… Finally Friday … December 29 th 2006

Treskilling Yellow - Most Expensive Stamp in The World December 23rd, 2006 , Posted in Art & Design Treskilling Yellow - Most Expensive Stamp in The WorldUsually when you hear about an item purchased for $2.3 Million, you expect it to be something like a grandiose house, or maybe a heavily modified car, you surely don't think of a stamp that was printed in Sweden, in the year 1855. But that's not the only surprising thing about the most expensive stamp in the world named Treskilling Yellow - The stamp samples are actually a result of an unnoticed mistake in stamp-printers and were later discounted in 1858. The question of how many stamps of this kind have been printed remains unanswered, but only 1 copy is known to exist, which was sold for $2.3 Million in 1996, a whopping $71 Billion per kilogram.

Cocaine on 94 percent of Spanish banknotes Sun Dec 24, 12:34 PM ET Traces of cocaine can be found on 94 percent of banknotes in Spain, a country that has one of the world's highest rates of users, according to a study published on Sunday. The 100 notes tested were collected in gyms, supermarkets and pharmacies across Spain, where increased affluence and falling street prices have made the drug more and more accessible. Cocaine now sells for as little as 60 euros (40 pounds) a gram, or 5 euros ($7) a line, and it is regularly used by 1.6 percent of Spaniards, up from 0.9 percent in 1999, a government report said this month. Law enforcement agencies say cocaine is getting cheaper and more popular in Europe because of efforts to boost production by Colombian paramilitaries and rebels who need money for weapons. Spain is a major entry point to Europe for the smugglers. It was not clear how many of the notes had been used to snort cocaine and how many had picked up traces from other bills, according to the study by the Sailab laboratory, published in the daily El Mundo.

Court jails two Kuwaiti women for rape December 24 2006 at 10:05AM A Kuwaiti court has sentenced two women to seven years in jail each for kidnapping a man and forcing him to have sex with them, a local daily reported Sunday. The two women were convicted of raping the man by forcing him to have sex against his will, Al-Rai newspaper said, without providing their names or that of their victim. They were also found guilty of beating the man, who filed a medical report to the court. The daily said that a lower court had initially sentenced the two women to 15 years in jail each, but the appeals court on Saturday reduced the sentence to seven years. The two women denied the charges. They have the right to appeal against the sentence to the Cassation Court whose rulings are final. - Sapa-AFP

$208M Lottery Winner Dies At Age 43 Ralph Stebbins Died Of Heart Failure 20 Months After Winning Jackpot CBS News: Lottery Luck (AP) ARCADIA TOWNSHIP, Mich. A man who won a $208 million Mega Millions lottery jackpot with his wife in April 2005 has died. Police and a family spokesman say Ralph Stebbins died Saturday at his Michigan home of heart failure. He was 43. Stebbins and his wife, Mary, elected to take a lump-sum payment of nearly $125 million, less taxes. The couple said they planned to use the money to buy a cow, pay off some bills and pay for a garage to house a 1963 Corvette. Both quit their jobs after winning the jackpot. They also used their money to help several other family members retire. The Stebbinses were married for 23 years and had three children. Mega Millions is played in several states.

USA's new global strike weapon X-51 hypersonic cruise missile could travel 600 miles in 10 minutes to strike elusive, fleeting targets. The mission: Attack anywhere in the world in less than an hour.