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.
Scroll down for video
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.”
Following the success of the first edition of the show, with the participation of the most prestigious luxury firms of this exclusive part of town, this year’s edition will put the accent on quality and design.
Puerto Banus will be hosting the 2nd edition of the Marbella Luxury Weekend, scheduled to be held from 31 May-3 June. Following the success of the first edition of the show, with the participation of the most prestigious luxury firms of this exclusive part of town, the Marbella Luxury Weekend is all set to welcome back those hankering after style and elegance.
During the four-day show, not only will the shops and boutiques extend their opening hours until well into the night, but the port will also be alive with music, fashion shows and passacaglias attracting hundreds of visitors from all over the world.
There will be two spacious VIP areas catering to all the needs of the most select guests in a magical ambience. Other exclusive activities will take place both inside the numerous boutiques participating in the event and in the marquees erected in front of them along the promenade. And besides Puerto Banus’ shops and boutiques, this first event to welcome in the summer will also include the marina’s top restaurants, which will be preparing special dishes for the passersby.
In addition, the Cars & Arts Luxury Show, a sports and luxury car exhibition, will be must for car enthusiasts and other visitors, alike. The Guarnieri Group’s Malaga Porsche Centre will be exhibiting the "Gomez Collection" exclusively at the Marbella Luxury Weekend. This collection comprises 24 Porsche 911 GT2 bonnets that the Argentinean collector Jorge Gomez commissioned from 19 plastic artists, who used them as aluminum canvasses for their works of art. The bonnets have previously been exhibited at the Stuttgart Porsche Museum and at three venues in Buenas Aires: the Alvear Hotel, the Maman Gallery and the Autodromo.
Brand and trend forum As part of the Marbella Luxury Weekend, the 1st La Zagaleta "Brand and Trend" Forum will take place at the Marbella Congress Centre from 1-2 June.
During the two-day forum, executives from L’Oréal, Skype, Starwood Hotels, UBS, Melia Hoteles, KPMG, Tiffany and Inditex, among others, will be participating in a number of roundtable discussions so as to share their strategic, business and marketing vision as regards the hospitality, service, leisure, luxury, technology and fashion industries.
Following the success of the first edition of the show, with the participation of the most prestigious luxury firms of this exclusive part of town, this year’s edition will put the accent on quality and design.
Puerto Banus will be hosting the 2nd edition of the Marbella Luxury Weekend, scheduled to be held from 31 May-3 June. Following the success of the first edition of the show, with the participation of the most prestigious luxury firms of this exclusive part of town, the Marbella Luxury Weekend is all set to welcome back those hankering after style and elegance.
During the four-day show, not only will the shops and boutiques extend their opening hours until well into the night, but the port will also be alive with music, fashion shows and passacaglias attracting hundreds of visitors from all over the world.
There will be two spacious VIP areas catering to all the needs of the most select guests in a magical ambience. Other exclusive activities will take place both inside the numerous boutiques participating in the event and in the marquees erected in front of them along the promenade. And besides Puerto Banus’ shops and boutiques, this first event to welcome in the summer will also include the marina’s top restaurants, which will be preparing special dishes for the passersby.
In addition, the Cars & Arts Luxury Show, a sports and luxury car exhibition, will be must for car enthusiasts and other visitors, alike. The Guarnieri Group’s Malaga Porsche Centre will be exhibiting the "Gomez Collection" exclusively at the Marbella Luxury Weekend. This collection comprises 24 Porsche 911 GT2 bonnets that the Argentinean collector Jorge Gomez commissioned from 19 plastic artists, who used them as aluminum canvasses for their works of art. The bonnets have previously been exhibited at the Stuttgart Porsche Museum and at three venues in Buenas Aires: the Alvear Hotel, the Maman Gallery and the Autodromo.
Brand and trend forum As part of the Marbella Luxury Weekend, the 1st La Zagaleta "Brand and Trend" Forum will take place at the Marbella Congress Centre from 1-2 June.
During the two-day forum, executives from L’Oréal, Skype, Starwood Hotels, UBS, Melia Hoteles, KPMG, Tiffany and Inditex, among others, will be participating in a number of roundtable discussions so as to share their strategic, business and marketing vision as regards the hospitality, service, leisure, luxury, technology and fashion industries.
Following the success of the first edition of the show, with the participation of the most prestigious luxury firms of this exclusive part of town, this year’s edition will put the accent on quality and design.
Puerto Banus will be hosting the 2nd edition of the Marbella Luxury Weekend, scheduled to be held from 31 May-3 June. Following the success of the first edition of the show, with the participation of the most prestigious luxury firms of this exclusive part of town, the Marbella Luxury Weekend is all set to welcome back those hankering after style and elegance.
During the four-day show, not only will the shops and boutiques extend their opening hours until well into the night, but the port will also be alive with music, fashion shows and passacaglias attracting hundreds of visitors from all over the world.
There will be two spacious VIP areas catering to all the needs of the most select guests in a magical ambience. Other exclusive activities will take place both inside the numerous boutiques participating in the event and in the marquees erected in front of them along the promenade. And besides Puerto Banus’ shops and boutiques, this first event to welcome in the summer will also include the marina’s top restaurants, which will be preparing special dishes for the passersby.
In addition, the Cars & Arts Luxury Show, a sports and luxury car exhibition, will be must for car enthusiasts and other visitors, alike. The Guarnieri Group’s Malaga Porsche Centre will be exhibiting the "Gomez Collection" exclusively at the Marbella Luxury Weekend. This collection comprises 24 Porsche 911 GT2 bonnets that the Argentinean collector Jorge Gomez commissioned from 19 plastic artists, who used them as aluminum canvasses for their works of art. The bonnets have previously been exhibited at the Stuttgart Porsche Museum and at three venues in Buenas Aires: the Alvear Hotel, the Maman Gallery and the Autodromo.
Brand and trend forum As part of the Marbella Luxury Weekend, the 1st La Zagaleta "Brand and Trend" Forum will take place at the Marbella Congress Centre from 1-2 June.
During the two-day forum, executives from L’Oréal, Skype, Starwood Hotels, UBS, Melia Hoteles, KPMG, Tiffany and Inditex, among others, will be participating in a number of roundtable discussions so as to share their strategic, business and marketing vision as regards the hospitality, service, leisure, luxury, technology and fashion industries.
Following the success of the first edition of the show, with the participation of the most prestigious luxury firms of this exclusive part of town, this year’s edition will put the accent on quality and design.
Puerto Banus will be hosting the 2nd edition of the Marbella Luxury Weekend, scheduled to be held from 31 May-3 June. Following the success of the first edition of the show, with the participation of the most prestigious luxury firms of this exclusive part of town, the Marbella Luxury Weekend is all set to welcome back those hankering after style and elegance.
During the four-day show, not only will the shops and boutiques extend their opening hours until well into the night, but the port will also be alive with music, fashion shows and passacaglias attracting hundreds of visitors from all over the world.
There will be two spacious VIP areas catering to all the needs of the most select guests in a magical ambience. Other exclusive activities will take place both inside the numerous boutiques participating in the event and in the marquees erected in front of them along the promenade. And besides Puerto Banus’ shops and boutiques, this first event to welcome in the summer will also include the marina’s top restaurants, which will be preparing special dishes for the passersby.
In addition, the Cars & Arts Luxury Show, a sports and luxury car exhibition, will be must for car enthusiasts and other visitors, alike. The Guarnieri Group’s Malaga Porsche Centre will be exhibiting the "Gomez Collection" exclusively at the Marbella Luxury Weekend. This collection comprises 24 Porsche 911 GT2 bonnets that the Argentinean collector Jorge Gomez commissioned from 19 plastic artists, who used them as aluminum canvasses for their works of art. The bonnets have previously been exhibited at the Stuttgart Porsche Museum and at three venues in Buenas Aires: the Alvear Hotel, the Maman Gallery and the Autodromo.
Brand and trend forum As part of the Marbella Luxury Weekend, the 1st La Zagaleta "Brand and Trend" Forum will take place at the Marbella Congress Centre from 1-2 June.
During the two-day forum, executives from L’Oréal, Skype, Starwood Hotels, UBS, Melia Hoteles, KPMG, Tiffany and Inditex, among others, will be participating in a number of roundtable discussions so as to share their strategic, business and marketing vision as regards the hospitality, service, leisure, luxury, technology and fashion industries.
The British Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Iain Duncan Smith, has been visiting the Department of Work and Pensions benefits and healthcare team in Madrid. He warned Britons living abroad not to break the strict rules on what benefits they can and cannot claim. People who are pretending to live in the UK so they can collect benefits, but in fact are living overseas cost the British taxpayer 43 million pounds last year. Most of the reports of such benefit fraud came from Spain. Iain Duncan Smith commented, “We are determined to clamp down on benefit fraud abroad, which cost the British taxpayer around £43 million last year. This money should be going to the people who need it most and not lining the pockets of criminals sunning themselves overseas. The vast majority of British people overseas are law abiding, but fraudulently claiming benefits while living abroad is a crime and we are committed to putting a stop to it.” He also encouraged Britons to use the dedicated Spanish hotline to report benefit thieves. 900 554 440 or you report a benefit fraud here. The hotline has resulted in 100 people being sanctioned or prosecuted, and 134 more cases are currently under investigation. 3.1 million pounds in over payments of benefit have been identified and will be reclaimed. Source – UK in Spain - http://ukinspain.fco.gov.uk/en/news/?view=News&id=754530182 Duncan Smith made the most of his visit to Madrid and took the chance to meet with Health Minister, Ana Mato, and the Mayor of Madrid, Ana Botella. They discussed the response to the crisis with Duncan Smith calling for an end to the culture of ‘unemployment and dependency’, increasing the control on public spending and eliminating ‘the subsidies which don’t resolve problems because in some cases ‘they trap the poor’.
The State Attorney General, Eduardo Torres-Dulce, has said that there are plans to designate ‘one or two prosecutors’ more to the specialist Anti-Corruption section in the province of Málaga. He made the comment at an event where Juan Carlos López Caballero took possession as Chief Prosecutor for Málaga, a job which he was sharing with his post as Delegate from the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor, where three prosecutors work. There have been complaints from prosecutors that only 8% of civil servants who work for the administration of justice do so in the prosecutors’ office, a number described as ‘totally insufficient’.
The cabinet on Friday decided to crack down on foreigners using the Spanish Health Service as part of an additional 7 billion € of cuts. They intend to toughen the conditions for inclusion on the Padrón census. Minister for Health, Ana Mato, said ‘We are going to end the abuses committed by some foreigners’. She is going to change the Ley de Extranjería which intends to put a limit to the so-called ‘health tourism’, which has seen family members of foreign residents to come to Spain ‘exclusively’ to receive health attention. Ana Mato insisted that from now it will not be so easy to come to Spain, sign the Padrón census, and obtain a health card, as it has been. ‘Just getting on the Padrón they all had the right to the health card’, said the Minister. ‘Now there will be a series of additional requirements when the Padrón is issued’. She said to guarantee the universality of the Health Service ‘for all the Spaniards’ it was necessary to stop the illegal and undue use which some foreigners have been making of this service. On Thursday the Minister met with the regions and they agreed on a new article which will ‘explicitly prohibit a person moving regions in search of health attention'. The Minister considers these measures will do away with health tourism and save 1 billion €. Ana Mato also said that she was going to revise some international conventions on the matter, given that ‘many’ countries do not repay the money they owe Spain for the health attention given here to their citizens. Among the other measures approved, the end of paying for some medicaments ‘with little therapeutic value’. A list of included medicines accepted nationally is to be prepared. The Minister said ‘We all have to collaborate with those who having a worse time’.
Millions of its passengers – who have already booked and paid for their flights in full – may now be asked to pay an extra fee upon departure, or be told they are not allowed to board. The airline sent an email to customers this week warning them of the backdated fare. “We may be forced to debit passengers for any government imposed increases in airport charges prior to your travel date,” its message read. “If any such tax, fee or charge is introduced or increased after your reservation has been made you will be obliged to pay it (or any increase) prior to departure”.
A study of mobile phone calls suggests that women call their spouse more than any other person. That changes as their daughters become old enough to have children, after which they become the most important person in their lives. The study has been published in the journal Scientific Reports. It also shows that men call their spouse most often for the first seven years of their relationship. They then shift their focus to other friends. The results come from an analysis of the texts of mobile phone calls of three million people. According to the study's co-author, Professor Robin Dunbar of Oxford University, UK, the investigation shows that pair-bonding is much more important to women than men. "It's the first really strong evidence that romantic relationships are driven by women," he told BBC News. "It's they who make the decision and once they have made their mind up, they just go for the poor bloke until he keels over and gives in!" But the data shows that women start to switch the preference of their best friend from about the mid-30s, and by the age of 45 a woman of a generation younger becomes the "new best friend", according to Professor Dunbar. Continue reading the main story “ Start Quote Human societies are moving back to a matriarchy” Prof Robin Dunbar Oxford University "What seems to happen is that women push the 'old man' out to become their second best friend, and he gets called much less often and all her attention is focussed on her daughters just at the point at which you are likely to see grandchildren arriving," he says. Prof Dunbar also claims that the findings suggest that human societies are moving away from a patriarchy back to a matriarchy. The aim of the project was to find out how close, intimate relationships vary over a lifetime. This kind of anthropological study is normally very difficult to do because it is hard for researchers to get such a big picture of people's lives. But by looking at an at an extremely large mobile phone database, they were able to track these changes extremely accurately. They had access to the age and sex of the callers, who between them made three billion calls and half a billion texts over a period of seven months. Intensely focussed The team wanted to find out how the gender preference of best friends, as defined by the frequency of the calling, changed over the course of a lifetime and differed between men and women. They found that men tend to choose a woman the same age as themselves - which the researchers presumed to be their girlfriend or wife - as a best friend much later in life than women do, and for a much shorter time. This occurs when they are in their early-30s, possibly during courtship, and stops after seven years or so. Women, however, choose a man of a similar age to be their best friend from the age of 20. He remains for about 15 years, after which time he's replaced by a daughter. The pendulum between the two sexes is swinging back towards women, says Prof Dunbar The researchers say that a woman's social world is intensely focussed a on one individual and will shift as a result of reproductive interests from being the mate to children and grandchildren. According to Prof Dunbar, the data suggests that "at root the important relationships are those between women and not those between men". "Men's relationships are too casual. They often function at a high level in a political sense, of course; but at the end of the day, the structure of society is driven by women, which is exactly what we see in primates," he explains. Many anthropologists argue that most human societies are patriarchal on the basis that in most communities men stay where they are born whereas the wives move. But Professor Dunbar and his colleagues are arguing that this only occurs in agriculturally based societies. "If you look at hunter-gatherers and you look at modern humans in modern post-industrial societies, we are much more matriarchal. It's almost as if the pendulum between the two sexes, power-wise, is swinging (back) as we move away from agriculture toward a knowledge-based economy," he says.
Type in "sex tourism" and "Brazil" in Google, and the first site that comes up is not a news report or academic study, but advice on going rates and how to hire prostitutes. But ahead of the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics, officials are starting to clamp down on the country's image as a haven for sex tourism. Brazil's Tourism Ministry recently said it identified more than 2,000 sites advertising the South American giant's sex industry, many of them hosted in the US. To counter the reputation, the tourism ministry has stepped up efforts to advertise Brazil's natural beauties like beaches and the Amazon, instead of bodies for sale. And they have circulated information reminding visitors that sexual exploitation of minors is a crime. Brazil's preventive efforts seem more crucial than ever after the scandal in Cartagena, Colombia, during the Sixth Summit of the Americas last weekend. Some 11 US Secret Service agents were sent home for allegedly hiring prostitutes in the steamy colonial city, also a major destination for sex tourism. “Large events create an obvious clientele and traffickers recognize an opportunity to make money,” says Heather Smith-Cannoy, who teaches international relations at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. “I think that in many places around the world there is a 'boys will be boys' attitude about the patronizing of prostitutes," Ms. Smith-Cannoy says. But when considering the combination of large profits for traffickers, and pimps or hustlers, and a relaxed cultural attitude about visiting prostitutes "we can begin to understand both the supply and the demand side of this industry,” says Smith-Cannoy. The trafficking–tourism link Sex “tourism" is nothing new. By some accounts it dates back to the 15th century, with Columbus's arrival to the Americas. As the middle class grew in industrialized nations, and the opportunities to travel with it, the formal industry was developed. Prostitution is tolerated to varying degrees in Latin America, but it is the human trafficking associated with sex tourism, especially that of minors, that alarms officials most. (The case of Cartagena did not involve minors.) According to the Coalition Against Trafficking of Women and Girls in Latin America and the Caribbean (CATW-LAC), 500,000 women and girls from Latin America and the Caribbean are sexually exploited each year. Not all prostitution involves sex trafficking, a multibillion dollar industry, but the nongovernmental organization World Vision estimates that up to a quarter of women in prostitution have been trafficked. At the same time, the majority of human trafficking victims — 79 percent — are brought into the sex trade, according to the United Nations. Countries in Asia, notably Thailand, have long been at the center of the problem, but Latin America is starting to play a larger role. “While most trafficking victims still appear to originate from South and Southeast Asia or the former Soviet Union, human trafficking is also a growing problem in Latin America,” writes Clare Ribando Seelke in a 2012 Congressional Research Service report. Poverty, displacement from rural areas, and increased demand for prostitution all play a role in the growth of sexual exploitation, says Humberto Rodriguez, the communication officer of Fundacion Renacer, a Colombia-based group that combats the sexual exploitation of youths in the country. Anywhere the tourism industry grows, he says, so does the opportunity for sexual tourism. 'Not enough is being done' Within sex tourism, the exploitation of children is the biggest concern. According to the US State Department 2011 report on the trafficking of persons, Brazil, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, and Nicaragua all have significant child sex tourist industries. Colombia, it says, is also “a destination for foreign child sex tourists from the United States and Europe, particularly to coastal cities such as Cartagena and Barranquilla.” Countries around the globe have addressed the problem of human trafficking in general since the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, was adopted in 2000, but many say not enough is being done. The US State Department assesses efforts around the globe to combat human trafficking. In 2010, 80 percent of countries in South America were placed on the Tier 2 list, which means they were not fully complying with the US Trafficking Victims Protection Act, while 60 percent of countries in Central America and the Caribbean were on the Tier 2 Watch List. Cuba fell to the lowest level of cooperation, Tier 3. The State Department says that prostitution of children over 16 is legal in Cuba, leaving those over the legal age vulnerable to commercial sexual exploitation. Venezuela fell to Tier 3 in the 2011 report. Colombia sits on the Tier 1 list, and while the case of the US Secret Service agents does not fall into Fundacion Renacer's work — as it did not involve children — Mr. Rodriguez says the case may not have generated so much attention in the past. “People are paying attention to it now,” says Rodriguez. Through their work and an international certification program called The Code, which brings tourism operators into the fight to prevent the use of children in sex tourism, society in general is more aware of prostitution, he says. Efforts like these are particularly important as countries become hosts to big events like the Summit of the Americas, or as crises occur. An increased demand for prostitution increases human sex trafficking rings, says Cannoy-Smith. She and a co-author have researched the impact of UN peacekeeping forces in Kosovo, Haiti, and Sierra Leone on trafficking. “When the UN intervenes in civil conflicts, the peacekeepers themselves have often been linked to running and patronizing trafficking rings,” Smith-Cannoy says. “Again, I think that poverty, desperation, the specter of large profits, and relaxed cultural attitudes make these dynamics possible.”
Disclaimer: The statements and articles listed here, and any opinions, are those of the writers alone, and neither are opinions of nor reflect the views of this Blog. Aggregated content created by others is the sole responsibility of the writers and its accuracy and completeness are not endorsed or guaranteed. This goes for all those links, too: Blogs have no control over the information you access via such links, does not endorse that information, cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information provided or any analysis based thereon, and shall not be responsible for it or for the consequences of your use of that information.
05:27
