Saturday, July 31, 2010

Coca-Cola cans take tip mark for majority dirty code in Britain

It is sold in more than 200 countries worldwide and is the biggest-selling soft drink in history.

But not only has Coca-Cola become a byword for American world domination, it is now the most littered brand in the UK, according to figures released today.

A survey of litter dropped across the country found the firm"s bottles and cans accounted for a total of 4.9 per cent of discarded trash.

Top of the drops

Empty packets of Walkers Crisps made up for 4.1 per cent of litter whilst 3.4 per cent was McDonald"s packaging.

The figures were compiled after an analysis of 7,796 items of litter picked up by 39 volunteers between September and October last year in mainly rural parts of England, Wales and Scotland.

The study - by anti-litter campaigner Tim Barnes of the campaigning group Litter Heroes - concluded that around 70 per cent of the nation"s litter comes from the "food on the go" industry.

Drinks cans and bottles accounted for 34 per cent of litter, followed by confectionery wrappers at 16 per cent. Fast food packaging made up for 13 per cent whilst 8 per cent of the litter was crisp packets.

"Clearly, the people who drop litter are directly responsible for the problem, but manufacturers must accept some responsibility too," said Mr Barnes.

"Littering of these brands is degrading the environment on a national scale. The survey shows that almost everywhere you go in the UK you are likely to see a littered Coke can or a Walkers Crisp packet.

"It is time these companies took much greater responsibility for preventing littering of their products and for the cost of the clean-up."

For General Growth creditors: money vs stock?

Paritosh Bansal and Pav Jordan NEW YORK/TORONTO Tue Feb 23, 2010 6:30pm EST Related News Simon Property offers $10 billion for General GrowthTue, Feb 16 2010UPDATE 5-Simon Property beats estimates, shares riseFri, Feb 5 2010 Stocks & &

NEW YORK/TORONTO (Reuters) - Brookfield Asset Management Inc"s (BAMa.TO) interest in bankrolling General Growth Properties Inc"s GGWPQ.PK independent exit from bankruptcy raises what may be a crucial question in the battle for the No. 2 U.S. mall operator: Would creditors prefer stock or cash?

Deals

Creditors who hold about $7 billion of General Growth"s unsecured debt would get a full price for their bonds in cash under an unsolicited offer by Simon Property Group Inc (SPG.N) for its smaller rival. Simon has also said it is open to giving its shares to certain creditors instead of cash if they wanted.

General Growth, meanwhile, is counting on some investors taking stock in return for unsecured debt as part of its own plan to exit from bankruptcy, according to a source familiar with the situation.

Brookfield, which holds about $1 billion of General Growth"s unsecured debt, is interested in taking a stake in a reorganized mall owner, according to a second source familiar with the situation and media reports.

The official committee representing General Growth"s unsecured creditors in bankruptcy court backs Simon"s offer, urging General Growth to start talks on the bid. The two sides, however, have instead traded testy letters in public, while they continue to negotiate behind the scenes.

Usually bond holders, by their very nature, like to hold debt and not equity so they tend to prefer cash for their debt rather than stock.

But General Growth, which became the largest real estate failure in U.S. history when it filed for bankruptcy in April, is in an unusual situation.

Its stock closed at $12.97 a share on Tuesday, but investor and board member William Ackman has said it is worth between $24 and $43 a share.

For some bondholders who believe the stock is undervalued, the returns could be higher if they accepted shares now instead of cash.

Others such as Brookfield might like shares for their bonds to get a piece of the Chicago-based company"s more than 200 malls, which include marquee properties such as Fashion Show in Las Vegas, Ala Moana Center in Hawaii and Faneuil Hall Marketplace in Boston.

"There could be a scenario where you are offering a package of securities and equity together with some cash that basically offered the unsecured creditor 150 percent that they were owed," said a lawyer, who declined to be named because his firm is involved.

"It might be so attractive that the creditors might be willing to take the risk of taking the securities instead of the cash."

To be sure, the creditors are only one piece of the puzzle. Offering them stock could affect the returns of existing equity holders who will have a say as well. That means there could be more jockeying and perhaps raised bids before it all ends.

COMPETING PLANS

General Growth"s primary funding needs for an exit are expected to be about $1.5 billion and it is looking at the option to raise more capital to cash out bondholders that do not want to take stock, said the first source, who declined to be identified because the plans are not public.

Although the creditor committee backed Simon, not all investors who own General Growth debt are represented on it, the source said.

"People are going to make their own decisions," the source said. "If the company wants to try to do a plan to convert unsecured debt to equity, (creditors) will be presented with a plan to do so. They will have a chance to vote on it."

General Growth is weighing raising $1 billion to $2 billion from the public market, which is expected to be cheaper than private parties.

But it has also been approached by numerous parties -- including Brookfield -- interested in financing the company as opposed to buying it.

Brookfield wants a stake in the mall owner because it would allow the Canadian firm to acquire assets and a management team to build a U.S. retail platform, the second source said, who also declined to be named because of the talks are private.

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier that Brookfield was preparing to bid for a large General Growth stake, aiming to outdo Simon"s offer.

"Simon Property wants to go and buy the whole thing, but it could be that it"s way better for shareholders and other investors to just reestablish the company on a good solid base," the source said, adding that stakeholders could participate in management in return.

But Brookfield could walk away from General Growth as well if the price was too high. The Toronto-based firm has backed down from a bidding war with Simon in the past, when it was about to buy Mills Corp in January 2007 for $6 billion before the offer was bested by its U.S. rival.

Brookfield, an investor in property, power and other infrastructure assets with access to more than $4 billion in liquidity, declined to comment for this article, as did General Growth. A lawyer for the creditors" committee did not return calls.

(Reporting by Paritosh Bansal and Ilaina Jonas in New York, and Pav Jordan in Toronto; editing by Andre Grenon)

Deals

Friday, July 30, 2010

JOAN COLLINS: Even at 76 shes evermore glamorous. Here the monumental beauty reveals how she does it

Joan Collins asks why people are so surprised when women over 50 can look great

Ageing sexily: Joan Collins asks why people are so surprised when women over 50 can look great

Every time an article is written about me or any of my contemporaries whos had the fortune and discipline to look good at a certain age, I am struck by the tone of astonishment, and the certainty that something is being done secretively to beat the devil.

Why should people be so surprised that women in their 50s, 60s and 70s look sexy and absolutely wonderful?

Unfortunately today, with the medias excessive emphasis on youth, youth, youth, some women over 40 are beginning to feel unsexy and with that often comes a tremendous feeling of insecurity.

The fact that there are scores of women looking stunning and far younger than their biological age seems to be overlooked, or, if recognised, then met with wonderment.

Certainly there are dozens of over-50 actresses who look great: Sophia Loren, Susan Sarandon, Ursula Andress, Stefanie Powers, Raquel Welch, Barbara Eden, Joanna Lumley, Linda Gray - the list is endless and these are just the actresses!

I have many friends in their 60s, 70s and 80s, not in the limelight, but who all look absolutely stunning.

In France, they revere and respect older women, as they do in most Latin countries, where they consider them to be delightful and to possess true sexual allure.

It is a fact that many of the most famous women in history were sexually active well into middle age and beyond.

Catherine the Great, in her 60s, was reputed to take young lovers some 40 years her junior to bed.

More...Student shows big is beautiful at groundbreaking size 16 fashion show"Frivolous Carla Bruni is a modern-day Marie Antoinette" claims new bookA 20-minute handlift... and all of a sudden I look 10 years younger

Mae West, who lived to 90, had a lover 45 years younger than her, and she coined the classic phrase: ;Its not the men in my life, but the life in my men.

Sarah Bernhardt, the great French actress and the legendary Coco Chanel both had lovers in their twilight years.

A lot of young people think that sex is the prerogative of the young. Many are appalled by the idea of the over-40s or even their parents being or looking sexy or even, God forbid, having sex.

This is almost a throwback to days of puritanical religious intemperance, when sex was meant only for reproduction. I believe weve come far beyond those beliefs in our new secular world, and even in some parts of the religious one as well.

Actress Susan Sarandon Sophia Loren

Still got it: Susan Sarandon, left, and Sophia Loren have aged very well

Now that sex is used to sell everything from vacuum cleaners toplane tickets, it should be accepted that its everyones prerogativeto enjoy it and have it, regardless of age.

It makes me happy when I read about a couple marrying in their 80s, or rediscovering their lost love from 50 years ago.

Today, 60 is the new 45 and 50 is more like 35.

As for ;old age, Im with that great philosopher Bernard Baruch,who said: ;Old age is always 15 years older than I am. How true! OrGroucho Marx: ;Growing old is something you do if youre lucky.

SLAP HAPPY93 per cent of UK women use cosmetics, making us some of the most enthusiastic beauty product fans in Europe

TheQueen Mother was a fabulous example of living life to the fullestextent until well over 100 and having plenty of admirers. Its calleduse it or lose it; whether its working your brain or your butt, youvegotta work at it.

The number of people over the age of 60is approaching 1 billion - thats one in seven of the worlds totalpopulation - and by 2050 it will be many more.

Getting older should be just that: getting older, but not becomingold and losing ones sex appeal. I believe that one is as young as onelooks, so its absolutely crucial to keep your skin and figure in thebest shape you can - advice which young girls today should heed.

Timeand time again I see women over 50 who have taken care of themselveslooking glamorous, and girls in their 20s and 30s looking... well,rather rough.

Maintenance neednt be as time-consuming asso many seem to think. Protecting ones skin with sunscreen andfoundation takes as long as cleaning your teeth thoroughly.

Doing20 minutes of stretching, light weights and floor exercises three timesa week takes the same amount of time as a long coffee break = andeating a tuna fish salad, sardines on toast or scrambled eggs is surelypreferable to a Big Mac or KFC.

Its not a question ofbeing obsessive about what one does to look and feel young - Im not.Its about doing it so that it becomes almost second nature.

Iwont deprive myself of what I feel like having - I eat chocolates,cookies and nuts; I drink wine and the occasional vodka martini.

Joanna Lumley Actress Joan Collins

British beauties: Joanna Lumley, left, and Joan Collins

ButI have treated my body as I would a car, only the best in petrol, careand maintenance, and Im happy to say it seems to have worked for me.

Ivealways been sceptical about the so-called miracle creams thatproliferate the glittering cosmetic counters of major department storesworldwide.

I raise an even more cynical eyebrow when I seeglossy magazine advertisements of gorgeous 20-something modelsrecommending and extolling the virtues of anti-ageing creams.

Whodo they think theyre kidding? Are the big cosmetic companies convincedthat the average woman is deluded enough to believe the preposterousclaims in their advertising?

Or is it just that youth sellseverything today, so lets show pure youthful beauty and let the poorfool who buys the product think that she, too, could look like themodel if she used the product?

And to add insult to injury, the photos are retouched until themodels faces and skin have perfection possible only in a two-year-old.What sane woman is going to believe that a lotion can refine, renew andtransform skin in ten minutes?

FADED GENESAbout 30 per cent of facial ageing is genetic; the rest is due to lifestyle factors such as sunlight and smoking

The advertising agenciesmust be laughing their heads off at the thought of their targetcustomers buying their ; miracle products. Its really quite sad tosee a lady earnestly discussing with a make-up expert at the beautycounter how a particular cream is going to erase the 40 years of hardliving etched in her face.

The ageing process of the skinis attributable to so many factors - the pollutants skin has to copewith, air conditioning, heating, general exposure to the sun, wind andthe elements, not to mention the various toxins we put into our bodythrough what we eat and drink.

Take anti-cellulite creams. These are one of the great mythical jokes perpetrated on modern woman.

Theonly way to reduce cellulite is to radically banish junk and fatty foodfrom your diet, take copious amounts of fish oil and other supplementsand, yes, dear reader, exercise, exercise, exercise until your derriereand everything on it falls off.

We all know what a dragthat is, but theres no way around the drudgery of reality. We live ina quick-fix society where we need instant gratification for everything.Too fat? Get lipo-sucked. Stringy hair? Glue on extensions. Wrinklesand lines? Head to the beauty shop for a pot of the latest miracle skinstuff.

Its all a beautiful 1 billion con foisted upon insecure women by canny cosmetic conglomerates.

Joan CollinsJoan CollinsJOAN COLLINS

Through the decades: Joan, pictured in 1967, left, 1975 and in 1982, right, takes care of her looks but doesn"t deprive herself

The Advertising Standards Agency - the watchdog that protects thepublic against false claims - ruled against one of these companiesrecently.

The firm claimed its anti-cellulite serum couldactually melt away the fatty look of cellulite. The ASA concluded theads were misleading, making medical claims they could not stand up andordered a recall of all the products.

Now, please dont get the impression that Im against any skinprotecting beauty product ever produced.

Aucontraire, since my early teens my mother, aunts and even mygrandmother encouraged me to take care of my skin by proper cleansing,moisturising and protecting.

This was long before the sophisticated products available today that boast they can do everything except whistle Dixie.

I used the simplest products - cold cream, baby oil, Vaseline, rosewater - all the generic skin products available at the local chemistand then a low-priced foundation base usually from Woolworths.

Mummy also didnt let me have too many sweets or chocolates and mademe eat all my greens and insisted on a teaspoon of cod liver oil eachday - ugh! But it worked for Granny, Mummy and my aunts, and it workedfor me.

 Queen Mother

Inspiration: The Queen Mother was fabulous example of living life to the fullest and having plenty of admirers

Although I was making a life-long commitment to skincare, I stillbaked my face and my body in the sun at every possible opportunity,until one day, recently arrived in Hollywood, my glamorous friendCappy, whose skin was like porcelain though she was almost 30, beratedme for my sunbathing habits.

Do you want to look like them when youre 40, she asked, indicatinga posse of darkly tanned lizard-like women lapping in the sun by theBeverly Hills Hotel pool?

God, no, that couldnt happen to me, I laughed, with all the cockiness of a 21-year-old.

;Itcertainly will if you dont quit putting your face in the sun, saidCappy sternly. ;Once you get sun damage, theres absolutely nothing youcan do to get rid of it, so stop now or youll regret it for ever.

So I took the advice of one of the most youthful women I ever met and since then have been fanatical about protecting my face, if not my body, against the suns rays in summer and winter.

After moisturising, I slap on foundation, which protects skin far more efficiently than any of the socalled miracle creams and I always wear a hat or a cap because even on the darkest of days the suns rays can penetrate through the clouds and cause damage.

Thats my miracle cream, and many of my girlfriends who have followed the same advice still look amazingly good. I strongly believe in protecting first rather than shutting the barn door after the horse has bolted.

With harmful UVA and UVB radiation in the environment, it is essential to start your regime as soon as possible if you want to stave off the ageing process and look glamorous well into later life.

Some media witches have mocked me for always wearing make-up. But they should take note, for I can assure them that if you take two women over 50, one of whom has always protected her face and one of whom has never done anything other than wash with soap and water, guess which one will have the best skin?

And not just slightly less lined, but skin that looks 20 years younger.

But it is essential to always put something moisturising on your face and then, with foundation on top, you will avoid much of the wear and tear of ageing.

Im often amazed when some lined, red-faced, blotchy skinned woman proudly announces that shes never allowed an ounce of make-up touch her face.

Well, bully for you, maam, if you want to go to the grave looking like Draculas grandma, but if you want to look young, then start applying make-up.

I know its not possible to retain the dewy skin of a two-year-old, but it is possible to look good after une age certain, as the French say.

But the most costly miracle creams used remedially are not going to erase a lifetime of living in your face if you didnt start caring yourself in your teens.

So teach your children well: its never too early to start - as the amount of creams and lotions aimed at babies delicate skin can attest to - so start now!

Femail>Beauty

Secret use agents indicted over five some-more woe cases

Attorney General Baroness Scotland

Baroness Scotland may order a new criminal investigation into the fresh claims

The Attorney General could order a criminal investigation into freshclaims that British secret service agents colluded in torture.

Baroness Scotland is considering the claims of five Britishmen held in Pakistan over the July 2005 suicide bombings in London andother plots, who have complained of being mistreated with the fullknowledge of the secret service.

Allegations that they were beaten, whipped and threatened withrape while being unlawfully detained have been brought to light by ToryMP and former SAS soldier David Davis.

Pakistani officials have claimed British officers were "directly involved" in the torture of the British residents.

The Attorney General is expected to decide this week whetherto call in the police to investigate the security services.

One of the cases involves a medical student who has returnedto Britain after being held for two months in a room opposite theBritish High Commission in Karachi.

Two British intelligence officers questioned him near the end of his detention, he said.

The man, known only as ZZ, said he had been deprived of sleep, beaten and whipped and is still traumatised.

Zeeshan Siddiqui

Zeeshan Siddiqui from Hounslow said he had been chained to a floor andforce-fed tranquilizer, and was threatened with sexual abuse

mohamed

Binyam Mohamed was allegedly tortured in Pakistan

David Davis

Former Shadow Home Secretary David Davis wrote to Baroness Scotland encouraging the inquiry

Four other cases are also being considered by the Attorney General, but all four of the complainants have been accused of terrorism offences.

The claims are a fresh blow for the intelligence services, following a Metropolitan Police investigation into the alleged torture of British resident Binyam Mohamed in Pakistan.

They surfaced in a report by Human Rights Watch, which has investigators in Pakistan.

Former shadow home secretary Mr Davis wrote to Lady Scotland in December, urging her to call a judicial inquiry into the allegations.

He said the current round of court cases would be halted by a judicial inquiry.

"I don"t buy this idea that it would be a distraction. I"d rather have an inquiry done properly and done once," he said.

A spokesman for the Attorney General said she would respond to Mr Davis"s letter this week and added there were "no plans at present to ask the Metropolitan Police to carry out further investigations".

Ashley Cole could face Chelsea low mark after some-more allegations over in isolation hold up

Chelsea left-back Ashley Cole could face disciplinary action from the club following further allegations over his private life.

Ashley Cole

Allegations: Cole, just like his Chelsea captain, has been the focus of the tabloids" front pages and back pages

The Barclays Premier League leaders insist the latest issues are a private matter for the England international, currently recovering from ankle surgery, but insist that any incidents found to have broken club rules will be dealt with internally.

The allegations in today"s newspapers come just 48 hours after Chelsea chief executive Ron Gourlay, acting on behalf of the owner Roman Abramovich, told the players in no uncertain terms that the club would not stand for its image being dragged through the mud any more.

A spokesman for Chelsea said: "This is a private matter for Ashley Cole. Where anything is alleged to have happened on Chelsea FC time, that is an internal club matter and will be dealt with internally."

Asked if Cole would be punished if found guilty of breaking club rules, the spokesman added: "Disciplinary issues are an internal matter and will be dealt with internally."

More...CHELSEA FC NEWS FROM ACROSS THE NETWolves 0 Chelsea 2: Deadly Drogba hits double to give Carlo a timely liftWenger will be on Real Madrid"s radar if Mourinho turns down Spanish giantsWigan Athletic 0 Tottenham Hotspur 3: Roman Pavlyuchenko conquers as Spurs go fourth and prosper from Eastlands shut-ou

Leicester 33 Gloucester 11: Flood washes afar the harm of England rejecting

Toby Flood has returned to the England camp, buoyed by guiding Leicester to their latest Welford Road demolition, this time over Gloucester.

Flood needed his day off from Six Nations duty to rid himself of the frustration at being on the bench throughout Englands stuttering attempts to beat Italy.

He described his lack of action as ;disheartening but quickly added that it was part of the job and that he relished his day release from England duties to lead the Leicester line.

LEICESTER

Demolition job: Toby Flood was back in action for Leicester after missing out on England"s win against Italy

;Its the worst position in a team to be the unused sub, but its just the way the game goes. You just have to sit there and take it, he said.

;So it was good to get some game time, although it is difficult to switch your mind back up to Leicester.

Flood showed for Leicester why he offers a viable alternative to Jonny Wilkinson if manager Martin Johnson opts for a more creative No 10 for Englands game against Ireland at Twickenham on Saturday.

;Hes a threat to the line and hes different from some of the 10s England have got but thats a choice for Martin, said Leicester head coach Richard Cockerill.

;Floody will kick well, he will run the ball and hes a threat. Sometimes that gets you in more trouble than you would like but he played well and if England want to start him hes more than good enough.

Flood kicked 18 points and made Leicesters first try for Lote Tuqiri, in the 36th minute, by producing a neat inside pass to put the wing clear.

By then Flood had started to demonstrate his versatility by moving to inside centre to cover for his injured England colleague Dan Hipkiss, who had twisted his ankle.

Leicester made the game safe three minutes into the second half when another Twickenham contender, Geordan Murphy, raced through to show Irelands management that he has fully recovered from shoulder surgery.

And despite having played only one full match, Murphy was last night included in the 32-man squad to face England alongside Keith Earls as they fight for the full-back spot following injury to Rob Kearney against France.

Ben Youngs

Break through: Ben Youngs races away for Leicester"s third try

He is one senior international looking to stay at Leicester as he is close to agreeing a new three-year contract, while two other long-serving Tigers in Lewis Moody and Ben Kay consider offers to play in France.

;Ive been loyal to Leicester and theyve been loyal to me throughout my career, added Murphy. He looked sharp and agile behind a Leicester pack that dominated from midway into the first half.

The victory by three tries to one left Gloucesters assistant coach Denis Betts marvelling at the home forwards.

;The beast got us, the Leicester beast, Betts said. ;You come with hope and with ambition but you have to perform and they out-performed us.

Betts was heartened at the Premiership debut of England Under 20 centre Jonny May. He scored Gloucesters only try, neatly finishing off a second-half counter-attack.

Another youngster on the rise is Leicester scrum-half Ben Youngs. His try, two minutes from time, was a brilliant effort any No 9 would have been proud to claim.

Wales last night called up fit-again Sale scrum-half Dwayne Peel for Fridays Six Nations match against France in Cardiff. He replaces Scarlets Martin Roberts in the squad. More...England reject Cipriani heads Down Under to rebuild career with MelbourneSIX NATIONS 2010: James Haskell admits - I tried to be Lawrence Dallaglio and Joe Worsley rolled into one. It just didnt workJohnno stands by Wilkinson and blasts critics for working to "their own agenda"Leicester 33 Gloucester 11: Flood washes away the hurt of England rejection

DES KELLY: Inter Milan trainer Jose Mourinho is happiest in the purpose of panto villain...

Jose Mourinho and Chelsea have very few surprises in store for one another this week, but the Inter Milan manager still served up a timely reminder of just how difficult he can be.

Wherever he is in charge, whatever the odds, Mourinho always moulds a team who are notoriously tough to overcome.

Two red cards reduced Inter Milan to nine men for nearly an hour of a petulant encounter with Sampdoria. With a familiar theatrical flourish, Mourinho was so incensed he gestured to the crowd that the decisions of the referee had slapped him in handcuffs.

Forever connected: Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho comes face-to-face with former club Chelsea this week

Forever connected: Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho comes face-to-face with former club Chelsea this week

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But it was depleted Inter that put the game under lock and key as a lesson in bloody-minded obstinacy and tactical awareness, which earned them a goalless draw and edged Mourinho closer to his second successive Serie A crown.

;How do I feel? I feel proud, said Mourinho later. ;This was good for morale and good for team spirit. Its eight years now without a defeat at home in domestic competitions, championships and cups.

"To celebrate the anniversary with this match, in these circumstances, and for our team spirit to survive the way it did is great.

The result preserved Mourinhos impressive record of never having lost a home game since 2002, a sequence that stretches back through his time with Porto, Chelsea and now Internazionale.

Those impressive statistics are a measure of the task facing Carlo Ancelotti and Chelsea in the San Siro on Wednesday night.

;To lose here in the Italian game, we would need to be left with six players on the field, said Mourinho, not even bothering to conceal his scorn for his Serie A rivals.

;I said the same thing when we beat AC Milan with nine men and Imsaying it again now. But we wont beat Chelsea with nine players.

Mourinho does, however, perceive a resolve and sense of purpose atInter that could give him the edge over the Premier League leaders.

Metropolitan road house London: The Rihanna prime where minimalist cool and rockers in the club power autarchic

Continuing our series on the world"s finest hotels and the stars who frequent them, Sarah Turner checks in to the Metropolitan, London. A room at the Metropolitan hotel

Metro set: Rooms at the Metropolitan hotel have views of Hyde Park and a spa among other luxury appointments, which make it popular with celebrities

STAR QUALITY: Bruce Willis, David and Victoria Beckham, fashion designer Giorgio Armani, the Killers, Cameron Diaz, Rihanna.

VITAL STATISTICS: A hotel that is popular with minimalist-minded fashion designers such as Giorgio Armani and Donna Karan; their pared-down clothes almost perfectly match the white, cream and coffee colour scheme.

Singer Rihanna

Star guest: Rihanna is one of the A-listers said to have enjoyed the hotel"s minimalist features

Most desirable of all is the penthouse, where floor-to-ceiling windows look out across London - even the shower has a view on to Hyde Park; Bruce Willis and the Beckhams are some of the people who have looked out across its Japanese zen garden to the greenery beyond.

Three-quarters of the 150 rooms look out on to the park - the higher the floor, the better the view.

Part of a small chain of hotels from Christina Ong, who also owns the celebrity-stuffed Parrot Cay in the Caribbean, it has a spa that offers a variety of treatments, including a facial from cult dermatologist Dr Perricone, which also includes a lunch of the wild Alaskan salmon that lives off a skin-boosting wild algae.

LOCATION REPORT: One of a cluster of hotels around Hyde Park Corner; neighbours include the Hilton, Dorchester and the Intercontinental, but while the other hotels peddle history and tradition, the Metropolitan celebrates modernity.

The jewellery and fashion shops of New Bond Street are an easy walk away.

The Whisky Mist bar in Hertford Street, which sees royals and rockers parade through its doors nightly, is within staggering distance while fitter celebrities can alight gracefully from their in-room yoga mat and head out to Hyde Park opposite for a run.

KEY ATTRACTION: All guests get automatic entry to the hotel"s Met Bar on the ground floor, a leather-boothed drinking den that becomes a private club each night at 9pm where ageing rock stars, including Roger Taylor of Duran Duran, play DJ.

On the first floor, Michelin-starred Nobu specialises in Japanese fusion food and is a restaurant that draws celebrities on a nightly basis - the hotel"s guests get priority for reservations.

Concierges pride themselves on being able to get their guests into any London club, including nearby Mahiki.

IN THE NEWS: Singer Rihanna followed in the footsteps of the Brit pop artists of the Nineties by partying here in November. Liam Gallagher has been a regular since the Met Bar opened.

An exterior view of the Metropolitan hotel

Neighbours: The Metropolitan hotel is one of a number of hotels grouped around Hyde Park Corner

GOOD ENOUGH FOR THE REST OF US? A night"s stay starts at 179 including breakfast. Lunch at Nobu starts at 26, and there"s also a trendy afternoon carb-light tea that costs 25. Beauty treatments start at 50.

GETTING THERE: 020 7447 1000, www.metropolitan.london.como.bz.

More...Find out where the celebrities go on holidayRead more brilliant hotel reviews hereWant to go to the Big Smoke? Find out where to stay

Frivolous Carla Bruni is a modern-day Marie Antoinette claims new book

Carla Bruni has been branded a modern-day Marie Antoinette and a "frivolous fashion victim who is isolated from reality" in a scathing new book about her life as France"s First Lady.

The former supermodel"s marriage to President Nicolas Sarkozy is a relationship between two people who are "consumed by ambition", according to respected historian Patrick Weber.

The Belgian-born academic describes in his new book, Queen Carla, how Bruni"s love of high fashion and obsession with psychotherapy have left her cut off from the French people.

mariebruni

The 18th century French aristocrat Marie Antoinette and French First Lady Carla Bruni. The Belgian academic"s book draws comparisons between them

He writes: "She behaves like the former queens of France, who is consorting with her king after an arranged marriage.

"She is rich and Italian like Catherine de Medici, a follower of the arts like Anne of Brittany and a frivolous fashion victim like Marie-Antoinette.

"A survey in 2009 found 51 per cent of French people thought she was remote and isolated from their daily lives.

sarkozy

Carla Bruni with her husband, President Nicolas Sarkozy

"Her status as a foreigner makes the problem worse. She is being ever more unpopular with the Italians yet has now been accepted by the French.

"It seems she can"t behave like a First Lady because she doesn"t want to give up her lifestyle."

It is the second time in six months that Bruni has been likened to doomed French queen Marie-Antoinette.

Carla2

French First Lady Carla Bruni rides in a carriage with Prince Philip during a visit to Britain

Last year, France"s leading high society magazine Point de Vue described the 41-year-old former model as a multi-millionaire socialite who does very little real work, and who is completely out of touch with ordinary people.

The magazine showed photos of the President"s third wife juxtaposed with paintings of Marie-Antoinette, the wife of Louis XIV whose lavish lifestyle and laziness led to her being guillotined in 1793 at the height of the French Revolution.

The magazine wrote: "She has the same posture, same look and same smile. And both women were well known for their obsession with designer clothers and their own physical image."

catwalk

Model Carla Bruni on the catwalk in Paris during her supermodel days. Her interest in fashion attracts suspicion among many French

In his new book Mr Weber writes: "She may be prepared to be challenged in her role as an artist, but much less so in her status as the wife of the head of state.

"This is perhaps because the PR operation behind their romance - this fiction that began in Disneyland - was a failure. No one believed it."

He said mass media coverage of Bruni and Sarkozy walking hand-in-hand around Disneyland Paris was simply a crass way of distracting the public from their "bling" lifestyle of posh restaurants and yachts.

He added: "This so-called love at first sight was actually just the meeting of two people both consumed by ambition."

Mr Weber criticised Bruni"s claim that she had no interest in her husband"s work or wish to effect his political decisions.

He said her "fingerprints" were all over the way he dealt with culture minister Frederic Mitterand"s confession he had been a sex tourist, and of the arrest of film director Roman Polanski.

"When she says she has no influence on the president, I don"t believe her," Weber said.

"In the corridors of power, people say the president has changed - and the one who has caused this change is her, this rebel of the champagne socialists.

"Carla Bruni now has a problem of where to place herself. Her left-wing family cannot forgive her marriage to the right wing of politics, while she will also never be truly accepted by Sarkozy"s political allies."

Bruni - who has had previous relaionships with Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton - has an eight-year-old son Aurelian with philosophy professor Raphael Enthoven.

She and Sarkozy began whirlwind romance after meeting at a dinner party in Paris in November 2007.

They wed just three months later at a private ceremony in the Elysee Palace on February 2, 2008.

Since they married, Bruni has regularly been attacked in the media by members of Sarkozy"s own UMP political party.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

FA designate Alex Horne as behaving arch senior manager Premier League

Neil Gardner & , : {}

The Football Association have appointed Alex Horne as acting chief executive following Ian Watmore"s resignation.

Watmore stepped down from the position despite having been in the post for less than a year, having grown frustrated that his proposals were being thwarted.

An emergency FA board meeting this afternoon saw the departure discussed and the appointment of Horne as Watmore"s temporary replacement.

A FA statement said: "The board have invited current chief operating officer Alex Horne to take on the role of acting chief executive officer with immediate effect.

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"The board regrets that Ian has decided not to continue as CEO, but has every confidence in Alex, the outstanding staff at the FA and the managerial leadership in place within the organisation.

"It has been agreed that Ian Watmore will leave the organisation at the end of this month."

Lord Triesman, the FA chairman, confirmed that a new chief executive will not be appointed until after England"s bid to host the 2018 World Cup is voted on by Fifa in December.

"Alex has taken over and the new arrangements are in place," Triesman said. "There"s no desire to spend a huge amount of time but we will want to replace the CEO.

"I want to make sure that when the board is slightly reconfigured that it has the chief executive that it wants. It would be very discourteous for the new board not to have that opportunity.

"It"s not a question of delaying, just working to a timetable that gets the right result."

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Smoking gun memo reveals Toyota workers reserve fears

The Toyota trademark shown at a dealership in North Palm Beach

Leo Lewis, Middle East Business Correspondent & , : {}

Toyota was forced currently to spin over to United States congressional investigators a smoking gun memo constructed by the own bureau workers that warned government as far behind as 2006 of systemic threats to car safety.

The two-page memo, that was drafted by a organisation of long-term Toyota employees and sent without delay to Katsuaki Watanabe, the boss of the association in 2006, condemns reserve sacrifices done by the association in office of profit.

The memo highlights the unsound expansion times for new vehicles and the ubiquitous decrease of craftsmanship at Japans majority important production business.

It concludes that critical processes were right away in the hands of amateurs.

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The request additionally offering a chilling foretaste of the difficulty that was to come, notice that Toyotas government policies would in conclusion bluster the companys survival.

The worlds largest carmaker stays in misunderstanding after a tellurian stop of scarcely 9 million vehicles, a flourishing fusillade of lawsuit and allegations that accelerator faults caused the genocide of dozens of people on American roads.

The memo warned that an augmenting series of problems that led to car recalls were outset not at the production turn but in the formulation stages.

Despite the eager efforts of Toyotas government to remonstrate motorists and congressional investigators that it has solved the problems that have cheerless the accelerators and brakes, the association has still not wholly absolved itself of the guess that there are elemental flaws in the formulation systems.

The association grudgingly concurred last month that it had stretched as well fast, withdrawal it with a necessity of required specialists.

The memo warned of that materialisation in 2006, blaming the association for sidelining frequency experienced workers in the office of expansion and profit.

The principal writer of the 2006 memo, Tadao Wakatsuki, has worked on the building of one of Toyotas largest Japanese factories for 45 years. In unison with multiform alternative employees of Toyota and the subsidiaries, he set up a breakaway work kinship in an try to urge operative conditions via the group.

His preference to form the All Toyota Labour Union, he told The Times, was formed on what he saw as the capitulation of the central Toyota union, a physique that frequency challenged management.

As well as home on countless shortcomings of Toyotas government practices, the memo done 7 requests.

One of them demanded a examination of cost rebate measures so that the association can pledge the production of protected cars.

Toyota concurred currently that comparison government had seen the strange memo, but deemed it suitable to reply to usually one of the requests a respectful idea that government see in to ways of shortening the sum series of hours worked by employees each year.

The memo was antiquated Oct 3, 2006, and was sent by Tadao Wakatsuki, authority of the All Toyota Labour Union, to Katsuaki Watanabe, boss of Toyota Motor.

Written in Japanese, here are translated highlights:

Between 2000 to 2005 Toyota was forced to stop some-more than million cars, a higher suit of sum car recalls than alternative carmakers.

Toyota faces a critical complaint that could bluster the presence of the association if it is not some-more consummate in identifying problems and their origins.

The association is in jeopardy by: mixing car platforms, the pity of tools in between models, the outsourcing of planning, a necessity of initial interpretation on prototypes since of shortened expansion time, a necessity of experienced specialists and an enlarge in operative hours for employees.

We are disturbed about the processes that are critical for production protected cars, but that in conclusion might be abandoned … in the name of competition.

Requests: a priority on safety, a examination of cost-reduction measures, improved precision for stipulate workers, a lapse to craftsmanship.

hair wig

Explosions in Kandahar as Taliban aim prison

Robin Henry & , : {}

Taliban self-murder bombers targeting a prison in the Afghanistans southern city of Kandahar on Saturday have killed some-more than twenty-five people in a array of attacks.

Four explosions, that proposed at around 3.30pm (GMT) were followed by a shootout in between military and militants.

At slightest twenty-five people have been killed in the attacks, according to early reports.

The initial blast was nearby the military chiefs domicile whilst the second strike 200m from the home of President Hamid Karzais half-brother Ahmad Wali Karzai, who is the head of Kandahars provincial council.

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The greatest blast targeted Kandahars prison, in what is believed was an try to free Taliban inmates, according to Reuters" reports.

Ahmad Wali Karzai, who was in the collateral Kabul, said: The main aim was the prison. The prison is really well guarded.

We dont know about the casualties. It was a really big explosion. It was a outrageous explosion.

He claimed the alternative blasts were dictated as diversions to pull military afar from the prison, that is on the hinterland of the city.

A military source in Kabul told Reuters 4 self-murder bombers had pounded Kandahar and had additionally dismissed rockets in to the prison.

The Taliban successfully stormed the prison in 2008, pardon around 1,000 prisoners, together with 400 of their fighters.

Kandahar, Afghanistans second largest city, was the former devout homeland of Taliban during their order and has right away spin a visit aim for their attacks.

Nato and Afghan forces are approaching to spin their courtesy to the city following the execution of Operation Moshtarak in beside Helmand province.

About 30,000 US infantry deployed by President Barack Obama last year are expected to be used in the offensive, that is piece of a last pull to exterminate Taliban strongholds.

hair wig

Hastings Direct authority Neil Utley bids for KBC Peel Hunt

Iain Dey and Matthew Goodman & , : {}

NEIL UTLEY, the businessman who done millions from the sale of his word empire, has emerged as a warn bidder for KBC Peel Hunt, the stockbroker.

Utley, the authority of engine insurer Hastings Direct, is between a handful of bidders by to the second turn of a sale routine being run by the stockbrokers primogenitor company, KBC, the Belgian bank.

The 48-year-old, who done his name as arch senior manager of Cox Insurance, was before a customer of the London broker.

KBC Peel Hunt is one of a series of resources put up for sale by the bank underneath orders from the European Commission as a low mark for reception state aid. Other bidders are thought to embody RHJ International, a Belgian firm that last year paid for Kleinwort Benson, the London in isolation promissory note group. The auction is approaching to interpretation in May.

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Utleys bid is believed to have been tabled by Hastings, nonetheless analysts contend it is doubtful he would combine a attorney with the word business.

It is accepted that Utley has not done any proceed to the government of KBC Peel Hunt and is traffic without delay with the Belgian primogenitor company.

The businessman has a successful jot down of shopping and offered insurers. In 2004, he was suspended from Equity Insurance Group after perplexing to lead a government buyout. He in the future paid for the commercial operation a year after with subsidy from Duke Street and Englefield, the in isolation equity firms.

hair wig

Montblanc blots copybook with 16000 bullion coop to honour Gandhi

Gandhi pen

Rhys Blakely in Mumbai & , : {}

The make make make use of of of of Gandhis wiry picture to code a fat, imported, plain white bullion soda fountain coop costing 16,000 had regularly seemed an peculiar approach of for the famously ascetic father of eccentric India.

Now an Indian justice has systematic Montblanc, the German oppulance products maker, to stop offering the argumentative essay instrument, after angry protestors complained it degraded all that Gandhi symbolised.

The pen, the rhodium-plated beak of that is ornate with an picture of the Mahatma, was denounced in October, in time for the 140th anniversary of his birth. The billboards promotion it that towered over the slums of Mumbai were at once met with bemusement and anger.

Gandhi was famously frugal, critics noted. He regarded extreme expenditure as reprobate a idea reflected in his essay habits.

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He squirreled afar bits of paper to jot down his thoughts. Once, he sent a immature grandson acid the streets at night to collect a rejected tail end of pencil.

He was additionally staunchly opposite to unfamiliar done products a position that led him to hold up the prolongation of home-spun cotton.

In short, it seemed doubtful that he would authorize of a handmade coop done in Hamburg that costs as most as the 400 million Indians who live next the misery line can goal to consequence in 50 years.

Other opponents were even some-more scathing, claiming that creation Gandhi a "brand ambassador" was zero less than an bootleg offence opposite India.

Dijo Kappen, who filed the legal case that led to the coop being barred from sale, said: It is a hoax of the good man and an insult to the republic ... to make make make use of of of (Gandhi) as a poster-boy.

Montblanc had formerly shielded the pen, usually 241 of that were done a anxiety to the series of miles Gandhi walked in his "salt march" of 1930.

"It"s not an prosperous pen. It"s a essay instrument that"s really pure," a orator for the association had said.

This week, it offering an umbrella reparation to all Indians, insisting that it meant no insult. It pronounced it had not realised it indispensable special accede underneath Indian law to make make make use of of of Gandhis picture and betrothed to stop offering the pen, that additionally comes in a cheaper china version costing about 2,000.

Montblanc had gained the good fortune of Tushar Gandhi, one of the Mahatamas great-grandchildren and had donated some-more than 100,000 to one of his charities.

Mr Gandhi told The Times that he opposite the sequence from the High Court in Kerala banning the pen. People are being deprived of the right to honour Gandhi and thats a really un-Gandhian thing to do, he said.

Asked what his great-grandfather would have thought of a 16,000 pen, he said: Everything that has been pronounced is conjecture. Who are we to confirm what he would have thought?

hair wig

Monday, July 26, 2010

Fun and games as web giants fool around catch-up Rob Fahey

Rob Fahey & , : {}

Today, tens of millions of people around the universe will log in to Facebook and engage themselves in the trivia of stand revolution and animal husbandry. They are all personification Farmville, a cute, charming diversion where players take on the purpose of a rancher a diversion whose unusual success is forcing experts to rethink the destiny of the internet and amicable media.

Farmville is a sincerely harmless concept, one that draws heavily on the normal universe of house games for inspiration. Given the charge of caring for and expanding their land and livestock, players have a sure series of movement points each day, that they can outlay on given the farm. They can even traffic with neighbours Facebook friends who additionally fool around the game.

The romantic, sanitised version of plantation hold up that it presents full of friendly, lovable animals and but a sniff of fertiliser in the air spurs a nurturing instinct in players that keeps them entrance at the back of day after day.

The numbers at the back of this elementary judgment are jaw-dropping. More than 80 million people fool around each month roughly thirty million logging in each day to check the standing of their practical allotment. It is free to play, but consumers can outlay genuine income on practical products to make use of on their farms.

Combined with promotion income together with a small argumentative income from promotion deals, that users protest are small some-more than selling scams this creates Farmville in to a blurb operation value hundreds of millions of dollars.

For years, games have lain on the periphery of the internet. Playing games online has been renouned in in between immature men for some-more than a decade but this was never seen as a blurb wake up that could have a poignant stroke on services such as Facebook or MySpace, let alone Google or Apple.

The success of Farmville, to that some-more than a entertain of Facebook users have sealed up, hurdles that assumption. Furthermore, it is heading a new call of online games that are rewriting the majority simple ideas about what videogames are, and who plays them.

The majority unusual statistic to arise from the investigate in to this fast-growing materialisation is the form of the normal player of amicable videogames namely, 43 years old and female. Young men hardly get a see in some-more than 60 per cent of people personification amicable games on Facebook are elderly in in between thirty and 60.

What has captivated this startling new assembly to videogames? In part, the the theme make a difference of the games themselves that ranges from Farmvilles concentration on nurturing and flourishing to the addictive puzzles of games such as Bejeweled. Equally critical is the amicable aspect of Facebook. No longer is personification games a unique office instead, the something you do with friends, severe them to kick your scores or collaborating to assistance each alternative out.

Half of those who fool around amicable games such as Farmville explain that they revisit Facebook each day privately to play. Suddenly, Facebook isnt only a apparatus for staying in hold with friends the additionally a height for games and entertainment. While Facebooks owners are positively gay at the success of Farmville, there contingency additionally be a clarity of unease. After all, with a diversion this successful right away on condition that so majority of Facebooks traffic, to what extent, exactly, are Farmvilles creators, Zynga, gratified to Facebook and clamp versa?

Its a view that resonates opposite the industry. Apple, for years a videogames refusenik whose Mac computers supposing small await for diversion developers, was forced to publicly welcome gaming last year as it became transparent that amicable videogames were by far the majority commercially successful products on the iPhones App Store. Microsoft and Sony, meanwhile, have had a feet in the doorway of the videogames marketplace for years.

This is the new bridgehead in the fight for hearts, minds and wallets being fought in in between the worlds record giants. The millions of acres of practical land being ploughed by Farmvilles players each day are respirating new hold up in to an old proverb where theres muck, theres money.

Fed rate travel spurs uninformed slip in argent

Sterling banknotes

Robin Pagnamenta & , : {}

Sterling lengthened waste opposite the dollar this morning, as the US banking one after an additional to bearing higher after the Federal Reserve stirred conjecture that it was to tie monetary policy.

The bruise slipped to the lowest turn opposite the US dollar in 9 months, shedding 1.5 per cent to $1.5377 after the Fed hiked a key seductiveness rate.

Already knocked by grimmer than approaching UK open monetary interpretation yesterday, the bruise additionally enervated opposite the euro, that edged 0.4 per cent higher to 87.63p.

Last night the US Federal Reserve astounded markets by raising the bonus rate, the seductiveness rate it charges banks for puncture loans, to 0.75 per cent, from 0.5 per cent, citing softened conditions in monetary markets.

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The Fed played down suggestions that the climb was piece of a broader tightening of monetary process as the US economy recovers, but the dollar rose to new highs opposite the euro and sterling.

Currencies lend towards to have firm on the behind of firmer relations seductiveness rates, since they siphon in collateral flows.

The falls came as Prime Minister Gordon Brown claimed the supervision would separate Britain"s groaning necessity - a key cause in sterling"s new debility - inside of 4 years.

He pronounced this would be completed by taxation rises and spending cuts.

Since the begin of 2008, the bruise has declined by sixteen per cent opposite the dollar and by twenty-one per cent opposite the euro.

He additionally called for unconditional changes to monetary law together with calls for a "world constitution for the tellurian monetary system", adding that these should embody "common manners for collateral and liquidity, usual standards for supervision, usual manners for bonuses and a common approach of assessing the grant banks should have to society, free of the astray and jagged make use of of regulatory and taxation havens that penalize countries you do the right things.

The bruise is additionally underneath vigour since of the state of open finances. Official total expelled yesterday showed that the Treasury borrowed an additional 4.3 billion last month, far some-more than the approaching 2.8 billion.

Train staff to set upon over Scotrails vulnerable proposals to stop utilizing conductors

The sight set upon currently will be the initial of 3 concluded by members of the RMT union

Lindsay McIntosh & , : {}

Rural sight routes in Scotland will be disrupted currently as staff travel out over proposals to work services but conductors.

Members of the RMT kinship explain that ScotRails changes to operative practices will affect newcomer safety. The kinship says that the sight provider would be violation an agreement by utilizing usually drivers and sheet examiners on a new Airdrie-Bathgate service, and that rarely lerned conductors are essential.

ScotRail that strongly deserted the reserve allegations pronounced that it dictated to run at slightest 9 out of ten scheduled trains opposite Scotland today. It hoped that key routes, such as Edinburgh-Glasgow Queen Street, would be wholly unaffected.

Some farming services will be cancelled and transposed by buses, together with routes from Glasgow to Oban, Fort William and Mallaig.

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Steve Montgomery, handling executive of ScotRail, said: It is commercial operation as common for Scotlands railway. Our strait plans are such that roughly all the business will not notice there is a strike. However we have had to correct a little services since of the RMTs bid to means as most nuisance as probable to the customers.

He called on the kinship to take piece in talks with the company.

The strike, that involves about 550 staff, is the initial of 3 one-day walkouts the kinship has additionally voted to set upon on Mar 1 and 13. The third set upon will happen at the same time with the Scotland v England Six Nations diversion at Murrayfield, Edinburgh.

The RMT plans to contention a inform to the Scottish supervision this week on the dangers of driver-only operation, a use that will be introduced to the Airdrie-Bathgate track in December. It believes that sheet inspectors are not sufficient lerned in reserve to take the place of conductors.

The operation involves drivers operative the sight doors. The kinship has an agreement from National Express, the user of the ScotRail routes in 2001, that the process will not be lengthened further. The stream ScotRail operators, FirstGroup, took over in 2004.

A orator for ScotRail said: The prior authorization hilt supposing an agreement that there would be no prolongation to motorist doorway operated trains inside of the tenure of their franchise. FirstGroup, as stream hilt of the ScotRail franchise, has never been asked to come in in to such an agreement.

The user says that driver-only operation is protected and is used on the infancy of newcomer journeys in Scotland. It has additionally betrothed conductors that they will not lose their jobs and will go on to work at their benefaction depot.

A orator for the Scottish supervision said: It is in the most appropriate interests of passengers that both sides should come together to finalise this issue as fast as possible.

What subsequent for Beijing bubble?

Leo Lewis & , : {}

In Changsha, Changchun and Shenyang, brand-conscious shoppers have a welfare of Cartier, Gucci and Louis Vuitton stores. For a little economists, this creates China the biggest investment story on Earth; others see monetary predicament in months.

China is a expansion motorist for the universe and changes in the monetary health move tellurian markets. Last Friday, when Wen Jiabao, the Prime Minister, foresee 8 per cent GDP expansion this year, observers saw it as on purpose low: 9.5 to 10 per cent seems some-more likely. But he might additionally have underplayed Chinas acceleration target: at 3 per cent, most economists see that as a some-more discouraging underestimate. The same people fright alternative numbers, not slightest $1.4 trillion of new bank lending given the finish of 2008. Markets fright that Beijing will overtighten monetary and mercantile process as inflationary pressures from that lending set up higher.

Recently there have been even some-more shocking views on China. Victor Shih, of Americas Northwestern University, looked in to 8,000 internal governments in China and warned that a wall of dark borrowing could pull Chinese supervision debt to 96 per cent of GDP subsequent year. He feared a large monetary predicament as a misfortune box unfolding by 2012. Kenneth Rogoff, of Harvard, fears that a Chinese item bubble, fuelled by the new surge in debt, could trigger informal retrogression inside of a decade.

There are fears that ability cost rises in tools of China are untenable, presumably fuelled by misdirected bank loans. But domicile debt in China amounts to usually seventeen per cent of GDP, as against to 96 per cent in America.

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Andy Rothman, arch China economist at CLSA, the broker, says Chinas expenditure is a key motorist of the mercantile growth, with in isolation expenditure accounting for 39 per cent of GDP growth. Low domicile debt, fast urbanisation, rising salary and a welfare for thirty per cent money deposits on homes indicate that, for now, Beijing has run the economy with a little skill.

Fifa says no to goalline record International Football

Nick Szczepanik & , : {}

Fifa has certified that the preference not to aspire to the key of video record to support officials could miscarry on it in this summers World Cup in South Africa, as it did in the FA Cup on Saturday.

The International FA Board (IFAB) assembly in Zurich voiced on Saturday that it had voted opposite serve experiments with goalline technology, let alone video replays in alternative areas of the pitch. Within hours, Birmingham City were denied a idea in their 2-0 better afar to Portsmouth when a header by Liam Ridgewell crossed the goalline but was not speckled by officials.

I knew true afar it was a goal, Ridgewell said. It bounced at the behind of the line, strike [David] James and afterwards bounced back. I couldnt hold it when the giant didnt put his dwindle up.

According to Jrôme Valcke, the Fifa ubiquitous secretary, football will have to go on to accept such errors.

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Questions will regularly come, we only goal they will not come in the last of the World Cup, he said. Technology should not come in in to the game. It was a transparent matter done by the infancy of the IFAB. The main piece of the diversion should be humans players and referees.

If we begin with goalline technology, afterwards any piece of the diversion and representation will be a intensity space where you could put in place record to see if the round was in or out, and afterwards you finish up with video replays. The doorway is closed.

The English and Scottish FAs were in foster of record but were outvoted 6-2 on the IFAB by Fifas 4 votes and those of the Wales and Northern Ireland FAs.

Bangladesh v England: Alastair Cook admits to room for alleviation notwithstanding win

Bystaff 225PM GMT twenty-four March 2010

Bangladesh v England Alastair Cook admits to room for alleviation notwithstanding win Room for alleviation Alastair Cook led England to feat on last day Photo GETTY IMAGES

Cook was comparison to skipper the Test and one-day sides in Bangladesh after Andrew Strauss opted to jump over the outing and the opener duly delivered whitewashes in both series.

His own England form has flourished along the way, a actuality underlined by today"s hit of 109 not out that hermetic a nine-wicket win in the second Test.

Bangladesh v England scoreboard Bangladesh v England Late wickets progress England Tea forsaken catches harm England Lunch Shakib frustrates England How a battering from Sanath Jayasuriya incited Tim Bresnan in to an England bowler

"I couldn"t have asked for anything some-more on the tour, we were approaching to win 3-0 and 2-0 and we have," he said.

"It"s been a lot of tough work and a lot of credit goes to Bangladesh for the approach they"ve finished us work, generally in the last 10 days, and it"s a unequivocally gratifying feeling.

"But the captaincy had the moments. I right away know how I need to get improved as a captain, generally with my care in the sauce room.

"Areas similar to that that I need to work on. I couldn"t have asked for any some-more await from the players and coaches and I can right away go back, verbalise to a couple of people,and get the most appropriate out of myself as a captain.

"There are a lot of things (to improve). I didn"t unequivocally know what would occur as a captain so there were eye-openers, but they will have to stay in isolation for me to rise as a captain."

And whilst Cook contingency be calm with the array of runs he has thick with whilst in assign of the side - 157 runs at 52 in the ODI debate and 342 runs at 114 opposite both Tests - he is happy to be streamer behind to the ranks for the time being.

"One aspect that"s unequivocally gratified me is how I"ve dealt with batting whilst captaining," he said.

"When I"ve batted, I"ve been means to unequivocally combine on that.

"But I"ve come in here for five weeks usually to be as great a captain as I can be and I"m blissful Straussy is entrance back."

Graeme Swann, England"s man of the array after picking up sixteen wickets on dual of the cricket world"s slightest manageable pitches, hailed Cook"s stewardship of the side.

"I think Cookie"s finished an well-developed job," pronounced the off-spinner.

"Coming here to Bangladesh there is a vigour to win each match, and win convincingly.

"I think that is something going behind over the last decade with Bangladesh teams that were weaker in the past since they are not a pushover anymore.

"You have to fool around good, tough cricket and you have to have a clever personality and a cohesive unit.

"I think Cookie has been an well-developed personality underneath those circumstances."

No 10 in row over turn alloy Charlie Whelan

Isabel Oakeshott, Deputy Political Editor & , : {}

GORDON BROWN faced new calls last night to quell the flourishing change of Charlie Whelan, his nonconformist former turn doctor.

No 10 denied that Whelan, domestic executive of Unite, the absolute traffic union, was being lined up to lapse to the heart of supervision as the budding ministers spokesman.

However, it is accepted that Whelan, famous for his charming language, is to be since a heading purpose at Labour HQ during the choosing campaign.

He was sacked as Browns press cupboard member in 1999 since of his purpose in the home loan liaison that forced Peter Mandelson to give up the cabinet. A source close to Mandelson said: Peter tolerates Gordon vocalization on the phone to Charlie, but would not endure him being since a grave purpose in No 10. It sends out all the wrong messages, that we are going behind to the days of bully-boy spin.

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Concern about Whelan being since a pursuit at No 10 mounted after allegations of bullying were done opposite the budding apportion in a new book. There has been conjecture that Brown hoped to move Whelan behind to take over from Michael Dugher, Browns domestic spokesman, who is acid for a Labour seat.

Whelan has been spending augmenting amounts of time in No 10. However, a Downing Street source said: There has never been a plan to give Charlie a grave job.

There is additionally flourishing regard between Whelans Labour enemies at his success in stitching up protected Labour seats for Unite officials. Last week John Cryer, a domestic military officer for the union, was selected for the easterly London chair of Leyton and Wanstead over Tristram Hunt, the radio historian who is a crony of Mandelson.

Luke Chambers sends Nottingham Forest behind int to tip dual Football League

Richard Rae & , : {}

NEVER mind the quality, penchant the result. Frustrated by dynamic opponents, and in no small piece by their own inadequacies, there was a clarity of dishonesty between the feeling of well-being that greeted Luke Chambers injury-time leader at the City Ground on Saturday. Given that the win carried Forest behind in to an involuntary graduation place, the centre-halfs close range header approach from a dilemma competence infer between the majority profitable strikes of the season.

Quite how Swansea lost their jot down of being dominant in 2010, however, usually Colin Webster, the referee, can say, since the central and his partner were maybe the usually people in the track who did not hold Chris Cohen had fouled Darren Pratley in the action of sharpened in the Forest chastisement area twenty mins from time. To have counts misfortune the Swansea midfielder had usually Forest goalkeeper Lee Camp to beat, definition Cohen should additionally have been sent off.

In the circumstances, the Swansea manager, Paulo Sousa, was superbly dignified. Its human to have mistakes, but I think everyone was repelled by the decision," he said. "I dont need to verbalise to the referee, since he contingency know what he has done.

To massage salt in the rawest of wounds, Swansea additionally reckoned that the dilemma from that Chambers scored - and at that Swansea goalkeeper Dorus De Vries flapped and longed for - should never have been given. In the circumstances, Billy Davies, the Forest manager, competence have been forgiven for being somewhat sheepish, but the Scot had no disbelief his teams tenth uninterrupted win in front of their own supporters was warranted.

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I think it was deserved, since we combined some-more and improved chances," Davies said. "I conclude their physical education instructor will be hapless with the penalty, I would have been myself, but weve been denied stonewall penalties ourselves this season, so Im happy the fitness incited the way. It wasnt the branch point.

The loss of Paul McKenna to damage after less than ten mins influenced Forest, who obviously longed for their captains midfield expostulate and dynamism, For all they were misfiring, however, the home time was somewhat hapless not go in at half-time ahead, De Vries someway handling to retard George Boyds resolutely struck, close-range bombardment with his foot, notwithstanding carrying dived in the wrong direction. Chris Cohen, entrance in at far post, someway volleyed Andersons looping cranky over the club from five yards.

Davies additionally renewed his conflict on the four-man cabinet set up by Nigel Doughty, the Forest owner, to manage transfers and acquisitions at the club, to that Davies is compulsory to have recommendations rather than ensue on his own initiative. He was not happy, he said, that Forest were one of usually 3 clubs in the Championship (Cardiff and Crystal Palace were the others) not to pointer a player during the send window.

Star man: Alan Tate (Swansea City) Booked: Moussi. Attendance: 25,012Notts Forest (4-4-1-1): Camp 6 - Gunter 6, Morgan 6, Chambers 5, Cohen 6 - Anderson 6 (McCleary 82), McKenna 5 (McGugan 8, 5), Moussi 6, Boyd 7- Majewski 6 (McGoldrick 75); Blackstock 5. Swansea (4-5-1): De Vries 7 - Rangel 6, Tate 8, Williams 6, Richards 6 - Dyer 4 (Van der Gun 46, 5), Pratley 7, Britton 6, Butler 6 (Beattie 83), Gower 6 - Kuqi 5.Referee: C Webster

Killer icicles threaten Russians

1112AM GMT twenty-four March 2010

Killer icicles threaten Russians Large icicles in executive St. Petersburg Photo AFP/GETTY IMAGES

"Every day, I go out in to the travel as if I was entering a fight zone," complained proprietor Boris Ilinsky, 28.

"I"ve got to keep my eyes on the belligerent to equivocate slipping and I"m additionally seeking up to equivocate descending lumps of ice," he added.

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The high fee has stirred residents and kin of victims to direct movement opposite those obliged for what they hold to be drifting clearing of ice from rooftops.

Milana Kashtanova, 21, is the ultimate victim, and has been in a deep sleep since February, when she was strike by the ice that was being privileged from a rooftop.

"Milana was only on foot past a construction in the city centre... There was no notice tape, zero to rapt people that people were operative on the roof," pronounced Miss Kashtanova"s boyfriend, Irinei Kalachev.

But metropolitan authorities argued that the collision was her own fault, observant she abandoned notice shouts from travel cleaners since she was wearing headphones and listening to music, Mr Kalachev said.

Her angry family has appealed to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, perfectionist that he retaliate the city officials responsible.

The city hall, however, says that accidents are unavoidable since the scale of the ice-clearing after such a serious winter.

"The sleet falls this winter have been unprecedented, a kind of healthy disaster. Unfortunately, there are victims," Yury Osipov, head of Saint Petersburg"s housing committee, told AFP.

"There are 13,500 roofs in Saint Petersburg. With the stream jot down snowfalls, the roofs should be privileged weekly to forestall blocks of ice. That"s impossible, not slightest since it would dull trade in the city."

The tragedy of Milana Kashtanova"s collision is not uncommon.

Thousands of travel cleaners take to the rooftops of Russia"s cities during the open thaw, unconditional rank and file of sleet and sharp-edged blocks of ice onto the pavements.

That equates to that during Russia"s prime thaw, residents are forced to run the steel plating of gnawing icicles and blocks of ice descending suddenly from roofs, as well as the ground-level hazards of sleazy jelly and puddles.

This week alone, a 55-year-old lady in executive Moscow and a licentiate in the southwestern city of Voronezh were additionally killed by descending icicles, internal investigators said.

Residents in Saint Petersburg protest that internal authorities do not take correct precautions to strengthen the public.

"I have seen city employees clearing roofs but putting in place any safeguards to strengthen passersby," pronounced city proprietor Marina Romanova.

In the face of ascent criticism, however, Valentina Matviyenko, the city"s governor, has yielded to the vigour and in jeopardy to glow dozens of city officials.

Put down your saucepans and face the contribution Matthew Parris

Matthew Parris & , : {}

When youre in a bind, it is a human instinct to ask what competence be finished differently. Have mistakes been made? Who or what is to blame? The instinct is healthy. Healthy but not regularly right.

So I wish to see at the connect the Tories are in, and allege a utterly opposite sort of response. I allege it in the majority indeterminate way, for I goal (and can simply imagine) that I shall be valid wrong.

And Id similar to to begin with dual genuine citizens and 4 genuine people: my old crony Rob (let us call him Rob), his wife, and their dual small children, one of whom is 2 and the alternative 4. I had a prolonged speak with Rob, really recently.

Hes about thirty and Ive well known him given he was at university, where he was a penetrating Tory tyro activist. Hes regularly followed governing body and has a great grasp, a utterly Conservative attitude, and a unfeeling proceed to domestic reasoning. Hes cleverer than youd pretence from the pursuit hes in. Robs thus well versed to see at his own situation, and inspect his domestic responses, roughly from the outside.

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Something funnys function to me, he said. Im removing puzzled about choosing by casting votes Conservative. I think the insecurity.

I should insist that Rob and his mother do utterly low-paid jobs, operative shifts so that one of them is regularly at home to see after the children. With a small assistance from Robs father they scraped together the deposition for a small terraced house, and they have whats for them a large monthly debt payment, bound for the impulse at around 5 per cent interest.

We only about manage, Rob said, but were really contingent on family taxation credit payments, on tip of the wages. State benefits are value around 200 a month to us.

And the thing is, jobs similar to ours arent quite secure. And I keep thinking: what if theres an election, afterwards a big squeeze, and the economy goes behind in to recession, and may be even benefits have to be cut, and . . . and . . .

. . . Well . . . he looked at me, roughly ashamed, as if vague out an forgive Im only feeling a bit vulnerable.

I done as if to intervene. No, he said, dont discuss it me your Conservative answer. I know it, and Im certain the true. Youll contend any supervision is going to have to squeeze, and the only a have a difference of being honest about it and removing on with classification out the inhabitant debt urgently, and that all the Tories are going to do is get to grips quicker with things, and not censor the truth.

I know all that. But you dont know what the similar to carrying dual small children. Things feel different. Im not meditative about the long-term destiny of Britain. Im not even meditative about my own long-term future. Im only meditative about this year, and may be next. Words similar to classification out have me nervous. And if one celebration says theyll begin slicing true away, and the alternative says we can may be put it off a bit . . . Well, as I say, Im only feeling a bit vulnerable, right now.

I consternation if the citizens is feeling a bit exposed right now. I consternation either theres no point to all those college of music discussions about because the Tories arent gaining traction, or where the sorcery slogan, the transformative new domestic concentration or the torpedo routine offer competence be found.

Perhaps it isnt anything to do with routine or selling or government structure. Perhaps the not pertinent either Steve or Andy should be in charge, either the dual Georges should hit heads together, or either Dave should splash some-more tea with the Tory parliamentary infantry. Perhaps all this fretting is a consequence, not a cause. Perhaps the equates to is the electorate. Perhaps theyre only not up for it.

And may be the Ashcroft event is simply a distraction. Rob isnt meddlesome in the Ashcroft affair. Like me, though, hes vexed by the disaster of the Tory care to repair this sold dilemma of the roof tiles whilst the object was shining.

I theory that William Hague and Iain Duncan Smith and, later, David Cameron, were only feeling a bit vulnerable. They were shaken about upsetting a state of affairs that didnt direct movement this day. The urge to put it all off grew. So may be they assimilate how Rob feels now, meaningful if hes honest with himself that a problems blast down the lane and the longer the abandoned the worse it could be; but . . . well, theres currently to see after, never mind tomorrow.

Robs not a man to crash a saucepan in the street, but I put it to him that his greeting as a voter to retard his ears to truths he knows will have to be confronted, and discuss it his Government to dont think about tomorrow and think about currently is precisely the mindset of the saucepan-bangers, or caserolazos, of Buenos Aires: the mindset that once gathering the Argentine center classes, and right away drives Greeks in Athens out on to the streets with pots and pans, screaming for dual and dual to have five.

Gordon Brown has turn the 2 + 2 = 5 Prime Minister. We know it isnt true, his Chancellor knows it isnt true, and what Mr Brown knows is anybodys guess. But that doesnt meant it wouldnt work inside of the mayfly time support of an approaching ubiquitous election. If it does, democracy will have been used as a equates to of abdicating responsibility; an abdication, in the end, of democracy itself. Our predestine will be incited over to unelected general bankers, as certainly as Greek citizens will find that Berlin and Brussels, not Athens, are where their destiny is settled.

Im disturbed about the pot-banging entrance to Britain. From the Luddite open use trades unions, to the shaken reduce center classes, to the smugly well-heeled Centre Left, theres a state of rejection in the governing body this spring.

I have a camber were streamer for an additional mercantile spasm. Or may be the alighting will be softer. But vigourously or gently, the inhabitant customary of vital is set to be ratcheted down a great integrate of points relations to alternative nations and permanently, not only for a couple of years. Britain will grow comparison in a kind of Chekhovian watchful room, forgetful of Moscow and expecting the lift to the fortunes that never comes, while, outside, the banging of pots and pans grows louder.

"Our lost kid can never be replaced"

By Judith Woods 817PM GMT twenty-three March 2010

Samantha Cameron The Cameron family, graphic in Jun 2008 Photo GETTY

Who could destroy to be cheered by the headlines that Samantha Cameron is surpassing with her fourth child? As the daffodils bloom, a new baby is on the way, and after the unhappy loss of their son Ivan last year, the Camerons" proclamation is a salubrious sign to politicians of each paint that elections, though important, are not a make a difference of hold up and death.

This time last year, the integrate were anguish their eldest child, elderly six, who had been innate with intelligent palsy and compulsory round-the-clock care. Ivan, who additionally suffered from agonising epileptic fits, was incompetent to speak or move, but he could grin and follow the alternative family members with his eyes.

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His father, David, referred to him as his "beautiful boy" and done no tip of the love he felt towards him; in one in contact with family mural he was photographed cradling him protectively in his arms. The integrate have dual alternative immature kids Nancy, six, and Elwen, four, who will be assimilated by a kin in September.

It would be easy, but insultingly glib, to courtesy the new baby as a deputy child, nonetheless it"s a tenure at large used. According to the anguish aunt Virginia Ironside, writer of You"ll Get Over It The Rage of Bereavement, "No one talks about a "replacement husband" if a widow gets remarried, so the thought of replacing any person, either a baby or a child, is ridiculous. Every hold up is unique, only as each down payment in in between a primogenitor and kid is singular and can"t be recreated.

"Caring for Ivan contingency have been really hard, even though they could means assistance with the day-to-day activities. When you have a infirm child, emotionally there"s a piece of your brain that is all the time anxious, concerned about the child"s pain, either they are happy or not, what the destiny binds for them, so might be they have been somewhat liberated up to think of adding to their family."

Every year in Britain roughly 3,000 immature kids and immature people in in between the ages of one and nineteen die as a outcome of seizure or accident. An one more 4,000 babies are stillborn, an additional 2,500 die inside of 4 weeks of bieing innate and 1,200 die prior to their initial birthday; each unpleasant loss is a tragedy with surpassing consequences.

Ivan"s genocide will have left a outrageous opening at the heart of the family. Any household, of necessity, revolves turn a kid who has serious disabilities, and when that kid is no longer benefaction the family energetic changes.

Leigh Slocombe, arch senior manager of Epilepsy Research, says "Some people might think that following the genocide of a kid with a serious disability, a family is roughly "relieved", and that this someway creates it simpler to move on. In the experience, zero could be serve from the truth.

"Parents love their immature kids regardless, and such a harmful loss constantly leaves a outrageous hole in the hold up of a primogenitor or sibling. Moving on or even carrying a little emergence of a normal hold up is mostly intensely difficult."

When Zoe Le was innate in Apr 2005, it was transparent that all was not well. At full tenure she weighed less than four-and-a-half pounds, her liver duty was impaired, she suffered consistent infections and struggled to put on weight. Her mother, Peiling, 33, and father Diep, 40, a program engineer, already had a daughter, Grace, afterwards elderly four, and felt their family was complete.

The concentration was on perplexing to conduct Zoe"s condition. Three times a day Peiling would have to insert a blood vessel in to her little daughter"s go by so that she could be fed. Aged two-and-a-half, she was only starting to travel when, in Oct 2007, she was certified to sanatorium for a slight operation and subsequently died of mixed organ failure.

"From commencement to finish her short hold up was miserable, and the sanatorium was her second home, but she was an astonishingly happy baby," her mom recalls. "We desired her so majority that we felt advantageous to have such a honeyed child." As the couple, from High Wycombe, attempted to come to conditions with their loss, it became transparent that Grace indispensable help, too. She attended organization sessions at the Buckinghamshire-based Child Bereavement Charity, that enabled her to speak about her sister.

Meanwhile, doctors told her relatives that there had been a genetic member to Zoe"s condition and any destiny conceiving physically carried a twenty-five per cent risk. They motionless opposite an additional kid but inlet had alternative plans. "It was a finish collision that I got surpassing again," says Peiling. "Of course, we were really disturbed about the new baby"s welfare, but she was ideally healthy."

Chloe was innate in Apr 2009; she looks similar to Grace, but has the same celebrity as Zoe. Comparisons, says her mother, are inevitable, but that doesn"t lead astray from the power of her feelings for each of her 3 changed girls.

"Chloe takes up a lot of my time now, but when I think of Zoe as I do mostly I still cry and feel so unhappy about all that happened to her. We all feel as though Zoe is here with us, somewhere, still piece of the family. She might be left but she"s far from forgotten; Grace regularly tells people she has dual sisters."

Every anguish changes a family forever. Alex Gear, a mentor at a cookery school, is right away eight months surpassing with twins, following the genocide of her baby daughter, Holly, fifteen months ago.

She stresses that she and her husband, Ian, 35, a City taxation consultant, will discuss it their new immature kids about their elder sister and embody her in their family story.

"I"d left by IVF and in the future became surpassing with twins, but lost one as it was an ectopic pregnancy," says Alex, who lives in London. "Then Holly was innate in Dec 2008, but there were complications during her bieing innate and she died in the arms after that day, after we concluded to concede her hold up await to be incited off.

"We were dull with grief, in sum shock; I had carried Holly for 9 months and I had a attribute with her, and was so seeking brazen to assembly her and holding her and unexpected all that was taken away. The suffering was unbearable."

The integrate became concerned in the children"s healing investigate charity, Sparks, fund-raising and gaining mutual await from alternative bereaved parents. Then, after a last turn of IVF last year, Alex became surpassing with twins, due in early May.

"These babies aren"t a deputy for the daughter we lost, this is only us perplexing to move brazen as majority appropriate we can," says Alex.

But carrying an additional kid is not regularly the trail that bereaved relatives instruct or are in a on all sides to take. Audrie Norris"s son, Nicholas, died of a brain haemorrhage at the age of sixteen in 1985. The youngest in a family of five children, Nicholas was longed for in really opposite ways by everyone, and the vigour on Audrie and her father John to guide their immature kids by such a dire time was as well strenuous for them to cruise an additional child

"An huge gaping hole was left at the centre of the family, and whilst I was quickly tempted to try for a baby, I rught away discharged the thought for the consequence of my alternative children," says Audrie, 65, from Derbyshire, who perceived such await from the bereaved parents" gift The Compassionate Friends Ltd that she right away functions for the organization full-time.

"A baby would have diverted my courtesy and would have meant I had less time and appetite to give to my existent family, who indispensable me desperately to assistance them by their grief," she says.

Audrie reflects that bereaved relatives mostly find themselves at a loss when strangers ask how majority immature kids they have. Some are uncertain either to embody the one they have lost since it might lead to unpleasant questions.

"I think in time we all sense that there"s no approach that kid can be excluded," she says. "I regularly contend we had five but the youngest died, and majority people accept that with maybe a discuss of sympathy.

"I instruct Samantha and David each happiness, since carrying a baby is the right preference for them. But I know they will never dont think about Ivan, nor would they ever instruct to."