Victor and his wife Elena in Courchevel

More than 300 guests are flying to Courchevel to help Pinchuk — listed by Time magazine as one of the world's 100 most influential people — celebrate his 50th birthday Saturday evening.

The guest list is a closely guarded secret, but President Clinton reportedly has been invited, Pinchuk having attended his 60th birthday bash in New York in 2006. Christina Aguilera, in France to promote her new film, "Burlesque," also reportedly will attend.

Pinchuk, who also owns a media empire that includes six television stations and three newspapers, has one of the world's largest modern art collections and is married to the daughter of former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma. He counts Elton John and Paul McCartney among his friends.

Guests will be served food prepared by celebrated French chef Alain Ducasse, along with vodka, vintage wines and champagne. Entertainment will include the famed Cirque du Soleil troupe, which is being flown in from Canada, and a full fireworks display.

But the event is not to everyone's taste.

"Six million dollars for a party ... it's obscene," said one skier in the resort, who was interviewed by telephone and requested anonymity. "It's particularly scandalous because so many people in France are having trouble trying to make ends meet, let alone buy Christmas presents, because of the [economic] crisis."

Mayor Gilbert Blanc-Tailleur insisted there was nothing shocking about the party.

"If this gentleman didn't celebrate his birthday in Courchevel, he would no doubt go somewhere else abroad in a Swiss or Austrian ski resort. That would be a pity for our country," he told the newspaper Le Parisien. "So it's a good thing for France and for our resort, where the quality of services is well known and where it will give business to our hotels."

He added that the Courchevel authorities had asked that 150 children be allowed to see the circus rehearsals.

Adeline Roux, director of Courchevel's tourist office, agreed with the mayor. "It's a private event so there's nothing to say," she told the newspaper.

Pinchuk's media office refused to comment on the party.

However, a young chambermaid in the resort was not impressed.

"I slave away all winter for a miserable wage and then when I see how some people can spend millions in a single evening it disgusts me," she told Le Parisien. "We are on another planet here."

Courchevel has been the preferred winter playground of billionaires from the former Soviet Union in recent years. Mikhail Prokhorov, the chief executive of Russian mining giant Norilsk Nickel, hit the headlines in 2007 when French police raided the hotel he and friends were staying in at the resort. They arrested 25 people and accused Prokhorov of running a prostitution ring.

No charges were filed and Prokhorov was allowed to return to Russia.
Fonte/ Los angeles Times

Hugh Hefner and Cristal Harris in love

Love is beautiful and is in the air for Hugh,84, and Crystal,24;fonte-Paris Match
Un Noël romantique pour un tombeur invétéré. Hugh Hefner, cette légende en peignoir de soie a encore fait tourner la tête d’une jeune fille. En ce week end de Noël, le fondateur du légendaire «Playboy», s’est fiancé à sa petite amie, Crystal Harris, âgée de 24 ans. C’est sur sa page Twitter que l’on a pu apprendre l’heureuse nouvelle. D’abord l’homme de 84 ans a confié que Crystal et lui s’apprêtaient à rester «à la maison pour ce très spécial et romantique jour de Noël», puis, dans la journée, l’amoureux a posté: «Quand j’ai donné la bague à Crystal, elle a fondu en larmes.» Plus de doutes, cette année a marqué «le plus heureux Noël» que Hugh Hefner ai pu connaître. Alors que certains devaient émettre des réserves sur la réelle symbolique de cette bague, le tombeur a précisé à ses fans et amis: «Oui, la bague que j’ai donnée à Crystal est une bague de fiançailles».

Crystal Harris et Hugh Hefner se sont rencontrés en 2008 lors d’une soirée d’Halloween. A l’époque la jeune femme, qui suivait des études à l’université de San Diego, avait été repérée par l’organisation Playboy. La semaine du 30 octobre 2008, elle apparait sous le nom de Crystal Carter dans la rubrique "Co-Ed of the week", qui a pour principe d’exhiber de jeunes étudiantes en tenues plus que légères. Et en janvier 2009 commence l’idylle entre la sulfureuse blonde et le magnat. Dès que Holly Madison – la précédente copine de Hugh Hefner – a eu quitté la résidence, Crystal s’est rapidement installée au manoir, rejoignant les jumelles Kristina et Karissa Shannon. Décembre 2009 fut le mois de la consécration pour cette jeune femme de 23 ans, qui s’illustre en tant que playmate du mois sur la très convoitée Une. Fille d’artistes, cette anglo-américaine a signé un contrat d’enregistrement sur le label Organica Music Group en mars 2010.


Rien n’arrête Hugh Hefner
A 84 ans, rien ne semble résister à Hugh Hefner, surtout pas les très belles femmes. On ignore si c’est l’effet du déshabillé de soie porté jour et nuit, la tentation de la fortune estimée à plus de 900 millions de dollars ou la vie luxueuse dans l’opulent manoir, mais Hugh Hefner attire. De son premier mariage en 1949 avec Mildred Williams, il aura deux enfants, Christie et David. Sa première épouse – rongée par la culpabilité d’une aventure hors mariage – avait permis à son époux d’avoir des relations extraconjugales. Mais cela n’a pas sauvé leur mariage, qui s’achève en 1959. Et l’homme devient l’insatiable séducteur que l’on connait.

Ce bon vivant a eu une aventure avec toutes les plus belles et les plus jeunes femmes de son magazine: Donna Michelle, Marilyn Cole, Lillian Müller, Shannon Tweed, Brande Roderick, Barbi Benton, Karen Christy, Sondra Théodore, et Carrie-Leigh, et a même avoué avoir expérimenté la bissexualité. En 1989 pourtant, il se marie avec Kimberly Conrad et le couple aura deux fils, Marston Glenn et Bradford Cooper. Dix ans plus tard le mariage s’essouffle et le fameux Manoir voit une flopée de jeunes femmes à la plastique de rêve défiler. Parfois même, le puissant patron de presse s’offre des rendez-vous privés avec sept partenaires…

Après le succès de la téléréalité «The Girl Next Door» mettant en scène les playmate, celles-ci ont déménagé de la superbe résidence de leur mentor. Le maître

Parliament approved the reelection of Nouri Maliki

fonte/wikipédia
Nouri Kamil Mohammed Hasan al-Maliki (Arabic: نوري كامل محمّد حسن المالكي, transliterated Nūrī Kāmil al-Mālikī; born June 20, 1950), also known as Jawad al-Maliki or Abu Esraa, is the Prime Minister of Iraq and the secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party. Al-Maliki and his government succeeded the Iraqi Transitional Government. His 37-member Cabinet was approved by the National Assembly and sworn in on May 20, 2006.

Al-Maliki begin his political career as a Shia dissident under Saddam Hussein's regime in the late 1970s and rose to prominence after he fled a death sentence into exile for 24 years. During his time abroad, he became a senior leader of Dawa, coordinated the activities of anti-Saddam guerillas and built relationships with Iranian and Syrian officials whose help he sought in overthrowing Saddam. Al-Maliki's constitutional mandate will last until 2010. On April 26, 2006, al-Maliki stopped using the pseudonym Jawad.[1] However, the pseudo- or code name "Abu Esraa" (father of Esraa - his eldest daughter) is still heard on Iraqi satellite media every now and then, because it is very common in Arabic culture (and in Iraqi culture in particular) to call someone with his eldest son/daughter's name especially by his close friends and followers. Al-Maliki is married to Fareeha Khalil, with whom he had four daughters and two sons.

Asma et Bachar el-Assad in Paris

Fonte/
Paris Match. Você é nascida e criada na Inglaterra, onde conheceu seu marido. Como você se sentiu quando retornou para a Síria para se tornar a primeira-dama?
Asma al-Assad. eu sou Síria, onde nasci, sempre me senti na Síria. Morei em Londres por 25 anos. Então eu tive a sorte de ser expostas a ambas as culturas e em particular a uma riqueza de experiência que a cultura britânica tinha para oferecer. Quando voltei, eu nunca pensei que eu iria viver num lugar estranho. Para mim, era como se eu estivesse voltando para casa. Eu falava a língua, eu morava na cultura sírio e estava ciente da herança. A única diferença é que na Inglaterra eu era solteira, . Ser designado como primeira-dama é um privilégio e uma honra. É também um trabalho árduo, especialmente na Síria, onde as pessoas querem que você se envolva. Eles não querem que uma primeira-dama só para as cerimônias. Eles exigem que você esteja envolvido no desenvolvimento do país e apoie a mudança que estão acontecendo.

Você foi uma empresária. É uma vantagem em sua ação de hoje?
Existem coisas que você pode planejar na vida. Eu estudei ciência da computação na universidade. Eu queria trabalhar em um banco de investimentos e buscar um MBA. Mas eu não tinha planejado me casar com um chefe de Estado. A vida é cheia de surpresas. Eu casei com ele pelos valores que ele encarna e porque nos sentimos muito próximos. É claro, a minha experiência, tudo que aprendi nas finanças me serve hoje: ter de pensar criticamente, ser capaz de trabalhar com uma pressão enorme. Eu trabalho em desenvolvimento, educação e cidadania, e minha formação me ajuda.

Notamos que as primeiras-damas Michelle Obama como Carla Bruni ou jogar uma vez mais visíveis com o seu marido, especialmente para melhorar a sua imagem. Como você descreveria o seu papel?
Eu não acho que meu marido tem um problema de imagem. [Risos.] Ele não precisa de mim ou qualquer pessoa para melhorar sua imagem. Mas a imagem pode ser falsa e construida, ou pode ser verdade. Eu tento me conectar com a verdade. Eu começo a partir daí a considerar o que preciso mudar no meu país. Nesse sentido, acho que meu marido e eu, nos complementamos. As primeiras-damas durante muito tempo permaneceram na sombras, e a emergência das mulheres na política é recente. Tudo depende de onde no mundo ele é. No Extremo Oriente, há mais de 30 anos que as mulheres têm alcançado posições de presidentes. No Oriente Médio, eu estou longe de estar sozinho.

Qual é a sua visita a França?
Nossos países têm uma longa relação histórica. Nós não podemos e não devemos ignorar. No nosso tempo, as relações entre os países são principalmente políticas. Mas a política tem seus altos e baixos. Acho que temos de aprender com as lições do passado e da natureza diversificada da nossa relação. Devemos intensificar os intercâmbios de cultura, educação e economia. Assim, quando a política comercial é o nível mais baixo, nós temos outras maneiras de comunicar-se e conhecer-nos. Não ponha todos os ovos na mesma cesta. Queremos que nosso relacionamento a ser construído ao longo do tempo. Na Síria, por três anos, colocar a cultura no centro do nosso desenvolvimento nacional. Dois anos atrás, começamos uma parceria com o Louvre. Nós queremos aproveitar de sua perícia na interpretação da análise do passado e histórico. Temos os melhores laboratórios e os melhores equipamentos de investigação. Na frente cultural, precisamos de você tanto quanto você precisa de nós. Nós somos dois países desenvolvidos, orgulhoso de seu passado e dois leigos. Estas são boas razões para construir um contacto permanente.

Sobre o secularismo, a França tem problemas de integração, especialmente a sua população muçulmana. Sírios Como percebemos o nosso debate sobre a nacionalidade?
Se alguém decide imigrar para um país, ele deve tomar a decisão de se integrar na sociedade. É essencial. Em contrapartida, se o país escolhido para sediar. É preciso conquistar um espírito de abertura. Na Síria, por exemplo, temos uma comunidade muito grande Síria, na Armênia. Eles falam sua língua, têm as suas escolas, etc. Eles vieram até nós há um século atrás com a idéia de se integrar na sociedade. Eles queriam fazer parte da nossa sociedade. Historicamente, podemos integrar populações muito diferentes. Chamamos a nossa força na diversidade. Cristãos são ameaçados em muitos países do mundo muçulmano.

Recentemente, um massacre foi cometido durante uma missa em Bagdá. Síria parece ser poupado.
Quando dizemos que a Síria é laico, queremos dizer que devemos tolerar todas as religiões. As pessoas aqui são livres para praticar como bem entenderem. Estamos secular por causa da nossa história, não por causa de uma necessidade de viver juntos em tempos difíceis. Quando o chefe de Estado se ajoelha para rezar diante da Grande Mesquita dos Omíadas, ajoelha-se diante do túmulo de João Batista, um santo cristão. Para mim, isso faz parte da minha identidade, é como meu braço direito e perna esquerda.

Você já foi surpreendido com o que os americanos pensam de você, através do telegrama diplomático liberado pelo Wikileaks? Será isto uma ameaça às nações para ter seus segredos revelados assim?
A verdadeira questão é: o que isso diz sobre o Ocidente e sua visão de liberdade de expressão? É mais importante que os detalhes do que alguns pensam dos outros. O que está em causa são os valores da democracia e da liberdade de expressão que o Ocidente e se gaba de que ele usa para julgar os outros.

Jackie Kennedy Onassis stories about

Vanity Fair.
To my extreme annoyance, neither author of the Jackie-as-editor bios (see one, Jackie as Editor: The Literary Life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, excerpted in the January issue) interviewed me for her book. After all, I worked a mere heartbeat away from Jackie (if not actually in the same building) in the early 1980s when I was an associate editor at The Dial Press, which had been acquired by Delacorte before being subsumed by Doubleday, where Jackie got her second job as an editor. True, I have no actual first-hand stories about the former first lady as Max Perkins, but I hungrily collected other people’s Jackie stories, which, it must be admitted, were sometimes more than a few generations removed from the actual event by the time they got to me. These stories may not be accurate, but they are here.

Despite many attempts over the years (including getting on my knees and begging), I never could get the two people I knew who were closest to Jackie to tell me a single thing about her. These would be Lisa Drew, who was a distinguished Doubleday editor in the Jackie era and later editor-in-chief of Scribners, and the infuriatingly discreet Scott Moyers, who had been Jackie’s editorial assistant and now works at the Wylie literary agency. Actually, Lisa did tell me one story: Jackie had piped hot water into the toilets of her Martha’s Vineyard vacation house. (Don’t hate me, Lisa.)

On her first day at Doubleday , Jackie, like every new employee, was given a voucher worth three or four bucks toward the price of lunch at the cafeteria. To everyone’s amazement, Jackie actually used hers. She went to the sandwich counter and waited patiently while Maisie (probably not her real name, but it should have been), the famed Doubleday hash-slinger, finished whatever she was doing. Maisie had her back to Jackie and did not rush, while the lunchtime crowd collectively held its breath. Did Maisie not know who was waiting? Would she embarrass herself and the whole publishing house by an unseemly reaction when she recognized the new employee? Would she—shudder—ask for an autograph?

Finally Maisie turned. “So, Jackie,” she said nonchalantly in her trademark hash-slinger accent. “What’ll it be?”

For a time, Jackie’s boss at Doubleday was Phil Pochoda, who had been my first boss at Pantheon Books. Phil had bolted the Ph.D. program in philosophy at Princeton to become a book editor. Brash and irreverent by nature, he still had a bit of the scruffy grad student about him, and was probably not properly awed by Jackie, or, more likely, liked to pretend he wasn’t. He sent her a bouquet of flowers once, but then ruined it all by responding to her thank-you with, “I like to take care of my people!” Jackie later told a colleague she did not think of herself as “his people.”

Phil particularly infuriated Jackie at an editorial meeting, at which a proposal for a book called The Rolling Stone Book of Teenage Sex was being considered. The editors were weighing the pros and cons, and Jackie spoke up to offer her opinion. “If I were writing this book…” she began, and Phil jumped in with, “If you were writing this book, we’d make ten million dollars!” Jackie didn’t find this terribly funny.

My friend, the literary agent Joy Harris, owns what surely must be the most valuable eBay item of all time: a copy of Michael Jackson’s Moonwalk inscribed to Joy, the book’s agent, by the author and by Jackie, who was the editor. It was quite a coup for a literary agent to sell a book to Jackie. Roz Targ, famous for her big hats, would mention she had done so in virtually every conversation she had for decades. She might still be talking about it, for all I know. Joy actually got to go out to lunch with Jackie, to Billy’s, a now-defunct chophouse in the east 50s, where they ate hamburgers and chain-smoked. To Joy’s astonishment, Jackie paid not with a credit card but in cash. Joy also remembers talking to Jackie on the phone once when Jackie was trying to eat a sandwich. Finally the former first lady said, “This [trying to chew and talk at the same time] is just awful. Excuse me a minute.” She put down the phone and chewed away while Joy listened.

I have more Jackie stories, like the one involving the nun, the naked man, and the elevator, but I’m saving them for my memoirs.

Related: The Books That Jackie Edited—a cover gallery of her literary projects.

HRH Princess Sabeeka of Bahrain to take Part in International Luxor Forum

Manama, Dec. 9. (BNA) Her Royal Highness Princess Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa, Wife of His Majesty the King and Chairwoman of the Supreme Council for Women, will tomorrow Friday leave for Egypt where she will take part in an international forum themed "End Human Trafficking Now: Enforcing the UN Protocol" due to be held in Luxor from December 10 to 13 under the patronage of the Egyptian First Lady Suzanne Mubarak.
HRH Princess Sabeeka will be accompanied by the Foreign Ministry's Under-Secretary Abdulla Abdullatif, Chairman of the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry Dr.Isam Abdulla Fakhro, Chairwoman of the Migrant Workers Protection Society (MWPS) Mrs. Mona Almoayyed and Chief Executive Officer of Ebdaa Bank Dr Waheed Abdulla Al-Qassim. The forum will focus on key issues related to human trafficking, identify best practices and positive experiences, and carve out a set of challenges to pursue with various partners. It is worth noting that HRH Princess Sabeeka is a member of the Suzanne Mubarak Women’s International Peace Movement (SMWIPM) established in 2003 to eradicate all forms of violence through empowering women and youth and motivate them in order to be effective partners in all efforts aiming at bringing about peace. HRH Princess Sabeeka has supported all national and international efforts aiming to combat human trafficking. W H Q BNA 1501 GMT 2010/12/09
fonte/ Bahrain News Agency

Manama Dialogue picture

King Abdulah of Jordan, Crown Prince Salman and the Minister Sheik Khalid Al Khalifa.
fonte/ mobypicture.

King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa today took part at the concluding session of the 31st GCC Summit held currently in Abu Dhabi.

During the session, chaired by the UAE President Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, GCC Secretary General read the GCC leaders' cable to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdulla bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.
After that, Head of the Saudi delegation to the Summit Second Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz Al Saud delivered a statement.
Then, UAE President announced the conclusion of the 31st GCC Summit.
Finally, HM King Hamad greeted GCC leaders and Heads of the participating delegations.
W H Q BNA 1148 GMT 2010/12/07
Fonte/Bahrain News Agency

A mais bela arvore de natal do Rio de janeiro , foi a do Bradesco

A bela arvore, o governador Sergio Cabral e convidados. Bela festa.

Shaikh Mohammad Bin Saud Bin Saqr Al Qasimi has been named as Crown Prince of Ras Al Khaimah

Ras al-Khaimah é um dos emirados dos Emirados Árabes Unidos. Abrange uma área de 1700 km ². Ras Al Khaimah está na parte norte da Península Arábica, fronteira com Omã.

É regida, actualmente, pelo Xeque Saud bin Saqr al Qassimi. O emirado tem uma população de cerca de 250.000 habitantes.

A cidade tem uma população de 191.753, a partir de 2007. É servida pelo Aeroporto Internacional de Ras Al Khaimah.

A cidade tem duas secções principais, Old Ras Al Khaimah Nakheel e, em ambos os lados do córrego que flui através de Ras Al Khaimah.

Shaikh Khalid Al khalifa Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Bahrain speak about diplomacy

fonte/Gulf News.
Shaikh Khalid Bin Ahmad Al KhalifaImage Credit: BNAManama: Three days before hosting the US secretary of state, at the centre of a deep controversy over leaked diplomatic reports, Bahrain's foreign minister has stressed the importance of quiet diplomacy.

"Quiet diplomacy is what we need," Shaikh Khalid Bin Ahmad Al Khalifa said. "Documents show up later in accordance with laws of secrecy in different countries," he wrote, tweeting his view on the global publication of US accounts of private meetings with leaders and senior officials.

Bahrain on Friday will host the Manama Dialogue, an annual security conference that brings together political and defence leaders from more than 25 countries.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, on her first visit to Bahrain, will deliver the opening speech of the December 3-5 high profile meeting to be attended by the foreign ministers of several countries, including Iran's Manouchehr Mottaki.

Clinton is expected to refer either in her speech on Friday evening or in her press conference to the leaked diplomatic messages by US diplomats reporting on private conversations with country leaders or giving a candid assessment of them.

However, Shaikh Khalid, a veteran diplomat who served Bahrain in the US and Britain, has been insisting since the first leaked cables were posted on the internet on the importance of quiet and private communications. "Diplomacy is not about lying. It's about serving your country's interests and building bridges publicly and quietly," he wrote.

The minister warned that "WikiLeaks is weakening diplomacy in general and US diplomacy in particular. Not good for global stability. We need more diplomacy."

In another instance, Shaikh Khalid challenged skeptics to address serious issues without confidential work.

"Anyone believing that one can handle the Korea situation without also confidential diplomacy? Anyone? Anywhere?," he wrote.

Answering a question on whether some people should be "scared" over the leaks, the foreign minister wrote: "Scared of what:)?! These are cables from diplomats that include their understanding of various matters."

On a more personal level, he wrote "but tell me who doesn't have anything to hide? Secrecy is part of everyone's work and life."By Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief
Published: 16:00 November 30, 2010

Andre Sá e Francisco Mota inauguram o shopping Ponta Negra em Manaus

foto:Amazonview
O escritório AFA, liderado pelos arquitetos baianos André Sá e Francisco Mota, lança mais um projeto de sucesso, desta vez na capital do Amazonas: o shopping Ponta Negra, que será construído às margens do Rio Negro e será o primeiro da região. O Shopping faz parte do empreendimento Parque Ponta Negra, da incorporadora Incorporadora JHSF , presidida pelo empresário paulista Zeco Auriemo, e inclui edifícios residenciais e comerciais, na cidade de Manaus.
A inauguração do projeto, cujo investimento é de R$ 150 milhões contou com a presença do arquiteto Danilo Andrade, representante da AFA, no dia 24.11, além da diretoria da incorporadora.