he riches of Britain's 1,000 richest people grew even more by almost 15 percent last year to reach US$819 billion, according to The Sunday Times Rich List. Indian-born steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal was ranked Britain's wealthiest man for the fourth consecutive year, with a fortune worth Ł27. 7 billion (US$55 billion), from Ł19. 25 billion last year. He is now the sixth richest person in the world.

Fourteen members of a Russian doomsday cult returned to civilization on Tuesday after six months of living in a primitive underground cave. They were anticipating the end of the world in May. A total of 35 people entered the cave in early November to await the end of the world, which they said would happen in May. They told authorities that they would detonate gas canisters if police tried to remove them by force. Vice Governor Oleg Melnichenko said the cult's underground hillside shelter, which was built in the Penza region, about 400 miles southeast of Moscow, had collapsed around dawn Tuesday due to melting snow.

ewbury Park Primary School, located in Redbridge, northeast London, has a competitive edge that no other school in the world can probably equal-it teaches its 850 students 40 languages. According to British newspaper The Independent, the school has adopted a policy of teaching each language spoken by the 40 ethnic groups represented in the school.

A television advertisement for a chain of electrical stores denying the existence of Father Frost, Russia's version of Santa Claus, has been banned by the Russian government. According to the BBC, the Federal anti-Monopoly Service found the advertisement for Eto electrical stores had broken rules for advertisers not to discredit parents and teachers when it declared that Father Frost was non-existent.

Aside from his extraordinary leadership skills which led to his being named "Person of the Year" by Time Magazine, Russian President Vladimir Putin will soon be recognized internationally for his athletic prowess. In particular his judo moves as he and an Olympic Japanese judo medalist will come out with an instructional video soon. Mr. Putin and Yasuhiro Yamashita shot the instructional video disc as a supplement to a judo manual. The disc is slated to be released on January or February, President Putin said Friday at the opening of a Toyota Motor Corporation's assembly plant near St. Petersburg.