London, July 11 : French First lady Carla Bruni Sarkozy gave glimpse of her philanthropist side as she pledged a personal donation of a whopping 43,000 pounds to a hospital treating survivors of earthquake- ravaged town of L'Aquila.

The former model-singer visited the earthquake-hit region a day after the wives of other leaders participating in the Group of Eight summit (G8) did, reports The Daily Express.

L''Aquila (Italy), July 10 : The Italian press has gone to town about the snobbish ways of Carla Bruni, the wife of French president Nicolas Sarkozy.

Bruni stayed away from the first wives'' audience with Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday. She also avoided a visit to the earthquake-affected areas of the city on Thursday, preferring to undertake it on Friday.

The Il Giornale newspaper, which is owned by the brother of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, said: "Someone tell the first lady that snobbery to the nth degree where we come from is called boorishness."

London, April 29 : French police were said to be looking for burglars who had broken into a Paris apartment and stolen hundreds of "highly intimate" pictures and video of Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.

The photographs, taken during the ex-model's romance with philosopher Raphael Enthoven, had been entrusted with Enthoven''s brother, the owner of the apartment, to keep them at bay from any possible embarrassment to the First Lady and her President hubby Nicolas Sarkozy, as per reports.

New York, Apr 10 : Men at a bar in Big Apple were shocked when they saw French First Lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy cat-walking on TV screens wearing skimpy lingerie.

The regulars at Telephone Bar on Second Avenue saw the former model-turned President's wife strutting down a runway in skimpy lingerie.

"I doubt [French President] Nicolas Sarkozy would like it if he knew that men in bars around town were ogling his wife wearing a G-string and garter belt," the New York Post quoted one beer drinker as saying jokingly.

Jerusalem, Mar 10 : French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy has joined the efforts of the Hadassah Medical Organization and Hadassah-France to help raise money for AIDS research.

The fund will also be in aid of treatment of HIV/AIDS patients at Jerusalem''s Hadassah-University Medical Centre, and an outreach program in African countries.

Bruni was the guest of honour at a Paris gala dinner for Hadassah-France (now marking its 25th anniversary) to raise money for AIDS prevention, education and treatment.

French First Lady Carla Bruni - Sarkozy desperately wants to start a family with her husband, President Nicholas Sarkozy. In an interview with French publication La Figaro, Bruni-Sarkozy - who has a seven year old son from a previous relationship - says, "I would like that, but I don't know if at my age it would be possible.

If it's not biologically possible, I'll adopt one. I'm not obsessed by blood ties. I think you can build a powerful bond without that. "So I'd love to have a child, but I'm not going to fight against nature.

Paris - France's First Lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, is going to court to prevent the sale of a shopping bag adorned with a photo of her in the nude, the online edition of the weekly Le Point reported on Friday.

Bruni-Sarkozy's attorney, Thierry Herzog, said the bag - which is made by the Pardon company based on the island of La Reunion - damages her image, which was used without her consent.

"We will ask for a ban on the sale of this article and 125,000 euros (166,000 dollars) in damages," Herzog said. The money, if it is awarded, will be donated to charity, he added.