BMW to sell luxury cars for less online

The BMW i3 concept car at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show in January. (John T. Greilick / Detroit News)BMW will sell cars over the Web for the first time as the world's largest maker of luxury vehicles seeks an inexpensive way to reach more buyers to recoup spending on its electric models.A direct online sales platform for BMW's new I sub-brand will be unique in an industry where, outside of small-scale experiments, competitors leave Internet orders for cars to dealers. BMW's range of strategies for the models, including a roaming sales force backing a limited showroom network, reflects the challenge carmakers face as low-emission vehicles trickle into dealerships to sluggish demand after years of development."There is considerable risk in BMW's...

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Paper Passion, a scent from Geza Schoen for Wallpaper magazine, makes its wearers smell like freshly printed books

Paper Passion, a scent from Geza Schoen for Wallpaper* magazine, makes its wearers smell like freshly printed books. I suppose it can be alternated with "In the Library," a perfume that smells like old books.Paper Passion fragrance by Geza Schoen, Gerhard Steidl, and Wallpaper* magazine, with packaging by Karl Lagerfeld and Steidl.“The smell of a freshly printed book is the best smell in the world.” Karl Lagerfeld. It comes packaged with inside a hollow carved out of a book with "texts" by "Karl Lagerfeld, Günter Grass, Geza Schoen and Tony Chamber...

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It will cost two million € to connect the electricity, and nobody wants to pay.The empty Guadalhorce Hosptial in Cártama

The Guadalhorce Hospital has been completed in Cártama on the Costa del Sol, but it has been empty for several months with no opening date planned.To continue installing the equipment in the hospital it has to be accepted as meeting requirement, and to show that hospital is as planned, but for that to take place it must be connected to the electricity supply.The problem is that will cost two million €, although the originally quoted price was 300,000 €, to install the electrical connection required. Endesa say the problem is that to supply the hospital an electrical substation at Villafranca del Guadalhorce will have to be expanded.Cártama Town Hall has said they cannot meet the extra cost, which has put the budget up five fold. Mayor Jorge Gallardo says he thinks the electricity company is...

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Spain wildfires: Three killed

 Officials say the flames have been fanned by strong windsForest fires raging in Spain's north-eastern Catalonia region have left three people dead, officials say.Two French nationals drowned in the sea close to the border with France while trying to escape the flames, Catalonia's interior minister said.Strong winds gusting up to 90km/h (55mph) have rendered one fire "out of control", he said.All residents of the county of Alt Emporda - about 135,000 people - have been ordered to stay indoors.The area is a main link for holidaymakers travelling to and from southern France. Traffic on the cross-border AP-7 motorway was reported to have been severely disrupted on Sunday.Cardiac arrestThe two French victims were among several people who were...

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Spain Scraps Siesta as Stores Stay Open to Spur Spending

The Spanish shopping siesta may be about to become the latest victim of the sovereign debt crisis. To stimulate spending after a 23 percent drop in retail sales since 2007, the euro region’s fourth-largest economy this month approved measures that allow shops of more than 300 square meters (3,229 square feet) to open for 25 percent longer a week. The new rules may encourage the outlets to sell during the traditional afternoon snooze from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., and on an additional two Sundays or holidays a year for a total of 10. “When everything was fine, nobody complained, but now that things have gone awry, then it’s another story,” said Carmen Cardeno, director general for domestic commerce at the nation’s economy ministry, which created the rules. “We need to evolve and be more flexible.”...

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Spain king ousted as honorary president of World Wildlife Fund branch after elephant hunt

The World Wildlife Fund’s branch in Spain has ousted King Juan Carlos as its honorary president — a title he’d held since 1968 — after deciding his recent elephant hunting safari was incompatible with its goal of conserving endangered species. The announcement Saturday was the latest in a string of bad news for Spain’s royal family, which has been embarrassed by legal and other scandals. The fund said in a statement that “although such hunting is legal and regulated” it had “received many expressions of distress from its members and society in general.” It said members voted at a meeting Saturday in Madrid to “to get rid of the honorary President” by a substantial majority of 226 votes to 13. The Royal Palace declined immediate comment on the announcement. Many Spaniards were dumbfounded...

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fishermen clash off Gibraltar

Just as there are reports of progress in the talks between the Gibraltar authorities and the Spanish fisherman from Algeciras and La Linea, comes the news that Gibraltar Police have harassed two Spanish boats near the Rock. The fishermen alerted the Guardia Civil when they saw the Gibraltar launch, and say the situation is ‘unbearable’ and they demand a solution. The fishermen say if it continues in this way, they will call their boats to fish off the rock. The members of the technical commission which is trying to negotiate a settlement, have been in contact with the Spanish authorities to explain what has happened and to ask for a solution to the conflict. The Spanish fishermen’s representative, Pedro Maza, has claimed the Gibraltar Government is using delaying techniqu...

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Killer of four members of a British family is thought to be in Spain

press conference is being held in the British Embassy in Madrid today to try and track down Anxiang Du.Anxiang Du spotted on closed circuit TV in Brimingham New St Station Representatives from the British and Spanish police are to hold a joint press conference today to detain 53 year old Anxiang Du, the alleged killer in a brutal assassination of people of the same family in Wootton, Northampton. It happened on April 29 2011. Police say he felt that he was owed thousands of pounds by Helen Ding who was killed with her family; including two children aged 18 and 12. Police think the alleged killer could be in the south of Spain or in the north of Morocco, and have made a special call to the ferry operators to keep watch. There are reports that the British Police has offered a reward of 25,000...

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