Prada: Corridors and Light

(NY Times)
By Cathy Horyn

The finale at the spring Prada show in Milan.
A classical façade ran the length of the runway, dividing the audience tonight at Prada, and the colors and prints evoked the saturated, almost fake tones of a seaside postcard. Backstage, Miuccia Prada referred to hotels with long corridors.
“The Shining?” Well, no. I think [...]

How to Use Training as a Staff Retention Tool

By Drew Ross
In western countries, many companies already see that offering comprehensive training programmes to their staff is an effective way of retaining their employees. In China, however, where staff retention is such a major issue, many companies attempt to keep staff by throwing more money at them when, in many cases, competitors match these [...]

Neigh? Picasso horse doodle expected to fetch £20,000 at auction

(The Guardian)
By Steven Morris
Private collector’s felt-tip sketch by Pablo Picasso thought to have taken seconds to produce
 
Horse cartoon in a book by Picasso for sale at Duke’s auctioneers in Dorset
A doodle of a horse in felt-tip pen that must have taken no more than seconds to produce is expected to sell for more than £20,000 [...]

La Roux: ‘Of course Lady Gaga’s not my thing’

(The Guardian)
By Paul Lester
She’s tough on Take That, lambasts the ‘Ikea’ mentality and thinks the media has gone soft. La Roux gives us a piece of her mind

It is morning, and 21-year-old Elly Jackson – or La Roux, arguably the bigest new pop star of the year – is on the Eurostar to Belgium, where [...]

China says G20 should focus on rich-poor imbalances

(Reuters) – The main global economic imbalance that should worry leaders at the Group of 20 summit is the gap between rich and poor nations, China said on Thursday, defending its currency exchange rate policies.
“We believe that the root cause of global economic imbalances is the imbalance in development,” Zheng Xiaosong, director-general for international affairs [...]

Lily Allen to quit music? Don’t bet on it

(The Guardian)
By Rosie Swash
Lily Allen says she has ‘no plans’ to make another record. Will she change her mind? It wouldn’t be the first time …

Lily Allen quits music for acting. Or farming. Or filesharing. It’s so hard to tell these days.
It’s hardly rare to find Lily Allen, or more accurately the contents of her [...]

China paints country red for 60th birthday

 
BEIJING — With armed SWAT teams, 1 million security volunteers, a celebrity-packed hit movie and a barrage of propaganda, Beijing is gearing up for a burst of pride and patriotism for next week’s 60th birthday of the People’s Republic of China.On Thursday, six decades after Chairman Mao Zedong climbed the Tiananmen gate to declare the [...]

U.S. Charges Afghan – Born Man With Bombing Plot

(Reuters) – A Colorado airport shuttle bus driver was charged under federal anti-terrorism laws with plotting to set off explosives in the United States and accused of acquiring the same bomb-making chemicals used in the 2005 London transit attacks.
Najibullah Zazi, 24, an Afghan immigrant under arrest in Colorado on another charge, was indicted by a [...]

G-20 leaders near banker-pay limits amid protests

PITTSBURGH — As police clashed with protesters in the streets, world leaders Thursday closed ranks on pay limits for bankers whose risky behavior contributed to the global financial meltdown. With economies on the mend, a summit mood of cautious optimism replaced last year’s fear and uncertainty.
In a historic shift recognizing the rising influence of China, [...]

Time running out for Zelaya, experts say

BY FRANCES ROBLES

frobles@MiamiHerald.com

TEGUCIGALPA — If history is any indicator, Honduras’ ousted president Manuel “Mel” Zelaya should get a change of clothes and a comfortable air mattress — his stint at the Brazilian Embassy here could go for a long spell.
The deposed president sneaked into his country on Monday to force a resolution to the political [...]