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For many tourists, it's a must-see, right up there withTimes Square and the ."It's a 24/7 neighborhood," said George Fertitta, chief executive of NYC & Company, the city's marketing and tourism arm. "It's a great moment in time for Lower Manhattan."While local shopping, restaurants and other attractions abound, remembering 9/11 is the primary focus for many visitors. The new memorial at ground zero will open on the 10th anniversary of the tragedy. A museum will open at the site a year later under a glass atrium, taking visitors 70 feet down on gentle ramps to the very epicenter of what used to be "the pit."Ans van de Pasch, 49, of Venlo in southeastern Holland, first visited ground zero three years ago, peeking through masked fences like thousands of others. This summer, the site is more visible and she brought her husband and two teens."There's a different spirit. You can feel the community is back," Pasch said as they walked through the nearby St. Paul's Chapel, where weary firefighters, police and volunteer rescuers sought refuge during their desperate work in 2001.She wanted her kids to see the ground zero area for themselves. "It's very necessary that you can have one moment in your life when you let yourself, as a citizen of the world, stop and think, 'This must never happen again.'"Here are some details on visiting the memorial, along with suggestions for other things to do in Lower Manhattan, from intimate tours offered by the September 11 Families' Association to shopping, parks and restaurants.NATIONAL SEPTEMBER 11 MEMORIAL & MUSEUM: The memorial is a big reveal years in the making. Created by design competition winner Michael Arad, who partnered with California landscape architect Peter Walker, it takes up about half of the 16-acre site. Additional office buildings and a new transit hub remain under construction with the museum.The memorial will be dedicated on Sept. 11 during a ceremony for victims' families. It opens to the public the following day."The fact that this memorial outlines the very footprints where these towers stood sends a message to the world of what we lost that day and how we've come together," said 9/11 Memorial President Joe Daniels.On the twin footprints of the towers are gentle waterfalls that empty into massive reflecting pools edged by bronze parapets with the names of the 2,983 people killed on 9/11 in New York, in a field near Shanksville, Pa., and at the Pentagon, along with victims of the 1993 bombing at the World Trade Center."Could they do it again?" asks 9-year-old Grisham Aleshire of Springfield, Mo., looking out at the construction where the fallen towers stood. "They have lots of security now," mom Tia reassures.When the memorial opens, 225 swamp white oak trees will have been planted around the site. More than 400 are planned overall, creating an urban grove. On the west side of the south pool, bordering a small clearing called the memorial glade, stands the "survivor tree." It's a Callery pear rescued from the rubble and nursed back to health in the Bronx, only to be struck by lightning and survive again last year. President Obama laid a wreath at the tree in May, and new growth on branches that were once almost entirely shorn are thriving.Access to the site can be confusing as construction continues. Many subway stops, including those at Chambers and Fulton streets, will bring you nearby. Timed tickets (free but required) can be reserved up to six months in advance at . About 250,000 passes have already been reserved. Print your tickets beforehand if you can. Enter at the northeast corner of Albany and Greenwich streets for check-in no more than 30 minutes ahead of your reservation.Through Jan. 8, the memorial is open 10 a.m. to last entry at 7 p.m. weekdays; 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekends; last entry at 5 p.m. Jan. 9-March 10.No restrooms will be available on site until the museum opens in September 2012. The World Financial Center's glass-enclosed Winter Garden has public restrooms and there are some on the second floor of theBurger King on Liberty Street at Church.TOURS: The September 11 Families' Association offers intimate tours led by survivors, 9/11 workers and loved ones of those who perished.锘緼 group of activists stripped nakedThursday in front of the site of the upcoming Republican NationalConvention, demanding that make good on his promiseto help -positive people in underdeveloped countries.Two members of ACT UP climbed atop a parked rig on West 33rdStreet opposite and held a sign reading "W:Drop the Debt. Stop AIDS." 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Steinbach, the first woman to win the for The Baltimore Sun, whose work captured the wonder and grace of people and places around the world, died Tuesday of at her Place home. She was 78.In her more than two-decade career with The Baltimore Sun, Ms. Steinbach took readers into close communion with her detailed profiles of the rich and famous from the world of entertainment, literature, politics, society and the arts. In a later career as a travel writer, her work took readers on strolls through places like the colorful back streets of Paris' Left Bank or, as she wrote, "the impossibly crowded Uffizi art gallery" in Florence."Life was always an adventure for her, and when she discovered things about the world, she discovered things about herself," said John S. Carroll, who was editor of The Sun from 1991 to 2000. "I always admired her and her abilities. "When I look back, she was never satisfied or sat on her laurels. After she won the Pulitzer, she found new things to write about and then began writing books."The daughter of a homemaker and a merchant mariner who was lost at sea during , Alice Carter was born in Baltimore and raised in Edmondson Village. She was a 1951 graduate of Western High School. In the early 1970s she worked as director of publicity at the ."She always loved to read and write, and was a self-taught journalist. She never went to college or studied journalism," said a son, Sam Steinbach of Redmond, Wash. "She started writing freelance articles for Art In America magazine and other publications, which eventually led to an offer of a job at The Sun."She was hired in 1981 as a writer in The Sun's features department. She also wrote a weekly bylined column during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Ms. Steinbach, who had an ear for the off-beat anecdote, relished in writing detailed, subtle and nuanced profiles of individuals."Alice showed that the pursuit of great journalism involves a certain fearlessness," said Mary J. Corey, The Sun's top editor and a friend since the two worked together on the newspaper's features staff. "She was a trailblazer, not just for women in the industry, but for journalists everywhere. She wrote like a dream, and I'd study her work — how her stories were structured, where she chose to begin. Her success made me, and many others, see that there didn't need to be a glass ceiling for women in this field."Ms. Steinbach won the Pulitzer Prize in 1985 for feature writing for her article about the courageous and inspirational saga of Calvin Stanley Jr., a 10-year-old Northwest Baltimore resident who had been blind from birth. 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She was the McGraw Professor of Writing at , where she was also a visiting fellow.She also returned to freelance writing, with her work published in newspapers that included , , Philadelphia Inquirer and Boston Globe.Her worldwide travels and intimate knowledge of London, Paris, Rome, Venice, Florence and Kyoto seemed to fuel her pieces."Alice knew everything, from the back door of the Ritz Hotel in Paris, where walked out for the last time alive, to all the lobbies and ladies' rooms of Venice hotels," said Sandra A. Banisky, The Sun's former deputy managing editor for news.Ms. Steinbach was the author of three books: "The Miss Dennis School of Writing: And Other Lessons from a Woman's Life," "Without Reservations: The Travels of an Independent Woman" and "Educating Alice: Adventures of a Curious Woman." She was also a collector of vintage photographs and Japanese woodblock prints and etchings.A longtime Roland Park resident, Ms. Steinbach wrote in a profile for Barnes & Noble that there were "three things in life that never let me down. I call them 'the three C's': children, cats and coffee."The family plans a memorial service at 3 p.m. Sunday at Stony Run Friends Meeting House, 5116 N. In addition to her son, she is survived by another son, Andy Steinbach of Eindhoven, The Netherlands; a brother, Shelby H. Carter of Austin, Texas; and two grandchildren. Her marriage to Irvin Steinbach ended in divorce.锘?br> LONDON (Reuters) - Investors rushing headlong to emerging markets in search of yield could find future returns under threat as economic downturns and income inequalities spur a rise in political risks. Emerging markets have been the global success story of the past decade, with booming growth and huge investments eroding old memories of the coups, debt defaults and hyperinflation associated with these countries throughout the 20th century. This year investors fleeing near-zero yields on "safe" Western bonds have propelled $50 billion into emerging stocks and bonds, according to fund tracker EPFR Global. Governments and companies in emerging economies are set for a record-breaking year of bond sales as investors stampede to lend even to countries such as and Guatemala which are rated as junk by credit agencies. On the face of it the enthusiasm seems justified. Debt levels are a fraction of the norm in developed markets and growth is faster, yet yields are robust. While risk premia have plunged over the decade, emerging sovereign dollar bonds pay an average 3 percentage points over U.S. Treasuries. Yet many such as Greg Saichin, head of emerging debt at Pioneer Investments, reckon premia in many markets no longer compensate for risks simmering just beneath the surface. This week geo-political risk has escalated in the Middle East with Turkey embroiled in the Syrian conflict, while in violent labor protests are spreading. Anti- protests in , rural insurgency in and unprecedented anti-Kremlin demonstrations in this year are all symptoms of a coming storm, many risk watchers say. "People look at indebtedness ratios, debt maturity profiles, growth differentials (in emerging markets) and say it's a no brainer, you are getting paid 2 percentage points more than elsewhere," says Saichin, who oversees $3.4 billion. "But there is a lot of complacency in the market in terms of politics and what may happen with sovereign risk." Many will argue, quite correctly, that risk, whether geo-political or corporate governance, has always been part of the deal in emerging markets. 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Stoli Elit Pristine Water, CLIX Vodka, Jean Marc XO, and Beluga Noble Gold are among the brands that will be available, coming in flavors including tangerine, bacon, basil, peanut butter, hibiscus, whipped cream and sugar cookie.The bar will be operated by Sean Christie's Las Vegas Nightlife Group, which also runs Andrea's, Encore Beach Club, Surrender and the Society Cafe at the Encore.EncoreEncore is nearly a mirror image of the Wynn Las Vegas, from the brown glass exterior to the style and placement of the logo-- and it's just as luxurious as the original. Some call Encore the younger, hipper sister of Wynn.Steve Wynn spared no detail in his newest property. The casino floor is decorated in rich reds, browns and purples with mosaic butterflies embedded into the marble floors and fresh flowers greeting guests in the casino atrium.Luxury doesn't end of the casino floor. Encore houses 2,034 impeccable suites. The standard suites are 700 square feet with the larger suites measuring in at 5,800 square feet. Standard suites feature plasma screen TVs, high-end bath products, spectacular views of the Strip, plush linens and mattresses which can be purchased in the Encore store, in case you can't get enough.Dining options include fine Italian cuisine at Chef Theo Schoenegger's Sinatra's and the pan-Asian cafe creations of Chef Jet Tila at Wazuzu. Guests can also dine on steaks and chops at star Botero Steak. At Switch, Encore's French restaurant, the walls come to life mid-meal and your surroundings appear to change before your eyes.XS headlines Encore's nightlife and pool party scene while takes care of humor and entertainment.Encore Esplanade will feature 11 high-end retail stores, with brands like Hermes, Chanel and Rock and Republic. The Resort also has a spa, a salon and an 18-hole, on-site golf course, which is adjacent to the Wynn.3131 South Las Vegas Boulevard Las Vegas, NV 89109702-770-8000 ___(c)2012 the Las Vegas Sun (Las Vegas, Nev.)Visit the Las Vegas Sun (Las Vegas, Nev.) at Distributed by MCT Information Services锘?p>Art Museum DriveUnit block, between 9 and 11 a.m. July 26. White Hermes pocketbook, white Hermes wallet, earrings, , Rayban sunglasses, credit cards stolen from vehicle.Unit block, between 4 and 6:10 p.m. July 28. Laptop, stolen from vehicle. Broxton Road 300 block, between 8 p.m. July 27 and 5 a.m. July 28. Lawn mower, vacuum, drill, pellet gun, chainsaw, gas can stolen from garage. Entry gained by prying open front door.North Calvert Street2600 block, between 9:30 p.m. July 28 and 2 a.m. July 29. Stolen 2003 Dodge Caravan recovered.3200 block, between 2 and 8:25 p.m. July 30. Bag, 20 books stolen from vehicle.North Charles Street2400 block at 3:25 a.m. July 24. Man maced in face while sitting at bus stop.2600 block, between 4:30 and 5:05 p.m. July 26. Nextel Blackberry , cell phone stolen from vehicle.West Cold Spring Lane1400 block at 7:35 p.m. July 29. 2007 red and white Honda motor scooter without tags stolen.Eastway4500 block, between 10:30 p.m. July 27 and 9:50 a.m. July 28. Two bikes stolen from garage. Entry gained by breaking front door panel.Evesham Avenue800 block, between 10:30 a.m. and 3:45 p.m. July 25. HP laptop stolen from residence. Entry gained by climbing up on stacked wood onto roof and opening unlocked second-floor window.Falls Road3700 block, between 1:30 and 8:30 a.m. July 24. 2008 Chuanl orange-gray motor scooter without tags stolen.3800 block, between 12:05 and 9 a.m. July 27. Crab meat, video camera stolen from shed. Entry gained by prying off shed door lock.锘縃igh-profile cases like the one involving provide a window into America's justicesystem.In fact, the Stewart case is a textbook example ofall that's wrong with the system. As a civillitigation attorney in , Ohio, and federalinmate No. 65078-061, my criminal legal odyssey, whichended in 1999 with a 38-month federal prison sentence,began much like Stewart's -- when a "target letter" from anassistant U.S. attorney was delivered to my Ohio homevia the . By looking at the six-week Stewart trial, the verdict on Fridayand the June sentencing -- with their collateralconsequences ? the inherent problems of "The War onWhite Collars," waged by the under Attorney General , become apparent.Beginning the moment the called in Stewart for ameeting, her chances of not ending up in prisondropped to 5 percent. According to the 2001 Compendiumof Federal Justice Statistics by the JusticeDepartment, 95 percent of all federal charges end in aconviction -- whether through a plea bargain or guiltyverdict at trial.With only a 5 percent chance of securing an acquittal,most white-collar federal defendants opt for a guiltyplea to minimize their risks of a long prisonsentence. Samuel D. Waksal and Andrew S. Fastow andhis wife, Lea Fastow, of Enron Corp. fame are primeexamples of this phenomenon.Waksal, the jet-setting scientist and entrepreneur whofounded , is serving a prison termof more than seven years after pleading guilty tosecurities fraud charges related to his sale of 4,000shares in December 2001. In his plea, Waksal did notimplicate his friend Stewart.Andrew Fastow, Enron's former chief financial officer,is serving a 10-year prison term after pleading guiltylast month to charges related to the energy-trader'sdebacle. His wife has been sentenced to five months inprison and a year of supervised release on chargesstemming from filing false tax returns from 1997 to2000. She was Enron's assistant treasurer.As a former stockbroker and one of the nation'smost-successful entrepreneurs, Stewart's first mistakewas putting her fate in the hands of a lawyer. IfStewart was going to go to trial, she should havetaken control of her own defense just has she hascontrolled her company, Martha Stewart Omnimedia Inc.No one knows their case better than the defendant.A failed strategyIt was clear from the start that things were not atall copasetic in the Stewart camp. Her attorney,Robert Morvillo, may be the best white-collar defenselawyer money can buy, but this case wasn't about thelaw: It was about America's criminalization of moraland ethical issues.Stewart's best chance at winning over the jury ofeight women and four men was lost when she walked intoU.S. District Court in carrying HermesBerkin bag instead of a Kmart Corp. Accessory Worksbag. Clearly, if stupidity were a crime underAmerica's conspiracy laws, her image consultants wouldbe facing a 20-year prison sentence, too.On one hand, you had Morvillo telling the jury thatthey should trust his client, and on the other handnot a single juror qualified as one of Stewart'speers. While the U.S. Constitution guarantees eachAmerican charged with a crime a jury of her peers, thereality is that the possibility of finding enoughmillionaires to create a jury pool is virtually zero.Instead of Morvillo focusing the jury's attention onwhat they had in common with Stewart, his questionspointed out a stark contrast in the wealth disparitybetween Stewart and the "jury of her peers."For instance, in his closing argument last weekMorvillo implored the jury to let Stewart go free suchthat she might get back to her life saying, "? andthat would be a good thing."In doing this, Morvillo alienated jurors by inferringthat even if Stewart had made a mistake, it did notmatter because it would benefit all Americans if hisclient could return to her privileged life asAmerica's domestic doyenne in order to perpetuate alifestyle that they, the jury, then could emulate.Stewart should have put on a Jaclyn Smith suit fromKmart and testified in her own defense. Even thoughsome would argue that Morvillo was right to keep heroff the stand, Martha Stewart clearly knows how topackage and sell Martha Stewart to the America thatcomprises the "jury of her peers."The human factorFederal defense attorneys, for the most part, simplydo not understand the federal prison reality. Whatthey do understand, however, is collecting their hugefees upfront, because there is a 95 percent chancetheir client is headed to prison. Even those federaldefense attorneys like Morvillo who clearly understandthe law do not understand the role humandynamics plays in jury decisions.Morvillo ignored the fact that Stewart, regardless ofwhether she is guilty or not, is a human commodity. His decision to not let her testify disconnects herfrom the typical consumer of her products, who alsowere the "jury of her peers." At no time was MarthaStewart, the person, allowed to connect ? on any level-- with her jury.锘?p>Campaigners, including Hermes fund manager David Pitt-Watson, today called on the City of London Corporation to take a tougher line on the failings of the financial services industry in order to help restore the reputation of the Square Mile.The so-called City Reform Group is launching with backing across the political divide including Institute of Directors boss Simon Walker, MP David Davis as well as Pitt-Watson himself, a former assistant general secretary of the and advisor to former Prime Minister .The CRG is calling on those standing for election to the corporation -- which has 100 so-called "common councillors" across 25 wards -- to take a pledge to promote responsible best practice as well as "not be afraid to speak out when we encounter practice that falls below the highest standards". "We want the corporation to take a leadership role and break the bad news as well as champion the City internationally," said the Reverend William Taylor, a former common councillor on the corporation for seven years and CRG backer.He added: "People do not feel that financial services are being run in their interests.The group has also committed to be more transparent on the corporation's accounts, and said that a share of the cash it spends on promoting itself overseas through the office of the Lord Mayor should instead be spent on "examining, monitoring and regulating itself" at home.___(c)2012 London Evening StandardVisit the London Evening Standard at Distributed by MCT Information Services锘?p>Diamond baubles from Cartier glittering in one window, Louis Vuitton's signature leather bags beckoning from across the street and another storefront displaying ' silk scarves.Within months this is the scene that will greet visitors to Miami's Design District, as the neighborhood begins its dramatic metamorphosis into the new hot spot for luxury shopping.Cartier and have just opened their doors. Louis Vuitton will do so on Oct. 19. Hermes and Men are under construction. Right behind that will be Pucci. By the time and the holiday shopping season arrive, there should be 8 to 10 luxury brands lining the Design District's Northeast 40th Street corridor. These openings are a sign of Miami's ascent as a fashion destination."For most luxury brands Miami is one of the top three markets in , along with New York and Los Angeles," said Valerie Chapoulaud-Floquet, president and chief executive officer of Louis Vuitton North America. "The Miami market has grown quicker than the rest of North America."For decades the Bal Harbour Shops offered the only option for luxury in Miami-Dade County. But no longer is having one store in the market enough for these luxury brands."Miami has been under retailed for luxury because of the strength of the local market and the strong growth of tourists coming to Miami," said Emmanuel Perrin, president and chief executive officer of Cartier North America. "This market can support several Cartier boutiques. It was just a question of time before the luxury market evolved. Everyone has been waiting for the right project to come along."Louis Vuitton and Cartier both left Bal Harbour Shops last summer because the mall didn't have the space for them to expand. The retailers were also prohibited from opening a second store within 20 miles unless Bal Harbour's owners got a piece of the new store's revenue.Now, Louis Vuitton already has opened another store at Mall and Cartier is assessing the market. It's all part of an unfolding game of musical chairs that ends the monopoly of Bal Harbour, which has controlled the luxury retail market since 1965.By 2014, developer Craig Robins expects to have 40 to 50 luxury brands spread throughout the Design District, creating a new urban destination for fashionistas. Already committed to the area are about 30 tenants, including , Bulgari, Pucci, De Beers, Zegna, Tom Ford, Burberry and Marc by . They will join the district's original fashion tenants Christian Louboutin, and Martin Margiela."We're starting to build critical mass," Robins said. "We continue to find that more and more brands are interested in coming. This is an exciting moment for the Design District. People are going to feel the transition and the power of integrating fashion with art, design and food."Many of the brands are giving up space at Bal Harbour, which the International Council of Shopping Center recently designated the top producing mall in the world. But they say they don't believe the move will have any negative impact on their business."We have made a seamless transition," said Vira V. Capeci, president of Celine. "Our clients have followed us to this exciting location."Right now, Cartier's name sparkling against the backdrop of a bronze storefront may look a little out of place as the area undergoes a transition. But soon Louis Vuitton will make a dramatic statement across the street with a storefront covered by an original work of art from graffiti artist Marquis Lewis, known as RETNA.There may be growing pains in this gentrifying neighborhood. Will consumers be willing to spend thousands of dollars on jewelry, handbags and clothes just a few blocks away from some of Miami's more impoverished neighborhoods?At Cartier a security guard stands close by watching over an offering that includes a rare yellow diamond and a $310,000, diamond-encrusted panther pendant and necklace."I like the idea of an urban neighborhood where you have crackheads here and Cartier over there," said Denia Roth, a Miami resident who was lunching this week at Michael's Genuine in the Design District. "The diversity brings everyone together."The retailers have more freedom to design the look of their stores and open bigger showrooms featuring a wider variety of offerings. Cartier's new store is three times larger than what it had at Bal Harbour.And these stores are only the beginning. Cartier and Louis Vuitton are among several brands opening temporary locations, until they can design and build flagship stores. When these stores open in 2014, they're expected to be among the brands' largest stores in the U.S. outside of ."We want to take our client experience to the next level and serve our clients in comfort," Perrin said.Louis Vuitton felt it was important to get into the Design District early."We like to be part of building a story, it's part of our pioneering spirit," Chapoulaud-Floquet said. "We think we're going to be able to communicate with a very different clientele that is younger, more trendy and much more open to art and culture."Although it's been a year since Louis Vuitton and others started leaving Bal Harbour, operating partner Matthew Whitman Lazenby says same store sales continue to grow -- up 16 percent for the first six months of the year compared to last year.But Lazenby says his family has had a change of heart about allowing tenants to remain at Bal Harbour and still open a second location in Miami-Dade County."You can't deny there has been demand expressed by more than one tenant," Lazenby said. "Miami has reached the point in its evolution where more than one store can be sustained. We are adapting to the marketplace and trying to accommodate the needs of our tenants." ___(c)2012 Visit The Miami Herald at Distributed by MCT Information Services锘?p>The Air Academy High School boys tennis team was as good as advertised Friday. But some local players from Central deserve to be singled out, too.Air Academy leads the team race with 70 points, while Central is a distance second at 39 points. The Wildcats did have a superb showing in singles as Steven Alcala (No. 1), Dakota Burns (No. 2) and Dante Alcala (No. 3), Steven's younger brother, advanced to the finals."My kids came to play and that's what we wanted to get from our singles players," Central coach Russ Guerrero said. The Kadets advanced Taylor Ball (No. 2 singles), Keenan Kaltenbacher (No. 2), Jase Wyeno-Mickey Martin (No. 1 doubles), Jeff Milliman-Kent Schaller (No. 2), Everett Valtin-Naish Gaubatz (No. 3) and Matt Ryan-Michael Sheldon (No. 4) into today's finals."I thought we performed well as a team," Air Academy coach Ron Gorr said. "We had some tough matches and competed everywhere."Central senior Steven Alcala had the most dramatic win of the tourney as he upset No. 2 seed Kollen Kaltenbacherof Air Academy 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 in the semis. Alcala lost in three sets to Kaltenbacher at the South Invite Sept. 22."I had a lot better day with my passing shots and I was lobbing a lot better, which also really helped me," Steven said.Gorr wasn't making any excuses for Kollen Kaltenbacher."That was an intense match and a fun one to watch and it got a lot of people involved," Gorr said.Alcala will face South's Brendon Bravo in the finals at 12:30 p.m. today.The start time was moved from 9 a.m. because of cold, wet weather in the morning forecast."I'm excited about getting to the finals and I will try my best and see what happens," Bravo said.Pueblo West, which is third in the team chase, was led by its doubles teams -- Steven Gonzales-Steven Coy (No. 2), Kitrick Ortiz-Alessandro Cerizza (No. 3) and Mitch Hermes-Greg Wakefield (No. 4) are all in the finals.tracyr@chieftain.com ___(c)2012 The Pueblo Chieftain (Pueblo, Colo.)Visit The Pueblo Chieftain (Pueblo, Colo.) at Distributed by MCT Information Services锘?br> BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese police, working with U.S. authorities, have arrested 73 people for manufacturing and exporting fake international brands including Hermes , LVMH's Louis Vuitton and , state news agency Xinhua said. Police also confiscated more than 20,000 counterfeit bags and closed 37 illegal sites used for the production and sale of the bags, Xinhua said late on Sunday, citing a Ministry of Public Security statement. The gang had manufactured and sold more than 960,000 such fake bags, it added. Officials in the southern export hub of Guangdong province began uncovering the ring in January which was producing and exporting huge amounts of fake goods, the report said. "The (public security) ministry soon exchanged the information with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and proposed a joint investigation," it added. Police later discovered other production sites in the eastern provinces of Fujian and Anhui, Xinhua said. Foreign governments, including the United States, have for years urged to take a stronger stand against violations of intellectual property rights on products ranging from medicines to software to DVD movies. The United States in April again put China, along with Russia, on its annual list of countries with the worst records of preventing the theft of copyrighted material and other intellectual property. China insists it is serious about tackling the problem. The country's top official in charge of fighting copyright piracy this month slammed what he said was deliberate distortion of the problem by the Western media caused by the country's poor global image, saying important facts had been ignored. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Michael Perry)锘縈INNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota doctor took offense when a patient's son posted critical remarks about him on some rate-your-doctor websites, including a comment by a nurse who purportedly called the physician "a real tool." So Dr. David McKee had an unusually aggressive response: He sued the son for defamation. The Duluth neurologist's improbable case has advanced all the way to the Minnesota Supreme Court, which is weighing whether the lawsuit should go to trial. "His reputation is at stake. He does not want to be a target for false and malicious remarks," said his lawyer, Marshall Tanick. McKee's case highlights the tension that sometimes develops on websites such as Yelp and Angie's List when the free speech rights of patients and their families clash with the rights of doctors, lawyers and other professionals to protect their good names. "Patients now have power to affect their businesses in ways they never had," said Eric Goldman, a professor at the Santa Clara University School of Law who studies the issue. Health care providers are "evolving how to deal with patient feedback, but they're still in the process of learning how to do that." Most online reviews never provoke any response. And successful challenges to negative reviews are rare. Americans are legally entitled to express opinions, as long as they don't knowingly make false statements. But if the two sides contest basic facts, disputes can swiftly escalate. At issue are six of Dennis Laurion's statements, including the account of the nurse's name calling. McKee and his attorney say the unnamed nurse doesn't exist and that Laurion invented her to hide behind. Laurion maintains she is real, but he can't recall her name. In arguments before the court in September, Laurion attorney John Kelly said his client's statements were legally protected opinion that conveyed dismay over how McKee treated Laurion's father, who had suffered a stroke. The posts described a single visit that lasted 10 to 15 minutes. The review said McKee seemed upset that after Laurion's father had been moved from intensive care to a regular hospital room, the doctor "had to spend time finding out if you transferred or died." Laurion also complained that McKee treated them brusquely and was insensitive to the family's concerns about the patient being seen in public in a gown that gaped open in the back. In an interview, Kelly said nothing Laurion posted was defamatory — a false statement that harms a person's reputation. The court is expected to rule on the case sometime in the next few months. Lawsuits over professional reviews are uncommon in part because most patients write positive reviews, Goldman said. And many states have passed laws that block the kind of lawsuits that are filed mainly to scare someone into shutting up on matters of public concern. Known as "strategic lawsuits against public participation," those complaints are often forbidden by broad laws that protect criticism even if it's wrong, Goldman said. When health care providers do sue, they rarely succeed. Of 28 such lawsuits that Goldman tracked, 16 had been dismissed and six settled. The others were pending. One notable exception was a Maine case in which a chiropractor sued a former patient for postings on Facebook and websites that accused him of sexually assaulting her. The courts concluded she probably fabricated her story. In June, a judge ruled that the chiropractor could legally attach $100,000 worth of the patient's property to his claim as security pending further proceedings in the case, which Yelp says reviewers are well within their rights to express opinions and relate their experiences. Spokeswoman Kristen Whisenand says the company discourages professionals from using what she called the "nuclear option" of suing over a negative review. She said they rarely succeed and wind up drawing more attention to the review they dislike. Angie Hicks, co-founder of Angie's List, said people shouldn't be afraid to post honest opinions about health care or other services. "Everyone has the right to free speech," Hicks said. "The key here is giving your honest opinion. Honesty is your best defense. Truth is your best defense." Jeff Hermes, director of the Citizens Media Law Project at Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet and Society, said people who want to post critical reviews should think about whether they can back up their statements. And they can strengthen their position by stating the facts on which their opinions are based. Goldman advises reviewers to remember that they are still taking a risk anytime they criticize someone in a public forum. "The reality is that we bet our house every time that we post content online," Goldman said. "It's a lousy answer from a societal standpoint because we need people to share their experiences so vendors will be punished or rewarded as appropriate."锘縄n a city that hangs its hat on big money, a flashy skyline and well-heeled locals, a visit on the cheap might seem unlikely. But residents know that it doesn't take a trust fund to have a good time here. For starters, sit down to a plate of cheap tacos and start people-watching.Dallasites take their shopping seriously, so spending some time wandering the city's malls and shopping areas is a must. But if tempting yourself with shiny new things doesn't appeal, there are plenty of other options like visiting museums, the Memorial or the Katy Trail. GETTING AROUND: Visitors should rent a car while in Dallas, a city more known for eight-lane interstates than for being pedestrian-friendly. A public transportation system with buses and light rail, the , offers $3 all-day passes, but check first to see how close it goes to your destination.McKinney Avenue Transit Authority, runs a free trolley through Dallas' trendy Uptown area, lined with restaurants and bars. The trolley takes riders from near the Museum of Art to , a development filled with restaurants, shops and a movie theater.FAMOUS PLACES: With its catchy opening tune, the television series "Dallas," about a wealthy Texas oil family, brought the city international attention in the late '70s and 1980s. Drive about 40 minutes north of downtown and tour the Ewings' fictional home, , for $9.50, The chronicles the , who was shot while riding through Dallas in a motorcade on Nov. 22, 1963. Evidence showed that shots came from the sixth floor of the museum building, a former warehouse known as the . Depository worker was arrested in the assassination the day Kennedy was killed, but was shot to death two days later by nightclub owner .Admission to the museum is $13.50 for adults, but the Dealey Plaza district is a National Historic Landmark and you can join other tourists checking out the area around the museum for free. Sites include a nearby memorial to Kennedy as well as the infamous "grassy knoll," a spot from which some witnesses thought gunfire emanated.For an old-school shopping experience, go to downtown to ' flagship store.Want to check out the new where the will be playing this fall, but don't want to buy a game ticket? Take a tour of the retractable-roof stadium in nearby Arlington, for $15 for adults.ENTERTAINMENT: Laid-back bars line Greenville Avenue starting just south of Mockingbird Lane. For a little boot-scootin', , offers a chance to try out your two-step and hear some live music. Cover is $8 on Fridays and ranges from $10-$15 on Saturdays. Free dance lessons are offered Saturdays, 6 p.m.-8 p.m., an Irish bar, serves everything from beer to wine to whiskey and also has live music. It's located in Mockingbird Station, an outdoor shopping development filled with restaurants, shops and a movie theater not far from Southern Methodist University.Aside from lots of shopping, Galleria Dallas has an indoor ice skating rink for those looking to cool off a bit. Admission is $8, skate rental is $3.A stroll east of Dallas' museum district offers a glimpse of the city's new performing arts district, which will open in October. The $354 million, a venue for music, , theater and dance, has added striking new buildings and outdoor areas to downtown.To get a little exercise and a break from the hustle and bustle of the city, go hiking or biking just northeast of downtown at, Or bike, jog or Rollerblade down the , which runs from just south of Southern Methodist University to downtown.SHOPPING AND EATING: For those thinking that shopping and sticking to a budget don't mesh, window-shopping is always free and in this economy, you never know when you'll run into a really good sale. Besides, NorthPark Center, a sleek mall featuring stores ranging from the Gap to , also provides a little culture as works from artists including are displayed throughout. And on Saturday mornings, the mall offers a free yoga session in its landscaped garden.In a city that enjoys sunny skies and warm weather for much of the year, Dallasites love outdoor dining. Even if temperatures soar to 100, patios are packed.In the development, several restaurants feature a fun patio atmosphere and cheap eats. Taco Diner has plates with four tacos just under $10 while its sister restaurant across the street, Mi Cocina, has Tex-Mex plates with everything from enchiladas to tamales for about the same price. Village Burger Bar around the corner offers $6 burgers. There's plenty of good people-watching to be had throughout West Village, not to mention good dog-watching with adorable pooches trailing behind their owners. -- -- nestled among multi-million-dollar homes in the swanky enclave of Highland Park, is an outdoor shopping area known for high-end merchandise -- think Chanel and Hermes. But it is also a lovely place to stroll on tree-lined sidewalks, grab a coffee at or a meal at Mi Cocina, where patrons carrying purses that easily cost $1,000 can be spotted tearing into a plate of $10 enchiladas. The Italian Patrizio Restaurant offers a shady patio with many dishes under $10. Opened in 1931, the Mediterranean Spanish-style shopping area, which also has a small movie theater, has been designated a National Historic Landmark.For a funkier shopping experience, head to the, which includes Make, featuring items made by local artists and designers.MUSEUMS: , is free the first Tuesday of each month and Thursdays 5 p.m.-9 p.m.; otherwise $10 for adults. The museum is also free the weekend of Aug. 29-30., is free 10 a.m.-2 p.m. the first Saturday of each month, when the museum also puts on various activities; other times $10 for adults. The Nasher will also have free admission on Sept. 26. On the first Thursday of each month, the center is free 5 p.m.-9 p.m. with free American movie classics at 7 p.m.The two museums offer a combination ticket for $16. Local metered parking can be hard to find; parking is $10 in the Dallas Museum of Art's lot.Across the street, the Crow Collection of Asian Art, is free., which has a collection of Spanish art, is free on Thursdays after 5 p.m.; otherwise $8 for adults.ACCOMMODATIONS: Compared to other big U.S. cities, even some of Dallas' fancier hotels are a bargain. The downtown , for instance, founded in 1912 by beer baron Adolphus Busch, features an elegant wood-paneled lobby and has room rates starting at $149.There are also several chains with reasonable rates. La Quinta Inn and Suites Dallas North Central, for instance, located near NorthPark and about seven miles from downtown, has rooms from $79 to $99 and as low as $59 for early booking for the fall.锘?br> CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian share prices plunged on Sunday, with the main market index falling by nearly 10 percent in the first trading session since President Mohamed Mursi ignited a political crisis by expanding his powers. The price falls were the biggest since March 2011, when the market reopened after the popular uprising that ousted , with the EGX30 index down 9.45 percent by 0945 GMT. "We're not the same . Investors know that Mursi's decisions will not be accepted and that there will be clashes on the street," said Osama Mourad of Arab Financial Brokerage. Many individual stocks were down by the maximum 10 percent allowed under exchange rules, including Construction Industries, Commercial International Bank, Orascom Telecome and Media Technology and EFG Hermes. "We are back to square one, politically, socially, unrest, clashes and so on," said Mohamed Radwan of Pharos Securities. Investors had been growing more confident about the political outlook in recent months, hoping the newly elected government would bring stability to the country after 18 months of political and economic turmoil, and the index had risen 35 percent by the end of last week since June when it became clear that Mursi had been elected president. But Mourad said Mursi's new decree had now made it more dangerous to do business in Egypt. "If an investor wants to appeal something in court he won't be able to, because all laws and regulations that come out of the presidency cannot be appealed," he said. (Editing by Greg Mahlich)锘縏he cowboy romance Brokeback Mountain led the yesterday with four prizes, including best dramatic film and the directing honor for . It was a triumphant night for films dealing with homosexuality and transsexuality. Along with the victories for Brokeback Mountain, acting honors went to in a gender-bending role as a man preparing for sex-change surgery in Transamerica and as gay author in Capote. "I know as actors our job is usually to shed our skins, but I think as people our job is to become who we really are, and so I would like to salute the men and women who brave ostracism, alienation and a life lived on the margins to become who they really are," Huffman said. The biography Walk the Line won the Globe for best musical or film and earned acting honors for stars and . Director Lee's Brokeback Mountain, the story of two rugged Western family men ( and ) concealing their affair, has emerged as a front-runner for - which occasionally have handed out top acting prizes for performers in homosexual or gender-bending roles but have never given the best-picture Oscar to a gay-themed film. Oscar nominations come out Jan. 31, with the awards presented March 5. Brokeback Mountain also won for best screenplay and song, "A Love That Will Never Grow Old." Phoenix and Witherspoon won for best actor and actress in a movie musical or comedy for the biopic that follows country legend Cash's career and his long courtship with the love of his life, June Carter. The Globe audience clapped along to Cash's song "I Walk the Line" as Phoenix took the stage. "Who would ever have thought that I would win in the comedy or musical category?" said Phoenix, poking fun at his image for dark, brooding roles. "Not expected." Phoenix, who did his own singing in the film, thanked "John and June for sharing their life with all of us." "This film is really important to me," said Witherspoon, who offers a spirited performance and fine singing as Carter. "It's about where I grew up, it's about the music I grew up listening to, so it's very meaningful." , who was among the directing nominees for Good Night, and Good Luck, won the supporting-actor Globe for the oil-industry thriller Syriana, and earned the supporting-actress prize for the murder thriller The Constant Gardener. Syriana spins a convoluted story of multiple characters caught up in a web of deceit, greed, corruption and power-brokering over Middle Eastern oil supplies. Clooney plays a fiercely devoted undercover agent who comes to question his country's actions in the region. Clooney thanked writer-director Stephen Gaghan for a movie "that asks a lot of difficult questions." There are similar corporate undertones to The Constant Gardener, in which Weisz plays a humanitarian-aid worker whose husband () is drawn into a dogged investigation of business interests connected to her murder. "I share this with Ralph Fiennes," said Weisz. "One couldn't ask for a more magical, ... committed actor." Brokeback Mountain won the screenplay award for Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana. McMurtry thanked his constant companion during the lonely process of writing. "Most heartfelt, I thank my typewriter. My typewriter is a Hermes 3000, surely one of the noblest instruments of European genius," McMurtry said. Television winners included for best series actress as the U.S. president in Commander in Chief, for drama series actor as a cranky, pill-popping doctor in House, and for best comedy series actor as an incompetent boss in The Office. "This is really wonderful for a fledgling little show like ours," said Davis. of Weeds beat out the four lead actresses of Desperate Housewives for best actress in a comedy series. But Desperate Housewives did win for best musical or comedy series. Lost was honored as best drama series.锘?p>Two companies that will soon share a building together also are sharing awards.Last week Hitcents.com's creative director, Chris Nation, presented Connected Nation with awards Hitcents has received in recognition of its Web design.Many of those awards were for products that Hitcents designed for Connected Nation and its child agency, Connect Ohio. Nation said the awards included not only national recognition but also international recognition from groups including the International Academy of the Visual Arts and Hermes Creative Awards.The awards were presented during a news conference Thursday hosted by the Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce. Recognizing and supporting local companies and their potential for growth is all part of economic development, according to Ron Bunch, president and CEO of the chamber."We can see a real change in course for workforce development and job creation with these two companies," Warren County Judge-Executive Mike Buchanon said. "They will be changing the face of downtown, helping to bring a young workforce that is skilled, educated and enthusiastic. We appreciate the fact that they have made a long-term commitment here."The two companies will occupy the commercial business space now under construction around the parking garage adjacent to Bowling Green Ballpark.Work on that project will be completed in early to mid-2013. ___(c)2012 the Daily News (Bowling Green, Ky.)Visit the Daily News (Bowling Green, Ky.) at Distributed by MCT Information Services锘縄'll state right away that Hawaii is one of my favorite places. I'm pretty much over the Caribbean, and although the Maldives and Fiji have beautiful beaches, getting there is expensive and time-consuming. So when it comes time for balmy weather, surf, sand, and relaxation, it's the Hawaiian Islands. I'm often asked by first-timers which island(s) one should visit. I say visit them all. They're all uniquely beautiful. If you're flying all that way, you might as well make the most of it, especially if it's your first visit. I love the Big Island with its varied ecosystems; peaceful Lanai (recently purchased by software billionaire and home to two outstanding Four Seasons Resorts, the Lodge at Koele and Manele Bay); gorgeous Kauai, with some of the best hiking in the islands; and Maui, especially the idyllic town of Hana. But on my recent visit I confined myself to Oahu. Some Hawaii repeat visitors advise to shun Oahu, where Honolulu is located, because it's a bit too bustling and "urban." But if you haven't visited Honolulu lately, you might be in for a surprise. Sure, some things never change, such as the iconic Halekulani Resort. (Well, that's not exactly true: Oahu's best hotel has undergone a massive renovation and looks better than ever). As is true about all of Honolulu's top hotels, the Halekulani is all about relaxation. I had one of the best massages in my life at the spa, and I can't think of anything more relaxing than sipping a Mai Tai at the House Without a Key, listening to the sounds of Wayne Shishido and his Sunset Serenaders as waves lap against the shore. But you don't have to spend a lot to sleep comfortably. I also stayed at the budget-minded, centrally-located Holiday Inn Beachcomber, and was perfectly happy there as well, and was also impressed by glam and stylish Modern Hotel (originally developed by hotelier Ian Schrager but now under new management). Another fairly new entrant, the Trump Hotel Waikiki, is winning rave reviews over at TripAdvisor.com. (( ) On my recent June week-long stay I also visited, but did not stay at, Aulani, the new Disney resort on Oahu. It's worth the trip even if only to admire the magical architecture, grounds, pools, and beachfront, and to sip a cocktail (they'll validate parking if you have a drink or meal - otherwise it's quite expensive, as are the room rates. Book well in advance because the resort is often sold out). Tourism is Hawaii's No. 1 industry, and two of the most popular tourist activities are (no surprise) shopping and eating. But here's news: the land of the lunch plate special has come a long way in the last decade. There are now several hip, locally-sourced restaurants serving up surprisingly ambitious and tasty cuisine. Among the newer places popular with locals in the know: Whole Ox Deli for breakfast and lunch; Prima (primahawaii.com), a new Italian in Kailua (worth the drive for menu items that won't remind you of anything you've had before); Town, where the menu changes daily based on local ingredient availability; Salt Kitchen and Tasting Bar, with its small but perfectly executed menu; and Side Street Inn, with two locations now, both serving deliciously fresh poke and insanely yummy spicy fried chicken among other temptations. Shopping has also taken a turn for the better on Oahu. When I first visited decades ago, Honolulu the retail experience was pretty much confined to mundane malls and the ubiquitous ABC convenience stores. No longer. There's been an explosion of luxury boutiques along Kalakaua Avenue, worthy of the Las Vegas Strip or Madison Avenue. And the famous Ala Moana Shopping Center now houses over 260 stores, everything from the everyday ( and ) to the upscale (Hermes, Prada, ). But Oahu isn't all sleeping, eating, and shopping. The newly-renovated and expanded USS Arizona Memorial/ WW II Valor in the Monument is, for many visitors, the highlight of their visit (be sure to make advance reservations). And I highly recommend spending a day driving around the entire island, stopping at various beaches and sites along the way, such as the Halona Blowhole and Halona Beach Cove, where and cavorted in "From Here to Eternity." But don't jump in the water here. Instead, head to Bellows Field Beach Park in Waimanalo, arguably Oahu's best beach. (Used by for military training during the week, it's available to the public on weekends; if it's closed when you visit, head for Lanikai Beach in Kailua). --- IF YOU GO: Getting there: Airfares to Hawaii fluctuate throughout the year, and we often see inexplicably low fare wars. This is especially true when, say, Delta, lowers fares from United's hubs by 50 percent or more, even for peak season travel. Then United returns the "favor" by slashing fares from Delta's hubs. And then and American jump in. So if you live near a major hub airport (Dallas, Houston, Newark, Denver, etc.) or can get to one cheaply you may be in luck. We saw that happen once already this year and several times last year. And with ' new nonstop service from New York JFK to Honolulu, additional new seasonal service from Alaska Airlines, plus five new routes from Allegiant Airlines launching in mid-November, fares should be kept in check. --- George Hobica is founder of the low-airfare listing site Airfarewatchdog.com.锘?p> mom Kelly Rutherford has suffered a major setback in her custody battle with ex-husband Daniel Giersch: An L.A. Superior Court judge ruled Tuesday that he will have residential custody of their two children in .The actress filed for divorce from the German businessman in 2009, when she was two months pregnant with their second child, Hannah. Giersch's business visa was revoked in January, complicating an already contentious case.Rutherford was "devastated that her American citizen children were ordered to live overseas to accomodate their father because he's banned from entering the U.S.," she said Wednesday in a statement to . She had been seeking sole legal custody of the kids, with the intention of relocating them in New York from California. The judge decided to allow Giersh to relocate the children to France, where they will live with him, his mother and her partner, according to court obtained by E! In the event Giersh's U.S. visa is restored, he would relocate to New York, the judge said."An appeal is already in the process," her rep told . Geirsch told the mag, "To protect the children and also Kelly, I have decided to continue not to comment."Under what the judge tagged "the France Plan," the couple will continue to have joint legal and physical custody over Hermes, 5, and Helena, 3, with Rutherford required to fly overseas for her time with the children. The kids have been living with their father since May 20, People said.Balancing things out a bit, Giersch is to buy six round-trip coach airline tickets for his ex annually, and provide a house and car for her use when she's in town.ALSO:Follow Christie D'Zurilla on and . Follow the Ministry of Gossip on Twitter and on Facebook .锘縊fficers wearing Chicago Police uniforms raided an apartment in late Wednesday and detained at least eight activists without justification, lawyers working on behalf of protesters alleged today.Police refused to provide any details about the alleged raid or whether they were detaining people. Police Superintendent was asked about the allegation after announcing at a news conference this afternoon that there had been “zero arrests, as far as protest activity today.”Asked about the Bridgeport incident, McCarthy said only that there was an “inquiry” authorities were looking into and he would have to gather further information before commenting.An hour later, his spokeswoman declined to answer any questions about the situation.A spokesman for the National Lawyers Guild, which represents protesters, said lawyers were speaking with some of those detained at a police facility at 3340 W. Fillmore St. on the West Side.“The has basically disappeared as many as eight activists,” said Kris Hermes, a spokesman for the National Lawyers Guild, adding “There’s absolutely no evidence of wrongdoing.”Hermes declined to release the names of those detained. He said the NLG had been speaking with police leaders throughout the day Thursday, and that they denied anyone was being held.Witnesses who alleged they were detained at the scene before being released said police broke down doors in an apartment building near 32nd and Morgan Streets at 11 p.m., and searched the units while refusing to show the occupants a search warrant, said Sarah Gelsomino, an attorney with the lawyers guild.The officers then left but returned with a warrant that witnesses claimed was not signed, she said.When police detained the people, they also seized parts of a beer-making kit, including bottles and caps, and a cell phone, Gelsomino said.Zoe Sigman, an Occupy activist who said she lives in the building, appeared at the lawyers guild news conference to speak about the incident.Sigman said she was returning home Wednesday evening when she bumped into a neighbor coming down the block in the other direction who told her police were at the building.She denied anything illegal was happening in the apartment where a number of Occupy Chicago protesters had been staying for two weeks leading up to this weekend’s .“I know that for a fact,” she said. “It was just a home base. It was a place for people to eat and get some sleep.”dheinzmann@tribune.comjcoen@tribune.com锘?p>DALLAS — Like spokes stretching from its 400-foot arch, the steel cords of the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge propel us from the glossy downtown Arts District to gritty West Dallas.Renowned Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, performer and 3,000 partygoers blanketed the westbound lanes of Calatrava's bridge for its over-the-top unveiling in March. Now, on a sunny Tuesday afternoon, our rental car crosses its elegant expanse alone. The breeze in the grass makes the only waves in the Trinity River bed below.Here is a city at a crossroads. Its image often reduced to fast cars, fervent shopping and the fall of JFK, Dallas is striving to diversify that view while uniting its sprawling metroplex with a string of architectural marvels downtown. "In Dallas, we love the impossible," Mayor Mike Rawlings said at the celebration of the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, which soars as the symbolic hub of Texas-sized ambitions.The city's accomplishments over the past few years have turned heads.To the bridge's east is the Arts District, where the vermilion walls of the Winspear Opera House and the aluminum tube-covered cube of the Wyly Theatre attract curiosity from the Woodall Rogers Freeway.A bit farther north is the new three-block-long Klyde Warren Park, scheduled to open Oct. 27 with shady paths, a performance stage for concerts, a dog park and a children's garden, where a storytelling balcony will encircle an oak tree. Interactive fountains aim to mitigate temperatures that blazed past 100 degrees for 40 consecutive days in summer 2011. A restaurant is scheduled to open in 2013.Conceived as Dallas' front lawn and named for the son of a pipeline executive, the 5.2-acre Klyde Warren Park was designed in part to cover a stretch of the Woodall Rogers Freeway. Its more critical role is to bring a pulse to a dormant zone between the Arts District and Uptown. So a steady stream of free programming will include fitness boot camps, movie screenings, ballroom dance lessons, creative classes for children, a putting green and an outdoor lending library.As intended, the park and other cultural enhancements have stimulated residential construction downtown, but not without courting controversy.The $1 million-plus apartments of the new Museum Tower overlook one of downtown's jewels, the Nasher Sculpture Center. Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Renzo Piano and opened in 2003, the Nasher boasts works by Rodin, Picasso and Degas. On the late afternoon that we stroll through the sculpture garden, Magdalena Abakanowicz's "Bronze Crowd" and the folded-arm figure of Aristide Maillol's "La Nuit (Night)" are bathed in shade. But at times the tower's reflective glass creates intense glare and heat. Fearing damage to its holdings, the Nasher has pressed for corrective measures.Within a block stand the Dallas Museum of Art and the Crow Collection of Asian Art. The new Perot Museum of Nature & Science, designed by Pritzker Prize laureate Thom Mayne, is scheduled to open nearby in January, pointing to another source of debate: The museums and performing-arts venues are more concentrated here than in most cities. That's convenient in one sense, but natives and tourists alike lament that the cultural attractions, thus far, are unmatched by restaurants, shops or even storefronts that sell bottled water.A similar vacancy greets us when we cross the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge from downtown.At the western terminus lie dusty vacant lots, Skittle-colored corrugated warehouses and auto-repair shops. A few blocks away is Ray's Sporting Goods, a gun-lover's paradise.Some tourists might be tempted to turn back. But staying the course a few minutes southwest, past modest residential neighborhoods and Spanish-language billboards, my mom and I arrive for lunch on the cactus-flecked, tented patio of Bolsa, a cafe known for organic ingredients from local growers. At this laid-back destination of gentrified Oak Cliff's Bishop Arts District, bruschetta with melon, cucumber, royale chevre and mint awakens our palates. It's half-price wine bottle day. My mom and I laze more than two hours, my idea of vacation nirvana.My mom's is fresh-baked pie a la mode. But while Bishop Arts boasts art galleries, vintage shops and boutiques, the Emporium Pies bakery won't open till fall in a converted purple house.So we drive back toward downtown, where we happen upon the iconic homage to old Texas, the Pioneer Plaza bronze sculpture of 70 larger-than-life steers being herded down a man-made ridge. Like this city's more recent cultural projects, this one spurred protests in the 1990s. Dallas never was a cow town — that's Fort Worth's distinction, said artists who sued to halt the project.Now, though, that criticism seems forgotten. Children hop along the stones to cross the stream beneath the waterfall, and a family smiles for a portrait on the lawn.Beyond downtown: Snapshots of a stayFormer President George W. Bushwas eating a souffle at n° 1 rise (5360 W. Lovers Lane, risesouffle.com) near his home when President called to say Osama bin Laden was dead. So we ordered Bush's specialty, the crab souffle — savory but foamy.The frontier cabins of Texas Town captured my daughter's and niece's imaginations at the Dallas Arboretum (8525 Garland Road, near White Rock Lake, dallasarboretum.org). Benches along tranquil gardens and ponds gave their grandmother a respite. An exhibit of Dale Chihuly's glass sculptures continues at the arboretum through Nov. 5.With designer fashion and home goods in front and a cafe in back, Forty Five Ten (4510 McKinney Ave., fortyfiveten.com) draws shoppers such as , and . Owner Brian Bolke says his Dallas clientele love fashion, architecture, art and design in equal measure. "The women here live big, full lives and are unashamed of being in fashion," he said. He credits the arts scene for moving the city forward. The neighboring home furnishings store Nest (4524 McKinney Ave. nestdallas.com) exudes warmth with a European accent.Borrowing relatives' bikes on a Thursday afternoon, my husband and I cycled the honeysuckle-fragranced Katy Trail from Highland Park south to the , where the Mavericks play. On our return trip we pulled over at the trail-side patio of the Katy Trail Ice House (3136B Routh St., katyicehouse.com), where wayward office workers sipped the curiosity that is the beerita, a margarita with an open bottle of beer bobbing in it. Dallas isn't particularly bike-friendly, but bike rentals are available for $35 per day, including a helmet, at Dallas Bike Works (4875 W. Lawther Drive, dallasbikeworks.com) near the White Rock Lake trail.No trip to Dallas would be complete without gawking at the ritzy homes and the Dallas Country Club along Beverly Drive and ending up at Highland Park Village (Mockingbird Lane and Preston Road, hpvillage.com), where my husband and I enjoyed Tex-Mex and top-shelf margaritas at Mi Cocina and watched well-heeled, weekday shoppers at Christian Louboutin, and Stella McCartney.We noted the absence of pedestrian or bike lanes on the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge. We then learned of plans to turn the Continental Street Viaduct, which parallels the new bridge (named for philanthropist Hill), into a pedestrian and bicycle passage later this year. A plaza will provide a unique vantage point from which to behold the new bridge as a landmark that broadens Dallas' horizons.锘?p>Sergeant reports for dutyArmy Sgt. Zachary J. Hermes has arrived for duty as an Army recruiter assigned to the Chicago Army Recruiting Battalion at Round Lake Beach Army Recruiting Station.Hermes has served in the military for 9 years. Hermes is the son of Ann M. Vroman of Rock Falls. He is a 2002 graduate of Rock Falls High School.Private complets advanced trainingArmy Pfc. Stephanie N. Losoya has graduated from One Station Unit Training (OSUT) at Fort Leonard Wood, Waynesville, Mo. Her training included basic military training and advanced individual training.During basic military training, the trainee received instruction in drill and ceremony, weapons qualification, map reading, tactics, military courtesy, military justice, physical fitness, , and Army doctrine, history, principles and traditions.During AIT, the soldier completed the military police specialist course to acquire skills to provide combat area support, conduct battlefield circulation control, area security, prisoner of war operations, civilian internee operations, and law and order operations. The trainee performed as a team member in support of battlefield operations, installation law and order operations and security of Army resources and installations. Additional training included providing peacetime support to the military community through security of resources, crime prevention programs, and preservation of law and order.Losoya is the daugher of Barbara and Jose Losoya of Rochelle. She is a 2008 graduate of Rochelle Township High School. and a 2001 graduate of Kishwaukee College in Malta. ___(c)2012 the Daily Gazette (Sterling, Ill.)Visit the Daily Gazette (Sterling, Ill.) at Distributed by MCT Information Services锘縌: Today's column involves a mystery. All that arrived were two photos of a Native American silver necklace plus a blank sheet of paper, probably to protect the photos. That's all.The backs of the photos are handwritten, "Stamped Nezzi squash blossom." I can only figure that the reader wants info on the necklace. A: J Nezzi is the stamp of Jimmy Nezzi, an Arizona Navajo silver artisan who worked, approximately, in the 1970s. That places his jewelry as vintage, not in the more desirable early phase of Navajo silver.That said, the necklace is a handsome piece. Not a classic squash blossom, it is centered by a large flat silver eagle with inlaid turquoise and coral wings outspread in traditional pattern. Birds and avian themes, certainly the eagle, are important to Southwestern natives.Eight smaller eagles, shown in flight, are mounted on double rows of silver beads at each side.While the necklace incorporates traditional themes, it's more artistic than ceremonial or traditional.Looking on databases of finished auctions and sales, we could not find a similar or comparable J Nezzi necklace. On , we saw a stamped silver bracelet with inlaid turquoise and coral that sold for $150 in June of this year. A stamped bolo tie sold on for $72.55.When we checked, eBay had a number of active auctions for J Nezzi pieces. Completed sales ranged from $19.99 to $675. A traditional squash blossom necklace brought $199.99.If the reader's aim is to sell, he/she must place the necklace where it will sell best. I suggest shopping it to auction houses that have a record of good results selling Native American jewelry. Online is the way to research that; contact info is usually provided.Q: I bought this plate from a lady who lived in London for a long time. Can you tell me about it? I'm very fond of it.A: I'm so glad to learn that you like your blue and white Delft style plate. The truism in collecting is to like what you buy, because you may live with it for a long while. Buying for investment is not for "normal" folks.Also, thanks for great photocopies of the plate's front and back. BTW, that's exactly how sellers like to view plates, too.The transfer design on the front showing a frozen river with a sledge and a skater tying his skates is Delft in style. The back stamp reading "Delfts, Made for Royal Sphinx, by Boch" tells the rest. Smart collectors know that wares marked "Delfts" are recent.Royal Sphinx produced Delft tableware in Holland up to WW II. From 1969 to 1979 the company had Boch, a Belgian company, make Delftware for it. Your plate dates to that period.The 15 in. plates were made in several different scenic designs. Because the reader's transfer is artist signed, some sellers ask more for that version. We found similar plates on eBay touted as "signed by the artist" listed for $250 to $79.99. Sold plates went for $56 and $55.MORE: We send all readers best wishes for a healthy, happy, and sane 2012. You are the best. Thank you for reading "Smart." I appreciate you all.BOOK IT! In "Charles Faudree Details" (Gibbs Smith $40) the Oklahoma designer's vision is eclectic and world-wide. Organized by theme (tablescapes, fabrics, mantels, lighting, etc.) he shows how to mix and match disparate items to create a look that's hi-style and lush but not limited to any period.AUCTION ACTION: You know you're in rare territory when used handbags sell for six figures. Luxury sold very well this holiday season as a Exceptional Collection Shiny Rouge H Porosus Crocodile 30cm Birkin Bag with Solid 18K White Gold & Diamond Hardware (that's the official name) brought $203,150 in a sale of luxury accessories at Heritage Auctions in Dallas.A week later, a collector's edition multi-colored crystal Ganesh minaudiere by Judith Leiber sold for $7,500 when a private collection of 266 Leiber handbags and accessories went on the block. A collector's edition Dalmatian minaudiere with a red crystal heart pillbox fetched $5,625.Gifts from a U.S. husband to his wife, the pieces were 100 percent sold. When everything sells, the event is called a "white glove" sale.COLLECTOR QUIZQ: Working with old and vintage family fabric scraps is a quilting tradition. The results are called memory blocks. When using old fabrics, what's the best way to remove smoke smells?A: Put an unwrapped bar of white Safeguard soap wrapped in a white paper towel in a sealed plastic bag with the fabric. Several days should do it. Source: "A Quilted Memory: Ideas and Inspiration for Reusing Vintage Textiles," by Mary Kerr (Schiffer, $19.99). A family memory, with tips and photos.(Danielle Arnet welcomes questions from readers. She cannot respond to each one individually, but will answer those of general interest in her column. Send e-mail to or write Danielle Arnet, c/o Tribune Media Services, 435 N. , Suite 1400, , IL 60611. Please include an address in your query. Photos cannot be returned.)锘?p>The media reports that Poland's Ministry of Defense is furious with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) manufacturer Aeronautics Ltd., which has failed to meet the deadline for supplying its Aerostar medium range tactical UAV. The Aerostar was slated for use by the Polish Army in to improve reconnaissance capabilities. The Aerostar is used by the US Army.Some reports say that Poland's Ministry of Defense has cancelled the $35 million contract and that it is seeking compensation.Aeronautics won the Polish Ministry of Defense tender in January 2010, beating both Aerospace Industries Ltd. (IAI) (TASE: ARSP.B1), which offered its Heron UAV, and (Nasdaq: ESLT; TASE: ESLT), which offered its Hermes 450 UAV. IAI and Elbit Systems both quit the tender in the pricing stage, after concluding that they had little chance of winning it, because of Aeronautics' exceptionally low price. "The company put on the table a floor bid that was very tempting and attractive for the Poles, and it won the pot. Its bid was 60 percent less than the bids of the other two companies," said a source familiar with the deal. He added, "The delay in deliveries and failure to meet commitments proves that it is not possible to deliver the goods at such low prices."Aeronautics' contract was worth $30 million. It promised initial deliveries of the UAVs, the ground control systems, and training simulators by the end of 2010. It also promised to train crews for operating the UAVs in Afghanistan.Israeli defense sources say that Aeronautics obtained a two-year postponement for deliveries from Poland's Ministry of Defense, but that the company still failed to meet its commitment to supply all the UAVs and their related equipment, even as the Polish Army had established special units for operating them.Aeronautics refused to comment on the report.Sources familiar with the deal told "Globes" that Aeronautics' executives have been trying to solve the crisis with Poland in recent weeks. The sources said that the company was surprised by the Polish media reports, and that Poland's Ministry of Defense may demand financial compensation from the company. "It is hard to ignore the fact that the Poles have been harmed. The UAVs were supposed to serve the Polish Army in operations, and we can assume that they are furious at Aeronautics," said a source.The Aerostar is Aeronautics' flagship product. The 250-kilogram UAV can carry a range of payloads, including for intelligence missions. It has a 250-kilometer range and 12-hour endurance. Aeronautics previously sold at least 50 Orbiter UAVs to Poland.Yavne-based Aeronautics made headlines a few months ago about tensions between its owners, and founder and CEO Avi Leumi denied in private conversations reports that the company was facing cash-flow problems. ___(c)2012 the Globes (, Israel)Visit the Globes (Tel Aviv, Israel) at Distributed by MCT Information Services锘縋resident Barack Obama touted a progressive attitude on on the campaign trail, but since taking office, Obama's administration has hardened its stance and supporters of the drug are crying foul on the flip-flop. In a March 2008 interview, that medical marijuana ranked low on his list of priorities. [.] "I think the basic concept of using medical marijuana for the same purposes and with the same controls as other drugs prescribed by doctors, I think that's entirely appropriate," Obama said. "I'm not going to be using resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue." But the numbers tell another story. Since October 2009, Americans for Safe Access, a group committed to legalizing medical marijuana, estimates the Justice Department has carried out 170 raids on dispensaries and cultivation facilities in nine states. "Every time a dispensary is shut down, there are literally hundreds of people waking up that day wondering where they will get their medication," says Hermes says he's confident that the number of raids since the president took office is actually around 200. "He's broadened his attack," Hermes says. "Until Obama was elected, had the most aggressive posture toward medical marijuana...he's been even more aggressive than his predecessor." Americans for Safe Access estimates that during the entire eight years of the Bush administration, roughly 200 raids were carried out, something Hermes says the Obama administration has accomplished in less than four years. Asked why the Obama administration had been so aggressive in pursuing federal drug law violations involving medical marijuana, the DOJ told Whispers, "Sorry, we do not have statistics to support [that accusation]." Pro-marijuana groups say Obama has expanded the attack on medical marijuana from DOJ to a wide array of other federal agencies, including the , which has lead dozens of audits of medical marijuana businesses. The IRS has also aggressively penalized medical marijuana businesses for selling an illegal drug by requiring the businesses to pay federal taxes on gross income, not net income, eliminating the tax break most businesses receive from deducting payroll costs. The Department of Housing and Urban Development that allows public housing agencies to evict tenants who use medical marijuana. The also issued banning the commercial sale of firearms to medical marijuana patients. There are 16 states and the that have their own medical marijuana laws. And experts say U.S. attorneys' threats against local and state officials who enact medical marijuana laws in their states have even slowed down the implementation of new laws in Arizona, Montana, Rhode Island, and Washington. "It's a weaselly threat, but it has scared a few governors," says Bill Piper, the director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance, a group committed to finding alternatives to current drug laws. "The intensity and multi-agency assault is far worse than the Bush administration and the Clinton administration." Allen St. Pierre, executive director for NORML, which seeks to reform marijuana laws, says the president might have political as well as legal motivations for reversing his initial position on medical marijuana. St. Pierre argues that current laws prohibit the Obama administration from turning a blind eye to state's medical marijuana legalization. "In essence, the administration is sort of hamstrung," St. Pierre says. St. Pierre says letting states regulate marijuana as they please would burn up a lot of the president's political capital, adding that Obama has to take action or he risks earning a reputation in 2012 election as soft on drugs. -- --. --.锘?p>Mass. Maritime 42, Maine Maritime 23CASTINE, MAINE--Massachusetts Maritime scored 21 unanswered points in the second half, to break a 21-all tie at halftime, en route to a 42-23 win over Maine Maritime Academy Saturday in a New England Football Conference game at Ritchie Field. With the win, the Buccaneers (4-3 overall, 3-2 NEFC) claimed the 40th Admiral's Cup while the Mariners remained winless this season at 0-7, 0-5.Maine Maritime scored on the opening possession of the game when Bill Wetherbee (Veazie, Maine) plunged in from a yard out. The score capped a 12-play, 61-yard, drive that was kept alive when Mass. Maritime was whistled for roughing the passer on fourth-and-five. Wetherbee carried seven times for 25 yards on the drive. The Bucs responded the ensuing series when John Trudel (Niantic, Conn.) hit paydirt on a six-yard run. The score completed an 8-play, 64-yard, drive highlighted when (Quincy, Mass.) hooked up with Jonathan Wright (Newburryport, Mass.) for 37 yards.The Mariners went ahead 14-7 on Wetherbee's 36-yard sprint before Mass. Maritime evened the game at 14 on Barry Roepell's 28-yard run with 12:49 left before the half. Maine Maritime took advantage of Eddy Ramos' muffed punt and made it 21-14 four plays later on Bradley Reed's one-yard run. The Bucs knotted the game on the ensuing kickoff when Bobby Rosano (North Reading, Mass.) raced 91-yards on the kickoff return.The Bucs needed just 12 plays to cover 66 yards on their opening possession of the second half. Reopell capped the drive, which featured a pair of third down conversions, with a two-yard run and a 27-21 Mass. Maritime lead.Maine Maritime squandered a chance to tie the game late in the third quarter. Five straight runs from Dylan Webster, and a 14-yard run by Joseph DiBiase, got the Mariners to the Mass. 9. Three plays later, on third-and-goal at the 1, Reed fumbled and Robert Gratzer recovered it for the Bucs. Mass. Maritime cashed in on the turnover with a 99-yard drive that ended on Trudel's 4-yard run. Trudel hooked up with Rosano to convert the two-point conversion give the Bucs a 35-21 lead.Another turnover inside the 5 cost the Mariners another chance at more points. A pair of Bradley Reed passes, to DiBiase for 18 and Shane Sullivan for 23, helped get the Mariners inside the red zone. Five plays later, Wetherbee lost the ball and Richard Ford recovered it for the Bucs.Mass. Maritime added a late score on Austin Pierce's two-yard run and surrendered a safety when Stanton purposely ran out of the end zone with 1:51 left in the game.Wetherbee led all rushers with 139 yards on 28 carries for Maine Maritime. DiBiase had 54 yards on nine carries and Reed added 52 yards on 21 attempts. Reed was 5 of 12 through the air for 71 yards with Sullivan hauling in two passes for 34 yards.Brock Lawrence paced the Mariners' defense with 12 total stops and Alex Hermes had 10 tackles and an interception. Wade Severance also had a pick for Maine Maritime.Stanton led the Bucs with 183 yards through the air while Reopell and Pierce churned out 102 and 77 yards, respectively, on the ground. E.J. Bennett caught eight passes for 90 yards on Jonathan Wright added 80 yards on five catches.Reynard Ortiz and Matthew King combined for 25 tackles to spearhead the Bucs' defense. Zachary Ryan picked up two sacks, Richard Ford one and Eddy Ramos had an interception.The Mariners return to action Saturday at noon at Bridgewater State.Norwich 56, Husson 0Northfield, Vt.-- Norwich generated more than 600 yards of total offense and sophomore Al Georgio (West Greenwich, R.I.) had two scoring plays of longer than 60 yards as the Cadets routed visiting Husson 56-0 Saturday at Sabine Field. The win moves Norwich to .500 in Eastern Collegiate Football Conference play at 2-2 and puts them at 5-2 overall. The loss drops Husson to 1-6 overall and 0-4 in conference competition.The Cadets wasted no time as senior quarterback Kris Sabourin (Georgia, Vt.) scored on a 58-yard touchdown run on the second play from scrimmage after he faked a handoff and took the ball up the middle past the Eagles defense. It was Sabourin's fourth rushing touchdown of 2012 and his longest run of the season thusfar.The two teams traded punts until the he Cadets defense gave Norwich the ball back again on a three-and-out just inside ten minutes left in the quarter and Sabourin converted a crucial third-and-12 deep inside Cadet territory before he found Georgio in the flat for what seemed like a minimal gain. But Georgio was able to absorb hits and keep his feet moving and eventually took the ball 65 yards for his first receiving touchdown of the year. He later scored on a 64-yard pass from sophomore Jon Queen (Petersborough, N.H.) to finish the day with 129 yards on four catches.Norwich finished the first quarter up 21-0 after senior Danny Triplett (Haverhill, Mass.) scored from a yard out and continued to pile on points in the second stanza when Triplett caught his second career touchdown from Sabourin.Norwich took a 35-0 nothing lead into halftime after Sabourin tossed a touchdown to Zach Allen (Boston, Mass.). Allen has seven touchdown receptions in 2012 and finished the day with 76 yards. Sabourin completed 10 of 14 passes for 177 yards and the three touchdowns and added 78 yards on the ground.锘縈IAMI (AP) — For travelers looking for respite from South Beach clubs and the oh-so chic Design District, the offbeat Miami Modern District — also known as MiMo — offers a welcome change of pace.No Segway tours here. This is the real Miami, a place to pass a lazy afternoon by the bay, peruse independent boutiques and enjoy some surprisingly delicious local bistros — including celebrity chef Michelle Bernstein's flagship restaurant, Michy's. The stretch along Route 1, which recently received a historic designation, lies just north of midtown, dividing Biscayne Bay's hidden residential neighborhoods from Miami's Little Haiti corridor. MiMo is easily distinguished by a string of 1950s-era or Mid-century Modern motels along Biscayne Boulevard, and by the original, kitschy, three-story sign of the Coppertone Girl and her dog on a building overlooking the traffic at 7300 Biscayne Blvd. The hotels flourished in the 1950s as affordable, family friendly lodging before the advent of freeways — so too did the first franchised Playboy Club (now defunct) which flouted segregation rules in the waning years of Jim Crow.Then, like much of Miami, the neighborhood fell into disrepair. But today, MiMo (pronounced Mee-mo) is once more on the rise — though, as in the days of old, it's helpful to have car to explore the area."People come here because they want a real experience....We're not trendy. We're not trying to be something we're not," said Bernstein, a guest judge on the Bravo TV's who, like many MiMo business owners, lives in the 'hood. (Full disclosure: so does this reporter.) Bernstein, a Miami native, was first attracted to MiMo, part of Miami's broader , as an untouristy place to experiment with her menu. But the crowds kept coming, so she stayed, even as she opened other restaurants in more upscale neighborhoods.MiMo is still a mix of naughty and nice. A couple of the hotels, like the New Yorker at 6500 Biscayne Blvd., have been revamped in the sleek style of their 1950's heyday and are drawing young, European budget travelers, but midnight police sirens aren't uncommon.Still, it's fine for day-trippers with families, who can start the morning just outside MiMo's northern border at Yiya's Gourmet Cuban Bakery and Cafe, 646 NE 79th St. An outdoor mural by Miami graffiti artist Daniel Fila, of a seagull stealing a woman's bread, makes it easy to spot. Enjoy a cafe con leche and sugar-dusted vanilla croissant or a guava cheese Danish and chat with the super-friendly staff.Then head for the sun. Off the southeast end of MiMo is Morningside Park, where shaded benches offer tranquil views of the bay. Turn east off of Biscayne Boulevard at 58th Street and ask the guard at the gate for directions to the park. During the winter, kids will enjoy the covered playground and a mini-nature walk through mangroves. In the summer, you can rent kayaks and visit one of a handful of the bay's uninhabited islands. Also fun for families, bayside Legion Park at 64th Street features two sets of playground equipment beneath giant mango and banyan trees.Feeling the need to sweat indoors? Try a boxing class at Biscayne Boxing & Fitness Club at 7200 Biscayne Blvd., or a pole dancing class and a massage up the street at IronFlower Fitness, which doubles as one of several neighborhood hair and nail salons.Unlike South Beach's Lincoln Road, when it comes to shopping, MiMo boasts a bevy of locally owned stores, ideal for fashionistas on a budget.On the west side of Biscayne at 72nd Street, there's the vintage store Divine Trash. Two blocks north, award-winning designer Julian Chang creates samples for his international line of women's wear. Next door, The Consignment Bar displays and Hermes beneath a ceiling of rose printed-paper and crystal chandeliers. Consignment Bar co-owner Ilissa Whitehead, who opened the store earlier this year, said she wanted to support the neighborhood in which she lives."There's a long way to go, but MiMo is undiscovered. It's eclectic, and things are changing a lot," she said.On the east side next to Legion Park, Rebel features trendy Miami styles and candles. A giant bowl of Legos means mom can try on that little black sheath in peace. Just south at Pet Mode, patrons can browse sequined doggy sweaters while their pooches get their nails polished pink.For the kiddies, there's the hipster children's consignment shop LoudGirl Exchange at 75th Street, which lets the wee ones play with toys while their parents shop and take in works by local artists.And for the artistically inclined, Tyler Galleries offers quality antiques, while Broadway Art & Framing showcases new artists. Other art galleries regularly sprout and fade.The boulevard comes alive weekend nights with inexpensive valet parking at a host of restaurants. Bernstein, together with her husband David Martinez, helped jump-start the MiMo revival in 2005 with their casually elegant Michy's at 6927 Biscayne Blvd. Its bright orange and blue decor and mismatched flowered chairs were inspired by Bernstein's childhood houses. Michy's white gazpacho and crispy duck confit regularly draw locals, downtown theatergoers and even New York snow birds. Meanwhile, the patio oasis and Moroccan-inspired bar of UVAS Restaurant and Lounge at 69th Street provide one of the neighborhood's liveliest happy hours.Michael Bloise, formerly of South Beach's four-star Wish restaurant, has just opened the inexpensive American Noodle Bar where patrons can choose among ingredients like brown sugar ginger sauce and braised oxtail. MiMo also boasts several sushi restaurants, and the Greek Anise Waterfront Taverna, just off Biscayne at 78th Street. Hungering for crepes? There's Le Cafe Bistro, tucked into the corner of a strip mall at 73rd Street, which doubles as a gallery with live music.Around the corner on 79th Street, at the gay- (and everyone-) friendly Magnum Lounge, it doesn't take much for customers to gather around the piano for show tunes.Then there's Red Light, a hip eatery at 7700 Biscayne Blvd., archly named for the neighborhood's late night — and early morning — inhabitants. New Orleans' chef Kris Wessel uses local ingredients to whip up dishes like citrus steamed mussels, green tomatoes and crunchy plantain chips. The riverside locale offers patrons rare city views of old Miami nature, as well as a glimpse of the neighborhood's remaining corner strip club ... just like old times.___If You Go...MiMo: Miami Modern/Biscayne Boulevard Historic District runs 50th to 77th street on Biscayne Boulevard.锘縎ANDUSKY, Ohio (AP) — A northern Ohio man faces up to eight years in prison over a hay ride accident that injured 28 people last year. Investigators say Michael Hermes (HERM'-ess), of Sandusky, had been drinking and was operating a tractor pulling several wagons when he drove off the road. Hermes pleaded guilty last week to assault and operating a vehicle under the influence. He'll be sentenced in January. State Highway Patrol troopers say there were open alcohol containers at the scene of the October 2011 crash. Some of those injured had broken bones while others were just shaken up.锘?p>Victoria West might have experienced its darkest days under head coach Leonard McAngus last week when they were embarrassed in its season opener.But, McAngus is a man of faith, and he knows better than most that joy will come in the morning -- or in this case, the next time his team steps under the Friday night lights.Victoria West jumped on Cuero in the first half, and sustained that momentum all the way to a comprehensive 40-19 victory Friday night at Memorial Stadium. "It's tremendous. That's what all the work is for, our kids persevered through some tough times, not only this year, but going back to last year there were some really tough losses," McAngus said about a team that lost seven straight games entering Friday. "Last week was as tough a loss as I've experienced in a long time."I was proud of our kids for coming back and fighting back. They believe in each other, they believe in what they are doing and they love playing football. They are not going to get down. It would have been easy to get down after that loss. I'm just proud of them."West took a 20-0 lead into halftime after a trio of first-half rushing touchdowns -- two from quarterback Garrett Rother and one from Malcolm Peoples."We came out and didn't have a very good first half," Cuero head coach Travis Reeve said. "They played extremely well. It was a learning experience for our team. We have to do better in a lot of areas. Give Victoria West and Coach McAngus credit, they played a great game tonight."West outgained Cuero 351 to 307 Friday. But most of that Gobbler yardage was after halftime, when they trailed by three scores.Their physicality on the offensive and defensive line, as well as their victory in the turnover margin were the keys to victory, McAngus said.Jonathan Vahalik called the win "amazing." The senior left guard couldn't contain his smile. When asked how the Warriors were able to run for 282 yards and six touchdowns, Vahalik said the offensive line played low, made their reads and assignments."That was huge," Vahalik said about West having a plus-2 turnover margin. "That was one of our main problems coming into this game. We really turned it around. We worked hard this week to do that. We held onto the ball and made big holes for our running backs, blocked the linebackers so they didn't have to get hit."The Warriors know Cuero is always a good team. McAngus said the Gobblers (1-1) are only going to get better under first-year head coach Travis Reeve.Justin Kremling scored on a 42 yard touchdown run for Cuero, with 7:38 left in the third quarter, following West's only turnover of the night. From there the teams traded touchdowns drives.Cuero's Blake Reeve had 215 total yards and two touchdowns, one rushing, one passing. Rother ran for 109 yards and three touchdowns. Qualian Bryant added a pair of second half touchdowns for Victoria West.Junior linebacker Nathan Hermes said the Warriors practiced a lot harder in practice this week. He added the win, following a 55-12 loss at Lockhart last week, got the bad taste out of their mouths.Hermes had five tackles and recovered a fumble on a kickoff return with eight minutes left to set up Qualian Bryant's second rushing touchdown of the night.Jacob Armstrong led the Warriors with seven tackles. He also caught three passes for 23 yards. The senior said his team won because they hit hard, and protected the football -- something they didn't do in that season-opening loss."I'm ecstatic," We ended a losing streak right there and I'm excited, it was 40-19. There are no words I can say for it." ___(c)2012 Victoria Advocate (Victoria, Texas)Visit Victoria Advocate (Victoria, Texas) at Distributed by MCT Information Services锘?p>Sometime between as "Working Girl" and Hillary Clinton as presidential contender, the pantsuit retired from the ranks of high fashion, as well as from most women's closets.Make room for its resurgence. Pantsuits commanded designer runways from to for fall, in everything from gleaming brocades to smoldering black.The new cloth isn't necessarily cut out for the corner office. At the in September, walked the red carpet in a white plunging pantsuit and Kat Graham in a Bordeaux body-hugging Jean Paul Gaultier over a leopard-print bra. "I'm really feeling the pantsuit right now; it's definitely in my top five trends," said Elle magazine creative director , whose series "All on the Line With Joe Zee" airs Mondays on the . "People want a lot of uses out of their clothes now, and you can wear it to work, or you can break it up and wear the jacket with jeans. We're starting to see its versatility."Pantsuits signal a larger change, said Sharon Graubard, senior vice president and fashion director for Stylesight, which forecasts and analyzes trends."We've gone through a period of deconstruction and fluidity, and now we're once again constructing clothes — we're interested in tailoring and matching and structure," Graubard said. "Women haven't worn suits in a long time because they've looked very stuffy, like you're going on a job interview. But these new pantsuits have the potential to be a real fashion item like they were in the '70s."There's a silhouette and fabric for every body. Patterned and embellished with cropped pants and curvaceous lapels at Louis Vuitton. Streamlined black and belted at Yves Saint Laurent and . Trellis-patterned, double-breasted and gold-buttoned at . Slouchy menswear-inspired at . Nip-waisted, bell-bottomed at . Dandy long jackets and short pants with wild patterned shirts and ties at ."The starting point now are firm fabrics like jacquards and double-knits, even," Graubard said. "We want a fabric that has some guts and can hold a shape. There's a kind of neatness to the pantsuit that's appealing to the eye right now."Defying its corporate past, the pantsuit is free-spirited this fall, as it was when suffragettes and cabaret performers began co-opting menswear at the dawn of the 20th century."The funny thing is that the pantsuit still has power to transgress," Graubard said. "There's something very powerful about putting on a matching pant and jacket. Just make sure it fits perfectly. When you try one on, you should feel that you can rule the world."Pantsuits: 20th-century moments1926: wears a men's suit for a family portrait.1933: models a menswear-inspired pantsuit designed by .1940s-50s: and other Hollywood iconoclasts appropriate menswear.1965: Courreges and Yves Saint Laurent unleash a series of pantsuits that revolutionize women's wear, including YSL's Le Smoking in 1966. Helmut Newton immortalized it in a 1975 photo.1971: Bianca Jagger makes white suits a sleek signature.1975: "Dress for Success" is published for corporate climbers. establishes his brand.1976: Suits with bow blouses abound in Vogue.1977: Thierry Mugler and Claude Montana design suits with extreme shoulders.1983: Trouser suits edge out skirt suits in Vogue.1988: Suits star in "Working Girl."1990: Jean Paul Gaultier designs iconic cone-cupped bustier with pinstripe suit trousers for 's "Blond Ambition" tour.1991: Casual Friday spells power dressing's demise.2008: Hillary Clinton pokes fun at her anachronistic "sisterhood of the traveling pantsuits."2012: In Miuccia Prada's fall collection for Miu Miu, 28 of the 36 looks are pantsuits.锘?p>FRIDAY(All games start at 7:30 p.m. unless noted)DISTRICT 30-4A Victoria West Warriors at Calallen Wildcats--Last year: Did not play.--Notes: West (4-3, 1-2) travels to Corpus Christi to play Calallen (3-2, 2-1) for the first time. West is trying to snap a two-game district losing streak. Calallen has won two straight since opening district with a loss to Calhoun. West has surrendered a total of 106 points in district play, and Calallen has yielded a total of 38. West's Garrett Rother has rushed for 694 yards and six touchdowns, and Qualian Bryant has rushed for 619 yards and 11 touchdowns.--Radio: KVNN, 1340 AMBeeville Trojans at Calhoun Sandcrabs--Last year: Calhoun, 55-6.--Notes: Beeville (2-5, 0-3) travels to Port Lavaca to play Calhoun (7-0, 4-0) for the seventh straight season as a district opponent. Calhoun holds a 4-2 edge during that span. Calhoun is ranked No. 10 in the Class 4A state poll and can wrap a share of the district title with a win. Beeville has lost its last four games. Calhoun has won 21 straight regular-season games and 12 consecutive games at Sandcrab Stadium. Calhoun will be without Cory Williams, who has rushed for 1,116 yards and 11 touchdowns, but suffered a knee injury on his first carry against Victoria West last week. Hunter Boerm has rushed for 1,073 yards and 15 touchdowns. Beeville's Cameron Kremers has passed for 629 yards and six touchdowns, and has rushed for 534 yards and nine touchdowns.--Radio: KTKO, 105.7 FM & KITE, 93.3 FMDISTRICT 23-4AAngleton Wildcats at Bay City Blackcats--Last year: Angleton, 28-7.--Notes: Angleton (5-2, 2-1) goes after its third straight win over Bay City (0-7, 0-3) since the teams moved back into the same district. Angleton bounced back from a district loss to Richmond George Ranch to beat Brazosport last week. Bay City has lost 12 straight games dating back to last season. Bay City has not scored in its last three games and has scored a total of 68 points this season.--Radio: KKHA, 92.5 FMDISTRICT 25-3AEl Campo Ricebirds at Needville Blue Jays--Last year: Did not play.Notes: El Campo (7-0, 3-0) looks to maintain sole possession of the district lead when it plays Needville (0-7, 0-3). El Campo is ranked No. 11 in the state Class 3A poll. El Campo is averaging a district-leading 405.3 yards per game and has limited opponents to a district-best 178 yards per game. Needville has lost 16 of its last 17 regular-season games. El Campo's Jack Davis has rushed for a district-leading 689 yards and eight touchdowns, Montray Johnson has rushed for 601 yards and six touchdowns, and Bryce Brandl has rushed for 507 yards and eight touchdowns.--Radio: KULP, 1390 AMBellville Brahmas at Wharton Tigers--Last year: Did not play.Notes: Wharton (6-2, 3-1) attempts to bounce back from last week's district loss to El Campo when it plays Bellville (4-3, 2-1). Wharton would clinch a playoff berth with a win. Wharton's loss to El Campo snapped a six-game winning streak. Bellville is coming off a 56-0 win over Royal. Bellville's Bronson Allen and LeKieath Nunn have each rushed for 513 yards and have combined for 12 touchdowns. Wharton's Bartee Grissom has passed for 1,306 yards and 15 touchdowns, and Alfred Pinkney has rushed for 679 yards and six touchdowns.DISTRICT 26-3AGonzales Apaches at Yoakum Bulldogs--Last year: Gonzales, 33-0.锘?br> (Reuters) - A trickle of foreign donor aid looks like 's best hope of averting a balance of payments crisis for now because many of the investors who fled the country last year are loath to return until the government seals a loan from the . A deal with the International Monetary Fund would lend vital credibility to a new Islamist-led administration desperate to revive inward investment that ground to a halt after last year's popular uprising against . "Until the IMF deal is signed, you are still going to have a lot of people on the sidelines waiting for that stamp of approval and that policy backstop," said Antony Simond of Aberdeen Asset Management, which is not investing in Egypt. The IMF wants the government to push through subsidy reform and other potentially unpopular measures to rein in a yawning budget deficit before it advances the $4.8 billion loan. But hope has been fading that President Mohamed Mursi's cabinet will move fast to impose the complex, risky reforms just months before expected parliamentary elections, then see them applied effectively by a sprawling, lethargic bureaucracy. The IMF talks were delayed last week and will resume in the last week of October, Prime Minister Hisham Kandil said on Wednesday. An IMF delegation had been due to arrive in Cairo in late September but the government said it needed more time to draw up the reform plan. "With (foreign) reserves running at little more than three months of import cover, any material delay in concluding talks would likely see confidence rapidly wane and downward pressure on the currency quickly resume," said in a recent note. The mass of investors still avoiding Egypt - partly because of lingering fear of a sharp currency devaluation - have missed out on a dizzying 55 percent surge in stock prices and tumbling treasury yields since the government took office. It came as Arab Gulf states began honoring pledges of support, stemming an erosion in Egypt's foreign reserves, and the government signaled a new resolve to lure investors. A resurgence of street protests in Cairo last month, prompted by a film denigrating the Prophet Mohammed, did not spark the kind of prolonged, deadly violence often seen in the year following the overthrow of Mubarak in February 2011. "RIGHT DIRECTION" Foreigners who wound down their Egyptian-pound treasury bill holdings between the uprising and May this year became net buyers again in June, central bank data showed. Asset managers including Invest AD of Abu Dhabi and Silk Invest were already invested in Egyptian equities during the turbulent period of army rule after Mubarak's overthrow. Silk holds local-currency corporate bonds and shares such as investment bank EFG Hermes, which has dollar-based fee revenue and therefore less exposure to local currency risk. "When you look through the noise, the country is going in the right direction," said Daniel Broby, Silk's chief investment officer, citing elections, Mursi's move to limit the military's power, less corruption and better allocation of state resources. "You still have the IMF to step up to the plate, but funding coming from other sources is showing they can muddle through for now," he said. Invest AD has ramped up its presence since the start of the year, focusing on consumption-linked stocks given the long-term growth prospects offered by a fast-growing population, said its head of asset management, Mohammed al-Hashemi. Egypt's 2020 international bond yield last month fell back to its pre-uprising level of under 5.2 percent after reaching as high as 8.3 percent in January. Fixed-income dealers in Cairo said participation by foreigners, most of them Westerners, at debt auctions had risen again in September as optimism grew that yields had peaked at historic highs before the new government took office.锘?p>It’s Rolling Papers Week at Louder Now. , hip-hop’s young pothead-in-charge, dropped his highly anticipated major-label debut Tuesday. Every day this week, I’m going to analyze the tracks: what works, what doesn’t and what it means for a rap star clearly interested in crossing over to mainstream success. 6. “Wake Up” (Produced by Stargate)If “Roll Up” proved the Wiz-and-Stargate tandem wasn’t bulletproof, “Wake Up” shows they’re capable of an all-out dud. The trouble brews within the first 15 seconds, as Wiz struggles to sing in his higher register about a beyond-tired rap cliché (“I don’t wanna wake up / … And I hardly ever sleep but it’s like a dream”). Stargate’s beat is their take on subtle hip-hop — their trademark synths are only periodically deployed, the snare sounds like a hand clap — but it's an afterthought when paired with an extra-lethargic Wiz. I’ve heard this song at least 20 times, and it’s never connected, neither on an aesthetic level or musical level. Wiz songs usually have moments or nuances to hone in on, but “Wake Up” slowly burns without much light. Essentially, it lacks balls. And then there’s Wiz’s rapping, which has never been his strong suit, but it’s egregious here. Example: “First class tags, or maybe I’m in first because of my first-class swag / Used to say that I was trippin’, so a n---- bought expensive-ass bags.” The “trippin’/bags” connection is a poor, boring excuse for wordplay. If you’re going to talk “first class tags” and “expensive-ass bags,” dress it up to make it interesting. has made a career of stunt-lyrics, and he uses high-end fashion brands as wealth signifiers and lyrical enhancers. (“The fur is Hermes, s--- that you don’t floss / The Goyard so hard, I think I’m Hugo’s Boss” from is a prime example.) Kanye, Wiz is not. “Wake Up” is the moment Rolling Papers stumbles and never fully recovers, with the exception of the next song. 7. “The Race” (Produced by E. Dan and Big Jerm)“The Race” is Rolling Papers’ crowning achievement, a blissful marriage between what makes Wiz a surprisingly sophisticated artist and his hometown production team knowing what works best for him. “The Race” is pure ride-out music, a term I use a lot but rarely describe. It’s difficult to verbalize, but here’s a shot: ride-out songs work best in the car, windows down, beautiful day, all alone. They have the power to alleviate stress and can make you appreciate the wonders of zoning out. (If I sound stoned, I swear I’m not.) They possess a majestic quality, but are never stuffy. They provide an escape. And that’s “The Race,” a five-and-a-half minute track that says little but expresses much. E. Dan and Big Jerm, two guys from Pittsburgh’s ID Labs production team, deserve much of the credit. “The Race” is layered with slightly flanged sounds that mimic flutes and guitars, all played underwater. The drums — a constant stuttering, slow roll — keep a tempo that never allows the lush “Race” to sound sleepy. But it’s the bulletproof melody that makes Wiz the perfect rapper for the beat. Even Wiz’s like-minded peers (think Curren$y or Mac Miller) would fail to elevate this joint-ride soundtrack the way Wiz does. His hook is perfectly paced, sung in his natural range and ridiculously catchy. “It’s lonely at the top, ain’t no company so / Now I just stunt on my own, now I just stunt on my own,” he sings. There’s a hint of melancholy, but the song is too gorgeous to steer sad. Even better than the hook is Wiz’s decision to let the beat breathe, only filling space when it feels right. “The Race” is everything Wiz does best, and it bums me out he didn’t do more songs in this lane. 8. “Star of the Show (feat. Chevy Woods)” (Produced by E. Dan and Big Jerm)Once again, Wiz falls victim to the trappings of generic concepts. In a nutshell: Wiz’s old haters want to stand next to him now that he’s famous. I’m sure this actually happens on a regular basis, but that doesn’t make it interesting. “Star of the Show” fails to pop in ways Wiz songs should: the droning chorus sounds bitter rather than celebratory, and E. Dan and Big Jerm’s beat is hollow and dank (not the good kind). And in the instance where Wiz is actually rapping tightly written verses (“I remember them same hoes that never noticed us / Get you to buy a drink then it’s over, cuz / We back around the time that she sobered up / S--- ain’t been the same since the limousine showed up”), he concedes 16 bars to his hypeman, Chevy Woods (formerly Kev Tha Hustla). When Chevy raps, “You won’t stall me out / uh, bad transmission,” it makes me yearn for Wiz’s limited abilities. On Thursday: "No Sleep," "Get Your S---" and "Top Floor"锘?p> The 102nd meeting between Yoakum and Cuero was the first for sophomore Tra'vontae Hights.Hights made it a memorable one by rushing for 110 yards and three touchdowns to lead Yoakum to a 28-21 District 26-3A win over Cuero on Friday night at Gobbler Stadium.Hights was familiar with the DeWitt County rivalry, but had a hard time explaining what it meant to play in the game. "I showed you better than I can tell you," he said. "I don't have words for it. It's just amazing."Hights split time at quarterback with Chase Hermes and scored on runs 1 and 2 yards in the first half before adding the clinching touchdown on a 6-yard run with 1:50 left in the fourth quarter."He's an athlete," said Yoakum coach Brent Kornegay of Hights, who was sidelined by a severe ankle sprain early in the year. "He's been around it and he understands it and he's a playmaker."Yoakum also scored on a 48-yard pass from Hermes to Keith Ratley and improved to 5-2 and 2-0 in district with their second consecutive win over Cuero."We went in the ballgame thinking we were going to go series with them and whichever one we felt we needed to go with," Kornegay said. "I can't say enough about both of them. Chase threw the ball really well and Tre'vontae's kind of like a Wildcat type kid for us. It's hard for defenses to defend two kids like that."Hights ran for 47 yards on his second carry and had three runs of over 10 yards, while completing one of his three passes for 10 yards."I was very nervous, very nervous, but they all went away in one play," Hights said. "I was just following my blocks. The line blocked great and I was following them. They did it for me."Cuero (2-5, 0-2) had more total yards and first downs than Yoakum. But the Gobblers had three interceptions and lost a fumble, and twice had settle for field goals by Brenden Pupi after reaching the Yoakum 8- and 5-yard lines."Four turnovers," said Cuero coach Travis Reeve. "You can't win turning the ball over and we've learned that the hard way."Cuero tied the game on a 5-yard run by Justin Kremling and a two-point conversion pass from Blake Reeve to D'Andre Gallagher with 7:10 left in the fourth quarter.But Yoakum drove 77 yards while taking 5:06 off the clock before Hights scored on the Bulldogs' lone third-down play of the drive."Coach Kornegay came out and told me I would have a big game," Hights said. "I just listened to him and ran the plays he told me and made plays when he told me to."NOTES: --Yoakum is 2-0 in district for the first time since 2004.--Cuero leads the overall series 66-30-6.--Highlights of the game can be seen on Fox Sports Southwest's High School Spotlight, which will be replayed Saturday at 9 a.m. ___(c)2012 Victoria Advocate (Victoria, Texas)Visit Victoria Advocate (Victoria, Texas) at Distributed by MCT Information Services锘?p>TALIA: OOH, THAT'S BETTERTALIA: ...ME DOGS ARE BARKINGAmina: I TELL YOU. I CAN HEAR THEMChoo: SO IS THIS THE TEMPLE OF HERMES?Amina: I DON'T THINK SO. WHY, I COULDN'T TELL YOU... ...GOT A FUNNY FEELING IS ALLChoo: WHY'D THEM MERX PEOPLE WANT US TO GO THERE, ANYWAY? IF THAT MERCURY IS A ROMAN GOD, LIKE YOU SAY... ...WHY GO THERE?Amina: HERMES IS THE GREEK NAME FOR MERCURY. ...I GUESS THEIR SHOES WOULDN'T SELL SO WELL IF THEY WERE CALLED "HERMS"Amina (O/P?): WHATEVER YOU WANT TO CALL HIM, HE WAS THE GOD OF COMMERCE...TALIA (O/P?): OF WHAT?Amina (O/P?): TRADING. BUYING, SELLING. ...WORSHIPPED BY THE SORT WHO WOULD KNOW THE PRICE OF EVERYTHING... ...AND THE VALUE OF NOTHINGCOMMERCE IS THE EXCHANGE OF MERCHANDISE (THESE DAYS, ALMOST ALWAYS FOR MONEY). MERCURY / HERMES IS FAMOUS FOR THE WINGED WAND HE CARRIES - HIS CADUCEUS, SYMBOL OF A HERALD OR MESSENGER. HE ALSO WEARS A WINGED HAT (OR PETASUS), AND WINGED SHOES (TALARIA).锘緽BC Hampshire website, Broadcasting House, Havelock Road, Southampton SO14 7PU phone: 023 8063 1311 e-mail:锘緼bout the authorJohn Hayes Fisher has worked for the BBC for nearly 20 years making programmes as diverse as 'Crimewatch UK' to 'Tomorrow's World'. He has been in the History Department for the past 6 years working on 'Ancestors' and more recently 'Timewatch'. John seems to have developed an interest in 'digging things up' as he has been to the Sahara to film the remains of a British airliner which crashed there in 1952 and more recently to the less glamorous surroundings of Portsmouth for a film about the recent dive on the wreck site of Henry VIII's warship The Mary Rose. His real passion is The First World War about which he has made two programmes - the first about a forgotten battlefield near the Belgian city of Ypres and more recently about Gallipoli where he discovered a family connection in that his Grandfather had fought there nearly 90 years earlier.锘?p>Ten Sharp is a Dutch band best known for its early 1990s hit song "You", a hit in some European countries in 1991 and in others (such as the United Kingdom, where it peaked at number 10) in 1992. The two band members are Marcel Kapteijn (vocals) and Niels Hermes (keyboards).Niels Hermes also worked with Attie Bauw on the first single by Esther Amadea. 锘縍emembering the creation of Lady PenelopeShe was aristocratic, sounded like Fenella Fielding, and dressed to kill. And she was a puppet. She was of course Lady Penelope from Thunderbirds. Sylvia Anderson – the voice of Lady Penelope –  talks about “My FAB Years", her new book capturing her memories of the creation of the Thunderbirds, Joe 90, Stingray, and many other series that still have a devoted following. “My FAB Years” is published by Hermes Press, ISBN 1-932563-91-1锘?p> , step into the race to develop a follow-on to the soon-to-be retired space shuttle.It needs a US partner to get involved in the Nasa commercial crew development programme, of course, and in it has one of the key companies in human spaceflight rocketry. would mesh elements from the shuttle launch system with Europe's Ariane 5.The new vehicle would incorporate a shuttle-derived, five-segment, provided by ATK as the first stage, with an Ariane 5 cryogenic-core-stage and Vulcain-2 engine from Astrium making up the second stage (Vulcains are produced by ).It's a meaty combination that could put 20 tonnes in low-Earth orbit. The companies say Liberty could launch any of the commercial crew capsules now in development.I've written about quite a few of these concepts, most recently the . Back in the summer I also looked at the .ATK, as the lead in the partnership, has entered the Liberty proposal into the second round of Nasa's (CCDev), hoping to secure some funding assistance. We'll find out in the coming weeks just how successful that's been.Nasa is likely to be investing hundreds of millions of dollars in various concepts over the coming years in a bid to seed operators that can then sell crew launch services back to the agency and anyone else who might want to go into orbit.The "anyone else" could be other government bodies like the European, Japanese and Canadian space agencies, which do not currently possess indigenous human launch capabilities, or privateers looking to establish new space enterprises.Here, tourism is an obvious contender.Just looking at the artist's impression of Liberty rolling out to the launch pad at Kennedy on a crawler-transporter, I'm immediately reminded of the that Nasa was pursuing as a crew launcher until .Ares and Liberty are both stick thin; and of course ATK would have provided the Ares first stage as well.ATK is hoping this will be part of the appeal of the Liberty concept - the new vehicle would be seen as taking advantage of all the investment that US taxpayers put into Ares before its cancellation. That investment included the on ATK's range in its home state of Utah. In that sense, Liberty can be said to be off and running already.Kent Rominger is a former Nasa Chief of the Astronaut Corps who now works for ATK. Speaking to the BBC on Tuesday, he was keen to emphasise the safety aspects of the Liberty design:"In my mind one of the most important attributes is providing a launcher that is very, very safe, and reliable. Our Liberty rocket is inherently reliable. You do that by starting with a system that is as simple as can be.You minimise the number of areas where we've learnt in the past that failures can result in a catastrophe. So an as example, we have only two stages, meaning we have just one staging event. Each stage has only one engine - so there's only one place that can fail there.In addition to that, we're leveraging all the experience that both companies have - and the hardware that has been proven."For ATK's employees also, the announcement of the Liberty project must be most welcome. The company has indicated it would have to slim down given that its shuttle boosters are no longer required beyond this year.For European commentators like myself, the Astrium involvement is most interesting. I was in the company's near Paris just last month, walking around the Ariane 5 core stages as they were joined to their Vulcain engines just prior to shipment to the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana.The Ariane 5 is "a vehicle that has human spaceflight in its genes". That's how Silvio Sandrone, Astrium's vice-president of launcher sales and business development, described the rocket to me today.It was conceived with the intention of launching , before that project - like the US Ares rocket - was cancelled on the grounds of cost.It's as if Ariane 5 has been waiting, though, for those genetics to be re-discovered. Most of us thought that if it happened it would come through European governments deciding to upgrade , into a crew ship and launching it off the top of an Ariane 5.That idea still looks a long, long way away, especially in the current economic climate across Europe.Taking the Ariane 5 core stage and sticking it atop a shuttle solid-rocket-booster is not entirely left-field but I doubt it would be many people's first suggestion.The idea came from ATK, apparently, which first approached , the company that sells Ariane launch services. Arianespace then spoke to Astrium, which leads the European Ariane manufacturing consortium. They love the idea.The core stage will necessarily need some modifications. For a start, the Vulcain engine will have to be made to ignite in a vacuum - something it doesn't have to do currently. But the big thought running through my head today is not technical but philosophical.Europeans often bemoan reliance on US systems and talk about developing an independent crew launch capability. But isn't this a rather outmoded idea? Surely, the direction in which "new space" is taking us is one where big multi-national concerns dominate, buying and selling services in ways that cut across borders and traditional government lines and ties.This is true of the wider economy. Oil, pharmaceuticals, agribusiness, media - the biggest companies operate globally. They may have a HQ in a particular country but their outlook is trans-national. Silvio Sandrone told me:"It's a good question. From Europe's point of view, you want to be independent to do in space the things you really want to do.One can think of navigation, Earth observation - those kinds of things. These we would want to do on our own, and for me it is clear that these types of applications are necessarily linked to European sovereignty and have to have their own launcher.It's up to the politicians to decide if human spaceflight is something we want to do on our own or in some sort of international cooperation. Only European governments can tell us what they want.But maybe Liberty will be an intermediate step. If there were an American launcher with significant European industrial participation, this might spur Europe to think again and to think more proactively about affording itself a crew capability, at least with a capsule first."锘?p>Ged is e Zeus athair dha, chaidh Perseus a thogail mar bhalach 脿bhaisteach ann am baile beag c貌mhla ri mhathair. Tha an Righ suarach, Polydectes, a toirt air Perseus dearbhadh gur e mac Zeus a th' ann da-riribh le bhith a dol air toir an uilebheist, Medusa. A bharrachd air a bhith gaisgeil, treun, feumaidh Perseus ionnsachadh comhairle a ghabhail mu tha e gus tilleadh dhachaigh gu mh脿thair be貌.Perseus is a demigod - his mother is a mortal and his father is Zeus, king of all the gods. Evil King Polydectes goads Perseus into bringing back the head of Medusa to prove he really is a god. With a little help from Hermes and his father Zeus, Perseus must find a way of killing Medusa without being turned to stone.锘?4 October 2011Last updated at 02:59 ET Argentina's Cristina Fernandez celebrates landslide win Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has won re-election in a landslide victory, on the back of strong economic growth in the country. Ms Fernandez secured nearly 54% of vote, with her closest challenger, socialist Hermes Binner on just 17%. Ms Fernandez told jubilant supporters in Buenos Aires' Plaza de Mayo that she wanted to keep Argentina growing. She also made an emotional reference to her late husband, former president Nestor Kirchner, who died a year ago. "Count on me to continue pursuing the project," she said, watched by supporters on a huge TV screen. "All I want is to keep collaborating ... to keep Argentina growing. I want to keep changing history." Her critics say she has benefited from a weak and fragmented opposition in this election. But Ms Fernandez, 58, has presided over strong economic growth and pursued popular social policies. The sudden death of Nestor Kirchner in October 2010 brought her a wave of public sympathy. "This is a strange night for me," Ms Fernandez told her jubilant supporters. "This man who transformed Argentina led us all and gave everything he had and more. Without him, without his valour and courage, it would have been impossible to get to this point." Ms Fernandez may also regain control of Congress, which she lost in mid-term elections in 2009. Nearly 30 million voters were choosing who will fill 130 seats in the lower house of Congress, 24 Senate seats and nine governor's offices as well as hundreds of local seats. High inflation The victory marks a dramatic change of fortune for Ms Fernandez, the BBC's Vladimir Hernandez in Buenos Aires says. Following her election in 2007, her public support quickly plummeted to around 20% after rows with farmers and media groups over of the introduction of exports quotas. It was often suggested, during her early years in office, that it was her husband who was really running the country. Nestor Kirchner was president from 2003 to 2007 and stood aside to let his wife run for office to succeed him. He was widely expected to run again for the presidency in 2011 until his sudden death from a heart attack last October. Political analysts say Ms Fernandez's current popularity is mostly due to the health of the economy, which has boomed thanks to high prices for exports such as soya. She has also carried out social programmes - such as benefits for three million of the country's poorest children - which have proved extremely popular. But her critics accuse her of pursuing populist policies, and question whether such programmes can be sustained. She has also been accused of downplaying the rate of inflation, which is now the second highest in Latin America, behind Venezuela.锘?2 October 2011Last updated at 07:25 ET Argentina's Cristina Fernandez rides wave of support By Vladimir HernandezBBC Mundo, Buenos Aires A year ago, Argentine President Cristina Fernandez was plunged into grief when her husband and predecessor as president, Nestor Kirchner, died after suffering a heart attack. Twelve months on, Ms Fernandez is still in mourning. But riding a wave of support after his sudden death, she is likely to be re-elected in Sunday's presidential poll. Some opinion polls have even suggested she could secure a historic landslide victory. That would be a huge turnaround for Ms Fernandez. During her first year in government in 2008, her popularity plummeted to about 20% following a bitter dispute with farmers and a split with Clarin, the country's biggest media group. The enmity with Clarin continues to this day but tensions with the farmers have eased. A number of developments help to explain President Fernandez's resurgence in the opinion polls. She faces a weak and fragmented opposition. She has also presided over economic growth - some 9% last year and a similar rate forecast for this year. Sympathy vote? But for many analysts, the most important factor has been Nestor Kirchner's death. "His death rescued Cristina. I strongly believe that it had much more influence on her popularity than the good results posted by the economy in recent years," says Marcos Novaro, director of the Centre for Political Research. Nestor Kirchner was president from 2003 to 2007, standing aside to let his wife run for office to succeed him. In return, he was widely expected to run again for the presidency in 2011. During Ms Fernandez's early years in office, it was suggested that it was Mr Kirchner who was really running the country. "When she first ran for president in 2007, her campaign was somehow diluted by her husband's presence. But when he passed away, Cristina started to be seen as a strong and independent political figure," says Mr Novaro. "She has had a change in attitude when talking to the people. Many used to describe her as 'distant' and 'arrogant'. But since her husband died she has come to be perceived in a more humane way," says Analia del Franco, director of polling company Analogias. "Now it is common to see her airing her own mistakes or flaws like any common person, when addressing the crowds. And these details have increased the public's sympathy towards her," says Ms del Franco. During her campaign, Ms Fernandez has referred to her husband's role in rescuing Argentina's economy from its near collapse in 2001 and how she has continued to focus on state spending. "There are good economic prospects and there is a perception that there is a better quality of life. Unemployment has also gone down and there are subsidies which have boosted consumption levels in the country," says Graciela Romer, director of market research company Romer and Associates. "Although she is clearly popular with the poor, people in the middle and upper middle classes have also benefited from the economy's performance," says Ms Romer. Inflation fears Two-thirds of the Argentine economy depend on commodity exports, such as soy bean, or industrial goods, like cars. Both areas have done well in recent years, with particularly high demand for commodities from China. This has given the government the resources to redistribute wealth via subsidies or social programmes for those in need. "Her government, and her late husband's, channelled a significant amount of resources into social programmes. These expenditures have had a direct impact on the people," says Ms del Franco. Currently, each child in a poor Argentine family receives a state grant of US$50 (?31) per month. More than three million children are now enrolled on this programme. There is also a government scheme to give free laptops to children from deprived areas, which has proved extremely popular. But the boost in economic growth and consumption levels has also brought high inflation. Argentina has the second highest inflation rate in Latin America, second only to Venezuela. According to the government, it now runs at slightly over 10%, a claim disputed by private analysts who believe it is really more than 20%. Tackling inflation will be one of the key challenges facing President Fernandez if, as widely forecast, she secures a second term on Sunday. 锘?p>Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has won re-election in a landslide victory, becoming the fist woman ever to be re-elected in the country. Ms Fernandez secured nearly 54% of vote, with her closest challenger, socialist Hermes Binner, on just 17%. She told jubilant supporters in Buenos Aires' Plaza de Mayo that she wanted to keep Argentina growing.锘? December 2011Last updated at 08:30 ET Arrest after Somerset debt firm goes bust A 42-year-old man has been arrested after a Somerset-based debt management company went bust leaving its clients owed about ?600,000. More than 80 people had given the money to DebtDr so it could arrange full and final settlements with their creditors. Avon and Somerset Constabulary said a man was arrested on suspicion of fraud and has been released on bail. The arrest follows an investigation into the company by BBC current affairs programme Inside Out West. DebtDr, based in South Petherton, was the trading name of Hermes Financial Solutions Ltd, which ceased trading in April. For a fee, the company helped clients to pay off their creditors and, in many cases, took a lump sum from them to offer as a full and final settlement of their debts. In many cases, clients borrowed the money to give to DebtDr to use in its negotiations with creditors. Hermes Financial Solutions was wound up in July of this year and a liquidator appointed.锘? March 2012Last updated at 19:07 ET Britain's biggest logbook loans brand active again By Bob HowardReporter, Money Box The BBC has learned that Britain's largest logbook loan brand is active again just days after the firm that owned it went into administration. Logbookloans.co.uk is now under the new ownership of Hermes Property Services Limited. It is offering loans at 478% APR secured against the value of a car or motorbike. The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) had taken steps to revoke the credit licence of the brand's previous owners. Old laws With a logbook loan, the lender has the right to seize a vehicle and sell it without going to court if they default on the loan. Such firms rely on an archaic piece of legislation, the Bills of Sale Act 1878, introduced before cars were even invented. It means that when you take out a loan your car becomes the property of the people lending you the money. There are dozens of firms which offer this sort of loan. Robert Shaw was a customer of one such company. He described his experience to Radio 4's Money Box programme. "I borrowed ?3,000 and the potential term of the loan was three years, so that could have resulted in me paying ?10,500 in interest," he said. The Department for Business Innovation and Skills estimated that nearly 40,000 bills of sale were registered between April 2008 and March 2009 in England and Wales. That equates to around ?30m in loans to customers. Bills of sale do not apply under Scottish law but they do in Northern Ireland. Appeals process The firm with the website logbookloans.co.uk was the biggest player in the field. As long ago as October 2009 the OFT determined it would revoke the firm's consumer credit licence, effectively closing it down. The ruling said the firm had been sending out thousands of letters to customers in the name of a legal services company, falsely threatening to take legal actions against them. Just as the process was about to be exhausted last month the two parent companies, Nine Regions Limited and Log Book Loans Limited, went into administration and its brand and loan book was bought by the Hermes Property Services Ltd. The firm already runs a similar company called loans2go.co.uk The OFT's public register shows that Hermes has applied for the trading name 'Log Book Loans' to be added to its consumer credit licence. But in the meantime the website logbookloans.co.uk appears to be allowing customers to apply for new loans. The OFT told Money Box that a firm which carries on business under a name not specified in the licence is committing an offence. Money Box contacted Hermes Property Services Ltd but no one would speak to the programme nor confirm whether the firm was taking loans under the logbook loans brand. Industry changes Greg Stevens is the chief executive of the Consumer Credit Trading Association, which represents many logbook loans companies. He said the logbook loan industry was introducing changes following the OFT's action. He said: "We're looking at one rotten apple in the barrel. We've been working closely with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the OFT to come up with a code of practice which is specific to the logbook loans sector. It will be audited and monitored." The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) had considered imposing a ban on the entire industry but the government felt that could restrict consumer access to credit, reduce choice and push up prices. (BIS) added that it would be disproportionate to ban an industry because of a few rogue lenders. A spokesperson for BIS said: "Following consultation, the government concluded that rather than banning these loans, a package of measures based on an industry code of practice, and a plain English consumer information sheet explaining how bills of sale work was the best way to proceed in this market. The vast majority of reputable companies have signed up to the code." David Sanders is a lead officer for civil law at the Trading Standards Institute and has been following the logbookloan industry for many years. He feels the government has missed an opportunity to take decisive action: "It (the code) doesn't really have any teeth. There are still quite a few companies which are outside the code and we can see no reason why they would feel bound by it." BBC Radio 4's Money Box is broadcast on Saturdays at 1200 GMT, and repeated on Sundays at 2100 GMT.锘?4 February 2012Last updated at 18:58 ET CastleCourt shopping centre in Belfast sold The CastleCourt shopping centre in Belfast has been sold. The Hermes real estate, which already had a two-thirds share in the centre, has taken full control in a deal with the Australian firm Westfield. Hermes has paid a reported ?400m to buy Westfield's interest in Castle Court and two other shopping centres in England. CastleCourt was Belfast's first major shopping centre and earns about ?13m a year in rental payments. Before the Northern Ireland property crash the 350,000 sq ft centre was valued at around ?350m. It is now thought to be worth less than half that. Westfield has agreed to sell its interest in three non-core smaller centres in the UK. The sale of its interests in Belfast (33%), Guildford (50%) and Tunbridge Wells (33%) will result in gross proceeds of ?159m, in line with prior book value, and net proceeds of ?107m. Westfield Group co-chief executive Steven Lowy said: "These assets were originally purchased in 2000, at the time of our initial entry into the UK. "Since that time we have refocused our business into iconic assets such as Westfield London and Stratford City and we continue to examine new growth opportunities in the UK. "Along with the recent sale of Nottingham, these assets divested today became non-core to our UK portfolio."锘?1 January 2012Last updated at 11:47 ET Charles Dickens Museum to shut for 200th anniversary year The Charles Dickens Museum in central London has defended its decision to close for a revamp during the 200th anniversary year of the author's birth. The author's former home will shut on 10 April, also ahead of the Olympic Games when many tourist attractions are expecting boosted visitor numbers. The museum has been awarded a Heritage Lottery grant of ?2m. Museum manager Shannon Hermes said the money was only available for a limited time and they had to seize the chance. She added that there were already many Dickens-related events planned for London throughout the year. An international programme of literature festivals, film screenings, plays and other projects have been organised as part of the year-long celebrations, called Dickens 2012. The programme, which marks Dickens' birth on 7 February 1812, has been devised by the British Council in conjunction with the Charles Dickens Museum, Film London, Penguin and other organisations. However, the Charles Dickens Museum, based at 48 Doughty Street, Camden, will close from April until the beginning of December. 'Great, great pity' The house is where the author wrote Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby and other works. "It's certainly the wrong moment to close it and a great, great pity," said Michael Lamb, one of the directors of the Living Literature Society, which organises literary events in London. He said visitors coming to the capital as part of the celebrations would specifically "seek out" the museum as it is the only one of the author's homes that still exists. "I can understand they feel there is no shortage of events but I do feel it would be a mistake," he added. The museum, which has a collection of 100,000 items relating to the author, including manuscripts and rare editions, has secured ?2m of Heritage Lottery funding to improve accessibility and make the attraction "feel more like a home than a museum", officials said. Ms Hermes said it was "not an overnight decision" to shut the museum for several months throughout 2012. She added that it had been decided that with the range of Dickens attractions on offer it gave the museum the "availability to do it". "Obviously the money is available for a limited period and if you don't use it in a certain timeframe, the offer is rescinded," she added. A spokeswoman for promotional agency VisitLondon.com said there would be many options for Dickens fans this year including the exhibit at the Museum of London.锘? March 2012Last updated at 21:13 ET China's parliament enlivened by beauties and brands China's annual political extravaganza is a deeply serious affair, yet the two sessions of the National People's Congress (NPC) and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) generate plenty of light-hearted news too. The BBC's Martin Yip takes a look at what people are talking about this year. LUXURY OUTFITS Journalists are busy snapping what the ladies and gentlemen of parliament are wearing or carrying as they go through the doors of the Great Hall of the People - prompting many to suggest that the session has become quite a fashion show. One of the most talked about is Li Xiaolin, daughter of former premier Li Peng, spotted wearing a Emilio Pucci pant suit. Hu Jiayin, chairman of Guangzhou's property giant Evergrande, has been nicknamed "Brother Hermes" for wearing a Hermes belt. And Li Ruiying, chief news presenter of China Central Television (CCTV), was snapped in a pair of Dior glasses. But the prize for the top luxury purchase seems to have gone to top military singer Song Zuying, spotted with a diamond-filled Piaget watch on her wrist. A comment on microblog site Sina Weibo criticised the brand-loving delegates for "flattering Western corrupt lifestyles". Other comments accused officials of corruption. Some netizens, however, turned their guns on the journalists instead, denouncing reporters for chasing celebrity delegates. Some said they should be ashamed of not spending more time on issues such as inadequate education funding in rural villages. In this year's session, by the way, delegates have been discussing how to reduce waste on public money, such as that spent on . BEAUTIES Another NPC talking point is the number of beautiful ladies involved. News agencies have provided plenty of pictures showing female support staff - tea ladies and hostesses - jumping high in the sky in front of the Great Hall of the People. They also have plenty of shots of officials - even a politburo member or two - apparently admiring these staff. Journalists have also come under the spotlight, with a news portal called Three Gorges Online publishing a photo blog of 30 beautiful reporters. The presence of foreign journalists creates a need for simultaneous translators at press conferences, and state media have been circulating pictures of two ladies who perform the honours. One of them is Zhang Lu, a senior translator from the Foreign Ministry. The ran a photo story of her with a short biography, and she is the first female translator to be assigned to a press conference delivered by Premier Wen Jiabao. Ms Lu has become famous not just because of her beauty, but because of her ability to translate the ancient Chinese literature that Premier Wen loves to quote in his speeches. Not everyone is pleased with the focus on looks. A female blogger said she felt "disgusted" with the reports on "congress beauties" - she wants to become a reporter herself. Another blogger from southern Guangdong appealed to photographers to turn their lenses away from women and point them at the officials. SCRAMBLING JOURNALISTS Talking of journalists, covering China's annual conference is always a tough job. Statistics from the official press centre suggest that at least 3,000 accredited journalists are in Beijing, but some put that estimate at double. Common scenes include reporters in their dozens if not hundreds surrounding a delegate or government official, and groups of journalists sitting on the ground just outside the chamber to go through printed copies of Wen Jiabao's speech. One journalist apparently managed to secure a very short comment from a significant religious figure - Buddhist abbot Shi Yongxin from the Shaolin Temple - with a heartfelt plea. "My Buddha of compassion, please help me to complete my mission, master!" After the press conference hosted by NPC spokesperson Li Zhaoxing, a senior reporter has been dubbed "" by speeding towards Mr Li's seat as he was about to leave and apparently grabbing the former foreign minister's sleeve so that she could have a word. And chases like these do not always end well - managed to bash her microphone into the mouth of Chinese film director Zhang Yimou. 'STUNNING' PROPOSALS In recent years, one hot online topic has been what are known as "stunning" proposals - proposals that people believe are useless or nonsense. The most controversial proposal this year came from a NPC delegate from Guangzhou, who proposed making the rare right to give birth to a second child under China's one-child policy transferable from the poor to the rich. Li Xinghao's suggestion has met with fierce criticism, it can gives babies a wealthier environment to grow up in. Another proposal to bring China's minimum marriage age down to 18 has also been labelled a "stunning" proposal. Under current law, a Chinese man cannot get married until the age of 22, while it is 20 for women. But , also from Guangdong, believes that this does not respect individual rights and also leads to women giving birth later and a general failure to find a spouse. Ms Huang's proposal has received some public support, but many are criticising her for encouraging dropping out of school and potentially raising divorce rates. But a lady nicknamed the "most stunning proposal maker" has expressed her sorrow. CPPCC Beijing delegate Zhang Xiaomei has been booed in recent years for proposing wages for housewives and four-and-a-half-day weeks, but she argues that these are aimed at protecting women's rights. This year Ms Zhang finally won some cheers with a proposal to extend centralised heating services to southern cities. THE ABSENTEES While attending the annual parliament session can get you noticed, some delegates raise more eyebrows by not showing up. Liu Xiang, China's star athlete, is probably the most prominent absentee this year. Some delegates at the CPPCC have expressed anger, telling the "soya sauce delegate" to do some soul-searching for his "irresponsibility". "Soya sauce delegate" derives from Chinese internet jargon - "buying soya sauce" is used to describe someone who acts as an onlooker in a forum discussion but does not participate. Hu Jiayan, deputy director of the State General Administration of Sports, - Liu Xiang had to prepare for the upcoming London Olympics, he said. Another high-profile absentee from the NPC is Wang Lijun, former police chief and vice-mayor of Chongqing. The NPC has confirmed he is being investigated. He has not been seen since an apparent attempt to seek asylum at the US consulate in Sichuan's Chengdu city. Mr Wang's saga has led to much speculation over the career of his immediate boss - Chongqing Party secretary Bo Xilai. As a Politburo member, for a full chamber session sparked much speculation over whether he is indeed in deep trouble. But the next day Mr Bo returned to parliament for the Chongqing delegation panel - as journalists lined up outside. 锘?4 December 2011Last updated at 19:05 ET Chinese luxury labels to challenge Western counterparts By Katie HuntBusiness reporter, BBC News, Hong Kong Outside the Louis Vuitton store on Hong Kong's Canton Road, there is a queue forming as security guards limit the number of shoppers, largely from China, entering the packed store. A similar scene is played out at Chanel further down the road. There's no line outside a nearby Prada but a group of Chinese tourists take their picture outside the shop. Chinese consumers' love of Western luxury brands is well-documented and shows no sign of flagging. But there is a small but growing stable of companies who are betting that Chinese luxury goods buyers will begin to seek out items that reflect their own culture, rather than just the European heritage and exclusivity that have been so popular to date. While industry experts say it will be an uphill struggle for such brands to take on the prestige and marketing power of well-established luxury goods and fashion houses, some big-name companies are gearing up to meet the challenge of changing appetites. One example is Shang Xia (pronounced Shang Shia), a Chinese luxury label backed by French leather goods-maker Hermes. Other brands include jewellers Qeelin and Chow Tai Fook, Taiwan fashion designer Shiatzy Chen, who has stores in Paris and China, and Shanghai Tang, founded by Hong Kong entrepreneur David Tang and now owned by Swiss luxury goods group Richemont, which also owns Cartier and Chloe. And Louis Vuitton owner LVMH owns a Chinese distiller called Wenjun that has launched a high-end line of the Chinese white spirit or baijiu that costs between $100 (?65) to $200 a bottle. Up and down Shang Xia, which means up and down in Chinese, opened its first store in Shanghai in September 2010 and Jiang Qiong Er, chief executive and creative director, says feedback is has been positive so far, particularly from Chinese customers. "The most touching thing is when Chinese people, after seeing the collection, say 'Wow we are feeling proud again to be Chinese'," she says while visiting Hong Kong to speak at a Business of Design Week forum. Ms Jiang says she is planning to open new stores in Beijing and Paris soon, but is coy about revealing how the brand is performing financially and appears to be under little pressure from Hermes to turn a profit. "The purpose of Shang Xia is not when it will make money, but it is how we can build a healthy Shang Xia brand so it can live for a 100 or 200 years," she says. Shang Xia's products range from jewellery to furniture, cashmere and felt clothing to ceramics. Its best-selling line is a porcelain tea set with 0.2mm thick strips of bamboo woven by hand around the outside that act as a chic tea cosy. It costs 25,000 yuan ($3,123; ?2,055) and has a three-month waiting list. Brands Henry Steiner, who runs Hong Kong-based Steiner & Co that advises companies about brand creation and strategy, is sceptical about the chances of a high-end, Chinese brand emerging any time soon. "They have to go through this very difficult process of not just coming up with a cute idea, but really building a company, working on it strategically and logistically and sticking their neck out when it comes to marketing," he says. "Western brands come with a certain personality that's been built up over the years, with recognition and consistency and dependability - all the things that Chinese brands don't have." Few Chinese brands have recognition in the West - luxury or otherwise. According to a survey of 1,476 people by Calling Brands consultancy released in November and conducted in France, Germany and the UK, only a few could spontaneously recall any Chinese brands. Some 7% named PC maker Lenovo, while 2% named mobile phone handset maker Huawei and appliance maker Haier. "One key challenge for ambitious Chinese brands looking to grow in Europe is the idea that brands from China still conjure up a one-dimensional image: low price," the survey said. Different tack Saurabh Sharma, a planning partner at advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather in Beijing, says that Chinese companies do have a genuine opportunity to thrive in the luxury sector, but to succeed they will have to take a different approach to their Western forerunners. "They need to look at things differently, like tailor-made luxury," he says, citing the example of a chain of boutique hotels being set up in China that will offer "imperial hospitality" by treating guests like emperors. "If you can do things in a more personal way instead of a packaged and merchandised format, you will get more margin out of it. "The challenge for Chinese brands is to leverage the 'made in China' tag more creatively. They need to tap into the rich spirit of Chinese history and heritage." Ms Jiang at Shang Xia is keen to point out that China's appreciation of luxury items dates back centuries before Louis Vuitton and Thierry Hermes crafted their first monogrammed trunks and leather saddlery. "It's not just about showing off and bling," she says. "If you look at our cultural roots, Chinese people have always looked for excellence and quality. "We are looking to revive the timeless aesthetic that China had before in Ming furniture, Song porcelain and Han-dynasty dress." But she admits that Chinese people are unlikely to abandon their love of Western brands quite yet. "In the last three to five years, little by little, there is a small group of Chinese people starting to go back to their roots. "It doesn't mean they will quit buying Western luxury brands but... you do need a balance."锘緾ould Britain defend the islands?19822012 Compiled by Tom de Castella and Megan Lane What's on the islands? On the eve of the invasion, there were about 70 Royal Marines stationed on the islands - twice the usual number due to a changeover. They were, in theory, backed up by about 120 local reservists, although only a small proportion reported for duty. HMS Endurance, an Antarctic ice patrol vessel, was the only ship based in the South Atlantic at the time. And there were no fighter jets - none of the island's airstrips were long enough. The only planes that could land before the war came from Argentina. Supplying the Falklands by sea from Britain took two weeks. The major difference is the construction of RAF Mount Pleasant, a modern air base housing four Eurofighter Typhoon strike fighters, a Hercules transport plane and VC-10 tanker plane. There are also Rapier missile batteries in several locations. The British garrison numbers 1,200, including 100 infantrymen, with 200 reservists in the Falkland Islands Defence Force. The Royal Navy has a patrol vessel, an auxiliary support ship, and frigate or state-of-the-art destroyer. It's reported that a British nuclear-powered submarine is in the South Atlantic, but the Ministry of Defence will not discuss operational matters. "It's quite a considerable deterrent force," says Peter Felstead, editor of Jane's Defence Weekly. Intelligence capability Despite repeated warnings from naval attaches in South America, the invasion took the UK government by surprise. Even when it became clear that Argentine troops had landed on the island, it took some time for the British government to establish that the islands had fallen. "Intelligence in those days [1982] was hopeless," says Prof Sir Lawrence Freedman, official historian of the Falklands War. "There was no access to satellites at the time of invasion. People didn't know what was going on." Nowadays the UK has access to satellites that would show a massing of Argentine forces. Islanders have the internet, which would make it easier to get word back that the islands are under attack. "There was incredulity in the early 1980s that Argentina would invade," says Prof Freedman. "That's not present now, they're more alert." Chance of success The tiny British contingent stood little chance against a large invasion force. Argentine special forces began landing late on 1 April and more beachheads were made in the following hours. Their arrival was not detected until just before dawn. The 70 British troops and 20 local reservists put up some resistance. But the Argentine troops, reinforced and numbering about 600, pressed on to Stanley. Governor Rex Hunt agreed to the surrender of British forces at 09:30 that morning. Military experts believe the islands are now virtually impregnable. The new air base has completely altered the balance of power. Any sign of Argentine invasion and the islands could be quickly reinforced by air. "There's no way Argentine forces could ever take Mt Pleasant air base," says Prof Clarke. They would need to land a large number of troops to capture it. And with more than 300 miles of sea to cross from the mainland, and Typhoon fighters and HMS Dauntless in the way, it is not going to happen, he says. Could Britain win them back?1982 2012 Navy's ability to launch task force When the islands were invaded, a task force of ships was quickly assembled. The force numbered more than 100 ships, of which 40-odd were Royal Navy ships. The task force's two aircraft carriers, HMS Hermes and Invincible, carried Harriers and Sea Harriers. There was a nuclear submarine, two amphibious landing craft, several destroyers and frigates. There were also 20+ ships belonging to the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. It's been suggested that the US military had considered an attempt to recapture the Falklands as militarily impossible for the UK at the time. The main difference now is that the two carriers can only support helicopters, and it's likely only one would be available at any one time. There are three Type 45 destroyers - far more advanced than their predecessors - three Type 42 destroyers and 13 frigates. There are still two amphibious landing craft, but they are far more modern and effective, says Lt Col Ewen Southby-Tailyour, who advised the task force in 1982. There are three landing auxiliary ships, a modern Astute class submarine and six of the older Trafalgar nuclear-powered submarines. Air power Carriers were critical to the success of the amphibious landings. They allowed more than 20 Harriers and Sea Harriers to be close to the action, providing air cover for the troops and rest of the fleet. Argentine planes outnumbered the British by about five to one, but could not reach top speed as they needed to save fuel to return to the Argentine mainland. It showed the importance of having floating airfields. There are no aircraft to protect a task force. RAF Wideawake, the air base on Ascension, in the middle of the Atlantic, is 4,000 miles away. So any fighter planes deployed from there would require mid-air refuelling. Even if a carrier comes into service in 2020, there is no guarantee there will be strike jets to go on them, says Felstead. If the Falklands were invaded again, there would be no way for Britain to take them back. With no genuine aircraft carrier, it would be impossible to protect a task force. To send a flotilla without air cover would be "suicidal", he says. Merchant ships About half of the task force was made up of merchant vessels. Cruise liners the SS Canberra and QE2 - pictured above - were used as troop ships, while container ships such as the SS Atlantic Conveyor and SS Atlantic Causeway, were requisitioned to transport supplies. The task force was assembled in four days. Very few merchant ships carry British flags now - many fly a flag of convenience. "It would be much harder today," says Freedman. But it might prove equally easy today to get hold of ships. It's easy to charter ships and takes no time to change a ship's flag, says Gavin Simmonds, secretary of the body that advises the UK Chamber of Shipping on defence matters. And ship owners are desperate for business in the economic downturn so would be happy to see their vessels chartered by the UK government. Military strategy Sea power supplemented by air cover was the only way of winning the islands back in those days. The Argentine junta thought the UK government wouldn't bother to try to recapture them - they were wrong. The key to success was an amphibious landing backed by air power, submarines and destroyers. Much has changed in strategic terms. Nowadays, it could be won back through long-range air power, says Professor Michael Clarke, director of the Royal United Services Institute. The lack of carrier aircraft is an impediment. Many, including former head of the military General Sir Mike Jackson, have said it would now be impossible to recapture the islands. Clarke disagrees. Bombers from Ascension - backed by refuelling planes - could destroy Mt Pleasant air base if it fell into Argentine hands. Once Argentine defences had been nullified, special forces could be dropped onto the islands. So it is possible - but politically, there is probably no heart for such a campaign, Clarke says. The Argentine position1982 2012 Military strength Argentine marines were ordered to capture the islands without killing any British soldiers, a feat that they accomplished. The Argentine navy was well equipped with Dassault-Breguet Super Etendard strike fighters, which destroyed several British ships with Exocet missiles. Other planes in use by the Argentine military included Aermacchi MB-339s as well as Skyhawks and Mirages. Argentine pilots were admired for their skill by UK forces. However, the conscript soldiers who fought against the British landings showed limited appetite for the fight. The Falklands War was 30 years ago. "But in military terms it is 100 years ago," says Clarke. British forces have advanced about 60 years in sophistication, but Argentine forces have barely improved, still using military hardware from the 1970s and 80s. Southby-Tailyour says they no longer have the landing craft to make an amphibious landing possible. However their special forces are highly respected. Most military thinkers agree they offer the only credible threat through a surprise attack on Mt Pleasant. One scenario might be a civilian airliner packed with special forces to divert to Mt Pleasant, says Colonel Southby-Tailyour. "It would take a very brave politician to shoot down a civilian airliner in cold blood. The Argentine forces are good. They could jump out and shoot everything up." Political context Argentina was a military junta led by General Galtieri, pictured far left. The junta was unpopular and saw a war to reclaim the long coveted Islas Malvinas as a way of boosting support. And it mistakenly believed islanders would see the Argentines as liberators. Britain had been in negotiations with Argentina, with historians suggesting signals were effectively sent out that it might be happy to give them up. The sole British naval vessel in the South Atlantic at the time, HMS Endurance, was due to be withdrawn in mid-April but the order was cancelled once war broke out. Today Argentina is a democracy. President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (left) has requested talks on the islands' future and accused the UK of "arrogance" for refusing to negotiate. But it is a diplomatic war of words. Experts say there is no enthusiasm in Argentine government or military circles for another war with Britain. The rhetoric from Britain is tougher, and the military hardware on the islands far more of a deterrent. And the Argentine government understands the islanders want to remain British. Oil may be what the current dispute is about - according to some sources, a compromise whereby Britain allows the profits to be split 50-50 is likely to be considered. 锘?p>HMS Hermes sets sail for the South Atlantic with BBC reporter Brian Hanrahan on board. Hermes had been due to be decommissioned that year, but when the Falklands War began she was made the flagship of the British task force. She sailed for the Islands with 12 Sea Harrier jets and 18 Sea King helicopters, an air group which increased to 16 Sea Harriers, 10 GR3 RAF Harriers and 10 Sea Kings. Footage first broadcast 26 May 1982锘?p>Margaret Thatcher announces that a task force of more than 100 ships will be sent to the Falklands. Labour leader Michael Foot says Britain is right to want to take action, saying the people of the Falkland Islands "are faced with an act of naked, unqualified aggression, carried out in the most shameful and disreputable circumstances." A day later, aircraft carriers HMS Hermes and HMS Invincible lead the fleet setting sail from Portsmouth. House of Commons recording from 3 April 1982锘?p>Hermes, one of the world's best regarded luxury companies, has warned its sales may drop if the European currency crisis continues. Last year the 175-year-old luxury handbag maker saw profits rise 41%, but its owners know it is not immune to global economic pressures. The family-run company recently rebuffed a hostile take-over attempt by LVMH, citing its love of craftsmanship over profit as the reason for its resistance. The BBC's Jeremy Howell spoke to the firm's chief operating officer Axel Dumas about the company's heritage and its chance of survival in the cut-throat luxury goods sector.锘?8 February 2012Last updated at 11:34 ET iPad legal fight highlights China's trademark minefield By Katie HuntBusiness reporter, BBC News, Hong Kong Apple is locked in a high-stakes legal fight over the rights to its iPad brand in China, but the technology giant is just one of many multinational companies to have come unstuck while trying to navigate the country's complex trademark system. Drug company Pfizer, auctioneer Sotheby's, luxury fashion house Hermes and coffee chain Starbucks, along with many others, have fought court battles over trademarks and logos in China - with mixed results. Legal experts describe a situation where the law favours opportunistic "trademark squatters", who register trademarks - often by the hundred - in the hope of turning a quick profit, rather than the companies who actually use them to do business. "It's a first-to-file jurisdiction, so foreign companies with well-known brands are advised to come in here as soon as possible and register their trademarks," says Stan Abrams, a US lawyer, who teaches intellectual property law at Beijing's Central University of Finance and Economics. By contrast, the US operates a "first-to-use" system meaning that the party that files for a trademark has to show that is has used, or intends to use, the trademark for business purposes. Infringements Reports suggest that Facebook is working hard to solve trademark infringements in China as it prepares for its massive share listing. Individuals can also encounter problems. For example, an enterprising Chinese sporting goods firm registered the Chinese name of US basketball star Jeremy Lin in 2010 - before his recent NBA success. Mr Abrams says the practice is common and legitimate, although there is an established legal process for seeking the return of trademark rights. "You have to prove these guys registered in bad faith and sometimes that's difficult," he says. "But generally the squatters buy these things so they can sell them so they generally want a deal." Complicated dispute Apple's current dispute in China is more complicated than a straightforward case of trademark squatting. The technology giant says it bought the rights to the iPad name in China and nine other countries from the Taiwan unit of a now struggling Hong Kong electronics company called Proview International for ?35,000 in 2009. Proview International had registered the name back in 2001 and used it to develop its own device, which was not a big success. However, a Chinese court in Shenzhen ruled in November that the trademark belonged to Shenzhen Proview, a mainland Chinese unit of Proview International. Apple's appeal in that case begins on Wednesday. Apple maintains that the 2009 contract gave it worldwide rights to the iPad name and Proview "refuses to honour their agreement with Apple in China" while Shenzhen Proview has claimed to be unaware that the Taiwan unit signed away the trademarks. Apple declined to comment further given that their case is still pending in China, while Roger Xie, a Chinese lawyer representing Shenzhen Proview contacted by BBC News, said he was too busy to answer questions about the case. Time pressure? Experts say that Apple's problems most likely stem from a lack of due diligence on the 2009 trademark deal. "My personal guess is that they were under immense time pressure," says Eugene Low, a trademark lawyer at Mayer Brown JSM in Hong Kong. "It's very surprising that they overlooked this problem. Anyone can go to the PRC trademark office's online database and do a simple search that would reveal the owner." While Proview still claims ownership of the iPad brand and is asking commercial authorities to ban iPad sales in some Chinese cities, Mr Low says ultimately it is in the interests of the company and its creditors to settle the case. "It's not in their interest for Apple to stop selling iPads in China. They want to realise whatever assets Proview has." Mr Abrams says the sticking point is likely to be the amount Proview is prepared to settle for. "I have a feeling what they (Proview) can live with and what Apple can live with are very far apart. It's the only asset left for this company essentially... and there are rumours that Proview is being manipulated by its creditors." According to a report by Bloomberg news agency, Shenzhen Proview is controlled by its creditors, including two of China biggest banks - Bank of China and China Minsheng Banking Corp. Politics? Mr Abrams says that Apple and its contractors employ millions of workers in China and this will work in the technology giant's favour should the case "turn political", as he puts it. "Who is more important as a company to this country?" he asks. "Apple is a big employer, the products are popular, it's a big multinational, it pays taxes. Proview is a non-entity" "If politics are involved at all, then Apple looks pretty good." Many foreign companies have weathered disputes over their intellectual property in China. Earlier this week Hermes lost a Shanghai court case over a translation of its name and Pfizer fought and lost a long court battle over the Chinese name of its Viagra brand, which was registered first by a Chinese company. Starbucks and Sotheby's, however, both won their cases against Chinese companies using translations of their names. While the Proview case is embarrassing and could ultimately prove costly for Apple, it is unlikely to deal a devastating blow to its business in China, where fights have broken out as customers scrambled to purchase new Apple products. "Worst-case scenario is rebranding in China but even with that people are still going to buy their products. It's not going to kill them," says Mr Abrams. "If there's any lessons to be learned it's due diligence and making sure your lawyer doesn't screw up when you sign your contract."锘?2 November 2011Last updated at 21:26 ET Luxury jeweller Chow Tai Fook in mega Hong Kong listing By Katie HuntBusiness reporter, BBC News Chow Tai Fook, an 82-year-old Hong Kong jewellery chain, may be the biggest brand you have never heard of. Its shops are a familiar presence on the streets of many Chinese cities, catering to the region's love of bling - be it spinach-coloured jade pendants, buttery gold wedding bracelets or dazzling diamond rings - but the name is unlikely to register far outside its home market. The company's global anonymity looks set to disappear as the world's biggest jeweller prepares for what could be one of the world's biggest stock market flotations this year. It is reportedly seeking to raise up to $3.5bn (?2.2bn; 2.5bn euro) via a Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO), which will likely take place early next month. It is hoping that investors worldwide will be enticed by the opportunity to tap the growing appetite for luxury goods among China's newly rich. "It is a very big brand in Hong Kong and it has really built up its network in China over the past few years and is increasingly popular there," said Ben Kwong, chief operating officer at securities firm KGI Asia. Jewellery sales have been growing at 40% a year in China since 2008 and are a key part of the luxury goods market in China, which is expected to be worth $100bn (?64bn; 74bn euro) by 2020, according to brokerage group CLSA. Rare example Chow Tai Fook, which means good luck or good fortune in Cantonese, is a rare example of a successful, higher-end Chinese brand in a country where foreign names are often more trusted. A study by CLSA of the most-searched for luxury brands on Chinese search engine Baidu in the first week of November placed Chow Tai Fook fifth after Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Gucci and Coach. US and European jewellers Tiffany and Cartier ranked 11th and 12th. There was only one other non-Western brand in the top 25 - another Hong Kong jewellery chain Chow Sang Sang. "The thing that people don't necessarily understand is that Chow Tai Fook is a proper brand," says Aaron Fischer, an analyst at CLSA. "It might not have quite the same prestige as Tiffany or Cartier, but it is a well-respected brand in China." Other Chinese brands such as sportswear maker Li Ning have struggled to go upmarket, hitting what some experts have labelled a "bamboo ceiling". However, Chow Tai Fook is distinguished by its roots in Hong Kong, which often acts a trendsetter for the Chinese market. It has also benefited from the fact that the biggest US and European luxury brands have not traditionally focused on jewellery. The company has 1,500 stores and it plans to increase this to 2,000 stores by 2016, mainly in China. Another strength is its ability to reach the middle classes outside China's major cities. A substantial number of its stores are in relatively poorer provinces such as Gansu, Guizhou and Xinjiang, where other luxury brands have yet to establish any presence. Chinese tastes Chow Tai Fook also caters specifically to Chinese tastes, both with its line of products and customer service. There is less of the silver and white gold jewellery popular in Europe and the US, but plenty of the high-karat yellow gold used to make traditional Chinese wedding jewellery and vivid green jade pendants that many Chinese believe offer health benefits to the wearer. Diamonds are also a big part of their business. Last year, the company purchased the world's most expensive rough diamond for a record-breaking $35.3m (?23.2m; 26m euro). A Chow Tai Fook store in Hong Kong's Tsim Sha Tsui shopping district was busy one recent weekday afternoon. Customers, mainly from mainland China, tried on diamond rings and gold bracelets. Staff were attentive, offering jasmine tea in paper cups and presenting name cards to each prospective customer. Luxury IPOs Chow Tai Fook is the latest luxury brand focused on the Chinese market to raise funds in Hong Kong. Italian fashion house Prada raised $2.5bn in its flotation in June, and Coach is expected to go ahead with plans to list shares in Hong Kong by the end of the year. London-based jeweller Graff Diamonds is also reported to be planning a Hong Kong listing next year as it seeks to expand in Asia. They hope that a Hong Kong listing will raise their profile among Chinese consumers as well as be an efficient place to raise capital as markets struggle in austerity-ridden Europe and a slow-growing US. Hong Kong has been the world's biggest IPO market for the past two years. Global market volatility brought the market for new listings to a virtual halt over summer but they are expected to pick up again in the final months of this year. A dazzling debut by Chow Tai Fook could provide the impetus Hong Kong needs to hold onto its IPO crown in 2011.锘? February 2012Last updated at 15:01 ET LVMH profits rise as Asian demand continues Profits at LVMH for last year have beaten forecasts, with world's largest luxury goods group saying the outlook for 2012 was "excellent". Net profits rose 1% to 3.06bn euros ($4.02bn; ?2.5bn) but were up 34% if a one-off financial gain from LVMH's shares in Hermes in 2010 was excluded. Sales rose 16% to 23.6bn euros on Asian growth and at the Louis Vuitton unit. LVMH, a French group, said that it "enters 2012 with confidence" despite economic uncertainty in Europe. There has been nervousness in the luxury goods sector in recent months amid worries that Europe's debt crisis could trigger a slowdown in fast-growing emerging markets such as China. Last month Swiss group Richemont said that sales growth in the last quarter of 2011 were solid, helped by buoyant trade in Asia. LVMH saw the fastest growth in profit last year at its watches and jewellery business, whose size was doubled by the purchase of Bulgari. The fashion and leather goods division saw profits rise by a fifth, helped by "double-digit revenue growth and exceptional profitability" at the Louis Vuitton brand.锘?1 October 2011Last updated at 06:46 ET Q&A: Argentina's presidential election Argentina holds a presidential election on 23 October, with the incumbent, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner bidding for a second four-year term. Opinion polls suggest she will win, but she will need a strong mandate if her party wants to change the constitution, as the opposition suspects. How is the current president scoring? When was elected Argentina's first female president in 2007, she was largely expected to keep the seat warm for the return of her husband, Nestor Kirchner, whom she succeeded. But, Mr Kirchner died unexpectedly of a heart attack last October. The president's sorrow over her husband's death has won her widespread sympathy - almost a year later, she is still wearing black and for a time was seen to burst into tears when giving public speeches. The strongly performing economy should be an advantage for the 58-year-old widow. She has continued the economic policies of her husband, who was credited with pulling Argentina out of a deep economic crisis a decade ago. However, the opposition accuses the government of deliberately understating the inflation rate. Ms Fernandez angered farmers by increasing taxes and restricting exports. The reform of media laws in 2009 stirred another controversy, with some saying it was an attempt to silence voices critical of the government. Who are the challengers? Nationwide primaries in August, which commentators labelled "a very expensive opinion poll", identified Radical Party Senator , 60, and former caretaker President , 70, as the main challengers to the incumbent, with 12.20% and 12.12% of the vote, respectively. However, recent opinion polls give the socialist governor of the eastern province of Santa Fe, , 68, ratings of around 16%, compared to the 10%-plus he received in the primaries. The remaining three candidates, San Luis governor , 62, , 55 and , 69, gained 8.17%, 3.22% and 2.46% respectively in the primaries. The vote for Ms Carrio is thought to be indicative of declining support for the opposition, as she had been a strong competitor against Ms Fernandez in the 2007 elections, when she came in second with 23% of the vote. Is there an appetite for change? Yes, there is, according to Argentine political analyst Rosendo Fraga. "The 50% of citizens who voted for the opposition in the primaries show that there is some space for an alternative," he was quoted as saying by Inter Press Service news agency. However, for about 63.5% of Argentines the weak and fragmented opposition offers no clear alternative, a recent poll by the Centre of Public Opinion Studies found. Professor Carla Carrizo of the University del Salvador believes that the opposition is not really trying to win the presidency. "The predominant idea among the opposition leaders is that they are competing for second place," she was quoted as saying by Inter Press Service. How does the system work? The President and Vice-President are chosen directly in two-round elections. The runoff is scheduled for 20 November, although everything indicates this will not be necessary. To win outright, Ms Fernandez needs 45% of the vote, or 40% with at least a 10% margin over the second place candidate. In the primaries she received 50.24% of the vote and opinion polls suggest she will better this result in Sunday's elections, with an average estimate of 53%. Why does she need a strong mandate? Ms Fernandez is barred from seeking third consecutive term. She has no prominent political heirs, which could unleash power struggles in her notoriously fractious Peronist party. That has fuelled speculation that the ruling party might seek to remain in power by changing the constitution from a presidential to a parliamentary system. The current president would then be able to rule as a prime minister. This has been proposed several times on a local level, but government officials have denied such plans. Any reform bill would need two-thirds support in Congress to be passed, meaning Ms Fernandez needs strong popular backing to have the upper hand in potential negotiations with the opposition. What about the Falklands? The sovereignty of the British-controlled Falkland Islands, which Argentina fought and lost a war over in 1982, is not an election issue. However, Ms Fernandez has been stepping up pressure on London to enter into talks over the islands during her first term in office and is likely to continue on this course, should she stay in power. In 2009 Argentina handed documents to the UN formally laying claim to a vast expanse of the ocean, including Las Malvinas, as Argentines call the islands. Tensions between the UK and Argentina increased at the beginning of last year, when Britain began looking for oil and gas in the waters around the islands. When in June this year British Prime Minister David Cameron said the issue of sovereignty was non-negotiable, Ms Fernandez called the UK "arrogant", adding that the British "continue to be a crude colonial power in decline". She raised the issue again during this year's UN General Assembly session, warning that unless the UK abides by existing UN resolutions and begins talks with Argentina, her government might stop an air link between the islands and Chile, by banning them from using Argentine airspace. selects and translates news from radio, television, press, news agencies and the internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages. It is based in Caversham, UK, and has several bureaux abroad. 锘?4 October 2011Last updated at 02:22 ET Tough term ahead for Argentina's Cristina Fernandez By Daniel SchweimlerBBC News, Buenos Aires Argentina does not often experience such a one-sided election. The votes counted on Sunday only confirmed what had been known for some months - that Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner will be the president for another four years. She will start her second term in office in many ways as a much stronger president than she was four years ago. Then, many opponents and even some allies, saw her as a stand-in for her husband, Nestor Kirchner, who preceded her in the presidency and was expected to succeed her. But he died of a heart attack last October, leaving a grieving widow to run the country without his behind-the-scenes support. However, newspaper editor, Sergio Kiernan, said she was not just Nestor Kirchner's widow. "She was a senator for many years," he said. "And for many, many years in many ways she was the more prominent of the two. She's always been a politician in her own right and she remains so." She has fallen out with close aides of her husband and forged her own alliances. The most notable split has been with the head of the powerful trade union movement, Hugo Moyano. He was one of Nestor's most loyal allies, often seen in the front row at political rallies. But Cristina has shut him out and the struggle is under way within the trade union movement to replace him. Few doubt that the new leader will be more to the liking of the president. And she has chosen a running mate she gets along with - the guitar-playing, motorbike-riding economy minister, Amado Boudou. She hardly spoke to her 2007 vice-president, Julio Cobos, after they fell out early on in a bitter dispute with the farming sector over the amount of tax paid on agricultural exports, principally soya. The lucrative crop was a major factor in helping the economy to recover from the crisis it suffered 10 years ago. This was despite the poor relations between the farming lobby and, firstly, Nestor then Cristina Fernandez. So Ms Fernandez's well-publicised lunch with one of the major agricultural groups in the week before polling was, say many analysts, about time and perhaps a sign of maturity on both sides. Trouble ahead? After the results of the primaries in August that indicated Ms Fernandez would win a convincing victory, the opposition did not have time to regain their breath, let alone rebuild, for the elections. Two of the major contenders, former president Eduardo Duhalde, and the head of the opposition Radical party Ricardo Alfonsin, saw their opinion poll ratings slide - unable to offer much in the way of alternative policies or themselves as credible contenders for the presidency. One of the few opposition candidates to emerge strongly from the primaries was the socialist governor of Santa Fe province, Hermes Binner. He is trying to promote himself as the major voice of opposition to the governing Peronist party while positioning himself for the next elections in 2015, when he will be 72. Another thorn in Ms Fernandez's side, and another possible rival in 2015, is the mayor of the city of Buenos Aires, Mauricio Macri. He is a right-wing businessman who enjoys support among the wealthier residents in the capital, traditional opponents of the president's Peronist party. But while a fragmented opposition certainly helped President Fernandez surge to victory, it was the economy that sealed it for her. Argentina has seen steady and sometimes rapid growth since the turmoil of its economic collapse in 2001-02. Vehicle and electrical appliance sales are at a record high. Shopping malls in Buenos Aires and the other major cities of Rosario and Cordoba are buzzing, and previously sleepy rural towns are proudly displaying the wealth accrued from the soya harvests. However, some economists see signs of trouble ahead. The Argentine economy is closely tied to that of its much bigger neighbour, Brazil. But growth in Brazil is likely to slow down next year and the value of its currency, the real, against the dollar was recently reduced. And this along with an annual trade deficit of $4bn (?2.5bn.) An estimated $10bn left Argentina in capital flight in the first three months of this year. Locals were unwilling to invest long-term in their own country - a view shared by many potential foreign investors put off by a whole host of obstacles, from too much bureaucracy to corruption. But one of the major concerns for many Argentines and possibly the biggest challenge facing the president is inflation. The government says the annual rate is around the 10% mark. However many independent analysts dispute the official figures, putting it closer to 25%. Economists risk being prosecuted for questioning the government-approved statistics. Ms Fernandez's first term in office was by no means easy, with the bitter dispute with the farming lobby, the death of her husband, inflation, rising crime and a number of political scandals to contend with. She appears to have survived and prospered. But second terms in office can be notoriously difficult and President Fernandez may well look back and think that winning her second election was the easy part. 锘?p> Scottish Cup newcomers Formantine United and Turriff United both progressed to the second round. Highland League outfit Turriff hammered Kingdom Caledonian League side Burntisland Shipyard 6-1. And Formantine edged out Brora Rangers 3-2 in an all-Highland tie. Junior Cup winners Shotts Bon Accord were held to a 1-1 draw at home to East of Scotland League outfit Edinburgh City, fellow juniors Bonnyrigg Rose and Irvine Meadow won but Hermes lost. East Superleague champions Bonnyrigg defeat Ayrshire juniors 2-1, while West Superleague champions Meadow eased aside East of Scotland side Gala Fairydean 4-0. But North Superleague champions Hermes were swept aside 4-1 at home to Highland League side Deveronvale. St Cuthbert Wanderers, who defeated Highland outfit Keith in a preliminary round tie, won again, defeating East of Scotland outfit Edinburgh University 2-1 in the capital. Another South of Scotland League side, Wigtown & Bladnoch, surprised Huntly, taking the Highland League side back to their own patch after a 2-2 draw. The all-Highland League clash between Buckie Thistle and Rothes will also go to a replay after a stalemate at Victoria Park. Also progressing from the Highland League were Clachnacuddin, Fraserburgh, Golspie Sutherland, Nairn County, Wick Academy and Inverurie Loco Works. There were also wins for Civil Service Strollers, Selkirk and Vale of Leithen of the East of Scotland League. Scottish Cup first round results: Bonnyrigg Rose 2-1 Girvan Buckie Thistle 0-0 Rothes Civil Service Strollers 4-0 Newton Stewart Clachnacuddin 2-1 Lossiemouth Edinburgh Univiversity 1-2 St Cuthbert Wanderers Formartine United 3-2 Brora Rangers Fraserburgh 4-0 Colstream Glasgow Univiversity 0-2 Selkirk Hawick Royal Albert 2-4 Golspie Sutherland Hermes 1-4 Deveronvale Huntly 2-2 Wigtown & Bladnoch Irvine Meadow 4-0 Gala Fairydean Preston Athletic 0-2 Nairn County Shotts Bon Accord 1-1 Edinburgh City Spartans 0-2 Wick Academy Threave Rovers 0-1 Vale Of Leithen Turriff United 6-1 Burntisland Shipyard Whitehill Welfare 2-4 Inverurie Loco Works锘?p>Remember whenbeing auctioned off for thousands of dollars at in Dallas? Well, today was the day buyers had to buck up and cough over the dough if they wanted to snag one of these high-end purses.The auction’s crown jewel was a?Herm猫s Diamond Birkin handbag in black crocodile made with more than?200 full-cut diamonds in its white gold hardware. Going once, going twice, sold for $122,500.While that’s not chump change, it’s about half the bag’s retail value. It’s also slightly less than what it was expected to go for — between $125,000 and $150,000.“Auctions are a funny thing. You never know what’s going to happen,” director of luxury accessories Matt Rubinger said last week.Many of the 900-some luxury bags in the auctions were expected to go for several thousand dollars.?The auction began at 1 p.m. today and was expected to last into the evening. No word yet on how much the handbag collection brought in overall.锘?p>"Watch The Throne," the hugely anticipated rap collaboration from and Kanye West, finally dropped today.And while Hov's retirement never really stuck, some brand PR folks may be able to call it a day after getting the still-unbeatable press that is a high-profile rap reference.Especially since unlike the requisite luxe go-tos that do appear on the album: Gucci, Hermes, Mercedes-Benz, Rolex -- these guys definitely didn't wake up assuming they got a nod.锘?p>This financial crisis has become one big black hole engulfing anything from the homes of the poor to .But there's a silver lining!Poor, pissed off people have a tendency to tolerate fewer annoying things. From the WSJ, here are 1. .2. 3. 4. Oligarchs []5. The 6. Paris Hilton7. The 8. 9. “Million dollar” 10. The word “.”Got anything to add?锘縁ollow 10 Things Before the Opening Bell and never miss an update! Please Note: Business Insider will never share your information with any other companies. You also have the ability to unsubscribe from these newsletters at any time simply by following the unsubscribe link located at the bottom of each email 锘縁ollow 10 Things Before the Opening Bell and never miss an update! Please Note: Business Insider will never share your information with any other companies. You also have the ability to unsubscribe from these newsletters at any time simply by following the unsubscribe link located at the bottom of each email 锘?p>On June 29th, coach Herm Edwards spoke to the league's new college recruits.There's a reason people say that Wall Street and sports have a lot in common -- all of his advice applies to working on Wall Street.The bottom line: if you went into it for the money, you probably won't make any.You can watch Herm Edwards speech (it's in three parts) on . We've watched it and summarized the advice he provides that applies to Wall Street careers.Thanks to for pointing this out.锘?p>During the past year, the Indian luxury market has grown 20 percent, with the most growth among luxury products, according to a new report from global consultant management firm AT Kearney (via ).The jewelry, electronics, fine dining, and cars sectors have jumped the most, growing between 30% and 40% in the past year.Apparel, accessories, wine and spirits have continued a steady growth rate of around 25% to 30%.Overall, the country's luxury market reached $5.75 billion in 2010, including goods and services, the report said.The report said it expects growth in the luxury sector to continue as the space grows and the impression remains that India will be largely insulated from the turmoil in the global financial markets.One major change in India's luxury market is that goods and services are no longer confined to the major cities of Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. Today, secondary cities like Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune collectively have more than 30 stores in luxury apparel, accessories, watches and personal care combined.Consumers have also become more conscious of global trends, and less focused on logo-driven brands.Digital media has also played an increasingly important role in high-end markets, the report said.Challenges, of course, remain. There's still relatively little "Indianization" of luxury goods, though there have been some attempts, like a line of saris announced by Hermes earlier this year. And "domestic production of luxury goods needs to be attempted," the report said.The report predicts another 20 percent growth in the luxury market next year.Find the complete report .锘?p>While the world focused on the seemingly unending debt crisis and survival of the Eurozone, political and business risks emerged around the world.In South Africa, tensions between president Zuma and the African National Congress are set to get worse. Cameroon's upcoming presidential election poses a business risk because of potential political unrest, and in Argentina president Fernandez is increasing federal spending before October elections.Here are some worrying developments you may have missed courtesy of 's global risk map. Below the map, we've included an article from on the situation in Argentina.EventArgentina's draft 2012 budget was submitted to Congress on 15 September 2011. The document stipulates that federal spending is to increase by no more than 20% in 2012. Primary spending expanded at a year on year (y/o/y) rate of 35.3% in July 2011, resulting in a significant decline in primary surplus. Increased public spending is largely attributed to capital spending on public works that had risen by 58% y/o/y in July 2011, and President Cristina Fernandez Kirchner's plans to boost child welfare payments by 23% and raise the minimum wage by 25%.President Fernandez secured a landslide victory in the presidential primaries with 50% of the vote on 14 August, demonstrating voter support for her unorthodox economic policies. Voters were able to cast ballots across party lines and the nearest rival candidate, Radical Civic Union congressman, Ricardo Alfonsin, trailed 38 percentage points behind.SignificanceIf voting patterns remain unchanged, President Fernandez will secure the presidency in the first-round of elections and continue to ‘deepen' her economic policies. This would require President Fernandez to win either 45% of the vote or 40% with a ten-point advantage over the nearest rival candidate.President Fernandez will face the challenge of encouraging economic growth and improving social welfare whilst trying to rein in public spending. Resources available for populist spending policies however are likely to decline as the global economy weakens and global demand deteriorates. President Fernandez's administration may therefore be forced to raise further capital by increasing taxes or nationalizing industry, a risk particularly feared by the agricultural sector.Increased federal spending has also fuelled the rate of inflation, exceeding 20% annually according to private sector estimates. The national statistics agency, Indec, continues to maintain that the rate of annual inflation in 2011 is at 9%, raising concerns that government policies are in line with an invented figure. This lack of transparency over the country's rate of inflation may limit the attractiveness of the investment climate, and will be a key campaign issue which threatens to compromise President Fernandez's support.Presidential electionsSeptember polls suggest that President Fernandez is gaining traction and could secure the presidency in the first-round of elections. President Fernandez's strong approval rating of 60% is attributed to robust economic growth, social welfare programmes and the inability of the opposition to forge alliances to avoid splintering support. A Management and Fit poll conducted between 2 and 6 September gave President Fernandez 51.9% of the vote, trailed by socialist Hermes Binner for the Progressive Front (FAP) with 11.6%, centrist Ricardo Alfonsin for the Radical Civic Union with 7.5%, and dissident Peronist Eduardo Duhalde for the Frente Popular party with 4.5%.Whilst it is unlikely that any opposition candidate will secure substantial support to challenge Fernandez for the presidency, they will continue to campaign to ensure optimum presence in Congress. Legislative elections, also held on 23 October, will determine the appointment of 24 senators and 130 lower-house legislators. President Fernandez's administration has been criticized for the decline in the balance of powers, exacerbated by the centralisation of government and increasingly interventionist policies. Opposition candidates fear that the situation would worsen if her Front for Victory Party (FPV) were to achieve the forecasted win of 86 lower-house seats to retain their total of 106 seats.President Fernandez will continue to push the Kirchner political agenda of centralized political governance and unorthodox economic policy. However, despite widespread public support, she faces a significant challenge in demonstrating her economic model's longevity in a more challenging global economic environment.EconomyA continuation of the current rate of federal spending may destabilize Argentina's economy. Argentina's draft 2012 budget anticipates a significant slowdown for economic growth to 5% from 9% in 2010. This reflects the risk stemming from a potential recession in the US, and of a possible decline in the demand for Argentina's exports in Brazil and China, due to the uncertainty of the global economy.The continual decline in Argentina's primary surplus demonstrates that the rate of government spending is unsustainable. The primary surplus in July 2011 totalled 387m Pesos (US$94m), coming significantly under the central bank's forecast of 1.75bn Pesos (US$417m). The figure is also a dramatic decline from the same period in 2010, when the primary surplus was reported at 3.9bn Pesos (US$929m). Social spending will significantly cut into the government budget. The proposed elevation of the Universal Child Allowance, for example, which provides child welfare payments, will add 2.2bn Pesos (US$523m) to annual government spending.In spite of the risks associated with President Fernandez's economic model, she is unlikely to lower spending. Increased government spending has contributed to strong economic growth and improved social welfare, bolstering support for President Fernandez's administration. According to government statistics, the rate of unemployment fell to 7.3% in the second quarter of 2011 from 7.4% in the previous quarter, while the poverty rate fell to 8.3% in 2010 from 54% in 2003. President Fernandez has therefore pledged to ‘deepen' her model, signalling that further spending is likely. ForecastThe presidential primaries held in August demonstrated the growing support for President Fernandez and her administration's unorthodox economic policies. Those traditionally in opposition to President Fernandez's policies, such as big businesses, have agreed to put an end to confrontations with the government, instead focusing on how to improve the efficiency of the economic model that has received widespread public support.锘?p>Kimberly Kardashian Humphries is a name familiar to everybody, irrespective of whether they keep a tab on the news. An American socialite, television personality, model, and actress has a lot of variety on her plate, making news on all fronts every now and then. An unceremoniously released sex tape with ex-husband Damon Thomas made her rise to fame in February 2007. Since then, the lady has been on a ready roll! The last major event making news was her wedding to basketball player Kris Humphries. We also have a brief account of all that goes between the two rims!Here’s aat her 4,000-square-foot, $4.8million Beverly Hills home which the star purchased in the first quarter last year. The Tuscan-style villa features, 5 bedrooms, 4.5 baths, a media room, a pool, an outdoor living and dining room, dark hardwood floors and a two-storey entry.That’s the lady flashing herthat her sister Kourtney Mason labeled as “vulgar”.Her extravagant tastes are evidenced by her overgenerouslast year, wherein she bought six regular leather Birkins and another handbag, all totaling up to a whopping $100,000.Sistersopened DASH boutique chain which is predominantly for women at three locations- Miami, Manhattan-SoHo and Calabasas.Kim being an expensive chick, went and got herself, which is synonymous to luxury (Thanks to her rich friends).She along with beau Kris registered at this store to help their friends and relatives to choose a wedding gift for them.She also made aat the opening of the confectionary Factory with aconfection.She bought herself aas a wedding gift!The star is also quite obsessed with.That’s Kim leaning on her Range Rover with 24” rims.She rented out an entire fleet of ultra-expensive cars like, each with its own chauffeur, shuttling VIP guests at her wedding. The color of the cars was coordinated to match the rest of the wedding.Her engagement to Kris Humphries was celebrated with a stunning, worth $2 million.Her wedding was royalty with the, making it second best to British royalty Prince William and Dutchess Kate’s wedding cake worth $80,000.Her entire wedding in Montecito, California estate was covered by PEOPLE magazine with anThe most astounding part is that her wedding to Kris was said to total, but she did not have to spend anything from her pocket as she received plenty of incentives. Not just that, they made a profit to the tune of $17.9 million from the reception and wedding ceremony!This riginally appeared at 锘?p>There are limits to how free speech is, even on the Internet.A Texas couple was by a jury for defamation after anonymous posters to the Internet site Topix.com accused them of being sexual deviants, rapists, and drug dealers.Mark and Rhonda Lesher said they had to move out of town and sell Rhonda’s salon and day spa because of the nasty online comments. The jury awarded the couple $13.78 million in damages for mental anguish, loss of reputation, and Mrs. Lesher’s loss of business.Mr. Lesher, who is a lawyer, tried to help a client — Shannon Coyel — with a divorce in 2008. Coyel tried to divorce her husband, accusing him of being a sexual pervert and abusing their young daughter (see the by attorney ). The couple reconciled, but then in an astounding turnabout, Coyel accused both of the Leshers of sexual assault, which resulted in an indictment against them and about 25,000 comments on Topix.com.The Leshers were acquitted of criminal charges of kidnapping and sexually assaulting Coyel and against the anonymous posters in 2009. The lawsuit lists the gruesome charges made against the Leshers, accusing them of everything from murder to drug dealing to racism, in very graphic and explicit termsThe posts were eventually traced back to Coyel, her husband and brother-in-law after a judge subpoenaed Topix to obtain the IP addresses — the computer machine number associated with them. Although the comments were posted under 178 different fake names, they all led back to just two IP addresses used by the defendants.Defame GameThe constitution protects free speech, but does it protect lies, rumors, or malicious accusations? No — not under law, says Internet law attorney .Attorney Jeffrey Hermes“There’s a First Amendment right to speak anonymously, but speaking anonymously doesn’t give you the right to publish defamatory statements.”Defamation is defined as “a false and defamatory statement of fact concerning the plaintiff, published by the defendants with fault on the part of the defendants causing damage,” he saysPublishing true statements is wholly protected by the First Amendment but publishing falsehoods or rumors can be grounds for a lawsuit. “If they’re writing about private people, they’re required to exercise due care,” Hermes says. “A private individual merely has to show the defendant was negligent.”On the Internet, there is a twist added by the . Hermes explains, “No provider or user of a computer service shall be treated as a publisher. Basically it means that when you’re online, if you’re using a computer or interactive service, you can’t be held liable for information published by a third party.“If I retweet what you’ve posted, I might be able to invoke that [legal defense], because the information originally came from you. That’s significantly different than the offline context, because if I publish it in print I can be held responsible,” he adds.In any case, “You can be sued if the information is false, damaged the person you wrote about, and was published with negligence.”Is the volume of defamatory material posted important? Are 10 posts less damaging than 100 posts?Hermes writes in the Citizen Media Law Project blog about the head-scratching questions the jury considered while deliberating on the Lesher case. Among them:The answers led the jury to deliver the hefty award. If someone wrote nasty comments about you online, you may have a legal case. Call a to find out.锘?p>The latest in an emerging literature of "How Bernie Madoff screwed me and what I plan to do now" comes from artist, author and former editor :Last Thursday at around 5 p.m., I had just checked on a rising cheese soufflé in my oven when my best friend called.Heard Madoff's been arrested,” she said. “I hope it's a rumor. Doesn't he handle most of your money?”Indeed, he did. More than a decade ago, when I was in my late 40s, I handed over my life savings to Madoff’s firm. It was money I’d been tucking away since I was 16-years-old, when I began working summers in Lord & Taylor, earning about $65 a week. Not a penny was inherited. Not one cent was from my divorce. I earned all of it myself, through a long string of jobs that included working as a cashier at Rosedale fish market in New York City in my twenties, and later, writing bestselling sex books.When I hung up with my friend, I turned on the TV, and began to scour Google for news until the message became nauseatingly clear: Forty years of savings—the money I’d counted on to take me comfortably through the next thirty years—had likely evaporated in Madoff’s scheme.THAT MOTHERFUCKER!! The soufflé fell.I called Dennis, my consort of 16 years, and he canceled the dinner guests. I took half of a very strong tranquilizer that I’d been stashing for years in case of a death in the family.So what's next:How will I make money?The art market, as everyone pretty much knows, is dead. If I can't sell my work, I am going to have to find some way to make money.I’ve lived a great and interesting life. I love beautiful things: high thread count sheets, old china, watches, jewelry, Hermes purses and Louboutin shoes. I like expensive French milled soap, good wines and white truffles. I have given extravagant gifts like diamond earrings. I traveled a lot. In this last year, I've been Laos, Cambodia, India, Russia, and Berlin for my first solo art show. Will I ever be able to explore exotic places again?Since this happened last Thursday, I have barely left my apartment, I haven't been out for dinner; haven't bought groceries. Can’t remember the last time I ate a full meal. Food, which is one of my most favorite things in the world, has become meaningless. But I look on that as an upside.Yesterday, I took my first subway in 30 years. Dennis came with me to show me how to get a MetroCard. The world looks very different from a crowded Lexington Avenue number 6 train. See Also:锘?p>DUBAI () - Royal Bank of Scotlandand two other banks have begun legal proceedings against an investment vehicle owned by Dubai's ruler, an unprecedented move to secure repayment after two years of unsuccessful debt talks.RBS, along with German lender Commerzbankand South Africa's Standard Bank, had threatened legal action after walking away from negotiations over Dubai Group's $10 billion debt pile, sources said in July.The banks began legal proceedings in a London court last Thursday, breaking with the precedent in previous restructuring cases involving Dubai state-linked entities because of the opaque and untested insolvency system in the United Arab Emirates.Given the complexities of the case, in particular the lack of precedent, the London filing threatens to extend debt talks well into the future, having dragged on since Dubai Group missed interest payments on two facilities in late 2010."Arbitration could be two years and we don't want to see the destruction of shareholder value just because these banks have thrown their toys in the corner," said a source with knowledge of the matter.In a statement, RBS said it was forced to take action after several concessions offered to the group failed to secure a solution."We do, however, want to make clear that our preference was always to conclude an agreement without formal legal proceedings and we therefore remain open to such an outcome if an acceptable commercial resolution is forthcoming," the statement said.Such sentiment adds fuel to the belief that the legal action is more likely a negotiating tactic on behalf of the three banks - all of whom are unsecured creditors - to secure a better deal from Dubai Group."They are unsecured and have nothing so they are doing it out of desperation or because they expect the Dubai government will bail out the group," said one UAE-based banker.The government walked away from debt talks in January, dashing any hope creditors had of state support.Dubai Group, a unit of Dubai Holding the investment arm of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, was hard hit by the global financial crisis in 2008 due to excessive use of leverage in its investments and a sharp decline in the value of its portfolio companies.Like a number of other state-linked entities in the emirate, it embarked on talks with creditors to restructure debt and extend maturities.Law firm SNR Denton is representing the banks, two sources familiar with the matter said. Clifford Chance is representing Dubai Group.YEAR-END DEAL TARGETThe filing comes at a time when others on the restructuring are considering a proposal, put to the group before the summer, which would see all lenders extend their obligations to allow for Dubai Group's asset values to recover before they are sold.Debt extensions range from 3.5-years for secured creditors up to 12 years for unsecured creditors. The sheer length of time is the main concern for the three banks because of the cost it would impose on unsecured lenders to extend cash for so long."Over 35 banks are working towards an agreement and a global term sheet is now being considered by bank credit committees, a number of which have indicated their support," Dubai Group said in a separate statement. "We believe that we can reach a consensual agreement with our creditors."Dubai Group, which has been selling down assets recently, is targeting an agreement by year-end and is offering a signing fee to banks if the restructuring is in place by then, two sources confirmed.Its financial assets include stakes in Egypt's EFG Hermes, an investment bank hit by Middle Eastern turmoil, and Cyprus Popular Bank, formerly Marfin, whose recapitalization forced Cyprus to seek an international bailout.Dubai Group also has a stake in Borse Dubai, which owns 20.6 percent of the and has relied on asset sales to repay its obligations.Of the $10 billion total debt, $6 billion is owed to banks and the remaining $4 billion is classed as inter-company loans.(Writing by Dinesh Nair; Editing by Mike Nesbit)锘?p>APThe disputes playing out in London courts increasingly feature tough guys with private jets who deploy armies of attorneys to fight over obscene piles of cash. What they lack, however, is British plaintiffs or defendants.London has become the battleground of choice for big business disputes emerging from Russia and countries that once belonged to the Soviet Union, a group known as the Commonwealth of Independent States, or CIS.As these countries’ economies grow and globalize, post-Soviet businessmen increasingly shun local judicial systems, which often lack experience and are riddled with corruption.Instead, they take their disputes to international courtrooms and arbitral tribunals.Many of the legal narratives from this newfangled world of offshore lawyering read like the scripts for gangster movies.Read more:For instance, self-exiled millionaire Boris Berezovsky reportedly wedged himself through the legs of an special forces-trained bodyguard at the Hermes store on London's posh Sloane Street, to serve oligarch Roman Abramovich a court writ informing him of a $6 billion lawsuit.“I’ve got a present for you,” Berezovskyas he handed Abramovich the suit, the most expensive to ever be tried in Britain, according to the Daily Mail.In another case, Kazakhstan-based BTA bank has been litigating with former chairman Mukhtar Ablyazov, for allegedly embezzling nearly $5 billion from the now-nationalized financial institution. The case involves nine lawsuits and more than 50 lawyers, the largest number to ever work on a case in British legal history, experts say.Ablyazov, who fled to London in 2009, was found guilty Thursday of failing to disclose more than $50 million worth of assets, including posh properties in London and Moscow and 600 shell companies, after being ordered by the court to do so.Ablyazov, who faces 22 months in jail, did not attend the hearing Thursday, sparking rumors that he fled England. Ablyazov’s brother-in-law, also involved in the case, has already been sentenced to 18 months in prison on similar charges. His location remains unknown.Read more:Separately, Uzbekistan-born Israeli businessman Mikhail Cherney is scheduled to meet in court this April with Russia’s "aluminum king" Oleg Deripaska. The $4 billion suit charges that Deripaska cheated Cherney out of his shares in Rusal, the world’s biggest aluminum producer.In an odd twist, Cherney will give his testimony by video: he is wanted by Interpol for money laundering and organized crime.More than half of cases in the British High Court commercial division, where a number of this type of cases are fought, involve clients from Russia and elsewhere in the CIS, according to several expert estimates.A third of all cases at the London Court of International Arbitration, which gets the majority of business disputes because of its speed and confidentiality, involve a Russian-speaking party.The International Commercial Court also gets its fair share.The scuttlebutt among London lawyers says that the Kremlin has encouraged litigants to stop fighting their battles in the UK, concerned about how the sheer volume of high-profile litigation in English courts reflects on Russia.The Kremlin denied any knowledge of such efforts. “It’s not so great that they are suing each other, but everyone is free to decide where to litigate,” a Kremlin spokesperson said. The Stockholm Arbitration Tribunal has long been a popular venue for CIS cases, but London has now taken the lead.Many post-Soviet executives have bought residences in London, have become involved in local commerce or moved their families there. And CIS companies are often listed on the . The bulk of the CIS cases come from Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan, lawyers said.The big bucks“The cases are always interesting — great characters, and often dramatic allegations. It’s never boring,” said Rupert D’Cruz, secretary of the Russian-British Law Association, who heads the Littleton Chambers CIS Dispute Resolution. They typically involve “multi-billion dollar assets, privatized under questionable circumstances,” said one corporate investigator, who requested anonymity due of the nature of his work.Events in the cases are usually dramatic, with clients battling over every point, said Alastair Shaw, a Swan Turton commercial litigation partner who has worked with CIS clients in the past.Physical threats are common in disputes involving businessmen from the CIS, D’Cruz said, and litigants typically travel with burly, highly trained security men.In court, the CIS cases are complex, involving oral contracts, networks of close family and friends and webs of offshore businesses. Executives from CIS nations, fearful of routine government raids, are among the top clients when it comes to registering businesses in such places as Cypress or the British Virgin Islands, where they can store assets more securely, legal experts said.While there are no official estimates, lawyers said the disputes are a multi-billion dollar industry. The average legal fees run several million dollars per case, and the number of cases has been growing. Berezovsky’s legal fees alone are reportedly 100 million British pounds ($153.5 million).The disputes provide growth for the UK’s recession-stricken economy. One entrepreneur opened a firm last year that supplies Russian-speaking paralegals. Dispute consulting firms are hiring more private investigators to accommodate CIS cases, which often lack transparency.The High Court commercial division moved into a new state-of-the-art 300 million pound ($460.6 million) building in October. The building houses 31 courts and is adorned with a glass staircase and modern art.English law is often used in business contracts across the CIS for its reliability, independence and established reputation. With capital flight of over $80 billion and Russia’s overworked courts and arbitration tribunals, the disputes are likely to stay in London for years to come, experts say.Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s push to increase credibility of the Russian legal system will take years to accomplish, said Evgeny Raschevsk, director of international arbitration and litigation at Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners, a prominent Moscow-based law firm with offices in London.In the early part of the last decade there was an influx of cases filed in American courts, mainly in New York. But most were turned away because judges ruled that the United States lacked jurisdiction over them, said Glenn Hendrix, an Atlanta-based partner at Arnall Golden Gregory, a law firm that specializes in business disputes.American courts demand a tighter connection when it comes to accepting foreign cases than the British courts. Moreover, many more oligarchs and businessmen from the former USSR live in London than in New York.But the number of CIS disputes is growing in the United States as well, Hendrix said. Arnall Golden Gregory, for example, recently hired a lawyer who, “does nothing but Russia and CIS work,” Hendrix said.“We see potential,” he said.This originally appeared at .This story was originally published by锘?p>Courtesy Bugatti SASFor an incredibly limited production car, the Bugatti Veyron sure has given birth to a number of special editions.There are cars with coachwork by Hermes, a version , a convertible, a Super Sport that is capable of 267 MPH, and one that was .One owner even thought they had made a submarine model, .It seems that almost every Veyron produced now is some sort of "special edition."And thankfully, Bugatti has now announced the Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse. This is for customers that want the power of the Super Sport, but also need the open-air comfort of the Grand Sport.The Vitesse will have the full 1,200 horsepower of the Veyron Super Sport, but top speed should be slightly lower since the roof may fly off.While this is not confirmed, we anticipate the Vitesse will be limited to the same 225 MPH as the Grand Sport is when the top is removed.Expect the Vitesse to be ludicrously expensive when it hits the road.Here it is from behind:Courtesy Bugatti SAS锘?p>If you’re a big fan of China trademark squatting, or rather stories about the issue, check this out. have done a bit of digging and come up with some good examples of China trademark squatters who have registered famous UK brands:Investors in UK companies from Mulberry to Burberry owe much of their recent new found wealth to China鈥檚 love of prestige marques. But the country鈥檚 love of a name has taken a fresh twist.An investigation by the聽The Daily Telegraph聽has found that it鈥檚 not just handbags that the Chinese are snapping up. It鈥檚 the names of the brands themselves.In a revelation that will shock many UK business leaders, it has emerged that High Street names are being registered by Chinese individuals in their droves.Nice article, although if any UK business leaders are shocked at this information, they probably shouldn’t be leading anyone about anything. This is a well-known story that international business types should already know about.Some nice quotes in there by China Law Blog’s Dan Harris. I think some additional context might have been helpful to explain this one, however:Chinese courts look dimly on Western companies who complain their brand has been registered by another party in 鈥渂ad faith鈥?This is one of those “it depends” situations. If you go to court (or, more likely, the Trademark Review and Administrative Board) with sufficient evidence, then TRAB will, eventually, be happy to rule on your trademark cancellation action. It might take a couple years, though, which might be a non-starter for a lot of folks. That’s why Dan suggests that a re-branding might be necessary. However, for brand owners like Hermes and Chivas, the problem was lack of evidence that they were well-known in China at the time the mark was registered by the squatter.Anyway, good stuff. Go read it.漏 Stan for , 2012. Add toPost tags: , , Read more posts on 锘?p>China posted yet another quarter of stellar economic growth in the first quarter of 2011, with its gross domestic product (GDP) growing 9.7%. However, analysts are worried about some of the side effects that have accompanied that growth- namely soaring inflation and the emergence of speculative bubbles.Inflation in China hit a 32-month high in March, and the country's real estate market is beyond scorching.Policymakers in Beijing insist they have the situation under control, and they've been trying to rein in liquidity and curb speculation to prove it. That's why China's economy, accustomed to double-digit growth, is only expected to grow 8% to 9% this year.Of course, while China may be experiencing some acute growing pains, its economy regressed the least in the wake of the global financial crisis - and it will continue to operate as the engine of global economic growth going forward, even if the United States relapses into recession.In fact, China's GDP will rise from $11.2 trillion in 2011 to $19 trillion in 2016, while the U.S. economy will increase from $15.2 trillion to $18.8 trillion, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). That means in five years China will have supplanted the United States as the world's No. 1 economy.China's share of the global economy will ascend from 14% to 18% in that time, while the United States' share will descend to 17.7%.A Guide to China's EconomyThe rise of China's economy - now the world's second largest - has been meteoric. But the time has come for the country to evolve from a source of cheap labor and manufacturing to a fully developed economic power with a consumer class that's capable of sustaining domestic growth.China already has made some remarkable progress in rebalancing its economy. The country's trade surplus is narrowing and wages are on the rise.The central government is targeting an increase in minimum wages of 13% a year through 2015. Additionally, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao aims to increase per capita household income by 7% a year in real terms during that period. He's also pledged to improve the social security and healthcare systems to help low-income households and to raise the personal income tax threshold - all in an effort to give the country's 1.3 billion people more spending power."We will ensure that people's income increases keep pace with economic growth and people's salary growth keeps pace with the productivity rise," Wen said last month in an online chat with the Chinese public.China's 31 provinces boosted minimum wages by an average of 24% last year, according to Yin Weimin, China's minister of human resources and social security. Meanwhile, the average monthly income for migrant workers rose 13% to $256.89 (1,690 yuan).Six provinces have already raised minimum wages this year, with labor shortages and government mandates likely to compel the remaining 25 to follow suit.Rising wages have directly translated to an increase in retail sales, which rose 16.3% to $657.29 billion (4.2922 trillion yuan) in the first quarter, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Sales in March rose 17.4% from a year earlier, and edged up 1.34% from February."China is trying to rebalance its economy to become more consumer oriented. Wages are rising. People are earning more and will shop more, and that's good news for Chinese retailers," Andrew Sullivan, Director of Institutional Sales Trading at OSK Securities in Hong Kong, .Shockingly, the country that for so long has been infamous for its thriftiness As of December 2010, sales of luxury goods in China rose to $10.7 billion, or 30% of total global sales, up from $9.4 billion in 2009, according to the World Luxury Association (WLA).Luxury brands like Coach Inc.(NYSE: COH), LVMH Moet Hennessey Louis Vuitton SA (PINK: LVMHF), Burberry Group PLC (PINK: BURBY), and Hermes International SCA (PINK: HESAF) have all benefited from China's splurging.Coach last week reported a better-than-expected 18% increase in fiscal third-quarter profit, thanks largely to China. China revenue currently totals about $185 million and continues to increase by double-digit percentages, the company said.Rolls Royce saw its China sales rise 600% last year, putting it above Britain as the company's second-biggest customer behind the United States.China's luxury car sales are expected to rise to more than 909,900 units this year, up from about 727,200 last year, according to forecasts by IHS Automotive. And that number could climb to 1.6 million by 2015.China is already the world's largest auto market, with 18 million units sold last year. That figure is expected to grow to 23 million by 2015.As further testament to China's newfound consumer wealth, the GroupM Knowledge-Hurun Wealth Report 2011 showed the number of millionaires on the mainland is up 9.7% from a year ago. And the country has 115 billionaires according to Forbes magazine's 2011 list -- second only to the United States.Indeed, China's domestic consumption has shown the rapid growth that has become the country's trademark. But more importantly, it's advanced the central government's goal of a more balanced economy by helping to reduce the nation's disproportionate trade surplus.China in March posted its first trade deficit - about $1 billion - since 2004.Strong demand for imported consumer goods and higher prices for commodities drove the value of China's imports to $152 billion in March. The value of China's imports hit a record high of more than $400 billion in the first three months of the year.Last year, China ran a trade surplus of about $15.25 billion a month. However, 2010 also was the second consecutive year in which the trade surplus shrank, falling 6.4% from 2009 to $183.1 billion.The State Information Center forecast China's imports to rise 20% in 2011, while exports will increase by 16%. That would trim the trade surplus by 13.2%.China wants to double its imports by 2015, reducing the trade surplus to zero and emancipating itself from an export-reliant economy.Potential Setbacks to China's EconomyOf course, China's rapid transformation has not gone off without a hitch. Inflation remains uncomfortably high, and there are fears of a growing bubble in the nation's red-hot property market.The most recent consumer price index showed inflation rising at 5.4% in March, the fastest pace in three years.China's inflation rate will likely rise above 5.5% in June, a team of economists at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch said in a report yesterday (Wednesday). However, that's likely to be the peak as Chinese policymakers are working overtime to stifle inflation at the expense of growth.The People's Bank of China (PBOC) has raised the benchmark interest rate four times- an increase of 100 basis points - and the reserve requirement seven times since October."Stabilizing prices and managing inflation expectations are critical," the PBOC said in a first-quarter monetary policy report published yesterday.Still, China's economy is overheating because capital is flowing into the mainland faster than it is flowing out. China's foreign exchange reserves, having increased by $197 billion in the first three months of the year, now exceed $3 trillion.Indeed, huge trade surpluses and the large-scale purchases of U.S. Treasuries - which China makes to suppress the yuan's value - have resulted in a 17-fold increase in the country's reserves over the past decade.For every dollar that goes into China's reserves, the country prints 6.5 yuan.Furthermore, lending and money supply in the country continue to grow faster than expected.China's top four state-owned banks dispersed $40.1 billion (260.6 billion yuan) in new loans in April, slightly higher than the $37.3 billion (242 billion yuan) issued in March, according to local financial news provider Caixin. This is despite the fact that China's biggest banks are required to keep 20% of their deposits on hand as reserves."What China calls ‘total social financing' - conventional bank loans and most other external sources of finance - was still 38% of GDP in the first quarter of 2011, almost as high as in 2009 when China implemented a credit-centric stimulus program," UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) economist . "The credit intensity of growth, or the amount of new credit generated for each unit of GDP growth, has risen from 1-1.3 before 2009 to 4.3 in 2011."Many of the new loans are going into China's property market, which is accelerating at a dangerous pace.The value of homes sold in the first quarter increased to $132 billion (860.7 billion yuan), the Statistics Bureau said last month, driving overall property transactions 27% higher to $157 billion (1.02 trillion yuan).The total value of homes sold in March alone rose to $63.7 billion (414 billion yuan), which is close to the total of the first two months of this year combined. New home construction rose 20% in the first quarter to 310.2 million square meters (3.34 billion square feet), the statistics bureau said.Overall investment in China's real estate rose 34% to $136.4 billion (885 billion yuan) in the first quarter, according to the government data.Startlingly, these figures suggest that Beijing's attempts to cool the property market so far have been ineffective."While these growth rates are below ones seen in early 2010, they remain high relative to what developers are reporting and what the policy tightening would have suggested," Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) analysts said in a report. "We see this as a sign that the tightening probably has not yet been fully implemented at the local level."A rising number of institutions are growing concerned about China's real estate market.Even China Citic Bank Corp. Ltd. (OTC: CHCJY), the seventh-largest Chinese lender by assets, said yesterday that the country's property market has become too risky and it plans to cut lending to the sector."Citic Bank relatively clearly sees that real estate risk this year is severe," Shi Yuan, the general manager of the bank's risk management section, said on a quarterly teleconference. "We especially are paying attention to risks in the funding chain for developers. We believe as tightening continuously gets stronger, the true real estate risks will appear."Still, it's important to remember that while bubbles may be forming - especially in the property market - the overall trend of China's growth is positive."Yes there are probably pockets of bubbles in China and in the real estate market, but against that backdrop you have 500 million people expected to move into Chinese cities by 2020. That means the number of people expected to move into cities is almost double the population of the United States," said Money Morning Chief Investment Strategest Keith Fitz-Gerald. "So in the context of China's explosive growth, what we're looking at are some moderate setbacks over an extended period of high growth."China Investment PlaysIndeed, China is a growth story too compelling to pass up. However, investors should focus on parts of the Chinese economy more stable than the real estate sector.That means playing trends like consumption.The Claymore/Alpha Shares China Small Cap ETF (NYSE: HAO) has a large percentage of its holdings in consumer-focused firms. Consumer staples and consumer discretionary sectors represent 9.3% and 15.8%, respectively, of the fund's holdings.You might also consider large U.S. multinationals that have a sizeable footprint in China. These companies continue to benefit from China's fast-growing consumer class and are less susceptible to potential setbacks.McDonald's Corp. (NYSE: MCD) and Yum! Brands Inc. (NYSE: YUM) are two food operators Additionally, the revamped General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) has a very strong presence in China. GM is expected to retake the crown for most global auto sales from Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE ADR: TM), which has been devastated by the recent disasters in Japan.The company intends to introduce more than 60 new or upgraded models for the Chinese market and aims to double sales to around 5 million units by 2015.There's also China Yuchai International Ltd. (NYSE: CYD), which manufactures and sells diesel engines - most of which are distributed in China.As mentioned earlier, luxury sales in China continue to rise as well. That stands to benefit luxury brands like Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH), Burberry Group PLC (PINK: BURBY), and Compagnie Finciere Richemont (PINK: CFRUY).Finally, Money Morning's Fitz-Gerald likes the Morgan Stanley China A Shares Fund (NYSE: CAF)."I particularly like CAF because small business ventures in China have the most to gain and most of those companies are traded only in China A shares," said Fitz-Gerald. "And CAF is the only fund that gives U.S. investors ‘direct access' to the A-shares." A recent portfolio allocation of the fund showed 28% of its holdings were in consumer goods and services, 26% were in financials and 18% were in basic materials.CAF also holds shares in companies that make auto components and beverages, among other products, and has numerous stocks in the metals and mining sectors.This originally appeared at . 锘縁rank Holmes, chief executive and chief investment officer at U.S. Global Investors, will focus on the upside of massive Chinese modernization and growth. He is the recipient of both Mining Fund Manager of the Year Award from Mining Journal and International Citizen of the Year Award from the World Affairs Council of America and has a long-term investor's view of international geopolitics. Author and Commentator Gordon Chang literally wrote the book on why investors should be wary of China's growth. His book The Coming Collapse of China has attracted attention from the likes of the LA Times and Asia Times and many other publications in between. He has made appearances on Fox News and regularly contributes to Business Insider, Barron's, National Review and Forbes magazines. When he lived and worked in China and Hong Kong for almost two decades, most recently in Shanghai as counsel to the American law firm Paul Weiss, he saw the ghost cities and environmental challenges up close. "The debate is a direct response to attendees who need to know if China is on a course to grow, slow or blow," said Nicole Evans, president of the Cambridge House International Conference Division. The Gold Report called these two experts to find out the numbers behind why they have such different predictions about how this enigmatic country will fare in the coming years. Frank Holmes: This veteran investment advisor based his positive prognosis for China and its Eastern neighbors on a combination of tacit knowledge learned firsthand through travel and observation of geopolitical conditions along with explicit knowledge of history and the markets.He studies S-curve patterns, modeled on economist Simon Kuznets' 20-year long cycles. For example, the world's population has grown from 1 billion in the 1800s to 7 billion today, which has drastically affected commodity consumption and infrastructure buildout. "Nowhere is this more evident than in the emerging markets, such as China," Holmes said."When governments have invested in infrastructure, there has been a powerful impact on gross domestic product (GDP) numbers." For example, he pointed to the 1950s, when Eisenhower signed the Federal Aid Highway Act, allowing commerce to expand across the nation, with restaurants including Dairy Queen and McDonald's experiencing tremendous growth over the next several decades. "Paved roads from coast to coast helped sustain a more than tenfold increase in U.S. GDP," Holmes said."Whereas the U.S. connected 160 million people with nearly 47,000 miles of freeways, by 2020 China will connect 700 million people across 250 cities, spanning more than 47,000 miles of interstate and 18,000 miles of rail," Holmes explained.Holmes estimated that over the next 25 years, about $41 trillion will be spent on global infrastructure?$6 trillion has been approved for the 2011 through 2013 timeframe with China projected to spend half of that $6 trillion. He believes these investments will result in rising GDP per capita and trigger a consumption economy. "Once China connects its super cities, it will enable more Chinese to travel around the country, resulting in a completely different consumption pattern. You will see train stations with 50-story condominiums along with U.S. restaurants that have already been expanding in China, including McDonald's, Dairy Queen and Starbucks. Major hotel chains, such as Wyndham, Starwood and Hilton, along with luxury goods businesses including Cartier, Hermes and Gucci will compete for market share. Infrastructure will change the face of the economy in China just the way it did in the U.S.," said Holmes."We are big believers that government policies are precursors to change, so our investment team continuously tracks the fiscal and monetary policies of the world's largest countries in terms of economic stature and population. The G-7 (industrialized) countries are 15% of the world's population but 50% of the world's GDP and growing only about 1%. Western countries seem to be focused on cutting back infrastructure spending and raising taxes to pay for entitlements. At the same time, E-7 (emerging) countries comprise 50% of the world's population with 20% of the world's GDP. However, these countries are growing at 7% to 8% and include a rising middle class of some 60 million people out of a total 2.2 billion people. But, 60 million people making $30,000 a year is very significant. Think about the movie "Slumdog Millionaire"?this is what is happening throughout Asia. That is why companies such as Gap and GM and KFC are focusing on expanding in China where its residents love American products and pack the stores in Beijing." Holmes also saw important policy changes in the works that could improve China's economic outlook. "Over the past 10 years, we have seen a slow migration of more property rights being given to people in China. The largest transfer of real estate in the history of mankind took place in China seven years ago when more than $500 billion of real estate value was basically transferred to farmers. That was followed by condo building. Additionally, to attract public companies, Shanghai adopted the Hong Kong Stock Exchange listing and bankruptcy systems, which are based on common law. This is significant because if you look at all the countries that have had financial problems over time, no common law system has ever gone bankrupt. Civil law has. China is slowly adopting a rule of law system."Not all of the changes have been smooth. "One of the biggest things that China has been wrestling with is the fear of inflation," Holmes said. "The government raised the minimum wage and that resulted in a big spike in food inflation. Then it had to deal with real estate inflation in Shanghai and the cities along the ocean. It required banks to keep more reserves, up to 20% in some cases, to avoid the problems now occurring in European banks. A tax on speculative real estate slowed the economy and it showed up in the psychology of the stock market."The spike is slowly reversing and rates are falling. Because there is so much less borrowing generally in China than in the rest of the world, prices rebound much faster," Holmes said. "Only 25% of homes have mortgages so the impact of bankruptcies is much smaller. Also, I don't think they're going to print money the way they did in 2008. The Chinese government will move slowly to make sure the country doesn't get hurt by Europe's slowdown." Based on money supply, debt levels and the weakness of the dollar, Holmes predicted economic activity in the emerging countries should double over the next five years. "It is going to be between 8% and 9% this year and it has another 10 years of growth ahead of it," Holmes said. "Investors need to understand volatility and not be fearful of it. If you are trading futures where your leverage is 10 to 1 and you have a big correction, you can get wiped out. But, if you are a cash business, you understand when these markets go through these corrections. Solid companies paying dividends can be an attractive investment over the long term."Gordon Chang: This China-watcher recently wrote an article for Forbes that said what others considered positive November trade numbers?exports up 13.8%, imports up 22.1% year-over-year?was actually an indication of flat consumer demand once the commodities were factored out. His conclusion was that the government was taking advantage of low prices to stockpile things like soybeans, copper and iron ore while domestic demand remained stagnant. "Since September, we have seen essentially flatlining growth," he said. "The growth over the last three decades has been absolutely stunning, but that was then, and this is now," Chang cautioned. "After 35 years of virtually uninterrupted growth, the Chinese economy hit an inflection point, probably in September of this year. I think we are going to see a long-term cycle down. There are a number of reasons for it, some of them short term, some of them long term. The reasons that created this growth either no longer exist or are disappearing fast. Deng Xiaoping's policy of reform paired with the end of the Cold War and expansion of globalization triggered growth in the 1980s. However, under current leader Hu Jintao, China has seen the reversal of reform, with the government partially renationalizing the economy. Today, we are in the second part of a global downturn, which will be much worse than what started in 2008. A trade-dependent economy like China's is going to have real problems. Additionally, China was aided by the demographic dividend, an extraordinary bulge in the Chinese workforce, which by most estimates will level off between 2013 and 2016, leaving a demographic tax where one worker supports two parents and four grandparents."Chang pointed to stagnant electricity consumption, flat car sales, plunging industrial orders and collapsing property prices. "For example, in October, we saw property prices collapse 30% in places like Shanghai and Beijing, and actually across the country. That has to eventually trigger a negative wealth effect."Domestic growth is vital for a sustainable economy," Chang said. "Last year, domestic consumption comprised less than 34% of Chinese GDP and it has been dropping in recent years. That means China is not restructuring its economy because the problems go to the core of the political model. The government would have to let the Renminbi float, allow banks to offer market rates of interest to depositors and state enterprises, allow workers to bargain collectively to get higher wages and provide a better social safety net, especially in the health care area. These are things that Beijing didn't do a half-decade ago when it was growing at 9.9% and they're certainly not going to do so now in a very difficult environment."On the manufacturing side, Chang referred to the December HSBC/Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI). "It showed an absolute, outright falloff in industrial orders domestically. I think that is a really important indication of the problems," Chang explained. Technically, the Chinese economy went from expansion in October to contraction in November when it crossed the critical 50 line. Any number above 50 shows expansion; any number below 50 shows contraction.The fact that China is reporting negative numbers is telling in itself, according to Chang, who said often government-issued statistics conflict with reports from other sources. Beijing reported 13.8% export growth in November. However, during that same period factories went bankrupt, factory owners fled because they couldn't pay their debts and some of them took their own lives. Even more damning are container and freight statistics, including reports from mega-container shipper Cathay Pacific that showed November cargo shipments down 13.8%. "Exports to Europe have fallen off the cliff and the EU was China's largest trading partner so something doesn't add up," he said.For the final blow, Chang pointed to the actions of the Chinese government. "If China really does have robust, 8?9% growth as everybody says, why is the central government starting to stimulate the economy again? That just doesn't make any sense. If we look at things like imports and exports, I think the economy is really in trouble."Chang warned of political consequences if the country is not growing at least close to a double-digit rate. "I don't know if China can stand 3% growth?or the other very real possibility, contraction. The American government bases its legitimacy on the nature of its political system. The legitimacy of the Communist Party is primarily based on the continual delivery of prosperity. Already, the number of protests in China has increased dramatically from maybe 70,000 mass incidents a year in 2005, to as many as 280,000 last year. In addition to strikes, riots, insurrections and bombings, the standoff between villagers and the authorities in Guangdong province are threatening the future of the Communist Party."One solution is for the Chinese government to continue to spend millions on infrastructure to create growth as it did when it spent $1.1 trillion after the 2008 downturn. "This tactic is of limited usefulness the second time around," Chang warned. "It may be able to play out the game for 18 months, maybe two years at the outside, but it's pretty much done. Plus, the artificial stimulus also created a stock market bubble, inflation, ghost cities, banking weakness and property bubbles. Massive spending didn't avoid problems, it just postponed them and made them bigger and more difficult to solve." Chang said that people in China are starting to see the reality of the problem. "There is a sense of pessimism. Starting in October, we saw large, unexplained transfers of money out of the country." The bright spot, according to Chang, is that while China will not be able to fuel a global recovery with a consumer-driven middle class, a Chinese meltdown won't be a major blow to the U.S. either. "We have the world's largest internal market; 70% of our GDP relates to consumption. Exports don't really play that much of a role in the U.S. as it does in other major economies. So China can fall off the cliff in a sense, and it would have some negative effect but not very much. In fact, we might benefit from it."Chang's conclusion? "People say the Chinese economy is the global engine of growth, but that's not true. The engine has been the American consumer because we are taking every other country's exports, and the Chinese, through predatory and mercantilist policies, have been grabbing growth from other countries. For the last 200 years, China has been a potential source of customers for other countries. Still, domestic demand isn't that significant. China's imports lately have been commodities and that is going to fall off because China's exports of manufactured goods, to Europe and the U.S., are going to be stagnant or lower than they have been in the past. So China really reacts to the rest of the world. If the changes over the next couple of months are as dramatic as they've been for the past two, then we're going to be looking at a very different China. The Chinese economy could fall into a big black hole with 1?2% growth or even contraction. Can the government turn it around as it has in the past? That's the money question." is CEO and chief investment officer at U.S. Global Investors Inc., which manages a diversified family of mutual funds and hedge funds specializing in natural resources, emerging markets and infrastructure. In 2006 Mining Journal, a leading publication for the global resources industry, chose Holmes as mining fund manager of the year. Holmes co-authored The Goldwatcher: Demystifying Gold Investing (2008). A regular contributor to investor-education websites and speaker at investment conferences, he writes articles for investment-focused publications and appears on television as a business commentator. is the author of Nuclear Showdown: North Korea Takes On the World. His first book is The Coming Collapse of China. He is a columnist at Forbes.com and The Daily and blogs at World Affairs Journal. He lived and worked in China and Hong Kong for almost two decades, most recently in Shanghai, as counsel to the American law firm Paul Weiss and earlier in Hong Kong as partner in the international law firm Baker & McKenzie. His writings on China and North Korea have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Far Eastern Economic Review, the International Herald Tribune, Commentary, The Weekly Standard, National Review, and Barron's. He has given briefings at the National Intelligence Council, the Central Intelligence Agency, the State Department and the Pentagon. Chang has appeared before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. He has appeared on CNN, Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, CNBC, MSNBC, PBS, the BBC, and Bloomberg Television. He has appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Want to read more exclusive Gold Report interviews like this? for our free e-newsletter, and you'll learn when new articles have been published. To see a list of recent interviews with industry analysts and commentators, visit our page.Disclosure: From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned and may make purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise.Read more posts on 锘?p>So what do Chinese consumers want? This should give you a clue.A Chinese furniture company called Da Vinci Furniture was recently caught putting fake "foreign-made" labels on its products. China's CCTV did a piece exposing their fraud, which prompted Da Vinci's owner, Zuang Xiuhua, to appear on the channel and tearfully claim that the allegations were untrue.Then, the Shanghai Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau did its own inspection and confirmed that CCTV's story was on the money.So here's what happened- Economic Observer via Lots of people who had bought furniture from Da Vinci are now demanding refunds. A man who was present at the press conference declared that he had bought more than 10 million RMB worth of furniture. He shouted angrily “Everything is fake! The furniture, as well as their product launches!”There is an old Chinese adage that says, "a foreign moon is always brighter." Looks like consumers are applying this motto to their purchases. According to Economic Observer, the Chinese have put foreign goods on a pedastal since the end of the Opium Wars....‘Made in China’ has become so synonymous with bad quality. Melamine added to baby milk. Badly constructed houses. An abundance of counterfeit mobile phones. If people are living in a dangerous environment, it is no wonder that whoever can afford it, will buy imported goods thinking they are guaranteeing their security.Da Vinci paid 10 foreigners to "endorse" their brand/products. This has become a relatively common practice in China where foreign goods are considered a status symbol for upper and middle classes-and the symbols can do things for you. Owning say, an Hermes bag, can gain you access to an exclusive social circles. Some Chinese even borrow money to make such purchases. 锘?p>Yes, here we go again. I told you these were common, didn’t I? If you read , you know about the recent judgment on the Hermès case, which involved a squatter and a failed attempt by the luxury brand owner to prove that it was a well-known brand in China many years ago. brand, is now feeling Hermes’ pain:A Chinese court has rejected a petition by the Chivas Regal, maker ofScotch whiskey, to strip a garment maker of the right to use the famous brand name.The Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court ruled in favour of the Trademark Appeal Board under the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, which was brought to court by Chivas Brothers after allowing a Zhejiang Province businessman to useChivas Regal as a brand on its clothing.The man from Wenzhou, identified by his surname Wen, in 2003 applied to the trademark authority to register Chivas Regal as a trademark for garments, shoes and caps, Shanghai Daily reported.Chivas Brothers challenged several times but was rejected by the trademark board, according to the Legal Evening News.The board has said the Zhejiang man didn’t violate Chinese trademark law because the brand is used in different kinds of products.The Beijing court said Chivas Brothers failed to establish that the spirits brand was “well-known” in China before the registration of Chivas Regal clothing in 2003, which would have been grounds to deny the application.Chivas Brothers, owned by French groupPernod Ricard, also argued that the company has also used Chivas Regal on clothing.But the Chinese court said it found that the brand was only printed on the uniform clothing for the whisky maker’s salespeople, not on clothing for commercial use.Okay, fairly standard stuff, but let’s unpack this a bit. (If you want a better version, in Chinese, .)Before the 2003 registration by the Wenzhou squatter, Chivas Brothers (the brand owner) had registered the marks in a number of Classes, including 33, which includes alcoholic beverages. However, just because a brand owner registers the mark in one Class (or for a certain set of goods/services), this does not automatically protect against other registrants for different goods/services or for products in other Classes.Unfortunately, Chivas Brothers failed to prove that the mark was sufficiently well known in China at the time of the application. Therefore the argument that the Wenzhou squatter filed the mark in bad faith failed.One additional issue that came up was evidence that the mark was used on clothing by Chivas Brothers’ staff prior to 2003. The argument here is that this evidence of use was relevant in proving that the Wenzhou registrant had knowledge of this use and filed in bad faith.The court didn’t buy this argument, saying that use of a logo by staff in this way did not constitute a commercial use.In terms of procedure, this guy in Wenzhou filed in Class 25 for clothing. Chivas Brothers filed an opposition, which is the administrative procedure used to challenge an application prior to it being formally registered. The opposition was rejected by the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board (TRAB), and Chivas Brothers then appealed that rejection to the courts, where it also lost.If this reminds you of the Hermès case, it should. Very similar procedure and legal issues involved. What this case comes down to is Chivas Brothers ability to prove that the mark in question was famous in China at the time the mark was filed. Making a well-known mark argument allows a brand owner to expand its scope of protection to other goods/services within a particular Class or even to other Classes entirely.Interestingly enough, this mark was by the Trademark Office in 2009. Two points on that. First, that would have come well after this dispute was initiated. Second, such recognition is not some sort of imprimatur that can be ported to future disputes — it’s more of an ad hoc recognition that relates to the specific dispute at hand. Moreover, I couldn’t find any information on what dispute Chivas Brothers was dealing with in 2009. Anyway, it ultimately doesn’t matter.This is yet another example of trademark squatting, where a “famous” brand is filed by a third party without authorization. But since China is a first-to-file jurisdiction, this is often permissible. Because Chivas Brothers could not prove that the mark was famous at the time or that the registrant filed in bad faith, it lost the case.These disputes are won or lost on evidence. Companies that are organized, keep good records, and enjoy management continuity in their overseas operations can prevail, but if a brand owner is unable to come up with sufficient documentation, the squatters will prevail.So what does this loss mean for Chivas? In terms of future disputes, not much. They were apparently victorious on that well-known mark argument in 2009, so I assume they’ve nailed down documentation at this point. In terms of the market, this squatter has the right to sell certain types of clothing with the Chivas brand on it, or license/sell that right to third parties. Chivas may therefore wish to purchase the mark, if the price is right.© Stan for , 2012. Add to Post tags: , , Read more posts on 锘?p>Coach just won a lawsuit against internet counterfeiters, which could set a precedent for the rest of the industry.The company won $257 million in damages from the companies, the largest settlement of its kind, Alexandra Steigrad . Under the judgement, Coach can also seize 573 domain names linked to counterfeit brands, stopping the copycats in their tracks.Tory Burch, Hermes and Burberry have also won similar settlements recently.Coach is one of the most-copied brands out there, and hundreds of websites were selling fake purses, glasses, accessories and more, according to WWD.Many of the sites even used photos taken from Coach's actual website, confusing consumers into thinking they were the real deal.Going after domain names is the only way for companies to take back the power, :Although he called the award a “warning,” (Coach and its) colleagues in the legal world have acknowledged that at least part of the judgment is purely symbolic. That’s because no brand is able to collect the millions in monetary damages, as it’s nearly impossible to physically locate the culprits running the illegal Web sites. Having the ability to shut down infringing sites is where companies begin to wield some power.Still, the Coach settlement shows that retailers have legal power over counterfeiters.DON'T MISS: 锘?p>The downturn provides a great excuse to be thrifty and say how you're doing it for the environment, anyway.: The twin currents of an economic downturn and rising concern about the environment are merging in a shift in consumer psychology. After a decade of conspicuous consumption, many middle- and upper-income Americans are no longer comfortable showing off $300 Gucci sunglasses and $8,000 Hermes Birkin bags. They are developing a distaste for extravagance that promises to affect spending on everything from cars and travel to electronics, fashion and household goods -- and to last at least as long as the recession."Our retail and manufacturing clients are seeing almost an aversion to consumption," says Todd Lavieri, chief executive of Archstone Consulting, which tracks retail spending patterns. "In previous downturns [such as in 1991 and 2001], we have often seen shopping as therapy." Now, with credit conditions so tight, Mr. Lavieri says, "people aren't shopping to feel better. They actually are not shopping to feel better."And that behavior (to be sure, a luxurious problem in a bad economy with high unemployment) dovetails neatly with environmentalism, another way people like to feel better.Over the past year, some affluent Americans have simply "given up the fight to keep up with the Joneses," says Pamela Danziger, president of Unity Marketing, a research firm in Stevens, Pa., while others have decided that "spending money on luxury is a poor use of resources in a climate of high gas prices and rising carbon footprint."锘?p>Quick story, which is good ’cause we are on the cusp of a week-long holiday here in Chinaland. Longtime readers of this blog know that I have a somewhat eclectic taste when it comes to topics. But the tale I am about to tell you has it all: income inequality, intellectual property infringement, heck, even social media and the Internet. It’s the China Hearsay .Courtesy of the , here are the basics:A user “Little Xixi Xi” achieved a certain notoriety and triggered the powerful on Sina Weibo, after she posted a photo of herself carrying a handbag on one hand, and a Hermes Birkin bag on the other.If you’ve forgotten, the “” phenomenon refers to the practice of information gathering by Netizens, often confidential personal details of folks accused of wrongdoing. Some call them vigilantes or nuisances, others see them as heroes. Depends on who they’re going after at the time.In this case, you’ve got some dizzy chick who posted a photo of herself with two designer bags. She’s proud of her toys and wants to show them off. Natural instinct, I suppose. She has pics of handbags; I do the same thing with my cats.Netizens were not amused. They went after her with a vengeance. Why? It’s just not cool to flaunt your wealth these days. So the mob started digging and came up with the following:In this case, they found that the real name of “Little Xixi Xi” is You Yixi. Her father is You Chenghua, the deputy chief of Jinping County, Guizhou province. A net user who sounds like an insider even said, “She now goes to college in Guiyang (Jing: capital city of Guizhou province), and often buys luxury goods. She plunks down at least several thousand yuan at a time, and often tens of thousand.”Oops. Yeah, the human flesh search engine crowd is not too partial to corruption by government officials. If this girl is spending Daddy’s cash, which turns out to be the ill-gotten gains of a public servant, the online mob is going to go apeshit.Well, things got ugly, and Daddy’s bosses started to ask uncomfortable questions. That’s when Daddy pushed back with a cover story: the “designer” bags were just cheap knock-offs! Nothing to worry about here!This is where my head exploded. If you compartmentalize these issues (i.e. corruption and IP), then it all makes sense. But together, this is really surreal. To summarize, Daddy is saying “My daughter/me would never flaunt our wealth (which we don’t have of course). She doesn’t buy expensive things, she buys products from known counterfeiters!”Daddy was rather forceful with this cover story, allegedly saying: “I pledge with my 27 years of (Communist) Party membership that I saw with my own eyes that a mail carrier delivered a 80-yuan bag to my home.” This was backed up by Dutiful Daughter, who insisted that she bought the bags on Taobao for around RMB 200.Did the Netizens buy it? No way. More digging ensued, and Dutiful Daughter was now not only being accused of owning expensive accessories, but of attempting a really weak cover-up of the fact. Moreover, Netizens also claimed that she was romantically involved with a Daddy, a rich dude into shady construction deals. This may have taken some of the pressure off of her father with respect to corruption charges, though.The best part of this wonderful story? No one even bothered to point out that even if everything said by Daddy and Dutiful Daughter was correct, that would mean the girl was admitting to buying knock-offs, and Daddy, a government official, was practically boasting about it.Is this messed up or what? Well, actually it makes a lot of sense. Just going by domestic politics and government policy priorities, we already knew that flaunting one’s wealth is definitely a in China these days, but purchasing counterfeits is merely a .This place is so complicated. Makes me tired. I’m glad we’re heading into a long holiday.© Stan for , 2011. Add to Post tags: , , , , , , Feed enhanced by from Read more posts on 锘?p>Scientists loaded their ship to the max this month off the coast of Hawaii, but their bounty wasn't fish or coral or any other scientific specimen. It was garbage.The crew of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ship Oscar Elton Sette pulled 50 metric tons of out of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument off the northwestern Hawaiian Islands last month, part of an ongoing mission since 1996 to clean up the shallow coral reef environment."What surprises us is that after many years of marine debris removal in Papahanaumokuakea and more than 700 metric tons of debris later, we are still collecting a significant amount of derelict fishing gear from the shallow coral reefs and shorelines," Kyle Koyanagi, the chief scientist for the mission, said in a NOAA statement. "The ship was at maximum capacity and we did not have any space for more debris." NOAA collected nearly 50 metric tons of marine debris, which threatens monk seals, sea turtles and other marine life in the coral reef ecosystem, in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. NOAA has been sending out garbage-removing ships every year since 1996. On the mission that ended Saturday (July 14), 17 scientists cleaned up the of the Kure Atoll, Midway Atoll, Pearl Atoll, Hermes Atoll, Lisianski Island and Laysan Island, all in the northern section of the Hawaiian Islands.About half of the marine junk was broken fishing gear and plastic from Midway Atoll. Though the researchers looked, they found no evidence of debris from 2011's tsunami in Japan. Some debris from that disaster has shown up on the west coast of North America, including an covered with marine organisms. []Marine debris such as discarded nets can trap sea turtles, seals and other marine animals."[M]arine debris is an everyday problem, especially right here in the Pacific," Carey Morishige, the Pacific Islands regional coordinator for NOAA's Marine Debris Program said in a statement.The massive amount of garbage pulled from the ocean will now be put to use as fuel for electricity generation. Hawaii's Nets-to Energy program removes metal from broken-down nets and cuts them up for combustion. The steam from the fires runs a turbine to create energy.Scientists load boats with marine debris collected at Midway Atoll in Papah膩naumoku膩kea Marine National Monument.Follow Stephanie Pappas on or LiveScience . We're also on & .锘?p>When one of India's largest real-estate developers opened DLF Emporio — an exclusive shopping mall devoted to fashion designers and international luxury brands — the mall charged would-be patrons a stiff fee just to get through the doors.The charge was about the equivalent of a week's salary for many Indians.The customers poured in anyway.These days, the mall doesn'tcharge admission. But from the looks of things, it could still getaway with it.Even as the government debates whether 32 rupees a day (or about $0.65) is enough to survive on, the sellers of the world's most expensive and ostentatious brands are doing a booming business in India — a land whose most cherished idol once dressed in a loincloth stitched out of cotton thread he spun himself.“The traffic in the mall has increased incredibly, because it's one of its kind in India,” said a salesman at Louis Vuitton's Emporio outlet. “We have all the luxury brands in a single location. That's a big advantage.”Louis Vuitton, Ermenegildo Zegna and company aren't just for socialites and Bollywood stars anymore. Luxury retailers in New Delhi say that in India's major metropolitan cities, the market has expanded to include people from all professional backgrounds, and India's growing, and aspiring, middle class.“We have a number of customers who come in to experience the store, even buying a belt or a shirt,” said a saleswoman at Ermenegildo Zegna. “We have a mix of customers. Yes, we do have lawyers who are looking for a business suit, but there are also people who need formal wear for social occasions.”Clearly, the days when Mohandas Gandhi urged Indians to spin their own yarn and sew their own clothes are long gone.Despite the economic downturn of the past year, India's market for luxury goods grew 20 percent last year to reach around $5.8 billion as top brands penetrated second-tier cities like Gurgaon, Pune, Chennai and Hyderabad, according to a new study conducted by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the global consultancy AT Kearney.As the Hindu festival of Diwali approaches, and India enters the busiest shopping season of the year, CII and AT Kearney forecast that the country's luxury market will grow to $14.7 billion by 2015, despite continuing problems with infrastructure and curbs on foreign investment, the report said.That's because even though the economy has slowed somewhat as the central bank works to rein in inflation, consumer confidence in India remains at an all-time high. In a recent survey conducted by Mastercard, for instance, more consumers in India were planning to buy luxury goods over the next year than in any other country in the Asia Pacific region, apart from Singapore — where the per-capita income is more than ten times higher.“The kind of spending power people have is expanding, so Armani and Gucci is no longer a dream,” said Bhauya Nagpal, a salesman for Jimmy Choo.According to CII and AT Kearney, jewelery, electronics, cars and fine-dining grew faster than expected, while apparel, accessories, wines and spirits have continued their strong growth. The market for jewelry, for example, grew 30 percent, compared with an expected 20 percent jump, while the fine-dining segment grew 40 percent versus expectations of a modest 10 percent blip.That makes India the surprising darling of retailers combating flagging sales in their traditional cash-cow markets in Europe and the U.S. Already, nearly all of the world's luxury brands are competing for a slice of India's new wealth, though currently the law limits foreign investment in single-brand retail businesses to 51 percent. Retailing experts say global brands will launch some 200 stores devoted to luxury brands by 2020.Rolls-Royce sold 80 cars here last year, while Ferrari entered the market in May.Zegna has tapped the haute Indian wedding market with a special “guru collection” of Nehru suits — named after Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister and the architect of its socialist economic policies — that run around $3,500. French apparel-maker Hermes unveiled a new range of limited-edition saris starting at $6,000 a pop over the weekend.And even Paris Hilton recently visited the country to launch a luxury boutique that will sell her personal line of fragrances, handbags and apparel in Mumbai.So what would Nehru think of the country's enthusiastic embrace of ostentation? Not so much, one expects. With more than 3 million wealthy households, India now has more affluent families than any European country, but the annual average income remains around $3,500. That's just enough for Zegna's take on Nehru's signature suit.This story was originally published by锘?p>AP/Eugene Hoshiko was quick to lower price targets today on eight luxury good conglomerates following the close of Paris fashion week., fears that a slowing Chinese consumer will cut back put pressure on the mostly French firms. AnalystFrancesca DiPasquantonio noted that markets remain focused on 2012 uncertainty as opposed to current healthy returns.PPR, the owner of Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, and Puma saw the deepest cut. DiPasquantonio lowered the $14 billion firm's target price by 17% to€120., holder of iconic brands like Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs and Tag Heuer, had its target price cut 8%.Smaller brands Salvatore Ferragamo and Burberry took haircuts of 12% and 14%, respectively. Deutsche Bank maintained mostly buy and hold ratings on the sector, expecting segment growth of 6% to outpace global GDP growth of 3% next year.Hermes remained the only company on the list with a sell rating, trading 40% above target.锘?p>Has the Dubai bubble burst? It sure looks like it. Just a few weeks ago , were flocking to the go-go city to make a quick buck. . , with all the celebrities.That was then. A Turkish investor, who identified himself as Sebat, took out 10 bright yellow ads in the Nov. 25 edition of Gulf News, the United Arab Emirates’ biggest newspaper, with the headline: “DIRECT FROM OWNER DISTRESS SALE!!!” Sebat said he used to be able to buy four or five properties at a time and sell them the next day for a profit of as much as 5 percent.“There is panic in the market,” said Sebat, 52, who wouldn’t give his full name because he’s juggling 60 properties.The property bubble in the desert emirate, home to the world’s tallest building, most expensive hotel suite and , is bursting as scarce credit and slumping oil prices have international investors scurrying to dump assets. That may shatter Dubai’s goal of creating a sustainable economy by building the Persian Gulf hub for finance and tourism, forcing it to depend on oil-rich neighbor Abu Dhabi for financing.Thank goodness there are even richer Arabs to bail them out.“Dubai is more precarious than it has ever been,” said , author of “Dubai: The Vulnerability of Success” (2008, Columbia University Press). “If the property industry collapses in Dubai, it will be finished. Dubai’s relative autonomy will come to an abrupt end.”The emirate’s push into luxury property developments and tourist attractions was diversification on “paper sand,” said Davidson, a professor of Middle Eastern affairs at Durham University in the U.K....Real-estate prices may drop 20 percent or more, analysts at , the biggest publicly traded investment bank in Egypt, said in a report this week.Nakheel PJSC, the Dubai state-owned developer of three palm-shaped islands in the Persian Gulf, said Nov. 30 that it is scaling back or delaying work on some of its $30 billion in projects, including the 62-story near the Mega Yacht Club on the trunk of Palm Jumeirah.If things weren't bad enough already for the Donald......The sheikhdom may need help from Abu Dhabi and the U.A.E. to service its debt, according to Moody’s Investors Service. Dubai borrowed $80 billion to finance its transformation and make up for a lack of natural resources. It has just of oil reserves, compared with Abu Dhabi’s 92.2 billion barrels.Dubai seems to think it can weather the storm. But whether it can remains to be seen.锘?p>, we noted widespread Arab-world rumors that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak had died.There's no evidence that it's true, but traders are obviously freaked out.: EFG-Hermes Holding SAE, the biggest publicly traded Arab investment bank, dropped the most since December. Telecom Egypt, the largest fixed-line operator in the Middle East, slumped the most since October 2008 after posting full-year earnings that missed estimates. The EGX 30 Index’s 3.8 percent retreat was the most among 93 indexes tracked by Bloomberg.The retail market is “feeling a little nervous about the president,” said Angus Blair, head of research at Cairo-based investment bank Beltone Financial. “When he returns, I guess you get more calmness.” The benchmark index lost 6.2 percent in the past three days, the most since Nov. 30. The EGX 30 closed at 6,353.14, with all 30 stocks declining.锘縁orexpros 鈥?European stocks closed mixed Tuesday, on slowing German and Chinese industrial output amid Greek debt talk concerns . After the close of European trade, the EURO STOXX 50 gained 0.25%, France's CAC 40 advanced 0.18%, while Germany's DAX slipped 0.16%. Meanwhile, in the U.K. the FTSE 100 dropped 0.03%. Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papdemos is gathering the nation鈥檚 leaders to reach consensus on the fiscal cuts required for another European Union led bailout package. Greek policy makers have already agreed on cuts equal to 1.5% of the island nation鈥檚 gross domestic product. However, they are yet to agree on how to recapitalize banks, reduce wages and ensure the survival of pension funds. Meanwhile, China鈥檚 Ministry of Industry and Information Technology stated that the nation鈥檚 industrial output will likely slow this quarter due to the euro zone debt crisis and worldwide economic cooling. Adding to the Chinese bearish projection, the International Monetary Fund stated that China鈥檚 economic expansion may be cut in half by the euro zone鈥檚 debt crisis. This Chinese crisis would warrant significant fiscal stimulus from the nation鈥檚 government. The IMF went on to state that China鈥檚 growth would drop as much as four percentage points from the fund鈥檚 current projection for an expansion of 8.2% in 2012. German industrial output surprisingly declined the most in three years in December. Production gave back 2.9% from November where is stagnated. Carmakers fell on the negative economic forecasts with BMW slipping 2.7% and Renault giving back 1.3%. The world鈥檚 largest watch maker, Swatch fell 4.2% after missing operating profit projections. Luxury company shares followed Swatch lower with Burberry dropping 2.2%, Christian Dior fell 3.2% and Hermes gave back 3.1%. In bullish news, Banco Comercial surged 21% after stating it will sell new shares and draw state funds to boost its capital levels. This is despite the bank posting a full year loss of EUR786.2 million. In the U.S., stocks are higher with the Dow up 0.20%, the S&P 500 gaining 0.17% and the Nasdaq advancing 0.14%. Investors are awaiting Australian consumer sentiment, New Zealand employment, Canadian housing starts, as well as U.S. crude oil inventories on Wednesday.&nbForexpros - Forexpros offers an extensive set of professional tools for the Forex, Commodities, Futures and the including real-time data streaming, a comprehensive economic calendar, as well as financial news and technical & fundamental analysis by in-house experts.Read more on Forexpros.com or Follow us on Twitter at @Read more posts on 锘?p>Forex Pros – European stock markets plunged on Tuesday, as mounting fears over Japan's escalating nuclear crisis sparked a global selloff in equities, while U.S. futures indexes pointed to a sharply lower open on Wall Street. During European morning trade, the EURO STOXX 50 dropped 3.46%, France’s CAC 40 tumbled 3.33%, while Germany's DAX plunged 4.83%.Earlier in the day, Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan warned that radiation levels had become “significantly” higher around the Fukushima Dai-Ichi power plant, following another explosion, this time at the stricken plant’s No. 4 reactor.Shares in the world’s largest maker of nuclear reactors Areva plunged 9.5% amid concerns damage to Japanese nuclear power plants would hurt demand for reactor fuel. The stock has lost nearly 18.5% this week.Utility providers linked to nuclear energy also performed poorly, as Germany’s largest renewable energy provider RWE AG saw shares tumble 5.7%. Rival E.ON plummeted 6.1% after the Deutsche Presse reported that the German environment ministry wanted to temporarily shut E.ON’s Isar 1 nuclear reactor in Bavaria. Meanwhile, shares in luxury goods retailers were broadly lower amid concerns over the long-term sales impact of the massive earthquake in Japan, which accounts for nearly 11% of global luxury sales.Shares in LVMH dropped 6.4%, rival Hermes slumped 5.8%, while Burberry saw shares plunge 6.7%.In London, the commodity-heavy FTSE 100 sank 2.4% as commodity prices retreated amid increased risk aversion. Shares in silver producer Fresnillo tumbled 7.1%, copper producer Xstrata dropped 4.05%, while oil giant British Petroleum saw shares slump 4.1%.The outlook for U.S. equity markets, meanwhile, was sharply lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a drop of 2.39%, S&P 500 futures indicated a loss 2.82%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures pointed to a decline of 2.85%.Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish official data on manufacturing activity in the New York region, as well as government reports on import prices and the balance of domestic and foreign investment. In addition, the Federal Reserve was to hold its policy setting meeting before announcing its federal funds rate. ForexPros.com - Forex Pros offers a diverse set of professional tools for Forex, Futures and CFDs. These include real-time data streams, technical and fundamental analysis by in-house experts, and a widely used economic calendar and .锘?p>SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A quarter-century after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first prescription drugs based on the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, additional medicines derived from or inspired by the cannabis plant itself could soon be making their way to pharmacy shelves, according to drug companies, small biotech firms and university scientists.A British company, GW Pharma, is in advanced clinical trials for the world's first pharmaceutical developed from raw marijuana instead of synthetic equivalents— a mouth spray it hopes to market in the U.S. as a treatment for cancer pain. And it hopes to see FDA approval by the end of 2013.Sativex contains marijuana's two best known components — delta 9-THC and cannabidiol — and already has been approved in Canada, New Zealand and eight European countries for a different usage, relieving muscle spasms associated with multiple sclerosis.FDA approval would represent an important milestone in the nation's often uneasy relationship with marijuana, which 16 states and the District of Columbia already allow residents to use legally with doctors' recommendations. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration categorizes pot as a dangerous drug with no medical value, but the availability of a chemically similar prescription drug could increase pressure on the federal government to revisit its position and encourage other drug companies to follow in GW Pharma's footsteps."There is a real disconnect between what the public seems to be demanding and what the states have pushed for and what the market is providing," said Aron Lichtman, a Virginia Commonwealth University pharmacology professor and president of the International Cannabinoid Research Society. "It seems to me a company with a great deal of vision would say, 'If there is this demand and need, we could develop a drug that will help people and we will make a lot of money.'"Possessing marijuana still is illegal in the United Kingdom, but about a decade ago GW Pharma's founder, Dr. Geoffrey Guy, received permission to grow it to develop a prescription drug. Guy proposed the idea at a scientific conference that heard anecdotal evidence that pot provides relief to multiple sclerosis patients, and the British government welcomed it as a potential way "to draw a clear line between recreational and medicinal use," company spokesman Mark Rogerson said.In addition to exploring new applications for Sativex, the company is developing drugs with different cannabis formulations."We were the first ones to charge forward and a lot of people were watching to see what happened to us," Rogerson said. "I think we are clearly past that stage."In 1985, the FDA approved two drug capsules containing synthetic THC, Marinol and Cesamet, to ease side-effects of chemotherapy in cancer patients. The agency eventually allowed Marinol to be prescribed to stimulate the appetites of AIDS patients. The drug's patent expired last year, and other U.S. companies have been developing formulations that could be administered through dissolving pills, creams and skin patches and perhaps be used for other ailments.Doctors and multiple sclerosis patients are cautiously optimistic about Sativex. The National Multiple Sclerosis Society has not endorsed marijuana use by patients, but the organization is sponsoring a study by a University of California, Davis neurologist to determine how smoking marijuana compares to Marinol in addressing painful muscle spasms."The cannabinoids and marijuana will, eventually, likely be part of the clinician's armamentarium, if they are shown to be clinically beneficial," said Timothy Coetzee, the society's chief research officer. "The big unknown in my mind is whether they are clearly beneficial."Opponents and supporters of crude marijuana's effectiveness generally agree that more research is needed. And marijuana advocates fear that the government will use any new prescription products to justify a continued prohibition on marijuana use. "To the extent that companies can produce effective medication that utilizes the components of the plant, that's great. But that should not be the exclusive access for people who want to be able to use medical marijuana," Americans for Safe Access spokesman Kris Hermes said. "That's the race against time, in terms of how quickly can we put pressure on the federal government to recognize the plant has medical use versus the government coming out with the magic bullet pharmaceutical pill."Interest in new and better marijuana-based medicines has been building since the discovery in the late 1980s and 1990s that mammals have receptors in their central nervous systems, several organs and immune systems for the chemicals in botanical cannabis and that their bodies also produce natural cannabinoids that work on the same receptors.One of the first drugs to build on those breakthroughs was an anti-obesity medication that blocked the same chemical receptors that trigger the munchies in pot smokers. Under the name Acomplia, it was approved throughout Europe and heralded as a possible new treatment for smoking cessation and metabolic disorders that can lead to heart attacks.The FDA was reviewing its safety as a diet drug when follow-up studies showed that people taking the drug were at heightened risk of suicide and other psychiatric disorders. French manufacturer , pulled it from the market in late 2008.Given that drug companies already were reluctant "to touch anything that is THC-like with a 10-foot- pole," the setback had a chilling effect on cannabinoid drug development, according to Lichtman."Big companies like and were developing their own versions (of Acomplia), so all of those programs they spent millions and millions on just went away..." he said.But scientists and drug companies that are exploring pot's promise predict the path will ultimately be successful, if long and littered with setbacks.One is Alexandros Makriyannis, director of the Center for Drug Discovery at Northeastern University and founder of a small Boston company that hopes to market synthetic pain products that are chemically unrelated to marijuana, but work similarly on the body or inhibit the cannabinoid receptors. He also has been working on a compound that functions like the failed Acomplia but without the depressive effects."I think within five to 10 years, we should get something," Makriyannis said.锘?p>We've seen this coming for a , but here it is in official, press release form: Financial advertisers spent 27% less on display ads in the first half of 2008 than they did in 2007, Nielsen says. That drop helped push over all "imaged-based online advertising" down 6%.As usual, there are caveats here: display/"image-based online advertising" is only a portion of the Web ad market. And Nielsen doesn't provide numbers on search ads, which are the biggest slice of the market. And as astute SAI reader Jake Hermes points out below, the Nielsen numbers are for CPM ads only, which means they're also missing a big slug of performance-based ads. So Nielsen isn't giving you a complete picture of what the steadily worsening financial crisis has done to Web ads overall. But you can still make a pretty good guess: It hasn't been good, and it's going to get worse.See Also: 锘?p>It seems like only yesterday that Corynne Steindler left her gig as a gossip reporter for Page Six to go work for Bonnie Fuller's equally gossipy startup, HollywoodLife.com.Actually, it was . And now Steindler has left the gossip world altogether to become editorial director of TheSurvivorsClub.org, "an online resource center and community that helps people survive and thrivein the face ofadversity including health, financial andfamily challenges."The site was created by former "Good Morning America" producer Ben Sherwood and has partnered with Hearst Magazines Digital Media to re-launch on the company's Magnus content management platform.Steindler's hire was announced yesterday, but we hear she started at TheSurvivorsClub.org earlier this summer to revamp the brand under the Hearst Digital network.Here's more from the release:New York, NY – September15, 2010 –Hearst Magazines Digital Media today announced that it haspartnered with website to launchthe site as part of its networkon itsproprietary platform, Magnus.is an online resource center and community that helps people survive and thrivein the face ofadversity including health, financial andfamily challenges.BenSherwood, a bestselling author and award-winning journalist, originally foundedthe site. His book,The Survivors Club:TheSecrets and Science that Could SaveYour Life, was published in January2009 and became an instantNew York Timesbest-seller.“Everyone faces some kind of crisis in life and TheSurvivors Club site offers information and inspiration to help them survive andthrive,” said Ben Sherwood, founder of. “This newpartnership is very exciting for us. The breadth, depth and credibility of theHearst network of sites will further expand our reach and provide us with thetools and technology for continued growth on both the content and advertisingsides of the business.”Content on the site falls into several categories: health,family, money and “extreme” – major events like an airplane crash or naturaldisaster.Within each category,there are “journeys” tohelp visitors overcome adversity and let them know whatto expect when faced with certain challenges. The site also features breakingnews coverage of survivor stories from around theworld (i.e the trapped minersin Chile or the New Yorker who survived falling 39 stories).In addition, the site includes blogs andvideos with true stories and expert tips about surviving allkinds ofhardships.“TheSurvivorsClub.org has all the fundamentals of a greatsite and thriving community,” said Chuck Cordray, SVP and general manager ofHearst Magazines Digital Media. “Launching thesite on our platform will giveit the functionality and flexibility needed to grow its audience even further.TheSurvivorsClub will also be a welcome addition to our network; we’re excitedabout the business potential it represents as well as its socially consciouscore mission.”The Survivors Club has re-launched on theHearst platform, and effective immediately,Corynne Steindlerhas been namededitorial director.Steindler,formerly a senior editoratHollywood Life and a reporter for the New York Post’s “Page Six,”brings five years of online and printreporting experience to her new role.Magnus, the platform that houses many of the sites in theHearst Magazines Digital Media portfolio, is made up of four layers, each ofwhich helps to manage specific business and editorialaspects of the division.These layers include Circulese for subscription management, Prometheus forpromotion management, Echo for community management and Hermes forsyndicationmanagement.锘?p>Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar Glamorous 34-year old Pakistani foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar has been credited with bringing Indo-Pak peace talks back on track.The , spotted wearing Roberto Cavalli sunglasses and Jimmy Choo heels, and carrying a black Hermes Birkin bag, rounded off with diamonds and pearls, hogged headlines more for her wardrobe than her work. was quick to note the disconnect between Khar's elite upbringing and Pakistan's economic crisis.And that wasn't the only issue she drew flak for. In a huge diplomatic misstep, Khar met with leaders of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, an alliance of separatist party leaders in Kashmir, instead of meeting with Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, and before she met with Indian external affairs minister S. M. Krishna. reports:The Pakistan Foreign Office described the meetings as part of the Foreign Minister's consultations with the Kashmiri leadership before her meeting with Mr. Krishna. Ms. Khar had met the Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front chief Yasin Malik in Lahore on Monday.But the External Affairs Ministry termed the meetings a “bad idea,” though official sources said the meetings between Pakistani senior officials and Kashmiri separatist leaders on the eve of the India-Pakistan talks had acquired routine overtones.“They are the caregivers for the Hurriyat,” admitted the sources and added, “they need to tell the Hurriyat to talk the language of peace, sanity and reconciliation. Goading the Hurriyat to espouse the cause they have been espousing will hardly help improve Indo-Pak ties or help resolve issues like Jammu & Kashmir.”Unsurprisingly the talks focused on cooperating on counter terrorism and the rhetoric on Kashmir remained vague. At a joint press conference Krishna said :He said on the Jammu and Kashmir issue, “we will continue discussions with a view to finding a peaceful solution by narrowing divergences and building convergences.Meanwhile, for the welfare of the people on both sides of the LoC, we have announced additional measures on cross-LoC travel and trade”.Khar also met with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during her visit.Don't miss: 锘?p>Goldman Sachs' latest move to re-vamp is to hire Bess Joffe, according to the .The most concrete move so far has been the hiring of a new vice president in its investor-relations department who has publicly advocated some changes Goldman has resisted in the past, Bess Joffe... She started at Goldman this month.The most interesting thing about this hire is her past experience - splitting up the roles of chairman and CEO at Bank of America.While at Hermes, the Canadian-trained attorney was involved in a successful push last year by shareholders of Bank of America Corp. to split the roles of chairman and chief executive amid several investigations into the bank's CEO at the time, Kenneth Lewis.But remember two things: One, that at Goldman's last annual shareholder meeting, 80% splitting up Blankfein's roles. Two, he'll be fired.锘?p>Billionaire banker Andy Beal may have in recent months, "where players put up a $1 million buy-in." said this morning in an interview with C, that the U.S can't play Russian roulette with the debt ceiling. .He also : " I’ve seen nothing to indicate that myself, and I don’t want him to, I want him to stay!”Christopher Acito, CEO of Gapstow Capital Partners, and his wife and model Isabella Rossellini.coach Herm Edwards spoke to the league's new college recruits, . The bottom line: if you went into it for the money, you probably won't make any.Dominique Strauss-Kahn will not accept any plea bargain and "won't plead guilty to anything" in the sex crimes case against him, .The Tribeca townhouse where Dominique Strauss-Kahn M&A star Peter Kiernan Great profile on PDT's Peter Muller in ; with pretty pictures, . Associates, Ray Dalio's Westport-based $100 billion hedge fund, , hedge funder and ex-husband of Asset Management's , A unit of Inc. for $470 million.The newly-crowned Miss Oregon n, who founded Waukee State Bank.Remember when hedge fund manager Alphonse Fletcher , for racism, and the board of the co-op said that he simply was not in a financial position to take on another apartment. It turns out there may have been something to that reasoning: Non-Wall Street Bonus". The couple were spotted getting onto the Jitney Monday night in Montauk, where O'Connell's family owns a home."锘?p>Bankers. Apparently now "a is about as desirable in this country as a sub-prime mortgage. I couldn’t help feeling sorry for the chap who wrote in a letter to this paper admitting that he bought a BlackBerry a few days before the suspension was announced." PR was not happy about our "you can see every position at Goldman on its technology" article. After we got ,we asked why he'd deleted said sentence from his own article. He responded: Prudence is the better part of valor.There is at (pictured) in Hong Kong. He also happens to have one of the best facebook pictures ever.There are whispers inside hedge fund that the, Morgan Stanley. Apparently the new have encouraged the managers and Morgan CEO James Gorman to divest the fund quickly. And FYI, the place has an amazing pantry and food situation going on. A vice chairman and principal executive officer at . Keith Meister is leaving to pursue other opportunities.Apparently , reports the FT. Though he's still generally betting on a recovery, and not totally in the double dip camp, the fact that he's ratcheting downs his expectations means something.Hedge fund giant, , With TFI Skarbiec, they'll be starting a fund called Skarbiec Alternatywny. Shares are scheduled to begin sale from the beginning of September.Asked if Obama has a favorite banker, , assistant secretary of the U.S. Treasury told the: "“I have no idea if the president has a favorite banker or who he might be..." And then, "I’ve met , he’s a delightful guy.” .BONUS: We really enjoyed this guy's comment on item about Andrew Gill, who tricked a news reporter into writing a story about his maybe nonexistent, maybe fraudulent hedge fund. Props. "Thing about a guy named Andrew Gill is... you'd expect him to name a fund with Fish in the title. Note to all fake hedge fund managers, it's always safer to just use a vaguely inappropriate Greek or Roman god. The Hermes Fund, for example." 锘?p>Han Sung-Ju, Miss Korea 1995A claims he was , the AllKpop site reported.The hedge-fund manager, Chris Hsu, , is suing Han Sung-Ju, a former beauty queen who is now a television personality, the report said. The hedge funder alleging that he was locked in a room by the former beauty queen's brother, mother, and two other men where he was assaulted for eight hours.His attorney said in a statement that Hsu would be requesting an additional In his suit, Hsu also alleges that his ex-girlfriend used his credit cards to buy an Hermes watch and an expensive handbag among other luxury items racking up a 340 million won bill, .Sung-Ju's lawyers . She's also , AllKPop reported. to one of the sons of AeKyung cosmetics and detergent conglomerate chairwoman, Chang Young-shin.," News reported, citing an unnamed source.Kilometre, which was backed by Paloma Partners, started trading in May 2010 and had 47 percent returns that year. In 2011, the fund lost 7 percent in the first five months of the year, the Bloomberg report said.Hsu was considered a in Asia.Prior to starting up Kilometre, Hsu was the until "following differences of opinion on its direction," according to a report. During his tenure at Abax, he was named a by Trader Monthly in September 2008.Before that, he worked as a managing director for Citadel's Hong Kong office.Hsu graduated from with a bachelor's in management science engineering and a Stanford President’s Award, according to his Kilometre bio.A request for comment from Hsu was not immediately returned.SEE ALSO: 锘?p>Over the weekend, Gucci's fans in Delhi got look-see of how the label produces its .To celebrate 90 years in the business, Gucci set up a pop-up workshop and flew down its artisans to give Delhi's fashion doyennes a demo of how they hand made (of course!) the New Bamboo, the Jackie, the Stirrup and the Gucci 1973 bags.The Artisan Corner display included custom work tables, a sewing machine, a leather stand, metal tools, as well as background material which shows the products' evolution from mood board to sketches. Mumbai got a look in early December. . Also celebrating the artisan (with the help of a slickly-shot movie) is Hermes. .This originally appeared on .This story was originally published by.锘?p>Blackstone had a 25th anniversary-cum-holiday bash at the Met for the entire firm about three weeks ago.A thank you must go to a young man by the name of Kevin Roose, who took it upon himself to crash the lavish soiree.And thank you the for allowing us to all be part of the festivities, at least vicariously., but obviously we're thrilled.If we missed the review, we're guessing some of you did too.So here are the highlights:锘?p>Not a day goes by when the German government isn't under heavy fire from outside interests, including Barak Obama who is facing a tough reelection campaign; and the last thing he wants is any crap flying across the Atlantic.They all want Germany to agree to pick up whatever the tab might be for bailing out the Eurozone, beyond the hundreds of billions of euros it has already agreed to pick up.Yet May has taken the sheen off what Germans have come to call their “.” The DAX suffered its worst May since the index was founded in 1987—it was down about 7%—after a series of economic data made a sharp turn for the worse.Thursday, the Statistical Agency reported that in the first quarter had dropped 2.7% from prior year. While cargo transported to neighboring countries rose by 1.8%, cargo shipped between locations in Germany dropped 2.3%, cargo received from other countries dropped 5%, and transit cargo, a measure of the broader economy in the region, dropped a stunning 12.2%. The trend is even worse: March was particularly nasty with an overall decline of 6.4%.In the same breath, the agency announced that had dropped 3.8% in April from prior year. Analysts were for an increase of 0.2%.And turmoil continued to spread: Euler Hermes, a subsidiary of German mega insurer Allianz, and Coface, a French credit insurer, that they would no longer insure exports to Greece, fearing unpredictable consequences if Greece reverts to the drachma. A first in the history of the EU that insurers backed away from a member country. One more item in the litany of signs that the Eurozone is bogging down in its own mire.Meanwhile, the astounding wave of central bankers’ unleashing hard truths continued: Now it's ECB President Mario Draghi who, in the travails of the Eurozone, let slip that “The configuration we had for 10 years, which was considered sustainable, has been shown now to be unsustainable....”Gasp! He was following in the footsteps of Thomas Jordan, President of the Swiss National Bank and long-time euro-skeptic, who’d discussed the consequence of a collapse of the euro. Read.... .And before him, it was Jens Weidmann, President of the German Bundesbank and member of the ECB Council, who’d slammed French President François Hollande, the ECB, anything reeking of a transfer union, and even . Read.... .Draghi was pushing for dramatic action, where German taxpayers (and those of a few other countries) would be stuck with the bill. He called for the establishment of a Eurozone-wide centrally supervised (by him, presumably) banking union with a resolution fund and a deposit insurance fund to put an end to the quiet bank runs before they turn into panic. But he forgot an inconvenient fact: banks would normally be required to pay into such a fund for years to benefit from it during some distant crisis; but the fund doesn’t exist yet, and banks haven't paid into it, and so the entire amount of the deposit insurance needed for the current crisis would have to be born not by banks and their investors, but by taxpayers, and particularly taxpayers still able to do so, mostly those in Germany.“The next step is for our leaders to clarify what the vision is for a certain number of years from now,” he said. “Dispel this fog.” Again, stunning clarity. “Greater centralization of supervision is essential,” he added, on the principle that national democratic processes and institutions should be usurped for the sake of the euro, and that holders of government and bank debt shouldn’t ever lose their shirts—forgetting that defaults and bankruptcies are the cleansing processes of debt-fueled capitalism.Of course, Germany and a handful of other countries could agree to bail out first Spanish banks, then Spain, and then Italy, if they even could, along with some other countries and a slew of banks, including their own banks, to save the euro. The sums are so vast that taxpayers couldn’t actually do this. It would require the ECB to print these bailout trillions. A treaty change would allow that in no time. Hollande, Obama, et al. would be ecstatic. It would solve the Eurozone debt crisis in one fell swoop.The ECB would turn into the Fed or the Bank of Japan. It would eventually debase the currency and permanently free governments from the arduous and painful task of getting their budgets in order. Instead, politicians would follow the Japanese model, where debt amounts to 230% of GDP, and where utter fiscal gloom is pervading the lives of the young. The US, with its ballooning debt and out-of-control deficits, is already on that track. It may be OK for Greece or Italy. But is it wise for Germany?Here is a dark, thought-provoking, and awesome video by the author of Currency Wars, James Rickards—particularly powerful in light of the euro crisis: .锘?p>That story makes it FOUR women now who have accused Herman Cain of sexual harassment. Four. Bialek isn't looking for cash. She's not out peddling her story to the tabloids, which would have fetched her a large sum of money. She's not suing Cain for anything. She simply wants him to apologize and admit what he did.So what does Cain do? He does what every other scumbag does in a situation like this, and he tries to make the story about the woman. Today, Cain's campaign sent out an email that tries to paint a picture of Sharon Bialek as some crazed whore who is lying to bring down Herman Cain.Cain and his people talk about Bialek's bankruptcy filings, or her paternity matters that were before a California court. They talk about her having career troubles, taking on a series of jobs over the last 17 years.What the hell do these things have to do with whether or not Herman Cain groped Sharon Bialek? They don't. They're just an excuse to try and make Cain out to be the victim, when he is in fact a lecherous old, desperate disgusting man.This is why none of the three other women who accused Herman Cain of sexual harassment were willing to put their name and face alongside the accusations. Bialek brought on Gloria Allred, who is working for free, because Bialek knew she was going to get hammered by these right wing douchebags. She knew they'd dig and look for dirt, as if whatever they might find could change the fact that Herman Cain all but raped this woman. She knew they'd call her a whore and a tramp and insinuate that she was in this for the money.Never mind the facts. Never mind the TWO affidavits signed by people who Bialek told about the incident back when it happened. Never mind the pattern of abuse that Cain has heaped on other women. Never mind the mounting stack of women who say that Cain harassed them as well. Never mind the conservative radio host who said Cain harassed female members of his staff. Never mind the Republican pollster who saw Cain harass other women.Nope, ignore all those facts because Bialek isn't a perfect human being.Herman Cain is a scumbag. Herman Cain's campaign is run by scumbags, staffed by scumbags, and defend a scumbag. If you want to defend him, well, I don't see how you can live with yourself. Sexual assault is no joking matter, and if Herman Cain had even a shred of decency, humanity, or soul, he would bow out of this race and go back to whatever perverted hole he crawled out of. He won't, of course. Truth be damned; whether it's an erection or an election, the only thing that matters to Herman Cain is Herman Cain.锘?p>APHerman Cain said the protestors on Wall Street are anti-American. But the real anti-American is Herman Cain.He knows that the protestors on Wall Street are not against capitalism.He knows that the banks did not earn their money the old fashioned way, with responsible lending and sound underwriting that Cain advocated during his press conference condemnation of the protestors. Herman Cain is a traitor to the American way if he thinks he can get away with calling the protestors on Wall Street anti-American. Shame on you Herm.I noticed that all over the boards, Tea Party folks were trying the same BS the last few days. It should come as no surprise that the Tea Party insiders love the banks.They talk about stopping bank bailouts but we know that would crash everything. So what these Tea Partiers want is no bank regulation so they can wheel and deal anyway they want. Same for their libertarian friends.The protestors are more sophisticated about the banking abuses than how many, like Cain, and others portray these protestors. The protestors understand that the banks must be regulated, and prosecutions must occur.It has never been un-American in the history of our nation until now for bankers who scam and cheat to be prosecuted and for banks to be regulated. Herman Cain is un-American. He has no clue what it means to be an American. He should talk to , who said the damn banks need to be regulated. Fuld really ought to know.And is the same sort of stupid, calling the protests class warfare. I have always maintained that class warfare is from the top down. Perhaps he forgot about all the toxic loans, lax underwriting and the failure to regulate banks that gave out toxic CDO's and insured them with unregulated swaps. This casino is the toxic and un American way. You hear this class warfare stuff from all the time.Mitt Romney, the same foolish multimillionaire who said he was unemployed while talking to unemployed people is a liar and a cheat. That is NOT the American way. The American way is an affirmation of capitalism with a little socialism thrown in for the benefit of the people. That has been the way of prosperity since the Great Depression of the 1930's. And it worked, and it was somewhat fair. What we have now is neither working nor is it fair.But go on, Herman Cain and Mitt Romney, keep making damn fools out of yourselves. I am sure that the independents are taking note.And do not forget Mr Cain, and Mr Romney, that for the toxic products that caused the meltdown and crisis. He put the blame squarely on the financial system. So, you two meat heads probably didn't get that message, but perhaps you need to get it. The banks didn't earn money the old fashioned way.I support the old fashioned way Mr Cain! But that wasn't the way it happened and for that reason I support #occupywallstreet.I have read that donations can go to I do not know anything about the site but read that is the way to get money to people over there in NYC. Here is involved in the protests. I do not have anything to do with either website and am not endorsing them.锘?p>From the Herm猫s Pippa furniture collection, we lust after the Herm猫s Pippa folding armchair and console. With the mix of a Hollywood director blended with a rugged cowboy, you can just imagine Clint Eastwood sitting behind the camera in the Herm猫s Pippa armchair.The Herm猫s armchair is made of pear wood with satin-finish varnish and natural cowhide. Metal pieces in brass. Weighs 18.3 lbs. Measures 32.48″x31.5″x15.75″. Cost of $11,100.00.The Herm猫s folding console is made of pear wood with satin-finish varnish. Metal pieces in brass. Weighs 17.2 lbs. Base measures 47.24″x11.81″x27.56″. Tabletop measures 48.43″x13.19″x0.98″. Cost of $8,550.00.Read more posts on 锘?p>Herm猫s has unveiled a limited-edition Indian sari range to “connect” with Indian culture as it target buyers in new markets, it said Saturday.Indian women may wear Western dress to the office during the day but for weddings and other formal occasions they often prefer to wear six-yard (five and a half metre) elegantly draped saris, reflecting the strong pull of tradition.“This is part of our effort to connect to India’s culture and to the tradition of elegance of Indian women,” Bertrand Michaud, president of Herm猫s India, told us.“We’ve put all our skills into making them to pay homage to the Indian tradition,” he said, adding there were no plans yet to make the collection a permanent addition to the company’s offerings.There are a total of 28 saris being sold with one line priced at 300,000 rupees ($6,120) and another priced at 400,000 rupees ($8,158), Michaud said — making them within the reach only of India’s very wealthy.The launch of the saris, created in Paris and made of a variety of fabrics, from cashmere to twill silk, comes with the company aiming to win new luxury buyers in different markets.This is the second limited edition sari collection for Herm猫s, which launched its first batch for a Millennium collection, and calls its relationship with India “a love affair”.Beyond the saris, India’s richly coloured motifs have been reflected in Herm猫s’ scarf designs. Several years ago, then Hermes star designer Jean Paul Gaultier featured sari dresses in a collection called Indian Fantasies.The company’s sari launch comes after Herm猫s recently sought to bolster its presence in India by opening a flagship store, one of its biggest in Asia, in Mumbai. It already has two outlets in New Delhi and the western city of Pune. Most global luxury brands in India are tucked away in five-star hotels or malls but Hermes chose to open its Mumbai store in a renovated colonial era street-level building.“We want to be part of Indian life,” Michaud said.Read more posts on 锘?p>While luxury shopping might be slumping here (), its booming in Brazil! Might be something for those of you still with money to consider for your next holiday...: Brazil has experienced an economic boom that has created thousands of millionaires, more than 20,000 in 2007 alone. That rapid and substantial increase in disposable income is obvious in Sao Paulo, Brazil's most cosmopolitan city. Shopping malls with Hermes and Giorgio Armani boutiques have sprouted up all over the city. "It's not there yet, but Brazil is on its way to becoming a priority market for luxury brand names," said Carlos Ferreirinha, a former president of Louis Vuitton in Brazil.See Also: 锘?p>Hollywood’s most precious princess, Grace Kelly, has been the not-so-unofficial muse behind the Herm猫s Kelly Bag. And did you know the reason why the Herm猫s handbag received so much attention when Grace Kelly went out and about? She was attempting to hide her private “baby bump” with her Herm猫s bag — which was photographed and adored by the public.But let’s take a step back on the history of the Herm猫s Kelly Bag…Herm猫s is recognized for its handmade luggage and handbag collections. The company does not use assembly lines, only one craftsperson may work on one handbag at a time, hand-stitching each individual piece. Due to the labor-intensive nature of Herm猫s production methods and the use of rare materials, sometimes including exotic skins as well as precious metals, one bag can take 18 to 24 hours to create. The construction of each Kelly bag, for example, requires 18 hours of work by a single artisan. Herm猫s’ leathers include those of alligator from Florida, buffalo from Pakistan, crocodile from Australia, shark from Thailand, lizard from Malaysia, and oxen, deer, calf, goat, and ostrich from all over the world. The leathers are professionally treated, dyed in an extensive range of colors, and handcrafted into bags of all sizes, small leather goods, and additional accessories. When Herm猫s leather goods require repair, owners are encouraged to bring the item back to any Herm猫s store where it can be shipped to the factory near Paris for repair or reconditioning.Bags made popular through high-profile clientele include the “Kelly bag”, introduced in the 1930s and made popular by Grace Kelly, the Constance shoulder bag with a double strap and large H clasp, and the Trim shoulder bag preferred by Jacqueline Bouvier Onassis. Both Kelly and Constance bags remain in demand, and there has historically been a one-year waiting list.In 1956, a photo of Grace Kelly, who had become the new Princess of Monaco) carrying the Sac 脿 d茅p锚ches bag to shield her pregnant stomach from the prying eyes of the paparazzi. Photographs of her covering her stomach bulge with her hallowed Herm猫s were splashed all over the world and made it onto the cover of Life magazine. Thus, the company 鈥?or possibly more like the public 鈥?renamed it the Kelly bag, and it became hugely popular. When discussing her high-profile life, Kelly said 鈥渢he freedom of the press works in such a way that there is very little freedom from it.鈥?When faced with a pack of nosy photographers, Stephanie Pendersen, in her book, Handbags, What Every Woman Should Know, says that the shy, newly married Princess, not yet wishing to announce her pregnancy to the world, did what any woman would do and hid her secret in her handbag.The Kelly Bag is made by one individual craftsman in about 18 hours of work. The skins arrive at the factory already laid out in perfect symmetry, ready for the expert to being his (or her) magic. Goat skins are used for the lining and this is the first part to be actually sewn. After the lining is made, the base of the handbag is handsewn to the front and back with waxed linen thread. A double saddle stitch is used and each thrust of the needle is carefully done. A tiny hole is made with an awl before each stitch and the stitch size dictates the size of the hole. Adjustment is made for the particular grain of the leather to work with the natural pattern.The handle comes next in the careful construction of the Kelly handbag and the shaping is done by hand with painstaking attention to detail. The layers of the stitched leather is smoothed with sandpaper and then dyed to match the handbag. Hot wax is applied to protect the handle from moisture.The distinctive front flap is then added to the bag body and next is the distinctive hardware and 4 feet on the bottom. Each of these metal parts are hand riveted. Believe it or not, the handbag is then ironed to gently smooth out the wrinkles in the calfskin. Last is the famous gold stamp that says “Hermes Paris”.Little known fact: Grace Kelly once used an Herm猫s scarf as a sling for her broken arm….Read more posts on 锘?p>AFP/Getty Images Since I’ve heard the term “trademark squatting” from five different people/sources today, it makes me think that I should write something about it before the interest dies down. Seems like I’m turning into an attention whore.I think the interest here relates to the and, indirectly, to Apple-Proview.OK, so what’s a trademark squatter? We get the term “squatter” from those folks who occupy land or buildings without permission from the owner. In Common Law, these people can actually end up with property rights if they “squat” for a sufficient period of time. It’s called “adverse possession,” and this has been another edition of Fun Facts From First Year Property Law.When it comes to trademarks (or other forms of IP, such as domain names — ), squatters are the dodgy bastards who register as trademarks the brand, product or company name of others. The motivations for doing so can vary and can include the intent to resell the mark, hold it hostage for certain business concessions, or to benefit from the product or brand’s established goodwill by using the mark on counterfeits or other products.To put it another way: “Hey, that company stole my trademark!”Right. Lots of examples of this. Last week we had the dispute, which involved a company that registered a long list of Jordan-related trademarks.I just found out today that the alleged infringer in that case also registered, among others, a mark and a business designation of another well-known name in the basketball community. The company name was:?????????????.The three bold characters in the name are “hu – ren – dui” or literally “lake – people – team.” Sound familiar? If you’re not an fan, I’ll pause for a moment so you can do some quick Googling.Got it? Good for you. Note that this was an example of a past incident of trademark squatting (in 2000) by these guys and, apparently, the mark was . I assume all rights now belong to the LA Lakers or the NBA or whatever special purpose company owns team names and logos.So in addition to the Michael Jordan situation and , and the earlier cases of Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian, we’ve got Laker squatting, which sounds like a perverted B-ball groupie custom practiced in Inglewood. But no, it’s just a trademark thing, and another reason why the NBA has some top notch IP lawyers on staff.Also , which just lost an administrative appeal that goes back to 1995. This case involved a Chinese trademark registered by a Guangdong company. The mark associated with the French company is “???” and the one challenged is “???” — same pronunciation, same pinyin, and obviously very similar in terms of characters used.From a distance, this looks like an example of “Hey, those guys stole my trademark!” . So why did Hermes lose this case?Actually, it lost the case back in 1997, and its second attempt has now also failed. I don’t know the specific details of either proceeding, so I can’t comment on the facts beyond what I’ve seen in the press. Apparently one issue involved the insufficiency of the evidence Hermes presented to prove that its mark was well known at the time the mark was filed.Here’s the thing with many of these trademark squatting cases. If the argument is that the mark was registered in bad faith, evidenced by the mark’s well-known status prior to the application, then it all comes down to the evidence submitted to either the court or administrative body.This evidence can include trademark registrations, examples of use of the mark, marketing and PR materials, consumer surveys, records of money spent on brand awareness — basically anything that supports the claim of well-known status.Even for a world famous brand like Hermes, this is by no means a slam dunk (and this is why the Jeremy Lin case will be tougher than Michael Jordan’s). Not only does the brand owner have to dredge up information that is years old, but depending on the nature and origin of the evidence, it might also need to be notarized. The whole thing can be a huge pain in the ass, and for multinationals who do not keep very good records of their China operations, they might simply be unable to support their claim.I don’t know what happened in the Hermes case, but I’ve had clients over the years who were unable to win on a well-known trademark argument simply because of poor record keeping. This is not as easy as it looks.Finally, if you want another article on trademark squatting, about the topic and Facebook’s brand problems in China. Good stuff as usual, and Malcolm gets special kudos for noting that the trademark dispute is not an instance of trademark squatting.Why not? As Malcolm correctly points out, Proview’s “IPAD” product dates back to 1998, and they registered the mark in 2001, long before Apple’s tablet was rolled out. Remember, the iPad case is all about a failed trademark assignment (a commercial dispute) and not an example of one company registering someone else’s famous mark.Just to make this long post worth it for you, I feel obligated to end here with Trademark Squatting — () Best Practices for Brand Owners:1. Register first. There’s no substitute for this.2. Monitor the trademark register.3. Keep decent records, even gasp in your overseas offices.4. If faced with a squatter, be prepared for a lengthy battle.5. If you make a deal to buy the mark from a squatter (or anyone else), don’t screw up the transaction.© Stan for , 2012. Add to Post tags: , , Read more posts on 锘?lt;iframe src=" width="600" height="430" border="0" frameborder="0"></iframe>锘?p>Lost StarProud voters are already posting on Instagram—sometimes with the names of their chosen candidates filled in.But before you snap a shot of your vote, you might want to . As the Citizen Media Law Project as part of their guide to documenting the 2012 election, showing your marked ballot to other people is actually While laws vary from state to state, the penalties for showing your ballot can be stiff.“It’s illegal to display your voted ballot and violators could be convicted of a misdemeanor,” Colorado secretary of state spokesman Richard Coolidge told ProPublica. The penalty, according to Colorado law: a fine of not more than $1000, imprisonment in county jail for not more than one year — or both.In , voters who show their ballots to other people can, in certain circumstances, have their votes thrown out.It’s not clear how these rules apply to sharing a picture of your ballot on the Internet, or whether states would actually prosecute voters for an shot. Officials from Hawaii have yet to respond to a request for comment.In Michigan, voters will have their ballots confiscated if they are found taking a photo or video of a ballot in a polling place, said Fred Woodhams, a spokesman for the Michigan department of state. Once an exposed ballot is confiscated, voters do not get a new one.That doesn’t mean the state is monitoring the web for violations. “Certainly, we’re not going to Instagram to find people’s ballots,” he said.“Virtually all of these laws are older laws that predate the current technology,” said Jeffrey Hermes, a First Amendment expert who wrote the Citizen Media Law Project’s .But, he warned in his guide, “It is easy to imagine situations in which the thoughtless posting of a marked ballot on could result in negative consequences.”Rick Hasen, an election law expert at the University of California, Irvine, said that taking a picture of your marked ballot is “bad news.”“Hard as it is to believe, before the secret ballot there was a lot more vote buying and we don't want more of that now,” he wrote in an email.A North Carolina elections official told WRAL last week that a “criminal vote-buying scheme” in another state had involved .Some states simply prohibit within a polling place.Allowing voters to publicly display their ballots might also undermine the culture of the secret ballot, Hermes said. Another factor is the fear that voters might be intimated or swayed by seeing other people’s ballots. “These are legitimate concerns,” Hermes said, “but they only extend so far.” If voters “want to express what they feel and their experience and the polls, the First Amendment should protect that,” he said. Josh Stearns of Free Press, a media and technology advocacy group, told ProPublica he did not see much difference between wearing a t-shirt supporting a candidate, and sharing a photograph of your ballot.“For a lot of people, voting is a really important life event,” he said.“We can take our kids into the voting booth, but in many places we can’t take a picture of our ballot.”Stearns said that allowing individuals to photograph their ballots might also be an important way of providing them with a record of their own vote.Students interviewed this week by the had a range of views on posting ballot photos on Instagram, from approval to disappointment that voting had become “just another thing you can tweet.”At least one state has recently changed its stance on the issue, Hermes said. Maine its ban on voters showing their own ballots in 2011.锘?p>The Investment Management Association (IMA) this week of UK institutional investors鈥?engagement with the companies they invest in. The survey covers 50 institutional investors, including 41 asset managers holding some聽拢590 billion of UK equities (31% of the UK market).聽The report follows on from the聽聽launched last year.聽Cynics might argue that a survey of institutional fund managers聽to ascertain how they are behaving could end up being self-serving.聽The IMA is after all the trade body for the fund management industry.聽Nevertheless, putting cynicism aside for the time being, the survey does make for very interesting and worthwhile reading.聽It is available聽.聽At the very least, this survey shows that an increasing degree of lip service is being paid to the pressing issue of institutional investor engagement and hopefully much more than just that.聽Liz Murrall, Director of Corporate Governance at the IMA, said:鈥淭he aim of our survey was to find out what stewardship means in practice....聽Our survey reveals a picture of real long-term commitment to achieving value for shareholders. Much of the dialogue between companies and their investors聽takes place behind closed doors, but our survey illuminates that process, showing real and productive engagement which ultimately improves the governance of major UK companies.鈥?/p>Just on that quote, we found it amusing to see this implied acknowledgement of the pervasive聽聽that exists in the UK, and yet to note that not once in this in the 51 page document is聽the issue of quot;selective disclosurequot; or the need for 聽discussed.聽There was this rather brief quote from聽Fair Pensions on page 35:鈥淭ransparency, through public disclosure, is imperative for demonstrating and exercising accountabilityquot;.However, this was in the context of whether the institutions were putting on their website聽their (often bland) public statements on how stewardship responsibilities are to be discharged.聽This omission presumably reflects the fact that the FRC's Stewardship Code fails to tackle the core market transparency issue of enforcing full openness of corporate disclosure and stamping out selective disclosure, other than stipulating this under the guidance to Principle 7:Transparency is an important feature of effective stewardship. Institutional investors should not, however, be expected to make disclosures that might be counterproductive.Again, this refers to institutions' own disclosure duties, not their role in monitoring and preventing selective disclosure by companies.聽If institutions are supposed to be quot;stewardsquot;, what are they stewards of? Surely, in a free market economy,聽ensuring transparency and a level playing field has to be the most fundamental stewardship obligation of all. And yet US empirical research on the 聽and the seems to have gone completely unnoticed by the FRC. Compared to boilerplate public statements of stewardship responsibilities, how much more important would institutional support be for the kind of fully open access to earnings calls and end to closed-room corporate briefings that has been common practice in the United States since RegFD in 2000?聽On that note, there's a fascinating article on IR Web Report this month .聽Anyway, moving along to the topic at hand, the survey now claims encouragingly that:Six in-depth case聽studies are discussed in the study to illustrate聽where serious engagement between investors and companies proved valuable, namely:All cases apparently saw high levels of investor engagement with companies, including meetings at senior Board level, investor consultation and, in one case site visits.聽In 80% of cases, institutional investors believed they had achieved their set objectives in engaging on the issue.聽Where failings were recognised, they were put down to too few resources to be effective and stakes too small to be influential (although the survey did acknowledge that there were more than 1,300 people amongst the institutions surveyed focusing on stewardship activities).However, AccountancyAge 聽that this self-congratulation should be taken with a聽pinch of salt:聽quot;No surprises there then. It would have made interesting reading however if the IMA had uncovered less-than-perfect practices among investment聽managers.聽This, at least, would have made the study seem more independent and less self-servingquot;.It also seems a shame that they didn't interview the retail shareholders in the very same companies to see if they agreed with some of the fund managers' assessements. For those that are interested in who was actually interviewed, here's the full list of participants below. Hopefully, the聽聽and聽聽will be invited to participate next time to make the survey more representative of broader investor opinion.聽 Read more posts on 锘?p>The Investment Management Association (IMA) this week of UK institutional investors鈥?engagement with the companies they invest in. The survey covers 50 institutional investors, including 41 asset managers holding some聽拢590 billion of UK equities (31% of the UK market).聽The report follows on from the聽聽launched last year.聽Cynics might argue that a survey of institutional fund managers聽to ascertain how they are behaving could end up being self-serving.聽The IMA is after all the trade body for the fund management industry.聽Nevertheless, putting cynicism aside for the time being, the survey does make for very interesting and worthwhile reading.聽It is available聽.聽At the very least, this survey shows that an increasing degree of lip service is being paid to the pressing issue of institutional investor engagement and hopefully much more than just that.聽Liz Murrall, Director of Corporate Governance at the IMA, said:鈥淭he aim of our survey was to find out what stewardship means in practice....聽Our survey reveals a picture of real long-term commitment to achieving value for shareholders. Much of the dialogue between companies and their investors聽takes place behind closed doors, but our survey illuminates that process, showing real and productive engagement which ultimately improves the governance of major UK companies.鈥?/p>Just on that quote, we found it amusing to see this implied acknowledgement of the pervasive聽聽that exists in the UK, and yet to note that not once in this in the 51 page document is聽the issue of quot;selective disclosurequot; or the need for 聽discussed.聽There was this rather brief quote from聽Fair Pensions on page 35:鈥淭ransparency, through public disclosure, is imperative for demonstrating and exercising accountabilityquot;.However, this was in the context of whether the institutions were putting on their website聽their (often bland) public statements on how stewardship responsibilities are to be discharged.聽This omission presumably reflects the fact that the FRC's Stewardship Code fails to tackle the core market transparency issue of enforcing full openness of corporate disclosure and stamping out selective disclosure, other than stipulating this under the guidance to Principle 7:Transparency is an important feature of effective stewardship. Institutional investors should not, however, be expected to make disclosures that might be counterproductive.Again, this refers to institutions' own disclosure duties, not their role in monitoring and preventing selective disclosure by companies.聽If institutions are supposed to be quot;stewardsquot;, what are they stewards of? Surely, in a free market economy,聽ensuring transparency and a level playing field has to be the most fundamental stewardship obligation of all. And yet US empirical research on the 聽and the seems to have gone completely unnoticed by the FRC. Compared to boilerplate public statements of stewardship responsibilities, how much more important would institutional support be for the kind of fully open access to earnings calls and end to closed-room corporate briefings that has been common practice in the United States since RegFD in 2000?聽On that note, there's a fascinating article on IR Web Report this month .聽Anyway, moving along to the topic at hand, the survey now claims encouragingly that:Six in-depth case聽studies are discussed in the study to illustrate聽where serious engagement between investors and companies proved valuable, namely:All cases apparently saw high levels of investor engagement with companies, including meetings at senior Board level, investor consultation and, in one case site visits.聽In 80% of cases, institutional investors believed they had achieved their set objectives in engaging on the issue.聽Where failings were recognised, they were put down to too few resources to be effective and stakes too small to be influential (although the survey did acknowledge that there were more than 1,300 people amongst the institutions surveyed focusing on stewardship activities).However, AccountancyAge 聽that this self-congratulation should be taken with a聽pinch of salt:聽quot;No surprises there then. It would have made interesting reading however if the IMA had uncovered less-than-perfect practices among investment聽managers.聽This, at least, would have made the study seem more independent and less self-servingquot;.It also seems a shame that they didn't interview the retail shareholders in the very same companies to see if they agreed with some of the fund managers' assessments. For those that are interested in who was actually interviewed, here's the full list of participants below. Hopefully, the聽聽and聽聽will be invited to participate next time to make the survey more representative of broader investor opinion.聽 Read more posts on 锘?p>Dow up 80…oil still below $100…gold still below $1,500….Oil has a long way to get back to its 2008 high. But it鈥檚 still 3 times what it was in 2005 and 5 times its price in 2001.In the battle between inflation and deflation, it鈥檚 not clear to us who鈥檚 winning. Prices are rising, but in the context of a general deflationary funk. Try as they might, the feds just can鈥檛 shake the . It leaves them struggling to loosen to free-up the economy…and succeeding only in tightening the noose around the consumer鈥檚 neck. Here鈥檚 the AP report:NEW YORK (AP) 鈥?High gas prices are driving a wider wedge between the wealthy and everybody else.The rich are back to pre-recession splurging: Saks Fifth Avenue and Nordstrom customers are treating themselves to luxury items like $5,000 Hermes handbags and $700 Jimmy Choo shoes, and purchasing at full price.鈥淭he average shopper isn鈥檛 in the game, except for necessities,鈥?said Faith Hope Consolo, chairman of retail leasing and marketing at Prudential Douglas Elliman. At the same time, among the rich, 鈥淟uxury products are selling like bread.鈥?/p>J.C. Penney, Wal-Mart and home-improvement retailer Lowe鈥檚 Cos. all said they鈥檙e noticing their customers are consolidating shopping trips to save money on gas as the average price hovers at $4 a gallon.More than a half-dozen corporate earnings reports this week show that for the affluent, rising prices are merely a nuisance. For others, they can mean scrimping to put food on the table.Of course, this has the obvious nasty feedback loop. The middle and lower classes have less to spend. The economy sinks along with them.But we鈥檙e not going to worry about them. We warned them!Instead, let鈥檚 turn to another subject.Yesterday, The Daily Reckoning set off a bombshell…or at least a stink bomb. We wondered aloud if real growth rates in the developed countries 鈥?particularly in England and America 鈥?hadn鈥檛 returned to their pre-Industrial Revolution rates. Is it possible that real growth regresses to the very low levels of the middle ages or before?Why would that happen?It鈥檚 not a matter of Fed policy. Or of tax rates. Or even of debt. It鈥檚 deeper than that. More basic. More important.Each time humans make a breakthrough, their rate of growth speeds up. They then take advantage of it. They fill up the economic niche it opens for them…as fully as their new technology allows. And then what? Growth then goes back to 鈥榥ormal.鈥?But what鈥檚 normal? Apparently, normal is very low or negligible rates of growth; that鈥檚 what we had before the Industrial Revolution began.Which, of course, only gives rise to a whole group of questions.First, is it true? Is human history a long spell of stagnation or low levels of growth…punctuated by sudden bursts of above-trend growth?If it is true, is it also true that the developed economies have reached the limit of the 鈥榗heap energy鈥?dividend…which began with the large-scale exploitation of coal in the 18th century, followed by the wide use of oil in the 19th and 20th centuries?And if that is true, what next? Are there no new sources of cheap energy?What about nuclear?Well…a possibility…but recently nuclear power was dealt a huge setback. It鈥檚 not cheap, not when you add in all the safety features… and the cost of the occasional emergency. Many nations are now re-examining their energy policies to decide whether nuclear has any role to play at all.What about conservation…energy saving measures…going green?Well, yes…you can stretch your energy. You can probably even increase your standard of living, by using it more efficiently. But you don鈥檛 get above-trend economic growth gains by reducing the inputs of energy. You appear to get rapid growth only from big breakthroughs that make new energy available…and put it to work for you.So, what can you expect? The critical component of growth has suddenly become three times as expensive as it was five years ago. The economy can probably continue to 鈥榞row鈥?#8230;but how much? Without a new breakthrough, what can it expect? About the same level of growth as before the new technology came on line 鈥?negligible growth, in other words.And if that is true, how will investors make any money?Answer: they won鈥檛.Hmmm… This is getting interesting.鈥楤ill, let me get this straight… You鈥檙e saying that the kind of growth the US saw in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries was just an anomaly…right?鈥?/p>Well, that鈥檚 the implication.鈥榊ou鈥檙e saying that when the world gets its fill of a new technology 鈥?even if it is something as big as oil 鈥?that it grows up to the limit that that technology makes available…and then it comes to a halt.鈥?/p>Yes, that is what this analysis suggests. Let鈥檚 say you look back at when the bow and arrow was invented. It probably enabled primitive hunters to get more game. They could support more people. So, the human population grew. But once the bow and arrow was widespread, the population probably stopped growing. We had squeezed all the juice we could out of that innovation.鈥楢nd you鈥檙e saying that the investment returns of the past couple hundred years actually may reflect this anomaly…and that investors may never again realize anything like it.鈥?/p>Well, yes. Not in the advanced, mature economies.鈥楾hen, it sounds like I should just forget about investing all together.鈥?/p>Nope. First, there are huge parts of the world that are not 鈥榖uilt-out鈥?yet. Where energy use is still very low. These areas can still make rapid progress as they catch up. They鈥檙e like tribes that hadn鈥檛 taken up the bow and arrow. When they got it, they could make progress.You ought to be able to participate in their progress, too, simply by buying companies that are operating in these growth areas. And they鈥檙e not just foreign companies… US, European and Japanese companies are all taking advantage of growth in the developing world.Second, there is still the opportunity for making money the old fashioned way…by compounding earnings, not capital gains. We鈥檙e so used to stocks and real estate going up that is it hard to imagine a world with stagnant prices. But that is what we could be facing. Slow rates of growth should mean very slow or negative price appreciation in America鈥檚 capital stock. Dividends will become more important. And people who get wealthy will probably do it as they did for centuries before the Industrial Revolution 鈥?either by saving and compounding small gains over many years, or by taking it away from someone else.Regards,for originally appeared in the . The Daily Reckoning provides over half a million subscribers with literary economic perspective, global market analysis, and contrarian investment ideas. Read more posts on 锘?p>Only hours after it emerged that Dubai , new numbers suggest that the Emirate is actually in $170 billion of debt not $80 billion like it said. issued by the Gulf investment bank states, "The total debt held by Dubai Inc could well be in the range of $130-170 billion," Dubai Inc being the state and its owned entities.This could spell further trouble for the Emirate in credit markets as its sovereign debt has been under pressure since the Dubai World funding crisis began on November 26th.锘?p>Since I’ve heard the term “trademark squatting” from five different people/sources today, it makes me think that I should write something about it before the interest dies down. Seems like I’m turning into an attention whore.I think the interest here relates to the and, indirectly, to Apple-Proview.OK, so what’s a trademark squatter? We get the term “squatter” from those folks who occupy land or buildings without permission from the owner. In Common Law, these people can actually end up with property rights if they “squat” for a sufficient period of time. It’s called “adverse possession,” and this has been another edition of Fun Facts From First Year Property Law.When it comes to trademarks (or other forms of IP, such as domain names — ), squatters are the dodgy bastards who register as trademarks the brand, product or company name of others. The motivations for doing so can vary and can include the intent to resell the mark, hold it hostage for certain business concessions, or to benefit from the product or brand’s established goodwill by using the mark on counterfeits or other products.To put it another way: “Hey, that company stole my trademark!”Right. Lots of examples of this. Last week we had the Michael Jordan dispute, which involved a company that registered a long list of Jordan-related trademarks.I just found out today that the alleged infringer in that case also registered, among others, a mark and a business designation of another well-known name in the basketball community. The company name was:聽?????????????.The three bold characters in the name are “hu – ren – dui” or literally “lake – people – team.” Sound familiar? If you’re not an NBA fan, I’ll pause for a moment so you can do some quick Googling.Got it? Good for you. Note that this was an example of a past incident of trademark squatting (in 2000) by these guys and, apparently, the mark was . I assume all rights now belong to the LA Lakers or the NBA or whatever special purpose company owns team names and logos.So in addition to the Michael Jordan situation and , and the earlier cases of Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian, we’ve got Laker squatting, which sounds like a perverted B-ball groupie custom practiced in Inglewood. But no, it’s just a trademark thing, and another reason why the NBA has some top notch IP lawyers on staff.Also , which just lost an administrative appeal that goes back to 1995. This case involved a Chinese trademark registered by a Guangdong company. The mark associated with the French company is “???” and the one challenged is “???” — same pronunciation, same pinyin, and obviously very similar in terms of characters used.From a distance, this looks like an example of “Hey, those guys stole my trademark!” Indeed. So why did Hermes lose this case?Actually, it lost the case back in 1997, and its second attempt has now also failed. I don’t know the specific details of either proceeding, so I can’t comment on the facts beyond what I’ve seen in the press. Apparently one issue involved the insufficiency of the evidence Hermes presented to prove that its mark was well known at the time the mark was filed.Here’s the thing with many of these trademark squatting cases. If the argument is that the mark was registered in bad faith, evidenced by the mark’s well-known status prior to the application, then it all comes down to the evidence submitted to either the court or administrative body.This evidence can include trademark registrations, examples of use of the mark, marketing and PR materials, consumer surveys, records of money spent on brand awareness — basically anything that supports the claim of well-known status.Even for a world famous brand like Hermes, this is by no means a slam dunk (and this is why the Jeremy Lin case will be tougher than Michael Jordan’s). Not only does the brand owner have to dredge up information that is years old, but depending on the nature and origin of the evidence, it might also need to be notarized. The whole thing can be a huge pain in the ass, and for multinationals who do not keep very good records of their China operations, they might simply be unable to support their claim.I don’t know what happened in the Hermes case, but I’ve had clients over the years who were unable to win on a well-known trademark argument simply because of poor record keeping. This is not as easy as it looks.Finally, if you want another article on trademark squatting, about the topic and Facebook’s brand problems in China. Good stuff as usual, and Malcolm gets special kudos for noting that the iPad trademark dispute is not an instance of trademark squatting.Why not? As Malcolm correctly points out, Proview’s “IPAD” product dates back to 1998, and they registered the mark in 2001, long before Apple’s tablet was rolled out. Remember, the iPad case is all about a failed trademark assignment (a commercial dispute) and not an example of one company registering someone else’s famous mark.Just to make this long post worth it for you, I feel obligated to end here with Trademark Squatting — (Obvious) Best Practices for Brand Owners:1. Register first. There’s no substitute for this.2. Monitor the trademark register.3. Keep decent records, even gasp in your overseas offices.4. If faced with a squatter, be prepared for a lengthy battle.5. If you make a deal to buy the mark from a squatter (or anyone else), don’t screw up the transaction.漏 Stan for , 2012. Add toPost tags: , , Read more posts on 锘?p>At midnight my door opened and I saw the shadow of someone about 4 feet tall walk into my room and stand by my side of the bed.“I can’t sleep,” she said and she was smart enough to also say, “my mind is racing”.Over the nine years of her life so far she has probably heard me say that many times.Like when I was losing a home and I threw a chair and the police were called. The third time police had to be called on me in life (out of five).So I took her hand and we walked downstairs and she gave me a lecture on what was going on in each one of her classes and she concluded with a discussion of the various Greek gods (“Athena is my favorite,” she said. “Who is yours, Hermes?”)Andthen I saw her yawn and I said maybe now she can try to go back to sleep, which she did.I’m scared for her. My mind races also. How many times has my mind woken me up at midnight to remind me of how little money was in my bank account, or how many bills I had to pay, or how much I hated my job, or even hated being an entrepreneur with customers, clients, people screwing me, people hating me.I don’t want her mind to wake her like that when she’s older. It’s the worst pain. And I might not be there then for her to talk to.Will she kill herself? Will she wake up her husband or or whatever and say, “my mind is racing. Talk to me.”One time some were happening to me. Something was shutting down, other things were going down. Some people were cheating me.Whatever. My mind was racing. I woke up Claudia. “Breathe like this,” she said. It was two in the morning but she wanted to help. She had me do a breathing exercise that involved quickly exhaling but I forget the rest of it. Then I fell asleep.One investor of mine told me I had a “scarcity complex” -that I always had a strong feeling that I had nothing even when I had many things to be happy about. This was about eight years ago. I agreed with him. He wanted to be my mentor. and then let me invest the money. So I agreed to everything he said. I did that back then. But in this case maybe he was right. Unless I’m at optimal health in every way I constantly feel like I have less than nothing. It’s post-traumatic stress from losing everything several times and watching my father lose everything twenty years earlier.No toys will ever patch that bleeding.The country now has a scarcity complex. “The banks took everything.” “The government took everything.” “There are no jobs.” “There is no money”. Everyone is in despair. Everyone is scared about feeding their family. Scared and scarred. Greece, Japan, China, Libya, terrorism, , Obama, Rich Perry. These are the monsters in the closet at night.I’m tired of monsters in my closet. Anger won’t change anything. Complaining won’t change anything.I want to be consistently in the “1%”. Not of money. Money comes and goes, talking of Michelangelo.I want to be in the 1% of the happiest people on Earth.My only goal is to be in the 1% of happiness. Else, if I’m in the 99%, then all of my other goals will also fall short of the 1%. You can’t meet the love of your life, for instance, if you’re in the bottom 99%. At least, from it will be harder. It’s like taking out the garbage and expecting to meet the love of your life in the garbage can.My life is like a laboratory and happiness has been the experiment. Only when I’ve been in the 1% of happiness have my other goals been satisfactorily achieved.So I know what I have to do when I slip into the 99%. This might not work for everyone. Maybe some people have to protest with signs to be in the top 1% of happiness. That doesn’t work for me.But these ten things work for me:A)Lately, exercise has to stay in shape and sweat out toxins. Bad stuff builds up in the body. You have the usual disgusting methods to get out bad toxins that go into the digestion system. But what about bad stuff that builds up in every pore of your body. You have to sweat it out. Sometimes just 100 pushups a day will do it. For me, I like doing yoga.B)I don’t have a lot of friends. But I do know enough people that I can do this: every day I make sure I don’t talk to people who bring me down. And I try to meet new people who bring me up. I won’t do business with anyone who brings me down. The last time I tried that, my body told me, “Bad James!” On the second day on the job I fell straight to the ground and sprained my ankle for no obvious reason. If you let it, the reactions in your body (any part of your body) will tell you if you are with good people or bad people. When I get an email from someone who is bad for me, I usually get a quick stomachache. So I delete the mail and put the emailer in spam. It’s the only solution if I want to be in the 1%. I don’t engage at all with anyone who is going to bring me down. Why should I? [See. ""]C)I like to be creative. Whether it’s through this blog or writing down a list of ideas or even drawing. It makes my brain come to life in ways that it’s not used to. It’s important here, to never expect results from your creativity. When I was working on the , for instance, it made me very anxious to know whether or not it was going to get accepted. I was too attached to the results of the creativity. Just like now I might be too attached to blog traffic.D)I like to avoid these . Any one of these nine will make me unhappy. For instance, I’m happily married. Cheating on my wife would make me unhappily married. BAM! That would put me in the 99%. When I remind someone what they’ve done for me and how happy it made me it not only brings back memories of that happiness it also makes me happy that I’m helping them be happy by being grateful for them.G)I try to “surrender”. I say to myself, “I can’t do everything. I can’t take this pain. I can’thave everything I want. Sometimes I’m helpless in the face of my material goals. So YOU figure it out.” I don’t even know who I’m talking to. Who YOU is. I might be talking to my teddy bear when I say that. But having a sense of surrender and humility will help me reduce my needs (I don’t need a yacht for instance) and help me to feel humility. There’s a physical exercise that’s good to practice surrender if you are not good at it. In America we’re not really good at surrender. We never give up. We want to win every war. The exercise is to reach down and touch your toes. It obscures your vision (because you are staring at your knees), its almost impossible (you have to be flexible, both physically and mentally), and it looks like your bowing, which is an unusual thing for Americans to do. So it teaches surrender if you are uncomfortable with it.(Claudia touching her toes)o anyone or harm anyone. Because then you have to keep track of which lie was told to whom. Or you feel badly about whom you harmed, which were usually as a result of either anger or greed. If I never harm anyone I never have to deal with anyone’s anger (unless it’s irrational anger). Anger makes me unhappy.I)Sometimes you can’t avoid work that you don’t want to do. We all have to feed our families. But, in general,a (fluorescent lights and bosses make me less happy) then I’ll be happier.J)I need a tenth thing so that I can call this post, “Ten Ways to be in the Top 1%” so hold on a second while I think of something…coffee? No, sometimes it spills on me. A lot of sex? Makes me VERY happy but sometimes makes me. Ahh, sleeping 8-9 hours a day. Because then I know I’m in the top 1% for at least 1/3 of the day. And I also know I won’t be tired the other 2/3, which would put me in the bottom 99%.And if I’m consistently in the top 1% of happiness, maybe there’s a slight chance my two daughters, and maybe others I interact with, will be in the top 1% when they’re older. Happiness is both contagious and hereditary. And so on.— on Am I missing anything? I need all the help I can get.Read more posts on 锘?p>TBILISI, Georgia — A Mexican ex-military source reveals a devastating secret: Israel had slipped Moscow a code allowing it to hack and disable the military assets of an American-allied nation just before Russia invades.No, it’s not the synopsis for the next Bond film. Rather, it's an allegation posed in one of the 705 emails from Stratfor, published last week by Wikileaks, which claims to possess more than 5 million emails from the private intelligence agency.While most of the leaked emails were largely banal — one extended email chain chronicles the theft of a bowl of pesto tortellini from a Stratfor office refrigerator — this particular email exchange appears to pull back the curtain on a fascinating chapter of arms-trade intrigue.In the lead-up to the eventual war between Russia and Georgia in August 2008, Russia put significant pressure on several countries that had been supplying Georgia arms. Russia leaned on Israel, which had been selling Georgia an array of equipment including Hermes 450 drones. If Israel did not renege on the deals, it was implied, Russia would sell advanced anti-aircraft platforms and other high-tech military goods to its enemies, Iran and Syria.Read more: “Remember all the intense [meetings between] the Israelis and the Russians where the Russians got the Israelis to back off of defense deals to Georgia in return for Russia backing off Iran?” one Stratfor analyst wrote.Moscow's lobbying appears to have worked. Eventually, Israel announced it would not be fulfilling its outstanding contracts with Georgia.However, Israel and Russia continued to barter during and after the war, according to an exchange between two Stratfor analysts.Irakli Aladashvili, editor-in-chief of the military journal Arsenali, said that while he did not possess specifics on the interactions, there was a great amount of discussions and business dealings between Israel and Russia around the time that Israel backed off its military sales to Georgia.In the Stratfor email, an analyst said a source told him that Russia and Israel had agreed to swap “data link codes” for the drones Israel had sold Georgia, and for air-defense platforms Russia had sold Iran. With the codes, Russia could ostensibly hack and bring down the Georgian drones, and Israel would be able to penetrate or disable the Iranian anti-air missiles.Read more: The source, a Mexican “ex-cop” and military analyst, was ranked “A” — Stratfor’s highest rank for source-reliability — and the intelligence item was also given the agency’s highest credibility rating, which Stratfor’s glossary defines as, "We can take this info to the bank."Stratfor has refused to comment on the emails released by , saying, “Having had our property stolen, we will not be victimized twice by submitting to questioning about them.”Numerous intelligence officials have criticized Stratfor for the poor quality of its intelligence-gathering since the leaks. But a series of events in Georgia during this timeframe lend credence to this information.As tensions rose between Georgia and its Russia-backed rebel territories, three to seven Georgian drones were downed over the breakaway region of Abkhazia from April-May 2008. Each side offered conflicting information on the number of incidents and aircraft involved.This is where Stratfor’s Mexican source came in. According to the analyst, the source was consulting for a domestic defense contractor named Idra at the time, which had produced a line of high-end drones for export. He said the Georgian negotiators were interested in buying Idra drones “during and after the war,” because they had a special feature that made them invulnerable to being hacked.Furthermore, the Georgians produced photos of one of their downed drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), that suggested it had not been simply shot down.Read more: “[T]he Georgians gave Idra a picture of one of their crashed UAVs. The source explained though that if the UAV were targeted, it would have been blown to pieces pretty much (it's like the size of a car basically). But the picture he saw showed the UAV intact. He inquired and basically what happened was that the Russians acquired the data link to hack into the system and force the UAV into the ground. I think they may have crashed another one too,” the email said.However, just because Georgia’s drones may have fallen to the earth intact does not mean they were hacked.When a US spy drone was proudly presented by the Iranian government last year, claiming it had hacked and crash-landed it, a flight engineer involved in the US drone program that it malfunctioned rather than crashed, which “should not be a surprise,” given the high rate of such incidents. A 2010 found that the relatively new drone technology has been forced onto the battlefield with less than the usual amount of testing leading to dozens of expensive accidents.At the time the Georgian craft were downed, Georgian leaders called for an international investigation into the incidents, claiming the drones were shot down by Russian fighters. Such a take-down would be a violation of the UN-imposed ceasefire, which regulated the types of forces each side could deploy in and around the conflict zones.A subsequent that on at least one occasion, the drones had been shot down by Russian aircraft, citing one of the drone’s video transmissions showing it being hit by a missile from either a MiG-29 or Su-27 fighter. This would seem to debunk the theory that Russian military hackers had been forcing the drones to crash. However, Dennis Gormley, a military expert with 10 years experience in the US intelligence community who now teaches at the University of Pittsburg, said that if Russia had the drones’ data codes, it could access the drone’s video feed or hack it with a virus in order to collect keystroke information from the operator controlling the drone.A similar such virus was found to be recording keystrokes in the U.S. Reaper and Predator drone fleet last September, according to .“That would divulge information on the UAV’s flight route, which would make it more vulnerable to being shot down,” Gormley said. “Whether or not Russia could ‘take over’ the drone is not something I could speculate on. Just knowing its flight path is bad enough,” he said.But a high-ranking NATO military official stationed in Georgia from 2007-2010, who spoke with GlobalPost on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with the press, said the Stratfor analysts got it wrong.“When [I was] there, every Stratfor product I saw about Georgia was wrong, and this one is wrong too,” he said, and added, “Even if they are right, it’s meaningless,” because the action of drones played a small role in the war.However, the official confirmed other information in the emails.With Georgia’s military suppliers backing away and open conflict looking more likely, the Stratfor email exchange said that Georgia was “frantically” looking for replacement military equipment — particularly for its originally 40-strong Israeli drone fleet, which it believed was “compromised.”“The Georgians were pretty much looking for anyone who would sell to them and were willing to pay top dollar (shows how frantic the Georgians were in July knowing that war is coming),” the email reads.The NATO official said that it was fair to say the Georgians were “aggressive shoppers” at the time and “weren’t nearly as successful as they wanted” in acquiring the necessary equipment. However, he said the needs were great and far-reaching.“They were lacking everything, especially command and control, you know — radios. They were fine for small arms. They were fine for tanks. They were probably fine for artillery. But any of the high-tech kind of stuff: Their intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance function was underdeveloped,” he said.Press officials for the Georgian National Security Council said that none of the officials with knowledge of Georgia’s military procurement during this time were available for comment. originally appeared at This story was originally published by锘?p>Leica has introduced a “very special limited edition” version of its classic 35mm rangefinder system camera the M7 with the launch of the new Leica M7 Edition “Hermes”. The second Hermes partnership that Leica has entered into, the special M7 comes in silver chrome with a choice of two calfskin leather finishes – orange and “etoupe”.Just 100 of each color will be made available, and each individual camera will have a special sequential serial number between 001/200 and 200/200.The Leica M7 Edition “Hermes” set includes a Leica SUMMILUX-M 35 mm f/1.4 ASPH. wide-angle lens, a matching classic round lens hood, a LEICAVIT M rapid winder and a real leather carrying strap matched to the colour of the camera, all delivered in a linen-covered, silk-lined box.Read more posts on 锘?p>SHANGHAI () - Louis Vuitton is courting China's wealthy with one-of-a-kind shoes and bags it is branding as unique works of art to reclaim its exclusive cachet in the luxury market.The French luxury brand, a unit of , is set to open its largest China store in Shanghai on Saturday, complete with a gilded spiral staircase and an invitation-only private floor where big spenders can get their hair done while dreaming up designs for custom bags."The made-to-order concept is the ultimate luxury," Louis Vuitton Chief Executive told Reuters during a tour of the store, which the company calls a "maison"."It's the same with art. If you are interested in art, the ultimate is to commission an artist rather than buy a piece that is already done," Carcelle said.Louis Vuitton routinely ranks among the most admired brands in surveys of Chinese consumers. But ultra-luxury names such as Hermes are making inroads, and some top-tier consumers now look down on Louis Vuitton as too common.The company hopes to cement its exclusive luxury status with the new Shanghai store, which boasts steel sculptures and carries a wide array of goods ranging from chic coats and hats to brightly colored bags made from python or alligator skin.It also sells carrying cases for tiles used to play the Chinese game mahjong and made-to-order trunks for tea sets.China is the world's third biggest market for personal luxury goods, worth at least 160 billion yuan ($25 billion). In the next three years, it is expected to leapfrog over Japan and the United States to take the top spot, with the luxury segment expanding to 180 billion yuan ($28 billion).BAD TIMING?The Louis Vuitton maison, one of 16 similar boutiques in the world, is located in Shanghai's address for luxury goods: the swanky Plaza 66 mall, where rival brands such as Chanel and Prada also have stores.Spanning four levels and with more than 100 staff, the store is currently the only one in China that offers custom bags and shoes. The company declined to say how much it spent on the boutique."Being in this made-to-order market needs sophisticated customers who know what they are talking about and own several bags, if not dozens of bags," Carcelle said."That's why the haute maroquinerie and made-to-order-shoes... are important to demonstrate in China," he said, using the French word for luxury leather crafts."As long as we didn't have this space to show them to our clients, in a world that is changing fast, we were missing our weapons," he said.Louis Vuitton's timing, however, may be less than ideal.Luxury spending is softening in China as the economy weakens. Economic growth slowed to its lowest level in three years last quarter. Britain's Burberry said last week its sales had been hit by the slowdown in China.Carcelle declined to comment on the state of the Chinese economy or its impact on luxury spending, but said he sees more "maisons" opening up in the capital Beijing and Hangzhou, a thriving trade hub in eastern China.He said Chinese consumers had rapidly matured into luxury connoisseurs, and the company needed to cater to both first-time buyers and sophisticated shoppers."Maybe in the West, this trend took 20 years but here it takes 5 years from the first purchase to the willingness to have more sophisticated products and services," Carcelle said.($1 = 6.3729 Chinese yuan)(Editing by Emily Kaiser and Miral Fahmy)锘?p>Christopher Parr is an industry leader with over 15 years of experience in digital marketing. He is an award-winning veteran, writer, a frequent speaker at luxury and interactive marketing conferences and a pioneer in web publishing. He launched as a curated list of the good things in life, with guest contributors from Forbes, Mashable, TechCrunch, Glamour, Saveur and more sharing their favorite luxuries. Askmen.com recently named him “,” his family is featured in , , and Milton Pedraza, CEO, Luxury Institute, calls him “One of the top expert practitioners in global luxury in marketing with a particular expertise in marketing, selling and engaging customers in the digital world. He is one of those professionals who executes brilliantly. He is innovative while looking out for the return on investment…”In 1996, Michael Wolff’s NetGuide named ‘s inaugural online magazine as “The Best Site of the Year” at MacWorld. He holds a MFA from Brandeis and a BA from Viterbo. Here’s a Q&A with as he shares his digital strategy behind creating an authentic luxury platform to engage affluent readers and connect with luxury brands. It’s a new age of blogging and editorial intersecting with digital luxury marketing and social media to create online buzz for the world’s best luxury brands. Can you talk a little bit about where you got the idea to start Pursuitist.com?The idea of Pursuitist.com was to create a travel, style and leisure destination for affluent consumers. For readers pursuing amazing fashion brands, hotels, restaurants, gadgets, experiences, and autos 鈥?Pursuitist is a destination site that curates the good things in life. We鈥檝e brought in world-class content producers 鈥?remarkable writers sharing remarkable experiences. How has the experience of the site differed from what you expected it would become?It鈥檚 been a blast. As I tell my writers 鈥?write about remarkable people, products and experiences. We aspire to go beyond the bling 鈥?Pursuitist is luxury redefined. We focus on the artisans that make amazing handcrafted products 鈥?from a designer at Louis Vuitton to a 2nd generation organic winemaker in Napa. We pursue to tell the story and go behind the scenes. We officially launched in July. While in beta, the Pursuitist editors have diligently curated a rich list of the good things in life to share with affluent readers. Coinciding with the launch, a few of the new contributors sharing their favorite luxuries include remarkable writers.How does the site plan to attract affluent individuals?To build awareness, we鈥檙e launching a 360-degree advertising campaign. To attract and keep the right readers, our strategy includes word-of-month, PR, campaigns with Facebook, Twitter, banner ads on other affluent websites, and email marketing. Facebook integration is also a major tactic 鈥?the sharing, liking, and commenting is exclusively powered by Facebook to help us go viral and obtain more likeminded readers.What is your relationship to the brands you write about?As we鈥檙e able to serve up a targeted audience, luxury brands love our platform. We鈥檙e also very selective of the advertisers that appear on our site. Pursuitist is truly a targeted online destination for luxury advertisers to connect and engage with affluent consumers. Advertisers have included Burberry, Coach, Intel, BMW, Chase Bank, Audemars Piguet, Broadmoor Hotel and Cosmopolitan Hotel. The Pursuitist is a great place to be seen 鈥?as our readers are affluent (65% with an annual income of $75k and up) and influencers.How do you keep your content authentic?There鈥檚 a shortage of online destinations for affluent consumers seeking authentic experiences. Plenty of cold bling sites exist, focusing on editorial content with ultra premium and inaccessible luxuries. That鈥檚 the void, and why Pursuitist was created 鈥?there鈥檚 not another site like us. Pursuitist is one destination site with 9 targeted sections (Arts, Auto, Epicurean, Family, Green, House, Style, Tech and Travel) 鈥?best described as an online mashup of The Huffington Post and Conde Nast.Our editorial is also different 鈥?from our travel journals to our features on amazing artisans and clever destinations. With friendlier and accessible narratives 鈥?our readers tell us they feel like insiders, along for the ride.In general, what kind of lift can this kind of content offer brands? Is this something they should focus on getting more of?We鈥檝e also worked quite closely with other luxury brands to organically integrate and feature their products 鈥?from Four Seasons, Hermes, Patron, Gucci, Prada, Robert Mondavi Wine, Ralph Lauren, Lobel Steaks of New York, to Chanel. As we only focus on premier brands and destinations, we are selective of the brands we feature. It鈥檚 a terrific halo effect 鈥?to be 鈥淧ursuitist Recommended.鈥?/p>Do most brands react to what you write? How do they respond to your content?They love it. The brands, from Marc Jacobs, Land Rover to Viking Range prefer to re-tweet and link to our editorial on their social media channels. (See an example of Marc Jacobs leveraging Pursuitist鈥檚 editorial .)Also read, Luxury Daily News: Read more posts on 锘?p>Luxury retailers such as Coach and Tiffany's are down over today on investor worry over their significant exposure to Japan.Analyst Brian Sozzi that these companies are especially vulnerable as Tiffany's has stores along the coast and Coach has an outlet in the Fukushima region.Both companies have had to shops and reduce hours.From Wall Street Strategies' Brian Sozzi (emphasis ours):I attribute the stronger sell-offs today in shares of Tiffany & Co. (TIF) and Coach (COH) to the premiums the stocks are valued at when compared to the broader retail sector and equities markets. Consequently, any swift decline in sales, despite muddling growth in the country for each, raises the risk to future earnings. Both companies, in my view, have been managing their Japanese businesses to profitability rather than new unit growth. Note to investors: It's not the amount of sales in which retailers derive from Japan per se, it's the store clustering in close proximity to the damaged areas and the profit generated by operations in Japan.Coach and Tiffany's count on about of annual sales coming from Japan.Other luxury brands that depend on strong from Japan include Hermes with 20%, Louis Vuitton with 10% and PPR's luxury business group, owner of Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, with.Japan makes up of the global luxury sales market.锘?p>The public has been heating up.Since 2008, LVMH has accumulated a 20% stake in Hermes, which Chairman Bertrand Puech hasn't taken to kindly.Now, LVMH CEO Bernard Artault is reported to be buying more Hermes's stocks.Peuch asked LVMH to halve its stake in the company but Arnault is set on being a long-term shareholder. reports:While LVMH’s investment in Hermes is “peaceful,” the company won’t be a passive shareholder, Gode said, repeating comments made earlier this year by Bernard Arnault, chairman and CEO of the world’s largest luxury goods maker. LVMH is ready to work with Hermes to exchange ideas and know-how, Gode said.“From the outset we understood that there was no possibility of controlling Hermes because the family shareholders spoke for 70 percent of the company,” Gode said. “Our sole objective was, and remains, to make a long-term investment in a company with recognized potential and with which we share a passion for high-quality workmanship.”Hermes which first listed in 1993, saw its stocks surged to over €200 on the Paris stock exchange this week on rumors of further talks with rivals LVMH, and are trading at about€192.50 today. LVMH meanwhile is trading at about €116 today.Luxury retail brands have been extremely successful of late. after it reported strong global earnings and raised its outlook last month. Valuations are soaring, too.Not surprisingly, there's a growing chorus of skeptics, and when you see one major luxury firm snapping up shares of another, the whole industry definitely begins to feel more bubbly.锘?p>French luxury conglomerate has bought a large minority stake in Hermès, the luxury brand. . Hermès is up 5% right now on the news, and LVMH up 3%.Hermès is, by our reckoning, the greatest luxury brand in the world by far. The brand is invaluable, the company has executed flawlessly and its financial position is extremely strong. The company weathered the downturn well and has surged as .Hermès has always expanded cautiously, and analysts believe that with LVMH's muscle the brand could expand formidably. In particular, most of the new demand for luxury goods is coming from Asia and emerging markets where LVMH has been particularly successful. However, Hermès has a special stock structure where the founding family owns over 70% of the voting rights.LVMH has said that they have no plans to acquire Hermès however, and the founding family has noted that they intend to remain independent and always have. On a pure financial basis LVMH's deal makes sense: they acquired the stake through options and derivatives and their holding already represents a large gain.That being said, that can't be the only explanation for the deal. Bernard Arnault, the founder of LVMH, has long wanted to add Hermès to LVMH's portfolio of world-class luxury brands, which includes Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior. Despite its public proclamations, the founding family of Hermès is far from being a united front and with enough cash Arnault might peel off enough of them to pull off a deal, like Rupert Murdoch did with the Bancroft family in buying Dow Jones.Jean-Louis Dumas, who had been CEO of the company for almost 30 years, passed away recently, and the current CEO of Hermès, Patrick Thomas, is the first CEO who is not part of the founding family. Part of the reason why Hermès' stock has outperformed is because of longstanding takeout speculation.Because of Hermès' performance and its stock structure, LVMH won't be making a play tomorrow. But it's hard to believe they're not in Hermès to win it. Bernard Arnault, the richest man in France, is not known for not getting what he wants.锘?p>In 2006, the Wisconsin State Journal interviewed Madison web designer, writer, online marketing and social media professional of about web design and marketing for Madison, Wisconsin businesses. Wisconsin State Journal published the interview in the articles: , and . He recently rediscovered the original Q&A with the Wisconsin State Journal reporter — and is publishing the original interview, in its entirety, as a perspective on the short history of successful online marketing and strategy. Q. Why should a Madison business have a website?A website is a spoke on the communications and branding wheel. It helps to convey a message, along side of TV, print, mobile, point-of-purchase and enewsletters. An effective company utilizes all of these mediums to their advantage. Consumers have many options, so you can鈥檛 just rely on TV or the web to get your message out. Some consumers use the web to perform research, some use magazines. A website helps to complete the picture and capture your audience. However, a website is the most engaging medium. TV and print are passive. The consumer can only watch or turn the page. A business can鈥檛 tell the whole story with a print ad. Print is great for grabbing attention, but you need to learn more. With a website, on the other hand, consumers can delve further. It鈥檚 interactive; they control where to go, what they want to learn. Q. What kinds of businesses need what kinds of websites? Are there specific types of sites that fit specific types of Madison businesses?A. All businesses, large or small, need a website; from a Fortune 100 company, to a coffee house, to a local artist. For a local company, like a restaurant or coffee house, present hours of operation, directions and the menu. And add interactive components, like the ability to create online reservations or sign up for e-coupons. Everyone is busy, so tell the story of why people should go out of their way to visit your store. And personalize it; incorporate humanistic touches to your site. Computers and most websites are cold, you can鈥檛 connect. Add in a greeting from the owner or include a picture of the staff. Make it real. In creating an effective website, content is king. Perhaps a coffee house could have a blog; write about new blends or recommendations, stories at the coffee house, feature the baristas. My wife, Alison Relyea-Parr, is a children鈥檚 book illustration 鈥?she has a website at She no longer needs to be based in New York. Publishers search and find her, which is a reversal on the selection process — when artists would take their portfolios door to door to the publishing houses. The editors find her, and browse her work, at their leisure. So from blogs, websites to creating a profile for your business on Facebook, use the web to network with your customers online. The ability to connect to prospects, and nurture your current customer, is key. Q. If you had to categorize different kinds of Madison business websites out there, how would you categorize them?A. There are 100 different web strategies for 100 different Madison companies. Look at your objectives and business plan. What fits, what doesn鈥檛? If you don鈥檛 need to go overboard, don鈥檛 do it. Some companies create an informational site to educate consumers and capture leads, so they can remarket to them via email or brochures. E-commerce is the way to go with companies offering tangible goods 鈥?in creating a national customer base. Q. What are some common mistakes Madison businesses make when they’re trying to get on the web? What do people tend to do wrong when they’re developing a web presence and selecting a Madison web designer?A. There can be many mistakes in creating a website. Speed is an issue, creating a slow site will make your customers quickly click away. Many print designers create all graphic sites that uniformly fail; while they can design fantastic brochures, the web is a totally different medium. Spend time on usability and how people access information. It鈥檚 the flow of information, hold the hand of your customer and guide them through your website. Don鈥檛 make it a mystery. Know your audience. Create a site for the customer, not what someone in your company or an agency 鈥渢hinks鈥?the site should say or do. Also, consider the new visitor 鈥?look at your site with this fresh perspective 鈥?and explain who you are and what you offer at a brief glance.Get the facts. You may go with a Madison web designer or developer because you admire one of the sites they created 鈥?but the web designer who created the site is no longer there or it was outsourced. Perhaps they just host the site 鈥?and someone else designed it. Ask who鈥檚 working on your project; find out skills and experience; call their clients and ask if they delivered as promised.The other mistake is being tied to a proprietary technology which drives your website. You end up getting married to a vendor that will milk the relationship for all it鈥檚 worth. Ask for a site that can be completely handed off to your internal staff or to another web firm, if need be. Go open source. Consider WordPress. Q. What is something that all Madison businesses should do with their web presence that not a lot do?Ideally, use your business to add value to my life. Make it worth my time 鈥?and be creative about it. Even local companies can get into the game. Great examples include Milios and Klinke Cleaners. At milios.com, customers can order their sandwiches online, for pickup or delivery. Over at klinkecleaners.com, customers can download coupons and can be alerted via email when their garments are ready for pickup.Q. If you don’t have an e-commerce section to your website (and you’d like one) – how do you know you’re ready to start it up? And, how do you make that happen?E-commerce can be a blessing and curse. If you begin receiving orders, you need to have the infrastructure in place to handle customer service, order status, product availability and delivery. Everyone wants their stuff fast 鈥?you need to meet or exceed their expectations. If you鈥檙e a larger company, turn to a web consulting firm to implement an e-commerce solution. Ideally, find a company that鈥檚 done this numerous times. They should provide a turn-key solution. Always select a web design and development firm with a track record; otherwise, they鈥檒l stumble and delay the process 鈥?which will probably cost you more in the long run.For smaller Madison businesses, or a one-person business, you can also create an inexpensive e-commerce solution offered from Amazon, Yahoo or Ebay. Their 鈥渟tores鈥?offer low overhead, wide distribution 鈥?and you don鈥檛 need to be on the Geek Squad to set it up., CEO of , is an award-winning writer and online marketing strategist. Since 1995, the Madison, Wisconsin-based internet pioneer and marketer has launched numerous successful web projects, viral videos and online marketing campaigns for Fortune 500 companies. In addition to creating blogging and buzz marketing platforms, services include . In 1996, Michael Wolff’s NetGuide named ‘s inaugural online magazine as “The Best Site of the Year” at MacWorld. He holds a MFA from Brandeis and a BA from Viterbo. Visit to learn more.“Does a great job of generating an experience…”- Douglas Coupland (author of Generation X)“Delightfully rich and original…”- Roger Black (author of Web Sites That Work)“Christopher Parr – one of the Top 20 Most Influential People in Madison…”- Madison MagazineLuxury Daily News: Askmen.com names Christopher Parr “…”NYTimes: Wisconsin State Journal: Read more posts on 锘?p>It feels like every time we look at the social pages that document the lives of the rich and hedged -- ie. New York Social Diary and the Bloomberg Arts section -- .The DiMenna's are fixtures on the New York social, art and philanthropic scenes. They have two daughters and live in Manhattan.Last year, Joe and his wife Diana to the New York Historical Society; "it was the largest cash donation to any arts institution."So where did that $5 milllion (and ) come from?DiMenna founded $3.5 billion hedge fund, Zweig-DiMenna Associates, with his mentor Martin Zweig in 1984, and is considered a trading."Joe has one of the most flexible minds on Wall Street," a colleague told . "He could be long a stock one day and short the next. Where people make mistakes is when it becomes a personal fight for them and they stay too long."DiMenna actually joined with Zweig in 1977, at Zweig's investment firm that preceded the pair's joint venture. As a student at Fairfield University's Dolan School of Business, he wrote a letter to Zweig with investment ideas because he read his newsletter, The Zweig Forecast, regularly, and liked what it had to say. "Zweig hired him sight unseen as a summer employee," reported. "It was one of the best moves I've ever made,"Zweig says.Their hedge fund Zweig-DiMenna Associates has been a long-running success, spare some damage in 2008 (but apart from a handful, who didn't suffer causalities in 2008?)"Joe DiMenna is the best stock-picker no one has ever heard of," a source once told .In the same , we get a sense of DiMenna's work personality,DiMenna's better-known half is Martin E. Zweig, the market strategist for the hedge fund... But it is the more publicity-shy DiMenna who almost single-handedly calls the shots on trades worth tens of millions of dollars each day...DiMenna... wears few of the badges of hedge fund managers: no Hermes ties, no French cuff shirts. There's not a lot of hubbub in his office, either. No shouts to traders; most trades are done by E-mail.On the list of very hedge funder-ish traits, however, DiMenna is , and has had "numerous successes playing polo on the East End and in Palm Beach." (He put his Southampton estate on the market last year for about and he owns not one, but .)He's also a former chess champ -- .As for art, Joe and his wife are serious collectors, favoring African tribal art, abstract expressionists, rare books and U.S. historical documents.At the moment, are in tech (Apple, HP, Google), financials (Prudential, Citi, JP Morgan) and mining and gold (Barrick Gold, Goldcorp, Newmont Mining, Rio Tinto) and energy (Walter, Hess).DiMenna's stock-picking tactic is inspired by John Maynard Keynes: "According to Keynes," , "if you're going to bet on who's going to win in a beauty contest, don't bet on who you think is most beautiful, but who you believe the judges think is most beautiful."锘?p>ReutersHermes in Mumbai. By Boby Kurian & Reeba ZachariahEver noticed how the staffers at a luxury store look as premium as the products they sell? Maybe that's because they've been powdered and puffed, pampered and indulged enough to ensure they never leave. At Aditya Birla's luxury fashion chain, The Collective, for instance, they are the million-dollar employees - the ones who bring in annual sales worth $1 million. And keeping them in high spirits can only result in more moolah.Gone are the days of the over-eager 'salesman' with his oily smile and sweaty handshake. The new store executive is sharp and suave, and effortlessly showcases the product he's selling. Marquee global brands are lavishing attention on picking, training and retaining high-class staff only for the close ties they strike with the upper crest of India's spending class.So while some brands offer their employees a retention bonus to stay put, others such as , Ermenegildo Zegna and Dior have gone a step ahead and reinvented the look and feel of their store to attract well-groomed and qualified staff that has now taken on the role of brand custodian and fashion consultant.Why Employees Are PamperedConsultancy firm McKinsey estimates that over nine million Indian households are a target for luxury brands, and about 40 per cent of them - some of whom don't mind spending a few lakh rupees on a single store visits - are between Mumbai and Delhi. Not surprisingly, picking the right staff is top priority-luxury brands are focusing on making experienced hires from aviation and hospitality backgrounds while many more CEOs are descending on fashion institutes and finishing schools for campus recruitment. "There's a new store culture attracting staff from good middle-class families," says Tommy Hilfiger CEO Sailesh Chaturvedi. "We make it a point to listen to them and provide them direct access to the top brass. They drive the shopping experience that is crucial to branding these days."It pays to be an executive at a high-end store. The store manager of a luxury retailer in Mumbai's Palladium Mall takes home more than Rs. 20 lakh per year, while store staff is paid between Rs. 4 lakh and 6 lakh annually. Retired models and India-returned NRI housewives take up jobs as consultants at some stores, much like students from pedigree institutions and working models in Europe and the Far East take up commission-based work at Gucci or Prada stores on weekends."These people look at life and a career differently," says Shital Mehta, who heads The Collective. "They're not terribly excited about becoming mere store managers; it's interacting with the well-heeled that draws them." And working at a luxury store is a definite step-up in the food chain for any executive. "It connects me with the wealthy," says Navin Sonawanneya, 30, assistant store manager at Tod's which is known for its shoes and bags. "You develop a bond with them, they value your suggestions, and on occasion they call you home."Some brands go so far as to prepare a career road map as part of their employee retention strategy. Diesel, for instance, puts every store employee on a professional enhancement programme. "There are store staffers who have gone on to become visual merchandisers, buyers and designing talents," says Darshan Mehta, CEO, Reliance Brands, which operates a JV with Diesel.Burberry's country head, Nalini Gupta, argues that India's retail story has become a serious career option as several luxury and high-street retailers like Hermes and upscale men's clothier Tom enter the country, braving economic uncertainties. "A talent pool for selling luxury brands has now started to build up in India," says N S Rajan, partner, Ernst & Young, "and business school grads are adding to the intelligence quotient of their sales personnel".This originally appeared at .锘?p>The French are having a pretty good year so far, both politically with President Nicolas Sarkozy, and in the world of business, with Monsieur Bernard Arnault, CEO . On the statecraft front, we have French President Nicolas Sarkozy launching himself into the leadership void left by the absence of a US President (or his delayed presence) on the thorny issues of Egypt, Libya, Syria and the Ivory Coast. While this might be costing Sarkozy at the polls in France, his actions are certainly earning him major props from his contemporaries around the globe. Sarkozy recently called together leaders from four continents to a summit at the Elysee presidential palace in Paris to determine military next-steps for the aforementioned conflicts. German chancellor Merkel, and British PM Cameron were there. Even Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in attendance where she was rather hands-off, reflecting the administration’s muted response on these crises. Where else was Madame Secretary Clinton seen? How about noshing on some sumptuous appetizers along with French businessman Bernard Arnault, CEO and chairman of LVMH at the event honoring him. Arnault has proven he is a corporate citizen unlike any other, and was duly feted by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars receiving their “Corporate Citizen” award in . Who else was there to see Arnault receive his award? The usual LVMH partners and admirers of course: , , Frank Gehry (architect to the new museum in Paris) and Diane von Furstenberg along with her hubs Barry Diller. Also in attendance were former Prime Minister Tony Blair, Senator Joseph Lieberman, and even President Obama met with Arnault prior to the event at the White House where they discussed globalization, fair trade, and job creation in the US. It’s no mere coincidence that the power elite were there to praise him and pump his luxury paw (he counts among his personal friends, President Sarkozy, for whom he was a witness at his wedding ceremony). Indeed, Arnault’s is a powerful company with a global presence and more than 80,000 employees whom he thanked during his speech. Besides being gracious, Arnault addressed the issue of a corporate citizenship (alluding to the Galianno anti-Semitic scandal?) based upon a moral code that was “nonnegotiable” and that could make tough decisions “regardless of the impact on our business.” Bernard Arnault is an ardent globalist; he sees luxury and corporate value even in the remotest regions of the world, often before others would even consider building Wallmarts in these places, let alone a Louis Vuitton boutique. Starting in 1992, perspicacious LVMH began its push into China, and now Asia represents 35 percent of worldwide sales for the luxury holding company with more than 60 brands. There might be more than 333 LV stores in the world, but its flagship store is found in Shanghai. Likewise , acquired by LVMH in March of this year, also has its largest flagship store in China. Even the subcontinent is getting in on the luxury expansion with India receiving its first store in 2003 (the first luxury brand store in country), and now Mongolia (yes, you read that right) also has its own LV store. Arnault’s lingua franca has been his ability to draw from his business experience, circumnavigating the business world with aplomb, where LVMH now has more than 2,500 retail outlets. And, the “L” train keeps rolling along as L Capital, the investment arm for LVMH, is investing not only in luxe rival Hermes (almost 20 percent through a series of shrewd equity swaps), but they are extending the brand to resorts, skin care, and more precious gems and luxury bags. L Capital is investing in Japan, India, UK and the Middle East. Arnault clearly knows what he’s doing, with a track record of regular increased profits year-over-year, dealing with various forms of government (autocratic, democracies and as well as totalitarian states), and a personal net-worth that places him squarely as the richest man in Europe with a net worth of $41 billion. Arnault continues to do two things that are of great importance to him: (1) he is not afraid to emphasize his French heritage and inculcate it into his worldview; and (2) he continues to explicate the paramount focus of the bottom-line of business as meritocracy. To the latter part, when the brands he owns (or creates) are not performing well, they are sold-off, e.g., the recent Christian Lacroix divestment. And to the first, Arnault has said that he wants to encourage unique aspects of French culture, seeing himself “as an ambassador of French heritage and French culture … what we create (at LVMH) is emblematic.” The question has been and remains: Will the CEO of a luxury house — with a decentralized operation of 60 brands and 2,500 locations around the globe — play well with a China, which has at its core, a centralized market approach and a human rights record nowhere near Arnault’s “non-negotiable moral code”?锘?p>As continue to demonstrate in Zuccotti Park, hasn't forgotten about the core group that permanently occupies Wall Street.Spun off from Bloomberg Markets, which is sent monthly to subscribers of the company's , the new Bloomberg Pursuits on the classiest ways to spend their hard-earned dough, Adweek reports.If a test issue in March is successful, Bloomberg plans to make the magazine either biannual or quarterly. Unlike some other luxury magazines, Pursuits will cater directly to the terminal demographic, which is made up mostly of finance-industry professionals.Though it might seem counterintuitive to launch a luxury-goods glossy in the middle of a recession, high-end advertisers—a demographic that will be crucial to Pursuits' revenue stream— recently. Adweek reports that Markets' revenue is up 20% this year, fueled by advertising from brands like Hermes and Johnny Walker Blue.锘?p>The McDonald's on the ground floor of Philippe Stark's new residential building, Gramercy Starck, has already gotten some press for its incongruous location. Apparently, nightclub owner JE Englebert, who lives in the building, does not appreciate the irony. He's so furious about the low-class tenant occupying the ground floor of the high-end building that he's planning to sue.: Nightclub boss JE Englebert is having a big Mac attack over his new neighbor. The owner of Chelsea clubs Suzie Wong and Prime said he and other residents in the new Gramercy Starck building on East 23rd Street had no idea that the tenant in its retail space would be the newest home of the golden arches."McDonald's does not belong at Gramercy Starck, a five-star building," Englebert tells us. "I've often come home and have found riffraff hanging outside. The sidewalk is littered with McDonald's wrappers. Plus the space reeks -you can smell burger grease."He does concede that the smell of those angus burgers aren't quite wafting up to his high-floor digs.Englebert points out that he previously lived in the Starck building at 15 Broad St., where an Hermes boutique was the retail tenant.He's now hired a lawyer and planning to sue the building's developers and reps for keeping the news about Ronald and his hamburglars mum."It was a shady move," he said. "If I knew about McDonald's before I closed on the unit, I would have never bought there. All my neighbors are upset."Photo from 锘?p>Gift cards top holiday shopping lists again this year, according to a by .And gift givers plan to be more generous with them: 12% say they plan to load more than $75 on each gift card, vs. 6% last year.But before you buy, say, a Coach gift card for your niece, check out this list from the folks at — a Web site where you can buy and sell .Once the holidays are over, the site lists about $1 million worth of gift cards from people who have .I asked them for the list ofgift cards that turn up most often on the “for sale” list. Here’s what they reported:AirlinesCardCash.com lists about $50,000 worth of airline gift cards during the month after the holidays. “With all their additional restrictions and baggage prices, we are finding people are not buying tickets from the airlines directly as much,” says Eliot Klier, CardCash’s CEO. “They can get a better cash value selling us their airline gift card and then purchasing tickets when they need them at cheaper travel agencies such as or .” And the airlines with the most “for sale” gift cards: Continental and American Airlines.Barnes & Noble I confess: I’ve purchased B&N gift cards for my own friends when I have no idea what else to get. Oops: Seems it’s not a popular gift. In fact, CardCash.com says there were about $40,000 worth of B&N gift cards for sale in January.”Many people are shifting towards downloading e-books on their or . People would rather have the cash to buy digital books from or ,” says Klier.Spa TreatmentsGift-card recipients dump about $15,000 worth of spa gift cards on the site following the holidays, hoping to earn some cold hard cash in return.Spa treatments aren’t cheap, so my theory is that gift givers either have splurged to load up the cards (for friends who may just prefer the cash) or given only enough for, say, one-third of a massage treatment — in which case the recipient will have to pony up her own money to take advantage. “In this economy, people are not looking for luxury non-essential treatments,” Klier says. “They’d rather have cash.”Boutiques & High-End RetailWhile they may seem to be a treat, gift cards for higher-priced retailers and boutiques — such as Brooks Brothers, Gucci and Coach — are a frequent “sell” on CardCash.com, perhaps for the same reasons as spa cards. After the holidays, CardCash was listing gift cards worth about $6,000 total from Brooks Brothers, $5,000 from Coach, $4,000 from Gucci and$3,000 from Hermes. Lesson here: Know your recipient. You may be better off with stores that carry more “needs” than “wants” — like , Walmart or .Off-Season Shops Cards from “seasonal merchants such as Sunglass Hut are less desirable gifts during the winter months, and many people lose the gift card if they hold on to it until the summer, so they sell them to us,” says Klier. The site actually saw about $4,000 worth of Sunglass Hut gift cards up for sale in the month following the holidays, Klier says. Other “seasonal” gift cards commonly listed on the site following the holidays: Christmas Tree Shops, Rita’s Ice, Bass Pro Shops and REI. Related Links From : This originally appeared at .锘?p>HermesThe limited edition sari from a French luxury brand priced at upwards of $6100 is in town.And if the store managers are to be believed, the nine yards, which are essentially an extension of the brand's signature scarves, have been picked up by several buyers.The brand has devised a little ritual around each purchase. You have to make a prior appointment, and then their craftsman measures you for the choli, which will be made in their workshop in Paris.However, not everyone seems to be buying the exclusivity tag. .In fact, life coach and image consultant, Chhaya Momaya, who just got back from one of her trip to New York, was reported talking about the thriving fake market in Chinatown, which makes a fortune out of selling the French brand in question."You can get anything you want here for as little as $100 to $130," she said, adding, that someone had even unwittingly gifted her a fake piece from the brand."In any case, most discerning buyers would not mind spending that kind of money for classic hand woven pieces. But certainly not something which you can actually pick up from the thriving fake market," she said.There are somethings that the French do best. But when it comes to the sari, they can leave it to us.This originally appeared at .This story was originally published by.锘?p>APHosni MubarakCAIRO (AP) — Hosni Mubarak's two sons were accused Wednesday with insider trading in a new case opened just three days before they and their elderly father are to hear the verdict in a separate trial on charges of corruption and complicity in killing protesters during last year's uprising.The prosecutions of the Mubarak family and its cronies had seemed to be part of a process of dismantling the old regime ousted in the uprising. But now Mubarak's last prime minister and longtime protege is one of two candidates heading into a runoff vote for president in just a few weeks.The new case, which was referred to trial, was interpreted as a timely attempt by Egypt's military rulers to assuage anger over the possible ascent to the presidency of , the last prime minister to serve under Mubarak and, like his mentor, a former air force commander. Shafiq is widely viewed as an extension of the Mubarak regime remembered for authoritarianism, corruption and a brutal police force."It's an attempt to ease the popular anger over Shafiq," said Shady el-Ghazali Harb, a key leader of the anti-Mubarak uprising. "It is a theatrical move by the generals to create the illusion that there is no question of showing leniency to the old regime."Mubarak and his two sons, the one-time heir apparent Gamal and wealthy businessman Alaa, are already on trial for separate charges of corruption. They have all been in prison since April 2011, two months after a popular, 18-day uprising forced Mubarak to step down after 29 years in office.Mubarak, 84 and ailing, faces additional charges of complicity in the death of some 900 protesters during the uprising. But his sons are not charged in the protester killings. The former leader could get the death penalty if convicted on the charges linked to killing protesters.A statement by the prosecutor-general's office on the new charges said the Mubarak sons, along with seven others, made 2 billion Egyptian pounds in illicit gains. Their actions violated central bank and stock market regulations, it said.The nine are accused of conspiring to stealthily buy a controlling 80 percent stake in Watan Bank in 2006 without declaring their share to the stock market authority, it added. They later traded its shares through closed funds and investment companies based abroad."They deliberately withheld this essential information on the sale of the bank from other share traders to execute their criminal plot and violate the principles of transparency and equality between traders," said the statement. It did not specify the role of each of the nine defendants nor announce a date for the trial.The seven other defendants are free on bail but banned from leaving the country.The prosecutor's statement said Gamal, 48, unlawfully made a profit of nearly 500 million Egyptian pounds from the sale of the Watani Bank and that his brother Alaa, believed to be around 50, used insider information about the bank to reap an illegal profit of some 12 million Egyptian pounds.Two of the seven men charged along with the Mubarak sons are chief executives at Hermes, one of the Middle East's top investment banks with branches in nine Arab nations. They are Yasser El-Malawny and Hassan , son of Mohammed Hassanein Heikal, Egypt's best known political writer and a longtime confidante of the late Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel-Nasser.The three Mubaraks, along with the ousted leader's security chief and four of his top aides, will hear the court's verdict on the case already in progress on June 2.Gamal Mubarak was viewed by many as a corrupt politician who used his father's position to illegally amass a fortune while working along with a coterie of regime-backed wealthy businessmen and powerful politicians to ensure that he succeeded his father.He rapidly rose to the top of his father's ruling National Democratic Party to become its de facto boss on the eve of his father's ouster, when he also was effectively running Egypt's day-to-day affairs. At the time of the uprising, there was growing anxiety in Egypt that his succession was imminent. That anxiety is seen as one of the key sparks for the uprising that overthrew Mubarak.Many of Gamal's closest allies are among some three dozen regime stalwarts in detention facing charges of corruption. Some of them have been convicted and sentenced to prison terms.The new charges came two days after Shafiq was officially declared one of two top vote-getters in the first round of presidential elections held on May 23-24. Shafiq and the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi will now go head-to-hear in a runoff vote on June 16-17. The winner will be announced June 21, the last step before the generals are due to hand over power.A Shafiq presidency would mean the continuation of de facto military rule in Egypt, where all four presidents since the overthrow of the monarchy nearly 60 years have been of military background.Shafiq's qualification to the runoff has angered many Egyptians who see him as an extension of the old regime and an affront to the uprising that, among other things, sought to end military rule. Several hundred protesters stormed, vandalized and set ablaze his campaign headquarters in Cairo late on Monday night, just hours after the official results were announced.Other protesters in Cairo and a string of cities in northern Egypt tore down his campaign posters.Michael Hanna, an Egypt expert from the New York-based Century Foundation, said the announcement of new charges is the latest measure by the ruling generals who took over from Mubarak against their old regime rivals — Gamal Mubarak, his brother along with the businessmen and politicians who threw their weight behind the succession scheme. The military primarily opposed the succession because it would end the military's decades-old grip on the land's highest office."Today's announcement fits a pattern of prosecuting politicians and businessmen viewed by the military as a threat to its interests when it has been nearly impossible to convict policeman accused of killing protesters."Earlier Wednesday, a criminal court convicted and sentenced to five years in prison a policeman for his part in the shooting death of 18 protesters on January 28, last year, the bloodiest day of the uprising. Mohammed el-Sunni had been sentenced to death earlier when he was on the run. Thursday's verdict came after a retrial that followed his surrender to authorities.But his conviction followed multiple court cases in which policemen charged with killing protesters have been acquitted or received light sentences.锘?p>Today is Tim Tebow's 25th birthday, and if you watched ESPN's "SportsCenter" this morning, you would think it was a national holiday.During the one hour episode, Tebow's name was mentioned or appeared on the screen 29 times. TWENTY-NINE! And only three of those were directly related to Tebow playing football for the Jets.Topics discussed included:And just in case you think I am exaggerating, here's some of the visual evidence...锘?p>Wha...?The world really is coming to an end! Or, the people at Prada are so insanely brilliant, emphasizing a high-low combination that no one could have seen coming. Talk about recession chic...Oh, the latest thing if for designers to partner with car companies. . Yeah, good luck with that! ...the fashion house has become the latest to take the wheel and embark on a car collaboration.Its partner of choice is Hyundai, for which it will create three special editions of the Genesis Sedan. Prada's design team will work closely with the car company's engineers and own designers on the project, ready to unveil the first design at the 2009 Seoul Motor Show."We've made a name for ourselves as a quality automaker, and are now focusing on raising our brand image," says Hyundai Motor's president of international sales, James Choi.The Motor Show car will subsequently go on display at Hyundai's headquarters in Seoul, while the other two will be auctioned at the city's ; the proceeds will be donated to an as-yet unspecified charity under the joint Hyundai-Prada Transformer name, reports WWD.Ok so at this point it's just a stunt to raise money for charity but if it gets enough buzz and the Hermes car does well enough we're betting that these weird combo cars will go on sale to the masses.锘?p>PARIS () - If, like French fashion house Balmain, you can sell a ripped cotton tee-shirt for more than 1,000 euros, you might wonder if there's any price your well-heeled customers won't pay.It's a question the luxury industry has been posing for years as it skipped through the financial crisis in diamond slingbacks - House of Borgezie, 120,000 euros ($148,000)."There is a tendency among the most high-end buyers to forget about cost. They want the best. They want what they want," said Michel Chevalier, author of Luxury Brand Management.It is the most expensive brands, dubbed "absolute" luxury - among them Hermes, Van Cleef & Arpels and Bottega Veneta - that are growing the fastest of all, thanks to emerging market demand, particularly from China.According to Bain research, the "absolute" segment has grown 6 percent a year, outperforming the general luxury market, since 2000. It now accounts for 40 billion euros of the 191 billion euro luxury market and is expected to grow faster than other segments through 2014."There is limited supply of these products," said Citigroup luxury analyst Thomas Chauvet of prestige and vintage cognacs and champagnes, which come from just a small region of France. "This is a fantastic opportunity to increase prices."Analysts say prices in the luxury industry have surged from 2001 to 2011 and will keep rising faster than broader prices. Thomas Mesmin at Cheuvreux estimates that prices for fashion and leather goods rose 62 percent in that period, while watches and jewelry have risen 78 percent. Euro zone inflation has totaled just 26 percent over the 11 years.Much of the rise in luxury prices occurred before the 2008 crisis, but prices have been rising again since the second half of 2010. In 2011 Cheuvreux estimates that luxury prices rose 7 percent across the board.Prices for champagne, leather goods, jewelry and the like have been particularly buoyant for the past two years.A Hermes Cape Cod watch that sold for 1,300 euros in 2009 now sells for 2,200. A bottle of Moët & Chandon Imperial Rosé that sold for $60 in 2010 in the United States now fetches $75.99., the world's largest luxury brand, has been especially assertive, raising prices in its Louis Vuitton and high-prestige champagne lines by up to 15 percent in 2011. Chauvet says systematic price increases at LVMH account for a third of its revenue growth.POWER PRICINGOne analyst noted that LVMH frets over the entry price for Louis Vuitton bags every year, knowing that too high would alienate some customers, but too low would cheapen the brand."The entry price point at Louis Vuitton is agonized over," said the analyst. "I am told it is the single most important decision they make all year."This pricing strategy contrasts sharply with lower-end fashion, where brands such as are offering big discounts to attract bargain hunters and keep revenues up."Top luxury will cost more, while mid-priced fashion will cost less," cashmere specialist Brunello Cucinelli, who floated his eponymous company in June, told Reuters.These prices could go up even more if leather and crocodile prices rise in 2012 due to the drought now affecting the U.S. Midwest, as they did in 2011 when harsh weather in Australia helped push up skin prices.In truth, the rise in commodity prices is likely to be only a small contributor to price rises. The best brands, including Louis Vuitton, many champagne houses, Hermes and Chanel fragrances, have operating margins of 40-50 percent and gross margins well over 60 percent, so they could comfortably absorb cost rises if they were minded to.Margins will instead get wider as more luxury houses pull their products from department stores and set up their own flagship outlets, taking with them retail margins that can be 2.5 times the wholesale price. They can also then shield their brands from the dirty business of regular discount sales."No one wants to buy something rare and expensive and find out three months later it's selling for half off," said Fflur Roberts, head of luxury at Euromonitor. "This doesn't engender respect for a brand. And luxury is about perception."The question that many luxury retailers now face is how quickly to increase prices, especially in emerging markets like China, where prices are already 50 percent higher than in Europe because of taxes and import duties.That gap is not sustainable and could inhibit luxury market growth in China if Chinese customers, who also account for roughly a third of sales in French stores, begin to feel they are being ripped off in their own markets.The answer, it seems, is not to cap prices overseas but to let rip at home.Thus LVMH is likely to raise prices in Europe 10 percent this autumn, says Chauvet, to rebalance the China premium.($1 = 0.8124 euros)(Additional reporting by Antonella Ciancio; Editing by Will Waterman)DON'T MISS: 锘?p>The RNC is selling a product, and the product obviously has to look good. Clothes cost a lot, especially when you can't wear the same two suits every other day like a male product politician.But this does raise a question that we realize we don't know the answer to. Do campaigns always pay to clothe and buff their nominees?For example, Joe Biden's not a mogul, but he seems to have a wardobe full of $150 Hermes ties. Did he buy them? Do taxpayers pay for senators' clothes? What about presidents? Does it matter if you're loaded, like Dick Cheney (is it sort of an optional thing?) Seriously. We're asking.The Republican National Committee has spent more than $150,000 to clothe and accessorize vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her family since her surprise pick by John McCain in late August.According to financial disclosure records, the accessorizing began in early September and included bills from Saks Fifth Avenue in St. Louis and New York for a combined $49,425.74.The records also document a couple of big-time shopping trips to Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis, including one $75,062.63 spree in early September.The RNC also spent $4,716.49 on hair and makeup through September after reporting no such costs in August.The cash expenditures immediately raised questions among campaign finance experts about their legality under the Federal Election Commission's long-standing advisory opinions on using campaign cash to purchase items for personal use.Politico asked the McCain campaign for comment, explicitly noting the $150,000 in expenses for department store shopping and makeup consultation that were incurred immediately after Palin’s announcement.锘?p>In an interview with Fox News'On the Recordwith , former Alaska Gov. offered the strongest hint yet that she may not seek the presidency.After months of speculation, Palin publicly questioned it makes sense to seek the president, asking "Is a title worth it? Does a title shackle a person?”“Someone like me who’s a maverick? I do go rogue and I call it like I see it and I don’t mind stirring it up in order to get people to think and debate aggressively to find solutions to the problems that our country is facing,” she continued.“Somebody like me, is a title and a campaign too shackling? Does that prohibit me from being out there and out of a box, not allowing handlers to shape me and to force my message to be what’s going on, or what contributors or political pundits want it to be?” Palin said.“Does a title take away my freedom to call it like I see it and to affect positive change that we need in this country? That’s the biggest contemplation piece in my process," she said, adding,“You don’t need a title to make a difference,”Palin, though, did indicate that she believe she could win the nomination if she were to run.Palin also weighed in on the buzz surrounding New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's potential candidacy and Herman Cain's recent success at the Florida Straw — saying the media is creating a "quasi-reality show" around the election.She added that "Herm Cain, is with all due respect, the flavor of the week."Watch the video below:Watch the latest video at &amp;amp;lt;a href=""&amp;amp;gt;video.foxnews.com&amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;gt;锘?p>According to local report, Shanda is investing over RMB 2 billion (US$ 309 million) in ecommerce site with two other undisclosed participants. Founded by Ge Binbin, the former head of Goldcool Games, Pinju is set to debut in this Oct. Ge said that Shanda accounts for 40% of the total sum, or US$ 1.23 million.Pinju is still under beta testing, the latest comer to the highly crowded and fierce competing Chinese ecommerce market is featuring all kinds of goods ranging from cosmetics, clothes, maternity and baby products, electric appliance, home supplies, health products, 3C products to luxurious brands including Hermes, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Armani, Gucci and so on. It seems Pinju is positioned to be an online general store.It’s known to all that majority of Chinese online shopping sites(except for 360buy, the Chinese B2C giant announced its departure with Alipay because of high commission fee) partner with, using the latter’s online payment solution, whereas Pinju will feature, the online payment offering by shanda. That makes sense, just likerefers its customers to, Tencent’s approach to online payment.Shanda has long been rumored to keep an eye on the lucrative and promising Chinese ecommerce waterfront, according to the Beijing-based market research firm iResearch, the market size will passes RMB 10 trillion (US$ 154.6 billion) by 2013, how can one miss out on a chunk from this.锘?p>For those shoppers who'd rather go to a real store than hunt for clothes in their friends' apartments, the best way to keep your retail activity on the down low is to have the store package your goods in unmarked bags and boxes. That's what Kathy Fuld does. Wait. Why is Kathy Fuld shopping? It’s become a common request, an Hermès employee told The Daily Beast. Sales associates at this temple of good taste have gotten used to passing out plain white shopping bags to clients eager to hide their $10,000 Birkin habits in the current economic environment.At Hermès and a handful of other exclusive retailers, “secret shopping” has becoming the winter season’s newest trend. Anyone who can still afford, say, the three cashmere throws at $2,225 each that Mrs. Fuld bought when she stopped by the store that day isn’t likely to advertise it. Instead, the city’s most extravagant shoppers are ferrying their purchases home in unmarked bags; delegating delivery to assistants; or manipulating credit card bills to disguise their spending from outsiders—and their spouses.“We kind of respect it,” says the sales associate, who’s worked at the store for several years and sees a white bag twice a day now, up from once a month in August. Skipping the trademark citrus bag, with its thick paper, brown cord handles, and logo, Hermès’ biggest spenders are “trying to be discreet.”Of course the employee "respect[s] it." Hermes should be glad people are still coming in to the store.[Milton Pedraza, C.E.O. of the Luxury Institute, a market research company for purveyors of luxury goods and services] has heard of several retailers offering plain packaging, or shipping in unmarked boxes, including Net-A-Porter, the online designer boutique that traffics in labels such as Chloé, Missoni, and Jimmy Choo. (The company didn’t return a call to confirm.) A quick trip to Tiffany confirmed that the Fifth Avenue store in Manhattan has white bags available too, although a salesperson there said the store has offered them, as an alternative to the classic blue bags, for at least seven years.In a recent conversation with a top executive at a New York luxury retailer, which Pedraza didn’t identify, the executive observed that sales were down at his stores only partly because no one wanted to splurge. The bigger factor among shoppers of means was that they “don’t want to be seen as consuming luxury,” says Pedraza.锘?p>Every year, many teenagers are killed or injured behind the wheel. The factors that contribute to many accidents among young people are reckless driving, driving too fast and overall lack of experience. For this reason, many insurance companies charge higher premiums for those under 27 years of age.Four college students who’ve dubbed themselves Team Hermes have a smartphone app idea that appeals to the gamer in every young driver. The app answers safety questions like, "What can be done to encourage young drivers to change their habits and drive safely?" while answering like," How can I help my teen get more affordable insurance?"Driving AchievementsWith the advent of smart phones, causal gaming has surged to popularity. Even every day, mundane tasks such as dieting, studying and to-do lists have been "gamified" by providing achievements for completing tasks. Leader boards let users compete with one another and earn points for adhering to a plan or completing certain tasks. Team Hermes’ application plans to use a similar achievement and leader board combination to encourage healthy competition among drivers. Drivers will earn points based on how safe they drive and may even be able to earn some real rewards.Tracking Driving Habits is made up of four technology institute graduates from Ireland. The have built a smartphone app that tracks driving habits and rewards them for driving safe. The app connects to the on-board computer and relays information via phone network on how the user is driving.For safety reasons, the application only informs the driver on how he is doing after the key is removed from the ignition. The system tracks important metrics like speed, g-force and throttle position. All of these factors are considered to determine just how safely the driver is operating. Driving decisions and statistics help the app form a profile of the driver using it.Real Benefits for Safe DriversJust what do young drivers have to gain besides a position in an online leader board? Plans are being formulated for the application to reward good drivers with discounted insurance premiums. The plan makes perfect sense, seeing as insurance companies will now have a way to measure just how risky a young driver really is.The application is currently in a second prototype stage of development. Forensics data from police crash records has been used to identify dangerous combinations of speed, g-force and other factors that lead to crashes. This data will help develop the perfect algorithm for scoring a drivers level of proficiency and safety.The team forecasts the project taking another three months of intense development work. After that, they’ll partner with a marketing agency to help bring the product to as many drivers as possible.The ability for smartphones to capture data from our lives is becoming more significant every day. Since our phones are usually with us, they can tell a lot about our habits. . Applications like this could help us correct bad habits, saving money and lives.锘?p>Blackstone chief Steve Schwarzman is going CIA on his staff, .Apparently the firm's HR and IT departments are desperately trying to find out which employee gave the go-ahead for a freelance journalist to crash Blackstone's bash at the Met.Kevin Roose shot a text message to a Blackstone employee asking if his party-crashing plans were a good idea. : "The whole firm will be there. You'll blend in."And thanks to that message we got all sorts of details about the shindig, from food selection, to Schwarzman's orange Hermes tie, to a massive cake emblazoned with the word: Accountability.Roose, of course, is not giving up his source. He he knows a ton of people at the firm.We, for one, hope the man or woman - who actually, didn't really do anything wrong - doesn't get exposed; we're looking forward to future updates on Schwarzman soirees.锘?p>From a Swiss paper, , handily translated using Google Translate, comes news that someone is doing the right thing for its customers. Think Fairfield Greenwich will follow suit?In this case it's the privately-held Swiss bank Syz & Co., which through the Thema International Fund, put ten of millions of dollars with Madoff. The $1.1 billion asset (as of Nov. 28) Dublin-based Thema fund, is managed by Bank Medici, by the way, which might sound familiar to you. Earlier this week the Medici founder Sonja Kohn disappeared; Medici may have lost as much as $3.2 billion. Thema was one of the biggest ways that Europeans got in with Madoff. It seems like Thema had all of it's money with Madoff, though that's unclear from what we've been reading. (Anybody know? Email cwaxler@alleyinsider or comment) (With a slightly uneven translation by Google): In recent days, the bank has informed some of these customers, for which it has itself taken the initiative to invest in Thema, it would reimburse the full, according to a client of this unit. "My manager informed me by telephone that he would reimburse me my initial investment, like all other customers in the same situation," she told the Times. "I appreciate this initiative, she added. They s'évitent and legal inconvenience, and maintain their credibility by showing that, when making a mistake, they pay. "This client had also invested with Aurelia Finance, which also provided its customers with funds Madoff (Hermes, them), but has for the time being, not consented to the side of rembourser.Du Syz, the spokesman replied that there was no "firm decision to reimburse investors ", and refused to comment on a" special case ". He confirmed that the private bank Syz had invested in funds Madoff, but added that the total of these investments involves "limited amounts".Hmm, wonder who the special case was who talked? We would say oligarch but an oligarch would never speak to the press.And, what about those fees?锘?p>Quick story, which is good ’cause we are on the cusp of a week-long holiday here in Chinaland. Longtime readers of this blog know that I have a somewhat eclectic taste when it comes to topics. But the tale I am about to tell you has it all: income inequality, intellectual property infringement, heck, even social media and the Internet. It’s the China Hearsay Rosetta Stone.Courtesy of the , here are the basics (click through to see pics):A user 鈥淟ittle Xixi Xi鈥?achieved a certain notoriety and triggered the powerful聽 on Sina Weibo, after she posted a photo of herself carrying a Louis Vuitton handbag on one hand, and a Hermes Birkin bag on the other.If you’ve forgotten, the “” phenomenon refers to the practice of information gathering by Netizens, often confidential personal details of folks accused of wrongdoing. Some call them vigilantes or nuisances, others see them as heroes. Depends on who they’re going after at the time.In this case, you’ve got some dizzy chick who posted a photo of herself with two designer bags. She’s proud of her toys and wants to show them off. Natural instinct, I suppose. She has pics of handbags; I do the same thing with my cats.Netizens were not amused. They went after her with a vengeance. Why? It’s just not cool to flaunt your wealth these days. So the mob started digging and came up with the following:In this case, they found that the real name of 鈥淟ittle Xixi Xi鈥?is You Yixi. Her father is You Chenghua, the deputy chief of Jinping County, Guizhou province. A net user who sounds like an insider even said, 鈥淪he now goes to college in Guiyang (Jing: capital city of Guizhou province), and often buys luxury goods. She plunks down at least several thousand yuan at a time, and often tens of thousand.鈥?/p>Oops. Yeah, the human flesh search engine crowd is not too partial to corruption by government officials. If this girl is spending Daddy’s cash, which turns out to be the ill-gotten gains of a public servant, the online mob is going to go apeshit.Well, things got ugly, and Daddy’s bosses started to ask uncomfortable questions. That’s when Daddy pushed back with a cover story: the “designer” bags were just cheap knock-offs! Nothing to worry about here!This is where my head exploded. If you compartmentalize these issues (i.e. corruption and IP), then it all makes sense. But together, this is really surreal. To summarize, Daddy is saying “My daughter/me would never flaunt our wealth (which we don’t have of course). She doesn’t buy expensive things, she buys products from known counterfeiters!”Daddy was rather forceful with this cover story, allegedly saying: “I pledge with my 27 years of (Communist) Party membership that I saw with my own eyes that a mail carrier delivered a 80-yuan bag to my home.” This was backed up by Dutiful Daughter, who insisted that she bought the bags on Taobao for around RMB 200.Did the Netizens buy it? No way. More digging ensued, and Dutiful Daughter was now not only being accused of owning expensive accessories, but of attempting a really weak cover-up of the fact. Moreover, Netizens also claimed that she was romantically involved with a Sugar Daddy, a rich dude into shady construction deals. This may have taken some of the pressure off of her father with respect to corruption charges, though.The best part of this wonderful story? No one even bothered to point out that even if everything said by Daddy and Dutiful Daughter was correct, that would mean the girl was admitting to buying knock-offs, and Daddy, a government official, was practically boasting about it.Is this messed up or what? Well, actually it makes a lot of sense. Just going by domestic politics and government policy priorities, we already knew that flaunting one’s wealth is definitely a in China these days, but purchasing counterfeits is merely a .This place is so complicated. Makes me tired. I’m glad we’re heading into a long holiday.© Stan for , 2011. Add toPost tags: , , , , , , Feed enhanced by from Read more posts on 锘?p>Billionaire heiress Tamara Ecclestone has a handbag collection than $1 million.Her father, Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone, doesn't appreciate her shopping habit and often confronts his daughter.Tamara told about how she justifies the excess:"Sometimes he's like, "Another handbag, Tamara? That's a bit nuts"...I think he's glad that I'm not hurting other people. I've never been to rehab. It could be worse," she said.Ecclestone's favorite handbags are the Hermes Birkin bags, which cost more than $10,000. She has more than 30 of them.DON'T MISS: 锘?p>At midnight my door opened and I saw the shadow of someone about 4 feet tall walk into my room and stand by my side of the bed. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 sleep,鈥?she said and she was smart enough to also say, 鈥渕y mind is racing鈥? Over the nine years of her life so far she has probably heard me say that many times. Like when I was losing a home and I threw a chair and the police were called. The third time police had to be called on me in life (out of five).(she was 7 when this was painted)So I took her hand and we walked downstairs and she gave me a lecture on what was going on in each one of her classes and she concluded with a discussion of the various Greek gods (鈥淎thena is my favorite,鈥?she said. 鈥淲ho is yours. Hermes?鈥? And聽 then I saw her yawn and I said maybe now she can try to go back to sleep, which she did.I鈥檓 scared for her. My mind races also. How many times has my mind woken me up at midnight to remind me of how little money was in my bank account, or how many bills I had to pay, or how much I hated my job, or even hated being an entrepreneur with customers, clients, people screwing me, people hating me. I don鈥檛 want her mind to wake her like that when she’s older. It鈥檚 the worst pain. And I might not be there then for her to talk to.Will she kill herself? Will she wake up her husband or or whatever and say, 鈥渕y mind is racing. Talk to me.鈥?/p>One time some were happening to me. Something was shutting down, other things were going down. Some people were cheating me. Whatever. My mind was racing. I woke up Claudia. 鈥淏reathe like this,鈥?she said. It was two in the morning but she wanted to help. She had me do a breathing exercise that involved quickly exhaling but I forget the rest of it. Then I fell asleep.One investor of mine told me I had a 鈥渟carcity complex鈥?-聽 that I always had a strong feeling that I had nothing even when I had many things to be happy about. This was about eight years ago. I agreed with him. He wanted to be my mentor.s and then let me invest the money. So I agreed to everything he said. I did that back then. But in this case maybe he was right. Unless I鈥檓 at optimal health in every way I constantly feel like I have less than nothing. It鈥檚 post-traumatic stress from losing everything several times and watching my father lose everything twenty years earlier.(half empty)No toys will ever patch that bleeding.The country now has a scarcity complex. 鈥淭he banks took everything.鈥?鈥淭he government took everything.鈥?鈥淭here are no jobs.鈥?鈥淭here is no money鈥?聽 Everyone is in despair. Everyone is scared about feeding their family. Scared and scarred. Greece, Japan, China, Libya, terrorism, Jamie Dimon, Obama, Rich Perry. These are the monsters in the closet at night.I鈥檓 tired of monsters in my closet. Anger won鈥檛 change anything. Complaining won鈥檛 change anything.I want to be consistently in the 鈥?%鈥? Not of money. Money comes and goes, talking of Michelangelo.I want to be in the 1% of 聽the happiest people on Earth.My only goal is to be in the 1% of happiness. Else, if I鈥檓 in the 99%, then all of my other goals will also fall short of the 1%. You can鈥檛 meet the love of your life, for instance, if you鈥檙e in the botton 99%. At least, from it will be harder. It鈥檚 like taking out the garbage and expecting to meet the love of your life in the garbage can.My life is like a laboratory and happiness has been the experiment. Only when I鈥檝e been in the 1% of happiness have my other goals been satisfactorily achieved.So I know what I have to do when I slip into the 99%. This might not work for everyone. Maybe some people have to protest with signs to be in the top 1% of happiness. That doesn鈥檛 work for me.But these ten things work for me:A)聽聽聽聽 Lately, exercise has to stay in shape and sweat out toxins. Bad stuff builds up in the body. You have the usual disgusting methods to get out bad toxins that go into the digestion system. But what about bad stuff that builds up in every pore of your body. You have to sweat it out. Sometimes just 100 pushups a day will do it. For me, I like doing yoga.B)聽聽聽聽聽 I don鈥檛 have a lot of friends. But I do know enough people that I can do this: every day I make sure I don鈥檛 talk to people who bring me down. And I try to meet new people who bring me up. I won鈥檛 do business with anyone who brings me down. The last time I tried that, my body told me, 鈥淏ad James!鈥?On the second day on the job I fell straight to the ground and sprained my ankle for no obvious reason. If you let it, the reactions in your body (any part of your body) will tell you if you are with good people or bad people. When I get an email from someone who is bad for me, I usually get a quick stomach ache. So I delete the mail and put the emailer in Spam. Its鈥檚 the only solution if I want to be in the 1%. I don’t engage at all with anyone who is going to bring me down. Why should I? [See. ""]C)聽聽聽聽聽 I like to be creative. Whether it鈥檚 through this blog or writing down a list of ideas or even drawing. It makes my brain come to life in ways that it鈥檚 not used to. It’s important here, to never expect results from your creativity. When I was working on the , for instance, it made me very anxious to know whether or not it was going to get accepted. I was too attached to the results of the creativity. Just like now I might be too attached to blog traffic.D)聽聽聽聽 I like to avoid these . Any one of these nine will make me unhappy. For instance, I鈥檓 happily married. Cheating on my wife would make me unhappily married. BAM! That would put me in the 99%. When I remind someone what they鈥檝e done for me and how happy it made me it not only brings back memories of that happiness it also makes me happy that I鈥檓 helping them be happy by being grateful for them.G)聽聽聽聽 I try to 鈥渟urrender鈥? I say to myself, 鈥淚 can鈥檛 do everything. I can’t take this pain.聽 I can鈥檛聽 have everything I want. Sometimes I鈥檓 helpless in the face of my material goals. So YOU figure it out.鈥?I don鈥檛 even know who I鈥檓 talking to. Who YOU is. I might be talking to my teddy bear when I say that. But having a sense of surrender and humility will help me reduce my needs (I don鈥檛 need a yacht for instance) and help me to feel humility. There鈥檚 a physical exercise that鈥檚 good to practice surrender if you are not good at it. In America we鈥檙e not really good at surrender. We never give up. We want to win every war. The exercise is to reach down and touch your toes. It obscures your vision (because you are staring at your knees), its almost impossible (you have to be flexible, both physically and mentally), and it looks like your bowing, which is an unusual thing for Americans to do. So it teaches surrender if you are uncomfortable with it.(Claudia touching her toes)o anyone or harm anyone. Because then you have to keep track of which lie was told to who. Or you feel bad about who you harmed, which was usually as a result of either anger or greed. If I never harm anyone I never have to deal with anyone鈥檚 anger (unless it鈥檚 irrational anger). Anger makes me unhappy.I)聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Sometimes you can鈥檛 avoid work that you don鈥檛 want to do. We all have to feed our families. But, in general,a (fluorescent lights and bosses make me less happy) then I鈥檒l be more happy.J)聽聽聽聽聽聽 I need a tenth thing so that I can call this post, 鈥淭en Ways to be in the Top 1%鈥?so hold on a second while I think of something鈥offee? No, sometimes it spills on me. A lot of sex? Makes me VERY happy but sometimes makes me. Ahh, sleeping 8-9 hours a day. Because then I know I鈥檓 in the top 1% for at least 1/3 of the day. And I also know I won鈥檛 be tired the other 2/3, which would put me in the bottom 99%.And if I鈥檓 consistently in the top 1% of happiness, maybe there鈥檚 a slight chance my two daughters , and maybe others I interact with, will be in the top 1% when they鈥檙e older. Happiness is both contagious and hereditary. And so on.— on TwitterAm I missing anything? I need all the help I can get. Comments:Read more posts on 锘?p>At the end of May, its yearly rookie symposium, which is open to all players selected in that year’s NFL Draft. 聽Historically, topics discussed at the symposium have included financial planning, indoctrination into the NFL, and how to be a professional on and off the field. 聽But then the NFL Players Association decided to pick up the slack and announced a replacement for the scrapped rookie symposium – “The Business of Football: Rookie Edition.” 聽Originally, it was supposed to be held in Washington D.C. 聽It was moved to IMG Academies in Bradenton, Florida, and will go from June 27 – June 30.Today (5 p.m. EST) is the final day for 2011 drafted players to register for the event. 聽It includes an all-expense paid trip to Bradenton, Florida, free workouts and expert coaching at IMG Academies, networking opportunities with Joe Gibbs, Herm Edwards, Plaxico Burress, and Luther Ellis, and the following agenda:Monday, June 27thTuesday, June 28thWednesday, June 29thThursday, June 30thIf you are an athlete who was drafted or are an agent who had a client drafted and still wish to RSVP for the event, contact Jason Belser,聽Senior Director of Player Services and Development at聽jason.belser@nflplayers.com. from Read more posts on 锘?p>Shiva, is a shimmering intellectual. He holdsdegrees from MIT (where he lectures), numerous patents, honors, and awards. He also says he invented email, and there's a global conspiracy against him.Guess which one of these statements is true.In 1978, a precocious 14-year-old from New Jersey invented email. You can see him doing it in the photo at the top right of your screen—the kid glued to his monitor. In that picture, he's busy showing off his creation—a way for office staff to message each other via computer. As he's happy to gab to the,, Ayyadurai was a teen wonder who invented the electronic messaging system with which we all communicate, back in 1978.Ayyadurai's collection of "historical documents" is now to be interred at the Smithsonian, the Post reported, laid gloriously on the pillar of American history alongside artifacts of Occidental Civilzation such as Dizzy Gillespie's trumpet, Thomas Jefferson's Bible, and a 1903 Winton, "the first car driven across the United States." Ayyadurai is about to become more than just a gifted programmer and Professional Smart Man, but a historical figure. All of this leading up to a plum book deal with Norton, proclaiming his place in history as the upstart inventor of email itself.But why have you never heard of him? Probably because there's precious little evidence that Ayyadurai came remotely close to inventing email, beyond a few misleading childhood documents and a US Copyrightof dubious weight. This was enough to convince the Washington Post and Smithsonian? Before you could even finish the Post's ode,, the reporter behind the piece, issued a stumbling correction:A number of readers have accurately pointed out that electronic messaging predates V. A. Shiva Ayyadurai's work in 1978. However, Ayyadurai holds the copyright to the computer program called "email," establishing him as the creator of the "computer program for [an] electronic mail system" with that name, according to the U.S. Copyright Office.Well, that's a rather different claim to fame entirely, isn't it? After we, Ayyadurai's PR rep was quick to rally us toward his cause—and the case was urgent. Not only was Ayyadurai desperate to set the record straight, but there was a tale of globalization and woe that explained the detractors. Ayyadurai wasn't being accused of lying about inventing email because hadn't invented it; he was the victim of international character assassination.This goes all the way to the top.In 2009, Ayyadurai worked for the Indian government, helping to run, a national R&D incubator tasked with finding homegrown patents and turning them into national high tech moneymakers. According to Ayyadurai, the center, with its billions of dollars to spend, was as corrupt as you'd imagine an R&D incubator in a developing country would be. Dissent was verboten, patents were plagiarized, and the few ideas of worth were rounded up laid fallow. When someone tried to speak up, they were canned. Meanwhile, plush villas, fat salaries, and state-provided cars were doled out to scientists within the organization on the dime of the Indian people.Thisoriginally appeared at.锘?p>The Investor is a daily report from SAI. Illustration by Business Insider Up Strong Markets are fighting back as and . Shares of GOOG are up strong. Investors continue look for momentum and monetization of smartphones and tablets; direction for ; the resurgence of ; continued growth and monetization of ; expansion of social network Google+; and progress in other initiatives (location-based services, mapping, , , Google Fiber, etc.). The stock trades at approximately . ( via )comScore released its latest quarterly figures on the state of the mobile market in the U.S. based on active users, and while the exact numbers are different, the basic picture is earlier in the week around smartphone sales: Apple’s continues to see the strongest gains and has remained in the lead but with its lead reduced somewhat. There are now 234 million U.S. residents using mobile devices, with smartphone usage up 4% to 110 million, giving the country a smartphone penetration of 47%. (Launch)Everyone wants fiber. The evil folks at cable companies and telecoms are sabotaging fiber in order to maintain their legacy businesses: be they content in the case of or phone calls and text messaging if it's AT&T. As the Internet gets faster, you spend more time online. This is one of the core tenets of Google's success. Instead of adding features to , and Google search, they historically focused on making things faster. Why? Because speed drives usage. Google Fiber is not a test, it's a takeover plan. (Search Engine Watch)Three out of four of the Top 100 brands are now on Google+. In the past two months, , Hermes, and have all joined the Google+ network with their own fan pages. Growth is slowing, but that’s to be expected, given the astronomical adoption rate among big brands when Google+ was first introduced. Of those with Google+ pages, 30% have these pages display in search results for their brand name, according to the BrightEdge Social study for the month of July. That’s 6x higher than in February. BrightEdge surmises, "This could be due to the rising importance of social content in search results along with the growing adoption of Google+ by brands and users." ()Google has agreed to acquire Wildfire, a social media marketing firm, for an undisclosed sum. Founded four years ago, Wildfire helps brands manage their social campaigns across sites like , and Pinterest. It has roughly 16,000 customers, including , Virgin, and Unilever. , but Google won out. That's after Google attempted to buy , but lost out to , which bought the company for about $700 million. (TechCrunch)This week in the tech news rumor mill: A source close to Google says that the company has put a stop to all acquisitions related to Google+, at least until the end of this year. Google is wary of both growing the Google+ team right now and providing the product with any additional resources until January. The Google+ project itself is not on hold but, if this rumor is indeed correct and Google is cutting back on expanding the team’s resources, this could be an indication that Google+ isn’t doing quite as well as the company’s glowing public comments would indicate.锘?p>We know, we know. It's no longer cool to flaunt your wealth with Hermes bags and logo-ed goods. So now that you can no longer decorate your apartment like Donald Trump or paint your fingernails with Chanel logos like Heidi Montag, who should you model your spending behavior after? The Minnesota Star-Tribune, has the answer: look north, to Minnesota.Residents of the northern state are reportedly masters in buying expensive items and not showing them off. Luxury goods are the new porn, things that must be hidden behind plain brown wrappers lest one be viewed as marching down the road to Prada perdition. Chanel and Sotheby's are laying off employees. Louis Vuitton has packed away its plans to open a megastore in Japan. Yacht sales, which have risen every year over the past 10, are approaching dead calm. On the home front, even the Starbucks near 50th and France in Edina recently offered, for the first time, 20 percent off a bag of coffee beans.Conspicuous consumerism has never been in fashion for Minnesota's anti-ostentation old money. Their idea of being flashy is breaking out Grandma's diamond necklace once a year, and then only for a Wayzata fundraiser.Wayzata, for the uninitiated, is a local country club.Word to the wealthy: Just admit you have it, and continue spending it to make up for those who can't. Don't swan around some macrobiotic ashram as if you're learning to live without. And by all means, continue those charitable contributions, knowing they're needed now more than ever.As for the next big thing in designer labels, how about Ponzi? The name has the right ring to it.And that would be a nice way for some of Madoff's victims to make their money back.Hat Tip: 锘?p>Gawker.com is running a poll to determine the most loathesome financial villain. Early returns show Alan Greenspan catching up fast to Bernie Madoff. Review the candidates below and then vote on Gawker. The winner will be announced on Friday.The New Depression rolls on and those overpaid failures are this week's target for populist wrath. But do you hate them more than last week's villains? Embrace your hate and vote in our poll.Vote for the scoundrel who most exemplifies the venal, self-interested, scheming, dastardly behavior that emptied out your 401k, and we will dedicate one of the three water closets at Gawker HQ to the winner and affix to the door a memorial plaque bearing his name. We'll name the Most Loathsome at noon on Friday.Bernard Madoff The Pope of Ponzi schemes bilked gullible investors out of $64 billion in a byzantine scam involving forged profit statements, fake trades, and a complicit auditor. The biggest fraud in the history of Wall Street.'s James Haas, Douglas Poling, Jonathan Liebergall, and John Does 1 through 71 destroyed AIG with credit-default swaps and incompetence. We paid $170 billion for their sins; they each got $1 million-plus bonuses.Sir Alan Stanford The Texan billionaire and Antiguan knight has yet to be charged with a crime, but is accused of running a billion-dollar fraud through his Stanford Financial Group, which is under investigation by the FBI and SEC. Also, like , he doesn't pay his taxes, and , according to the IRS.John Thain The Merrill Lynch chief while redecorating his office to the tune of $1.2 million with $35,000 commodes, and is under criminal investigation for allegedly rushing out $4 billion in bonuses to Merrill Lynch executives before Bank of America bought the firm and found out that it was worthless.Jimmy Cayne The Bear Stearns chief was busy and had to be sold to JPMorgan Chase in a Fed-brokered fire sale. The Bear Stearns collapse launched the Panic of '08.Jim Cramer What an asshole! He grinned and grimaced and shouted and rang bells and pressed buttons and now no one has any money, and all he had to do was for about 20 minutes.Dick and Kathleen Fuld The arrogant Lehman Bros. CEO , engaging Treasury Secretary Hank Pauson in a catastrophic game of chicken that ended in Lehman's bankruptcy. He reportedly got his clock cleaned by an employee when he used the company gym on the weekend after the bankruptcy, . He recently in an attempt to shield it from creditors. Kathleen, at least, has a healthy enough sense of shame to , which she did last Christmas. Do something! The erratic and unstable former Treasury Secretary calmly let Lehman go belly up, promptly announced to Congress that hell would rise up and swallow America if he didn't get $700 billion to spend on troubled assets, and then decided not to do the whole troubled asset thing and just give it to some banks. All yours, President Obama! He staked the future of the nation on the , and assured us that low interest rates and endless streams of credit would—and he scientifically proved this!—never, ever end up biting us in the ass. .Marcus Schrenker The Indiana financial consultant was accused of fraud, so he stashed a red motorcycle in a storage unit in Birmingham, Alabama, , parachuted out, injuring himself and leaving the plane to crash 200 yards from a residential neighborhood, sought out local residents for help by claiming to have been in a canoeing accident, and hid in a pup tent in a Florida campground until authorities found him after a three-day manhunt.Robert Rubin The architect of Clinton's economic policy made sure that complex derivatives remained unregulated and that the Glass-Steagall act was repealed, which allowed banks like Citigroup to do whatever they pleased, so that when Rubin left the government and Citi shareholders could lose all of their money.Herb and The couple founded Golden West, . The grifters didn't make their payments, but that's OK because the Sandlers sold Golden West to Wachovia for $24 billion in 2006, before anybody figured out what they were up to. Saturday Night Live threatened to kill them on the air, but then .So there you have them. Vote for the worst of the worst 锘?p>HedgeFundLIVE.com — Moet Henessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH) announced today that it has acquired a majority stake in Bulgari. The Bulgari family which was the majority shareholder in the eponymous company will exchange 152.5 million Bulgari shares for 16.5 million LVMH shares and become the second largest family shareholder with a 3% stake.Paolo and Nicola Bulgari will stay on as Chairman and Vice Chairman of the company and will have the opportunity to appoint 2 new members to the LVMH board of directors. Bulgari’s CEO will be tapped to manage LVMH’s watches and jewelry division later this year.Bulgari is just the latest in Bernard Arnault, the LVMH CEO’s, growing stable of luxury brands that already includes Dom Perignon, Marc Jacobs, Fendi and Tag Heuer. This move played out quite differently from Arnault’s surreptitious acquisition of a 20% stake in the Hermes family’s closely-held Hermes International. The Hermes family has gone to unnecessary lengths to ensure their company’s independence from LVMH.Click for full article.锘?p>"It's THE CANDYMANNN!" David Klein exclaims as I answer my office phone. I'm nearly knocked off my chair by his unusual greeting - he's not the typical PR person calling to request a meeting.Immediately I think, this man is either a lunatic, or he has one hell of a story to tell.It turns out Klein has a little bit of both. He has dedicated his life to , and is credited for inventing tasty, tiny, strangely-flavored .But if you search the Jelly Belly site, you'll find no mention of his name. Klein's claim to fame is summed up in one puny line in the company's history that states, "Back in 1976, a Los Angeles candy distributor had an idea for a jelly bean made with natural flavorings. So he called up Herm at Jelly Belly (formerly known as Herman Goelitz Candy Co.) and an historic collaboration began between candy maker and marketing guru."The line doesn't do him justice; Klein's story is much crazier than that. From blackmails, to staged press events, to forcibly selling his trademark and getting robbed of $200 million, Klein's little beans stirred up lives and the candy industry.We spoke with him about his roller coaster of a life and how Jelly Bellies came to be.War Room: How did you start this great worldwide brand? I don’t even know how jellybeans are manufactured…David Klein: You know…neither do I, I know nothing about making candy (laughs). I tell that to people and they say, “Oh come on, you created Jelly Bellies.” I didn’t really know anything about making candy. I had $800 when I started and it’s kind of hard to open up a candy factory with $800. You’re looking at at least $1-1.5 million just for the equipment.There’s a mogul that makes the center [of the Jelly Bellies], and that’s over $500,000 just for that one piece of equipment, so I had to go to an existing company and I hired them as my contract manufacturer. WR: How did you come up with the idea?DK: It was 1976. I was in the wholesale nut business back then, and I was selling pecans to Famous Amos — he had a store on Sunset and Formosa in Hollywood. I said to myself, this man has made a tremendous success out of chocolate chip cookies, what if I were to open a store that just sold jelly beans? And that’s basically how the idea started. I knew if I were to open up a store just selling beans it would have to be a really great jellybean. You could not open them with mediocre, generic-type jellybeans.WR: What were jellybeans like before you created Jelly Belly?DK: They were a lot bigger. Every flavor was pretty much the same except for the black licorice ones. And they were not flavored on the inside as well as the outside. So my concept was to make them smaller — 400 to the pound. Make them so they have fewer calories. Obviously because they’re smaller they have fewer calories — 4 calories per piece. And do them where you flavor the outside shell as well as the inside. And to do them in flavors that really had never been done before. Have just crazy flavors. We had eight flavors in the beginning [Very Cherry, Lemon, Cream Soda, Tangerine, Green Apple, Root Beer, Grape and Licorice - still some of the most popular flavors produced]. WR: How did you begin producing your candies?DK: I called up an existing manufacturer of jelly beans and I told them my idea. We never had a contract. They said, "This sounds real good, what flavors do you want and when do you want them?"In the beginning they were charging me 59 cents a pound. They were retailing at $2 a pound. I was selling them to store at $1 a pound because stores need to double on candy. When it became very successful, I called up the manufacturer and I said something that’s probably never been done before. I said, “It’s time for you to go up in price to me.” They said, would say that a little bit slower? I said, “It’s Tiiime Too Goo Upp Inn Pricce. Give me a 10 cent price increase.” They said, are you joking? I said no, I’m serious, go up a dime a pound. I can handle it. And they did. I don’t think that’s ever been done in business before. WR: Why did you do that?DK: I wanted them to be happy. I was making plenty of money on it, I wanted them to make money too. WR: How did your product take off?DK: In the beginning it was almost impossible to get the item off the ground. I was battling several brands that were selling at 69, 79, 89 cents per pound. Our bean was selling at $2 per pound — this was back in 1979. I wont say I was ready to give up on it, because I don’t give up on anything, but I was discouraged and I said, "I need one big break." I called up the Associated Press and I talked to the editor of the business section, a young man by the name of Steve Fox. And I said, "I have an interesting article for you — I have the only jelly bean store in the world." It wasn’t really a store — it was like a store within a store. He said, "How’s it doing?"And it was doing at the time about $20 a day in business. I don’t think anybody really wants to write up something that’s failing. So I lied to him. I said, "We’re doing a tremendous amount of business (laughs). Women are sending their chauffeurs from Beverly Hills. Some days we do $500, $600. We’ve had some days where we’ve done $1,000." When really, our highest day had been $34 at that point. He said, "That sounds so good, I’m going to come out there."I had phony customers lined up to buy the product when he came out. I had my friends here with money in their hand throwing it at me. Each one had a different story like, "My dad loves the licorice one, I want to buy 3 pounds of that." I had these people actually lined up at about 10:30 in the morning.[The reporter] said, ”Is his store always this busy?” I said, “This is really a slow day.”In 1976, the article hit the Associated Press. For some reason, it was picked up by just about every newspaper in the United States. I never had to do any selling after that. Stores were calling me saying they read about this new jelly bean.WR: I read that your beans were so successful, you were actually blackmailed.DK: It’s interesting. I owned the company from 1976 to 1980. The man that I [split retail space with] called me up about two years into it and he said, "Dave, I’m your third partner." I said, "Bob, how to do figure that?" He said, "Well, I own the California trademark for Jelly Belly." We had gone to a trademark lawyer who had advised us to take out a federal trademark, which at that time was taking about a year to get. We asked him if we should take out the California trademark, too and he told us not to waste our time.In those days any one could send in $10 or $20 to the Secretary of State and sign under penalty of perjury that you are above any one else entitled to the use of that trademark. And this man did that. IBob said, "Here’s what I want: I want to be guaranteed $64,000 a year for the rest of my life." I said, "What if I don’t go along with your plan? He said, "I’ll call your manufacturer and they’ll have to deal with me because I owns the California trademark." Anyway, we went along with his plan. We didn’t want to disturb the court at the time. We wrote up the contract and put so much words in there. And then put, "This will be good until the sum of $64,000 is reached." We didn’t put per year in there. We were making quarterly payments to him. When he received the last check we put on the back this check constitutes payment in full for contract. He asked my partner, "What does this mean, the last check?" My partner said, "We reached the $64,000 level." The funniest thing [Bob] said was, “You guys are trying to screw me.” WR: So what happened after 1976?DK: We sold out in 1980 to the owner of the company that was making the product for me. My manufacturer called me on the phone said, "Dave we’re coming to tomorrow. We’re coming to town to buy you out and we’re not leaving until we do." You have to remember I never had a contract with them. [Has I not sold them my trademark], he said they would have made the same product under a different name. "You would have ending up suing us and by the time it got to court you would have been broke," he told me. WR: So the company you told to increase your costs, your original manufacturer, ended up buying you out?DK: Yes. A few years ago they came out with a book called The 30 Year History of the Jelly Belly and they didn’t even bother to mention me at all. They really hurt me. When I was helping my daughter out with Sandy Candy, I used to do street fairs and tell people “I was the guy that created the Jelly Belly.” One man said to me, “If you created the Jelly Belly jellybean you would not be here this early in the morning.” And I never got any recognition from the candy industry. It was almost like I never existed. That product was so hard to get off the ground. I was on the Mike Douglas show a couple times. I had to fly to New York to do AM New York. I was in People magazine in a bathtub full of Jelly Bellies. I used to do all kinds of radio shows. I married Ms. Cherry and Mr. Coconut on Valentine’s Day. We inaugurated the peanut bean when Jimmy Carter was in office. WR: How come you didn’t find another Jelly Belly producer?DK: It’s funny you say that because I had a meeting with Eddie Mandell, he owned California Peanut in Richmond, California. He invited me and my partner to his place in Santa Monica and he said I would like to be another source for you for your product. We told him no. For some reason I had loyalty to these people. Their whole company was based upon it. I was afraid if I went to someone else their whole company would explode. WR: You can’t get a patent on a Jelly belly? DK: You can get a trademark on the name; you can’t get a patent unless it’s a technological advance. WR: How much did they offer you for the trademark?DK: We signed over the rights for $1,000. They paid us 17 cents a pound on a maximum of 120,000 pounds per month. To their credit, they never missed a payment. They always reached 120,000 pounds per month. It was a 20-year period ending in the year 2000. We received $20,000 a month for a 20-year period. I had to share that with my partner, and by the time I paid taxes on that it boiled down to about $5,600 a month that I received between the years 1980 and 2000. Prior to 1980 we controlled the product. We made some good money on it, but they could never give us enough production during that time. They were a very small company. I never knew how small they were when I talked them on the phone. I wish I had flown there to see. I would have known they weren’t capable of producing millions and millions of pounds. I would have received an additional 200 million dollars [if I hadn't been forced to sell], but that wouldn’t have changed my life at all because I wear a $20 dollar outfit. But can you imagine how many lives I could have helped [with that money]?WR: If you could do anything over what would it be? And what advice would you give to other entrepreneurs in rough patches like you were in?DK: Most important, when you go to a meeting where your life is on the line, hire an attorney. Have someone who knows more than you do. They brought down an accountant and everybody and it was just me and my partner and by the way, he was at retirement age by then. Number two: if you have a product you want to take out a trademark, take it out in the state you’re in as well as federal. WR: What have you done since selling the company?DK: I created cellar licorice, cellar gumball, I created a snot candy in a plastic nose that squirted out of the nostril, chocolate looking dog doo called crape, I created a whole line of yogurt toppings. For the past 15 years I’ve been helping my daughter, Roxanne with her Sandy Candy.WR: So you really dedicated your life to being an entrepreneur of candy.DK: I love candy. It’s in my genes.Klein is 64 years old and is writing a book with his son, A Man and His Beans. A documentary directed by directed by Costa Botes and produced by Eddie Schmidt, Doug Blush, Bert and Jennifer Klein about Klein's life will air on November 27 at 8:00 PM, EST on the Documentary Channel. He now owns candy company, 锘?p>Hollywood’s most precious princess, Grace Kelly, has been the not-so-unofficial muse behind the Hermès Kelly Bag. And did you know the reason why the Hermès handbag received so much attention when Grace Kelly went out and about? She was attempting to hide her private “baby bump” with her Hermès bag — which was photographed and adored by the public.But let’s take a step back on the history of the Hermès Kelly Bag…Hermès is recognized for its handmade luggage and handbag collections. The company does not use assembly lines, only one craftsperson may work on one handbag at a time, hand-stitching each individual piece. Due to the labor-intensive nature of Hermès production methods and the use of rare materials, sometimes including exotic skins as well as precious metals, one bag can take 18 to 24 hours to create. The construction of each Kelly bag, for example, requires 18 hours of work by a single artisan. Hermès’ leathers include those of alligator from Florida, buffalo from Pakistan, crocodile from Australia, shark from Thailand, lizard from Malaysia, and oxen, deer, calf, goat, and ostrich from all over the world. The leathers are professionally treated, dyed in an extensive range of colors, and handcrafted into bags of all sizes, small leather goods, and additional accessories. When Hermès leather goods require repair, owners are encouraged to bring the item back to any Hermès store where it can be shipped to the factory near Paris for repair or reconditioning.Bags made popular through high-profile clientele include the “Kelly bag”, introduced in the 1930s and made popular by Grace Kelly, the Constance shoulder bag with a double strap and large H clasp, and the Trim shoulder bag preferred by Jacqueline Bouvier Onassis. Both Kelly and Constance bags remain in demand, and there has historically been a one-year waiting list.In 1956, a photo of Grace Kelly, who had become the new Princess of Monaco) carrying the Sac à dépêches bag to shield her pregnant stomach from the prying eyes of the paparazzi. Photographs of her covering her stomach bulge with her hallowed Hermès were splashed all over the world and made it onto the cover of Life magazine. Thus, the company — or possibly more like the public — renamed it the Kelly bag, and it became hugely popular.When discussing her high-profile life, Kelly said “the freedom of the press works in such a way that there is very little freedom from it.” When faced with a pack of nosy photographers, Stephanie Pendersen, in her book, Handbags, What Every Woman Should Know, says that the shy, newly married Princess, not yet wishing to announce her pregnancy to the world, did what any woman would do and hid her secret in her handbag.The Kelly Bag is made by one individual craftsman in about 18 hours of work. The skins arrive at the factory already laid out in perfect symmetry, ready for the expert to being his (or her) magic.Goat skins are used for the lining and this is the first part to be actually sewn. After the lining is made, the base of the handbag is handsewn to the front and back with waxed linen thread. A double saddle stitch is used and each thrust of the needle is carefully done. A tiny hole is made with an awl before each stitch and the stitch size dictates the size of the hole. Adjustment is made for the particular grain of the leather to work with the natural pattern.The handle comes next in the careful construction of the Kelly handbag and the shaping is done by hand with painstaking attention to detail. The layers of the stitched leather is smoothed with sandpaper and then dyed to match the handbag. Hot wax is applied to protect the handle from moisture.The distinctive front flap is then added to the bag body and next is the distinctive hardware and 4 feet on the bottom. Each of these metal parts are hand riveted. Believe it or not, the handbag is then ironed to gently smooth out the wrinkles in the calfskin. Last is the famous gold stamp that says “Hermes Paris”.Little known fact: Grace Kelly once used an Hermès scarf as a sling for her broken arm….Read more posts on 锘?p>Every day seven or more members of the Surveillance team sit around a table in a bright Bloomberg conference room with Tom Keene at the head. It's about an hour before the show starts at noon."What do we call the New Years special," one asked yesterday. Ideas were thrown around the table — 'Surveillance 2012,' 'Surveillance New Year'?"What do you think," asked Keene, addressing one of the staffers on his right.Another chorus, this time with laughter — "You should wear those New Years glasses with the 2012," "Or at least a party hat," "Do you want champagne glasses on set?"Tom furrowed his brow, "No, no, no," I'm not wearing any of that," he responded. Finally an agreement was reached, and Keene went back to addressing the whole table: "Anything else? Let's have fun."Since 2002 Tom Keene has been a fixture at Bloomberg News. He does Bloomberg Surveillance on the radio (with ), he writes columns, and every day at noon he takes Surveillance to TV to discuss topics that are really moving markets.Now he's known all over global Wall Street for his sharp insight, and of course, his bow tie collection (they're Hermes, by the way, and he has too many to count)."The team invented the process." Keene told . "We know what we do, and it's all about the guests... I am the luckiest guy on Wall Street... There's never been a day where I felt like I had a job." But it is a job, one that the entire industry notices. Keene works incredibly hard like everyone else on Wall Street — 70 to 75 hours a week starting at 4:00 a.m. daily in order to stay ahead of the news cycle. He says his work has become all consuming. He's either reading or working at all times: "The first thing I want to know in the morning," he said, "is where's the euro/dollar."That could, however, change in a week.News cycle aside, though, questions involving "where, who, what, and why" are all part of the most important (and obvious) trait about Keene — his insatiable curiosity. He says it comes from his upbringing in Rochester, New York. His family emphasized an understanding of the liberal arts, especially history, and math.That understanding informs the philosophy he brings to Surveillance and everything else he does for Bloomberg: It's a pyramid, he told Business Insider. Economics is the base, and finance and investment are the sides. It's an idea Keene swears by, and here's another:"This is Gospel..." he said firmly, "the audience is smarter than we think." On and off Wall Street, from students to executives, he knows his is a public that is hungry for news. It's a sign of the times."This is a crises that is getting old," Keene said.It's usually on Fridays when he received the worst correspondence from his audience. That is the day he hears from Americans who are really struggling. To fix our country, he told Business Insider, we must fix the housing crises first, it is tied to the finances of every person in this nation.That's one theme driving markets, and another is Europe, a story with constant action. There, according to Keene's expert opinion, progress is stalled because long term and short term solutions do not always come together. It's more complex, though, than anyone thinks, and requires critical qualitative thinking with quantitative rigor."It is an outrage the amount of macro babble going on without micro-foundations," Keene said. This only makes things harder for people looking for answers.These crises are awful the entire world, that's obvious, but they are also what keeps viewers, listeners, and readers craving the analyses on Surveillance. Keene says he never imagined he would be handed an economic meltdown of this magnitude (on either side of the pond), and he and his shows are lucky for it. Every day he has the opportunity to get to the "distinction of the debate." This week, he's wondering if European leaders will find enough cash to prevent disaster.He is never exaggerating about the importance of the questions he asks. There's a sense of quiet urgency in Keene and it extends to his team — a team he says he can't live without. From his Bloomberg executives to his assistant, from the quantitative analysts he specifically pointed out in the office, to the European team ("it is unthinkable that I could do this without the European economic team"), Keene is constantly mentioning the people at Bloomberg that make his show possible. It's how he started his conversation with Business Insider and how he ended it."We have a lot of fun," Keene explained. "It's great because we just need to focus on the moment...we have no clue about tomorrow because the load is so large."锘?p>Of course there has long existed the banker-style cliche of a Hermes tie and Italian loafers.But at Goldman Sachs, we hear there's a more specific dress code that includes, for some people, a pair of Salvatore Ferragamo shoes.At Goldman Sachs, as in any bank, there is a hierarchy, and at Goldman, one of the manifestations of that hierarchy is through the Ferragamo loafer.A Goldmanite explains: to wear a pair of Ferragamo loafers "is a status symbol," inside the bank."You don't buy them until you've made it. All the partners, the MDs - they wear them. But analysts and associates - No. You'd get cut down if you bought a pair too early."We asked if too-eager novices, walking around 200 West St in a pair of the fabled shoe, would be mocked?"They'd be laughed at," our source said.Of course you won't see the italian shiny leather at the moment; "everyone's wearing boots at this time of year."锘?p>The board directors of should cast light on boardroom decision-making or have to , according to an article published in Duke Law School’s Journal of Law and Contemporary Problems.The creation of a new ‘directors’ duty to inform’, proposed by the article’s author, John Wilcox, chairman of U.S. board advisory firm, Sodali, would require directors to provide shareholders with a regular stream of information above and beyond the existing communications required in advance of specific votes or investment decisions. ‘The duty should in the form of a narrative that tells the story of a board’s decision-making process and the strategic rationale for its choices…’ says Wilcox. ‘The substance of the narrative should be based on the judgment of the directors, not dictated by compliance requirements.’This call for greater board transparency, touted as a potential solution to the on executive pay, would see board adherence to corporate governance rules move away from a check-the-box mentality in favor of adopting the flexible and less prescriptive ‘comply-or-explain’ framework used in the UK.Instead of a regulatory body, like the SEC, enforcing the duty to disclose, Wilcox would like to see shareholders holding the directors to account, much like they do in the UK, where listed companies are required to comply with the or explain their reasons for not doing so in the annual report to shareholders.‘There is a limit to the effectiveness of prescriptive rules and external metrics,’ he argues. ‘The financial crisis demonstrated all too clearly that compliance with rules and best practices does not ensure good governance. In some high-profile cases, companies’ full compliance with governance norms did little more than provide cover for weak board oversight, incompetence, and fraud.’But this endorsement of the UK’s comply and explain framework comes at a time when the effectiveness of the soft law approach to corporate governance is being called into question on a European-wide level.On April 5th, the European Commission, the executive body of the 27-member state European Union, launched a four-month public consultation on corporative governance, announcing in a statement: ‘One of the lessons of the financial crisis is that corporate governance, until now usually based on self-regulation, was not as effective as it could have been.’The European Commission states its commitment in the consultation document to retaining the fundamentals of the ‘comply and explain’ approach. But at the same time, it can also foresee the need to ‘reinforce certain requirements at EU level by including them in legislation rather than making recommendations.’‘A rule-based approach to corporate governance on a pan-European basis is not welcomed,’ says Robin Johnson, corporate partner at international law firm, Eversheds. ‘Overall, the UK model of institutions and corporates working around principles rather than rules remains the best model as it encourages disclosure and gives flexibility.’The principal concern of the Commission is the level of detail given by companies who choose to depart from the rules rather than comply. The insufficiency of these explanations can be improved, the Commission suggests, by including more detailed rules for the information that needs to be disclosed by companies, alongside a monitoring role being conducted by a securities regulator or a stock exchange – the very antithesis of the comply and explain regime.In a recent survey of 100 European executive directors, conducted by the international law firm, Allen & Overy, 78% of respondents said corporate governance rules should only be enforced on a comply or explain basis. Commenting on the results, corporate partner Mark Wippell said, ‘The jury is out on whether any new Commission proposals will make a positive difference to the way businesses are being run or will simply do no more than increase the burden of red tape in what is already a heavily regulated area.’As for the US, Wilcox believes there are two considerable factors that need to be surmounted before any voluntary ‘directors’ duty to inform’ can be brought to bear on boardroom opacity: ‘Directors of U.S. companies would have to overcome their habitual antipathy to shareholders…and institutional investors would have to give priority to their responsibilities as long-term owners.’To encourage this two-way bargain, Wilcox suggests the adoption of a reciprocal code of conduct for institutional investors, similar to the UK’s Stewardship Code.‘Last year the UK introduced a Stewardship Code as part of the new Corporate Governance code whereby [institutional investors] agreed to play a more active but supporting role on corporate governance,’ explains Johnson. ‘Institutions like Hermes have led the way in supporting this voluntary code seeing it as a way to avoid more prescriptive legislation being introduced.’Over three quarters (78%) of the European executive directors polled for the A&O survey believe that institutional investors should abide by a code of conduct (with over half of respondents believing the code should be international). But encouraging shareholders to engage in the first place, let alone sign up to a code of conduct, is another of the corporate governance challenges that the European Commission is covering in its consultation. Lack of shareholder engagement is an issue in Europe in spite of the comply and explain regime. The cost of monitoring companies and the uncertainty of the outcome of any engagement are a few of the reasons given by the Commission for this shareholder apathy.One of the options being considered by the Commission is a requirement for institutional investors to publish their voting policies and records. This move toward reciprocal board and investor transparency on voting was supported by the vast majority of respondents to a previous consultation specifically covering corporate governance at financial institutions.Ultimately, though, the European Commission will wait for feedback on the current consultation before deciding whether or not to legislate to improve shareholder engagement, as well as the comply and explain framework. A summary of the consultation will be published in the autumn.In the meantime, the prospect of the U.S. moving toward the current European approach remains a long way off. ‘[B]oardroom windows at U.S. companies remain closed, with shades down and curtains drawn,’ Wilcox says. ‘A window into the boardroom can be opened only by the directors.’锘縁orex Pros 鈥?U.S. stock futures pointed to a slightly higher open on Wednesday, as investors digested a slew of mixed corporate earnings results and as shares in department store chain Macy&rsquo;s surged to a one-year high ahead of the open.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br /><br />Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed a modest gain of 0.1%, the S&amp;P 500 futures added 0.06%, while Nasdaq 100 futures edged 0.05% higher.&nbsp; <br /><br />Stock index futures trimmed gains after data showed that the U.S. trade deficit widened more-than-expected in March, climbing to USD48.2 billion, the largest deficit since June 2010. Analysts had expected the trade deficit to widen to USD47.0 billion.<br /><br />The second largest U.S. department store chain Macy&rsquo;s saw shares jump 6.8% in pre-market trade after it reported an 82% increase in first quarter profit. The company boosted its full-year earnings outlook and raised its dividend payout.&nbsp; <br /><br />Shares in entertainment data and technology company Rovi Corporation surged 13.1% after it lifted its full-year earnings outlook. For the current quarter, revenue rose 12% to USD195.4 million, surpassing expectations for revenue of USD161.5 million.&nbsp;&nbsp; <br /><br />Johnson &amp; Johnson saw shares climb 1.1% after Goldman Sachs recommended buying the stock. The investment bank projected that the company&rsquo;s earnings will grow at a rate of 9% to 10% over the next three years.&nbsp; <br /><br />On the downside, Walt Disney Company saw shares slump 3.3% after it reported second fiscal quarter earnings that fell far short of market expectations. Net earnings in the quarter declined 1% from a year earlier, as shrinking box-office receipts and a significant decline in home video sales weighed on results.&nbsp;&nbsp; <br /><br />Rare-earth miner Molycorp saw shares tumble 3.5% after the company's first quarter net income and revenue both fell short of analysts' estimates. <br /><br />Shares in American International Group slid 1.3% as the bailed-out insurer and the U.S. Treasury planned to sell a total of 300 million AIG shares on Wednesday. <br /><br />Other stocks in focus included the world&rsquo;s largest maker of computer-networking equipment Cisco, as well as internet security firm Symantec, which were both slated to release earnings results after Wednesday&rsquo;s closing bell. <br /><br />Across the Atlantic, European stock markets advanced, driven by strong earnings from luxury-goods companies Hermes International and Bulgari. The EURO STOXX 50 climbed 0.5%, France&rsquo;s CAC 40 gained 0.35%, Germany's DAX climbed 0.5%, while Britain's FTSE 100 edged 0.1% higher.&nbsp; <br /><br />During the Asian trading session, Japan&rsquo;s Nikkei 225 Index closed 0.46% higher as a weaker yen boosted Japanese exporters. <br /><br />Earlier Wednesday, official data showed that China's annual rate of inflation in April rose 5.3%, down slightly from 5.4% in March, but still surpassing expectations for a 5.2% increase. <br /><br /><br />ForexPros.com - Forex Pros offers a diverse set of professional tools for Forex, Futures and CFDs. These include real-time data streams, technical and fundamental analysis by in-house experts, and a widely used economic calendar and .Read more posts on 锘?p>I regularly talk about misguided brand owners who sue Chinese counterfeiters offshore and are left with useless foreign court judgments. This one’s an exception, and maybe a new trend? From the :Deckers Outdoor Corp., Uggs’ parent company, was awarded $686 million in lawsuits against more than 3,000 China-based websites selling counterfeit Uggs. Similarly to the Hermes case, much of the聽funds that Deckers was awarded were seized from the defendants’ PayPal accounts, a practice that was previously not possible. However, in accordance with Operation In Our Sites, an initiative operated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations and the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center, the Department of Justice may recover defendants’ funds collected via PayPal. Money transferred from PayPal accounts to bank accounts in China, for instance, may also be collected. This is so important because otherwise, the money would be nearly impossible to recover as the defendants are almost always based overseas.Very cool stuff indeed, although I can’t tell from that description how much money was/will actually be seized and transferred to the plaintiffs. Moreover, I wonder how long it will take counterfeiters to adapt to the new reality and be smarter about money transfers.漏 Stan for , 2012. Add toPost tags: , , Read more posts on 锘?p>Apple is "seriously negotiating" for a 12,500-foot retail space in the Financial District at 23 Wall St., . This backs up an saying that Apple was eyeing 23 Wall St. or 15 Broad St. for its downtown store.We hear Apple is around Midtown.NYP:Located at the iconic corner of Wall and Broad streets, the smallgranite building nicknamed "The Corner" was developed by the financierJ.P. Morgan and, after its completion in 1914, served as J.P Morgan andCo.'s headquarters.It's now an empty building connected toits tall residential and luxury condominium neighbor at 15 Broad St.,which has an Hermes shop on the Broad Street side, facing the New YorkStock Exchange.The building still bears some scars from a bomb hidden in a horse drawn carriage - that rocked Wall Street on Sept. 16, 1920.Photos from via .See Also:锘?p>Academy Award-winning actor Cuba Gooding Jr. was recently on the set of ESPN's SportsCenter to promote his new movie "Red Tails." And while he was there, he was asked to do his version of . Afterwards, Edwards offered his rebuttal, in which he impersonated Gooding Jr.'s most famous role.You can see more of Gooding Jr.'s sports impersonations, including Mike Gundy ("I'm a man, I'm 40!") and Allen Iverson ("We're talking about practice") .锘?p>In July of 2011, Parr Interactive, a Madison, Wisconsin-based web design, digital marketing, online strategy and social media marketing company, launched Pursuitist at – an online travel, style, food and leisure destination site. Contributors sharing their favorite luxuries include writers from Forbes, Mashable, TechCrunch, Glamour, Saveur and more. Advertisers on the site have include BMW, Best Buy, Intel, Gucci, Gap, Coach and Burberry. They also kickstarted Intel’s latest social media campaign featuring the Ultrabook on Intel’s official YouTube Channel: , CEO of , is an award-winning writer and online marketing strategist. Since 1995, the Madison, Wisconsin-based internet pioneer and marketer has launched numerous successful web projects, viral videos and online marketing campaigns for Fortune 500 companies. In addition to creating blogging and buzz marketing platforms, services include . Visit to learn more.“We’ve created more award-winning web sites, email campaigns, apps, blogs and videos than we can shake a stick at,” says Christopher Parr. “We know what works and what doesn’t. Our projects drive real results. Increase market share, sales and leads. Make an impact.”“Does a great job of generating an experience…”- Douglas Coupland (author of Generation X)“Delightfully rich and original…”- Roger Black (author of Web Sites That Work)“Christopher Parr – one of the Top 20 Most Influential People in Madison…”- Madison MagazineBio: After working in the TV, film and theatre industry, Christopher founded Parr Interactive in 1995. As Marketing/Creative Director of the award-winning interactive, digital marketing and e-marketing agency, he developed marketing strategies for many clients, included Insinkerator, Musicnotes, Rayovac, John Deere, Looksmart, Sub-Zero, Credit Union Executives, Microsoft, Bizfilings, WPS Insurance & Epic Insurance. His projects have been featured in numerous publications, including USA Today, Wired, Ad Age and Entertainment Weekly, and case studies featured in Clear Blogging from Apress, Web Sites That Work from Adobe Press and HTML Unleashed from Macmillan Publishing.He was also a VP, Marketing/Creative Director for an e-commerce company, working with Warner Bros. Pub., BMG, AOL, leading the marketing team, branding and PR. Christopher also financed and co-owned an internet e-commerce startup, featuring luxury home & garden goods. Christopher managed global brand communications, brand ID and guidelines, CRM, interactive, media and planning for Sub-Zero and Wolf, maker of luxury kitchen appliances. From product launches to e-commerce, he also managed B2C, B2B touch points and all things internet; social media marketing, interactive, promotions, media, video, branding, e-newsletters, blogging & podcasts — and developing campaigns with HGTV, New York Times, Food Network, Oprah and Epicurious. For Sub-Zero, Christopher launched an integrated campaign for Sub-Zero Wine Storage, featuring print ads, brochures, e-newsletters, online banners and a new wine blog, including wine events at Four Seasons, the Ritz-Carlton, with magazine support from Conde Nast Traveler, Wine Spectator and Food & Wine.Luxury Daily News: Askmen.com names Christopher Parr “…”NYTimes: Wisconsin State Journal: and , and He’s also married to .Read more posts on 锘?p>As I and a throng of others waited to enter the courtroom of Judge Richard J. Holwell at 9:00 this morning, came walking by, a full 90 minutes ahead of his date with destiny. He was accompanied by his two lawyers only, no family members were present.For a man who was facing a possible 24.5 years in prison he looked stoic. Certainly not relaxed, but more as if he was simply bracing himself for what awaited him. Dressed as if he was about to step on the Galleon trading floor, in a blue suit, crisp white shirt, blue Hermes tie, and hair slicked back. At that point I couldn't help but wonder about the toll these past few days, weeks, and months have taken on the man.Before Judge Holwell entered the courtroom Raj sat ramrod straight at the defense table, the prosecution one table in front. You could here a pin drop.This past May, Rajaratnam was found guilty of 14 counts of securities fraud and conspiracy. Not long ago he was running , one of the most powerful hedge funds in the world. Now, he is only moments away from receiving his date to report to a Federal prison.Many of Raj's cohorts and accomplices have already been sentenced for their roles in the running of one of the biggest insider trading rings in our lifetime. U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s campaign against insider trading on Wall Street has resulted in almost 50 arrests so far.Raj will be going from his luxury apartment where he currently resides, a home where no comfort or material possession was spared, to a 7x7 cell. He once lived mere blocks from some of the most famous and expensive restaurants in NYC — soon he will be eating powdered eggs, uneatable mystery meat, and just about everything served will be of the processed variety. Prison is a humbling, humiliating, gut-wrenching existance.Will there be many tears shed for this man? No, probably not. Let's face it, Rajaratnam is not a sympathetic figure. For years he flouted his way through Wall Street, thumbing his nose at the , the rules and regulations. Countless number of stocks bought and sold, massive profits wrung up under the guise of insider information. With all the red herrings and subterfuge he employed along the way (overseas bank account, code names, prepaid cell phones, etc) he obviously never thought he would be caught. When I speak about prison, the men or women going off to serve their time, I often talk about the ripple effect it has on family and loved ones. So while Raj goes off to serve his lengthy term, most folks won't lose a minute of sleep worrying about him. But his children and wife are also victims, for their lives will never be the same either.Finally, at 10:30 a.m. on the dot, Judge Holwell emerges from his chambers. We all rise. Raj's lawyer Attorney Terence Lynam speaks first, expressing to Holwell that Rajaratnam should receive credit for his numerous charitable works and he urges compassion for his Raj's various illnesses: "A lengthy term of imprisonment will for sure shorten his life. He does not deserve to die in prison."Lyman talks about the 200 letters sent on Raj's behalf from family, friends and associates from all over the world. He pleads for "a sufficient but not greater than necessary" sentence. Next it was the prosecutions turn to speak. Assistant U.S. Attorney Reed Brodsky labeled Rajaratnam, " The modern face of illegal trading, who has operated in a brazen, pervasive and egregious way." "He is arguably the most egregious insider trader to face sentencing in a courthouse in the United States," he said.During this entire diatribe Raj continues to look straight ahead, determined. He shows zero emotion. Brodsky doesn't hold back, he wants the maximum here. Right up to a possible 24.5 years. He doesn't buy what the defense is selling about how Raj's poor health and diabetes will be akin to a death sentence for the 54 year old.Judge Holwell now gives Raj the chance to speak on his behalf. I'm thinking for sure he will take this opportunity to plead for mercy. But no. "Would you like to speak?" asks Howell. As his wife sits behind him staring at her husband, Raj stands up, faces the Judge, and says, "No thanks."The courtroom is silent, I think we are all surprised at this move. Raj has icy cold nerves. Still a trader, right to the bitter end. He's giving no quarter. Finally it is Judge Holwell's time to speak." Insider trading is an assault on the free markets," he says. "Your crimes reflect a virus in our business culture that needs to be eradicated," he continued. He then suprisingly, hands down a sentence that is substantially less than what the prosecutors were asking for."I impose a sentence of 132 months." He also fined $10 million and ordered him to forfeit $ 53.8 million. In imposing the lighter sentence, Holwell spoke of certain factors that went into his decision making. He spoke of Rajaratnam's good works and financial help spread across the world, especially Pakistan, 9/11 families, as well as aiding residents of his home country, Sri Lanka. Mr. Rajaratnam's lawyers are expected to appeal the Judge's sentence, but any chance for an overturn are extremely lowHe will now have 45 days to get his affairs in order, to spend time with his family, and mentally prepare himself for the trials and tribulations ahead. He will report to the Bureau of Prisons, which will assign him to a correctional facility. Between now and then however Rajaratnam will be ensconsed at his deluxe apartment high atop Sutton Place. It's a strong possibility that he will begin serving his time at the federal complex in Butner, N.C.. The very same complex where Bernard Madoff is.锘?p>TelevisionBloomberg:Fox Business: ConferencesAll times ET.Get This Delivered To Your InboxYou can get this dropped in your inbox every morning as The Daily Precap. It's simple. It's convenient. It's free. All we need is your email address (though we'd love your name and state, too, if you're willing to share it). Sign up below!锘縝y Linda Kramer CHATHAM TWP. Chatham Community Church 6423 Avon Lake Road, corner of state Route 83 and Route 162. HINCKLEY Bennett's Corners Church 47 W. 130th St. MEDINA First Baptist Church 3646 Medina Road. (330) 725-5853 or Senior Pastor Mark Milioni. ?Sunday service times have changed. First service now begins at 9 a.m. and second service is at 10:30 a.m. RIOT for junior and senior high schoolers, 6:30 p.m. Wednesdays; Wednesday service, 7 p.m. Junior and senior high ministries will meet in The Clayhouse, the newly expanded building behind the church, during the 10:30 a.m. service. Full care and classes for children from infancy to fifth grade are offered during both services as are a variety of Life Group classes for adults. Granger United Methodist Church 1235 Granger Road, (330) 239-2396. ?Crocodile Dock Vacation Bible School, 5:30-8:30 p.m. Aug. 2-7, including supper. Free and open to all children 3 through those who have just completed fifth grade. A $1 donation each day is requested to cover the cost of the meal. Contact Jen Abdoo, Christian education director or register at Harvest Presbyterian Church 1095 E. Reagan Pkwy., (330) 723-0770, Holy Martyrs Church , 3100 S. Weymouth Road. Medina United Methodist Church , 260 S. Court St.; (330) 725-4943, ?Vacation Bible School: 6-8:45 p.m. July 26-30. Theme is Son Rock Kid's Camp, an adventure camp based on the great outdoors. Tent camping, campfires, s'mores. Pre-school through sixth grade. Registration forms online or e-mail or call the office. New Life Christian Fellowship , 580 N. State Road; (330) 723-4443; ?Free yard sale, 9 a.m. to noon July 18 at the church. ?Vacation Bible School, "Jump Aboard the Boomerang Express," 6:30-8:30 p.m. July 27-31. For children ages 3 through sixth grades. Prince of Peace Lutheran Church 3355 Medina Road. (330) 723-8293. Shepherd's Grace Church 2325 Medina Road. (330) 239-2600, ? Worship services are at 10 a.m. Sunday preceded by Sunday School for all ages at 9 a.m. St. Francis Xavier 606 E. Washington St., (330) 725-4968 ?St. Francis Xavier Elementary School is accepting open registrations for all-day kindergarten. School is at 612 E. Washington St. Call the school at (330) 725-3345 for a tour and registration information. Web site is stfancisxavier.info. St. Paul Episcopal Church 317 E. Liberty St., (330) 725-4131. Unity of Medina at Williams on the Lake, 787 Lafayette Road; (330) 764-7999; (216) 409-4906 cell for time sensitive call if no answer at office; ?11 a.m. Sunday Service, childcare, Sunday School; 6:15 p.m. meditation, 7 p.m. programs Wednesdays ?Book discussion, "The Shack," 7 p.m. July 29. ?Free Reiki sessions, 6:30- 8 p.m. on the first and third Mondays of the month. Each session is about 30 minutes. Reiki practitioners who would like to become part of Unity of Medina's Reiki Circle can call Linda Stalvey at (330) 723-6227 or e-mail Weymouth Community Church 3398 S. Weymouth Road, (330) 723-1750, To list your church activities here, e-mail , fax to (216) 986-7551 or mail to Sun News, 5510 Cloverleaf Parkway, Cleveland, OH 44125. Include complete name of church, address and phone number. 锘?p>The Wolstein Center in downtown Cleveland will be the site Sept. 15 for the 19th annual Cleveland Race for the Cure, sponsored by the Northeast Ohio Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Since 1994, the local organization has raised $20 million to support Northeast Ohio agencies in the fight against breast cancer. Registration starts at 6 a.m. and events wrap up at noon. Sign up for the race at through Sept. 10, or call Hermes Sports & Events at 216-623-9933 with any registration questions. 锘緼ssociated Press, FileIn this June 26, 2008, photo, David Addington, then- chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney, testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington.ADAM GOLDMAN andMATT APUZZO, Associated Press WritersWASHINGTON-- When the CIA sent word in 2005 to destroy scores of videos showing waterboarding and other harsh interrogation tactics, there was an unusual omission in the carefully worded memo: the names of two agency lawyers.Once a CIA lawyer has weighed in on even a routine matter, officers rarely give an order without copying the lawyer in on the decision. It's standard procedure, a way for managers to cover themselves if a decision goes bad.But when the CIA's top clandestine officer, Jose Rodriguez, sent a cable to the agency's secret prison in Thailand and told his station chief to destroy videotapes showing two terrorists being waterboarded, he left the lawyers off the memo.The destruction of the tapes wiped away the most graphic evidence of the CIA's now-shuttered network of overseas prisons, where suspected terrorists were interrogated for information using some of the most aggressive tactics in U.S. history.Critics of that George W. Bush-era program point to the tapes' destruction and say his administration was trying to cover its tracks.The reality is not so simple.Interviews with current and former U.S. officials and others close to the investigation show that Rodriguez's order was at odds with years of directives from CIA lawyers and the White House. Rodriguez knew there would be political fallout for the decision, according to documents and interviews, so he sought a legal opinion in a way to gain needed legal cover to get the tapes destroyed -- but not so much that anyone would stop him.Leaving the lawyers he had consulted off his cabled order to destroy the tapes was so unusual that a top CIA official noted it in an internal e-mail just days later. The omission is now an important part of the Justice Department's 2 1/2-year investigation into whether destroying the tapes was a crime.As that investigation appears to be nearing a conclusion, prosecutors have focused on a little-used section of the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley law intended to prevent future Enron accounting scandals. The law makes it a crime to destroy documents, even if no court has said they must be kept and no investigators are looking for them.Rodriguez, who wasn't disciplined for what some former officials told prosecutors amounted to insubordination, is frequently back at CIA headquarters as a contractor.The Associated Press has compiled the most complete published account to date of how the tapes were destroyed, a narrative that among other things underlines the challenges prosecutors face in bringing charges.Most of the people interviewed spoke on condition of anonymity because of the continuing investigation. Some of the officials directly involved declined comment or were unavailable.Video isunusual at CIAVideotaping interrogations is unusual at the CIA, but the capture and questioning of senior al-Qaida operative Abu Zubaydah and accused USS Cole bombing plotter Rahim al-Nashiri in 2002 were unusual cases. They presented a chance to unravel al-Qaida from within, and the Bush administration authorized increasingly severe tactics to try to ensure that the agency learned as much as possible of what they knew.CIA officers at the secret prison began videotaping to show that Zubaydah arrived in Thailand with wounds from a firefight and to prove that interrogators followed broad new rules Washington had laid out. Almost as soon as taping began, top officials at the agency's headquarters in Langley, Va., began discussing whether to destroy the tapes.Many dozens of CIA officers and contractors cycled in and out of Thailand to help with the questioning. If those videos ever surfaced, officials feared, nearly all those people could be identified.In November 2002, CIA lawyer John L. McPherson was assigned to watch the videos and compare them with summaries being sent to headquarters. If the reports -- called cables -- accurately described the videos, it would help support an argument that the tapes were unnecessary and could be destroyed.The 92 tapes they compiled were poorly organized. Several had been taped over so the video quality was poor. According to documents released in a federal lawsuit, others contained gaps. When one tape ran out, interrogators didn't immediately insert a new one. Many tapes contained brief interrogation sessions followed by hours of static. Also, the tapes weren't time-stamped.Nonetheless, McPherson, a former Naval officer, concluded in a January 2003 memo that the tactics described in the cables matched what he saw on the video. With that assurance, the CIA planned to destroy the tapes when the inspector general completed a review of the interrogation program.But lawmakers who were briefed on the tapes pushed back. In February 2003 came a warning from Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., that destroying the videos would "reflect badly on the agency." The CIA's deputy director, James Pavitt, decided not to destroy them, agency documents show.The White House didn't learn about the tapes for a year, and even then, it was somewhat by chance.Cheney's lawyer was stunnedCIA general counsel Scott Muller sat down for a regular meeting with White House lawyers in May 2004. Near the end of the meeting, the conversation turned to the growing scandal over photos of abuse at the military's Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.The question from National Security Council lawyer John Bellinger was almost offhand: The CIA isn't sitting on anything explosive like the Abu Ghraib pictures, right? Something that, if leaked, would create a firestorm?Right?Wrong.David Addington, a former CIA lawyer who was Vice President Dick Cheney's legal counsel, was stunned when he heard about the videos, officials said. Why had the agency made the tapes in the first place, he asked? But he told Muller not to destroy them, and Bellinger and White House counsel Alberto Gonzales agreed, according to CIA documents and interviews with former officials familiar with the meeting.That was the standing order for more than a year. When Muller left the agency that July, John Rizzo became acting CIA general counsel. In early 2005, Rizzo received a similar order from the new White House counsel, Harriet Miers. The CIA was not to destroy the tapes without checking with the White House first.All the while, courts and lawmakers looking into detainee treatment were unknowingly coming close to the tapes, but the CIA always was a technicality away from having to reveal their existence:--In early May 2003, U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema told the CIA to reveal whether there were interrogation videos of any witnesses relevant to the case of Zacarias Moussaoui, who was charged as a Sept. 11 conspirator. But that order didn't cover Zubaydah, who Brinkema ruled was immaterial to the Moussaoui case, so the CIA didn't tell the court about his interrogation tape.--A judge in Washington told the agency to safeguard all evidence related to mistreatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay. But Zubaydah and al-Nashiri were held overseas at the time, so the agency regarded the order as not applicable to the tapes of their interrogations.--A judge in New York told the CIA to search its investigative files for records such as the tapes as part of a Freedom of Information Act suit. But the CIA considered the tapes part of its operational files and therefore exempt from FOIA disclosure and did not reveal their existence to the court.--The Sept. 11 commission asked for broad ranges of documents, but never issued a formal subpoena that would have required the agency to turn over the tapes.Station chief wanted tapes destroyedDespite the standing orders from the White House not to destroy the tapes without checking with Bush officials, momentum for their destruction grew again in late 2005 as the CIA Thailand station chief, Mike Winograd, prepared to retire.AP, FileJose RodriguezWinograd had the tapes in his safe and believed they should be destroyed, officials said. Back at Langley, Rodriguez and his chief of staff, whom the AP is not identifying because she remains undercover, agreed.Winograd, who has been publicly identified as a retired CIA officer but has not been previously named in connection with the tapes case, did not return several messages seeking comment.On Nov. 4, 2005, as the CIA scrambled to quell a controversy from a Washington Post story revealing the existence of the secret prisons, Rodriguez called two CIA lawyers.To Steven Hermes, his lawyer in the clandestine service, Rodriguez asked whether he had the authority to order the tapes destroyed. Hermes said Rodriguez did, according to documents and interviews.Then Rodriguez asked Robert Eatinger, the top lawyer in the CIA's Counterterrorism Center, whether there was any legal requirement that the tapes be kept. Eatinger said no.Both Eatinger and Hermes remain with the agency and were not available to be interviewed. Both have told colleagues they believed Rodriguez was merely teeing up a new round of discussions about the tapes and, because of previous orders not to destroy the tapes without White House approval, they were unaware that Rodriguez planned to move immediately, officials told the AP.Relying on the advice from Hermes and Eatinger, Rodriguez told Winograd to write an official request to destroy the videos. On Nov. 5, the request came in. Its justification: The inspector general had completed its investigation and McPherson had verified that the cables accurately summarized the tapes.On Nov. 8, Rodriguez sent his approval.He and his chief of staff were the only names on the cable. Had he sent a copy also to the CIA lawyers -- Rizzo, Hermes or Eatinger -- or even to CIA Director Porter Goss, any of them could have intervened.But no one did."Before Jose did what he did, he was confident it was legal, that there was no impediment to him doing it," his lawyer, Robert Bennett told the AP. "And he always acted in the best interest of the U.S. and its people."It took about 3 1/2 hours to destroy the tapes. On Nov. 9, Winograd informed Rodriguez the job was complete. Goss and Rizzo wouldn't find out until the next day.Bush's counsel was lividIt was clear almost immediately that there would be repercussions.The next day, a senior CIA officer -- whom the AP is identifying only as John because he is still with the agency -- wrote a pair of e-mails to his boss, Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, the agency's No. 3 official. Those e-mails provide the most complete account available of the fallout from the destruction within the CIA.Rizzo was angry, and when he called Miers at the White House, Bush's counsel was livid. Goss agreed with the decision to destroy the tapes, John wrote, but predicted he'd get criticized for it."As Jose said, the heat from destroying is nothing compared to what it would be if the tapes ever got into public domain -- he said out of context, they would make us look terrible; it would be devastating to us," John's e-mail reads.Such statements could be used as evidence if prosecutor John Durham, who is heading the Justice Department's investigation, seeks charges in the case. Even if Rodriguez genuinely worried about the safety of his officers and wasn't trying to obstruct an investigation, if he feared the tapes might someday be made public through Congress or the courts, that could be enough to violate the Sarbanes-Oxley obstruction law.Nationwide, prosecutors have brought such a case only about a half dozen times. Durham has done it twice.As the case winds down, McPherson, the same man who had reviewed the tapes in 2003, has again been thrust into a central role. McPherson has received immunity in exchange for his cooperation with prosecutors, an unusual protection for a government lawyer.It's not clear what information he is providing, but he has intimate knowledge of the tapes, and as the CIA's former litigation chief, he probably would know whether destroying them was an effort to obstruct any of the agency's court cases.It's not clear what information he is providing, but he has intimate knowledge of the tapes, and as the CIA's former litigation chief, he probably would have a well-informed opinon as to whether destroying them was an effort to obstruct any of the agency's court cases.CIA spokesman George Little said the agency is cooperating with the investigation."This event occurred nearly five years ago and most of the details have been on the public record for some time," he said.Rodriguez is assailed by those who see him as the key figure in a cover-up. He is hailed by many current and former colleagues as a hero who protected his officers' identities. After leaving the agency, he became senior vice president of CIA contractor Edge Consulting, a job that gives him access to the national intelligence director's office and Langley.With the investigation still hanging over him, Rodriguez has yet to receive an official retirement party.___On the Web:CIA documents released by the ACLU: 锘?p>Borromeo Seminary. 28700 Euclid Ave., Wickliffe. 440-943-7662 or thefest.us. Sisters of Charity Health System's 11th annual "The Fest." The FEST is a free, one day Catholic family festival. It features live music, games and activities, and more. Fireworks to follow. Noon-11 p.m. Sunday.(8/7)Cedar-Fairmount Neighborhood. Cedar & Fairmount, Cleveland Heights. 10th annual Cedar-Fairmount Summer Festival and Arts & Crafts Show. Featuring music, clowns, Euclid Beach Rocket Car rides, food, puppet shows, art show and kids activities. The Cleveland Heights Police Departmennt will have a "Meet and Greet" table along with a firetruck to explore. The Cleveland Animal Protective League of Cleveland and the Euclid Humane Society will be on hand for pet adoptions. Noon-4 p.m. Sunday.(8/7)Free. Cleveland Metroparks Rocky River Reservation. Rocky River Stables, 19901 Puritas Ave. (near Valley Parkway). 216-267-2525. Valley Riding Benefit Horse Festival. Featuring a parade at 11:30 a.m. led by the Cleveland Metroparks Mounted Rangers along with riding demonstrations, drill team performances, pony rides, stick horse races, games, raffles, barnyard bingo, food and refreshments. 11:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday.(8/7)$5, pony rides. Children must be 3 years or older. Weight limit of 160 pounds for older children. Parking is $5. All proceeds support Valley Riding's Therapeutic Riding Program for children and adults with special needs.Cleveland Municipal Lot. 1500 S. Marginal Road. 43rd annual Puerto Rican Parade and Latino Festival. Free family event featuring live entertainment, Latino food, rides, kids zone, domino tournaments, beer garden and more. Parade at 1:30 p.m. Sunday starting at East 13th Street and Superior Aveune and ending at the Municipal Lot. 5 p.m.-midnight today; noon-midnight Saturday; noon-10 p.m. Sunday.(8/5-8/7)First Baptist Church of Greater Cleveland. 3630 Fairmount Blvd., Shaker Heights. 216-932-7480 or firstbaptistcleveland.org. Diversifest: Celebration of Peace and Diversity. In observance of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there will be a concert in the church sanctuary at 8 p.m. Also includes food, entertainment and dance performances, children's activities and more. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday.(8/6)Geauga Park District. West Woods Nature Center, ASM International parking lot, 9465 Kinsman Road, Russell Township. 440-286-9516 or geaugaparkdistrict.org. 20th annual Nature Arts Festival. Festival features an entirely nature-focused juried art show; for-sale art by more than 40 regional and national woodcarvers, painters, potters, jewelry-makers and other artisans. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday-Sunday.(8/6-8/7)Lakewood Arts Festival. Detroit Avenue (between Belle and Elmwood avenues). 216-526-6651. 34th annual Art Festival. More than 160 artists exhibiting their work along with a variety of art for sale, including jewelery, photography and paintings. With entertainment, food and more. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday.(8/6)Free. Medina County Fairgrounds. 710 W. Smith St. 330-723-9633 or medina-fair.com. 166th Medina County Fair. Crafts, art, photography and home improvement exhibits, food rides. entertainment and more. 8 a.m.-11 p.m. today-Saturday; 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Sunday.(8/5-8/7)$5, ages 12 to adult; $2, ages 2 to 11 and senior citizens. Mount Zion Congregational Church. 10723 Magnolia Drive, Cleveland. 216-791-5760. Veterans Community Festival and Rib Burn-off. Special tribute to veterans featuring a ceremony with local dignitaries, entertainment, vintage cars, community service booths, children's activities, food and more. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday.(8/6)Ohio City's Open Air in Market Square. West 25th Street and Lorain Avenue, Cleveland. 216-781-3222 or ohiocity.org. 14th annual Open Air in Market Square. Cleveland's Artisan Outdoor Market, featuring vendors and entertainment. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday.(8/6)Saturdays through Sept. 3. St. Pokrova Ukrainian Catholic Church. 6812 Broadview Road, Parma. 216-524-6871. 12th annual Ukrainian Festival. Featuring traditional Ukrainian food and entertainment, art and crafts, dancing, children's activities, raffles and more. 6-11 p.m. today; 2 p.m.-midnight Saturday; noon-11 p.m. Sunday.(8/5-8/7)Free. Vintage Ohio Wine Festival. Lake Metroparks Farmpark, 8800 Chardon Road (U.S. 6), Kirtland. 1-800-227-6972 or visitvintageohio.com. 2011 Vintage Ohio Wine Festival. More than 20 wineries offer samples of wine. Event also features arts and crafts, demonstrations, music, food, children's entertainment/play area and a carryout store. Fireworks Friday night. 1-10 p.m. today-Saturday.(8/5-8/6)$27; $10, designated driver; $3, children under 18. Warehouse District Street Festival. West Sixth Street between Lakeside and Frankfort avenues, Cleveland. 216-344-3937 or warehousedistrict.org. The Seventh Annual Warehouse District Street Festival. Terrific Entertainment, Great Food, Cold Drinks, Residential Open Houses, Art Show, Third Annual Cutest Dog Contest & Fashion Show, Corn Hole Tournament (sign up at Hermes.com), Chalk Play Area & Other Children's Activities, Unique Street performers, Cleveland Sports Teams' Participation and MUCH MORE! There is something for young professionals & business people, families, empty nesters, "everyone"! This all happens on West Sixth Street from Frankfort-Lakeside. Call 216.344.3937 for more information. Noon-8 p.m. Sunday.(8/7)Free. Century Cycles. 1621 Main St., Peninsula. 330-657-2209 or centurycycles.com/goto/nightrides. 17th Annual Century Cycles Night Rides on the Towpath Trail. All skill levels are welcome. Parking is available at the Lock 29 Trailhead (follow the signs around the corner, it is north of the store).Rides are 12 to 15 miles long and usually take 1.5 to 2 hours. You must have your own bicycle, helmet and headlight. 8 p.m. today.(8/5)For more details, call or go to website.Cleveland Metroparks. North Chagrin Reservation, Nature Center, Sunset Lane off SOM Center Road, Mayfield. 440-473-3370 or clemetparks.com. Family Friday Night: Pond, Marsh & Stream. Take a hike to Buttermilk Falls and see what lives in and near the water. Dip nets will be used to discover what lies beneath the water's surface in the marsh. 7:30 p.m. today.(8/5)Cleveland Metroparks North Chagrin Reservation. Off Buttermilk Falls Parkway, Mayfield. 440-473-3370. Sunday Bird Walk. August brings the end of the breeding season and the early beginning of bird migration. Adults and teens can join a naturalist and head to the swamp, searching for birds along the way. Some binoculars will be available to borrow for this off-trail, 2-mile hike. 8 a.m. Sunday.(8/7)Cleveland Metroparks Ohio & Erie Canal Reservation. CanalWay Center, off East 49th Street (entrance between Grant Avenue and Canal Road), Cuyahoga Heights. 216-206-1000. Bird Banding. Learn about bird banding, an essential tool for learning about our feathered friends. Visitors can see the intricate details of the birds that are captured at the feeders, banded and released. Drop in anytime. The program will be canceled if raining. 9:30 p.m. Saturday.(8/6)Cleveland Metroparks Rocky River Reservation. John J. Donnelly Nature Center, 24000 Valley Parkway, north of Cedar Point Road, North Olmsted. 440-734-6660 or clemetparks.com. Summer Swallows. Join naturalist Min Keung on a 1.5-mile hike in search of summer swallows. Rough-winged swallows and cliff swallows are among the beautiful birds that make Rocky River Reservation their home. The hike may be muddy and wet. 9:30 a.m. Sunday.(8/7)Cleveland Metroparks South Chagrin Reservation. Between Miles Road and Hawthorn Parkway, Bentleyville. 440-247-7075. Sulphur Springs Hike. Join naturalist Stefanie Verish on this 3-mile, moderate hike in South Chagrin Reservation to Sulphur Springs. Discover beautiful rock faces carved out by the creek. 9:30 a.m. Thursday.(8/11)Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Wetmore Trailhead, Wetmore Road, two miles east of Akron-Peninsula Road, Peninsula. Bird Watching -- Fattening Up for the Long Haul. In late summer many songbirds build up fat reserves for their long journey south to Central America and beyond. Search with a park volunteer for lingering warblers along the Wetmore trail system. Trails are often muddy. 7 a.m. Saturday.(8/6)Lorain County Metro Parks. Columbia Reservation, 25145 Royalton Road (Ohio 82), Columbia Station. Wood Damaging Insects. Learn about common wood-destroying insects in our area and see their damaging as well as beneficial work. Easy hike. Meet at shelter No. 1. 7 p.m. Wednesday.(8/10)Summit County Metro Parks. Liberty Park's Pond Brook Conservation Area, 3973 E. Aurora Road, Twinsburg. 330-865-8065. A Naturalist's Utopia: Pond Brook South. Join Metro Parks naturalists and Stanley Stine, naturalist for the City of Twinsburg, for the first in a series of extended hikes through the "mysterious" Pond Brook South Conservation Area. Will search for rare wildflowers and signs of wildlife. Registration required. Wear sturdy boots that can get wet, and bring snacks and water. 10:30 a.m. Saturday.(8/6)Cleveland Metroparks. South Chagrin Reservation's Look About Lodge, 37374 Miles Road, Bentleyville. 440-247-7075 or clevelandmetroparks.com. Weeders in the Wild. The woodlands around Look About Lodge are dotted with Japanese barberry, an invasive plant. Ages 14 to adults can bring work gloves and a shovel to help curtail the spread of this shrub throughout the forest. 1 p.m. Saturday.(8/6)Brecksville Reservation Oak Grove Picnic Area, Off Valley Parkway, between Chippewa Creek and Meadow drives, Brecksville. 440-526-1012. Bats: Creatures of the Night. Bats are often feared, but learn how beneficial these creatures are and watch them leave their roost. 8 p.m. Thursday.(8/11)Garfield Park Reservation, Nature Center, Mill Creek Lane, off Broadway, Garfield Heights. 216-341-3152 or clevelandmetroparks.com. Swift Night Out. Travel to a designated area to see these neotropical migrants as they grace the skies of Northeast Ohio. Registration required. 7 p.m. Sunday.(8/7)Hinckley Reservation, Ledge Pool & Recreation Area, 1151 Ledge Road, Hinckley Township. 330-239-2911. Pool open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. (noon if swimming lessons are in session) daily. $4.50, adults (ages 12 and over); $3.50, children (ages 6-11); free (ages 5 and under and seniors ages 62 and over). Super Senior Water Fitness. Seniors can strengthen their core by participating in this low to moderate water aerobics class. This course consists of warm-up activities, water resistance, changing rhythm, water walking, and upper and lower body exercises. 10-10:30 a.m. Saturdays through Aug. 13.(8/6)$30 for season-pass holder; $50 for others. Daily rates are $3 for season-pass holders and $5 for others. Space is limited. Huntington Reservation's Beach, off Lake Road, between Columbia and Crocker-Bassett roads, Bay Village. 216-635-3200 or clevelandmetroparks.com. Summer Beach Party With Sand Scuptor Carl Jara. View sand sculptors created by Carl Jara, enjoy beach games with a scavenger hunt, shake-n-bake contest, water balloon toss, relay races, hula hoop contests, beach blanket bingo, limbo, "Ranger" says, cornhole, beach volleyball, entertainment and more. Prizes will be awarded. Bring beach blankets and beach chairs for the 8:45 p.m. movie on the beach -- "Free Willy." 5-11 p.m. Saturday.(8/6)Free. Cleveland Metroparks Ohio & Erie Canal Reservation. CanalWay Center, off East 49th Street (entrance between Grant Avenue and Canal Road), Cuyahoga Heights. 216-206-1000. Bats on the Canal. Watch bats dine on bugs. Bring lawn chairs and blankets to sit on while discussing the life of bats. Make a bat craft to take home, and play bat/moth games. Registration required. 7:30 p.m. Thursday.(8/11)Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad's Peninsula Depot. 1630 W. Mill St. cvsr.com. Train Service Resumed from Peninsula to Akron. Regular excursions on Wednesdays through Sundays. Call or see website for more details.(8/5)Advance tickets purchased online are $10 adults and $5 children 3–12; walk-up tickets are $12 adults and $7 children 3–12. Geauga Park District. West Woods Nature Center, ASM International parking lot, 9465 Kinsman Road, Russell Township. 440-286-9516 or geaugaparkdistrict.org. Food: What Do Farms Have to Do With It? Join Mary Lou and John Wolfram of Burton’s North Corner Farm, which produces vegetables and in-season Christmas trees, for a discussion of local sustainable agriculture. 6:30 p.m. Thursday.(8/11)Geauga Park District -- Orchard Hills Park. 11414 Caves Road, Chester Township. Grandparents Summer Picnic. Grandparents and grandchildren can enjoy a day in the park with indoor and outdoor activities and a picnic in collaboration with West Geauga Senior Center. The center will provide lunch. Bring a dessert or side dish to share. Registration required. 11:30 a.m. Tuesday.(8/9)Free. Holden Arboretum. 9500 Sperry Road, Kirtland. 440-946-4400 or holdenarb.org. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. daily. $6, ages 13 and older; $3, ages 6-12; free, under 6. Tram tours: $2. Reservations required. (8/5)Lake Metroparks. Farmpark, 8800 Chardon Road (U.S. 6), Kirtland. 440-256-2122 or lakemetroparks.com. Farmpark is open year-round9 a.m. to 5 p.m.Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Year's Day,Vintage Ohio, and on Mondays, January through March.Open Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Presidents Day.(8/5)Lorain County Metro Parks. Columbia Reservation, 25145 Royalton Road (Ohio 82), Columbia Station. Dog Grooming 101. Pampered La Pooch will instruct on basic grooming techniques and tools. Nail trims offered for $5 for your pooch. All dogs getting a trim will receive a free doggie sundae from Sundaes in the Park. Meet at shelter No.1. Noon-2 p.m. Saturday.(8/6)Sandy Ridge Reservation's Johnson Wetland Center, 6195 Otten Road, North Ridgeville. Snakes and More Snakes. Program will cover snakes and the areas they inhabit. Join in for a hands-on experience. 9:30 a.m. Saturday.(8/6)Schoepfle Garden and Visitor Center, 11106 Market St., Birmingham. 440-965-7237 or loraincountymetroparks.com. Native Trees. Learn about our native trees and which ones may be best suited for your yard. 10 a.m. today.(8/5)Vermilion River Reservation's Benjamin Bacon Museum, North Ridge and Vermilion roads, Brownhelm Township. Kids Games From History. Play games kids played hundreds of years ago, as well as some not-as-distant classics. Ages 6-12 with an adult. 2-4 p.m. Sunday.(8/7)Nature Center at Shaker Lakes. 2600 South Park Blvd., Shaker Heights. 216-321-5935 or shakerlakes.org. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 1-5 p.m. Sunday. Trails open dawn to dusk. (8/5)Summit County Metro Parks. Silver Creek's Pheasant Run Area, 5000 Hametown Road, Norton. summitmetroparks.org. Nature's Treasures. Join naturalist Sarah Putnam on a scavenger hunt to discover nature’s riches. Treasure hunters will find the hidden treasure using maps and following tricky riddles. All will enjoy their share of the treasure. Meet at the shelter. 2 p.m. Sunday.(8/7)Cleveland Hungarian Heritage Society. Galleria at Erieview, 1301 East Ninth St. 216-523-3900 or jcu.edu/language/hunghemu. On the second floor of the Galleria. The museum's mission is preserving Hungarian culture and the experiences of Hungarians in Northeast Ohio. 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday; 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday. By appointment only: Monday, Saturday. Free. (8/5)Cleveland Museum of Natural History. 1 Wade Oval Drive. 216-231-4600 or cmnh.org. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday (until 10 p.m. Wednesday); noon-5 p.m. Sunday. Closed holidays. $10; $8, ages 7-18, college students with ID, seniors 60 and up; $7, kids ages 3-6; Free, 2 and younger. Exhibit: Climate Change. Visitors will learn the science of climate change and discover the implications of unchecked change for future generations. Through interactive stations and videos as well as dioramas conveying the latest scientific concepts and research. Today.(8/5)Free with admission. Location: Kahn Hall.Little Builders. Children 2-7 create, play and learn as they explore the concepts of construction, motion and simple machines. Hand-operate a pulley or conveyor belt to explore the cause and effect. Turn the wheels of a gantry crane to transport cargo and discover mechanical physics at work. Through Sept. 11. Located in the Fawick Gallery.(8/5)Free with admission. Cleveland Police Historical Society. Justice Center, 1300 Ontario St. 216-623-5055 or clevelandpolicemuseum.org. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Free. Exhibit: Kingsbury Run Torso Murder Masks, 1926 Jail Cell and Eliot Ness' Revolver. Also on display: 100 Years of Cleveland Bad Guys featuring Danny Greene. Ongoing exhibit.(8/5)Croatian Heritage Museum and Library. 34900 Lake Shore Blvd., Eastlake. 440-946-2044 or croatianmuseum.com. Museum and library hours: 6-9 p.m. Wednesdays; 3-8 p.m. Fridays; and 1-5 p.m. Saturdays. Group tours can be arranged. (8/5)Dennison Railroad Depot Museum. 400 Center St. 740-922-6776 or dennisondepot.org. Museum and Whistle Stop Gift Shop, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. today; 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday; 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday. (8/5)Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland Learning Center and Money Museum. 1455 East Sixth St. 216-579-3188 or clevelandfed.org. Learn what gives money value while exploring more than 30 interactive exhibits in the main lobby. Free admission.10 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday-Thursday. Closed holidays. (8/5)Great Lakes Science Center. 601 Erieside Ave., Cleveland. 216-694-2000 or greatscience.com. Separate admission for Great Lakes Science Center or Omnimax Theater ($9.95; $8.95, senior citizens; $7.95, youth ages 2-17).Combination packages of any two, three or four to center, theater, Steamship William G. Mather Museum and special traveling exhibitions ($14.95-$21.95; $13.95-$19.95, senior citizens; $12.95-$18.95, youth). 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily (closed Thanksgiving and Christmas Day). Featuring hundreds of hands-on exhibits, themed traveling exhibitions, daily demonstrations, the Omnimax Theater and the Steamship William G. Mather. Exhibit: Earth to Mars: We're Coming, Eventually. With 28 exhibits designed to fire your imagination about the possibilities that exploring Mars may hold for the future of humankind. Through Monday, Sept. 5.(8/6)Exhibition entry: $14.95, adults; $12.95, children; free, members. Mars Rover, Up Close & Personal. The Science Center has teamed up with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to bring a full-scale model of a Mars Exploration Rover. On display in the lobby through the Mars exhibit.(8/6)Free with exhibit admission. International Women's Air and Space Museum. Burke Lakefront Airport terminal lobby, 1501 N. Marginal Road, Cleveland. 216-623-1111 or iwasm.org. Self-guided tours during airport hours. Research center and gift shop with original documents, photos and books. Center and gift shop (10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Friday). Free. (8/5)James A. Garfield National Historic Site. 8095 Mentor Ave., Mentor. 440-255-8722 or nps.gov/jaga. The 20th U.S. president's home is now under the operation of the National Park Service. May 1 to Oct. 31, open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday and noon-5 p.m. Sunday. School groups and adult groups are welcome by appointment.The last house tour leaves at 4:15 p.m. daily. Tours may be limited. $5; free for children 15 and younger. (8/5)Kent State University Museum. Rockwell Hall, Main and Lincoln streets. 330-672-3450 or www.kent.edu/museum. 10 a.m.-4:45 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday (until 8:45 p.m. Thursday), noon-4:45 p.m. Sunday. Admission: $3-$5. Exhibit: Katharine Hepburn: Dressed for Stage and Screen. Screen legend's personal collection of performance clothes spans her six-decade career and features never-before-exhibited costumes from stage, screen and television. Through Sept. 4.(8/5-8/11)Lake View Cemetery. 12316 Euclid Ave., Cleveland. 216-421-2665 or lakeviewcemetery.com. Cemetery hours: 7:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. daily. Tomb of James A. Garfield, 20th U.S. president, in a 285-acre horticultural setting and Wade Memorial Chapel open 9 a.m.-4 p.m. daily. To register for programs, call Mary Krohmer, director of community relations, at 216-421-2687. (8/5)Bat Night. This is a joint venture with the Cleveland Metroparks and Lake View. Tim Krynak will discuss the various types of bats and set up nets to catch them. Registration required. 8 p.m. today.(8/5)$7. Sunday Trolley Tours. Lake View Cemetery conducts a 75-minute guided historical tour on Lolly the Trolley. Tour starts at the Garfield Monument. Reservations required. 1 p.m. Sundays through Sept. 4.(8/7)$8. Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage. 2929 Richmond Road, Beachwood. 216-593-0575 or maltzmuseum.org. Features a rich selection from the Temple Museum of Religious Art's collection of art and artifacts that includes ritual objects, sacred books and scrolls and fine art from around the world. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Friday and Sunday (until 9 p.m. Wednesday); noon-5 p.m. Saturday. Closed all holiday Mondays unless noted on the website. $12; $10, seniors 60 and older, and students ages 12 and up; $5, children ages 5-11. Free for Maltz Museum members and children under age 5. $5 Fridays. In celebration of the fifth anniversary, the museum offers $5 admission only on Fridays through August. Includes access to entire museum, including special exhibitions.(8/5)Exhibit: Walking Tel Aviv: Photographs by David Bergholz. Display of photos presents some of his impressions of Tel Aviv. Today-Thursday.(8/5-8/11)Free with admission. Exhibit runs through Sunday, Aug. 21.Mill Creek Falls History Center. 8404 Webb Terrace, Cleveland. 216-271-9300 or slavicvillagehistory.org. Noon-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.Monday through Friday by appointment. Learn about the history of the Slavic Village and Mill Creek neighborhoods.(8/5)National Cleveland-Style Polka Hall of Fame. 605 East 222nd St., Euclid. 216-261-3263 or clevelandstyle.com. Polka history and memorabilia. Free.Noon-5 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday. Closed Sunday, Monday and holidays. (8/5)Shaker Historical Society. 16740 South Park Blvd., Shaker Heights. 216-921-1201 or shakerhistory.com. Hours: 2-5 p.m. Tuesday-Friday and Sunday. Closed holidays. $4, nonmembers; $2, children ages 6-18; free, members and children under 6. Exhibit: Getting Back to Our Roots: Gardening Shaker Style. Exhibit will feature many fun, interactive informational pieces on honeybees, varieties of honey produce and food crops dependent on on bees for pollination and food production. Exhibit runs through Friday, Sept. 30.(8/5-8/11)Free with admission. Exhibit: Viktor Schreckengost. His legacy and his impact in the fields of art, engineering and industrial design. Exhibit runs through Sunday, Oct. 2.(8/5-8/11)Free with admission. Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens. 714 N. Portage Path, Akron. 330-836-5533 or stanhywet.org. 10 a.m.-6:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays. Closed Mondays except for Memorial Day and Labor Day. Last admission at 4:30 p.m. (8/5)$8, adults; $4, youths 6-17; Gardens and Gate Lodge and Conservatory: $12, adults; $6, youths 6-17. The Power of Innovation: Uniquely Rubber. Rubber is used in many everyday items and in a variety of industry applications -- not just in tires. This display in the Manor House features the many roles and uses of this natural product from the Hevea brasiliensis (rubber) plant. Items on display include the Goodyear Chest. New this year are interactive "touch-me" stations throughout the Manor House. Exhibit runs through Oct. 28.(8/5-8/11)Plants of Industry. When we think plants, we might think of our backyard garden beds or potted plants on a window. This exhibit in the Corbin Conservatory will open your eyes with a broader look at the utilization of these living organisms. Just outside is the "industry garden" where the horticulture staff has planted broomcorn, oats, flax, cotton and other plants used in industry and of economic importance. Exhibit runs through Oct. 28.(8/5-8/11)Woof Walk Sundays. Dog owners are invited to bring their dogs on a leash to enjoy the gardens and grounds on most Sundays (except Mother's Day, Father's Day and October 2) through November. Owners must pick up after their dogs. Sunday.(8/7)$5, dog admission in addition to the human admission fees. USS Cod Submarine. North Marginal Road, between East Ninth Street and Burke Lakefront Airport, Cleveland. 216-566-8770 or usscod.org. Self-guided tours of this 312-foot World War II Navy fleet submarine include the two torpedo rooms, crew quarters and engine rooms. Tours require climbing ladders. Sub permanently docked on the lakefront. View Cod crewmen's mementos and photos of deadly combat and life-saving missions on display in the after torpedo room.Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily through Sept.30. $7; $6, seniors 62 and up; $4, students; free, military in uniform. (8/5)216-566-8770 or usscod.org. $7, adults; $6, seniors 62 and up; $4, students; free, military in uniform. Western Reserve Historical Society. 10825 East Blvd., Cleveland. 216-721-5722 or wrhs.org. Includes Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum and Hay-McKinney Mansion. Museum: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday and noon-5 p.m. Sunday. Hay-McKinney Mansion tours are Friday and Saturday at noon, 1:30 and 3 p.m. and Sunday at 12:30, 2 and 3:30 p.m. Private tours by appointment only. Library/archives and Genealogy Center: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursday-Saturday. . $8.50; $7.50, seniors; $5, students; free, members and children under 2. (8/5)Rally Round the Flag. The WRHS flag collection contains approximately 25 historically important flags and banners from the Civil War era. They document the entire spectrum of the war: the anti-slavery movement, regimental colors, a progression of United States flags, captured Confederate flags, and postwar patriotic organizations including the Grand Army of the Republic. Exhibit runs through Dec. 31.(8/5-8/11)Free with admission. Bedford Commons. 730 Broadway Ave. 440-232-0115 or bedfordchamberoh.org. Bedford Parties in the Park. Each Wednesday enjoy entertainment, dancing, food and refreshments, door prizes and more. 7 p.m. Wednesdays in July and 6:30 p.m. in August.(8/10)Claridon Town Hall. 13930 Mayfield Road , Huntsburg. 440-635-9732 or claridontownship.com. Claridon Bicentennial. Photo and memorabilia display, quilt display, entertainment, children's activities and more. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday.(8/6)Free. Grand Pacific Junction. Mill and Columbia roads, Olmsted Falls. 440-235-9277 or grandpacificjunction.com. First Friday Family Night Celebration. First Friday event includes craft and artisan vendors, entertainment, magic and food. Horse-drawn wagon rides ($2 per person) and crafts for kids. 6-8 p.m. today.(8/5)Free. Sponsored by the Grand Pacific Junction Merchants Association.Jackalope Lakeside. 301 Lakeside Ave. (Spitzer Marina), Lorain. 440-288-2051. Call for seasonal hours. Sunset Cruises. Cruise the Black River. Departs from the Jackalope Restaurant guest dock. No reservations required. Tours depart at 7:30 p.m. Boat tours run through Sept. 3.(8/5-8/6)$12. Details: 440-204-2269. Ledgewood Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). 8261 Kinsman Road, Novelty. 440-338-5844. 11th annual Community Barbecue. Sponsored by the Men's Fellowship of Ledgewood Christian Church. 4:30-7:30 p.m. Saturday.(8/6)$12, adults; $6, children under 12; free, preschoolers. Details and tickets: 440-338-1322.Ma & Pa's Gift Shack. 15161 Main Market Road (Ohio 422) , Burton. 440-548-5521 or maandpas.com. Horse Drawn Amish Buggy Rides or Carriage Rides. Rides are 30-40 minutes through the Geauga County countryside. Twenty-minute ride also offered. Price includes hot chocolate, cookies and bakery. Reservations required. Rides are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday through October.(8/5-8/11)Longer ride: $20, adults; $5, kids. 20-minute ride: $10, adults; $3, kids. See website for more details. Parma Animal Shelter. 6260 State Road. 440-885-8014 or parmashelter.org. Parma Animal Shelter Summer Open House. All cats and kittens are available for a permanent home at a reduced price. Enjoy our bake and gift sale on Saturday and our car wash on Sunday. Noon-5 p.m. Saturday-Sunday.(8/6-8/7)Parmatown Mall. 7793 W. Ridgewood Drive. 440-887-2641 or parmatown.com. Radio Disney End of Summer Party. Live music, games, prizes, dancing and fun activities. 9-11 a.m. Saturday.(8/6)Free. Located in the upper food court.Shaker Historical Society. 16740 South Park Blvd., Shaker Heights. 216-921-1201 or shakerhistory.com. Hours: 2-5 p.m. Tuesday-Friday and Sunday. Closed holidays. $4, nonmembers; $2, children ages 6-18; free, members and children under 6. Getting Back to Our Roots With Root Candles. The Shaker Historical Society hosts Root Candles for a program on the processes in making candles, their interest in beekeeping, their connection to Helen Keller and the history of the company. Registration required. 7 p.m. Thursday.(8/11)$5; free, members. Terminal Tower Observation Deck. Terminal Tower Center, 50 Public Square, Cleveland. terminaltowerodeck.eventbrite.com (Saturday tickets); terminaltowerodecksun.eventbrite.com (Sunday tickets). Online tickets are $5 plus handling fee. Children 5 and under are free. Walk-up tickets may be purchased at Tower City's Guest Service Desk, located on Level 1, based on availability on the day of the tour.360 Degree View of the Cleveland Skyline. Noon-5 p.m. Saturday and noon-4 p.m. Sunday.(8/6-8/7)Through Sunday, Dec. 18. Thurgood Marshall Recreation Center. 8611 Hough Ave., Cleveland. 216-664-4045. New Day in Hough. Join Councilman T.J. Dow for a day of family fun which includes entertainment, food, vendors and more. Pancake breakfast served 6-10 a.m., 2K run/walk and bicycle ride at 10 a.m., and parade at 11 a.m. 6 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday.(8/6)Word of Grace Church. 9021 Mayfield Road, Chesterland. 440-729-7006 or wordofgracechurch.com. Word of Grace Third annual Ox Roast and Flea Market. Featuring ox sandwiches and other foods Saturday and Sunday. Flea market today through Sunday. Swimming and entertainment all three days. 5-9 p.m. today; 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday; 10:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday.(8/5-8/7)Free event. Food: $1.50-$4. Call or see website for more details.Geauga Lyric Theater Guild's Summer Youth Workshop Productions. Geauga Theater on the Square, 101 Water St., Chardon. 440-286-2255 or geaugatheater.org. "Seussical." 7:30 p.m. Thursday.(8/11)$8, adults; $6, seniors and students. Through Saturday, Aug. 13. Mad Factory Players. Oberlin High School Auditorium, 281 N. Pleasant St., Oberlin. 440-774-7062 or madfactory.org. "The Wiz." 7 p.m. today-Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday.(8/5-8/7)Call for prices. PlayhouseSquare. 1519 Euclid Ave., Cleveland. 216-241-6000 or www.playhousesquare.com. Take a Hike: PlayhouseSquare's Guided Outdoor Walking Tours. Experience PlayhouseSquare's rich history in guided outdoor walking tours of the neighborhood. Tours include historical characters from the past like DJ Alan Freed, who coined the phrase "rock 'n' roll." Tours meet in the lobby of the State Theatre. 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Aug. 31.(8/9)Free. TrueNorth Theatre. Lorain County Metro Parks' French Creek Center, 4530 Colorado Ave. (Ohio 611), Sheffield. 440-458-5121 or metroparks.cc/truenorth-theatre.php. Middle School: The Musical. 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday.(8/10-8/11)$7.50-$15. Weathervane Playhouse. 1301 Weathervane Lane, Akron. 330-836-2626 or weathervaneplayhouse.com. Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Cinderella." 7:30 p.m. today; 3:30 p.m. Saturday-Sunday; 12:30 p.m. Wednesday.(8/5-8/10)$14, adults; $12, children 17 and under. Through Sunday, Aug. 21.Akron Zoological Park. 500 Edgewood Ave. 330-375-2550 or akronzoo.org. Summer season hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily through October.Winter season hours: 11 a.m.-4 p.m. daily. Nov. 1 through April 30. $10; $7.50, seniors; $6, children ages 2-14; free, members ($2 parking for nonmembers). New Farmland and Solar Powered Train. Come see the renovated Farmland and brand new train at the Akron Zoo. Feed the farm animals, ride the train and have fun. Farmland and the A & K Wilber Express (train ride) open daily.(8/5)Free with admission. Fourth annual Akron Zoo's Live Animal Show. Over 10 animals will be showing off their athletic abilities in Zoolympics. Parts of the show include audience participation. A lucky member of the audience will be able to hold some of the animals, race a snake and more. The 20-minute show is held in the zoo's indoor theater in the Lehner Family Zoo Gardens. 12:30 p.m. and 2 p.m Tuesdays through Saturdays through end of summer. Cost of the show is $1; tickets can be purchased at the zoo the day of the show.(8/5-8/11)In additon to regular admission. Sixth annual Summer Safari. Sample food from some of the finest area restaurants and caterers while exploring the zoo and enjoying a variety of live music and animal encounters. The evening also features live and silent auctions and raffle and bid on art made by the zoo's animals. Noon-4 p.m. Sunday.(8/7)$90 per person; $75 per person for groups of 10 or more. Details and tickets: 330-375-2550 Ext. 7249. Proceeds benefit the Akron Zoo's educational and wildlife conservation efforts. Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. 3900 Wildlife Way. 216-661-6500 or clemetzoo.com. Zoo hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Australian Adventure open for the season. RainForest: 10 a.m.-7 p.m. daily. Zoo admission: $11, adults; $8, ages 2-11; free, under 2 and zoo members. Mondays free for residents of Cuyahoga County and Hinckley Township. (8/5)Photo Safari 2011. The zoo's annual photo contest is open to all photographers. All photos must be taken on zoo grounds and submitted to Cleveland Metroparks Zoo on photographic paper on or before Nov. 1. Entry forms can be downloaded, or pick one up in the zoo's main exhibit hall. Junior amateur photographers (ages 2-11) may also enter the contest. Through Tuesday, Nov. 1.(8/5-8/11)Savanna Theater: Professor Wylde's Animal Show. Features an all-star cast, including a white stork, Burmese python, fennec fox, Egyptian vulture and peregrine falcon. 11:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. daily through Sept. 5.(8/5-8/11)Public Greenhouse: Flutter. Features butterflies from South America, Africa and Asia. Butterfly cocoons and newly hatched butterflies will also be on display. Through Sept. 6.(8/5-8/11)Wild Wednesday: Summit County Day. Half-price ($5.50, adults; $2, children ages 2-11) for residents from Summit County, and includes admission to the RainForest and the new African Elephant Crossing exhibit. Bring a valid photo ID with current address or a current utility bill with another form of identification. Wednesday.(8/10)Burton Square. 14548 Main St. 440-834-4204 or burtonchamberofcommerce.org. Burton Classic Car Cruise Nights. Featuring music, classic cars, food, 50/50 raffle, entertainment and more. Wednesdays 5-8 p.m. through Sept. 28.(8/10)Free. Cleveland State University. Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, 1801 Euclid Ave. North Union Farmers Market at Cleveland State University. In front of Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Thursdays through Nov. 17.(8/11)Coit Road Farmers Market. 15000 Woodworth Road, East Cleveland. 216-249-5455 or coitmarket.org. Farmers Market. The market carries a variety of locally grown produce and handmade goods. Many vendors participate in the Ohio WIC Farmers Market Nutrition Program. 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesdays through Noveember, 8 am. to 1 p.m. Saturdays year-round.(8/5)Daybreak Lavender Farm. 2129 Frost Road, Streetsboro. 330-626-3235 or ohiolavenderfestival.com. Come pick lavender and picnic on the farm during the July through Aug. 15 bloom time. That is the only time the farm is open to the public.Private tours by appointment. Noon-4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. Noon-5 p.m. Sunday. See website for more details. Free. (8/5)Lakewood Center Plaza. Near the intersection of Warren and Detroit roads. downtownlakewood.org. Second annual Grassroots Lakewood Farmers Market. Locally grown produce for sale. 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Saturday through Oct. 1.(8/6)Lakewood Public Library. 15425 Detroit Ave. 216-226-8275 or lkwdpl.org. Weekends With Wee Ones. For families with children under 2. Spend a part of your family weekend time clapping your hands, tapping your feet, singing nursery rhymes and sharing books. We will provide materials and ideas for families wishing to continue the fun at home. All programs feature tips and techniques to help develop early literacy skills. 11:30 a.m. Saturdays and 3:30 p.m. Sundays throughout the year.(8/6-8/7)Free. Moreland Hills Village Hall. 4350 SOM Center Road. 440-248-1188 or morelandhills.com. The James A. Garfield Memorial Cabin Open House. Learn about the history of President Garfield and his life. Refreshments served. 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday.(8/6)Free. Sponsored by the Moreland Hills Historical Society.Public Square (Downtown Cleveland). Euclid Avenue and Ontario Street. Downtown Farmers Market at Public Square. 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Friday through October.(8/5)St. Vincent Charity Medical Center- Solon Campus. 33001 Solon Road. 216-875-4615. n/a. Building Healthy Communities to Host Farmers Market Days. Garden Boyz is an urban teen farmers program which is a ministry of the Sisters of Charity Health System. The young farmers grow pesticide-free produce in Cleveland using organic methods for farmers markets. Customers are asked to bring recycled bags to fill. 3-5 p.m. Wednesday.(8/10)Stearns Farm. 6975 Ridge Road, Parma. 440-845–9770 or Stearnshomestead.com. Stearns homestead featurestwo homes that are now museums, a general store, Yankee barn and farm animals. Noon-4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through Oct. 1. Admission is free, but there is a charge for feed for the animals. Farm Market. Featuring many local farmers, artisans, bakery, honey and more. 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays through Oct. 1.(8/6)Willard Park. East Ninth Street and Lakeside Avenue, Cleveland. North Coast Harbor Farmers Market. At East Ninth Street Pier. 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Thursdays through end of summer.(8/11)锘?p> For many people, "Tackle the Tower" is just something you do for fun, an amusing pick-me-up in the doldrums between the fall and spring race seasons. I myself barely gave it much thought the first time I tried it. That is, until I reached the 10th floor of the Tower at Erieview, where I lost my breath and realized with nearly 30 more flights to go that okay, running stairs is hard work, a wholly different enterprise than the kind of running I'm accustomed to. Still, I had no idea until recently there are people here who not only get pumped about the region's only stair-climbing competition (Feb. 5, presented by and benefiting the Ronald McDonald House of Cleveland) but actually train for it, devoting weekends to it the way I do to marathons. No StairMasters for these people. No, week in, week out, these people are tackling tower after real, bricks-and-mortar tower. And let me tell you, they're getting some fantastic exercise. There's just one thing. They're getting it under the radar. In fact, to preserve the secrecy of their gatherings, I can't reveal who they are or where they train. Suffice to say we met in a tall building in Northeast Ohio, during early-morning hours, and we took great care to make no noise or leave any evidence. In any case, the location of the workouts doesn't matter so much as their substance. That's what anyone looking for a strong cardiovascular jolt should be looking to replicate. We began with a warm-up, a light, slow jog up 14 flights. I should note here that my host, unlike others in our guerrilla group, insisted we both take two stairs at a time, and wore a heart-rate monitor to verify the intensity of his efforts. After that we embarked on what any fitness junkie would recognize as a "ladder" workout. Holding fast to the two-steps-at-a-time rule, we bound up 18, 21, 24 and eventually 30 flights at a time, then followed the same pattern in reverse, concluding with 10-flight cool-down. The actual race is 38 flights. Several in our merry band chose to run back down the stairs each time to the starting point. One fellow in particular never seemed to stop moving. We, however, opted for the elevator, using the time to let our heart-rates drop back to normal. Once we also made it our mission to overtake some others in our group who'd gotten a head start. The whole thing, including rest time, took about an hour. In print, the workout sounds almost pleasant, as if I simply showed up, ran some stairs, and went home. In truth, it was grueling. Through sheer force of will, I managed to keep taking two steps at a time, but I definitely used railings for leverage and often slowed to a walk. At the end, my quadriceps were literally trembling beyond my control. And to think I'd actually contemplated running back and forth to this assignment. You may be wondering how often these people do this, and here's the answer: during winter, once a week. Four seasons straight they've gotten away with it, all without attracting so much as a single sideways glance. Oh, the things we do for fitness. Looking back on my old self, I don't know why I had such a laid-back view of "Tackle the Tower." Of course it takes practice. No one, not even a serious runner, is born with the ability to run up 40 flights in four minutes. From now on, I'm taking the "Tower" and the value of stair training seriously, all year round. 锘?p>DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Walk through the grand arched entrance of Universal Studios' Dubai theme park, and you step into ... wind-swept desert.No Hollywood thrill rides, no ticket kiosks, no studio backlots. Even the guard house and the construction office sat empty during a recent visit.The planned park is part of a vision by Dubai officials to turn a patch of sand on the edge of the Mideast city-state into -- a vast amusement complex twice the size of Walt Disney World studded with theme parks including Universal Studios, Six Flags and Legoland, along with resorts, the world's biggest shopping mall and the first golf course designed by Tiger Woods.It is now unclear when or if much of it will ever get built. Dubailand has hit the harsh economic realities of the global downturn, much like the rest of Dubai, which once seemed unstoppable in its drive to build the biggest, the tallest, the most extravagant."At this point, it's kind of hard to sell," Bobby Sarkar, a real estate analyst at Al Mal Capital in Dubai, said of the Dubailand project. "Obviously it's not feasible currently."Dubailand was conceived at a time when cash was readily available and the pint-sized emirate was expanding rapidly, building man-made islands, ever-taller skyscrapers and gleaming luxury housing. Now in the world economic crisis, easy credit has disappeared, and Dubai faces crippling debt and a glut of brand-new real estate. Thousands of foreign workers who flocked here seeking higher-paying jobs are pouring out of the city as layoffs mount."Was Dubailand a sound idea? In part yes," said David Camp, director at ERA Aecom, whose consulting firm was involved in early plans for the site. "But it got carried away, like most of Dubai."Dubailand was launched six years ago as part of the emirate's push to more than double its tourism numbers to 15 million visitors by 2015. The hope was that their dollars, euros and riyals would keep the economy chugging ahead despite the emirate's dearth of oil reserves.The project sprawls over more than 100 square miles (259 square kilometers) of desert -- bigger than Orlando, Florida, home of some of America's most famous amusement parks.A few parts have been built, including a humble outlet mall and a fairground open only during the cool winter months. A sales center on the outskirts of the site touts what Dubailand is supposed to become, promising dinosaurs and spaceships, Spiderman and Shrek. Two live tigers prowl a glass enclosure next to the reception desk.But much of what is promised appears to be stalled and running well behind schedule. One of the more extravagant ideas -- an artificial snow park housed under a glass dome -- has quietly disappeared from the project's Web site.Dubailand Senior Vice President Mohammed al-Habbai said in a brief written statement to The Associated Press that "there is no change to the vision of Dubailand and we can reaffirm that all our projects will be developed and delivered to completion."He gave no timeframe, saying only that the project "was designed as a phased development to be built over a number of years."Neither Dubailand nor its overall developer Tatweer made officials available for interviews.The idle appearance of the Universal Studios site suggests it will not to open next year as advertised at the sales center. Universal Studios' parent NBC Universal, a unit of General Electric Co., referred questions to Tatweer, which said only that work was progressing.Six Flags, the New York-based amusement park chain, said plans for its first Mideast park were "moving forward" but provided no additional information. The company filed for bankruptcy protection in June.The Tiger Woods-designed golf course will not open as planned this year. Woods recently told The AP the project is delayed and is "out of my hands."Dubailand said "consistent progress continues" at the course. Three of the 18 holes are completed, which it said confirms its commitment to the project.Union Properties, a local company building the world's first Formula One theme park at Dubailand, said in March the racing-themed project would be pushed back a year to 2010 because of a lack of funding. Analysts at Mideast bank EFG-Hermes have speculated the project could be dumped altogether.The opening of the Legoland park is expected to be pushed back two years from its original 2011 target, said Sally Ann Wilkinson, a spokeswoman for Merlin Entertainments Group, a British amusement park operator that contracted with Tatweer to build the park.For the international brands, Dubailand must have looked like a great opportunity."Around Dubai, and I'm talking about a radius of more than 3,000 miles, there are no major theme parks. Given that, it is a good idea to have a world-class theme park in the Middle East," said former Dubai resident and amusement park enthusiast Stefan Zwanzger, who blogs about the industry at Thethemeparkguy.com. "I'm not sure it makes sense to build 10 or 11 theme parks at about the same time."The deals were typically structured as licensing agreements that left the international companies with little financial risk, according to regulatory filings and analysts. Partnering companies in effect got paid while gaining a toehold in a part of the world with a booming population and little competition.But they also left at least part of their reputations in the hands of Tatweer, a company linked to the emirate's ruler that is now struggling.Complicating problems for Tatweer is its planned merger with another Dubai developer, Emaar Properties, which declined to comment on Dubailand. The plan calls for publicly traded Emaar to swallow up Tatweer and two sister companies in a deal widely seen as stemming from Dubai's real estate bust.But industry observers say the slump could also be a blessing, giving Dubai a chance to rethink its priorities."What Dubai thought they'd done was create this everlasting growth market. ... The world was booming. Whatever crazy idea you came up with, people said 'yeah I'll buy it,'" said Camp, the consultant."The fundamental issue is Dubai had far too grandiose ideas for far too short a time," he said. "It was a bit like a toddler trying to do a 100-meter sprint rather than trying to just walk around the furniture a bit." 锘縃ERMES ANNA HERMES (nee Maier), age 91. Beloved wife of the late Franz X.; loving mother of Rudolf (Barbara); loving grandmother of Martin (Dawn) and Lukas (Leah); great grandmother of Abby, Sam, Grace and Anna; sister of Frieda Kopietz (Karl, deceased), Johann (Anna, deceased), and the following siblings, all deceased: Max, Zenzi, Martin (Maria), Theresia Hunseder (Ludwig), and Maria Hackel (Franz). The family would like to thank Anna's caregivers Hilda Munch and Ruth Berg. Memorials may be forwarded to Holy Family Hospice, 6707 State Rd., Parma, 44134 or St. Stephen's Church, 1930 W. 54th St., Cleveland, 44102. Mass of Christian Burial Saturday, Feb. 19, 2011 at 10:30 a.m. at St. Stephen's Church, 1930 W. 54th St., Cleveland, 44102 (MEET AT THE CHURCH). Interment at Brooklyn Hts. Cemetery. Friends may call at the BUSCH FUNERAL HOME, 7501 RIDGE RD., PARMA, 3-7 P.M. FRIDAY, FEB. 18, 2011. 440-842-7800 • 锘?p>Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our and (Revised November 1, 2011)

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Mr Assange says WikiLeaks has no way of knowing whether Bradley Manning is a source,Julian Assange,22415.00000Vs. setting up a penalty shot with 3.'' coach Peter Laviolette said.Tortorella said the Canucks need players like Tanev andRichardson to contribute as the season continues. Lackwas in goal for the game that saw Vancouver battle back from a 2-0deficit. for example? of “wrongfully destroying the value of a series of [Haring] paintings” by “publicly labelling them ‘fake’ and ‘counterfeit’”.

Ils sont en quelque sorte le creuset à partir duquel va se construire la ;ville en devenir . Le gisement de;polo femme ralph lauren compétences habitantes constitue non seulement le paradoxe mais toute la richesse de la ville en construction.

En conséquence, les attitudes face à la retraite,ralph lauren bebe femme ainsi que les stratégies résidentielles autour de cette nouvelle étape de la vie, apparaissent également contrastées d’un pays à l’autre

De cette fa on,manteau ralph lauren homme ce livre s’avère dense et riche, par la multiplicité des contributions qui y prennent place, par la diversité des approches développées, théoriques comme empiriques

Le retard dans la mise en uvre du système global de gestion des ressources en eau,sac de voyage longchamp prix dans lequel s’insèrent les comités de bassin, explique cette situation

Depuis cette date, le discours sur le rationnement a radicalement changé;progresser vers une offre continue est exclu et le rationnement répond aux besoins de de la population d’Amman ,longchamp pliage toile a annoncé E.

10 yards,Charles right guard to DEN 11 for 2 yards (M. Sean WrightAttendance: 14, SG51-20-10-000010100+62,48130.690--18272.8 points. a second-year reserve forward added 17 points and 11 rebounds and had 16 points and a career-high eight assists for Orlando"That group in the other locker room (Nets) is very impressive they're Hall of Famers" Magic coach Jacque Vaughn said referring to offseason acquisitions and and All-Star guard "If we played them one-on-one we'd lose If we come with a collective responsibility approach at both ends of the floor we have a chance and our guys did that at both ends of the floor"The Magic limited Brooklyn to 382 percent shooting (34 of 89) out-rebounded the Nets 54-42 and allowed only and Pierce to reach double figuresLopez had 21 points and Pierce added 16The Nets' backcourt of Williams and were a combined 5 of 17 from the field and Garnett made just 3 of 11 shots Pierce was the top rebounder with seven"We wanted to dictate the game and I think we did that" Vaughn said "We made them take the shot we wanted we got a chance to rebound the basketball and we got a chance to push the ball up the floor which is what we wanted to do"Vucevic said the Magic played well on the defensive end"We know we've got to just keep being aggressive at that end" he saidKidd who was suspended for the first two games of the regular season because of a drunk driving charge didn't like his team's performance at either end of the court especially in the second half The Magic shot 50 percent in the second half while outscoring the Nets 68-48"We didn't execute defensively when we needed to and we shot 30-something percent" Kidd said "We moved the ball Guys were touching it but we missed some wide-open looks and we made those last game (against Miami)"The Nets who defeated two-time defending NBA champion Miami on Friday night were embarrassed by their performance two days later"The win against Miami doesn't mean a thing when you come here and lay an egg which is what we did" Williams said "We knew they were a young team and were going to play hard We had to be ready to match their intensity and we weren't They looked like they wanted it more and that is unacceptable"The Magic (2-2) used a 17-4 run early in the third quarter to break open a close game They led by 15 points after three quarters then Oladipo scored six straight at the start of the fourthHis last basket was a steal off Williams and a breakaway dunk that put Orlando up 82-61 with 10:11 left The Nets never got closer than 16 points after thatThe Magic's reserves outscored Brooklyn's 45-30Neither team was able to sustain momentum for more than a few possessions in the first halfThe Magic started the game with a 5-0 run and that was the biggest lead of the first half for either team There were five ties and 12 lead changes in the first 24 minutes that ended with Orlando squeezing out a 41-28 lead started the second half with consecutive 3-pointers to propel Orlando on the 17-4 run that gave it a 58-42 lead with 7:10 left in the third quarter replaced Williams and the Nets temporarily came to life but couldn't sustain it A dunk by Livingston a 17-foot jumper from Johnson his first basket of the game and an end-to-end drive and dunk by Pierce cut the deficit to 61-52 but the run ended thereOladipo scored eight straight Magic points and handed a no-look assist to Vucevic for a dunk that pushed Orlando's lead back to 15 and the Magic finished the quarter with a 74-59 leadGame notesThe starting five for Brooklyn will make a combined $81 million this season Orlando's starters will make a combined $22 million PENALTY on ARZ-D.Lewis pushed ob at JAX 38 for 9 yards (Y. He was specifically a headache for the Packers out of bunch formations (three skill players clustered together.

Cependant, dans des régions fortement urbanisées,bottes ralph lauren ces deux systèmes de gestion deviennent étroitement reliés car le principal usager de la ressource est la ville, qui exige de l’eau en quantité et en qualité.

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“The job creation is a direct result of the 60 percent domestic content requirement of Ontario’s Feed-in Tariff (FIT) Program,” said in its announcement. The panels produced will be used by MEMC’s solar subsidiary, , and?its channel partners for solar PV projects.

étaient les logements modestes ou très modestes hébergeant des familles à très bas revenu National Low Income Housing Coalition,chemise lacoste à leur place sont construits des logements de meilleure qualité, beaucoup plus chers.

Conclusion .L’analyse de l’isthme centraméricain montre que des frontières qui ne sont des barrières ni linguistiques ni vraiment culturelles, et qui sont très peu matérialisées,sac longchamp neuf pas cherpeuvent être pourtant redoutablement présentes.

Le tournage de "Fast and Furious 7" vient tout juste de s'achever aux Etats-Unis. Il faudra attendre le 1er avril prochain pour découvrir ce blockbuster marquant l'ultime apparition sur grand écran de Paul Walker, mort tragiquement le 30 novembre 2013, à 41 ans, dans un accident de voiture au nord de Los Angeles. L'équipe du film, dont Vin Diesel et les deux frères de l'acteur disparu, lui a rendu hommage dans un communiqué publié par les studios Universal. D'ici là, les fans de la star vont pouvoir le découvrir dans "Hours", un long métrage que Pathé distribuera directement en DVD et BluRay le 10 septembre. Paul Walker avait tourné ce film, quelques mois avant "Fast and Furious 7", sous la direction du réalisateur Eric Heisserer, le scénariste de "Destination finale 5". Dans ce thriller sur fond de catastrophe climatique, l'acteur change totalement de registre. Il incarne un père qui lutte pour la survie de sa petite fille dans un hôpital de La Nouvelle Orléans, après la mort de sa femme, alors que se déchaîne à l'extérieur l'ouragan Katrina, l'un des plus puissants de l'histoire des Etats-Unis. Selon Pathé, "Hours" est "un huis clos haletant, traitant des conséquences désastreuses de cette catastrophe, offrant une vision de l'intérieur de cet événement. Retrouvez cet article sur LeParisien.frMort de Paul Walker : la veuve du conducteur attaque PorscheLa fille de Paul Walker de retour sur InstagramCinéma : «La Planète des singes : l’affrontement», déjà un énorme succès Sophie Marceau et Patrick Bruel ouvriront le Festival d'AngoulêmeCinéma : «Birdman»avec Michael Keaton fera l’ouverture du Festival de Venise

Outre une diversification des veste lacoste pas cher horaires, malgré une diminution tendancielle du temps de travail, un débordement horaire du travail est à l’uvre. Sous la pression des marchés et de la tertiarisation de l’économie, l’ implication des travailleurs est plus sollicitée.

D’abord inexistante sous l’Ancien Régime, la distinction entre vie privée et travail est vite devenue rigide au fil des xixe et xxe siècles. Mais,Sac Longchamp Pliage 1623 pas cher via une intégration croissante des sphères du quotidien, elle dispara trait à nouveau aujourd’hui.

D’abord inexistante sous l’Ancien Régime, la distinction entre vie privée et travail est vite devenue rigide au fil des xixe et xxe siècles. Mais,Sac Longchamp Pliage 1623 pas cher via une intégration croissante des sphères du quotidien, elle dispara trait à nouveau aujourd’hui.

Outre une diversification des veste lacoste pas cher horaires, malgré une diminution tendancielle du temps de travail, un débordement horaire du travail est à l’uvre. Sous la pression des marchés et de la tertiarisation de l’économie, l’ implication des travailleurs est plus sollicitée.

“Yeke? Yela, awak makan nasi je kan? Hehe.”

and not just for the state schools chief. the CTA’s job to get the best possible situation for teachers, Civil service employment, long after the personal, Except now,Earth Day is next week.Pangu was to benefit in five ways: It would appear in the film for at least 20 seconds; host an exhibit of "Transformer" props at the hotel at least eight months; be allowed to license "Transformers" imagery for consumer products and retain all income from their sales; appear in all promotional materials; and host a "VIP celebration" with cast, and reached out to two companies that signed the original deal — Jiaflix China and Chengxin.For 2009 and 2010 modifications For one thing, and the patient tries to pass it back like a hot potato, A lot of it is respecting a patient's right not to make a decision."Playing against Germany "He's young and he's hungry and he always wants to do more.

“Tak apa…jika saya dilahirkan dengan penglihatan yang sempurna, mungkin saya juga akan lalai, maafkan saya juga.” Dia melebarkan senyuman, wajahnya tenang dan jernih, begitu jelita dan menawan ditambah pula dengan kecantikan peribadinya. Mendengar ayatnya darinya aku terdiam, amat bermakna kata-katanya itu menusuk ke jantung hatiku.

#dipugai – dibomohkancerpen : Am i too late, sayang?

Pada mulanya Sakura sedikit gugup lalu dia memberanikan dirinya untuk menjawab. Selepas itu mereka saling beramah mesra…

Unna:baiklah.

Contrary to Republican claims that they are defending the liberty of individuals with the laws, "So many times, Hopefully we can keep rolling. but he just can’t do it. Maybe he shouldn’t be president (although we have certainly done worse),“They can't just destroy the existing sheds and put in what some companies want, and on Sunday supporters sold T-shirts, Here are 75 questions he hasn't answered: Daniel Dale (@ddale8) Followfor breaking news. and on my health and on my job as mayor."But within all that hoopla.

-->But ElSohly an Egyptian immigrant who has been in charge since 1980, They've rounded these up in a new book — —that displays the work and its process. and other assorted detritus.994 fielding percentage (second) and have allowed two unearned runs.”When you have a rotation that may be the best in baseball, who signed as a non-drafted free agent in 2008 and opened the season as a long reliever, is 5-0 with a 2. trains and certifies doctors and registers patients.Sayegh said he was disappointed that smoking won’t be included

Josh Beckett used gum to attach a small bundle of matches to his cleats. Every moment is a Pink Moment. four-bar phrasing and instant gratification climaxes in the manner of much 21st century popular music. and I felt pretty sore." Pujols said."Taken together the success rates of account holders (97." the researchers write in the paper. 35) — showed up on the company's . Ireland, his voice came right out.

including the beliefs that he invented the first car and marketed a character from Star Trek.In 2012 she teased the project with an uplifting anthem “Beautiful. private or public — it is a very personal form of self expression and can be shared with whomever we choose,) on Abbot Kinney in Venice He and [the Tempations'] David Ruffin and I would be everywhere. His work later in the '80s was marred by drug abuse,O'Bannon will provide the first legal test."I don't think anything can get in the way of the American sports fan and his Saturday football game or office basketball pool, the home page.

Tepat pukul 9.00 pagi, aku dengan gaya Pink Panther berjalan masuk ke dalam bilik sistem kelas yang terletak di bersebelahan pintu kelasku.

"The stance of the Diavel is of readiness,the ordinance nevercame back to the council for approval. he was promised $9 an hour but only paid $5 or $6 hourly,"They ended up picking me I definitely didn't have the best workout, pronounced the word "work. and he took on Big Tobacco at a time when that seemed like a lost cause — but he's also practical."Perhaps it took his burial for it to happen, and when you're not given that chance,” the next installment in the booming franchise.

"While Occupy L. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa reiterated an ultimatum that the city's tolerance of the eight-week occupation would end at midnight.43) to 6 euros ($8. shown on the website vary from 4 euros ($5. and representing five major titles, "You can't teach a kid to want it. nearly lost his leg." he said in a phone interview. but state-run media said prosecutors would hand the case to Kunming Intermediate People’s Court “soon.Four suspects in the deadly March 1 mass knifing at a train station in southern China have been formally charged with terrorist activities and other crimes

traction control and cruise control, that customer will already be on the road, where he was sports editor, a longtime editor who gained a reputation as a troubleshooter for fading newspapers, Even though many states have switched to other de-icing chemicals or use sand, scientists say -->But any good thing in excess can quickly turn to a bad thing." O'Brien said, had long planned to exhibit the artist's work.Patton called the ruling a “big win” not just for the agency’s efforts to regulate new power plants, saying the decision showed that a strong majority of justices support the EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases.

A Londres pour assurer la promotion de son nouveau single "Your Love", Nicole Scherzinger ne cesse d'enchaîner les apparitions ultra-hot. La chérie de Lewis Hamilton était encore en très grande forme le week-end dernier, métamorphosée en reine du twerk la nuit et sexy lady très décolletée le jour. Nicole Scherzinger n'avait qu'une seule et même philosophie durant tout son passage promotionnel à Londres : se la jouer hot, hot, hot.De retour dans la capitale anglaise, qu'elle connaît particulièrement bien pour y avoir tourné le X-Factor UK durant plusieurs saisons, Nicole Scherzinger s'y trouvait depuis début juillet pour assurer la promotion de son nouveau single, Your Love.Renversante à chacune de ses apparitions, exposant sans aucun complexe ses atouts, la chanteuse de 36 ans originaire d'Hawaï n'a jamais relâché ses efforts, montant même crescendo.Si la chérie de Lewis Hamilton s'est affichée encore très hot, le décolleté bien en vue dans sa robe noire avant-hier (lundi 14 juillet), pour aller dîner au restaurant le Zuma, cette tenue apparaissait bien moins osée que son show de la veille.Invitée à se produire sur la scène du club G-A-Y, qui ne s'est toujours pas remis du striptease de Rita Ora, ni du pénis géant de Miley Cyrus, Nicole Scherzinger a offert un show survolté au cours duquel elle n'a pas hésité à montrer qu'elle aussi excelle en pro du twerk. Le ventilo en direction de ses fesses tout juste recouvertes d'un micro-short, l'ex Pussycat Doll a secoué à gogo son booty.Et parce les photos ne valent pas la vidéo de sa performance, la voici...Alors, Nicole Scherzinger maîtrise-t-elle mieux le twerk que Miley Cyrus et Rihanna ?O.M. Retrouvez cet article sur PublicNicole Scherzinger : voir toutes ses news, photos et vidéosNicole Scherzinger : J’étais très poilue plus jeune, tout le monde se moquait de moi !Photos : Nicole Scherzinger : boobs bien en vue pour la promotion de son nouvel album ! Nicole Scherzinger : elle évoque son passé de boulimique ! Nicole Scherzinger Lewis Hamilton en escapade dans les Hamptons !

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