Germany Hopes To Raise 1.4 Billion Euros Through More Efficient Tax On Prostitution

BERLIN: German tax revenues could rise by about 1.4 billion euros a year if there were a more efficient system of taxing prostitutes, whose work is mostly legal, according to an economist.

Richard Reichel estimates sex workers generate about 7 billion euros each year in Germany's "red-light sector" and that most of that goes untaxed.

"About 1.4 billion euros could be expected," Reichel told Friday's Die Welt newspaper about his study "Prostitution – The Unrecognised Economic Factor".

Man Tries To Smuggle 700 Snakes On Plane

CAIRO, Egypt -- A flight from Egypt to Saudi Arabia nearly turned into a real-life version of "Snakes on a Plane."

Airport authorities in Cairo detained an Egyptian man Thursday because he was allegedly trying to smuggle 700 live snakes onto a plane. Authorities were told about the live snakes by the man after he was asked to open his carry-on bag.

409 People Click AdWord Ad That Offers To Infect Their PC With A Virus For Free.

HELSINKI: Computer specialist Didier Stevens put up a simple text advertisement on the Internet offering downloads of a computer virus for people who did not have any.

Surprisingly, he found as many as 409 people clicking on the ad saying "Is your PC virus-free? Get it infected here!" during a 6-month advertising campaign on Google's Adword, said the IT security expert.

The Length Of Your Fingers Can Predict SAT Performance, Scientists Say

A quick look at the lengths of children's index and ring fingers can be used to predict how well students will perform on SATs, new research claims.

Kids with longer ring fingers compared to index fingers are likely to have higher math scores than literacy or verbal scores on the college entrance exam, while children with the reverse finger-length ratio are likely to have higher reading and writing, or verbal, scores versus math scores.

45% Of Americans Let Vacation Days Slip

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Almost half of American workers did not take all of their vacation days last year, even though many reported being "burned out" by their jobs, according to a survey conducted by Yahoo Hot Jobs.

The online recruiter said 45 percent of the 1,800 respondents did not use all of their days off for 2006, while 39 percent said they were too exhausted to take a "real" vacation.

Guess What Happens To Your Phone Bill When You Send 6,807 Text Messages In One Month

Sofia Rubenstein, 17, got in trouble the way a lot of teens do these days.

Her incessant text-messaging racked up a huge phone bill on the family's wireless plan.

"It's whatever pops into my head. There's no stopping it," she said. "Sometimes I'll be on the phone with someone and I get texted, and then I'm having two conversations at once."

Racers Take Wrong Turn, Run 3 Extra Miles

CLEVELAND -- A controversy surrounds the finish to the 10K run during the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon. A wrong turn sent about 200 runners in the 10K race the wrong way Sunday. So instead of running 6 miles, they ran 9 miles. That means the person who won the race may not be the real winner.

BP Station Clerk Finds $10 Bill, Buys $1M Winner Lotto Ticket

Kristina Schneider tried to persuade a customer at the BP station where she works to buy the last ticket on a roll of the Magnificent Millions lottery game.

"I always joke that the last ticket is the winning one, but he said he only had enough money for three tickets," Schneider said.

This time, her advice was no joke.

The single mother — with nine maxed out credit cards and $8,500 in debt for her associate's degree — bought what turned out to be a $1 million winning ticket with a $10 bill she found in the store Friday.

Fla. Lottery Says Man's $500,000 Scratch-Off Ticket Appears To Be Misprint Rather Than Winner

The Florida Lottery is refusing to pay a $500,000 prize until it can inspect the $20 scratch-off ticket, which officials said Thursday appears to be a misprint.

Joe Curcio, 56, says he got the ticket at a service plaza Sunday on Florida's Turnpike.

The Gold Rush ticket has the numeral 1 on the top row and a numeral 1 above the $500,000 scratch-off piece, making the ticket appear to be a winner. But when Curcio had it scanned, the ticket's bar code indicated it wasn't.

10 Dumb But Very Profitable Internet Business Ideas

1. Million Dollar Homepage

1000000 pixels, charge a dollar per pixel – that’s perhaps the dumbest idea for online business anyone could have possible come up with. Still, Alex Tew, a 21-year-old who came up with the idea, is now a millionaire.

2. PickyDomains