// SALES!

The Russia.com domain was sold by its previous owners, a private company NewMedia Holdings, registered in Seattle (USA). Unknown buyers paid $1.5 million for it at the Sedo domain auction - for comparison, $5 million was paid for the Korea.com domain at similar auctions in the recent past. However, for 2009 the price of the domain sold was one of the highest.

Russia.com was registered in 1995; nine years later, it was managed by the web consulting firm Paley Media (under license from the owners). The site created on this domain was a collection of articles and links to travel reports to Russia and was part of a ring of similar resources owned by the same company: Algeria.com, Morocco.com, PuertoRico.com, SouthAfrica.com, Scotland.com and Ukraine.com. In October, Russia.com received 8,723 unique visitors, the highest traffic was in August and amounted to 11 thousand users. It is expected that with the change of owner, a new project will appear on the domain, whose topics and content have not yet been designated.

It is curious that the Russia domain in the .ru zone belongs to the Russian company NewMedia Stars (“Dni.ru”). The address Russia.ru is home to the Internet TV channel of the same name, whose monthly audience, as of September 2009, is more than 2.4 million people.

// IT WILL NOT SEEM A LITTLE

Calligraphic amounts

At the auction of the auction house Poly International, held in Beijing, the record price for works by Chinese calligraphers was broken. The Ming Dynasty artist Wu Bin's painting "Eighteen Arhats" was bought by Shanghai collector Liu Yiqian for 169.1 million yuan ($24.8 million), while the preliminary estimate was six times higher. The Eighteen Arhats was once in the collection of Qing Dynasty Emperor Qianlong, who reigned from 1736 to 1795. The previous record price in this segment of Chinese art belonged to Qu Ying's painting "Red Cliff Scroll", which sold for $10.7 million in November 2007. Also at the current auction, a work by the classical Chinese calligrapher Zeng Gong (era of the Song Empire) was sold at a record price - its final price was 108.6 million yuan ($15.91 million).

According to Li Du, a representative of the auction house Poly International, the auction results indicate the recovery of the Chinese art market after the financial crisis. Li Da also said that classical Chinese art is greatly undervalued compared to paintings by Western artists popular with collectors, particularly Picasso and Renoir.

// WITH A CLAIMS FOR LIFE

Richard Gere was caught for chopping

Hollywood actor Richard Gere is accused of cutting down 200 trees without proper government permission. Two years ago, Gere, who lives with his wife, actress Carrie Lowell, on his estate in Westchester County, upstate New York, reportedly began changing the landscape on 400 acres of land he owns. In particular, he hired workers to build a corral for horses, cutting down about 200 trees. Geer did not apply for a logging permit to the relevant local authorities. According to New York State law, a fine of $250 is imposed for each tree cut down illegally - thus, the total amount of the fine imposed on the actor exceeds $50 thousand. Moreover, according to the local newspaper Record-Review, this money has not yet been collected. paid, which “somehow upsets the residents of the area.”

It should be noted that Richard Gere does not agree with the claims made. In his opinion, he cut down no more than 150 trees. Sources close to the actor also claim that he has been trying for some time to negotiate with the authorities to replace part of the cash payment with planting new trees.

// EXPENSIVE PLEASURE

Roman Abramovich will play against England

Roman Abramovich is ready to participate financially in Russia’s fight for the right to host the 2018 World Cup. Thanks to his participation, the budget of the Russian application may increase from $24 million to $40 million. Abramovich has already allocated $100 thousand for the presentation of the project during the 2010 World Cup in Johannesburg. In addition to Russia, Spain and Portugal are fighting for the right to host the 2018 World Cup, having submitted a joint bid, and England, which is ready, according to FIFA Vice President Franz Beckenbauer, “to host the World Cup even tomorrow.” The latter is considered the favorite of the current competition - however, the English side intends to spend only $4.3 million on hosting the championship. It is very likely that after Abramovich’s contribution, Russia, which FIFA President Sepp Blatter at a recent meeting with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin named the second candidate for hosting the World Cup, the chances of becoming the number one candidate will increase greatly.

Marilyn Monroe smoked on camera more than once, but only this cigarette really hooked fans of her work
Photo: REUTERS/Handout/Keya Morgan

The owner of the London club Chelsea has previously participated in the affairs of Russian football, in particular, he paid the salary of the head coach of the Russian football team, Guus Hiddink, and finances two children's sports schools.

// FROM THE HAMMER

Public joint Marilyn Monroe

A videotape of Marilyn Monroe smoking a marijuana cigarette will soon be put up for auction on eBay. The amateur footage was taken on color film in 1958 or 1959 at a party in New Jersey. Monroe is shown in an informal setting: the actress talks with those sitting next to her, gets her hands on a certain cigarette and takes a drag from it. The author of the video claims that the cigarette contains marijuana, since he rolled it himself and then offered it to the actress. The online version of the video can be found on the website of The Guardian newspaper, while introductory screenshots have already appeared on eBay.

The videotape was recently purchased by the famous American collector Kiya Morgan, who paid approximately $440 thousand for it. Now the collector of Hollywood rarities intends to sell it at auction. According to him, the proceeds will be invested in the creation of a documentary film about the actress, who in the last years of her life was dependent not on marijuana, but on barbiturates and alcohol. It was this mixture, according to a medical report, that caused her death in 1962.

// WHITE CROW

The FBI is offering a reward to anyone who can help catch this clever and tireless robber.
Photo: AP

An old man's robbery

The FBI has announced a $16,000 reward for help in catching an unusual bank robber. The bureau said an elderly, skinny man with gray hair, nicknamed "the old gangster" by reporters, was responsible for robbing five banks in and around San Diego. Investigators describe the robber as an old man in his seventies who comes into the bank leaning on a stick, slips a note to the teller demanding money and reveals that he has a gun. One of the robberies, which occurred on September 12 at a branch of the National Bank of San Diego, he committed, according to witnesses, with an oxygen tank behind his back and a tube leading into his nostril. The last bank attack was carried out by an elderly robber on December 1 at a Bank of America branch in La Jolla. As usual, he left the crime scene on foot. The “gangster old man” has already won the sympathy of many people who comment on news about him on various websites. Most commentators are confident that the consequences of the global financial crisis led to such a dangerous occupation for pensioners.

When preparing the materials, information from Lenta.ru, Reuters, CBS News, BFM.ru, The Guardian, MSNBC was used.

Russia sold for $1.5 million