A new gourmet sandwich is to go on sale at an upmarket London store Monday — but at a cost of 85 pounds (122 euros, 148 dollars), it could be too much to swallow for hungry shoppers. The cheekily-named McDonald sandwich — after its creator Scott McDonald, the executive chef of department store Selfridges on Oxford Street — earns its whopping price tag because of the Wagyu beef that makes up most of the filling. According to the Sunday Telegraph, which had a taster of the expensive delicacy, the 21-ounce (595-gramme) sandwich comprises 24-hour fermented sour dough bread, spread with a foie gras-flavoured mayonnaise. It also contains Brie de Meaux, considered one of Europe’s finest cheeses, English cherry tomatoes and rocket, plus roasted peppers. “Utterly fantastic mixture of tastes,” one of Britain’s leading chefs, Giorgio Locatelli, told the newspaper through a mouthful of the sandwich. “Tangy, sweet… a monster mouthful that would be a really sexy love food to share with a lover. The beef simply melts, it falls apart. I’m impressed.” The newspaper said five orders had been taken so far in advance of the sandwich going on sale.
Rafita Mirabal does what few would when faced with an angry, 400-pound animal charging at him: He holds his ground. He is armed with nothing but a red cape and a short sword. He is also 9 years old. Rafita already has had about two dozen fights in bullrings since 2005, including his latest challenge on Sunday in Texcoco, just east of Mexico City. His contests differ slightly from a regular bullfight. The animals are younger and somewhat smaller, and he does not give the matador’s final death blow with his sword. The ban on swordplay isn’t to protect Rafita, but rather the sport’s reputation. Rafita isn’t strong enough yet to drive a full sword into a bull’s heart, and as a result, “he might just wound the animals, and then they would repeat the thing about (the sport) being a massacre,” said his manager, Jose San Martin, referring to bullfighting protests by animal rights activists. San Martin expects Rafita to be killing bulls by the time he’s 11 or 12. Most bullfighters start when they’re 15 or older, he noted.
A Malaysian man said he nearly fainted when he recieved a $218 trillion phone bill and was ordered to pay up within 10 days or face prosecution, a newspaper reported Monday. Yahaya Wahab said he disconnected his late father’s phone line in January after he died and settled the $23 bill, the New Straits Times reported. But Telekom Malaysia later sent him a $218 trillion bill for recent telephone calls along with orders to settle within 10 days or face legal proceedings, the newspaper reported. It wasn’t clear whether the bill was a mistake, or if Yahaya’s father’s phone line was used illegally after after his death. “If the company wants to seek legal action as mentioned in the letter, I’m ready to face it,” the paper quoted Yahaya as saying. “In fact, I can’t wait to face it,” he said.
A US factory worker sent a letter bomb to his plastic surgeon because he was unhappy with his $11,000 penis enlargement. Brett Steidler faces jail after admitting posting the device - which qualified as a “weapon of mass destruction” - fashioned out of gunpowder, a carbon dioxide cartridge, a battery, a model-rocket igniter and dental floss. Steidler, 25, earlier sent a poem to the Chicago doctor threatening to cut off his hands. “To kill him is not enough, for he is already old,” he wrote. He sent the bomb to the doctor in a small gold jewellery box but had second thoughts and told authorities. Steidler’s lawyer, Luis Ortiz, said he was mentally ill and it was a “sad case”.
