Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies are investigating a complaint that Canadian pop sensation Justin Bieber roughed up a man who was taking pictures of the performer at a suburban shopping centre, police said on Monday.
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Upon exiting the cinema, Justin Bieber reportedly lost his cool from a photographer getting too close to him and girlfriend Selena Gomez, where an altercation between Justin and the photographer began Photo: BARCROFT
Deputies were called on Sunday to an outdoor shopping area in Calabasas, about 23 miles northwest of Hollywood, by a man who reported having just had an altercation with Bieber, the sheriff's department said in a press statement.
According to the statement, the man said he was taking pictures of Bieber, who was with his girlfriend, actress Selena Gomez, when the singer "physically battered" him.
Bieber's publicist with Island/Def Jam Music Group could not immediately be reached for comment.
A spokeswoman for the sheriff's department, Lillian Peck, declined to give further details about the nature of the alleged confrontation or any injuries suffered by the man.
But Peck said the man, who was not identified by police, complained of pain, and after requesting medical attention was treated on the scene by paramedics, then taken to a local hospital, where he was examined and later released.
Three people have been killed in a 5.9-magnitude earthquake that struck northern Italy near Bologna, according to reports. The quake that struck at just after 4am local time was centred 21.75 miles north-northwest of Bologna at a relatively shallow depth of six miles, the US Geological Survey said. Italian news agency Ansa, citing emergency services, said two people were killed in Sant'Agostino di Ferrara when a ceramics factory collapsed. Another person was killed in Ponte Rodoni do Bondeno. In late January, A 5.4-magnitude quake shook northern Italy. Some office buildings in Milan were evacuated as a precaution and there were scattered reports of falling masonry and cracks in buildings. The tremor was one of the strongest to shake the region, seismologists said. Initial television footage indicated that older buildings had suffered damage. Roofs collapsed, church towers showed cracks and the bricks of some stone walls tumbled into the street during the quake. As dawn broke over the region, residents milled about the streets inspecting the damage. Italy's Sky TG24 showed images of the collapsed ceramics factory in Sant'Agostino di Ferrara where the two workers were reportedly killed. The structure, which appeared to be a hangar of sorts, had twisted metal supports jutting out at odd angles amid the mangled collapsed roof. The quake “was a strong one, and it lasted quite a long time”, said Emilio Bianco, receptionist at Modena's Canalgrande hotel, housed in an ornate 18th century palazzo. The hotel suffered no damage and Modena itself was spared, but guests spilled into the streets as soon as the quake hit, he said. Many people were still awake in the town since it was a “white night”, with shops and restaurants open all night. Museums were supposed to have remained open as well but closed following the bombing of a school in southern Italy that killed one person. The quake epicentre was between the towns of Finale Emilia, San Felice sul Panaro and Sermide, but was felt as far away as Tuscany and northern Alto Adige. The initial quake was followed about an hour later by a 5.1-magnitude aftershock, USGS said. And it was preceded by a 4.1-magnitude tremor. In late January, a 5.4-magnitude quake shook northern Italy. Some office buildings in Milan were evacuated as a precaution and there were scattered reports of falling masonry and cracks in buildings. In 2009, a devastating tremor killed more than 300 people in the central city of L'Aquila.
DISPLAY: The €200,000 sofa will be at the Gomez and Molina store.
A SOFA valued at €200,000 will be on display for the first time in Marbella at the end of this month.
The 500kg sofa which Michael Jackson ordered for his comeback concert in London will on show at jewellers Gomez and Molina during the Marbella Luxury Weekend taking place Thursday May 31 to Sunday June 3 in Puerto Banus.
BRITAIN yesterday piled pressure on German Chancellor Angela Merkel to save the euro. 6 comments Related Stories PM: Make or break for euro HE to issue plea to Merkel to fork out as only way to stave off meltdown New French Pres gets a soakingFrench warning for CameronSarky poll malarky will leave PM narky David Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne said she must use her financial clout to stop the single currency collapsing. The PM hammered the message home in emergency talks via video-link with Mrs Merkel and French president Francois Hollande. It came as the chaos in Greece spread to Spain — with fears of a run on banks in both countries. Greeks have taken £560million from local banks in the past week. And yesterday Spain’s Bankia bank was forced to deny reports customers had taken £800million out of its coffers in the past seven days. Last night the fears hit Santander UK as credit rating agency Moody’s downgraded the bank along with its Spanish owner and 15 other Spanish banks. And credit agency Fitch downgraded Greece on fears it will be booted out of the Eurozone. Earlier, Mr Osborne said the Treasury had drawn up emergency plans to cope with Greece quitting the euro. He told MPs: “Britain will be prepared for whatever comes.” Mr Cameron had warned countries such as Greece and Spain can only survive if richer countries did more to “share the burden of adjustment”. He also backed Eurobonds to raise billions to prop up crisis-hit countries — a proposal that would have to be bankrolled by Berlin. After the video chat, a Downing Street spokesman said the PM urged the eurozone to take “decisive action to ensure financial stability and prevent contagion”.
In a sweeping reassessment, ratings agency Moody’s announced in Madrid that it is downgrading 16 Spanish banks because it could not be sure of the ability of the country’s government to provide the necessary support.
Santander UK was among the banks highlighted after the ratings agency took aim at its parent Banco Santander, based in Spain.
The Spanish banking crisis has hit the British high street, with the news that Santander has had its credit rating cut
Santander is one of the biggest players in UK retail banking, having taken over the former Abbey National, Alliance & Leicester, Bradford & Bingley and most recently the English branches of the Royal Bank of Scotland.
The new lower A2 credit rating is certain to be a cause of anxiety to Santander UK’s millions of British customers.
Nevertheless, they can be confident that their deposits up to £85,000 are guaranteed by the British government should there be a loss of confidence.
Bono is among the long list of those who will benefit when Facebook goes public on Friday. The U2 singer is set to become the richest man in rock when Facebook shares go on public sale tomorrow, overtaking Sir Paul McCartney who has topped the rock 'n' roll rich-list for years and is currently worth roughly 665 million pounds. Bono will overtake that by some distance when Facebook goes public. His Elevation Partners equity firm bought 2.3% of Zuckerberg's company in 2009 for $90 million, and that investment will be worth over $1.5 billion when the deal is done. Of course, regular people will say that it must be nice to have $90 million to risk, and they will be right. For most people, $1 million is an amount of money outside of their wildest dreams, never mind $90 million. But Bono, it is fair to say, is not most people. He is already one of the world's highest paid musicians. In the last two years, he has taken profits of around $195 million from record sales and concert receipts. That is a hell of a lot of money, but his eyebrows will be raised well above those big sunglasses over the fact that he made much more money by sitting on his butt and letting Mark Zuckerberg (and his broker) do all of the work. If he wishes, he never has to sing "Sunday Bloody Sunday" or "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" again. When Elevation, which has a lot of wealthy private clients, first bought Facebook stock, it was worth $9 billion. In June of 2011, it had gone up to $23 billion. At the end of last year, Goldman Sachs valued it at $50 billion. On Friday, the company's value should shoot through the roof. Of course, Bono won't be able to spend that money right away as he can't sell all of his shares at once. However, it is fair to say that his value is about to rocket up. He has said that a lot of that money will go to come of Bono's charity projects which focus on humanitarian aid in Africa. The world is a funny place. For all of the criticism aimed at Zuckerberg and Facebook, the success of the site will directly result in good being done in impoverished countries. Nice work, Bono.
The Marbella town hall has approved a subsidy for the IBI tax for property owners registered with the town hall as part of efforts to revitalise the ailing property market. The subsidy in property tax will be between 1.5% and 10% of the tax due based on the assessed value of the property. For example, a family registered in the town hall with a property that has an assessed value below 100,000€ will receive a 10% reduction in the property tax. Marbella Mayor, Angeles Muñoz, said that this means “they [property owners] will hardly notice the increase in the IBI tax.” Owners with properties valued between 100.000€ and 200.000€ will receive a 5% discount, while those with properties valued between 200.000€ and 300.000€ will be given a discount of 3%. Owners whose properties are valued over 300.000€ will be given a 1.5% discount in their IBI. Assessed property values will be revised every ten years. “In our opinion, the plan taken is fairer than reducing the tax of every owner equally. This would mean that families with more resources would obtain bigger reductions. It is necessary to benefit families with fewer resources” Muñoz said. The town hall have also approved a 60% reduction (the maximum allowed by Spanish Law) on the Plusvalía tax. Plusvalía is the tax you pay on any profit made when selling a property. If you buy a property for 100,000€ and sell it for 150,000€ then plusvalía will be due on 50,000€. By making these changes the mayor hopes the property market “will be revived”. Muñoz added that Marbella is leading the recovery of the real-estate market in the Malaga province.
Few marques get auto collectors riled up quite like Ferrari, and of classic Ferraris, few are as highly sought-after as the legendary Testa Rossa. We're talking, of course, about the 50s-era roadster (as opposed to the 80s-era cheesegrater supercar), and the originals continue to fetch top dollar (or euro) whenever and wherever their fortunate owners are willing to part with them.
That when and where came this past weekend in Monte Carlo during the Historical Grand Prix of Monaco where RM Auctions sold some highly desirable classic metal. Topping the list was the rare 1957 Ferrari 625 TRC Spider you see here, one of only two built, which sold for a whopping €5,040,000 – equivalent to over $6.4 million at today's exchange rates. That's considerably more than the $4m four-cylinder 500 TRC that RM auctioned last year, but substantially less than the record $12m it garnered for a 250 TR in 2009.
Of course the Testa Rossa wasn't the only car sold at the event, which brought in an astonishing €33.5 million (~$43m) in sales on 87 percent of all lots sold. In fact it wasn't even the only Ferrari represented there, though it was the most expensive by a wide margin. A 1966 Ferrari 206 S Dino Spyder and a 1952 Ferrari 225 Sport Spyder 'Tuboscocca' (one of only 12 Vignale Spyders produced) each fetched €2.5 million ($3.2m), a rare factory Daytona Spyder brought in over €1 million ($1.3m), the car which Michael Schumacher drove to the 2000 Formula One World Championship and that Ferrari hydroplane each brought in over €800k (about a million greenbacks).
Other notable racing machinery sold at the auction included a Peugeot 908 LMP (which won several Le Mans Series races), a Lamborghini Gallardo LP600 GT3 (raced by Blancpain CEO Mark Hayek in the Super Trofeo series), a Ferrari FXX Evoluzione and a pair of Ducati Desmosedici MotoGP racing bikes. Follow the jump for all the juicy details and scope out the headline Testa Rossa in the high-res image gallery above.
The Cannes Film Festival opens later with US director Wes Anderson's film Moonrise Kingdom. His movie, which stars Bill Murray, is one of the 22 movies selected to compete for the festival's biggest prize, the Palme d'Or. However, the celebrations have been marred by criticism that no female directors will be in competition. The only woman to have won the prestigious award was Jane Campion in 1993, with The Piano. A group of prominent female filmmakers have written an open letter to the French newspaper Le Monde criticising the lack of women being showcased. Ripe with sarcasm, the letter was signed by directors Fanny Cottencon and Virginie Despentes - who made the sexually explicit Baise Moi in 2000 - among others. It said: "Men love their women to have depth, but only when it comes to their cleavages. "All 22 films in the official selection were written, happy coincidence, by 22 men." Fish Tank director Andrea Arnold was also behind a recent adaptation of Wuthering Heights However, festival director Thierry Fremaux has supported the longlist of nominees, insisting the judges "would never select a film that doesn't deserve it just because it is directed by a woman". This year's Palme d'Or judges are led by Italian Nanni Moretti and include Britain's Ewan McGregor and Andrea Arnold, acclaimed for directing the 2009 film Fish Tank. Last year saw the British filmmaker Lynne Ramsey nominated for her film We Need To Talk About Kevin. Her star in that film, UK actress Tilda Swinton, is due on the red carpet as a cast member of Anderson's opening night film - which also stars Bruce Willis. Also in competition this year is Ken Loach with his Glasgow-set comedy-drama The Angel's Share. He has been nominated 11 times, last winning the Palme d'Or in 2006 for the IRA drama The Wind That Shakes The Barley. Past winners Michael Haneke and Jacque Audiard - who won the jury's Grand Prize for his film A Prophet in 2009 - are also in the running. Australian John Hillcoat and New Zealand's Andrew Dominik are both nominated respectively for the prohibition era film Lawless and Killing Me Softly, which stars Brad Pitt. Pitt and his fiancee Angelina Jolie are both expected on the red carpet this year. American David Cronenberg is in competition with his film Cosmopolis, starring an against-type Robert Pattinson, while Cronenberg's son Brendan is competing in the Un Certain Regard category - which awards new talent - with his film Antiviral. Two female film-makers join him in that category: France's Catherine Corsini and Sylvie Verheyde.
With so much of the attention Stateside focused squarely on the "Rob and Kristen Factor," we thought it would be helpful to take a look at the lineup and share the films we are most excited about at the upcoming festival.
Here are our top 10 most anticipated movies at the Cannes Film Festival:
10. "The Paperboy" This adaptation of the Peter Dexter novel marks Lee Daniels' first film since making it big on the indie scene with "Precious." "The Paperboy" promises a different direction for Daniels, telling the story of a reporter (John Cusack) who travels back to his home town to investigate a death-row case.
9. "Reality" Director Matteo Garrone made waves at Cannes in 2008 with his hyper-real look at Neapolitan organized crime, "Gomorrah," which won the Grand Jury Prize that year. For this year's festival, he returns with "Reality," a look at the way we perceive life since the dawn of reality television.
8. "Cosmopolis" Robert Pattinson's name alone has drawn much attention to this in-competition film, but the true nature of its intrigue lies with its director, David Cronenberg. With his adaptation of Don DeLillo's novel, Cronenberg, with the help of Pattinson, of course, looks to be revisiting the bizarre aesthetics and subject matters that made him famous in the 1980s. We've been waiting for this one ever since it won the MTV Movie Brawl 2012 back in January.
7. "Like Someone in Love" "Certified Copy," the previous film from Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami, earned Juliette Binoche a best actress award at Cannes in 2010, but the film itself is one of the best examples of pure art-house filmmaking in the past few years. With "Like Someone in Love," Kiarostami shifts his focus from Italy to Japan but keeps the same entry point of a man and a woman who may or may not know each other.
6. "Amour" "The White Ribbon," Michael Haneke's previous film tangentially about the saplings of fascism in Germany, wowed audiences on the Croisette in 2009, and "Amour" seems poised to do the same. The film tells the story of Georges and Anne, an octogenarian couple whose bond comes under strain after one of them suffers an attack.
5. "On the Road" Similar to "Cosmopolis," "On the Road" has drawn a great deal of attention because it features a "Twilight" star, in this case Kristen Stewart, but she only makes up an element of this insanely star-studded Jack Kerouac adaptation, which also stars Sam Riley, Garrett Hedlund, Kirsten Dunst, Viggo Mortensen and Terrence Howard.
4. "Lawless" Formerly known as "Wettest County," this Southern-set prohibition crime film boasts a cast featuring Tom Hardy, Shia LaBeouf, Jessica Chastain, Gary Oldman and Guy Pearce and a critical darling of a director, John Hillcoat. The recently released trailer looks strong, and Hillcoat's pedigree alone (his previous films include "The Proposition" and "The Road") make this a must-see for the festival.
3. "Rust and Bone" A film about a whale trainer who loses a leg to an orca doesn't necessary seem like Palme d'Or material, but "Rust and Bone" comes from director Jacques Audiard, who took the Grand Jury Prize in 2009 with the impressive "A Prophet," and it stars Marion Cotillard as the unfortunate trainer.
2. "Killing Them Softly" It wouldn't be surprising if you haven't seen "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," but it would certainly be unfortunate. The western starring Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck debuted and left theaters quietly, but since 2007, the film has slowly gained a reputation as a modern classic. As director Andrew Dominik's first film since "Jesse James," "Killing Them Softly" stands out as both his reunion with Pitt and his much-anticipated follow-up.
1. "Mud" A writer/director may take a few films to nail down their voice and storytelling identity, but with his first two movies, Jeff Nichols has not only established himself as a serious filmmaker, but also one of the most exciting auteurs working today. Those films, "Shotgun Stories" and "Take Shelter," are two genuine masterpieces of American filmmaking, and we look forward to his third feature film "Mud," starring Matthew McConaughey and Reese Witherspoon.
Spain's government said Tuesday it appointed two overseas firms as external auditors to appraise the loan book of banks, a task that may be completed in under two months, as European Union partners backed its efforts to cut spending and clean up the banking sector.
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band began their two-and-a-half month European tour with a 27-song show at Estadio Olimpico in Seville, Spain on Sunday night.
The set list wasn't much different from the shows Bruce has performed in the U.S. with "I'm Goin' Down," the second song in the encore as the only tour premiere.
Show began at 9:20 p.m. Seville time.
Set list: 1. Badlands 2. We Take Care of Our Own 3. Wrecking Ball 4. The Ties That Bind 5. Death to My Hometown 6. My City of Ruins 7. Trapped 8. Out in the Street 9. Jack of All Trades 10. Candy's Room 11. She's the One 12. Darlington County 13. Shackled and Drawn 14. Waitin' on a Sunny Day 15. The Promised Land 16. Apollo Medley 17. Because the Night 18. The Rising 19. Lonesome Day 20. We Are Alive 21. Land of Hope and Dreams
Encores:
22. Rocky Ground (with Michelle Moore) 23. I'm Goin' Down (tour premiere) 24. Born to Run 25. Dancing in the Dark 26. Bobby Jean 27. Tenth Avenue Freeze-out
Show over at 12:20 a.m.
Next show: Tuesday at Estadio de Gran Canaria in Las Palmas, Spain.
COSTA DEL SOL based composer Dario Poli has seen one of his songs released ahead of British 60s singer Engelbert Humperdinck’s Eurovision appearance this month. Dario was contected by Roberto Danova from Plaza Records Ltd to confirm that the track, created more than a decade ago had been released and that a Europe-wide radio promotion to over 180 stations was underway. Dario jointly wrote the music and lyrics with Danova and it was released originally as instrumental music with some Gregorian type chants and titled ‘Nostradamus 1999’. Following a meeting with Englebert Humperdinck some minor changes were made and his voice was added at a studio in London. “An amazing experience”, Dario recalls. It wasn’t released at that time but Danova remixed the work to be released ahead of Engelbert’s Eurovision Song contest appearance in Baku, Azerbaijan, on May 26 representing the UK. Meanwhile, Dario, who is also the composer of the music ‘Corazon’ for the charity The Children for Peace Onlus, is busily campaigning for the good name of Marbella and the Costa del Sol.
MARBELLA has been chosen as the location for Elizabeth Hurley’s very first designer beachwear boutique. It is set to be inaugurated on Monday June 12, according to Hurley’s London Press office. It will be a collection of the English model and actress’s own designs she has worked on over the past five or so years. While Hurley has previously showcased her designs in temporary summer ‘pop up’ stores, this will be the first permanent store.
highly anticipated opening of the Ritz-Carlton. Crowned as the city’s first five-diamond hotel, the brand banked on its considerable reputation to create a space of 159 residences that would appeal to those seeking the ultimate in style and service. Naturally, and not surprisingly, other prestigious hotel brands followed suit. This past April, amid some surprise and a few tears, the iconic franchise Four Seasons Hotel and Private Residences shuttered its Avenue Road doors to make way this summer for a reportedly bigger-and-better successor down the street. Trump International Hotel & Tower just recently cut its ribbon, launching the country’s tallest condo tower: a whopping 65 storeys, boasting $6-million suites. And who could possibly ignore the tattle swirling over Shangri-La Toronto? Just as the name intimates, this utopian property — based on the Asian principles of supreme hospitality — is rumoured to ascend them all, come August (80% of the $1-million to $9.3-million estate suites have already been sold).
The First Lady's whirlwind tour of Spain in 2010 better have been a once in a lifetime trip, because her getaway cost taxpayers nearly half a million dollars.
The highly controversial and lavish trip drew ire at the time, but the White House assured the public that the Obamas picked up the tab on their own.
But new information fromJudicial Watch, a public interest group that investigates government corruption, detailed the extensive security costs to the United States Air Force and Secret Service.
The Obamas' highly publicized and polarizing vacations may cost even more to the First Family, as voters appear to be disheartened by their extravagance.
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Inquisition: New documents revealed that Michelle Obama's trip to Spain in 2010 cost taxpayers $500,000
'The American people can ill afford to keep sending the First Family on vacations around the globe,' Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said.
'There needs to be greater sensitivity to the costs borne by taxpayers for these personal trips.'
In 2010, Mrs Obama visited the Spain's picturesque coastal towns, shopped, toured and even had a lunch date with the country’s King and Queen.
Her every move was highly documented and scrutinized by the press, which called her trip 'tone-deaf' during tough economic times.
'It is hypocritical for President Obama to fire GSA officials for wasteful conference spending, while his family went on a luxury vacation in the Costa del Sol Spain that cost taxpayers nearly half a million dollars,' Fitton said.
The New York Times previously reported that Mrs. Obama brought along her daughter Sasha, 'two friends and four of their daughters, as well as a couple of aides and a couple of advance staff members.'
Shopper's Paradise: The five-day trip included loads of shopping and sight-seeing. In this photo, Michelle Obama, left, visits the Alhambra and the Palace of Charles the 5th
The five day trip cost at least $467,585, according to Judicial Watch.
The total cost of flying Michelle Obama from Camp Andrews to Malaga and then to Mallorca and back to the United States was $199,323.75.
That tab is based on just 17 hours and 15 minutes of total flying time.
The White House said that the First Lady would reimburse only the equivalent of first-class commercial tickets for herself and her daughter Sasha, since the rest of the seats were occupied by Secret Service.
Her friends flew on separate commercial flights, the New York Times reported.
Royal Excursion: While on the trip, the First Lady met with the King and Queen of Spain for a lunch date
The Gang's All Here: Mrs Obama brought along her daughter Sasha, two good friends and four of their daughters, as well as a few aides and a couple of advance staff members
The 15-member flight crew stayed at Tryp Guadalmar, a nearby motel where group's lodging cost was $10,290.60 and car rental costs were $2,633.50.
In addition, their food cost was $876.30, which included an American indulgence of $57.68 for four bottles of maple syrup and a package of pancake mix.
Secret Service records, meanwhile, show that the costs to the agency for the vacation were $254,461.20.
This total includes $26,670.61 for a chauffeur tour of Costa del Sol and $50,078.78 for a travel planning company SET P&V, S.L.
Though her trips may cost taxpayers money, they could also cost President Obama his job.
High Price: New polls conducted by Republican researchers reveal that the First Family's extravagant lifestyle makes undecided voters sour
Top-tier Republican pollsters, organized by Resurgent Republic, traveled to 11 battleground states to host focus groups.
The spoke to independent and swing voters who were Obama supporters in 2008, but are now undecided.
'They don’t like Obama using their tax dollars to benefit himself,' pollster John McLaughlin said to the Washington Examiner.
The lesson from the sessions, McLaughlin said, is that the first family 'is out of touch' with working class voters.
And they well may be - the First Lady revealed today that one of her secret 'fantasies' is to sneak away from the Secret Service's watchful eye, a move that would no doubt cost taxpayers a pretty penny.
'It is hard to sneak around and do what you want,' Michelle Obama said today at a 'Take your child to work day' event.
'I have done it a couple of times. But you know one fantasy I have, and the Secret Service they keep looking at me because they think I might actually do it, is to walk right out the front door and just keep walking.'
She also revealed her political future, or lack of one, depending on how you read her response.
When asked if she would ever go after her husband's job, the First Lady responded with a resounding 'Maybe.'
'Being president is a really hard job and it’s an important job,' Mrs Obama said.
'I think one of the things you learn about yourself as you get older are what are your strengths and what are your interests. And for me it’s other stuff that is not being the president. So I probably won’t run. But that’s a great question.'
IS THE TAXPAYER FUNDING PRESIDENT'S RE-ELECTION CAMPAIGN? FURY AS OBAMA USES $180,000-AN-HOUR AIR FORCE ONE TO FLY TO FUNDRAISERS
By Toby Harnden
Flight Plan: President Barack Obama disembarks from Marine One on the South Lawn. His use of official vehicles for fundraising trips has caused concern
President Barack Obama has already held more than twice as many re-election fundraising events than President George W. Bush did in his entire 2004 re-election campaign.
According to Mark Knoller of CBS News, unofficial keeper of presidential statistics, Obama has held 124 fundraisers - about one every three days - since he launched his re-election bid last April compared to the 57 Bush held to raise cash for his re-election bid eight years ago
Obama’s frenetic fundraising schedule had prompted the Republican National Committee (RNC) to lodge a formal complaint with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) about misuse of taxpayer money.
The Obama campaign dismissed the complaint as a ‘stunt’ and the White House said that it would follow the same rules as previous administrations and refund the appropriate amounts.
According to the Pentagon, the Boeing 747 that normally serves as Air Force One costs $179,750 an hour to operate.
In the complaint, Reince Priebus, RNC chairman, wrote: ‘Throughout his administration, but particularly in recent weeks, President Obama has been passing off campaign travel as 'official events,' thereby allowing taxpayers, rather than his campaign, to pay for his re-election efforts.'
John Boehner, Speaker of the House of Representatives, today demanded that Barack Obama ‘pony up and reimburse the Treasury’ for what he said were are campaign trips to battleground states dressed up as presidential travel.
He accused the Obama campaign of manufacturing a phony fight about student loans and then using Air Force One to hold what amounted to re-election rallies in swing states.
‘Frankly, I think this is beneath the dignity of the White House … for the president to make a campaign issue about it and then travel to three battleground states,’ he said.
'This one does not pass the straight-face test. You know it, and I know it. It’s time for the Obama campaign to pony up and reimburse the Treasury.’
He added that ‘the president keeps trying to invent these kind of fake fights because he doesn’t have a record’ and ‘the emperor wears no clothes’.
Priebus said that the Obama campaign ‘has been cheating the American taxpayer by using taxpayer dollars to fund their general election efforts’ and had ‘held more campaign events in three-and-a-half years than any other president did in their full term’.
'It’s time for the Obama campaign to pony up and reimburse the Treasury.’
John Boehner, Speaker of the House of Representatives
He pointed to Obama's current trip to North Carolina, Colorado, and Iowa, all key battleground states, to discuss extending lower interest rates on student loans as examples of this tax-payer funded campaign travel.
‘One might imagine that if this were genuinely a government event he might have stopped in a non-battleground state like Texas or Vermont,' his complaint said.
Priebus told reporters: ‘This President and Air Force One seem to have a magic magnet that only seem to land in battleground states in this country.’
He added that a trip to Florida a fortnight ago, when an official speech was added to a day’s programme of fundraising, was suspect. ‘This speech was high on class warfare, slogans, and divisive campaign style rhetoric. It was low on substance that would benefit the populace at large.’
Spanish King Juan Carlos underwent surgery for a second time, the royal palace said, after suffering a broken hip during a much-criticised Botswana hunting trip and receiving a prosthesis. Juan Carlos, 74, "was operated on this evening at the hospital USP San Jose for a dislocated right hip which he suffered in the afternoon as a result of a wrong movement," the palace said in a statement. The monarch was "recovering satisfactorily in the hospital where he will spend the night," the statement said. The Spanish king -- who is widely respected for leading his people to democracy after decades of dictatorship and foiling an armed coup plot in 1981 -- faced unusually strong criticism when it emerged he went on the expensive hunting trip while his country suffers from a recession. The trip came to light because the king broke his hip in Botswana and was rushed home for surgery on April 14, during which he received a hip replacement.
The ramifications would be enormous, including: reduced odds of Barack Obama’s reelection, assuming a weaker U.S. recovery; less political cohesion and more social unrest in Europe (even now, the European Union’s unemployment rate is 10.2 percent); and growing pressures in many countries for economic nationalism and protectionism.
Spain is suffering a hangover from what economist Desmond Lachman of the American Enterprise Institute calls “the mother of all housing booms.”
Just so. At the peak in 2006, “Spain started nearly 800,000 homes — more than Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom combined,” noted a 2009 IMF report. Construction workers representedone in eight jobs (the U.S. figure at the height of the American real estate bubble was one in 18). Even after correcting for normal inflation, Spain’s home prices more than doubled from 1995 to 2006.
One cause was a prolonged period of low interest rates coinciding with the introduction of the euro in 1999, says economist Jacob Funk Kirkegaard of the Peterson Institute. Another was that many property and construction loans were funneled through Spanish savings banks,cajas, “that were controlled by local and regional governments that had an interest in economic development,” says Jeffrey Anderson of the Institute of International Finance, an industry think tank.
The bubble’s collapse crippled the economy, left cajas with large losses and vastly expanded government deficits. Unemployment is almost 24 percent; among those under 25, it’s 50 percent. Tax revenue has dropped sharply. In 2011, the budget deficit was 8.5 percent of the economy (gross domestic product). For 2012, the IMF projects a deficit of 6 percent of GDP compared with a target of 5.3 percent.
Spain’s predicament is agonizing. To borrow at reasonable interest rates requires convincing financial markets that huge deficits are being reduced. But cutting spending and raising taxes risk deepening the slump, widening the deficit and fostering more street protests. The dilemma is plain: Austerity may produce more austerity, while the absence of austerity may produce a crisis of confidence. In addition, Spain’s banks need more capital. Who will provide that?
Previously, Greece, Portugal and Ireland succumbed to similar predicaments. After interest rates soared on their bonds, they had to be rescued by loans from other European countries, the European Central Bank and the IMF. The trouble is that Spain’s economy is twice as big as Greece’s, Ireland’s and Portugal’s combined. And financially precarious Italy has an economy that’s 50 percent larger than Spain’s. Is there enough money to bail out these countries?
In truth, no one has a neat solution to end Europe’s financial nightmare. Maybe Spain and Italy will escape calamity. Or perhaps more last-minute loans will buy time until the rest of the world economy revives and pulls Europe from the abyss.
Or perhaps not.
The weaker Europe becomes, the more it may drag down the rest of the world through three channels: damaged confidence and investment, fewer imports, and less credit to businesses and households. Remember: Europe is about one-fifth of the world economy, roughly equal with the United States. The 27 members of the European Union are the world’s largest importer (excluding exports to each other), just ahead of the United States. And European banks operate globally.
The foreboding is undisguised. “For the last six months, the world economy has been on . . .a roller coaster,” Olivier Blanchard, the IMF’s chief economist, said last week. “One has the feeling that, at any moment, things could well get very bad again.”
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