Names and faces
■ Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, met with former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Friday to discuss ways to combat online hate and extremism. Emhoff was in Auckland to lead a delegation to the FIFA Women’s World Cup of soccer and meet with officials. He told a meeting of the group Christchurch Call that the world is witnessing a “global epidemic of hate.” Emhoff, who is Jewish, said he is “working against this scourge of anti-Semitism and this epidemic of hate in general. So this work is very, very personal to me.” He added that “my work is not just about Jews. It’s about all of us. It’s about combating hate in all of its forms.” The group is named after the New Zealand city where a gunman in 2019 shot and killed 51 Muslim worshippers at two mosques while streaming the attack online. Ardern thanked Emhoff for his work and for sharing in the “joyous occasion” of the World Cup. She launched Christchurch Call with French President Emmanuel Macron two months after the Christchurch attack. After stepping down as her country’s leader this year, she was appointed special envoy for the group, declining to take any pay for the role. Emhoff will next travel to Samoa.
■ American model Gigi Hadid and a friend went ahead with a vacation in the Cayman Islands after authorities arrested the pair on charges of marijuana possession and later released them. Hadid, who arrived on a private aircraft from the United States, was arrested after Customs and Border Control agents searched her luggage and found a small amount of cannabis, the agency said. Officials identified her as Jelena Noura Hadid, the 28-year-old model’s legal name. Hadid and her friend arrived in the Cayman Islands on July 10 and pleaded guilty July 12 to importing a controlled drug and a drug utensil. They were fined more than $1,200, with no conviction recorded, authorities said. “All’s well that ends well,” Hadid posted on Instagram, along with a photo of herself and a friend at the beach. A representative said Hadid had bought the marijuana legally in New York with a medical license, and that her record remains clear. The Cayman Islands legalized medical marijuana in 2017, but recreational use remains illegal. Local laws dictate a prison sentence of up to a year and/or a fine for possession of up to 12 grams (0.4 ounce) of marijuana for a first offense.