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Audrey Beth Davis, Longtime Entertainment Publicist, Dies at 82
Audrey Beth Davis, a retired longtime entertainment publicist, died of natural causes on May 1 in Pennsylvania. She was 82. Davis was born on October 17, 1943, in Brooklyn, N.Y. and graduated from Bro...
Carrot Top awake after suicide attempt, reports of turmoil emerge
Comedian Scott Christopher Thompson is conscious and recovering from an apparent suicide attempt that hospitalized the 61-year-old performer known professionally as Carrot Top. Thompson’s publicist Jami Schlicher said the funnyman
Publicis Raises Guidance, Citing New Business Wins
The advertising group said it is benefiting from new business momentum driven by continued client demand for AI-powered marketing services.
Dakota Johnson is the newest Calvin Klein Girl
Interest in the brand has surged with the release of "Love Story," which chronicles the romance between John F. Kennedy Jr. and former Calvin Klein publicist Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy.
Texts link Justin Baldoni’s crisis PR pro to 'smear' sites, complaint alleges
Top Hollywood publicist Melissa Nathan faces allegations of playing a key role in running 'smear' sites for embattled celebrities amid the Justin Baldoni legal saga. In a deposition, Nathan denied she was the mastermind behind the now-defunct stephaniejonesleaks.com.
WME keeps shrinking, selling sports agency for $500 million
In its latest move to shrink its portfolio of companies, WME is selling its sports agency 160over90. French company Publicis Groupe will acquire it for $500 million.
Rex Reed, longtime film critic and journalist, dies at 87
The well-known film critic and journalist Rex Reed has died at 87. A publicist says he passed away Tuesday at his Manhattan home after a short illness. Reed was a
Publicis is buying 160over90 in its biggest sports marketing bet yet
Publicis is acquiring160over90, a sports marketing agency with blue-chip clients such as Coke and Marriott.
Rex Reed, longtime film critic and journalist, dies at 87
The well-known film critic and journalist Rex Reed has died at 87. A publicist says he passed away Tuesday at his Manhattan home after a short illness. Reed was a
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are married in elaborate MSG ceremony
Swift’s publicist confirmed the marriage took place Friday evening inside Madison Square Garden at a star-packed ceremony.
France's Publicis to buy US data firm LiveRamp in $2.2 billion
French advertising group Publicis Groupe has agreed to acquire U.S. data collaboration company LiveRamp for a total enterprise value of about $2.2 billion in an all-cash deal, it said on Sunday.
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are married in elaborate MSG ceremony
Swift’s publicist confirmed the marriage took place Friday evening inside Madison Square Garden at a star-packed ceremony.
Audrey Beth Davis, Retired Entertainment Publicist, Dies at 82
IMDb, the world's most popular and authoritative source for movie, TV and celebrity content.
Lewis Line Names Jackie Trimble Director to Expand Entertainment Practice
Lewis Line has appointed Jackie Trimble as director of entertainment, adding an experienced entertainment publicist to its leadership team as... Read More
Travis Kelce partners with Publicis Sports to launch NIL activation
One of the NFL’s biggest names is getting into the NIL game. Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce is joining forces with Publicis Sports to launch a new activation, they said in a joint announcement Tuesday. Kelce and his agency, 3 Arts Sports, are partnering with Publicis to launch Tekta, which will act as […]
WME Sells Sports Agency to Publicis
Publicis Groupe is set to acquire 160over90 in a bid to win more of advertisers’ spending in sports.
Reform and the UAE – a threat to British politics
By Alex Carlen The United Arab Emirates likes to present itself as part of the solution to the climate crisis. The oil-rich Gulf state has committed to Net Zero by 2050, hosted COP 28, and even declared “championing climate action” as one of three strategic objectives for this week’s session of the United Nations General Assembly. But behind the scenes the UAE has quietly built one of its closest political relationships in Europe with the party most hostile to climate action in Britain: Nigel Farage’s Reform UK. There is no evidence that the UAE is funding Reform. But a new FairSquare report, Petro-populism: the UAE–Reform threat, published today, documents a growing political relationship that should concern anyone interested in the integrity of British democracy. Reform’s leaders have embraced the UAE’s political model and promoted positions that align closely with the Emirati government’s priorities, while the UAE has given Farage and his party unusually warm access and public backing. What is emerging is not simply a relationship between British politicians and a wealthy Gulf state, but a channel through which an authoritarian government can cultivate political influence here, and abroad. Democracy for Sale relies on its readers. If you already support us, thanks so much. If you don’t, sign up to support fearless independent investigative journalism. Subscribe Back in January, Nigel Farage appeared at a GB News event in Dubai. On the 50th floor of a tower overlooking the luxury resorts and upscale residences of Palm Jumeirah, the Reform leader declared: “I want Clacton to look like this.” At the event – which Farage never declared on his official register of interests – senior Emirati officials mixed with British expats. Farage was keen to flatter. “We recognise you are our friends”, he said, assuring them that “a Brexit London, a Reform London, will remember you.” Controversy surrounding Reform’s finances and its susceptibility to foreign influence have centred around high-profile donations from billionaire crypto donors, and the jailing of Nathan Gill, Reform’s former leader in Wales, for accepting bribes to give pro-Russia speeches. Far less attention has been paid to Reform’s blossoming new alliance with the UAE, an oil-rich authoritarian state with a track record of ruinous anti-democratic interventions. Farage wasn’t always so fond of the UAE. Back in 2023 he called it an “absolute monarchy with an abysmal human rights record.” Now Reform’s hierarchy calls the UAE home. Deputy leader Richard Tice splits his time between his constituency and Dubai and has called on the UK to learn from the UAE. The party’s treasurer Nick Candy runs a firm which has been in partnership with a UAE-state linked firm since 2024. Nadhim Zahawi sits on the board of an Abu Dhabi think tank alongside an array of the most senior UAE officials and is reportedly close to three brothers of the country’s despotic ruler Mohammed Bin Zayed. Reform’s leading lights have effusively praised the UAE’s governance model, defended it from criticism, and advanced its political agenda in the UK. GB News, whose two major shareholders – the Legatum Foundation and Paul Marshall – have strong links to the UAE, has been more than happy to broadcast UAE propaganda and was forced to pay damages in 2025 after airing a false claim about a UK charity by the UAE “disinfluencer” Amjad Taha. The UAE has responded in kind. When the UAE Minister for Foreign Affairs conducted an official visit to the UK in May, Farage was the only non-government figure granted an audience. UAE state media publicised the meeting, and said that they discussed “the strategic relations between the two countries and ways to enhance them in a manner that serves mutual interests.” For the UAE these ‘mutual interests’ largely concern its paranoia over political Islam, and in this regard the UAE-Reform alliance is part of a broad and troubling pattern. Following a crackdown on dissent at home in the aftermath of the Arab Spring, the UAE has offered material and political support to a range of violent and authoritarian actors willing to oppose the Muslim Brotherhood with no regard for the consequences. Its meddling in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, and most notably Sudan, have been devastating. The UAE’s strategy of seeking out partners on the political fringes who it believes will advance its interests is not unique to Britain – it extends beyond the Middle East to Europe and the US. In France, it has offered clandestine support to Marine Le Pen through secret meetings, as well allegedly funding trips to the region after which Le Pen returned with a renewed focus on the UAE’s perceived enemies – Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood. Left-wing opposition leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon has accused the UAE of smearing him and of “encouraging discrimination, hatred or violence”. In the US, the UAE actively supported the rise of Donald Trump, establishing itself as a key ally during both his first and second terms. Around these relationships sits a wider ecosystem of figures willing to amplify UAE narratives, that even extends to Andrew Tate and Tommy Robinson. Subscribe In Britain, the UAE has used a combination of aggressive diplomacy and illicit, disruptive tactics to achieve its policy goal of eliminating any perceived threat from political Islam. In 2012, for instance, it threatened to block billion-pound arms deals with the UK and stop inward investment if David Cameron did not act against the Muslim Brotherhood and rein in the BBC’s coverage of the group – going so far as to suggest, with no supporting evidence, that the group had infiltrated the BBC. It has financed smear campaigns against a high-profile UK charity and funded a mercenary to secretly surveil, and possibly assassinate, a British national on British soil. In Reform UK, the UAE has finally found an ally willing to not only ban the Muslim Brotherhood, but to publicly vilify the group and repeat the UAE’s claims that dangerous Muslims are a fifth column in British society, a narrative that aligns with the Islamophobia and anti-immigration sentiments that underpin Reform’s populist politics. The Rycroft review into foreign interference concluded that “hostile states and non-state actors have a clear incentive to attempt to undermine UK democracy.” The UAE’s network and alliance with Reform must be understood within that framework. It is a powerful, disruptive and deeply authoritarian actor with the resources and networks to intervene in our politics, and a track-record of doing so in a multitude of other countries. The evidence of the threat the UAE poses is overwhelming. The question is whether parliamentarians are willing to call the UAE out and demand action using the tools that the government has to respond. Placing the UAE on the “Enhanced Tier” of the Foreign Registration scheme alongside Russia and Iran would send a powerful signal to the UAE that its meddling will no longer be tolerated, and would place Farage’s next trips to the UAE under the scrutiny they deserve. Alex Carlen is research and advocacy manager at London based human rights organisation FairSquare and author of its new report Petro-populism: the UAE–Reform threat. Subscribe
Audrey Beth Davis Dies: Entertainment Publicist Was 82
Audrey Beth Davis, a retired entertainment publicist who worked with The Lippin Group, has died. She was 82.
Publicis sharpens sports marketing focus with 160over90 acquisition
Publicis CEO Arthur Sadoun described sports as the firm’s “next big bet” as it tries to bring cohesion to an increasingly valuable but fragmented market.
Rebecca Sowden to Head Up Publicis Sport & Entertainment NZ
Little Black Book, The former New Zealand women's football representative will oversee the strategic and commercial direction of the offering
Publicis forms new Influential Sports squad to hone its skills in the white-hot sports media arena
Publicis formed Influential Sports to tap into the creator marketplace to help brands connect with sports fans on a deeper level.
Genius Sports opens up real-time live sports targeting to brands
The live sports data firm is working with Publicis and a list of SSPs ahead of major sports tentpoles like the NBA Finals and World Cup
Billy Joel's rep denies death speculation after reported Google error
A week after Billy Joel revealed he had undergone brain surgery, his publicist addressed an error that reportedly led Google users to believe the singer had died.
Comedy trailblazer Tom Dreesen, Sinatra’s longtime opening act, dies at 86
Tom Dreesen, known as half of one of America's first interracial comedy duos with Tim Reid, has died. His publicist confirmed his death in Los Angeles on Wednesday. Dreesen and
I spend $12,000 a year to keep up my appearance in Utah as a publicist
Hilary Reiter Azzaretti had never done Botox or gotten regular facials before moving to Utah. Once she saw the people in Park City, she started both.
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are married in elaborate MSG ceremony
Swift’s publicist confirmed the marriage took place Friday evening inside Madison Square Garden at a star-packed ceremony.
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are married in elaborate MSG ceremony
Swift’s publicist confirmed the marriage took place Friday evening inside Madison Square Garden at a star-packed ceremony.
Eric Dane, ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ and ‘Euphoria’ star, dead at 53
Eric Dane, the handsome and hunky actor who steamed up primetime TV on “Grey’s Anatomy” at the height of the show’s popularity, has died, according to his publicist. He was 53.
JFK. Jr liked when Carolyn Bessette 'got all the attention,' author says
John F. Kennedy Jr. liked when Carolyn Bessette 'got all the attention,' author Pamela Keogh says. But when Bessette was advised on how to win over paparazzi, the former Calvin Klein publicist replied, 'I hate those bastards.'
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are married in elaborate MSG ceremony
Swift’s publicist confirmed the marriage took place Friday evening inside Madison Square Garden at a star-packed ceremony.
WME Sells 160over90 Sports Advertising Agency to Publicis
The French advertising giant will acquire the marketing agency to expand its sports business.
Publicis won twice as many new business pitches as WPP or Omnicom in 2025
Publicis’ estimated new business revenue from creative exceeded that from media.
Agency Brief—Terri & Sandy continues leadership revamp with Martin hire
This week, we’ve got an exclusive on Terri & Sandy’s C-suite hire, and we dive into Publicis Groupe’s continued push into sports.
Audrey Beth Davis Dies: Retired Entertainment Publicist Was 82
Audrey Beth Davis, a retired entertainment publicist who worked with The Lippin Group, has died. She was 82. Davis’ colleagues from Lippin announced that she died of natural causes on Friday in Pennsy...
Semiconductor decoupling. Powell's politics. Industrializing Ogaden. Free trade and the Magna Carta.
Thank you for opening your Chartbook email. Feliks Topolski, 1907-1989 8th Army’s Front, Italy 1944 Semiconductor decoupling Source: FT One thing that Jerome Powell deeply understood is that chairing the Fed under current conditions is a deeply political job. “Powell has successes and mistakes to his name. But he stands out as having thought more carefully about the Fed’s democratic legitimacy than any chair since Paul Volcker,” said Paul Tucker, a former deputy governor at the Bank of England, referring to the Fed chair who successfully fought the great inflation of the 1970s and early 1980s. … While Powell was at the Treasury in the early 1990s, he watched Alan Greenspan build relationships within the government. That convinced Powell he needed to follow the former Fed chair’s lead and spend more time in Congress than his predecessors Yellen and Bernanke. “The accountability for the Fed runs through Congress,” said Claudia Sahm, a former Fed official who is now chief economist at New Century Advisors. “That’s not just about having people on speed dial — it’s answering questions, explaining policy and getting feedback.” Source: FT Ethiopia’s PM Abiy and Nigerian business tycoon, with Chinese engineering, are driving industrialization in Ogaden/Somali region of Ethiopia. - Michael Masri’s reporting for Africa Report if fascinating. Ethiopia has launched a cluster of large industrial schemes in the Somali region, laying foundation stones for a urea plant and an oil refinery in Gode while opening the first two phases of the Ogaden LNG project. Abiy Ahmed framed the push as part of a broader strategy to link energy, agriculture and industry. “These projects embody more than industrial growth,” he said. “They represent our shared responsibility to harness opportunities, strengthen co-operation and promote peace.” The Gode urea plant, backed by Dangote Group and Ethiopian Investment Holdings (EIH), is designed for 3m tonnes a year. Dangote owns 60%, while EIH holds 40%. Officials say Dangote’s equity totals about $2.5bn, while the state provides land and implementation oversight. Gas from the Calub fields will be piped 108km to the site. Construction is slated for 40 months, with operations targeted for 2028. Ethiopia imports most of its fertiliser, spending more than $1.2bn a year for 1.5m–2m tonnes. Usage was roughly 1.7m tonnes in 2023, almost half of it urea, and demand for 2024–25 is put above 2.4m tonnes. If delivered on time, the Gode plant could cover domestic needs and allow exports to neighbours. Brook Taye, chief executive of EIH, called the venture “a significant milestone in the journey toward industrial self-sufficiency”. Dangote told the groundbreaking crowd that the complex would be integrated with gas supply and a polypropylene unit to support local inputs. He pointed to Ethiopia’s Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), with a capacity of more than 5,000MW, and noted his group’s cement operations and expansion plans. The Gode refinery is being developed by Golden Concord Group of China. It is designed to process 3.5m tonnes a year of crude and condensate from the Hilala field, with associated storage. Backers say it will ease foreign-exchange pressure from fuel imports and anchor further industrial activity, including a proposed steel smelting site in Dire Dawa. GCL’s chair, Zhu Gongshan, cast the project as “a key step in Ethiopia’s path to energy sovereignty”, underscoring the Beijing–Addis ties. Financing details are still being finalised, but the refinery is central to the government’s energy-security narrative. Source: The Africa Report Dangote’s Ethiopian vision: Dangote began with cement. His crown jewel, Dangote Cement, dominates Nigeria’s market and has 10 operations in other nations in Africa. The formula has been consistent: identify sectors with chronic shortages – cement, fertiliser, sugar – commit massive local investments, and scale up to serve regional demand. Ethiopia was a natural extension of that model. In 2015, Dangote launched the Mugher Cement Plant outside Addis Ababa at a cost of $600m, with an annual capacity of 2.5 million tonnes. The investment gave him a firm foothold in one of Africa’s fastest-growing construction markets. But success came with risks. In May 2018, violent unrest led to the killing of Dangote’s country manager and temporary shutdowns at Mugher. While other investors might have retreated, Dangote doubled down. Today, he is preparing to spend $400m to expand Mugher’s capacity to 5 million tonnes, alongside a new grinding unit near Addis Ababa. Cement is just one market Dangote is targeting. Ethiopia’s enormous state-controlled sugar industry, long plagued by inefficiency and debt, has struggled for years to reform. Its Omo Kuraz Sugar Development Project, touted as one of the continent’s largest initiatives, continues to face delays and mismanagement. … The most ambitious venture of all is the planned fertiliser production complex in Gode, Somali region. Publicised on 28 August 2025, the Dangote Group and Ethiopian Investment Holdings (EIH) deal plans one of the world’s largest single-site urea manufacturing plants. The project costs an estimated $2.5bn and has an estimated capacity of 3 million metric tonnes annually, a rate that would not only render Ethiopia independent, but even a net exporter of fertiliser. EIH, the state wealth fund of Ethiopia, will hold 40%, while 60% is held by Dangote Group. … For Dangote, Ethiopia is a trifecta: Cement demand is projected to grow by 10% annually, its sugar consumption is growing with rapid urbanisation, and fertiliser demand is all but insatiable, given that farming supports the livelihood of 70% of Ethiopians. Source: The Africa Report The stakes for Abiy are high: For Addis Ababa, the $4bn fertiliser project in Ethiopia’s Somali region is no longer simply a manufacturing investment. It is increasingly being framed as a strategic state project tied to food sovereignty, import substitution and the government’s broader attempt to build economic resilience under mounting fiscal pressure. “Becoming self-sufficient in food is our main agenda,” Abiy says during the visit. “Land is needed; we have it. Water is needed; we have it. Human resources are needed; we have it.” The scale is enormous even by African industrial standards. Once operational, the plant is expected to produce three million metric tonnes of urea annually, potentially making it one of the continent’s largest fertiliser complexes. Ethiopian officials say the project now includes a 110km gas pipeline, a 120MW power plant, a polypropylene packaging facility and a two-million-tonne NPK blending plant. For a government grappling with chronic foreign exchange shortages, ballooning import bills and pressure on agricultural productivity, the numbers matter politically as much as they do economically. The decision to anchor the project in Gode is deliberate. Long viewed as peripheral to Ethiopia’s industrial economy, the Somali region is now being repositioned by the federal government as a future irrigation and agro-industrial corridor. Officials argue that the area’s vast land reserves and access to water could eventually support large-scale commercial farming capable of reshaping Ethiopia’s food economy. The government is simultaneously building housing infrastructure for about 5,000 residents near the plant, while officials project broader industrial expansion along the corridor. Abiy goes further, comparing the long-term revenue potential of the Gode development zone with Ethiopia’s flagship state enterprise. “The investments we are making in this Gode area, combined, will generate high revenue for Ethiopia, at par with Ethiopian Airlines,” he says. Source: The Africa Report Feliks Topolski 1907-1982 Topolski’s Chronicle, ‘Nazi Revival’, Vol. 8, Is. 1-2, 1960 HEY READERS, THANK YOU for opening the Chartbook email. I hope it brightens your day. I enjoy putting out the newsletter, but tbh, what keeps this flow going is the generosity of those readers who clicked the subscription button. Photo by Jakub Dziubak on Unsplash If you are persuaded to click, please consider the annual subscription of $50. It is both better value for you and a much better deal for me, as it involves only one credit card charge. Why feed the payments companies if we don’t have to. Subscribe Grim vision of drone warfare by Sylvie Kaufmann For contributing subscribers only. Subscribe The state of the art in Colbert-studies. Jean-Baptiste Colbert was Louis XIV chief minister from 1661 to 1683 and traditionally seen as an architect of absolutism and mercantilism. Alexander Hamilton later cited him as an inspiration in 1782. Now his legacy is disputed. Daniel Dessert, the chief critic, sees Colbert as the orchestrator not so much of an absolutist state as of an elite cabal. Would be great to have a good English-language review of this important debate. Source: lhistoire Didn’t know that the Magna Carta included free trade provisions Fighting for the right to the beach in Oregon in 1967: Source: Research Gate RAF Station – British and Polish Flags, c. 1940-45, The Ingram Collection Feliks Topolski, 1907-1989 ink and wash If you’ve scrolled this far, you know you want to click: Subscribe
Audrey Beth Davis Dead: Entertainment Publicist Was 82
Davis died Friday in Pennsylvania from natural causes surrounded by her family, friends and caregivers.
Publicis Groupe credits 'record new-business' run for 5% growth
The US, the holdco’s largest market at 59% of global business, delivered 4.5% organic net revenue growth.
Publicis weds creator, sports marketing for new Influential Sports unit
The move is designed to help brands connect with sports fans at scale and measure creator-driven programs with greater speed and accuracy.