Extra, Extra

Vlad Handing: “He beamed as he clinked a champagne flute with visiting heads of state at a gala dinner. He stood proudly beside the powerful leaders of China and India, who chose his country to hold their own first official meeting in more than five years. And he held court at round table discussions during which he pronounced that the West is facing an irreversible process of decline.” NYT (Gift Article): Inside Putin’s Alternate Reality: Warm Embraces and a Veneer of Normalcy. Normalcy is contagious. Navalny widow blasts UN chief Guterres for meeting ‘murderer’ Putin. “It was the third year of the war, and the UN Secretary-General was shaking hands with a murderer.”

+ Rewriting the Ending: In another case of a documentary having a big effect on a legal matter, the Los Angeles County District Attorney has recommended resentencing of Menendez brothers for the 1989 slaying of their parents.

+ Mc Drop: “The E. coli outbreak linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounders has led to 75 illness across 13 states, including 22 hospitalizations and one death.” Vox examines why food recalls are everywhere right now.

+ Well, Well, Well: “A 12th-century Norse saga tells of an invading army from the south razing a castle stronghold and throwing a dead body into the well to render the water undrinkable. Human remains believed to be those of this so-called “Well-man” were discovered in the 1930s, providing valuable potential outside confirmation of the tale. Scientists have now sequenced the DNA of those remains, and while they could not prove once and for all that the remains are those of the Well-man, their findings are consistent with that identification.” DNA corroborates ‘Well-man’ tale from Norse saga.