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Man Walks Into Barr, Steals A Letter: Bad Joke Or Lockdown Protest?

Man Walks Into Barr, Steals A Letter: Bad Joke Or Lockdown Protest?
Bertrand Hauger

The almost aptly-named village of Barr, considered one of the wine capitals of eastern France, has been targeted by vandals who may have been making a political statement about pandemic lockdown measures. Last Saturday night, someone stole the final "R" from the main town sign, proudly standing on a roundabout near the famous Route des Vins, L'Alsace-Le Pays reports.

Barr thus became "Bar."

Source: Nathalie Kaltenbach-Ernst via Facebook

Mayor Nathalie Kaltenbach-Ernst launched a call on Facebook to find the missing letter. While she jokingly acknowledged that "everybody wants a piece of Barr," she also asked whether the act should be seen as "a subliminal message in favor of the reopening of bars' which have been closed for the past four months in France because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

If the letter is not found, the mayor lamented, the rest of the sign will just have to go, to be replaced with a new one. But the mayor said she was not planning on filing a complaint. In other words: No one should end up behind bars.

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FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War

That Man In Mariupol: Is Putin Using A Body Double To Avoid Public Appearances?

Putin really is meeting with Xi in Moscow — we know that. But there are credible experts saying that the person who showed up in Mariupol the day before was someone else — the latest report that the Russian president uses a doppelganger for meetings and appearances.

screen grab of Putin in a dark down jacket

During the visit to Mariupol, the Presidential office only released screen grabs of a video

Russian President Press Office/TASS via ZUMA
Anna Akage

Have no doubt, the Vladimir Putin we’re seeing alongside Xi Jinping this week is the real Vladimir Putin. But it’s a question that is being asked after a range of credible experts have accused the Russian president of sending a body double for a high-profile visit this past weekend in the occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

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Reports and conspiracy theories have circulated in the past about the Russian leader using a stand-in because of health or security issues. But the reaction to the Kremlin leader's trip to Mariupol is the first time that multiple credible sources — including those who’ve spent time with him in the past — have cast doubt on the identity of the man who showed up in the southeastern Ukrainian city that Russia took over last spring after a months-long siege.

Russian opposition politician Gennady Gudkov is among those who confidently claim that a Putin look-alike, or rather one of his look-alikes, was in the Ukrainian city.

"Now that there is a war going on, I don't rule out the possibility that someone strongly resembling or disguised as Putin is playing his role," Gudkov said.

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