DANCE SHOW CONTESTANT VOMITS ON PAUlA ABDUl
An overwhelmed 12-year-old contestant who passed an audition on So You Think You Can Dance expressed her excitement by vomiting on judge Paula Abdul.
Tahani Anderson’s energetic audition in Chicago that aired last Monday night on Fox earned high marks from the judges, including Abdul. After Abdul greeted Anderson with a hug and told her how “proud” she was of her, Anderson threw up.
Just a little bit got an Abdul, who remarked, “I’ve never had anyone vomit on me like that.” Anderson said Abdul had squeezed her a bit too tight, “and all the happiness came out on her jacket”.
(AP)
CHOCOlATE TRADEMARK ROW: SWEDEN BANS M&M’S
A Swedish court has ordered candy maker Mars to stop selling M&M’s in the Scandinavian country, at least not with the customary lower-case letters it uses on the packaging and on the colorful chocolates.
The Svea Court of Appeal said last Wednesday that it ruled against Mars in a trademark dispute with Kraft Foods, which sells chocolate-covered peanuts under the Marabou brand with a single “m’’ on the packaging.
It said Kraft has exclusive rights to the trademark in Sweden. However, it added that using the upper-case M&M’s, as Mars does in its corporate communications, doesn’t constitute a trademark infringement in Sweden. Mars said: “We have always believed no confusion exists” between the two products and that it would “assess the next steps for our beloved brand in Sweden”.
The dispute between the two companies is nothing new, as they struck a deal in 1989, deciding that Mars would not sell M&M’s in Sweden, Norway or Finland. This agreement expired in 1998 and because it was not renewed, Mars decided to start selling their once banned sweets in the Scandinavian country in 2009.
(AP)
NOAH’S ARK REPlICA DAMAGED IN OSlO HARBOR COllISION
A full-size replica of Noah’s ark crashed into a Norwegian Coast Guard patrol boat in the Port of Oslo. The ark was being towed and headed to its summer home in Sandefjord and Fredrikstad when the crew lost control and it suffered a huge gash last Friday after striking a Norwegian coast guard vessel. No animals were aboard and no one was injured.
The ark, which serves as a museum, will remain in the harbor until repairs can be carried out, although the statement added, “we don’t know how it will be fixed yet.” The ark was one of two built by a Dutch carpenter named Johan Huibers, who took seven years to build them based on the biblical description of Noah’s ark. The vessel, which was the smaller one, measured 427 feet long, 95 feet across and 75 feet high. The vessel included displays of animals, including sculptures of tigers, giraffe, an elephant and bison. live animals include pheasants, peacocks and rabbits.
(UPI)
WIND-TOSSED BEACH UMBREllA KIllS VIRGINIA WOMAN: POlICE
A wind-driven beach umbrella struck and killed a 55-year-old woman in Virginia Beach, Virginia, local police said. The woman, lottie Michelle Belk, of Chester, Virginia, was hit when a strong gust of wind tossed the anchored umbrella across the sand last Wednesday afternoon, Virginia Beach police said in a statement.
Belk was struck in the torso and went into cardiac arrest. Emergency personnel transported her to a hospital, where she died, the statement said. “There is no evidence of foul play,” police said. Virginia Beach is about 175 km south of Washington.
(Reuters)
UKRAINE BORDER GUARDS FIND AlCOHOl PIPElINE
Authorities in Ukraine say they have foiled plans to ship bootleg alcohol from Moldova to Ukraine via a pipeline. The SBU security service said last Tuesday that border guards in the country’s west stopped works to lay pipes on the bed of the Dniester river at a point where it crosses the border.
The would-be bootleggers rented a house on the riverbank on the Ukrainian side and started to lay the pipe across the river, authorities said. The SBU released footage of the pipeline being dug up. Smuggling has flourished between Ukraine and its western neighbours for years, and Moldova has been a major source of bootleg alcohol for other former Soviet republics.
(AP)
A $3,456,789-lUNCH WITH WARREN BUFFETT!
It isn’t clear what’s on the menu, but an anonymous bidder paid $3,456,789 to have lunch with Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett as part of a charity auction on eBay. Bidding for Buffett’s annual “power lunch” charity auction closed last Friday after a week of escalating offers. Bidders were required to prequalify with a pledge of $25,000. The beneficiary is Glide, an organisation that assists homeless people in the San Francisco Bay Area. Buffett pledged he will dine with the winner and up to seven guests at Smith & Wollensky steakhouse in New York City on a mutually agreed upon date. The sequential amount of the winning bid ties the record for Buffett’s power lunch auctions set in 2012.
“I am proud to be part of something that has directly benefited so many people in need,” Buffett said. “Glide is a bridge for thousands of people on the brink of despair... providing them with basic services.”
(UPI)