The World Wildlife Fund’s branch in Spain has ousted King Juan Carlos as its honorary president — a title he’d held since 1968 — after deciding his recent elephant hunting safari was incompatible with its goal of conserving endangered species. The announcement Saturday was the latest in a string of bad news for Spain’s royal family, which has been embarrassed by legal and other scandals. The fund said in a statement that “although such hunting is legal and regulated” it had “received many expressions of distress from its members and society in general.” It said members voted at a meeting Saturday in Madrid to “to get rid of the honorary President” by a substantial majority of 226 votes to 13. The Royal Palace declined immediate comment on the announcement. Many Spaniards were dumbfounded when news broke in April that the king had made a secret journey to hunt elephants in Botswana even though it was widely known he was president of the Spanish branch of the fund. Such an opulent indulgence also angered Spaniards at a time when national unemployment hovers around 25 percent, the economy is contracting and there are fears the country may need an international financial bailout. The Spanish public learned of the safari only after the king had to fly back in a private jet to receive emergency medical attention for a broken hip suffered during the trip. In an unprecedented act of royal contrition, a sheepish Juan Carlos apologized, saying as he left the hospital: “I am very sorry. I made a mistake. It won’t happen again.” It was a poignant moment because the royal family had been under intense media scrutiny for all the wrong reasons. The king’s son-in-law, Inaki Urdangarin, is a suspect in a corruption case, accused of having used his position to embezzle several million euros in public contracts through a supposedly not-for-profit foundation he’d set up. Over Easter, the king’s 13-year-old grandson, Felipe Juan Froilan, shot himself in the foot with a shotgun, even though Spanish law dictates you must be 14 to handle a gun. The king on Tuesday decided to take a pay cut in solidarity with civil servants who are to lose their traditional Christmas bonuses as part of the government’s most recent austerity drive. The salaries of Juan Carlos and Crown Prince Felipe will be reduced about 7 percent — to about 272,000 euros ($334,000) and 131,000 euros ($160,000) respectively — in line with government policy, the Royal Palace said. The king and prince acted voluntarily in cutting their salaries, the palace said.
Spain king ousted as honorary president of World Wildlife Fund branch after elephant hunt
Saturday, 21 July 2012Starring alongside male models Myles Crosby and Janis Ancens, the trio delve into some light bondage in Steven Klein’s steamy images.
Wednesday, 11 July 2012
Sexy Jeans – Lara Stone continues her reign as the face of Calvin Klein with the Jeans line’s fall 2012 campaign. Starring alongside male models Myles Crosby and Janis Ancens, the trio delve into some light bondage in Steven Klein’s steamy images.
On Ibiza, island of parties, this is the biggest of the summer:
Thursday, 5 July 2012a festival of top singers and DJs aiming to draw more foreign fun-seekers than ever to fuel its tourism industry - one of the few economic motors still turning in Spain. Outside the open-air concert site in Sant Antoni, ground zero for the British clubbing scene on the north of the island, the discos are packed by night and the beaches by day, with little outward sign of Spain's crippling recession. But along with the millions of German, British, Italian and French tourists for whom the island is Spain's best-known brand, there are other newcomers: Spaniards themselves, heading to Ibiza and the other Balearic Islands in search of work. Bryce, a Spanish engineer of 26, came to Ibiza in February from the northern industrial city of A Coruna after he was made redundant. “A friend told me, come to Ibiza, you'll find a job as a waiter no problem. Where is there no crisis? In Ibiza,” he says, standing on the terrace of the bar where he landed a summer job in Ibiza City, the island's capital. “But I was very lucky. We have a stack of CVs here this high,” from other job-hunters, he says, holding his hands apart several inches. “And if you have work here, you have to work longer hours because they won't hire more people.” Driven by a soaring jobless rate across Spain, the new arrivals must compete with foreign night club touts and others who for years have funded their summers of clubbing and sunshine through temporary jobs. “I've been here the past four years. It's a lot harder this year” to find work, says Kirstie Patterson, 22, from northeast England, standing deeply tanned in a red and white bikini by Sant Antoni's baking seafront. “Because of how bad things are financially here, there's double the amount of workers looking this year,” adds Patterson, who has got a summer job scouting on the beaches for a London-based model agency. “And there's only a certain amount of work.” For all the strengths of the tourism sector, it cannot generate enough jobs to meet demand in the recession, brought on by the collapse of a building boom that has driven national unemployment above 24 percent. “The number of jobs available here is staying more or less level,” says Roberto Hortensius, president of the Sant Antoni hotel-owners' federation, whose own establishment caters mainly to Germans. “During the building boom, workers from the hotel sector left to find jobs in construction which was better paid. So there are a lot of people now looking for work. There isn't much left for people from outside.” “Perhaps they think there is more of a job market here, but there isn't,” adds his friend Juanjo Planells, manager of a 100-bed hotel in Sant Antoni. “It's spectacular: in one week we received 500 CVs in our business.” Figures from the Balearics regional government indicate fewer visitors have come so far in 2012 compared to 2011, which was a good year for the islands as tourists shunned North Africa because of civil unrest. Authorities have for years been casting around for ways to diversify tourism on the Balearics so they can compete better with rival sunspots further east, and now there is added urgency to create jobs. Carmen Ferrer, Ibiza's councillor for tourism, says the island is trying to remould itself as a destination for families, outdoor sports and even corporate events, and to extend the main tourist season beyond the June to August period. “We want to be open as many months as possible and make an effort to have as much hotel occupation as possible so that businesses can employ more people for longer,” she says. Meanwhile businesses on Ibiza are worried about other side-effects of the crisis, such as a mooted rise in value-added tax that they say would choke them. On top of this, a surplus of unsold properties built during the boom, they say, has spawned a market in cheap, unregulated holiday home rentals that is undercutting them. “We are very worried,” says Hortensius. “Apart from the fact that they offer no guarantees and aren't subject to health controls or other regulations, it is a big black market. It doesn't create jobs and destroys legal business.” In a separate move to help the industry, the Balearics regional authorities have passed a legal reform making it easier for registered tourism businesses to expand their facilities. Hotel owners have welcomed that reform, but some tourism workers complain that it also makes it easier to change tourism-related properties into private dwellings, threatening jobs. “All the government is doing is helping businesses make more money,” says Antonio Copete, leader of the major labour union UGT on Ibiza's neighbouring island Mallorca. “They are doing nothing for the workers.” Pending negotiations, unions on the Balearics have threatened a strike on July 20, with up to 100,000 drivers, cleaners, waiters and others urged to stay off work, on top of other possible actions by teachers and doctors. “It's going to be a very hot summer,” warned the Ibiza newspaper Prensa Pitiusa. “If an agreement isn't reached, tourists, patients and pupils should be prepared.” At a restaurant by the sweltering bay of Sant Antoni sit six of the island's latest arrivals: Jordan Bass, 18, and his five mates, all from greater London. “It's a stereotypical place to go for a lads' holiday. It's quite cheap compared to other holidays,” says Jordan, on day one of a week-long stay. “We're mostly thinking beaches and clubs.” “Don't forget the girls,” adds his friend Michael Langlands, 19. “We'll drink until we fall down,” says a third member of the group, Steven Magle, 19. Ibiza has for decades been a classic disco and beach resort but councillor Ferrer says part of her job is to develop its reputation as well as its economic activity. “There is a reputation that people come here for out-of-control partying, that there's usually sex and drugs and rock 'n' roll. The reputation Ibiza has sometimes puts families off coming here,” she says. “We have a job to do to make it known that it is not like that.”
Spain’s true celebrity town
Spain’s true celebrity town, it was obviously to ‘Marbs’ where the cast of hit UK show TOWIE decamped for a Spain special last month.
The list of famous residents and visitors is as long as a magicians hanky, but among the more notable names include Mark Thatcher, the son of Margaret Thatcher, Sean Connery and Dolph Lundgren.
Thatcher was given a four-year suspended sentence for his role in an alleged coup plot in Equatorial Guinea and later set up camp at a €3 million villa in Marbella.
Other high-profile names with homes in the glamour spot include Simon Cowell who is rumoured to rent a villa for €15,000 a day, Lord Alan Sugar and former England manager Fabio Capello, who has a pad off the Ronda road.
LA ZAGALETA
Situated in the hills above San Pedro, La Zagaleta is said to be the most expensive housing estate in the world.
Famous home-owners include Hugh Grant and the mayor of Moscow Yuri Luzhkov, with controversial Russian president Vladimir Putin reportedly keen to use it as a bolt-hole.
Rod Stewart is said to have a palatial pad at La Zagaleta, a far cry from his early career, when he was kicked out of Spain for vagrancy.
Beware of missed call to check SIM cloning
Monday, 2 July 2012Next time if you get a missed call starting with +92; #90 or #09, don't show the courtesy of calling back because chances are it would lead to your SIM card being cloned. The telecom service providers are now issuing alerts to subscribers —particularly about the series mentioned above as the moment one press the call button after dialing the above number, someone at the other end will get your phone and SIM card cloned. According to reports, more than one lakh subscribers have fallen prey to this new telecom terror attack as the frequency of such calls continues to grow. Intelligence agencies have reportedly confirmed to the service providers particularly in UP West telecom division that such a racket is not only under way but the menace is growing fast. "We are sure there must be some more similar combinations that the miscreants are using to clone the handsets and all the information stored in them," an intelligence officer told TOI. General Manager (GM) BSNL, RV Verma, said the department had already issued alerts to all the broadband subscribers and now alert SMSes were being issued to other subscribers as well. As per Rakshit Tandon, an IT expert who also teaches at the police academy (UP), the crooks can use other combination of numbers as well while making a call. "It is better not to respond to calls received from unusual calling numbers," says Tandon. "At the same time one should avoid storing specifics of their bank account, ATM/ Credit/Debit card numbers and passwords in their phone memory because if one falls a prey to such crooks then the moment your cell phone or sim are cloned, the data will be available to the crooks who can withdraw amount from your bank accounts as well," warns Punit Misra; an IT expert who also owns a consultancy in Lucknow. The menace that threatens to steal the subscriber's information stored in the phone or external memory (sim, memory & data cards) has a very scary side as well. Once cloned, the culprits can well use the cloned copy to make calls to any number they wish to. This exposes the subscribers to the threat of their connection being used for terror calls. Though it will be established during the course of investigations that the cellphone has been cloned and misused elsewhere, it is sure to land the subscriber under quite some pressure till the time the fact about his or her phone being cloned and misused is established, intelligence sources said. "It usually starts with a miss call from a number starting with + 92. The moment the subscriber calls back on the miss call, his or her cell phone is cloned. In case the subscribers takes the call before it is dropped as a miss call then the caller on the other end poses as a call center executive checking the connectivity and call flow of the particular service provider. The caller then asks the subscriber to press # 09 or # 90 call back on his number to establish that the connectivity to the subscriber was seamless," says a victim who reported the matter to the BSNL office at Moradabad last week. "The moment I redialed the caller number, my account balance lost a sum of money. Thereafter, in the three days that followed every time I got my cell phone recharged, the balance would be reduced to single digits within the next few minutes," she told the BSNL officials.
France brings in breathalyser law
New motoring laws have come into force in France making it compulsory for drivers to carry breathalyser kits in their vehicles. As of July 1, motorists and motorcyclists will face an on-the-spot fine unless they travel with two single-use devices as part of a government drive to reduce the number of drink-drive related deaths. The new regulations, which excludes mopeds, will be fully enforced and include foreigner drivers from November 1 following a four-month grace period. Anyone failing to produce a breathalyser after that date will receive an 11 euro fine. French police have warned they will be carrying out random checks on drivers crossing into France via ferries and through the Channel Tunnel to enforce the new rules. Retailers in the UK have reported a massive rise in breathalyser sales as British drivers travelling across the Channel ensure they do not fall foul of the new legislation. Car accessory retailer Halfords said it is selling one kit every minute of the day and has rushed extra stock into stores to cope with the unprecedented demand. Six out of 10 Britons travelling to France are not aware they have to carry two NF approved breathalysers at all times, according to the company. The French government hopes to save around 500 lives a year by introducing the new laws, which will encourage drivers who suspect they may be over the limit to test themselves with the kits. The French drink-driving limit is 50mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood - substantially less than the UK limit of 80mg.
Marbella Luxury Weekend in Puerto Banus was a huge success
Sunday, 17 June 2012The II edition of the Marbella Luxury Weekend that finished on Sunday afternoon with an enormously successful attendance. Great international fortunes gathered over the weekend in Puerto Banús to attend an astonishing presentation of jewels, luxury automobiles and gastronomy, a weekend in which luxury was the great protagonist.
An endless number of interesting activities and events ensued over the course of the four day weekend, taking place within the boutiques as well as at the VIP tents erected for the occasion.
The best events of MLW were:
- Esteban Freiria Fashion Show in Black & White - Gallery 1 & Gallery 2
The fashion designer Esteban Freiria presented his fabulous collection during Marbella Luxury Weekend in the hottest restaurant/cafe in Puerto Banus - Black & White!
- Cars and Art Luxury Show on the 2nd pier - Gallery 1 & Gallery 2
This event included the most exclusive luxury automobiles and high competition sports cars as well as the surprising “Gómez Collection”, an exhibition of 24 Porsche 911 GT2 hoods decorated by plastic artists. In the same space, Grupo Guarnieri displayed its principal brands: McLaren, Rolls Royce, BMW, MINI, Porsche, Fornasari and also revealed its newest addition Fisker. On its part, Ascari Race Resort displayed current as well as legendary vehicles such as a 1995 Ferrari F1, of which there are only 3 in the world. Ibericar Benet Mercedes Benz was also present with its exclusive gullwings.
- Florencia Nahmad Fashion Show at Pravda - Gallery 1 & Gallery 2
In the world of motors, the automobile manufacturer Ascari fused its extraordinary cars with a sumptuous menú from the restaurant Pravda and the elegance of the haute couture of former Valentino designer, Florencia Nahmad, whose models descended from the luxurious vessels that Marina Marbella displayed before the numerous guests that turned up at Dock 8 of the port. This was truly an array of events without precedent.
About Marbella Luxury Weekend
Participating in this exclusive event held in Puerto Banús and founded on the concepts of quality and excellence, were such distinguished brands as Bang & Olufsen, Be Rich, Bulgari, Elite, Gómez y Molina, Salvatore Ferragamo, Tourbillon, Versace, Aretusa, Black & White, Carpaccio, Chateau Monalisa, El Gran Gatsby, La Pappardella and Pravda.
All of these brands have actively participated in this municipal initiative, desiring to develop exclusive events for their clients. The town hall of Marbella has once again endorsed this initiative with purpose of attracting elite tourism.
Event Sponsors: Ascari Race Resort, Barceló Viajes, Grupo Guarnieri, Ibericar Benet, La Zagaleta, Marina Marbella and Playas del Duque.
