Brits 'make the most of Morocco in winter'

Opodo travel news – Brits 'make the most of Morocco in winter': "Morocco has become a highly popular destination among British travellers heading abroad during the winter months.

Jamal El Jaidi, events and promotions manager at the Moroccan National Tourist Office, pointed out that the country offers experiences and activities to suit all interests.

Some young travellers visit to try the outdoor activities on offer in the Atlas mountains, while others are interested in exploring cities.

'The majority of the British [visitors] that we get come to Morocco during winter time and they come mainly to the city of Marrakech,' said Mr El Jaidi.

'There is another category of visitors who come to do the tour of the imperial cities, which includes Meknes, Fez, Marrakech and Rabat.'

Commenting on the recent performance of the country's tourism industry, Mr El Jaidi said that 2010 was an 'outstanding' year, with the number of arrivals from the UK up 27%.

One of the main drivers of the growth was the launch of additional flights to Marrakech from UK airports."

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Buyers still wanted for world's dearest address - Architecture, Arts & Entertainment - The Independent

Buyers still wanted for world's dearest address - Architecture, Arts & Entertainment - The Independent: "With its silk curtains, a private cinema, and room service that brings food purported to be worthy of Michelin stars, One Hyde Park is the most expensive block of flats in the world. And after three years of traffic jams, London's most lavish residential tower finally opened its high-design doors yesterday, even though nearly half of its 86 apartments are still to be sold.

The luxury property's developers, Christian Candy and his brother Nick, treated 300 guests to a lavish spread cooked by the chef Heston Blumenthal. But while the block's £135m penthouse has been sold to an anonymous purchaser, the Candy brothers maintain the development is still only 60 per cent sold. In 2008, The Independent reported the building had sold a comparable percentage of properties.

'One Hyde Park continued to progress despite the global downturn,' Richard Williams, director of the Candys' special-purpose development company in charge of the building, said. 'We are very fortunate to have secured the planning consent for the development pre-credit crunch.' Mr Williams said current sales equal £900m, with buyers mainly from the Middle East and Asia."

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Ryanair's boarding pass fee ruled 'abusive' - CNN.com

Ryanair's boarding pass fee ruled 'abusive' - CNN.com: "Ryanair, the Irish airline famous for its low fares and an extensive menu of fees, is vowing to fight a court ruling that calls one of its extra charges 'abusive.'
A judge in Barcelona, Spain, ruled that the carrier's 40 euro (about $54) boarding card reissue fee is illegal. Passengers must pay it if they arrive for their flight without a pre-printed boarding pass.
'I declare abusive and, therefore, null, the clause in the contract by which Ryanair obliges the passenger to take a boarding pass to the airport,' Judge Barbara Cordoba said, according to The Guardian.
'The customary practice over the years has been that the obligation to provide the boarding pass has always fallen on the airline.'"

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Rise in demand for long term Marbella rentals

Costa del villas - Rise in demand for long term Marbella rentals: "The demand for long term rental homes in popular parts of Spain has raised as foreign buyers face difficulties in meeting the requirements for mortgages issued by Spanish banks. One area that has seen a particular increase in demand is Marbella, one of the most popular resorts for international buyers.

Until fairly recently it was possible for buyers to get a 100% mortgage from Spanish banks to cover the purchase of homes in the country. However as Spain tries to revive its struggling property market banks are getting tougher with buyers and are now demanding hefty upfront deposits to secure the funding.

In most cases the banks are now stipulating with buyers must be able to put down a 30% deposit before proceeding. Although in some, albeit exceptional, circumstances mortgages of up to 90% can still be obtained.

Due to these circumstances many foreigners that would previously have been looking to buy property in Spain are now choosing to rent on a long-term basis."

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Kate's dress? British press backs Oldfield - Forbes.com

Kate's dress? British press backs Oldfield - Forbes.com: "It might have been a casual shopping trip, or it might have been ... something more.

Britain's royal watchers are on pins and needles over even the smallest details about Prince William's upcoming wedding to Kate Middleton. In the frenzied pre-wedding atmosphere, a visit by the bride's mother and sister to Bruce Oldfield, one of Britain's leading fashion designers, is seen as an indication that Middleton may be using him to design The Dress for her April 29 union."

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Kevin DeSoto: Style Week: Celebrating Fashion, Design and Culture

Kevin DeSoto: Style Week: Celebrating Fashion, Design and Culture: "StyleWeek Providence is New England's only fashion week event that focuses on the business of fashion. StyleWeek's shows feature a range of designers, introducing both new talent and latest collections from internationally recognized fashion houses to buyers and media.

This week is destined to be a hit as designers, buyers, celebrities, media and the who's who of fashion and style assemble at it's central location all week at the Providence Biltmore, located in the heart of Providence. This dazzling show will feature designers:

-- Jessica Abernethy
-- Karen Beebe
-- Daniela Corte
-- Kelly Eident
-- Jennifer Greeke
-- Jimmy Guzman
-- Jeff Lahens
-- Sam Mendoza
-- Maria Del Carmen Mercado
-- Jonathan Joseph Peters
-- Sarah Prost
-- Philip Sawyer
-- Joseph Aaron Segal
-- Avni Trivedi
-- Andrea Valentini
-- Samuel Vartan
-- Kara Wickman

Style, fashion and design are nothing new for Rhode Island. However, Rosanna Ortiz Sinel is laser focused on placing her stake as visionary of a new form of showcasing talent - and people are noticing."

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Trump to Enter Indian Property Market With Mumbai Luxury Tower - Bloomberg

Trump to Enter Indian Property Market With Mumbai Luxury Tower - Bloomberg: "U.S. billionaire real-estate developer Donald Trump is entering the Indian property market with a luxury residential tower in Mumbai, more than two years after announcing plans to expand in the south Asian nation.

Trump, who has joined with Mumbai developer Rohan Lifescapes Pvt. for his first venture in the country, expects to start marketing the project by March, said Donald Trump Jr., Trump’s son and executive vice president at the Trump Organization LLC.

“We are doing a very luxury project with Rohan Lifescapes and we’ll be in India later this quarter to launch it officially,” Donald Trump Jr. said in a phone interview from New York on Jan. 13. He declined to give further details on the project.

Donald Trump’s son said in a July 2008 interview he planned to set up a fund of as much as $1 billion to buy property in India. “The market place is beginning to understand and appreciate luxury, so there is a great opening for us there, as well as in resorts,” he said at the time."

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Intelligent luxury under a hot blue sky | City A.M.

Intelligent luxury under a hot blue sky | City A.M.: "ABU Dhabi sounds like a heady jumble of car, construction and human. In the daytime, the air is thick with noise as it is thick with the pervading haze of dust blown in from the sandlands to the south and thrown up by the never-ending construction. It softens the otherwise relentless sunshine, rendering everything (including the sky) a sedate pastel shade.
In summer, one must wade through air sodden with 100 per cent humidity, scuttling from place to air-conditioned place or collapsing (with soaked t-shirt) into the back of a taxi. The ideal time to visit is somewhere between November and March, when temperatures drop to a nippy 20°C and a cool breeze can be found snaking through the backstreets.
Then one can explore the city in both its guises, day and night. Ramble on the dunes of the artificial Lulu Island opposite Abu Dhabi’s 39-year-old skyline, or along its newly landscaped beach road, the Corniche, with its regimented leisure facilities, patchy grass and dreamy seaside strollers. Then at night, head indoors to one of the gargantuan shopping centres, gleaming hubs for the Armani-clad local youth, or splay out on the plastic chairs of a pavement shisha café while dubbed Turkish soaps play out on a massive projection TV."

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J.R. comes to Marbella

J.R. comes to Marbella: "United States actor, Larry Hagman, best know for his role as J.R. says he is really happy to be filming in Marbella and other parts of the Costa del Sol, as one of the stars of the new Spanish TV series 'Cómplices'.

78 year old Hagman plays Richard Slater, a millionaire with ‘dubious morals’, in the drama which will be shown on Antena Trés in September. He discovers that he has been adopted and that his biological parents are Spanish.

The series is produced by the Linze TV company, the same production company which makes the successful Arrayán series for Canal Sur. Hagman joins the cast on Monday."

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1,000 extras sought in Cartagena for new Álex de la Iglesia film

1,000 extras sought in Cartagena for new Álex de la Iglesia film: "Cartagena has been chosen for some of the scenes in the new Álex de la Iglesia film, ‘La Chispa de la Vida’, and the producers will be casting in the city next week for 1,000 extras.

Shooting starts there from February, at night and in the early morning, and the main requirement for casting is complete availability for the 12-hour working days over the six or seven weeks during which the scenes which will be shot. There are no restrictions on age, sex or nationality.

It’s understood from EFE that casting will run from January 18 to 21, from 10am to 1pm, at Town Hall offices in the Palacio de Molina on Calle Jara."

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Almería gets new Cinema Museum

Almería gets new Cinema Museum: "An old cortijo in Almería has become a new museum to cinema.
The mansion dates from the middle of the 19th century and was visited by some legends of celluloid and music, including Peter O’Toole, Yul Brynner and John Lennon.

The idea is that the new museum pays homage to when the province of Almería enjoyed its golden time, during the 60’s when many films were recorded in the Tabernas Desert or in Cabo de Gata.

The extraordinary wild countryside became the fashion for Hollywood producers at the time, and some of the most famous films of all time were partially shot in the province, including ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ in 1962, starring Peter O’Toole and Anthony Quinn, ‘Shalako’ in 1966 starring Sean Connery and Brigitte Bardot, and ‘The Good, The Bad and the Ugly’ in 1966, the film which brought stardom for Clint Eastwood."

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Pantoja defence say the instruction judge in the Malaya case got the dates wrong

Pantoja defence say the instruction judge in the Malaya case got the dates wrong: "Pantoja has made a written offer of assets to cover a 3.6 million bail which the instruction judge in court 5 in Marbella placed against her last October, with Muñoz, his ex wife Maite Zaldívar, and seven others also facing money laundering charges.

The anti-corruption prosecutor is calling for a three and a half year prison sentence for the singer, and seven years for Julián Muñoz in this section of the Malaya case.


Meanwhile the first of a two part dramatisation of the Malaya case shown on TVE1 on Friday got the highest ratings of the night with over two million viewers, a 12.4% share.

It was just as well however that the programme started with the statement that it was a fiction, as there were many inaccuracies in the script, which mixed the Malaya and Ballena Blanca cases together, and confused the date that Judge Torres arrived in the Marbella Instruction court by three years.

The series highlighted three shootings which never happened. A shooting in the H10 hotel in Puerto Banus in December 2004 which saw the death of a child and a hairdresser is still to be solved, and is not thought to have been linked to the Malaya case."

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Tunisian former president's wife 'fled country with £38 million in gold' - Telegraph

Tunisian former president's wife 'fled country with £38 million in gold' - Telegraph: "Intelligence officials in Paris told Le Monde, the French newspaper, that Mrs Trabelsi visited the bank last month, when protests were gathering momentum, and instructed the governor to hand over gold ingots worth £38 million.
Although he initially refused to comply, the personal intervention of the former president ensured that the gold was handed over.
The disclosure of Mrs Trabelsi's final act of avarice has enraged Tunisians, but not surprised them. The first lady's love of showy opulence and reputation for grasping corruption made her and her equally unpopular nephews the country's principle hate figures.
Three days after they ousted their president, Tunisian protesters returned to the battle-scarred streets of Tunis yesterday to demand t"

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False alarm at Miami International Airport - Latest news - ElNuevoHerald.com

False alarm at Miami International Airport - Latest news - ElNuevoHerald.com: "anti-explosives squad of the Miami police showed up this morning at the International Airport of the city to investigate 'suspicious sounds' in the cargo area of a plane from Brazil, in what ended up being a false alarm.

The airport spokesman Greg Chin said on his arrival from Sao Paolo, around 8:30 AM, the crew of flight 930 reported 'suspicious sounds' coming from the area of transportation of luggage. The 169 passengers were evacuated and units from Miami-Dade firefighters surrounded the aircraft, which was at the door D-40.

Chin confirmed that both the gate D-40 as the two were closed around her, but the terminal remained open.

Anti-explosive experts inspected the cargo area and found objects containing it are used to transport detonators, but they were empty and showed no danger."

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Former employee of Swiss bank documents to WikiLeaks delivery | La Voz de Houston | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

Former employee of Swiss bank documents to WikiLeaks delivery | La Voz de Houston | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle: "former employee of a Swiss bank on Monday delivered to the founder of Wikileaks , Julian Assange , said documents detailing the attempts to evade taxes of prominent businessmen and legislators in various countries.
Rudolf Elmer, who worked for the Bank Julius Baer in Switzerland , said the documents include some 2,000 bank accounts, but declined to provide details about the companies and individuals involved.
Elmer, who had previously delivered WikiLeaks documents on financial activities in the Cayman Islands, will appear Wednesday before a tribunal in Zurich to respond to the charges of coercion and violation of strict bank secrecy laws in Switzerland."

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Paradores: the historic luxury hotels of Spain

Paradores: the historic luxury hotels of Spain | Gadling.com: "The Paradores of Spain offer luxury accommodation in some of Spain's most historic and popular cities, many of which, like Cáceres and Mérida, are World Heritage Sites. In Extremadura, Spain's historic southwest, there are seven. Besides Zafra, there are Paradores in Guadalupe (in a 15th century hospital), Jarandilla (15th century castle), Plasencia (15th century convent), and Trujillo (16th century convent), Mérida and Cáceres."

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Spain’s Extravagant City Of Culture Opens Amid Criticism

PSFK » Spain’s Extravagant City Of Culture Opens Amid Criticism: "Spain’s latest architectural extravagance was finally opened to the public today amid complaints that the massive new City of Culture in Santiago de Compostela is a huge and expensive white elephant.

American architect Peter Eisenman describes his €400m (£332m) hilltop complex overlooking one of Spain’s most picturesque and historic cities as something that is meant to appear as though it has “erupted and heaved up” from the ground.

But others see the complex of six buildings in Galicia as a monument to the vanity of the region’s former rightwing premier, Manuel Fraga, and an anachronism at a time of austerity. The project, still only half-built, has already cost four times more than originally planned."

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Plans for Ronda - Costa del Sol motorway | Olive Press Newspaper | News

Plans for Ronda - Costa del Sol motorway | Olive Press Newspaper | News: "plans for the proposed motorway linking Ronda with the Costa del Sol have now gone on display.
Throughout January exhibitions will be held in Town Halls throughout the affected municipalities giving the public a chance to study the information and oppose the plans.
The project, which aims to cut the travel time from Ronda to the Costa del Sol by more than half, involves building a motorway covering the 32.8 kilometre distance from Ronda to the current A-7 motorway, by the Benahavis road.
The total investment is estimated to reach 350 million euros and could create more than 5,000 jobs.
But the project has come under fire from environmentalists who argue it will destroy the surrounding landscape.


And others have questioned the impact the new motorway will have on the historical heritage of the town"

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Marbella Villas

Marbella Villas  "For countless years Marbella has been a popular place for the affluent and celebrities and is renowned around the world as one of the most stylish and delightful vacation destinations within Europe. It has everything to offer: stunning beaches, hills, good cusine, night life as well as old world beauty.
Be mindful, the cosmopolitan setting can be intoxicating and can solely be compared with foreign places along the lines of St Tropez and Monte Carlo, Marbella has got a fantastic local climate because of the surrounding mountains that typically ensures conditions are generally less hot in the summertime as well as hotter throughout the winter months than other locations on the South Of Spain, thus , making this an ideal year round place to go for every age group."

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Britain's most expensive Caravan sold for 550,000 pounds - The Economic Times

Britain's most expensive Caravan sold for 550,000 pounds - The Economic Times: "A caravan equipped with a luxury Italian kitchen, top-of-the range flat screen television and iPhone controlled heating system has been sold for a whopping 550,000 pounds.

The luxury three-bedroomed static holiday home has become the most expensive caravan in the country after being sold to a millionaire couple last month, Daily Mail reported on Thursday.

Nestled on the seafront in Abersoch, North Wales, the chalet has spectacular views over the Lleyn peninsular and even its own private decking and staircase to the beach below."

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