| Elton John And Simon Cowell Sign Up To Help Sick Animals
Rock legends, sporting heroes and pop stars autographs are all up for grabs in aid of veterinary charity PDSA. So if you fancy getting your paws on the signatures of Sir Elton John (pictured), or everyone's favourite Mr Nasty, Simon Cowell, or Greased Lightnin' babe Holly Willoughby, then log on to eBay and get bidding!
The auction coincides with the start of eBay's animal campaign, encouraging people to either sell items they no longer need and donate a percentage of the sale to their chosen animal charity, or bid on items being sold. Funds raised for PDSA will help the veterinary charity provide free veterinary treatment for sick and injured pets.
PDSA so relies on the generosity of the public to funds its PetAid services, which cost more than 41 million every year - and is counting on your bids to help keep tails wagging across the UK!
So what are you waiting for? Log on to PDSA's website and follow the links through to the auction site.
New-home builders try auctions, some online, as the market softens
Could something akin to eBay auctions be the next stop for new-home builders facing a glut of unsold properties? Inland builders in recent months have been cutting prices and throwing in extras such as free swimming pools to move their new houses in a slowing market. And recently, joining a national trend, some are finding success with public auctions, traditionally seen more as a way to sell artwork or rare antiques. Some of those builders are incorporating online elements into their auctions, giving Web shoppers a chance to bid in real time against the on-premises participants. .
Mammoth skeleton up for auction
On Monday, Christie's auction house in Paris, which usually sells fine art and furniture, is hosting an unusual auction of paleontological curiosities, including several prehistoric mammals. Skeletons of a 10,000-year-old, 13.5-foot-long rhinoceros and a 7.5-foot-high cave bear are also going under the hammer. The skeletons are owned by a private collector, but buyers may include museums or artists, said Christie's spokeswoman Capucine Milliot. The auction is not to all paleontologists' liking. Pascal Tassy, professor at Paris' Natural History Museum, has decried the selling off of specimens that could be useful to science. "It is a pernicious consequence of the Jurassic Park effect," he said. "In the past, private collectors donated to museums, it was a great time of patronage.
EDITORIAL: Forest roads scandal
Another case of bid-rigging at the initiative of a government agency has come to light. The Fair Trade Commission on Thursday raided the Japan Green Resources Agency, which coordinates forestry work and civil-engineering work of agricultural land improvement under the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. The agency, also known as J-Green, is a mainstay of public works projects second to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport that has been previously charged with bid-rigging. The FTC began its investigation in autumn 2006 and contacted the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office to conduct the joint search. The FTC unraveled a heinous and continuous bid-rigging scheme that has apparently gone on for nearly 10 years. As soon as the FTC began its investigation, J-Green rushed to adopt a general competitive bidding system to replace designated competitive bidding.
Ex-Wakayama governor admits rigging bids
Former Wakayama Gov. Yoshiki Kimura pleaded guilty at the first hearing of his trial at the Osaka District Court on Tuesday to rigging bids and accepting 10 million yen in bribes in connection with prefectural public works projects. Kimura, who appeared in public for the first time in about five months since his arrested, said: "I deeply regret betraying the trust of prefectural residents. I'm really ashamed." According to the indictment, Kimura, 55, rigged bids on two prefectural tunnel construction projects and a sewerage construction project, which were all bid for on Nov. 11, 2004, in favor of a consortium of three general contractors in conspiracy with others accused in the scandal, including Satoaki Mizutani, the former treasurer of the prefectural government, and Chikanori Hioki, a former adviser of major contractor Obayashi Corp.
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