Nick Drainey's world view: Money no object for Putin the painter

The painting of snowfall seen through a window, finished by a professional artist, features a sprawling "Putin" signature and was introduced at Saturday's auction with the words: "Here is a new artist."

The auctioneer started bidding at 20,000 roubles, the same as the other lots, only to meet cries of "Let's not be penny-pinchers" from the buyers, who demanded a starting price of five million roubles.

A black belt in judo, Putin has cultivated an image of a tough man, lionised by Russian media, but so far not known for artistic talent.

An auction organiser said Putin had painted the picture in 20 minutes and then a professional artist had filled in the details.

"Of all the paintings presented there, this was the best one," said a spokeswoman for Our Artists, the Moscow-based gallery which bought the painting.

MEXICO

Inviting people to pucker up seems to be all the rage in Mexican cities.

The Mexico City government is urging people to converge on the huge Zocalo city centre and simultaneously kiss on Valentine's Day. City tourism secretary Alejandro Rojas says the goal is to break the world record for the most people kissing at one time.

The announcement on Thursday came two days after Guanajuato mayor Eduardo Romero declared his colonial city in central Mexico the "kissing capital" of the world. Romero was trying to disprove claims that he had banned kissing through an anti-obscenity law.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the biggest mass kiss to date came on September 1, 2007, when 6,980 couples smooched in Tuzla, Bosnia-Herzegovina.

THE VATICAN

The Vatican has launched its own YouTube channel, showcasing clips of Pope Benedict XVI in a bid to engage with the digital generation and better control the papal image online.

In its inaugural foray on YouTube, the Vatican highlighted one of the pontiff's latest appeals for peace in the Gaza Strip and showed him welcoming viewers to "feel involved in this great dialogue of truth".

The site, www. youtube.com/vaticanit, was launched the same day the pontiff praised as a "gift to humanity" the potential benefits of social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace.

But Benedict also warned that virtual socialising had its risks, saying "obsessive" online networking could isolate people from real social interaction and broaden the digital divide by further marginalising people.

And in his message for the World Day of Communications, he urged producers of new media to ensure that the content respected human dignity and the "goodness and intimacy of human sexuality".

The 81-year-old pope has been extremely wary of new media and their effect on society.

FRANCE

France is investigating what it says is a scam mounted by a French woman who sold thousands of Chileans kits to make "magic cheese" for French beauty products.

Gilberte Van Erpe, who was arrested and placed under investigation in France last year, is suspected of setting up a vast pyramid scheme, telling buyers the fermented mass produced by the kits could be sold to cosmetics companies in France.

A French investigator, examining magistrate Sylvie Gagnard, will fly to Chile to register the lawsuits of thousands of people who claim they were victimised, said Isabelle Montagne, a spokeswoman for the public prosecutor's office.

"We call it the 'case of the magic cheese'," Montagne said.

"She swindled people, she abused their trust to make them believe that she could commercialise that material."

The spokeswoman said three other people were arrested last year and placed under investigation for their role in the suspected fraud, conducted through a company called Fermex.

It is believed Van Erpe ran a similar scheme in Peru in 2003 to 2004 and then moved on to operate in Chile from 2004 to 2006.

Claiming that the fermented substance was all the rage in Paris as an ingredient for expensive moisturisers and shampoos, Van Erpe charged clients some ?300 (280) for the kits, which had a market value of about ?3.

However, the product never made it to French cosmetics labs and most investors lost their money, the spokeswoman said.

KOSOVO

Advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi has won a 5.3m contract to improve Kosovo's international image.

The country's ministry of finance said the company's Israel-based unit will run an international branding and media campaign for the new country.