The "Oracle of Omaha" has spoken again, and this time a Chinese suit maker is reaping the rewards.
Shares in Dayang Trands have soared by more than 70 per cent in less than a month since billionaire Warren Buffett said he and Microsoft founder Bill Gates, the world's two richest men, wore the company's suits.
"I have to tell you that I now have nine suits all made in China. I threw away the rest of my suits," the 79-year-old Mr Buffett said in a video posted on the website of Dayang Trands, based in the northeastern port city of Dalian.
Since the video was posted on August 25, the company's shares have surged nearly 72 per cent - from 8.55 yuan then to a close of 14.67 yuan on Thursday.
Mr Buffett is known as the "Oracle of Omaha" for his astute investment decisions. In China, he has been dubbed the "God of Stocks". (AFP)
Italy tax police seize Maradona's earrings
Italian tax authorities seized earrings worth €4,000 from visiting soccer legend Diego Maradona yesterday to help pay off his back taxes, they said in a statement.
Tax collection agency Equitalia said finance police had seized the earrings at the clinic in northern Italy where Maradona checked in recently in a bid to lose weight.
It was not Maradona's first run-in with Italian tax authorities, who say he owes the country 31 million euros in back taxes from the time he played for top league club Napoli.
Maradona, who played for Napoli from 1984-1991 and is now the coach of Argentina's national team, says the club should have paid the taxes.
Three years ago, tax police took two Rolex watches from him when he was in Italy for a benefit match. In 2005 they seized his payout for participating in a TV dancing show and in 2001 he was met by 20 police officers as he got off a plane in Rome. (Reuters)
US judge quits over low pay
A federal judge in California is resigning to go into private practice, saying his salary is too low to let him support his seven children.
Stephen Larson will step down from the bench on November 2, just three and a half years after becoming a district judge based in Riverside, California, near Los Angeles. He was previously a federal magistrate judge for six years.
"The costs associated with raising our family are increasing significantly, while our salary remains stagnant and, in terms of its purchasing power, is actually declining," Judge Larson, 44, said in a statement. "I must place my family's interest, particularly the future of my children, ahead of my own fervent desire to remain a federal judge."
Judge Larson's statement was released by the US District Court for the Central District of California, where he sits.
Raising judicial pay has been a priority for John Roberts, the chief justice of the US Supreme Court, as it was for his predecessor William Rehnquist, to prevent attrition.
The salary for a federal district judge is $169,300. (Reuters)
Sugababe quitter
Singer Amelle Berrabah is reported to have quit chart act Sugababes - the third person to have left the band over the years.
The all-girl trio, which has topped the chart six times, is said to have recruited former UK Eurovision entrant Jade Ewen to replace her.
Round Round hitmakers Suga-babes are often said to have had a volatile relationship and Siobhan Donaghy - the first person to leave the band in 2001 - said in a recent interview: "There was no doubt that I was pushed out."
She was replaced by Heidi Range in 2001 in time for the band's run of number ones. Then founder member Mutya Buena left in 2005, to be replaced by Ms Berrabah.
The group, known for a string of raunchy videos, first charted in 2000 with number six hit Overload. They are currently at number eight in the UK charts with the single Get Sexy. (PA)
Ambitious tower now a parking lot
A Russian billionaire's ambitious plan to build Europe's tallest skyscraper has been toppled by the economic crisis and the site will now be a parking lot, a top Moscow official said yesterday.
The site will eventually contain some structure, but it will be "less grand" than the proposed 612-metre Russia Tower, Moscow Deputy Mayor Vladimir Resin said in an interview with Echo of Moscow radio.
"Construction of the Russia Tower has practically not begun... For now there will be a parking lot there," said Mr Resin, the Moscow city government's top official for construction. (AFP)
Filthy bin
The Keep Britain Tidy campaign should take its own advice and "bin the filth" by removing posters which use "offensive" sexual innuendo, campaigners said.
The posters - which use phrases including "trim my bush", "see the size of our Fanny's", and "Are you a dirty Chucker?" - were "offensive and inappropriate", the Plain English Campaign said.
They are part of Keep Britain Tidy's "youth litter" campaign and are marked as appropriate for anyone over the age of 15. (PA)
Made off
Security has been tightened at disgraced financier Bernard Madoff's former beach home on Long Island after the theft of a sculpture off the front porch.
The ocean front property in Montauk is up for sale at $8.75 million.
Mr Madoff was sentenced in June to 150 years in prison for orchestrating a massive, decades-long fraud scheme. (PA)