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Barcelona To Tackle Dog Walkers: Get a License Or Receive a Fine

The Catalan capital is set to unleash a new law that will force dog owners to get a license or face fines up to €600. From October, dog owners will be required to obtain a “civic license” before letting their pets walk around without a leash within one of Barcelona’s 103 designated dog parks. An “animal abuse” register will also come into effect with a prohibition of leaving animals tied up for more than two hours or leaving animals locked in a car for more than 20 minutes.

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Is it balls, vagina, or both? Airbnb logo sparks wave of internet parodies

Is it balls, vagina, or both? Airbnb logo sparks wave of internet parodies The apartment-rental website launches its grown-up logo to a wave of ridicule – as well as claims of plagiarism

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800 'jet-set' extras needed

 

Oscar-nominated director Danièle Thompson is looking for 800 men and women to play Saint Tropez’s jet-set elite in her new feature-length production. So if you are keen to be on the big screen, head to Cogolin next week for your chance to be in the limelight! Thompson’s up and coming film ‘People who kiss’ (Des gens qui s’embrassent) needs an extras cast made up of almost one thousand men and women between the ages of 18 and 65. “Sexy, fashionable, elegant... that’s what we’re looking for,” said Thompson, who assures that previous experience isn’t necessary. Over five days of casting, Thompson and her team will whittle down an expected 3,000 applicants to just 800, who will make up the audience of a classical music concert. To register for auditions, head to the Maurin des Maures culture centre in Cogolin from Monday 26th until Thursday 29th. The selection process will begin on Saturday at 10am. All you need to do is turn up looking fabulous! The two days of filming are scheduled to take place sometime between 21st May and 8th June this summer.

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More and more footballers are going bankrupt despite Premier League wages now averaging £1.47 million a year,

 

More and more footballers are going bankrupt despite Premier League wages now averaging £1.47 million a year, experts have claimed.  Mark Sands, head of bankruptcy at accountancy firm RSM Tenon, said the lavish lifestyles of the players coupled with poor investment choices has led to increased vulnerability. "In 2010 the average salary of a player in the Premier League was £1.47 million, 56 times the average UK wage," Sands told the Birmingham Mail. "But as their wages have increased so have the number who become insolvent. "We have certainly had an increase at RSM Tenon in the past three years. The main reasons for this can be unsustainable consumption, falling incomes after leaving the top flight, poor investment and lack of financial awareness." Last month former England international Lee Hendrie was forced to declare himself bankrupt after racking up debts of more than £200,000 with the taxman, despite earning £24,000 a week at the peak of his career. RSM Tenon stated: "The debts have apparently been a result of a tax scheme Hendrie was advised to enter into which was rejected by HM Revenue & Customs, leaving an unpaid tax bill which led to the petition. “Investments made during his peak years, in properties and film-related partnerships, went bad, leaving no money for Hendrie to turn to when times were tough.” Last year, current Tottenham goalkeeper Brad Friedel was also declared bankrupt after his non-profit US football academy ran up debts of close to £5m.

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TOWIE to shoot summer special in Marbella

 

Sam Faiers and the rest of her TOWIE castmates are apparently jetting off to Spain to film a special this summer. The reality TV stars will be shooting in sunny Marbella - where they holidayed last May - later on this year, reports the Daily Star. Speaking at the Tric Awards, Sam said the special will need "lots of dramas, a fight and maybe a wedding." Co-star Gemma Collins, who was snapped soaking up the rays in a black bikini during last year's trip, said the group are "all up for it". "We've been begging for a summer special in Marbella for a while," she said.

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Rebekah Brooks and husband arrested in phone hacking inquiry

REBEKAH Brooks and her racehorse trainer husband are among six suspects arrested today by detectives investigating allegations of phone hacking at News International. The former News International chief executive and Charlie Brooks were arrested at their Oxfordshire home on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, sources said. Police are searching several addresses after dawn raids also took place in London, Hampshire and Hertfordshire, Scotland Yard said. Ms Brooks, a former editor of The Sun, had been on bail after being questioned by detectives last summer on suspicion of phone hacking and corruption. Today’s arrest comes after her lawyer, Stephen Parkinson, said evidence given by Sue Akers at the Leveson Inquiry had brought “much prejudicial material” into the public domain.

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STANDING with Katie Price in a matching black catsuit, Amy Willerton faced a barrage of flashbulbs and savoured the ­moment she’d dreamed about.

The 19-year-old wannabe had just beaten 10,000 others to be crowned winner of Katie’s reality TV show, aimed at finding Britain’s hottest young model.

The prize included a ­modelling contract, mentoring from Katie, a front page on OK! magazine, the keys to a Range Rover like Katie’s for a year and a luxury holiday in the Maldives.

Little wonder Amy was ­smiling so happily as the cameras captured mentor and protege in identical outfits. But now, just a few weeks later, her joy has turned to bitterness. In an exclusive interview, Amy says winning Sky Living’s Signed By Katie has turned her life upside down... for the worse.

She claims that after the TV show flopped badly – one episode won just 130,000 viewers – many of the promises were broken.

And, despite Katie’s management ­team insisting that they were working tirelessly to make her famous Amy has now refused to sign a contract with the star’s modelling company.

That snub has left Katie, 33, fuming and she’s vowed never to work with Amy again, saying people think she’s an “arrogant, stuck-up fake”.

“I never expected overnight fame,” Amy said yesterday. “But I don’t believe the promises from Katie or her team were kept.

“I gave up my job, was encouraged to turn down a place at university and had to put my life on hold.”

During filming of the show, Katie pledged: “The winner will get a fast-track ticket to stardom. They’ll get a modelling contract, calendars, foreign trips and red-carpet access.”

When Katie appeared with Amy in TV interviews, she said: “She’s got the look, the body, everything... she’ll have her own perfume, her own TV show. In most of these shows the judges just walk away. But with this I’m in their lives and I’m managing them.”

However, since the winning show was screened last November, Amy says she’s had hardly any ­mentoring, the modelling jobs haven’t properly materialised and the matching Range Rover isn’t possible because she doesn’t have the £10,000 needed to insure it. And when she rang up about the holiday to the Maldives it had suddenly turned into a trip to Marbella. Heart­broken Amy says the experience has soured her dreams of being a model, which started when she was crowned Miss Bristol at the age of 15.

Last June she was busy making plans to go to Cardiff University to read media studies after getting two As and a B in her A-levels.

But her plans changed one afternoon as she left work at a clothing store in Bristol. “A guy tapped my shoulder and said they were holding auditions for a new show by Katie Price,” she says.

“It sounded fantastic. I admired Kate. I’d read her book about how she cared for her disabled son Harvey. My brother is severely handicapped too so I had empathy for her.” Amy wowed the judges at her audition and was eventually picked for the final dozen. She moved to a house in London with the 11 other hopefuls.

“I quit my job, gave up my university place and dropped out of Miss England,” she says. “I put life on hold, but the show promised to change my future.”

Katie Price and Amy Willerton in matching outfitsSplash 

PARTYING

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Shock, horror! Murdoch's Sun wants his readers back

 

Rupert Murdoch bid to grab back the huge audience his News Corp lost when it closed the best-selling News of the World over a phone-hacking scandal with a new Sunday edition of his Sun tabloid filled with gossip, girls and celebrities. With a front page splashing on a female TV presenter's birthing difficulties - "My heart stopped for 40 seconds" - the top-selling daily Sun made its Sunday debut, aiming to win back the 2.7 million people who had read News of the World until its closure in July in Britain's biggest recent press scandal.

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Adele joked that she wanted boyfriend Simon Konecki to buy her an engagement ring so big “you can see it from space”.

Bling ring: Adele and boyfriend Simon KoneckiXposurephotos

Adele joked that she wanted boyfriend Simon Konecki to buy her an engagement ring so big “you can see it from space”.

Yet the award-winning singer, 23, wanted to make sure no one saw her as she slipped away from the Brits.

She covered her head with a coat as she gave the aftershow parties a miss and headed back to her hotel with 36-year-old Si.

Earlier, Adele denied the ring she was wearing was anything more than a fashion accessory.

Overheard being asked whether she’d like her fella to propose and give her a diamond ring, she laughed: “I want one you can see from space.”

Now Adele is happier than she has ever been with charity boss Simon and says the prospect of writing another record based on a doomed relationship seems deeply depressing.

Speaking to US network CBS’s 60 Minutes recently, she said: “Because I’m madly in love I don’t want to be like, ‘Babe, I’m sorry, we’ve got to break up. I’ve got a new album to ­deliver now.’

“I can’t write another break-up record, that would be a real cliché. It would be just like a boring, running theme. ­People would be like: ‘No, that’s enough now, cheer up.’”

Her new relationship is going so well she now struggles to connect with her biggest hit Someone Like You, which was inspired by her most recent ex.

“Someone Like You was about him getting engaged really quickly after we broke up,” she said.

“I wrote that to feel better about myself and it was about trying to convince myself that we will meet someone and I will be happy.

“In fact, next time I sing Someone Like You, I’m going to be like, never mind, I found someone like you. Please forget me!”

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Italian Wives ban their husbands from visiting Italian cafe where busty barmaid serves up drinks in skimpy outfits

After eight years running a bar, Laura Maggi suddenly found men beating a path to her door.

Not for the quality of her coffee  and aperitifs, but because she had started appearing for work in highly revealing outfits.

Hundreds of male customers flocked there day and night, leaving their cars double parked in the surrounding streets.

Congestion became such a problem that the lady mayor announced she was considering an emergency bylaw to limit traffic in the area.

Causing controversy: Laura Maggi, 34, who runs a bar called Le Cafe, has dominated newspapers and TV chat shows, after pictures of her dressed in barely anything appeared on the internet

 

Pulling more than a pint: The women folk of Bagnolo Mella, near Brescia, which is where Manchester City ace Mario Balotelli is from, are up in arms and said that they had banned their partners from going to Le Cafe

 

Main attraction: On the walls of Le Cafe there are pictures of Laura, dressed in a bikini on holiday - while in other snaps she is wrapped in an American Stars and Stripes flag. Yet more pictures of her, semi-naked, have been turned into a calendar

You're not going anywhere: Bagnolo's mayor Cristina Almici has also banned her husband from going to Laura's bar and said: 'We have received several complaints from women in the town about the bar'

Now women in the small northern Italian town of Bagnolo Mella have declared Le Cafe out of bounds to their menfolk – and 34-year-old Miss Maggi has become a national celebrity.

Yesterday she was a guest on the Italian equivalent of This Morning and said: ‘I don’t see what the problem is – it’s just a bit of harmless fun. 

‘If the guys come here what can I do?

'I know I have upset the women but that’s not my problem.

'It’s not my fault if guys want to come and have a drink in my bar.’

She added that some customers were travelling up to 70 miles just to have a coffee in her bar.

On the walls of Le Cafe are pictures of Miss Maggi in a bikini on holiday. 

She has 5,000 new friends on Facebook while a local poll found that 46 per cent of respondents said partners of her male customers should be ‘asking themselves why their partners prefer Laura to them’.

Several wives from the town have been on TV to complain. One said: ‘It is outrageous and should not be allowed.

 

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• 'Thank God I didn't get too drunk last night!' Georgia Salpa shares racy snap during photo shoot after wild night at Brits after-parties
• Still got it! Raquel Welch is as beautiful today as when she emerged from the sea in 'mankind's first bikini' almost 50 years ago

 

‘This town is quiet and respectable. Now we are known across the whole country because of the little amount of clothing this barmaid is wearing to serve drinks. 

‘The women in town are not very happy and we have complained to the council.’

Enjoyment: 'I don't see what the problem is - it's just a bit of harmless fun. I like to dress in an attractive way and I like to have fun,' Laura said on an Italian TV show

 

Selling point: 'If the guys come here, what can I do? I know I have upset the women but that's not my problem,' said the bar owner

Bagnolo’s mayor Cristina Almici said: ‘We have received several complaints from women about the bar and we are looking at what we can do with regard to public order.

‘There has been a huge influx of traffic into the town since the news of Laura started to spread and this has led to incidents of bad parking and some minor acts of vandalism.

‘We can’t stop people from going to her bar and I know it is very popular with men in the town – personally I don’t see any problem with how she looks or dresses. 

'If anything, it’s the men who go there who have a problem.’

She added, however: ‘My husband is certainly not allowed to go there.’

Crowd pleaser: 'People have been turning up from 70 miles away just to have a drink here,' says the proud bar lady

No blame: 'It's not my fault if guys want to come and have a drink in my bar,' says the owner 

Quiet town of Bagnolo Mella: An online poll in the local Brescia newspaper asked readers what their opinion was and the majority, 46%, said that women should be 'asking themselves why their partners prefer Laura to them'

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Poor men and lonely wealthy women

I see so many lonely women out here in the world today. Of course, there are lonely guys as well. But, in my opinion men react and respond differently to their problems. We almost never actually admit that we are alone, except when our self-esteem is compromised. We just go with the flow. But for women, it is a totally different story. “I am so alone,” was what she would say. I hear this all the time from the opposite sex. Why is this so in the modern-day world? Are we men not doing our jobs?   This brings me to the recent lonely end of soul-siren Whitney Houston and UK Amy Winehouse in 2011 respectively, whose public battles with drugs and alcohol often overshadowed their music success. May their musical souls rest in peace! These are glaring examples of lonely women. It is an open secret that Whitney had been a ‘druggy’ for years, which had become more pronounced after her tumultuous marriage to singer Bobby Brown, whom she divorced before her death. Rumours had it that Amy was killed by lack of love, not a drug addiction. I think this is probably true. Another example is that of Lady Gaga, who recently admitted in an interview, “Yes I’m lonely, but I’m married to my loneliness.” It is quite interesting to know so much about her. She has said loneliness is the only thing she loves the most. Nevertheless, I wish her good luck! Now, you may wonder what the situation is Namibia?  One of the most well-known examples of this ‘loneliness phenomenon’ is the infamous middle finger gesture employed by a well-known personality in Namibia’s showbiz last year.    Was that a sign of loneliness?  Well, without risking my poor miserable life I’ll leave that to the reader to figure out. Today, with the advent of equal opportunities and interventions, our ladies in the ‘Land of the Brave’ have made great strides in business, politics, TIPEEG, BEE, Namdeb, highly skilled professions and the list goes on, which makes them wealthy but ‘lonely.’ You will agree with me that successful women are multiplying in Namibia, but sadly, success has been unsettling for some as they are struggling to keep their ‘unemployed’ boyfriends or husbands, who feel that they can’t compromise on their self-esteem and would leave relationships in which they can’t cope with the rich lifestyle of their girlfriends or women – and therefore rendering many women lonely. I know many of them. Rich women have difficulties managing fulfilling relationships and therefore end up being lonely. My advice to these lonely Eves is simple; do not pride yourself in intimidation, aggression and power. No man will accept to be controlled by a wife just because he is poor. Instead, a rich wife must remain strong but be humble and respect her husband to make him stronger. No matter how much wealth a woman can attain, she will still long for a person she can share her life with; not to mention her wealth with. Although money can be friendly, rich women still need someone who will be there for them and just simply love them. We do not want a Whitney or Amy Winehouse situation to play off in our country or do we?. Until then, Eewa!

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Spain's banking sector set to shrink to about 10 lenders

This year, Spain’s banking sector looks set to shrink to about 10 lenders from more than 40 before the economic crisis, as the government forces banks to recognise steep losses from a housing crash. Small and medium-sized banks will scramble to join forces to meet capital requirements implicit in a new law demanding lenders write down up to 80 per cent of the book value of real estate assets on their balance sheets.  Click here for Cloud Computing     Also Read   Related Stories News Now - 24-hr deadline for Kingfisher to submit revised schedule - Kingfisher assures to restore normal schedule in 5-7 days - Indian banks eye assets of European counterparts - It is time to take money off the table: Jim Walker - Swiss solicits tourists from India amidst EU crisis - Abheek Barua & Shivom Chakravarti: Risk-on in a sweet spot Particular focus would rest on the country’s fourth-largest bank by market value, Bankia. Fears persist over its ability to fund losses from its heavy exposure to the property sector. Only a handful of banks — international leaders Santander and BBVA, domestic lender CaixaBank and Basque Country savings bank Kutxa — are considered strong enough to remain independent and cover capital holes with their own profits. Bankia has insisted it does not plan a link-up with Barcelona-based counterpart CaixaBank, but market sources say it would be hard for the bank to go it alone. "It’s true there were overtures towards CaixaBank, but that has gone cold. It seems CaixaBank is the only one interested in Bankia. BBVA and Santander do not seem up for it," said one banking source. Another expressed doubt Bankia could deal alone, with Euro 3 billion of capital needs with annual net operating profits of Euro 1.67 billion and with its parent company BFA still owing Euro 4.1 billion of state loans given out last year. "The numbers simply don’t add up," the second banking source said. If Bankia opts for a tie-up, it could win more time to write down losses related to real estate. The government has given banks one year to write down losses, but would extend it to two years for lenders involved in a merger process.

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teenagers barricade themselves in ski chalet in France

Two Norfolk teenagers are among a group of people who have barricaded themselves into a luxury ski chalet in France because they say they have been unfairly dismissed from their jobs without any pay, Angus Briggs, from Newmarket Road, in Norwich, and Paddy Bartram, from East Tuddenham, had thought they had landed the perfect gap-year jobs when they were employed by Skithe3v to work as chalet hosts at the company’s resort in the Three Valleys area of France. But after working for just two weeks they said they received an email saying their services were no longer required and that they needed to leave the site by the following day. They were also told they would not be receiving any pay. A number of other staff members were also suddenly dismissed, and together they have barricaded themselves in Skithe3v’s Chalet Georgina, just outside Les Menuires, in protest. They have dubbed themselves the Les Menuires 7 and say they will not move until they receive the wages they are owed. Speaking from the chalet, 19-year-old Angus said: “We came out here a couple of weeks ago and we thought we would be doing the chalet hosting job until the end of the season. “As chalet hosts we had been hosting the guests, preparing some meals, and cleaning, and we had done this for two weeks. “But on Monday we were sent an email saying we were being let go, and others were too. “We are both owed about £200 each. “We are quite frustrated - when you do a job you expect to be paid.” He said they would not vacate the chalet until they are paid. “We are making a very peaceful protest,” he added. “We are maintaining the chalet and keeping it tidy and in perfect order. All we are asking is that we get the money we are owed - we will leave the chalet in immaculate condition.” Eighteen-year-old Paddy added: “I was really pleased to get this job and looking forward to it for ages. “I had wanted to do a ski season for several years and it seemed like the perfect job. “But they worked us far more than our working hours and it turns out they were just trying to exploit us,” Angus and Paddy said since Les Menuires 7 started their protest they had received support from people living nearby and also online through Twitter and Facebook. A woman who lives in the Les Menuires area said: “Everybody is talking about what is going at the chalet. It is huge news over here. There is a lot of support for them.” When the Evening News contacted Skithe3v, which has a base in Hanover Road, London, a spokesman said he was unable to comment because the situation was in the hands of the company’s legal team.

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MEP arrested on suspicion of European parliament fraud conspiracy

MEP has been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud the European parliament. West Midlands MEP Nikki Sinclaire, 43, was arrested along with three of her staff on Wednesday, according to another MEP for the West Midlands, Mike Nattrass of Ukip. West Midlands police confirmed a 43-year-old woman was arrested at a police station in Birmingham along with three other people on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud the European parliament. Two women aged 55 and 39 and a 19-year-old man were arrested at addresses in Solihull, Worcester and Birmingham and were taken to a police station for questioning on Wednesday. Searches were carried out at the addresses of the four people by officers investigating an allegation made in 2010 regarding allowances and expenses, a police spokeswoman said. All four were later released on police bail, she added. On her Twitter account, a spokesman for Sinclaire said the MEP attended the police station in Birmingham voluntarily and co-operated fully with the police. "This is particularly frustrating to Ms Sinclaire who is eager to clear her name and has nothing to hide," said another tweet. The MEP "disputes all allegations put towards her or her staff" the tweets said. Sinclaire and her office would continue to "fully co-operate with the police on this matter". In a statement, Ukip said Sinclaire, who formerly represented the party in the seat, ceased to be an MEP for the party in 2010. "It would be inappropriate for the party to make any comment during the process of an ongoing police inquiry," Ukip's statement said.

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Zumba Fitness is the only Latin-inspired dance-fitness program that blends red-hot international music

 

Zumba Fitness is the only Latin-inspired dance-fitness program that blends red-hot international music, created by Grammy Award-winning producers, and contagious steps to form a "fitness-party" that is downright addictive. Since its inception in 2001, the Zumba program has grown to become the world's largest – and most successful – dance-fitness program with more than 12 million people of all shapes, sizes and ages taking weekly Zumba classes in over 110,000 locations across more than 125 countries.

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Zumba's Latin rhythms on the move in the fitness world

 

On a rooftop parking lot, with temperatures in the chilly low 50s, a crowd of all ages shimmied and shook, sweated and smiled as DJ Francis played an eclectic mix of dance music. But this wasn't just another wild South Florida party. It was a special Zumba class for charity, led last month by the creator of the global craze, Alberto "Beto" Perez. The charismatic Colombian in cargo pants — who has become a rock star in the fitness world — climbed onto the roof of a Chevy minivan that doubled as a stage. He demonstrated salsa steps, the merengue march and many other Latin-inspired dance moves — all while also cuing the drummer and the bongo player. For an hour, 75 of his adoring fans — and even the minivan — moved to the beat. "Everybody loves it; everybody has fun," Perez said while posing for pictures with his Zumba faithful, some of whom had traveled from as far as Canada. Two days later, Perez flew to New York to appear on the TV morning show "Live! with Kelly." "You must be so rich by now," host Kelly Ripa gushed to Perez, 41. Perez's Zumba classes, with the motto "Ditch the Workout, Join the Party," were strictly a South Florida phenomenon 10 years ago. Today, Zumba Fitness has become the largest branded fitness program in the world, with about 12 million people taking Zumba classes weekly at 110,000 locations in at least 125 countries, according to company spokeswoman Allison Robins. The private company won't reveal information about the company's finances or its net worth. But at a time when most of the world is struggling economically, Zumba Fitness' empire appears to be flourishing. It is doing so on the strength of a growing army of certified instructors who spread the Zumba gospel to such distant outposts as Iceland, Papua New Guinea, Nepal and even Afghanistan — at the Kabul Community Center. Many fitness crazes have come and gone. Staying power is tough in the ever-evolving fitness industry. John Figarelli, founder of the National Fitness Hall of Fame Museum and author of "The History of Fitness: Fads, Gimmicks and Gadgets," said: "I think the owners of Zumba did a great job of getting it going from a business standpoint." Zumba Fitness does not charge gyms to carry its classes. Instead, it trains instructors and gives them the license and use of the trademark if they join the Zumba Instructor Network. "We're helping the instructors to become entrepreneurs and make a living out of it," said company co-founder Alberto Aghion. Exercise as a business It's a sound strategy, said Figarelli, whose book covers 100 years of working out, from 1900 to 2000. "Most group-exercise instructors will just go with the next popular class. But if Zumba is your business, instructors will stay with that." Ensuring instructors are successful has become the company's main mission. "We have three people who all they do is call up gyms all day and try to find instructors employment," said company co-founder Alberto Perlman. The company has made Zumba instructors easy to find, with a worldwide listing that includes all of their network instructors' classes regularly updated on the company's website. Instructors also receive new music and choreography about every two months. The music department now creates music just for Zumba classes, with original songs that include "Zumbalicious," "Que Te Mueve" and "Caipirinha," which was a No. 1 song in Israel. Zumba Fitness makes its money on its instructors academy, instructors courses, monthly fees from instructors in its network and on all its brand merchandise. The company has built its own line of hip, colorful clothing and footwear, workout DVDs, two video games, original music and a lifestyle magazine, Z-Life. This was not the business model when Zumba Fitness was founded in Aventura, Fla., in 2001 by the "three Albertos" — creator Perez and boyhood friends Perlman and Aghion, both entrepreneurs in their mid-20s and natives of Colombia. The trio's original plan was simple: produce VHS workout tapes of Perez's popular South Florida classes to sell around the country on infomercials. An inspired ad-lib Perez fell in love with dancing at age 7 by watching a VHS tape of the 1978 movie "Grease," starring John Travolta. At age 16, he was teaching aerobics classes for $1 an hour. One day, he forgot his prepared music. All he had in his backpack was a cassette tape of merengue and salsa music he'd recorded off the radio. His morning class was full of moms who had dropped their kids off at school. "I can't say, 'Hey sorry, I forgot my music,' " Perez said. "I say to the people, 'I have a new class I prepared for a long time.' It was not true. I improvised for one hour." The moms loved the dancing exercise. Perez turned it into a regular class in Cali. He soon moved to the Colombian capital of Bogotá, where he continued those classes and became a choreographer for Sony Music and Shakira. In 1999, Perez came to the United States for the first time. He pounded the pavement on South Beach, going from gym to gym. Nobody was interested in this new dance exercise class by a guy who couldn't speak English. On his fourth trip to Miami he landed a job at the swanky Williams Island Spa in a development where several Colombians lived. Some had even taken classes with him in Bogotá. Within a year, Perez was in demand, teaching 22 classes all over South Florida. At the same time, Perlman and Aghion were looking for a new business venture after the dot-com bubble burst, bringing down their Internet company, Spydre Labs, an incubator for Internet startups related to Latin America. Enter Raquel Perlman. While Alberto Perlman was telling his mom about how badly he was feeling for laying off people, she was telling him about how happy she was taking Perez's classes, where were then called Rumbacize. "You should meet Beto and maybe start a gym together," she told her son. "He's the talk of Aventura." Perlman watched a class and was reminded of people having fun at a nightclub, but without the drinking and pickup lines. "Beto, have you heard of Billy Blanks' Tae Bo? Why don't we do VHS tapes and sell them on television?" Perlman said he told Perez. In August 2001, they and Aghion founded Zumba Fitness. To create a demonstration video to show investors, the three stayed up all night laying down boards to create a dance floor on the beach outside a Sunny Isles hotel. About 200 of Perez's students paid $20 each for the class, raising an additional $4,000. When the infomercial began running on TV, people rang the call center in Ohio to buy the videos, and a few also asked how to become Zumba instructors. Those callers were forwarded to Zumba's office — at Aghion's home. After a few 2 a.m. wakeups, Aghion realized this was another business opportunity. Zumba Fitness also has greatly benefited from Internet advertising and social media. Many people discovered Zumba via YouTube videos. Zumba Fitness started a Facebook page about a year ago and now has more than 3 million fans. Zumba is mentioned every 11 seconds in social-media platforms, Robins said. It's not clear yet if Zumba will have a long shelf life or be added to the long list of exercise fads, said Walter R. Thompson, professor of exercise science at Georgia State University. He'll watch to see how it fares over the next few years in a worldwide survey that ranks fitness trends. "I hope it stays around," he said. "It's motivating a lot of people to exercise."

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Morocco yoga courses: Stretching out on a yogic break in soothing Berber country

Dust clouds sway like ghosts dancing to an inaudible tune across miles of Moroccan dessert. I’m only 15 minutes south of Marrakech, but the soil’s already darkened to a deep, blood-clot red that clashes violently with the cobalt sky above. Spindly Argan trees feature goats that have clambered into the branches and nibble on the fruit (yes, really), a snapshot of surreal comedy against nature’s stark, beautiful reality. It’s my first up-close and personal foray into Morocco’s rural centre, despite having fallen head over heels for mad old Marrakech eight years beforehand. Rustic retreat: Lalla Abouch offers yoga courses set in the beautiful Moroccan countryside There’s something intoxicating about the swirling, jasmine-soaked souks, the thrill of losing yourself in the medina only to wind up on a rooftop drinking pomegranate martinis hours later. I’ve returned several times since to enjoy the city’s myriad hidden bars, supper clubs and late night lounges. But this time I want a different kind of escapism, one that’s less hedonism, more health. 'We’ve the perfect place', Rosena, the Irish founder of Moroccan concierge experts Boutique Souk, assures me before arranging a car to drive me the three-hour journey south into Morocco’s Berber country. Thirty miles south of the colonial port city of Essaouira, our jeep turns inland, swerves sharply at a junction and turns up an invisible, potholed dirt road through fields of carefully irrigated vegetable patches and chicken coops. A donkey brays ‘hello’ as I clamber out, the only contender to shatter the silent calm of our weekend lodgings. Named Lalla Abouch after ‘Lady Argan‘ and Morocco’s famous Argan tree, the guesthouse embodies what many ‘boutique’ lodgings strive for yet often fail to achieve. Chic and rustic, it proffers the perfect balance between comfort and style – the home from home I’ll never replicate no matter how many Elle Decoration subscriptions I sign up for. Taking the plunge: The refreshing pool is lined with plants and a traditional stone wall Beaming Lucreiza, the Italian who runs this hideaway, gives me a tour of the farm’s intimate selection of cosy rooms, all located around a bougainvillea-splashed courtyard, before ushering me onto the farm’s charming alfresco terrace for fresh mint and ginger tea. Terracotta pots trickle fresh water into a plunge pool overlooking acres of lovingly tended vegetable patches, whilst wild tortoises sunbathe lazily in the afternoon rays as kitchen hands gingerly navigate them whilst plucking robust courgettes for the evening meal. Food is a big draw at Lalla Abouch - so don’t go thinking this is yoga with all the normal detox-wheatgrass-deprivation tags. Lunch, though simple, is lip-smackingly good: home-plucked bitter leaves; creamy local goats cheese; cumin-crusted courgettes, caramelised carrots; a fuchsia pink beetroot dip; wholegrain couscous studded with ruby pomegranate seeds. Each bite radiates with energy and (forgive the hippy hyperbole) is offered up with love. Lucreiza beams as I eat. 'We like to give an alkaline, vegetarian diet during the retreats', she explains. 'It’s a good for body cleaning and rejuvenation.' I come away from the meal feeling more satiated than many of my finest dining experiences back in the UK. Unusual sights: Goats love to climb the Argan trees, while Lalla Abouch has plenty of quiet corners for relaxing Besides intensive, twice daily yoga and meditation sessions lasting two hours a go, Lalla Abouch offers a real (and rare) opportunity to totally unplug from daily life. As Lucreiza concedes, 'the natural elements are deep and strong', so the entire operation of the farm and its retreats has been designed to really embrace the local surrounds – and the produce found within it. Better still, my experience isn’t marred by the constant checking of Blackberry’s or broadband; connectivity here is slim to none. Sure, it’s a little disconcerting at first, but after several hours our entire party agrees we’re happy for the forced technology amnesty. With no one to tweet or CC, I instead sink into an indulgent afternoon of reading in the farm’s huge hammock, slung beneath the boughs of the Argan tree. I doze, stirring only when the attention seeking donkey’s comical eey-awww or Lucreiza’s quiet, smiling kitchen hands water the fragrant herb garden. I’ve done no yoga yet, but I can already see why Moroccan specialists Boutique Souk thought they’d 'struck gold' when stumbling upon the farm.

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Secret lives of the movie legends

 

In an era before Twitter, paparazzi, gossip websites and the voracious appetite for the scandal and sex lives of the rich and shameless, Hollywood was swinging with the kind of wild sexual liberation that can still seem shocking today. Post-war Hollywood was churning out the family-friendly, conservative-values movies that chimed with the politics and repressed sexuality of the '40s and '50s. But the unacknowledged irony was that these motion pictures were being made by actors, writers, directors and studio chiefs who were engaged in lifestyles that could not have been more different from those they created on screen. Two decades before the sexual revolution of the 1960s, Los Angeles was already a sexual playground for movie stars and the international jet set, who were protected by a powerful studio system that could keep their more outrageous behaviour out of the public eye. Stars such as Noel Coward, Cole Porter, Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant -- and non-industry figures like the former King Edward VIII and Mrs Simpson -- had a sexually licentious lifestyle within the closed Hollywood community. And where you have rich, sexually voracious movie stars and powerful men, you will also need pimps, procurers and a steady stream of young men and women. Scotty Bowers, a handsome, bi-sexual, former Marine paratrooper, became a part of this underworld when he relocated to Hollywood following service in the Second World War. The ex-Marine became the go-to guy for those who wanted sexual adventure, building up a network of "friends" who traded in sex with the greatest stars of the era. Now, Bowers has revealed all, in Full Service -- My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars, an autobiography that claims to tell the true story behind the rumours and scandal that have filtered down from the closeted era of sex and the stars. Written with the collaboration of Emmy-winning writer Lionel Friedberg, Full Service is published as Bowers prepares to celebrate his 89th birthday. In Scotty's own words, he became a Hollywood insider, or at least a fixer of sexual liaisons, almost by accident when he moved to Los Angeles immediately after the war and began working in a gas station. A chance encounter with the actor Walter Pidgeon, who stopped by to have his tank filled, led to an afternoon of sex with the then-happily married Pidgeon and a male friend. Handsome, friendly and totally relaxed when it came to sex (Bowers attributes this to his wartime experiences and his Illinois farm-boy background), the ex-Marine quickly gained a reputation for knowing a lot of young men and women who were prepared to "trick" for as little as $20. However, throughout his memoir, Bowers is at pains to point out that he was neither a pimp nor a prostitute. "When it came to my own sexual liaisons, I was always more than happy to pocket the tip that anyone offered me for a night of sex," he says. "But I never charged for my matchmaking services when hooking-up other people. I would set up the trick and then the two of them went off together and money changed hands between them. "It was only fair. My operation -- if you want to call it that -- was not a prostitution ring. I was only providing a service to those who wanted it and, as recorded history has shown, throughout the ages there has always been a need for high-quality sex". To hear Bowers tell it, the '40s and '50s in Los Angeles were golden decades of sexual experimentation, where stars and their willing acolytes enjoyed never-ending pool parties under the Californian sun. Sex was an obsession and a currency for stars young and old. Mae West, even as she was in her late-60s, kept a string of young bodybuilders on call 24 hours a day. Bowers got to know Rock Hudson, whose homosexuality was an open secret in Hollywood, in the mid-'50s and also knew his wife, Phyllis Gates, a lesbian who had been persuaded to marry Rock to quell the gossip magazine whispers about his sexuality. "This phony marriage must have been hell on them both. Rock had a voracious, almost uncontrollable sexual appetite. In later years he cruised the streets every night, picking up vagabonds, strangers and young men all over town," says Bowers. The Los Angeles police vice squad was a constant threat, with LA Confidential-style shakedowns, blackmail rings and the vicious persecution of gay men in particular (or at least those who couldn't afford high-powered lawyers and the protection of the studio bosses). Pay-offs to the right cops, the activities of studio fixers and the complicity of the media ensured that very little scandal leaked out. Bowers' memoirs read like a roll-call of just about every major star in the studio system of the time and he cheerfully dishes the dirt. He claims Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy were never really involved in a great love affair, painting Hepburn as a sexually voracious lesbian who needed Tracy as a cover for her lifestyle. The list of stars who get the Bowers treatment includes Edith Piaf, Vivien Leigh, Cary Grant, Rita Hayworth, Joan Crawford, Bob Hope and William Holden (to name but a very, very few). Non-industry figures like Edward and Wallis Simpson, FBI boss J Edgar Hoover and Beatles manager Brian Epstein, flit in and out of the picture, indulging in a wild array of pan-sexual activities. Bowers had been friendly with the movie star Tyrone Powers since their days together in the Marine Corps and once they met up again in Los Angeles, they "enjoyed quite a few sexual shenanigans together". "Women swooned over him and he bedded quite a few of them, but he much preferred men," says Bowers. "Some of his sexual tastes were rather odd and offbeat, but none of the guys seemed to mind." The sexual exploits of the golden- era stars still fascinate, and readers may never look at classic movies like The Wizard of Oz or Bringing Up Baby in the same way again. It can't all have been glamorous pool parties in the Hollywood Hills and smiling, handsome film stars driving around in Cadillacs and Bentleys. But to hear Bowers tell it, after surviving the Depression and then World War Two, the young Americans who flocked to California in the '40s and '50s had little concern for the kind of sexual puritanism apparently making a comeback in the US.

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Piranha Women who trap well-off men are pure myth

 

The dangers of daily life for modern men are manifold, it seems. Alongside transfats in foods and oestrogen in drinking water, they must also beware 'Piranha Women'. Or so says divorce lawyer Diane Benussi. In her daily life overseeing the unraveling of families' personal lives, she claims to have observed a new breed of avaricious woman. This lady, according to Ms Benussi, is manipulative and devious to the core -- a romantic mercenary in a mini-skirt. Increasingly, Ms Benussi observed to a tabloid newspaper, beautiful young women, disinclined to make an honest living, are targeting vulnerable wealthy men in a bid to win a share of their assets. Their weapon of choice is their fertility. They lure unsuspecting gentlemen into unprotected sex and then fall pregnant, using the resulting progeny as a siphon on the unsuspecting man's bank account. Poor love. As anyone knows, well-off men in middle age represent one of society's most vulnerable minorities. Not only that, but they are, apparently, completely incapable of taking care of something as simple as contraception. I don't know about you, but personally, in my three decades on earth, I've never met a Piranha Woman. This pantomime trope of a scheming madam who uses sex purely as strategy exists for me only in fairytale. There are women, sure, who find an affluent man who can prove his worth as a provider and an alpha male attractive. But I don't know a single female who has used her womb as a honey trap in order to save herself the bother of buying lottery tickets. I have, on the other hand, met plenty of men who are convinced that they must protect themselves against female strategy and acquisitiveness. One, whom I dated briefly in college, told me outright one evening that he knew as a successful, ambitious guy (at this point he was still a student) he had to beware the advances of ladies with alluring eyes and sinister agendas. His mother, he informed me gravely, had warned him that he was exactly the kind of man that women would try and become pregnant by. Thus, he must be extra careful with contraception. Needless to say, that comment was turn off enough to have me on the next bus home to my own bed. Contrary to what he and his mother thought, I was rather less convinced than they were of the value of his precious sperm. It's possible, of course, that there are a few Piranha Women out there. But I'd guess that they are an extremely rare species. There's a cultural precedent for this belief, of course. (Not to mention a great history of paranoia on the part of many men about the dark arts of female sexuality). That precedent is called a WAG. In an era when we have become more than familiar with women winning fame, wealth, and cultural influence on the strength of their association with rich men, it's not a far stretch to create the myth of the Piranha. We know well that the WAG seeks out partnerships with wealthy footballers, within which a transactional trade-off of beauty for lifestyle and luxury is transparently part of the deal. The notional Piranha simply takes this a step further, by, we are told, using her sex appeal to cut out the romance and go straight for the cash, by way of a baby. This, says Ms Benussi, has become an accepted way for a woman to make a living. One could argue that, as a divorce lawyer, she's likely to know. But I don't believe it. There's a huge leap between falling in love with a fit, rich, attractive young footballer and seducing a wealthy singleton with middle-aged spread to get straight to his bank balance. Sure, there are plenty of women who consider affluence to be an attractive attribute in a man. It bespeaks success, competence and a certain capacity for influence and agency in the world -- all sexy qualities, let's be honest. But outside of a pure sex-for-money transaction -- from which, for most women unlucky enough to have to resort to it, pregnancy as a result is usually the least desirable outcome -- I have never met a woman myself who would put it above sexual desire and a genuine emotional bond. The invention of the storybook villain Piranha Woman seems suspiciously like dredging up bitter old cliches in order to further divide the genders around issues of separation and divorce. Relationships are rarely so simple. And perpetuating these kind of tropes and stereotypes serves no one except the divorce lawyers.

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