AN IRANIAN foundation has raised the reward for killing Salman Rushdie from $2 million to $2.5 million, the Iranian daily Jomhuri Eslami reported yesterday.
The 15th Khordad Foundation first offered a bounty in 1989 after Iran's late leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or religious edict, imposing the death sentence on Rushdie for alleged blasphemy against Islam in his novel The Satanic Verses.
An 18,000 bottle wine collection belonging to Andrew Lloyd Webber, with an estimated value of £2 million, is to be auctioned in London.
The collection includes 37 cases of Cheval Blanc 1982, 30 cases of Haut Brion 1982, 12 magnums of Petrus 1947, 10 bottles of Lafite 1945 and six bottles of Margaux 1900.
Councillors in Hong Kong have proposed that spectators wear headphones during concerts by Elton John because of the noise. John has been booked for two concerts in Hong Kong, just ahead of the handover from British to Chinese sovereignty, on July 1st.
Oasis was on the verge of splitting for good last year, Noel Gallagher has confirmed in New Musical Express.
"There wasn't going to be an Oasis. There wasn't going to be anything, that was it, it was finished."
Brother Liam - whose wedding plans with Patsy Kensit sparked mass interest this week - pulled out at the start of last year's US tour, storm off the aircraft and forcing Noel into singing duty on some dates.
Frank Sinatra is to be honoured with a Congressional Gold Medal under a bill introduced yesterday. Senator Alfonse D'Amato, in a Senate speech introducing the bill, said that Sinatra had raised millions of dollars for charities, often anonymously.