Forbes' List Has New Names; Gates No. 1

The billionaires are richer and more numerous for the second straight year, but the No. 1 spot is unchanged -- Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates led the list for the eleventh year in a row with a net worth of $46.5 billion, slightly less than his US$46.6 billion last year.

Thanks to a surge in demand for steel, the Internet and Scandinavian sofas, there are some new names among the very richest of the world's billionaires.

Indian steel mogul Lakshmi Mittal, Mexican telecom magnate Carlos Slim Helu and Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad of Sweden knocked several Wal-Mart heirs down a few notches on Forbes magazine's 2005 rankings of the world's billionaires.

The billionaires are richer and more numerous for the second straight year, but the No. 1 spot is unchanged -- Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) founder Bill Gates led the list for the eleventh year in a row with a net worth of $46.5 billion, slightly less than his US$46.6 billion last year.

Buffet Second
Investor Warren Buffet held a close second with $44 billion, up from $42.9 billion in 2004.

Mittal -- the biggest dollar gainer after quadrupling his net worth by $18.8 billion to $25 billion -- climbed 59 rungs from last year to No. 3 in 2005.

Helu came in fourth, up from No. 17 in 2004; Saudi Arabian investor Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud ranked No. 5; and Ikea's Kamprad rose to No. 6 from No. 13 last year.

Rounding out the top 10 were Microsoft's Paul Allen, German supermarket company owner Karl Albrecht, Oracle Corp.'s (Nasdaq: ORCL) Lawrence Ellison -- returning to the top 10 after slipping to No. 12 last year -- and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s (NYSE: WMT) S. Robson Walton.

Four other Waltons took spots 11 through 13, with Alice and Helen Walton once again sharing the title of richest woman in the world with $18 billion each. The five family members of the late Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton are together worth over $90 billion.

Longer List
The number of billionaires grew to a record 691 from 587 last year, and their total net worth rose by $300 billion to $2.2 trillion.

A confluence of factors contributed to the increase, said Forbes associate editor Luisa Kroll, including positive performance by many stock markets around the world -- for example, in Ukraine and Iceland, countries that debuted on the list along with Kazakhstan and Poland -- and the falling dollar.

Between February 2004 and February 2005, the 12-nation euro rose about 4 percent against the dollar, while the British pound rose about 3 percent versus the U.S. currency.

"If you were a euro-based billionaire, you could've done nothing and seen a 20 percent increase" over the past two years, Kroll said.

Soaring commodities like oil and steel also helped make the rich richer, as did the overall recovery of the global economy over the past few years.

"2003 was really the valley for the billionaires," Kroll said.

Dearth of Women
One of this year's new billionaires -- and one of the list's 68 women, up from 53 last year -- was Martha Stewart, whose wealth swelled to $1 billion despite her conviction for lying about a stock sale and ensuing five-month prison stint.

Jail time was harder on the fortune of Russia's embattled Yukos oil company chief Mikhail Khodorkovsky, this year's biggest dollar loser after seeing an 85 percent tumble from $15 billion to $2.2 billion.

Not counting the 14 billionaires who died since last February, only 30 people dropped off the list from 2004, including five of Khodorkovsky's colleagues and hotel heir Robert Pritzker.

Among the big winners were Google Inc.'s (Nasdaq: GOOG) Sergey Brin and Larry Page, who made their first list appearance last year with $1 billion each. The tech moguls jumped nearly 500 spots this year to No. 55, their net worth multiplying to $7.2 billion after the company's initial public offering in August.

Google Princes
At 31 and 32 years of age, Brin and Page are two of only 29 billionaires under 40 -- the average age of billionaires this year was 64 -- but youngest billionaire crown went to Germany's 21-year-old Albert von Thurn und Taxis, with $2 billion.

Forbes senior editor Pete Newcomb said the rankings were compiled using the Feb. 11 closing price of publicly traded stock owned by the billionaires. In the case of private companies, Forbes looked at comparable companies in the same industries in order to determine a value of a billionaire's holdings.

For real estate holdings, the magazine valued properties according to square footage, and subtracted any debt from a property's estimated worth

Rules for Internet dating

Vail Daily News for Vail and Beaver Creek Colorado - News

Been looking for love in all the wrong places? Have you been having trouble meeting people that interest and attract you romantically?

If so, you and (along tens of millions of other people) may decide to try your luck at one of the on-line dating services, even as you catch yourself telling people that you're just experimenting or doing this on a lark.

Internet dating gives you the opportunity of meeting many different people rapidly. But the process can easily overwhelm and disappoint you, because there's a fair amount of effort, energy and time it requires of you, and you continuously risk being rejected.

You'll learn a lot about yourself through the process of Internet dating: about your stick-to-it-ness, self-confidence, how you handle rejection and disappointment, how flexible you can be regarding your criteria for a mate, what your "must haves" are, how to navigate through your insecurities, fears and social hang-ups, and you will be forced to discern the personality traits, standards, values and looks that attract you the most.

Here's a list of rules for optimizing your success at Internet dating:

1. Say more about yourself, not less. You want to offer people enough information on you where they think "Wow! I like spicy foods, tennis, espresso and traveling to out of the way places, also." The more you describe yourself, your interests, your tastes, experiences and outlook, the more someone has a chance to feel "hooked" by their similarities with you, and therefore be more interested in meeting you. And don't use expressions that fit almost everyone, such as that you're looking for someone fun and successful. Who's looking for a dull, unsuccessful partner?

2. Photos. People want to know what you look like before they meet you, and they want you to look similar to your photos. Few things are more deflating than going on a first date with someone who is instantly disappointed because you don't look as attractive as your picture. Use recent photos, not ones from several years ago when you were thinner or more youthful looking. And at least two photos are required: a close-up head shot that clearly shows your face and a full body shot that reveals your figure or physique. If you don't have recent photos, hire a professional to photograph you. Don't use pictures where you have to crop out other people with their arms around you. And the photos should be of you, not of you and your ex, or you and your children, or of your pets, or of your favorite scenes on your recent trip to Italy.

3. In describing yourself, don't lie. Don't fudge your age, weight, height or body type, and reveal it if you just broken up from a significant relationship two months ago. Tell the truth about yourself. You do not engender trust by being deceptive or misleading or by omitting significant information about yourself.

4. On your first meeting, look good and dress well. You can have the best connection in the world, but if there's no chemistry, it's no enchilada.

5. It's likely to take considerably longer than you had expected to connect with someone who attracts and interests you. Don't give up easily. You can't hit a home run unless you're in the game.

6. When you're meeting someone new, look first at what you're attracted to. Way too often, people look for reasons to say "no" rather than "yes," what they don't like rather than what they do like.

7. If you aren't interested in pursuing a relationship, have the courtesy to turn the other person down gracefully.

Be responsible over Spring Break>

If you’re one of many college students embarking on a "wild and crazy" Spring Break next week, keep in mind that what happens on your extreme vacation doesn’t necessarily end up staying on your extreme vacation.

With that in mind, we, like your loved ones, offer you a kiss before you go: Keep it safe stupid!

On Wednesday, more than 2,000 red ribbons circulated on campus to remind students about the number of people who will be killed by alcohol-related accidents over Spring Break.

Circulators of the ribbons say they were inspired to raise awareness about the number of alcohol-related deaths after they learned there are over 105,000 such deaths a year, which breaks down to 2,019 a week and 288 a day.

These ribbons serve just as a reminder of how alcohol can impede someone’s judgment and cause irreparable damage to a person’s life.

While we don’t expect everyone to behave like heaven’s angels over Spring Break, we do encourage everyone to be responsible in whatever your Spring Break plans may be - whether you're lounging on the beach with eight of your friends or staying home and reading a good book.

For many NIU students, this will be your last Spring Break. Make it memorable in a good way. For others who have many more Spring Breaks to enjoy, make sure that your actions allow you to be able to participate in those future endeavors.

Vodka made from grapes? That's just fine

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Europe's vodka drinkers can rest easy knowing that EU law will allow them to buy their favourite tipple made from a bewildering array of farm produce like grapes and sugar cane -- not just potatoes and grain.

EU experts have spent the last five years trying to nail down exactly what vodka should be made from. They now look close to reaching a conclusion, rejecting an attempt by four northern EU governments to protect their versions of "traditional vodka".

In a draft law due to surface later this month, the European Commission (news - web sites) will define how vodka should be distilled but not limit the products used in the initial yeast-aided fermentation. Minimum alcoholic strength by volume will be 37.5 percent.

The bill will then be discussed by EU ministers and is almost guaranteed to spark controversy. An earlier version had stipulated that vodka should be fermented with yeast from "raw materials based on grain, potato, sugar beet and/or molasses".

Estonia, Finland, Poland and Sweden recently wrote to the Commission saying that vodka should only be distilled from the traditional origins of grain and potatoes, against the wishes of several countries that want to make vodka from other items.

"They want to keep people out of their market," one EU official said. "This is all about national protection, to keep traditional vodka," he said.

"The definition of vodka is clearly an issue," said one diplomat. "Some traditional vodka producers want a restricted list of goods out of which you can make vodka. But a number of other countries would prefer a looser list to allow innovation."

In the past, the Commission has proposed a separate product class called "traditional vodka" based only on potatoes, but this has always been rejected by the industry, officials said.

"We're not defining what it can be made from ... or trying to squeeze anyone out," said one Commission official, adding that the draft law would avoid making illegal any products that were already on the market.

This is a reference to a long-running campaign by Diageo, the world's largest spirits group, which launched its Ciroc vodka in 2003 -- made exclusively from French grapes.

"We can't allow technical barriers to trade to be put up that take perfectly legal products off the market," said Graham Bateman at the UK-based Gin and Vodka Association.

The Female Rules

1. The Female always makes THE RULES.

2. THE RULES are subject to change without notice.

3. No Male can possibly know all THE RULES.

4. If the Female suspects the Male knows all THE RULES, she must immediately change some of THE RULES.

5. The Female is never wrong.

6. If it appears the Female is wrong, it is because of a flagrant misunderstanding caused by something the Male did or said wrong.

7. If Rule #6 applies, the Male must apologize immediately for causing the misunderstanding.

8. The Female can change her mind at any time.

9. The Male must never change his mind without the express written consent of The Female.

10. The Female has every right to be angry or upset at any time.

11. The Male must remain calm at all times, unless the Female wants him to be angry or upset.

12. The Female must, under no circumstances, let the Male know whether she wants him to be angry or upset.

13. The Male is expected to read the mind of the Female at all times.

14. At all times, what is important is what the Female meant, not what she said.

15. If the Male doesn't abide by THE RULES, it is because he can't take the heat, lacks backbone, and is a wimp.

16. If the Female has PMS, all THE RULES are null and void and the Male must cater to her every whim.

17. If the Male, at any time, believes he is right, he must refer to Rule #5.

Man caught cold in quest for Internet love

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - A Los Angeles man who sneaked into Canada in February to see his Internet girlfriend will be deported -- minus all his fingers and some of his toes, the Winnipeg Sun newspaper has reported.

Charles Gonsoulin, 41, will have the fingers and toes amputated because of severe frostbite suffered during a 100-hour trek from Pembina, North Dakota, across the border to Emerson, Manitoba, where he was found wandering on a golf course on February 23, suffering from hypothermia.

"It is better to have loved and to have lost than never to have loved at all," the Sun quoted Gonsoulin as saying. "It was all worth it for me. It's the difference between sitting around dreaming about things and going out and getting them."

Gonsoulin and the Canadian woman met in an Internet chat room in 2002. The woman lives in Quebec, Gonsoulin's lawyer, Mike Cook, told a court hearing. Quebec is about 2,500 kilometres (1,600 miles) east of Manitoba.

Gonsoulin could not enter Canada legally because he was convicted of robbing a Pizza Hut in Arkansas in 1984, the newspaper said.

His girlfriend could not afford to travel to Los Angeles, he told the Sun. So he took a bus to North Dakota where he crossed the border.

"Mr. Gonsoulin didn't really know that there was any place on Earth that could be so cold and so inhospitable," Cook told a court hearing on Monday, adding his client had never felt temperatures colder than 10 degrees Celsius (50 F).

Temperatures dipped below -26 C (-15 F) during his long hike.

Gonsoulin is receiving medical treatment in a Winnipeg jail. He still has not met his girlfriend face-to-face but they have spoken on the phone and Gonsoulin said they are still in love.

No deportation date has yet been set.

Britney Spears strips for magazine

Britney Spears has agreed to strip it off for a magazine cover according to reports on Ananova.com and IMDb.com. The newlywed will appear topless, wearing just a necklace given to her by husband Kevin Federline, on the upcoming cover of Allure magazine.

In the cover story, Britney apparently bares it all emotionally as well, confessing that her marriage is challenging at times as the daily routine of wifedom was a little hard to swallow in the beginning. "We hit a little bit of reality, hardcore, after the first three weeks. But we handled it fine, and now things are starting to go really smooth," says Spears.


"Before we got married we were on tour, and we were just like kids, ordering room service, saying, 'Let's go out tonight.' Then, all of a sudden, you have this home, you have the kids (Kaleb and Kori), you have to get the diapers, get the dog to the vet. It's this reality," Spears adds.

Britney Spears strips for magazine

Britney Spears has agreed to strip it off for a magazine cover according to reports on Ananova.com and IMDb.com. The newlywed will appear topless, wearing just a necklace given to her by husband Kevin Federline, on the upcoming cover of Allure magazine.

In the cover story, Britney apparently bares it all emotionally as well, confessing that her marriage is challenging at times as the daily routine of wifedom was a little hard to swallow in the beginning. "We hit a little bit of reality, hardcore, after the first three weeks. But we handled it fine, and now things are starting to go really smooth," says Spears.


"Before we got married we were on tour, and we were just like kids, ordering room service, saying, 'Let's go out tonight.' Then, all of a sudden, you have this home, you have the kids (Kaleb and Kori), you have to get the diapers, get the dog to the vet. It's this reality," Spears adds.

Man dies after winning tequila-drinking contest

Man dies after winning tequila-drinking contest

Associated Press
Mar. 8, 2005 06:35 AM

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic - The 21-year-old winner of a competition to drink the most tequila died and three other contestants were gravely ill in the hospital, officials said.

Ricardo Ivan Garcia drank more than 50 shots of tequila Sunday night at Santo Domingo's Blanc, Dance and Lounge discotheque to win the prize of $330 at a Mexican night celebration.

But he was taken ill, hospitalized and died within hours, apparently from heart failure brought on by alcohol poisoning, public prosecutor Jose Hernandez Peguero said on Monday.

Three other contestants remained in serious condition in the hospital, family members said.

Hey I can drink one shot !!!!!!!!!!

Durst sues Web sites over porn images

Durst sues Web sites over porn images

We knew if we lived long enough, there'd come a day when we might actually understand something Fred Durst did or said. Like a lawsuit.

The Limp Bizkit frontman is suing a slew of Web sites for posting clips and stills from a graphic home-made porn vid in which he starred. Rock Dude was Paris Hilton'd last month by the same fiendish evildoer who infiltrated her cell phone - the vid was hacked from his home computer.

According to the Smoking Gun Web site, Rock Dude's $80 mil federal copyright infringement and invasion of privacy complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, says Durst made the vid in '03 with a (consenting) former girlfriend and that it was "never intended to be shown to the public."

Hey and I thought he did it all for the Nookie !!!!!!!!!!!!

Spring breakers find tense border

As tens of thousands of students make spring-break visits to south Texas, a resurgence of drug-related violence across the border in northern Mexico is forcing the U.S. and Mexico to consider how to court these and other tourists.

Local officials from the two countries have been meeting for weeks to develop a plan they believe will help keep college students--their visits are an economic boon for both sides of the Rio Grande--out of trouble.

Yet recent bloodshed, including the January slayings of six Mexican prison workers a few miles outside nearby Matamoros, Mexico, has left even local Mexican-Americans fearful of crossing the border.

There also has been a spike in kidnappings of Americans in northern Mexico, although officials say that many of the victims were involved in the drug trade and that tourists are unlikely to be caught up in such violence.

Nonetheless, a January State Department alert to American tourists warning of a "deteriorating security situation" remains in force.

John Naland, U.S. consul for the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, said at a recent conference in Brownsville, Texas, that despite pleas from Mexican officials, "the State Department is not going to amend or drop that advisory before April 25," when it expires.

Kendra Chimera, a 21-year-old college senior from upstate New York enjoying her last spring break before graduation, said she and her friends are considering crossing over to Matamoros before their trip is over.

Like most of the college students trickling into South Padre Island last week, she had heard little of the killings that have plagued northern Mexico, only vague warnings from friends about sticking to tourists spots.

"I was told there are only certain places we could go," said Chimera, a student at New York's St. Bonaventure University.

In an effort to combat the bad press, Matamoros officials have begun printing colorful pamphlets with pictures of beaming young people touting Matamoros as the "safest bustling Mexican border city." The brochures will be distributed within days, officials said.

Each pamphlet includes a credit card-size cutout with the phone numbers of police on both sides of the border, as well as the U.S. Consulate.

Mexico downplays risk

Like many Mexican officials, Gerardo Rodriguez, director of Matamoros' convention and visitors bureau, said that the violence has been exaggerated and that his city is safe for Americans.

"We want them to come and visit, spend money in the market, eat, have a few drinks and go back safely," he said.

Matamoros has hired dozens of specially trained police officers--many are fluent in English--to patrol the parts of the city most visited by American tourists. The new officers will wear brightly colored vests and will have their full names on display, in an effort to curb corruption, officials say.

"I don't think they should be overly concerned about violence," Rodriguez said, speaking of spring breakers. "Matamoros right now is really on the safe side."

Still, Bridget O'Neill, a 21-year-old media studies student from Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, said she decided against joining her friends for a bus trip south of the border.

"I'm not going to go," she said, shoving clothes into a washing machine at her beachside hotel on South Padre Island. "My parents are nervous enough that I'm here."

The reaction among older, seasonal visitors, often called "Winter Texans," has been mixed. Many say they still visit Mexico regularly for the culture, music and, in some cases, they say, prescription medications.

Bonnye Wintergerst, who lives in Kentucky but spends her winters in a retirement park near Brownsville's city limits, said she has visited Mexico for years, buying food, candy, jewelry and household items.

"If you go where you belong and behave yourself, you're not going to have any problems," Wintergerst said.

Others say the drug wars have kept them on the American side of the border.

Pierrette Tardie, a Winter Texan from Montreal staying in Mission, Texas, said she visited Reynosa, Mexico, in February but doesn't plan to return.

"Some of my friends went last week, but there were 15 of them," she said recently. "We are still afraid, unless we are in a group. I don't know when we will go back."

`Don't feel comfortable'

Betty Jacobs and her husband had visited for years, but after being shaken down by a police officer last year for a broken taillight, she started curtailing her trips.

This year's violence--plus the news that a friend in Mexico had been beaten and robbed--cemented her decision not to return.

"We just don't feel comfortable," said Jacobs, a Winter Texan from Minnesota.

Richard Slough, a 29-year-old bartender who works and lives year-round in the border town of McAllen, said reports of violence have kept him from visiting Reynosa for the past few months.

"It used to be that you could go and not worry about anything, but not anymore. It's crazy over there," he said.

On the Mexican side, Francisco Javier Garcia Cabeza de Vaca, the new mayor of Reynosa, has pledged to make his city safer. Still, he said, American tourists in Mexico have to be careful just as they would in any big city.

"Whoever wants to go to Mexico and find trouble, I'll guarantee they'll find it," he said.

Arturo Fontes, an FBI (news - web sites) investigator based in Laredo, said there have been 31 kidnappings of Americans just across the border since August, the majority in Nuevo Laredo, the Mexican city south of Laredo.

"The year before, we had about three," he said. "This many people in such a short time is a lot. I would say that most of them have been involved in the drug trade, but some have not."

Casino Company Buys 69-HH Stripper's Implant

Yahoo! News - Casino Company Buys 69-HH Stripper's Implant

A former stripper once cleared of battering a customer with her enormous breasts sold one of her silicone implants on eBay to the same company that recently bought a grilled cheese sandwich said to bear the image of the Virgin Mary.

Internet casino company GoldenPalace.com won the bid for the infamous implant at $16,766 on Saturday, according to the eBay Web site and the seller, known professionally as Tawny Peaks. She advertised a 69-HH bra size before her implants were removed in 1999.

There was no word yet on what the online gambling company planned to do with the implant.

Last year GoldenPalace paid $28,000 for a 10-year-old, partly eaten grilled cheese sandwich with an image many likened to the Virgin Mary. The company sent the sandwich on a national publicity tour, encased in clear plastic.

Peaks has retired from the entertainment business, and put one of the implants up for auction last week. She said she was overwhelmed and exhausted by the flood of e-mailed bids.

"It's over and I'm happy," said Peaks, now a homemaker living in the Detroit area.

She won fame in 1998 when a patron at the Diamond Dolls nightclub in Clearwater, Florida, sued her, claiming he suffered a whiplash injury when she swung her breasts into his face. He said they were "like two cement blocks."

The case went to arbitration on "The People's Court" television show and the judge, former New York City Mayor Ed Koch, ordered a female bailiff to examine Peaks in private.

The bailiff found the breasts to be "soft" and to weigh about 2 pounds (0.9 kg) each. Koch ruled they were not dangerous and refused to award damages.

Peaks said she has since become "kind of a recluse."

"My old fans don't really know what I look like now," she said.

Japanese woman tackles burglar to save designer wallet

Yahoo! News - Japanese woman tackles burglar to save designer wallet

TOKYO (AFP) - A drunken Japanese burglar became a cropper when he tried to steal a young woman's designer wallet, police and reports said.

Unemployed Hideaki Kinoshita, 41, was tackled by the woman and arrested after he tried to lift three bags after breaking in to her office in Hakata, southern Japan.

Kinoshita threatened to stab the 23-year-old woman with a knife, but she grabbed his arm and cornered him before a male customer came to her aid.

"I was scared, but I was desperate because he was trying to steal my bag with my precious Louis Vuitton wallet inside," she told police, according to the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper.

She escaped with minor injuries. The report said Kinoshita was drunk at the time and did not really have a knife.