Lanvin chief declares email-free Wednesday

birou notarial

Thierry Andretta, CEO of Parisian fashion house Lanvin, smiles during an interview with Reuters at the 2011 Financial Times Business of Luxury Summit in Lausanne, June 6, 2011. Picture taken June 6, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Valentin Flauraud

LAUSANNE | Tue Jun 7, 2011 10:41am EDT

LAUSANNE (Reuters Life!) - Thierry Andretta, chief executive of France's oldest fashion brand Lanvin, has found a radical remedy against the avalanche of emails he gets every day: he has declared Wednesday an email free day.

That way, he says, he gives himself one day a week during which can concentrate without being interrupted and get things done.

"Generally, I think we have become too accessible. We all lose too much time reading and writing emails and they prevent you from thinking clearly," Andretta told Reuters on the fringes of the FT Luxury Summit in Lausanne, Switzerland which brought together hundreds of fashion, luxury executives, consultants and financiers.

"Also, when you read emails when you are traveling you are not there, you are elsewhere which is a shame. It prevents you from really tuning into your surroundings and sinking in the atmosphere which is something I want to do more."

Andretta, a seasoned fashion executive, said he was trying to get other people at Lanvin to follow his move but there was not much enthusiasm internally.

"I think they are not really interested but it might be also because they get fewer emails than me," Andretta said. He said decided to implement the move earlier this year after getting increasingly depressed and frustrated by the sheer volume of emails he was expected to handle daily.

"For example, before taking the plane to New York from Paris, I would read and answer most of my emails and by the time I got off the plane, there were another 250 waiting for me. It is just too much."

Andretta turned round fashion house Celine at LVMH in the late 1990s and spent several years at Gucci Group (PRTP .PA) before joining Lanvin in January 2009.

Founded in 1889, Lanvin is one of France's fastest-growing fashion brands. It is known for its audaciously-cut silk evening dresses adorned with chunky jewels designed by bow-tied chief designer Alber Elbaz who this year will celebrate his 10th year at the brand.

UNREALISTIC

Most business today is done via emails and many companies require that information is systematically shared with colleagues for legal, practical or career-building purposes. Andretta's idea might not be on its way to being adopted at Lanvin but it was well received by other fashion executives at the luxury summit in Lausanne.

"Personally, I think people share too many little details using emails. But often it is company policy," Vladimir Martynenko, vice-president for business development in Eastern Europe, Turkey and the Middle East at Polo Ralph Lauren.

"I have found out that there are many emails you don't need to answer and within a few days, the matter gets handled without you," he added.

But other luxury executives, such as Jean-Claude Biver, chief executive of luxury watch brand Hublot, thought Andretta's idea was nice but unrealistic and impractical.

"The one who can allow himself not to read or answer emails during an entire day in a working week indulges in real luxury," Biver told Reuters in an interview at the summit.

"For me it is not realistic, communication is the very foundation of our existence, you cannot leave your clients, partners, journalists for 24 hours without a reply." Hublot, which belongs to the world's biggest luxury group LVMH, is one of the most active Swiss watch brand in the sponsoring of sports events.

(Reporting by Astrid Wendlandt)

Birou Notarial Bucuresti

Baloane

Thierry Andretta, CEO of Parisian fashion house Lanvin, smiles during an interview with Reuters at the 2011 Financial Times Business of Luxury Summit in Lausanne, June 6, 2011. Picture taken June 6, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Valentin Flauraud

LAUSANNE | Tue Jun 7, 2011 10:41am EDT

LAUSANNE (Reuters Life!) - Thierry Andretta, chief executive of France's oldest fashion brand Lanvin, has found a radical remedy against the avalanche of emails he gets every day: he has declared Wednesday an email free day.

That way, he says, he gives himself one day a week during which can concentrate without being interrupted and get things done.

"Generally, I think we have become too accessible. We all lose too much time reading and writing emails and they prevent you from thinking clearly," Andretta told Reuters on the fringes of the FT Luxury Summit in Lausanne, Switzerland which brought together hundreds of fashion, luxury executives, consultants and financiers.

"Also, when you read emails when you are traveling you are not there, you are elsewhere which is a shame. It prevents you from really tuning into your surroundings and sinking in the atmosphere which is something I want to do more."

Andretta, a seasoned fashion executive, said he was trying to get other people at Lanvin to follow his move but there was not much enthusiasm internally.

"I think they are not really interested but it might be also because they get fewer emails than me," Andretta said. He said decided to implement the move earlier this year after getting increasingly depressed and frustrated by the sheer volume of emails he was expected to handle daily.

"For example, before taking the plane to New York from Paris, I would read and answer most of my emails and by the time I got off the plane, there were another 250 waiting for me. It is just too much."

Andretta turned round fashion house Celine at LVMH in the late 1990s and spent several years at Gucci Group (PRTP .PA) before joining Lanvin in January 2009.

Founded in 1889, Lanvin is one of France's fastest-growing fashion brands. It is known for its audaciously-cut silk evening dresses adorned with chunky jewels designed by bow-tied chief designer Alber Elbaz who this year will celebrate his 10th year at the brand.

UNREALISTIC

Most business today is done via emails and many companies require that information is systematically shared with colleagues for legal, practical or career-building purposes. Andretta's idea might not be on its way to being adopted at Lanvin but it was well received by other fashion executives at the luxury summit in Lausanne.

"Personally, I think people share too many little details using emails. But often it is company policy," Vladimir Martynenko, vice-president for business development in Eastern Europe, Turkey and the Middle East at Polo Ralph Lauren.

"I have found out that there are many emails you don't need to answer and within a few days, the matter gets handled without you," he added.

But other luxury executives, such as Jean-Claude Biver, chief executive of luxury watch brand Hublot, thought Andretta's idea was nice but unrealistic and impractical.

"The one who can allow himself not to read or answer emails during an entire day in a working week indulges in real luxury," Biver told Reuters in an interview at the summit.

"For me it is not realistic, communication is the very foundation of our existence, you cannot leave your clients, partners, journalists for 24 hours without a reply." Hublot, which belongs to the world's biggest luxury group LVMH, is one of the most active Swiss watch brand in the sponsoring of sports events.

(Reporting by Astrid Wendlandt)

Baloane

Cost aparat dentar

Thierry Andretta, CEO of Parisian fashion house Lanvin, smiles during an interview with Reuters at the 2011 Financial Times Business of Luxury Summit in Lausanne, June 6, 2011. Picture taken June 6, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Valentin Flauraud

LAUSANNE | Tue Jun 7, 2011 10:41am EDT

LAUSANNE (Reuters Life!) - Thierry Andretta, chief executive of France's oldest fashion brand Lanvin, has found a radical remedy against the avalanche of emails he gets every day: he has declared Wednesday an email free day.

That way, he says, he gives himself one day a week during which can concentrate without being interrupted and get things done.

"Generally, I think we have become too accessible. We all lose too much time reading and writing emails and they prevent you from thinking clearly," Andretta told Reuters on the fringes of the FT Luxury Summit in Lausanne, Switzerland which brought together hundreds of fashion, luxury executives, consultants and financiers.

"Also, when you read emails when you are traveling you are not there, you are elsewhere which is a shame. It prevents you from really tuning into your surroundings and sinking in the atmosphere which is something I want to do more."

Andretta, a seasoned fashion executive, said he was trying to get other people at Lanvin to follow his move but there was not much enthusiasm internally.

"I think they are not really interested but it might be also because they get fewer emails than me," Andretta said. He said decided to implement the move earlier this year after getting increasingly depressed and frustrated by the sheer volume of emails he was expected to handle daily.

"For example, before taking the plane to New York from Paris, I would read and answer most of my emails and by the time I got off the plane, there were another 250 waiting for me. It is just too much."

Andretta turned round fashion house Celine at LVMH in the late 1990s and spent several years at Gucci Group (PRTP .PA) before joining Lanvin in January 2009.

Founded in 1889, Lanvin is one of France's fastest-growing fashion brands. It is known for its audaciously-cut silk evening dresses adorned with chunky jewels designed by bow-tied chief designer Alber Elbaz who this year will celebrate his 10th year at the brand.

UNREALISTIC

Most business today is done via emails and many companies require that information is systematically shared with colleagues for legal, practical or career-building purposes. Andretta's idea might not be on its way to being adopted at Lanvin but it was well received by other fashion executives at the luxury summit in Lausanne.

"Personally, I think people share too many little details using emails. But often it is company policy," Vladimir Martynenko, vice-president for business development in Eastern Europe, Turkey and the Middle East at Polo Ralph Lauren.

"I have found out that there are many emails you don't need to answer and within a few days, the matter gets handled without you," he added.

But other luxury executives, such as Jean-Claude Biver, chief executive of luxury watch brand Hublot, thought Andretta's idea was nice but unrealistic and impractical.

"The one who can allow himself not to read or answer emails during an entire day in a working week indulges in real luxury," Biver told Reuters in an interview at the summit.

"For me it is not realistic, communication is the very foundation of our existence, you cannot leave your clients, partners, journalists for 24 hours without a reply." Hublot, which belongs to the world's biggest luxury group LVMH, is one of the most active Swiss watch brand in the sponsoring of sports events.

(Reporting by Astrid Wendlandt)

Cost aparat dentar

DASH diet best overall in new rankings

birou notarial

NEW YORK | Tue Jun 7, 2011 4:35pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - Trying to shed excess weight, lower high blood pressure or combat diabetes? The best personal diet depends on the goals trying to be achieved, according to a new ranking.

For dropping those extra pounds Weight Watchers ranked No. 1 in the ratings by U.S. News & World Report, followed closely by Jenny Craig and the Raw Food Diet, while the DASH diet was deemed best overall diet, with the Mediterranean Diet coming in second.

"Our analysis put hard numbers on the common-sense belief that no diet is ideal for everybody," the magazine said on its website.

"The DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet beat out 19 others, among them Atkins, Jenny Craig and Slim-Fast, to win the 'Best Diets Overall,'" it added.

Researchers looked and compiled profiles on 20 diets, which were reviewed by a panel of 22 experts in diet and nutrition, diabetes and heart disease.

The rankings were based on scores in seven categories -- short-term weight loss, long-term weight loss, easiness to follow, nutritional completeness, ability to prevent or manage diabetes and to manage heart disease.

Each diet was also judged in five categories including best overall diet, best commercial diet plan, best weight-loss, best diabetes diet and best heart-healthy diet.

DASH also came out first for the best diabetes diet, followed by the Mayo Clinic diet, while the Ornish Diet captured the top spot for heart-healthy diets with TLC (Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes) diet coming in second.

"Exercise gets serious attention in some diets and lip service in others, but the primary focus of a diet, after all, is food. Whether to exercise, how, and how much is a lifestyle decision beyond the scope of a mere diet," the magazine added.

About 34 percent of U.S. adults aged 20 and over are overweight and an equal number are obese, according to 2007-2008 figures from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention.

Birou Notarial Bucuresti

Baloane

NEW YORK | Tue Jun 7, 2011 4:35pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - Trying to shed excess weight, lower high blood pressure or combat diabetes? The best personal diet depends on the goals trying to be achieved, according to a new ranking.

For dropping those extra pounds Weight Watchers ranked No. 1 in the ratings by U.S. News & World Report, followed closely by Jenny Craig and the Raw Food Diet, while the DASH diet was deemed best overall diet, with the Mediterranean Diet coming in second.

"Our analysis put hard numbers on the common-sense belief that no diet is ideal for everybody," the magazine said on its website.

"The DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet beat out 19 others, among them Atkins, Jenny Craig and Slim-Fast, to win the 'Best Diets Overall,'" it added.

Researchers looked and compiled profiles on 20 diets, which were reviewed by a panel of 22 experts in diet and nutrition, diabetes and heart disease.

The rankings were based on scores in seven categories -- short-term weight loss, long-term weight loss, easiness to follow, nutritional completeness, ability to prevent or manage diabetes and to manage heart disease.

Each diet was also judged in five categories including best overall diet, best commercial diet plan, best weight-loss, best diabetes diet and best heart-healthy diet.

DASH also came out first for the best diabetes diet, followed by the Mayo Clinic diet, while the Ornish Diet captured the top spot for heart-healthy diets with TLC (Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes) diet coming in second.

"Exercise gets serious attention in some diets and lip service in others, but the primary focus of a diet, after all, is food. Whether to exercise, how, and how much is a lifestyle decision beyond the scope of a mere diet," the magazine added.

About 34 percent of U.S. adults aged 20 and over are overweight and an equal number are obese, according to 2007-2008 figures from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention.

Baloane

Cost aparat dentar

NEW YORK | Tue Jun 7, 2011 4:35pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - Trying to shed excess weight, lower high blood pressure or combat diabetes? The best personal diet depends on the goals trying to be achieved, according to a new ranking.

For dropping those extra pounds Weight Watchers ranked No. 1 in the ratings by U.S. News & World Report, followed closely by Jenny Craig and the Raw Food Diet, while the DASH diet was deemed best overall diet, with the Mediterranean Diet coming in second.

"Our analysis put hard numbers on the common-sense belief that no diet is ideal for everybody," the magazine said on its website.

"The DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet beat out 19 others, among them Atkins, Jenny Craig and Slim-Fast, to win the 'Best Diets Overall,'" it added.

Researchers looked and compiled profiles on 20 diets, which were reviewed by a panel of 22 experts in diet and nutrition, diabetes and heart disease.

The rankings were based on scores in seven categories -- short-term weight loss, long-term weight loss, easiness to follow, nutritional completeness, ability to prevent or manage diabetes and to manage heart disease.

Each diet was also judged in five categories including best overall diet, best commercial diet plan, best weight-loss, best diabetes diet and best heart-healthy diet.

DASH also came out first for the best diabetes diet, followed by the Mayo Clinic diet, while the Ornish Diet captured the top spot for heart-healthy diets with TLC (Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes) diet coming in second.

"Exercise gets serious attention in some diets and lip service in others, but the primary focus of a diet, after all, is food. Whether to exercise, how, and how much is a lifestyle decision beyond the scope of a mere diet," the magazine added.

About 34 percent of U.S. adults aged 20 and over are overweight and an equal number are obese, according to 2007-2008 figures from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention.

Cost aparat dentar

The Spirited Traveler: Toasting in Tokyo

birou notarial

Bottles of malt whiskey are displayed at a whiskey merchandising event in Tokyo February 10, 2008.

Credit: Reuters/Issei Kato

By Kara Newman

NEW YORK | Tue Jun 7, 2011 8:52am EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - - "Kampai!" is the Japanese equivalent of "Cheers!" If you're traveling through Tokyo, with its vibrant array of sake, shochu, whisky and cocktail bars, this is one word you'll get to know well.

I've been enjoying a new book about this very topic, "Drinking Japan" by Chris Bunting, a Tokyo-based newspaper journalist; a portion of the book's proceeds are donated to Japan Earthquake Relief.

"Post-war Japanese business culture was at least partly built on hard drinking," Bunting says. "The cultural norm was for salarymen to spend endless long evenings out on the town with colleagues and clients."

Although that norm has relaxed somewhat, Japan still enjoys a "complex and deeply rooted drinking culture." However, in order to enjoy Tokyo's watering holes, first you need to find them.

"The best bars are not always the ones that you can see into from the street," Bunting warns.

Further, travelers should know that most bars in Japan have an entrance fee, often levied by giving a small dish of food that has not been ordered by the customer but is put on the bill.

While far from a comprehensive list, here are a few of Bunting's Tokyo picks:

For sake: Akaoni 9 (Sangenjaya 2-15-3) is perhaps the best-known premium sake pub in Tokyo, offering more than 100 varieties of the rice-based spirit. Meanwhile, Shusaron (2F, Takanawa 4-10-18) is "quite simply the best place in the world to drink aged sake," in large part due to the encyclopedic knowledge of landlord Nobuhiro Ueno.

For shochu: The Zen (2-18-1 Konan, Minato-ku) offers a relaxed atmosphere for drinking shochu (an eau-de-vie-like spirit distilled from sweet potatoes, rice or grains). Drinks are grouped by ingredient and color-coded: yellow dots signify drinks best served over ice, blue dots recommend serving with ice water, red for warm water and green for straight up).

For whisky: Japan is famed for its enthusiasm for Scotch and other whiskies. Japanese single malts are also finding international acclaim, with Yamazaki and Hibiki among the best-known brands. Ken's Bar (Maruha Bldg. B1, 1-1-7 Kabukicho, Shinjuku) draws in homesick American business travelers, such as workers from Microsoft Japan's office in Shinjuku, with good jazz and a great selection of Bourbon and other American whiskys.

For cocktails: Don't expect to drink and dash: In Japan, and Tokyo in particular, the art of bartending involves much ritual, from wiping the label of a bottle to hand-carving a perfect sphere out of ice. Tender Bar (Nogakudo Building, 6-5-15 Ginza, Chuo-ku) is the pinnacle of this tea ceremony cocktail aesthetic, under the watchful eye of the legendary Kazuo Uyeda.

(Kara Newman is the author of "Spice & Ice: 60 tongue-tingling cocktails," available. The opinions expressed are her own.)

(Editing by Peter Myers)

Birou Notarial Bucuresti

Baloane

Bottles of malt whiskey are displayed at a whiskey merchandising event in Tokyo February 10, 2008.

Credit: Reuters/Issei Kato

By Kara Newman

NEW YORK | Tue Jun 7, 2011 8:52am EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - - "Kampai!" is the Japanese equivalent of "Cheers!" If you're traveling through Tokyo, with its vibrant array of sake, shochu, whisky and cocktail bars, this is one word you'll get to know well.

I've been enjoying a new book about this very topic, "Drinking Japan" by Chris Bunting, a Tokyo-based newspaper journalist; a portion of the book's proceeds are donated to Japan Earthquake Relief.

"Post-war Japanese business culture was at least partly built on hard drinking," Bunting says. "The cultural norm was for salarymen to spend endless long evenings out on the town with colleagues and clients."

Although that norm has relaxed somewhat, Japan still enjoys a "complex and deeply rooted drinking culture." However, in order to enjoy Tokyo's watering holes, first you need to find them.

"The best bars are not always the ones that you can see into from the street," Bunting warns.

Further, travelers should know that most bars in Japan have an entrance fee, often levied by giving a small dish of food that has not been ordered by the customer but is put on the bill.

While far from a comprehensive list, here are a few of Bunting's Tokyo picks:

For sake: Akaoni 9 (Sangenjaya 2-15-3) is perhaps the best-known premium sake pub in Tokyo, offering more than 100 varieties of the rice-based spirit. Meanwhile, Shusaron (2F, Takanawa 4-10-18) is "quite simply the best place in the world to drink aged sake," in large part due to the encyclopedic knowledge of landlord Nobuhiro Ueno.

For shochu: The Zen (2-18-1 Konan, Minato-ku) offers a relaxed atmosphere for drinking shochu (an eau-de-vie-like spirit distilled from sweet potatoes, rice or grains). Drinks are grouped by ingredient and color-coded: yellow dots signify drinks best served over ice, blue dots recommend serving with ice water, red for warm water and green for straight up).

For whisky: Japan is famed for its enthusiasm for Scotch and other whiskies. Japanese single malts are also finding international acclaim, with Yamazaki and Hibiki among the best-known brands. Ken's Bar (Maruha Bldg. B1, 1-1-7 Kabukicho, Shinjuku) draws in homesick American business travelers, such as workers from Microsoft Japan's office in Shinjuku, with good jazz and a great selection of Bourbon and other American whiskys.

For cocktails: Don't expect to drink and dash: In Japan, and Tokyo in particular, the art of bartending involves much ritual, from wiping the label of a bottle to hand-carving a perfect sphere out of ice. Tender Bar (Nogakudo Building, 6-5-15 Ginza, Chuo-ku) is the pinnacle of this tea ceremony cocktail aesthetic, under the watchful eye of the legendary Kazuo Uyeda.

(Kara Newman is the author of "Spice & Ice: 60 tongue-tingling cocktails," available. The opinions expressed are her own.)

(Editing by Peter Myers)

Baloane

Cost aparat dentar

Bottles of malt whiskey are displayed at a whiskey merchandising event in Tokyo February 10, 2008.

Credit: Reuters/Issei Kato

By Kara Newman

NEW YORK | Tue Jun 7, 2011 8:52am EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - - "Kampai!" is the Japanese equivalent of "Cheers!" If you're traveling through Tokyo, with its vibrant array of sake, shochu, whisky and cocktail bars, this is one word you'll get to know well.

I've been enjoying a new book about this very topic, "Drinking Japan" by Chris Bunting, a Tokyo-based newspaper journalist; a portion of the book's proceeds are donated to Japan Earthquake Relief.

"Post-war Japanese business culture was at least partly built on hard drinking," Bunting says. "The cultural norm was for salarymen to spend endless long evenings out on the town with colleagues and clients."

Although that norm has relaxed somewhat, Japan still enjoys a "complex and deeply rooted drinking culture." However, in order to enjoy Tokyo's watering holes, first you need to find them.

"The best bars are not always the ones that you can see into from the street," Bunting warns.

Further, travelers should know that most bars in Japan have an entrance fee, often levied by giving a small dish of food that has not been ordered by the customer but is put on the bill.

While far from a comprehensive list, here are a few of Bunting's Tokyo picks:

For sake: Akaoni 9 (Sangenjaya 2-15-3) is perhaps the best-known premium sake pub in Tokyo, offering more than 100 varieties of the rice-based spirit. Meanwhile, Shusaron (2F, Takanawa 4-10-18) is "quite simply the best place in the world to drink aged sake," in large part due to the encyclopedic knowledge of landlord Nobuhiro Ueno.

For shochu: The Zen (2-18-1 Konan, Minato-ku) offers a relaxed atmosphere for drinking shochu (an eau-de-vie-like spirit distilled from sweet potatoes, rice or grains). Drinks are grouped by ingredient and color-coded: yellow dots signify drinks best served over ice, blue dots recommend serving with ice water, red for warm water and green for straight up).

For whisky: Japan is famed for its enthusiasm for Scotch and other whiskies. Japanese single malts are also finding international acclaim, with Yamazaki and Hibiki among the best-known brands. Ken's Bar (Maruha Bldg. B1, 1-1-7 Kabukicho, Shinjuku) draws in homesick American business travelers, such as workers from Microsoft Japan's office in Shinjuku, with good jazz and a great selection of Bourbon and other American whiskys.

For cocktails: Don't expect to drink and dash: In Japan, and Tokyo in particular, the art of bartending involves much ritual, from wiping the label of a bottle to hand-carving a perfect sphere out of ice. Tender Bar (Nogakudo Building, 6-5-15 Ginza, Chuo-ku) is the pinnacle of this tea ceremony cocktail aesthetic, under the watchful eye of the legendary Kazuo Uyeda.

(Kara Newman is the author of "Spice & Ice: 60 tongue-tingling cocktails," available. The opinions expressed are her own.)

(Editing by Peter Myers)

Cost aparat dentar

Thames flotilla will mark UK Queen's jubilee

birou notarial

Britain's Queen Elizabeth smiles as she walks around the English Market in Cork May 20, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Cathal McNaughton

LONDON | Thu Jun 2, 2011 7:25am EDT

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Queen Elizabeth's 60 years on the British throne will be celebrated next year with four days of events including a flotilla on the River Thames and a concert at Buckingham Palace, royal officials said on Thursday.

The 85-year-old, who last month became the second-longest reigning British monarch in more than 1,000 years, acceded to the throne on the death of her father George VI on February 6, 1952.

She will overtake Queen Victoria, who ruled for much of the 19th century, to become the longest reigning monarch in September 2015.

Festivities to mark the diamond jubilee will begin on Saturday, June 2 when the monarch will attend the Epsom Derby horse race.

The following day will see the "Big Jubilee Lunch" when people will be encouraged to get together with their neighbors and friends to share a meal, possibly at street parties or picnics.

On the same day, up to 1,000 boats will also assemble on the Thames in London for the biggest flotilla seen in modern times with the queen at the head in the royal barge.

Events will continue on Monday and Tuesday which have both been designated as public holidays.

A BBC concert will be staged at Buckingham Palace on June 4, with tickets available through a public ballot, and a network of 2,012 beacons will later be lit across the United Kingdom.

On June 5, there will be a service of thanksgiving at St Paul's Cathedral with a carriage procession headed by the queen.

Buckingham Palace said they expected other events to take place across Britain and the Commonwealth over the weekend.

(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Steve Addison)

Birou Notarial Bucuresti

Baloane

Britain's Queen Elizabeth smiles as she walks around the English Market in Cork May 20, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Cathal McNaughton

LONDON | Thu Jun 2, 2011 7:25am EDT

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Queen Elizabeth's 60 years on the British throne will be celebrated next year with four days of events including a flotilla on the River Thames and a concert at Buckingham Palace, royal officials said on Thursday.

The 85-year-old, who last month became the second-longest reigning British monarch in more than 1,000 years, acceded to the throne on the death of her father George VI on February 6, 1952.

She will overtake Queen Victoria, who ruled for much of the 19th century, to become the longest reigning monarch in September 2015.

Festivities to mark the diamond jubilee will begin on Saturday, June 2 when the monarch will attend the Epsom Derby horse race.

The following day will see the "Big Jubilee Lunch" when people will be encouraged to get together with their neighbors and friends to share a meal, possibly at street parties or picnics.

On the same day, up to 1,000 boats will also assemble on the Thames in London for the biggest flotilla seen in modern times with the queen at the head in the royal barge.

Events will continue on Monday and Tuesday which have both been designated as public holidays.

A BBC concert will be staged at Buckingham Palace on June 4, with tickets available through a public ballot, and a network of 2,012 beacons will later be lit across the United Kingdom.

On June 5, there will be a service of thanksgiving at St Paul's Cathedral with a carriage procession headed by the queen.

Buckingham Palace said they expected other events to take place across Britain and the Commonwealth over the weekend.

(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Steve Addison)

Baloane

Cost aparat dentar

Britain's Queen Elizabeth smiles as she walks around the English Market in Cork May 20, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Cathal McNaughton

LONDON | Thu Jun 2, 2011 7:25am EDT

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Queen Elizabeth's 60 years on the British throne will be celebrated next year with four days of events including a flotilla on the River Thames and a concert at Buckingham Palace, royal officials said on Thursday.

The 85-year-old, who last month became the second-longest reigning British monarch in more than 1,000 years, acceded to the throne on the death of her father George VI on February 6, 1952.

She will overtake Queen Victoria, who ruled for much of the 19th century, to become the longest reigning monarch in September 2015.

Festivities to mark the diamond jubilee will begin on Saturday, June 2 when the monarch will attend the Epsom Derby horse race.

The following day will see the "Big Jubilee Lunch" when people will be encouraged to get together with their neighbors and friends to share a meal, possibly at street parties or picnics.

On the same day, up to 1,000 boats will also assemble on the Thames in London for the biggest flotilla seen in modern times with the queen at the head in the royal barge.

Events will continue on Monday and Tuesday which have both been designated as public holidays.

A BBC concert will be staged at Buckingham Palace on June 4, with tickets available through a public ballot, and a network of 2,012 beacons will later be lit across the United Kingdom.

On June 5, there will be a service of thanksgiving at St Paul's Cathedral with a carriage procession headed by the queen.

Buckingham Palace said they expected other events to take place across Britain and the Commonwealth over the weekend.

(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Steve Addison)

Cost aparat dentar

Abracadabra! Taiwan magician survives burial stunt

birou notarial

By Christine Lu

TAIPEI | Fri Jun 3, 2011 2:23am EDT

TAIPEI (Reuters Life!) - A Taiwan magician who had himself buried alive under tonnes of dirt, leaving only his hand free, successfully reached his goal of enduring for 100 hours despite an apparent panic attack only three hours after beginning.

The young man, known only by his stage name of "Igo," entered a phone booth on Sunday night and was covered with 3.6 tonnes of dirt.

His life was sustained by a breathing tube, which members of his performance troupe also used to give him water every two hours, and sensors were attached to his body to monitor physical responses such as body temperature and heart rate. An alarm was set to sound if any of these indicated danger.

One hand stuck out from the tank, which was set outdoors, allowing Igo to write on a drawing pad to communicate with the outside world and to shake the hand of well-wishers.

"This hand can interact with people and also provides us with important messages," said Chang Chia-lun, the art director of Igo's Mirror Theater Troupe, during the four day ordeal.

"IF he gestures with the pinky, then the plan will be immediately terminated to release him. But he has not given us the sign so far."

A hammer was at hand to break the acrylic walls of the phone booth if needed.

Chang said things had reached a critical point just three hours after the ordeal began, when Igo's heart rate surged to 220 beats an hour. But within thirty minutes, he calmed down.

More than 10,000 visitors shook Igo's hand, which protruded from a hole in the booth, and took photographs standing beside it. Others sent gifts and flowers.

"Hot. Holding on until completion of the challenge," Igo wrote at one point. Temperatures rose as high as 28 C.

Not everybody was impressed, though.

"I don't think this is a good presentation, and I don't even think this is magic. It is just a human body challenge," said Erica Chen, a 30-year-old designer.

Five hours before it ended, the sensors detached due to heavy rain, forcing his friends to monitor his condition by watching his hand.

As the clock ticked down to the final second on Thursday evening, men began to dig down from the top of the booth.

A grimy Igo, supported by assistants, finally staggered from the booth, thanked the crowd in a weak voice, and went off to hospital in a pre-arranged ambulance.

The stunt, Chang said, was not just a physical challenge but also a reminder to love the earth while reflecting on recent disasters around the world.

(Reporting by Elaine Lies)

Birou Notarial Bucuresti

Baloane

By Christine Lu

TAIPEI | Fri Jun 3, 2011 2:23am EDT

TAIPEI (Reuters Life!) - A Taiwan magician who had himself buried alive under tonnes of dirt, leaving only his hand free, successfully reached his goal of enduring for 100 hours despite an apparent panic attack only three hours after beginning.

The young man, known only by his stage name of "Igo," entered a phone booth on Sunday night and was covered with 3.6 tonnes of dirt.

His life was sustained by a breathing tube, which members of his performance troupe also used to give him water every two hours, and sensors were attached to his body to monitor physical responses such as body temperature and heart rate. An alarm was set to sound if any of these indicated danger.

One hand stuck out from the tank, which was set outdoors, allowing Igo to write on a drawing pad to communicate with the outside world and to shake the hand of well-wishers.

"This hand can interact with people and also provides us with important messages," said Chang Chia-lun, the art director of Igo's Mirror Theater Troupe, during the four day ordeal.

"IF he gestures with the pinky, then the plan will be immediately terminated to release him. But he has not given us the sign so far."

A hammer was at hand to break the acrylic walls of the phone booth if needed.

Chang said things had reached a critical point just three hours after the ordeal began, when Igo's heart rate surged to 220 beats an hour. But within thirty minutes, he calmed down.

More than 10,000 visitors shook Igo's hand, which protruded from a hole in the booth, and took photographs standing beside it. Others sent gifts and flowers.

"Hot. Holding on until completion of the challenge," Igo wrote at one point. Temperatures rose as high as 28 C.

Not everybody was impressed, though.

"I don't think this is a good presentation, and I don't even think this is magic. It is just a human body challenge," said Erica Chen, a 30-year-old designer.

Five hours before it ended, the sensors detached due to heavy rain, forcing his friends to monitor his condition by watching his hand.

As the clock ticked down to the final second on Thursday evening, men began to dig down from the top of the booth.

A grimy Igo, supported by assistants, finally staggered from the booth, thanked the crowd in a weak voice, and went off to hospital in a pre-arranged ambulance.

The stunt, Chang said, was not just a physical challenge but also a reminder to love the earth while reflecting on recent disasters around the world.

(Reporting by Elaine Lies)

Baloane

Cost aparat dentar

By Christine Lu

TAIPEI | Fri Jun 3, 2011 2:23am EDT

TAIPEI (Reuters Life!) - A Taiwan magician who had himself buried alive under tonnes of dirt, leaving only his hand free, successfully reached his goal of enduring for 100 hours despite an apparent panic attack only three hours after beginning.

The young man, known only by his stage name of "Igo," entered a phone booth on Sunday night and was covered with 3.6 tonnes of dirt.

His life was sustained by a breathing tube, which members of his performance troupe also used to give him water every two hours, and sensors were attached to his body to monitor physical responses such as body temperature and heart rate. An alarm was set to sound if any of these indicated danger.

One hand stuck out from the tank, which was set outdoors, allowing Igo to write on a drawing pad to communicate with the outside world and to shake the hand of well-wishers.

"This hand can interact with people and also provides us with important messages," said Chang Chia-lun, the art director of Igo's Mirror Theater Troupe, during the four day ordeal.

"IF he gestures with the pinky, then the plan will be immediately terminated to release him. But he has not given us the sign so far."

A hammer was at hand to break the acrylic walls of the phone booth if needed.

Chang said things had reached a critical point just three hours after the ordeal began, when Igo's heart rate surged to 220 beats an hour. But within thirty minutes, he calmed down.

More than 10,000 visitors shook Igo's hand, which protruded from a hole in the booth, and took photographs standing beside it. Others sent gifts and flowers.

"Hot. Holding on until completion of the challenge," Igo wrote at one point. Temperatures rose as high as 28 C.

Not everybody was impressed, though.

"I don't think this is a good presentation, and I don't even think this is magic. It is just a human body challenge," said Erica Chen, a 30-year-old designer.

Five hours before it ended, the sensors detached due to heavy rain, forcing his friends to monitor his condition by watching his hand.

As the clock ticked down to the final second on Thursday evening, men began to dig down from the top of the booth.

A grimy Igo, supported by assistants, finally staggered from the booth, thanked the crowd in a weak voice, and went off to hospital in a pre-arranged ambulance.

The stunt, Chang said, was not just a physical challenge but also a reminder to love the earth while reflecting on recent disasters around the world.

(Reporting by Elaine Lies)

Cost aparat dentar

30 years on, AIDS fight may tilt more to treatment

birou notarial

People light candles for AIDS victims during an AIDS awareness event marking the World AIDS Day at Sergels Torg square in Stockholm December 1, 2010.

Credit: Reuters/Janerik Henriksson/Scanpix

By Julie Steenhuysen and Barbara Lewis

CHICAGO/GENEVA | Fri Jun 3, 2011 3:39am EDT

CHICAGO/GENEVA (Reuters) - After 30 years of AIDS prevention efforts, global leaders may now need to shift their focus to spending more on drugs used to treat the disease as new data show this is also the best way to prevent the virus from spreading.

The U.N. General Assembly will take up the issue next week as it assesses progress in fighting the disease -- first reported on June 5, 1981 -- that has infected more than 60 million people and claimed nearly 30 million lives.

Guiding the meeting is groundbreaking new data that shows early treatment of the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, can cut its transmission to a sexual partner by 96 percent.

"There had been for a long time this artificial dichotomy or artificial tension between treatment versus prevention. Now it is very clear that treatment is prevention and treatment is an important part of a multifaceted combination strategy," Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), told Reuters.

Fauci, who has made AIDS research his life's work, has a big role to play in the discussion of the NIH-funded study made public on May 12.

"A month ago, we didn't have that data. People were still arguing. 'Well, we are not so sure if you treat people you are really going to prevent infection,'" Fauci said. "The policy makers need to sit down and say, 'Now that we know this, is this going to be enough incentive to change around our policy?'"

That could mean redirecting, or adding to, global spending on fighting AIDS, particularly how much is spent on education or other research versus antiretroviral drugs that allow patients to live with the suppressed disease for many years.

In 2010, nearly $16 billion was spent on HIV response in low and middle-income countries, according to the U.N. Program on HIV/AIDS.

UNAIDS says at least $22 billion will be needed to combat the disease by 2015, helping avert 12 million new infections and 7.4 million more deaths in the next decade.

Globally, the number of people living with HIV rose to 34 million by the end of 2010, from 33.3 million a year earlier. But in poorer countries, a majority of eligible patients were not receiving antiretroviral treatment, according to UNAIDS.

Fauci says he has already discussed this with policymakers and may make public his views on needed policy changes at the International AIDS Society meeting in Rome.

"I don't think it's going to be one-size-fits all," Fauci said of the policy approach. "There is going to be certainly a difference between how things are looked at in the developing world and the developed world. And within the developed world, I think it will be a country-by-country issue."

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe noted that AIDS remained "a metaphor for inequality" as the vast majority of patients live in Africa, where every year nearly 400,000 babies are born with HIV.

"If you're privileged to be born in the North, you will not die from HIV. It you're privileged to be born in the North, you will not have a baby born with HIV," Sidibe said.

"Countries need to start looking at innovative financing. We need to have drugs which are not just for the rich market."

(Writing by Michele Gershberg; Editing by Jackie Frank)

Birou Notarial Bucuresti

Baloane

People light candles for AIDS victims during an AIDS awareness event marking the World AIDS Day at Sergels Torg square in Stockholm December 1, 2010.

Credit: Reuters/Janerik Henriksson/Scanpix

By Julie Steenhuysen and Barbara Lewis

CHICAGO/GENEVA | Fri Jun 3, 2011 3:39am EDT

CHICAGO/GENEVA (Reuters) - After 30 years of AIDS prevention efforts, global leaders may now need to shift their focus to spending more on drugs used to treat the disease as new data show this is also the best way to prevent the virus from spreading.

The U.N. General Assembly will take up the issue next week as it assesses progress in fighting the disease -- first reported on June 5, 1981 -- that has infected more than 60 million people and claimed nearly 30 million lives.

Guiding the meeting is groundbreaking new data that shows early treatment of the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, can cut its transmission to a sexual partner by 96 percent.

"There had been for a long time this artificial dichotomy or artificial tension between treatment versus prevention. Now it is very clear that treatment is prevention and treatment is an important part of a multifaceted combination strategy," Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), told Reuters.

Fauci, who has made AIDS research his life's work, has a big role to play in the discussion of the NIH-funded study made public on May 12.

"A month ago, we didn't have that data. People were still arguing. 'Well, we are not so sure if you treat people you are really going to prevent infection,'" Fauci said. "The policy makers need to sit down and say, 'Now that we know this, is this going to be enough incentive to change around our policy?'"

That could mean redirecting, or adding to, global spending on fighting AIDS, particularly how much is spent on education or other research versus antiretroviral drugs that allow patients to live with the suppressed disease for many years.

In 2010, nearly $16 billion was spent on HIV response in low and middle-income countries, according to the U.N. Program on HIV/AIDS.

UNAIDS says at least $22 billion will be needed to combat the disease by 2015, helping avert 12 million new infections and 7.4 million more deaths in the next decade.

Globally, the number of people living with HIV rose to 34 million by the end of 2010, from 33.3 million a year earlier. But in poorer countries, a majority of eligible patients were not receiving antiretroviral treatment, according to UNAIDS.

Fauci says he has already discussed this with policymakers and may make public his views on needed policy changes at the International AIDS Society meeting in Rome.

"I don't think it's going to be one-size-fits all," Fauci said of the policy approach. "There is going to be certainly a difference between how things are looked at in the developing world and the developed world. And within the developed world, I think it will be a country-by-country issue."

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe noted that AIDS remained "a metaphor for inequality" as the vast majority of patients live in Africa, where every year nearly 400,000 babies are born with HIV.

"If you're privileged to be born in the North, you will not die from HIV. It you're privileged to be born in the North, you will not have a baby born with HIV," Sidibe said.

"Countries need to start looking at innovative financing. We need to have drugs which are not just for the rich market."

(Writing by Michele Gershberg; Editing by Jackie Frank)

Baloane

Cost aparat dentar

People light candles for AIDS victims during an AIDS awareness event marking the World AIDS Day at Sergels Torg square in Stockholm December 1, 2010.

Credit: Reuters/Janerik Henriksson/Scanpix

By Julie Steenhuysen and Barbara Lewis

CHICAGO/GENEVA | Fri Jun 3, 2011 3:39am EDT

CHICAGO/GENEVA (Reuters) - After 30 years of AIDS prevention efforts, global leaders may now need to shift their focus to spending more on drugs used to treat the disease as new data show this is also the best way to prevent the virus from spreading.

The U.N. General Assembly will take up the issue next week as it assesses progress in fighting the disease -- first reported on June 5, 1981 -- that has infected more than 60 million people and claimed nearly 30 million lives.

Guiding the meeting is groundbreaking new data that shows early treatment of the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, can cut its transmission to a sexual partner by 96 percent.

"There had been for a long time this artificial dichotomy or artificial tension between treatment versus prevention. Now it is very clear that treatment is prevention and treatment is an important part of a multifaceted combination strategy," Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), told Reuters.

Fauci, who has made AIDS research his life's work, has a big role to play in the discussion of the NIH-funded study made public on May 12.

"A month ago, we didn't have that data. People were still arguing. 'Well, we are not so sure if you treat people you are really going to prevent infection,'" Fauci said. "The policy makers need to sit down and say, 'Now that we know this, is this going to be enough incentive to change around our policy?'"

That could mean redirecting, or adding to, global spending on fighting AIDS, particularly how much is spent on education or other research versus antiretroviral drugs that allow patients to live with the suppressed disease for many years.

In 2010, nearly $16 billion was spent on HIV response in low and middle-income countries, according to the U.N. Program on HIV/AIDS.

UNAIDS says at least $22 billion will be needed to combat the disease by 2015, helping avert 12 million new infections and 7.4 million more deaths in the next decade.

Globally, the number of people living with HIV rose to 34 million by the end of 2010, from 33.3 million a year earlier. But in poorer countries, a majority of eligible patients were not receiving antiretroviral treatment, according to UNAIDS.

Fauci says he has already discussed this with policymakers and may make public his views on needed policy changes at the International AIDS Society meeting in Rome.

"I don't think it's going to be one-size-fits all," Fauci said of the policy approach. "There is going to be certainly a difference between how things are looked at in the developing world and the developed world. And within the developed world, I think it will be a country-by-country issue."

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe noted that AIDS remained "a metaphor for inequality" as the vast majority of patients live in Africa, where every year nearly 400,000 babies are born with HIV.

"If you're privileged to be born in the North, you will not die from HIV. It you're privileged to be born in the North, you will not have a baby born with HIV," Sidibe said.

"Countries need to start looking at innovative financing. We need to have drugs which are not just for the rich market."

(Writing by Michele Gershberg; Editing by Jackie Frank)

Cost aparat dentar

Donors needed to bring Monroe's white dress to NYC

birou notarial

By Jonathan Allen

NEW YORK | Thu Jun 2, 2011 5:06pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - The iconic white dress actress Marilyn Monroe wore in the film "The Seven Year Itch" may be headed back to New York City, where a gust of air from a subway grate sent it billowing upward and into movie history.

A New York-based technology company is raising funds to buy the dress when it is auctioned later this month in Los Angeles and to bring it home to be placed on permanent display, possibly in a museum.

"The dress worn by Marilyn Monroe in 'The Seven Year Itch' is as much a part of her iconic image as her stunning beauty," Darlene Newman, a co-founder of inQuicity, a smartphone app producer organizing the effort, said in a statement.

"It's also a prolific piece of New York City's vivid history and culture, and deserves to find a permanent home here."

The company has set up a web page, www.savethedress.org, to attract donors, who will be credited in any exhibition of the dress.

Profiles in History, the auction house handling the sale, says the dress is worth between $1 million and $2 million.

The dress is currently owned by the actress Debbie Reynolds, and is part of her large collection of Hollywood costumes and props being auctioned on June 18. Other items include costumes from "The Wizard of Oz", "Gone with the Wind" and "Cleopatra."

The estate of William Travilla, the Academy Award-winning designer who created the dress, has lent its support to inQuicity's campaign.

Monroe originally filmed the scene while standing over a subway grate on Lexington Avenue near 52nd Street in Manhattan, surrounded by a huge crowd of photographers and onlookers. The crowd noise was so loud that Billy Wilder, the director of the 1955 film, was forced to re-shoot the scene on a soundstage.

If successful in its bid, inQuicity says it will take the dress on a national tour before placing it on permanent display in New York City at a yet undisclosed location.

(Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Jerry Norton)

Birou Notarial Bucuresti

Baloane

By Jonathan Allen

NEW YORK | Thu Jun 2, 2011 5:06pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - The iconic white dress actress Marilyn Monroe wore in the film "The Seven Year Itch" may be headed back to New York City, where a gust of air from a subway grate sent it billowing upward and into movie history.

A New York-based technology company is raising funds to buy the dress when it is auctioned later this month in Los Angeles and to bring it home to be placed on permanent display, possibly in a museum.

"The dress worn by Marilyn Monroe in 'The Seven Year Itch' is as much a part of her iconic image as her stunning beauty," Darlene Newman, a co-founder of inQuicity, a smartphone app producer organizing the effort, said in a statement.

"It's also a prolific piece of New York City's vivid history and culture, and deserves to find a permanent home here."

The company has set up a web page, www.savethedress.org, to attract donors, who will be credited in any exhibition of the dress.

Profiles in History, the auction house handling the sale, says the dress is worth between $1 million and $2 million.

The dress is currently owned by the actress Debbie Reynolds, and is part of her large collection of Hollywood costumes and props being auctioned on June 18. Other items include costumes from "The Wizard of Oz", "Gone with the Wind" and "Cleopatra."

The estate of William Travilla, the Academy Award-winning designer who created the dress, has lent its support to inQuicity's campaign.

Monroe originally filmed the scene while standing over a subway grate on Lexington Avenue near 52nd Street in Manhattan, surrounded by a huge crowd of photographers and onlookers. The crowd noise was so loud that Billy Wilder, the director of the 1955 film, was forced to re-shoot the scene on a soundstage.

If successful in its bid, inQuicity says it will take the dress on a national tour before placing it on permanent display in New York City at a yet undisclosed location.

(Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Jerry Norton)

Baloane

Cost aparat dentar

By Jonathan Allen

NEW YORK | Thu Jun 2, 2011 5:06pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - The iconic white dress actress Marilyn Monroe wore in the film "The Seven Year Itch" may be headed back to New York City, where a gust of air from a subway grate sent it billowing upward and into movie history.

A New York-based technology company is raising funds to buy the dress when it is auctioned later this month in Los Angeles and to bring it home to be placed on permanent display, possibly in a museum.

"The dress worn by Marilyn Monroe in 'The Seven Year Itch' is as much a part of her iconic image as her stunning beauty," Darlene Newman, a co-founder of inQuicity, a smartphone app producer organizing the effort, said in a statement.

"It's also a prolific piece of New York City's vivid history and culture, and deserves to find a permanent home here."

The company has set up a web page, www.savethedress.org, to attract donors, who will be credited in any exhibition of the dress.

Profiles in History, the auction house handling the sale, says the dress is worth between $1 million and $2 million.

The dress is currently owned by the actress Debbie Reynolds, and is part of her large collection of Hollywood costumes and props being auctioned on June 18. Other items include costumes from "The Wizard of Oz", "Gone with the Wind" and "Cleopatra."

The estate of William Travilla, the Academy Award-winning designer who created the dress, has lent its support to inQuicity's campaign.

Monroe originally filmed the scene while standing over a subway grate on Lexington Avenue near 52nd Street in Manhattan, surrounded by a huge crowd of photographers and onlookers. The crowd noise was so loud that Billy Wilder, the director of the 1955 film, was forced to re-shoot the scene on a soundstage.

If successful in its bid, inQuicity says it will take the dress on a national tour before placing it on permanent display in New York City at a yet undisclosed location.

(Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Jerry Norton)

Cost aparat dentar

Cuba's Raul Castro says he's in good shape at 80

birou notarial

Cuba's President Raul Castro addresses the audience during the closing ceremony of Cuban communist congress in Havana April 19, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Enrique De La Osa

HAVANA | Thu Jun 2, 2011 2:01pm EDT

HAVANA (Reuters) - A day before his 80th birthday, Cuban President Raul Castro declared himself in better shape than many men 20 years younger and asked the ladies to comment on his looks.

"How do I look, girls?" he said on Thursday, chatting with reporters at the Havana airport after seeing off former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at the end of a two-day visit on Thursday.

"How many old men of 60 are there who aren't like me?" Castro said, referring to his good physical condition.

Castro turns 80 on Friday, joining older brother and former President Fidel Castro, 84, in the octogenarian set. His first vice president, Jose Machado Ventura, is 80 and second vice president Ramiro Valdes is 79.

Raul Castro admitted at a Communist Party congress in April that the government had not groomed younger successors, but said it would set about doing so.

He also said the party would consider at a conference next January setting a limit of two five-year terms for future leaders.

Fidel Castro led Cuba for 49 years before officially ceding power to his brother in 2008 due to age and illness.

Raul Castro joked that he did not expect to serve the 10 years that would be permitted under the term-limit proposal.

"I don't have two terms. I'm going for one," he said.

Castro also said the government was in the midst of doing the legal work to put in action 313 economic reforms approved at the party congress.

"(It's) hard," he said. "There are so many things to sort out."

(Reporting by Jeff Franks; Editing by David Lawder)

Birou Notarial Bucuresti

Baloane

Cuba's President Raul Castro addresses the audience during the closing ceremony of Cuban communist congress in Havana April 19, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Enrique De La Osa

HAVANA | Thu Jun 2, 2011 2:01pm EDT

HAVANA (Reuters) - A day before his 80th birthday, Cuban President Raul Castro declared himself in better shape than many men 20 years younger and asked the ladies to comment on his looks.

"How do I look, girls?" he said on Thursday, chatting with reporters at the Havana airport after seeing off former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at the end of a two-day visit on Thursday.

"How many old men of 60 are there who aren't like me?" Castro said, referring to his good physical condition.

Castro turns 80 on Friday, joining older brother and former President Fidel Castro, 84, in the octogenarian set. His first vice president, Jose Machado Ventura, is 80 and second vice president Ramiro Valdes is 79.

Raul Castro admitted at a Communist Party congress in April that the government had not groomed younger successors, but said it would set about doing so.

He also said the party would consider at a conference next January setting a limit of two five-year terms for future leaders.

Fidel Castro led Cuba for 49 years before officially ceding power to his brother in 2008 due to age and illness.

Raul Castro joked that he did not expect to serve the 10 years that would be permitted under the term-limit proposal.

"I don't have two terms. I'm going for one," he said.

Castro also said the government was in the midst of doing the legal work to put in action 313 economic reforms approved at the party congress.

"(It's) hard," he said. "There are so many things to sort out."

(Reporting by Jeff Franks; Editing by David Lawder)

Baloane

Cost aparat dentar

Cuba's President Raul Castro addresses the audience during the closing ceremony of Cuban communist congress in Havana April 19, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Enrique De La Osa

HAVANA | Thu Jun 2, 2011 2:01pm EDT

HAVANA (Reuters) - A day before his 80th birthday, Cuban President Raul Castro declared himself in better shape than many men 20 years younger and asked the ladies to comment on his looks.

"How do I look, girls?" he said on Thursday, chatting with reporters at the Havana airport after seeing off former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at the end of a two-day visit on Thursday.

"How many old men of 60 are there who aren't like me?" Castro said, referring to his good physical condition.

Castro turns 80 on Friday, joining older brother and former President Fidel Castro, 84, in the octogenarian set. His first vice president, Jose Machado Ventura, is 80 and second vice president Ramiro Valdes is 79.

Raul Castro admitted at a Communist Party congress in April that the government had not groomed younger successors, but said it would set about doing so.

He also said the party would consider at a conference next January setting a limit of two five-year terms for future leaders.

Fidel Castro led Cuba for 49 years before officially ceding power to his brother in 2008 due to age and illness.

Raul Castro joked that he did not expect to serve the 10 years that would be permitted under the term-limit proposal.

"I don't have two terms. I'm going for one," he said.

Castro also said the government was in the midst of doing the legal work to put in action 313 economic reforms approved at the party congress.

"(It's) hard," he said. "There are so many things to sort out."

(Reporting by Jeff Franks; Editing by David Lawder)

Cost aparat dentar

Ten-tonne polar bear "dying" slow death in Sydney

birou notarial

SYDNEY | Fri Jun 3, 2011 3:53am EDT

SYDNEY (Reuters Life!) - A ten tonne polar bear camping out at Sydney's majestic Circular Quay isn't likely to survive for more than a day or two.

The bear, made of solid ice, will slowly melt into a great puddle of water under Sydney's 20 degree (68 F) winter sun, and sculptor Mark Coreth is just fine with that.

In fact, he hopes this slow and painful "death" will remind people of the plight of the real thing.

"When I was (in the Arctic), the Inuit guides were saying look, you can sculpt a polar bear, that's fine, but how on earth are you going to sculpt the real issue we got, and that's the warming arctic?" Coreth said in front of Sydney's Customs House.

London-born Coreth has travelled the world with his ice bear sculptures since 2009, but Friday's stop was his first in the southern hemisphere and the furthest from the Arctic, the polar bear's natural habitat.

"Sitting in the sun, it's going to melt that bear, that's the natural warming of the planet, as is happening," he said.

"But when people touch it, when they touch that bear, they melt it, you can feel it melt under your hand, that's a human impact. Big hard touch, big hard melt."

(Reporting by Balazs Koranyi; editing by Elaine Lies)

Birou Notarial Bucuresti

Baloane

SYDNEY | Fri Jun 3, 2011 3:53am EDT

SYDNEY (Reuters Life!) - A ten tonne polar bear camping out at Sydney's majestic Circular Quay isn't likely to survive for more than a day or two.

The bear, made of solid ice, will slowly melt into a great puddle of water under Sydney's 20 degree (68 F) winter sun, and sculptor Mark Coreth is just fine with that.

In fact, he hopes this slow and painful "death" will remind people of the plight of the real thing.

"When I was (in the Arctic), the Inuit guides were saying look, you can sculpt a polar bear, that's fine, but how on earth are you going to sculpt the real issue we got, and that's the warming arctic?" Coreth said in front of Sydney's Customs House.

London-born Coreth has travelled the world with his ice bear sculptures since 2009, but Friday's stop was his first in the southern hemisphere and the furthest from the Arctic, the polar bear's natural habitat.

"Sitting in the sun, it's going to melt that bear, that's the natural warming of the planet, as is happening," he said.

"But when people touch it, when they touch that bear, they melt it, you can feel it melt under your hand, that's a human impact. Big hard touch, big hard melt."

(Reporting by Balazs Koranyi; editing by Elaine Lies)

Baloane

Cost aparat dentar

SYDNEY | Fri Jun 3, 2011 3:53am EDT

SYDNEY (Reuters Life!) - A ten tonne polar bear camping out at Sydney's majestic Circular Quay isn't likely to survive for more than a day or two.

The bear, made of solid ice, will slowly melt into a great puddle of water under Sydney's 20 degree (68 F) winter sun, and sculptor Mark Coreth is just fine with that.

In fact, he hopes this slow and painful "death" will remind people of the plight of the real thing.

"When I was (in the Arctic), the Inuit guides were saying look, you can sculpt a polar bear, that's fine, but how on earth are you going to sculpt the real issue we got, and that's the warming arctic?" Coreth said in front of Sydney's Customs House.

London-born Coreth has travelled the world with his ice bear sculptures since 2009, but Friday's stop was his first in the southern hemisphere and the furthest from the Arctic, the polar bear's natural habitat.

"Sitting in the sun, it's going to melt that bear, that's the natural warming of the planet, as is happening," he said.

"But when people touch it, when they touch that bear, they melt it, you can feel it melt under your hand, that's a human impact. Big hard touch, big hard melt."

(Reporting by Balazs Koranyi; editing by Elaine Lies)

Cost aparat dentar

Book Talk: Madison Smartt Bell on gods and demons

birou notarial

By Elaine Lies

TOKYO | Thu Jun 2, 2011 4:49am EDT

TOKYO (Reuters Life!) - Mae is a Las Vegas blackjack dealer, working amid the rattle of dice and whisper of cards, roaming the desert with a rifle in her time off.

When planes crash into the World Trade Center, she revels in the anarchy of the destruction. And she sees, in television footage, the face of an old lover, screaming as the towers fall.

"The Color of Night," by Madison Smartt Bell, follows Mae as 9/11 sends her back through a past shadowed by abuse and her years in a 1960s cult that commits a horrifying crime, and ultimately she tracks down her lover again.

Bell, a National Book Award finalist who has written extensively about Haiti, spoke with Reuters about his book and the origins of his compelling, if unusual, heroine.

Q: What was your intention with this book?

A: "It just popped into my head. I heard that voice talking to me and then I started writing it down. When you say my intentions, it's more like her intentions. I think she wants to make her case, that she's a divine being sort of walking around, having been purified and refined through suffering, and forged in the fire, she just walks through all the mundanity and ordinary suffering of mortal life. That's her position.

"Particularly if you sign in to her world view, she's extremely powerful and even if you don't, she's got a certain amount of power. And I think that's attractive."

Q: So you heard a voice and you went on from there?

A: "Without her voice, there'd be nothing. I'd done a project a long time before, maybe four or five years before, for a series of retelling contemporary myths... I wrote about 100 words worth of proposal. I had an idea that wasn't quite the same, but there was a little germ and some part of it stuck in my mind. I think it just came out of that, like a seed.

"It was an idea of setting a Dionysius/Orpheus myth in the atmosphere of 60s terrorism and having somebody remember it. Those elements were in it. But then I basically forgot it, and when it came back it had just simmered in my unconscious for four to five years and just kind of matured there without my thinking about it, really."

Q: Was it easy or hard to write?

A: "It was incredibly easy to write, and I felt -- and I still feel like -- it was the best thing I'd done in a long time. In spite of, or perhaps because of, the ease of composition. It was mostly just typed straight onto the keyboard with minimal revision. Like automatic writing."

Q: The use of 9/11 was unusual. What was behind that?

A: "It gave the other end of the story. The front end, chronologically, is all the other stuff that happened back in the 60s. It's all reawakened by 9/11. The device of having her see her old lover in 9/11 footage and the idea that she'd just been in suspended animation all that time in between... As if you could just turn her off. That event turns her back on."

Q: And because of who she is, her response to it would be different from a lot of people.

A: "Well, sure. Everybody in the United States thought it was really terrible. So did I... I didn't feel celebratory about it at all. Yet I knew a few people in this country who did. That stuck with me and that became part of it."

Q: What would you say is the common thread in your books?

A: "I always want to be doing something different, although I haven't always. The Haiti novels... The first one of those was my 10th book and I was conscious that this was going to force me to try the same thing three times. The books before that were mostly -- I understood this later -- but they were mostly, in very different ways and different contexts, about spiritual pilgrimage. That's the way I thought of them. On the surface you could see them in other ways. The Haiti series was compelled by the historical material in a lot of ways, but it does have a lot of voodoo in it and a lot of my spiritual interests that I'd always had were resolved in that experience.

"'The Color of Night' is basically a tale told by a god. That's the stance. There's a way to read it that doesn't accept that, where you think it's a tale told by a psychotic that thinks she's a god. It would make sense that way too, you can read it either way. If you don't accept her world view, it becomes a much more depressing book.

"Actually, I felt like even though her vision of the world and her place in it is vicious by ordinary human standards, it's got a beauty and clarity to it... Snakes are beautiful. They're not like us and they're dangerous to us, but they're beautiful."

Q: You said this book came to you in Mae's voice. Where do you get your ideas -- was this typical?

A: "I've said with some seriousness that my work is dictated to me by demons, and I feel that that's true. There's two ways of looking at it. If you want to take a reductive view, and there's nothing here in the universe aside from us, then it comes from your unconscious mind. I sort of teach in those terms. But I actually believe that there's a lot more in the universe than just us, and whenever I have inspiration it means a spirit is trying to express itself through me, which takes a lot of the difficulty out of writing a book because you just have to do what you're told.

"A lot of times it's not that simple. With these long historical novels there's just a lot of work that you've got to do that's kind of laborious. But this book was easy, because there's just one voice and it was very strong, and it was very clear. And all I had to do was write it down."

(Editing by Steve Addison)

Birou Notarial Bucuresti

Baloane

By Elaine Lies

TOKYO | Thu Jun 2, 2011 4:49am EDT

TOKYO (Reuters Life!) - Mae is a Las Vegas blackjack dealer, working amid the rattle of dice and whisper of cards, roaming the desert with a rifle in her time off.

When planes crash into the World Trade Center, she revels in the anarchy of the destruction. And she sees, in television footage, the face of an old lover, screaming as the towers fall.

"The Color of Night," by Madison Smartt Bell, follows Mae as 9/11 sends her back through a past shadowed by abuse and her years in a 1960s cult that commits a horrifying crime, and ultimately she tracks down her lover again.

Bell, a National Book Award finalist who has written extensively about Haiti, spoke with Reuters about his book and the origins of his compelling, if unusual, heroine.

Q: What was your intention with this book?

A: "It just popped into my head. I heard that voice talking to me and then I started writing it down. When you say my intentions, it's more like her intentions. I think she wants to make her case, that she's a divine being sort of walking around, having been purified and refined through suffering, and forged in the fire, she just walks through all the mundanity and ordinary suffering of mortal life. That's her position.

"Particularly if you sign in to her world view, she's extremely powerful and even if you don't, she's got a certain amount of power. And I think that's attractive."

Q: So you heard a voice and you went on from there?

A: "Without her voice, there'd be nothing. I'd done a project a long time before, maybe four or five years before, for a series of retelling contemporary myths... I wrote about 100 words worth of proposal. I had an idea that wasn't quite the same, but there was a little germ and some part of it stuck in my mind. I think it just came out of that, like a seed.

"It was an idea of setting a Dionysius/Orpheus myth in the atmosphere of 60s terrorism and having somebody remember it. Those elements were in it. But then I basically forgot it, and when it came back it had just simmered in my unconscious for four to five years and just kind of matured there without my thinking about it, really."

Q: Was it easy or hard to write?

A: "It was incredibly easy to write, and I felt -- and I still feel like -- it was the best thing I'd done in a long time. In spite of, or perhaps because of, the ease of composition. It was mostly just typed straight onto the keyboard with minimal revision. Like automatic writing."

Q: The use of 9/11 was unusual. What was behind that?

A: "It gave the other end of the story. The front end, chronologically, is all the other stuff that happened back in the 60s. It's all reawakened by 9/11. The device of having her see her old lover in 9/11 footage and the idea that she'd just been in suspended animation all that time in between... As if you could just turn her off. That event turns her back on."

Q: And because of who she is, her response to it would be different from a lot of people.

A: "Well, sure. Everybody in the United States thought it was really terrible. So did I... I didn't feel celebratory about it at all. Yet I knew a few people in this country who did. That stuck with me and that became part of it."

Q: What would you say is the common thread in your books?

A: "I always want to be doing something different, although I haven't always. The Haiti novels... The first one of those was my 10th book and I was conscious that this was going to force me to try the same thing three times. The books before that were mostly -- I understood this later -- but they were mostly, in very different ways and different contexts, about spiritual pilgrimage. That's the way I thought of them. On the surface you could see them in other ways. The Haiti series was compelled by the historical material in a lot of ways, but it does have a lot of voodoo in it and a lot of my spiritual interests that I'd always had were resolved in that experience.

"'The Color of Night' is basically a tale told by a god. That's the stance. There's a way to read it that doesn't accept that, where you think it's a tale told by a psychotic that thinks she's a god. It would make sense that way too, you can read it either way. If you don't accept her world view, it becomes a much more depressing book.

"Actually, I felt like even though her vision of the world and her place in it is vicious by ordinary human standards, it's got a beauty and clarity to it... Snakes are beautiful. They're not like us and they're dangerous to us, but they're beautiful."

Q: You said this book came to you in Mae's voice. Where do you get your ideas -- was this typical?

A: "I've said with some seriousness that my work is dictated to me by demons, and I feel that that's true. There's two ways of looking at it. If you want to take a reductive view, and there's nothing here in the universe aside from us, then it comes from your unconscious mind. I sort of teach in those terms. But I actually believe that there's a lot more in the universe than just us, and whenever I have inspiration it means a spirit is trying to express itself through me, which takes a lot of the difficulty out of writing a book because you just have to do what you're told.

"A lot of times it's not that simple. With these long historical novels there's just a lot of work that you've got to do that's kind of laborious. But this book was easy, because there's just one voice and it was very strong, and it was very clear. And all I had to do was write it down."

(Editing by Steve Addison)

Baloane

Cost aparat dentar

By Elaine Lies

TOKYO | Thu Jun 2, 2011 4:49am EDT

TOKYO (Reuters Life!) - Mae is a Las Vegas blackjack dealer, working amid the rattle of dice and whisper of cards, roaming the desert with a rifle in her time off.

When planes crash into the World Trade Center, she revels in the anarchy of the destruction. And she sees, in television footage, the face of an old lover, screaming as the towers fall.

"The Color of Night," by Madison Smartt Bell, follows Mae as 9/11 sends her back through a past shadowed by abuse and her years in a 1960s cult that commits a horrifying crime, and ultimately she tracks down her lover again.

Bell, a National Book Award finalist who has written extensively about Haiti, spoke with Reuters about his book and the origins of his compelling, if unusual, heroine.

Q: What was your intention with this book?

A: "It just popped into my head. I heard that voice talking to me and then I started writing it down. When you say my intentions, it's more like her intentions. I think she wants to make her case, that she's a divine being sort of walking around, having been purified and refined through suffering, and forged in the fire, she just walks through all the mundanity and ordinary suffering of mortal life. That's her position.

"Particularly if you sign in to her world view, she's extremely powerful and even if you don't, she's got a certain amount of power. And I think that's attractive."

Q: So you heard a voice and you went on from there?

A: "Without her voice, there'd be nothing. I'd done a project a long time before, maybe four or five years before, for a series of retelling contemporary myths... I wrote about 100 words worth of proposal. I had an idea that wasn't quite the same, but there was a little germ and some part of it stuck in my mind. I think it just came out of that, like a seed.

"It was an idea of setting a Dionysius/Orpheus myth in the atmosphere of 60s terrorism and having somebody remember it. Those elements were in it. But then I basically forgot it, and when it came back it had just simmered in my unconscious for four to five years and just kind of matured there without my thinking about it, really."

Q: Was it easy or hard to write?

A: "It was incredibly easy to write, and I felt -- and I still feel like -- it was the best thing I'd done in a long time. In spite of, or perhaps because of, the ease of composition. It was mostly just typed straight onto the keyboard with minimal revision. Like automatic writing."

Q: The use of 9/11 was unusual. What was behind that?

A: "It gave the other end of the story. The front end, chronologically, is all the other stuff that happened back in the 60s. It's all reawakened by 9/11. The device of having her see her old lover in 9/11 footage and the idea that she'd just been in suspended animation all that time in between... As if you could just turn her off. That event turns her back on."

Q: And because of who she is, her response to it would be different from a lot of people.

A: "Well, sure. Everybody in the United States thought it was really terrible. So did I... I didn't feel celebratory about it at all. Yet I knew a few people in this country who did. That stuck with me and that became part of it."

Q: What would you say is the common thread in your books?

A: "I always want to be doing something different, although I haven't always. The Haiti novels... The first one of those was my 10th book and I was conscious that this was going to force me to try the same thing three times. The books before that were mostly -- I understood this later -- but they were mostly, in very different ways and different contexts, about spiritual pilgrimage. That's the way I thought of them. On the surface you could see them in other ways. The Haiti series was compelled by the historical material in a lot of ways, but it does have a lot of voodoo in it and a lot of my spiritual interests that I'd always had were resolved in that experience.

"'The Color of Night' is basically a tale told by a god. That's the stance. There's a way to read it that doesn't accept that, where you think it's a tale told by a psychotic that thinks she's a god. It would make sense that way too, you can read it either way. If you don't accept her world view, it becomes a much more depressing book.

"Actually, I felt like even though her vision of the world and her place in it is vicious by ordinary human standards, it's got a beauty and clarity to it... Snakes are beautiful. They're not like us and they're dangerous to us, but they're beautiful."

Q: You said this book came to you in Mae's voice. Where do you get your ideas -- was this typical?

A: "I've said with some seriousness that my work is dictated to me by demons, and I feel that that's true. There's two ways of looking at it. If you want to take a reductive view, and there's nothing here in the universe aside from us, then it comes from your unconscious mind. I sort of teach in those terms. But I actually believe that there's a lot more in the universe than just us, and whenever I have inspiration it means a spirit is trying to express itself through me, which takes a lot of the difficulty out of writing a book because you just have to do what you're told.

"A lot of times it's not that simple. With these long historical novels there's just a lot of work that you've got to do that's kind of laborious. But this book was easy, because there's just one voice and it was very strong, and it was very clear. And all I had to do was write it down."

(Editing by Steve Addison)

Cost aparat dentar