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<p>“Obama insults Sarkozy,” blared headline on French websites, taking umbrage at Mr. Obama’s wayward remark at the G-20 summit about the physical appearance of French President Nicolas Sarkozy.</p> <p>Mr. Obama thought he was making a joke about Mr. Sarkozy, host of the summit, when he congratulated him and wife Carla on the birth of their daughter. Instead, Mr. Obama caused a minor international incident.</p>

  The world has been anxiously waiting for a glimpse of France's First Baby Bonjour Giulia, the newborn daughter of President Nicolas Sarkozy and his actress wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. However, Carla Bruni didn't really show her baby's face to the world as she left the maternity clinic, today. Bruni left the Paris maternity clinic, Clinique de la Muette today, tightly holding her bundle of joy, and was helped into the black SUV by two guards. However, the proud father was not to be seen in the vicinity. Apparently, Nicolas Sarkozy paid an afternoon visit at the maternity clinic, Oct. 21, two...

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy has confirmed the name of her daughter as Giulia. In a message on her website, she wrote: "I am deeply touched by the many messages of congratulations that I have received since the birth of our daughter Giulia. "On this happy occasion, my husband joins me in expressing our warmest thanks to all those of you who sent us these tokens of your kindness." Earlier her husband Nicolas Sarkozy spoke of his "very profound joy" at the birth of his daughter, as his "father of the nation" appeal is expected to give him a much needed poll boost....

First Lady of France Carla Bruni-Sarkozy has stayed among the best dressed ladies over the years. French President Nicolas Sarkozy's supermodel wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy gave birth to a daughter on Wednesday, a source in the first lady's inner circle confirmed. "For the moment we don't know the little girl's name," the source said, as the world's media gathered near the La Muette clinic in Paris and Sarkozy returned from talks on the future of the eurozone. Sarkozy arrived at the clinic shortly before 11.00 pm, just over three hours after the birth. The girl is the French first couple's first baby...

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy was tonight said to have given birth to a baby girl, according to impeccably placed sources at an exclusive Paris clinic. President Nicolas Sarkozy, 56, spent half-an-hour with his 43-year-old wife shortly after she delivered their first child together. But both insisted that the happy event should remain a ‘private matter’, with no official announcement from the Elysee Palace.

Carla Bruni keeps publicly asserting how discreet she wants to be about her baby, due any day now. But will she and her husband really be able to resist using their child in what is already an incredible political soap opera? Carla Bruni, French first lady, multimillionaire supermodel-turned-folk- singer, has found her pregnancy at 43 pretty boring. "Quite frankly, I can't stand it any more. I spend most of my time either sitting down or lying down. I can't drink or smoke any more. I'm in a hurry to get it over with." She thinks the public is pretty bored...

It's tough being the wife of the most powerful man in the world, just ask Michelle Obama. Carla Bruni, who seemed to reveal her distaste for the First Lady in previous pictures, reveals Michelle's whiny comments in her recent book [Aside: why is a sitting world leader's spouse writing a tell-all? What tawdriness.] Anyway, here's what was allegedly said: Michelle Obama thinks being America's First Lady is ‘hell', Carla Bruni reveals today in a wildly indiscreet book.

Michelle Obama thinks being America’s First Lady is ‘hell’, Carla Bruni reveals today in a wildly indiscreet book. Miss Bruni divulges that Mrs Obama replied when asked about her position as the U.S. president’s wife: ‘Don’t ask! It’s hell. I can’t stand it!’

Carla Bruni, the model turned First Lady of France, released a bombshell when she claimed Michelle Obama told her being First Lady of a country she was just recently proud of was "Hell" and she "couldn't stand" it. If that's not fodder for a comic, what is:

Michelle Obama thinks being America’s First Lady is ‘hell’, Carla Bruni reveals today in a wildly indiscreet new book. Miss Bruni reveals that Mrs Obama replied when asked about her position as the U.S. president’s wife: ‘Don’t ask! It’s hell. I can’t stand it!’ Details of the private conversation, which took place at the White House during an official visit by Nicolas Sarkozy last March, emerged in Carla And The Ambitious, a book written in collaboration with Miss Bruni.

Carla Bruni taking a great American blues tune by Jimmy Cox (1923) and tries it on.

President Nicolas Sarkozy of France travels to the United States on Monday for a two-day trip designed to underscore his close cooperation with President Barack Obama on Afghanistan, Iran and other issues, and apparently to make a statement about their personal relationship. The trip, culminating in a news conference Tuesday and then a private dinner at the White House, comes at a crucial time for both. Mr. Obama has just scored two major victories — the passage of historic health-care legislation and agreement with Russia on a new strategic arms control treaty — and is heading into a period of...

There's a time for reminiscing over your old photo albums. But unfortunately for Carla Bruni, now is not that time. Just as France's first lady tries to keep a low profile amid global headlines about the state of her marriage, another reminder of her somewhat racy past has propelled her straight back into the spotlight. Two photographs of Miss Bruni in her modelling days are up for grabs at an auction. In one, taken by the legendary Helmut Newton, the then 25-year-old leans against a mahogany piano, with her skirt riding up in a rather risque fashion. Another by Pamela...

She was once lauded as one of the world's most beautiful women. Before becoming the First Lady of France, her dazzling good looks had captured the hearts of Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton. But, it seems, age and lifestyle - not to mention those infidelity rumours - have taken their toll on Carla Bruni. An unflattering close-up shot this week has revealed how the once radiant former model's face is looking tight and stretched, while her skin appears dull and lifeless. To get to the bottom of 42-year-old Carla's curious look, JENNY STOCKS asked beauty experts to give us their...

She was once lauded as one of the world's most beautiful women. Before becoming the First Lady of France, her dazzling good looks had captured the hearts of Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton. But, it seems, age and lifestyle - not to mention those infidelity rumours - have taken their toll on Carla Bruni. An unflattering close-up shot this week has revealed how the once radiant former model's face is looking tight and stretched, while her skin appears dull and lifeless. To get to the bottom of 42-year-old Carla's curious look, JENNY STOCKS asked beauty experts to give us their...

Arms crossed defensively and her face fixed in a frown, Carla Bruni cut a sombre figure in Paris yesterday. France's first lady had plenty to think about amid growing talk that both she and her husband Nicolas Sarkozy are having affairs. The 43-year-old had been left behind in the capital while the French president made an official visit to London. He appeared delighted to be away from the rumour mill and seemed almost ecstatic on meeting Gordon Brown in Downing Street. The 55-year-old is said to be romancing his ecology minister Chantal Jouanno, a karate champion who is his junior...

Rumours that French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy are both having affairs are gaining momentum in France. The suggestion that the couple were both committing adultery first emerged on Twitter, the microblogging website. It was followed by a report in the Sunday newspaper le Journal du Dimanche. The first 'tweet' claimed that Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy had become romantically involved with Benjamin Biolay, a musician and a winner at France's recent Victoires de la Musique awards. It then claimed that the jilted Mr Sarkozy had swiftly found solace in the arms of his 40-year-old ecology minister Chantal Jouanno, also...

For once I'm jealous of the French. If there's one thing going for them, it's boobs, and who better to represent than Carla Bruni? Frankly, I don't see what the scandal is all about: Carla Bruni-Sarkozy left little to the imagination when she arrived at a state dinner without a bra in a figure-hugging dress.

A Swiss court has accepted film-maker Roman Polanski's plea to be freed on bail from a Swiss jail where he is being held for a US child sex case.

The reason that the monstrous crime of pedophilia matters is simple: In an increasingly secular age, it is one of the few taboos about which people on both sides of the religious divide can agree. It remains a marker of right and wrong in a world where other markers have been erased. And that is also the reason that the questions surrounding the attempted extradition of Roman Polanski for a 1977 child rape briefly became the Rorschach tests of our times. Sophistication vs. prudery, the morality of the 1970s vs. the morality of today, European artistes vs. American law, Hollywood...

Polish director Roman Polanski’s family is thanking French President Nicolas Sarkozy for being “very effective” in helping to win his release from a Swiss prison. “I wouldn’t go so far as to say that it is thanks to the President that Roman has been freed, but he has been super,” Polanski’s sister-in-law, Mathilde Seigner, told Le Parisien newspaper. “The President has been very effective.” The London Times speculated that Sarkozy’s wife, ex-model Carla Bruni, may have pressured her husband to intervene because she used to hob nob with Paris’ artistic community, which includes Polanski and wife Emmanuelle Seigner. After initially...

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy saves sex tourist minister Frédéric Mitterrand The influence of France’s first lady has halted the sacking of a minister – but for how long Matthew Campbell in Paris The reluctance of Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, to sack a gay minister with a past as a “sex tourist” in Thailand will certainly please Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, his wife. She had suggested appointing Frédéric Mitterrand, a friend, as culture minister and the government’s support for him, despite his confession to having paid boys for sex, is partly a sign of Sarkozy’s eagerness not to offend his first lady. “She has...

Cherie Blair has revealed an unexpected upside to leaving Downing Street – her figure doesn’t get compared with that of Carla Bruni. Speaking of French president Nicolas Sarkozy’s wife, who was famously photographed from behind on the steps of a Spanish palace in April, Mrs Blair said: ‘I am very happy to not have been in Downing Street when Carla Bruni came on an official visit.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy was discharged Monday from the hospital where he spent the night after collapsing while jogging. Doctors said his illness was due to heat and overwork and ordered the 54-year-old to rest but prescribed no further medical treatment, his office said. Sarkozy, dressed in a dark suit and tie, walked hand-in-hand with his wife, Carla, from Val de Grace military hospital to his car. He smiled and shook hands with white-clad medical personnel but declined any comment. Medical tests Monday on Sarkozy's heart showed no signs of irregular heartbeat and no long term consequences for the president's...

The way the Associated Press is fawning over Michelle Obama and her supposed sense of fashion, you would almost think they were talking about Carla Bruni who really does dress quite elegantly and oozes glamor. To add to this absurdity, the AP also went out of its way to paint the Russian First Lady as frumpy. Um, advice to AP personnel; don't expect the Russians to go out of their way to help you in your stories in that country after that gratuitous slam on the wife of their president. First let us watch the AP's Catrina Stewart act dazzled...

Carla Bruni to perform for Nelson Mandela Carla Bruni-Sarkozy will break her pledge never to sing in concert while she is First Lady of France when she performs in New York next month to celebrate Nelson Mandela's 91st birthday. The 41-year old former supermodel will sing a duet with Dave Stewart, the Eurythmics star at New York's Radio City music hall on July 18, in a concert to celebrate Nelson Mandela's 91st birthday. Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy toured regularly before marrying President Nicolas Sarkozy last year, but stopped public performances after taking becoming First Lady, mainly for security concerns and because the...

Woody Allen would like to use France's first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy for a film role, the U.S. director told RTL radio on Thursday. "I'm sure she would be wonderful," he said through a translator. "She's got charisma, she's already acted so she's not unknown to an audience. There are a lot of ways I could use her though I don't have a story for her at the moment," he said. "But I'll certainly talk to her about it and I'll ask her if she's interested." Bruni-Sarkozy, one of the world's top models before starting a career as a singer and...

A hugely embarrassing video in which Carla Bruni calls Nicolas Sarkozy my ‘chou chou’ has caused a sensation across France. The intimate moments, captured by authorised magazine journalists, marks the first time that a French President and First Lady have been filmed sharing initimate moments in the Elysee Palace. In what appears to be a well choreographed love-in, 41-year-old Miss Bruni continually strokes her 54-year-old husband’s hand. Among topics of discussion in the interview were the couple’s three dogs, Clara, Dumbledore and Toumi. Earlier this year Mr Sarkozy admitted for the first time that his glamorous wife influences his policies....

France's First Lady said that the Church's teachings had left her feeling "profoundly secular". She departed from her post's traditional religious neutrality to accuse the Pope of "damaging" countries in Africa with his stance on birth control.

Carla Bruni has issued a scathing attack on Pope Benedict XVI saying that she has allowed her Catholic faith to lapse because of his approach to contraception in Africa. France's First Lady said that the Church's teachings had left her feeling "profoundly secular". She departed from her post's traditional religious neutrality to accuse the Pope of "damaging" countries in Africa with his stance on birth control. Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy said: "I was born Catholic, I was baptised, but in my life I feel profoundly secular. I find that the controversy coming from the Pope's message – albeit distorted by the media...

Glamour magazine selected its top 50 most glamorous women of the year for the June issue, based on a panel of judges and online reader polls. Of course, we're barely halfway through the year and a yearlong retrospective seems a bit presumptuous. But it's the winner's circle that leaves us perplexed. Kates flank both ends — Winslet tops the list at No. 1, while supermodel Moss comes in dead last. With Moss's Topshop opening, Met-gala hosting duties, and anticipated forthcoming biography, we're surprised to see her so far down on the list compared to people like Rachel Weisz (No. 44)...

For once, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy had to share the limelight on a state visit to Spain on Monday. She met her match in Princess Letizia, the wife of Spain's Crown Prince Felipe. They made the steps leading to Madrid's Zarzuela Palace resemble a catwalk as Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy and her husband, the French President Nicolas Sarkozy, arrived for two days of talks. Both women wore similar fitted dresses; France's first lady in cobalt blue Christian Dior and Princess Letizia in plum by one of her favourite Spanish designers, Felipe Varela. But while Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy opted for modest kitten heels by the London-based...

French President Nicolas Sarkozy met Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Zapatero on Monday on a state visit to Madrid that was to include some political sweet-talk after Sarkozy allegedly described Zapatero as “dim”. Accompanied by his wife, Italian former model Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, the French president first met with King Juan Carlos for a visit full of pageantry. On Tuesday, he’ll join Zapatero for talks on combating both the economic crisis and the Basque separatist group ETA. Sarkozy said on Monday evening that relations between the two countries have never been “as strong as they are now”, and stressed that France...

One is a role model, the other a fashion model. One likes to bare her arms, the other — well, she bares it all. But First Lady Michelle Obama and Carla Bruni, the wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, do have this in common — both are grabbing as much attention as their famous husbands while world leaders huddle this week in Europe. The two superstylish first ladies are scheduled to have lunch today, when the paparazzi are likely to burn a new hole in the ozone over Strasbourg, France, the site of their planned tete-a-tete. But as far as...

FRANCE'S first lady broke with protocol today as she held out a frosty hand to welcome Barack Obama. Stunning Carla Bruni was business-like in her greeting — while her hubby treated Michelle Obama to a hug and Continental double kiss. The former model gave pecks on both cheeks to Mrs Obama and other dignatories when the couple arrived in France. But when it came to the dashing US President the beauty kept a noticeable distance.

French cruller Carla Bruni was one sweet sight everywhere she went in Manhattan yesterday. The sexy model-turned-singer first performed her duties as France's first lady by attending meetings at the United Nations with her president hubby, Nicolas Sarkozy. She then left the world leaders to catch up on current events, and enjoyed entertaining reading with the New York Post tucked under her arm. After returning to her Upper East Side hotel for a quick rest and outfit change out of a demure, pinstriped skirt suit, she reappeared in the evening looking ready to turn plenty of heads. One of the...

He has been nicknamed 'President Bling Bling', but Nicolas Sarkozy left his usual flashy style at home yesterday as he worked up a sweat on the beach. After a busy year the French president could have been forgiven for taking the rare chance to relax. But instead he has spent the last few days unwinding with an energetic timetable of cycling, swimming and jogging in the south of France. Today he again shunned idly sunbathing to join tourists on the sand at Cavalaire-sur-Mer. Bikini-clad sunbathers watched with interest as the 53-year-old and his companions jogged at a fast pace along...

French first Lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy has admitted being "instinctively Left-wing" and having a problem with "conservatives" despite her husband's Right wing politics, in a frank newspaper interview. The Italian supermodel turned singer expressed relief that her husband, President Nicolas Sarkozy, had toned down his "bling-bling" love of chunky watches and Ray-Ban sunglasses in favour of her "more austere tastes." She also admitted organising dinners with artists to "cultivate" her husband, a TV-addict whose musical tastes stop at Elvis Presley and his French equivalent, Johnny Hallyday. "Perhaps I can help him to enable him to better communicate on the things that...

The French are different from you and me. Yes, they have Sarkozy. And they have Carla. And they have “the Carla effect,” as it’s known in Paris. If an American first lady, or would-be first lady, described herself as a “tamer of men” and had a “man-eating” past filled with naked pictures, Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton, sultry prone CD covers, breaking up marriages, bragging that she believes in polygamy and polyandry rather than monogamy, and having a son with a married philosopher whose father she had had an affair with, it would take more than an appearance on “The...

At the Parisian dinner party where their heady, whirlwind courtship commenced at breakneck speed, Nicolas Sarkozy sat transfixed, listening to Carla Bruni strumming away on her guitar. The 53-year-old French President, dressed in a sober dark business suit and tie, tapped his fingers enthusiastically on the table and shouted "bravo" at the end of every one of the Italian supermodel-turned-singer's soulful songs. He had already bluntly told the glamorous society wife who was hosting the intimate soiree: "I don't want to be impolite, but I have to turn my back on you", before focusing all his attention on long-limbed, blue-eyed...

He is a lieutenant so loyal that President Nicolas Sarkozy personally rewarded him with the party’s nomination for mayor of the affluent Paris suburb that Mr. Sarkozy himself long governed. But now, David Martinon, the president’s spokesman, has abruptly withdrawn from the race. And it was the president’s own son Jean who forced him out. “The conditions are no longer in place for me to lead the municipal campaign in Neuilly,” Mr. Martinon told reporters on Monday. “I am pulling out.” Adding to the intrigue, Mr. Martinon said that he submitted his resignation as spokesman — but that Mr. Sarkozy...

French newspapers on Monday splashed photos of President Nicolas Sarkozy with singer and former supermodel Carla Bruni, fuelling speculation of romance just two months after the president's divorce. Sarkozy, 53, and Bruni, 39, were snapped together at the Disneyland theme park near Paris on Saturday. They made little apparent attempt to hide the fact that they were there together, though none of the photos showed them any closer than shoulder-to-shoulder. The Elysee Palace would not comment to AFP on the pictures. But L'Express magazine editor Christophe Barbier told French television that Bruni -- whose past boyfriends include rock stars Mick...