The sexiest man alive

HOLLYWOOD (USA) People magazine today named their choice for Sexiest Man Alive 2014. Anyone who knows anything about these things will immediately recognise Chris Hemsworth, of whom there are more pictures below the 'fold line'. The magazine says that he continues to smite bad guys as a hammer-wielding Norse god in The Avengers, will fight off a terrorist hacker in Michael Mann's upcoming cyber thriller, Blackhat, and battle a whale in Ron Howard's In the Heart of the Sea, but there was no contest when it came to naming Aussie Chris Hemsworth this year's Sexiest Man Alive. The actor, 31, thought it was "pretty funny" when he first heard the news – as did his wife, Spanish model Elsa Pataky, 38, whom he wed in 2010 and with whom he has a young daughter and twin sons.

Minister resigns over abortion law

MADRID – Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón, now ex-Minister of Justice and well on the right wing of the Partido Popular (PP), resigned last week in an effort by Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, and party leader, to place the party nearer the centre. Gallardón’s resignation was caused by Rajoy’s decision to remove a reformed abortion law and return to minimal changes in its current version. Gallardón’s place will be taken temporarily by Vice-President Soraya Sáenz de Santa María and later by Rafael Catalá, at present the Secretary of State for Infrastructure, Transport and Housing, whose appointment was announced on Wednesday.

King’s ex-Secretary General is richest high office holder

Spain's wealthiest politician

MADRID – The Boletín Oficial del Estado (BOE, the nation’s official bulletin) this week published the personal assets of 250 high office holders in Spain. This novelty is thanks to the Transparency Law approved by the Executive recently. The law obliges not only Ministers and Secretaries of State to declare their assets, and their debts, but all those holding high office in the Administración General del Estado (AGE) as well. These include directors and general secretaries of public entities, ambassadors and presidents of state institutions. The declarations must also include assets and rights arising from family inheritances. 

Brigitte Bardot is 80 and feisty as ever

PARIS –For those of us of a certain generation and a continental bent such as me (watch it!), Brigitte Bardot was the hot sex symbol of the 60s. She turns 80 on Sunday, and is as feisty as she became when she gave up making (generally bad B) movies. She has arrived at the ripe old age without a computer or even a mobile phone. According to another report, she is also unsocial and eschews any mention of the fame and beauty that turned her into a synonym of luxury and seduction – much of that effect in Spain, where curvy actresses willing to drop their clothes at the approach of a camera, though never every item where a rarity. She lives in the South of France, in a house full of animals and she still fights for the rights of such species as foxes, seals and elephants, which fight became her raison d’etre (reason for living, darling) after a youth of being persecuted by paparazzi everywhere. She uses no make-up and doesn’t visit a hairdresser, apparently, but behind the wrinkles of age and the intensity of those eyes is the blonde (never found out if it was natural) that shone brightly in the time of Marilyn Monroe, Diana Dors and The Beatles. Joyeux Anniversaire, Madame!