Swallowing Money

A budget-conscious council in Austria has requested that swimmers stop swallowing water in a bid to save money.  
According to a survey carried out by managers at Vienna's 18 public swimming pools bathers are drinking 5,000 litres of chlorinated pool water a day.

Official Martin Kotinsky said: "A lot of water gets taken out in the material every time a swimmer uses the pool and it has to be replaced."

He pointed out that, as well as replacing water, authorities had to spend £20 on chlorine - £1.11 per pool.
The council is also targeting people who wear Bermuda shorts to go bathing.
Tests revealed that the average wearer takes 2.5 litres of water with them trapped in their swimwear every time they get out of the pool.
Mr Kotinsky said: "A lot of water gets taken out in the material every time a swimmer climbs in and out. That means that for every 1,000 visits to the pool we lose 2,500 litres of water."
Complaints about shrinking pools come amid heatwave in Austria that has boosted the number of swimmers.

King Coin

A Spanish precious metals trading company bought the world's largest gold coin for 3.27 million euros, its exact material worth, from the estate of an insolvent investment firm at a rare auction in Vienna on Friday.

The 100 kg (220.5 lb) piece, one of only five Canadian $1,000,000 Maple Leaf coins the Royal Canadian Mint has ever produced, was snapped up immediately in a written bid from ORO direct, a gold trading company based in Madrid.

The auction was ordered by the administrator of Austrian investment group AvW Invest, which filed for insolvency in May after its owner and chief executive was arrested on suspicion of fraud, breach of trust and other charges.
AvW had acquired the coin in 2007, joining an exclusive club of owners including Queen Elizabeth, who is also displayed on one side of the coin, two unidentified investors in Dubai and one who is so reclusive even his or her residence is unknown.
AvW had lent its coin, 53 cm (21 inches) in diameter and 3 cm thick, to Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum where it had been on display as part of its coin collection.
Its purity is 99.999 percent, the purest type in the market.
bi The Royal Canadian Mint launched the coin in 2007 to showcase its production facilities and steal the entry in the Guinness Book of Records for the world's biggest gold coin.

Weight loss / gain

Overweight people in Britain could be paid up to £1,750 for slimming under a new scheme. Patients who meet weight loss targets can earn from £200 for losing two stone in five months under the privately-run scheme, run by a company that hopes to make it available on the NHS. The latest trial follows a pilot with the NHS in Kent where patients earned up to £425 from private firm Weight Wins for meeting weight loss targets. One person in the pilot earned the maximum £425 payout after reaching the target of losing 23 kilograms in seven months and keeping the weight off for six months.

Sure find

A schoolgirl's lost dinner money has turned up 27 years after it went missing. Lisa O'Neill, 35, lost the handwritten brown envelope containing two £1 notes at school when she was eight years old. But 27 years on, builders have rediscovered the lost cash while refurbishing the cloakroom. Lisa, now Lisa Dugdale, a section manager at Marks & Spencer in Dumfries, said: "I got a shock when the school rang to tell me they'd found my dinner money. I don't remember losing it, but I know I was in the second year of school at the time." She plans to either frame one of the old £1 notes or put them in a trust fund for her baby.