Neymar celebrates birthday in style and on crutches

Neymar celebrated his 27th birthday with a glittering party in Paris on Monday evening joined by family, Paris Saint-Germain teammates and a smattering of celebrities.

DJ Bob Sinclair, Brazilian singer Wesley Safadao and world surf champion Gabriel Medina were among the 200 guests at the fashionable Pavillon Gabriel near the Champs-Elysees.

The world’s most expensive footballer, nursing a right foot injury, greeted his guests leaning on distinctive red crutches in keeping with the color theme for the “Nuit Rouge (Red Night).”

Among his club colleagues in attendance were captain Thiago Silva and goalkeeper Alphonse Areola.

Neymar, who turns 27 on Tuesday, will miss both legs of Paris Saint-Germain’s upcoming Champions League last-16 tie against Manchester United with a metatarsal injury suffered last month.

Neymar is in good company when it comes to famous footballers sharing his big day, as Cristiano Ronaldo turns 34 on Tuesday, Carlos Tevez is 35, and former Romania great Gheorghe Hagi is 54.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Victoria’s Secret rocks Paris with $3M bra and Lady Gaga

PARIS — The laciest, if not raciest, catwalk event of the year — aka, the Victoria’s Secret fashion show — took place Wednesday night in in the City of Light. Among the takeaways: performances by Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars, sisters Bella and Gigi Hadid joining forces, as well as a $3 million Fantasy bra modelled by Jasmine Tookes. Here are the highlights of the Paris show:

Angels in red

Guests shuffled into the huge steel-and-glass atrium of Paris’ Grand Palais to the sound of a string orchestra playing softly from a huge Arc de Triomphe decor.

The calm lasted only a few seconds, however, and was broken by the flash of red neon lights and bold rock music blasting out to announce the start of the 40-minute presentation, which infected the cheering guests.

Swedish model Elsa Hosk strutted out fittingly with electric energy in a cropped bustier — enveloped in a huge, three-dimensional red Chinese dragon; Kendall Jenner — in blood red — wore thigh-high boots, a long-line plunging bra and suede angel wing and Gigi Hadid looked like she would take off in flight, sporting a hand-painted cape with an Aztec-pattern that billowed as she walked.

The high-octane show was divided into six thematic sections, reflected in the colorful styles that bore inches of bare skin: Road Ahead, Mountain Romance, Pink Nation, Secret Angel, Dark Angel and Bright Night Angel.

The signature wings fluttered throughout — in feather, silk, gold gild, suede and Swarovski crystal.

“Not only do the wings get bigger but we tap into new artisans and people who do things with 3-D printing … that’s always the wonderful thing about working on the show,” said Victoria’s Secret Executive Producer Monica Mitro.

As the show ended, a million pieces of glittered ribbon fell on the angels and the adoring crowds.

Gaga, Mars, The Weeknd

With a retro bleached hairstyle, Lady Gaga gave a rousing and gutsy live performance of “Million Reasons” to the crowd, and appeared again for “A-YO.”

At one point her microphone got stuck in the tassels of her dark cowboy hat, but this didn’t stop the consummate professional, who continued singing “John Wayne” as Victoria’s Secret models danced with her and crisscrossed the runway rhythmically to the beat.

As the 30-year-old popstar ended her set, she walked over to kiss Hadid’s mother, reality TV star Yolanda Hadid, in her front row seat. (Before the show, Gaga treated her Instagram followers to a photo of herself in silver Victoria’s Secret underwear).

Bruno Mars also performed several times, ramping up the energy and using the catwalk as his stage — in signature shades, with tuxedo-wearing backing dancers jiving behind him.

The American singer had guests jumping up and down for funky performances of “24K Magic” and “Chunky.”

But it was perhaps The Weeknd that got the most cheers of the night. The singer serenaded Bella Hadid — with whom he has been romantically linked — with his hit song “Starboy,” and almost followed her up the catwalk as she walked in a lace gown with silk organza corset.

$3 Million Fantasy Bra

The Victoria’s Secret Fantasy bra the 25-year-old Jasmine Tookes was selected to wear is considered the piece de resistance of the brand’s runway display.

The bra, glimmering with thousands of gemstones, was presented like crown jewels ahead of the show. An incredible work of art, it was designed by Eddie Borgo and hand-crafted over 700 hours with gems from jeweler AWMouzannar.

“It is so beautiful. It’s covered in white diamonds and emeralds and it has about 9,000 gemstones. It cost $3 million — so stunning,” gushed Tookes backstage while she was having her hair done.

It’s the third time a black model has been chosen to model the Fantasy Bra.

Tookes said the garment was constructed on a mold of her upper body, literally made to measure.

While the bra may be perfect for the runway presentation, Tookes joked she probably wouldn’t want to go for a jog in it, given its weight.

“It’s very heavy; it weighs more than 450 karats. It weighs down on my shoulders a little bit, but it’s so worth it,” she said, cheekily adding: “I might jog out of this show with it though.”

A (Hadid) family affair

Hadid, 52, was the proudest of mothers Wednesday night.

For the first time, the former model could boast that Bella was included in the Victoria’s Secret model line-up as well as Gigi for 2016.

“Last year, Gigi got it and Bella didn’t get it and I felt awkward being there having Bella at home. And this year, it’s just so perfect because they’re both here. We’re celebrating, the sisters together,” she told The AP.

The three posed for cameras and kissed on the pink carpet following the collection — in a show of family love.

“It’s all surreal. I mean, I came here when I was 16, modeling. So many years have gone by and to be here with both my girls.it’s emotional. I keep looking at them and pinching myself. Whoever thought that this would happen?” she added.

The original angel

She was one of the original Victoria’s Secret models back in 1995.

Now at 51 years old — and just as youthful-looking — Veronica Webb spoke to the AP about the challenges and particularities of the famed fashion show that she began 21 years ago.

“I was in the first Victoria’s Secret show and it was one of the most challenging bookings that I ever did because, obviously, if you’re in a room and everyone else is dressed and you’re in your underwear it’s a little bit embarrassing,” she said, laughing.

Webb, who made history as the first African-American to ever have a cosmetics contract, also recalled how important the experience boosted her professional life.

“It was one of the proudest moments of my career also because it took so much discipline and making so many fitness goals to get there,” she said.

Even Victoria’s Secret models get nervous

Brazilian beauty Lais Ribeiro physically jumped when a loudspeaker bellowed there was just one hour until show time.

“Butterflies just came stronger in my stomach. I’m getting very, very excited,” Ribeiro, 26, told The Associated Press.

Ribeiro knows more than most about the hidden dangers in a show such as this, where models in towering heels can injure themselves. She hurt her foot as a Victoria’s Secret Angel three years ago.

“What am I scared of? I twisted my ankle and kind of broke my foot in the rehearsal three years ago. So I’m always scared of the high heels (that might make) me miss this amazing show,” she said.

Security tight

Hours before Wednesday’s show began, hundreds of meters in the area around Paris’ Grand Palais and the Champs Elysées avenue were in near lock-down, barricaded with passing tourists and fashionistas alike getting frisked.

Bomb squad dogs sniffed out every single bag that entered the Grand Palais where the fashion show took place.

Paris remains in a state of emergency following last November’s Paris attacks at a concert hall and various spots around the capital.

City of Angels

The Angels, as Victoria’s Secret top models are known, have taken Paris — and their Instagram accounts — by storm since flying into the City of Light on Sunday night.

Led by Alessandra Ambrosio, the troupe posed for photos outside the Eiffel Tower on Tuesday morning as gob-smacked tourists stopped to take in the incredible views, which included the monument.

Josephine Skriver, Adriana Lima, Lily Donaldson, Hosk, Lily Aldridge and Tookes wore assorted Angels T-shirts and skinny, figure-hugging black jeans.

But the fun continued online, with Lima posting a from-behind shot of her and Martha Hunt wearing thigh-high boots during the show’s preparations.

Mere mortals may use a face mask ahead of a glamorous night out — but these are Angels, and terrestrial rules don’t apply.

Trending online were photos of some of the models using 24-karat gold sheet masks to prepare for the 2016 show.

source: lifestyle.inquirer.net

Police study DNA from Kim Kardashian robbery scene

PARIS, France — French investigators are studying several DNA samples found in the Paris apartment where Kim Kardashian was tied up and robbed at gunpoint of $10 million in jewels, sources close to the inquiry said Tuesday.

“These DNA samples are currently being analyzed,” one of the sources told AFP.

However, no DNA has been recovered from Kardashian’s diamond pendant that was found in the street by a passerby near her luxury residence just hours after the crime, the sources said.

The multi-millionaire US reality TV star, who was in the French capital for Paris fashion week, was robbed on October 3 by five men posing as police officers.

Kardashian was tied up and locked in the bathroom while the robbers helped themselves to a ring worth around four million euros ($4.5 million) and a case of jewelery with a value of five million euros ($5.6 million).

Two mobile phones were also stolen during the hold up in the chic Madeleine district of Paris, near the city’s main department stores.

The mother of two and wife of rap superstar Kanye West flew home to the US after being questioned by police over the incident, which a spokeswoman said had left her “badly shaken”.

Kardashian has been a fixture of US celebrity news for more than a decade, known mainly for the TV show “Keeping Up With The Kardashians” and a leaked sex tape. CBB

source: entertainment.inquirer.net

Seine water levels decrease again after Paris flooding peaks

PARIS—French authorities say the water level of the Seine river in Paris is starting to decrease after reaching its peak overnight, the highest in nearly 35 years.

But authorities warned it could take up to ten days for the river to come back to its normal levels after the flooding that swelled the river to about 4.5 meters (15 feet) above average levels in Paris.

Floods due to heavy rains have inundated parts of France, Germany and Belgium this week.

Over 17,000 homes were still without electricity Saturday in the Paris region and center of France.

Authorities have also shut the Louvre museum, the national library, the Orsay museum and the Grand Palais, Paris’ striking glass-and-steel topped exhibition center.

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

‘Doggy bags’ for restaurant leftovers slow to catch on in France

PARIS - At the busy Bouillon Chartier restaurant in central Paris, a chef stands by a diner's table and carefully places the remains of her dish into a plastic takeaway box before putting the container in a bag—"le doggy bag" to be precise.

A new law aimed at combating food waste in France came into effect on Jan. 1, with restaurants serving at least 150 meals a day required to implement measures that prevent waste.

"Concerning the doggy bag, there's no real law that was applied, but [the government] simply encourages restaurant owners to respond favorably to clients who ask to take their leftovers home in a doggy bag," Yann Hulin, director of the Bouillon Chartier, told Reuters.

While the doggy bag may be a regular sighting elsewhere, it has yet to take off in France.

"We've had a few client requests here and there, especially for wine bottles, which of course we oblige, but in terms of dishes, it's extremely rare," Hulin said.

Other Parisian diners were surprised by the concept.

"I don't see myself leaving with a doggy bag. That's clear," Parisian Christelle Groleau said. "I don't see myself strolling around on the streets, if I have to go run errands, with the doggy bag in my hand, in the bag. You have to put it in the fridge at a certain point. We need a refrigerated doggy bag." — Reuters

Solidarity messages over deadly Paris attacks set social media ablaze

The multiple attacks across Paris Friday night (Saturday morning in the Philippines) that killed over a hundred people have shocked the world, and social media have been ablaze with millions of solidarity messages from all corners of the world.

#PrayForParis immediately became trending topic on Twitter in the Philippines and worldwide, with more than 4 million tweets about it as of posting time.

World leaders, as well as international and local celebrities expressed their sadness and solidarity for Parisians on Twitter.

source: gmanetwork.com

Gunmen in Paris attacks killed

A total of eight militants were killed, including seven by their suicide belts, during Friday's attacks in Paris that left at least 120 dead, a source close to the investigation said.

Four of the attackers were killed in the Bataclan concert hall, three by activating their suicide vests and one shot by police, a report from agence France-Presse said.

Three more died near the national stadium and a fourth was killed in a street in eastern Paris.
"The terrorists who were not far from here were killed," Hollande said on television after visiting a security command centre near the Bataclan concert hall where the gunmen held people hostage before an assault by security forces.

Three of the attackers activated explosive belts while the fourth was hit by police fire, AFP added.

At least 100 people were killed in the concert hall. —with reports from Agence-France Presse and Reuters

Natalie Portman sits in on retro space-age Dior fashion show

PARIS - The stars were aligned at Dior's Haute Couture fashion show in Paris on Monday.

First, American-Israeli actress Natalie Portman—the advertising face of Dior's "Miss Dior" perfume— was sitting in the front row, somewhat less stiffly than her Queen Padme persona from the "Star Wars" prequels.

Second was the spring-summer collection itself: all groovily "Barbarella" with fluorescent orange boots and skintight catsuits with flower-power patterns worn by models descending from a multi-level space-opera set purpose-built in the gardens of Paris's Rodin Museum.

Third was David Bowie's early years London pop washing out of the sound system, including tunes performed by his stage alter ego Ziggy Stardust.

It was very retro space age—yet designer Raf Simons injected the show with a look at once sexy and light.

"I was always thinking of the future for so many years and I was always anti-romanticising the past, but the past can be beautiful too," he said.

The colourful garments, he said, incarnated "the romance of the 50s, with the experimentation of the 60s and the liberation of the 70s".

His ambition was for "something wilder, more sexual, strange and certainly more liberated for the haute couture and for women."

Austin Powers piloting

Bright, very bright colors, lines and swirls competed for attention on the outfits, which ranged from Dior's trademark thin-waisted, flouncy dresses to second skins to mid-thigh tunics with latex leggings. All carried on exquisitely stilettoed shoes and eye-catching boots.

It was as if Austin Powers were piloting the spaceship, headed for Woodstock with an ultra-glam female party crew on board.

Indeed, Dior itself described the collection as a time-travelling "hallucinogenic amalgamation" in its production notes.

The idea, it said, was to subvert the typical Dior "femme fleur" image it has built up over the years.

Flower power, indeed: a nostalgic trip harking back to a breezier, maybe more innocent, time when fashion, leisure, music and the beginning of mass travel promised what seemed a bright future of free love and world peace.

Current events in the news may give the lie to that promise, but maybe that's why the privileged crowd watching the show applauded so heartily—hailing this image of hope over reality.

The VIP crowd putting its well-manicured hands together included Chinese model-actress Angelababy, 1960s and 1970s American model Marisa Berenson, and Bernard Arnaud, the head of the LVMH luxury goods empire that controls Dior.

About 'love'

Backstage, the couturieres who handmade the garments spoke to AFP about the challenge of working with material like PVC, which was made into see-through jackets for some of the numbers.

"We had to learn to work with it—we'd never done that before... find threads that can't be seen, that don't break," said one, who gave her first name as Florence.

Simons said he sought to invoke the way women in the 1960s and 1970s expressed political views through their bodies and what they wore.

The bodysuit, for instance, was "not changing the body—it is the body, so in that sense I think it's interesting to communicate directly with purely the form of the body".

Challenging the often-grim news from around the world was a priority, he admitted.

"This for me is also about love. The '60s and '70s were much about love, so it was a conscious decision to go there right now," Simons said. — AFP

source: gmanetwork.com

Security boosted for Paris Fashion

PARIS, France - Security is being bolstered at the Paris fashion shows which open on Wednesday following the deadly Islamist attacks in the French capital and European swoops on other suspected jihadists.

Celebrities and others attending the event were reported to be skittish over security at the globally mediatised shows, which run to January 29.

Several fashion-watching outlets were rattled by a report on the New York Post's Page Six website that cited anonymous organizers saying that "security issues" were keeping VIPs away from the catwalks' front-row seats.

Middle Eastern clients who often spend big on Paris's Haute Couture creations were said to be especially reluctant.

The Federation Francaise de la Couture, the body behind the Paris fashion shows, did not respond directly to AFP queries on the issue.

But a statement given to the fashion houses taking part said "simple logistical measures" must be implemented "to reassure those attending the shows and those participating in them".

They included heightened checks on those holding invitations for the shows and bag inspections.

Thousands of police and soldiers have been deployed across Paris to reinforce security in the wake of the attacks in the city.

Paris on high alert

French authorities and counterparts in Belgium and Germany have in the past few days arrested dozens of Islamist suspects.

There are concerns that some of the thousands of radicalized young Europeans believed to have gone to Iraq, Syria and Yemen to fight alongside the Islamic State group or Al-Qaeda linked groups could return to their home countries to launch attacks.

Those fears were renewed by a gunbattle between police and well-armed suspected jihadists in Belgium on Friday that left two of the suspects dead and a third wounded.

Britain was considering extra measures to give its police better protection.

The Paris fashion shows are seen as a high point of the European catwalk calendars, following shows in London and Milan.

The event usually attracts high-profile showbusiness names. Last year actresses Liv Tyler and Marion Cotillard put in appearances, while reality star Kim Kardashian and her husband Kanye West stole a lot of attention.

The shows start on Wednesday with five days of menswear collections unveiled by the likes of Valentino, Louis Vuitton, Kenzo and Hermes.

Then on January 26, events kick into top gear with four more days of Haute Couture fashion including the latest from top brands Chanel, Jean Paul Gaultier and Christian Dior.

Gaultier and his staff put a picture online of them holding up the "Je Suis Charlie" ("I Am Charlie") sign expressing solidarity and defiance after the January 7 attack on the satirical French weekly that killed 12 people.

The flamboyant French designer's latest show will be his first since he bowed out of ready-to-wear fashion last September in order to concentrate on couture.

Fashion industry journal Women's Wear Daily, meanwhile, quoted Chanel stylist Karl Lagerfeld saying that French authorities will have to cope with people viewing Paris as a more dangerous place.

"I think it's very bad for the image of Paris," Lagerfeld told the site. — Agence France-Presse

source: gmanetwork.com

Seven detained in hunt for Paris media killers

Seven people have been detained in the hunt for brothers suspected of gunning down 12 people in an Islamist assault on a satirical weekly, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Thursday.

The masked, black-clad gunmen burst into the offices of the Charlie Hebdo magazine on Wednesday morning, killing some of France's most outspoken journalists and two policemen, before jumping into a car and escaping.

They are still on the run, and authorities have warned they are "armed and dangerous."

"Seven people," Cazeneuve said on French radio when asked how many people were currently being held and questioned over the attack -- the bloodiest in France in half a century.

A judicial source, who refused to be named, added that those who were being questioned are men and women who are close to the suspects, without saying where they had been detained.

Prime Minister Manuel Valls meanwhile told RTL radio that the two suspects were known to intelligence services and were "no doubt" being followed before Wednesday's attack.

They have been identified as Cherif Kouachi, 32, a known jihadist convicted in 2008 for involvement in a network sending fighters to Iraq, and his 34-year-old brother Said. Both were born in Paris.

The massacre triggered an outpouring of solidarity around the world, with outraged people from Moscow to Washington rallying in their tens of thousands under the banner "I am Charlie", in support of press freedom and the controversial Charlie Hebdo magazine. — Agence France-Presse

source: gmanetwork.com

At least 11 dead in Paris shooting – French media

PARIS - Black-hooded gunmen shot dead at least 11 people at the Paris offices of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, a publication firebombed in the past after publishing cartoons lampooning Muslim leaders and the Prophet Mohammad, police said.

President Francois Hollande headed to the scene of the attack and the government said it was raising France's security level to the highest notch.

"This is a terrorist attack, there is no doubt about it," Hollande told reporters.

Another 10 people were injured in the incident and police union official Rocco Contento described the scene inside the offices as "carnage."

"About a half an hour ago two black-hooded men entered the building with Kalashnikovs [rifles]," witness Benoit Bringer told the TV station. "A few minutes later we heard lots of shots," he said, adding that the men were then seen fleeing the building.

France is already on high alert after calls last year from Islamist militants to attack its citizens and interests in reprisal for French military strikes on Islamist strongholds in the Middle East and Africa.

British Prime Minister David Cameron called the attack "sickening" and said Britain stood with France in the fight against terror.

"The murders in Paris are sickening. We stand with the French people in the fight against terror and defending the freedom of the press," Cameron said in a statement on his official Twitter feed.

A firebomb attack gutted the headquarters of Charlie Hebdo, a publication that has always courted controversy with satirical attacks on political and religious leaders, in November 2011 after it put an image of the Prophet Mohammad on its cover.

The last tweet on Charlie Hebdo's account mocked Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State, which has taken control of large swathes of Iraq and Syria. — Reuters

Gerard De Villiers, prolific French spy author, dead at 83

PARIS - Prolific spy novelist Gerard De Villiers, the creator of the top-selling SAS series with a hero often described as France's answer to James Bond, has died aged 83 in Paris.

Friends and family said he had died on Thursday after being diagnosed with cancer earlier this year.

Never a darling of the critics, De Villiers was nonetheless a publishing phenomenon, claiming his thrillers sold up to 150 million copies worldwide.

The 200th book in the series—"SAS: The Kremlin's Revenge"—was released last month.




Instantly recognizable by their lurid covers inevitably featuring a femme fatale brandishing a handgun or assault rifle, his work was shunned by France's literary establishment.

But outside literary circles, De Villiers was often praised for his geopolitical insights and was known for cultivating a vast network of intelligence officials, diplomats, and journalists who fed him information.

In a profile early this year headlined "The Spy Novelist Who Knows Too Much," The New York Times said his books were "ahead of the news" and "regularly contain information about terror plots, espionage and wars that has never appeared elsewhere."

His death came as he seemed on the verge of realizing a long-cherished dream of breaking into the English-language market, with reports he was working on a deal with a major US publisher.

In an interview with newspaper Le Monde this summer, De Villiers said Random House had offered him $350,000 (260,000 euros) for the rights to five SAS books that would be translated into English. He said he hoped the deal would eventually lead to Hollywood films.

De Villiers gleaned much of his information from field trips around the world, giving credence to the exploits of his aristocratic Austrian hero, Malko Linge, who works as a freelance agent for the CIA to fund the restoration of his family chateau.

The books stuck to a well-trod formula—fast-moving plots, exotic locales, and generous doses of graphic sex.

"I never had any pretensions of being a literary writer," De Villiers told AFP in an interview this year. "I consider myself a storyteller who writes to amuse people."

He was also considered eerily prophetic, detailing a plot to kill the Egyptian president Anwar Sadat a year before his actual assassination in 1981 and describing a secret CIA command centre in the Libyan city of Benghazi in early 2012.

The true existence of the CIA site eventually came to light after an attack on US facilities in Benghazi in September 2012 that left four dead, including US ambassador Christopher Stevens.

His work was reportedly required reading in some intelligence circles and followed by spies far outside France.

"The (intelligence) services used SAS novels countless times to send messages to their counterparts," said De Villiers's longtime lawyer, Eric Morain.

Born in Paris on December 8, 1929, De Villiers was working as a journalist when he drew inspiration from the success of Ian Fleming's James Bond series to write his first novel, "SAS in Istanbul," in 1965.

He went on to publish an average of four SAS novels—so-called after Linge's honorific "Son Altesse Serenissime" (His Most Serene Highness)—every year, writing them over a month on an aged typewriter.

He was often lambasted for his right-wing views and his overtly sexual portrayals of women, and accused of racism.

But De Villiers was unapologetic.

"Some women are sexual objects in my books but others are beautiful, intelligent and brave. And I am always warmly welcomed in Africa, where I have very many readers," he said.

De Villiers's wife Christine said he had been undergoing treatment for pancreatic cancer since May.

"The last weeks he was conscious but very weak. He could not endure the chemotherapy," she told AFP. "It is exactly the death that he did not want." — Agence France-Presse

source: gmanetwork.com