Saturday, January 28, 2012

Mid Day International News

Mid Day International News

Aussie PM gets her missing shoe back

Posted:

Aborigines, who made headlines yesterday for scooping up Julia Gillard's shoe during a protest, return it but not before burning the national flag

Both sides are blaming each other after an incident that saw Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard rushed out of an event by her security team on Thursday. The riot police were called to form a human shield around Gillard and escort her out of a Canberra restaurant after hundreds of angry protesters surrounded the building.


Day out: Australian PM Julia Gillard seems unruffled by the recent events
and was pictured enjoying the men's semifinal match between Andy
Murray and Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open at Melbourne Park
yesterday. She was viewing the match with tennis legend Margaret Court,
after whom a court has also been named. Pic/AFP

Gillard stumbled in the fray and lost a shoe, which protesters scooped up after the rowdy demonstration in the capital Canberra.

Gingerella moment
However, aboriginal rights protester Gwenda Stanley returned the shoe Gillard had lost as she hurried to her car the day before. "With the authority of the sovereign people of the Aboriginal tent embassy, I stand before you as an ambassador of goodwill. I therefore wish to return the shoe that was left behind in the violent commotion created by your security team," Stanley said.

But the protests did not stop there, as about 200 demonstrators marched to the parliament building in the Australian capital Canberra on Friday and burned the national flag. They carried messages and chanted , 'Always was, always will be Aboriginal land'. They also insisted that they were not to blame for Thursday's violence.

PM speaks
However, the prime minister did not see what took place in the same light. "I've got absolutely no troubles at all with peaceful protests, and generally the tent embassy has been a peaceful protest.

What I utterly condemn is when protests turn violent the way we saw the violence yesterday, and particularly disrupting an event which was to honour some extraordinary Australians, did leave me very angry," said Gillard.

Michael Outram, national manager of protection for the Australian Federal Police, said police may file charges against some of the protesters.

Meanwhile, in an embarrassment for the Prime Minister, Tony Hodges, one of her media advisers was forced to resign after it emerged he had tipped off someone about Opposition leader, Tony Abbott's presence and comments at the function and that person had then informed the protesters.

Gillard's spokesman said the staff member had not encouraged violence but the tip-off was 'an error of judgment.'

eBay pulls missing 'Gillard Shoe' amid bids
eBay had put up Australian PM Julia Gillard's missing shoe for sale on the site but later retracted the decision. The shoe listed as Julia Gillard Shoe with a starting price of $148 had attracted bids exceeding $2000 minutes after it was put up. "Up for auction is the Julia Gillard Missing shoe... A right foot -- size 8 -- Midas -- Glorify" the seller's statement said. "You are bidding on a used shoe. Please bear in mind also this is a single shoe, not a pair, so it would be difficult to walk in, unless you're the PM," he added. An eBay spokesperson said the sale had been taken down because sellers can only list items they own, or items the owner has given permission to sell.

Cashing in
The makers of Julia Gillard's famous 'missing' shoe are cashing in on her Cinderella moment, with plans to release a new version dubbed the 'Julia'. The company is considering releasing a line of the same shoe, but with one very special modification -- a strap to keep it firmly fixed on the foot.

Winehouse's father slams Gaultier tribute

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Amy Winehouse's grieving dad Mitch hit out at designer Jean Paul Gaultier accusing him of cashing in on the late singer's death by using her as the inspiration for his latest catwalk show. Mitch said the catwalk 'tribute' at Paris Fashion Week came as a "total shock".



The ex-cabbie accused Gaultier of cashing in on Amy's death with a "bad taste" fashion show. Mitch said the singer's family was devastated by pictures of catwalk models smoking and wearing the singer's trademark beehive hairdos and heavy eyeliner.


Too soon: Amy Winehouse's father said that the fashion show by
Gaultier was just a gimmick to make more money. Pic/AFP

Wednesday's show at Paris Fashion Week came just two days after the half-year anniversary of her death -- and Mitch said it portrayed Amy at her worst. He said, "The family was upset to see those pictures, they were a total shock. We're still grieving for her loss, and we've had a difficult week with the six-month anniversary of Amy's death. To see her image lifted wholesale to sell clothes was a wrench we were not expecting or consulted on."

He added, "We're proud of her influence on fashion but find black veils on models, smoking cigarettes with a barbershop quartet singing her music in bad taste. It portrays a view of Amy when she was not at her best, and glamorises some of the more upsetting times in her life. That's upsetting for her family."

Mitch added: "No one asked us for permission or offered to make a donation to the foundation. This is purely about Gaultier making money, and that's wrong." Gaultier claimed the catwalk show was a "tribute" to the singer. He said afterwards, "She was an icon of fashion and truly, the sense of how she mixed the clothes -- it was great. It was very eighties but did it in a very modern way. It is very joyous."


Costa survivors offered Rs 7-lakh compensation

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Survivors of the capsized cruise ship Costa Concordia are being offered just 11,000 (Rs 7.14 lakh) in compensation in return for not taking legal action.

Costa Cruises are offering more than 3,000 passengers the compensation for their lost belongings and psychological damage caused when the ill-fated luxury cruise ship hit a rock off the coast of Giglio, in Italy, on January 13.

The company have also pledged to refund the cost of the disastrous cruise and any transportation costs.
It is thought those with physical injuries will be dealt with individually.

As a further incentive for dropping legal action the company are offering passengers a 30 per cent discount on future cruises.

The offer has already been criticised by consumer group, Codacons, who have urged passengers not to accept the offer. Codacons are currently filing a multi-million pound law suit in Miami against the cruise ship's parent company, Carnival Plc, seeking 1,25,000 for each passenger.

Eleven people have so far been confirmed dead and 21 passengers and crew members are still unaccounted for following the disaster.


French magazine labels obamas 'black-geoisie'

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French Elle is under fire for claiming that members of US First Family are the first fashionable African-Americans

When it comes to commenting on the Obamas and African-Americans, French Elle needs to fermez la bouche!
In an blog post titled Black Fashion Power, writer Nathalie Dolivo managed to insult American blacks as a whole while offering left-handed compliments to the First Lady Michelle Obama for taking on the Jackie O role in a "jazzy" way.


Fashion Forward: In the blog, Nathalie Dolivo says that Obamas are
the first to bring true style to African-Americans and dubs them the
black-geoisie who dress white but still maintain their blackness. File pic

The writer imagines that the Obamas are the first to bring true style to African-Americans. "In this America led for the first time a black president, the chic has become a plausible option for a community so far pegged to its codes [of] streetwear," she wrote.

Things get even more baffling when she dubs the Obamas the "black-geoisie" who dress "white" but still maintain their "blackness" with symbols. "There is always a classic twist, with a bourgeois ethnic reference (a batik-printed turban/robe, a shell necklace, a 'creole de rappeur') that recalls the roots," she said.

While Michelle Obama has been known to wear African-influenced jewellery and support young black designers, it's far less accurate to define her wardrobe as batik robes and turbans.

The backlash has been swift and severe. "How, in 2012, in a France where there are at least three million blacks and mixed people, can you write such nonsense," a commenter told French Elle. "You are too kind when you write that in 2012 we have incorporated the white codes �what do you think, in 2011, we dressed in hay and burlap bags?"

To black women in France, the article was upsetting but not surprising. "The saddest thing is that this stupid journalist thought she was doing something positive for us," a Fashion Bomb Daily commenter said. " I'm sure that even educated French people wouldn't see any offense in this. Yes this what we Black women in France live!!! Sad truth."

Elle isn't alone in the magazine world for making racial slurs. Italian Vogue found itself in hot water last year for writing about the trend for 'slave' earrings, a gaffe they said was down to a mistranslation.


Posted by Harshad at 7:26 AM

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