Rapper Snoop Dogg stopped in Italy airport with $422,000 in cash

ROME | Italian police stopped California rapper Snoop Dogg on Friday as he prepared to board a private plane bound for Britain with $422,000 in cash in his Louis Vuitton luggage, said an Italian lawyer representing the entertainer.

In the European Union, the maximum amount of undeclared cash one can take on board a plane is 10,000 euros ($10,986.00). Snoop Dogg, who has been touring Europe after releasing the album “Bush” earlier this year, will have to pay a fine, said Andrea Parisi, his lawyer.

“We clarified everything from a legal point of view. The money came from concerts he had performed around Europe. There was no crime; it was just an administrative infraction,” Parisi told Reuters on Saturday.

Half of the cash was given back to Snoop Dogg, whose real name is Calvin Broadus, while the other half is being held by Italian authorities until the amount of the fine is determined, Parisi said.

source: interaksyon.com

BMW, Apple in courtship with an eye on car collaboration

FRANKFURT/SAN FRANCISCO — BMW and Apple may rekindle a courtship put on hold after an exploratory visit by executives of the world’s top maker of electronic gadgets to the headquarters of the word’s biggest seller of premium cars.

Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook went to BMW’s headquarters last year and senior Apple executives toured the carmaker’s Leipzig factory to learn how it manufactures the i3 electric car, two sources familiar with the talks told Reuters.

The dialogue ended without conclusion because Apple appears to want to explore developing a passenger car on its own, one of the sources said.

Also, BMW is being cautious about sharing its manufacturing know-how because it wants to avoid becoming a mere supplier to a software or internet giant.

During the visit, Apple executives asked BMW board members detailed questions about tooling and production and BMW executives signaled readiness to license parts, one of the sources said. News of the Leipzig visit first emerged in Germany’s Manager-Magazin last week.

“Apple executives were impressed with the fact that we abandoned traditional approaches to car making and started afresh. It chimed with the way they do things too,” a senior BMW source said.

The carmaker says there are currently no talks with Apple about jointly developing a passenger car and Apple declined to comment. However, one of the sources said exploratory talks between senior managers may be revived at a later stage.

It is too early to say whether this will be a replay of Silicon Valley’s Prometheus moment: The day in 1979 when Apple co-founder Steve Jobs visited Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center where the first mouse-driven graphical user interface and bit-mapped graphics were created, and walked out with crucial ideas to launch the Macintosh computer five years later.

BMW has realized next-generation vehicles cannot be built without more input from telecoms and software experts, and Apple has been studying how to make a self-driving electric car as it seeks new market opportunities beyond phones.

Staff changes

Since the visit, there has been a reshuffle at the top of BMW, with Harald Krueger, appointed BMW Chief Executive in May, in favor of establishing his own team and his plans for BMW by year end, before engaging in new projects, a person familiar with his thinking told Reuters.

A further complication was the departure of BMW’s board member for development Herbert Diess, who played a leading role in initial discussions with Apple. He defected to Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) in December.

Diess, who declined to comment for this piece, oversaw the development of BMW’s “i” vehicles which are built using light weight carbon fiber, using a radical approach to design and manufacturing.

Car technology has become a prime area of interest for Silicon Valley companies ranging from Google Inc (GOOGL.O), which has built a prototype self-driving car, to electric car-maker Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA.O).

Diess has said the German auto industry needs to undergo radical change because consumers are demanding more intelligent cars and anti-pollution rules mean the next generation vehicles will increasingly be low emission electric and hybrid variants.

In 2030, only two generations of new cars away in auto manufacturing time scales, only a third of vehicles will be powered by a conventional combustion engine alone, experts predict.

“It means that in two cycles we will shut down two thirds of our engine manufacturing,” Diess told a panel discussion in July last year, adding that the value chain for new electric cars is already shifting, with vehicle batteries made mainly in Asia.

“The second part is that the car will become intelligent, part of the Internet,” Diess continued. “And the strong players in this area are in the United States, in the software development area. We will surely need to find alliances in this field.”

Germany has two years to prove that it can hold its own against new entrants when it comes to shaping the future of luxury vehicles, Diess said.

Them and us

Carmakers including BMW have already developed next generation self-driving cars, vehicles which need permanent software updates in the form of high-definition maps allowing a car to recalculate a route if it learns about an accident ahead. The technology is moving ahead faster than the legal and regulatory rules which would allow large-scale commercial availability.

Earlier this year, BMW’s new R&D chief Klaus Froehlich said his company and Apple had much in common, including a focus on premium branding, an emphasis on evolving products and a sense of aesthetically pleasing design.

Asked, in general terms, whether a deeper collaboration beyond integration of products like the iPhone would make sense, Froehlich initially said BMW would not consider any deal that forces it to open up its core know-how to outsiders.

“We do not collaborate to open our eco systems but we find ways, because we respect each other,” Froehlich told Reuters.

BMW will keep in mind the needs of the customer, and what the company’s core strengths are, when it considers the merits of entering any strategic collaboration, Froehlich added.

Peter Schwarzenbauer, BMW’s management board member in charge of the Mini brand as well as digital services declined to comment on possible talks with Apple in an interview earlier this year.

But he said: “Two worlds are colliding here. Our world, focused on hardware and our experience in making complex products, and the world of information technology which is intruding more and more into our life.”

The winners will be those companies that understand how to build intelligent hardware, he said, adding it made sense for carmakers and tech firms to cooperate more closely.

“We need to get away from the idea that it will be either us or them … We cannot offer clients the perfect experience without help from one of these technology companies,” Schwarzenbauer said. That dialogue is well underway, he stressed.

With $202.8 billion in cash, Apple has the resources to enter the automotive market on its own, said Eric Noble, president of the Car Lab, a consulting firm in Orange, Calif.

The tech giant would have an edge on the dashboard, its CarPlay infotainment system connecting iPhones to cars, but would be at square one with the rest of the car, Noble said.

If Apple decided to sell a car it could make sense to find a partner to help with industrial scale production, retail and repair, since demand for such a vehicle could be high.

There are no estimates for potential Apple car sales but the brand and its products command a loyal following. So if only 1 percent of Apple’s annual iPhone customers decided to order a car, it would need to make 1.69 million vehicles.

That’s more than the 434,311 vehicles Jaguar and Land Rover produced last year. Even BMW Group, which made just over 2 million cars last year, would struggle to free up capacity.

source: interaksyon.com

Hip-hug hostel

Creak… Squeak… The spring bed above me started moving ever so slightly. A hint of a rhythmic rattle. Slowly at first — just a steady to and fro — then the pace quickened and the pace was more definite and the sounds of the springs on the bed were forceful. It was a cheaper hostel so the bed squeaked loudly and the upper bunk bed was only an arm’s reach from my head, very close to me. I could hear the heavy breathing of the sleeper above me climb to full volume, in tune with the rapid shaking of the springs… then, silence. Finished. And since it was two in the morning, I was relieved — until a few minutes later when the steady, slow chirping of the bunk bed springs started their rhythm again.

The scene played all night, and by the fifth episode, I could not help myself from whispering,  “ Please… enough!” It was 5 a.m. and the bunkmate was too far into the beat; he could not stop.

Welcome to the world of hostels in Edinburgh, Scotland. After spending four months in many hostels, I have become a pro at meeting people from different countries. Some would describe hostels as a place where one can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed, and guests are free to behave as they wish. Sleeping dormitory-style, there are no mother superiors to regulate, and with a majority of guests under the age of 30, the forms of acceptable conduct are very flexible. Strangers have beds beside one another, men and women mixed in a room. Prices vary, with a four-bunk bedroom in Scotland charging about 19 British pounds on weekends and a dorm with 16 bunk beds costing 12 pounds per night on weekdays. Shared bathrooms, kitchens and lounges are designed to give guests an atmosphere whereby one can meet and be met.

Castle Rock has 300 beds and windows looking out onto the Edinburgh Castle. Cowgate Hostel, another favorite, swings with its 120 beds set up apartment-style. Many tourists are new college graduates, or candidates writing their theses for their doctorates; then there are the elders; very few bring children. Each guest averages two nights before they move on to their next adventure. In such an atmosphere, close friendships are made quickly, knowing there are only hours before it is time to say goodbye.

Every day is different and more so in a hostel where one is exposed to 12 strangers upon waking up. A plan to cook breakfast turned into bop dancing in the kitchen with Misha, an art student who is preparing to take her master’s in Switzerland. The Swiss subsidize their universities so citizens have free education. Her boyfriend had just graduated from an art school in New York. Together they have been hitchhiking for three weeks around the northern part of Scotland, getting off wherever the scene takes their fancy and climbing mountains whenever they please. Staying in a hostel where they can have a proper shower and a bed serves as a refreshing change for backpackers like them.

One afternoon, three adventurous, fully made-up ladies walked into the kitchen and asked if they could switch my music from Chopin’s mellow piano symphony to their contagious rhythmic beat. What started as a session to prepare for dinner became a booty-bumping, swirling dance led by these beautiful girls from Fife, an area in Scotland; we jiggled our bodies for over two hours as we danced the butt dance to the bass sounds which came from my Samsung phone.

That’s hostel life. A lady whom I came to call Turkish Delight transferred from the room we were in and moved into another dorm where a man she had been eyeing was staying.  By morning, they were sharing the same bed.

Just beside them, three Brazilian students were discussing their plans. It turns out that they joined a one-year course to learn how to speak English. Brazilians are also fortunate because all they have to do is send a letter of acceptance from any learning institution and their government will pay the tuition fees.

It’s easy to start a conversation in hostels: “Where are you from? Where are you going? How long are you staying…?” And after taking the effort to translate into their language whatever greeting we give, the friendship begins. Somehow, guests end up helping one another: sharing food, lending shampoo and letting each other know how to move around and where to go. 

Bathroom use is the tricky part. Hovering over the loo (the British term for the toilet) — well, “hovering over the loo” is literally the act of floating above the toilet seat. One needs to use his or her wits to conquer the loo problem. In every hostel, there are some toilets and showers that work better than others. Learning the timing of when to use the bathrooms is also a useful skill. The cleaners wait until most of the guests finish using the showers before they start to clean. I wait for the cleaners to do the bathrooms before I shower.

Every day there is a story to tell and this one is particularly memorable. It was Saturday early morning, about 5 a.m.  Many partygoers were trickling into their beds, complete with makeup and tattered jeans, struggling to creep up silently on the wooden bunk beds. This time the handmade wooden beds were solid — no creaking platforms — when suddenly I heard a THUMP. Oh, no! The thought that one of these youngsters had fallen off her bed from a drunken state concerned me. “Are you all right?” I whispered into the dark cold room.

There were 16 beds in this room and no light shone. “Are you all right?” I again asked the girl whose moans aroused my hesitant concern. Then, in the dark, I heard a Scottish lad saying, “You are so tight.” (Note: “Tight” can mean two things here: the Brits use it to describe someone who’s drunk; or else, it can mean something else…) Anyway, he repeated this about 10 times — that is when I knew that the lady had survived and the loud thump was not someone falling off the bed. Soon enough, the male voice repeated over and over again: “I am sorry… I am sorry…”

Next morning, I saw a foil of king-size condoms near the bed. Unopened.

source: philstar.com

WATCH | 1,000 musicians perform ‘Learn to Fly’ to lure Foo Fighters

The Foo Fighters have two concert dates in Italy later this year — Casalecchio Di Reno on November 13 and  Turin the next day. They are now keen to include a stop at the northern city of Cesena now that a video of 1,000 Italian musicians simultaneously performing a cover of their hit “Learn to Fly” has gone viral.

The video is a crowd-funding event organized by Fabio Zaffagnini for the sole purpose of enticing the Foo Fighters to come and perform in Cesena, 322 kilometers north of Rome, near the Adriatic Sea. As of this posting, the video has already amassed over 2 million views since it was uploaded to YouTube Thursday.

Immediately, the Foo Fighters responded on Twitter with a message of appreciation: “Che bello, Cesena.” (How beautiful, Cesena.)

source: interaksyon.com

Pentagon sees climate change as national security risk

WASHINGTON DC -- The Pentagon had regarded climate change as a security risk for the United States and were integrating possible impacts of global warming into the planning cycles, according to a US military report.

In the report submitted to the Congress on Tuesday at the request of the Senate Appropriations Committee, the Pentagon said that US national security interests around the world was subject to risks given the possibility that foreign states which were already fragile would be vulnerable to disruption caused by climate change.

"It is in this context that the department must consider the effects of climate change -- such as sea level rise, shifting climate zones, and more frequent and intense severe weather events -- and how these effects could impact national security," said the report.

The report said that US combatant commands were in the process of integrating climate-related impacts into their planning cycles to reduce the national security implications of climate change, covering areas such as the Arctic, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and South America.

source: interaksyon.com

Actress Jane Birkin asks Hermes to remove her name from croc bag

PARIS | Actress and singer Jane Birkin has asked Hermes to remove her name from one of the luxury goods maker’s best-selling bags due to what she called “cruel” crocodile farming and slaughtering practices.

“I have asked Hermes to rename the Birkin Croco until they adopt better practices that meet international standards for the production of this bag,” Birkin said in a statement to the media on Tuesday.

Birkin said she had signed actor Joaquin Phoenix’s Mercy For Animals petition to “shed exotic skins from your wardrobe” in protest against the “millions of reptiles slaughtered each year and turned into shoes, handbags, belts and other accessories”.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, said it had released a video, narrated by Phoenix and which Birkin had seen, showing how live reptiles were skinned or sawed open on farms that supplied luxury brands.

Hermes said the crocodile skins it sourced from a Texas farm in the video were not used for Birkin bags and stressed that it did not own that farm.

The luxury brand also said that an investigation was being conducted into the farm’s practices and that “any breach of rules will be rectified and sanctioned.”

Hermes said it imposed on its suppliers the highest ethical standards regarding the treatment of crocodiles and for more than a decade, had conducted monthly checks on them to ensure that they were respected.

“Hermes respects and shares her (Jane Birkin’s) emotions and was also shocked by the images recently broadcast,” it said in a statement.

“Her comments do not in any way influence the friendship and confidence that we have shared for so many years.”

Birkin agreed to lend her name to the bag after sharing a flight with the charismatic late head of Hermes, Jean-Louis Dumas, in the 1980s.

The crocodile Birkin and the Kelly bag, named after actress Grace Kelly, are among the most sought-after luxury goods — even though the starting retail price is more than 20,000 euros ($22,096) – partly because shops routinely run out of them.

Customers can obtain one either by putting their name on a waiting list or by paying hefty fees to specialized buyers who scout for the bags on their behalf.

A fuchsia Hermes crocodile Birkin bag with a diamond-studded clasp and lock set a record as the most expensive handbag ever sold at a Christie’s auction in Hong Kong last month, fetching $222,000.

source: interaksyon.com

Mexico struggles to clean seaweed surge from Cancun beaches

MEXICO CITY  — Authorities on Mexico's Caribbean coast said Monday they are redoubling efforts to remove tons of sargassum seaweed that has been washing ashore in recent weeks.

The state government of Quintana Roo, where the resort of Cancun is located, said there have been no reports of tourists cancelling visits because of the problem.

Gov. Roberto Borge said the seaweed removal efforts will focus on much of the coast, from Holbox in the north down past Tulum to the south.

Photos issued by the Cancun city government show piles of brown seaweed on some normally pristine white beaches. By last week, the city said it had raked or shoveled up 500 cubic meters of sargassum.

Borge said the cause of the invasion is still unknown, though it could be due to high levels of nutrients in ocean water or changes in ocean temperatures, currents or wind patterns.

Authorities have to be careful, because there are two groups of visitors they don't want to disturb with overly aggressive removal efforts: nesting sea turtles that return to the Caribbean beaches to lay their eggs, and tourists.

Borge said the effort would take care not to cause erosion on the beaches, which has been a problem in Cancun in the past.

The government announced the formation of a task force of naval and environmental authorities to study the problem. Authorities are also researching ways to use or dispose of the seaweed mounds.

Sargassum is an algae that grows in the Sargasso Sea, a large body of warm water in the mid-Atlantic.

Officials in the Caribbean island of Barbados have also struggled with seaweed washing ashore, and large piles of sargassum washed up on the shore in Galveston, Texas, in 2014 after drifting into the Gulf of Mexico.

source: philstar.com

Boy Scouts of America to lift ban on gay troop leaders

WASHINGTON - The Boy Scouts of America was poised Monday to officially end its ban on gay scout leaders, a historic but controversial shift after years of legal wrangling and internal strife.

The proposed change was expected to be ratified on Monday by the organization's 80-member national executive board, after a smaller governing committee this month unanimously voted to lift the prohibition.

But while doing away with the blanket ban on gay adults in scouting, the BSA -- which already allows homosexual youths to join -- will apparently grant individual chapters license to continue to bar gay adults from being Scout leaders or employees.

The board said the planned policy change will let "scouting's members and parents to select local units, chartered to organizations with similar beliefs, that best meet the needs of their families."

"This change would also respect the right of religious chartered organizations to continue to choose adult leaders whose beliefs are consistent with their own," the BSA statement said.

The Boy Scouts, with some 2.5 million members and around a million adult volunteers, had been beset by internal fighting and legal wrangling, amid defiant moves by some scout councils to flout the national BSA ban and allow gay scoutmasters.

But about 70 percent of Boy Scout chapters are run by church groups, complicating efforts to reform the ban.

The Mormon Church -- also known as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints -- runs the greatest number of BSA chapters.

Earlier this month it issued a statement after the executive board vote asserting that it "has always had the right to select Scout leaders who adhere to moral and religious principles that are consistent with our doctrines and beliefs."

The organization said, however, that the move lifting the ban was inevitable, given US social and political changes of recent years.

Back in May, the BSA's national president Robert Gates warned at its annual meeting that the courts could force the organization to change its membership policies if it failed to do so of its own accord.

"We must all understand that this will probably happen sooner rather than later," said Gates, a former CIA director and defense secretary.

Gates was himself an avid scout as a youngster, having attained the coveted top rank of Eagle Scout.

Founded in 1910, the Boy Scouts describes itself as a "values-based youth development organization."

Through camping, hiking and skills building activities, the BSA "provides a program for young people that builds character, trains them in the responsibilities of participating citizenship, and develops personal fitness."

The BSA in January 2014 officially began accepting gay youths into their ranks, after a more than two-decade-long ban.

A few months earlier, in May 2013, the Boy Scouts' national council voted to no longer deny membership to youths on the basis of sexual orientation, but it retained its ban on gay and lesbian adult Scout leaders.

source: interaksyon.com

Pearson says in talks to sell its 50 percent stake in The Economist

LONDON - Britain's Pearson said on Saturday it was in talks to sell its 50 percent stake in The Economist Group, publisher of The Economist newspaper.

The move comes on the heels of Pearson's sale of the Financial Times newspaper to Japanese media group Nikkei, announced this week as its focuses on its education business.

"Pearson confirms it is in discussions with The Economist Group Board and trustees regarding the potential sale of our 50 percent share in the group," the company said in a statement on Saturday.

"There is no certainty that this process will lead to a transaction."

Pearson did not name the potential buyers.

People familiar with the matter said, however, that the group of families and staff and former staff that own the remaining 50 percent are talking to Pearson but need to raise cash to fund the deal.

The co-owners of the weekly publication, which had a paid circulation of 1.6 million at the end of 2014 and reported 67 million pounds in annual operating profit in June, have greater voting rights than Pearson, which holds only B shares.

Any change of ownership would need the consent of the holders of the A shares, which include the Cadbury, Rothschild, Schroder and Agnelli families, an analyst told Reuters on Friday.

It would also need to be approved by trustees who are tasked with preserving the independence of the ownership of the company and the editorial independence of the title.

The families were unlikely to back any plans by Pearson to sell to a third party, industry bankers said.

Bernstein analyst Claudio Aspesi estimated the stake could be worth 300 to 400 million pounds, based on a multiple of 15 times its net income of 46 million pounds.

It is unlikely that any offer would reflect the same rich multiple that Nikkei agreed to pay for the Financial Times.

The Japanese company had been in competition with Germany's Axel Springer to win control of the trophy asset.

Beside The Economist itself, the group operates several subsidiaries including The Economist Intelligence Unit, Economist Events and Economist Corporate Network.

A deal would likely take several weeks to be agreed, a source close to the situation said on Saturday.

source: interaksyon.com

Nuns oppose sale of convent to Katy Perry

LOS ANGELES | Katy Perry has amassed millions of fans around the world, but her failure to win over two elderly nuns is creating an unholy battle.

The pop singer wants to turn a former convent into her home. The sprawling hillside Italianate complex valued at $15 million is situated near the hip Los Angeles neighborhood of Silver Lake.

But two nuns are having none of it. In the latest legal salvo, the two sisters challenged the authority of the archdiocese to sell the property.

The motion dated Monday accused the archdiocese of unilaterally changing the bylaws of the convent, known as the California Institute of the Sisters of the Most Holy and Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The suit said that two of the five remaining sisters, who range in age from 77 to 88, were chosen to have “sole authority to amend the institute’s bylaws, elect officers and sell the assets of the institute.”

Perry has visited the nuns, reportedly singing for them and telling them that she hopes to live on the property with her mother and grandmother.

But the two nuns remain opposed to the sale to Perry, who grew up in a born-again Protestant Christian household but has become both a sex symbol and vocal advocate for gay rights.

Perry’s hits include sultry numbers such as “I Kissed a Girl” and “Teenage Dream.”

Sister Rita Callanan, 77, recently told the Los Angeles Times that she found Perry’s videos online and “if it’s all right to say, I wasn’t happy with any of it.”

Callanan and Sister Catherine Rose Holzman, 86, instead signed to sell the property to restaurateur Dana Hollister.

The archdiocese countered that Hollister offered only $44,000 upfront with no promise to make payments to the aging sisters for another three years.

The archdiocese said that the three other remaining sisters supported the sale to Perry. The five sisters no longer live in the former convent, which was once the home to more than 100 nuns.

“The archdiocese is committed to the care and well-being of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Sisters now and in the future,” it said in a statement.

“That is our obligation as directed by the Holy See, which will have the final approval over any sale of the property.”

source: interaksyon.com