A provisional five-day forecast by the Met Office shows a dense layer of ash engulfing the country on Friday – the start of the bank holiday weekend and half term.
High concentrations would cause serious delays and cancellations for air passengers, and trigger knock-on effects for flights over one of the busiest weekends of the year.
Hundreds of holidaymakers transport plans were in ruins last night, but thousands more face trouble in the coming days as the ash heads south
Some planes would be able to take off and land under the ash cloud, but the Civil Aviation Authority said the number of flights may have to be 'rationed'.
The warnings have left many anxious about whether their flights at the start of half term will be disrupted. Up to two million people are expected to fly in and out of the UK over the four days of the bank holiday weekend.
Officials insisted that Britain and the rest of Europe have learned from last year’s fiasco, caused by another Icelandic volcano, when planes were grounded for six days.
The screen says it all: The arrivals board at Edinburgh airport shows how many flights were cancelled and long delays for those that were expected
It caused misery for tens of thousands of passengers, many of whom were stranded abroad and were forced to make their way home by road, rail and sea.
Although Transport Secretary Philip Hammond is confident that the great getaway will still happen, confusion reigned in Whitehall last night.
This was largely because of the unpredictable nature of weather and volcanic activity.
Forty winks: A passenger tries to sleep after failing to secure alternative accommodation or transport after his flight was cancelled yesterday
Yesterday thousands of passengers endured disruption as Scotland became a virtual no-fly zone.
British Airways cancelled all flights to and from Glasgow, Edinburgh and Newcastle, while BMI, easyJet, Flybe and Aer Lingus all scrapped services.
Ryanair claimed the cancellations were an over-reaction but went on to halt all its flights in and out of Scotland. More than 250 flights were cancelled across Europe.
After a test flight up to 41,000ft in Scottish airspace, airline boss Michael
O’Leary described the so-called ‘red zone’ of highest density volcanic ash over Scotland as a 'non-existent, mythical and a misguided invention'.
The latest satellite image showing the ash plume from the Grimsvotn volcano, under the Vatnajokull glacier in south-east Iceland
The crisis has been sparked by the eruption of Iceland's Grimsvotn volcano, which has been spewing out plumes of ash, steam and smoke since Saturday.
Scientists say high concentrations of ash can cripple aircraft engines.
Since last year's eruption, airlines and the Civil Aviation Authority have eased the rules and now allow flights through 'low density' ash clouds.
Airlines that want to fly their planes through medium and high concentrations have to convince the CAA that it is safe.

Grounded: Two Ryanair jets and a FlyBe aircraft sit on the tarmac at Edinburgh airport yesterday
Long wait: Using their suitacase as a makeshift chair, two passengers at Glasgow airport pass the time by reading a book and checking a mobile phone
Waiting and more waiting: Passengers at Edinburgh Airport wait to board buses to other airports after their flights were cancelled
If the UK is overshadowed by high concentration ash, airlines would be forced to cancel and delay flights, and timetables could be disrupted for days.
Decisions on whether to fly are based on forecasts from the Met Office's Volcanic Ash Advisory Service, rather than real-life measurements of concentrations.
Although the Met Office has part ownership of a research plane, it is currently being used in Ireland to study 'marine organic particles'.
A dedicated Met Office atmospheric research plane, commissioned after last year's volcanic chaos, is not due to arrive until next month.
Huge power: The eruption makes a spectacular sight over the Icelandic landscape
On the ground: A car drives towards the erupting Grimsvotn volcano which has sent thousands of tonnes of volcanic ash into the sky
Stunning: As the volcano erupts, huge dark ash and storm clouds gather across the Icelandic skyline
Yesterday it was in talks with the German Aerospace Centre to borrow a test plane.
Last night the Met Office said it stood by its five-day prediction showing the entire UK covered in an ash cloud of the highest density from 35,000ft to 55,000ft.
A spokesman for the Met Office said: 'These are the most recent charts available and are on our website. We stand by them.
He added: 'It is based on the assumption that the volcano will continue to erupt at the same rate. It is a guide, not definitive.'
source: dailymail

VIA Half term holiday flights on knife edge: Family breaks under threat as Met office warns ash cloud could blanket Britain

Red Bull Interior

Entrant Company: Sid Lee Architecture, Montreal;
Architectural design: Sid Lee Architecture;
Branding & graphic design: Sid Lee;
Builders: professional construction studio: Fiction Factory;
Local Architects: Kamstra Architecten BNA;
General contractor: Jora Vision B.V.;
Photographer: Ewout Huibers.

VIA «Red Bull Office»

We just returned from a somewhat frustrating two weeks in Quito. The reason for our trip was to finalize my paperwork so that I can become a legal permanent resident of Ecuador. Unfortunately we were only able to accomplish a fraction of what we set out to do. The bureaucracy here, as anywhere, is horrible and everything seems to involve long waits, complicated procedures and unhelpful employees. One amusing twist was that many of the government employees (and other official types) were openly rude to us. Lucho says it's because they want money and he refuses to pay them. But I guess it just comes with the territory. We got similar treatment at the U.S. Embassy.

The process of getting my resident visa involves many steps and none of them are quick or simple. Just for example one of the things we need to submit is an official marriage certificate. In order to get an official marriage certificate we had to legalize our marriage in Ecuador. To do this we needed a official copy of our marriage certificate (certified by the State of Indiana). The certificate had to be translated and notarized. The notary wouldn't notarize it unless the person who translated it was there to sign the translation in person. Neither Lucho nor I could sign the translation (even though we both speak English) so we had Lucho's sister, an English teacher, sign it for us. We went to three notaries before we found one who would do it for us (the first one refused to do it and the second one was so rude that Lucho wouldn't to go back). The guy who finally did it was nice enough, but we were stuck waiting in his little office for a long time while he chain-smoked his way through the process. Once we finally had all the paperwork together (which included copies of our passports and other documents) we drove down to the "Registro Civil" (which took about an hour in smoggy Quito traffic) to submit everything. After sitting through a traffic jam outside the building for about 20 minutes we were able to find a parking space. As we were walking to the building someone told us that the office was closed for the next hour or so, but we decided to check it out for ourselves. Fortunately they were still open and we were able to get inside. There were long lines of people everywhere. We thought we were lucky when we were directed to a desk with no one waiting near it. The guy understood what we wanted, took our paperwork and charged us $1. Then he told us to come back in the afternoon. So we went out to lunch at a nearby mall and came back. We went back to the guy and he rudely directed us to another desk with a crowd of people around it. They were vaguely organized in a line, but Lucho positioned himself on one side and I stayed on the other just to make sure. We waited our turn and eventually were able to talk to the guy. He made us sign a document and told us to come back the next day in the afternoon to pick up another piece of paper. The next day we came back, waited in another line, got our piece of paper and then were told that we had to go to another desk and register our marriage. We waited again and finally a woman asked us to come forward and sign our names in a book. We were being officially married in Ecuador! But before that we had to pay them $40. After that we thought we could get our official marriage certificate, but no luck. We had to wait a week and go to another office (this one an hour drive, in another direction, through smoggy Quito traffic). So a week later we drove down to the other office to pick up an official copy of the marriage certificate. Christina was sleeping so I waited in the car with her. Lucho disappeared for a while and then came back with a sad face. He told me that after waiting in one long line to request the copy and another long line to pay for it he was told to come back the next day to pick up the document. The next day, after another hour long drive through smoggy traffic, Lucho waited in another long line (I was shopping a local mall with Lucho's sisters) and finally picked up the official marriage certificate!

That was just one of the 6 or 7 documents that we need to apply for my resident visa. Not all of the documents are this difficult to obtain, but each one has its story. For example, I have to send my police record back to the U.S. be certified by the State of California before the Ecuadorian government will accept it.

Of course we could avoid most of this hassle if we paid a lawyer a lot of money. But, besides being cheap, we want to see how far we can get "on our own". We also have the help of one of Lucho's nephews and his girlfriend, who are both law students. When we went to the immigration office with them they recognized one of the guys who works there. It turns out that he is one of their friends from school. So that's a ray of hope. As I mentioned in a previous post - it's always much easier to get things done around here if you know someone on the "inside".

Some of you may remember one of my old posts from Sacramento about how we were rushing around, trying to get all of my paperwork together for a visa. Why are we doing this again, you may ask? Well, we are asking ourselves the same question. The visa I have now is a "tourist" visa, not an "immigrant" visa. It expires at the end of August. Why do I have a tourist visa? Because that's what the Ecuadorian consulate in San Francisco told me to get, even though we explained to them that I am married to an Ecuadorian and that I was planning to live in Ecuador; even though the Ecuadorian Embassy's website clearly explains that there is an immigrant visa that can be applied for from outside of Ecuador. We were told that I had to get the tourist visa first and then reapply for the immigrant visa once we were in Ecuador. Now that we are in Ecuador we are told that the fact that I have a tourist visa is a problem and that I will probably have to pay some kind of fine before I can switch to an immigrant visa. Ahhh ... "la experienca cuesta" (experience costs).

But, despite all of this we were able to enjoy ourselves in Quito. We spent a lot of time with family. We ate a lot of good food, we went shopping, and we got to see some of the sights.

The travelling isn't over yet. On Monday I'm going on a quick trip out to the countryside with some members of a local environmental group. This might turn into a job for me. I turns out that some of the small towns in Loja Province have some funding to do some water quality monitoring. It sounds like a very interesting project and I hope that I can help them out. Then on Friday we're planning to drive to Guayaquil - Ecuador's biggest city, located on the coast - to visit family. We'll be there for about a week. This time we won't be doing any work, we'll just be enjoying ourselves and relaxing.

But four years after the uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak and nearly ended his own career, Zahi Hawass can be found in a cramped Cairo office, lamenting the state of the antiquities bureaucracy he once ruled like a pharaoh and dreaming of a new museum whose fate lies in limbo.

His trademark wide-brimmed hat and safari vest may be hung up for now, but he is brimming with ideas on how to revive Egypt's antiquities and bring back tourists after years of unrest.

A long-planned new facility out by the pyramids, called the Grand Egyptian Museum, was intended to open this year, but the government says it is short the one billion dollars needed to complete the project.

"Government routine cannot work for museums," Hawass said in an interview in his office, asserting that state bureaucracy is one of the main reasons the current Egyptian Museum has fallen into disrepair. For the new museum, "the directorship, the curatorship, it can be from America, from Germany, from England, from any place in the world. You need this museum to be international."

He also says private, international sponsorship is needed.

"If you pay $10,000, I put your name, written on the wall of the museum. If you pay $100,000, I put your name on the facade of the museum. If you build a whole gallery, I will name (the gallery after you)," he said, adding that the government should announce that Egyptian monuments belong to the entire world, not just Egyptians.

As to the challenge of moving artifacts from the current museum in downtown Cairo over bumpy roads to the site of the new facility on the city's outskirts, Hawass says "any TV channel" would pick up the tab in return for exclusive rights to document the artifacts' restoration and transport. "They will run in competition to do this," he said.

Hawass knows TV. He was once a staple on the Discovery Channel and had his own reality show on the History Channel called "Chasing Mummies," the promo for which introduced him by saying "100,000 years of history belong to one man... Only he holds the key to the world's greatest ruins."

The productions earned him droves of fans abroad but led to accusations of grandstanding in Egypt, where he was seen by many as a self-promoter who mistreated subordinates and abused his position for personal gain. He lost his job as head of antiquities after the 2011 uprising and faced corruption charges, of which he was later cleared.

But his swashbuckling antics gave a boost to Egyptian archaeology, with fundraising efforts and international tours of King Tut artifacts generating tens of millions of dollars.

His name is still associated with many of Egypt's most famous digs, including grand discoveries such as the Valley of the Golden Mummies in Bahariya Oasis in 1999 and the mummy of Queen Hatshepsut almost a decade later. He has long campaigned to bring home ancient artifacts spirited out of Egypt during colonial times, and once said he had managed to recover 5,000 pieces.

Zahi was an outspoken supporter of his longtime patron Mubarak, and has praised President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who led the military overthrow of an Islamist president in 2013 and was elected last year. But that support has not translated into an official role other than promotional work for tourism in Egypt.

When asked about the state of antiquities today, Hawass says things have improved over the last year, carefully avoiding direct criticism of anyone in particular. But he points out that there is still theft, mismanagement and corruption - noting two incidents in recent months in which artifacts were found to have been replaced with replicas.

"This did not happen before," he said, adding that in order to prevent such abuses, "we need to restore the people before we restore antiquities," by boosting employees' salaries and providing them with health insurance.

Hawass insisted during the interview that he is focused on writing and has no desire to return to his previous position as head of the country's antiquities. "People come here every day and ask me to come back... I think I did my duty, and it's time for me now to publish all that I discovered."

But at the glitzy launch of his latest book earlier this month at a ceremony at a five-star hotel attended by hundreds of Cairo's elite, he was less guarded about possible ambitions to return.

"Maybe," he said, as a torrent of fans pressed to take photos next to him.

Author: Brian Rohan | Source: The Associated Press [June 30, 2015]

Bank on suburbs of Madrid

VIA «New vision of office space for clerks»

Architectural Factory of Pipes

The building for company T Bailey Inc is made as factory expansion on manufacture of steel pipes. The architect of the project — Tom Kundig from studio Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects — used huge pipes as a design element.

We Make the Pipes!

Total area of office of 1,100 sq. m. For construction of office architects used directly that product which is made by the customer. Visitors will get to a building on huge pipes. In a huge vertical pipe the large fan which will condition air at the main office is placed. The conditioner will be charged by energy of the sun.

The interior corresponds to stylistics. The concrete floor, open structure, a covering minimum. The roof inclination will direct streams of rain water to a garden, for watering of trees growing there.

VIA «Huge Pipes, As an Architectural Element»

Nextime has bought the patent

VIA «New interpretation of wall clocks»

I had my first doctor's appointment this week. It was nothing serious, just a routine checkup. Visiting the doctor here in Ecuador is much different than visiting a doctor at the Kaiser hospital I used to go to in Sacramento. At Kaiser patients are pushed in and out of the examination room as fast as possible. An assistant would ask me all the preliminary questions, take my blood pressure, and enter all the data into a computer. I would usually get about 5 minutes to actually talk to the doctor. They would answer my questions, but there was always a sense of urgency, like they were half way to their next patient.

The doctor I saw here works at one of the "best" clinics in Loja, and is also Lucho's best friend's brother-in-law. Since he is a friend he greeted me with a kiss on the cheek (a very common greeting here in Ecuador). I'm sure that was the first time I've every kissed my doctor on the cheek! Then he ushered me in to his office which was a combination office/examination room. He conducted the entire examination himself, took his time, and asked me lots of questions. I didn't feel rushed at all. I guess it used to be like this in the States in "old days", before skyrocketing health care costs made everyone become more "efficient". The best part of the doctor's appointment was making the payment. The cost of the visit - $25.00.. can't beat that!

Four of the pieces are of exceptional rarity, cultural significance and aesthetic quality. These include a bust of a pharaoh wearing a crown, a fragmented stone slab (known as a stele) depicting the patron goddess of Thebes from the era of the New Kingdom (circa 1500−1000 BC), and two architectural fragments with cult scenes from the Roman period (circa 753 BC to 476 AD).

The objects were returned to Egypt in conjunction with the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Federal Act on the International Transfer of Cultural Property. The federal act marked the implementation of the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the illegal transfer of cultural goods.

On Tuesday, an international meeting will take place in Bern under the title “The UNESCO Convention of 1970: 10 years of implementation in Switzerland − The preservation of cultural heritage and the duty to care for cultural goods”.

The event will include discussion of the practical enforcement of the act both nationally and internationally, and the effect it has had on museums, archaeologists, art dealers, collectors and government authorities in its first ten years.

Source: Swissinfo [June 01, 2015]

Innovative embodiment

The Western technologies and East culture

VIA «Public health services high technologies»

Stranded: Passengers sleep on the floor at Edinburgh Airport after their flights were cancelled late last night
Tens of thousands of families are facing air travel chaos from today – and into the half-term holidays – as a thick cloud of volcanic ash descends over the UK.
The towering plume of Icelandic ash, smoke and steam hit Scotland and Ireland last night, bringing disruption to airlines, leading to the cancellation of 252 flights - and forecasters say the plume is expected to reach Heathrow airport by 1pm bringing further chaos.
British Airways and a host of other airlines last night cancelled all flights between London and Scotland until 2pm today, and the Civil Aviation Authority has said the ash cloud is moving unpredictably and changing by the hour.
Closer to the source: A plane flies past smoke plume from the eruption of the Grimsvotn volcano in Southeast Iceland but flights in Britain are being cancelled
Stationary: Eastern Airways, which has cancelled all flights to an from Scotland, now has its planes standing still at Aberdeen Airport
Shortly after 8am the Met Office said that high level densities of ash were likely to be confined to Scotland and northern England today.
A Met Office spokeswoman went on: 'The weather is uncertain over the next few days. We have a low pressure system moving in tomorrow and there could be some westerly winds.
'However, very small changes in weather patterns can make very large changes in how the ash will move.'
Between 30 and 40 BA flights will be affected from airports including Heathrow, Gatwick and London City to and from Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen. The airline runs 80 flights a day between these airports.
Pink lightening: The stormy conditions around the Grimsvotn volcano look dramatic but authorities insist that it poses a lesser threat than the last ash cloud
Problems: The departures board at Edinburgh Airport shows the disruption caused by the volcanic ash cloud already
Royal Dutch Airlines KLM cancelled the 16 flights scheduled for this morning to and from Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Newcastle.
The airlines said customers on any cancelled flights will be able to claim a full refund or rebook on to alternative flights – and that all other flights will operate as scheduled.
A BA spokesman said: ‘We would urge customers not to travel to the airport if their flight has been cancelled.’
At least 36 flights were cancelled in Scotland last night and today, as airports across Britain were put on stand-by for imminent disruption.
Easy Jet, Aer Lingus, Flybe, KLM, Logan Air and Eastern Airways have all cancelled flights to and from Scotland.
Ryan Air has been ordered by the Irish Aviation Authority to cancel flights to and from Glasgow, Prestwick, Edinburgh and Aberdeen.
Presidential flight: Barack Obama and Air Force One touch down at Stansted Airport last night after he was forced to rearrange his plans because of the ash cloud
'Perhaps it's a little bit too early to be absolutely sure about that, but clearly that's the most important thing - if the ash stops belching out of the volcano then, after a few days, the problem will have cleared, so that's one of the factors.
'The other is the wind speed and direction. At the moment the weather patterns are very volatile which is what is making it quite difficult, unlike last year, to predict where the ash will go.
'The public can be absolutely confident the regulators that airlines are only able to operate when it is safe to do so.'
U.S. President Barack Obama flew from Ireland to London last night – a day early – to ensure the cloud does not delay his state visit.
Haves and have nots: President Obama flew early so he could avoid being stuck in Ireland longer than he wanted, but these stranded passengers at Edinburgh Airport didn't have that luxury

Grey skies: Emergency services vehicles in Kirkjubaearklaustur are covered in a thick layer of the volcanic ash from clouds that are now passing over Britain


How are we going to get home? Tourists leave the Islandia Hotel yesterday in Nupur as ash continue to pour out of the erupting volcano
What happens now depends on three things. How long the volcano continues to erupt (this could be days or just hours); how the airlines decide to interpret the ash guidelines issued by the Civil Aviation Authority – which is unknown – and, lastly, the weather.
With a fair wind and a bit of geological luck, holidaymakers might manage to get away as planned this weekend.
But if, like the millions of Britons who enjoyed the blissfully silent skies of April last year, Iceland’s trolls and elves decide they too appreciate the silence of plane-free skies, we could be looking at yet another week of travel nightmare for millions.
UK airspace is 'better prepared' for volcanic ash cloud as flights could be threatened

source: dailymail

VIA Nightmare for air passengers begins as hundreds of flights are cancelled and volcanic ash threatens half-term getaway

The artifacts, valued by the authorities at $107.6 million, were described in papers filed in State Supreme Court in Manhattan as having been looted from India and other places in southern Asia and smuggled into the United States by the dealer, Subhash Kapoor.

In their complaint, prosecutors said Mr. Kapoor, 65, had cached the items in an assortment of hideaways in Manhattan and Queens. They were confiscated during raids that began in 2012 and continued through last year.

The seized items included bronze and stone statues of Hindu deities, many of them ancient masterworks worth several million dollars each.

The authorities said their goal in gaining custody of the items was to set in motion the return of the stolen objects to India and their other countries of origin. Officials also hope to prosecute Mr. Kapoor, an American citizen, in the United States. Currently he is awaiting trial in India on charges of plundering archaeological sites and conspiring with black market traders to send illicit artifacts overseas. American officials are planning to extradite him after his case is settled.

Mr. Kapoor, whose defunct gallery, Art of the Past, sold hundreds of objects to prominent American museums and collectors, has denied any wrongdoing.

“At the present time we are at a distinct disadvantage because Mr. Kapoor is in an Indian jail and all the facts in this matter are known by him,” said Kenneth J. Kaplan, a lawyer for Mr. Kapoor. Manhattan prosecutors declined to comment on the case.

Since an initial raid on Mr. Kapoor’s gallery by Homeland Security Investigations agents in 2012, three of his associates have agreed to criminal penalties in exchange for cooperating with investigators, according to officials and lawyers. The case, which now extends to four continents and is being pursued in conjunction with Indian officials, has been named Operation Hidden Idol.

Mr. Kapoor’s office manager, Aaron M. Freedman, 43, of Princeton, N.J., pleaded guilty in 2013 to six counts of criminal possession of stolen property valued at $35 million and, according to his lawyer, helped officials track down some of Mr. Kapoor’s hidden storage locations.

In addition, Mr. Kapoor’s sister, Sushma Sareen, a 61-year-old Queens resident, pleaded guilty in November to a misdemeanor charge of obstructing justice and was sentenced to conditional release. In 2013, she had been charged with receiving and possessing several million dollars’ worth of ancient bronze statues, which remain missing. She is also cooperating, according to investigators.

Federal authorities have identified 18 American museums as owning a total of 500 items sold or donated by Mr. Kapoor. Several museums have recently turned in objects judged to be illicit, while others have said they are satisfied that their Kapoor items were legally acquired.

Author: Tom Mashberg | Source: The New York Times [April 14, 2015]

Emergency supplies: A box full of cans of beer stands in the mud this morning
You've got to laugh: Hayley Davenport manages to keep a smile on her face as she carries her guitar through the mud. Left, another festival fan is more than prepared for the expected wet weather
More than 177,000 people are expected to attend the festival in Pilton to see the likes of U2, Beyonce and Coldplay perform.
Unlike last year's sun-drenched festival, music fans have packed woolly jumpers, waterproofs and wellies as they brace themselves for autumnal temperatures and regular downpours.
Barefoot bravery: Katie Featherstone and Lucy Loretto arrive in the mud clutching their festival gear
Nearly all donned their wet weather gear as as the damp conditions threatened to cause a repeat of the 2007 mudfest.
Weather experts even warned revellers making their way to the annual bash that they may need to brace themselves - for hail.
Met Office forecaster George Goodfellow said: 'The weather for the period of Glastonbury Festival is looking very unsettled but we could see the most intense showers on Thursday.
'When we get these intense showers at this time of the year we can see hail, which is a possibility for Glastonbury.'

Carefree: A festival goer laughs as he arrives at the Glastonbury Festival site with a dirty face - and the fun hasn't even begun
The Met Office has also warned night temperatures will drop to as low as six degrees - while heavy rain is already turning the 1,100 acre site into a mud bath.
A spokesman said: 'It's not going to be a typically wet Glastonbury but it won't be like last year's either.
'We're expecting some heavy showers for the first two days but it will gradually improve and while Sunday won't be that bright it could be quite warm.'
Determined: Two festival goers have a steely look on their faces as they battle through the wind and mud
But the weather is unlikely to put off excited festival-goers who will turn Worthy Farm into the south-west's third largest city after Bristol and Plymouth.
James Beal, 25, from Bristol, is making his fourth trip to Glastonbury and spent last year's festival basking in the heat wave.
He said: 'This year's event will be brilliant, regardless of whether it's wet and windy or sunny and bright.
'I think it's impossible for the weather to put me off, I'm here for the music and the atmosphere.
'I can't wait to see Beyonce; I hope Jay-Z makes a guest appearance - that would be amazing.'
Some revellers will be enjoying the festival fun in rather more luxurious surroundings than others, however.
Popping up next to the Glastonbury Festival is the latest venture in posh camping - deluxe tents which cost up to £1500 for the weekend.
Festival-goers with fat enough wallets can spend the weekend in safari-style bell tents with double beds, valet parking, wooden deck flooring and hot showers in an upmarket encampment just outside the festival.
And for those who need a pick me up after a hard night's raving, the so-called pop-up hotel offers full English breakfasts to guests.
Missing the point? The luxury on offer at the Pop-Up Hotel just outside the festival site
Event organisers are employing around 1,600 staff to look after the event, which is now in its 40th year.
Thousands of acts from local unsigned bands to the world's biggest rock stars will be appearing on stage over the five-day festival.
Taking centre stage on the famous Pyramid this year are U2, Coldplay and Beyonce while Morrissey, Primal Scream and Tinie Tempah are also expected to draw huge crowds.
Lesser known acts will perform on the 100 other stages and performance areas.
Wet weather gear: In scenes that could be repeated this year, a discarded pair of wellies lie at the exit of Glasto' 2009
Compare and contrast: Brollies provided a different kind of protection for last year's festival as sunshine beat down on gig-goers
Festival organisers are dedicating six per cent of the event's revenue this year to keeping the place clean and tidy.
The site will have 20,000 rubbish bins colour-coded for recycling, enabling the festival to recycle more 400 tonnes of waste.
This is being co-ordinated by 160 'green police' who patrol the vast site ensuring people don't drop litter or urinate in the stream.
A team of 950 people will clean up rubbish every morning and ensure the 4,600 toilets are acceptable to use.
How to walk onto the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury Festival 2011

A drive around Glastonbury Festival Site 18/06/11

source : dailymail

VIA Wellies and winter coats will be order of the day as weather looks grim for Glastonbury

The Stone Towers by Zaha Hadid Architects

VIA «Zaha Hadid will construct Stone Towers in Cairo»

VIA The blushing bride

City in a miniature

VIA «Entertaining ecology in Hamburg»

The dealer, Subhash Kapoor, is now awaiting trial in India for allegedly looting artifacts worth tens of millions of dollars.

Mr. Kapoor operated a now-defunct gallery on the Upper East Side called Art of the Past. Prosecutors allege that between 1995 and 2012 he illegally imported and sold stolen antiquities from India, Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere, often using forged documents to pass the items off as legitimate.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations unit and the Manhattan district attorney’s office have together recovered more than 2,500 artifacts worth more than $100 million from the gallery and storage facilities in and around New York City.

Kenneth J. Kaplan, a lawyer in New York representing Mr. Kapoor, declined to comment Wednesday, but said his client had asserted his innocence both to him and to his counsel in India. Mr. Kapoor has not yet entered a plea in India, according to a spokeswoman for Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.

The item recovered this week is a Chola-period bronze representing a Tamil poet and saint that dates to the 11th or 12th centuries, according to Brenton Easter, a special agent with Homeland Security Investigations. The statue, which stands nearly two feet tall and weighs more than 80 pounds, was allegedly looted about a decade ago from a temple in a village in the southeastern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

The theft of the figure was “completely devastating” to the villagers, Mr. Easter said on Wednesday afternoon, as he stood by the open door of the van containing the relic parked on East 91st Street near Park Avenue. The item was smuggled into the U.S. labeled as a handicraft, and then offered for sale at Mr. Kapoor’s gallery on Madison Avenue.

In recent months some institutions that purchased objects from Mr. Kapoor have surrendered the items to Homeland Security Investigations. They include the Honolulu Museum of Art and the Peabody Essex Museum in Massachusetts.

In a statement, Honolulu Museum Director Stephan Jost said in April that “clearly the museum could have done better” with its past vetting of objects. Dan L. Monroe, the Peabody Essex Museum director, said in a statement that month that the institution has undertaken “a rigorous internal assessment of its collection and is working in full cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security.”

This time around, the stolen object was voluntarily surrendered by an anonymous collector who had been contacted by investigators about the piece. Officials said the buyer was considered a victim because the statue was accompanied by a false provenance, or ownership history, that predated its theft.

“We commend this collector for his conscious decision to return this stolen idol,” said Raymond R. Parmer, Jr., special agent in charge of HSI New York. “We hope that other collectors, institutions and museums will continue to partner with HSI, and to see this surrender as a successful way to move forward when dealing with artifacts that might be of concern.”

The agency has recovered at least six other sacred Chola bronzes that it anticipates repatriating to the Indian government.

In April, the Manhattan district attorney’s office filed papers in New York State Supreme Court seeking the forfeiture of 2,622 items seized from the gallery and storage units in Manhattan, Queens and Long Island. The items were worth $107 million, according to the summons. Among them: a statue from India valued at $15 million, a large bronze statue from Cambodia or Thailand worth $5 million and a large standing Buddha from North India estimated at $7.5 million.

According to the April summons, Mr. Kapoor and his gallery manager, Aaron Freedman, “engaged in a common plan and scheme to illegally obtain and sell stolen items of art and conceal or disguise the nature, source and ownership of the illegally obtained property.”

Mr. Freedman pleaded guilty in December 2013 to five counts of criminal possession of stolen property and one count of conspiracy, according to the summons. Prosecutors said the antiquities were forfeitable from Mr. Kapoor and his gallery as proceeds and/or instrumentalities of crime.

Author: Jennifer Smith | Source: The Wall Street Journal [July 03, 2015]

t comes after she spent a week with George, the 26-year-old son of the Duke of Northumberland, and a group of friends in ­Madrid.
Wedding belles: Pippa and her sister Kate with Prince William and best man Prince Harry leaving Westminster Abbey
A friend told the Sunday Mirror: 'Pip and George are really close friends so when he needed someone to help out with office stuff, she was the obvious person to ask.
She’s enjoying getting stuck in to ­something new.'
Pippa will juggle the role with her role at party planning firm Table Talk, and editing an online magazine for her parents’ firm Party Pieces.
Enterprising George, whose father is one of the richest men in Britain, set up the business last year with ­mining magnate Algy Cluff, who owns gold mines in war-torn Sierra Leone.
The company aims to find ways of turning hot water stored underground into heat and electricity.
Along with experts from Newcastle ­University, they are drilling boreholes in ­Co Durham, and Pippa is expected to help with lobbying for a new licensing system from the government so they can go into production.
source: dailymail

VIA Pippa Middleton gets herself a job at an environmental firm owned by her ex