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The Louvre plans shake-up to give Mona Lisa ‘space to breathe'

The Louvre plans shake-up to give Mona Lisa ‘space to breathe'

Independent4 hours ago

The Louvre Museum in Paris is undergoing a major €800 million renovation, expected to be completed by 2031.
As part of the renovation, the Mona Lisa will be moved to a new 3,000 sq m gallery beneath the Cour Carrée, designed to improve visitor experience and understanding of the artwork.
Visitors wanting to see the Mona Lisa will be required to purchase a general entrance ticket to the Louvre, costing €30 for non-EU citizens and €22 for European visitors, plus an additional supplement for the Mona Lisa gallery, the cost of which is as yet unknown.
'We need to think about our displays and give our masterpieces space to breathe,' museum director Laurence des Cars said.
The redevelopment aims to relieve congestion, upgrade the museum's facilities, and improve visitor flow, following staff protests against overcrowding.

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Loose Women star admits she is ‘absolutely devastated' as her friend and co-star has been axed in brutal ITV cutbacks
Loose Women star admits she is ‘absolutely devastated' as her friend and co-star has been axed in brutal ITV cutbacks

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  • The Sun

Loose Women star admits she is ‘absolutely devastated' as her friend and co-star has been axed in brutal ITV cutbacks

LOOSE Women star Nadia Sawalha has revealed she's 'devastated' after a friend and co-star was axed from the show amid the brutal ITV budget cuts. It was recently reported that as of next year Loose Women will drop its live studio audience as part of a series of cost-cutting changes. 3 3 3 Now Nadia, 60, has confirmed the huge change and told how it means one of her friends will no longer have a job on the show. Speaking in her latest YouTube video with husband Mark Adderley, she said: 'From next year there will be no Loose Women audience. 'I am totally devastated by this fact, I can't get over it at all. Not only because the audience is so important for the show, but also my dear friend Lee who I work with every day.' Comedian Lee Peart has been the Loose Women warm-up act since 2017. Last month it was announced that Loose Women will air for only 30 weeks of the year from January. The shock move came as part of broader budget reductions across the channel, which also included halving Lorraine's airtime to 30 minutes and airing it only during school term times. Nadia's fellow Loose Women star Kaye Adams recently broke her silence on the chaos at Loose Women, admitting she's had sleepless nights over the cuts. Speaking on her podcast, How To Be 60, Kaye said she felt as though 'the rug had been pulled' from underneath her. The 62-year-old confessed: 'It did come out of the blue. "I didn't anticipate it, which is probably stupid in retrospect. You get into a sort of rhythm of life. "I had a couple of sleepless nights I have to say, because it's just like the rug's been pulled from under your feet – what has been familiar.' ITV's daytime TV schedule changes in full Good Morning Britain will be extended by 30 minutes to run from 6am to 9.30am daily. Lorraine will run from 9.30am-10am, on a seasonal basis for 30 weeks of the year. During the weeks Lorraine is not on air, Good Morning Britain will run from 6am to 10am. This Morning will remain in its 10am-12.30pm slot on weekdays throughout the year. Loose Women will be in the 12.30-1.30pm slot, again on a seasonal basis for 30 weeks of the year. The changes will take effect from January 2026.

EU plots tax on British tourists to pay off Covid debts
EU plots tax on British tourists to pay off Covid debts

Telegraph

time23 minutes ago

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EU plots tax on British tourists to pay off Covid debts

The EU is 'plotting' to increase fees on British tourists entering the bloc to help Brussels pay off its Covid lockdown debts. Officials are considering hitting non-EU travellers with an increased levy to help reduce the €350 billion common debt accrued by pandemic-era shutdowns. British holidaymakers are already set to pay a £5.98 fee when the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) comes into force in autumn next year. That €7 sum, which was first agreed in 2018, could now be further increased to boost tax revenues, diplomatic sources have revealed. The increased charge could cause tensions with London and some 60 other countries with visa-free travel agreements with the EU – including the US. However, influential Germany is opposed to the fee increase, arguing that it will discourage travel to the European continent. The EU move also comes after Sir Keir Starmer was accused of making a series of 'surrenders' to Brussels, including a controversial fishing deal that would allow European fishermen to raid British waters until 2038. A European Commission spokesman told Politico that 'a possible adjustment of the fee' was being considered. 'It seems that there is a possibility of a gradual increase of the fee, strengthening the long-term revenue potential,' the Polish rotating Council presidency of the EU wrote in an internal note. The more expensive fee is gaining traction in talks ahead of the European Commission formal budget proposal, which is expected on July 16. Supporters of the idea argue that the EU's €7 fee is far cheaper than the UK and US equivalent charges. The UK charges £16 for its Electronic Travel Authorisation, while the US levies £15.61 under its ESTA system. British travellers faced long queues at passport control after Brexit, but Sir Keir claimed his reset deal with Brussels would make travel to Europe easier by enabling UK tourists to use e-gates again. Mark Francois, the chairman of the European Research Group of Tory Brexiteers, said: 'This just adds insult to injury over the Government's so-called Brexit reset. 'Not only has it become apparent that promises of British tourists being fast-tracked through e-gates in EU countries were largely illusory, even when they do get through immigration, they will now pay extra for the privilege. 'This increasing tourist tax is another example of what a dangerous PR sham the fish surrendering, rule-taking 'reset' actually is.' The European Commission estimates that up to 50 million travellers will pay the charge in 2027. The fee only needs to be paid once for the lifetime of each ETIAS approval, which lasts for three years and grants short-term stays in the bloc's Schengen area of passport-free movement. Politico reported the revenue from the increased charge would be less than €1 billion a year. The EU faces annual debt repayments of up to €30 billion from 2028 to pay off its joint coronavirus debt. ETIAS was originally meant to come into force in 2022, but has been repeatedly delayed after technical issues. One complication is the need for the system to interconnect with a new entry/exit system due in October this year. That digital border system will replace the wet-stamping of passports with electronic registration and will collect fingerprints and facial images. In January, Emmanuel Macron, the French president, said British tourists would have to pay more to visit the Louvre to help fund a dedicated room for the Mona Lisa and a 'grand new entrance' to the world's most visited museum. The current entry fee is €22 (£18.45), but Mr Macron said that non-EU visitors, including British tourists, would face a higher fee from Jan 1 next year to pay for the renovation to an attraction visited by almost nine million people last year. Speaking in front of the Mona Lisa, he insisted that the overhaul, estimated to cost up to £671 million, would not cost the French taxpayer ' a single centime '. After the announcement, Bruges, Madrid, Amsterdam and Berlin ruled out introducing their own ' Brexit tourist tax ' on UK citizens. But in cities such as Barcelona there has been a backlash against Airbnb, with residents blaming short-term holiday rentals for pricing them out of affordable accommodation and creating a housing crisis. Venice has introduced a €5 charge in an effort to reduce overcrowding and improve the quality of life for residents swamped by tourist numbers.

Why Oslo might be Europe's most liveable city break
Why Oslo might be Europe's most liveable city break

BBC News

time30 minutes ago

  • BBC News

Why Oslo might be Europe's most liveable city break

In Oslo's Vulkan neighbourhood, sustainability, style and everyday ease come together in a way that's making the Norwegian capital feel like Europe's most liveable city break. If you're after a city break that combines culture, comfort and quiet innovation, Oslo might surprise you. Barely a two-hour flight from Heathrow, the Norwegian capital offers something unexpected: a relaxed, walkable escape where everyday life is designed for ease, from all-electric transport to sustainable neighbourhoods. In short, the perfect city for me to explore on my daylong layover. I started my 24-hour Oslo immersion in the pocket-sized Vulkan neighbourhood, a once-derelict industrial site that has become one of Europe's most forward-thinking micro-communities. Set on the banks of the Akerselva river, Vulkan is packed with art, culture and delicious food – something of a microcosm of Oslo itself. As soon as I arrived, the main square buzzed with friends catching up over coffee, people enjoying a mid-afternoon stroll and vendors hustling provisions through the streets in preparation for the dinner rush. Ringed by a food hall, a concert venue, a climbing gym and a dance theatre, Vulkan felt like a city within a city. Vulkan wasn't always this welcoming. Just 20 years ago, this riverside plot in central Oslo was a derelict tangle of concrete and broken windows. Today, it's a compact urban village powered by geothermal energy, cooled with rooftop solar panels and home to community-driven cultural spaces. Designed with a focus on density, design and sustainability, Vulkan is a model for how cities can rethink old spaces to create new futures. And, as I'd learn over 24 hours, it's also a gateway to understanding the quiet innovation at the heart of Norway's capital – a place where liveability is taken seriously. While the hip, vibrant life is a recent development, the neighbourhood dates to the Middle Ages, when it was a longstanding trading hub. During the industrial revolution of the mid-19th Century, the area evolved into a manufacturing centre, where several of the city's foundries could be found. Then, in 2004, after much of the neighbourhood's industry had vanished and the once-thriving Vulkan Factory – so named for Vulcan, the Greek god of fire and handiwork – closed, morphing into simpler warehouse space, city officials asked themselves: why not build a city within a city, one that can re-envision what a cities of the future can and should look? The project started in 2004 when a pair of property developers – Aspelin Ramm and Anthon B Nilsen – purchased the land that would become Vulkan; land that was, at the time, severely blighted. "Kids were not allowed to play here," said Sverre Landmark, a former commercial director for Aspelin Ramm. "Glass windows were damaged, there was a lot of graffiti, drug addicts were hanging around. It was really nasty." Within a few years, Vulkan started to take shape. By 2008, the country's national contemporary dance theatre, Dansens Hus, had opened on the fast-developing square. In 2012 came neighbourhood cornerstone Mathallen, Norway's first food hall, located in a former cast iron factory. Today, Mathallen boasts more than a dozen restaurants, bars, bakeries cafes and shops: my dinner there included a dozen oysters from a fishmonger, a pair of small pork bao, a plate of homemade cacio e pepe pasta and a few locally brewed beers. Just steps away, Vulkan Arena, a 950-capacity music venue that has hosted artists such as Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth, indie rock stalwarts Mercury Rev and long-running metal band Downset, adds even more cultural clout. But Vulkan isn't just buzzy, it was built to be sustainable. A series of 300m-deep geothermal wells lie deep beneath the square and the low-rise buildings above it. Along with the ubiquitous solar panels, Vulkan can create almost all its own heat during the long, cold winter and cooling throughout the country's abbreviated summer. Meanwhile, eco-friendly architecture includes a neighbourhood-defining office building with an exterior solar array used to heat the building's water. And rising above the square, a few steps up a wide staircase, is the 149-room Scandic Vulkan, an uberhip, design-focussed hotel that is Norway's first energy class A hotel, the highest energy efficiency rating awarded by the European Union. Even the rooftops play their part. The Vulkan Apiary – a pair of 3m-tall beehives – was started in 2014 in an effort to repopulate the once-thriving bee population along the Akerselva. And while you can purchase the honey from just about anywhere in Oslo, it's enjoyed at its most fresh just a few metres away at Mathallen. The fact that all of Vulkan exists across just 9,400sq m, or roughly one city block, makes the neighbourhood a model for easy, sustainable living. Just like the square itself, the whole of Vulkan feels as if you could simply reach out and touch each of its corners, to enjoy each of its various elements in just a few short hours. More like this:• Sweden's wooden city that was green before Greta• Monaco's new €2bn neighbourhood rising out of the sea• Nordhavn: The Danish 'city' that's been designed for an easy life "Vulkan arrived as something entirely new, in a hidden spot in Oslo, and helped to make the city larger while shortening the distance," Landmark said. "Vulkan provided content and substance and created opportunities for some of the many entrepreneurs who in the last 10-20 years have created a truly special Oslo feeling." Locals agree: "Vulkan is part of the new Oslo vibe," said Fredrik Remøy, a finance professional who lives in Oslo with his family. "It's very relaxed and international. It's offered a bit of warmth and a buzz to the city." And while it may be a microcosm, Vulkan's development has hardly happened in a vacuum, as both Oslo and Norway at large have long been at the forefront of sustainability efforts, designing and developing with our planet's future at the fore. Walking around Oslo's compact city centre, one of the most pleasantly jarring things you notice is the lack of vehicle traffic. Streetcars rumble by, as do plenty of cyclists, pedalling their way over the streets. The only passenger vehicles – whether buses, taxis or private cars – are electric, since petrol-powered engines have been banned in Oslo's centre since 2017. The absence of traffic makes the city feel calm and spacious; even in the middle of the bustling metropolis, Oslo's atmosphere feels more open than a typical city. In this sense, it's easy to see Vulkan as the fingerprint of a wider ethos and a grander aim. If a neighbourhood can be built to be fully sustainable, why can't an entire city? If an entire city, why not a whole country? If a whole country, what about our society? Zooming out from Vulkan, it seems that Norway is asking the same kinds of questions. After all, this is a nation that has set an ambitious goal of carbon neutrality by the year 2030 and net-zero emissions by 2050. As my day in Oslo neared its end, I figured I had to enjoy one of the city's iconic activities. After all, in a city whose viral 2024 ad campaign encourages tourists to "life-see" rather than "sightsee", I had to do as the locals do. And so, after a 10-minute cab ride (in an exhaust-free electric taxi, of course), I found myself in the Bjørvika neighbourhood, which, like Vulkan, is one of Oslo's new developments focused on multifunctionality, density and creative use of existing space. I crossed a narrow gangplank as the bright lights from the nearby Munch museum reflected off the surface of the city's main waterway, the Oslofjord. Here, I spent a few hours in a self-service, wood-sided floating sauna, inside which it was nearly 80C. A cloud of steam puffed above my overheated body as I made my way into the frigid inlet, whose temperature was somewhere in between the sauna and the night sky. Over the course of the two-hour reservation, I took some five or six turns between sweating and dipping, reflecting on just how seamlessly Oslo encourages a life well lived. Just 12 hours after I'd arrived, I already felt an easy kinship with the city. Perhaps it was the calm streets or the way Vulkan distilled so much of Oslo's essence into a single square. In a world of frenetic city breaks, Oslo offers something rare: clean air, a slower pace and a blueprint for the cities of tomorrow. -- For more Travel stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram.

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