A floor collapsed beneath a group of about 20 members of WeightWatchers as they gathered to compare how many pounds they had shed over Christmas, The Times reports.
Members of the weight-loss club were lining up to compare readings on the scales when they heard a bang as the floor came away from the walls of their meeting room in Växjö in southern Sweden.
They abandoned the room as the floor started to give way in other …

American company called SarcMark invented a written sarcasm icon or a punctuation mark that is designed to be used in the same way as an exclamation or question mark, the Daily Telegraph reports.
Anyone concerned that the irony of their email or text message might not be appreciated by its recipient can use the symbol to close their sentence, thereby avoiding awkward misunderstandings.
The symbol – a dot inside a single spiral line – can be installed …

Ferrari are to launch their 2010 Formula One car on Thursday, 28th January, autosport.com reports.
The team recently revealed that their new challenger will be designated the 281, and will make its track debut at the first post-testing ban running at Valencia on 1st February.
Ferrari are determined to mount a resurgence in 2010, having halted development on their frustrating 2009 car early in the season in order to pour maximum effort into this year’s machine.
They have …

A court fined a Swiss millionaire £180,000 for speeding after the man drove his red Ferrari Testarossa through a village at 85 mph, which was 35mph over the limit.
The fine was calculated based on the man’s wealth – assessed by the court as £14.1m – and because he was a repeat offender, the BBC reports.
It is more than double Switzerland’s previous record speeding fine – handed to a Porsche driver in Zürich in 2008.

Ever wondered how would Soviet Union look like today, if it hadn’t collapsed in 1991? Here’s your answer: according to Soviet propaganda in 1959, people would have had free food and cars, spa on Mars, no alcohol, extreme honesty and no crime whatsoever.
Finnish newspaper Ilta-Sanomat (Evening News) found a copy of Soviet newspaper called Komsomolskaya Pravda from the last day of 1959, but dated 1st January, 2010. It was a propaganda statement of how the …

Moulin Rouge was named the best movie of the noughties, according to a new poll of 150,000 film fans.
The bohemian musical starring Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman beat the latest Batman movie The Dark Knight into second, with top placed Brit-flick Shaun of the Dead in third, the Daily Telegraph reports.
The UK’s largest online DVD & games rental service, LOVEFiLM, asked members to vote from a shortlist of 100 films said to have defined the …

The best place to live in, according to International Living’s Quality of Life index this year, is apparently France, and the United Kingdom has dropped to 25th place.
France is the best place to live in for the fifth year running. The magazine says that the country’s “tiresome bureaucracy and high taxes are outweighed by an unsurpassable quality of life, including the world’s best health care”.
Second place to live in is Australia,famous …

Former Formula One pilot Kimi Räikkönen says winning the World Rally Championship would mean more to him than having taken the Formula 1 title, autosport.com reports.
The Finn, the 2007 F1 champion, is moving to the WRC with Citroën for 2010 after nine years in Formula One racing, and he says that a WRC crown would be a huge achievement for him.
“More than my F1 world championship title,” he said when asked what a WRC title …

Oscar-winning British director Sam Mendes, who directed American Beauty, is in talks to direct the next James Bond film, the Daily Telegraph reports.
Mendes, 45, is likely to be in charge of the 23rd film featuring Ian Fleming’s secret agent. Daniel Craig will once again play Bond and production could begin as early as June.
The movie is expected to be released in 2011 and the writers will include Peter Morgan, the writer of Frost/Nixon.
The first film …

Former Renault F1 team principal Flavio Briatore is free to return to Formula One after a French court overturned his lifetime ban from motorsport today, sportinglife.com reports.
The FIA handed the former Renault team principal the stringent suspension in September for his role in the crashgate scandal.
The 59-year-old Italian took his case to the Tribunal de Grande Instance in Paris claiming the FIA did not have legal grounds to issue him with a wholesale ban.
“The court …

Estonian brothers Kaur and Kaspar Kallas invented the first known 3D film camera in the world, the country’s national broadcasting ERR reported.
“We have no knowledge that such technology would exist anywhere else in the world,” Kaur Kallas said.
Together with camera maker Silicon Imaging the brothers produced a three kilogram device that can record and replay 3D image.
James Cameron’s Avatar animation was filmed in old-fashioned way – with two parallel cameras. However, his next 3D film …

Despite the decade not being over yet, Top Gear has been voted the greatest television programme of the decade.
Top Gear emerged as the greatest TV programme in a Channel 4/YouGov nationwide survey.
“I could never say what the reason is for Top Gear doing so well since we started it but I think there’s always a sense that we’d still be doing it even if the cameras weren’t here and that makes it real,” Top Gear …

The President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov prohibited the residents of the country to celebrate New Year in the entertainment places, the ban became the consequence of recent accident in the Russian night club, where 150 were killed, Ferghana.ru reports.
Since 20th December, the restaurants and cafes all over Turkmenistan stopped accepting New Year celebration order. The ban is effective through 3rd January and moreover, the visitors are prohibited to consume alcohol.
On the other hand, the prohibition …

Busy M11 motorway had to be closed after a herd of pigs escaped and ran on the carriageway, Sky News reports.
The southbound M11 towards London was shut after a HGV carrying a consignment of 82 pigs crashed.
Essex Fire and Rescue Service attended the scene of the collision at Junction 8 near Stansted Airport to discover about 12 animals had escaped from the lorry and were running free on the road.
A spokesman said that at 5.21am, …

Infamous former Renault Formula One pilot Nelson Piquet Jr will complete the driver lineup of the new Campos team in 2010, Motorsport.com reports.
The 24-year-old Brazilian’s contract is for three years, ensuring a lineup of famous surnames, after his countryman Bruno Senna also signed for 2010 with the Spanish outfit.
Piquet’s seat follows the 15% purchase of the Campos-Meta team by his namesake and father, the triple world champion of the 80s.

Jack and Olivia are the most popular baby names of 2009, Jack retained its title for the 15th year running and Olivia secured a second successive stint as the girls’ favourite, having taken over from Grace in 2008, the Daily Telegraph reports.
The highest climbers this year were Lucas, which raced 24 places up the charts to make number 15, and Maisie, which moved up 29 places to 41st. Layla also scored well, up 21 places …