The Iraqi government said that it planned to sell the Ocean Breeze, one of the many opulent treasures that belonged to Saddam, and that the pleasure boat would probably be sold within weeks.
The 270ft yacht, featuring gold-tap bathrooms, a helicop
ter landing pad and a secret escape passageway, is thought to be worth as much as £20m.
Legal firm Cohen-Amir Aslani-Marseillan-D'Ornano & Associates confirmed that the sales process had begun but had not yet attracted much solid interest.
"Given the current economic climate, clients are not falling over themselves (to make the purchase]," said one executive, noting a deafening silence from potential buyers.
Ocean Breeze had been the object of legal wranglings in the past with Jordan, which had claimed it as its own, before the yacht was handed to the Iraqi government last year, legal sources said.
An ownership dispute over the yacht had concluded in a French court, a senior Iraqi official said last week.
After spending months moored off the French resort of Nice and elsewhere off the country, Ocean Breeze left for Greece a few weeks ago to undergo renovations in preparation for its sale.
FINLANDFinland has rated the DVD release of the much-loved children's television series Little House On The Prairie, inset, suitable for adult viewing only.
To save money, Universal Pictures decided not to submit the series to state inspection, the company's Finland marketing manager Meri Suomela said.
Finnish authorities charge ?2 (£1.61) per minute for assessing the correct age limit on films and television series. Distributors who forego this can only sell their shows with a sticker saying "Banned for under-18s".
"Long series can get quite expensive to check, and some use this exemption in the law to their advantage," said Matti Paloheimo, director at the Finnish Board of Film Classification.
"Such unchecked material should not be shown to children publicly," he added.
Little House On The Prairie, which ran from 1974 to 1983, portrayed life in the US west in the late 1800s and was based on the Laura Ingalls Wilder's children's book of the same name.
SWITZERLANDSwiss police can be excused for fearing the worst. Acting on emergency calls they hurried to a rural road in northern Switzerland where horrified motorists reported a long trail of blood – and what they believed was evidence of a brutal crime.
A police statement said officers followed the blood for 12 miles to the town of Kuettigen only to find that a butcher's supply van had spilled its cargo. A barrel of pork blood had overturned inside. The van had been heading for a local sausage factory.
HUNGARYPigs were also at the centre of a police investigation in Hungary when two thieves were caught with 12 of the animals stuffed in their small van during a routine traffic check.
Police stopped two men in a Renault Kangoo near the town of Szigetvar, about 137 miles south of Budapest, as they attempted to drive off.
"The pigs weighed about 25-30kg (55-66 lb) each – they were really squashed into the car very tightly," a police spokesman said.
Police said the pigs came from a nearby farm, from where 35 others have gone missing in recent days.
GERMANYA soup kitchen exclusively for dogs has opened its doors in Berlin, providing pets of the homeless and unemployed with a free meal.
Despite the looming financial crisis, director Claudia Hollm dismissed criticism that it may be more sensible to collect money for humans than for dogs.
"Nowadays people underestimate dogs" she said. "They are incredibly important for those who lack social contact with other humans.
"Making sure dogs don't go hungry is just as important as making sure that people don't starve," she added.
Hollm and her company Animal Board get sponsorship from companies, including animal food manufacturers.
One woman who uses the free service said she had two dogs, four cats, a rabbit and some guinea pigs.
"Without this animal bread line, I'd probably starve to death," the 20-year old said.
The opening of the soup kitchen follows last month's launch of a new bus service in Berlin for dogs, which shuttles their furry friends to a luxury dog day-care centre.
The full article contains 752 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
