rimblr.com

Love is not enough for Charlize Theron, for the actress also needs some passion to go with it, insisting that lust is just as important as love.
The Oscar-winning actress has been with boyfriend Stuart Townsend for around six years and claims that passion makes up an integral part of her relationship and she couldn’t live without it.
“I think I need a bit of both love and lust. I’ve been in situations where I have cared about someone, but there wasn’t that fire, and that is important. It’s chemistry and I don’t know why one person does it for me rather than another. It’s the mystery of life and love,” The China Daily quoted her, as saying.
The Monster actress claims that destiny had a lot do in her relationship with Stuart, whom she met while filming Trapped in 2002.
“We met on set and we liked each other. It was like, ‘You are awesome, and I’m never going to see you again.’ But somehow we always ended up in the same places. I was in London working, and we were sitting in his apartment drinking wine, and before I knew it we were packing up his apartment and he was moving to Los Angeles. Someone wanted us to be together,” she said.
Copyright © 2008 Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd. All rights reserved. For reprint rights: Times Syndication Service
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timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Vienna, Virginia | Molinaro Koger (MK) announced today that the firm’s metro-DC headquarters office facilitated the marketing and sale of the Residence Inn Boston Tewksbury/Andover, Massachusetts; on behalf of Lion ES Hotels II, LLC. The Boston-metro transaction was the seventh hotel that MK broker Andy Kern has structured for Lion ES Hotels II, LLC since January, 2008. The 130-suite extended-stay property was acquired by Tewksbury Residence Inn Hotel Associates, LLC for an undisclosed price. Tewksbury Residence Inn Hotel Associates, LLC has signed a long-term franchise agreement with Marriott International to continue operating the hotel as a Residence Inn. Pinnacle Hotel Management based in Lighthouse Point, Florida; assumed management of the hotel on behalf of the new owner.
“We were pleased to facilitate the sale of this well-located hotel to a buyer capable of closing decisively. This asset was a prime acquisition for the buyer who intends to grow their Northeastern hotel portfolio,” remarked Mr. Kern, senior vice president of MK’s Washington, DC office.
“Because they offer high consumer value and greater operational flexibility, the Residence Inn brand has proven resistant to downturns. As a high-quality spacious extended-stay product, the Residence Inn brand demonstrates resilience and profitability even in challenging economic times,” continued Mr. Kern.
Located in a Boston suburb, Tewksbury is part of one of the nation’s top 25 Metropolitan Statistical Areas. Vibrant economic drivers located within one mile of the Residence Inn Boston Tewksbury/Andover include Raytheon, Avid Digital Media and Phillips Electronics.
During the last 18 months MK has structured more than $5 billion in hotel real estate transactions worldwide. For further information about this transaction and current hotel property offerings, please contact MK at 703.760.9600 or via www.mkhotels.com.
ABOUT MOLINARO KOGER
Founded in 1959, Molinaro Koger (MK) is the world’s leading hotel-exclusive real estate brokerage, advisory and capital markets firm. MK provides clients with unparalleled service and commitment. During the past four decades the company has closed more than $15 billion in hotel property sales. Headquartered in Washington, DC, MK’s offices are located in Atlanta, Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, Phoenix, San Francisco, London, Mumbai, Beijing, and Shanghai.

hospitalitynet.org

Fugitive Accused In Beating Arrested
Monday, June 23, 2008 10:16 AM CDT
By Amy Sherrill
TIMES RECORD

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) - It is a taste of the Caribbean right in our backyard.
Island Fest 2008 kicks off Friday morning in Kalamazoo.
Michigan may have some brutal winters, but Friday and Saturday, it’s all about an island getaway. There isn’t an ocean breeze, but that’s okay.
This is the 13th annual Island Fest. It grew out Music on the Mall that features different styles of music.
It turned out that reggae was one of the more popular genres.
Before long, Island Fest evolved, and it’s now the largest reggae celebration in the state with international acts. Friday night’s headliner comes all the way from Jamaica.
But don’t think that’s all it has to offer.
This is an event about Caribbean culture, music and food of the islands.
From the editor: Many of you have expressed concerns about some of the harsh anonymous comments from readers. To remedy that, we are introducing new features. You can create your own blog, publish your news and share your photos with the community. Once you fill out a simple form and leave a verifiable e-mail address, you can set up your profile page. It will display all of your contributions and allow you to track issues and easily connect with others.
We want our site to be a place where people discuss and debate ideas that foster stronger communities. We built this for you. Please take care of it. Tolerate broad thinking, but take action against obscene or hateful material. Make it a credible and safe place worth preserving and sharing.

wwmt.com

Twenty-six new homes and 23 partially completed homes are slated to be sold in an upcoming auction for a bankrupt home-building company.
The auction will be at 1:30 p.m. June 28 at the Westin Hotel, 400 Park Blvd. in Itasca. Registration begins at 11:30 a.m. The incomplete homes are all under roof, sheathed, and at trim stage or beyond.
The properties slated for bidding include:

Discussions of a fire assessment may turn up the heat on Marco Island City Councilors. Some view the fire assessment as a way to make the costs of fire service more equitable between property owners while others see the assessment as simply another bill.
The ordinance going before council Monday evening does not set the amount property owners could pay. The assessment amount would be determined annually by council after the ordinance is passed.
The purpose of the assessment, according to Fire Rescue Chief Michael Murphy, is to make the way people pay for fire service fair. Currently there is a large disparity between the taxes paid by property owners who have equally valued property.
“I do believe that the Fire Rescue Assessment methodology gives fairness and residents and businesses can see value,” Murphy said.
Fire service makes up about 26 percent of the tax bill. If an assessment were added to the bills received in the fall and property tax rates were proportionately lowered, then the assessment could diminish the disparities.
However, the assessment may also allow councilors to increase everyone’s tax bill, leaving some residents to question what’s so fair about it.
“If there is anything done with a fire assessment, I can’t imagine council passing the same tax rate as last year,” said Councilor Jerry Gibson, adding that his opinion may not be shared among the entire council.
Council voted (6-1) in May to go forward with the process to allow for an assessment. Councilor Ted Forcht was the only councilor to oppose it.
“The idea behind this is to get the people who use the most Fire and Allied services to pay the most. On the surface I think that is fair. But I think this looks a lot like a new tax. I’ve been told I’m wrong,” Forcht wrote in an e-mail to constituents.

marconews.com

LOS ANGELES (AP) — New mom Jessica Alba will practice tough love.
“The baby isn’t getting away with nothing,” Romany Malco, who joins Alba and Mike Meyers in “The Love Guru,” told AP Television at the movie’s premiere.
Another cast member, Meagan Good, said Alba will probably be “strict and, `This is the way things go.’ But I think that’s great for a kid.”
And Alba’s stunt double, Taryn Dakha, threw in her two cents, saying: “She’ll be a tough mom but she’s a phenomenal mother.”
They’ll all basing their prognostications on what Alba says herself.
“I don’t want to be my child’s best friend,” the 27-year-old actress recently told Fit Pregnancy magazine. “I want to be a mom. But I do want my child to come to me when they have problems and need to talk, so it’s going to be about treading that line.”
In “The Love Guru,” set for release June 20, Alba — who with husband Cash Warren welcomed a baby girl, Honor Marie Warren, earlier this month_ plays a hockey team owner who enlists Pitka (Myers) the love guru to reunite her star player (Malco) and his estranged wife (Good).

ap.google.com

By DANIEL MONTEVERDE / The Dallas Morning News
Cooler doors fly open and slap shut as customers at Fuel City on South Industrial Boulevard grab for soft drinks and beer. And snack food bags crinkle as a steady stream of patrons snaps them up.
But behind the counter, the Texas Lottery machine and rolls of scratch-off lottery tickets sit idle more often than not.
Following a decade of nearly consistent economic growth and record revenue of $3.77 billion for the 2006 fiscal year, the lottery is seeing a slide in sales, according to recent records.
As of May 17, total lottery ticket sales – a combination of scratch-off tickets and printed "online" ticket sales, such as Lotto Texas and Pick 3 – were down 1.8 percent to $2.65 billion from $2.71 billion in the same time period the previous year, according to the lottery.
Instant ticket sales – which account for about three-fourths of total dollar sales – are down 1.5 percent for the same period. And online sales dropped 2.8 percent. Full year numbers will come out when the lottery’s fiscal year ends Aug. 31.
Considering existing sales patterns, Texas Lottery spokesman Bobby Heith said he doesn’t expect the lottery to recover this year.
"If you look at the trend that’s going, we don’t expect to recover because we don’t have anything like the $50 ticket coming out," he said, referring to a new ticket that helped bump up revenue last year.
Those who track the lottery say several factors are to blame for the decline, including newer, more expensive games, longer odds on existing games and worries about the economy and high gasoline prices.
Dawn Nettles, a Garland-based consumer watchdog and author of The Lotto Report newsletter, said she noticed a drop in sales when the lottery made two changes: The addition of the Daily 4 game in October 2007 and a switch by the flagship Lotto Texas from a pool of 50 numbers to 54 numbers.

dallasnews.com

Helen Ficalora and her husband, Helen, bought a four-bedroom, three bath at 221 Ocean Terrace in Palm Beach for $1.6 million from American Home Mortgage Servicing Inc. on May 14.
Mrs. Ficalora is a jeweler based in Montauk, N.Y. She designs gold ringbands, earrings, charm necklaces, bracelets and other jewelry that is available in stores in New York City, Beverly Hills and Palm Beach.
She also runs the Breakers Motel in Montauk.
Home sales in Palm Beach dropped 8.3 percent in 2007. The median sale price remained unchanged, at $1.2 million.

southflorida.blockshopper.com

BIODIVERSITY: How a Golden Opportunity Became a Zero-Sum Game
Analysis by Stephen Leahy
BONN, Jun 3 (IPS) - Self-interest and petty politicking largely paralysed efforts to solve the urgent problem of the widespread extinction of species, with few concrete achievements after nearly two weeks of 14-hour meetings at the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) in Bonn that concluded last Friday.
Why? Mainly because a few rich and powerful countries like Japan, Canada, Australia, Brazil and China fought tooth and nail to boost their own self-interest regardless of the environmental and human costs.
Six years ago, more than 160 countries at the April 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg agreed on a target of achieving a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss by 2010. In May 2008, virtually everyone here acknowledged the target will not be met.
Some countries, like Germany and most of the developing world, do understand that species extinction is undermining the vital ecosystem services that nature provides, such as food, fibre, clean water and air. Others, such as Canada, express altruistic sentiments that are belied by their actions. Since decisions at U.N. meetings are by consensus, any country can block decisions on a whim. Or, as is more often the case, countries will block agreement on something they have no connection to simply so they can force concessions on other issues.
“You listen to them debate over every comma and realise they could be arguing over anything,” said Helena Paul of EcoNexus, a British-based environmental group that participated in the CBD meetings. NGOs can observe but are not participants except for the occasional opportunity to express their views.
“Many countries have lost the sense of why we are here — instead it’s about playing political games,” Paul told IPS in Bonn. “There is no real commitment to protecting biodiversity.”

ipsnews.net