Shark dies after scaring NYC beachgoers

NEW YORK - A 5-foot-long shark scared hundreds of swimmers out of the water, but on Sunday its lifeless body washed ashore.

The thresher shark frightened crowds at Rockaway Beach on Saturday as it splashed along the Long Island shore.

Although it wasn’t believed to be a threat, hundreds of swimmers left the water and authorities closed a 10-block stretch of beach for hours.

The fish even came ashore at one point and several beachgoers pushed it back into the water.

“It was like freaking out. Its tail was flopping everywhere,” 10-year-old McKenzie Pontieri told the Daily News. “It looked sick.”

On Sunday morning, the dead shark washed ashore, and beaches in the area were reopened.

Damien Hirst skull sells for 100 million dollars

LONDON (AFP) - A diamond-encrusted skull by British artist Damien Hirst sold on Thursday for 100 million dollars, a record price for work sold by a living artist, a London gallery announced.

The work, entitled “For the Love of God,” is a skull cast in platinum and encrusted with 8,601 diamonds. Carbon dating has shown that the original skull on which Hirst’s work is modelled dates to the 18th century.

Hirst remains best known for earlier conceptual works in which creatures including a shark and a cow were pickled in formaldehyde inside glass tanks.

The diamond-encrusted skull was sold to an group of anonymous investors, a spokeswoman for the White Cube gallery in London, where it has been on display from the beginning of the summer, told AFP.

Death is one of the central themes in works completed by Hirst, 41, who once said that the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States were like a work of art, but later apologized.

Pitt and Jolie ready for fifth child

VENICE, Italy - Brad Pitt and his partner Angelina Jolie are ready for another child, the actor said Sunday as he was promoting his new film.

Pitt and Jolie, with children in tow, were in Venice to talk about his film on Western outlaw Jesse James. The movie is competing for the top Golden Lion award at the city’s film festival.

Pitt and Jolie already have four children including a 15-month-old girl, Shiloh, born to the couple. Jolie has also adopted three children close in age from Cambodia, Ethiopia and Vietnam.

Asked by Italian state TV whether they were ready for a fifth, Pitt replied: “Yeah we’re ready.”

He did not indicate whether they planned another biological child or if they would adopt.

Earlier on Sunday, Pitt told a news conference fatherhood was fun and good for his work, though he’s not getting much sleep.

World’s best whiskers vie for honors

LONDON - One contestant had a mustache twisted into the shape of London’s Tower Bridge; others sported bushy beards that would make Grizzly Adams envious. In the end, Beard Team USA nabbed four of the top honors - by a whisker - at the World Beard and Mustache Championships.

About 250 shaggy men from around the world competed Saturday in 17 different classes of facial hair at the competition in Brighton, England.

The event had long been dominated by German beard clubs, but the Americans made a strong showing at this year’s competition, taking victories in four categories.

Jack Passion, a 23-year-old from San Francisco, won the highly competitive “Full Natural Beard” competition with his flowing orange fuzz.

“I feel fantastic,” he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. “I’m 23 and I have the best beard in the world.”

Have a great week and HAPPY LABOR DAY! - JS