oddly enough
oddly enough
Russia outraged by giant Louis Vuitton suitcase
MOSCOW
Politicians didn’t like it, the public didn’t like it, so the gigantic Louis Vuitton suitcase is being booted out of Red Square.
The GUM department store on Red Square, which is responsible for the 30-foot- high and 100-foot-long construction, promised in a statement released Wednesday that it would be dismantled.
Politicians and the public alike condemned the exhibit, a stone’s throw from the tomb of communist leader Vladimir Lenin. State news agencies reported that the Kremlin had demanded the removal of the display.
The construction is part of an exhibition called “The Soul of Travel,” marking Vuitton’s 150th anniversary and was to open Monday. Louis Vuitton said the construction was a copy of a model owned by a Russian noble, Prince Vladimir Orlov.
Spain court acquits concert pianist of ‘noise pollution’
MADRID
A Spanish court has acquitted a 28-year-old concert pianist on charges of causing noise pollution and psychological damage to a neighbor.
The court in northeastern Girona absolved professional pianist Laia Martin and her parents of both charges, according to a written ruling issued Tuesday.
The trial this month caused a storm of ridicule and disbelief when prosecutors sought a sentence of seven years. They later reduced this to 20 months.
Martin’s neighbor, Sonia Bonsom, complained the pianist practiced five days a week for eight hours at a time between 2003 and 2007 in an apartment building in the nearby town of Puigcerda. Bonsom told the court she now hated pianos so much she can’t even stand to see them in movies.
The court said it found Bonsom’s claims unreliable and exaggerated. It said there was no proof that Martin’s playing surpassed the 30-decibel limit laid down for musical instruments in the town — as the prosecution claimed — or that the playing was the direct cause of Bonsom’s problems.
Martin’s parents were attached to the case when they carried out soundproofing work twice, but this failed to quell Bonsom’s complaints.
Associated Press