The World's Richest Self-made Women

Only 14 of the world's 1,000 billionaires are self-made women, and only seven of them had no help from relatives, a new list has found. Also interesting is the fact that of those 14, 6 of them are Chinese which no doubt reflects the rise of China as a new super power in terms of economics as well as in other areas.

Here is the list:

The World's Richest Self-made Women (Name, nationality, industry, net worth in dollars)

1. Wu Yajun, Chinese, Property development, 3.9 billion

2. Rosalie Mera, Spanish, Clothing, 3.5 billion

3. Elena Baturina, Russian, Construction, 2.9 billion

4. Doris Fisher, American, Clothing, 2.4 billion

5. Xiu Li Hawken, UK citizen, property development, 2.4 billion

6. Oprah Winfrey, American, Media, 2.4 billion

7. Giulana Benetton, Italian, Clothing, 2.1 billion

8. Chu Lam Yiu, Chinese, Flavourings and fragrances, 2.1 billion

9. Zhang Xin, Chinese, property development, 2 billion

10. Yan Cheung, Chinese, Waste paper, 1.7 billion

11. Meg Whitman, American, Internet commerce, 1.3 billion

12. Chan Laiwa, Chinese, property development, 1.1 billion

13. Lei Jufang, Chinese, Medicines, 1.1 billion

14. J.K. Rowling, British, Books, 1 billion

Every picture tells a story...

Tallest German surrenders to short soldier in Second World War picture



This is an unusual picture to see of a diminutive Englishman. Corporal Bob Roberts was overseeing the surrender of dozens of enemy soldiers during the Battle of Normandy when the 7ft 6ins German loomed into his view. Cpl Roberts, who stood two feet below him at 5ft 6ins, had the daunting job of frisking the German lance corporal for weapons before taking him prisoner.

What this picture doesn't tell you is that only a short time earlier, the same Englishman had just shot dead another German who had pulled out a pistol. For just a few minutes before the picture was taken, Cpl Roberts faced a life-or-death duel with another German soldier who pulled out a pistol as he pretended to surrender. Luckily, he raised his gun in the nick of time and shot the enemy soldier dead.

Cpl Roberts, who was 21 at the time, was a member of the North Shore New Brunswick Regiment of the Canadian army and stormed Juno Beach on D-Day in June 1944. "I didn't take a lot of notice of this guy at the time because I was so focused on what the Germans were doing after what had happened to me.

"I just passed the prisoners on one after the other after searching them. But my mates who were watching the rest of the men saw this giant of a guy approach me and I was aware they and the Germans were having a good laugh. The Germans were saying that he was the tallest man in the German army, he was 7ft 6ins tall."

Sometimes, there is a funny side to war as this photo suggests.

What did I tell you? Swine flu - another scam!

What many of us already knew. Swine flu - another scam! This article criticises the way certain drug companies, GlaxoSmithKline and Roche, paid so-called experts to scare the bejesus out of us and forcing our governments to stockpile Tamiflu which turned out to be a waste of money as a full scale pandemic never happened. (Click on the title link to read the article.)

"City analysts say that pharmaceutical companies banked more than $7bn (£4.8bn) as governments stockpiled drugs. The issue of transparency has risen to the forefront of public health debate after dramatic predictions last year about a swine flu pandemic did not come true."

This is the age we live in where the manipulation of ordinary people has reached new heights. Where once we thought somewhat naively that knowledge would set us free, knowledge about human behaviour patterns has instead been used to control us and make money from us in much more pernicious and secretive ways.

And drug companies will soon be seen as the absolute poison in our midst:

"The tentacles of drug company influence are in all levels in the decision-making process," said Paul Flynn, the Labour MP who sits on the council's health committee. "It must be right that the WHO is transparent because there has been distortion of priorities of public health services all over Europe, waste of huge sums of public money and provocation of unjustified fear."

What have we learned throughout all of this? Fear sells! It is now a commodity like oil and gold when used by secretive and unscrupulous people.

Just a shaggy dog story?

(Click on the title link to read the whole story.)

This is one of those stories that defy logic but have a happy ending all the same.Apparently this dog travelled 15 miles home across motorway and moorland after a marathon 31-hour trek that took the mongrel across the M1, four major A roads and miles of treacherous moorland. Only then was he reunited with its ecstatic owners and their kids.

In a story reminiscent of 1940s film Lassie Come Home, a family who had given up their whippet-terrier cross Jack for dead looked outside to find him asleep on their doorstep. The mongrel dog – exhausted and sore-pawed, but very much alive – had walked 15 miles along an unfamiliar route, apparently untroubled by obstacles including a four-lane bypass and one of the country's busiest motorways.

Even more surprising was the dog's bravery is given the fact that he suffers from a fear of traffic, and walks with a limp, after being knocked down by a lorry five years ago. Jack's address is not printed on his collar so there is no chance that a well-wisher could have found him at the side of the road and dropped him at the house, Mr Cooper, the dog's owner, added.

Jack is now recuperating with the help of Coopers' two sons Adam and Rob. Mr Cooper said: "We bandaged his legs but he's out walking again now, although he is staying a little closer."

I guess it just shows you how attached pets get to the their owners as we always talk about it the other way round e.g. how pet owners get so attached to their pets. It seems that at times the love is reciprocal.