Continental To Fly Into The History Books

United and Continental Airlines said Monday they have agreed to form the world’s largest airline in a deal worth about $3 billion.

The new airline would jump past Delta Air Lines in size and have flights reaching from Shanghai to South America. That should lure more business travelers, who pay higher fares. The United name will live on, although the planes will have the Continental colors and logo.

The airline will be run by current Continental CEO Jeffery Smisek. United CEO Glenn Tilton, a longtime advocate of consolidation in the airline industry, will be chairman for up to two years, with Smisek taking over as chairman after that.

The deal will first need approval from shareholders and antitrust regulators. It’s expected to close in the fourth quarter.

The new parent company will be United Continental Holdings Inc. It will be based in United’s hometown of Chicago and its biggest hub will be Houston. The companies say the combined airline will have revenue of about $29 billion and $7.4 billion in unrestricted cash.

Today’s Top Eurotastic Song By Tommy Körberg

Stad i ljus (Town in light) is a ballad, which was the Swedish Melodifestivalen 1988 winning song and entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 1988, where it finished 12th.

The song was written by Py Bäckman performed by Tommy Körberg.

Stad i ljus was also released as a single in 1988. It peaked at #8 at the Swedish singles chart.

Tommy Körberg is a Swedish singer, actor, and musician. In 1969, he won Swedish Recording Industry Award Grammis in a category Best Debut Performance.

English-speaking audiences know him best for his role in the Benny Andersson–Björn Ulvaeus–Tim Rice musical Chess. He was the first to play the role of “The Russian” on the 1984 concept album Chess, and performed the same role on stage in the 1986 world première West End production in London, for which he was nominated for Laurence Olivier Award in category Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Musical.

28 Detained In Gigolo Raid

Police on Indonesia’s resort island of Bali detained 28 people this week in a crackdown on “beach gigolos,” who scout for foreign female tourists, officials said on Tuesday.

The raids began on Monday after the release of a trailer for a documentary on Bali’s ‘Kuta cowboys’, the muscular and tanned Kuta beach surfers who develop short-term romantic relationships with foreign women in return for gifts.

‘Cowboys in Paradise’ follows the trials and tribulations of several beach boys, their families and their female patrons.

The documentary’s Singapore-based director, Amit Virmani, said he found the arrests deplorable.

Vomiting Dog Causes Auto Accident

A man has a pretty good excuse for why he crashed his car into a utility pole in Winona: his dog puked on him.

The Winona Daily News reported police found the car unattended last Thursday morning against an Xcel Energy pole. Witnesses told officers they saw a man leaving the area and walking a beagle.

The 18-year-old, who does not have insurance or a Minnesota driver’s license, called police about four hours later to confess.

The man told police he was driving when his dog started “throwing up all over him.” Deputy Police Chief Tom Williams said the story checked out — police found vomit in the car.

The pole had only minor damage. The man was cited for driving without insurance or a license.

Check Out The Tiny Horse

A diminutive horse born in New Hampshire could lay claim to the world record for lightweight foal.

The pinto stallion named Einstein weighed just 6 pounds and measured 14 inches tall when he was born Friday in Barnstead, N.H. Those proportions fit a human baby just about right but are downright tiny for horse, even a miniature breed like Einstein.

Dr. Rachel Wagner, Einstein’s co-owner, says the Guinness Book of Records lists the smallest newborn horse as weighing in at 9 pounds.

Breeders say that unlike the current record holder, Thumbelina, Einstein shows no signs of dwarfism. He’s just a tiny horse.

Justin Bieber Urges Fans To Calm Down

Tween pop idol Justin Bieber appealed to his fans on Wednesday to calm down after his hat was stolen and his mother knocked over by a crowd of about 500 waiting to greet him as he arrived in New Zealand.

The frenzy came after Australian police on Monday canceled a live performance in Sydney by the 16-year-old Canadian singer when a crowd of about 5,000 teenage girls got out of hand, with about eight youngsters injured in the crush and others fainting.

The hysteria surrounding Bieber, who is traveling to promote his debut album “My World 2.0,” has sparked comparisons to the reaction of young fans when The Beatles went on tour in the 1960s.

“Finally got to New Zealand last night,” Bieber told his 2 million-plus followers on the micro-blogging site Twitter.

“The airport was crazy. Not happy that someone stole my hat and knocked down my mama. Come on people… I want to be able to sign and take pics and meet my fans but if you are all pushing security won’t let me.”

Police Barred From Getting Penis Enlargements

Forget about getting a job as a police officer in Indonesia’s Papua if you have had your penis enlarged. You won’t get it, according to local media reports citing the Papua police chief.

An applicant “will be asked whether or not his vital organ has been enlarged,” said Papua police chief Bekto Suprapto, quoted on local website Kompas.com.

“If he has, he will be considered unfit to join the police or the military.”

The ban was applied since the unnatural size causes “hindrance during training,” said police spokesman Zainuri Lubis in Jakarta, quoted by news portal Detik.com.

Today’s Top Eurotastic Song By Gérard Lenorman

Chanteur de charme (English translation: “Crooner”) was the French entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1988, performed in French by Gérard Lenorman.

At the close of voting, it had received 64 points, placing 10th in a field of 21.

As befits the title, the song is a ballad, with Lenorman singing about the subject matter that crooners traditionally sing about. That is to say, he sings about the subject matter itself, rather than singing the type of song usually associated with the style. Indeed, he likens the songs themselves to “these stories of three times nothing, which rhyme badly, which do good” and later adds that “Nothing has ever prevented us from setting to music, those endlessly repeated clichés, romantic feelings” and remarks that his heart “stupidly proposes on the first page of a paper”.

Israel Lifts Apple iPad Ban

Israel has lifted a ban on Apple’s popular iPad tablet computer, ending restrictions that had been imposed over concerns the gadget’s wireless signal could disrupt other devices.

Communications Ministry officials conducted “intensive technical scrutiny in a controlled laboratory” before deciding to allow the iPad into the country, said Yechiel Shabi, a ministry spokesman.

Israel announced the ban shortly after the iPad’s April 3 launch in the U.S. Officials said at least 10 of the flat, touchscreen computers were seized at the country’s international airport. Shabi said owners of the confiscated iPads would be permitted to retrieve them.

Israeli standards mirror those of many European nations, but Israel has been the only country to ban iPad imports ahead of the product’s international release. Apple has delayed the launch until late May, citing heavy sales in the U.S.

Police Wanted To Protect Loch Ness Monster

Scottish police in the 1930s believed the existence of the Loch Ness monster was “beyond doubt” and even sought to protect it from hunters.

A letter released by the National Archives of Scotland from Inverness County Police Chief Constable William Fraser in August 1938 shows police believed the only step they could usefully take to protect “Nessie” from hunters was to tell people that the monster’s preservation was “desirable.”

Fraser went on to say that a certain Peter Kent and Miss Marion Stirling of London were determined to catch the monster and that Kent had told local police he was having a special harpoon gun made to hunt the monster down.

“That there is some strange creature in Loch Ness seems now beyond doubt, but that the police have any power to protect it is very doubtful,” Fraser wrote in his letter to the Under Secretary of State, Scottish Office.

Fraser said he had had Kent warned of the desirability of having the creature left alone.

“…but whether my warning will have the desired affect or not remains to be seen,” he added.