Comme tous les ans, Milan-San Remo, disputée le premier week-end de printemps, lance la grande saison des classiques. Avant les Flandriennes et les Ardennaises, la Primavera offre la possibilité aux sprinteurs-puncheurs de décrocher une course toujours aussi mythique. La 101e édition s'annonce une fois encore très ouverte avec Boasson Hagen, Bennati, Boonen, Farrar et Freire comme principaux favoris à la succession d'un Cavendish hors de forme.

Comme tous les ans, Milan-San Remo, disputée le premier week-end de printemps, lance la grande saison des classiques. Avant les Flandriennes et les Ardennaises, la Primavera offre la possibilité aux sprinteurs-puncheurs de décrocher une course toujours aussi mythique. La 101e édition s'annonce une fois encore très ouverte avec Boasson Hagen, Bennati, Boonen, Farrar et Freire comme principaux favoris à la succession d'un Cavendish hors de forme.

 La presse britannique publie, vendredi, une photo du footballeur David Beckham, en peignoir, une serviette sur la tête, en prélude à la diffusion d'un sketch, en faveur d'une association caritative, vendredi soir, à la télévision, images dans lesquelles on pourra voir le sportif prendre un bain avec le comédien anglais James Corden. Cette vidéo a été tournée avant l'accident de David Beckham, 34 ans, victime d'une rupture du tendon d'Achille gauche, dimanche dernier, avec le club italien de l'AC Milan.

Luis Figo était content d'avoir évité Manchester United en quarts de finale de la Ligue des Champions mais l'ambassadeur de l'Inter Milan se méfie toutefois du CSKA Moscou.

Football/Ligue des champions La France aura un représentant en demi-finale de la Ligue des champions de football. Les Girondins de Bordeaux et l’Olympique lyonnais s’affronteront en effet pour une place dans le dernier carré, les 30 mars ou 31 mars (aller) et 6 ou 7 avril (retour). Les autres quarts de finale : Bayern Munich – Manchester United, Arsenal – FC Barcelone et Inter Milan – CSKA Moscou. Le Bordelais Marouane Chamakh et le Lyonnais Jean-Alain Boumsong s'affronteront en demi-finale de la Ligue des champions. AFP

Pour la première fois depuis la saison 2003/04, il y aura au moins un club français en demi-finale de la Ligue des Champions : Lyon et Bordeaux seront en effet opposés en quart de finale de la Ligue des Champions, une 1ère dans l'histoire du football français ; le match aller aura lieu à Gerland le 30 ou 31 mars, le match retour étant prévu à Chaban-Delmas le 6 ou le 7 avril. Le vainqueur de la confrontation rencontrera le Bayern Munich ou Manchester United en demi-finale. Les deux autres quarts de finale opposeront Arsenal à Barcelone et l'Inter Milan au CSKA Moscou.

Le sort s'est montré taquin ce vendredi avec les deux derniers clubs français engagés en Ligue des Champions puisque Lyon et Bordeaux seront opposés en quarts de finale avec match aller à Gerland. A défaut de gros chocs contre nos voisins européens, cela certifie au moins la présence du football hexagonal dans le dernier carré. Le vainqueur de ce duel fera face au lauréat de Manchester United-Bayern Munich. Arsenal-Barcelone et CSKA-Inter Milan sont les deux autres affiches.

Contrairement à ce qu'il avait prévu, Lance Armstrong (RadioShack) ne participera pas à Milan-Sanremo, première grande classique de la saison, samedi. L'Américain, malade, ne veut pas prendre de risques. Son prochain rendez-vous est prévu à la fin du mois de mars, lors du Critérium International.

MILAN, March 19, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- - Wikio, groupe de communication européen centré sur la blogosphère et les médias sociaux, et PromoDigital, première plateforme italienne de mise en relation entre marques et blogueurs ...

A local's guide to galleries, warehouse studios and quirky cafes in the city's burgeoning arts district of Chiesa Rossa, ahead of next month's Milan Design Fair

Milan, the world capital of design, has much more to offer than its exclusive Via della Spiga and Via Monte Napoleone, where fashion victims and models air kiss and live off froth. Beyond the historical Duomo, beyond the boho-chic Brera, the southern district of Chiesa Rossa - ensconced between Porta Ticinese, Porta Genova, the canals and the art deco former central electric on Via Giovanni da Cermenate – was once home to factory workers, but is now where young designers dream up the shapes of the future.

Our guide was born and bred in Chiesa Rossa - film director and photographer Marina Spada, former assistant to actor, comedian, screenwriter and director Roberto Benigni, who garnered international awards for Come l'Ombra, her 2006 film which takes place over a summer in Milan.

1. Design at SuperStudio

Twenty-six years ago, Italian fashion photographer Fabrizio Ferri and fashion editor Flavio Lucchini decided to convert the disused factories and warehouses off the Via Tortona into a place to train aspiring fashion photographers. "Their initiative really started the conversion of the area which until then was still considered an industrial suburb," says Spada. During the 90s, Ferri and Lucchini opened 19 studios. Soon after, Armani asked Japanese architect Tadao Ando to transform the former Nestlé building into his new headquarters. Today, SuperStudio offers some of the best fashion photographic studios and sets in the world. However, the area has retained its 20th-century industrial and artisan spirit; via Tortona, via Forcella and via Savona are worth a long détour. SuperStudio organises fashion and design events, art shows and concerts all year long.
· Via Forcella, 13-17; superstudiogroup.com.

2. Forma

Opened only five years ago in a disused tramway warehouse, this international centre for photography is the first of its kind in Milan to offer a print lab, an exhibition space, a school, a bookshop and a restaurant. "Located on a former cemetery, it has a special atmosphere and is full of art students," says Spada. "I also love taking a peek at the nearby tramway depot through the big glass windows on the terrace." Until 2 June, there is an exhibition of Paolo Morello's vintage prints covering the history of Italian photography from the post war years through to the mid 1970s.
· Piazza Tito Lucrezia Caro, 1, formafoto.it; admission: €7.50 (£6.70).

3. Café Divan

Launched exactly a year ago, Café Divan offers freshly baked brioches, panini and soup, which will keep you going while you surf the web for free surrounded by black candelabras and white stucco, black lacquered tables and giant white sofas. "It may look extremely sleek, but the atmosphere is very relaxed" says Spada. "More than the décor, I come for their food which is very fresh, and prepared and cooked on the premises."
· Via Vigevano, 33; cafedivan.it.

4. Mercato Communale

"This covered market is a miracle," says Spada. "I go there often just to see something that may be natural in France or Britain but feels revolutionary here in the land of Berlusconi: old local ladies sharing recipes and jokes with South American grocers." Open Monday to Saturdays, this 1940s public market with its traditional Italian butchers and newly-arrived Peruvian and Argentinean grocers is a lively, colourful and aromatic meeting point for Milanese of all ages, right by the canals at Porta Ticinese.
· Piazza XXIV Maggia.

5. Le Trottoir

This 400-year-old gate house where visitors had to pay to enter the city now offers drinks and all-night music at weekends. Conceived as a meeting point for artists, it is located in the middle of Piazza XXIV Maggia. It's spread over three levels, and has a grotto-esque feel thanks to its candle-lit bar and its many little salons all connected to each other through little corridors. It also has a terrace for daytime coffee. Le Trottoir organises cultural events throughout the year.
· Piazza XXIV Maggia, 1; letrottoir.it.

6. La Darsena's canals

"The canals give Milan the charm and warmth it may lack at first sight, especially for first-time visitors," says Spada. Designed by Leonardo da Vinci then redesigned by Mussolini's architects in the 1920s, they offer an exquisite respite from the frantic pace of Milanese life. Lined with art galleries, cafés and bars, Naviglio Grande and Naviglio Pavese are also famous for their boat-restaurants and mini-cruises (€12 for an hour cruise, running every hour from Friday to Sunday). Also, every year, since the 1930s, 11 teams compete on racing boats to win the Leonardo Trophy (8 and 9 May).
· naviglilombardi.it.

7. Gelateria di Ripa di Porte Cinese

The walls of this compact antiquated shop are covered with wooden and glass cabinets displaying hundreds of rows of ice-cream cones turned upside down. Located right at the angle with Via Gorizia, and facing Naviglio Grande, it has a wooden bench outside with a view on to the canal. "My parents used to come here when they were teenagers during the war," says Spada. "Many shops around here haven't changed at all since the 1920s, sometimes earlier." If you're wondering what the Italians call "English soup" (zuppa inglese), it's custard flavoured ice-cream, and it's delicious. "They also do Nutella pancakes," adds Spada.
· Ripa di Porte Cinese, 1; Two scoops: €3.

8. Fondazione Arnaldo Pomodoro

Milan's answer to Tate Modern is located in a former 1926 turbine hall. The museum, which bears the name of the great Italian sculptor, Arnaldo Pomodoro, opened its doors in September 2005 and is primarily dedicated to sculpture. The Fondazione welcomes guest curators and cross-disciplinary arts and there are exhibitions all year round, as well as events and concerts. Currently showing is Spanish artist Cristina Iglesias' poetic sculptures. "I love what architect Pier Luigi Cerri did with the space of this former electric factory," comments Marina Spada, "it's so full of energy. I never know if it's the art or the ghost of electricity."
· Via Andrea Solari, 35; fondazionearnaldopomodoro.it. Open Wednesday to Sunday from 11am to 6pm. Admission: €8.

9. Il Libraccio

With a permanent 50% off tag, Il Libraccio offers the best book bargains in town and the secondhand section extends to another shop opposite. Don't miss the art and architecture section with more than 5,000 titles, among them small publishers' books. Il Libraccio has a foreign language section and very helpful assistants. Discreet browsing is also allowed and made possible in the bookshop's large alleys. Il Libraccio at number 2, on Naviglio Grande, is dedicated to books at €2. You can also sell your books there.
· Naviglio Grande, 2 and Via Corsico, 9; libraccio.it

10. Villa Necchi

This place is outside the Chiesa Rossa, but it's worth the detour. Built between 1932 and 1935 by Milanese architect Piero Portaluppi, Villa Necchi has been left unchanged since then. Bequeathed to the Italian National Trust a few years ago, it tells the story of a rich family who, on returning to their villa after the war, decided to embellish it with rococo and neo-renaissance additions. A clash of powerful styles makes for an unforgettable experience. Don't miss the black bathroom in the guests' apartments on the first floor, the impeccably art-deco butler's tea-room and the framed autographed pictures of Europe's royalties who often stayed here as family friends.
· Villa Mozart, 14; casemuseomilano.it. Admission: €8 (with a free 75-minute guided tour).

· Milan Design Fair runs 14-19 April, 2010.

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Agnès Poirierguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

envoyé spécial en italie eric de falleur MILAN "Pour moi, le grand favori pour samedi, c'est Tom Boonen." L'affirmation de Philippe Gilbert tombe comme un couperet. La sentence est partagée par la majorité du peloton à la veille de la 101e édition de Milan-Sanremo. ...

If you thought that wearing fur was outdated - what with all those green movements and animal rights activists who put this cruel sense of fashion in its right place with the likes of Cruella de Vil - fashionista's say, think again.

Last month the fashion world went literally “wild” in New York, Paris and Milan during the unveiling of their fall collection. They had models strutting the catwalk in so much fur, it was scary enough to make animal rights activists and environmentalists jump out of their skins.

In this era of global warming and dwindling animal species, one would think that we humans would come to our senses and rethink our actions. Not so, it seems, as there is a whole other world out there - the fashion industry of the west - whose endorsement and use of fur and exotic animal products simply encourages the mass slaughter of many endangered species.

A dealer's bounty at the Quartzite annual show for art and crafts. Image by Flickr user cobalt123. Used under a Creative Commons License

To name a few, the Chiru or Tibetan antelope, whose underbelly fur is used to make “Shatoosh” the world's most expensive shawls, also known as “shawls of death”. It takes 3 dead antelopes, to make one shawl, so fine it can fit through a finger ring, and each one can cost between $5000 to $20,000 in the international market. Even babies, and mother's who have just delivered, are not spared.

According to WWF, the population of this species has declined by over 50 percent in the last 20 years and the Tibetan Plateau Project says that it was the fashion-driven demand for Shatoosh in the U.S that resulted in as many as 20,000 antelopes being slaughtered. It is alarming to know that the animal could become extinct in the next three years at this rate.

In a blog run by Uma and Hurree called Animal Rights India, they argue how farming of Chiru's - like Eider ducks in Iceland for eider (as an alternative), will not make a difference to the dwindling numbers.

But hello: Eider ducks are now a protected species, and farmers in iceland use a technique of collecting the down without harming the bird. And no, it is not possible to obtain the shahtoosh wool without killing the chiru.

They go on to say:

It's impossible to justify killing three beautiful wild animals every time you want to push a length of shawl through a ring, blah blah. And to farm them just to kill them for shawls?

Raja Basu, another blogger said:

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) – which controls the trade in endangered species products – has completely banned international trade in Tibetan antelope products (including Shahtoosh). It is illegal to import Shahtoosh into many countries, including the USA (ironically, Shahtoosh products are so popular in the US fashion industry). Unfortunately, despite such laws being in place, the Shahtoosh trade is going on in full swing. This is because it is not enough to have laws. There must also be a strong public protest across the board against every person who is by any means related to the Shahtoosh trade. There should be a widespread public sensitization campaign to educate the common people.

Bloggers in the west, however, were giving this some thought and debated:

Rachel Menashy wrote on her blog:

1. People eat rabbits at restaurants. These rabbits have been killed to provide ‘dinner' for people like us (I would like to point out that I have never eaten rabbit and by ‘us' I mean people who eat in restaurants). Why is it right that rabbits can feature on a menu in a restaurant but wrong to wear a fur coat? These rabbits inevitably are skinned in preparation to be cooked - what else should we do with the fur?

2. Is it more acceptable if the coat is Vintage? Why?

3. Is rabbit fur better/worse than Mink? Some argue that rabbit fur is not as bad because rabbits are not in danger of becoming extinct, unlike mink which is. Then again, people keep rabbits as pets so is it more cruel to wear rabbit than mink?

4. If a fur coat is hanging on a rail at a store and one customer refuses to buy it, somebody else will…

5. Should role models such as Kate Moss be seen wearing fur? Kate's style is copied by millions of girls (and women) - is she giving a bad impression?

To which Denise replied:

1. I would personally be more likely to wear rather than eat rabbit. The eating of it seems less acceptable somehow.
2.Vintage coats have been around for a while and should be recycled - which I'm definitely into.
3. Mink are feral creatures and even though their fur is more desirable, mink are not aiming for extinction, so why not wear it?
4. Agreed.
5. I don't mind fur being worn by anyone, and Kate Moss is just showing that this is acceptable. Too many people are on the “fur is bad” bandwagon. I bet most of these people eat meat and wear leather, so what's the difference?

But there is a difference as Barry Williams responded to a thread: Wearing Fur is not immoral on www.helium.com

If we go around killing cattle for leather, alligators for shoes, deer for chamois and see nothing morally wrong in that , why it is immoral to wear fur. What I see as immoral is the killing of animals simply for the fur alone. It really is such a waste, isn't it? Apart from the leather we obtain from cattle not much of the animal is wasted. Beef cattle supply our meat.

There are a multitude of arguments out there, but in the meantime the Humane Society for the United States, says that Canada will slaughter 388, 200 harp, grey and hooded seals this year, an increase of 50,000 from 2009. This, because of the overall demand for fur. The site of the Fur Council of Canada shows styles and celebrities modelling various furs in what it describes as a fashion trend of 2010.

And unfortunately in the U.S, and much of the west, where Global Fashion trends are set, laws don't seem to be enough to curb their greed. According to the International Fur Trade Federation Blog:

..the shift in the attitude towards fur can be attributed to “changes within the fur trade, such as the introduction of the new Origin Assured initiative, which guarantees that fur bearing the label comes from a country with animal welfare regulations”. This shows that the fur trade efforts and initiatives to challenge the outdated ideas of our industry have been noticed. We are a transparent and well-regulated industry that supports high animal welfare standards and we welcome the confidence and support shown by the fashion designers as well as the European Commission, who recently recognised the importance of the Origin Assured label.

Fashion designers who have been courted by Furriers say they are “confident using fur after examining the chain of production and finding it humane. But could this confidence be based on a lack of investigation or knowledge? According to an endangered species handbook :

The New York luxury department store, Bergdorf Goodman, advertised shahtoosh in 1995 as a “royal and rare” fabric, making incorrect statements about the wool having been obtained from the Mountain Ibex goat of Tibet which “sheds its down undercoat by scratching itself against low trees and bushes” from where it is gathered by local shepherds (Schaller 1998)

And if the clubbing of baby seals and mass slaughtering of Chiras, mothers and babies, is “humane” then its sad to think of what “humane” means anymore, and what we are willing to condone in the name of “Fashion”.

It’s always nice to see when technology takes a cue from nature. In this case, the Bloom Light.

The Bloom Light is the creation of Patrick Jouin. It is merely a concept for now, but it could very easily be something that I would put in my reading room. This would be assuming that I have a reading room, which I do not.

As you can see, it is something that looks like an ordinary bulb, at least at the beginning. And by the word “bulb”, I mean something like a flower bud. I think “bud” is probably the best explanation as the light blooms like a flower. This allows the light to be spread out amongst the room, and I’m guessing that it makes some pretty patterns.

Maybe if it spins, it can become something like a disco chandelier. It sort of reminds me of the “primary weapons” on the big honkin’ motherships in Independence Day. I suppose that if the Bloom Light was a chandelier, I might get nervous that it was going to incinerate me.

Still, I like this design, and would love to have it on my ceiling or post lamp. It is not for sale now, but it will be on display at the International Furniture Fair in Milan.

Source
Introducing Foolish Gadgets because not all gadgets are cool
[ Bloom Light unfolds for more luminescence copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Vainqueur sortant, Mark Cavendish va tenter de réaliser le doublé sur Milan-Sanremo, samedi. Sur la Primavera, le Britannique tentera d'obtenir son premier succès en 2010. Après un début d'année difficile, le sprinteur de l'équipe Columbia veut lancer sa saison pour de bon.

England soccer star John Terry has again been engulfed in controversy after his car hit a club steward on Tuesday night following Chelsea's Champions League defeat by Inter Milan.