Nicolas Sarkozy's `bling bling' reputation reached new heights today when it emerged his new £50million jet has been named `Carla' after his glamorous third wife.The French President defied the recession last year to order £240million worth of planes, including an Airbus designed to be bigger than any flown by other European leaders, and two corporate run-arounds for shorter trips. The first, a hugely luxurious Dassault Falcon 7X with a range of 6000 nautical miles, has now been delivered complete with the hand-painted legend `Carla One' glistening on its side, in honour of First Lady Carla Bruni.
Nicolas Sarkozy's `bling bling' reputation reached new heights today when it emerged his new £50million jet has been named `Carla' after his glamorous third wife.
The French President defied the recession last year to order £240million worth of planes, including an Airbus designed to be bigger than any flown by other European leaders, and two corporate run-arounds for shorter trips.
The first, a hugely luxurious Dassault Falcon 7X with a range of 6000 nautical miles, has now been delivered complete with the hand-painted legend `Carla One' glistening on its side, in honour of First Lady Carla Bruni.
Official filmed having sex with prostitutes may have been victim of 'honey trap'The Foreign Office says it is fed up with "silly jokes" about "from Russia with love". The official line is that there are far too many real problems in places like Iran and Afghanistan to spend time worrying about a junior diplomat being indiscreet in the Urals. Yesterday, a four-minute video surfaced featuring 37-year-old British diplomat James Hudson, entitled "Adventures of Mr Hudson in Russia". It shows the deputy consul general in Ekaterinburg cavorting with two prostitutes. He has since resigned.A spokeswoman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said: "The FCO expects all its staff to demonstrate high levels of personal and professional integrity and takes all allegations of inappropriate behaviour seriously.
The Foreign Office says it is fed up with "silly jokes" about "from Russia with love". The official line is that there are far too many real problems in places like Iran and Afghanistan to spend time worrying about a junior diplomat being indiscreet in the Urals.
Yesterday, a four-minute video surfaced featuring 37-year-old British diplomat James Hudson, entitled "Adventures of Mr Hudson in Russia". It shows the deputy consul general in Ekaterinburg cavorting with two prostitutes. He has since resigned.
A spokeswoman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said: "The FCO expects all its staff to demonstrate high levels of personal and professional integrity and takes all allegations of inappropriate behaviour seriously.
Already judged to be Europe's worst tourists last year, the French have now been named as the worst in the world. In a survey of 4.500 international hotel owners, they are criticized for not speaking foreign languages and of being arrogant and tight with their cash... French tourists were praised for being almost as well dressed abroad as Italians. However, the overall message was that a polite bonjour, merci, or au revoir - spoken in the local language - would be a big improvement. The next worst tourists were the Spanish and Greeks, said to be noisy and badly behaved. The Japanese came out top in the survey again. They are polite and discreet, calm in the face of adversity, and they never complain. The only drawback is that they have difficulty speaking other languages. British and Canadian tourists came second and third in the poll, which was carried out for an Internet travel agency. Germans and British share the second place in Europe. The survey compared the behavior of 27 different nationalities The survey showed US tourists were most likely to swallow their pride and order a pizza, baguette or a paella in the local lingo. US tourists also got top marks for generosity -- as the biggest spenders and tippers -- but fell short on other counts as the least tidy, the loudest, the worst complainers, and the most badly dressed.
French tourists were praised for being almost as well dressed abroad as Italians. However, the overall message was that a polite bonjour, merci, or au revoir - spoken in the local language - would be a big improvement.
The next worst tourists were the Spanish and Greeks, said to be noisy and badly behaved.
The Japanese came out top in the survey again. They are polite and discreet, calm in the face of adversity, and they never complain. The only drawback is that they have difficulty speaking other languages.
British and Canadian tourists came second and third in the poll, which was carried out for an Internet travel agency. Germans and British share the second place in Europe. The survey compared the behavior of 27 different nationalities
The survey showed US tourists were most likely to swallow their pride and order a pizza, baguette or a paella in the local lingo. US tourists also got top marks for generosity -- as the biggest spenders and tippers -- but fell short on other counts as the least tidy, the loudest, the worst complainers, and the most badly dressed.
On June 11, the Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian parliament) made possession of pornography - not extreme porn, but ANY porn - a criminal offence. It will be punishable by a fine of 850 hryvnia - which our currency converter helpfully reveals is approximately 69 British pounds - or up to three years in prison. As in the UK, this is a significant shift in the law, which previously only concerned itself with those who produced or distributed pornography. The problem with this legislation is that the only available definition of porn comes from 2003 legislation, which states, according to the English language version of the Kyev Times: "Pornography is vulgar, candid, cynical, obscene depiction of sexual acts, pursuing no other goal, the explicit demonstration of genitals, unethical elements of the sexual act, sexual perversions, realistic sketches that do not meet moral criteria and offend honour and dignity of the human by inciting low instincts." It is not clear whether this is a literal translation of confused law - or an attack of "Babel-itis" on the part of that paper. Meanwhile, Ukraine's Ministry of Justice appears to have complicated the legislation even further by conceding that porn may be retained "for medicinal purposes".
The problem with this legislation is that the only available definition of porn comes from 2003 legislation, which states, according to the English language version of the Kyev Times:
"Pornography is vulgar, candid, cynical, obscene depiction of sexual acts, pursuing no other goal, the explicit demonstration of genitals, unethical elements of the sexual act, sexual perversions, realistic sketches that do not meet moral criteria and offend honour and dignity of the human by inciting low instincts." It is not clear whether this is a literal translation of confused law - or an attack of "Babel-itis" on the part of that paper.
Meanwhile, Ukraine's Ministry of Justice appears to have complicated the legislation even further by conceding that porn may be retained "for medicinal purposes".
"The students, all members of the 1,344-member incoming freshman class, have been isolated in a dorm. None has been hospitalized."
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_12810444
A concern is that there is lots of traffic between the AFA, the two Air Force bases, and the Army fort in Colorado Springs, which increases the population potentially exposed...
A black bear that ventured into downtown Colorado Springs on Friday afternoon was captured when it tried to hide in a city-owned parking garage. State wildlife officers tracked the animal down with the help of Colorado Springs police. The bear was tranquilized in the municipal parking garage at South Nevada and East Colorado avenues about 1:50 p.m. Witnesses called police after the bear interrupted the course of business on a busy stretch of East Pikes Peak Avenue, a few blocks from the central business district.
State wildlife officers tracked the animal down with the help of Colorado Springs police. The bear was tranquilized in the municipal parking garage at South Nevada and East Colorado avenues about 1:50 p.m.
Witnesses called police after the bear interrupted the course of business on a busy stretch of East Pikes Peak Avenue, a few blocks from the central business district.
Less than a km from my house! Probably planning to steal tomatoes from my garden...
