Burger Ranch Takes Over Burger King

The 55 Burger King fast food restaurants across Israel will soon be rebranded under the Israeli Burger Ranch chain, which will have a total of 107 fast food restaurants at the end of the change.

Orgad Holdings, the company that owns franchise rights to Burger King in Israel and is full owner of the Burger Ranch, announced the change on Sunday. 

Brothers Eli and Yuval Orgad, owners of the company, said taste tests and various trials conducted over recent months have shown unequivocally that the “Burger Ranch Bull” is the preferred brand in Israel. 

“We were very excited to learn that, for many Israelis, Burger Ranch is not just a hamburger, sauces and vegetables, but is also large bites of nostalgia. And for this, credit goes to the chain’s founders, who nurtured this brand with so much talent over so many years,” the Orgad brother said in a statement. 

Cougar Effect Boosts Lingerie Sales

Sales of sultry lingerie among older women are booming in Britain thanks to the glamorous 40-somethings of “Sex and the City 2″ and “Cougar Town,” retail chain Debenhams reported.

The hit TV show, and forthcoming movie, featuring the bedroom antics of women in their 40s and 50s and their much younger partners, is being credited with a rise in demand for lingerie from women of the same age, Debenhams said.

The department store said a nationwide analysis of the most popular lingerie styles from October 2009 to April 2010, revealed that women over 40 have given the more seductive side of the lingerie industry a big boost.

“Positive female role models in this age group such as the women in the Sex and the City movies and Courteney Cox in TV’s Cougar Town are giving the women confidence to splash out on themselves,” Debenhams head lingerie buyer Annette Warburton said in a statement.

Women over 40 were rediscovering their figures, often after having children or getting divorced.

Stripper Accused Of Committing Worker’s Comp Fraud

A Pennsylvania woman is facing insurance fraud charges after authorities say she worked as a stripper while collecting worker’s compensation payments.

The state Attorney General’s office said 43-year-old Christina Gamble, of Quakertown, collected thousands of dollars in insurance payments while working at C.R. Fanny’s Gentlemen’s Club and Sports Bar.

According to a complaint, Gamble claimed she fell and hurt her back while working at a restaurant in 2007 and told a doctor it was difficult for her to stand or change positions. Authorities say she received more than $22,000 in disability benefits.

Gamble was arraigned Thursday on two counts of insurance fraud and one count of theft by deception and released on her own recognizance.

A phone listing for Gamble could not immediately be located.

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.

Russian Elite Miss Their Volcano-Halted Oysters

Russia’s super rich are lamenting a shortage of oysters and peaches, whose deliveries have been cut by the Icelandic volcano which caused air traffic chaos in Europe, a popular daily reported.

Exorbitantly priced seafood and fruits from Spain, France and Italy, regularly lapped up by the Moscow elite, are missing from the Russian capital’s most glistening stores, Komsomolskaya Pravda said on its front page.

One worker in a luxury shop on the outskirts of Moscow said oysters, which stay fresh for 10 days, will be missing from parties this Saturday. “If will be dreadful if they don’t make it,” he told the paper.

Imported Spanish peaches that fetch 1,250 roubles (28 pound) a kilo have been replaced by much cheaper apricots from ex-Soviet Azerbaijan, but the moneyed Russians have been turning their noses up at them.

Dying Man Sells Advertising Space On His Urn

A Springfield, Oregon man with colon cancer who has been told he has just months to live is selling advertising space on his urn.

Aaron Jamison told KVAL-TV he hopes to raise $800 to help his wife Kristin pay for the cost of his cremation.

One friend, restaurant owner Dustin Remington, has already paid $100 for an ad. Jamison plans to hand-paint the ad on his urn.

Spirit Airlines Defends Carry-On Baggage Fee

The president of Spirit Airlines says there’s been no significant fallout from his new charge for carry-on bags.

Ben Baldanza defends his business model in a nationally broadcast interview while acknowledging it didn’t sit well in some quarters. He joked that he’d never consider charging for bathroom use.

Appearing with Baldanza on NBC’s “Today” show, Sen. Charles Schumer said Spirit set a bad precedent by charging up to $45 for carry-on bags and said he hopes competitors don’t follow suit. The New York Democrat said there might be legislation if the trend continues.

Baldanza said carry-on fees “can cause some outrage,” but said Spirit simultaneously lowered its air fare and its passengers aren’t paying appreciably more than before.

Israel Bans Imports Of Apple’s iPad

Israel has banned imports of Apple Inc.’s hottest new product, the iPad, citing concerns the powerful gadget’s wireless signals could disrupt other devices.

Customs officials said they have already confiscated about 10 of the lightweight tablet computers since Israel announced the new regulations this week. The ban prevents anyone – even tourists – from bringing iPads into Israel until officials certify that they comply with local transmitter standards.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission allows devices with Wi-Fi capability to broadcast at higher power levels than are allowed in Europe and Israel – meaning that the iPad’s stronger signal could throw off others’ wireless connections, Schubert said.

“If you operate equipment in a frequency band which is different from the others that operate on that frequency band, then there will be interference,” said Nati Schubert, a senior deputy director for the Communications Ministry. “We don’t care where people buy their equipment. … But without regulation, you would have chaos.”

Some Israelis successfully got the popular devices into Israel before the ban.

Workers Strike Over Drinking Ban

A few hundred warehouse workers and drivers at Danish brewer Carlsberg halted work for a second day to protest a company decision to limit beer drinking at work to lunch breaks.

The strike in Denmark followed the company’s April 1 decision to introduce new rules for employees on beer drinking at work, said Jens Bekke, spokesman at the world no.4 brewer.

“There has been free beer, water and soft drinks everywhere,” he said. “Yesterday, beers were removed from all refrigerators. The only place you can get a beer in future is in the canteen, at lunch.”

Bekke said drivers retained an old right to three beers per day outside lunch hours, and warehouse workers claimed the same right.

“Because of that, the warehouse staff went on strike yesterday, with other staff striking in sympathy,” he said.

Bekke said as many as 800 had walked out on Wednesday, with 250 still on strike on Thursday, and the Confederation of Danish Industry and trade union 3F had agreed to look into the dispute.

He said there would be no shipments from Copenhagen on Thursday, and delays in the rest of the country, but said he expected the financial effect of the strike to be minor.

He added that Carlsberg’s trucks have alcohol locks so drivers would not be able to drink too much and drive.

Texas Stadium Is Imploded

More than 20,000 people gathered at tailgate parties and other spots Sunday to watch fireworks go off one last time over Texas Stadium before a ton of dynamite lit up the Dallas Cowboys’ longtime home and brought it to the ground.

The building known for the giant hole in its roof—“so God can watch his team,” according to local lore—was demolished in a planned implosion set off by the 11-year-old winner of an essay contest.

The Cowboys played 38 seasons in Texas Stadium, winning five Super Bowls during that time. The local landmark also was home for the world famous Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders.

“It was much more emotional than I expected,” said Pam Seal, a cheerleader in 1975. She decided only Saturday to drive from the suburb of North Mesquite to watch. “I’m so glad that I had my family out there to hold my hand through it. I didn’t think I would be that much of a basket case about it. It was like saying goodbye to an old friend.”