The International Marbella Set

Thursday, 19 July 2012

recreational island 0111 Luxury Floating Island   BMT Nigel Gee luxury island luxury floating island Henry Ward Helipad BMT Nigel Gee

The problem with being on the ocean is space is at a premium. Well thanks to Southampton based designers BMT Nigel Gee and recent design graduate Henry Ward that is no longer the case.

The Luxury Floating Island folds out to a floating platform and can be used for dancing, dining and entertainment and when you require it transforms into a private helipad.

After use the Island collapses down and is packed securely in the storage area. The Island was originally the final year project of Mr Henry Ward but BMT Nigel Gee managed to turn a concept into a luxury must have. The size of the Island when fully deployed is 10 metres by 8 perfect for those not so intimate parties.

.7553393 orig Luxury Floating Island   BMT Nigel Gee luxury island luxury floating island Henry Ward Helipad BMT Nigel Gee

 

recreational floating island by henry ward and bmt group zaxvu Luxury Floating Island   BMT Nigel Gee luxury island luxury floating island Henry Ward Helipad BMT Nigel Gee

“This project is a perfect match for BMT Nigel Gee”, comments Yacht Design Director James Roy.  “We recognise that creativity drives innovation and it is encouraging to see young designers such as Henry initiating ideas such as the Recreational Island.  We are strong believers in recognising that the creation and development of new ideas is best accomplished in a collaborative manner – bringing together unique capabilities to achieve the optimum result.”

Royal Malewane Bush Spa luxurious treatments 2 The Luxury Spa Award Winners 2012 Luxury Spas luxury spa awards holistic therapy Featured beauty treatments

If there is an award to represent the “bar of service excellence” in international spa service, The Luxury Spa Awards are it.  These prestigious awards are presented in various categories each year from thousands of online client ratings throughout the globe.

As the aesthetic and luxury industries continue to grow, competition for this international achievement gains in strength year on year.  Marinique de Wet, executive manager of the luxury spa awards stated: “The level of competition in 2012 were exceptional evident from the calibre of spas that were nominated by clients.  These spas stood up to the highest expectations and were tested by discerning spa-goers looking for the ultimate experience where only the absolute best is acceptable.” As well as raising benchmark for client service, the awards also aim to give recognition and thanks to the spa industry as a whole.

Winners included “The Spa at The Address Dubai Marina” in the United Arab Emirates who won the international award for the “Best Luxury Hotel Spa”.  This spa is conveniently located just a short stroll away from the sandy beaches of the Arabian Gulf.  It also has a direct link to the decadent Dubai Marina Mall.   Treatments at this salon for the face and body use only the most pure and organic Aromatherapy Associates essentials and NaturalBisse products.

Dubai The Luxury Spa Award Winners 2012 Luxury Spas luxury spa awards holistic therapy Featured beauty treatments

Other winners this year who took the idea of raising the bar of service excellence have achieved this on another level by offering their services in natural environments such as “The Grand Spa at Tabacon”in Costa Rica.  This top hot spring resort won the international award for the “Best Luxury Mineral Spa”. This spa provides treatments with a full view in open-air among lush gardens, tropical rainforest, hot springs and volcano as background. 

 tabacon The Luxury Spa Award Winners 2012 Luxury Spas luxury spa awards holistic therapy Featured beauty treatments

Similarly, the award for the “Best Luxury Safari” went to “Karkloof Wellness & Wildlife Retreat” in South Africa.  This spa is located in 3500 hectares of picturesque game reserve, in amongst the valleys, waterfalls and Acacias. The reserve is home to buffalo, black and white rhino, hippo and a variety of other wildlife, and roughly 300 bird species.

 karkloof spa sunrise villa1 The Luxury Spa Award Winners 2012 Luxury Spas luxury spa awards holistic therapy Featured beauty treatments

Wednesday, 18 July 2012

The Aman Spa London Aman Spa Mayfair, Luxurious New Escape In London Luxurious New Escape In London Featured Aman Spa Mayfair

This luxurious new spa lies in the heart of glamorous Mayfair beneath the Edwardian lobby of London’s Connaught Hotel. The Aman spa at the Connaught is the first Aman branded facility built outside one of the company’s hotel, the result of this separation is perfect relaxation and solitude.

The Aman Spa features five low-lit treatment rooms (one double and four singles) each containing a dressing area, a spa treatment area and steam shower as well as individual music systems. These personal areas ensure you escape and relax in your own perfect way.

The Aman Spa London 2 Aman Spa Mayfair, Luxurious New Escape In London Luxurious New Escape In London Featured Aman Spa Mayfair

An array of treatments are available to suit every guests needs from a range of holistic massages to healing therapies reflecting the renewing traditions of China, Thailand, India and the America’s. For a more in-depth session, The Aman Spa also offers a range of specialist complementary therapies such as reflexology, acupuncture and osteopathy.

The Aman Spa also offers a wide range of high-end beauty treatments, from relaxing facials to invigorating hand and foot care. For those looking for a more active visit, the Aman Spa also boasts a luxurious 60 square metre swimming pool and a highly equipped fitness studio.


 
Grabbing a cup of coffee
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Dining out at your favourite restaurant
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Spending some time at the museum
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Meeting at a popular fast food centre 
Description: Description:   654B37223ED04EBEB25DD4F27DB38B76@HomeLT   
 
Relaxing at the beach
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Going to a game
 
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   Going out on a date
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Taking a drive around town
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I am thankful I belong to another generation  !!!!
 
“It’s become appallingly clear that our Technology has surpassed our Humanity” -- Albert Einstein

Oscar winners Steven Speilberg and his wife Kate Capshaw and family were joined by Daniel Day Lewis, his wife Rebecca Miller and their son Ronan for the three and a half hour gig.

The VIPs emerged from the Four Seasons hotel nearby and joined the 37,000 strong crowd walking into the RDS before taking their seats with members of the public in the stands.

Earlier in the day the ‘Schindler's List’ director joined pal and Wicklow resident Daniel Day Lewis in the Roundwood Inn for a spot of lunch. Day Lewis lives nearby on Annamoe with his family.

 

Emerging from one of four cars with blacked-out windows outside The Roundwood Inn, the 'Jaws' director (65) was accompanied by about 15 friends who are believed to have travelled with him to Ireland.

Spielberg and Day Lewis have recently worked together on Lincoln – a bio pic about the legendary US president which is tipped for Oscar glory on its release at the end of the year.




Friday, 13 July 2012

Tattoo
'It's wisest to pick someone whom you cannot break up with or divorce.' Photograph: Gary Powell/Getty Images

Tattoos are permanent reminders of temporary feelings – at least if you believe the report in Thursday's Daily Mail, which looked at "embarrassing" matching couple tattoos – designs that complement or complete each other across two, romantically involved bodies.

Yet there are millions of people who feel no embarrassment about the tattoos they share with their friends, lovers and even exes. Moreover, as with most perceived "new trends" in tattooing, this practice is one with a history far older than the current generation; it's a phenomenon that provides both an insight into human beings' fundamental relationships with their own bodies and the bodies and lives of those close to them.

 

Tattoos have been used as markers of association for probably as long as human beings have walked the earth, to mark tribal affiliations, regimental membership in the military, membership of fraternal orders such as the masons or US college Greek letter groups, and to signify gang membership.

The most common of these types of affiliative tattoos, though, is marking an attachment to a loved one. There's an old adage in tattooed circles that suggests getting your lover's name tattooed on you is a sure kiss of death for that relationship, and it's an old gag too: Norman Rockwell's famous 1944 Saturday Evening Post cover painting, The Tattooist, shows a salty sailor in the tattooist's chair, having yet another name added to an arm already full of the crossed-out names of past paramours. Even earlier, a cartoon in Punch from 1916 shows a "fickle young thing" – a well-turned-out young woman, as it happens – revisiting her tattooist to seek an amendment to the ornamental crest tattoo on her arm as she has, euphemistically, "exchanged into another regiment".

 

None of this seems to have affected the long-standing popularity of having names or symbols tattooed to commemorate couples' love and bond. Magazines in the 1920s reported the latest fad for newlyweds was getting matching tattooed wedding rings; preserved tattooed skins in the Wellcome Collection from the late 19th century feature names and portraits of lovers; studies of tattoos in the American navy in the 18th century reveal a large percentage of seamen of the period bore tattoos of the names of women; even Christian pilgrims in the 16th century were recorded to have borne the names of their wives on their skins, as tokens or identificatory marks; and records attest to romantic tattooing even in ancient Rome – St Basil the Great (329-380) is said to have condemned the tattooing of a lover's name that he observed on someone's hand. While I'd certainly never advocate getting a permanent mark of your relationship too hastily, it does seem that the instinct to inscribe a permanent token transcends the ages. Caveat amator.

 

Single tattoos that span multiple bodies appear to be a more recent phenomenon, however. In 1977, New York-based tattoo artist Spider Webb undertook what was probably the first conceptual art project to use tattooing, in a piece called X-1000, in which he tattooed single, small Xs on to 999 individuals, and, as a culmination, one large X on the final, 1,000th skin, conceived as one contiguous work. This tattoo, potentially spanning thousands of miles at any one time, was, Webb said, "the largest tattoo ever done at any point in history". In 2000, as the culmination to a performance art project begun in 1998 designed to highlight the horrific lives and plights of the homeless and hungry in Mexico City, Santiago Sierra produced his piece 160cm Line Tattooed on Four People, a single black line tattooed across the backs of prostitutes in exchange for wraps of heroin, as a symbol of their desperation, interdependence, and utter powerlessness. Sierra would later remark: "You could make this tattooed line a kilometre long, using thousands and thousands of willing people." In 2003, author Shelley Jackson famously published her short story Skin on the bodies of 2095, one tattooed word per person. These tattoos bring together strangers in common cause.

 

My favourite set of matching tattoos, though, are probably the ongoing collection of work worn by twins Caleb and Jordan Kilby, tattooed with matching work by influential and extraordinarily talented New York-based artist Thomas Hooper. If you must get matching tattoos with someone, it's wisest to pick someone whom you cannot break up with or divorce, and to get the work carried out by a tattoo artist who will produce a piece of work that will stand the test of time on its own terms.


Motors News

We're familiar with seeing tight leather on smoking hot women, and weird old men, but it's a first for us seeing a leather bound Ferrari F430.

There seems to be a lot of fuss over this leather bound Ferrari F430 in the UK with both The Sun and The Daily Mail reporting about it recently.

However, this isn’t a new car by any means as US motoring blog Jalopnikreported on the F430 way back in August last year. It’s a pretty cool, albeit manky, car so we thought we’d show you anyway.

It’s the work of a Latvian custom car company called Dartz who hit the headlines in 2009 when they created a $1.5 million ruby red SUV with whale foreskin-covered seats. Yes, foreskin…

Anyway, some high roller with more cash then sense decided it would be a great idea to cover his €170,000 Ferrari in dark leather.

The owner of Dartz, Leonard Yankelovich, said: "One of our very rich customers from the Cote d'Azur wanted a leather exterior and knew we could deliver.

"It took three of my staff 16 working days to apply the leather and finish. He was more than happy when he picked it up."

He won’t be too happy when he scratches it though.

Is this the most expensive way to ruin a Ferrari?

 To watch him panting after a spell up some twisty roads, you'd have thought he'd gone for some afternoon delight. It's the most breathless we've ever seen Mr. Harris, and for all the right reasons – perhaps it shouldn't be surprising when he's intentionally getting loosey-goosey in a coupe with an AMG-sourced twin-turbo V12 trying to put down 730 horsepower and 735 pound-feet of torque on some roads as thin as an olive branch.

He agrees with the recent review from EVO that the Huayra is truly sorted in the speed and suspension department, and he does decree the steering slow for the esses he's navigating, but unlike EVO, he loves the gearbox and he pulls off his review without any unfortunate squeaking.

And he loves the car. And its thrills. Check them all out in the video below.


If you tried to picture the world's most expensive car crash, you'd probably imagine a whole bunch of banged up Ferraris and Lamborghini supercars from the modern era, but in this case it's more about value than quantity.

In fact it was merely a two-car collision in which one of the vehicles was worth around $38.5m.

The car in question is an ultra-rare Ferrari 250 GTO that, according to reports, was crashed in France recently. Owner Christopher Cox, a businessman from the USA, was involved in an accident with another vehicle while en route to Le Mans while partaking in the 250 GTO 50th anniversary tour - an owners' event including Nick Mason, Pink Floyd drummer and avid Ferrari collector. 

It's not clear whether the vehicle was actually written off, nor whose fault it was, but given that the man's wife reportedly suffered a broken leg, it must have been quite a shunt. Some reports say the car was hit from behind while making a turn.

Cox's GTO had an estimated value of £20-million (NZ$38.5m). Another GTO, albeit one specifically built for Stirling Moss, recently sold for a record-breaking £22.7million (NZ$44.3m).

Cox's Ferrari was unusually painted in yellow and blue, rather than the traditional red, in honour of Swedish driver Ulf Norinder. It had been crashed before, by a previous owner in 1976, and depending the quality of repair, the latest accident shouldn't change the cars value as it is so incredibly rare.

Thursday, 12 July 2012

Not too long ago, as I was putting the final touches on a client presentation, I stumbled across a surprising observation. The best insights in my report didn’t emerge in my office, during conference calls, or at meetings. They somehow appeared in the bathroom.

Research on the nature of creativity suggests my experience isn’t all that unique. Often, the most effective way of solving a difficult problem is simply walking away. The moment we allow ourselves to disengage from the individual pieces of a puzzle is the moment a solution appears. It’s why Albert Einstein regularly went sailing and why Charles Darwin planned his day around a countryside stroll. Thomas Edison simply napped.

In many ways, problem solvers are like artists. Taking a few steps back provides painters with a fresh perspective on their subject, lending them a new angle for approaching their work. Problem solving follows a similar recipe, but it’s not always the physical distance that we need. It’s psychological distance; mental space for new insights to bloom.

In a world where finding solutions makes up the crux of a typical workday, we are all artists. Cognitive artists. And to deliver our best work, we need revitalizing breaks. Distancing ourselves from our work grants us a broader view, activating a global perspective that precedes breakthrough.

So, why the bathroom?

If you’re like most office employees, access to sailboats, the countryside and a relaxing couch is in short supply. A walk to the bathroom is one of the few opportunities you have for disengaging, letting go of trivial details and refocusing on the bigger picture--even Steve Jobs recognized the bathroom's potential, insisting that Pixar only build two in its studios, to provide employees with maximum enforced mixing. Neurologically, it is during these moments away from your desk the right hemisphere of your brain comes to life, making you more appreciative of the forest and less sensitive to the trees.

While most of us give little thought to our workplace bathroom, there’s good reason to believe it can have an impact on the quality of the work we produce -- especially in organizations that rely on creativity and problem solving to stand out. Over the past decade, studies have shown that both our thoughts and behaviors are heavily influenced by our surroundings, in ways we often fail to recognize.

A few examples:

  • The sound of classical music makes consumers spend more money
  • The smell of cookies makes shoppers more likely to help a stranger
  • The sight of red hurts intellectual performance but improves physical performance

Psychological findings like these are now commonplace, pointing to one irrefutable fact: Our environment shapes our thinking in powerful ways.

Which brings up some intriguing questions: How can we make the most of our time away from our desks? Is there a way of designing bathrooms to make them more inspiring? And what can organizations do to maximize the insights its employees get out of each bathroom visit?

Recent research on the science of creativity provides some helpful suggestions.

Rethink Muzak

One of the ways we become more creative is by exposing our minds to a broad variety of stimuli. The wider the selection of information you mentally digest--whether it be foreign movies, experimental novels or exotic travel--the more remote associations you’ll have in your arsenal. Or, in laymen’s terms, the more creative you’ll be.

Hearing unusual music primes us to think different--inspiring ideas, emotions and experiences that increase the associations active in our brain.

Surprise The Senses

 Another creativity nugget: We tend to find more insightful solutions to a problem when we're in a good mood. One method experimentally proven for improving people’s moods is enjoyable scents. Positive scents don’t just make us feel better--they lead us to set higher goals for ourselves and experience a greater sense of self-efficacy.

Now, if you’re like most people, the restroom isn’t the first place that comes to mind when you think of positive scents, and partly that’s because of how hard custodians work to mask negative smells, leaving most bathrooms feeling like an assault on the senses. But in our case, that’s a good thing. It means the bar for surprising people with positive scents is that much more accessible. A few opportunities for enhancing the scent of a workplace bathroom: unusual soaps, exotic candles, and the hallway outside a bathroom, boosting people’s mood before and after a visit.

Encourage Mental Stimulation

Part of what makes bathroom visits a boon to creativity is that they represent one of the few times during the workday when our physiological attention is directed inward, mimicking the psychological experience of insight. But it’s not just inward attention that’s needed--it’s inward attention in the context of fresh ideas.

Think about the last time you saw graffiti in the bathroom. Chances are, not only did you read it, you probably thought about the person who wrote it, perhaps wondering what (the hell) was going through their mind. We can’t help but think about the things we see, but we can choose what we look at. Providing a diet of mentally stimulating material in workplace bathrooms can be done in a number of ways: posting unusual artwork, leaving out thought provoking magazines or using digital picture frames to keep the imagery fresh. The key is for the material to be stimulating and indirectly related to work you do.

Once upon a time, going to the bathroom was a distraction. Something that kept us from work; an unfortunate bodily shortcoming that compromised efficiency. But that world doesn’t exist anymore. Today, our economy is powered by an engine of insight. Creativity in the workplace isn’t a “nice to have”—it’s what keeps companies in business. Which is why it’s ironic that most office bathrooms offer a bleak and unwelcoming environment. One that discourages insight and implicitly chides us to get back to our desks.

There’s just one problem. Creativity doesn’t work that way.

And if the science has taught us anything about the creative process it’s this: Finding unexpected solutions often requires an unexpected approach. Why not start in the bathroom? 

The O2 mobile phone network crashed tonight leaving thousands of customers across the country cut off. Users were left stranded, unable to make or receive calls or send texts, as the firm - which has 23 million customers in the UK - said it did not know when the problem would be fixed. Some customers also had no internet access. O2, Britain's second-largest mobile phone operator, admitted it was unclear exactly how many people had been affected. It said ‘thousands’ may be experiencing problems. The problems began this afternoon for some mobile users, the network said. O2 are urging customers to check their Twitter and Facebook feeds for updates - but the company’s webpage which displays live information about network coverage crashed. A spokeswoman said the problem was not 'location-specific'. ‘The problem is an issue within part of our core network that is preventing some mobile phones from successfully connecting,' she said. ‘The problem is not location-specific. All possible resources across our and our suppliers’ engineering teams are being deployed to restore service as soon as possible.’ Thousands of angry customers took to Twitter to complain. BBC television presenter Huw Edwards (@huwbbc), tweeted: ‘6 hours of non-service and counting, simply not good enough, O2.’ One Twitter user, Kelly Jones (@kelly-92), tweeted: ‘Having a phone that hardly works usually is annoying, but this whole no signal on o2 all afternoon is beyond irritating.’

Wednesday, 11 July 2012

Cannes and Sundance are a little too highbrow for your tastes a new film festival launching in Minneapolis could be just the ticket. 

The Internet Cat Video Film Festival is being planned for August 30 on Walker Open Field.

While nominations are still open take inspiration from some of the contenders below that show cats in their element, showing off the finer side of being feline.

Scroll down for videos

Small fluffy kitten + tinsel on a stick = just the cutest game ever

Small fluffy kitten + tinsel on a stick = just the cutest game ever

 

This rather unique (and slightly bizarre) celebration of feline frolics is the first time a festival has been dedicated to kitties.

Organisers have clearly cottoned on to the cute cat craze sweeping the internet, with some clips being viewed by millions. 

 

 

More...

  • Man who left polygamist Mormon cult finds kitten encased in concrete in back yard 'as threat from sect leaders'
  • Survival of the fiercest: Wildebeest takes on 18ft killer crocodile... and there can be only one winner
  • Baby whale dies after getting separated from its mother during Alaska storm despite marine expert's round-the-clock battle to save it

 

Sensational videos of cats grooming, playing and generally just being too adorable for words have tugged at the nation’s heart strings.

So THAT'S why cats don't go bowling: Let's just say it didn't end well for this kitty

So THAT'S why cats don't go bowling: Let's just say it didn't end well for this kitty

 

Alien object: When you're this small even apples are frightening to behold

Alien object: When you're this small even apples are frightening to behold

 

All this cat needs do is cry loudly and her video is 'awww-ed' at by millions

All this cat needs do is cry loudly and her video is 'awww-ed' at by millions

Most recently Bub, a 'dwarf' cat with stubby legs and bulging eyes, became a major online hit.

 

She shot to fame after her owner dedicated a YouTube channel and Facebook page to her and it is not difficult to see why.

Born with several genetic mutations, Bub will remain looking like a kitten for the rest of her life.

And footage of her playing, running, even just purring, have had major success on the video-sharing website. 

Bub tucks into a yogurt: Who says you need to use a spoon?!

Bub tucks into a yogurt: Who says you need to use a spoon?!

 

This kitty has no tail but that doesn't stop her trying to chase it anyway

This kitty has no tail but that doesn't stop her trying to chase it anyway

Festival planners are accepting nominations for favourite videos, which can be submitted on the Open Field website. 

 

Nominations are limitless so if you can’t make up your mind just send in a few, then head on down on August 30 to see if any of the make the final cut or even win.

But hurry, submissions must be made by July 30, and there are so many to choose from!

Check out a few of MailOnline’s favourite kitty moments in genius cinematic form. What’s not to love?

Watch the videos here:

Blood flows down the face of an injured protester who was injured during clashes between supporters of Spanish coal miners and riot police as they ended a "Marcha Negra" (Black March) near the Industry Ministry in Madrid July 11, 2012 (Reuters/Paul Hanna)At least 76 people have been injured in Madrid as clashes flared up between protesters and police, the latter using rubber bullets. Thousands of Spaniards turned out against new cuts introduced by the government.

Those injured include 33 police officers and 43 protesters – miners and their supporters.

Minor arrests have been made so far, with seven people being detained. Three of those arrested reportedly threw bricks at police, local El Pais newspaper reported.

Protesters panicked and sought shelter as police began to disperse the crowd, Olvidio Gonzalez, 67, a retired miner from the northern Asturias region told AP.

“We were walking peacefully to get to where the union leaders were speaking and they started to fire indiscriminately. There was no warning,” said Gonzalez, who was also struck by a rubber bullet.

About 200 people remain surrounded by dozens of police in front of parliament, Twitter user Danips posted on his microblog.

Some media reports suggest a spontaneous demonstration flared up in front of parliament. Protesters are calling on Spaniards via Twitter to join bigger protests at 19:30 local time.

Protesters disagree with a 63 per cent cut in subsidies to coal mining companies, major contributors to the Spanish energy market. Unions say the plan threatens 30,000 jobs and could destroy their livelihoods.

Miners, who were hiking from the north of the country for the past two weeks, have been joined by tens of thousands of Spaniards also protesting against Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s tax hike.

The prime minister announced his decision to raise VAT by 3 per cent as part of the plan to trim the public budget by 65 billion euro over the next two-and-a-half years. Rajoy also declared a 3.5-billion-euro cut to local government spending.

Many protesters marched more than 400 kilometers (250 miles) from mines in northern Spain.

RT photo
RT photo
Riot policemen fire tear gas in Madrid, on July 11, 2012 (AFP Photo/Dominique Faget)
Riot policemen fire tear gas in Madrid, on July 11, 2012 (AFP Photo/Dominique Faget)
Spanish coal miners demonstrate on July 11, 2012 in Madrid (AFP Photo/Dani Pozo)
Spanish coal miners demonstrate on July 11, 2012 in Madrid (AFP Photo/Dani Pozo)
AFP Photo/Dominique Faget
AFP Photo/Dominique Faget
AFP Photo/Dominique Faget
AFP Photo/Dominique Faget
AFP Photo/Dominique Faget
AFP Photo/Dominique Faget
AFP Photo/Dominique Faget
AFP Photo/Dominique Faget
AFP Photo/Doni Pozo
AFP Photo/Doni Pozo
A demonstrator raises his fist in front of riot policemen during a demonstration by Spanish coal miners in Madrid, on July 11, 2012 (AFP Photo/Dominique Faget)
A demonstrator raises his fist in front of riot policemen during a demonstration by Spanish coal miners in Madrid, on July 11, 2012 (AFP Photo/Dominique Faget)
Spanish coal miners demonstrate on July 11, 2012 in Madrid (AFP Photo/Cesar Manso)
Spanish coal miners demonstrate on July 11, 2012 in Madrid (AFP Photo/Cesar Manso)
RT photo

Monday, 9 July 2012

Members of the Qatari royal family are in advanced talks to buy Valentino, the Italian dressmaker to some of the world's biggest celebrities, I can exclusively reveal. The Emir of Qatar is close to finalising a deal to buy the Valentino fashion label from Permira, a London-based private equity firm, for about £550m, people close to the deal tell me. They say it could be announced as soon as this week although they cautioned that the discussions could still falter. If the takeover by Qatar's royal family (rather than by Qatar Holding or the Qatar Investment Authority, its sovereign wealth funds) does take place, the people close to the talks say that it will also acquire the M Missoni brand. Permira acquired a controlling stake in the publicly-listed German company Hugo Boss and 100 per cent of the Italian business Valentino Fashion Group in 2007 for about £2.5bn. The combined group, held by an entity called Red & Black, has had a choppy time during the subsequent economic downturn, with many luxury goods producers struggling to maintain sales momentum. Permira will continue to own Hugo Boss, people close to the firm say. Valentino has won creative acclaim in recent months and its celebrity fans include the likes of the actresses Nicole Kidman and Scarlett Johansson. Qatar has established a track record of buying so-called 'trophy assets' with its vast financial resources, including Harrods, the London department store, for £1.5bn in 2010. Perella Weinberg Partners, an independent financial advisory firm, is understood to be working for the Qataris on the Valentino deal. Permira declined to comment.

It's a relatively unknown Australian mining magnate. So who exactly is Gina Rinehart?

Asked once to sum up her concept of beauty, Gina Rinehart did not point to the pearls that so often adorn her neck.

Nor did she rhapsodise about the ochre landscape of her beloved Pilbara, a beautiful, if unforgiving, expanse of land in the northwest corner of Australia.

Instead, she spoke of the unlovely commodity that has made her family rich, and the giant holes in the ground from where it came. "Beauty is an iron mine," she famously remarked.

When her father, Lang Hancock, discovered one of the world's biggest reserves in the early 1950s, the export of iron ore was banned in Australia because it was deemed such a scarce and finite resource.

Continue reading the main story

Gina Rinehart

  • Georgina Hancock born in Perth in 1954, studied in Sydney
  • Father Lang Hancock made huge iron ore discovery in Western Australia before her birth
  • Married lawyer Frank Rinehart in 1983
  • After father's death in 1992, Gina became executive of the company
  • Widowed with four children
  • Rinehart 'world's richest woman'

Tens of thousands of iron ore shipments later, royalty payments from that Pilbara mining field in Western Australia continue to swell her coffers.

The Hancocks were not the sole beneficiaries. The multi-billionaire fervently believes that her father's discovery also made Australia prosperous, which partly drives her recent quest for influence, gratitude and respect.

It is partly borne of a lifelong sense of grievance - that Australia's traditional east coast elites have not recognised her family's contribution to the country's development, nor the local media.

With an estimated net personal wealth of $A29 billion ($US29.3bn, £18.79bn), Rinehart has in recent years gone from being Australia's richest woman to Asia's richest woman to arguably the world's.

Australian business magazine BRW has named her the world's wealthiest woman, and Citigroup has also predicted that the 58-year-old businesswoman will soon top the global rich list, with more than $100bn (£64.8bn) of assets to her name.

Gina Rinehart is said to make nearly A$600 (£393) a second

The royalty stream from that initial discovery - the "rivers of the gold," as it has been called - still contributes to her wealth, but it pales alongside the value attached to her mining interests in Western Australia and Queensland.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

Whatever I do, the house of Hancock comes first”

She hates being called a mining heiress because she considers herself a self-made businesswoman who turned her company around after her father's death in 1992.

From a worldwide perspective, her spiralling wealth illustrates the shift in economic activity from the west to the east. From an Australian one, she embodies the shift from the east to the west. Once it was media moguls like the late Kerry Packer who topped the Australian rich lists. Now it is minerals magnates who are profiting from the country's China-fuelled resources boom.

Rinehart has set out to become both a magnate and a mogul, which is why she is the subject of so much attention and controversy.

Along with her mining interests, she now owns a share of Channel Ten, one of the three major commercial television networks, and has also become the single biggest shareholder in Australia's second largest newspaper group, Fairfax Media, although she reduced the size of that stake last week.

The group publishes three of the country's most venerable mastheads - the Sydney Morning Herald, the Melbourne Age and the Australian Financial Review, and the suspicion among many Fairfax journalists is that she will attempt to turn them into mouthpieces for her right-wing views.

The dark joke is that the Sydney Morning Herald might become the Sydney Mining Herald. However, she has not been able to gain seats on the board because of a dispute about her refusal so far to accept the group's declaration of editorial independence.

Gina and father Lang HancockHer father Lang Hancock was a huge influence on her

Her mining company, Hancock Prospecting, is essentially her life. She has few outside interests. She does not go in for the normal blandishments of wealth, like art, racehorses or a private plane.

She is renowned for her 24/7 work regime, and a tunnel-visioned determination. Her personal feuds are the stuff of legend and her long list of adversaries has included her father, his business partner, her first husband, her Filipino mother-in-law, Rose Porteous, and now three of her children.

Gina RinehartRinehart spoke at an anti-tax rally in Perth in 2010

Famously litigious, many of her battles have ended up in court. "Whatever I do, the house of Hancock comes first," she once told a reporter. "Nothing will stand in the way of that."

Like her rambunctious father Lang, who railed against the scourge of "Canberra-ism," and "eco-nuts" in the environmental movement, her political views are a blend of conservatism and libertarianism.

An early heroine was Britain's Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher, whom she met over lunch in 1977. Afterwards, the young Gina took much more care to dress in a business-like fashion, got a new hairdresser and started to wear more make-up.

Another intellectual hero was the free-market economist Milton Friedman. One of the reasons she cited for raising her children in the US, aside from her marriage to the Harvard-educated Frank Rinehart, was the hope that they might be taught by Friedman.

She is also a climate change sceptic, and close to the British Viscount, Christopher Monckton. On a visit to Perth last July, during which he delivered the Lang Hancock Memorial Lecture, Monckton spoke of Australia's need for an equivalent of Fox News, which could be funded by the "super-rich".

Continue reading the main story

Other rich women

  • Christy Walton - widow of John, son of the founder of Wal-Mart, Sam Walton
  • Liliane Bettencourt - daughter of L'Oreal founder Eugene Scheueller
  • Johanna Quandt - third wife of German executive who rescued BMW
  • Oprah Winfrey - television host and media mogul, one of the world's richest self-made women
  • Birgit Rausing - art historian from Sweden inherited packaging firm Tetra Laval after death of husband
  • Rosalia Mera - after dropping out of school to make dresses before her teens, the Spaniard co-founded retail company Inditex, which owns Zara

Rinehart was not present at the private meeting, but few doubted the identity of the "super-rich" person whom Monckton had in mind. When a video of his remarks was posted online, it heightened speculation that she was pursuing some kind of Foxification strategy in Australia.

I have also been told by one of her associates that she met Rupert Murdoch earlier this year, partly to discuss Fox News.

Given that the newspapers published by Rupert Murdoch's Australian arm, News Ltd, boast a 70% share of Australian readership, and that Fairfax has the remaining 30%, the widespread fear is of a conservative duopoly, and an end to editorial pluralism.

Rinehart's $A165m (£107m) stake in Channel Ten has already lost more than half its value and Fairfax, which last week announced 1900 job cuts, is not seen as a particularly attractive investment. Like her father, who started two newspapers, the profit motive is not a major consideration. Her investment, it is thought, is about political influence.

Besides, the amount of money involved is for her comparatively small. As an associate recently explained to me, she is adopting the same approach that the super-rich use when purchasing luxury yachts or private planes, which is not to invest more than 10% of their wealth.

In her ongoing drive for influence, the debate two years ago over the Labor government's plans to hit the mining sector with a super profits tax was a major milestone.

Unusually for a woman who has preferred to exert a behind-the-scenes influence, Rinehart led the chant of "axe the tax" at a protest rally in 2010 aimed at the then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

Her billionaire activism lent itself to easy caricature. A reporter from the Fairfax-owned WA Today joked that it was possible to hear her gold bracelet jangling "a note-perfect version of 'Money, Money, Money' as she pumped her fist". Within weeks, however, Rudd had been ousted, and his successor, Julia Gillard, immediately announced a climbdown over the mining tax.

Gina Rinehart and the QueenRinehart met the Queen when the British monarch visited Perth

Just as Rinehart wants influence and gratitude, she is also determined to maintain rigid control of her company. Presently, she is locked in a highly-publicised legal battle with three of her four children over a family trust set up by Lang Hancock for his grandchildren.

The trust, which owns a share of her company, was due to settle its assets last September, when Lang's youngest grandchild, Ginia, turned 25. But Rinehart allegedly tried to push back the date that her children could become trustees until 2068.

Determined to retain sole control, she warned her children they faced ruin if they refused to bend to her will. "Sign up or be bankrupt tomorrow," she threatened in an email. "The clock is ticking. There is one hour to bankruptcy and financial ruin."

Her three eldest children described the manoeuvre as "deceptive, manipulative, hopelessly conflicted and disgraceful". It is not so much about greed. Rinehart offered her three estranged children big payments to go along with her plan. It is more about control.

Commentators expect the same aggressive approach with her media strategy. After all, Australia's richest ever person is used to getting her own way.

Friday, 6 July 2012

Hearing: Former chief executive Bob Diamond left Barclays over the matter, before appearing before MPs this week

Hearing: Former chief executive Bob Diamond left Barclays over the matter, before appearing before MPs this week

A criminal investigation has been launched into alleged rigging of the Libor rate within the banking industry, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) confirmed today.

SFO director David Green QC formally accepted the Libor issue for investigation after Barclays was fined by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) last week for manipulating the key interbank lending rate which affects mortgages and loans.

The claims ultimately led to the resignation of Barclays boss Bob Diamond and have become the focal point of a fierce political debate over ethics in the banking sector.

The investigation could ultimately lead to criminal prosecutions and bankers facing charges in court.

The SFO's update came after it revealed earlier this week that it had been working closely with the FSA during its investigation and would consider the potential for criminal prosecutions.

The Government department, which is responsible for investigating and prosecuting serious and complex fraud, said on Monday the issues surrounding Libor were "complex" and that assessing the evidence would take time.

Under fire: Barclays former chairman Marcus Agius (right) with former CEO Bob Diamond (centre), and former chief executive John Varley (left)

Under fire: Barclays former chairman Marcus Agius (right) with former CEO Bob Diamond (centre), and former chief executive John Varley (left)

As the SFO prepares its investigation, Labour leader Ed Miliband continued to push for an independent inquiry into the banking scandal despite MPs rejecting the demands.

The Labour leader said that while the party would cooperate with a parliamentary investigation, its remit was too "narrow" and a judge-led probe was still needed.

Mr Miliband also defended the conduct of Ed Balls after the shadow chancellor engaged in a bitter war of words with his opposite number George Osborne in the Commons.

 

 




The widely used diabetes drug metformin comes with a rather unexpected and alluring side effect: it encourages the growth of new neurons in the brain. The study reported in the July 6th issue of Cell Stem Cell, a Cell Press publication, also finds that those neural effects of the drug also make mice smarter. See Also: Health & Medicine Brain Tumor Stem Cells Nervous System Mind & Brain Brain Injury Intelligence Neuroscience Strange Science Reference Neural development Stem cell treatments Diabetes mellitus type 2 Embryonic stem cell The discovery is an important step toward therapies that aim to repair the brain not by introducing new stem cells but rather by spurring those that are already present into action, says the study's lead author Freda Miller of the University of Toronto-affiliated Hospital for Sick Children. The fact that it's a drug that is so widely used and so safe makes the news all that much better. Earlier work by Miller's team highlighted a pathway known as aPKC-CBP for its essential role in telling neural stem cells where and when to differentiate into mature neurons. As it happened, others had found before them that the same pathway is important for the metabolic effects of the drug metformin, but in liver cells. "We put two and two together," Miller says. If metformin activates the CBP pathway in the liver, they thought, maybe it could also do that in neural stem cells of the brain to encourage brain repair. The new evidence lends support to that promising idea in both mouse brains and human cells. Mice taking metformin not only showed an increase in the birth of new neurons, but they were also better able to learn the location of a hidden platform in a standard maze test of spatial learning. While it remains to be seen whether the very popular diabetes drug might already be serving as a brain booster for those who are now taking it, there are already some early hints that it may have cognitive benefits for people with Alzheimer's disease. It had been thought those improvements were the result of better diabetes control, Miller says, but it now appears that metformin may improve Alzheimer's symptoms by enhancing brain repair. Miller says they now hope to test whether metformin might help repair the brains of those who have suffered brain injury due to trauma or radiation therapies for cancer.

Thursday, 5 July 2012

Spain's tourism industry is bracing itself for a painful slowdown in bookings this summer, driven by a steep decline in local tourism, according to the country's leading hotel association. Reservations by Spanish vacationers for the month of July are 30% lower than last year, amid persistently high unemployment and a protracted economic recession, said Juan Molas, president of the Spanish Confederation of Hotels and Tourist Accommodations. An influx of visitors from Russia and other countries in Eastern Europe has compensated somewhat for the decline in local tourism, but weak local demand is expected to weigh on an industry that accounts for about 11% of Spain's annual economic output. Hotel owners are concerned that the government may raise the industry's value-added tax to 18% from the current 8%, in a bid to reduce its yawning budget deficit, making Spain less attractive to foreign tourists compared with other less expensive destinations "If the VAT rises to 18%, it will be absolutely catastrophic for the sector," Mr. Molas said at an event Thursday in Madrid. Spain's government is working to secure €100 billion ($126 billion) in aid for its struggling banking sector from the European Union and plans to meet with EU officials next week to discuss new measures to improve its public finances. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has already implemented €45 billion in austerity measures, but weak tax revenue threatens to undermine his administration's goal of trimming its shortfall this year to 5.3% of gross domestic product from 8.9% last year. Sentiment in the hospitality industry is at its lowest level since 2009, according to an index developed by the hotel association and consulting firm PwC. Based on a survey of hotel firms, 57% of operators expect international tourism will hold steady this year, while 76% expect domestic tourism to decline. "The parts of the country that will suffer the most are those that cater to national tourists," Mr. Molas said.

Holidaymakers in Spain this summer are facing a surprise new airport tax imposed by the Spanish government as it tries to balance its books. Some airlines are passing the new departure tax on to passengers, even if they booked their flights months ago. Some passengers have received emails telling them either to pay an extra charge of up to seven euros (£6) per person - or to cancel their flights. Other airlines are deciding whether to absorb the cost themselves. The budget airline Ryanair said Spain's 2012 budget, passed into law at the end of June, obliged airlines to pay increased taxes. Spain is implementing drastic measures to try to slash its budget deficit to 5.3% from 8.5% in 2011. It has been promised bailout funds of up to 100bn euros for its banks, but wants to avoid a full state bailout. Retrospective The European travel agents' association ECTAA said the amount of the extra levy varied depending on which airport people used. It said the average rise in the tax was 18.9%, but at some of the larger airports it would almost double. For instance, at Madrid-Barajas the tax would rise from 6.95 euros to 14.44, while at Barcelona's El Prat airport it would rise from 6.12 euros to 13.44. Ryanair said it would pass the cost on to passengers, even those who had already paid in full for their flights, because the tax applied "retrospectively to customers who booked flights before 2 July 2012 and are travelling from 1 July onwards". It said for bookings made on or after 2 July, the increased tax would have been included in the price. The Spanish low-cost airline Vueling is also passing on the cost. It sent emails to passengers giving them seven days to cancel their flight, or the extra payment would be debited automatically from the card they used to book. British Airways and Iberia told the BBC they had not yet decided whether to pass on the cost or absorb it. ECTAA said in a statement it was "dismayed" by the rise, which was imposed "without proper consultation of airport users nor appropriate implementation time". It said travel agents faced a "technical and financial nightmare to recover the extra charge".

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