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Monica Bellucci And Vincent Cassel Split - End Of Europe's Top Glamor Couple

ANSA (Italy)

Worldcunch

PARIS – Italian-born model and movie star Monica Bellucci and her French actor husband Vincent Cassel are breaking up after 18 years together.

The news was confirmed by Bellucci's agent after recent rumors had circulated about their possible separation, the Italian news agency ANSA reported.

The couple was a long-lasting symbol of how globetrotting glamour and marital happiness could cohabitate. The two stars met in 1996 during the shooting of the Appartement by Gilles Mimouni, and were married three years later in August 1999.

Since then, the pair appeared several times on screen together, including in the controversial film about rape, Irréversible, by Gaspard Noé in 2002.

It is the second divorce for Bellucci, 48, after a brief marriage to Italian photographer Claudio Basso. She is currently shooting Emir Kusturica’s next film in Serbia, while Vincent Cassel, 46, appears to be in France with the couple's two daughters Deva, 7, and Léonie, 3.

Here's a look back at the very European glamor couple...

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Combination photo of the couple taken during photo-calls at the 68th Venice International Film Festival in September 2011. Photo: Wang Qingqin - Xinhua/ZUMA

[rebelmouse-image 27087337 alt="""" original_size="267x400" expand=1]

Cassel in 2009 during the first day of shooting the academy-award winning film Black Swan. Photo: John Barrett - Globe Photos/ZUMA

[rebelmouse-image 27087338 alt="""" original_size="267x400" expand=1]

The happy-looking couple walking on the red carpet during the third Rome International Film Festival in October 2008. Photo: Alec Michael - Globe Photos/ZUMA

[rebelmouse-image 27087339 alt="""" original_size="246x400" expand=1]

Bellucci posing for the lauch of her photo book "Monica Bellucci" in Rome in November 2010. She is considered to be one of the most beautiful women in the world. Photo: Evandro Inetti - Evandro Inetti/ZUMA

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Geopolitics

D.C. Or Beijing? Two High-Stakes Trips — And Taiwan's Divided Future On The Line

Two presidents of Taiwan, the current serving president, Tsai Ing-wen, and her predecessor, Ma Ying-jeou from the opposition Kuomintang party, are traveling in opposite directions these days. Taiwan must choose whom to follow.

Photo of Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen

Tsai Ing-wen, the President of Taiwan

Pierre Haski

-Analysis-

PARIS — Tsai Ing-wen, the President of Taiwan, is traveling to the United States today. Not on an official trip because Taiwan is not a state recognized by Washington, but in transit, en route to Central America, a strategy that allows her to pass through New York and California.

Ma Ying-jeou, a former president of Taiwan, arrived yesterday in Shanghai: he is making a 12-day visit at the invitation of the Chinese authorities at a time of high tension between China and the United States, particularly over the fate of Taiwan.

It would be difficult to make these two trips more contrasting, as both have the merit of summarizing at a glance the decisive political battle that is coming. Presidential and legislative elections will be held in January 2024 in Taiwan, which could well determine Beijing's attitude towards the island that China claims by all means, including force.

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