Met ball turns to high society, but can the high street cash in?

Eight models wearing Charles James gowns, in French & Company's eighteenth century French paneled room. Photograph: Cecil Beaton/Metropolitan Museum Of Art

It is widely judged to be the fashion world's most extravagant night out, wielding huge influence over trends on the high street. This year's red carpet will be graced by a host of celebrities including Lupita Nyong'o, Sarah Jessica Parker, Taylor Swift and Kim Kardashian as well as industry VIPs and some of the wealthiest people in the world, each splashing out $25,000(£15,000) on a ticket.

The influence of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art's annual gala opening for its annual fashion exhibition has spread far beyond upper echelons of the industry as fashion retailers watch for a new trend that they can cash in on.

"It's probably the most looked at event in the fashion calender, even more so than the Oscars," says Gemma Hayward, senior fashion editor at Grazia magazine.

Last year's exhibition, Punk: Chaos to Couture, which examined the influence of punk on high fashion since the early 1970s, led to retailers, including Zara and asos.com, doing a roaring trade in studded sandals, while the Superheroes theme of 2008 meant that cartoon-printed superhero T-shirts littered the high street.

More recent, playful themes have been interpreted by celebrities looking to score red carpet publicity points – with mixed success. Beyoncé's take on punk in 2013 suffered charges of resembling a dictator's interior decor, and worse, of being unflattering.

However, the focus of this year's exhibition "Charles James: Beyond Fashion" – a retrospective of the 20th-century British-born, American-based couturier – may pose a problem for high-street brands looking to turn the look of the Met ball into sales. Guests are expected to embrace the high society theme with extravagant ballgowns and elbow-length gloves likely to take top billing. It is a look which, unlike last year's punk theme isn't so easy to reinterpret on the high street.

"It is in direct contrast to the last Met ball," said Hayward. "More rarefied and historical. That's more challenging and less likely to be absorbed into the mainstream."

Charles James was little known beyond a circle of industry admirers and wealthy couture clients. In the 1940s his contemporaries referred to him as a genius, with Christian Dior crediting him with inspiring his new look and describing his work as "poetry". Fellow designers, including Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiaparelli, wore his designs (the former wasn't required to pay for her dresses, but the latter was) while life-long friend Cecil Beaton photographed an elite set of fans wearing them. A perfectionist and defiant elitist, James reportedly once said that he felt there was not enough money in the world to buy his garments. But despite his eccentric personality and the many compelling details about his career the designer does not feature prominently in fashion's history books.

The exhibition will also be the first at the newly reopened Anna Wintour Costume Centre. The wing was previously known as the Costume Institute but was renamed in recognition of the US Vogue editor's huge fundraising efforts over the past 16 years. The theme suggests Wintour's agenda includes repositioning the event – and indeed her own fashion legacy – as worthy of a museum as opposed to quirkier themes of recent year that have subsequently appealed to fashion's playful side.

There have been some rumours from American media sources that Wintour – who will co-host the party with Sarah Jessica Parker and Bradley Cooper– "wants more exclusivity." A theory given weight considering that tickets are $10,000(£6,000) higher than last year's price, and that the theme focuses on a couturier who could never be described as egalitarian.

Vogue.com, one of Wintour's mouthpieces, has already suggested that the Charles James-themed Met gala will signal a return to "old world elegance on the red carpet". The white tie and decorations dress code – which has raised eyebrows for its deliberately rigid sartorial implications – will mean it says "many of the chicest attendees will be wearing custom cuissardes made by ancestral French glovemakers".

Commentators are in agreement that, although unlikely sounding, long gloves could be an unexpected commercial trend to reverberate down the fashion food chain as a result of the event. "The very strict dress code will be difficult for anyone watching to translate into their everyday wardrobe, but long gloves were all over the autumn/winter catwalks so they are probably the easiest part of it," says Hayward.

Kay Barron, fashion features director at Porter magazine agrees: "actually I'm quite feeling long gloves for next season, but rather than a specific trend piece, I think it will inspire a love of dressing up again. Gowns have been out of fashion for so long, even for black tie events and I think everyone could benefit from getting a bit fancy from time to time.

Obama and Merkel warn Russia of economic sanctions over Ukraine

US president Barack Obama and German chancellor Angela Merkel hold a joint news conference in the Rose Garden. Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty

US president Barack Obama and German chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday warned Russia that sanctions targeting whole sections of the country's economy would be inevitable unless Moscow de-escalates the situation in Ukraine before elections later this month.

Appearing together at the White House, Obama and Merkel insisted they were united in their determination to use broad, so-called “sectoral sanctions” against Russia unless it reverses course in Ukraine by the elections on May 25.

However, in remarks likely to reassure Berlin, which is particularly dependent upon Russian gas exports, Obama played down the suggestion those sanctions would include sweeping restrictions on Russia's sale of energy to Europe.

“Energy flows from Russia to Europe, those continued even in the midst of the cold war – at the the height of the cold war,” Obama said. "The idea that you're going to turn off the tap to all Russian oil and natural gas exports is, I think, unrealistic."

Obama said there was "a remarkable unity between the United States and the European Union" about how to use leverage against Russian president Vladimir Putin over his continued interference in Ukraine.

European countries disagree over what form additional sanctions against Russia should take. “We have to take those [differences] into account,” Obama added. “Not every country is going to be in exactly the same place.”

However, if Russia impedes Ukraine's forthcoming elections, Obama said, “we will not have a choice but to move forward with additional, more severe sanctions."

Merkel also gave a strong endorsement of potential new sanctions against Russia. “In Europe, we have taken a position that should further destabilisation happen, we will move to a third stage of sanctions. I would like to underline this is not necessarily what we want, but we are ready and prepared to go such a step,” she said, according to a White House translation.

“We will see to it that elections can take place,” she added.

The strength of Merkel’s remarks about sectoral sanctions, while satisfying Washington, may surprise other European leaders. Senior European officials have been playing down the prospects of such broad-brush sanctions, which could also hurt Europe's economy, suggesting they would only be used as a last resort, in the event of a full-scale military incursion by Russia across the border.

Both leaders called for the immediate release of seven hostages who were working as monitors by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe when they were captured by pro-Russian forces in eastern Ukraine.

Merkel, who has spoken directly with Putin to try to secure the release of the hostages, four of whom are German, said their release was "a very crucial step, that needs to happen first".

The chancellor’s appearance with Obama marked her first visit to Washington since disclosures by the whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed her phone calls had been recorded by the National Security Agency.

Germany has been pressing for months for a mutual “no spy” agreement with the US, without success. Instead, Germany and the US have agreed to an ongoing “cyber dialogue” over issues relating to the balance between intelligence and privacy.

The language falls well short of what Berlin wanted, and Merkel made clear that differences remain between the the two countries on the issue.

She said that, while there was some intelligence cooperation between the countries, there are still differences over “what sort of balance to strike over the intensity of surveillance” used to combat terrorism and the consequences for privacy and individual freedom.

Honduras to extradite wanted Sinaloa cartel drug trafficker to US

The US government says Lobo trafficked multi-tonne loads of cocaine from Colombia for Honduran, Guatemalan and Mexican gangs. Photo: Andy Rain/EPA

Honduras said it will extradite to the US a drug trafficker who worked for Mexico's powerful Sinaloa cartel, making his the first such case since the country changed the law to allow the process two years ago.

Carlos Arnoldo Lobo, who the US government says trafficked multi-tonne loads of cocaine from Colombia for Honduran, Guatemalan and Mexican gangs, will be extradited next week, a spokesman for the Honduran justice department said after a decision by the country's supreme court late on Friday.

Lobo was captured in the last week of March and Honduran prosecutors have seized assets controlled by the trafficker worth in excess of $25m. He has been indicted on drug trafficking charges in the southern district of Florida.

The US Treasury Department said Lobo's clients included the Sinaloa Cartel, which has been at the forefront of cocaine trafficking from Mexico into the United States.

Like other drug gangs, the cartel has come under increasing pressure from Mexico's government. Its longstanding boss, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán, was captured by Mexican security forces in February.

Honduras, whose congress voted to permit the extradition of wanted drug traffickers in early 2012, has become a key transit point for Mexican drug cartels moving product north

NFL Hall of Famers applaud openly gay player Michael Sam

As the first openly gay player to enter the draft, Sam could face scrutiny unlike any player before him. Photograph: Brandon Wade/AP

Michael Sam's lifestyle will soon become secondary to his skills.

Once he's drafted in the NFL, the Missouri defensive end will be judged strictly on whether he can play and whether he can help his team win.

Everything else – even that he's gay – will be trivial.

As the first openly gay player to enter the draft, Sam could face scrutiny unlike any player before him. But many of the greatest players and coaches in football history don't believe he'll be subjected to any hatred, harassment, discrimination or bullying by teammates.

"I don't think he'll have any problem in the locker room. I don't think he'll have any problems on the field," said Hall of Fame offensive tackle Art Shell. "The one thing about football players, they're inclusive. They will take you for who you are, not what people try to portray you as.

"It's who you are: 'You're a football player, then you can play with us.' I don't see that as being a problem in the National Football League."

Shell's stance was shared by several other Hall of Famers, including Lions running back Barry Sanders, Buffalo coach Marv Levy, and Giants linebacker Harry Carson, who appeared along with nearly 100 other inductees at a two-day "Fan Fest," the largest gathering ever of football legends outside Canton, Ohio.

Sanders, who retired at the peak of his career following the 1998 season with 15,269 career yards rushing, believes there's an unwritten code among football players to ignore anything other than a person's skills and talents.

"From the time you're a kid and you start playing, you're almost programmed for 'Can a guy play or not?'" he said. "By the time you get to the NFL, that's well ingrained. I'm pretty sure every guy in this league has been around gay individuals before, and so I don't think it will be much different."

Sam's decision to reveal his sexual orientation may not have been met with such overwhelming approval just a few years ago. In the macho arena that is pro football, Sam may have been an outcast in previous generations.

"He's a very bold guy to come out," said cornerback Michael Haynes, a nine-time Pro Bowler elected to the Hall of Fame in 1997. "The timing is good. If he'd done that in the '60s or '70s, maybe not so good because everybody was really struggling with how to understand differences like that in people.

"Diversity has become a critical topic, people are talking about it all the time and I think the world is different. Remember Magic Johnson with Aids? It starts with education. He'll be judged on football."

Carson, who retired in 1988 after 13 seasons in New York, said he was "proud" of Sam for choosing to be open about his sexuality. Carson recalled that one of his Giants teammates, offensive lineman Roy Simmons, was suspected as being gay and was never ostracized.

"It never really swayed anyone's opinion of him," Carson said. "But it's something he lived with and he didn't have to by himself because he had teammates, and the teammates he had were guys who supported him. Even though he never said anything, we're a team and guys on the team who are unselfish are going to support their teammates regardless of how they choose to live their lives."

Simmons, the first player to acknowledge he was HIV positive, died early this year. He was 57.

The 6-foot-2, 261-pound Sam has been projected to be drafted from the third round on. Sam didn't perform well on the field at the scouting combine, where he calmly handled tough questions about his decision to come out as gay.

Levy, who led the Bills to four straight Super Bowls, said his criteria before deciding to draft Sam would be pretty simple.

"Is he the best guy at his position when we're on the board, and do we need a guy at that position?" the 89-year-old Levy said. "If so, I'll take him. I'd like to know his character qualities and other things, but that would not factor into my decision."

If he were coaching a team that selected Sam, Levy said he would not feel any need to address his players. That may not have been the case 10 or 20 years ago.

"I wouldn't make an issue of it," Levy said. "I think society has adjusted to the point where it's an acceptable thing and why make an issue of it? That would be my approach. Things change, plus I've got to worry about how to pick up the blitz.

Missed hit: one actors' loss, anothers' gain

Among the few hits of 2014 so far, is the Arjun Kapoor, Alia Bhatt-starrer, 2 States. And while the movie has proved to be lucky for Arjun, not many know that Imran Khan was apparently offered the part earlier.

Alia Bhatt and Arjun Kapoor, the new hit jodi of 2 States, grace the cover of CineBlitz for the month of May.

However, he turned it down because the film’s dates were clashing with Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola (2013). While Imran couldn’t be reached for comment, he isn’t the first actor to have rejected a movie that became a hit later. Says producer Ramesh Taurani, "They might not go on the record about it, but those actors (who turn down films which become big hits) must be regretting turning down such offers. Ultimately, they have to take the call on which projects they want to do."

Watch the movie review of  2 States!

Kareena Kapoor Khan dropped out of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela last year to make way for Deepika Padukone. Back then, she had said that she has "never regretted" not doing a film. Apparently, Kareena has also refused other big projects like Queen, Chennai Express (2013), Fashion (2008), Kal Ho Na Ho (2003) and Black (2005). Her husband Saif Ali Khan was also offered Talaash (2012) first, which was later done by Aamir Khan.

Similarly, Shahid Kapoor passed over last year’s hit, Shuddh Desi Romance, that was eventually done by Sushant Singh Rajput. On the other hand, Jacqueline Fernandez was supposed to play Kangana Ranaut’s part in Hrithik Roshan’s Krrish 3 (2013). "It was an unfortunate clash of dates," Jacqueline told IANS later on. She had also dropped out of another hit, Raaz 3 (2012) in which she was replaced by Bipasha Basu.

Inter-estingly, Shah Rukh Khan was first offered Ek Tha Tiger (2012, as revealed by him to HT). "I didn’t take it up due to paucity of time," he told us. The actor reportedly also turned down parts in films such as Slumdog Millionaire (2008), Lagaan (2001) and 3 Idiots (2010), and Munnabhai MBBS (2003).

- See more at: http://www.hindustantimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/missed-hit-one-actors-loss-anothers-gain/article1-1215329.aspx#sthash.3HMeRIEI.dpuf

Essex care home worker arrested on suspicion of assaulting elderly resident

A still from the Panorama investigation into the Old Deanery care home in Braintree, Essex. Photograph: Bbc/PA

A woman has been arrested on suspicion of assaulting a resident at a care home that was the subject of an undercover investigation by the BBC's Panorama.

The woman, in her 40s, was arrested on Friday by detectives probing abuse at the Old Deanery care home in Braintree, Essex police said.

Anglia Retirement Homes Ltd, which runs the home, sacked seven members of staff there after Panorama showed an elderly woman with dementia being bullied and slapped by a worker.

The woman arrested has been released on bail until later this month pending further inquiries, police added.

An Essex police spokesman said on Saturday the woman had been arrested after police watched the Panorama broadcast.

He added: "The documentary highlighted the treatment of residents inside the Old Deanery care home.

"Essex police were denied an advance viewing of the programme so were only able to begin an investigation following its nationwide broadcast on Wednesday April 30.

"On Friday evening officers arrested a woman in her 40s at her home in Braintree on suspicion of assaulting a resident at the care home before being released on police bail until later this month pending further inquiries."

The force urged anyone else wanting to report abuse or neglect at the home to come forward.

The programme showed residents being taunted, roughly handled, ignored and left in their own excrement for hours at the 93-bed home, which costs up to £700 a week.

Anglia released a statement after the documentary was aired in which it insisted the incidents involved only a small number of staff and said the company did not tolerate this kind of behaviour.

It said that after initially suspending eight members of staff when the allegations came to light, six had been dismissed and a further case was being urgently reviewed, while the care worker who slapped the resident had been summarily dismissed.

The Care Quality Commission visited the site while Panorama was filming undercover in November and gave the home a clean bill of health.

But the regulator returned two months ago after it was informed about the Panorama findings and found shortcomings including too few staff and some residents having to wait too long for assistance

Royal Bank of Scotland fears losing staff over bonus block

Ross McEwan, CEO of Royal Bank of Scotland, is worried about retaining key staff. Photograph: Lefteris Pitarakis/AP

The chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland has said the government's refusal to back its bonus plans may make it difficult for him to keep the top staff he needs to pull off his turnaround plan.

Ross McEwan was speaking as the 81% taxpayer-owned bank reported a jump in first quarter profits to £1.6bn from £826m a year ago, alongside a return to profit of its troubled Ulster Bank – into which it has poured at least £14bn since the banking crisis – for the first time in five years.

McEwan was giving his first comments on the decision by the government to block RBS proposals to pay bonuses twice the size of salaries this year, rather than equal to salaries, the level imposed by the EU bonus cap. "We are not going to pretend it's ideal. Not having the flexibility does have an element of risk for us, which I as the chief executive am going to manage," he said. "We will have to make some changes to those people to make sure we hold on to them."

The rise in profitability prompted a 10% rise in the shares to 347p during the day and made RBS the biggest gainer in the FTSE 100, though they dropped slightly to end the day at 331p .

The £17m profits at Ulster Bank were caused by the transfer of its most troublesome assets into RBS's new mini bad bank. McEwan will announce his plans for the bad bank – possibly including a merger with a rival – in the summer.

McEwan refused to disclose precisely how many of RBS's 116,000 staff fall under the scope of the EU bonus cap. He said the most vulnerable areas included the restructuring experts in the new mini bad bank and those in the US operation Citizens, which is being prepared for a stock market flotation in the fourth quarter of this year, as well as what remains of its slimmed down investment bank.

"I want to make sure I'm in a position to pay these people so I can retain them for the value of this business," said McEwan, who would not disclose if this approach involved rises in salaries as well as giving out bonuses.

The bank has cut 6,300 jobs – about 2,400 of which are in high street operations – as it tries to cut costs in an attempt to return to profitability.

While the first quarter results were free of charges for mis-selling payment protection insurance and regulatory fines that have had an impact on results in the past, the bank warned these risks could recur.

McEwan said: "Today's results show that in steady state, RBS will be a bank that does a great job for customers while delivering good returns for our shareholders. But we still have a lot of work to do and plenty of issues from the past to reckon with."

RBS is facing legal action from major City investors over disclosures made at the time of a £12bn cash call in 2008 – six months before the taxpayer bailout – and McEwan said the bank would fight the claims.

McEwan, who took over from Stephen Hester on 1 October, is trying to focus RBS increasingly on the UK and on retail customers, following a three-year strategy he set out in February when the 81% taxpayer-owned bank reported it had slumped to losses of more than £8bn in 2013.

The bank has also taken efforts to avoid a repeat of the IT meltdown in 2012 when customers of RBS, NatWest and Ulster Bank were locked out of their accounts. It is seeking to ensure a problem in one brand's systems will not effect the others.

RBS added that its outgoing finance director, Nathan Bostock, is to be sent on three months' gardening leave before taking up the role of deputy chief executive of Santander's UK arm in mid-August.