Sarkozy a donné une conférence: Claude Guéant confirme, l'entourage du Président dément

CONFÉRENCES - Avocat, conseiller d'un chef d'Etat étranger, conférencier... Tous les bruits ont circulé sur la nouvelle vie de Nicolas Sarkozy depuis sa défaite au soir du second tour de l'élection présidentielle. Un de ses fidèles, l'ex-ministre de l'Intérieur Claude Guéant, a fini par confirmer ce vendredi 31 août sur Europe1 que l'ancien président de la République donnait bien des conférences, a priori rémunérées.

"Je crois bien qu'il en a déjà fait une, en Europe", a déclaré Claude Guéant, information cette fois-ci démentie par l'entourage de Nicolas Sarkozy, qui a indiqué qu'il n'avait "pour l'instant participé à aucune conférence". Sa chargée de communication, Véronique Waché, a par ailleurs indiqué sur son compte Twitter que l'ancien président "n'a jamais été sollicité par Morgan Stanley".

Véronique Waché@VeroniqueWache

Nicolas Sarkozy n'a pour le moment participé à aucune conférence et n'a jamais été sollicité par Morgan Stanley.

31 Août 12

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LIRE AUSSI: Comment Sarkozy orchestre son retour sur scène

"Nicolas Sarkozy a accepté le principe de faire un certain nombre de conférences, comme tous les anciens chefs de l'État au gouvernement, M. Tony Blair, par exemple. Il a accepté le principe mais s'agissant de celle de Morgan Stanley, je ne sais pas", avait expliqué Claude Guéant sur Europe1.

Une référence à un article du Canard Enchaîné selon lequel la banque d'investissement américaine Morgan Stanley aurait proposé de débourser jusqu'à 250.000 euros pour obtenir la participation de Nicolas Sarkozy à une conférence de 45 minutes.

Sans évoquer la dimension financière de ces conférences, généralement grassement rémunérées, Claude Guéant a estimé que les propos de Nicolas Sarkozy "intéressent". "Les propos qu'il pourra tenir à cette occasion seront de nature à marquer la réflexion politique pour la France et pour notre temps", a-t-il ajouté.

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Kate Middleton & William Look Distressed At 2012 London Paralympics (PHOTOS)

The last time we saw Kate Middleton, she was closing out the Olympics in a printed Whistles dress, leaving her mark on the world's greatest sporting event.

The Duchess of Cambridge headed to another huge sporting match in London on Wednesday: the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Paralympics, where she and Will perched next to Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife Samantha to watch the festivities.

In a booth that included Princess Anne, Prince Edward, Mayor Boris Johnson and Her Majesty herself, Catherine and William sang the national anthem of Britain and did all that other ceremonial stuff they're always doing. Another repeat? The duchess' cream-colored coat, which looks to be the same Jane Troughton one she wore to Zara Phillips' wedding in June 2011, which she ALSO wore in 2006 to the nuptials of Laura Parker Bowles' and Harry Lopes. (SamCam looked ravishing in red, and the queen went both hat and hoodie-less.)

Catherine will also be attending swimming, athletics, cycling, and goalball during the event, Clarence House confirms.

Contrary to magazine reports, Catherine is not "in hiding and pregnant" -- although she and Will don't look super enthused in some of these pics, McKayla Maroney style. Maybe they've got something more worrisome on their minds.

PHOTOS:

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Kim Kardashian Old Navy Lawsuit Finally Settled

LOS ANGELES -- Kim Kardashian has settled a lawsuit against Old Navy claiming the clothing retailer violated her publicity rights by using a lookalike in an ad.

Kardashian sued over the spot in July 2011, claiming the company's use of a model who looked like her might confuse consumers about her actual endorsements, which include a clothing store and shoe line.

No details about the settlement were filed with the court.

"The lawsuit was resolved to the mutual satisfaction of the parties," the two sides said in a joint statement.

The lawsuit was over a commercial titled "Super C-U-T-E," which featured Canadian singer-model Melissa Molinaro. The ad began airing in February 2011 and was still being used in some of the company's promotions months later, Kardashian's lawsuit stated.

An attorney for Old Navy said at a January hearing that Molinaro was famous in her own right and her appearance in the ad wasn't intended to draw similarities to the reality TV starlet.

Kardashian's attorney Gary Hecker contended that some news outlets and Twitter users noted similarities in the women's appearances.

Kardashian, 31, was seeking unspecified damages and an order barring Old Navy from using a lookalike model again.

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Eastwooding: Clint Eastwood's 'Chair' Speech At Republican National Convention Inspires New Meme

If you see someone talking to an empty chair today, don't worry -- they're probably just "Eastwooding."

Clint Eastwood spoke at the Republican National Convention in Florida last night, with a significant portion of his speech revolving around a conversation with... a chair.

Are you ready for this? In said chair was an invisible President Barack Obama. And where there's an invisible Obama, there must be an Internet sensation. And that Internet sensation? "Eastwooding," or pointing to an empty chair with a disgruntled expression.

BuzzFeed has some perfect examples of how to perform this act, if you're so inclined.

According to Mashable, some of the "biggest headlines" to come out of the Republican National Convention may in fact come from Eastwood's ten-minute chair speech (seen here). Whether that's depressing news to you or not, with one scan through social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr you'll notice Eastwood certainly made an impact.

By the end of Eastwood's speech, the "invisible Obama" who sat in the wooden chair had its own Twitter parody account. The account had 40,000 followers by Friday morning.

Check out some of @InvisibleObama's tweets below:

Invisible Obama@InvisibleObama

When Mitt Romney says "Mr. Chairman", do you think he's referring to me?

31 Aug 12

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Invisible Obama@InvisibleObama

Hey everyone. Share a picture of me when you get to work this morning. I'm IN YOUR CHAIR.#eastwooding

31 Aug 12

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The "Invisible" account was momentary suspended around 9:30am this morning, with a post later stating that Twitter "took the invisible thing a little too literally." At the time of publication, @InvisibleObama was back up and running.

But the real President Obama (or at least his Twitter account) soon jumped into the internet activity. He responded to Eastwood's speech with the tweet below:

Barack Obama

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@BarackObama

This seat's taken. OFA.BO/c2gbfi,pic.twitter.com/jgGZTb02

31 Aug 12

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So go ahead, make Eastwood's day and tweet your own chair pictures to us at [@HuffPostTech]. Then check out what Ann Romney had to say about Eastwood's speech, and tell us how you feel about this new meme in the comments section.

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