Infozone Breaking World News

British chef Andy Bates has unveiled the world’s most expensive kebab that will set you back an incredible £750. The luxury kebab contains the finest champagne and saffron and is made with the finest ingredients including milk-fed lamb meat sourced from the Pyrenees.

It’s a far cry from your local kebab house and comes topped with a gold-leaf garnish, yew feta cheese, couer de boeuf tomatoes and lettuce salad.

The kebab was unveiled at the launch of a new TV show on the Food Network channel called the Great Food Truck Race, and was created to show how standard street food can have a gourmet makeover.

The creator Andy Bates said, “It took a fair bit of time to source the best possible ingredients to ensure that this kebab was the most exclusive one out there, but I loved every minute”.

A cigar box humidor that was once owned by the Titanic’s Captain Edward John Smith has sold at a Liverpool auction for £25,000. The walnut humidor is inlayed with the emblem of the White Star Line shipping company and features the initials EJS.

The cigar box was found by an auctioneer after he was invited to value some antiques in the Merseyside home of Hilary Mee. Auctioneer John Crane said that a shiver went down his spine as he realised that the cigar box humidor belonged to the Titanic’s captain.

Ms Mee said that she had no clue that the cigar box was linked to the Titanic, which sank after hitting an iceberg on its maiden voyage in 1912, but did say that it had been in her family for several generations.

The cigar box humidor is lined with camphorwood, famed for its ability to ward of moths and other medicinal properties and can hold up to 40 of the finest hand-rolled Havana cigars.

The government has announced new plans giving police the power to impose fines for careless driving as part of a strategy to make roads safer. Motorists would face a fine of £80 and three points on their licence for careless driving, with offences including tail-gating, undertaking and cutting other motorists up.

Currently offenders are prosecuted through the courts, taking up a lot of money and resources, but the new plan isn’t without its critics. They say that the new plan is too simplistic.

The Department for Transport also said that it would crackdown on drink-driving and drug-driving and close loopholes that allow people to escape charges. Drivers who have been disqualified will need to be retrained and in some cases made to retake the driving test before they get their licences back.

The courts would also be encouraged to use their powers to confiscate vehicles for more serious offences.

The new rules are set to be introduced in 2012 and cover the whole of England, Scotland and Wales.

Scottish micro-brewery Brewdog is releasing a commemorative beer to mark the royal wedding that contains Viagra, chocolate and horny goat weed. The 7.5% ABV beer, called Royal Virility Performance is available to pre-order from the Brewdog website and will be shipped on the 28th April, in time for the Royal Wedding on the 29th April.

Only 1,000 limited edition bottles will be produced and all proceeds will go to Centrepoint, a charity that it supported by Prince William.

The brewery’s co-founder James Watt said, “The Royal Virility performance is the perfect antidote to all the hype. A beer should be brewed with a purpose, not just because some toffs are getting married, so we created something at our brewery that will undermine those special edition beers and other assorted seaside tat, while at the same time gives the happy couple something extra on their big day.”

A bottle of the beer has already been sent to Prince William, I wonder if he’ll drink it on his wedding night?

Wine drinkers rejoice! It turns out that a bottle of wine costing less than £5 can taste like one that is up to six times more expensive, a blind taste test has revealed. The test, which was conducted at the Edinburgh Science Festival, found that only 50% of the 578 people tested could tell the difference between cheap and expensive wine.

The taste test consisted of a range of red and white wines, as well as two types of champagne. Researchers from the University of Hertfordshire, who conducted the test, said that their findings indicated that people may be paying for the label when purchasing wine and champagne.

Lead researcher for the taste test, Richard Wiseman said, “These are remarkable results. People were unable to tell expensive from inexpensive wines, and so in these times of financial hardship the message is clear – the inexpensive wines we tested tasted the same as their expensive counterparts.”

Angry Birds, Amazon and Spotify were amongst the winners at the Appy Awards on Monday night in London. 50 favourite apps were nominated across 10 categories, but it was Angry Birds that came out on top winning app of the year and best game app. Other winners included Spotify which won best music app and Amazon which won best lifestyle app.

Mobile phone applications are now big business since the introduction of the iPhone and the Google Android OS, with more than 10 billion apps being downloaded from the Apple App Store in the last year and a half.

Organisers of the Appy Awards, Carphone Warehouse said that it planned to makes the ceremony an annual event.

The Canadian Mint has unveiled two commemorative coins to mark the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. The first coin is a $20 CAD silver coin and has a sapphire coloured Swarovski element embedded into it to symbolise the engagement ring; it will cost $105 CAD (around £67).

The second coin is a 25 cent coin which has a colour portrait of the couple on one side; it will cost $26 CAD (about £16.50). Both coins will be produced in limited numbers and be sold in Mint shops throughout Canada.

Ian Bennett, Chief executive of the Royal Canadian Mint said that the wedding will be, “a priceless opportunity to celebrate Canada’s pride in royal tradition”.

Adding that the coins, “will give Canadians, royal watchers and collectors everywhere exceptional keepsakes by which to remember this historic event.”

The Royal Wedding will take place on the 29th April 2011 and will have worldwide coverage as the happy couple take their vows.

Sky Sports and the Football League have signed a new deal worth £65 million per year for three seasons. This is a 26% drop from the previous deal signed between the two parties, which is due to run out at the end of next season.

Sky Sports will exclusively broadcast 75 Npower League matches a year as well as play-off games. The new deal also permits exclusive coverage of the Carling Cup and will show 15 matches including all of the semi-final games and the Final at Wembley.

Football League chairman Greg Clake released a statement which read, “Sky Sports is a highly valued partner of The Football League and we are delighted to extend our relationship for a further three seasons. They are a class act and our clubs will welcome their continued support.

“This has been a challenging climate in which to negotiate television rights, given the state of the economy and the lack of competitive tension in the sports broadcasting market.

“I am confident that our clubs will take heart from seeing such a significant ongoing investment in their competitions, despite a reduced level of broadcasting income, as it provides financial certainty in uncertain times.”

The Football League highlights show, which is currently owned by ITV is still up for grabs.

We have all heard of conditions like tennis elbow and athletes foot that can cause a lot of discomfort to sufferers, but there is a new condition that can affect people who use mobile devices for work called ‘Blackberry Thumb’.

Blackberry Thumb is a type of repetitive strain injury caused by the overuse of mobile phones to send emails and other messages and is becoming so common that one law firms expect an increase of compensation claims from employees who suffer from the condition.

Karen Jackson from Roberts Jackson solicitors said, “If no one knows about the risks involved, they won’t sue, but more and more people are becoming aware of health hazards in the workplace.” Adding that, “A lot of people displaying symptoms associated with repetitive strain injury do not realise they are work-related, but the number with symptoms is increasing.”

Roberts Jackson solicitors is now hiring new staff in anticipation of the rise in ‘Blackberry Thumb’ claims.

Cumbrian butchers and traders were rejoining this week as the Cumberland sausage was given protected status meaning that they can only be produced in Cumbria. The popular sausage joins Cornish clotted cream and Stilton cheese on the UK protected list and ranks alongside Greek feta cheese, Parma ham and Champagne which all have Protected Geographical Indication or PGI in the EU.

To display the PGI mark and be named a Cumberland sausage these sausages must be prepared, processed and produced in Cumbria, have a meat content of no less than 80% and be sold in a traditional coiled shape.

Spokesman for the Cumberland Sausage Association Peter Gott said, “This is a great milestone for the county and a well deserved place in England’s food history for a truly sensational, diverse food product.”