Louis Vuitton reentered the novelty bag space with the release of its Lifebuoy bag.
Designed with the French luxury fashion house‘s signature craft, the bag was teased by guests at the Louis Vuitton men’s spring 2026 show in Paris in June. Featuring its iconic logo on the leather canvas material, the bag is now listed on the brand’s website as “Notify Me” with a retail price of $10,000.
A guest wears a dark brown Louis Vuitton lifebuoy canvas bag.
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Despite the unique circular design, the bag is functional, featuring three separate zipped compartments and an adjustable leather strap for shoulder or cross-body carry. The accessory is already catching the attention of social media.
This is not the first time the French house has had a novelty purse making waves online. In 2021, Louis Vuitton debuted a viral airplane bag, created by the late Virgil Abloh, which retailed for roughly $39,000. Other entries into the brand’s novelty bag list include the LV Fan bag, from the spring 2025 runway, the LV Monogram LV Paint Can Bag and the LV x Yayoi Kusama Pumpkin Shoulder Bag.
Louis Vuitton’s Lifebuoy bag.
Louis Vuitton
Over the course of the last several seasons, luxury brands have released a selection of novelty bags that stand out for their playful and unconventional designs. Notable examples include Moschino’s Teddy Bear purse, Balenciaga’s trash bag and Loewe’s tomato clutch.
“There’s been always a pendulum on what rises and falls and swings and sways,” said Susan Korn, designer of accessories label Susan Alexandra, about the trend in an interview with WWD in August 2024. “In the past couple of years we’ve seen there’s been this return to a very serious suit dressing — like neutral suit dressing, the vest as a shirt and the return to the traditional black bag. On the other end of the spectrum, you have a really fun, ridiculous, outrageous, not so serious bag. When you go too far in one direction, you always want to go to the other.”
A guest holds the Louis Vuitton Lifebuoy bag.
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Prior to the 2024 resurgence of novelty bags, signs of the trend’s rise were evident in 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In February 2020, novelty handbags were spotted at the Fame and Moda trade shows in New York City. Heather London, a sales rep for Mary Frances Accessories, noted how the trend was making a comeback at the time.
“You’re seeing it on the runway; you’re seeing it with the major designers,” London told WWD in February 2020. “It trickles down and it just keeps getting more and more popular.”
A 19-year-old newlywed was admitted to Civil Hospital Karachi in critical condition after allegedly enduring “brutal sexual violence” at the hands of her husband, who has since been arrested, officials said on Monday.
Police surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed told Dawn.com, “As per the family and the police record, the 19-year-old girl married in Lyari on June 15. She is now in a coma. Her physical examination findings are consistent with sexual violence.”
According to the contents of the first information report (FIR) registered at the Baghdadi Police Station on July 5 under Sections 324 (attempt to commit qatl-i-amd) and 376-B (punishment for gang-rape) of the Pakistan Penal Code, the complainant, the brother of the victim, said that he was a resident of Shah Beg Lane in Baghdadi, Lyari.
“On the third day of her marriage, my sister was subjected to brutal sexual violence allegedly by her husband. She remained admitted at a private hospital in the city and was later taken to Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Trauma Centre of Civil Hospital Karachi in a critical condition the other day,” the FIR read.
The complainant said his 19-year-old sister married the suspect on June 15. Her health condition deteriorated on June 30, compelling the family to bring her back home. She informed the parents that on July 17, her husband subjected her to an “unnatural sexual act”, per the FIR.
It added that the husband also sexually assaulted her with a foreign object. Subsequently, the husband subjected her to sexual violence, leading to bleeding. As per the FIR, the suspect threatened his wife with “dire consequences” if she disclosed anything to anyone.
The complainant said the family took his sister to a private hospital on Garden Road when her condition deteriorated, but no improvement was seen. The in-laws again took the victim to their home. Later on, she was brought to the trauma centre on July 4, where she was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU), the FIR said, adding that the complainant was seeking legal proceedings against the suspect.
South Deputy Inspector General of Police Syed Asad Raza told Dawn.com that the suspect had been arrested and an investigation has been launched.
Despite the presence of anti-rape laws — with punishment for rape either resulting in the death penalty or imprisonment of between 10 and 25 years — cases continue to prevail in the country.
Last week, police had said that they had arrested the primary suspect allegedly involved in the gang-rape of a girl in Ittehad Town.
In May, two sisters were subjected to a sexual assault in their home in North Karachi, police and doctors had said.
In April, in a rare verdict, an additional district and sessions judge in Gujranwala handed down 10-year rigorous imprisonment to a man for subjecting his wife to an unnatural sexual offence.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater is one of the most popular skating simulation titles which have ever graced the gaming world. Now to carry forward that legacy, the upcoming installment, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4 is releasing very soon.This is going to be a combined remastered collection of two of the most sold titles of the franchise, THPS 3 and THPS 4. THPS 3+4 will also serve as a follow-up installment of the 2020 title, THPS 1+2, which is in turn, another remastered combo of the first two games of the series. As we are nearing the launch of the upcoming installment, the release date and times for every region is now here.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4: Release dates and timings for every region
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4 is releasing on July 11, 2025. | Image via Iron Galaxy.
The developer of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4, Iron Galaxy, has confirmed that there will be two editions of this game – Standard and Digital Deluxe on PS4, PS5, Xbox One/X/S, Nintendo Switch 1, Switch 2, and PC (Steam, Battle.net, Game Pass). The standard edition is going to be released on July 11, 2025.But just like any other premium version, the Digital Deluxe Edition owners will be able to play the game three days earlier than the Standard Edition release, which is on July 8, 2025. As THPS 3+4 is going to have a concurrent release, here are all the release dates and timings of the game for different regions:
Region
Timezone
Release Date and Time
Los Angeles, USA
PDT (UTC‑7)
July 10, 2025 – 10:00 PM
New York City, USA
EDT (UTC‑4)
July 11, 2025 – 1:00 AM
London, UK
BST (UTC+1)
July 11, 2025 – 6:00 AM
Paris, France
CEST (UTC+2)
July 11, 2025 – 7:00 AM
Berlin, Germany
CEST (UTC+2)
July 11, 2025 – 7:00 AM
Mumbai, India
IST (UTC+5:30)
July 11, 2025 – 10:30 AM
Beijing, China
CST (UTC+8)
July 11, 2025 – 1:00 PM
Tokyo, Japan
JST (UTC+9)
July 11, 2025 – 2:00 PM
Sydney, Australia
AEST (UTC+10)
July 11, 2025 – 3:00 PM
São Paulo, Brazil
BRT (UTC‑3)
July 11, 2025 – 2:00 AM
As earlier mentioned, those who have pre-ordered the Digital Deluxe Edition will grant themselves a 72-hour early access period. So, they can easily calculate the time from when they can jump into the game by looking at this table. For example: the early access of THPS 3+4 will begin from 9 PM PDT on July 7, 2025 in Los Angeles. Players from different locations can convert these timings to their native timezones to get the respective release dates and timings. Besides a 3-day early access, the Digital Deluxe Edition owners will get a free cosmetic reward as well. Read More: New Upcoming games releasing in July 2025
The Iranian president has said that Israel attempted to assassinate him by bombarding an area in which he was holding a meeting.
“They did try, yes. They acted accordingly, but they failed,” Masoud Pezeshkian told the US media personality Tucker Carlson in response to a question on whether he believed Israel had tried to kill him. Carlson’s interview, conducted via an interpreter and released on Monday, is one the first interviews the Iranian president has given with western media since the 12-day war fought between Israel and Iran last month.
“It was not the United States that was behind the attempt on my life. It was Israel. I was in a meeting … they tried to bombard the area in which we were holding that meeting,” he said, according to a translation of his remarks from Farsi, without specifying whether the alleged attempt was during the recent war.
Donald Trump has already said he blocked the Israelis from trying to assassinate the 86-year-old supreme leader, AyatollahAli Khamenei, who remained in hiding for nearly three weeks. He attended a religious ceremony in Tehran at the weekend that was greeted with excitement and relief by government loyalists. He had previously made three video appearances looking pale, if defiant.
A move to kill Pezeshkian, elected last summer, would be a qualitatively different step by Israel and underline the extent to which it was not seeking just to weaken Iran’s military leadership and cadre of nuclear scientists, but to destroy the political leadership as well. At times during the 12-day war Trump spoke in favour of regime change, but seemed to back off as the campaign persisted. He now talks in terms of securing a permanent deal with Iran, but the detail of what the US is willing to offer Iran is light.
Israel claims it killed more than 30 senior security officials and 11 senior nuclear scientists to deliver a major blow to Iran’s nuclear ambitions during the 12-day war. It says it has, with the US, wiped out Iran’s three main nuclear sites.
Pezeshkian and the foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, have shown little restraint in being seen in public, attending funerals in Iran as well as travelling abroad. Pezeshkian went to a summit in Azerbaijan, while Araghchi has been to Brazil, Egypt and Moscow.
Pezeshkian also told Carlson: “We did not start this war and we do not want this war to continue in any way.”
He insisted his slogan for his presidential campaign had been to create internal national unity and to foster friendship with Iran’s neighbours.
During the interview with Carlson, Pezeshkian said his country has “no problem” restarting nuclear talks, provided that trust can be re-established with the US.
“We see no problem in re-entering the negotiations,” he said.
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“There is a condition … for restarting the talks. How are we going to trust the United States again? We re-entered the negotiations, then how can we know for sure that in the middle of the talks the Israeli regime will not be given the permission again to attack us?”
He denied that Iran had been involved in a campaign to assassinate Trump.
Asked if the International Atomic Energy Agency, the nuclear inspectorate, would be allowed to return to Iran, Pezeshkian replied: “We still do not know the extent of the damage caused to the nuclear sites. Access is currently not possible because they have been severely affected. Once access is restored, we can consider inspections. The IAEA’s silence in the face of these attacks, which are contrary to international law, has sown mistrust among the Iranians.”
The US is set to take the Syrian Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) off its list of foreign terrorist organisations on Tuesday, according to a state department memo.
The group led a rebel offensive in December that toppled the Assad regime, which had ruled Syria for 54 years. Its leader Ahmed al-Sharaa is now the country’s interim president.
HTS, also known as al-Nusra Front, was previously al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria until al-Sharaa severed ties in 2016.
In recent months, Western countries have sought to reset relations with Syria – which has faced heavy sanctions aimed at the old regime.
In late June, President Trump signed an executive order to formally end US sanctions against the country, with the White House saying the move was intended to support its “path to stability and peace”.
It added it would monitor the new Syrian government’s actions including “taking concrete steps toward normalising ties with Israel” as well as “addressing foreign terrorists” and “banning Palestinian terrorist groups”.
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani said the move would “lift the obstacle” to economic recovery and open the country to the international community.
On Friday, Syria said it was willing to cooperate with the US to reimplement a 1974 disengagement agreement with Israel.
Over the weekend, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy visited Syria – the first government minister to do so in 14 years.
He met with al-Sharaa and announced an additional £94.5m support package – aimed at supporting longer-term recovery and countries helping Syrian refugees.
The UK earlier lifted sanctions on Syria’s defence and interior ministries.
Ninety percent of Syria’s population were left under the poverty line when the Assad regime was ousted after 13 years of devastating civil war.
Al-Sharaa has promised a new Syria, but there are concerns within the country about how the new government is operating – with some suspicious of his radical past.
Only one female government minister has been appointed to date – and al-Sharaa has made almost every other appointment directly.
There have also been multiple violent attacks against minority groups in recent months.
In March, hundreds of civilians from the minority Alawite sect were killed during clashes between the new security forces and Assad loyalists. In April there were deadly clashes between Islamist armed factions, security forces and fighters from the Druze religious minority. And in June at least 25 people were killed in a suicide attack on a church in Damascus.
This sequence of images shows the fading light of the supernova SN 2025kg, which followed the fast X-ray transient EP 250108a, a powerful blast of X-rays that was detected by Einstein Probe (EP) in early 2025. Using a combination of telescopes, including the International Gemini Observatory, funded in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation and operated by NSF NOIRLab, and the SOAR telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, a Program of NSF NOIRLab, a team of astronomers studied the evolving signal of EP 250108a/SN 2025kg to uncover details about its origin. Their analysis reveals that fast X-ray transients can result from the ‘failed’ explosive death of a massive star.
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Credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA
Acknowledgment: PI: J. Rastinejad (Northwestern University)
Image processing: J. Miller & M. Rodriguez (International Gemini Observatory/NSF NOIRLab), M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLab)
Since their first detection, powerful bursts of X-rays from distant galaxies, known as fast X-ray transients (FXTs), have mystified astronomers. FXTs have historically been elusive events, occurring at vast distances away from Earth and only lasting seconds to hours. Einstein Probe (EP), launched in 2024, is dedicated to observing transient events in the X-ray and is changing the game for astronomers looking to understand the origin of these exotic events.
In January 2025 EP alerted astronomers to the nearest FXT known at the time, named EP 250108a. Its proximity to Earth (2.8 billion light-years away) provided an unprecedented opportunity for detailed observations of the event’s evolving behavior.
After the initial detection of EP 250108a, a large, international team of astronomers jumped into action to capture its signal in multiple wavelengths. The FLAMINGOS-2 spectrograph on the Gemini South telescope, one half of the International Gemini Observatory, provided near-infrared data, while the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) on the Gemini North telescope provided optical. Gemini’s rapid response capabilities allowed the team to quickly point to the location of EP 250108a where they found the shining aftermath of the explosive death of a massive star, known as a supernova.
Through analysis of EP 250108a’s rapidly evolving signal over the first six days following initial detection, the team found that this FXT is likely a ‘failed’ variation of a gamma-ray burst (GRB). GRBs are the most powerful explosions in the Universe and have been observed preceding supernovae. During these events, violent geysers of high-energy particles burst through a star’s outer layers as it collapses in on itself. These jets flow at nearly the speed of light and are detectable by their gamma-ray emission.
EP 250108a appears similar to a jet-driven explosion, but one in which the jets do not break through the outer layers of the dying star and instead remain trapped inside. As the stifled jets interact with the star’s outer layers, they decelerate and their kinetic energy is converted to the X-rays detected by Einstein Probe.
“This FXT supernova is nearly a twin of past supernovae that followed GRBs,” says Rob Eyles-Ferris, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Leicester and lead author of one of two companion papers presenting these results, to appear in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. “Our observations of the early stages of EP 250108a’s evolution show that the explosions of massive stars can produce both phenomena.”
While these early-stage observations provide insight into the mechanisms driving the FXT, longer-term monitoring of the event is necessary to piece together the characteristics of the progenitor star. So the team continued observing EP 250108a beyond the first six days, watching as the emission from the trapped jet faded and the optical signal from its associated supernova, SN 2025kg, dominated the spectra.
“The X-ray data alone cannot tell us what phenomena created the FXT,” says Jillian Rastinejad, PhD student at Northwestern University and lead author of the second companion paper. “Our optical monitoring campaign of EP 250108a was key to identifying the aftermath of the FXT and assembling the clues to its origin.”
At the location of EP 250108a, the team observed a rise in optical brightness that lasted a few weeks before fading, along with spectra containing broad absorption lines. These characteristics indicate that the FXT is associated with a Type Ic broad-lined supernova.
Near-infrared observations from the 4.1-meter Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) Telescope at NSF Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) in Chile further helped to constrain the supernova’s peak brightness, offering more clues as to what the progenitor star looked like. The team estimates that the star whose death ignited EP 250108a and its associated supernova had a mass of about 15–30 times that of the Sun.
“Our analysis shows definitively that FXTs can originate from the explosive death of a massive star,” says Rastinejad. “It also supports a causal link between GRB-supernovae and FXT-supernovae, in which GRBs are produced by successful jets and FXTs are produced by trapped or weak jets.”
Together, the team’s companion papers present the most detailed dataset to date of a supernova accompanying an EP FXT. Their combined analysis indicates that ‘failed’ jets associated with FXTs are more common in massive star explosions than ‘successful’ jets associated with GRBs. Since the launch of EP, FXTs have been detected several times each month. Meanwhile, GRB detections have historically been sparse, occurring roughly once per year.
“This discovery heralds a broader understanding of the diversity in massive stars’ deaths and a need for deeper investigations into the whole landscape of stellar evolution,” says Eyles-Ferris.
Astronomers’ understanding of stars will be significantly expanded upon by the upcoming NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory, funded by the NSF and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science (DOE/SC). Its decade-long Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) will provide astronomers with immense amounts of detailed time-domain data on stellar explosions, revealing the internal workings of FXTs and many other exotic stellar events.
“The International Gemini Observatory combines rapid response capabilities with world-leading sensitivity to faint, distant sources,” says Martin Still, NSF program director for the International Gemini Observatory. “This optimizes Gemini to be a premier follow-up machine for explosive event alerts from gravitational wave and particle detectors, space-borne surveys, and the upcoming Legacy Survey of Space and Time by the NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory.”
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This research was presented in the companion papers: “The kangaroo’s first hop: the early fast cooling phase of EP250108a/SN 2025kg” and “EP 250108a/SN 2025kg: Observations of the most nearby Broad-Line Type Ic Supernova following an Einstein Probe Fast X-ray Transient,” both to appear in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
The teams are composed of: R. A. J. Eyles-Ferris (University of Leicester), P. G. Jonker (Radboud University), A. J. Levan (Radboud University), et al.; J. C. Rastinejad (Northwestern University), A. J. Levan (Radboud University), P. G. Jonker (Radboud University) et al.
NSF NOIRLab, the U.S. National Science Foundation center for ground-based optical-infrared astronomy, operates the International Gemini Observatory (a facility of NSF, NRC–Canada, ANID–Chile, MCTIC–Brazil, MINCyT–Argentina, and KASI–Republic of Korea), NSF Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), NSF Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), the Community Science and Data Center (CSDC), and NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory (in cooperation with DOE’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory). It is managed by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) under a cooperative agreement with NSF and is headquartered in Tucson, Arizona.
The scientific community is honored to have the opportunity to conduct astronomical research on I’oligam Du’ag (Kitt Peak) in Arizona, on Maunakea in Hawai‘i, and on Cerro Tololo and Cerro Pachón in Chile. We recognize and acknowledge the very significant cultural role and reverence of I’oligam Du’ag to the Tohono O’odham Nation, and Maunakea to the Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians) community.
The Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) Telescope is a joint project of the Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovações do Brasil (MCTIC/LNA), NSF NOIRLab, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), and Michigan State University (MSU).
NEW ROLE: Massimiliano Giornetti has a new role. The designer, who in the past most notably served as creative director of Salvatore Ferragamo, has been tapped by Drumohr as its creative director.
Giornetti’s vision for the brand will be revealed at a press event on July 16 in Milan, when the spring 2026 collection will be presented.
Reached for a comment, the company released a statement to WWD underscoring this is the first time in its history it has named a creative director. “We are happy to begin this new chapter with Massimiliano Giornetti, whose refined and contemporary style will guide the development of the men’s and women’s collections, in the name of an authentic and timeless elegance,” read the statement. “His experience and the professionalism demonstrated in years of success, even in product categories still unexplored for us, will be a strategic lever for the evolution of the Drumohr lifestyle.”
Established in 1770 in Drumfries, Scotland, Drumohr is known for its high-end knitwear collections that over time have attracted an elite clientele, ranging from the British royal family to the King of Norway, in addition to celebrities spanning from Audrey Hepburn to James Stewart.
In 2006, the brand was acquired by the Gruppo Ciocca holding company, which operates sock businesses Ciocca and Sozzi, as well as knitwear brands Rossopuro and Heritage. The new owner transferred production from Scotland to Italy, where it also opened stores in key locations such as Milan, Turin, Rome and luxe resort destination Forte dei Marmi, part of its growth strategy that also sees a stronger push on womenswear, hospitality and home decor.
Giornetti will be tasked with propelling the revamp. After starting his career in womenswear with the Rome-based haute couture designer Anton Giulio Grande, Giornetti first joined the Salvatore Ferragamo company in 2000, to head up the design and development of its menswear. In 2009, his tasks expanded to also include the design of women’s collections and the following year he was promoted to oversee the creative development of all categories of the Florence-based luxury house, which he eventually exited in 2016.
In 2017, Giornetti took the design reins at Shanghai Tang as the premium Chinese brand underwent a revamp after Compagnie Financière Richemont sold the company to Italian textiles businessman Alessandro Bastagli and venture capital firm Cassia Investments. He exited the label at the end of 2018.
The following year, Florentine fashion school Polimoda tapped Giornetti as its first head of fashion design, tasking him with defining a creative angle to allow the institution to stand out among international competition, identifying the guidelines for the fashion design course’s final show and boosting the accessories, footwear and knitwear divisions, in addition to selecting new teachers for his department.
A Polimoda alumnus himself, Giornetti was promoted to director of the school in 2021, succeeding Danilo Venturi in the role. He will continue to retain the post at the school while working for Drumohr.
