Carla Bruni named best dressed woman

Carla Bruni, who is married to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, has been named the world’s best dressed woman by Vanity Fair magazine. Sheikha Moza Bint Nasser of Qatar is second on the list, while Princess Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, is on third position. The British royal, who married Prince William in April, has appeared on the list for the second time, with her first mention in 2008.

Top 10 international best dressed women are following:
1) Carla Bruni-Sarkozy
2) Sheikha Moza Bint Nasser of Qatar
3) The Duchess of Cambridge
4) Andrea Dellal
5) Carey Mulligan
6) Christine Lagarde
7) Tilda Swinton
8) Lizzie Tisch
9) Princess Charlene of Monaco
10) Jane Lauder Warsh

Carla Bruni pregnant with twins

French First Lady Carla Bruni is pregnant with twins at the age of 43. The former Italian supermodel has been at the centre of frenzied media speculation this week that she is expecting her first child with President Nicolas Sarkozy. Showbiz magazine ‘Voici’ claims she is expecting twins in October. The latest claims came even though Bruni - who is also said to have given up smoking - had refused to directly comment on queries about pregnancy, adding more fuel to the recent rumours that she is expecting. When asked directly if she was pregnant during the interview with leading French newspaper ‘Le Parisien’, she said she would "remain tight-lipped about that to protect something"." If you’ll allow me, I’d rather not answer these questions about my family. I am remaining tight- lipped about that to protect something," Bruni said. She had also cited her 56-year-old husband’s career as a reason not to discuss her pregnancy. "Around 180 per cent of the time my husband is dealing with his country. He only talks about that. He does nothing else. He’s obsessed by that."

Bruni added: "In addition, I’m very talkative. But then, I’m kind of lips sealed. Not out of arrogance or out of a taste for secrecy. My lips are sealed to protect something and to protect all the work he does."

It’s not even to protect my privacy, which is also a curious little term. I would love to talk, but after it takes the entire space. And it involves other people." In fact, the first claims of a pregnancy emerged in France’s Closer magazine last week.

News magazine ‘VSD’ then said the claims had been confirmed in off-the-record remarks by a senior aide to President Sarkozy.The President’s communication chief at Elysee Palace, Franck Louvrier, has refused to confirm the rumours. "This is a subject that is none of my business."

Carla Bruni launches Franco-US art student exchange

Carla Bruni, visiting New York with her husband French President Nicolas Sarkozy launched an exchange program for promising French and US arts students.

The Carla Bruni-Sarkozy Foundation, backed by a 1.5 million euro donation from US philanthropists, will annually give 25 students from each country a chance to spend a year studying the arts on the other side of the Atlantic.

Scholarships will be awarded based on talent and financial need.

Participating French institutions include the Conservatoire de Danse et de Musique de Paris, the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Arts Decoratifs, and the Ecole Nationale Superieure de Photographie.

New York’s Julliard musical college, New York University, the Fashion Institute of Technology, the School of Visual Arts, and the International Center for Photography will reciprocate.

At the launching ceremony, Sarkozy said his wife’s foundation "will develop an ambitious program of education for the poor, coupled with a substantial cultural project."

Sarkozy and Bruni were to dine at the White House with President Barack Obama.

Carla Bruni Sarkozy Pregnant

Speculation is rife that Carla Bruni may be pregnant after a holiday photograph showing hubby French President Nicolas Sarkozy protectively patting the 41- year-old former Italian supermodel’s belly has emerged.

Bruni, a mother of one, has made no secret of the fact that she is longing to have a baby with her 54-year-old husband who has three children from two previous wedlocks.

The couple have just returned to Paris from a relaxing three week holiday on the French Riviera, following Sarkozy’s collapse last month while out jogging. And, the photograph of them in swimming costumes have only revived pregnancy rumours.

In fact, in an interview shortly after the couple married last year, when rumours were swirling that she was already expecting a child, Bruni expressed fears that her age might make it difficult for her to conceive.

"I’m not pregnant and I regret it because I love it when I am. Will it happen? It’s difficult for me to say. It’s much more difficult at 40 than it is at 25," she had said.

Sarkozy has three sons - Pierre, 24, and Jean, 22, from his first marriage to Marie-Dominique Culioli, whom he divorced in 1996; and 12-year-old son, Louis, from his second marriage to Cecilia Ciganer-Albeniz, whom he divorced in 2007.

Bruni has an eight-year-old son, Aurelian, from her relationship with Raphael Enthoven, the philosophy professor. She met Sarkozy at a dinner party in Paris in November 2007, and they married three months later in February 2008.