Fashion house duo Dolce & Gabbana will not stand trial for alleged tax fraud after an Italian preliminary hearing judge yesterday threw out the case against them, Italy’s Ansa news agency said.
Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana had been accused of fraud of around € one billion ($1.4 billion) as part of an enquiry into reports the company had failed to declare €840 million in revenues.
Judge Simone Luerti in Milan ruled there was not enough evidence to take the fashionista pair to trial, and closed the file on five other people who had been under investigation as well.
The reported allegation was that Dolce & Gabbana created a company in Luxembourg in 2004 and 2005 which was given control of the group’s brands, thereby avoiding Italian taxes. Dolce and Gabbana had denied the accusations. Their lawyer was not available for comment yesterday.
Google’s joke
Google joined in the April Fool’s pranks yesterday with the release of a new product called “Gmail Motion” that supposedly lets users send and receive emails using only gestures.
Gmail product manager Paul McDonald, in a deadpan explanatory video, said Gmail Motion uses a “language of movements that replaces type entirely” and ends reliance on “outdated technologies” like the keyboard and mouse.
“Using your computer’s camera and a special tracking algorithm, Gmail Motion interprets physical movement and turns it into actionable commands,” Mr McDonald said. “The movements are designed to be intuitive, ergonomic and easy to do.”
In the video, a “Googler” demonstrates how Gmail Motion works, pointing backwards with one thumb, for example, to reply to an email message and using two thumbs to “reply all.”
The video also includes an interview with a “Lorraine Klayman,” presented as an “environmental movement specialist at Nevada Polytechnic College.”
Swiss avalanche
Three people were killed and one was injured yesterday after seven ski hikers from Germany were swept away by a giant avalanche high in the southwestern Swiss Alps, police said.
The alarm was raised by two of nine-strong party who were missed by the huge mass of snow on a pristine mountain slope, police in the canton of Valais said.
Rescuers pulled four people from the snow after they were rushed to the spot above the village of Ayer by helicopter.
“The avalanche killed three and injured one person,” police spokesman Jean-Marie Bornet said. “The other members of the group were not hurt.”
Police said the avalanche happened at 9.45 a.m. (0745 GMT) at an altitude of about 2,500 metres.
Rescuers described it as “gigantic”, triggering an exceptional front of snow 500 metres wide that came crashing half a kilometre down the mountainside. Picture shows rescuers at the site of the avalanche.
Missing cobra found
An Egyptian cobra that became a star on Twitter after escaping from the Reptile House at the Bronx Zoo last week has been found after a six-day search, zoo officials said.
“Found! Bronx Zoo cobra found alive and well in Reptile House in non-public area. The key was patience,” a Twitter message from the zoo said.
Officials made the announcement at a news conference, where they showed a photograph of the adolescent snake resting comfortably in a secure enclosure.
“The snake was found this morning in a non-public, off-exhibit area. After being at liberty in the Reptile House for a week, the snake will be placed under observation and evaluated,” a zoo statement said.
Taste of flamenco
Camilla, the wife of Prince Charles, yesterday watched a performance of fiery Spanish flamenco as the British royal couple visited the historic Moorish city of Seville on the last full day of their visit to Spain.
Charles and Camilla were met in the city by the President of the southern Andalucia region, Jose Antonio Grinan Martinez, at the 17th-century San Telmo Palace, the regional seat of government. Prince Charles, wearing a grey double-breasted suit, and Camilla, in a green floral print dress and carrying a white parasol against the hot sun, greeted some of the dozens of people who had gathered to see them. Camilla visited Seville’s Flamenco Museum, where she joined a 70-strong audience to watch a performance of the typically Spanish high-octane form of song, music and dance.
Travolta to play Gotti
John Travolta is set to play the late head of New York's infamous Gambino crime family, John Gotti Sr, the Hollywood Reporter said yesterday.
Gotti: Three Generations will require the Hollywood star to channel both his murderous 'Pulp Fiction' persona and a bit of 'Saturday Night Fever' flash as he embodies a mobster who mixed ruthlessness with sartorial style. The so-called 'Dapper Don' died in prison in 2002 after a lengthy and bloody career at the head of one of New York's big Italian crime families.
Serb godfather dies
Serbian anti-communist cult figure Bosko Radonjic, known as the first Serb godfather and a close ally of US mafia boss John Gotti has died in Belgrade aged 68, his family said yesterday. Mr Radonjic, who passed away on Thursday after a brief illness, was part of a wave of Serbian immigrants to the United States who had fled post World War II Yugoslavia in 1960s in a protest against the communist rule of Josip Broz Tito. His links with mobsters have made him popular among Serbia’s underworld, while involvement with anti-communist groups have made him a hero among the nationalists. He was closely linked with another anti-communist immigrant, Nikola Kavaja, who hijacked US plane in 1979 and flew it over the Atlantic aiming to crash it into the party headquarters in Belgrade of communist leader Josip Broz Tito, but abandoned his mission in Ireland.