World
Russian influencers are cutting up their Chanel bags in protest of the company’s wartime policies.
When Marina Ermoshkina, a Russian TV presenter, realized that workers at a Chanel retailer in Dubai had refused to promote a high-end bag to a Russian buyer, after asking her to signal papers testifying that she wouldn’t put on the bag in Russia, she reacted in shock.
Ms. Ermoshkina, 28, purchased a pair of gardening scissors, took a video of herself as she reduce her Chanel bag in half and posted it to Instagram.
“That is Russophobia,” she mentioned in a telephone name from Moscow. “That is the purest type of discrimination.”
A whole bunch of 1000’s of individuals noticed her video, which was additionally broadcast on Russian tv. Quickly afterward, Victoria Bonya, a Russian social media influencer with 9.3 million Instagram followers, adopted swimsuit, taking a pair of scissors to a Chanel bag that sells for 1000’s of {dollars}.
“If Chanel home doesn’t respect the purchasers, why do we’ve to respect Chanel home?” she mentioned as she butchered her bag from the enduring French model on video.
Chanel, like many worldwide corporations, suspended operations in Russia in response to President Vladimir V. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Along with quickly closing shops and suspending deliveries in Russia, Chanel additionally started asking clients in its international shops to attest that the objects they have been buying wouldn’t be utilized in Russia.
In an announcement, the corporate mentioned that it was making an attempt to adjust to European Union and Swiss sanctions that prohibit the “sale, provide, switch or export, instantly or not directly, of luxurious items to any pure or authorized individual, entity or physique in Russia or to be used in Russia.” The prohibition, the corporate mentioned, applies to luxurious items whose worth exceeds 300 euros per merchandise (about $326), which applies to most of Chanel’s merchandise.
This angered Ms. Ermoshkina, who mentioned that whereas withdrawing from Russia was the corporate’s alternative, its coverage towards clients bringing objects into the nation is discriminatory and humiliating.
“If all the ladies are the identical, why does Chanel discriminate towards ladies for his or her nationality?” she mentioned.
Chanel declined to touch upon the reactions of the Russian celebrities, however within the assertion, it apologized “for any misunderstanding this may increasingly have precipitated, as welcoming all our purchasers, no matter the place they arrive from, is a precedence for Chanel.” The corporate acknowledged that “this means of strolling via the regulation has precipitated disappointment to a few of our purchasers.”
Ms. Ermoshkina mentioned she was glad Chanel apologized, however its response didn’t totally fulfill her. She has put up on the market all her different Chanel belongings and mentioned she intends to donate the earnings to an affiliation that she mentioned helps the folks of Donbas, the area of jap Ukraine that’s dwelling to many Russian-speaking folks.
Different influencers have joined her in refusing to put on Chanel garments and equipment. Some have reposted her phrases: “Not a single bag, not a single factor is value my love for my motherland.”
Amongst them is the Russian D.J. Katya Guseva, who had at all times dreamed of proudly owning a Chanel bag, just like the Hollywood celebrities she admired. However she lately instructed her 500,000 Instagram followers that she now not wanted that bag. In a WhatsApp message, she wrote: “With out Chanel we’ll proceed to stay completely.”
Valeriya Safronova contributed reporting.
World
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World
Brazil's leftist president concerned Biden can't beat Trump: 'I think Biden has a problem'
President Biden is now facing calls from members of the international community who want him to quit the 2024 presidential race, with even leftist Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva warning that “Biden has a problem.”
“He’s moving more slowly, he is taking longer to answer questions,” Lula explained to a local radio station, according to Bloomberg. “The U.S. elections are very important for all the world.”
Biden’s first presidential debate against former President Trump last month proved to be a debacle, leading Biden to admit just days later that he “screwed up.”
“I had a bad night,” Biden, 81, said Thursday in an interview with radio host Earl Ingram. “And the fact of the matter is that, you know, I screwed up.”
DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSMAN CALLS OUT ‘ARROGANT’ BIDEN CAMPAIGN RESPONSE TO DEBATE FALLOUT
While Republicans predictably criticized the performance, even Democrats have fallen into a panic, and the president has had to hold crisis talks with close allies to reassure them he’s still up to the job — and will be for another four years.
The debate, however, sent shock waves through the international community, with some allies refusing to stay quiet about an issue that they see as being too important to treat delicately.
Matteo Renzi, who served as Italian prime minister from 2014 to 2016 and who proved to be a close friend to Democrats during his tenure, wrote on social media platform X that “Joe Biden can’t do it.”
TRUMP CHALLENGES BIDEN TO SECOND PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE — BUT THERE’S A CATCH
“As Senator, Vice President, President he served the United States of America with honor,” Renzi wrote. “He doesn’t deserve an inglorious ending, he doesn’t deserve one. Changing horses is a duty for everyone.”
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski struck a similar tone in a cryptic message on X that some have taken to be an unfavorable comparison between Biden and the great Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius.
“Marcus Aurelius was a great emperor, but he screwed up his succession by passing the baton to his feckless son Commodus (He, from the Gladiator) whose disastrous rule started Rome’s decline),” Sikorski wrote. “It’s important to manage one’s ride into the sunset.”
Marie-Agness Strack-Zimmermann, a German politician and current Chair of the Defense Committee of the Bundestag, told one outlet, “The fact that a man like Trump could become president again because the Democrats are unable to put up a strong candidate against him would be a historic tragedy that the whole world would feel,” The Guardian reported.
WHITE HOUSE STAFF ‘MISERABLE’ AMID PRESSURE ON BIDEN: REPORT
Other European officials have reportedly started to privately argue that Biden should step aside in favor of someone with a stronger chance of beating Trump, with Vice President Kamala Harris one of the leading candidates to assume the task.
Bloomberg reported that sources familiar with high-level discussions between European officials worry about the U.S. election due to its potential impact on Ukraine and NATO at a time when Russia remains aggressive.
Biden will have a chance to reassure America’s allies during a NATO summit that he will host in the U.S. next week, with his every action under intense scrutiny. One official at the G-7 meeting in Italy last month told Bloomberg that an air of worry hung around the meetings due to Biden’s apparent cognitive issues.
One person familiar with those conversations told The Washington Post that Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had seen Biden as “mentally on top of his game” but physically weak — concerns that grew more pronounced following the debate.
In Asia, Japan and South Korea, uneasiness has increased about a return to the strained relations of the Trump era, when his administration urged greater financial contributions for military assistance and tensions rose due to aggressive trade practices, Reuters reported.
Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser and Remy Numa contributed to this report.
World
Slovakia's PM attends first public event since May 15 shooting
A gunman shot the Slovakian prime minister five times as he greeted supporters in the town of Handlová in May.
Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico has made his first public appearance since he was shot on May 15 in an apparent assassination attempt.
He spoke at an event at Devín Castle in the capital Bratislava to mark Saint Cyril and Methodius Day, a national holiday in Slovakia to commemorate the day the two Christian missionaries arrived in what was then Moravia.
He made only one reference to his shooting, referring to it only as an “unfortunate event”, and used his speech largely to talk about the need to build a barrier against progressivism which he said is spreading “like a cancer”.
“They are ideologies that are damaging this country. They are ideologies that were created perhaps only the day before yesterday. I do not want Slovakia to be one of the countries that make a caricature of Western civilisation. We are a proud nation,” he said.
He also used his speech to caution against the war in Ukraine spiralling into a broader regional conflict.
“If we do not do something in the coming days and months, the situation that is developing in Ukraine could get out of hand and we could see an uncontrolled war,” he warned.
Handlová shooting
The 59-year-old populist prime minister was shot in the abdomen at close range as he greeted supporters following a government meeting in Handlová on 15 May.
Videos showed him approach people gathered at barricades and reach out to shake hands as a man stepped forward, extended his arm and fired five rounds before being tackled and arrested.
Fico underwent a five-hour surgery to treat multiple wounds he suffered in the shooting, followed by another two-hour surgery two days later to remove dead tissue from his gunshot wounds.
In late May, he was airlifted from the hospital in Banská Bystrica to the capital, Bratislava, where he was nursed at home.
Fico has since said he forgave his attacker and felt “no hatred towards the stranger who shot me”.
“I will not take any active legal action against him or seek damage compensation. I forgive him and let him sort out what he did and why he did it in his own head,” he said.
In early June, Slovakia’s Deputy Prime Minister Robert Kaliňák, who also serves as minister of defence in Fico’s government, said Fico’s condition was gradually improving but that he would likely have permanent health issues.
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