It's good to be Nicolas Sarkozy

Sarkozy, the 'hyperpresident'

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his model-turned-singer girlfriend, Carla Bruni, arrived holding hands in Luxor Tuesday, kicking off a private visit to Egypt. Bruni, 39 is a longtime model who won critical and public acclaim for her first folk album in 2003, singing in a raspy, whispery voice. She has dated a range of famous men, including Mick Jagger and Donald Trump, and has also reportedly been linked to singer Eric Clapton and actor Vincent Perez. Sarkozy and his second wife Cecilia split amicably in October after 11 years of marriage. It was the first time in modern French history that a serving president had separated from his wife. Sarkozy behaves like a flash billionaire every time he goes on holiday. From the Christmas festivities to the summer vacation. He was flying on his Christmas holiday aboard the private jet of a billionaire businessman Mr Vincent Bollore, who was ranked 451st richest man in the world by Forbes magazine in 2006 and runs an international business empire with interests in freight, plastics, energy and logistics.

The French parliament voted in October to give the president of the republic a pay rise of more than 200 percent . President Nicolas Sarkozy now earns around 19,000 euros a month. As head of state Sarkozy enjoys a wide range of benefits in kind that make it difficult to estimate what he really earns. Some members of the opposition Socialists said the huge pay rise set a bad example at a time when many people in France have been worried about falling purchasing power, but the measure passed through parliament without significant opposition.

Sarkozy calls for UN-led 'new world order'

"The United Nations should anvail itself as an instrument for a new world order of the 21st century," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in his first address to the General Assembly in September.

"In the name of France, I call upon all states to join ranks in order to found the new world order of the 21st century on the notion that the common goods that belong to all of humankind must be the common responsibility for us all," he told the General Assembly.

Known for his admiration of the United States and its culture, Sarkozy said France will remain loyal to its friends and the values it shares with them.