Plane to be turned into restaurant
RIYADH: Air Force officer, Gen. Abdul Rahman Al-Faisal said an old Tristar plane in the Saqr Al-Jazirah Museum would be converted to an up-market restaurant. He said the decision was made following a detailed study in order to develop the museum and make it a landmark in Riyadh. More military and civilian airplanes will be added to the museum. Gen. Al-Faisal said the museum would become a world class international museum and a tourist attraction worthy of the Saudi capital, Al-Jazirah daily reported on Sunday.
Pachauri’s novel raises temperature
NEW DELHI: The UN’s top climate official, who is at the heart of a controversy over incorrect global warming data, has penned a racy novel which dishes up sex and a real-life Hollywood actress. The debut fiction work is in contrast to the dry academic tomes that 69-year-old Rajendra Pachauri, head of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, has previously written. “Return to Almora,” which has recently hit bookshops, is laced with steamy references to the sexual urges of the protagonist Sanjay Nath who, like Pachauri, studied engineering. The book also weaves in lectures on the environment and the fate of Himalayan glaciers — the issue which has triggered calls for Pachauri’s resignation. Several passages from the book may interest the judges of London’s Bad Sex awards, an annual celebration of the worst racy scenes in literature.
Igloo collapses on Canada minister
IQALUIT: Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty was felled on Saturday by a block of snow as he toured an igloo on the sidelines of G7 talks in Canada’s far north. Flaherty was unscathed when the igloo archway slab got snagged on his parka hood and fell onto his back as he exited the demonstration snow house. The bricks made of packed snow can weigh up to 20 pounds. Its Inuit builders said not to worry, that they would quickly repair the damage to the igloo that had only been erected hours earlier. Flaherty, meanwhile, laughed off the incident. Finance ministers and central bankers from the world’s seven richest nations were gathered for two days in this town just 300 km from the Arctic Circle to discuss keeping a tentative global economic recovery on course as fresh turmoil roiled financial markets.
Jazz musician Dankworth, 82, dead
LONDON: Sir John Dankworth, the British jazz composer, saxophonist and band leader, has died. He was 82. Jazz singer Dame Cleo Laine — who married Dankworth in 1958 after meeting during an audition for a spot with his band — announced her husband’s death before the finale of an anniversary concert at The Stables, the theater they founded together. Monica Ferguson, the theater’s chief executive officer, said Sunday that Laine believed Dankworth would have wanted the evening to go ahead. Ferguson said Laine told the artists before the concert, “’I’ll go on and I’ll have a lump in my throat and I might crack.’ But she didn’t crack.”
Alba not flattered by imitation bid
MIAMI BEACH, Florida: Imitation is not the sincerest form of flattery for Jessica Alba. The actress said Saturday she’s been distressed by Internet reports about a Chinese woman who is having a plastic surgery makeover to look like Alba in hopes of getting her lover back. “I think you should never have to change yourself like that,” Alba said. “If somebody loves you, they’ll love you no matter what.” Alba, who is starring in the upcoming film “Valentine’s Day,” is in town for the Super Bowl. But she’s not just in town to party — she and hubby Cash Warren will be at Sunday’s game. They hired a baby sitter to take care of their infant daughter, Honor, for the big game, but they’ve been spending the week enjoying Miami with their little girl. “So far, she likes all the lights. Every time somebody honks or she hears sirens or something, she points everything out,” she said. “It’s really fun. The most stimulating environment for a 19-month-old.”
— Compiled by Arab News
