An Austrian businessman is raffling off his luxury home and will use the proceeds to help fund microcredits in the Third World, the daily Der Standard reported yesterday.

Karl Rabeder, 47, is selling his luxury 321-square metre villa with swimming pool, sauna and spectacular mountain views in Tyrol, valued at €1.6 million, via a lottery, he told the newspaper. Some 21,999 lottery tickets priced at just €99 apiece are on sale.

Mr Rabeder will then invest the proceeds in his own non-profit organisation, MyMicroCredit, which he set up a few months ago.

The businessman, who made his fortune from interior furnishings and accessories, already sold his business in 2004.

"For a long time I believed that more wealth and luxury automatically meant more happiness. Now it's time to sell my house, so I can be 'free' for my new life," he told the newspaper.

From now on, he would live and work from a modest rented apartment in Innsbruck, he said. (AFP)

Beaten up over asparagus prices

German police are searching for a motorist who beat a 24-year-old woman selling white asparagus because he was upset about her asking price for the coveted springtime vegetable, police said yesterday.

The prices for white asparagus, sometimes called "edible ivory" in Germany, fluctuate wildly during the short springtime season, peaking early in the season at €10 per kilo.

The man screamed at the woman that her asparagus was overpriced. He then punched her in the face and threatened to unleash his attack dog at her. She then fled and called the police.

"The motorist said her prices were totally over the top," said a police spokesman in the Havelland district west of Berlin. Prices for asparagus now range from 1 to 5 euros per kilo, he said. (Reuters)

Doctors marvel at big momma's birth

Doctors in Moscow are congratulating themselves on the birth of a baby to a woman whose severe obesity would normally preclude conception, a newspaper reported.

The Komsomolskaya Pravda said the birth was personally overseen by Moscow's chief gynaecologist due to the weight of the 34-year-old first-time Mum: 250 kilograms, or - as the newspaper helpfully put it - "a good quarter of a tonne!"

The mother, identified only as Nonna M., gave birth to a healthy boy weighing in at a modest two kilograms after a five-hour labour that was artificially induced.

"It's really a striking case," a spokesman said,"The thing is that as a rule, women over 150 kilograms have such severe hormonal irregularities they simply can't get pregnant".

The story may be of comfort to authorities concerned at a demographic collapse in the world's largest country, where the population is falling by about a million a year. (AFP)

95-year-old woman caught speeding

A 95-year-old Israeli woman in an apparent hurry was pulled over by police while doing 130 kilometres an hour in a 90 kilometre an hour zone, reports said yesterday.

"The way was clear so I put down the pedal," the nonagenarian told officers who pulled her over.

Police confiscated the speedster's driving licence for a month and she will have to appear in court for the offence.

Israelis are notoriously bad drivers, with many exhibiting a near complete disregard for speed limits and other traffic regulations. (AFP)

'Evil' sex park torn down

A sex theme park in China that featured giant genitals and a sex-technique workshop has been torn down after officials said it had an "evil influence" on society, state media said.

Love Land was due to open in Chongqing municipality ahead of China's national day on October 1, but it was ordered to close following an investigation by local authorities.

Besides displays on sex history and techniques, the park boasted a giant rotating statue of the lower portion of a nearly naked woman bent over at the waist.

"The investigation determined the park's content was vulgar and that it was neither healthy nor educational," an official was quoted as saying.

"It had an evil influence on society and had to be torn down immediately."

He Shizhong, head of the municipal publicity department, said the company behind the park had "ignored its social responsibility and was interested only in profiting from sensationalism".

However, some people expressed disappointment that the park had been torn down. (AFP)