| Chinese national fined $2,000 for smoking onboard Tiger Airways toilet ...
Zhou Xinchang, 29, a vegetable seller, pleaded guilty to smoking on board a Tiger Airways flight enroute from Macau to Singapore on Monday morning. A magistrate's court heard that a cabin crew member was at the rear galley of the aircraft when she was alerted by the smoke detector alarm. On checking, Ms Ee Pei Ling found that the alarm was activated at one of the lavatories. She then saw Zhou coming out from the toilet which had a strong smell of cigarettes. He admitted that he had smoked and apologised to Ms Ee. By then, he had thrown the cigarette butt into the toilet bowl and flushed it away. The captain was informed and he in turn told the ground staff. Zhou told Airport police that this was the first time he had taken a flight, and he did not know that he could not smoke on board the plane.
Fab homes, fat wallets opening to rents and raves
The long slog through the holiday season is upon us, and between the day job, gift shopping and party planning, you're probably thinking: A few days at a mountain house would be a swell break from the madness. Lucky you. Aspen Red Mountain Estate, set in the nation's glitziest ski town, offers relief. Amenities? Seven bedrooms and baths, gourmet kitchen, Jacuzzi, theater system, fully equipped exercise room. All ensconced in a gorgeous 12,000-square-foot chalet. The rental price for all this luxury? Eh, let's just say that if you want to spend a night there, Junior better start collecting pop bottles to pay for his freshman year of college. Holiday rates for the house are $20,000 a night, $200,000 for the month. Or you can opt for .
Best-selling Author Puts New, Tolerant Face on Christianity
Donald Miller still loves God and Jesus. Don't misunderstand him. His problem is with Christianity, at least how it's often practiced. ''It's a dangerous term, so I try to avoid it,'' said Miller, who considered giving up his career as a Christian writer and leaving the church in 2003 because he couldn't attend services without getting angry. For him, the word conjured up conservative politics, suburban consumerism, and an ''insensitivity to people who aren't like us.'' He sat in his boxer shorts and banged out a memoir of his experiences with God, stripped of the trappings of religion. Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality sold just enough to pay a few months' rent. Then five years later, spurred by a grassroots movement of 20-something Christians longing to connect to God without ties to the religious right, the book became a sudden hit.
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