100th edition of Le Tour De France starts on Saturday 29 June 2013

Tomorrow's the start of the 100th edition of Le Tour De France! This year, the legendary bicycle race will start in the beautiful island of Corsica for the first time. Riders from 22 different teams will cover more than 2115 miles around France in less than a month.

Baltimore Basilica

View of the Basilica from the upper rear gallery.

The Choir performs under the grand organ.

A view of the southern ambulatory, and The Descent from the Cross, painted by Baron Pierre Narcisse Guérin. This is one of two paintings by de Steuben, given as a gift to the Cathedral by King Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier) of France. (Louis XVIII, known as "the Desired", was a monarch of the House of Bourbon who ruled as King of France and Navarre from 1814 to 1824 except for a period in 1815 known as the Hundred Days; "Stanislas" was chosen to honor his great-grandfather King Stanisław Leszczyński of Poland;)

Goga Ashkenazi, the Kazakh oligarch-turned-fashion-designer

Goga Ashkenazi was born in Kazakhstan, raised in Moscow, and educated in the United Kingdom

An Oxford graduate in modern history and economics and a billionaire who owns an oil empire in Kazakhstan.

• Currently the Chairwoman and Creative Director of the 100 year old fashion label Vionnet, Ashkenazi possesses a degree in Modern History and Economics from Oxford University, has taken fashion design courses at Moscow State University of Design and Technology
• She lives in Milan now but retains a link with the UK, where her two sons live in her west London mansion. 
• She's friends with Andrew, Duke of York and the former Soviet President – Mikhail Gorbachev.
• Ashkenazi grew up in Kazakhstan in a home in which both parents have doctorate degrees and strong ties at the top echelons of society. Her sister, Meruert Berkalieva, is a PhD in economics and her business partner.
• Her father, Erkin Berkaliev, was a Hydro engineer and also head of the Economics and Trade Department of the Communist Party in Kazakhstan and later the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He had a meteoric rise, was highly rated and had elite connections which enabled the Berkaliev family to move into a prestigious apartment block in central Moscow reserved for the party elite. 
• Erkin Berkaliev was identified as a star performer by the Communist Party and was recruited to Moscow's Central Committee under Mikhail Gorbachev. Goga benefited from her father's success, and by the age of seven she was living in a prestigious apartment and attending a highly rated school. After communism collapsed she transferred to the elite Moskvitch Lycée. Her parents divorced when she was 13, at which point her mother seized responsibility for preparing a brilliant future for Goga and her elder sister Meruert and took them off to England. Mr Berkaliev remained in Kazakhstan, where he remains an influential political figure in the capital Astana.
• Like other former Soviet officials her father exploited the privatisation of former state assets after the collapse of the Soviet Union and took control of a number of factories in Kazakhstan. the resources of The former USSR ended up with a few, mostly well-connected, billionaires while most of the population remain poor.
• She was a year out of Oxford and only 22 when she was photographed topless aboard the yacht of Italian fashion tycoon, Flavio Briatore. The Italian billionaire reportedly broke off their relationship when he discovered that she was not the daughter of Nursultan Nazarbayev.
• During a 2003 visit to Moscow she met her now ex-husband Stefan Ashkenazi – the son of Severyn Ashkenazi, a Polish-American entrepreneur, hotelier and art dealer who founded the boutique L’Ermitage hotel chain. Stefan's previous girlfriend was Angelina Jolie.
• Her Jewish surname was acquired through marriage to Stefan Ashkenazy, an American from Los Angeles who is the son of Severyn Ashkenazy, a Holocaust survivor, art dealer and owner of a chain of luxury hotels and a large construction company. The couple had one child, Adam, now five. They divorced in 2007 after less than four years of marriage and after she met the Kazakh oil tycoon Timur Kulibayev, who is married to the president of Kazakhstan’s daughter and controls the country’s oil and  gas natural resources. That relationship also produced a son, Alan, who is a year old.
• Severyn Ashkenazy, who lives in Los Angeles, survived the war in an underground bunker in the Polish city of Tarnopol, in what is now Ukraine. After the war he moved to France before settling in the United States where he made his fortune in real estate.
• In August 2007, shortly after her divorce, she bought a house in Holland Park, London, for the paltry sum of £28 million in cash, which was £3 million above the asking price. She invested another £10 million in refurbishments, including a gold-leaf decorated ceiling and a personal staff of 15 including chefs, doormen, nannies, bodyguards, a chauffeur, and a Bentley.
• The key to Goga's wealth is her son Adam's father, Timur Kulibayev, who is said to control 90 per cent of the Kazakh oil fields. Kulibayev is also the son-in-law of Nursultan Nazarbayev, the country's President for the last 20 years. He remained married to the President's daughter Dinara (and still is) at the time Adam was born at the Portland Hospital in London in December 2007.
• Ms Ashkenazi is now a player in the oil industry herself. She is CEO of the MunaiGaz Engineering Group, a major oil and gas company, and a director of the MMG Global Consulting Group. Her friends identify her line of work as "oil services".
• Her clique of jet setters also includes the banker Nat Rothschild, Lord Edward Spencer-Rothschild and Lapo Elkann, heir of the Fiat conglomerate and Ashkenazi’s current beau. Not all are billionaires, however. Those with smaller bank accounts include the likes of racing driver Flavio Briatore, one of Goga’s past flames, telecommunications millionaire Dino Lalvani and pop star Nick Rhodes and others.
• In November 2012 Ashkenazi acquired full ownership of Vionnet, a century old French fashion brand (http://vionnet.com). She is also the Director General of MunaiGaz-Engineering Group (http://mmgglobalconsulting.com), which, according to the company’s website is “a specialist management consultancy that seeks to establish international partnerships in which it can become an active manager and stakeholder alongside foreign businesses and stakeholders seeking to pursue commercial opportunities within the Eastern European and the Central Asian regions.”

    

A life in brief

• Born: Gaukhar Erkinova Berkalieva on 1 February 1980, Kazakhstan.
• Family: Her father, Erkin was recruited to Moscow's Central Committee under Gorbachev. In 2004 she married hotel heir Stefan Ashkenazi but divorced three years later. Has a son called Adam with the Kazakh oil billionaire Timur Kulibayev.
• Education: Was sent to school in England at Stowe and Rugby School. Has a degree in modern history and economics from Oxford University.
• Career: At 24 she set up a business with her sister, constructing compressor stations to service Kazakhstan's booming oil industry. Through oil services she has become a billionaire and now owns gold mines, is CEO of the MunaiGaz Engineering Group and sits on the board of the Ivanhoe Mining Group.

Optimism fading, protests spread across Brazil

The Middle-Class Revolution : All over the world, today's political turmoil has a common theme: the failure of governments to meet the rising expectations of the newly prosperous and educated. 

Tens of thousands of protesters in Brazil held rallies in at least 11 cities Monday, the fifth straight day of demonstrations in opposition to such issues as rising public bus fares and police violence.

Starting late last week, with several small protests denouncing a hike in public transport fares, demonstrations flared up yesterday, encompassing larger public anger at poor public services, police violence and government corruption. More than 200,000 took to the streets of Brazil's biggest cities yesterday, voicing frustration with the billions of dollars set aside for upcoming sports events like the World Cup and the 2014 Olympics, despite crushing levels of poverty in some places, and underfunded public education, health, security and transportation.

• The authorities raised bus fares by the equivalent of about 9 cents to 3.20 reais, about $1.47, prompting a wave of demonstrations that have grown in intensity.
• In Sao Paulo, South America’s largest city, an estimated 65,000 people filled the streets in the fifth and largest protest in two weeks organized by the student-heavy “Free Fare Movement” against the10% hike in the city’s bus fare.
• If one message stood out, it was that Brazilians are no longer willing to accept the rosy outlook that politicians in Latin America's biggest country have been painting for years.
• Until recently, Brazil was one of the world's most envied economies. An export boom, growing domestic demand and ambitious social welfare programs for much of the past decade led to average annual economic growth exceeding 4 percent and lifted more than 30 million Brazilians from poverty.
• After growth of 7.5% as recently as in 2010, Brazil last year grew by less than 1% and appears on track for another disappointing year in 2013.
• Vast economic differences still divide Brazil. A sluggish economy, rising inflation and the poor quality of public services are prompting optimism to wane. Brazil may have made big strides, but daily life for most people remains a gritty, frustrating ordeal compared to what they imagine when considering the country's elusive potential.
• Ratings agency Standard & Poor's has said it could downgrade Brazilian debt. The real, Brazil's currency, lags behind those of other emerging markets and has weakened by more than 10 percent from a March peak against the dollar.

Brazil's stock market - last 11 years

Last 6 months: after an impressive growth, Brazil's stock market reached a 52-week low today

The faces of the protest in Brazil

Activists demonstrate in front of riot police outside the Mane Garrincha National Stadium in Brasilia 

Protesters fill the streets of Rio de Janeiro, on June 17, 2013

A demonstrator holds a Brazilian flag in front of a burning barricade during a protest in Rio de Janeiro, on June 17, 2013

A protester looks at vandalized cash machines in a bank during a demonstration in Rio de Janeiro, on June 17, 2013.

Activists and students clash with riot police in a cloud of tear gas outside the Mane Garrincha National Stadium in Brasilia, on June 15, 2013. 

Demonstrators carry a sign reading in Portuguese "No to violence" in Brasilia, on June 17, 2013.

Demonstrators march toward the Mineirao Stadium, where Nigeria was playing Tahiti in the Confederations Cup

The 10 happiest countries in the world

What makes a country happy? It’s really not just about the money. Dropping three spots this year, the U.S. is tied for 14th in life satisfaction, according to the latest Better Life Index report, released recently by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). This is despite the fact that the U.S. had the highest disposable income of any country measured and a high rate of self-reported good health. Given how well the does on most measures, it suggests that life satisfaction encompasses more than simply income or even health. Mexico, which had among the lowest scores for many indexes, still reported among the highest life satisfaction.

30 indexes measured for each of 34 member nations and participating countries. The indexes that make up the Better Life Index comprise 11 categories: housing, income, jobs, community, education, the environment, civic engagement, health, life satisfaction, safety and work-life balance.

1. Switzerland

Life satisfaction score: 7.8

Self-reported good health: 81% (7th highest)

Employees working long hours: 5.9% (17th lowest)

Disposable income: $30,060 (4th highest)

Life expectancy: 82.8 years

In no other country did residents have a better sense of well-being than in Switzerland. The Swiss tend to be better off financially than residents of most other countries. In 2010, the average household’s disposable income was $30,060, higher than all but three other countries. Meanwhile, the average household financial net worth in Switzerland was more than $99,000, higher than any other country except for the United States. As many as 79% of the country’s residents were employed in 2011, tied for the highest employment rate in the OECD. People in the country work just 1,632 hours annually. The unemployment rate in 2012 was just 4.4%.

2. Norway

Life satisfaction score: 7.7

Self-reported good health: 73% (14th highest)

Employees working long hours: 2.8% (6th lowest)

Disposable income: $31,459 (3rd highest)

Life expectancy: 81.4 years

Norway’s employment rate for those between ages 15 and 64 was 75%, tied with the Netherlands for the third highest rate among all countries. The gross pay of full-time employees neared $44,000, the ninth highest of all OECD countries. The average household income was $31,459, higher than every country except for the U.S. and Luxembourg. People in Norway tend to work significantly less than those in other countries—the average worker only put in 1,426 hours of work, compared with 1,776 in all OECD countries. In 2012, just 3.3% of all workers were unemployed. As many as 96% of the country’s residents were satisfied with the water quality. Norway also ranked among the 10 best countries in terms of air quality.

3. Iceland

Life satisfaction score: 7.6 (tied for 3rd highest)

Self-reported good health: 77% (9th highest)

Employees working long hours: 13.5% (8th highest)

Disposable income: $21,201 (16th lowest)

Life expectancy: 82.4 years

Iceland residents have the strongest support networks of all countries—98% of residents indicated they could count on friends or relatives if they needed help. Iceland residents tend to be in good health as well, with life expectancy and self-reported health both among the top 10. The employment rate for those between the ages of 15 and 64 was 79%, tied with Switzerland for the highest among all countries. Where Iceland didn't do as well relative to other countries was income and wealth—average disposable household income of $21,201 and average household net financial wealth of $31,182 were both lower than OECD averages. But after accounting for taxes and transfer payments, income in Iceland was more evenly distributed among residents than in other nation in the OECD.

4. Sweden

Life satisfaction score: 7.6 (tied for 3rd highest)

Self-reported good health: 80% (8th highest)

Employees working long hours: 1.2% (3rd lowest)

Disposable income: $26,242 (12th highest)

Life expectancy: 81.9 years

According to the OECD, Sweden ranks as the top country among all nations measured in terms of protecting its environment. Swedes enjoy some of the highest quality air of any nation. Its water quality in 2012 also ranked among the highest for all countries. The nation’s residents also are among the healthiest of any nations measured. Although Sweden received moderate ratings for income and jobs, it was one of Europe’s best nations for income equality.

5. Denmark

Life satisfaction score: 7.5 (tied for 5th highest)

Self-reported good health: 70% (17th highest)

Employees working long hours: 2.0% (4th lowest)

Disposable income: $24,682 (15th highest)

Life expectancy: 79.9 years (12th lowest)

Employees in Denmark had an average full-time gross pay of $45,802, higher than all but four other countries in the OECD. The average worker in Denmark put in just 1,522 hours annually, much lower than the OECD average of 1,776 hours. Air quality and water quality was better in Denmark, compared with many other countries. The government of Denmark spends considerably to ensure the general well-being of its residents. Last year, government spending totaled 59.5% of GDP, the most of any OECD nation.

6. Netherlands

Life satisfaction score: 7.5 (tied for 5th highest)

Self-reported good health: 76% (11th highest)

Employees working long hours: 0.7% (2nd lowest)

Disposable income: $25,493 (14th highest)

Life expectancy: 81.3 years

The Netherlands was rated as one of the best countries for jobs by the OECD. In 2011, 73% of the population between 15 and 64 years old was employed, one of the highest proportions of all nation’s measured. Also potentially contributing to residents’ happiness is the fact that 94% of residents asked said they had a support network they could count on for help if they were in trouble. This was one of the highest figures among countries measured.

7. Austria

Life satisfaction score: 7.4 (tied for 7th highest)

Self-reported good health: 69% (18th highest)

Employees working long hours: 8.8% (14th highest)

Disposable income: $28,852 (6th highest)

Life expectancy: 81.1 years

Last year, just 4.7% of all workers in Austria were unemployed, less than any other nation in the euro zone, where the 2012 unemployment rate was 12.3%. Austria was in the top third of all countries in terms of both household financial net worth, at $47,458, and personal earnings for full-time employees, at $43,688. In addition, 96% of all residents indicated that the water quality was satisfactory, higher than all but two other countries. Austria also has high levels of civic participation—the voter turnout rate was 82% in 2008, the ninth highest among countries considered.

8. Canada

Life satisfaction score: 7.4 (tied for 7th highest)

Self-reported good health: 88% (3rd highest)

Employees working long hours: 3.9% (9th lowest)

Disposable income: $28,194 (9th highest)

Life expectancy: 81 years

Canada was rated among the top nations for residents’ good health. In 2011, 88% of residents surveyed reported they were in good health, higher than all countries except for the U.S. and New Zealand. Canada also had one of the higher average household disposable incomes among nations considered, at more than $28,000. This was well above the OECD average of $23,047. Canada was rated as one of the best nations in the OECD for housing—although there are some concerns in the country that a real estate bubble is forming.

9. Finland

Life satisfaction score: 7.4 (tied for 7th highest)

Self-reported good health: 69% (18th highest)

Employees working long hours: 3.9% (8th lowest)

Disposable income: $25,739 (13th highest)

Life expectancy: 80.6 years

People in Finland spent an average of 19.6 years getting an education, more than any other country in the OECD. Based on students’ average scores in reading, mathematics and science, Finland was considered to have the most accomplished students. The government, relative to the nation’s size, is one of the largest spenders in the developed world, providing a significant social welfare system. In 2012, the government’s total spending was equal to nearly 56% of GDP. Finland’s employment rate of 69% in 2011, although lower than quite a few other countries, was higher than the 66% average rate across all OECD countries.

10. Mexico

Life satisfaction score: 7.3

Self-reported good health: 66% (14th lowest)

Employees working long hours: 28.6% (3rd highest)

Disposable income: $12,732 (3rd lowest)

Life expectancy: 74.2 years

Mexico received a high life satisfaction score despite receiving low scores in a number of categories. No nation rated worse than Mexico in safety—the nation’s murder rate of 23.7 murders per 100,000 residents in 2011 was the highest of any OECD nation and more than 10 times the OECD average that year. Additionally, 13.1% of residents had been assaulted or mugged in 2012, also the highest of any nation considered. Mexico had one of the lowest averages for household disposable income in the OECD, at just $12,732 as of 2010. However, none of these factors have prevented Mexicans from being satisfied with their lives.