Consequences of the downturn

A Chinese businessman recently held a competition to winnow down his collection of mistresses from five to one, in response to straigtened circumstances brought about by the economic downturn.

[The businessman] hired an instructor from a modelling agency to judge a private contest he held at a hotel in May, but he did not tell the women about his intentions. [One mistress] Yu was eliminated in the first-round beauty competition and a woman surnamed Liu eventually won after dominating the drinking round, the report said.

However, one of the jilted mistresses was enraged and took her revenge by driving her former lover and the other mistresses off a mountain road. In the ensuing crash she was killed and the man and the other mistresses were injured. The man's wife also divorced him when she found out. Damn you, bank collapses and your unintended consequences!

- Source: Yahoo/AFP, 17 February 2009

[Courtesy of Kate]

Edit 24.02.09: Afraid this one was made up by a journalist, who has just been fired from his job at a Chinese provincial daily paper. It ain't in the least bit true, but it's still a good story! See the last paragraph of this Times article.