Brad Pitt $5 million in donations for New Orleans!

NEW ORLEANS - Actor Brad Pitt said on Monday he wants to build 150 environmentally friendly homes for families displaced by Hurricane Katrina in a hard-hit New Orleans neighbourhood

Pitt's Make It Right project aims to revive the Lower Ninth Ward which was almost totally destroyed in the 2005 storm.

"A hundred and fifty homes is our goal," Pitt said near the spot where the Industrial Canal floodwall broke during Katrina and sent a wall of water through the neighbourhood.
"But there is no reason why we can't do 1,000 homes, why we can't do 10,000 homes, why we can't do 100,000 homes," he said against an art installation of bright pink rectangles and triangles meant to draw attention to the cause.

Pitt, who with actress Angelina Jolie owns a home in the city's historic French Quarter, said the new homes would incorporate energy efficient appliances and "green" materials and would be built for an average of $150,000 (73,000 pounds).

He has been a vocal critic of faltering government efforts to rebuild New Orleans and has worked with environmental group Global Green USA on a separate project to construct environmentally friendly homes in the city.

Pitt has pledged up to match up to $5 million in donations for the Make It Right project, which he announced at a conference in New York in September.

An international team of 13 architectural firms has submitted designs for the single-family homes, the first of which could be finished by May 2008. The new homes will be elevated to withstand future floods.

The world's oldest and expensive car was sold!

LONDON - The world's oldest surviving Rolls Royce car drove into the record books Monday when it was sold at auction for 3,521,500 pounds, (7,275,000 dollars, 4,961,000 euros).

The car, made in 1904, broke two records when it was sold at Bonham's auction house in London: the highest price paid at auction for both a Rolls-Royce and a veteran car, classified as pre-1905.

A private British collector became the vintage dream machine's new owner after three telephone bidders drove the price up to twice the initial estimate.

The vehicle is the only Rolls-Royce old enough to take part in the prestigious London to Brighton Veteran Car Run.

The previous record for a veteran car was 1.76 million pounds for a 1884 De Dion Bouton, and 1.48 million pounds for a 1912 Silver Ghost Double Pullman Limousine Rolls-Royce.

The 1904 10 horsepower two-seater was first shown in Paris in late 1904, before being displayed at the Olympia Show in London in February 1905. Appropriately, it returned to Olympia to be sold by Bonhams.

The previuos owners were Sir Alan Sugar, Oliver Reed and Elton John.

I wonder who the private British collector is !

Spice girls has come back!

"Girl Power" returned on Sunday as the Spice Girls kicked off their long-awaited world reunion tour with a more sophisticated look than when they first stormed the pop world in the 1990s.

The quintet -- known by their nicknames Posh, Baby, Sporty Ginger and Scary -- opened their show before a sold-out audience of more than 15,000 people in Vancouver with three of their mega-hits, including "Spice Up Your Life".
"How ya doing?" Melanie "Sporty Spice" Chisholm asked the raucous crowd in the opening set that also included a video images of the group's history.

The celebrities in the audience included football star David Beckham, husband of Victoria "Posh" Beckham, and singer Avril Lavigne.

The Vancouver show launched a tour that will wind its way though Canada, the United States and Europe for the next three months, and may be expanded to include concerts in South Africa and South America.

"It was so good it made me want to cry," said Nicole Bride, 19, from Kenora, Ontario. "It was like being reminded of when you were a little girl dancing in your room."

Their debut single "Wannabe" was a global hit in 1996 and they used it in their encore on Sunday.

But their success was short-lived, with Halliwell walking out on the group in 1998. The remaining members went their separate ways after releasing the album "Forever" in 2000.
All now in their 30s with a combined seven children, the singers embarked on solo careers with varying degrees of success.