine cockatoo chicks are being hand-reared at Chester Zoo in Cheshire after they were hatched in incubators. The chicks, which look like “tiny dinosaurs”, are so small they are being kept in an ice-cream tub.
The species has an aggressive nature which makes successful breeding a “very rare” occurrence, said Andy Woolham, team manager of parrots and penguins. “That’s why this is incredibly significant for their conservation,” he said. (PA)
Belated jury
A man facing a criminal charge for failing to appear for jury duty apparently had a good excuse. He had been dead for five years.
Massachusetts State Deputy Jury Commissioner said he would not proceed with serving a criminal complaint against Michael Wylie.
He had been issued a notice to serve on jury duty while he was in a hospice with terminal cancer. He died a few months later but the commission continued to send letters about his failure to report. (PA)
Loose moose
A moose burst through the dining room window of a retirement home in Sweden, knocking over furniture and flower pots before taking off into the wild again.
Police say aside from the moose, who was scratched by the broken window, no one was injured in the surprise visit at the Brunnsgarden retirement home in Alingsas.
The moose escaped into a nearby park after police managed to open the home’s doors. (PA)
Falling in love
A Pennsylvania couple ended up getting hitched in a hospital chapel after the groom tumbled down the stairs on their wedding day.
Derek and Cassy McBride were married at Saint Vincent Health Centre because Derek took the wrong kind of plunge a few hours earlier. The wedding appeared doomed when tests showed he had three broken ribs and a punctured, collapsed lung. But family and nurses stepped up, decorating the chapel with medical glove balloons and bows made of gauze. The beach wedding was scrapped but Cassy McBride wore her gown. Derek had one too - a hospital one, under his tuxedo. (PA)