Sir Richard Branson could lose his West Coast rail franchise this week, with a transport union warning that the switch in ownership could mean higher fares, poorer services and job losses.
The Government is due to announce the winner of the bidding for a new West Coast franchise in the next few days.
It is thought that Sir Richard’s company Virgin Trains has lost out to transport giant FirstGroup in the battle to operate the London to Scotland line on which tilting, high-speed Pendolino trains run.
The government announcement comes as the rail industry comes to terms with the need to comply with cost-cutting recommendations.
Sticker book of criminals
A sticker book dedicated to notorious Colombian criminals has become a sales hit in a city that was once the headquarters of drug lord Pablo Escobar.
The album, which has been on the market for about 10 days, focuses on Escobar, the Medellin cartel chief who was killed in 1993, as well as other drug-traffickers and killers.
The booklet is available only from small vendors in the poorest parts of Medellin.
With the promise of MP3s, iPods and soccer balls, the album and the corresponding stickers – sold for 100 pesos (several US cents) per packet – has become a hot commodity among schoolchildren.
“The albums are delivered by men on motorcycles and they’re selling very well,” one said.
It is unclear who is behind the book, with no name or address appearing on the product.
Canada lobster blockade
Tensions between lobstermen in Maine and Canada are boiling over in a dispute caused not by too few lobsters, but by too many.
A huge and potentially record-breaking haul of crustaceans in Maine and Canada this year has caused a market glut and a crash in wholesale prices.
Fearing for their livelihood, Canadian fishermen in the past few days have angrily blocked truckloads of Maine lobsters from being delivered to processing plants in Canada that turn out lobster products for supermarkets and restaurants in the US.
America’s fastest texter
A 17-year-old boy has retained his title as America’s fastest texter in a duel of the thumbs staged before yelling fans in New York’s Times Square.
Austin Weirschke took home $50,000 in prize money for the second time in two years when he bested 10 other texting demons in feats of thumb speed, memory and fluency in texting shorthand.
One round was performed with contestants blindfolded and having 45 seconds to type the verse: “Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are, up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky.”
The event, sponsored by LG Electronics and using the company’s cell phones, took place on a traffic island in Times Square.