London, Aug 11 : Steel tycoon Laxmi Mittal’s record of buying the most expensive house has been broken by a mystery Russian billionaire, who splashed out 392 million pounds on one of the most expensive villas on the French Riviera along the Mediterranean Sea.

The sale of La Leopolda, a sumptuous villa on the Cote d''Azur, has fuelled worries over the invasion of Russian money.

The unnamed Russian bought the opulent villa from Lily Safra, the widow of Edmond Safra, a Lebanese banker who was killed by an arsonist''s fire in Switzerland in 2003.

London, Aug 11 : He might have led Britain to victory in the Second World War, but the new history seems to have forgotten Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

A team of scholars working for TV’s History Channel compiled the list for a five-part television series called 50 Things You Need To Know About British History, but omitted the likes of Churchill, Queen Victoria, Florence Nightingale, Captain Cook and Sir Walter Raleigh from their list.

Though the list included Shakespeare, Charles Darwin, and explorer David Livingstone.

London, Aug 11 : Thailand’s deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has said that he and his family had fled to Britain.

The millionaire Manchester City boss spoke after he and his wife skipped a hearing on corruption charges in a Bangkok court.

A hand-written statement from Thaksin said he fled because he could not expect justice in Thai courts. It came amid newspaper reports that he would seek asylum in Britain, the Daily Express reported.

“My wife and I have traveled to reside in England," Thaksin said in the statement.

London, Aug 11 : British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s personal trainer is in the news for her alleged involvement in kinky lesbian romps.

A former female lover of Millie Dobie, who has been been keeping the PM trim during his summer break in Suffolk, has revealed that she had three-in-a-bed sessions with another girl and a Hollywood actor.

“Millie is a complete seductress who can get both men and women under her spell,” British tabloid The Sun quoted the unnamed women as saying.

“She knows just what she wants, especially in bed. If she wants someone, that’s it.

London, Aug 11 : Looks like love is in the air for dungeon girl Elisabeth Fritzl, for she was reportedly spotted sharing romantic walks with a dark-haired man while recovering from her devastating ordeal in the secret cellar.

Elisabeth was held captive as a sex slave for 24 long years by her father Josef, who constantly raped her, and fathered six children with her.

However, off late, the ill-fated woman has been seen with a pony-tailed hunk many times.

They were spotted at the remote villa Elizabeth moved into in the grounds of the Austrian clinic, where she is still undergoing counselling.

“They spend a lot of time talking together,” the Daily Star quoted a source as saying.

London, Aug. 11 : A study released by the Open Europe think tank, which wants to control the influence and scale of the EU, has found that bureaucrats outnumber the British Army two to one.

According to The Telegraph, 170,000 people now work for European Union institutions.

That means that it is nearly twice as large as the British Army and is greater than the number of people working at eight Whitehall departments, including the Treasury and the Home Office.