Monday, January 20, 2014

Qatar Duty Free ushers in the Chinese New Year with exclusive travel retail promotions

Qatar Duty Free ushers in the chinese free new year cards designs New Year with exclusive travel retail promotions

Theodore Koumelis - 17 January 2014, 00:23

During the promotion, all passengers transiting at Doha International Airport will receive an 8% discount coupon, which can be redeemed exclusively in the Chinese New Year-themed areas.

DOHA - Qatar-Qatar Duty Free (QDF), a subsidiary of Qatar Airways has ushered in the lucky year of the Horse this Chinese New Year with themed promotions all through January and February in 2014. Being held in two locations on level one of Doha International Airport, the promotion has been designed exclusively for travellers from mainland China, Hong Kong and other parts of the region. Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer, Akbar al Baker was joined by the Chinese Ambassador to Qatar, H.E. Gao Youzhen, and CEO of UnionPay International, Cai Jianbo, to officially commemorate the inaugural promotion.

With travellers from China representing a significant and increasingly growing portion of its high-spending consumer base, QDF has partnered with UnionPay International, China's preferred payment option, to provide its Chinese customers with ease of mind and familiar purchasing options during the festive season.

QDF's annual Chinese New Year promotion, which has featured a dedicated retail area for the third year running, and its collaboration this year with UnionPay International, is a testament to the company's commitment to grow its Chinese consumer segment. It also acts as a strong conduit in strengtheningtrade ties between Qatar and China.

Commenting on the occasion, Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker said, "Qatar Duty Free would like to wish our Chinese consumers a happy and prosperous Chinese New Year. In line with this special occasion, QDF is offering travellers a range of exciting offers across a wide variety of products that are popular during the festive season. This year, we are pleased to collaborate with UnionPay International to make the Chinese New Year promotion even more rewarding and attractive for our consumers".

While observing the attractively decorated Chinese themed pavilion, Mr. Cai Jianbo, CEO of UnionPay International said: "As a popular international hub, Doha International Airport has been receiving an increasing number of Chinese passengers by almost 20% each year, and most of them are UnionPay card holders. UnionPay International collaborated with QDF thisChinese New Year with the aim of providing amazing travel experiences to our card holders, who are going back to their homeland for the New Year from mainly Europe, Middle East and Africa. UnionPay International continuously strives to collaborate with QDF to provide the best services to the UnionPay card holders."

According to Qatar Duty Free Senior Vice-President Keith Hunter, the promotion thus far has been extremely well receivedby Chinese passengers travelling via Doha, especially across categories such as fragrances, skincare, tobacco, luxury watches, gifts and souvenirs.

"Qatar Duty Free has been pioneering unique retail offers that cater to a multicultural portfolio of travellers. We have built our reputation through an emphasis on strong tailored promotions and a focus on high-end retail executions that truly evoke a sense of excitement amongst our customers. The exclusive Chinese New Year promotion allows QDF to build our affinity with Chinese customers who are incredibly well-travelled and possess discerning travel retail expectations", added Hunter.

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Find Best Flooring Deals with 10% off Online Coupon for Flooring from Floor Trader of Tacoma WA

Tacoma, WA -- ( SBWIRE) -- 01/14/2014 -- Floor Trader of Tacoma offers low prices and top quality on all flooring styles and varieties! Customers can now take advantage of a current Online Deals coupon special of $100 off a $1,000 purchase.

Looking to refresh a room or remodel an entire space? Turn to the experienced discount flooring company Floor Trader of Tacoma for any commercial or residential flooring need! The available inventory, including exclusive brands, at the discount flooring specialists in Tacoma WA will accommodate any customer's flooring needs.

Choose the flooring professionals in the Tacoma area, who have 92 years of combined experience and a reputation for finding the best deals on carpets and flooring. Floor Trader of Tacoma stands apart from the competition because of its wide-selection of flooring options including exclusive brands and a unique approach to meeting customer needs.

"We bought our carpet and cannot be more pleased...bottom line, great price on install, great service, just cannot say enough about your guys," says Paul, a Tacoma, Washington, customer. Customers of Floor Trader of Tacoma have come to expect quality products, an easy-to-shop store, well-organized product samples, expert sales associates, financing on purchases, and connections to preferred installers.

Customers searching for quality, affordable flooring options that last should turn to the widest selection of discount floors in Tacoma. Floor Trader of Tacoma offers carpet, laminate, hardwood, vinyl, tile, and more. Plus, flooring prices and installations have no hidden fees or price add-ons.

Floor Trader of Tacoma WA currently offers an online coupon for $100 off of any hardwood, tile, carpet, vinyl, or laminate purchase of $1,000 or more! This discount is in addition to the already factory-priced flooring options. For more information check out http://www.floortradertacoma.com/specials-coupons/.

Contact Floor Trader of Tacoma for flooring options that meet any customer's needs! Floor Trader of Tacoma has the widest selection of discount flooring in Tacoma and the surrounding areas.

Press Release Source : AB Newswire

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Review: 'The Best Offer' is a finely layered mystery

Although writer-director Giuseppe Tornatore ("Cinema Paradiso," "Everybody's Fine") certainly puts his own stamp on the intriguing art-world thriller "The Online Deals," there's an effective dash of Hitchcock and even a soupçon of 1970s-era De Palma (remember "Obsession"?) tossed in for good measure.

Add a masterful lead performance by Geoffrey Rush as Virgil Oldman, a snobby antiques dealer and auctioneer who finds himself on the most unexpected journey of his life, and the result is a classy, atmospheric, onion-peel of a mystery.

The never-married Virgil, a fussy loner with a closetful of gloves (he's a germaphobe) and a hidden room covered in priceless paintings of beautiful women, meets his soul mate of sorts when he's hired by high-strung, deeply agoraphobic heiress Claire Ibbetson (Sylvia Hoeks) to help her sell a villa's worth of valuables left by her late parents. Claire doesn't make the assignment easy on Virgil - nor he on her - until a May-December romance blooms between them, drawing each other out in the process.

PHOTOS: Box office top 10 of 2013

Though, of course, nothing will be quite what it seems (how can it be after a character pointedly reminds Virgil that "everything can be faked"?), the film has several smart twists and surprises up its well-tailored sleeve.

The always-welcome Jim Sturgess ("Across the Universe," "Upside Down") provides jaunty support as a mechanical whiz who becomes Virgil's confidant and romantic coach. Donald Sutherland, in flowing white hair and beard, also figures in as Virgil's shady artist pal.

A lush score by legendary composer and frequent Tornatore collaborator Ennio Morricone, fine cinematography by Fabio Zamarion and Maurizio Sabatini's superb production design add immeasurably to this involving picture.

----------------------

"The Best Offer"

MPAA rating: R for some sexuality and graphic nudity

Running time: 2 hours, 11 minutes

Playing: Laemmle's Music Hall, Beverly Hills

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Two coupon inserts + more coming in Sunday's N&O

Look for two Deal News inserts -- plus a few extra coupons and a rebate -- in this Sunday's home-delivered Final Edition of The News & Observer.

In addition to one Red Plum and a hefty Smart Source insert, watch for a single page with two Olay coupons and a rebate inside the Red Plum. There's also a coupon in Parade magazine.

There are some nice coupons this week from brands that rarely issue coupons. Quaker, Del Monte, Dole, Oscar Mayer and Claussen are all making appearances this week.

On top of that, if you have dogs in your household, you'll be happy to find a mail-in rebate on a premium dog for up to $39.99.

All together, there will be 133 coupons with a face value of about $153.

As usual, I'll have the coupon database updated and the best of the Kroger and drugstore deals posted early Sunday morning so you can get a jump on your bargain shopping for the week.

Please note: Single-copy and State Edition papers may not contain all coupon inserts.

Friday, January 3, 2014

Sean Penn, Charlize Theron, and Other New Year's Mystery Romances

In today's gossip roundup: three affairs blossomed into public spectacles over the holiday, Kim Kardashian photographed her most cherished possession being held by her child, and Robin Thicke freaked out about a hotel room.

All love is a mystery! Who knows what fuels it, guides it, creates it and tears it apart? But no love is more mysterious than that of the celebrity mystery romance. And wouldn't you know it, here at the very start of 2014 C.E., we have three head-scratching celebrity affairs to discuss. The first involves two known quantities: Sean Penn and Charlize Theron. The Oscar-winning actors recently spent some time in Hawaii together, hanging out at Penn's Big Island beach house, Sean surfing and Charlize strolling in the sand in her bikini. They arrived back in smoggy old Los Angeles on the same flight yesterday, but made a point of exiting the airport separately. Rumors have been swirling about the pair for a little while now, and this latest information, including the strategic separate exits, would seem to confirm their relationship. Though it might not! Maybe they're just friends and decided to spend New Year's Eve together but kinda hung out for too long-maybe they'd never traveled together and realized that they get on each other's nerves. So by the time they got back home, they just wanted to get away from each other, take a little break and cool off. Or maybe Charlize has a tradition that if she lands in Terminal 1 she has to get a meal at CPK ASAP, and Sean was like "Uhh, I think I'm just gonna go home" and she said "Suit yourself, but I'm getting a BBQ chicken pizza with honey-wheat dough and there's nothing you can do to stop me." That could be the case! We just don't know, is the thing, and that is why this romance technically remains a mystery. Though it does seem highly likely that they are an item-when's the last time you and a potential mate, depending on your gender preference, spent New Year's Eve alone together on a Hawaiian beach?-we just don't know for certain. There are too many variables in play to draw a concrete conclusion. [Daily Mail]

Even more mysterious are the unknown beaux seen cavorting with Bethenny Frankel and Demi Moore this past holiday week. They were not all together, it was not some mystery double date. No, Frankel, who made her millions in the potable chemicals racket, was in Miami Beach with an unknown slab of meat, while Moore, still flush with The Juror money, splashed around in Mexico with a tattooed younger man. Frankel and her unidentified fella were seen sharing a New Year's kiss at midnight and lounging on the beach the next day, Frankel in a big floppy hat, her gentleman friend in a daring white bathing suit. Meanwhile, Demi laughed and clung to her date's back like a baby monkey as they braved the waves together. The man, who appears to be in his 20s, has a great big Rihanna-bird tattooed on his chest. Well, no, I guess Rihanna's is actually the goddess Isis and is under her nipples, while this guy's is some sort of winged, Edward Gorey-ish creation that sits firmly above his nipples. (Nipples! Gross word.) But they are both big chest tattoos featuring large creatures with wings, so you can see why I would draw the comparison, I hope. Anyway, the point is we don't know who Bethenny and Demi are dating, if these are serious relationships or everyone's just playing a brief game of beach blanket bingo, but they certainly do look happy in the photos. And I should hope so! No sense in frolicking on warm tropical beaches on New Year's if you're gonna look miserable doing it. Enjoy the salty spray, young lovers. The scuttle and skitter of hermit crabs, the mournful calls of gulls, the sweet song of steel drums and daiquiri blenders, the laughter of children as they play in the surf. A new year has dawned, and so, maybe, has new love. Live it up! Enjoy it! For sooner than we all want, 2015 will be knocking at the door, making old everything that was once so new, and wonderful, and mysterious. [Daily Mail; ]

Elsewhere, Kim Kardashian, ascendant Kween of Kalifornia, posted a charming Instagram photo on New Year's Eve. The image is of a small child's hand clutching an enormous diamond ring. Is it meant to represent our gilded, troubled modern age, simple innocence clashing with ostentatious materialism? Is it somehow a commentary on the diamond industry, pointing out the inflated value of the gems by turning such a large specimen into nothing more than a child's plaything? No, silly, it's a reference to Kim Kardashian's big year! Remember she had a baby, North West, and got engaged to the baby's father, Kanye West? So that's North West, clutching the anna griffin christmas cards hangar-sized ring Kanye gave to Kim when he proposed in a baseball stadium. "It was an amazing year!!!" Kim's caption reads, and certainly she is not wrong about that. Some may balk the idea of posing a child, or a child's arm at least, with such a gaudy and borderline irresponsible piece of jewelry, but what can we do about it? This is what Kim Kardashian wants, and judging by most of the comments, it is what her fans want too. Well, actually, judging by the comments, most of her fans want to spam people with requests for follows. But many others are supportive, with only a few naysayers. One such commenter wrote the following: "I don't care what the fuck you dick riders say she trying so hard to be like @beyonce." Which, sure, that person is probably not wrong vis à vis the Beyoncé comparison (a rhyming one no less!). There is definitely a whiff of Beyoncé-related aspirationalism in pretty much everything Kim has done of late. But I do take issue with the "dick riders" part. For one, correct me if I'm wrong but I believe there is explicit video evidence that Ms. Kardashian is not possessed of that particular appendage, so I'm not really sure what these fans are supposed to be riding. And two, there haven't been true dick riders in centuries. Sure they used to maraud across Eurasia, pillaging villages and leaving nothing but fire and suffering in their wake, but that was back in an older time. And it is insulting to all those people whose lives the dick riders, flopping into town on their enormous phalluses, irrevocably destroyed to so casually invoke them in a comment on Kim Kardashian's Instagram page. Oh well. Ultimately the point is that, yes, Kim Kardashian posed her baby for this photo and posted it to the Internet to illustrate her most glorious year. And while we may take issue with the medium, we cannot argue with the message. A most amazing year indeed. [People]

Robin Thicke, who has been trolling Kirk Cameron for years now with his popular (and sexually suggestive) music ("I'm his REAL son, sucker!!" has been the hidden message), ended his 2013 with a bang. Page Six is suggesting, or flat-out stating, that Thicke had something of a hotel room freakout in Miami on Monday night. He was in town to perform at the SLS Hotel South Beach on New Year's Eve, but when he checked in he was vocally unhappy about the size of his hotel room. "It's too big!" he cried. "Too many rooms! And what's all this fruit and champagne doing here, I didn't order this! I don't need this! There are people homeless and starving, right here in this country!" Well, actually, no, it was quite the opposite. In fact he thought the room was too small, and threatened to pull of the performance if he wasn't upgraded. So his travel agent called around to various other Miami hotels and, after explaining that yes travel agents do still exist, requested a room for his client. What a disaster! Though, the SLS hotel says that no such thing happened, telling Page Six, "Robin has been a great guest." That doesn't mean much, though. Of course they're going to say that. It would be bad business to say "Yes, this celebrity freaked out," because that might scare off other high-profile guests who'd like to have their own hotel freakouts. No fancy hotel wants to be known as the place where celebrities can't freak out in relative peace. Because celebrities, or many celebrities at least, like nothing more than freaking the heck out at hotels. It's why lots of people want to become famous to begin with! So it's only good politics to say "No, no, he was an excellent guest," because it telegraphs to other stars that they too can freak out at the SLS Hotel South Beach with impunity. It's important messaging in the hotel business. It's like that one Red Roof Inn off the highway saying "Oh goodness no, no one's ever had a three-day drug binge followed by a standoff before being brought down in a hail of police gunfire at our establishment." If you want more of that business, you don't air others clients' dirty laundry. So I think this was all handled rather well, don't you? [ Page Six]

Kaley Cuoco is married! The Big Bang Theory actress/luckiest girl in all of Hollywood wed her boyfriend of six months in a ceremony on New Year's Eve, and posted a couple pics of the event yesterday with effusive captions like, "Greatest night of my entire life :) @ryansweething." @ryansweeting is her new husband, naturally. And so Cuoco, known by many in the industry as one of America's most dynamic and exciting actresses, is officially off the market. It's been a whirlwind romantic year for Cuoco, who of course had this quick courtship with @ryansweeting, but also was seen back in June with Man of Steel star Henry Cavill, appearing in perhaps one of the finest celebrity photos of the year. "Kaley Cuoco is having fun!" was the message in that photo, her laughing in that big hat while she clutches to her hunk prize. But alas that fun was not meant to be, and so Cuoco moved on, quickly finding @ryansweeting and marrying him just before her busy year came to a close. And Kaley Cuoco is still having fun, if the whimsical Instagram snap of @ryansweeting swaddled in her big poofy pink dress is any indication. Sure he may be shrugging as if to say "What is happening? How did I get here?" But Kaley, who is very much alive despite some rumors to the contrary, is laughing and laughing and laughing, having a grand old time as she rides this wild bucking bronco called life. Good for her. And if Mr. Cavill needs a shoulder to cry on, or whatever, I hope he knows he's got one. []

Oh dear. Another Kennedy scandal. Well, OK, by Kennedy standards, this is actually pretty tame, but it's still something. What happened was this: Kerry Kennedy, daughter of Robert F. Kennedy, sent a mass holiday greeting email-a photo of her and her daughters with a little note-out to the distribution list of the Robert F. Kennedy Center, and because of some kind of technical problem, whenever someone responded, the responses went to everyone on the list instead of just Kerry. Actors Dennis Haysbert and Matthew Modine were among early responders, wishing Kennedy and her family Merry Christmas and thanking her for the photo. But pretty quickly people became frustrated with the flood of responses, to the point that Steven Rattner, the billionaire/economic policy guru, wrote, "I think something more along the lines of an apology would be in order. Please be sure I never get an e-mail from this organization again." Yikes! That is a scary email to get from a hugely influential billionaire in response to your holiday card. Kennedy at least had a few heavy-hitters defending her, with political operator/Kennedy friend Alan Fleischman saying "Kerry did nothing wrong" and actress Catherine Keener joking, "Be more upset with the NSA than RFK." Kennedy then issued her own apology, saying she was resolved in the New Year to "not bother all my friends during the holidays." By which point I'd hope that people like Rattner were a little embarrassed to have reacted so strongly. I'm sure this latest Kennedy kerfuffle will blow over, and by this time next year, no one will remember it. And, again, on the scale of Kennedy calamities, this rates pretty low. When reached for comment on the matter, the ghost of Joe Kennedy, Sr. said "The hell are you talking about?" And I think he's got a point. [Daily Mail]

Thursday, January 2, 2014

MSNBC's Melissa Harris-Perry Fallout Continues After Racial Joke

MSNBC, the cable news network that in recent months parted ways with Alec Baldwin and Martin Bashir, started the New Year with one of its weekend hosts, Melissa Harris-Perry, apologizing for making racially insensitive remarks during her last show of 2013. A Drudge Report link certainly got the ball rolling, but several days later the controversy seems only to have grown larger as competitors like CNN and the Fox News Channel have weighed in multiple times and Twitter and other social media continue to spread news of the MSNBC segment.

The segment had Harris-Perry showing newsworthy photos of 2013 to a panel and asking them to come up with clever captions. The one photo that didn't include an image of President Barack Obama was a Mitt Romney Christmas card that featured a photo of the former Republican candidate for president surrounded by his wife and grandchildren. On his lap sat infant Kieran Romney, the adopted black son of one of Romney's sons.

STORY: The Top 10 TV Stories of 2013

On seeing the photo, one panelist, actress Pia Glenn sang, "One of these things is not like the other ... and that little baby, front and center, would be the one," as Harris-Perry laughed. Another panelist, comedian Dean Obeidallah joked that the image "sums up the diversity of the Republican party." Harris-Perry cracked up the panel of four with the notion that Kieran could some day marry North West, the child of Kanye West and Kim Kardashian. "Can you imagine Mitt Romney and Kanye West as in-laws?" she asked. See the segment below.

The rebuke from the right began soon after the Sunday show ended. "MSNBC racists mock Romney family for adopting a black child," read a headline at Gateway Pundit the next day. "We all saw media/left go after Sarah Palin's family. This attack on Mitt Romney's grandson is who these evil scumbags are," tweeted John Nolte of Breitbart.com. Investors Business Daily used the MSNBC segment as evidence that "the real bigots are on the left." Palin wrote on her Facebook page, "You really need a conscience, yellow journalists. May your 2014 New Year's Resolution be to find one. Thank you, Romney family, for giving a child a family full of love."

Gaining traction Thursday was a scathing rebuke from Charles Hurt in the Washington Times where he writes: "Since you, like most Americans, do not watch MSNBC and have never heard of these thuggish characters, I will describe what they did." He then belittles Harris-Perry as "a silly woman who apparently hosts a show on the network" and her panel as "Neanderthal guests."

National Review called Harris-Perry's comments "extraordinarily backward and hateful," and Crystal Wright noted at the Guardian that Harris-Perry has a white mother and black father, then derided her for "displaying the height of hypocrisy." Referring to Glenn singing "one of these things is not like the other," Wright wrote: "Imagine if an innocent black baby had been referred to as a 'thing' by Republicans. But since a liberal television show does it, we should accept it and move on?" Wright continued her assault Thursday night while a guest on Hannity on Fox News.

PHOTOS: 18 Breakthrough Stars of 2013

Conservative talk radio has also been on the case, but perhaps the most sustained criticism has come from conservative actor Nick Searcy, who has an adopted son who is black and tweeted on Monday, "Yo Melissa! Mock me too!" Searcy followed with a barrage of tweets aimed at Harris-Perry and her panelists, including: "They ridicule transracial adoption because they are afraid the child won't hate whitey," and, "I'm not going to sit by & pretend it's not happening. She and her leftist drones hurt transracial adoption & society."

Harris-Perry has apologized via several tweets and an article at MSNBC.com. Glenn also addressed the controversy in tweets, and Obeidallah went into a lengthy explanation in an article at the Daily Beast, where he writes that he's disappointed Palin and others haven't leapt to his defense as they did with Duck Dynasty's Phil Robertson after he was attacked for saying politically incorrect things during a GQ interview. In response to Obeidallah's piece, Howard Portnoy of the conservative NewsBusters penned an article headlined: "MSNBC 'comedian' slightly less of a jerk than Melissa Harris-Perry."

But MSNBC, which did not respond to a request for comment, is also taking heat from its not-so-conservative competitor CNN, which, in turn, is being attacked from the left.

On Wednesday, CNN ran a segment where journalist Fredricka Whitfield claimed that "some are calling for Melissa Harris-Perry to be fired," though the report was light on evidence that that, in fact, was the case. See the CNN video below.

At the left-wing PoliticsUSA, Jason Easley wrote that CNN ran what amounts to "a hit piece on Melissa Harris-Perry that is designed to get her fired." He added: "CNN's story was a deplorable piece of television that was intended to pander to the right, and prop up a scandal that is already dead."

Fox News, meanwhile, has mentioned the MSNBC segment numerous times on air and at its website. Liberal Fox News contributor Alan Colmes used his blog to defend the MSNBC crew because, as he saw it, they were mocking 3d christmas cards Republicans and not an innocent baby. But that was a minority view at Fox News, where even liberal Bob Beckel advised his competitors at MSNBC to "shut your mouth. Be happy that child's got a place to be. Be happy they've got a good place to live, some food on the table and they're being housed and clothed and given the kind of education they need."

Email: Paul.Bond@THR.com