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...

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A million Britons live with the hell of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Nadine Stewart was convinced she was going to die. Just ten minutes after setting off for a pop concert with her sister, she felt a tingling sensation in her arms and pain in her chest.‘I knew I was having a heart attack,’ says Nadine, 41, a customer services adviser from Morecambe, Lancashire. ‘I begged my sister to take me to A&E: I ran in and screamed that I was having a heart attack.‘They put me on a monitor and my heart was fine — what I had suffered was a panic attack. I have no idea to this day what caused it, but it terrified the life out of me.’ Nadine Stewart has to do everything nine times or fears her husband will dieBut...

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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...

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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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HANGING OUT WITH FRIENDS TODAY

 Grabbing a cup of coffee  Dining out at your favourite restaurant Spending some time at the museum   Meeting at a popular fast food centre     Relaxing at the beach   Going to a game      Going out on a date    Taking a drive around town  I am thankful I belong to another generation  !!!! “It’s become appallingly clear that our Technology has surpassed our Humanity” -- Albert Einst...

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Soaring unemployment, rising taxes and belt-tightening family budgets across Spain could finally spell the end of the traditional Spanish lunch and siesta.

The two-to-three-hour midday breaks with time built in for a snooze during the hottest part of the day were once the Spanish worker's universal way to beat the afternoon heat. But it is becoming a luxury for cash-strapped employees who are working longer hours and having to make do with less in the country's steepest downturn since the 1930s.Many Spaniards still start work at around 9 a.m., and don't leave work until after 8 p.m., in part to allow for a long lunch, and restaurants cater for them with three-course set-price menus from 2 p.m.-5 p.m.But restaurants are being forced to rethink their formats and pricing, as more workers opt for once frowned-upon sandwiches at their screens, or lunch brought from home."You save a little every month and that's really good for the family budget now...

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Tattoos are permanent reminders of temporary feelings

'It's wisest to pick someone whom you cannot break up with or divorce.' Photograph: Gary Powell/Getty ImagesTattoos are permanent reminders of temporary feelings – at least if you believe the report in Thursday's Daily Mail, which looked at "embarrassing" matching couple tattoos – designs that complement or complete each other across two, romantically involved bodies.Yet there are millions of people who feel no embarrassment about the tattoos they share with their friends, lovers and even exes. Moreover, as with most perceived "new trends" in tattooing, this practice is one with a history far older than the current generation; it's...

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Latvian company creates leather bound Ferrari

We're familiar with seeing tight leather on smoking hot women, and weird old men, but it's a first for us seeing a leather bound Ferrari F430.There seems to be a lot of fuss over this leather bound Ferrari F430 in the UK with both The Sun and The Daily Mail reporting about it recently.However, this isn’t a new car by any means as US motoring blog Jalopnikreported on the F430 way back in August last year. It’s a pretty cool, albeit manky, car so we thought we’d show you anyway.It’s the work of a Latvian custom car company called Dartz who hit the headlines in 2009 when they created a $1.5 million ruby red SUV with whale...

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Stunning pictures from Spain as revellers take part in the annual Running of the Bulls in Pamplona

  Running the gauntlet: Revellers dash down the streets of Pamplona, chased by charging fighting bullsAPThe annual "Running of the Bulls" in Pamplona, Spain, is one of the most intense, dangerous public events we've seen, as members of the public charge down the streets as fighting bulls are released onto the town's cobbled streets.The revellers run down the streets, looking to get close to the bulls without being gored by them, on a route that finishes in the town's bull ring.The event sees thousands of people line the streets and take to the balconies of their houses as the charge takes place.  Side streets are barricaded off...

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Freeze Fresh Herbs in Oil to Preserve Them

Have a few fresh herbs sitting around that you won't get to using before they turn? Sure, you can freeze them in water or dry them out, but if you know you'll use them relatively quickly, you can add a few weeks to their life without damaging their potency by freezing them in oil instead. We've shown you how to make simply syrups with them, and how to use sea salt to dry them, but if you have some lovely herbs you want to use, but won't get to before they turn brown, consider dropping them in an ice cube tray, filling up the cubes with olive oil (or any other oil of your choice, as long as it freezes nicely), and popping them in the freezer. When you're ready to fry some potatoes, for example, pop out a couple of rosemary oil cubes—you'll need the oil for the pan anyway, and the rosemary will...

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Maurice sells 'too-big' €1m Marbella villa

Pain in Spain? Not in the Marbella property market at any rate. Maurice Boland and his wife Wendy are selling their palace in the hills overlooking Marbella for e1m. And, pardon my Spanish, but it is absolutely nothing to do with his relationship with a 16-year-old teenager in Marbella in the not-too-distant past, which the top Irish DJ described as "a massive error in judgment". "That was two years ago," he told me. "You learn from your mistakes. Wendy and I have just celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary. We're stronger than ever," he said, adding that they have five lovely grandchildren. Maurice, who last year launched his new radio station iTalk FM in Marbella, told your diarist that the House Casa Eden (with three living rooms, two dining rooms and its own cinema set in more than...

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Barclays boss Bob Diamond resigns

Barclays chief executive Bob Diamond has resigned with immediate effect. The move comes less than a week after the bank was fined a record amount for trying to manipulate inter-bank lending rates. Mr Diamond said he was stepping down because the external pressure on the bank risked "damaging the franchise". Chairman Marcus Agius, who said on Monday he was stepping down, will take over the running of Barclays until a replacement is found. "I am deeply disappointed that the impression created by the events announced last week about what Barclays and its people stand for could not be further from the truth," Mr Diamond said in a statement. He will still appear before MPs on the Treasury Committee to answer questions about the Libor affair on Wednesday. "I look forward to fulfilling my obligation...

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If you include one portion of seafood in your weekly diet, you may halve the chances of suffering a heart attack.

Prawns, crabs, squid and octopus are just as packed with vitamins, minerals and fish oils as fish like salmon or cod.They all contain Omega-3 – a key fatty acid known to help with heart health.Shelling out: It is recommended that you try to eat fresh seafoodAlthough seafood contains cholesterol, it’s actually foods high in saturated fats – the type found in cheese, red meat and fast food – that increase levels of bad cholesterol in the body. So seafood is unlikely to have a major impact on your blood cholesterol levels.The NHS advises against eating raw shellfish and raw seafood during pregnancy. Try to eat fresh seafood, as frozen...

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