Classical Mag

Kate Winslet Keeps It Simple and (Sometimes) Stylist-Free On screen, it’s been impossible to pigeonhole Kate Winslet. She’s variously played a Jane Austen heroine (“Sense and Sensibility”), rebellious Edwardian (“Titanic”), artsy hipster (“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”) and intelligent villain (the “Divergent” series). Most recently, she won a Golden Globe and has been nominated for an Academy Award for her role as a Polish-Armenian computer marketing guru (“Steve Jobs”). On the red carpet, though, the 40-year-old is more predictable. “Kate knows how to pick the piece that’s most flattering on her,” said Cheryl Konteh, a friend and on- and off-again stylist for Ms. Winslet for 20 years. That makes the actress “the easiest person to work with that you’re ever going to meet.” In fact, Ms. Winslet often dispenses with a stylist altogether and — we know this will be hard to believe — simply dresses herself for events. If that doesn’t rankle the many young thi

Screen Actors Guild Awards Red Carpet     from left, Kate Winslet, Alicia Vikander and Brie Larson.

Suicide Bombings Kill at Least 45 Near Damascus GENEVA — A double suicide bombing killed at least 45 people and wounded dozens more near a Shiite shrine south of Damascus, the Syrian capital, state television reported Sunday. The Sayeda Zeinab shrine, in what was once a busy market area, has been a major symbol and rallying center for Shiite militia recruits from Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan fighting in Syria on the side of the government. Social media accounts associated with the Islamic State said the extremist group had taken responsibility for the blast. The area has become a foothold for Hezbollah and other Shiite militias assisting the government in fighting insurgents in the Damascus suburbs, but it also houses civilians displaced from Shiite towns in northern Syria. The attack came as Syrian government representatives and members of the opposition were gathered in Geneva before the planned — but repeatedly postponed — peace talks aimed at finding a pol

President Xi Jinping of China Is All Business in Middle East Visit President Xi Jinping of China with King Salman of Saudi Arabia on a visit to Riyadh on Jan. 19 BEIJING — When President Xi Jinping of China traveled to the Middle East this month he dropped in on two regional rivals, Saudi Arabia and Iran, a feat few global leaders could pull off. The Saudis had just executed a Shiite cleric , and angry Iranians had stormed the Saudi Embassy in Tehran in response, a tinderbox moment that Mr. Xi ignored by sticking to his mission that was all about building business and staying above the fray. The timing of Mr. Xi’s tour, his first visit to the region after three years of assiduous travel to almost every other corner of the world, proved to be serendipitous. He had canceled a trip last year because of the war between Saudi Arabia and Houthi rebels in Yemen, and his new date coincided with the lifting of international sanctions against Iran. The risk of arrivin

Tears and Bewilderment in Brazilian City Facing Zika Crisis Micaela de Souza took her 3-month-old daughter with microcephaly to see a doctor for a test result in Recife, Brazil, on Friday. Credit Mauricio Lima, RECIFE, Brazil — So many distraught mothers stream into the infant ward clutching babies with abnormally small heads that the receptionist sends them outside, to see if they can find a chair to wait under the mango tree. “There’s shade there, at least,” said Maria Helena Lopes, 66, as she greeted one young mother after another. “We’ll call you when we’re ready.” Roziline Ferreira took three buses to get here, grasping her 3-month-old son, Arthur, all the way. Tears swelled as she looked at him, recalling how the symptoms of the Zika virus had struck her during the second month of her pregnancy . How would she ever be able to care for him, she wondered? What kind of life would he have? “It gets me angry whe

The brawl begins Marvel at the jaw-dropping spectacle. Then worry. American politics has taken a dangerous turn THE muscle-bound rivals have entered the ring. The verbals are at fever pitch. On February 1st Iowans will caucus in the opening round of America’s presidential tussle. Just over a week later, voters will gather in New Hampshire. From there the contest will move on towards Super Tuesday on March 1st, and beyond that to the conventions in July. It is the world’s greatest electoral tournament. It is not going to plan. Across America, political elites and moderate voters are in a state of disbelief. Hillary Clinton, as much part of the establishment as the Washington Monument, is under pressure from Bernie Sanders, a crotchety senator from Vermont who calls himself a democratic socialist. The sensible squad on the right—“Jeb!” Bush, Marco Rubio, John Kasich et al—have been impaled by the gimlet gibes of Ted Cruz and swamped by the sprawling, tumultuous diatrib

Weak American growth is probably a blip Slower consumer spending dragged down growth, but Americans are flush with cash IT IS a bad time for bad news. With American stocks down 6% since the start of 2016, the revelation on January 29th that the economy grew by only 0.7% (annualised) in the final quarter of 2015, down from 2% in the third quarter, was hardly the news markets needed. The slowdown has three causes. Two are familiar: exports, which are being made more expensive by a strong dollar, are shrinking; and oil and gas firms are reducing their investment in response to cheap oil. The third is new. Until recently, decent consumer-spending growth had kept things moving. Now consumer spending has decelerated too, dragging growth down. This is strange, because falling gasoline (petrol) prices have fattened American wallets. In 2014 Americans spent an average of $2,500, or 4.2% of their after-tax income, on gas. A year later, thanks to tumbling oil prices, gas cost 27

Going after Google Britain’s tax men struck a poor deal. But the real problem lies with flawed international corporate-tax rules IT WAS meant to win plaudits for clawing more money out of cunning, tax-shy multinationals. Instead, a deal between Google and the British government, in which the tech giant will pay £130m ($185m) in back taxes covering a ten-year period, has attracted only opprobrium. Critics at home and abroad argue that Google has got off lightly. On the European mainland, for example, suspected corporate tax-dodgers face raids and whopping demands: France wants €500m ($550m) or more from Google. Apple could be on the hook for $8 billion if the European Commission, which is investigating its Irish operations, concludes that it got a cushy deal from the Emerald Isle. Britain may well have been too generous to Google. But the bigger problem with the deal is what it says about international efforts to crack down on corporate-tax avoidance. Nineteen for me

The next generation A mainly Caribbean community has become a mainly African one—and is poised to become more successful BLACK British history did not begin in the 20th century. In 1578 George Best, a travelling diarist, wrote of meeting “an Ethiopian as blacke as a cole brought into England”. But it was after the 1940s that Britain’s black population really began to grow, with two waves of immigration. The first, from the 1940s to the 1960s, carried poor Caribbeans to British shores. The second, beginning in the late 1980s, came from Africa, as wealthy Nigerians and Ghanaians arrived alongside rural migrants and refugees from Somalia and Zimbabwe. Britain’s black population is now about 2m, or just over 3% of the total. The census divides it into two main categories: “black African” and “black Caribbean”. Until the turn of the century, Caribbeans were in the majority. But in the ten years to 2011, the African population doubled. And that is not the end of the changes

Making a splash Taiwan’s outgoing president further roils troubled waters AS PARTING gestures go, it was a risky one. Taiwan’s president, Ma Ying-jeou, leaves office in May, having lost an election on January 16th. But rather than slink out quietly, this week he visited Itu Aba, known in Chinese as Taiping, the biggest natural island in the Spratly archipelago in the South China Sea, garrisoned by Taiwan but also claimed by China, the Philippines and Vietnam. The Philippines and Vietnam were incensed, China much less so: it appreciates Mr Ma’s adherence to the fiction that there is but “one China”. From its point of view, Taiwan’s territorial claims in the much-disputed sea are its own. Besides reasserting Taiwan’s claim, Mr Ma wanted to rebut arguments made by the Philippines, in a case it has brought before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. This argues that under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), Itu Aba is a rock that cannot sustain

Outsiders’ chance The primary contest is about to get serious. It has rarely been so ugly, uncertain or strange WHEN Jeb Bush announced he was running for president seven months ago the tutting newspaper commentaries almost wrote themselves. With his famous name and war chest of over $100m, whistled up from Bush family benefactors in a matter of months, the former Florida governor was almost as strong a favourite for the Republican ticket as Hillary Clinton, who had made her inaugural campaign speech two days earlier, was for the Democratic one. Bush against Clinton? The prospect made American democracy seem stale and dynastic, rigged on behalf of a tiny political elite, whose members alone had the name recognition and deep pockets required to win its overpriced elections.    But now the primary process is about to get serious. In Iowa on February 1st perhaps 250,000 voters will brave icy roads to pick their champion in small groups, or caucuses. And the tutting has g

Caitlyn Jenner Settles Lawsuit With Car Crash Victim's Step-Children A lawsuit filed against Caitlyn Jenner by the adult step-children of Kimberly Howe , who was killed in a fatal car crash on the PCH last February, has been dismissed, a source confirms to E! News. According to court documents obtained by TMZ , William Howe and Dana Redmond filed dismissals on Tuesday. According to details previously released by the L.A. County Sheriff's Department, their step-mother was behind the wheel of the white Lexus that was rear-ended by Jenner's Cadillac Escalade. The Lexus spun or veered into oncoming traffic and was hit head-on by a Hummer. Howe died at the scene. Per TMZ , Jenner is still facing a lawsuit from the driver of the Hummer. In late-2015, she settled a suit with the driver of a Prius involved in the crash. Caitlyn Jenner Settles Lawsuit With Prius Driver Involved in Fatal Car Crash

Khloe Kardashian Gets Cornrows Again, Show Skin and Quotes 2 Chainz as She Continues Family Hairstyle Trend Watch out, it's old school Khloe Kardashian ! In a photo posted on her Instagram page Thursday, the 31-year-old  Keeping Up With the Kardashians star wears her shoulder-length blond hair styled in cornrows. Khloe also sported a similar look in September 2014, when she had long, dark brown hair. In her latest pic, Khloe wears a black sweat suit from The Marathon Clothing store, pulled down to reveal her bare shoulder. "You gettin mad. I'm gettin rich," she wrote, quoting a lyric from rapper  2 Chainz ' 2015 track "Watch Out," whose music video was released this week.