And now you know ...... the rest of the story...

A Russian scientist and a Czechoslovakian scientist had spent their lives studying the grizzly bear. Each year they petitioned their respective governments to allow them to go to Yellowstone National Park to study the bears. Finally their request was granted, and they immediately flew to NY and on West to Yellowstone.

They reported to the ranger station and were told that it was the grizzly mating season and it was too dangerous to go out and study the animals. They pleaded that this was their only chance, and finally the
ranger relented.

The Russian and the Czech were given portable phones and told to report in every day. For several days they called in, and then nothing was heard from the two scientists. The rangers mounted a search party
and found the camp completely ravaged, with no sign of the missing men. They followed the trail of a male and a female bear. They found the female and decided they must kill the animal to find out if she had eaten the scientists because they feared an international incident. They killed the female animal and opened the stomach to find the remains of the Russian. One ranger turned to the other and said, "You know what this means, don't you?"

The other ranger responded, "Of course..."

"The Czech is in the male."

Soyuz rocket launches on mission to space station

(AP) BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan - A Russian Soyuz craft launched into the morning skies over Kazakhstan on Sunday, carrying three astronauts on their way to the international space station where they will quickly start preparing for a frenzy of incoming traffic.

NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, Russian cosmonaut Yury Malenchenko and Japan's Akihito Hoshide are set to travel two days before reaching their three colleagues already at the permanent space outpost.

Families and colleagues watched the launch from an observation platform in the Russian-leased cosmodrome in the dry southern steppes of this sprawling Central Asian nation.

The Soyuz jettisoned three rocket booster stages as it was propelled into orbit, which takes just over nine minutes.

At that stage, a doll given to Malenchenko as a mascot by his daughter and suspended over the three astronauts floated out of view on television footage, indicating the craft had escaped the earth's gravitational pull.

Not pressured by being flag bearer’ – Sharapova

Russian tennis queen Maria Sharapova says she couldn’t believe her luck for three days after being selected as the country’s flag bearer at the opening of the London Olympics. "I got a message asking me to become flag bearer of the team after a third round match at Roland Garros," Sharapova told Sovetsky Sport newspaper.


“My joy was boundless. I showed the SMS from Russian Tennis Federation President Shamil Tarpischev to everybody and asked: ‘Am I getting this right, guys?’ For three days I couldn’t believe that it wasn’t a dream.”


Sharapova is sure that participation in the opening ceremony won’t deprive her of the strength she might need in the battle for the Olympic gold.

"I won’t be carrying it with one hand," she explained. "As far as I know, there’ll be a special corset on the body which helps keep the flag in the right position. So it won’t be a problem."

The 25-year-old will become the first female flag bearer in modern Russian history and also the first tennis player to be given the honor.

Record Sale at $88 Million

The most expensive apartment in New York has passed from the hands of a retired American banker to the family of a Russian billionaire, setting some new milestones in the Manhattan real-estate market.

The sale for a penthouse with a wraparound terrace at 15 Central Park West owned by Sanford I. Weill, the former head of Citigroup Inc., closed on Wednesday, brokers said.

The price paid, as expected, was $88 million, 66% above that the previous record sale.

The purchase was made in the name of a trust for Ekatarina Rybolovleva, a 22-year-old college student and daughter of Dmitry Rybolovlev, a Russian now based in Monaco who made a fortune in potash fertilizer.

Hall F. Willkie, the president of Brown Harris Stevens, confirmed that the sale had closed at the full asking price. He said that he understood that the buyers would keep the custom-designed space as is, including an oval bedroom, and a study paneled in Brazilian rosewood.

The sale generated close to $2.5 million in city and state taxes, and produced what brokers said was a record commission on a residential sale of about $3.5 million for two brokers at Mr. Willkie's firm. Kyle W. Blackmon represented Mr. Weill, while Maria Torresy represented the Rybolovlevs, brokers said.

The marquee sale shows the growing footprint of international buyers in New York in the past few years. Many of the units at One57, a new 1,004-foot tower under construction on West 57th Street, have gone to Russian and Chinese buyers, brokers said.