Russians Clearly Not Feeling Recession

Money wars, maybe; but this is ridiculous:

"Russian excess is feeding discontent among poorer people. Pierrette, a housekeeper for one Russian, said: “I attended a party where the guests had fun throwing burning €500 notes into the air while everyone split their sides laughing. The domestic staff were later told to collect the ashes. It was sickening.” {Times]

If burning bills are the norm at upscale Russian social parties, consider this house to be the newest site for this expensive past time. This weekend, after several round of negotiations, the Villa Leopolda on the Cote d'Azur, the cream-colored villa set on 20 acres of garden was sold to a Russian oil tycoon for a cool £392 million, making it the most expensive house in the world.

The most intriguing part of the whole ordeal is that the buyer's identity has remained a closely guarded secret (um, why spend that much money and never have anyone know?  This guy has clearly done something right in life to be able to afford this peice of real estate...however, I'd like to add my suggestion: stick to the money confetti parades, all that burning is just dangerous.