Bruni’s tan jibe

Paris, Nov. 9 (Reuters): French first lady Carla Bruni says she is glad not to be Italian any more after hearing Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi joke about US President-elect Barack Obama’s “suntan”.

Italian-born Bruni, a top model turned pop singer who wed French President Nicolas Sarkozy in February became a French national and lost her Italian citizenship after her marriage. “When I hear Silvio Berlusconi making light of the event (Obama’s election) and joking about the fact that Obama is ‘always tanned’, it feels strange to me,” Bruni said in an interview with French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche. “Some people will no doubt put it down to humour, but often I find that I am pleased to have become French,” she said.

Pants up

Dallas (AP): Dallas councilman Dwaine Caraway is on a mission: He wants those wearing low-hanging, baggy pants to pull them up. As part of his campaign against saggy, underwear- exposing pants, he held a summit on Saturday. More than 100 adults, children, students, ministers, law enforcement officers and representatives from local organisations attended the hours-long affair. Local youth counselor Calvin Glover, a former sagger who still admits to an occasional offence, said kids today have taken the trend too far, exposing too much of their backsides. “Come on, man,” he said disgustedly. “I don’t want to see your dirty boxers.”

Air network

London: An airline is inviting passengers to greet each other while travelling with the launch of a Facebook-style online social network linked to its reservation system, reports The Sunday Telegraph. Air France-KLM has created a website that alerts frequent flyers if other subscribers are on the same flight, showing their name and personal profile.