There was a new toned-down aesthetic on offer from Federico Piaggi and Stefano Citron at  Gianfranco Ferré this afternoon – more streamlined silhouettes, softer lines and delicate decorative accents made for a far more wearable collection than seen in recent seasons.

Updated Monday September 24, 1.22pm: The Jedward twins joined Elizabeth Hurley, Shane Ward and Leona Lewis at the Roberto Cavalli show, which saw a new lease of life from the Italian designer. Loose-fit dresses came covered in embroidery, beading and lace cut-outs, and were layered over flared trousers and under boxy jackets.

Updated Monday September 24, 8.31am: Cara Delevingne opened DSquared2′s show this morning – “a celebration of the super girls, super sexy”, as the designers behind the label, Dean and Dan Caten, told us backstage. The surprise special guests? The Jedward twins, naturally.

Updated Monday September 24, 8.31am: The final day of Milan Fashion Week is here, but not before the DSquared2 designers – twin brothers Dan and Dean Caten – prepare to put on what is always a wildly imaginative show. Last season, the pair recreated a fake prom setting (starring Lindsey Wixson as prom queen, naturally); spring/summer 2012 was a catwalk version of Glastonbury (complete with a stage, muddy boots and a camper van); and autumn/winter 2011-12 was an homage to the Wild West. This season can only be bigger and more inventive.

Roberto Cavalli follows next on the schedule. Hopefully, he’ll have mellowed since his recent tirade against the “Little King Armani”, as he referred to his fellow designer as. Cavalli became concerned after Armani moved his show slot from the same as his (Monday) to the day before, provoking fears that the fashion press might skip his catwalk offering to travel to Paris instead.

Gianfranco Ferré will round up the proceedings, as designers Stefan Citron and Federico Piaggi prepare to showcase their third offering for the Italian label. Tomorrow, the fashion carousel moves to Paris for the final set of shows.

Source: Vogue

President Obama is threatening Mitt Romney’s best route to victory in the electoral college, grabbing a significant lead over his Republican challenger in Ohio and a slender edge in Florida, according to two new polls by The Washington Post.

Democratic candidates have even larger leads in the Senate races in those two states, according to the polls. Together, the results suggest that with six weeks left until the election, Democrats hold significant advantages in some important battlegrounds.

In the presidential race, Obama is ahead of Romney in Ohio by 52 percent to 44 percent among likely voters. In Florida, the president leads 51 percent to 47 percent, a numerical edge but not a statistically significant one. Among all registered Florida voters, Obama is ahead by nine percentage points.

Romney began a two-day bus tour of Ohio on Tuesday afternoon in an effort to build enthusiasm for his candidacy and narrow the gap with Obama. The trip will take him from Dayton to Columbus to Toledo before he departs for Virginia, another key battleground where he is behind in public polls.

Rich Beeson, Romney’s political director, brushed aside the public polls of Ohio, telling reporters traveling with the candidate Tuesday that the campaign is making strategic decisions based on its internal surveys and research and remains confident about the outcome.

At his rally north of Dayton, Romney stressed that there are big philosophical differences between him and Obama, saying that the president’s approach is “foreign to anything this country has ever known.” Campaign advisers said they will seek to deliver a clear and consistent message outlining Romney’s policy priorities as a way to draw contrasts with the incumbent.

Romney has only a few days to drive that message before both campaigns are consumed by the presidential debates. The three presidential and one vice-presidential debate will offer Romney and his running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan (Wis.), their best chance to change the dynamics of the race

and put Obama on the defensive. The first presidential debate will be held Oct. 3 in Denver.

With Romney lagging, Republicans face additional challenges down-ballot in the same battleground states. In the new Post surveys, Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio holds a substantial lead over Republican Josh Mandel, giving Democrats some breathing room in a race in which outside groups have put nearly $20 million toward defeating the incumbent. Brown leads Mandel 53 percent to 41 percent among likely voters.

In Florida’s Senate race, incumbent Bill Nelson (D) holds a 14-point advantage over Rep. Connie Mack (R), leading 54 percent to 40 percent among likely voters.

The new numbers come one week after a Post poll in Virginia showed Obama with a clear lead there. More than half of all the money spent in the campaign has focused on these three states, and many analysts say Romney has to win two of the three to capture the White House.

The past few weeks have been difficult for the Romney campaign, and the nominee’s advisers vowed to hit the reset button this week. But with the first debate scheduled for next week, Romney is under new pressure to refocus his campaign.

Source: Washington post

Two massive explosions have rocked the heart of the Syrian capital  near the army and air force command headquarters, Syria’s official news agency reported.

The information minister, Omran Zoubi, said the blasts were caused by two roadside bombs, adding that one of them may have been placed inside the grounds of the army headquarters, and that there had been “material” damage.

The explosions went off minutes apart just before 7am local time near the landmark Omayyad square in Damascus, shattering the windows of nearby buildings, and were heard several miles away.

Columns of thick black smoke covered the Syrian capital and ambulances were rushed to the site of the explosions as police sealed off the area to traffic.

Damascus has been hit by a series of car bombs and roadside bombings in the past few months, as the uprising intensifies against Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

Syria’s unrest began in March 2011 when protests calling for political change met a violent government crackdown. Many in the opposition have since taken up arms as the conflict has turned into a civil war that activists claim has caused the deaths of nearly 30,000 people.

On 18 July rebels penetrated the heart of Syria’s power elite, detonating a bomb inside a high-level crisis meeting in Damascus that killed three top regime officials, including Assad’s brother-in-law and the defence minister.

The explosions on Wednesday were followed by gunfire, witnesses said, suggesting security forces clashed with gunmen in the high-security area.

Source: Guardian

Iran has unveiled what it says is a new “indigenous” long-range unmanned drone capable of flying over most of the Middle East, state media report.

The Shahed (Witness) 129 had a range of 2,000km (1,240 miles) and could be equipped with bombs and missiles, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps said.

It is reportedly capable of carrying out reconnaissance and combat missions.

Last year, the Iranian authorities displayed a US drone which they claimed to have brought down electronically.

The US insisted that Iran neither shot down the the RQ-170 Sentinel nor used electronic warfare or cyber-technology to force it from the sky. They blamed a malfunction.

Later, the head of the IRGC’s aerospace programme, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, said it was trying to build a copy of the drone. It is not clear whether the Shahed 129 bears any resemblance.

Defences ‘ready’

The unveiling of the drone follows a major naval exercise in the Gulf by the US and its allies.

Iran refused to return the US RQ-170 Sentinel drone it captured in December 2011

Thirty countries participated in the manoeuvres designed to test the international community’s capacity to deal with mines that could hamper shipping in the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil supply is transported.

The exercises took place amid heightened tensions between the West and Iran over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear programme.

On Monday, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he was not concerned by the threat that Israel could launch a military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

“Fundamentally we do not take seriously the threats of the Zionists,” he told reporters in New York. “We have all the defensive means at our disposal and we are ready to defend ourselves.”

He also ignored a plea by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for both sides to avoid “incendiary rhetoric” by saying the modern state of Israel had “no roots” in the Middle East and would eventually be “eliminated”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently warned that Iran was only six or seven months from having “90%” of what it needed to make a nuclear bomb, and urged the US to draw a “red line” which if crossed would lead to military intervention.

Iran insists its nuclear programme is solely for peaceful purposes.

Source: BBC

A South African court charged Julius Malema, a renegade of the ruling African National Congress and opponent of President Jacob Zuma, with money laundering on Wednesday.

Prosecutors did not file any other charges.

Source: Reuters

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad slammed an anti-Islam film that has provoked a violent reaction in the Muslim world, spoke strongly against homosexuality and said what his country would do if attacked by Israel in an interview airing Monday on CNN’s “Piers Morgan Tonight.”

The president denounced the film, “Innoncence of Muslims,” that portrays the Prophet Mohammed as a womanizer, child molester and killer. The online video has led to a wave of global unrest.

“Fundamentally, first of all, any action that is provocative, offends the religious thoughts and feelings of any people, we condemn,” Ahmadinejad said.

“Likewise, we condemn any type of extremism. Of course, what took place was ugly. Offending the Holy Prophet is quite ugly. This has very little or nothing to do with freedom and freedom of speech. This is the weakness of and the abuse of freedom, and in many places it is a crime. It shouldn’t take place, and I do hope the day will come in which politicians will not seek to offend those whom others hold holy,” Ahmadinejad said.

“We also believe that this must also be resolved in a humane atmosphere, in a participatory environment, and we do not like anyone losing their lives or being killed for any reason, anywhere in the world.”

The privately produced film sparked protests against the United States, where it was made. While most of the demonstrations have been peaceful, some were marred by violence that has left more than two dozen people dead — among them U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and three other Americans killed in an attack on the consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that reportedly followed a demonstration against the film.

When asked by Morgan whether he thought protesters should stop threatening U.S. staff abroad, Ahmadinejad said he cannot say what other people or nations should do, but that he believes “extremism gives birth to following and subsequent extremists.”

“Perhaps if the politicians take a better position in the West vis-a-vis offensive words or thoughts or pictures towards what we hold holy, I think conditions will improve,” the president said.

Among other topics Ahmadinejad touched on in the interview taped in New York ahead of his visit to the U.N. General Assembly this week were:

Israel

When asked what Iran would do if Israel were to attack it, Ahmadinejad said, “Any nation has the right and will indeed defend herself.

“But my question is this: Why should the world be managed in such a way that an individual can allow himself to threaten a rich and deeply rooted historical, ancient country such as Iran? A great country, such as Iran, based on an excuse of his own fabrication. … Another country can say, I am guessing that country B is doing activity X, therefore I will attack that country … can this be … a successful formula for the management of the world?”

The president was likely referring to his country’s disputed nuclear program.

Some world powers, particularly Western nations, suspect that Iran is seeking to build nuclear weapons. Tehran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

In response to whether he feared a war or military conflict with Israel was imminent, Ahmadinejad said: “The Zionists are very much, very adventuresome, very much seeking to fabricate things, and I think they see themselves at the end of the line and I do firmly believe that they seek to create new opportunities for themselves and their adventurous behaviors.”

Homosexuality

“I’m sorry. Let me ask you this. Do you believe that anyone is giving birth through homosexuality? Homosexuality ceases procreation. Who has said that if you like or believe in doing something ugly, and others do not accept your behavior, that they’re denying your freedom?” he asked Morgan.

“Proper education must be given … the education system must be revamped. The political system must be revamped. And these must be also reformed, revamped along the way. But if you, if a group recognizes an ugly behavior or ugly deed as legitimate, you must not expect other countries or other groups to give it the same recognition.”

Jews

When asked how he would feel if one of his children dated a Jew, Ahmadinejad replied, “I would have to see who that Jewish man or woman would be. I see love amongst people as completely acceptable. There are many Jews living in Iran with whom we are very close. There are … some Muslims that marry into Jewish families or marry Christians.”

“I – we have no such problems,” he added.

“Of course, I think none of us should represent the whole population of the United States, but we believe that color, religion, native tongue, ethnic background shouldn’t create differences or distances between people, nor should it be the sole reason to bring people closer together. It has always been like this.”

Osama bin Laden

Ahmadinejad also discussed his reaction to Osama bin Laden’s death last year by American Navy Seals under President Barack Obama.

“I would have been happier to see a transparent trial, a formal trial, and find out the root causes of all of the events of the last few years,” the Iranian president said.

Source: CNN

At least 21 people have been killed in flooding and landslides in the north-eastern Indian states of Sikkim and Assam, reports say.

In Sikkim, rescue workers recovered the bodies of 16 people, including members of the Indo-Tibetan border police. Five people are still missing.

Five people died in Assam. Reports say thousands may still be marooned there.

Rescue operations have been launched in both states to reach those stranded by the flooding or trapped in debris.

Helicopters have also been dropping food supplies to people left stranded by the floods.

Heavy rains have been battering both states since last week. At least 16 districts in Assam state flooded after the rains.

In July, floods in Assam killed more than 70 people and forced nearly one million people to leave their homes.

A state minister said it was the worst flooding in the state since 1998.

Source: BBC

has spared the high-flying police chief whose flight to a US consulate led to the toppling of leader Bo Xilai, with a court in Chengdu handing him a relatively lenient 15 year jail sentence on Monday.

Wang Lijun, 52, had previously been Bo’s right hand man in Chongqing, winning plaudits for the pair’s populist anti-gang crackdown and earning a promotion to vice mayor.

State news agency Xinhua said the Chengdu intermediate people’s court found him guilty of defection, accepting bribes of at least 3 million yuan, abuse of power and bending the law to selfish ends by covering up the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood by Bo’s wife Gu Kailai.

Gu was last month handed a suspended death sentence for the crime, while an aide who helped her was jailed for nine years.

“[Fifteen years] was in the realm of expectations but I would say on the low end of what most people were expecting,” said Joshua Rosenzweig, an expert on the Chinese criminal justice system.

The crimes for which Wang was convicted carry penalties ranging from several years in prison to the death sentence.

The court sentenced Wang to two years imprisonment for abuse of power, two years for defection, nine years for bribe-taking and seven for bending the law for selfish ends. But in total, his sentence is 15 years and he may serve far less if given parole.

Wang’s lawyers have said he will not appeal. Analysts say there would be little point since his sentence will have been decided at a high level due to the sensitivity of the case.

According to Xinhua, he told judges during the hearings that he confessed and repented his crimes, adding: “For the Party organisations, people and relatives that have cared for me, I want to say here, sincerely: I’m very, very sorry. I’ve let you down.”

While coverage of the trial has been strictly controlled, a powerful editorial by business magazine Caixin’s editor-in-chief Hu Shuli – published before the sentencing – said Wang had no choice but to enter the US consulate.

“When mafia members break up with their bosses, they can attempt to seek police protection. But in Chongqing and for the former police boss, there was nowhere to turn. And this perhaps encapsulates one of the greatest embarrassments of the country’s current legal system,” she wrote.

Wang stood trial in hearings over two days in the southwestern city last week. The first day was held secretly because it touched on state secrets, according to his lawyer. The second was watched by a carefully vetted audience of a few dozen people.

An official statement on his trial, issued by the court, had already hinted heavily that he would be treated leniently – with prosecutors citing factors such as his confession and the fact that he had given information on other people to investigators.

A subsequent report from state news agency Xinhua formally linked Bo to the case for the first time – raising the chances of him too facing trial.

Although it mentioned him only by position, rather than name, it described him scolding and hitting Wang after he alleged that Gu had murdered Heywood.

The court had heard that Wang fled to the US consulate in Chengdu several days later, after he had been removed from police duties and three staff members had been illegally detained. There, he repeated his allegations to US diplomats – leading to British demands for a reinvestigation of Heywood’s death last November. It had initially been ascribed to excessive alcohol consumption.

Source: Guardian

Three Chinese ships briefly entered what Japan considers its territorial waters near disputed islands in the East China Sea on Monday, prompting an official protest from Tokyo and renewed diplomatic efforts to cool tensions between the rivals.

In a move that could further complicate the territorial row that is threatening relations between Asia’s biggest economies, a group of fishermen from Taiwan — which also claims the rocky isles — said as many as 100 boats escorted by 10 Taiwan Coast Guard vessels would arrive in the area later on Monday.

China’s Xinhua news agency said in the morning that two civilian surveillance ships were undertaking a “rights defense” patrol near the islands, citing the State Oceanic Administration, which controls the ships. One fishery patrol vessel was also detected inside waters claimed by Japan.

Japan lodged an official protest.

By afternoon, all three Chinese vessels had moved further away, the Japanese Coast Guard said.

Sino-Japanese relations deteriorated sharply after Japan bought the islands, called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, earlier this month, sparking anti-Japan protests across China.

“In recent days, Japan has constantly provoked incidents concerning the Diaoyu islands issue, gravely violating China’s territorial sovereignty,” China’s Xinhua news agency said.

The ship patrols were intended to exercise China’s “administrative jurisdiction” over the islands, it said.

“Following the relevant laws of the People’s Republic of China, (the ships) again carried out a regular rights defense patrol in our territorial waters around the Diaoyu islands.”

Sino-Japanese ties have long been plagued by China’s memories of Japan’s military aggression in the 1930s and 1940s and present rivalry over regional influence and resources.

Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Chikao Kawai will visit China on Monday to discuss Sino-Japanese relations with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun, the Foreign Ministry said.

TAIWAN COMPLICATION

The arrival of Taiwan vessels in the area could complicate the potentially fraught game of cat-and-mouse being played near the islands, where mainland China has launched an effort to assert sovereignty by sending government ships into the disputed waters.

Taiwan television showed the boats leaving Suao port in heavy rain, sporting banners and large Taiwan flags.

The Taiwan fishing group said their boats would sail around the islands to reassert their right to fish there and did not rule out trying to land on the rocky isles.

Taiwan Defense Minister Kao Hua-chu told parliament that the military was ready for any contingency, but did not elaborate.

Taiwan has traditionally had friendly ties with Japan, but the two countries have long squabbled over fishing rights in the area. Beijing deems Taiwan to be an illegitimate breakaway province, and the two sides both argue they have inherited China’s historic sovereignty over the islands, which are near rich fishing grounds and potentially huge oil and gas reserves.

The latest flare-up in tensions over the islands comes at a time when both China and Japan confront domestic political pressures. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda’s government faces an election in months, adding pressure on him not to look weak on China.

China’s Communist Party is preoccupied with a leadership turnover, with President Hu Jintao due to step down as party leader at a congress that could open as soon as next month.

Noda leaves for New York on Monday to take part in the annual gathering of the U.N. General Assembly, and attention will focus on whether he refers to the dispute.

Worries are simmering that the row could hurt the economic ties that closely bind China and Japan. China is Japan’s largest trading partner. In 2011, their bilateral trade grew 14.3 percent in value to a record $345 billion.

Tokyo’s Nikkei China 50 index, composed of stocks of Japanese companies with significant exposure to the world’s second-largest economy, shed about 1.3 percent on concerns over the dispute.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch said Japanese carmakers saw a 90 percent drop in showroom traffic and a 60 percent fall in sales in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, the largest market for Japanese brands, since the beginning of the anti-Japan protests.

Source: Reuters

A large-scale incident involving some 2,000 Foxconn Technology Group factory workers has forced the closure of one of the tech supplier’s plants in China, the company confirmed Monday.

The company described the incident as a “personal dispute between several employees” that escalated to include thousands of people. Some 40 people were taken to the hospital, and “a number” of individuals were arrested. According to the statement from Foxconn, local police were in control of the situation by 3 a.m., some four hours after the dispute began.

The incident, which a worker at the scene described as a “riot,” took place in Taiyuan, a city in central China. Foxconn employs 79,000 workers at the facility. Production at the plant has been halted, but Foxconn said in a second statement that the factory will resume activity on Tuesday.

Foxconn, which supplies parts to Apple and other manufacturers, has drawn harsh criticism for its labor policies. A spate of suicides at the company’s factories in 2010 garnered media coverage of alleged harsh working conditions, including unsafe facilities and illegal amounts of overtime.

It was not immediately clear Monday whether Apple products are being produced in Taiyuan. According to Foxconn, automobile electronic components, consumer electronic components and precision moldings are manufactured at the facility. Apple did not immediately respond to an inquiry early on Monday.

Related: Apple supplier audit finds major wage and overtime violations

Contacted by CNN, a worker at the plant said that shops in the factory area were smashed by rioters, and local police arrested more than 20 workers in an effort to contain the crowds.

The worker, who requested anonymity, said that the factory is now closed, and police are patrolling the area in 10-man groups.

Related: ‘Ethical iPhone’ protests hit Apple stores

In March, a report on working conditions Foxconn documented dozens of major labor-rights violations, including excessive overtime, unpaid wages and salaries that aren’t enough to cover basic living expenses. Prepared by auditors from the Fair Labor Association, the report surveyed 35,500 employees at those factories about their working and living conditions, including their compensation and working hours.

The FLA’s report said that Foxconn has agreed to work with the group to remedy many of the violations it recorded. In one key move, Foxconn said it will achieve “full legal compliance” with Chinese work-hour laws by July 1, 2013. To do that, Foxconn will need to hire “tens of thousands” of extra workers to offset its current employees’ workload, the FLA said.

The FLA said a June 20 to July 6 audit showed that “immediate health and safety measures” have been made, such as enforcement of breaks, changing equipment design to reduce repetitive stress injuries and testing of emergency equipment like eyewashes and sprinklers.

Source: CNN