The Full Belmonte, 7/17/2023
Smoke rises from the Texas Creek wildfire south of Lillooet, British Columbia, Canada, on July 9.
Poor air quality
“Millions of people are under air quality alerts today as Canadian wildfire smoke billows into the US again. Several areas are seeing decreased visibility, including Chicago, Detroit, New York, St. Louis, Cedar Rapids and Cleveland. The entire state of New York is also under an air quality health advisory due to smoke from wildfires in Western Canada. Forecasts show winds will continue to push the smoke eastward, bringing a smoky haze to other parts of the Northeast early this week. Meteorologists expect parts of the US will be at risk of smoke for the foreseeable future as Canada experiences its worst fire season on record. More than 24 million acres have burned in Canada this year, an area that is roughly the size of Indiana.” [CNN]
Russia
“A key Crimean bridge was hit by strikes early today, halting traffic on the only link between the annexed peninsula and Russia. Two people were killed in the ‘emergency incident’ and inspections are underway to determine the extent of the damage, the Russian Ministry of Transport said. Ukraine's security service claimed responsibility for the attack, though Kyiv has not responded directly. Earlier this month, Ukraine made what appeared to be the clearest admission yet that its forces were behind an attack on the bridge last year that caused parts of it to collapse. Meanwhile, a crucial deal that allows Ukraine to safely export grain ‘has been terminated,’ the Russian government said. The deal helped stabilize global food prices and brought relief to developing countries that rely on Ukrainian exports. Moscow denied the decision was related to the bridge attack.” [CNN]
Presidential race
“We are still in the early stages of the race for the Republican presidential nomination, but new campaign finance reports are providing a glimpse of the wide chasm between current fundraising leaders and the rest of the GOP field. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis raised $20 million — a strong total — but his campaign is burning through cash at a rapid rate. Former President Donald Trump, who leads the GOP field in polling, raised $17.7 million during the quarter, despite being indicted twice this year, while former Vice President Mike Pence brought in less than $1.2 million. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden's campaign appears to be a bare-bones operation. Biden spent just $1.1 million in the second quarter and employed four staffers by June's end, records show. By contrast, in the same window in 2011, President Barack Obama's campaign had spent more than $11 million on his reelection effort.” [CNN]
Storms
“Authorities in southeastern Pennsylvania are searching for two children after raging floodwaters swept them away from their family over the weekend. Five others were killed in the flooding and thousands of others were impacted by power outages. Local, state and federal authorities are assisting in search and recovery efforts in the area for victims. Over the last month, parts of New England and the Northeast have seen 200% to 300% of their average monthly rainfall, leading to last week's disastrous flooding in parts of Vermont, New York and western Massachusetts. The storms moving across the region have also prompted ground stops at major airports across the Northeast — adding to existing airline issues, including staffing and pilot shortages.” [CNN]
130° — in a fur coat
A sign this weekend in Death Valley National Park near Furnace Creek, Calif. Photo: David McNew/Getty Images
“Roughly 100 million Americans are under heat alerts this morning, stretching across a dozen states from Florida to California, Axios' Andrew Freedman writes from heat.gov.
Temperatures into the 110s in Phoenix, Las Vegas and California's highly populated Central Valley pose a serious health threat.
In Death Valley National Park, a digital thermometer at the visitor center in Furnace Creek, Calif., hit 130° on Sunday, but it wasn't an official reading. The National Weather Service said the day's peak was 128°.
Dozens of people gathered at the thermometer — some jokingly wearing fur coats — to snap photos with shocking temperature readings.” (AP)
Politics
“Donald Trump and his allies plan to expand the presidency’s power if he wins in 2024, bringing more government agencies under his control.
Conservatives gathered at the Turning Point Action Conference in Florida this weekend. A pro-Trump crowd booed his opponents.” [New York Times]
Dems tout war chest, fret over third parties
© The Associated Press / Susan Walsh | President Biden in Helsinki on Thursday.
“Democrats insist they’re cheered by President Biden’s recent fundraising numbers, fretful about eventual voter turnout for the octogenarian incumbent and frustrated by potential 2024 spoilers and distractions — from primary challenger Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to a third-party drive by mysteriously bankrolled No Labels.
The Hill put Biden at the top of its list of fundraising winners as the Federal Election Commission reported donations at the close of the year’s second quarter.
Together with the Democratic National Committee, the Biden campaign and joint fundraising committees reported on Friday raising $72 million, an impressive total considering that many Democratic voters say they’re lukewarm about the 80-year-old’s bid for a second term, according to polls. Although members of his party have knocked Biden for a Rose Garden-style, slow start to reelection, the president has $77 million in cash on hand. Incumbency in presidential years has some advantages.
Doubts have swirled around Biden’s candidacy because his favorability rating is stuck in the low 40s amid concerns about his age and GOP attacks on his mental acuity. The DNC and the White House want donor activity to tell a different story, especially among small-dollar donations from the grassroots, which averaged $39 among nearly 400,000 contributors in the second quarter.
The small-dollar online money spigot that helped Biden smash fundraising records during his 2020 presidential campaign has not yet turned on, and there are signs that it may be months before it does (The New York Times).
‘I’m not sure which is harder: Getting people to focus on the campaign, or getting people excited about it,’ a longtime Democratic fundraiser told CNN, speaking on condition of anonymity.
CNN: Biden campaign officials, defending the difference compared with former President Obama’s haul as he sought a second term, point to a ‘very different’ political climate that they say has made grassroots fundraising more challenging across the board this year, with political fatigue setting in on both the right and the left.
Kennedy, who is challenging Biden for the nomination and polling in the mid-double-digits in recent surveys, ran into a buzzsaw of controversy over the weekend after The New York Post published a video of the candidate saying the COVID-19 virus was engineered to spare Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people. His remarks to a private gathering in New York City stirred renewed accusations that he spreads conspiratorial misinformation, embellished with antisemitism and racism. Kennedy said the Post report was ‘wrong’ and that he’d been speaking off-the-record about ‘bioweapons’ (The New York Post).
‘COVID-19. There is an argument that it is ethnically targeted. COVID-19 attacks certain races disproportionately,’ Kennedy said, according to the Post’s video. ‘COVID-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese.’
Kennedy on Thursday is scheduled to testify to a GOP-led House committee about federal censorship of conservative ideas, an element of Republican political talking points.
NewsNation: Kennedy declined during a recent town hall to commit to supporting Biden if he’s the party’s nominee.
New York magazine Intelligencer: Kennedy’s conspiracy theories finally get around to the Jews.
The Hill: Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison condemned Kennedy’s remarks in a tweet. ‘These are deeply troubling comments and I want to make clear that they do not represent the views of the Democratic Party,’ Harrison wrote. Rep. Ritchie Torres(D-N.Y.) tweeted, ‘Hard to imagine a son who has done more to dishonor his father’s name than RFK Jr.’
New York Post: Likely Green Party candidate Cornel West says Biden committed ‘crime against humanity’ against Black Americans.
Democrats who back Biden want to keep control of the Senate and worry about third-party presidential candidates siphoning votes in make-or-break battleground states next year. Tonight they’ll be listening attentively to Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who has not said whether he’ll seek Senate reelection in a state former President Trump won with ease. Manchin is appearing at a No Labels town hall, flirting with an independent bid for president, The Hill’s Al Weaver reports.
‘Joe is America's biggest political tease, and I trust that he'll make a judgment to run for reelection in West Virginia,’ Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) told The Hill. ‘I hope he will.’
No Labels chairman Joe Lieberman, a former Connecticut senator and former vice presidential candidate, said Sunday the nonprofit won’t play a ‘spoiler’ role to tilt next year’s election results if polls suggest that possibility (ABC News and Reuters).
‘We're not in this to be spoilers,’ Lieberman said, arguing the centrist group is in search of a unity ticket. No Labels today plans to unveil its agenda in New Hampshire, an early primary state.” [The Hill]
POLITICS
2024 GOP candidates desperate to make debate stage are finding creative ways to boost donor numbers
“With six weeks until the first 2024 Republican presidential debate, some hopefuls are finding creative ways to boost their donor numbers and ensure they make it on that stage. Read more.
Why this matters:
The Republican National Committee requires that participants in the Aug. 23 debate in Milwaukee raise money from at least 40,000 donors across the country. That’s a tall task for some of the hopefuls who aren’t as well known as former President Donald Trump or Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The debate stage provides a make-it-or-break-it opportunity for lower-tier candidates in a large field who need media exposure to share their message and reach voters.” [AP News]
BUSINESS
San Francisco’s downtown is a wake-up call for other cities
“Empty storefronts dot the streets. ‘Going out of business’ signs hang in windows. Last month, the owner of Westfield San Francisco Centre, a fixture for more than 20 years, said it was handing the mall back to its lender. San Francisco has become the prime example of what downtowns shouldn’t look like: vacant and in various stages of decay. Read more.
Why this matters:
San Francisco's downtown ranked last in a study of 63 North American downtowns for returning to pre-pandemic activity. The city is also facing low hotel revenues, below 50% weekly office attendance, and a significant decline in commuter rail travel to downtown.
Leaders are taking the demise of downtown seriously. Recently, the state began relaxing downtown zoning rules for mixed-use spaces and investing in infrastructure to improve walkability and lure back businesses. Real estate experts also point to office-to-housing conversions as a potential lifeline.” [AP News]
A Ukrainian serviceman of the 10th Assault Brigade Edelweiss fires a D-30 cannon toward Russian positions at the front line, near Bakhmut, Ukraine. (AP Photo/Libkos, File)
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
Here’s a look at what’s happening 16 months into the Russia-Ukraine war
“The first phase of Ukraine’s counteroffensive to recapture Russian-occupied territory began weeks ago without fanfare. Apart from claiming that its troops are edging forward, Kyiv has not offered much detail on how it’s going. Ukraine may very well be biding its time, trying to stretch Russian forces before striking. Read more.
Why this matters:
Taking place mostly out of sight of impartial observers, the fighting in eastern and southern Ukraine pits troops equipped with new Western-supplied weapons against Kremlin forces that spent months digging formidable defenses and honing tactics.
The Ukrainian counteroffensive will be ‘very long’ and ‘very bloody,’ U.S. Army Gen. Mark Milley, said recently. Western analysts say the counteroffensive, even if it prospers, won’t end the war. But it could prove to be a decisive episode and strengthen Kyiv’s hand in any negotiations.” [AP News]
Headscarf patrols
“Iran's morality police will resume patrols to make women comply with strict Islamic dress codes, state media reported Sunday, 10 months after the death of a young woman in their custody triggered nationwide protests. Officers will first warn women who are not complying, while those who ‘insist on breaking the norms’ may face legal action, a spokesman for Iran’s enforcement body said. The morality police were cast into the international spotlight last September when 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died three days after being arrested by the force for wearing her hijab, or headscarf, incorrectly and taken to a ‘re-education’ center. Inside these facilities, detainees are given classes about Islam and the importance of the hijab and are forced to sign a pledge to abide by the state's clothing regulations before they are released.” [CNN]
“Presidents Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskiy face a potentially decisive summer that may shape the resolution of the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Putin unexpectedly finds himself having to worry about his domestic security as tensions within the Russian military over the course of the war have erupted into the open since last month’s mutiny by Wagner mercenaries.
Top generals have disappeared from view as the security services investigate whether elements in the military knew about and sympathized with Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin’s revolt aimed at ousting Russia’s defense minister and army chief. Others have made very public criticisms of Russia’s top military leadership.
The discontent mirrors deepening doubts among Russia’s elite about Putin’s ability to avoid defeat in Ukraine.
Explosions that damaged Putin’s flagship bridge to Crimea today, which Russia blamed on Ukraine, underscored the sense of gloom, while the collapse of the Black Sea grain deal creates further tensions.
It’s all stoking political unease as the Kremlin tries to lay the ground for another six-year term for Putin at elections scheduled for March.
Zelenskiy knows that by the fall he’ll need to show something substantial from the military counteroffensive that’s making slow, grinding progress in eastern and southern Ukraine after months of preparations and billions of dollars of weapons delivered by Kyiv’s international alies.
Ukraine was left disappointed by last week’s NATO summit that pledged more military support but held back from offering a formal invitation to join the alliance.
While US President Joe Biden said later that the economic and political toll on Russia meant Putin ‘has already lost the war,’ Ukraine knows that only battlefield successes will help it regain territory and strengthen its position in any future negotiations to end the conflict.
The mutiny exposed Putin’s position as more fragile than anyone thought under the stresses of the war. The summer’s fighting may show whether Zelenskiy’s has strengthened sufficiently to deal a decisive blow.” [Bloomberg]
“Two unexpected resignations rocked Singapore’s ruling People’s Action Party, fueling one of the biggest political crises in the city-state’s history. The decisions of parliamentary speaker Tan Chuan-Jin and another lawmaker to quit are the latest in a series of scandals to send shockwaves through Singapore, including a graft probe into a cabinet minister and investigations into pricey rentals by two other members of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s administration.
Here’s a look at past scandals that have engulfed politicians from the ruling party.” [Bloomberg]
“US envoy John Kerry is in China for the first major climate talks in almost a year, with both sides pledging to overlook tensions and work toward tangible results. Climate negotiations between the world’s top two emitters were suspended last year after then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its territory. Kerry expressed hope of ‘big steps’ in the discussions today, while his Chinese counterpart, Xie Zhenhua, said their exchanges on climate could help improve bilateral ties.
Taiwanese Vice President Lai Ching-te, a top candidate for president, will stop in the US next month en route to South America in a visit that risks roiling tensions with China months before the election.” [Bloomberg]
“Pita Limjaroenrat can’t be nominated as prime minister again when Thailand’s parliament reconvenes on Wednesday to vote afresh after he fell short last week, a member of the military-appointed Senate that picks the new leader said. The view of Senator Seri Suwannapanont highlights further obstacles to Pita, whose Move Forward Party won the most seats in the May general election but faces opposition from conservative forces due to an election promise of amending the country’s royal insult law.” [Bloomberg]
Pita speaks to the media following the vote for the new prime minister in Bangkok on July 13. Photographer: Valeria Mongelli/Bloomberg
“The sense of despondency in the UK’s governing Conservative Party has deepened with the announcement that Defense Secretary Ben Wallace will leave the government at the next cabinet reshuffle and will not be a candidate in the upcoming general election. The timing is difficult for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak amid voter dissatisfaction with 13 years of Tory government, including deep-rooted problems in the National Health Service.” [Bloomberg]
“Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said he will hand over power to a caretaker government before the completion of his term next month.
Leaders of the European Union are seeking to reboot relations with Latin America as they host their counterparts from the region in a competition for influence and trade links against Russia and China.
Tunisia and the EU signed a partnership to strengthen cooperation on migration policy that could become a blueprint for curbing deadly migrant journeys across the Mediterranean Sea.
Support for Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s cabinet fell amid concerns over problems with a national ID card and the release of treated wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear site.
President Yoon Suk Yeol headed to the storm-battered towns of South Korea, as the latest downpours left at least 40 people dead and nine missing in floods and landslides.” [Bloomberg]
“Artwork and statues in China’s Dunhuang caves have survived sandstorms, political upheaval and tourists for more than a millennium. Now preservationists fear they’re facing their most unrelenting foe yet — climate change. Extreme weather is bringing increased bouts of heavy rainfall and moisture to the deserts of Gansu province that have preserved the caves and their artwork. Delicate paintings are increasingly flaking and peeling, and cracks are forming that could undermine the structural integrity of the caves themselves.” [Bloomberg]
Crumbling and detachment on a mural in the Eastern Cave of the Jinta Temple. Source: Greenpeace
A Brooklyn memorial commemorating Americans who died during the pandemic.Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Measuring Covid deaths
“The United States has reached a milestone in the long struggle against Covid: The total number of Americans dying each day — from any cause — is no longer historically abnormal.
Excess deaths, as this number is known, has been an important measure of Covid’s true toll because it does not depend on the murky attribution of deaths to a specific cause. Even if Covid is being underdiagnosed, the excess-deaths statistic can capture its effects. The statistic also captures Covid’s indirect effects, like the surge of vehicle crashes, gun deaths and deaths from missed medical treatments during the pandemic.
During Covid’s worst phases, the total number of Americans dying each day was more than 30 percent higher than normal, a shocking increase. For long stretches of the past three years, the excess was above 10 percent. But during the past few months, excess deaths have fallen almost to zero, according to three different measures.
The Human Mortality Database estimates that slightly fewer Americans than normal have died since March, while The Economist magazine and the C.D.C.both put the excess-death number below 1 percent. Here is the C.D.C. data:
Source: C.D.C. | Data is through the week ending June 17, 2023. | By The New York Times
After three horrific years, in which Covid has killed more than one million Americans and transformed parts of daily life, the virus has turned into an ordinary illness.
The story is similar in many other countries, if not quite so positive:
Source: The Economist excess deaths model | Data is through the week ending July 10, 2023. | By The New York Times
The power of immunity
The progress stems mostly from three factors:
First, about three-quarters of U.S. adults have received at least one vaccine shot.
Second, more than three-quarters of Americans have been infected with Covid, providing natural immunity from future symptoms. (About 97 percent of adults fall into at least one of those first two categories.)
Third, post-infection treatments like Paxlovid, which can reduce the severity of symptoms, became widely available last year.
‘Nearly every death is preventable,’ Dr. Ashish Jha, who was until recently President Biden’s top Covid adviser, told me. ‘We are at a point where almost everybody who’s up to date on their vaccines and gets treated if they have Covid, they rarely end up in the hospital, they almost never die.’
That is also true for most high-risk people, Jha pointed out, including older adults — like his parents, who are in their 80s — and people whose immune systems are compromised. ‘Even for most — not all but most — immunocompromised people, vaccines are actually still quite effective at preventing against serious illness,’ he said. ‘There has been a lot of bad information out there that somehow if you’re immunocompromised that vaccines don’t work.’
That excess deaths have fallen close to zero helps make this point: If Covid were still a dire threat to large numbers of people, that would show up in the data.
One point of confusion, I think, has been the way that many Americans — including we in the media — have talked about the immunocompromised. They are a more diverse group than casual discussion often imagines.
Most immunocompromised people are at little additional risk from Covid — even people with serious conditions, such as multiple sclerosis or a history of many cancers. A much smaller group, such as people who have received kidney transplants or are undergoing active chemotherapy, face higher risks.
With vs. from
Covid’s toll, to be clear, has not fallen to zero. The C.D.C.’s main Covid webpage estimates that about 80 people per day have been dying from the virus in recent weeks, which is equal to about 1 percent of overall daily deaths.
The official number is probably an exaggeration because it includes some people who had virus when they died even though it was not the underlying cause of death. Other C.D.C. data suggests that almost one-third of official recent Covid deaths have fallen into this category. A study published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases came to similar conclusions.
Even so, some Americans are still dying from Covid. ‘I don’t know anybody who thinks we’re going to eradicate Covid,’ Jha said.
Dr. Shira Doron, the chief infection control officer at Tufts Medicine in Massachusetts, told me that ‘age is clearly the most substantial risk factor.’ Covid’s victims are both older and disproportionately unvaccinated. Given the politics of vaccination, the recent victims are also disproportionately Republican and white.
Each of these deaths is a tragedy. The deaths that were preventable — because somebody had not received available vaccines and treatments — seem particularly tragic. (Here’s a Times guide to help you think about when to get your next booster shot.)
Yet the number of Covid deaths has now dropped low enough that they are difficult to notice in the overall death data. They can be swamped by fluctuations in other causes of death, such as the flu or vehicle crashes.
Almost a year ago, President Biden angered some public health experts when he declared, ‘The pandemic is over.’ He may have been premature to make that declaration. But the excess-deaths milestone suggests that it’s true now: The pandemic is finally over.
Related: Researchers are working to ensure developing countries don’t have to rely on wealthy nations for vaccines in a future pandemic, The Washington Post reports.” [New York Times]
Location-sharing booms
Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios
“Young people are increasingly sharing their locations digitally to track — or be tracked — by loved ones and acquaintances, Axios' April Rubin reports.
Why it matters: Privacy experts are apprehensive about indefinite location sharing.
Between friends, location sharing can forge a bond and create a sense of accountability with one another — notably for Gen Z. For parents and children, it can add a vital sense of security.
Nearly 80% of people have location sharing activated on their phones some of the time, while 16% have it activated all of the time, according to a 2022 study by The Harris Poll for the New York Times.
How it works: People who share their location on the app Find My Friends, which launched in 2011, can do so for "one hour," "until end of day" or "indefinitely."
Apple announced a feature in June called "Check In" — coming in the fall with iOS 17 — which allows users to let others know when they've reached their destination.
If users don't check in at their declared destination, their location, battery level, cell service status and last active time will be shared with select contacts.
Location sharing can change a social dynamic. An unspoken expectation: when someone shares their location, the recipient will share theirs back.” [Axios]
Twitter loses nearly half advertising revenue since Elon Musk takeover
By Jemma Dempsey
BBC News
“Twitter has lost almost half of its advertising revenue since it was bought by Elon Musk for $44bn (£33.6bn) last October, its owner has revealed.
He said the company had not seen the increase in sales that had been expected in June, but added that July was a ‘bit more promising’.
Mr Musk sacked about half of Twitter's 7,500 staff when he took over in 2022 in an effort to cut costs.
Rival app Threads now has 150 million users, according to some estimates….” Read more at BBC
Investors flock to Tucker
Tucker Carlson speaks Saturday at the Turning Point Action Conference in West Palm Beach, Fla. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
“Tucker Carlson has struck an ad deal worth more than $1 million with PublicSq., an online marketplace for companies with conservative values, Axios Media Trends expert Sara Fischer reports.
Why it matters: The ad deal represents the first commercial agreement that will be part of Carlson's ambitious new digital media company, for which he wants to raise hundreds of millions of dollars.
Omeed Malik, the chief executive and chairman of the blank-check company looking to take PublicSq. public this month, is also planning to invest in Carlson's company, sources told Axios.
Malik is planning to invest seven or eight figures in Carlson's media empire through his private investment firm, 1789 Capital, a source told Axios.
1789 Capital focuses investments in companies that support the "Replication/Parallel Economy," "Deglobalization" and "Anti-ESG (i.e. sectors that have been negatively impacted by such principles)."
A Wall Street Journal story last week triggered sizable investor interest from both private investment companies and wealthy individuals, a source told Axios.
Carlson's new venture will center around video, both through a website and app, and through free video distributed on Twitter, and possibly other social platforms.
Carlson has been pitching investors on the idea that some of the video will eventually go behind a paywall on his own site.
Carlson is launching the venture with his former executive producer at Fox News, Justin Wells, and Neil Patel, a previous adviser to former Vice President Dick Cheney and the publisher of conservative news site Daily Caller, which he co-founded with Carlson in 2010.” [Axios]
Minutes before John F. Kennedy was assassinated.Bettmann, via Getty Images
“The Kennedy Files: Some of the assassination papers are redacted. Historians and conspiracy theorists have questions.” [New York Times]
Carlos Alcaraz celebrates with the trophy at the Wimbledon tennis championships. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
“Carlos Alcaraz and Marketa Vondrousova snag major Wimbledon upsets
Carlos Alcaraz Sunday became the first man outside the elite quartet of Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray to win Wimbledon since 2002 and, to many, it symbolized a transfer of power in men’s tennis. The historic win came a day after Marketa Vondrousova became the first unseeded woman to win Wimbledon. Royals were in the stands and Kate, the Princess of Wales, presented the trophies Sunday.” [AP News]
Photo of the day: Inter Miami CF unveils Lionel Messi
“After weeks of anticipation, Lionel Messi has finally signed with Inter Miami CF and was unveiled in front of his new home crowd in the rain at DRV PNK Stadium on Sunday night. Meanwhile, ticket prices for the squad's upcoming games skyrocketed.” Read more at AP News
Lionel Messi is presented his new jersey by owners of Inter Miami CF David Beckham, Jose R. Mas and Jorge Mas.
CHANDAN KHANNA, AFP via Getty Images
WATCH: Hundreds of golden retrievers gather in Scotland
“Hundreds of golden retrievers flocked to the ruins of the Guisachan House in Scotland last week to mark the breed’s 155th anniversary.” [AP News]
Actress, singer and style icon Jane Birkin died yesterday at 76.
Birkin in 1968. (Reg Burkett/Daily Express/Getty Images)
“Who was she? Birkin was born in London but settled in France, where she became a leader in French style in the 1960s and 70s. She was known for her political activism.
Her style legacy: Paris fashion house Hermès created the Birkin bag in her honor in 1984. She had met the head of Hermès on a flight and sketched her vision for a bigger handbag.”
Read this story at Washington Post