World in brief: Sarkozy serious about ex-model

The president of France did not say he was going to marry his new love. But he did not rule it out.

What President Nicolas Sarkozy did confirm Tuesday was that his romance with Carla Bruni, a glamorous former supermodel turned folk singer, was “serious,” and that if they were to marry the media would not be involved.

“There are strong chances you will learn of it once it’s done,” Sarkozy told nearly 600 journalists during the annual New Year’s news conference at the Elysee Palace.

Sao Paulo, Brazil

Picasso recovered, suspects arrested

Brazilian police recovered paintings by Pablo Picasso and Candido Portinari that were stolen last month from the country’s premier modern art museum, officials said Tuesday.

Two suspects were arrested with the paintings, but no other details were immediately available.

Armed with nothing more than a crow bar and a car jack, thieves took just three minutes to steal Picasso’s “Portrait of Suzanne Bloch” and Portinari’s “O Lavrador de Cafe” from the Sao Paulo Museum of Art on Dec. 20. The Picasso painting was valued by art experts at about $50 million, and the Portinari at $5-6 million.

Jerusalem

Rockets from Lebanon hit Israel

Two Katyusha rockets fired from Lebanon struck a northern Israeli town overnight causing no injuries, an Israeli police spokesman said, the first such attacks by Lebanese militants in six months.

The attack came on the day before President Bush is scheduled to arrive in Israel in support of ongoing peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

Around 2 a.m. Tuesday, the rockets struck a road leading into the western Galilee town of Shlomi, a few miles from the Lebanon border. Shrapnel from one of the rockets struck a wall of a house.