The world’s most expensive Christmas pudding costs £23,500 |
- The world’s most expensive Christmas pudding costs £23,500
- Precious gems inspire Shu Uemura’s latest makeup collection
- Juventus to play in Australia
- Ryan O’Neal wins trial over ex-lover’s Warhol painting
- Honda’s new crossover launches in Japan, headed for US in 2014
- Spain watchdog fines Google for privacy ‘violations’
| The world’s most expensive Christmas pudding costs £23,500 Posted: 19 Dec 2013 05:08 PM PST
Soaked in a 200-year-old Cognac, topped with a collectible gold coin, and prepared by the former pastry chef of The Savoy Hotel London, the world's most expensive Christmas pudding can serve up to 12 people and can be made to order to account for dietary requirements. The pudding is being sold by the same British luxury retailer that created around-the-world tours of all the three Michelin-starred restaurants in the world and travel packages of UNESCO-themed heritage sites, VeryFirstTo.com. What makes the pudding so expensive? The dessert is made with a bottle of Duret 1810 Cognac valued at £10,890 which was produced during the pre-Phylloxera era, also known as the Great French Wine Blight, when a mite destroyed a swath of French vineyards.
The pudding is also studded with organic Ajwa dates and rare Mamra almonds from Iran. To create the exorbitant dessert, VeryFirstTo recruited Martin Chiffers, currently the executive pastry chef of Chiffers Shop at Mitsukoshi Ginza Tokyo and the president of the UK Pastry Team for the World Pastry Cup. Previously he was the pastry chef of The Savoy Hotel London. Topping the dessert is a coin worth £7,500 that shows the angel Gabriel facing the Virgin Mary and the Latin cross on the reverse side. The pudding also comes with 10 silver three-pences dating back to 1762, valued at £70. Placing a three-pence in a Christmas pudding is an age-old custom to bring wealth in the coming year, says VeryFirstTo. The remaining alcohols and presentation boxes are also included with the dessert. The final day to order is December 21. — AFP Relaxnews  |
| Precious gems inspire Shu Uemura’s latest makeup collection Posted: 19 Dec 2013 05:07 PM PST
Created for the Spring-Summer 2014 season, Shu Uemura's Bijoux collection draws inspiration from the colours of precious gems including amethyst, opal, morganite, quartz and topaz. "With the Bijoux collection, I sought to reveal the exterior beauty and inner radiance of each woman. By playing with the reflective power of light and with pastel colours which soften the features, we obtain a makeup look that is both natural and luminous," explains Kakuyasu Uchiide, international creative director at She Uemura. The collection suggests that nude tones will once again be in vogue next season, along with shimmer and sparkle, particularly around the eyes. The Shu Uemura Bijoux collection includes four new shades of the slightly shimmery Silk Cushion Eyeshadow (€23/around RM103), two Silk Cushion Cheek blushes (€29), a limited edition Dual Fit Pressed Powder (€49), two shades of Rouge Unlimited Satin Matte Lipstick (€30), pastel green and lavender nail polishes (€23), false eyelashes (€24) and Swarovski crystal face gems (€18). Italian fashion label Dolce & Gabbana also drew inspiration from precious stones and from the jewellery of its native island for its Holiday 2013 makeup collection, entitled Sicilian Jewels. The Bijoux collection will go on sale in select stores and through She Uemura's online store from January 23. ― AFP-Relaxnews |
| Posted: 19 Dec 2013 04:59 PM PST
The reigning Serie A champions will play an Australian A-League All Stars team at the Sydney Olympic stadium on August 10. The match follows this year's A-League All Stars clash against English champions Manchester United, which drew 83,000 fans to the same stadium. Juventus has an estimated 1.4 million fans in Australia and is the former club of Italian superstar Alessandro Del Piero, who is in the second year of a playing contract with Sydney FC. ― AFP |
| Ryan O’Neal wins trial over ex-lover’s Warhol painting Posted: 19 Dec 2013 04:57 PM PST
The six-man, six-woman panel rejected a claim by the University of Texas, where the late "Charlie's Angels" star went to college, that she left the valuable portrait to her alma mater. The university sued O'Neal after the painting was spotted in the actor's home during an episode of reality TV show "Ryan and Tatum: The O'Neals." It said Fawcett bequeathed all her artwork to her alma mater when she died, and insisted the Warhol painting should be displayed in a museum next to a near-identical portrait also of the late actress, also created in 1980. O'Neal's lawyers said during the two-week trial that Warhol gave one portrait to Fawcett and the other to O'Neal. O'Neal, 72, said the portrait belonged to him, but he had left it at her home because his new girlfriend "was uncomfortable with Farrah staring at her" from the wall at his own home. He said he removed the work from Fawcett's Wilshire Boulevard condominium shortly after she died of cancer on June 25, 2009 -- the same day as pop icon Michael Jackson—aged 62. Fawcett was born in Texas and went to college there for three years, but left without graduating after being "discovered" and moving to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. While the university says the portrait is worth about $12 million, O'Neal's lawyer Martin Singer estimated its value at just under US$1 million (RM3.13 million), adding: "The University of Texas should have been satisfied with what they got." — AFP |
| Honda’s new crossover launches in Japan, headed for US in 2014 Posted: 19 Dec 2013 04:52 PM PST
The Honda Vezel runs on a 1.5L fuel engine, paired in the hybrid version with an electric motor and the brand's Intelligent Dual-Clutch Drive transmission (i-DCD). This hybrid drivetrain was developed as a replacement for a 2.0L engine. The Vezel enters the market as Honda's first hybrid equipped with the Real Time All-Wheel-Drive system, which works to ensure optimal distribution of power to all four wheels. This option is also available on the standard fuel-engine version. Honda plans to market the crossover in the US from the second half of 2014 and in Europe from 2015. — AFP Relaxnews |
| Spain watchdog fines Google for privacy ‘violations’ Posted: 19 Dec 2013 04:51 PM PST
The Spanish Data Protection Agency accused the popular search provider of "illegal processing of personal data" obtained from users of various services such as Google email accounts. Google's privacy policy enables it to track the activity of users across its search engine, Gmail, the Google+ social networking platform and other services it owns, which include YouTube. "Google unlawfully collects and processes personal information" of users, the Spanish agency said in a statement. "The agency considers that Google seriously violates the right to the protection of personal data." It ordered Google to pay €300,000 for each of three breaches of Spain's data protection law and ordered it to bring its privacy policy in line with legal norms. The agency said Google's privacy policy did not clearly inform users of how it uses the data collected, for example information from emails that is gathered to generate targeted advertising. It also accused Google of keeping the data for longer than is legally justified and of making it difficult for users to query the use of their data. Google has repeatedly stated that its privacy policy respects European law, despite investigations in several countries. Google spokespeople could not immediately be reached to comment to AFP yesterday but El Pais newspaper quoted the company as saying it had been "totally involved" in the agency's investigations. It would "read the report carefully and then decide what steps to take next", the newspaper quoted Google as saying. The Spanish authority launched proceedings against Google in June. In September, France too said it would take action against the company, accusing it of breaching privacy norms. Authorities in Germany, Italy, The Netherlands and Britain have also opened parallel procedures against Google. The Spanish agency said it was the first of these six authorities to make a final decision on action against the US giant. The European Union warned Google in October 2012 that its new data protection procedures did not comply with an EU directive on the subject and gave the company four months to change them. That deadline passed without any action, prompting France to set up the task force of individual member states pursuing the issue with Google. Google has defended the changes it made last year, saying they simplify and standardise its approach across its various services. Critics say the policy gives the operator of the world's largest search engine unprecedented ability to monitor its users. Like other technology giants, Google has come under heightened scrutiny in recent months following revelations by US whistleblower Edward Snowden of online eavesdropping by intelligence agencies. The Spanish Data Protection Agency is a state body with power to impose fines and to order data to be destroyed, according to its website. In 2010 it filed a suit against Google for allegedly capturing data from Internet users when it collected photos for its Street View map service. ― AFP |
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