If you are going to steal from a jewelry store, in broad daylight, you need make everyone think you are just one of the customers.

At least that is what a man in his 50’s did on a pleasant Saturday summer’s afternoon in Paris. Of course make sure it is a high-class joint you are going to rob, so you get value for your time.

Dressed in a chic suit and wearing a Borsaline (fedora ) hat, a ‘customer’ pointed a gun at Chopard’s staff and asked for around 15 pieces of top jewelry. Pieces that are often seen worn by stars at the Oscars and Cannes film festival.
In just under two minutes, the thief casually strolled out of the elite Chopard, on Place Vendome, an upmarket area, only a stone’s throw from the famous Champs-Elysees avenue, carrying around $8 million worth of gems.

In December 2008, four French and Eastern European armed robbers, dressed in drag, looted the exclusive Harry Winston store, on Avenue Montiange, just off Champs Elysees in central Paris, in broad daylight - less than 330 feet from a police station. It is reported the thieves called some of the employees by name. The theft took 20 minutes, while they gathered $107 million worth of jewelry, before discretely withdrawing.

“This type of robber takes a certain audacity, some nerve, a lot of calm and self-control,” Christophe Gesset, representative of ‘Synergie Officier’ police union, told ABCNews.com
One year earlier the same store was hit for more than $12 million worth of jewelry. The thieves were never caught.

The world record for diamond heists is still held by the diamond hijack of 2005, from the cargo terminal at Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam, when a truck carrying approximately $118 million worth (unconfirmed) of diamonds was stolen in full view of a crowd of onlookers.

The European tourist city was proud of its record that its police were unarmed during the day. This order has been changed. The police will carry arms both day and night.

The latest news on the couple who were paid 100 times more than they asked for from the bank and were made overnight millionaires.

It is reported they headed for Hong Kong and Macau where the couple went on a spending spree, leaving their pet dog tied up in a kennel in their backyard in Rotorua, New Zealand. The couple had asked several of their friends to accompany them, but only Kara’s sister, Aroha decided to drop everything and go with them. Aroha, however gave up and returned back to New Zealand after just three weeks, where she is being questioned by police.

Aroha reports that the couple is no longer together. It appears Kara Yang is still in Hong Kong, while her Asian looking partner, Leo Gao and his mother have headed into mainland China, to get lost among the teeming millions of Chinese, where Interpol does not have such a strong influence.

Leo Gao has long been known as a wheeler and dealer and has a string of failed ventures behind him.

Instead of happiness, the couple have been divided by greed and the bank  employee who has thirty years work experience, but forgot the decimal point that started all this, is undergoing trauma counseling.

Wyn Resorts, which owns Macau Casino are said to be in a lawsuit, as Westpac tries to recover more of the lost millions.

Equal opportunity for women has been screamed at us for years, and many men may mouth the words, yet the scales are still  heavily balanced against women. In the latest list of the top richest people in the world, women have a very low showing, with only two women at numbers 12 and 13, in the top 20.

Overall women hold a very low profile in the halls of power. “Discrimination is changing things at a snail’s pace and still needs to be challenged,” says Nicole Brewer, of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).

Author Isabelle Allendale says: “Women are paid less than men for the same work, if paid at all. Women remain vulnerable because they have no economic independence and are constantly threatened by exploitation, violence and abuse. If a woman is empowered, her children and family will be better off. ” Yet for every dollar given to women’s programs, $20 are given to men’s programs.

Under a cloak of secrecy, the world’s rich and most powerful people met in an unprecedented secret meeting, at the home of the president of the Manhatton medical school, at Rockefeller University, at the invitation of Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and David Rockefeller.

“We came together to see if we could join together to do more to help, in the light of the world economic downturn.” said one attendee. “This group is very committed to philanthropy.” It is reported the five hour afternoon/dinner meeting’s agenda discussed how to best use their money to help people in the midst of financial crisis.

The invitees included such billionaire moguls as George Soros, Michael Bloomberg, Peter Petersen, Ted Turner and Eli Broad. All are known for their philanthropic endeavours. It appeared, however, Oprah Winfrey was the only female billionaire to attend the secret meeting.

The invitees included such billionaire moguls as, George Soros, Michael Bloomberg, Peter Petersen, Ted Turner and Eli Broad. All are long known for their philanthropic endeavours. However, it appeared the Winfrey Ophrey was the only female billionaire to attend the secret meeting.

Yet for all the advances women are still way behind the eight ball.

• Women equate to less than 1% of departmental heads, editors, media owners, but a third of the working journalists
• 80% of purchasing decisions are made by women
• Women do 66% of the world’s work but only receive 10% of the world’s income
• Women own less than 1% of the world’s assets
• Globally women comprise 42% of Internet users
• Women are 66% of the 1 billion plus, illiterate adults who have no access to basic education
• Worldwide women account for the majority of people over the age of 60 years old
• Only 21% of all news subjects are on females

Finally – a piece of trivia: Women use 20,000 words a day, compared to 7,000 used by men.

Criminals who need to do time are falling over themselves to make sure they do it in the luxury, stylish new accommodation provided by New Cook County Correctional Center, Chicago, Illinois.

You’re excused if you do not instantly recognize this as a local jail. Most take it for being a fancy set of offices or a corporate building, a conference centre, or maybe a fancy hotel in Dubai.

Yet is is designed to house inmates, sent there by the court system. The question, is why would they want to go home on good behaviour?

Homeless peolpe are lined up at the gate looking for ways to get in.

Of course anyone could be mistaken if they thought this was a luxury hotel where criminals are kept.

So the inmates have to be reminded from time to time that they are actually in jail and this tidy motel room is where they sleep.

Jail sure ain’t what it used to be like in the old Wild West Days! You even get a view, fresh air and sunshine.

Eight shocked tourists, plus two children, watched yesterday as an endangered species, white tiger pounced on and killed South African Dalu Mncube, senior cat handler at Zion Wildlife Gardens in Whangarei, New Zealand.

Mncube had previously prised the jaws open of the same animal, when it had mangled a colleague’s leg last year.

This was the third attack at the park in just over a year. Other zoo keepers have spoken out against the park’s intimate way of handling its animals.

The white tiger was one of only 120 in the world. It was shot dead by park staff when it attacked  Mncube, who was preparing to clean the cage with another keeper.

Close handling of big cats is common around the world, but Wellington Zoo general manager of operations, Mauritz Basson, said he would never support it at his zoo.

The website for Zion’s Wildlife Garden Zoo advertises a tiger walk where ‘you will be able to pat the tiger’. Keepers at the zoo often hug and interact with the big cats. Last year, a Scottish teenager was attacked by a lion cub when she put her hands through the fence.

Ian Adams, from Orana Wildlife Park, said that handlers it is one of the ‘golden rules’ that keepers should never enter an enclosure with big cats, unless there are two locked gates between themselves and the animals. Not having a barrier between the zoo keepers and the two Sumatran tigers was a complete no-no. “There is nothing you can do in an attack except destroy the animal first.”

Brooke Astor was once the grande dame of New York high society, who charmed heads of state, and donated millions of dollars to city libraries and museums. She died at the age of 105 years old in 2007.

Now New York high society is rocked as the trial continues of 84 year old Anthony Marshall, a former ambassador and Tony Award-winning Broadway producer, son of Brooke Astor, and 67 Francis Morrissey, an estate planning lawyer, stands accused of stealing millions of dollars from his ailing mother who had Alzheimer’s disease.

The trial promises to expose the long standing inner feud of the famed Astor clan.
Vartan Gregorian, the president of the Carnegie Corporation, long time friend of Brooke Astor, said, “She set the standard for everybody, about philanthropy, about generosity, about kindness. She was the last of a classy generation of people.”

Marshall pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Potential witnesses include Henry Kissinger, the former secretary of state; Kofi Annan, the former head of the United Nations; David Rockefeller; and Annette de la Renta, the wife of fashion designer Oscar de la Renta.
The criminal case was started when Astor’s grandson, Philip Marshall accused his father in court, in 2006, of neglecting his grandmother and skimping on her care, describing appalling living conditions for the aged matriarch.

It is reported that Marshall and Astor had a complicated relationship. Though Marshall would have inherited a substantial amount of money, he is accused of arranging changes to her will to give him control over her fortune, most of which was previously supposed to go to charity.

If convicted, Marshall could face up to 25 years in prison. Perhaps he will  meet up with Bernhard Madoff.

While the subject of same sex marriages continue to hog the headlines, there are some things that need to be asked.

When people advocate for same sex marriage, why do so many couples still opt for the appearance of one of the partners choosing a ‘female’ role and one partner being cast into the ‘masculine’ role? It seems there is some necessity, deeply inground in human nature, that requires the gender roles to still be maintained at various levels.

In fact when you look at any couple in a same sex relationship, you can usually identify which one is identified as playing the female, or male role’

It appears then, that the psychological - physiological male (protector/provider) and female (nurturer) gender roles (although they are constantly evolving) have a much wider importance than simply being a sexual reference. Though some like to argue that the dichotomies of a uni-sexual relationship are missing in a same-sex relationship and the partners tend to share the burdens more equally.

Some experts say that sex refers to physical structure, whereas gender roles are largely determined by society? But are they, particularly when same sex marriage fly in the face of the normally accepted rules of society?

Gender role then, has a lot to do with self-conception, are voluntary and can easily be changed. There certainly is lots of evidence of ‘gender conceit’ that is firmly attached to self-esteem, in either uni or same sex relationships.

The goal of any relationship should therefore be, to have a successful relationship with a special person.

For long enough we have all been aware of the ‘High Five’, flesh on flesh action, of the younger generation. Now a new craze has hit America and may be about to become a world-wide phenomenon.

Michelle Obama definitely wants to be greeted correctly on June 3rd, the first official American holiday for a ‘Fist Bump Day’. Michelle insisted on being greeted with the official Fist Bump when she recently co-hosted ‘The View’, with Woopie Goldberg and the girls.

Michelle says she has picked the Fist Bump up from her young staff.

The first ‘fist bump heard round the world’, took place a year ago, on June 3rd 2008, when the charistmatic couple, Barack Obama and Michelle, brought the Fist Bump onto the national stage. It was during a pivotal moment in Obama’s presidential campaign, that the couple shared the private moment, of what became known as the ‘Thumb versus Fist’, or ‘Terrorist Fist Thump’. In the weeks following the incident, the ‘Knuckle Bump’ took America by storm.

One year after the legendary Obama fist bump, a new holiday hits the mainstream, called National Fist Bump Day. America is calling people from every class, race and religion to lay aside their differences with a show of respect and an affectionate ‘fist bump’ -‘knuckle knock’.

As of right now it’s not quite clear what the day’s celebrations will entail, other than than some knuckle rubbing. There is, however, a lot of ‘Fist Bump Day’ paraphernalia for people to buy, to commemorate the day.

Be ready to greet in the updated American way.

I have the privilege of living on the tropical island of Vanuatu in the South Pacific, the Dream Holiday Destination, also voted the Happiest Country On Earth in 2006. The local Ni-Vanuatu people always greet you with a warm hand shake and face-splitting grin. It gives you the feeling they are really glad to see you. (Not a bad way to go).

Anyway, let there be lots of gentle Knuckle Knocking/Fist Banging on June 3rd and try greeting everyone with a face-splitting grin. Might cheer up their day and even make you feel better by spreading a little ’sunshine’.

Nappy-clad two year old Keith O’Dell Jnr, fires his killer shots across the pool table, balanced on a chair. Keith has become the youngest person to become a member, in the history of the American Pool Association.

Keith’s father bought him a kid-size pool table just before Christmas, really believing the child would be too young to show much interest in it. However, Keith Jnr quickly converted to his father’s full size pool table. By February, Keith had his own website and a video on YouTube. Recently the toddler travelled to Las Vegas to do a demonstration for the APA, after travelling to New York City to tape a Rachel Ray show. Other demonstrations are scheduled for July.

The cue toting toddler learned his skills by watching his father shoot 200 racks of pool in an evening.
Keith Jnr has, like all other toddlers, a very short attention span, when it comes to toy trucks and tractors. Put on a movie and you might capture his attention for 30 minutes. However, thrust a pool cue into his tiny hands and you have lost him for up to three hours.

He usually gets his second wind around 8.00 p.m. and then likes to watch pool videos until he falls asleep.

Keith joins the ever growing list of child prodigies - a youngster who masters, at a very early age, one or more skills at an adult level.  Names such as Shakuntala Devi who could mentally calculate from the age of 3. Jeremey Bentham studied Latin from the age of 3. Jodelle Ferland won an Emmy Award at the tender age of 4 years old. Mohammad Hossein Tabatabai could recite from the Qur’an by the age of 2 and had it fully memorized by the age of 5.

Being a child prodigy is not a guilt edged guarantee that the child will grow up rich and famous.  Some have nervous breakdowns, or simply fade into the crowd and obscurity.

Our only comment is: Do parents have the right to drive their children through their own zeal and desires?

Buckingham Palace’s security is under urgent review as Britain’s most notorious undercover reporter, Mazher Mahmood, Investigations Editor from the News of the World, gained access to the palace, disguised as an Arab Sheik.

Mahmood claims that he was given an exclusive tour of the palace’s transport fleet, simply by bribing a chauffeur, Brian Sirjisingh, in exchange for a mere 1000 pound.

Posing as curious Middle Eastern businessmen, Mahmood and a colleague gained extensive access  to royal limousines and the Queen’s personal Rolls-Royce and Daimler.  The pair claim they were admitted to the Royal Mews, unchallenged.

The pair not only photographed and videoed the royal fleet, including sitting unchaperoned in one of the vehicles, long enough to have planted a bomb. The pair were able to photograph the number plates of the vehicles, told their official code names and given details of the security’s weaknesses.
The Palace says that Mr. Sirjisingh has been suspended, pending an investigation.

Even the Duke of Edinburgh and the Prince of Wales must show ID photos every time they enter a royal residence, yet two disguised reporters were able to easily gain access.
In 2003 Ryan Parry, an undercover reporter for the Daily Mirror, got a job as a footman in the palace  and laid bare extensive details of royal domesticity.

Mahmood is known as the ‘fake sheikh’ as he frequently uses this disguise to gain his target’s trust. He wrote a jaw-dropping book called ‘Confessions of a Fake Sheik – The King Of The Sting Reveals All’.

Mahmood’s targets have included corrupt government ministers, actresses, corrupt police offices, Home Office officials, arms and drug dealers, pedophiles, football stars, pimps and murderers, buyers of radioactive material for a Muslim terrorist group, crooked jockeys, solicitors and doctors, to drug taking royalty. He has repeatedly entered the UK on fake passports to show the laxness in the immigration regulations. In fact, Mahmood’s work has resulted in 234 successful convictions.

He has received numerous death threats, been shot by Albanian thugs, cursed by an African witch and run over by a vicar. He has infiltrated the Taliban in Afghanistan. Along the way he has picked up numerous awards, including the prestigious Reporter of the Year in 1999. In short, wherever there is corruption, the modern day Sherlock Holmes, (or is that James Bond) Mazher Mahmood is likely to be found.