A picture sketched by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has fetched 37 million roubles ($1.15 million) at a charity auction.
The painting of snowfall seen through a window, finished by a professional artist, features a sprawling "Putin" signature and was introduced at Saturday's auction with the words: "Here is a new artist".
The auctioneer started bidding at 20,000 roubles ($620), the same as the other lots, only to meet cries of "Let's not be penny-pinchers" from the buyers, who demanded a starting price of five million roubles.
A black belt in judo, Mr Putin has cultivated an image of a tough man, lionised by Russian media but so far not known for artistic talent.
An auction organiser said Mr Putin had painted the picture in 20 minutes and then a professional artist filled in the details.
Tom Cruise wanted 'to kill' Hitler
Tom Cruise, who fails to assassinate Adolf Hitler in his new movie Valkyrie, said he grew up really wanting to kill the Nazi leader.
In the World War II thriller based on a true story of the unsuccessful attempt by German soldiers to kill Hitler, Mr Cruise plays Colonel Claus Von Stauffenberg who plants a briefcase bomb under a table at Hitler's military headquarters. A heavy wooden table saves Hitler and Colonel Stauffenberg is executed with his co-conspirators.
"I always wanted to kill Hitler, I hated him," the Hollywood star told the press during a visit to Seoul to promote his latest film.
"As a child studying history and looking at documents, I wondered, why didn't someone stand up and try to stop it?
Valkyrie opened in the US on December 25. It opens on January 22 in Seoul for the first time in Asia.
Less fog explains warming Europe
Fewer foggy, misty and hazy days help explain why Europe's temperatures have risen so fast over the past 30 years, researchers said yesterday.
Clearer skies due to changing weather patterns and less air pollution have contributed on average to about five to ten per cent of the region's warmer temperatures during this period, said Geert Jan van Oldenborgh, a researcher at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute.
"The temperatures in Europe have been going up twice as fast as climate models had predicted in the past decades. Less fog means more sunshine on the ground and hence higher temperatures," Mr Van Oldenborgh said.
The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, has predicted global temperature increases this century of 1.8 to 4 degrees Celsius.
Bulgarians rally to restart reactors
Bulgarians rallied yesterday to demand two Soviet-era nuclear reactors be restarted in the face of global economic woes and cuts in gas supply from Russia.
About 2,500 protesters with placards reading "Speed up Bulgarian energy" and "Restart" marched through Sofia, capital of the poorest EU member, saying the two 440 MW units Bulgaria shut in 2006 to win EU entry were safe and must be used again.
Sofia, hard hit by the Moscow-Kiev gas row, has been without supplies since January 6 and has reduced sharply gas deliveries to consumers.
Last Friday, the Socialist-led government started preparatory work to relaunch one of the reactors but said a decision to do so might come only if Sofia got a green light from Brussels.
Bulgaria has repeatedly tried to reopen the two reactors, but the EU Commission had ruled it out.
TV presenter Tony Hart dies
TV artist Tony Hart, who inspired generations of children to draw during a 50-year career, died yesterday after a long illness. He was 83.
Mr Hart served in the army and painted murals on restaurant walls for free meals before breaking into television.
His agent Roc Renals said Mr Hart's health had been declining in recent months and he had been taken to hospital with a chest infection.
He won a BAFTA prize in 1984 for his best known programme, Take Hart.
Illness forced his retirement in 2001 and a subsequent series of strokes cruelly robbed him of his ability to draw.