timesofmalta.com

Winning ticket for $590.5 million Powerball lottery sold in Florida

Reuters — Sun, 19 May 2013 10:25:00 +0200

A single winning ticket for a record U.S. Powerball lottery jackpot worth $590.5 million was sold in Florida, organizers said last night, but there was no immediate word about who won or where in the state the ticket was bought. The winning numbers were: 10, 13, 14, 22 and 52, with a Powerball number of 11, and the odds of winning were put at one in 175 million. The grand prize, accumulated after two months of drawings, surpassed the previous record Powerball payoff of $587.5 million, set in November 2012, but fell short of the $600 million sum lottery officials had been advertising. Organizers had said the final jackpot total could end up slightly higher or lower than expected depending on final sales reported by all 43 participating states, plus the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The largest jackpot in U.S. history stands at $656 million, won in the Mega Millions lottery of March 2012. That prize was split between winners in Maryland, Kansas and Illinois. The Multi-State Lottery Association, based in Iowa, announced Saturday's Powerball results in a brief message on its website, saying, "There was one winner sold by the Florida Lottery for the last drawing's...

Beatles' guitar auctioned to the tune of $408,000

Sun, 19 May 2013 09:35:00 +0200

A custom-made electric guitar played by the late John Lennon and George Harrison of the Beatles sold at a New York auction yesterday for $408,000. The semi-hollow-body guitar, manufactured by the VOX company, was sold to an unidentified U.S. buyer at the "Music Icons" event organized by Beverly Hills, California-based Julien's Auctions and held at the Hard Rock Cafe in Manhattan. Julien's said previously it expected the guitar, which was the centerpiece of Saturday's sale, to fetch between $200,000 and $300,000. Harrison played the instrument, distinguished by two symmetrical flared shoulders on the upper body, while practicing "I Am The Walrus," and Lennon used it in a video session for the song "Hello, Goodbye," according to a statement from Julien's Auctions. Both songs were on the Beatles' 1967 album "Magical Mystery Tour." The VOX guitar was a prototype instrument custom-built for Lennon in 1966, said Martin Nolan, executive director of Julien's. Lennon gave the VOX guitar as a gift in 1967 to Yanni "Magic Alex" Mardas, who was the electronics engineer for the band's Apple Records label, the auction house said. The instrument, displayed in recent weeks at a museum in Ireland...

EU finds time to tell restaurants how to serve olive oil

Sat, 18 May 2013 17:43:00 +0200

Critics ridiculed European Union bureaucrats today for taking time off fighting the euro zone's debt crisis to impose strict new rules on how restaurants serve olive oil. From Jan. 1, 2014, eateries will be banned from serving oil to diners in small glass jugs or dipping bowls, and forced instead to use pre-sealed, non-refillable bottles that must be disposed of when empty. The European Commission said the move is designed to improve hygiene and reassure consumers the olive oil in restaurants has not been diluted with an inferior product. But critics say the rules are a sop to Europe's olive oil producers, and will only add to the frustration felt by many towards a bloated EU bureaucracy regarded as out of touch with the concerns of ordinary Europeans. "If the European Union was logical and properly run, people wouldn't be so anti-Europe. But when it comes up with crazy things like this, it quite rightly calls into question their legitimacy and judgment," said Marina Yannakoudakis, a British Conservative member of the European Parliament. The Commission said its proposal was supported by 15 out of 27 EU member governments, including the continent's main olive oil producers -...

In brief

Sat, 18 May 2013 10:18:00 +0200

TAKEAWAY JUSTICE A US woman whose car was stolen from her apartment complex spotted the missing SUV hours later - in the drive-through of the McDonald's restaurant where she works. Virginia Maiden called police and officers arrested the driver, a 22-year-old woman from Kennewick, Washington State, at the restaurant. Police found clothes in the car that had been stolen from department stores. CANDID CAMERA Residents of a New York luxury apartment building are furious over an exhibition of photos secretly snapped through their windows. Photographer Arne Svenson pointed his camera at the oversized windows of the Tribeca building from his own apartment across the street. The images show residents doing mundane things like napping, cleaning and putting children to bed. The photos, on sale for up to 7,500 dollars (£4,900) at a city gallery do not reveal their faces. The New York Post said some of the residents are considering legal action. One said she recognised her daughter's bedroom. Svenson said his neighbours were performing "on a stage of their own creation with the curtain raised".

Bieber gives up on his monkey

Sat, 18 May 2013 08:39:00 +0200

Teenage pop star Justin Bieber appears to have given up on his pet monkey which was seized by German customs officials in March, according to the shelter looking after "Mally". The 19-year-old singer had until yesterday to hand in the necessary paperwork to retrieve his capuchin monkey, which was seized at Munich airport during a concert tour. "Bieber's lawyers have indicated they would like to leave the monkey," said Judith Brettmeister, spokeswoman for the shelter caring for Mally.