by Fiachra GIBBONS
Paris, France | As the last of the Paris menswear collections go down runways, we survey the big themes of the week's fashion shows.
- Fashion (still) loves England -They may have plunged themselves and the world's financial markets into crisis with Thursday's Brexit vote, but everybody still loves the English -- or their style at least.
From Dior's black-clad boot boys to Louis Vuitton's rakish colonial artistos, British influences where ever present, liberally dolloped with pure London punk.
String vests and braces have never looked so elegant as they did on the Dior runway, with designer Kris Van Assche cutting the skinhead aggression with the melancholic gothic whimsy of The Cure.
Deconstructed cricket jumpers graced the Japanese label Facetasm's show and Walter Van Beirendonck embraced almost every sartorial icon of an eternal England from boating blazers to brogues and even Morris men folk dancers.
Fellow Flemish master Dries Van Noten paid homage to the 19th-century English arts and crafts movement in his show, referencing patterns from William Morris' home in Kelmscott Manor.
At a time of such anglophilia, the Brexit vote came as a shock.
Chanel's guru Karl Lagerfeld blamed country yokels for voting Leave, while Agnes b. got up a last-minute celebrity petition begging Britons to stay in Europe. "We are very sad," the French designer said Sunday. "Hopefully there will be another vote."
Oddly the happiest man in Paris was the English designer Paul Smith, a fervent pro-European.
But you couldn't but be cheerful seeing his joyful reggae-toned new spring-summer collection. "Life goes on," he told AFP. You have to be "positive and happy in this weird world".
- And Scotland too... -The longer fashion week went on the more it resembled a gathering of the clans, reaching an apex when Smith unveiled the latest style to have come out of the British cultural melting pot -- "rasta tartan".
British for now, that is.
"It's Scotland gone mad," he told AFP as his models broke out in big smiles wearing the rainbow-Rastafarian plaid in beautifully tailored beachy, Caribbean casual wear and zoot suits.
Louis Vuitton, Dior, Off-White and Japanese labels Kolor and Facetasm also made eye-catching use of plaid while the hipsters of OAMC gave it a grungy Irvin Welsh urban edge.
- Suits you sir! - Style critics often complain that men's fashion is boring. Always the same. Jackets, jumpers and cardigans, and most dull of all, the suit.
No longer. Designers took massive liberties with the suit this week, none more so than the Vetements tyro Demna Gvasalia, who also now holds the scissors at Balenciaga.
The young Georgian dramatically remade the classic suit, pulling it tighter to the body while throwing out huge padded shoulders.
While many other have copied his oversized trope, none have yet done it so well.
Elsewhere, arms were ripped off suits and raincoats, lapels inverted, and pockets and tailoring all revealed. But all felt like deconstruction compared to Gvasalia's radical flair.
- Socks with everything -Worn high, low and -- whisper it -- even with sandals, socks are slowly being rehabilitated from style Siberia.
While footballers at Euro 2016 in France are wearing theirs above the knee, Facetasm, White Mountaineering and the American label Off-White dared to put sports socks on the catwalk.
Kenzo came furthest out of the closet repeatedly teaming socks with sandals -- and matching black socks and white sandals for further shock value. Some hosiery went nearly to the knees and French label Pigalle thoroughly trashed the taboo by adding bath sandals.
In one final act of pure provocation Paul Smith sent out the invitations to his show on pairs of socks. He followed this by smuggling stripey socks and sandals onto the catwalk. "Weren't they great?" he told AFP.
Paris, France A Japanese woodblock print from the Edo era fetched 745,000 euros ($841,000) at auction in Paris on, setting a world record for both the genre and the artist, Kitagawa Utamaro, the auctioneer said.
The work by the 18th-century artist, titled "Deeply Hidden Love" (Fukaku shinobu koi), was auctioned jointly by the Beaussant Lefevre auction house in association with Christie's.
The print, from his "Anthology of Love" series, was the star lot in a collection worth an estimated 1.5 million euros that had been held by the Portier family for four generations.
The work had been expected to fetch around 100,000 euros.
Utamaro, born in 1753 in Tokyo -- then named Edo and the heart of Japan's last feudal military government -- was a leading producer of the Ukiyo-e genre of painting and printing.
He was renowned for his works depicting beautiful women but also nature, including insects.
All of the 90 lots put up for auction -- mainly Japanese earthenware including chawan (tea bowls) and kogo incense boxes -- found buyers after intense bidding.
Toshusai Sharaku's portrait of actor Tanimura Torazo fetched 101,000 euros while a bust of comedian Iwai Hanshiro by Utagawa Kunimasa went for 78,680 euros.
The auction featured eight exceptional Edo stamps in all, mainly portraits of actors by leading lights of the genre including Toshusai Sharaku -- active only between 1794 and 1795 -- Kitagawa Kunimasa (1773-1810) and Utagawa Toyokuni (1769-1825).
Each was acquired by Henri Portier and his son Andre, major figures in the Asian art market in France, in sales at the Drouot auction house over the past century.
Most of the works have not been seen in public since but prospective bidders had the chance to view the collection for two days prior to Wednesday's auction.
Auctioneers Eric Beaussant and Pierre-Yves Lefevre, Christie’s international director of Asian arts Geraldine Lenain and Asian arts expert Alice Jossaume said ahead of the sale they were honoured to be involved.
"(The Portiers') expertise has been a reference for the Asian art market for the past four generations," they said in a statement.
Rome, Italy | In Italy's southern city of Naples, if you want to buy or sell bread, there's only one supplier to go to -- and you'd better not refuse.
So claim Italian police who said they arrested 24 people suspected of belonging to a mafia group which has controlled the market for bread in the city for years.
From supermarkets to street vendors, all bread suppliers in the northern neighbourhoods of Naples have been forced to buy their products from bakeries controlled by the Camorra mafia -- or else face the consequences.
Police also said in a statement the Camorra fixed the price of bread, higher than the open market.
Since the arrest of Camorra boss Carlo Lo Russo in April in the French Riviera city of Nice, investigators have been looking into his family and relatives.
Surveillance and wire taps led to Monday's arrests on alleged charges ranging from mafia association, drug trafficking and racketeering to weapons possession and murder.
The Italian mafia consists of three main groups: the Cosa Nostra in Sicily, the Camorra in Naples and the 'Ndrangheta in southwest Calabria.
Marseille, France | It was the match that had everything - spectacular goals, a brutal clash and a dramatic comeback, before finally, a nail-biting penalty shoot-out.
For many, West Germany's 1982 World Cup semi-final against France in Seville remains the ultimate, an engrossing duel providing new plot twists at every turn.
And as the two countries prepare to meet again in the Euro 2016 semi-final in Marseille, the 1982 match has also become a symbol of the tense football relationship between France and Germany.
"It is a scar that will remain forever," said Alain Giresse, a French midfield lynchpin at the time.
French football legend Michel Platini treasures the encounter as one of the finest moments of his career.
"For me, no book or film or play could ever recapture the way I felt that day. It was so complete, so strong, so fabulous," Platini said in an interview several years later.
For all the scintillating attacking play, it was a savage encounter between Germany goalkeeper Harald 'Toni' Schumacher and France's Patrick Battiston in the 57th minute which became the turning point.
With the score at 1-1 after a Pierre Littbarski goal was followed by an equalising penalty from Platini, Battiston was sent clear with only the advancing Schumacher to beat.
The French substitute nudged the ball past the goalkeeper only to be brought crashing to the ground by Schumacher, who knocked Battiston cold and dislodged two teeth.
- referee doesn't see red -Actions that should have earned Schumacher a red card, as well as a penalty to France, went unpunished. Incredibly, the Dutch referee later said he had not seen the incident.
"I don't blame Schumacher, it was the referee," said France defender Marius Tresor, now 66.
Fuelled by a sense of injustice as well as the burning desire to secure a place in the final against Italy, France played fabulously for the remainder of the match.
Yet they were unable to break down a typically resilient German side, who went close to winning the game with two late efforts, only to be denied by France's keeper Jean-Luc Ettori.
Early in extra time it looked as if Germany had finally cracked. An unmarked Tresor fired France ahead with a wonderful volley, hooking in a free-kick from Giresse.
Moments later the diminutive Giresse put France 3-1 ahead, his powerful long distance shot beat Schumacher and flew in off the post. But just as France were contemplating a place in the final, Germany hit back.
They reduced the deficit through Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, introduced as a substitute though not fully fit. Two minutes from time the Germans pulled level, Klaus Fischer scoring with an overhead kick from close range.
For the first time in the history of the World Cup, penalties would be used to settle a match.
France converted their three opening spot-kicks and looked to have gained the advantage when Uli Stielike saw Germany's third saved by Ettori.
With a chance to make it 4-2 to France though, Didier Six's effort was saved by Schumacher. Littbarksi, Platini and Rummenigge all scored with their next penalties before Maxime Bossis stepped up only to see Schumacher save.
Horst Hrubesch, who earlier in the tournament had attacked German coach Jupp Derwall as a coward for leaving him out of the side, sent Germany into the final by nervelessly converting his penalty.
France, one of the most gifted sides in the tournament, were out. Platini described the result as scandalous. In an interview nearly 20 years later Platini was more generous.
"In the heat of the action, I felt a profound sense of injustice after Schumacher's foul, but now I remember that match as one of the most thrilling moments of my life," Platini said. "Incredible."
The Battiston injuries are revived each time France play Germany. But Franco-German writer Marc Wels, who produced a play about the game, said the nationalist tensions have eased.
"Before the players did not travel, there was a real identity stake between national teams who had to carry their history on their shoulders," Wels said.
"Now the players are in the same clubs, its nicer. And for young people, it is a question of sport now.
London, United Kingdom | Serena Williams admits she is shocked to be on the verge of meeting sister Venus in the Wimbledon final seven years after they last slugged it out for a Grand Slam title.
For the first time since 2009, both Serena and Venus have made it to the Wimbledon semi-finals and the All England Club is abuzz with nostalgic chatter about the potential for a surprise showdown between the American stars in Saturday's final.
To make the dream match-up become a reality, defending champion Serena must beat Russian world number 50 Elena Vesnina on Thursday, while world number eight Venus plays Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber.
Between 2000 and 2010, Serena and Venus won a combined nine Wimbledon titles and made a total of 14 appearances in the final, with four of those being all-Williams affairs in 2002, 2003, 2008 and 2009.
But, just when it seemed the Williams' duopoly in south-west London would never end, in 2011 Venus was struck down by Sjogren's syndrome, an illness that causes fatigue and joint pain, and Serena's win over her sister at Wimbledon in 2009 remains their last title clash.
Venus refused to contemplate retirement and gradually learned how to manage her illness alongside reviving her stalled career.
Now, at an age when most of her contemporaries had long since called it quits, the 36-year-old has willed herself back into contention for an eighth Grand Slam crown.
It is a renaissance that makes Serena proud, but even the 34-year-old didn't expect to still be in which a chance of contesting the sport's top prizes with her sister at this advanced stage of their careers.
"I'm surprised of the longevity of it. That kind of definitely took me by surprise," Serena said.
"When you're younger and you have a dream and you say it and you believe it, that's one thing. But for it to really happen and to come true, it's just a completely different emotion.
"It means Venus has a lot of perseverance. She's a real fighter. Like I always say, it's super inspiring for me. It's really great.
"With everything she's been through, I think it's built a ton of character in her, and in me just by being around her."
- Inspired -World number one Serena, bidding for a record-equalling 22nd major title and seventh Wimbledon crown, appears to have the easier draw against first-time Grand Slam semi-finalist Vesnina, having won all four of their previous encounters.
But five-time champion Venus, who last won a major at Wimbledon in 2008, has a much tougher task against Kerber.
Kerber defeated Serena to win her maiden Grand Slam crown in Melbourne in January and holds a 3-2 edge in her meetings with Venus.
Venus, the oldest women's Wimbledon semi-finalist since Martina Navratilova in 1994, expects an equally inspired display as the German fourth seed targets a first Wimbledon final.
"Well, clearly it was one of her best days on the court," Venus said of Kerber's win over Serena.
"I imagine that she will try to recreate that. Who wouldn't?"
Kerber, 28, lost her only previous Wimbledon semi-final in 2012, but she enjoyed a victory over Venus at the same venue in the Olympics just weeks later.
"I played against her a lot of tough matches. She's always dangerous on grass, especially here in Wimbledon. She has a lot of confidence right now," Kerber said.
"But I'm playing like in Australia,really high-class tennis. I will just try to play aggressive."
If Vesnina beats Serena, it would count as one of the all-time great upsets, but the 29-year-old sounds more like an adoring fan than a player who believes she can spring a surprise.
"Nothing can be better than playing against Serena in a semi-final at Wimbledon," she said.
"Serena, I'm admiring her. She's best player in the world. It will be big challenge for me."
San Francisco, United States | Two of Asia's top women's golfers in position to play at next month's Rio de Janeiro Olympics said they are excited about the opportunity and plan to compete despite Zika virus worries.
Reigning US Women's Open champion Chun In-Gee of South Korea, who defends her crown starting, and Thailand's Ariya Jutanugarn cherished the chance to compete for their homelands in women's golf's return to the Olympic sporting lineup after being contested only in 1900.
"I can't wait for Olympics because it's going to be my first tournament play to represent Thailand," world number seven Ariya said. "I really want to play that tournament because I can represent Thailand and I'm really excited about that."
Several top men's players have withdrawn from Rio Olympic golf over Zika concerns, including world number one Jason Day of Australia, fourth-ranked Rory McIlroy, Ireland's Shane Lowry and Japan's Hideki Matsuyama.
South Africa's 37th-ranked Lee-Anne Pace is the only top women's player to have said she will not compete in Rio.
Teams will be chosen based on world rankings and Chun, ranked sixth, is third among South Koreans behind world number three Park In-Bee and fifth-ranked Kim Sei-Young.
Park is questionable for the event with a thumb injury but the depth of Korean talent is such that three other players are ninth to 11th in the rankings -- Amy Yang, Jang Ha-Na and Ryu So-Yeon -- and have a chance to move higher.
Chun will be difficult to overtake for one of the four Rio berths on offer for South Korea, twice what most nations will have because so many Koreans are in the world top 15.
"It's such a huge honor to be an Olympian," Chun said. "I'm aware there are a lot of concerns regarding health issues and security issues, but to be able to play at the Olympics is the biggest achievement and honor. So if I get a chance to play at the Olympics, I'll do my best."
Chun defends her first major crown when the 71st US Women's Open begins at the 6,752-yard CordeValle course at San Martin, California. She birdied three of the final four holes last year to fire a final-round 66 and match the tournament scoring record of 272 to edge Yang by one shot.
"The win at the US Women's Open last year was my dream come true," Chun said. "And since my dream came true, my dream has continued to come true again and again, and this year has been great."
Chun won eight times worldwide last year and has five top-three finishes this year, including a runner-up effort to world number one Lydia Ko at the year's first major, the ANA Inspiration.
"I think I'm doing very well this season," Chun said. "If I continue to be like this, since this is a very long season, I'll come up with something really great. I'm looking forward to it."
San Francisco, United States | Kevin Durant's announcement that he will leave Oklahoma City to join the Golden State Warriors, a blockbuster move that could shape the NBA's future, reverberated around the league.
Durant averaged 28.2 points, 8.2 rebounds and 5.0 assists a game last season for the Thunder, who alongside star guard Russell Westbrook came within a game of reaching the NBA Finals before losing to Golden State in the Western Conference finals.
Now Durant, the 2014 NBA Most Valuable Player and a four-time league scoring champion, will unite with Stephen Curry, the 2015 and 2016 NBA MVP and this year's top scorer with 30.1 points a game.
"I wouldn't be surprised if they score 200 pts next year," tweeted Cameroon center Joel Embiid of Philadelphia of the Warriors' single-game scoring potential.
As well as Curry and Durant comes the core of a team that won a record 73 regular-season games last season and came within a game of repeating as NBA champions before losing the final to Cleveland.
"This is definitely one of the biggest moves in NBA history," Golden State forward Draymond Green told Sports Illustrated. "(Kevin) is one of the best players in NBA history. I'm excited and I'm excited for KD."
A hike in the salary cap was enough for the Warriors to add Durant without having to destroy the heart of their lineup. They dropped free agents Harrison Barnes, Andrew Bogut and Festus Ezeli to make room for Durant, sacrificing depth for star power.
Durant met with the Thunder, Warriors, San Antonio, Boston, Miami and the Los Angeles Clippers before announcing his decision.
Durant agreed on a two-year deal worth $53 million that has a player option so he can opt out next year and make even more money when new NBA television contract revenue will send the league salary cap skyrocketing.
And Durant, who has yet to capture an NBA championship, gives himself a solid opportunity to claim a crown on a club that ousted Oklahoma City and offers 3-point sharpshooters Curry and Klay Thompson, Green and Andre Iguodala with him on the frontline and Shaun Livingston off the bench.
"If u can't beat um join um," tweeted NBA veteran Paul Pierce.
The move makes Golden State a prohibitive favorite to return to the finals with Cleveland seen as the most likely contender in the East, setting up what could be an unprecedented third consecutive meeting of the same clubs in three consecutive NBA Finals.
"Welcome to THE FAMILY KDTrey5 let's just do what we are setting out to do!!" Green tweeted.
- Durant, Curry united for USA in 2010 -Just as when LeBron James jilted Cleveland in 2010, only to return home after four seasons where he led Miami to four NBA Finals and two titles, Durant has spurned the team where he played nine seasons in hopes of winning with a "superteam" of talent.
James joined Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, whom he played alongside at the 2008 Olympics, in a "Big Three" and when he returned to Cleveland in 2014 rebuilt the same pillars with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, a 2012 Olympic teammate, joining him.
In 2010, Durant became friends with Curry and Iguodala while they were teammates on the US world championship squad. Durant was the tournament MVP for the American title team with 22.8 points a game.
"Relationships are important people!" Wade tweeted.
NBA rivals tweeted their reactions, mainly disbelief, with Portland guard C.J. McCollun calling the move a "sick change of events."
Detroit center Andre Drummond warned of potential woes, noting: "Everyone is so hyped up on the match up problems on the offensive end? They still gotta come down the other end.. Not a very big team."
And French center Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz pointed out what might be the Warriors' biggest trouble of all: "Only problem there's only 1 ball..."
Madrid, Spain | An amateur historian has found the press pass issued to French writer and pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupery when he covered Spain's 1936-39 civil war for several French newspapers, officials said.
The pass was lost because it was not stored with others given other reporters such as German photojournalist Gerda Taro, the partner of war photographer Robert Capa, Maria Jose Turrion, the assistant head of Spain's Salamanca-based civil war archives told AFP.
Dated April 16, 1937 the media accreditation for the author of "The Little Prince" was issued by the bureau in charge of propaganda for the losing Republican side in Spain's civil war.
All journalists who worked in Republican territory were required to register with the department.
Saint-Exupery was aged 36 at the time and he listed himself in the pass he filled out as being an aviator and "clerk" in what appears to be a mistaken translation into Spanish of "ecrivain", the French world for writer.
Policarpo Sanchez, a 52-year-old lawyer and amateur historian, found the press pass among other documents on June 30 in a small village in the central province of Toledo while researching civil war cinema.
"It has extraordinary value. His press pass provides us with precious information regarding his stay in Madrid," Sanchez told AFP.
Saint-Exupery had listed his address in the Spanish capital as the Hotel Florida, where many writers who came to Spain to cover the war such as Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn stayed.
The conflict pitted soldiers loyal to an elected Socialist-led government known as Republicans against rebel Nationalist troops who rose up under General Francisco Franco in his military uprising that ultimately toppled the government.
It was one of the first conflicts to be extensively covered by press around the world, especially by intellectuals who sympathised with the Republican side.
Saint-Exupery, a pioneering pilot of his era, covered the war in 1936 from Barcelona in northeastern Spain for French newspaper L'Intransigeant and then in 1937 for Paris-Soir.
He disappeared while flying over the Mediterranean in 1944, shortly after the publication of the fairy-tale-like novella "The Little Prince". His body was never found.
San Francisco, United States | Apple announced that the coming version of software for iPhones will include an easy way for people in the US to become organ donors.
The California-based technology giant said that it collaborated with Donate Live America on a feature in an iPhone Health app that will let users sign up to donate eyes, organs or tissue after the release later this year of mobile operating system iOS 10
A simple process will enable iPhone user to sign up on a National Donate Life Registry managed by the nonprofit organization, according to Apple.
"This is a huge step forward that will ultimately help save lives," said Donate Life America chief executive David Fleming.
In the US, an average of one person an hour dies waiting for an organ transplant because demand far exceeds supply, according to Fleming.
More than 120,000 people in the US are waiting for lifesaving transplants, and a new name is added to the list every 10 minutes, the nonprofit group said.
"With the updated Health app, we're providing education and awareness about organ donation and making it easier than ever to register," Apple chief operating officer Jeff Williams said in a joint release.
"It's a simple process that takes just a few seconds."
Health app on iPhone provides an overview of health and fitness data all in one place.
Apple's chief executive Tim Cook offered part of his liver for a transplant to Steve Jobs before the company co-founder died, but the offer was rejected, according to a Jobs biographer.
The Apple co-founder later did receive a liver transplant in 2009. He died in October 2011 at age 56 after a long battle with cancer.
Paris, France | Google has signed up with 18 Loire Valley chateaux to create virtual tours of the former royal dwellings, the Internet giant's Cultural Institute said.
"Not everyone is fortunate enough to be able to travel to the Loire Valley to see these wonders with their own eyes," the Paris-based institute said in a statement.
Thanks to Street View image capture technology, people can take virtual tours of Chenonceau, Chambord, Azay-le-Rideau and 15 other of the national treasures strung along the Loire in central France, including spaces that are normally off-limits to the public.
Seven of the sites can be overflown in three dimensions.
Another technology, Art Camera, homes in on details of an artwork that are invisible to the naked eye, such as the Oriental ceiling of the Villandry chateau, the Apocalypse Tapestry of Angers and the frescoes of Fontevraud Abbey.
The new technology provides even greater resolution than Gigapixel, which Google has used to digitise artworks.
Google has similar agreements with more than 1,000 museums and cultural institutions in more than 60 countries around the world.
