The mayor of Moscow said the city is using facial recognition technology to monitor potentially infected patients who are under quarantine and ensure they do not leave their quarters, according to a Reuters report.

Since the outbreak of coronavirus became a global threat for travelers, Russia has temporarily suspended Chinese nationals from entering the nation, while Russian citizens are allowed to return under the order but must spend two weeks at home, regardless of if they showed symptoms of the virus, according to the report.

Sergei Sobyanin, the mayor of Moscow, announced on Friday that around 2,500 people who flew to the city from China are under strict order to go into quarantine. The government’s preventative method is using facial recognition to identify any potential carriers of the disease if they are found outside their designated quarantine zones.

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“Compliance with the regime is constantly monitored, including with the help of facial recognition systems and other technical measures,” the mayor wrote on his website.

Sobyanin confirmed surveillance footage stopped one woman who had returned from China from leaving her apartment in Moscow to meet with friends. Through facial recognition, authorities tracked down the taxi driver who drove her home from the airport, the report said.

Utilizing facial recognition software is only a recent addition to the government’s security monitoring program. Authorities are also authorized to engage in raids against possible carriers of the virus, a process Sobyanin said was “unpleasant but necessary.”

The boost in surveillance protocol comes around the same time that a woman in St. Petersburg escaped from a hospital where she was being examined, for fear that she came in contact with the virus.

So far, the government confirmed that two cases of the coronavirus were discovered in Chinese nationals visiting Russia. However, they have since recovered and are released from their hospital quarantine, the report said.

In the world of business, there are two time-honored methods for fending off a rival: build a better or cheaper product, or try to get the government to tackle your competitor for you. When it comes to the messaging startup, Symphony Communication Services, Bloomberg isn’t averse to deploying the second option.

For months, the U.S. financial data and news behemoth has been quietly lobbying EU policymakers in a bid to trip up Symphony, an instant messaging service developed by Goldman Sachs and funded by some of Bloomberg’s biggest customers.

Symphony is a secure communication platform, like a desktop version of WhatsApp, but for financial institutions. Users can also use it to access market data, through providers like Markit and Dow Jones. But since its inception — shortly after two high profile data-handling scandals at Bloomberg — the company’s main selling point has been security: encrypted messaging and tight control over company data.

Bloomberg’s European offensive, headed by a prominent former Member of the European Parliament, has raised questions about a feature Symphony once billed as “guaranteed data deletion,” in which chat logs are removed from the cloud and archived on its client’s servers, rendering them inaccessible to users — and, potentially, say the company’s critics in Brussels, putting them out of reach of regulators.

It’s an argument that puts Bloomberg in unusual company for a firm that has made billions servicing Wall Street’s ravenous appetite for advantage. In 2015, New York regulators raised similar concerns about Symphony’s secure messaging, and U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren has highlighted language on the Silicon Valley startup’s website that she said appeared “to put companies on notice — with a wink and a nod — that they can use Symphony to reduce compliance and enforcement concerns.”

Bloomberg’s lobbying efforts in Brussels seem aimed at slowing Symphony’s growth, even as the company aims to expand its user base to at least 150,000 by the end of the year, up from some 100,000 right now. Such rapid expansion could threaten Bloomberg’s dominant role in online messaging and data feeds within the financial sector, an industry worth $24 billion (€21 billion) a year, according to Morgan Stanley research.

By shrouding its budding competitor in regulatory uncertainty and undermining its ability to offer data privacy, one of its primary selling points, Bloomberg could discourage its customers from giving Symphony a try. “All other things being equal, any requirements that result in higher costs or more difficult implementation would inhibit change [from Bloomberg’s market dominance],” says Douglas Taylor, founder and managing partner of Burton-Taylor International Consulting, which specializes in the information industry.

Asked whether regulatory uncertainty would discourage his company from using an alternative to Bloomberg’s terminals, Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets, an online trading house based in London, says, “It would force you to think twice. Cost is always an issue. [But] If you can’t fulfill your regulatory obligations, doesn’t matter how cheap it is, if it’s no good, then it’s no good.”

Rising rival

Symphony may lack most of Bloomberg’s bells and whistles, but it has the potential to become a serious competitor in the realm of chat, which many in the industry consider the terminals’ most important function. The Silicon Valley startup charges $180 a year per user, compared to $22,000 a year for a Bloomberg terminal subscription.

Bloomberg’s terminals allow its users to monitor stock prices, pull up analyst reports or, say, track oil tankers on the South China Sea. In addition, users can use the terminals to communicate: exchange gossip, discuss breaking news, or share live data and excel spreadsheets. Most importantly, a Bloomberg terminal user can sit down at his or her desk and execute trades almost instantly with anyone logged into the system anywhere around the world.

“Chat is the current glue of our financial markets,” says David Weiss, a senior analyst at Aite Group. “Originally you had floor pits. [Now you have] closed chat systems. It’s foundational. It’s Bloomberg’s golden goose.”

Bloomberg’s dominance is guaranteed by the size of its user base; the company has roughly 325,000 terminals in operation. As long as Symphony remains small, it will never pose a serious threat. Financial firms might trial an inexpensive service alongside their terminal, but they are unlikely to cancel their Bloomberg subscriptions.

“Until it’s perceived that Symphony has the volume of counterparties that will result in the best price executions, then people won’t migrate there,” says Taylor. “They will migrate to where they can get the best prices [for their trades].”

Their woman in Brussels

That’s where Bloomberg’s efforts in Brussels come into play. The lobbyist leading the charge is Arlene McCarthy, a special adviser to Bloomberg’s chairman, Peter Grauer, and the director of consultancy firm AMC Strategy.

A former European parliamentarian from the U.K. Labour Party, McCarthy is described by those who know her as “fiery,” and “determined.” She served as vice president of the economic and monetary affairs committee from 2009 to 2014, when she decided not to run for reelection. “Arlene is a tough, but reasonably fair negotiator,” says MEP Syed Kamall, a member of the committee who worked with her on a number of regulations.

The lobbying took off in 2015, when McCarthy — together with Alan Donnelly, another former MEP who heads Sovereign Strategy, a British consultancy that has had Bloomberg as a client since 2003 — contacted three of her former colleagues on the committee: Pervenche Berès, Elisa Ferreira and Anneliese Dodds.

Shortly afterward, the three MEPs teamed up to publicly raise their concerns over Symphony’s data deletion feature. During a hearing in Parliament on October 19, 2015, Ferreira — then the Socialists and Democrats spokesperson on economic and monetary affairs — worried aloud that Symphony’s encryption and data deletion “could hinder the capacity of regulators and supervisors to fulfill [their duties].”

The next day, she sent a letter to the chairs of the European Supervisory Authorities — the EU regulators that oversee the financial sector —asking for more details on Symphony and “more specifically, on whether it could be used by European banks and financial companies without specific safeguards being negotiated and guaranteed,” according to the ESAs response to her letter.

Ten days later, Dodds, Berès, and Ferreira sent a second letter, this time to Jonathan Hill, then the European Commission’s chief of financial services. In the letter, dated October 30, 2015, the three MEPs called for closer scrutiny of Symphony’s handling of financial communication “to ensure that the records do not fall into a digital black hole.” The three MEPs called for the commissioner to assure them that the chat service could not be used to evade data retention laws.

Born of a blunder

Symphony’s genesis — and that of its data deletion feature — lies in two blunders Bloomberg made in 2013, when revelations that the company’s journalists had used client data for reporting purposes were quickly followed by the discovery that more than 10,000 private messages sent between the company’s terminals had been uploaded to the internet.

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The double-barreled scandal prompted Bloomberg to reach “out to more than 300 clients,” according to the firm’s then president and chief executive Dan Doctoroff. “We started each conversation with an apology for our mistake,” Doctoroff said in a blog post. “We’re grateful for the understanding our clients have shown.”

Some companies may have been forgiving, but others refused to forget. A little more than a year later, Symphony was born — as a partnership between Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse and 11 other major financial firms.

“We are pleased by the support from many of the world’s most prominent financial firms, which speaks to the strong desire for a more open, secure, compliant and efficient communication platform,” Goldman’s managing director Darren Cohen said in October 2014, as he unveiled the new messaging service.

Symphony’s primary selling point was end-to-end encryption — a system that ensures that only the sender and receiver can read a message — with data deletion as an added bonus. The system, the company claimed, boosted cyber security and avoided data breaches, such as the one experienced by Bloomberg. Simple message: No online messages, no data leaks.

‘Billions in savings’

It was not long, however, before Symphony’s data deletion feature caught the attention of American officials. Regulators in the U.S. and Europe have been intensely interested in financial communication since 2012, when banks were discovered to have used chat rooms and text messages to illegally fix interest rates.

Symphony’s deletion feature isn’t permanent. Chat logs migrate from the company’s cloud to data warehouses managed by its clients. Companies are then required by EU and U.S. law to store the log data from five to seven years. Nonetheless, the feature set off alarm bells. In a 2015 letter to U.S. financial regulators, Senator Warren warned that the startup’s services “could prevent these regulators from identifying and preventing future illegal behavior.”

The New York’s Department of Financial Services expressed concern that Symphony’s emphasis on privacy, which the company billed in its early marketing material as “guaranteed data deletion,” could be used to put communication out of reach of regulators or, along with the end-to-end encryption, force the authorities to alert a company that it was being investigated in order to access chat logs.

After being contacted by the agency, Symphony subsequently deleted a video touting “billions in savings, along with the reference to data deletion,” according to The New York Post, which first reported the removal of the video. It also removed language from its website that claimed to “guarantee that data deletion is permanent.”

Banks under the agency’s jurisdiction that use Symphony also agreed to store message with the messaging company for seven years and to keep duplicate copies of their decryption keys with independent custodians of their choosing.

McCarthy and Donnelly’s efforts in Brussels are aimed at achieving a similar result in Europe. The Commission and EU financial regulators acknowledged the MEPs’ first two letters, but shrugged off any immediate concerns. “We will share the content of your letter with national regulators in order to make them aware of this topic and to facilitate the sharing of information and experiences,” the EU regulators said in their response.

Meanwhile, Hill reassured them that there was little to worry about, pointing to EU legislation that requires financial firms to preserve communication logs for at least five years. “[These] safeguards … should not be frustrated by the end-to-end encryption and/or very short data retention requirements,” Hill said in his reply on November 30, 2015.

Stricter rules

But the MEPs weren’t done. In a third letter date May 25, 2016, Dodds once again called on Hill and the chairman of the European Securities and Markets Authority Steven Maijoor to impose stricter transparency rules on Symphony. “We should not forget that [Symphony] began advertising themselves as a service that ‘guarantees that data deletion is permanent’,” Dodds wrote.

EU measures should be put in place that “require banks using the Symphony system to have the decryption key held with an independent custodian,” much like the deal the company’s clients struck with the New York regulator, she continued. The Commission declined to comment on whether a response is being drafted to Dodds’ most recent letter.

Contacted by POLITICO, McCarthy denied having “spoken to anybody about anything to do with Symphony related to Bloomberg.” The conversations with her former colleagues focused on data deletion and record-keeping, she said.

Ty Trippet, a spokesman for Bloomberg in New York, said, “We’re fortunate to have one of the foremost experts in this area working with us,” referring to McCarthy. He added, “we’ve been in discussion with regulators and policymakers across the EU for decades on ways to maintain an open and transparent marketplace for investors, as well as ways to help our customers comply with the new regulations and maintain compliant platforms.”

AMC Strategy was set up by McCarthy in July 2014, soon after she stepped down as MEP. The company has two clients, one of which is Bloomberg, according the EU Transparency Register, which lists what companies and institutions are represented by which lobbyist.

Asked about McCarthy, Dodds said that “as part of my regular conversations with Arlene, we discussed the issue and she agreed that there was a reason to be concerned.”

“I have always known that Arlene has worked for Bloomberg and have spoken to her about this issue with that in mind,” Dodds continued. “I am aware that Bloomberg and Symphony are potential competitors, and my concern has always been about ensuring a level playing field.”

Donnelly’s office chose not to comment to POLITICO. Symphony declined to comment specifically on Bloomberg’s activities.

Slipping subscriptions

Bloomberg has faced challengers before, but alternatives like Reuters Messaging, Yahoo! Messenger and Slack were ultimately unable to attract enough traders to pose a serious threat. Symphony could be different, says Taylor, the information industry consultant, as it continues to build partnerships with market data providers.

“Symphony is just the latest threat to Bloomberg, albeit with the best chances to get some traction,” says Aite’s Weiss.

So far, there are few indications that Bloomberg’s efforts are having the desired effect. Symphony is still growing strong, and there are hints that Bloomberg’s grip on the market may be starting to slip. The company has lost more than 2,000 subscriptions to their terminal services so far this year, and it is struggling to find new users, according to people briefed on the matter.

Which is not to say that Bloomberg’s lobbying is all for naught. Digging into data deletion will educate financial regulators, says Weiss, and ultimately heighten scrutiny of messaging — on all platforms. “[This] a very good thing, especially how all the recently discovered fraud on chat was right under everybody’s noses for years” he says. “If only they were looking.”

This week, Disney debuted High School Musical: The Musical: The Series on its new streaming service, Disney+. But the new show is a big step away from its previous incarnation thanks to a long list of woke characters and progressive plot lines.

When the original series debuted in 2006, it was a different era. Sure, political correctness was in full blossom, but it had yet to bleed into every last kids show like it has today, and when the Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens vehicle hit screens, it was a traditional boy-meets-girl story with peppy songs, well-choreographed dance numbers, and tried-and-true teen angst.

This week, though, the new updated version that dropped on November 12 was chock full of transgenderism, female empowerment, protests against the “patriarchy,” and LGBTQ themes.

The pilot, entitled “The Auditions,” introduced high school junior Ricky (Joshua Bassett) and his ex-girlfriend Nini (Olivia Rodrigo). Viewers discover that Rickey dumped Nini during the previous summer after she professed her love for him on Instagram. But as school begins, Ricky is regretting his decision after seeing her with another boy, E.J. (Matt Cornett).

Ricky decides that he wants to win Nini back, and to do so, he sets out to win the lead in the school’s stage production of High School Musical. Naturally, he wins the lead male role setting the stage for the series.

So far, so good. But the episode quickly sets its PC table by deviating from the flavor of the original series.

In the first ten minutes, one of the first woke characters is introduced in the new series when viewers meet Nini’s friend, Kourtney (Dara Reneé), who encourages the show’s star to dump Ricky. Kourtney is portrayed as a sassy black teen who is a self-professed “feminist.” Kourtney also proceeds to tout “intersectional values” and the importance of dismantling the “patriarchy.”

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Two gay characters are also introduced — or at least two prototypical effeminate school drama class characters are seen, anyway. One such character is the school’s drama class choreographer Carlos (Frankie Rodriguez), who is so excited for the stage show because he has seen the movie “37 times.”

Even more to the progressive plot is Seb (Joe Serafini), a teenage boy who decides to audition for a girl’s role because it would be “so fresh” to do. The Daily Beast celebrated the transgender character as a “queer-positive joke and message.”

Series creator Tim Federle complimented the new generation’s wokeness and explained away his need to pump the series full of progressive ideals citing the bravery of the “Parkland Generation” and teen climate high priestess Greta Thunberg.

“I don’t think it’s that much of a reach, in that we are living in the Parkland generation – and thank goodness we are,” Federle told The Daily Beast. “I think Greta Thunberg is rewriting the rule book on climate change because she’s certainly not seeing the grown-ups do it. And I think that if there’s any statement I’m trying to make with the show, it’s that you should always count on the theater kids, which is really a proxy for anyone who feels disenfranchised individually. But when you group up together, you can sort of David-versus-Goliath the whole world, one stage at a time.”

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Pep Guardiola came up with the goods to stop the Premier League rot – so how can the English sides battle back to rescue their European seasons?

Manchester City’s late turnaround on Wednesday night prevented a disastrous set of Champions League results for the English contingent.

The country was 6-0 down on aggregate and heading for four defeats out of four until Gabriel Jesus and Kevin De Bruyne flipped the narrative at Real Madrid, seemingly confirming that English football is in something of a fallow year.

The Premier League in 2019-20 is an oddly low-quality campaign for most of the country’s best clubs as they stumble through transitional years, plod along with under-qualified young managers, or work out how to adapt to long-term injuries.

More teams

And so England is currently on course to have just one team in the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time since 2016-17, the year after Leicester City’s title win highlighted a ‘Big Six’ crisis. We are not quite at that point yet, but the drop-off from continental dominance in 2019 is worrying nonetheless.

Then again, at least three of the four English clubs could still progress.

Manchester City

Typical Pep Guardiola overthinking defined the vast majority of Man City’s 2-1 win at the Santiago Bernabeu. Deploying De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva as false nines in a 4-4-2 surprised everyone, but there was some method in the madness. As the City manager explained after the game, he was worried about Real Madrid’s aggressive pressing and so wanted to play in a more withdrawn manner.

The plan was to drop off the defence in order to find space in midfield, keeping things tight rather than spreading wide and getting counter-pressed. However, Real aren’t as good as Guardiola made them out to be, and creating a claustrophobic first 45 minutes falsely made the hosts look like City’s equals.

He had over-complicated things – and City only grabbed this famous win by reverting to their usual system. Following Isco’s opener Guardiola brought Raheem Sterling on and moved to a more typical 4-4-1-1, with De Bruyne back in the No.10 role and Gabriel Jesus up front.

De Bruyne crossed for Jesus to equalise before Sterling earned a penalty down the left; two moves common in City’s normal approach.

Guardiola has already spoken of having to come up with a whole new plan for the return leg because Zinedine Zidane will have adapted accordingly. Again, this over-estimates his opponents. Man City need simply to play their own game in Guardiola’s usual 4-3-3 and they can blow away this under-par Real Madrid side.

Zidane’s midfield lacks the pace or agility to deal with De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva roaming in the No.10 space, a Sergio Ramos-less defence will struggle to cope with Sergio Aguero, and Raheem Sterling can dominate Dani Carvajal. The Man City manager needs to stop thinking so hard.

Liverpool

Atletico Madrid’s 1-0 win was pure Diego Simeone. Feeding off the atmosphere in the Wanda Metropolitano his players played a feisty, disruptive, and deliberately provocative brand of defensive football that aimed solely to stop the visitors from scoring.

Their 4-4-2 held firm in a midblock, compressing the lines ruthlessly and pressing very effectively when Liverpool tried to play through midfield. Only once the ball went into the final third did Atletico retreat, crowding out the front three. Liverpool didn’t do much wrong, although this game did show why – until recently – Jurgen Klopp had been keen to add a playmaker to the squad who could slip through-balls between the lines.

Their lack of creativity in central midfield simplifies the destruction jobs of the Atletico players, while the height in the Spanish outfit’s defence means they are invulnerable to the crosses of Andrew Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold.

However, not much needs changing. The electric atmosphere at Anfield, combined with the recent history of comebacks, means Liverpool’s usual brand of high-energy, gegenpressing football could create a very different outcome this time around – even if the tactical pattern of the match is exactly the same.

Atletico will sit back and Liverpool will dominate, relying on Alexander-Arnold and Robertson exchanging cross-field passes to pull that narrow 4-4-2 out of its shell. A fast start is vital. Liverpool need to make Atletico nervous and need to feed on the crowd’s enthusiasm, because if they play at their free-flowing best then not even Simeone’s tactics can stop them scoring.

Tottenham

Jose Mourinho’s tactical strategy was completely wrong in the first leg. Tottenham lined up in a flat 4-4-2 formation with Dele Alli up front alongside Luca Moura as Gedson Fernandes and Steven Bergwijn held the width… and that meant RB Leipzig had a numerical advantage in almost every area of the pitch.

Julian Nagelsmann’s 3-4-3 relies on Timo Werner and Christopher Nkunku dropping off the front to provide the wing-backs and central midfielders with line-breaking vertical passing options, and sure enough Leipzig could dominate with their favourite passing lanes. Harry Winks and Giovani Lo Celso were overwhelmed in the half-spaces where Werner and Nkunku held possession.

Playing just two in central midfield left Spurs far too light in the area Leipzig are most dangerous, while Serge Aurier made frequent positional errors to compound matters – rushing out to cover those gaps in the middle and exposing his team.

Aside from the midfield battle, Leipzig had a three on two in attack when breaking, and had a three on two advantage in their own defence. Rarely does a 4-4-2 sync effectively with 3-4-3.

Although it was entirely unsuccessful at Stamford Bridge the basic building blocks of the 3-5-2 system used against Chelsea should be deployed for the return leg in Germany. A three-man defence can go man-for-man with the Leipzig forwards, meaning a spare centre-back is free to step up and meet Werner, while wing-backs can have more licence to build counters (with Japhet Tanganga picked ahead of the error-prone Aurier).

Deploying three in central midfield is a must, with one powerful defensive midfielder at the base preferable, and although Lucas and Bergwijn are unlikely to hold up the ball, Mourinho has few other options in attack; long balls over the top of the Leipzig defence for these two to chase is the best strategy.

Spurs need to play a deep defensive line and frustrate Leipzig, keeping the score at 0-0 before going for the away goal in the final 20 minutes. In other words, they need a classic Mourinho away performance.

Chelsea

Chelsea weren’t ambitious enough on Tuesday evening, mistakenly using the 3-4-2-1 that had worked against Tottenham in the latest example of Frank Lampard sticking with what has worked before rather than develop a specific tactical plan for the upcoming opponent. The main issue was the players’ unfamiliarity with the system, because the back three were repeatedly caught out of sync with one another as Thomas Muller pulled the strings and Robert Lewandowski made intelligent runs.

They weren’t helped by a dreadful individual performance from Ross Barkley, and yet Lampard should have seen this coming; the 3-4-2-1 looks entirely different depending on whether you hold the majority or minority of the ball. Against superior opponents like Bayern, Mason Mount and Barkley lost their clever and dominant positions as dual No.10’s and were forced into wide midfield roles (5-4-1), which suits neither.

However, there were some positives. The five-man defence did appear to keep Serge Gnabry and Kingsley Coman relatively quiet – until Lampard told Reece James to get forward in the second half and things fell apart. Chelsea’s wing-backs were far more advanced after the break, creating huge gaps for Gnabry and Lewandowski to exchange passes – and force mistakes out of an overworked Cesar Azpilicueta – for the first two goals.

It is definitely too late for Chelsea to save the tie. However, they can at least improve on their first-leg performance by reinstating a 4-3-3 and looking to play purely on the counter-attack. It’s a case of damage limitation for Lampard, with N’Golo Kante needed alongside Mateo Kovacic to limit Muller’s influence. Jorginho’s suspension leaves Chelsea in a hopeless position.

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Préparez vous à rugir de plaisir. Lea Seydoux et Vincent Cassel nous embarquent dans l’une des plus belle et triste histoire d’amour du monde. La Belle et la bête version 2014 se dévoile.

La beauté de l’âme peut battre la laideur des corps. L’histoire de la Belle et la Bête a fait rêver des milliers de petites filles et s’apprête à revenir au cinéma. Après un lot d’adaptations plus ou moins réussies, c’est au tour de Christophe Gans, le metteur en scène du Pacte des Loups, qui se lance dans l’aventure.

Pour camper la Belle, qui de mieux que la si douce et si belle Lea Seydoux? La comédienne a évidemment monté toute l’ampleur de son talent dans La vie d’adèle, primé à Cannes, mais elle s’attaque ici à un rôle tout aussi compliqué. Costume d’époque et personnage déjà très ancré dans les esprits, Lea Seydoux devra prouver qu’elle peut être une Belle à part entière.

Côté mâle, Christophe Gans a vue en Vincent Cassel sa Bête idéale. Est-ce la bestialité évidente qui se dégage de la personnalité de l’acteur qui l’a séduit? Ou bien est-ce peut-être sa capacité à porter les poils comme personne…

Le couple que forment à l’écran Lea Seydoux et Vincent Cassel est en tout cas fidèle à la description faite des personnages décrit par l’auteur anonyme de La Belle et la Bête publié en 1740.

Ce remake dont la sortie est prévue pour février 2014 comptera également à son casting André Dussolier, Audrey Lamy et Sara Giraudeau.

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En cinq films, la fille de Francis Ford Coppola, dont le nouveau long-métrage The Bling Ring sort ce mercredi, a su imposer son regard sur la société américaine. Une vision très influencée par son amour pour la culture française.

Son célèbre patronyme trahit ses origines italiennes, sa filmographie pointue exploite les cultes de la jeunesse et de la célébrité typiquement américains, mais Sofia Coppola semble aborder l’existence et le cinéma d’un point de vue typiquement français.

En couple depuis 2005 avec le Versaillais Thomas Mars, leader du groupe Phoenix, compositeur de titres pour trois de ses long-métrages (Lost in translation, Somewhere, The Bling Ring) et père de ses filles Romy et Cosima (6 et 3 ans), la réalisatrice ne subit pas seulement l’influence de celui qu’elle a rencontré pour la première fois en 1999 (pour la préparation de son Marie-Antoinette) et qu’elle a pris pour époux, habillée en Azzedine Alaïa, durant l’été 2011 (dans le sud italien).

Certes, après la naissance de leur ainée, ces deux icônes de la branchitude ont vécu quelques mois à Paris, où ils possèdent toujours un appartement (du côté de Saint-Germain-des-Prés). Pendant ce séjour, Sofia a pu s’imprégner de notre histoire sous les arcades du Palais-Royal, dans le jardin des Tuileries ou encore le long des galeries Musée D’Orsay (ses trois lieux cultes parisiens), se lier d’amitié avec quelques unes des ambassadrices du chic parisien (Carine Roitfeld et Mademoiselle Agnès, entre autres) et se familiariser avec notre langue qu’elle avoue maîtriser encore beaucoup moins bien que sa progéniture.

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Mais bien avant de passer derrière la caméra (après une carrière d’actrice presque exclusivement réservée aux films de papa Coppola), Sofia a manifesté un intérêt certains pour notre culture.

Elevée en Californie, de son propre aveu complexée par son nez busqué et paralysée par sa lourde filiation, elle fuit la lumière crue du soleil, comme celle tout aussi brûlante des spotlights, pour grandir à l’ombre de l’auteur américano-breton Jack Kerouac. Le culte du corps, le bling, les paillettes, très peu pour elle. Il y a, elle le sait dès son plus jeune âge, un ailleurs, où le beau est dans la subtilité et le raffinement. Elle l’a confiée: « J’étais émerveillée quand mon père revenait de Paris avec des pièces magnifiques d’Yves Saint Laurent pour maman. L’art de l’élégance et la passion pour le détail m’ont été transmis par mon père et mon frère Roman, qui portaient des chemises chiffrées confectionnées sur mesure par Charvet. La mode, le luxe ont toujours fait partie de ma vie ».

A quinze ans, moins cinéphile que fashionista, elle rentre en effet en stage chez Chanel, à Paris. Rue Cambon, Sofia est préposée aux cafés et aux photocopies, mais comme elle le dira: « J’ai beaucoup appris en observant Karl Lagerfeld et Gilles Dufour. » Quoi précisément? Un sens du parti pris, une exigence pour la belle facture, une préférence pour l’allure plutôt que les effets spéciaux, autant de leçons qui influenceront sa façon de s’habiller (robes noires, chemises blanches ou bleues, chaussures plates) comme sa manière de filmer (goût pour la photographie de l’image, problématiques existentielles, intrigues imprégnées de mélancolie).

La fille de Francis Ford Coppola n’a pas la pompe de se proclamer artiste, elle se considère plutôt comme une artisane. Au savoir-paraître terriblement hollywoodien, nourrie par une lecture intensive du Vogue français qu’elle se faisait livrer dans la Napa Valley de son adolescence, elle préfère le savoir-faire que l’on qualifiera, certes avec prétention, de terriblement « frenchy ». Proche du styliste Marc Jacobs, depuis qu’il l’a choisie pour incarner un de ses parfums en 2002, Sofia a, grâce à lui, rejoint le groupe Louis Vuitton pour lequel elle dessine épisodiquement des sacs depuis 2009.

Outre Nathalie Portman qu’elle a filmée à deux reprises pour le parfum Miss Dior Chérie, Miss Coppola a également mis en scène le ténor Roberto Alagna dans l’opéra Manon Lescaut de Puccini, à Montpellier. Un projet parallèle qui témoigne de sa volonté de ne pas suivre les sentiers, certes pavés d’or mais ô combien battus, d’Hollywood.

Une manière aussi de répondre à François Truffaut, un de ses réalisateurs fétiches, qui disait: « Le bonheur est la chose la plus simple, mais beaucoup s’échinent à la transformer en travaux forcés! »

Sofia Coppola n’est esclave de rien, sinon de son bon goût à la française.

Après une dizaine de jours d’hopsitalisation, le prince Philip est sorti lundi de l’hôpital avec le sourire au lèvre, visiblement content de quitter la clinique où il a subi un examen de l’abdomen. Il va maintenant pouvoir retrouver sa famille et fêter avec elle ses 92 printemps.

Bonne nouvelle pour la reine Elizabeth II et tous les sujets du Royayme-Uni: le prince Philip se remet bien des examens qu’il a subis à l’abdomen. Mieux, il est enfin sorti de l’établissement dans lequel il a été admis il y a une dizaine de jours. Les photos montre un duc d’Edimbourg en plutôt bonne forme, qui n’a pas hésité à faire un salut de la main aux personnes qui guettaient sa sortie et a même esquissé quelques sourires.

«Il est de bonne humeur» a confié une source proche de la monarchie citée par People ajoutant: «C’est tout juste s’il ne courrait pas pour sortir de là». Le prince Philip, âgé de 92 ans, avait un livre sous le bras et a salué le personnel hospitalier qui l’ont accompagné jusqu’à la porte. Il devait rejoindre le château de Windsor où est actuellement la reine Elizabeth II pour participer à une série d’événements.

Le duc d’Edimbourg pourra rattrapper le temps perdu au cours de son hospitalisation, notamment célébrer son anniversaire, survenu le 10 juin dernier lorsqu’il était hospitalisé. La reine s’était déplacée ce jour-là pour être auprès de lui en cette occasion si particulière, mais toute sa famille va pouvoir être à ses côtés pour qu’il souffle ses bougies. Dans le calme et la sérénité, car le prince Philip doit encore observer une convalescence de deux mois et se tenir en retrait de toutes ses obligations monarchiques.

Seule entore, peut-être, aux recommandations des médecins: la naissance probable de son petit-enfant,celui que Kate doit mettre au monde dans le courant du mois de juillet. Mais au moins, il sera chez lui pour vivre l’événement en famille et aura toute la liberté d’en profiter.

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Près d’un an après sa médiatique arrivée au PSG, Zlatan Ibrahimovic n’en finit pas de faire le buzz. Alors qu’il est actuellement en vacances avec femme et enfants, le champion suédois a fait un retour plutôt inattendu dans l’actualité en se retrouvant sujet du baccalauréat.

Qu’on se le dise, La Zlatanmania est loin d’être terminée! Après être devenue la coqueluche des Guignols de l’Info et avoir vu son nom faire son entrée dans le dictionnaire suédois, Zlatan s’est retrouvé le sujet d’une épreuve du baccalauréat! Les élèves de terminale L, S, et ES, qui ont opté pour l’Italien en LV1 ont en effet la surprise d’être interrogés sur la star du PSG. Tel était l’intitulé du sujet : «Le Suédois est sur le point de signer à Paris où il gagnera 14 millions d’euros par an. Difficile d’imaginer comment dépenser tout cet argent sachant que cela représente 1 166 666 euros par mois, 38 888 euros par jour, 1 620 euros par heure, 27 euros par minute ou encore 50 centimes par seconde Comment dépenser 14 millions?».

En retrait ces six derniers mois avec l’arrivée de David Beckham, le colosse suédois ne semblait pas s’en plaindre après la folie qui avait entouré ses débuts avec le club de la capitale. «Quand je suis arrivé, tout le monde me disait de ne pas m’inquiéter, qu’en tant que footballeur, je pourrais marcher en ville sans être dérangé, contrairement à l’Italie, a-t-il expliqué dans un entretien à CNN. Mais depuis que je suis ici, c’est extrêmement stressant. Tout le monde me poursuit avec des scooters. Je ne peux pas sortir dans la rue. Quand David est arrivé, il a focalisé l’attention des médias.»

Avant son retour sur les terrains avec le PSG pour un premier stage estival de 10 jours à Stegersbach (en Autriche) début juillet, Zlatan profite actuellement de vacances bien méritées… loin de l’agitation médiatique…

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En quelques 15 ans de carrière elle a réussi à se construire une notoriété qui dépasse son seul titre de Spice Girl. Victoria Beckham est aujourd’hui une femme d’affaire, une épouse et une mère comblée. Un travail de chaque instant pour rester toujours au top. Elle révèle quelques secrets dans le Vogue chinois du mois d’Août.

Elle aura attendu ses 39 ans pour en dire un peu plus sur sa vie. Derrière son regard froid et ses tenues toujours impeccables, Victoria Beckham garde au secret une personnalité bien affirmée. A la tête d’un empire de l’image avec son mari (depuis 14 ans) David, elle est aujourd’hui une ambassadrice de la mode à travers le monde. Une responsabilité qu’elle accepte volontiers, mais dont elle veut être digne chaque jour. Dans les colonnes du mensuel, elle assure : « La chose la plus difficile est de maintenir ce niveau de réussite » tout en restant une bonne mère.

Parce que la priorité aujourd’hui, ce sont ses 4 enfants : Brooklyn (14 ans), Romeo (10 ans), Cruz (8 ans), et Harper, (bientôt 2 ans). « C’est très difficile de jongler, quand vous êtes une mère qui travaille » explique-t-elle, « des millions et des millions de femmes le font à travers le monde » et pourtant « ce n’est pas facile, vous vous sentez coupable à chaque fois que vous franchissez la porte pour aller travailler ». Et pour les besoins de sa carrière, Vicky a une nouvelle fois quitté la demeure familiale de Londres pour la Chine. Partie en tournée avec son ex-footballeur de mari à l’autre bout de la planète, elle était la star d’une séance photo mode.

Elle a posé pour le papier glacé de Vogue Chine qui sortira au mois d’août prochain. Un cadeau pour ses fans chinoises qui sont plus nombreuses qu’on ne le croit et qui découvrent les premières créations de la styliste anglaise dans les grands magasins de Pékin. Pour elles, Posh Spice lance un mot gentil : « Elles ont des corps remarquables et sont heureuses et positives et j’adore ça. Je crois qu’elles savent ce qui est beau, comment accessoiriser et elles ont de superbes cheveux et une peau sans défaut ». Les lectrices apprécieront sans doute.

Et c’est tout ce que souhaite l’ancienne chanteuse des Spice Girls. Loin du narcissisme qu’on lui prête dans les tabloïds, Victoria Beckham explique qu’elle a choisi le métier de la mode pour servir les femmes. Ainsi, celle qui ne se déplace jamais sans ses talons de 12 a assuré que « donner le pouvoir aux femmes et faire en sorte qu’elles se sentent sexy et géniales quand elles portent mes habits est plus important que des milliers d’applaudissements ». On n’en attendait pas moins de la créatrice qui chantait déjà la gloire du Girl Power en 1996, avec ses copines Emma, Mel C, Mel B et Geri…

Lors d’un concert à Québec dimanche 14 juillet, l’interprète d’Isn’t She Lovely a déclaré qu’il refusait de se produire en Floride ainsi que dans tous les Etats qui légitiment le recours à la force pour la défense de propriété. Stevie Wonder proteste contre le récent verdict d’acquittement de George Zimmerman.

«J’ai décidé aujourd’hui que jusqu’à ce que la loi de légitime défense soit abolie en Floride, je n’y jouerai plus» ; le boycott est clair, Stevie Wonder ne veut plus donner de concert dans cet état où Trayvon Martin, un adolescent noir de 17 ans, a été tué par George Zimmerman le 26 février 2012. Samedi 13 juillet, le surveillant de nuit bénévole a été acquitté, provoquant de vives dissensions au sein du pays.

L’auteur afro-américain a publiquement pris position pendant un concert lors du Festival d’été de Québec ce week-end. «Certains d’entre nous ont perdu une bataille. (…) Nous ne pouvons pas le ramener. (…) Nous pouvons voter en faveur du changement et de l’égalité pour tous partout dans le monde» a t-il déclaré lors de sa prestation. Assis derrière son piano, le chanteur aveugle de naissance a retiré ses légendaires lunettes noires pour laisser paraître son émotion. Stevie Wonder a fait suivre cette annonce par son Happy Birthday composé pour Nelson Mandela. L’engagement de l’artiste de 63 ans s’ajoute à celui de nombreuses autres personnalités américaines, comme Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Beyoncé ou encore sa petite sœur, Solange Knowles qui ont déjà manifesté leur soutien à la famille de Trayvon Martin.

L’artiste aux 22 Grammy Awards a entonné lors de cette soirée ses plus grands tubes comme Superstition ou I Just Called to Say I Love You mais aussi de fameuses reprises de Michael Jackson, Marvin Gaye et Edith Piaf. Stevie Wonder a par ailleurs rendu hommage aux victimes de la catastrophe ferroviaire de Lac-Mégantic au Québec où au moins 37 personnes sont mortes le 6 juillet dernier.

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