MillionFace

People magazine scored the scored the U.S. rights to exclusive photos of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s newborn twins in a joint deal with the London-based Hello! magazine, and the two will split the bill.

The babies Vivienne Marcheline and Knox Leon were born one minute apart in Nice, France. Their arrival began much speculation over which celebrity magazine would enter a bidding war for the first photos of the boy and girl.

It is the second time People magazine has won the North American rights to the couple’s exclusive baby pictures in exchange for a hefty donation to charity. The magazine will feature Vivienne Marcheline and Knox Leon.

Jolie and Pitt sold the rights to the first shots of their daughter Shiloh, now 2 years old, to Getty Images in exchange for a donation to charity in 2005. People reportedly paid $4 million for the U.S. rights to those photos, and London-based Hello! magazine obtained the British rights.

And last year, the couple sold intimate shots of their son Pax, then 3 years old, to Hello! and People. The two magazines are again sharing the rights to the Jolie-Pitt photographs, with each publication contributing to the final price

Nowhere in the world are people spending like the Sheikhs of the Arab. They just seem to get sucked into the swirling vortex of profligacy. Whether be owning a fleet of Rolls Royce’s or Bentleys or getting cutom Biryani delivered from London to serve their palate, they just do it pompously and in style.

Earlier this year at a charity auction in UAE an Arab spent, record $14 million for the number “1″ license plate and now a rich sheikh had his Lamborghini flown thousands of miles from Qatar to Britain and back - just so he could have the supercar’s oil changed.

The Qatari resident spent the astonishing sum of £20,000 about $40,000 on having his Lamborghini flown into London’s Heathrow Airport - and back out again - just for a service.

This anonymous resident had the £190,000 Lamborghini put on a scheduled Qatar Airways flight from the Gulf nation to London’s Heathrow Airport and had it sent straight back after the routine check.

The super rich Qatari did win support from David Price at Lamborghini Club UK, however. “If an owner wants to service his car in that way, it is his choice,” he said.

“I’m not surprised. Thankfully the age of excess in some areas continues.”

What an ostentatious display of wealth!

The price of oil rocketed to a record high past $146 a barrel today owing to falling reserves of US crude, fueled by concerns over a larger-than-expected drop in U.S. stockpiles and the threat of conflict with Iran.

Brent crude rose by as much as $2.43 to $146.69 a barrel in London. US light, sweet crude added $2.28 to $145.85

Prices may also be lifted with increased buying before U.S. oil markets close Friday for the Fourth of July holiday.

The latest record-breaking price surge also came after Iranian Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari said that Iran would react fiercely to any military attack against the oil exporter

By the afternoon in Europe, light, sweet crude for August delivery was up 51 cents on the day to US$144.08 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier in the session, it rose as high as US$145.85 a barrel, a new trading record.

On Wednesday, the contract set a new closing record for floor trade at US$143.57 — a full US$2.60 above the previous close