VIENNA (Reuters Life!) – A Spanish precious metals trading company bought the world's largest gold coin for 3.27 million euros ($4.02 million), its exact material worth, from the estate of an insolvent investment firm at a rare auction in Vienna on Friday.
The 100 kg (220.5 lb) piece, one of only five Canadian $1,000,000 Maple Leaf coins the Royal Canadian Mint has ever produced, was snapped up immediately in a written bid from ORO direct, a gold trading company based in Madrid.
There were no counter offers in an auction room packed with more journalists than potential buyers. It sold for the catalog sum, the coin's pure gold value based on Friday's market price. This was four times its face value.
The auction was ordered by the administrator of Austrian investment group AvW Invest, which filed for insolvency in May after its owner and chief executive was arrested on suspicion of fraud, breach of trust and other charges.
AvW had acquired the coin in 2007, joining an exclusive club of owners including Queen Elizabeth, who is also displayed on one side of the coin, two unidentified investors in Dubai and one who is so reclusive even his or her residence is unknown.
AvW had lent its coin, 53 cm (21 inches) in diameter and 3 cm thick, to Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum where it had been on display as part of its coin collection.
Its purity is 99.999 percent, the purest type in the market.
The Royal Canadian Mint launched the coin in 2007 to showcase its production facilities and steal the entry in the Guinness Book of Records for the world's biggest gold coin.
That title had previously been held by the Austrian mint, who in 2004 produced fifteen 100,000-euro coins weighing 1,000 troy ounces (31.1 kg) to celebrate the 15th anniversary of its best-selling Philharmonics coin.
(Addtional reporting by Boris Groendahl, editing by Paul Casciato)
Friday, June 25, 2010
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Angelina Jolie believes in free love
Angelina Jolie - who is a long-term relationship with Brad Pitt - insists fidelity is not essential for a relationship to work.
Angelina Jolie doesn't believe fidelity is essential in a relationship.
The Hollywood actress - who raises six children with her long-term partner Brad Pitt - believes open romances can work just as well as monogamous relationships, if both partners agree to it.
She told Das Neue magazine: 'I doubt that fidelity is absolutely essential for a relationship. It's worse to leave your partner and talk badly about him afterwards.
'Neither Brad nor I have ever claimed that living together means to be chained together. We make sure that we never restrict each other.'
The 34-year-old screen beauty - who famously met and fell in love with Brad on the set of 'Mr. and Mrs. Smith' in 2005, while he was still married to Jennifer Aniston - also revealed the pair have a fiery relationship.
She said: 'The sparks fly at home if the nice Brad fails to see that he's wrong and reacts in a defiant way. Then I can get so angry that I tear his shirt.'
Angelina Jolie doesn't believe fidelity is essential in a relationship.
The Hollywood actress - who raises six children with her long-term partner Brad Pitt - believes open romances can work just as well as monogamous relationships, if both partners agree to it.
She told Das Neue magazine: 'I doubt that fidelity is absolutely essential for a relationship. It's worse to leave your partner and talk badly about him afterwards.
'Neither Brad nor I have ever claimed that living together means to be chained together. We make sure that we never restrict each other.'
The 34-year-old screen beauty - who famously met and fell in love with Brad on the set of 'Mr. and Mrs. Smith' in 2005, while he was still married to Jennifer Aniston - also revealed the pair have a fiery relationship.
She said: 'The sparks fly at home if the nice Brad fails to see that he's wrong and reacts in a defiant way. Then I can get so angry that I tear his shirt.'
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
NEW YORK (Billboard) - With seven No. 1s on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs tally and four consecutive chart-toppers on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, Alicia Keys
By Raphael George, Reuters
NEW YORK (Billboard) - With seven No. 1s on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs tally and four consecutive chart-toppers on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, Alicia Keys walks off as Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop artist of the decade.
The singer's 2001 debut album, Songs in A Minor, reigned over Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums for six weeks and launched a pair of top 10 singles, including the multiformat smash "Fallin'."
Keys followed Songs in A Minor with The Diary of Alicia Keys (2003), Unplugged (2005) and As I Am (2007). With the exception of her third offering, each set ranks in the top 40 of the decade's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. On Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, Keys' No. 1 singles have led for 41 chart weeks, more than any other artist. Among them, "No One" and "Like You'll Never See Me Again" combined for 17 consecutive weeks at No. 1.
Keys' dominance reflects the broader picture of the era's top-ranked acts. Straight-ahead R&B artists like Keys, Beyonce and Ne-Yo fare better than rap acts on the all-encompassing top artist ranking, despite being responsible for fewer than half of the decade's top 50 R&B/hip-hop albums. R&B acts account for 31 of the decade's top 50 artists, while rap acts, led by Jay-Z at No. 2, round out the remaining slots.
R&B's grip of the Top Artists list is buoyed by its greater appeal on adult R&B and mainstream R&B/hip-hop radio stations. Due to broader airplay across multiple formats of radio, R&B songs generally enjoy a longer life span and are more successful on the chart. Since 2000, no rap song has spent more than nine weeks at No. 1 or more than 56 chart weeks on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.
Meanwhile, R&B singles have tallied nine leaders with at least 10 weeks at No. 1 and eight songs that spent at least 60 weeks on the chart. During the decade, "Be Without You" by Mary J. Blige established the record for the most weeks at No. 1 since 1958 (15).
All is not lost for rap. Of the aforementioned Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, rap holds seven of the top 10 positions. Jay-Z is the genre's Top Album Artist of the decade with 10 No. 1s, the most for any artist.
© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service
NEW YORK (Billboard) - With seven No. 1s on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs tally and four consecutive chart-toppers on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, Alicia Keys walks off as Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop artist of the decade.
The singer's 2001 debut album, Songs in A Minor, reigned over Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums for six weeks and launched a pair of top 10 singles, including the multiformat smash "Fallin'."
Keys followed Songs in A Minor with The Diary of Alicia Keys (2003), Unplugged (2005) and As I Am (2007). With the exception of her third offering, each set ranks in the top 40 of the decade's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. On Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, Keys' No. 1 singles have led for 41 chart weeks, more than any other artist. Among them, "No One" and "Like You'll Never See Me Again" combined for 17 consecutive weeks at No. 1.
Keys' dominance reflects the broader picture of the era's top-ranked acts. Straight-ahead R&B artists like Keys, Beyonce and Ne-Yo fare better than rap acts on the all-encompassing top artist ranking, despite being responsible for fewer than half of the decade's top 50 R&B/hip-hop albums. R&B acts account for 31 of the decade's top 50 artists, while rap acts, led by Jay-Z at No. 2, round out the remaining slots.
R&B's grip of the Top Artists list is buoyed by its greater appeal on adult R&B and mainstream R&B/hip-hop radio stations. Due to broader airplay across multiple formats of radio, R&B songs generally enjoy a longer life span and are more successful on the chart. Since 2000, no rap song has spent more than nine weeks at No. 1 or more than 56 chart weeks on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.
Meanwhile, R&B singles have tallied nine leaders with at least 10 weeks at No. 1 and eight songs that spent at least 60 weeks on the chart. During the decade, "Be Without You" by Mary J. Blige established the record for the most weeks at No. 1 since 1958 (15).
All is not lost for rap. Of the aforementioned Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, rap holds seven of the top 10 positions. Jay-Z is the genre's Top Album Artist of the decade with 10 No. 1s, the most for any artist.
© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Keira Knightley ‘Paid Basic Rate For West End Debut’
KEIRA Knightley gets paid top dollar to star in Hollywood movies.
But it’s a different story when it comes to a West End production.
The actress, 24, is said to be taking home just £750 a week for her role alongside Damien Lewis in The Misanthrope at London’s Comedy Theatre.
“Keira was more than happy to do it at a basic rate,” a source told Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper.
“She will be taking a percentage of the box office sales as well, but she’s doing this for experience more than anything else. She has been a joy to work with.”
It was recently claimed that Keira’s role in the play is causing tensions in the actress’ relationship with her boyfriend Rupert Friend.
“This play is a big deal for Keira,” said a source close to the the star. “Unlike films, there are no second takes on stage.
“She knows she’s got to get it right.
“She’s been pretty wound up and it’s meant quite a bit of tension at home with Rupert.”
But it’s a different story when it comes to a West End production.
The actress, 24, is said to be taking home just £750 a week for her role alongside Damien Lewis in The Misanthrope at London’s Comedy Theatre.
“Keira was more than happy to do it at a basic rate,” a source told Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper.
“She will be taking a percentage of the box office sales as well, but she’s doing this for experience more than anything else. She has been a joy to work with.”
It was recently claimed that Keira’s role in the play is causing tensions in the actress’ relationship with her boyfriend Rupert Friend.
“This play is a big deal for Keira,” said a source close to the the star. “Unlike films, there are no second takes on stage.
“She knows she’s got to get it right.
“She’s been pretty wound up and it’s meant quite a bit of tension at home with Rupert.”
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Cities Where Americans Are Getting Richer
Incomes for educated workers are growing fastest in these metros
The news coming out of dusty border city El Paso, Texas, is usually pretty grim. The metro suffers from 9.5% unemployment, declining high-school graduation rates and inadequate infrastructure. But a closer look reveals an employment picture that, at least in one way, is improving. In the past four years, incomes for college graduates there have steadily grown more than any other major metropolitan area.
Several factors, like increased border patrol activity requiring jobs in intelligence and other white-collar work, and recent expansions of both Fort Bliss, one of the country's largest military bases, and the local University of Texas campus, have boosted pay for educated Texans. Couple that with El Paso's relative protection from the battered housing economy and it's easier to see why pay is inching up.
"Under most circumstances, it would be surprising for El Paso to rank so highly on any type of income gauge," says Tom Fullerton, economics professor at the University of Texas at El Paso. "But there has been some really fortunate timing in terms of expansion in the local economy."
Indeed, it's not always the most affluent or economically robust cities where incomes for professionals have jumped the most, according to data provided by Seattle-based Payscale, an online provider of employee compensation data with a database of 18.5 million employee profiles. Median pay rose in El Paso by 19.4% to $49,100 since 2005, handily outpacing the 8% national growth for college grads.
Closely following El Paso are Bakersfield, Calif., an oil town packed with engineers, where incomes are up 18.5%; Omaha, Neb., a national center for large insurance carriers like Mutual of Omaha, which saw an 18.4% jump; and Virginia Beach, Va., home to U.S. military bases including Naval Air Station Oceana, where the median rose 17.3%.
This list offers a different view of the economy than the national jobs landscape with which Americans are all too familiar: 15.4 million are unemployed, 135,000 jobs are lost each month and incomes for many are stagnant. But in some urban areas where growth industries like government, health care and education are prevalent, college graduates have seen modest, but steady, income growth.
Behind the Numbers
Payscale.com studied the compensation of college graduates for which it had data--about 1.5 million people--in the 100 most populous Metropolitan Statistical Areas (regions defined by the U.S. Office of Management and budget that the federal government uses to collect statistics) in the country. It ranked metros on the compounded income growth between December 2005 and December 2009 to arrive at the cities where Americans are getting richer.
Metros in the top 10 are scattered throughout the Northeast, Midwest, South and Hawaii, showing that income growth has more to do with what you do than where you live. Incomes in the best-performing metros are heavily influenced by the dominant industries there--and in particular, whether those industries pay well for college graduates.
Bakersfield, Calif., suffers from a 14.5% unemployment rate and a sharp loss of housing industry jobs. But the engineering profession has a strong presence there, as do the oil and gas extraction industries, all of which require highly skilled workers.
"Bakersfield has a high unemployment rate, but what we're seeing is not affecting college grads," says Al Lee, director of quantitative analysis at Payscale. "So if you have a college degree and you're working as a petroleum engineer, you're doing fine."
A city like Phoenix, whose economic fortunes have changed dramatically for the worse in the past three years, is a surprising member of the top 10. But the tumbling housing industry, while it cost many building jobs, had less of an impact on college graduates. Some of the few jobs that remain are top-earning ones. Cynthia Kroll, senior regional economist at the Fisher Center of Real Estate and Urban Economics at the Haas School of Business, University of California Berkeley, compares it to the trimming of low-wage jobs in Silicon Valley after the dot-com bust early in the decade.
"When the crash comes, and you lay off 75%, you tend to keep the higher-paid jobs. So your salary base goes up," says Kroll. "It's not that highly skilled people don't also get laid off, but the mix is going to be weighted toward the more experienced, more skilled workers that you're going to need when growth comes back."
Cities like Charlotte, N.C., benefit from one of the country's strongest industries, and one that counts highly skilled workers among its ranks: Education. Charlotte is home to a half-dozen universities, Johnson & Wales University among them.
These trends are another indicator that the country is in the midst of a significant and in many places painful transition from a manufacturing economy to one driven by service and technology jobs. The change has mixed implications for educated workers. Jobs have been lost in industries that were often unionized, which raised salaries, and fewer union jobs may drag incomes down on the whole.
"As those industries have shorn jobs, the proportion of families with middle incomes has declined," says Douglas Hall, director of the Economic Analysis and Research Institute at the Economic Policy Institute, an economics-based think tank in Washington, D.C. "Manufacturing's role in the economy has changed, and we haven't wrapped our heads around what the implications are."
The lack of strong regional patterns in the metros becoming richest reveals more than anything how varied local economies are. Only a close look at the mix of industries in every city, and its political and economic underpinnings, explains the direction in which incomes are moving.
"Bakersfield and El Paso are really different from Virginia beach and Honolulu. That in itself is interesting" says Kroll. "It may well be a different story in each place."
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
'Avatar' heads Golden Globes contenders
BEVERLY HILLS (AFP) – Futuristic epic "Avatar" and downsizing drama "Up In the Air" led the field as nominees for the 67th Golden Globes were unveiled on Tuesday, signaling the start of Hollywood's awards season.
Despite the fact that it has yet to be released in North America, Oscar-winner James Cameron's ground-breaking "Avatar" scored nominations in the best drama and best director categories for the January 17 awards show.
The nominations will fuel hype about the film, which has garnered stellar reviews following its world premiere in London last week.
However "Titanic" director Cameron's big budget labor of love faces stiff competition from "Up In the Air," the acclaimed story about a corporate downsizer played by George Clooney who starts to question his life.
The film picked up several nominations including best drama, a best actor nod for Clooney, and best director for Jason Reitman.
Other contenders for best drama include gripping Iraq war drama "The Hurt Locker," Quentin Tarantino's blood-soaked World War Two revenge fantasy "Inglourious Basterds" and gritty drama "Precious," about the struggles of an obese, illiterate and abused African-American teenager.
Unlike the Oscars, the Golden Globes splits its best picture prizes between genres, honoring best drama and best comedy/musical.
The Globes are often viewed as a key barometer of which films may go on to challenge for honors at the Oscars, which will take place at Hollywood's Kodak Theater on March 7 next year.
Although 67.4 percent of films which won best picture at the Academy Awards also won a Golden Globe, in recent years the awards have proved an unreliable barometer of likely Oscar winners.
Rags-to-riches drama "Slumdog Millionaire" is the only film in the past five years to have followed up a best picture statuette at the Golden Globes with victory at the Oscars.
http://www.website.ws/nurshaliza
Despite the fact that it has yet to be released in North America, Oscar-winner James Cameron's ground-breaking "Avatar" scored nominations in the best drama and best director categories for the January 17 awards show.
The nominations will fuel hype about the film, which has garnered stellar reviews following its world premiere in London last week.
However "Titanic" director Cameron's big budget labor of love faces stiff competition from "Up In the Air," the acclaimed story about a corporate downsizer played by George Clooney who starts to question his life.
The film picked up several nominations including best drama, a best actor nod for Clooney, and best director for Jason Reitman.
Other contenders for best drama include gripping Iraq war drama "The Hurt Locker," Quentin Tarantino's blood-soaked World War Two revenge fantasy "Inglourious Basterds" and gritty drama "Precious," about the struggles of an obese, illiterate and abused African-American teenager.
Unlike the Oscars, the Golden Globes splits its best picture prizes between genres, honoring best drama and best comedy/musical.
The Globes are often viewed as a key barometer of which films may go on to challenge for honors at the Oscars, which will take place at Hollywood's Kodak Theater on March 7 next year.
Although 67.4 percent of films which won best picture at the Academy Awards also won a Golden Globe, in recent years the awards have proved an unreliable barometer of likely Oscar winners.
Rags-to-riches drama "Slumdog Millionaire" is the only film in the past five years to have followed up a best picture statuette at the Golden Globes with victory at the Oscars.
http://www.website.ws/nurshaliza
Courtney Love loses custody of daughter
CNN) -- Rock star Courtney Love has lost custody over her daughter Frances Bean Cobain. Two legal guardians have been appointed to care for Frances Bean, Love's 17-year-old daughter with the deceased Nirvana front man, Kurt Cobain, CNN has confirmed.
According to legal documents originally obtained by TMZ.com, the court has appointed Kurt Cobain's mother, Wendy O'Connor, and his sister, Kimberly Dawn Cobain, to watch over the minor.
Geraldine Wyle, an attorney for O'Connor and Cobain, confirmed to CNN that an order of temporary guardianship has been granted to her clients and said the issue was a "private family matter."
A court hearing has been scheduled on the issue for February 10.
This is not the first time that Love has been in court to discuss issues within her family.
In 2003, Frances Bean was temporarily placed under the care of O'Connor after Love was arrested and accused in an attempted break-in at an ex-boyfriend's home, overdosed on painkillers and made a suicide threat. Love admitted a misdemeanor charge of being under the influence of a controlled substance. She regained custody in 2005.
"Life is about choices," Love said in 2005. "And I've chosen to move forward with my life in a healthy and positive way."
Frances Bean, who turns 18 in August, told Harper's Bazaar magazine last year that she doesn't want to live in the shadow of her famous parents forever.
"I get it, I really do," she said. "But at the same time it's creepy. These people are fascinated by me, but I haven't done anything. If you're a big Nirvana fan, a big Hole fan, then I understand why you would want to get to know me, but I'm not my parents."
According to legal documents originally obtained by TMZ.com, the court has appointed Kurt Cobain's mother, Wendy O'Connor, and his sister, Kimberly Dawn Cobain, to watch over the minor.
Geraldine Wyle, an attorney for O'Connor and Cobain, confirmed to CNN that an order of temporary guardianship has been granted to her clients and said the issue was a "private family matter."
A court hearing has been scheduled on the issue for February 10.
This is not the first time that Love has been in court to discuss issues within her family.
In 2003, Frances Bean was temporarily placed under the care of O'Connor after Love was arrested and accused in an attempted break-in at an ex-boyfriend's home, overdosed on painkillers and made a suicide threat. Love admitted a misdemeanor charge of being under the influence of a controlled substance. She regained custody in 2005.
"Life is about choices," Love said in 2005. "And I've chosen to move forward with my life in a healthy and positive way."
Frances Bean, who turns 18 in August, told Harper's Bazaar magazine last year that she doesn't want to live in the shadow of her famous parents forever.
"I get it, I really do," she said. "But at the same time it's creepy. These people are fascinated by me, but I haven't done anything. If you're a big Nirvana fan, a big Hole fan, then I understand why you would want to get to know me, but I'm not my parents."
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