A barber in China has set a world record by cutting a customer’s hair with 10 pairs of scissors simultaneously.

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Gregory Dunham, from California’s Stockton, built the world’s biggest motorcycle, which was officially recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records.

The beauty shop owner said he created the monster bike because his friends said it couldn’t be done and he wanted to prove it could.

Greg Dunham spent three years in his workshop crafting this 11 feet tall, 20 feet long monster bike which was powered by a 8.2 liter (V8 engine and has tyres that are 1.88 m tall.

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A New Zealand teenager has broken the world blindfolded texting record by sending a 160-character message in just 45 seconds.

Elliot Nicholls, 17, broke the previous record of 83 seconds twice, by sending the message in 51 seconds on his second attempt and then 45 seconds on his fourth attempt.

"I’ve been practising about 20 minutes every day for the past week, I knew I could do it, I just had to get the phrase into my brain," he said.

The teenager has worn out the keypads on four mobile phones already. He says he sends around 50 text messages a day.

His father says he gives Elliot a copy of the Guinness Book of Records each Christmas, so he wasn’t surprised his son was "attempting something quirky".

The text he had to send was "the razor toothed piranhas of the genera serrasal musand pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world, in reality they rarely attack a human".

Elliot’s own text message had to match it exactly, including spaces, punctuation and spelling with no mistakes. (Ananova.com)

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Delphine Arnault Gancia, Daughter of Bernard Arnault, $26 billion, France.

Marta Ortega Perez, Daughter of Amancio Ortega, $24 billion, Spain.

Georgina Bloomberg, Daughter of Michael Bloomberg, $11.5 billion, U.S.A.

Samantha Kluge, Daughter of John Kluge, $9.5 billion, U.S.A.

Amanda Hearst, Daughter of Anne Hearst, niece of Patty Hearst, great granddaughter of William Randolph Hearst, $8.7 billion (for entire Hearst clan on the Forbes 400).

Alannah Weston, Daughter of Galen Weston, $7.9 billion, Canada.

Josie Ho Chiu Yi (AKA Josie Ho — 澳門賭王何鴻燊之女何超儀), Daughter of Stanley Ho, $7 billion, Hong Kong.

Hind Hariri, Daughter of Rafik Hariri, sister of the Hariri billionaire brothers, $5.5 billion, Lebanon.

Dylan Lauren, Daughter of Ralph Lauren, $4.7 billion, U.S.A.

Sporty, arty and business savvy. A ranking of the world’s top 10 most intriguing billionaire heiresses by website Forbes.com shows daughters of the rich aren’t all just socialites and can be hard workers.

While hotel heiress Paris Hilton hit the headlines for spending time in jail and making a sex video with a boyfriend, Forbes.com said the women on its list were "proving themselves every bit as tenacious and ambitious as their namesakes."

In top spot on the list is Vanisha Mittal Bhatia of India, who has a masters degree in South Asian studies and sits on the board of Mittal Steel, owned by her father Lakshmi Mittal, estimated by Forbes to be worth 51 billion U.S. dollars.

"She’s perhaps best known — dare we say infamous — for the 60 million dollars wedding her father threw her and 1,000 of their closest friends in 2005. A performance by pop star Kylie Minogue capped the week-long Parisian affair," said the website.

The women on the list are all under 40 and ranked according to their father’s or mother’s most recent net worth on either Forbes’ World’s Billionaires list, the Forbes 400 list of the Richest Americans, or Forbes Asia’s 40 Richest Indians.

Coming in at No. 2 is Delphine Arnault Gancia of France, daughter of Bernard Arnault who runs the Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH) luxury goods empire. Gancia is a former McKinsey consultant and the first woman to be named a director on the LVMH board, Forbes.com said.

Third is Marta Ortega Perez, youngest child of Spain’s richest resident Amancio Ortega, worth an estimated 24 billion dollars and chairman of Inditex, owner of the Zara clothing chain.

"Marta is being groomed to succeed her father, and she’s learning the how-to’s of retail by working the floor — stocking shelves, assisting customers — in some of the family’s stores," Forbes.com said.

Georgina Bloomberg, daughter of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg — majority owner of Bloomberg LP financial news and data company and estimated to be worth 11.5 billion dollars — comes in at No. 4. She is vying for a spot on the 2008 U.S. Olympic equestrian team.

Samantha Kluge takes No. 5. She is the "sometimes wild child" of communications mogul John Kluge, estimated to be worth 9.5 billion dollars, and boasts 12 tattoos and two annulled marriages, Forbes.com said.

"The neo-socialite, a former style editor for Glamour magazine, now runs her own jewellry and accessories design firm in Los Angeles," Forbes.com said. (Xinhuanet.com/Random Citations)

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A Chinese town has made the world’s longest dragon.

Shuangfeng town, Taicang city, made the 2,008 metre long dragon to mark the upcoming 2008 Beijing Olympics.

It is a mile and a quarter long and will need 1,200 dancers to support it at the town’s traditional dragon dance.

"More than 10 workers worked over the months to make this huge dragon," a town spokesman told China News Network.

"It needed 4,200 metres of fabric and more than 300 bamboo poles." (Ananova.com)

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A German church steeple has knocked the leaning tower of Pisa from the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s most lopsided building.

The tower in the village of Suurhusen applied in June for the title and has now officially beaten the famous landmark in Pisa.

Guinness Book of Records confirmed the award after officials measured it leaning at a 5.19 degree angle compared to only 3.97 degree angle at which the tower of Pisa leans.

Olaf Kuchenbecker of the Guinness World Records office in Hamburg said: "It is a world record."

The church was built in middle of the 13th century but a 90ft tower was added in 1450.

The tower was built on wooden foundations and the combination of the oak wood foundations and wet soil has caused the tower to slowly lean to one side over the years.

Several attempts to stop the tower from leaning any further have been made since 1982, and it was eventually stabilised in 1996.

The church is still in use and also offers guided tours but church officials are appealing for donations to help maintain the building. (ananova.com)

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Two winners are awarded the hotly-contested title of the international "world’s most beautiful bottom" beauty contest which was organized by sloggi, one of the world’s leading underwear brands, in Munich, Germany.

The female winner was Kristina Dimitrova, 19, Bulgaria and the male winner was Andrei Andrei, 24, Romania.

With their modelling know-how on an unusual catwalk – a moving conveyor belt, the two winners from 42 finalists of 26 countries were awarded the title "Most Beautiful Bottom in the World" by sloggi, a modelling contract for the next international sloggi campaign, EUR10,000 prize money and an insurance cover for their bottom.(www.brightcove.tv)

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Vienna is to host what organisers have dubbed the world’s first "divorce fair" this month, aimed at couples whose wedding dreams have turned sour and who need help in untying the knot as painlessly as possible.

At the October 27-28 event, would-be divorcees can consult, anonymously if they wish, a whole host of lawyers and mediators on their rights and obligations, and seek advice on frequently difficult questions, such as alimony and child access.

They can also consult experts on how best to organise their new post-married lives.

Nearly 50 percent of all marriages in Austria end in divorce – the figure is 66 percent in Vienna – and the two-day fair is being held under the motto: "Start your life afresh". Organisers are hoping it will bloom into a twice-yearly event.

Up to 20 exhibitors have so far registered, not only lawyers and mediators, but also estate agents, life-crisis experts and – reflecting the messier side of divorce – private detective firms and DNA laboratories offering paternity tests.

The archdiocese of the city of Vienna will also have a stand, as will a company offering package holidays for freshly divorced people.
There will also be a series of lectures ranging from a children’s view of divorce to single-parenting.(AFP)

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When it comes to romantic hotels or romantic getaways in general, I’m always stressing here on Romance Tracker that the size of your pocketbook has little to do with whether or not you can put together an unforgettable honeymoon vacation or romantic escape. And truthfully, there are so many romantic hotels in the United States and throughout the world, that you shouldn’t have to be rich to find one that’s within your budget.

Admittedly, though, there are lots of romantic hotels in the world that are way outside the price range of myself and most of our readers! Even though we can’t afford to stay at the most romantic hotels in the world, though, doesn’t mean that we can’t still check them out and have fun imagining.

Of course, "most romantic hotel in the world" is a subjective categorization, and one person’s romantic hotel is another person’s nightmare vacation. Some of us might prefer a more low-key, inexpensive romantic hotel to the upscale, multi-million-dollar version… even if we did have the money to pay for it!

Below is a list of what many people in the world consider to be the top ten romantic hotels out there. I compiled the list through research on the Internet, and hope you enjoy it. Check out each romantic hotel website and have fun imagining yourself and your lover living in opulence… but remember: what truly makes a hotel romantic is the people who are staying there. If you have a truly romantic relationship, any hotel that you and your sweetheart stay in can be made into the most romantic hotel in the world!

Top Ten Most Romantic Hotels in the World

1. Twin Farms: Bernard, Vermont

2. Mala Mala Game Reserve: South Africa

3. The Inn at Irving Place, New York

4. La Villa Gallici, France

5. The Bauer, Venice

6. Dar Mimosas, Morocco

7. Four Seasons at Jimbaran Bay, Bali

8. La Sirenuse, Italy

9. The Point, Saranac Lake, NY

10. Hotel Ritz, Paris
(romancetracker.com)

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Discovered in China’s Shaanxi Province in 2002, the butterfly Tongeia minima Shou et Yuan (小玄灰蝶), was recently officially confirmed as the world’s smallest butterfly. The full wing span of this kind of butterfly species ranges from only 12-17 mm.(Sina & Xinhua)

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