A homeless man charms Oprah, and more

A homeless man charms Oprah

Julio Bazan, a 49-year-old homeless man in New York City, spotted talk-show host Oprah Winfrey last week sitting in a limousine outside the Soho House hotel. He approached the billionaire and asked for money. Winfrey initially said no, Bazan told the New York Post, but he followed up with a joke. “Hey, Oprah, why is it good to date a homeless man? When you’re finished, you can drop him off anywhere.” Winfrey laughed, then handed him five $20 bills. Bazan spent the cash on drinks, a steak dinner, and new underwear.

80-year-old recovers stolen terrier

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Last month, 80-year-old Helen Bignone of Alameda, Calif., was out walking her Yorkshire terrier, Deuce, when two robbers appeared and snatched the dog away. Last week, a woman from nearby Stockton saw a news report about the stolen pooch and realized it was the same dog she had just purchased for $20. She took Deuce to the police, who scanned the dog’s implanted microchip to confirm his identity before returning him to Bignone. “There are so many good people in the world,” Bignone said. “I’m on top of the world.”

What's an old vase worth?

A brother and a sister from west London found an old vase while cleaning out their parents’ home and hired Bainbridge, an auction house, to sell it. They discovered it was valued at nearly $2 million. But after 30 minutes of spirited bidding at an auction last week, the 18th-century Qing Dynasty vase went to a buyer from China for $69.5 million, the most ever paid at auction for a Chinese antiquity. “They had no idea what they had,” said a Bainbridge spokeswoman. When the final bid was official, “the sisters had to go out of the room and have a breath of fresh air.”