expire-images:2008-11-8

Is the Mercedes SL65 the Right Car for Britney?

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos, Celebrity Shopping

As part of the triumvirate of Hollywood bad girls that includes Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton, Britney Spears has not had great luck with cars. Her most recent white Mercedes has been involved in all sorts of minor scrapes and paparazzi incidents. It's no surprise that the free-spending popwreck opted for a new car, and why not go for an upgrade, a brand new Mercedes SL65. After all, a girl who makes over $700,000 a month can afford a $200,000 car. But why the same color, white, as the one before? And, considering her own bad vehicle luck why would she opt for the very same type of car that Lindsay Lohan got her DUI in? Personally I'd like to see Britney in a Lexus hybrid, nice and safe for the kids and a bit kinder to the environment, considering the girl is always on the move, yet still high end enough for a big spender. What kind of car do you think Britney should drive?

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Tags: britney spears, BritneySpears, celebrity news, expire-images:2008-11-8, mercedes, sl65

Jadeite Dealers Doing Business in Burma

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Jewelry

A few weeks ago I mentioned the concerns over rubies from Myanmar (Burma) but there is another stone exported from Burma to be aware of, jadeite. While the country is famed for its beautiful red rubies, Businessweek reports that the export of jadeite from Burma to Hong Kong and China is worth about $433.2 million a year, which is around 10% of the country's total exports. And that's just the official figure, it doesn't factor in the sales of smuggled goods which runs into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Myammar currently runs six auctions a year to sell rough stones and polished pieces of the stone which is extremely popular in China. Myanmar Gems Enterprise (MGE), a unit of the Ministry of Mines, has thus far postponed the latest auction, which was set to take place in October, possibly because the regime is nervous about having foreigners enter the country at this time. Recently a fax sent by the Burmese Consulate to a Hong Kong jadeite trade association said that the auction would take place at the end of November but that has not been confirmed yet.

Cartier, Bulgari and other jewelers have pledged not to do business in Burma, but Chinese and Hong Kong traders have said that they plan to go right doing business in the area. The Businessweek article quotes Kim Wing Yau of Kam Wing Cheong Jewelry as saying that business and politics should be separate. For these businessmen seeking to keep customers happy they don't have much of a choice. While rubies have a worldwide appeal, the jadeite markets are mainly located in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Burma has some of the best deposits of gem-quality jadeite in the world. With China's increased purchasing power, the demand for jadeite is steadily on the rise. The Burmese government is aware of the lure of the stones and has increased the amount of jadeite auctions.

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Tags: burma, expire-images:2008-11-8, gemstones, jadeite, myanmar

Virgin Atlantic Offers Onboard Offsets

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wings, Green

Virgin Atlantic has become the first airline that lets you order up your carbon offsets while you are actually in flight. The airline has partnered with myclimate to offer the offsets which are available onboard and online. The offsets will benefit projects in India and Indonesia.Virgin Atlantic has committed to only Gold Standard projects which are endorsed by 49 Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) worldwide including many environmental groups. The Gold Standard credits are independently validated and only support renewable energy or energy efficiency technologies (no tree planting or gas flaring).

Virgin Atlantic has also calculated exactly how much carbon is produced for each passenger by taking into account the different weights of equipment and seats in each class of travel. Upper Class passengers pay more than Premium economy and Economy passengers because their seats and entertainment monitors are significantly heavier.

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Tags: carbon offset, expire-images:2008-11-8, green, planes, virgin atlantic, VirginAtlantic

Elizabeth Taylor Promotes Her Holiday Jewels

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Jewelry, Events, Celebrity Shopping

Elizabeth Taylor may not have acted in a movie in a while but she still attracts attention wherever she goes. Diamond-loving Liz will be dazzling them in Beverly Hills this weekend when she makes an appearance on Saturday at Geary's on Beverly Drive to promote her jewelry line, House of Taylor. The appearance is billed as "Something wonderful is about to happen" and will be an opportunity for Taylor to present her holiday baubles. Plenty of celebrities do the legwork to promote their own lines but few have the star power of Elizabeth Taylor. Unfortunately, the news on Taylor's young company isn't entirely sparkly. House of Taylor Jewelry did secure additional financing in October but the Nasdaq traded stock (HOTJ) has fallen to under a dollar a share (last time I checked it was at $0.56) and has received formal Nasdaq notification for not being in compliance with the minimum bid price requirement for continued listing. Hopefully, Taylor's appearance will help boost the company's bottom line.

[Thanks, fabjewels]

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Tags: beverly hills, elizabeth taylor, ElizabethTaylor, expire-images:2008-11-8, geary's, house of taylor, jewelry, jewels