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Call it the Lady Gaga effect - the red carpets of 2009 saw some of the wildest, most inventive and daring looks of the decade.

While Lady Gaga led the way in outrageousness, wearing everything from face-obscuring headgear to dresses constructed entirely out of Kermit the Frog dolls, R&B chanteuse Rihanna was hot on her tails with some inventive wardrobe choices of her own. She looked like a walking origami paper sculpture in a black and white laser cut dress at the American Music Awards, while her penchant for exaggerated sleeves and shoulders was fully realized in a Viktor & Rolf tuxedo she wore earlier in the year at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s annual Costume Institute Ball.

The Costume Institute Ball was the site of other creative couture, like Madonna, who proved that age isn’t an obstacle to wearing over-the-knee boots or floppy bunny ears, as long as they’re designed by Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton.

Other stars used footwear to make a statement. 2009 was the year of the skyscraper heel, which Shakira boldly embraced at the American Music Awards in November, donning crystal encrusted sandals with towering wooden platforms.

Then again, not every event-goer braved the carpet with how-do-they-wear-those heels on their feet. Funny woman Sarah Silverman paired her evening gown at the 2009 VH1 Critic’s Choice Awards with a pair of classic Converse Chuck Taylors, using her feet as a punchline. Actress Kristen Stewart must have taken some style cues from rocker Joan Jett, the teen version of whom Stewart plays in the upcoming 2010 biopic “The Runaways,” when she wore her Converse high tops with a chic mini-dress to the 2009 MTV Movie Awards.

Whether the audacious red carpet moments of 2009 were more question marks than exclamation points, it was nonetheless fitting that so many stars pushed the fashion envelope in a year that saw Sacha Baron Cohen do his own shocking send up of fashion and celebrity in “Bruno.” As shocking as his character Bruno’s fashion choices might be, there were plenty of real-life fashion plates like Lady Gaga already one step ahead.

The first big-name orchestra and world-renowned conductor to grace Beijing in 2010 is the London Philharmonic Orchestra and its guest conductor, Christoph Eschenbach. Chinese fans of classical music are waiting with bated breath.

In January 2008, as the first Western orchestra to play at the newly open National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA), the London Philharmonic Orchestra gave an unforgettable concert. As for German conductor Eschenbach, he is loved as much for his outstanding musicality as for discovering Chinese keyboard star Lang Lang at the Ravinia Festival in the summer of 1999.

This time, the 69-year-old conductor has two programs for Beijing fans. Tonight, at the NCPA, it will be an all-Dvorak program, including Carnival Overture, Symphony No 8 in G major and Symphony No 9 in E minor.

“I love Dvorak very much. He is a genius of melodies and a typical Bohemian musician. His music features rich Bohemian passion,” the conductor told China Daily over telephone last week.

Tomorrow’s concert will offer Tchaikovsky’s Fantasy Overture to Romeo and Juliet and Francesca de Rimini, Stravinsky’s The Firebird Suite, and Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite, to fit the holiday mood.

Like many classical maestros, Eschenbach learned the piano before he took up the baton. Now as a sought after conductor, he still plays the keyboard sometimes. Conducting and playing the piano, he says, are two very different things but finds it hard to say which he enjoys more.

“A piano soloist focuses on his own playing while a conductor must listen to all the parts of the orchestra and help them to cooperate well,” Eschenbach says. “To the audience, of course, piano recital and a symphonic concert are also two very different experiences. So after achieving something on the piano, I would like to interpret my understanding of music through an orchestra and deliver it to the audience.”

In 1999, when Eschenbach was artistic director of the Ravinia Festival in the US, he met Lang Lang for the first time in a dramatic way. The meeting was intended to be an audition of no more than 20 minutes, but it turned into a recital, leaving Eschenbach to remark in wonder. “I was fascinated by his talent and still am. He is a complete musician, not only technically gifted, but above all, immensely musical.”

Two days later, Lang Lang took the place of the sick pianist Andre Watts to play with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the festival. His triumphant performance wowed the orchestra and the audience, and made him a star overnight.

“I am always willing to discover and help young talents. It’s my responsibility I think. Lang Lang actually was not the first and will not be the last, either,” says the maestro.

“Nowadays, there are many players with super technique but not many have real gift and natural instinct of music. I know more and more Chinese musical talents are emerging and they are the hope of the new century.”

Vietnam will hold the first golden cashew festival on March 20-23 in the southern Binh Phuoc province which is home to Vietnamese cashew, according to an official website report on Monday.

The festival will create a chance to highlight trade promotion for the country’s cashew industry and share experiences in applying science and technology in cashew cultivation.

The festival will include art and music performance, competition and trade fairs.

In 2009, Vietnam exported 177,000 tons of cashew, earning 849 million U.S. dollars, up 7.2 percent year-on-year in volume, down 6.8 percent year-on-year in value, according to the General Statistics Office of Vietnam.

In 2010, Vietnam’s cashew sector targets to join the country’s “one billion export items club” with export volume between 170,000and 180,000 tons.

A lot happened in Norah Jones’ life between the release of her last album, 2007’s Never Too Late, and her current one, The Fall. The singer/songwriter broke up with longtime boyfriend and musical collaborator Lee Alexander. She became a dog owner, acquiring a long-haired poodle named Ralph, who, she affectionately notes, “looks like Fozzie Bear.”

And not least of all, Jones turned 30 in March.

“It seems to be an age where everyone goes through changes,” she says, sipping water in a restaurant near her downtown Manhattan apartment. “All my good friends have. Everyone’s either breaking up or getting involved or married or having a baby.”

For Jones, a change in creative approach was in order. She describes Fall, which has sold 524,000 copies since its arrival Nov. 17, as “more personal” than its predecessor. “I think I was looking outside myself more at that time, because of where I was and what was going on in the world. The past couple of years, though, I’ve looked inward more.”

The new songs — including the pulsing single Chasing Pirates, now at No. 1 on USA TODAY’s triple-A airplay chart — find Jones working with a new band as well, and different musical textures. “I wanted to use heavier rhythms and drum grooves. My voice tends to be smooth by nature, and I liked the idea of having something rougher underneath it.”

Jones, an accomplished pianist, leaned less heavily on that instrument and played more guitar. “I’m more familiar with the piano and can play all kinds of stuff, chordwise, but maybe that’s why it’s harder for me to express myself simply and from the heart. I generally write on guitar because it feels more stripped-down.”

Having played with the same core group of musicians since her multi-Grammy-winning debut, 2002’s Come Away With Me (bassist Alexander among them), Jones said she needed “to get outside that world to find these new sounds. I love my band, but after my last tour, I think we were all a little burnt out. But I’m just trying something new here; I’m not closing the door on anyone.”

That’s especially true for Alexander, she points out. The two still play together in the Little Willies, a side project they formed in 2003. “I almost hired him to play on this album, actually, but I thought maybe we should wait awhile. I really hope our musical relationship won’t end.”

Rolling Stone executive editor Jason Fine sees Fall as “a breakup album, but not one that hits you over the head. It’s understated.” That’s true of the evolution in her sound as well: “Any Norah Jones fan will like this record, but it’s more fun, with less of the light-jazz and country-ish sounds she’s used before. It doesn’t rock in a big way, but it does for her.”

As for her personal life, Jones says she’s seeing someone but won’t reveal his name. “By nature, I tend to be an over-sharer. But I’ve learned I’m better off being guarded. Whether you’re talking about a relationship or family or friends, you can’t put too much out there without making someone feel weird — possibly yourself.”

And though she’s looking forward to touring again — she launches a national trek March 5 in Tulsa — Jones doesn’t feel compelled to re-create the smash success that made her a pop icon in her early 20s.

“I don’t feel like I have anything to prove now,” she says. “My label actually was excited about me trying something new. I have a lot of support and a lot of freedom. It’s a good place to be in.”

Scottish singer Susan Boyle has arrived in Tokyo, Japan to perform in a New Year’s Eve music gala watched by millions of local audience.

The UK singing sensation received quite the warm welcome upon making her way through the terminal, being presented with a bouquet of flowers while heading out to an awaiting car.

Susan Boyle made her sensational debut on popular TV contest “Britain’s Got Talent”, in April. Now she’ll finish her successful year with the performance on NHK’s “Kohaku Uta Gassen”, or the Red and White Singing Battle.

The Red and White Singing Battle was once the most-watched show on Japanese television, and became a holiday tradition. But over the years, the event’s popularity has declined as viewers are spoilt with more choices.

Nepal being recognized as one of the world’s best tourist destinations, witnessed tumbling flow of tourists during the cheerful occasion of Christmas this year.

The most diligent tourist belt in capital Kathmandu, Thamel felt a declining number of foreigners celebrating Christmas compared to last year despite delightful preparations.

Even though Thamel remained crowded by hoards of domestic as well as foreign guests during Christmas and New Year, yet the number was disappointing this year compared to last year’s Christmas celebration.

“There was no presence of guests as we were hoping to drop in at our corner,” said Kumar Gurung, owner of The Funky Buddha Garden Restaurant in Thamel bemoaning at the presence of foreign guests during Christmas Eve.

“The flow of tourists had declined by 90 percent on Christmas Eve compared to last year,” Gurung told Xinhua on Friday, adding that he has no hope of more tourists coming to Thamel for New Year celebration too.

According to him, one of the reasons behind flip-flop of tourists flow in Thamel during this year’s Christmas is the three-day general strike called on by the Trade Union Association of Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) (UCPN-M) on Dec. 20-22.

Alike Gurung, Abhinuv Shakya, manager of the Northfield Caf also felt the declining flow of tourists by 40 percent this year. “Despite regular menu, we are offering some special cuisine on the occasion of Christmas along with traditional Nepali music to cater to our guests, yet there are no guests as we expected,” he said.

However, President of the Restaurant and Bar Association of Nepal Tejendra Shrestha highlighted the enticing number of Nepali guests dropping in Thamel to celebrate Christmas.

According to him, every year more and more Nepali people, whether they are Christian believer or not, are merry making this festival together with their family and friends.

Although, more and more Nepali people are celebrating Christmas since Nepal has been declared as a secular country and Christmas as a national holiday two years before, the celebration has been limited to restaurants and individual level, according to Shrestha.

“Since Thamel is one of the busiest tourist corners in Nepal, we tend to observe various festivals that our guests celebrate in their society,” he said.

However, some of the predicted foreign guests planning to visit Nepal canceled their trips due to security reasons and those who are already in Nepal went outside following the three-day long general strike, according to Shrestha.

“These predicted tourists get information regarding the country’s situation and pre-planned strikes called on by various political groups in the country via the Internet,” Shrestha told Xinhua on Friday.

Shrestha emphasized that the tourism sector should not be politicized which is the backbone of Nepal’s economy. “Tourism is such a business which will soar high when there is guarantee of security and peace and declines if there is instability in the country,” he said.

According to him, there are more than 1,600 restaurants in Kathmandu among which Thamel alone engrosses more than 140 restaurants.

Nepal has been listed among “top 10 travel destinations in the world” in the Lonely Planet “Best in Travel 2010″ along with El Salvador, Germany, Greece, Malaysia, Morocco, New Zealand, Portugal, Suriname and the United States as one of the top 10 travel destinations, according to the Nepal Tourism Board.

Lily Allen has confirmed she’s giving up music for a couple of years.

The singer who topped the album and singles charts this year will take a career break in 2010 and 2011.

The 24-year-old announced the news during an interview.

Lily said: “I’m just going to concentrate on doing some behind the scenes sort of stuff.”

This includes setting up her own record company and a fashion store with her sister.

Lily described the venture as “about getting really nice clothes but letting people rent them for affordable prices so they can go out and feel like a million dollars and it won’t cost them a million dollars.”

Her last planned performance is a gig with Dizzee Rascal at the O2 in March.

Beijing is getting into the Christmas spirit. Restaurants, malls, and upscale residences are decked with boughs of paper holly. Window panes all around are scribbled over with frosty, misspelled cheer (”Merry Chrismas!”). Hotels lend their lobbies to adorable choir children and their adoring parents for holiday carols. And eager boyfriends in the city are busily making Christmas Eve plans. At least they should be.

The most controversial announcement in British chancellor Alistair Darling’s pre-budget report (PBR) on Dec. 9 was a one-off tax on bankers’ bonuses of 50 percent, but a fortnight later what has been the effect of the headline-grabbing move?

There had been much speculation before the PBR that about what the chancellor, the British finance minister, would do faced with the return of large bonuses for bankers.

In the PBR Darling said the one-off tax would apply to banks operating in Britain and to their Britain-based employees. Bonuses of 25,000 pounds (about 40,000 U.S. dollars) or more would be put into a pot for each bank and that pot would be taxed 50 percent.

“The choice facing the country is between securing recovery or wrecking it — between investment to build a fair society where all prosper and a divided society that favors the wealthy few,” he said.

Darling announced the tax against a background of considerable voter anger over bankers’ bonuses.

The governing Labor Party will face the electorate in a general election in May of next year at the latest. They are currently well behind the opposition Conservative Party, with the most recent IBM poll for the Guardian newspaper showing the Tories ahead on 40 percent to Labor’s 31 percent. The poll was taken the first weekend after the PBR.

But Labor were up 2 points month on month, and the Conservatives were down 2. And the Conservatives are now a long way off their 17 point lead which they enjoyed just two months ago. The narrowing of the gap is part of a four-month swing to Labor, and gives strength to calls for Prime Minister Gordon Brown to go to the country earlier than his May deadline.

Voters were also asked what they thought of the bankers bonus tax — and a massive 71 percent welcomed the tax. Hitting bankers has been good for Labor.

Several banks — most notably the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Lloyds Group — were bailed out in 2008 and have received further state aid since. The well-known high street bank Northern Rock had to be bailed out by the Bank of England in September 2007,and wholly bought by the government to prevent its collapse in February 2008. According to National Audit Office figures, the British government has so far spent 117 billion pounds (about 189 billion U.S. dollars) to rescue the banks.

Why should the government do this? Financial services are a vital part of the country’s economy. According to the Corporation of London the financial services sector in Britain makes a trade surplus of 43.3 billion pounds (about 71 billion U.S. dollars). There are 250 foreign banks in London, and three quarters of all Fortune 500 firms have office in the city. The city sees 1,679 billion U.S. dollars of foreign exchange turnover each day, 35 percent of the global market.

Just as a windfall bankers tax is popular with voters, it’s very unpopular with the people who might have to pay it.

Stuart Fraser, City of London (where many banks are based) policy chairman, said of the tax: “A windfall tax on bonuses above25,000 pounds (about 41,000 U.S. dollars) may appeal to a public still angry about individual and collective lapses during the crisis. However, an excessively punitive approach towards remuneration will benefit nobody.

“A broad brush taxation policy risks encouraging the 250 or so overseas banks, based in the City, to reconsider their commitment to the UK. Sending out a message that the UK does not welcome high earners will be music to the ears of rival global financial centers.

“The financial services industry contributed 12.1 percent of total tax revenues in 2008/09. We cannot afford to lose the taxes — both in terms of income and spending — that top talent generates for the government and the wider economy.”

Fraser’s worries were echoed among bankers. Reacting to the chancellor’s announcement, Sean Drury, international mobility partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP said: “It’s unlikely a one-off levy on bonus pools in isolation would cause employers or employees to decide to relocate outside of Britain.

“But, in combination with the incoming 50 percent income tax rate (already announced and set for April 6, 2010), National Insurance Contributions increases, restrictions on pensions tax relief and changes to the taxation of foreign nationals, the tax on bonuses will contribute to the declining attractiveness of Britain as a business location.”

In positions of authority, some believe an opportunity for change must be seized. Andrew Haldane, the Bank of England’s head of financial stability, told the BBC World Service Business Daily program on Friday: “The costs of carrying around a large financial system are now evident to all. If some of that (large financial system) were to migrate overseas that would be unfortunate — but given the costs, it may be a price worth paying.”

Haldane believes there must be long term, structural changes in world banking, or at least in domestic banking and that the state must get out of its “doom loop” with the banking system, in which it rescues it every time there is a catastrophe, and the bankers then simply up the stakes — making the next catastrophe even more expensive to fix.

So far, only Deutsche Bank, which has 8,000 employees in Britain, is the only bank to publicly reveal its bonus tax plan –it would be spread across all its 80,000 worldwide employees. Josef Ackermann, the bank’s chief executive, told the Financial Times in London: “If parts (of the cost of the tax) are paid out of the bonus pool we would seek to globalize it. It would be unfair to treat UK bankers differently.”

Some individual bankers are taking things into their own hands. The British newspaper the Sunday Telegraph reported that senior directors at international banks based in the city have received requests from American, French, Spanish and German staff to transfer back to their home countries or elsewhere overseas after the windfall tax was announced. But it could not yet reveal details.

Barclays Bank chief executive John Varley was the first bank chief to attack the bonus tax. He told the BBC on Friday: “Banks are competing globally — this bank, Barclays, competes with banks all around the world and we have to be able to compete on a level playing field.

“The United Kingdom and France have gone in that direction (the bonus tax) and I lament that.”

Varley would say that. Britain’s Sky News reported this weekend that Barclays was considering paying out bonuses in the New Year, and that they would total “north of 3 billion pounds”

Migrants from all over the world living in Greece celebrated on Friday the International Migrants Day in a festival that debuted in a central Athens square, with “Feels like home” as its main slogan.

For the first time in Greece, the Ministry of Interior, Decentralization and e-Government organized such an event, aimed at promoting the concept of multiculturalism, diversity and strengthening harmonious coexistence.

That is the essence of the new government’s policy for the integration of immigrants in the country, said Andreas Takis, General-Secretary of Immigration Affairs.

As migrants from Albania to Georgia and South Africa to Afghanistan presented delicacies, folklore artworks and music from their countries of origin, issues of protection and integration of migrants still await solutions.

The creation of a General-Secretary of Immigration Affairs post itself is a proof of the importance the Greek government attaches to the phenomenon, and the new concept on immigration policy focused on the protection of fundamental human rights first of all, Takis stressed.

Meanwhile, Giannis Ragkousis, Minister of Interior, Decentralization and e-Government, repeated the government’s intention to grant voting rights in the 2010 local elections to legal migrants and Greek nationality to children born, brought up and educated in Greece.

“We seal our borders (to illegal immigration and human trafficking), we open our hearts to migrants” is the general idea of the new approach to the issue, said Ragkousis.

According to the latest estimate by Eurostat, the legal immigrants in Greece in 2008 reached 8.1 percent of the total population of the country, which equals around 906,000 people.