Vafamehr appeared in the film “My Tehran for Sale,” shot in the Iranian capital. It tells the story of a young actress whose stage work is banned by authorities.
The movie was produced by an Australian-based company and directed by an Iranian-Australian Granaz Moussavi.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates An Iranian opposition website says an Iranian actress has been sentenced to a year in prison and 90 lashes for appearing in a movie critical of the Islamic republic’s hard-line policies.
It premiered at the Adelaide Film Festival in 2009, but is banned in Iran.
The Kalameh.com site said Monday that Marzieh Vafamehr’s attorney has appealed the sentence. Lashing sentences are not uncommon in Iran, but many are not carried out. There was no official statement.
EAST HARTFORD, Conn. Police say a Connecticut teen who drowned in his school’s swimming pool was participating in a supervised swim class when someone found him unconscious in the deep end.
East Hartford police say 15-year-old Marcum Asiamah’s (AH’-she-mahz) death is being classified as accidental. The investigation continues.
Asiamah was pulled from the water at East Hartford High School on Jan. 11. A bystander performed CPR, but the teen was pronounced dead at a hospital. An autopsy confirmed he drowned and also classified his death as accidental.
Police and school officials have not released details about the circumstances and how many people were near the pool, which remains closed during the investigation.
Asiamah’s classmates held a vigil in his memory Friday night at the school, where he was a freshman.
WASHINGTON With its first chief now in place, the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will start enforcing rules aimed at reining in abusive mortgage servicers, student lenders and payday-loan companies.
It will be months, though, before the agency can police other areas of consumer finance, such as debt collection and credit-reporting bureaus.
Over Republican opposition, President Barack Obama used a congressional recess appointment Wednesday to install Richard Cordray to lead the consumer finance watchdog. The bureau was created in July as part of the 2010 overhaul of the nation’s financial regulations.
The idea behind the new agency was to prevent financial companies, such as mortgage servicers, from exploiting consumers. Such companies, facing scant federal oversight, committed some of the worst consumer abuses before the financial crisis.
In the past, only banks were subject to examination by federal financial regulators. And until now, with no permanent director, the bureau had authority to supervise only big banks.
Senate Republicans had vowed to block Cordray’s nomination until the agency’s structure was changed to allow closer congressional oversight. But Obama took advantage of the congressional break to install Cordray, a former Democratic attorney general of Ohio.
Cordray said he would immediately “begin working to expand our program to non-banks, which is an area we haven’t been able to touch up until now.”
That change will likely start within weeks. Agency officials who are supervising big banks have already been trained to examine non-bank financial firms.
Still, some areas of consumer finance will remain outside the bureau’s reach. Aside from payday, mortgage and student loan companies, the consumer protection bureau can supervise only non-bank companies it defines as “larger participants” in their markets.
In June, the agency sought public comments on a proposal to supervise major debt collectors, credit reporting bureaus, check cashers, issuers of prepaid debt cards and debt-relief companies. The comment period has ended, and the agency is reviewing the responses. It’s not clear how long the review will take.
Once the comments have been reviewed, the proposal must be revised, subjected to further public comment and then approved by the White House. This could take months or years. If the agency’s proposal is approved, it will be able to send inspectors to credit bureaus and others that meet the “large participant” definition.
Here’s a guide to the powers that the CFPB now holds over different categories of companies:
• Non-bank mortgage lenders and servicers:
These companies have been subject to existing laws and rules, but the agency was unable to supervise them without a permanent director. With Cordray’s appointment, the CFPB can have officials monitor mortgage lenders and servicers. That might discourage any from using “robo-signers” to foreclose on borrowers without doing the required paperwork. That practice became widespread over the past decade, and no federal agency was responsible for cracking down.
• Payday lenders:
Companies that make short-term loans to borrowers with weak credit already are governed by federal laws such as the Truth in Lending Act. But there’s been no federal oversight to make sure they comply. The CFPB can now send examiners to payday firms it suspects of illegal or abusive practices. The agency wants to make sure they disclose the full cost of a loan upfront so consumers can make an informed choice.
• Private student lenders:
CFPB examiners have gained the authority to examine these companies. The federal government has been cracking down on for-profit education companies whose graduates can’t find jobs and have little chance of repayment. The CFPB can now require these lenders to follow existing rules and write new ones intended to guarantee that they lend fairly.
• Prepaid debit card companies, credit bureaus, money-transfer companies, check cashers, debt relief services:
These companies are subject to federal laws. But they’ve faced little oversight in the past. The CFPB proposed in June identifying major participants in these markets to make sure they’re following the rules. It’s unclear when that proposal might take effect.
• Big banks:
Banks already are overseen by the bureau, so nothing much will change as a result of Cordray’s appointment. Since its creation, the agency has been placing full-time examiners in the nation’s biggest banks to enforce laws and rules. It can require them to file regular reports,wholesale Burberry, monitor risks they might pose to consumers and write new rules.
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Follow Daniel Wagner at www.twitter.com/wagnerreports.
Although the U.K.monarchy doesn’t exactly conjure up images of spiked hair, loud music, andstudded leather jackets, Madonna thinks one former king is “very punkrock,” according to the Daily Telegraph. When asked why she put Englishpunk band the Sex Pistols’s 1977 anarchist anthem “God Save the Queen”on the soundtrack of her new film, “W.E.” — a biopic about Wallis Simpson, theAmerican divorcée who captured King Edward VIII’s heart — thepop-star-turned-filmed-director explained to the British broadsheet: “Ithought [Edward] was quite rebellious and cutting-edge in his point of viewabout life and about how to run the empire,Wholesale Juicy Couture jackets, and using the Sex Pistols was aperfect marriage.”
ARTINFOlists five possible reasons why Madonna thinks the notorious abdicator and Nazisympathizer was “punk rock”:
1. Hestayed single until 43 and had an affinity for older, married women, withseveral of whom he had affairs before meeting Simpson.
2. He was known to throw raging parties, asdepicted in “The King’s Speech.”
3. Even though the tradition in Britishcoinage is that each new monarch face the opposite direction from his or herpredecessor, Edward insisted that he face left, as his father, George VI, had,because it showed his better side, specifically the part in his hair.
4. He didn’t care that the Church of Englandopposed divorcés’ remarriage, proposing to the twice-divorced Simpson in 1936.
5. He caused a stir by opting for love overpower, choosing Simpson over the British throne in December 1936. The couplemarried in 1937.
Nike profit up 3 percent in 2Q
PORTLAND, Ore. Nike Inc.’s second-quarter profit rose 3 percent as strong demand and higher prices for its shoes, clothes and gear offset increased costs.
Nike and other consumer product companies have been coping for some time with higher costs for materials, labor and freight. But while others have struggled to regain their footing in the weak U.S. economy,Replica Ed hardy, the world’s largest athletic shoe and clothing company has been able to increase sales and raise prices without consumer backlash.
“We’re able to accomplish this by staying focused on what we do best – deliver innovative products and experiences that serve athletes, inspire consumers and reward our shareholders,” said Mark Parker, Nike’s CEO.
The company, based in Beaverton, Ore., reported Tuesday that it earned $469 million, or $1 per share, for the quarter that ended Nov. 30. That’s up from $457 million, or 94 cents per share, in the same quarter last year. Nike’s total revenue increased 18 percent to $5.73 billion as it sold more of its branded products in nearly every market around the globe.
The quarter beat analysts’ expectations for the quarter of 97 cents per share on revenue of $5.63 billion, according to FactSet.
During the quarter, some of its most popular lines were in basketball and running, with Nike noting that it hasn’t seen this much energy around running since the original boom in the sport during the 1970s. Additionally, strong sales at Converse more than offset lower revenue from the Nike Golf, Cole Haan, Hurley and Umbro brands.
Nike leaders expressed confidence in the company’s future sales growth as the NBA season resumes and it prepares to launch a number of new products in anticipation of major athletic events such as the summer Olympics.
As an indication of what is ahead, Nike disclosed that orders for items that were scheduled to be delivered between December and April rose 13 percent by comparison to the same period last year. Investors keep a close eye on this measure as an indicator of demand for the coming period.
Going forward, some of Nike’s costs are beginning to ease up. But the company said that won’t make a difference to its bottom line for several quarters.
Nike plans to raise prices further this year to help relieve some of its margin pressures. The company did not disclose how much it will increase prices but said the hikes would be larger than those put in place during the past year. As a result of these price hikes and a seemingly endless appetite for its products, the company expects its gross margin declines to narrow over the balance of the year.
Nike’s shares rose 25 cents to close at $93.63 in regular trading. Shares rose $2.37, or more than 2 percent, to $96.00 in after-hours trading on the news.
(Reuters) JPMorgan Chase & Co has been sued for $95 million by the trustee for securities marketed in 2005 by the former Bear Stearns Cos over alleged misrepresentations regarding the underlying mortgage loans.
US Bank NA wants to force JPMorgan to buy back the mortgage loans because of alleged breaches of representations and warranties regarding the Bear Stearns Asset Backed Securities Trust 2005-4, for which it serves as trustee.
It also accused the largest U.S. bank by assets of refusing to provide the underlying loan files, as the trust documents require, so it can investigate the extent of the alleged breaches.
The unit of US Bancorp said it made its request at the direction of a majority certificate holder in the trust. US Bank also sued Bear Stearns and its former EMC Mortgage Corp unit. JPMorgan bought Bear Stearns in 2008.
JPMorgan spokeswoman Jennifer Zuccarelli declined to comment.
The lawsuit was filed on Friday in the New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan, and publicly docketed on Tuesday.
It is one of many lawsuits seeking to hold banks responsible for investor losses over mortgages that may have been toxic, defective or improperly underwritten.
JPMorgan Chief Executive Jamie Dimon last month told investors that the bank has been sued over $54.9 billion of private-label securitizations, excluding the former Washington Mutual Inc,wholesale Ed hardy sunglasses, and expects that number to rise.
“We think the disclosures are clear, risks were plain and set forth,” he said. “Investors, mostly sophisticated, they understood and accepted it.”
The case is Bear Stearns Asset Backed Securities Trust 2005-4 v. EMC Mortgage Corp et al, New York State Supreme Court, New York County, No. 650003/2012.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Additional reporting by David Henry; editing by Gerald E. McCormick)
Demi Moore fears being unlovable
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) Actress Demi Moore, who recently ended her six-year marriage to Ashton Kutcher, says her worst fear is finding she is “not worthy of being loved”.
In an interview conducted just one week after Moore filed for divorce in November, the “Ghost” star opened up to her friend, British photographer Amanda De Cadenet, for the February edition of Harper’s Bazaar magazine.
Moore, 49, did not directly address her split with Kutcher, the 33-year-old star of television comedy “Two and A Half Men.” The marriage foundered after a San Diego woman went public about a brief fling she had with Kutcher.
But in a wide-ranging conversation with De Cadenet about insecurities, Moore said; “What scares me is that I’m going to ultimately find out at the end of my life that I’m really not lovable, that I’m not worthy of being loved. That there’s something fundamentally wrong with me…and that I wasn’t wanted here in the first place.”
The marriage was Moore’s third, and the 16-year age difference between her and Kutcher made them the subject of constant media attention.
Moore added that freedom for her meant, “Letting go of the outcome. Truly being in the moment. Not reflecting on the past. Not projecting into the future. That’s freedom. Not caring more about what other people think than what you think. That’s freedom.
“To not be defined by your wounds. Somebody wrote something to me that said, ‘Don’t let your wounds make you become someone you’re not.’ That’s really powerful. And not taking life too seriously,” she told De Cadenet.
The actress, who has recently lost weight and alarmed media by her thin appearance, also said she has had a “love-hate” relationship with her body but that now she accepted it.
“When I’m at the greatest odds with my body, it’s usually because I feel my body’s betraying me, whether that’s been in the past, struggling with my weight and feeling that I couldn’t eat what I wanted to eat,Wholesale Ed hardy belts, or that I couldn’t get my body to do what I wanted it to do.
“I think I sit today in a place of greater acceptance of my body, and that includes not just my weight but all of the things that come with your changing body as you age to now experiencing my body as extremely thin — thin in a way that I never imagined somebody would be saying to me, “You’re too thin, and you don’t look good.”
Moore and De Cadenet are executive producers of a new TV interview series called “The Conversation” that is due to premiere on cable channel Lifetime later in 2012.
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)
NEW YORK Oscar de la Renta takes longer to create that small, fits-in-your-hand bottle of perfume than one of his elaborate embellished ballgowns. It’s just the nature of the business.
The process is similar, starting with an inspiration that comes from the gut, quality materials and fine workmanship, but de la Renta says he’ll continue tinkering with a perfume until he’s fully satisfied. There would be no point in rushing when he has the luxury of time, he explains.
While de la Renta takes care to say that even with his clothing designs, he doesn’t follow or set, for that matter the “trends,Replica Lacoste Jackets,” he still operates on the fashion calendar that dictates the grinding, grueling pace of five collections a year. (Add to that the children’s line the company just announced it’s launching.) There is always a hunger for “new” and a need to be relevant in the moment, he observes.
In the beauty business, however, there aren’t the same demands, so even though the hypothetical canvas is so much smaller, the process has few restrictions other than to create something lovely and lasting. “Fragrance I look at in a different way than fashion,” de la Renta says. “It’s so unbelievably intimate in a person’s life. When you discover the right one, it’s like getting married: You don’t change on a whim.”
His newest is Live in Love, a classic scent with notes of ginger, orchid, hyacinth, muguet and jasmine, set against a base of white woods and musk.
The house bought back its fragrance licenses three years ago (the licenses were owned by another company at the time) to give the perfumes more of a synergy with its fashion reputation as a top-tier label, explains Alex Bolen, company CEO (as well as de la Renta’s son-in-law). Each of the seven scents currently in production has to be elegance and luxury in a bottle, Bolen says.
De la Renta jumps in at this point in a joint interview to note that, however beautiful the bottle may be, it won’t sell a perfume. Neither will the packaging, name or ad campaign. The juice has to connect to the wearer on a much deeper level, he says, so much so that it becomes part of her identity.
“You shouldn’t change your fragrance when you don’t smell it anymore. That’s the wrong way to think about it. You shouldn’t be able to notice it. … That’s when a fragrance is a true success.”
Still, he says, he likes the stories of how the newest name and campaign evolved.
For the name, de la Renta was in his workroom in the heat of the summer and noticed the tattoo on the arm of one of the employees: Live in Love. “It was so obvious, so extraordinary. It’s what I wanted to say. No one had used it, which was surprising, but that’s the secret of life sometimes the answer is so obvious.”
When it came time to introduce the fragrance to the public, he wanted to find the right spokesmodel. He laid out print ads of all the competition, stripped off the names, and took a hard look at whose image he could choose to stand out from the crowd. He saw only one that he wanted.
Back in the 1950s and `60s when de la Renta was starting out, the trend wasn’t celebrities; every designer who was anyone used an illustration of the chicest, most glamorous woman. That’s who he wanted again and that’s the raven-haired, pen-and-ink “model” who looks back at you underneath the tagline, “The new fragrance for women created by a man who adores them.”
He explains, “I want you to remember the fragrance, not be able to identify Penelope Cruz.”
This isn’t de la Renta being nostalgic for the good old days, though. In addition to the new children’s line and the presentation of his bold, colorful pre-fall collection this week, de la Renta is also the one who came up with the idea for a just-opened exhibit about the artist Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida at the Queen Sofia Spanish Institute in New York.
At age 79, retirement is a dirty word. He likes to quote a friend who says, “to rest is to rust.”
LONDON/MUMBAI (Reuters) Global manufacturing activity was subdued going into 2012, with the euro zone’s industrial sector suffering its fifth straight month of declines in December and Asian factories mostly stuck in a rut.
Monday’s purchasing managers indexes (PMIs) provided further evidence that Europe is unlikely to avoid a recession.
The rate of decline of activity in euro zone factories eased slightly to raise hopes the downturn will not be as severe as feared, though hiccups in the Spanish and Czech deficit reduction programs emphasized the extent of the continent’s debt troubles.
With Asian PMIs showing a clear lack of momentum in the vast industrial economies of China and South Korea, the United States seems to be one of the few major economies showing signs of an upturn, even if modest and uncertain.
Economists expect the U.S. ISM manufacturing survey due at 1500 GMT on Tuesday to show American factories expanded at a faster pace in December.
The Eurozone Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose slightly in December to 46.9 from November’s 28-month low of 46.4, but marked a fifth month below the 50 mark that divides growth from contraction.
Compiler Markit said levels of production and new orders fell in all of the euro zone countries covered by the survey for the second month running.
“These numbers are consistent with our view that it’s going to be a normal recession,” said Dirk Schumacher, senior European economist at Goldman Sachs in Frankfurt.
“Still painful, no doubt about that, but there’s no indication that it’s going to look like anything like around the end of 2008, so far.”
Reuters polls of economists suggest the euro zone economy is already stuck in a recession that will last until the second quarter of 2012. They forecast the economy will probably see no growth this year.
Indeed, most economists now expect the European Central Bank (ECB) to counter this by cutting interest rates to 0.75 percent in the next few months, below their record low 1.0 percent.
The PMIs showed the euro zone’s peripheral economies tanking in December, with Spain’s manufacturing slump extending to eight months, putting pressure on the government to help drive a return to economic growth as it struggles to cut its debt.
Madrid’s public deficit for 2011 may be even higher than the above-target 8 percent of gross domestic product forecast by the new centre-right government on Friday, Economy Minister Luis de Guindos said on Monday.
The Czech Republic could let its public deficit grow above target this year if the economy contracts, its Prime Minister Petr Necas was quoted as saying on Monday.
Worries about the financing of highly indebted European countries sent the euro to a decade low against the Japanese yen on Monday, though moves were exacerbated by thin holiday trade.
ASIA WOBBLES
Asian factory output remained weak in December, with Chinese manufacturers narrowly avoiding contraction and South Korea’s industrial production shrinking the most in almost three years.
Taiwan, meanwhile, saw its industrial sector contract for a seventh straight month.
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Graphic: Asia PMI – http://link.reuters.com/caz75s
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“Although production and new business inflows are still declining, the pace of deterioration eased across the board for the second straight month,” HSBC economist Donna Kwok said of the Taiwan data on Monday.
Worries have grown that China, the world’s second-largest economy, is headed for sharply slower growth, undermining its ability to offset looming recession in debt-laden Europe and an uncertain U.S. recovery.
China’s official purchasing managers’ index, released Sunday, edged up to 50.3 in December from 49 in November.
China is widely expected to announce new policy measures to help boost growth, starting with a cut in the required ratio of reserves it demands commercial banks hold, after trimming it by 50 basis points in November from a record high of 21.5 percent.
India, by contrast, saw strong factory activity in December that defied recent weakness in Asia’s third-largest economy.
Activity in the manufacturing sector rebounded in December led by higher demand from both domestic and foreign clients,wholesale Ralph Lauren t-shirts, suggesting that the momentum in the sector is not quite as weak as official and more dated (industrial production) data would suggest,” said Leif Eskesen, economist at HSBC.
Economists expect the U.S. ISM manufacturing survey – another PMI – to rise to 53.2 in December from November’s 52.7, which was the best showing since June.
(Editing by John Stonestreet)
They’re currently available online for pre-order, so I’m sure the sales on these are going to be bananas. Dimensions are 14x 9, and the bag features a turn-lock closure in constrasting gold with a matching chain. It’s perfect for a date night or even a special occasion.
Buy it here.
See other trendy summer handbags!
These handbags from Urban Expressions are cute! Priced right at $44.99, these “leather” bags are available in colors I love –black, cream, grey and fuchsia.
