Names & Faces: Rooney Mara, Mel Gibson, Michael Douglas
‘Dragon’ lady picked
Actress Rooney Mara has been cast in a hotly anticipated Hollywood role: the title character of the hit 2009 crime novel “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” by the late Stieg Larsson.
Mara will play a standoffish yet cerebral computer hacker who assists financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist, played by Daniel Craig. Mara and the film’s director, David Fincher, worked together on the upcoming movie “The Social Network,” about the rise of Facebook.
Mel’s latest run-in Read more
How To Pack For Your Holiday
Are you just about to go away for a well earned break? It is always difficult to know what to take with you and when you’re packing your suitcase ready to go away on holiday, the thrill of a week or two away from the daily grind can often mean that you forget something really obvious! This article will give you a few tips on how to pack effectively and how to ensure that you make the most of your clothes and your holiday!
The key about holiday packing is to be really ruthless – with airlines often charging extra for heavy baggage there is an incentive for making a good job of your packing. And of course if there is anything essential that you have forgotten chances are you will be able to buy it whilst you are on holiday – you deserve a little treat. The best way to start is to lay everything you think you want to take out on the bedroom floor, and then here is the ruthless part, put half of it back in the wardrobe. Think about where you are going; is the climate likely to be warm or cold? Do you need any specialist equipment (ski wear) or will you be hiring it out there? Do you need to be able to dress for dinner or will a casual wardrobe suit every occasion?
One great way to ensure that you have everything that you will need whilst you are on holiday is to create a capsule holiday wardrobe. This isn’t as hard as it sounds but it will mean that you have to be very clever with your planning and accept that you might not have the variety of things with you that someone with two suitcases full of clothes does. It will however give you enough clothes and will give you a stylish look for every possible holiday event Read more
BOE Lowers U.K. Growth Forecast
LONDON—The Bank of England said Wednesday that the U.K. economy is likely to expand at a slightly more modest pace than previously forecast because of fiscal austerity measures but maintained a bullish view of growth prospects.
In its quarterly Inflation Report, the Monetary Policy Committee said price growth would remain above its 2% target for the whole of next year, pushed up by an upcoming rise in sales tax, and warned of a possible knock-on effect on public inflation expectations.
The MPC said inflation would fall below target in early 2012 and would stay under that level until mid-2013.
The BOE’s forecasts show growth averaging around 3% over the medium term and are strikingly more optimistic than official projections from the Office for Budget Responsibility for growth of 2.3% in 2011 and 2.8% in 2012.
Those forecasts were based on the £113 billion of fiscal tightening by 2015 the government promised in June.
The U.S. Federal Open Market Committee Tuesday acknowledged that the pace of the U.S. economic recovery has slowed, and agreed to reinvest proceeds from expiring mortgage-backed securities into long-term Treasurys to help keep mortgage rates low, in what could be a step toward further easing.
The BOE indicated that it was keeping its options open, given the huge uncertainty surrounding prospects, and said it stood ready to respond in “either direction”—through tightening or loosening—to risks as they evolved.
Earlier Wednesday, data showed that the U.K.’s two main measures of unemployment fell again in July while the number of employed people rose to the highest level in more than a year. Read more