A New South Wales south coast grandmother has had an unexpected $2 million windfall from a lottery ticket left forgotten for four years.

The 73-year-old, who has not been named, recently came across the unregistered ticket in an envelope of other unchecked tickets in a dressing table drawer.

She says she had left it a further two weeks and was not going to worry about it.

“My husband said to me that it would be too old to check,” she said.

“But I took the ticket to the agent and they put me on the phone to someone from NSW Lotteries who told me it was worth $2 million.”

The retired dairy farmer says she went limp and could not tell her husband the good news until they had left the shop.

However she says she has no plans for a spending spree despite not having much while growing up and some lean times on the farm.

“We will use the money to help the family down the track but they don’t know we’ve won,” she said.

“They’ll find out when we leave this world.”

A modern-day Romeo finally got his girl when the northern Italian city of Verona opened up the balcony where Juliet supposedly pined for her lover as a venue for weddings.

The 13th century mansion of the Cappello family - believed to be the Capulets of William Shakespeare’s tragic play Romeo and Juliet - has for years been a place of pilgrimage for lovers worldwide, who have scrawled love messages on its walls.

Now, Verona’s town council is offering couples the chance to follow in the footsteps of Shakespeare’s “star-crossed lovers” and see for themselves “what light from yonder window breaks”.

The first Romeo to take advantage of the offer was soccer player star Luca Ceccarelli, who plays for local team Verona.

“I feel very emotional. You know, marriage always gives strong emotions especially in a situation like this,” said a beaming Ceccarelli, before exchanging rings with his Juliet, Irene Lamforti. “We hope that this brings us a lot of luck.”

But it does not come cheaply. A normal civil wedding licence in Italy costs about 45 euros: for non-European citizens the Verona licence will cost nearly 900 euros, with EU non-Verona couples paying approximately 700 euros.

At that price, lovers will hope for a happy ending.

Anyone keen to pick up the ring, valued at NZ$5,000 ($4,000), will need to be in New Zealand’s capital city, Wellington, on Saturday to join the hunt, the Dominion Post newspaper reported.

“I met this girl I thought was pretty cool, bought a ring, turns out she wasn’t as keen,” Anthony Gardiner, a 29-year-old call-centre worker, told the Dominion Post.

Clues to the ring’s whereabouts will start being posted on social networking site Twitter at 8am (local time) on Saturday.

Mr Gardiner says he will keep posting clues, and if the ring is not found by the end of the day, “my clues will suddenly change into directions”.

Having bought the ring in Hong Kong, he couldn’t return it, and didn’t want to sell it, so he hit upon the treasure hunt.

Hanging on to it in the hopes of finding a willing recipient is also not an option.

“Obviously, it’s been a pretty unlucky ring for me,” Mr Gardiner said, adding he hoped it would be found by somebody who has “found a cool chick and who wants to give them something they normally wouldn’t be able to afford”.

Coca-Cola has been through many different iterations, including Classic, Diet New, Vanilla, Cherry, etc. But now in Japan, you can find a more natural flavor from a different drink - Green Tea. The tea will hit stores on June 8. Its healthy antioxidants, called catechins, and slight green tea aftertaste are targeted at health-conscious young women in their twenties and thirties.

“We wanted to cater to people who are looking for something that tastes good but is also good for health and beauty,” said Coca Cola (Japan) Co. spokesman Katsuya Sato.

While Coca-Cola is the leader in the Japanese cola market, it faces stiff competition from international rival Pepsi, who will release basil-flavored “Pepsi Shiso” later in June. They also face challenges in the domestic market, as manufacturers of non-carbonated bottled drinks like tea, coffee and fruit juice cut into Coke’s market share.

If a woman sleeps with different men in a short period of time, it can happen that each egg is fertilised by different semen.

American Mia Washington admitted she had an affair at the time when she became pregnant, so what happened to her is something that is very unusual indeed. Two of her eggs were fertilised with two different sperm, making her the mother of twins with two different fathers, telegraph.co.uk reported.

Her partner James Harrison had a DNA analysis done when he noticed that the twins Justin and Jordan were very physically different.

Of all the people in the world, it happened to me, the shocked Mia said when she read what the chances of twins not having the same father are – 99.999 percent.
Staff at the laboratory that did the DNA analysis said they never encountered such a case before and they believe they never will again. One doctor said that there is only a handful of cases like this one in the world and that it will probably be the only such case in Dallas.

Mia’s fiancé James will stay with Mia and has forgiven her for being unfaithful. He has promised to take care of the twins as if they were both his.

They will explain to the twins what happened when they are old enough to understand, presumably none of them uses Google.

“Neutral facial expressions” are required at departments of motor vehicles (DMVs) in Arkansas, Indiana, Nevada and Virginia. That means you can’t smile, or smile very much. Other states may follow.

LICENSE FRAUD: States take steps to cut down fake IDs

The serious poses are urged by DMVs that have installed high-tech software that compares a new license photo with others that have already been shot. When a new photo seems to match an existing one, the software sends alarms that someone may be trying to assume another driver’s identity.

But there’s a wrinkle in the technology: a person’s grin. Face-recognition software can fail to match two photos of the same person if facial expressions differ in each photo, says Carnegie Mellon University robotics professor Takeo Kanade.

Dull expressions “make the comparison process more accurate,” says Karen Chappell, deputy commissioner of the Virginia DMV, whose no-smile policy took effect in March.

Elaine Mullen of Great Falls, Va., bristled at the policy while renewing her license until she heard the reasoning. “It’s probably safer from a national-security point of view,” she says.

Arkansas, Indiana and Nevada allow slight smiles. “You just can’t grin really large,” Arkansas driver services chief Tonie Shields says.

A total of 31 states do computerized matching of driver’s license photos and three others are considering it, says the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators. Most say their software matches faces regardless of expressions. “People can smile here in Pennsylvania,” state Transportation Department spokesman Craig Yetter says.

In Illinois, photo matching has stopped 6,000 people from getting fraudulent licenses since the technology was launched in 1999, says Beth Langen, the state head of Drivers Services.

The Dutch justice ministry has announced it will close eight prisons and cut 1,200 jobs in the prison system. A decline in crime has left many cells empty.

During the 1990s the Netherlands faced a shortage of prison cells, but a decline in crime has since led to overcapacity in the prison system. The country now has capacity for 14,000 prisoners but only 12,000 detainees.

Deputy justice minister Nebahat Albayrak announced on Tuesday that eight prisons will be closed, resulting in the loss of 1,200 jobs. Natural redundancy and other measures should prevent any forced lay-offs, the minister said.

The overcapacity is a result of the declining crime rate, which the ministry’s research department expects to continue for some time.

Belgian prisoners

Some reprieve might come from a deal with Belgium, which is facing overpopulation in its prisons. The two countries are working out an agreement to house Belgian prisoners in Dutch prisons. Some five-hundred Belgian prisoners could be transferred to the Tilburg prison by 2010.

The Netherlands would get 30 million euros in the deal, and it will allow the closing of the prisons in Rotterdam and Veenhuizen to be postponed until 2012.

In a drive to help the rural community stave off the recession, Mitsubishi Motors is supporting primary productivity by offering a free goat with every new Triton sold before August.

“We firmly believe that New Zealand’s recovery is in the hands of the rural sector and they’re the people who are buying our utes,” said MMNZ general manager of sales and marketing Peter Wilkins. “Goats, like our Tritons, are hardy, versatile units, which will integrate directly into existing farm operations”.

“Goats improve farm productivity by providing an environmentally friendly defence against noxious weeds and they’re a lot cheaper than toxic sprays”.

“Goats also provide export commodities that can help improve our balance of payments. They grow a fine micron fleece, much like the renowned Merino, which can be used to produce high-quality garments. Goat’s milk provides a nutritious alternative for the growing number of lactose intolerant people and while goat meat is seldom featured in Western restaurants, developing countries consume vast quantities,” said Mr Wilkins.

“And, most importantly, there is no such thing as Goat Flu – so no threat to tourism. It’s hard to see a downside,” he added.

“At MMNZ, we are aware that three years of drought has severely depleted sheep and beef populations, so what better time to ‘float the goat’?” said Mr Wilkins. “We’ll supply a free goat with every Triton sold before August and do our bit to loosen the grip of the recession”.

“On the off chance that the purchaser already has enough goats or feels that goat herding is better left to those in drier climes, we’ll supply a ‘no goat package’ consisting of a five-year/100,000km extended warranty, five free WOF inspections, 5,000km road user charges, five years of roadside assistance and $500 of genuine or approved Triton accessories,” Mr Wilkins said.

In Syracuse, N.Y., police say a 45-year-old man offered a slaughtered pig as partial payment for a bag of crack cocaine.

They say two men were spotted making the deal on a street corner just before 8 p.m. Thursday.

Angelo Colon of Fulton was arrested on a misdemeanor drug possession charge and 42-year-old Omar Veliz faces a felony drug sale charge.

Police say Colon paid half a pig and $10 for a $50 bag of crack. Veliz told police the pig was for a celebration for a relative being released from jail.

While officers were arresting the suspects, someone took the pig.

Accident Scene 1

An interesting accident scene in the American Southwest brings some philosophical thoughts to mind.

Don`t cheat on this!

Look at the picture above, Scene 1.

You can see where this driver broke through the guardrail, on the right side of the culvert . . . Where the people are standing.

The pick-up was traveling about 75 mph from right to left, when it crashed through the guardrail. It flipped end-over-end, bounced off and across the culvert outlet, and landed right side up on the left side of the culvert, facing the opposite direction from which the driver was traveling.

The 22-year-old driver and his 18-year-old passenger were unhurt except for minor cuts and bruises.

Just outside Flagstaff, AZ on U.S. Hwy 100.

Now look at the next picture, Scene 2.

If you didn`t believe in God before the accident…you sure as hell might have wondered about it afterwards!

Accident Scene 2

In Granite City, Ill., Authorities said an argument over a pair of shoes led to criminal charges against a southwestern Illinois woman and her dad. Prosecutors charged the 24-year-old woman with criminal property damage, while her 47-year-old dad was accused of aggravated battery.

Madison County Sheriff’s Capt. Brad Wells said the daughter invited three people from a bar to her home early Monday, and an argument erupted over a pair of shoes.

Wells said the father intervened, clubbing one of the guests over the head with a flashlight. Outside, the woman allegedly broke a window on one guest’s vehicle.

The father told The Associated Press that the guests refused his request to leave and that he hit one visitor only after he was punched.

In PA., Police said a Pennsylvania man arrested on a shoplifting charge pulled a fire alarm in a holding cell, setting off the police station’s sprinkler system. The 18-year-old man was arrested Friday by Colonial Regional police and accused of stealing merchandise worth $275 from a Wal-Mart store in Lower Nazareth Township.

Police said he resisted arrest and had to be shocked with a Taser to be brought under control.

The man was charged with retail theft, resisting arrest, institutional vandalism and tampering with a fire apparatus.

Prosecutor Rena DiLando recommended the suspended jail time, noting Anderson’s convictions for drug possession and probation violation.

One shot struck the resident’s car, but no one was hurt.

Lt. Luke Riley told the Detroit Free Press police arrested the man, who’s expected to face charges of illegally discharging a firearm.

Officials say Georgette Clemons had just left her wedding reception Sunday evening when she spotted smoke coming from a Bridgeport home.

Clemons got out of the car she was riding in and ran into the home. She says a woman was yelling about her animals and didn’t want to leave, so she had to pull her out.

As firefighters arrived and battled the blaze after members of the Eitelberg family were rescued, Clemons was nearby folding her blackened wedding dress.

Clemons says she messed up her shoes, but says that’s no big deal because everyone is safe.