rare opportunity to see one of the world’s top bands Earth Wind & Fire when they arrive – all 14 of them – for the concert on August 13.

“It’s going to be a great night,” adds Al, who has been writing music for over five decades. “We have so many fans in Spain so it will be a fabulous night.”


It has certainly been an astonishing career for a band whose hits include Boogie Wonderland, After the Love has Gone and Got To Get You into My Life.
It all started way back in the early 1970’s when Al was approached by Maurice White and asked whether he wanted to start a band with a new sound that combined elements of African, Latin American, funk, soul, pop, rock and jazz.
Their music was an immediate smash and they saw hit after hit, particularly between 1973 and 1981.
“It was an incredible time, so many hits,” Al explains by phone from his mansion in California. “A golden period I guess you could say.”
His favourite song is September, ‘not just because it was our biggest hit but because for me it contains all the elements of what makes our sound so unique’.
He also explained that the name EW&F came from Maurice’s astrological chart, and that he has always had a strong interest in astrology.
Indeed, had it not been for music, he would have liked to have become a professional astrologer. ‘I’m an Aquarian’ he adds ‘and we kind of have a feeling for these sort of things.’

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Are you looking for a second home away from the expat hot spots?

There’s no law which says that when you’re buying an overseas property it has to be in Provence or Tuscany. With European boundaries blurring, and growing numbers of countries relaxing rules on foreign ownership, the world is increasingly one’s oyster when it comes to choosing where to live.
Which is why we’ve spread our net wide this week to bring you this selection of unpolished pearls. Some are in reasonably well-charted locations, while others are distinctly off-the-radar.
Still, whether you’re buying in Bordeaux or on the banks of the Bosphorus, it is essential to enter into any property purchase with your feet firmly on the ground.
You may not be able to speak the local language, but you do need to know the Latin phrase “Caveat emptor” - Buyer Beware. With the right research and advice, now is a great time to snap up a second home somewhere unexpected.

Albania
Not so long ago, this was a country renowned for nothing but grimness and the oppressive rule of Communist dictator Enver Hoxha. But even the Party couldn’t blot out the sunshine, and despite its infrastructure, Albania has a climate that’s every bit equal to its neighbour Greece. What’s more, you can pick up a basic Albanian seaside flat for the price of a family cruise (well, an expensive one, anyway). The website www.property-abroad.com has apartments in the resorts of Vlora and Saranda for just £25,000 (views across to Corfu), and for £29,000, you can buy an apartment at Lalzit Bay, a huge, new (i.e. still being built) beachfront development, 20 miles from the capital Tirana. For more details, ring 08451 258600 or visit www.lalzitbay.com.
Pattaya Thailand
Not exactly a romantic hideaway, but cheap. For £26,300, you can buy a studio flat in The Vision, a 23-storey apartment block due to be completed in 2014. Or, push the boat out with a one-bedroom flat that’s twice the size, for £46,000.
Viewed from the outside, a glass-and-aluminium block on a hillside is not going to be the most beautiful building in the world, but it has great views across the sea and over the twinkling lights of Pattaya’s nightclubs. The place attracts six million visitors per year, some of whom might like to rent your place when you’re not there. There’s a swimming pool on the 20th floor, too. You can find details at The Move Channel (www.themovechannel.com/property/details/4254073).
Puglia Italy
A trullo is a sort of stone-built, pointy-roofed, Italian hobbit home, and there’s one for sale for just under £80,000 at Ceglie Messapica, 25 miles northwest of Brindisi, on the southern heel of Italy. It has everything a compactly sized human needs: one bedroom, one bathroom, two acres and lots of shady fruit trees. Prices in Puglia are generally a lot lower than in Tuscany and Umbria. You can buy a distinctive white masseria (a traditional farmhouse, usually with olive groves and outbuildings), for around £310,000 (unconverted) and £440,000-plus (converted).
St Petersburg Russia
An awful lot lovelier than Moscow, though just as cold in winter. The cheapest way to own an apartment here is to buy out the tenants of an old-fashioned communal flat, in which families occupy their own living rooms, but share, say, a bathroom and kitchen. However, this is a long process (four to eight months), and can take longer if, as estate agents City Realty Russia (www.cityrealtyrussia.com) put it, the tenants “start to play games”. It is essential, then, to make sure your agents can help you cut through the red tape and low-level obstructiveness that you may encounter. As a rough rule of thumb, flats start at £1,250 per sq m for communally owned, £1,600 for privately owned and £3,000 for somewhere with a good view and windows facing the street, rather than a courtyard. Size-wise, apartments range from 25 sq m (small) to 70 sq m (medium) and 120 sq m (oligarch proportions).
Kraków Poland
If the idea of living in a converted Polish brewery appeals, there are 30 one-bedroom apartments on sale at the former Central Kraków brewery for £64,000 to £73,800. Details from Property Venture, 01932 849536, www.property-venture.com.
The good news about Poland is that house prices have been rising (by 8 per cent in 2010), and the country is hosting the European Football Championships next year. When buying a new home, though, you need to find out if the price is for a “black finish” or a “white finish” (i.e. with the kitchen and bathroom fitted). “Black finish” will add up to £15,000 to the price.
Under £500,000
Leipzig Germany
All right, it’s not quite the same as owning a villa in the south of France, but a number of British buyers have been drawn to the idea of owning buy-to-let apartment buildings here. Leipzig is the birthplace of Richard Wagner and was home to JS Bach for the last 27 years of his life.
For £250,000-£350,000, you can become the landlord of anything from 12 to 15 flats in the Kleinzschocher district, three miles south-west of the old (well, restored) city centre. For £2 million, you can buy a whole street (eight blocks).
Zell am See Austria
Sailing in summer plus skiing in winter adds up to a place where there’s going to be year-round letting potential.
Traditional local wooden houses go for £300,000-£440,000, but if you buy in a new-build development such as the one being marketed by Mark Warner Property, 020 7692 0786, www.markwarnerproperty.com (from £314,000), you can buy free of VAT, provided you undertake to rent it out to tourists. This can knock up to 15 per cent off the purchase price.
Nova Scotia Canada
From London, it takes longer to drive to Halifax, Yorkshire, than it takes to fly to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Flight time is around five hours, due to the fact that Nova Scotia sticks into the Atlantic on Canada’s east coast. As well as Air Canada, there’s a budget alternative: Transat (fares from £400 return).
Once you’re there, the place is hardly crowded, and that’s its charm. The total population is just 950,000, which works out at 10 people per square mile, as against 1,800 in New York. Apart from a little 17-mile-wide isthmus connecting it with the mainland, Nova Scotia is surrounded by sea. The car number plates say it’s “Canada’s Ocean Playground”, and the figures bear this out (Nova Scotia has 4,360 miles of coastline).
Foreigners are called “Come-From-Aways”, but can usually get mortgages of 50-60 per cent. Canadian law says you can stay for up to six months in any calendar year without applying for a residents’ extension.
“A lot of Brits say they want to fulfil a dream and have horses on their land here,” says Tom Harris of estate agents Tradewinds (www.tradewindsrealty.com). “For 400,000 Canadian dollars [£260,000], you can buy a property with 10 acres of land; for 150,000 Canadian dollars [£97,000], you can buy a three-bedroom bungalow with five acres.
“Unlike the UK, the seller and buyer sign a contract which neither party can get out of, unless, say, it turns out there are only five acres, as opposed to the 10 acres promised in the particulars.”
Tallinn Estonia
There aren’t many European capitals where you can buy a place in the old historic centre for under £300,000, but Tallinn is an exception. Within two minutes’ walk of the ancient main square Raekoja, you can buy a one-bedroom apartment for around £140,000 and a two-bedroom place for £290,000. There’s a firm called Goodson and Red, in Joe Street, (www.goodsonandred.com) which specialises in selling to Britons. There’s also an unusual new eco-scheme called Oxford Park, 30 minutes’ drive from Tallinn. Houses are timber-clad, set in a forest-cum-park and separated by little rivers. Prices start from around £90,000, and the project is being marketed by Property Secrets, 0115 985 3963, www.propertysecrets.net.
Alentejo Portugal
No one wants the hours of back-breaking work in the fields, but we all like the idea of growing our own wine. And a clever new scheme offers you the chance not just to purchase a property, but part of a vineyard, too. The smallest two-bedroom town house at the L’and Vineyards tourist village costs £150,000, the biggest villa £704,000; the bigger your property, the bigger your vineyard. Details on www.glowproperty.co.uk, 0800 311 2193.
Shetland Islands
Not technically overseas, but about as far removed as you can get from urban Britain. The top house price on the islands is around £350,000 for a three-to-four-bedroom bungalow in the capital Lerwick; less top-of-the-range would be £180,000. If you’re lucky, you might find a restored, traditional croft house for £80,000-£150,000, though many are reserved for, well, crofters. The pace of life here is much slower than on the mainland, apart from all the television crews making documentaries about the slower pace of life. There’s even an organisation called Move Shetland, set up specifically to encourage you to migrate here: 01595 745885, http://move.shetland.org.
Kotor Bay Montenegro
The area has been designated a Unesco World Heritage site, but prices haven’t shot through the roof. You can still get a simple, waterside stone house for around £130,000, while a four-bedroom seafront villa will set you back around £280,000 (www.themovechannel.com/property/details/4322154). Two things to note, warns Britain-based agent Property Venture (www.property-venture.co.uk): surveys aren’t carried out automatically in Montenegro, so you might need to hire an architect or structural engineer to inspect the place. And although as a foreigner you are allowed to buy an apartment, you have to buy land via a company, which you will need to set up.
Kolymbari Crete
Kolymbari is one of the few parts of this lovely Greek island where more income is derived from farming (grapes, olive oil) than tourism. There’s not only a Blue Flag beach, but a whole host of little coves and lagoons within a 20-minute drive. Derelict stone farmhouses go for £35,000, but may need expensive foundation and structural work. Two-bedroom places cost from £115,000, three-bedroom from £140,000.
“Under Greek property law, any number of people can own the freehold, with each party owning an equal percentage,” says British developer Mike Saunders, of Snobby Homes (www.snobbyhomes.co.uk), who reports that despite being just a 30-minute drive from Chania airport, the level of new-build activity around Kolymbari is “extremely low key”.
Over £500,000
Kenya
Most Britons who visit Kenya find themselves at some point on lovely Lamu Island, but not many end up owning a beachfront villa there. Roughly a million pounds will buy you a beautiful private home on the edge of the Indian Ocean, from which you can gaze out at the Arab sailing dhows during the day, and breathe in the fragrant jasmine blooms in the evening as you sip sundowners in your tropical garden.
Alternatively, you can direct your gaze inland and buy yourself a slice of colonial Africa at Nanyuki, 110 miles from Nairobi and a lot fresher and cleaner. Here, in the middle of game-rich safari land, there is horse-riding, birdwatching, trout fishing and golf. Not only are you surrounded by flower and vegetable farms, but you’re in the shadow of Mount Kenya, right on the equator.
According to agents Knight Frank, the buying process is not complicated, but it can be slow. “On average, it takes about 90 days to complete a transaction,” they say. “And because buying a beach property requires presidential consent, that can take a bit longer.”
Slovenia
Not to be mistaken for Slovakia, the Czech Republic’s mountainous other half, Slovenia is the pretty little forest country that’s equidistant from everywhere. It is surrounded by Italy, Austria, Croatia and Hungary, and known as the New Zealand of Europe.
You can buy a traditional wooden farmer’s cottage in bad condition for £20,000, and in good condition for £40,000. Alternatively, you could buy the enormous, seven-bedroom country mansion owned by Guy Speir, a British estate agent who works in Prague. It was built in 1875 for the foreman of the Vienna-Trieste railway, it’s called Hisa Zenia and it overlooks a lovely valley 60 miles from the fairy-tale capital Ljubljana (£748,000). Speaking of which, you can buy a two-bedroom riverside apartment overlooking the city’s central (but tiny) Preseren Square, for £1.48 million.
Vietnam
No shortage of cheap housing for the locals, but when it comes to foreigners, it seems the only places available are palaces. For £1.1 million, you can buy a small but luxurious beach villa at Nam Hai, an upmarket resort overlooking the South China Sea, near the port of Hoi An. And £1.7 million gets you a wave-lapped, three-bedroom beachfront villa at a resort on the island of Con Dao, a 45-minute flight from Ho Chi Minh city (formerly Saigon). Natural wonders include a pure-white-sand beach and abundant marine life (dolphins, sea turtles, dugongs); man-made attractions include a spa, restaurant and health club.
Ibiza Spain
This party island is hardly off the beaten track, but there are few properties in Europe which can outfunk the £2.6m Cala Valdella near San José (00 34 933 562 989, www.lucasfox.com) cascading down a slope and inspired by the tree-houses of the Lost Boys in Peter Pan. There’s a main house, plus two subsidiary houses, all in bright colours; their frames are made of concrete and iron, and the walls of reinforced, insulating, plastic.
Newport Rhode Island, United States
If you like boats, yachts and messing around by the waterside, this US version of Cowes is the place for you. Top addresses are Bellevue and Ocean Avenues (prices from £2.5m-£11.3m), but there are places right on the harbour for around £1 million. You fly to Boston, and after a 75-minute drive, you’re dipping your toes in the water.
Istanbul Turkey
You’d need a big family, lots of friends and plenty of money before you made an offer on the Zeki Pasha Waterside Mansion (00 90 530 280 9946, www.sothebysrealty.com.tr). The guide price is £72.3 million, but for that, you get 23 bedrooms and a lot of history: the palace was built by French architect Alexandre Vallaury for one Musir Zeki Pasha, who was a government minister in the second half of the 19th century. Hopefully, he wasn’t claiming for this home on his parliamentary expenses.
Bali Indonesia
Dominating a cliff-top on the south-west of the island, in an area known as the Bukit, stands the glorious Istana, a £4.6m, five-bedroom villa with two infinity pools and a 5,200 sq m estate.
It works both as your own private home plus a commercial holiday property – butlers and chefs on hand (0062 361 738747; www.theistana.com).

 

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New Marbella Ferrari and Maserati dealership

AROUND 200 guests attended the opening of Ferrari and Maserati dealer C de Salamanca’s new dealership in Marbella. Guests included Marbella Mayor Angeles Muñoz, C. De Salamanca president Cristina Toda and Formula one Ferrari test driver Marc Gene.

 

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half of the UK's millionaires have fled or are thinking of fleeing the country's economic "storm clouds

", according to a new study.
Taxation, perceived better living standards abroad and the weather mean that only 44% are certain of remaining here.

But the survey of more than 500 UK-based millionaires, carried out for investment firm Skandia, found that only 2% were thinking of moving to a tax haven such as Switzerland or the Cayman Islands.

Preferred destinations were France, the USA, Spain and Australia.

Jo Rimmer of Skandia said: "Our survey seems to indicate that the UK's wealthiest really are saving for a rainy day and will seriously consider moving to sunnier climes if storm clouds gather in either economic or meteorological terms."

The research also found working hard and investing wisely is a surer way to become a millionaire than being born into money.

More than two thirds of the high-net-worth individuals surveyed made their fortunes from employment income, investments or as the result of selling their business venture.

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Over €30m for Smurfit's casa in Marbella

THE businessman Dr Michael Smurfit is still looking for a buyer for his 3,716sq m (40,000sq ft) villa in Marbella in Spain about seven years after it was first offered for sale.

UK estate agents Fine Country are quoting “well in excess of €30 million” for Casa de Loriana which was built in 2002 along The Golden Mile, where it has its own elevated beachfront. It is within easy walking distance of Marbella town centre.

The villa, originally priced at up to €50 million, is one of the largest and most exclusive private residences in the popular resort with facilities to entertain up to 300 guests.

It is accessed by a private road and a large security gate. The stylish grounds have a large fountain, terraced gardens and lawns along with a lagoon and a heated swimming-pool with a Jacuzzi and waterfall. Facilities at Casa de Loriana include a private cinema, medical room and formal and informal diningrooms and sittingrooms.

The main house has five double suites and is served by a lift. The main suite on the ground floor includes a sauna for two and a library. All residents have the use of their own bathrooms and dressingrooms. The villa has sleeping accommodation for 20 people in all.

A tax resident in Monaco, Dr Smurfit has a substantial home at the K Club in Co Kildare, which he jointly owns with the property developer Gerry Gannon. Mr Gannon is currently looking for a buyer for his 49 per cent stake in the club.

 

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Nicola McLean has been showing off a healthier figure in Marbella after having put on around a stone in recent months.

Seven months after sporting dangerously thin limbs, Nicola McLean has been showing off a healthier figure in Marbella after having put on around a stone in recent months.

A friend tells Now: ‘Nic's had a tough time but she's back in amazing shape and we're all very proud of her.'

Nicola, 27, admitted starving herself after giving birth to son Striker in March 2010.

She lost 6st in eight months to get down to just 7st 9lb and a tiny size 6.

‘I don't eat normally,' she said at the time. ‘I won't eat every day.

'I know it's wrong but I don't want the numbers on the scales to go up.

'I've lost too much weight. My boobs look horrendous and you can see my ribs - I look like a little girl.'

Nic made a change when loved ones begged her to regain her curves.

Footballer hubby Tom Williams even promised her the Marbella break if she gained 5lb.

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Tom Jones exclusive show on August 18 at Hotel Puente Romano, Marbella.

Welsh singing legend and 60s sex symbol Tom Jones, 71, will be heating up the summer with an exclusive show on August 18 at Hotel Puente Romano, Marbella.

Jones will perform classics such as ‘It’s Not Unusual’, ‘Kiss’, ‘Delilah’ and ‘Sex Bomb’ as well as tracks from his critically acclaimed album ‘Praise & Blame’.

 

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Spain's most expensive residence stays in British hands

Spain’s most expensive residence, and one of the most exclusive in the world has just changed hands, but remains British owned.

Sa Fortalessa de Pollença consists of an 87,000 square metre estate with a castle, seven residencies, private beaches and a forest. It’s found in the Pollença bay on Mallorca, and is protected by Cape Formentor and a military base, offering complete security which has been enjoyed over the years by many heads of state and top dignitaries. It was a Mecca for artists and intellectuals from across Europe in the 20’s.

British owner John Ogden has sold the estate to a Spanish company whose main shareholder is another Briton who remains nameless, as does the quantity of money involved, but the deal has been confirmed by lawyers in Palma.

One report says the sale went for 125 million €, a far cry from the 45,000 pesetas paid in 1919 by the Argentinean painter, Roberto Ramaugé.

 

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Eva Longoria and her boyfriend, Eduardo Cruz, have arrived in London with the heat of their romance.

The lovebirds, Eva Longoria and Eduardo Cruz, appeared warmer and closer than ever, while they spent the night out in London. The 36-year-old beauty was spotted clutching onto her handsome beau's hand as they left The Cuckoo Club in Mayfair on Thursday night.
Throughout the evening, the couple looked at each other romantically, laughing and smiling at one another. Eva Longoria was looking stunning as always, flaunting her super-toned physique in a multicolored strapless Herve Leger dress.
Longoria complemented her looks with purple heels and nude embellished clutch. While going out for spending the romantic evening with her beau, Eva Longoria opted to go natural with her flawless complexion with minimal make-up.
The sexy brunette tied up her locks in a casual ponytail. The love duo showed up at the club after 10:00 pm and enjoyed a quixotic dinner together for two hours.
Later, Eva Longoria and Eduardo made their way towards dance floors and rocked the night together until around 3:00 am. The couple left the club in high spirits with Eva giggling at some joke Eduardo was sharing.
After thoroughly enjoying their night-out, the couple hopped into a chauffeured car and was driven back to their hotel.
The holiday trip to London was not the first romantic ride for the couple together; the couple spent last few weeks in Spain. "Desperate Housewives" star Eva Longoria was spotted there with her boyfriend enjoying steamy holiday days.
The romantic couple enjoyed sightseeing, dined with Eduardo's sister, Penelope Cruz, and her husband, Javier Bardem, in Madrid and enjoyed the exotic beach in Marbella. The hot and sexy Eva Longoria truly took advantage of her beach holidays and gave onlookers a treat this week as she stepped out onto a very crowded public beach in a super-sexy white bikini and a see-through vest.
The actress showcased her perfectly toned curves in extremely skimpy bikini bottoms and looked comfortable as she made her way through the sand and waves.
Initially, Eva Longoria and the Spanish singer dated for several months quietly. However, their latest trip to two holiday destinations clearly shows that their romance is entering the next level.
The new relationship of Eva Longoria started in December after she had been betrayed by her NBA star husband, Tony Parker, several months ago. In late January, their divorce got finalized.

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This week, after turning up at the Marbella Club Hotel with a young lady in tow, staff asked Princess Diana’s former love to leave.

Although he insists on a smart dress code for customers at his own restaurant in Marbella, former Life Guards officer James Hewitt has let his own sartorial standards slip.


‘He looked like he had just come straight off the beach,’ says one paying guest, who was celebrating her 18th birthday at the swanky hotel’s bar.

‘He came in at about 8.30 pm on Monday with a young woman,’ she says.

‘He was wearing shorts, a very creased shirt and a hat. He looked hot and dishevelled. The woman was in a beach dress.

‘As soon as they went up to the bar, the maitre d’ came over and said something first in Spanish and then in English.

'I overheard him saying:  “You can’t come in here like that.'' '

According to the guest, Hewitt, whose Polo House restaurant does not allow diners in shorts, asked if he and his companion could sit by the pool, but was refused.

On a happier note, I hear James and his business partner Ram Nandkishore, are planning to open ventures in Rome, Geneva and London.

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Real Housewives of New York star Sonja Morgan could lose her $6m mansion in her bitter divorce battle.

Bankrupt reality TV star Morgan, 47, is currently battling in court over a $3m settlement with millionaire 80-year-old John Adams Morgan, the New York Post reports.

'I'm sure the world thinks, "Sonja doesn't have to worry, she's got that husband there for her." But I'm on my own,' Morgan, 47, told the Post.

In court papers Morgan claims that while her ex-husband lives on a $19m private island off Connecticut, she is banned from visiting homes they co-own.

And Morgan, a mother of one, says she now may be forced to sell off her own New York home.

Layers for Adams Morgan say his client is appealing previous court rulings because he believes the divorce judge forced him to pay more than was agreed in pre and postnuptial agreements.

Morgan's financial woes have been documented in recent episodes of her hit reality TV show.

Last month, footage aired showing her co-stars learning she had filed for bankruptcy for $19 million in the papers.

She said she was 'heart broken' despite putting on a brave face.

After the episode, she took to her blog on Bravotv.com.

'It has been a steep learning curve in a business I knew nothing about,' she wrote, referring to an movie investment that sparked her finance trouble.

'I am back to doing what I know and will recover some of my loss with continued hard work. Facing this reality is not pretty for me.'

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Prince Harry is enjoying a romance with the former girlfriend of Formula 1 racing driver Jenson Button

After emerging as the most eligible member of the Royal Family following Prince William's marriage to Kate Middleton, Prince Harry appears no longer to be a bachelor.
The Prince is believed to have spent time in private with Florence, 25, a lingerie and swimwear model.
She is a descendant of the seventh Earl of Cardigan, Lieutenant General James Thomas Brudenell, who famously led the Charge of the Light Brigade against Russian forces during the Crimean War.
Florence and Prince Harry have reportedly known each other for years.
Friends told The Sun that Prince Harry, 26, had visited Florence at her £2.5 million home in Notting Hill, West London after admitting his long-running on-off affair with Chelsy Davy was over.

A Royal source told the newspaper: "It’s very early days but Harry and Florence are an item. Harry really likes her."
Florence, the daughter of Old Etonian wine merchant Andrew and his wife Sophie, went to Stowe School in Buckinghamshire before reading history of art at Bristol University.
She has previously talked of her love of art, having studied the subject also taken by Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge.
Her father was a collector, Florence said, and she had become "obsessed" with art.
"I get more pleasure out of collecting art than buying clothes - that’s how I justify it," she once said.
The model was already beginning to make her name by fronting campaigns for John Lewis when she met racing driver Button in 2006. They separated in 2008.
When asked about her relationship with the Prince yesterday, Florence said: "There's not much to say."
Prince Harry had been linked to Pippa Middleton after displaying a close rapport during their siblings' wedding.

 

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Amy Winehouse has cancelled her headline appearance at the Bilbao BBK Live festival on July 8.

It comes after the criticisms following the first date of her European tour in Belgrade last weekend, when fans effectively booed her off stage, and after first cancelling only a week of future concerts her manager has now cancelled the entire tour ‘until she recovers from her health problems’.

The 27 year old singer’s press representative has said ‘Everyone close to her is trying to do everything possible to help her recover and she will take the time necessary for this to happen’.

Last Tour International, the organiser of the Basque festival, says they are already looking for a substitute act for July 8, but have warned that there is not much time to do so.

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IN just one year Casamono has become a part of the Marbella establishment.

Already a favourite for local dignatories and visiting celebrities - including flamenco star Joaquin Cortes – it has managed to capture the imagination of the Marbella dining scene.
This is perhaps no surprise, its owner being the very capable Guy Sirre, who came to Marbella, via a career straddling Michelin-starred restaurants in France, London and San Francisco, not to mention a decade working as the Sultan of Brunei’s interior designer.
A fascinating career, the Belgian chef has turned this brilliant corner spot into one of the hippest new restaurants on the coast.
“The truth is I wasn’t looking to open a new restaurant in Marbella, but when I saw this location become available I jumped at the chance,” explains Sirre, 45.
On a south-facing corner just yards from the town’s famous Piruli roundabout, it turns out to be a rather infamous address, a previous chef being killed here, before the place burnt down.
“But I am not worried about that,” insists Guy. “It has just the right dimensions and outdoor space.  I knew it would work perfectly for us,” he says.
There is no doubt, that the Brussels-born businessman has a classic eye for business, not to mention detail: Casamono – meaning ‘monkey house’ is an intriguing mix of colonial and tropical style.


Full of wooden furniture and lush ferns (described as a ‘jungle garden’), its decor is light and airy and it has a warm and welcoming feel.
“Everything has to be right,” says Sirre. “We don’t first think about money. You first have to think about how it can work and look.
There is the style, music, service, food, lighting and more. Everything is important.”
Bathed in sunlight by day, at night the place comes alive with the arrival of squadrons of candles, and the roof carefully sliding across to shut out the elements.
Romantic for some, the place also becomes a hangout for the area’s fashionistas and party-goers later in the evening, particularly on Saturday nights.
But most of you will be here for the food, which is easily as good as its sister restaurant Casanis, over in the heart of the old town.
Head chef Alex changes the menu by the week and spends hours every morning scouting around the local markets for ingredients.
Doffing his hat to true Gallic flair, expect to find vol au vents, parmesan souffles, bouillabaisse soup.
Starters include Kenya green beans, white veal sweetbreads and a great duck terrine, served with crisp biscuits and fresh bread.
There are always a number of specials on the board and for my starter I tried the scallops with green chopped asparagus, beans, morel and trumpet mushrooms and cherry tomatoes, served in a lobster sauce with cod roe.
It was a real delight with a rich caramel flavour and, above all, a generous serving of four scallops.
For the main I went for the beautifully fresh turbot that came with new potatoes, watercress and fresh peas.
With a good wine, including some great French chestnuts, such as Gevrey Chambertin, you are in for a treat.
There is even a cocktail list and a pudding menu that included profiteroles with raspberries, guarantees that Casamono is here to stay.

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Millionaires invested more in art, luxury goods

Demand for art, watches, rare wines, vintage cars and other offbeat investments that set pulses racing expanded in 2010 as wealth levels of the world's super-rich rebounded from the financial crisis, a report said.

"The value of many categories of investments of passion rose and HNWIs (high net-worth individuals) made acquisitions for the aesthetic and emotional appeal and their potential to return value," Capgemini and Merrill Lynch said in the World Wealth Report 2011 published on Wednesday.

Growing wealth in emerging economies, especially in Asia -- which surpassed Europe in millionaires and wealth last year -- helped spur a revival in markets for these aptly named investments, the authors of the report said.

In times of low interest rates and volatile stock markets, alternative investments allow investors to diversify by buying assets with little correlation to global financial markets, thus offering potential shelter from market turbulence.

Luxury collectibles such as fancy cars, boats and jets accounted for almost a third of these investments in 2010. Chinese demand for expensive cars made by Mercedes-Benz and Ferrari (part of Fiat) jumped last year, the report said.

Individual tastes tend to determine whether a millionaire prefers investing in cars, watches or wine, while artworks are more likely to be acquired for their potential to gain value, the authors wrote.

"Newly wealthy Chinese buyers are widely reported to be keen bidders and buyers at galleries and auction houses, especially to acquire the fast-diminishing supply of works from native artists," the authors of the report said.

Art aficionados seemed willing to pay high prices at Art Basel, the world's top fair for modern and contemporary art, last week, suggesting the art market is returning to pre-crisis peaks.

Meanwhile demand for diamonds as well as gold jewelry and coins benefited from rising prices for these raw materials.

"Record prices for diamonds at international auctions in 2010 exemplified the growing trend among the world's HNWIs to see large diamonds as a safe and high-growth investment alternative," the report said, adding Russian and Middle Eastern investors were particularly keen on the expensive gems.

 

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Car crash Kerry Katona's facing the abyss after falling out with the woman who engineered her comeback: CAN Associates über-agent Claire Powell.

CAN signed Kerry, 30, in March 2010 when she was at rock bottom and Claire insisted she give up drugs, ease up on the boozing and stay away from her ex Mark Croft, 40.

But Kerry went on a massive alcohol binge while in Marbella recently with Mel B's sister Danielle Brown.

‘Her speech was slurred and she was gurning,' says a fellow partygoer.

‘I know she has bipolar disorder, but I haven't seen her look this bad for a long time.'

The final straw appears to have occurred when Kerry was expected to attend a 21st birthday bash for fellow CAN client Amy Childs.

Instead, she went on a six-hour bender and ended up sat in a luggage trolley in the lobby of London's posh May Fair hotel at 2am with her head in a bag.

‘She staggered into the hotel bar already hammered but she still carried on drinking,' reveals Now's eyewitness.

‘She was swearing loudly and making a real show of herself.'

Kerry has denied she was dumped by CAN and that she was 'bladdered' on the night of Amy's party.

'I was out with my therapist...I only had a few glasses of champagne,' she says.

'With my head in my bag it looked like I was being sick, but I was honestly just looking for my ticket.'

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Dating website for beautiful people dumps 30,000 members

It was meant to be a dating website exclusively for the use of "beautiful men and women", where members ruthlessly selected and excluded those who did not match their definitions of good looks.

But last month when BeautifulPeople.com was attacked by a computer virus, some claim standards slipped and around 30,000 new members gained admittance. Now, in a move which has made those rejected "apoplectic" with rage, they have been unceremoniously booted off at a financial cost of more than $100,000 (£62,000) to the site's operators.

The virus was quickly named Shrek – after the animated film about how looks should not matter – as it attacked the software used to screen potential members. A helpline has now been set up with counsellors on hand to help the distressed rejects from the site.

"We have to stick to our founding principles of only accepting beautiful people – that's what our members have paid for," said Greg Hodge, managing director of BeautifulPeople.com. "We can't just sweep 30,000 ugly people under the carpet."

Hodge reckoned the Shrek virus – which may have been posted by a disgruntled former employee – had affected the software that existing members use to rate prospective new entrants, allowing anyone to join. The website boasts that "beauty lies in the eyes of the voter" who are able to rank aspiring members on a type of traffic light scale where red is "absolutely not" and bright green is "beautiful". The site posts applicants' photographs alongside information about their weight and height and ask candidates to describe their "body type" as well as whether they own a car or home along with their zodiac sign.

"We got suspicious when tens of thousands of new members were accepted over a six-week period, many of whom were no oil painting," Hodge told the Guardian.

The brutal axing of the 30,000 hopefuls is not the site's first brush with controversy. Last year, about 5,000 members were removed from the site after they had appeared to put on weight during the Christmas period.

This month, the website triggered anger in Ireland when it said that Irish men were among the ugliest in the world. This was based on the reasoning that only 9% of male Irish applicants to the site were accepted. Only 20% of Irish women are accepted, compared with nearly 70% of Swedish women who sign up.

The prospects are even worse for British men, as according to Hodge, they are the most likely be rejected. "It's a bit of a sting as I'm a Brit," said Hodge, who is based at the site's head office in Los Angeles. On average one in seven people are rejected from the site which has around 700,000 members in 190 countries.

He said Norwegian women and Swedish men have the greatest chance of being accepted into the club, while Brazilian and Danish men are also popular – along with women from Sweden and Iceland.

Conceding that the latest set back was a "very embarrassing day", Hodge said he felt "very sorry" for the "unfortunate people who were wrongly admitted to the site and believed, albeit for a short time, that they were beautiful".

He attempted to placate the rejects. "I sent them all a very carefully worded email, trying to be as sensitive as possibly," he said. "But naturally many of them are finding it a bit of a sting to have been rated beautiful by their peers only to lose the accolade overnight." The company has paid out $112,500 in refunds to 4,500 of the 30,000 who had paid $25 a month for membership of the site. The others were still on a free trial period.

Hodge said the site, which started life in Denmark in 2002, was investigating the origins of the virus but said it appeared to have been planted by a disgruntled member of staff.

"At first it looked like one of the 5.5 million BeautifulPeople rejects planted the virus, but further investigations point towards a former employee planting the virus like an evil Easter egg last month," he said.

Rachel Godfrey, a 31-year-old Australian nanny living in LA, said she received an email telling her she was rejected two weeks after being accepted. "I was getting on really well with this American guy and we were going to go on a date and then they said I'd been chucked off and they locked me out of the site," she said. "Now I can't get in touch with him."

Godfrey said she is planning to have a makeover and professional photo shoot before reapplying to the website. "What if he's the one? This is only way I'll be able to get in touch with him," she said. "If that doesn't work I'll see what I can do with Photoshop."

 

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Hollywood stars, Silicon Valley billionaires and us. OFM joins the ultimate night at the greatest restaurant on the planet – a champagne last supper at El Bulli

I am still not sure why El Bulli made me cry. Or at least how it magicked a hot tear to my eye. It wasn't the intensity of taste, with shifting textures and notes that lasted longer than Pavarotti's C. It wasn't that I felt I had to close my eyes in a crowded room to savour and surf every wave of flavour. It wasn't even that "peas 2011" tasted more like my first peas than in any dish I've eaten since I was seven. Nor was it, honestly, the toasty flow of Dom Pérignon 1973. It was simply, in the end, I think, the deliciousness that undid me.

Not all the dishes were sublime, of course – I am not sure chef Ferran Adrià is interested in that. He wants to make you think and to feel food, to orchestrate your mood, mess with your idea of what it could and should be. More flavour theatre than restaurant. We ate a Felliniesque, insane 50 dishes culled from Adrià's "greatest hits", the oldest from more than 20 years before, the newest only finalised that morning (the menu was revised six times). Plus endless choices from a giant chocolate box that looked like a flashing organ coming out of the floor. But if we pass over the Japanese-style tiramisu (a sleight of hand with miso that was plain unpleasant), the disappointing trademark carbonara tagliatelle, and the "challenging" frozen gorgonzola balloon, El Bulli's 50 cooks still sent out close to 50 plates of food for 50 people that no other restaurant may ever match. As Ferran Adrià's heir apparent and current number one cook in the world, René Redzepi of Copenhagen's Noma, tells me: "Ferran and his team are culinary freedom fighters. They helped free me."

Our superluxe Spanish food trip started, surreally, in Luton, in an anonymous single-storey airport building where celebrities and top business people avoid civilians and waiting for flights. We had just missed Ozzy Osbourne shuffling though the lounge, and then Simon le Bon suddenly couldn't come. But 30 minutes before takeoff on our private jet – like a top-end Lexus limo with wings – actress Rosamund Pike has heroically stepped in for the year's hot meal ticket: an El Bulli supper, pitch perfect for a selection of rare champagne, devised by Adrià with Richard Geoffroy, Dom Pérignon's effervescent chef de cave.

Later that day, over dinner in a private Catalan castle, I am sitting opposite Hollywood's Heather Graham and Jason Silva, her film-producer boyfriend, who have also flown in for the feast, watching as the star of Boogie Nights and The Hangover delicately transfers her food from her plate to her partner's. While the rest of us gorge on octopus, Iberico ham and vintage fizz, she is saved from starvation by a strawberry kebab.

But the star everyone is here to see is Ferran Adrià, the "best cook on the planet", according to Joël Robuchon, and he should know, with his world-record 26 Michelin stars.

"I never said I wouldn't feed people," Adrià smiles when I ask what he will miss when he closes his door at the end of this, his last season. "After July, El Bulli won't be a restaurant, not open every day. But I will still need feedback." Adrià's plan is for a nonprofit centre for "culinary creativity" opening in 2014, with a stream of new recipes posted on the internet. "We are excited," he says through an interpreter (Adrià doesn't trust his English to be precise enough for our purposes). "Bulli has always been about change. Why does Madonna with all her money need to earn more? She could share, not her money but her creativity. The young share, and we at the top should, too.

"When we started there were eight of us, all bachelors; now we have families, kids. I don't have children but I am very happily married, with a wonderful wife. With the foundation I can give something back – my talent, my luck. I have created 1,846 dishes – 80 per cent of new cookery techniques come from here – but no one can be number one for ever. Even those that love us get tired" – though this may be news to the two million people who desperately tried to book when the news of El Bulli's closure was announced.

"I will be 50 soon, with maybe 25-30 years left," he laughs. "I want to be happy like I have always been, and I can do this  by taking away the things I don't like. Do what I want, when I want, for who I want."

I head into the El Bulli kitchen in time to catch the team troop in at 1pm, seven hours before service: heads bowed, hushed, intent. More like medieval novices come to mass than chefs about to prepare perhaps the greatest avant-garde meal ever seen.

Mateu Casañas, who has been with Adrià for 12 years, talks me through the preparation. Quietly, the chefs split into smaller teams. Ten start by teasing the germ from pine kernels, another six grade peas and skin them; 12 extract translucent filaments from sea cucumber to be intricately, delicately, lined into squares; four more sort papery yellow roses for perfect petals to be stuffed and steamed like dim sum. Seamlessly and almost silently, they shift between jobs, splitting young almonds to extract a jelly, making "parmesan frozen air".

I talk to Francesca, a Canadian of Asian heritage. On the day the call came from El Bulli she had been offered a staff position at Thomas Keller's three-star Per Se in New York. "So did I take a paid job in New York," she smiles, "or another 'stage' in Spain where I didn't speak the language?" And yet here she is in her second unpaid season, frothing and freezing buckets of cheese foam with a large grin on her face.

Jason Atherton also worked a stage at El Bulli, in 1998 when he was 27 – the year Adrià created his first foam. Before my trip to El Bulli we talk in the bar at Pollen Street Social, the British chef's celebrated new place in Mayfair. "I had worked with great chefs before," he says, "Marco Pierre White, Nico Ladenis, Pierre Koffmann, but it was from Ferran I learnt to question everything."

It took a full three years, says Atherton, before he realised how much his time at El Bulli had changed him: "There were 40 of us at the start of the season and at the end there were only 20 left. It takes a lot out of you, but the principles of how to run a great restaurant stay: the system, the time clock, the attention to detail. If I hadn't learn that, I wouldn't be here today.

"The sangria foam I serve at Pollen Street is the exact recipe I learnt, 12 years on. It is the lightest, airiest sangria you will ever taste. Why would I need to mess around with that? Chefs aren't geniuses, we are cooks," he says, "but Ferran deserves the mantle. A place like El Bulli will never happen again. It is impossible. One man's vision of what you could do with food."

Back in Spain, Adrià's relentless assault on my taste buds has driven me from the table overwhelmed, succumbed, surrendered, my hands and legs shaking, and we are "only" around 30 courses in. I have licked my plate of "gazpacho" and "ajo blanco", oblivious to my more reserved, more refined companions. I have tasted five of Geoffroy's dazzling Dom Pérignons, but I need respite before the two hare dishes, the "game meat cappuccino", the "blood", the "pond", the donuts, the other desserts and the "box".

I wander into the kitchen, where Observer photographer Howard Sooley is seven hours into his shoot – the first time Adrià has let anyone photograph behind the scenes during service.

Sooley used to work for US Vogue, and I watch as he slides between the chefs as they change direction like a shoal of silvery fish. And it strikes me: this is almost cooking as couture, backstage behind the catwalk as fantastical creations are pinned and primped into shape. I take in the dozens of tiny saucepans, the syringe-spiked dishes, a group of six young chefs intently plating up. All the cooks appear choreographed like a beautiful, complicated machine. Nothing is taken for granted, nothing is unconsidered.

There is true art in the artifice here, an underlying integrity to every technique. But somehow my celebrity-spiked supper has conjured up memories and emotions as much as the expected exquisite tastes. The plate-licked gazpacho is saturated with Spanish holidays. The peas take me back to podding on the porch with my mother in her yellow summer dress. The smell of the hare stock I will carry with me for ever.

At the perimeter of the kitchen, Ferran Adrià paces in silence, quietly observing. The general, seemingly unemotional, almost uninvolved. But watching. His eye seeing everything, like an eagle hanging high in the sky to catch the movement of every blade of grass.

He turns, sees me, too, standing there with lost eyes, and comes over. "Magic," he smiles softly, and he is right. As Jason Atherton says: "The guy is a legend, simple as that. We won't see his like again in our lifetime."

 

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Former porn star Ginger Lee said at a press conference in New York today that New York Rep. Anthony Weiner sent her sexually suggesting messages

Former porn star Ginger Lee said at a press conference in New York today that New York Rep. Anthony Weiner sent her sexually suggesting messages, then asked her to lie about their communication when his Twitter scandal erupted.

Pictures: Anthony Weiner's alleged porn star pen pal Ginger Lee

While Lee said she did not initiate sexual talk with Weiner, she did say the congressman's messages were often sexually suggestive.

"I have wardrobe demands too, I need to highlight my package," Weiner allegedly wrote in an email read by celebrity attorney Gloria Allred, Lee's press representative.

"We did communicate on a fairly regular basis," said Lee. "However, I did not sext Anthony Weiner. I did not send photos to him or receive any from him," reports CBS station WCBS.

Lee said that Weiner contacted her in March after she began following him on Twitter.

Allred said that several times Weiner tried to take the conversation to another level, always referencing his "package." Lee and the congressman spoke on the phone once, Allred said, when he gave her advice a couple weeks ago on how to handle the crush of media inquiries.

Lee said it was on Thursday, June 2, that Weiner called her and told her to avoid the media.

"He asked me to lie" at the beginning of the scandal, Lee said. "I refused to lie, so I went into hiding."

Entertainment website TMZ published messages it says Weiner sent to Lee about how to mislead the press about their relationship.

Weiner has acknowledged that he had sent lewd photos and texts to women after a photo of his crotch was posted on Twitter. In an interview two weeks ago, he acknowledged that he had exchanged messages with Lee but didn't elaborate.

Lee said she thinks Weiner should resign for lying to the public about the sexting scandal, saying "It might have never turned into this if he told the truth."

Weiner has taken leave from the House and is said to be seeking treatment. President Barack Obama and House Democratic leaders have pressed him to resign.

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Frank Lampard and Christine Bleakley have announced their engagement during their holiday in California.

The Chelsea footballer met TV presenter Christine at the Daily Mirror's Pride of Britain Awards in October 2009.

Love blossomed, and the pair returned to the Awards last year as a couple.

Christine told us: "Tonight is particularly special for Frank and I as it's here where it all began for us, this time last year. They hold fantastic memories for us."

After that first meeting, Frank and Christine went on a string of dates in the months that followed, with Christine also spotted in the stands at Chelsea games.

In January 2010 the couple were photographed together for the first time, after a romantic lunch in Belfast, where Christine's parents live.

She confirmed they were dating later that month as she prepared to cross the English channel on water skis for Sport Relief.

She admitted: "It is early days, so we are trying to be low key. But I am very happy."

And Frank joined her on media outings as she promoted the challenge in March, although he kept to the background.

By May she was one of the team, joining Chelsea's Premier League and FA Cup celebrations, first on the dance floor in Whisky Mist, then complete with Blues cap and scarf on the open-top bus parade.

And their romance meant reuniting with former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho at Real Madrid was not an option for Frank, as he told friends he felt the relationship was too important to risk.

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