Summer may be officially over, but several events this weekend along Orange County’s coastline will make you want to break out the beach towel.

Love seafood? Come down to San Clemente, where a seaside festival will entice your taste buds.

Or perhaps you’re more into art — you’ll be impressed by these elaborate, but temporary, sandcastle designs made right on the beach in Corona del Mar.

If you want something more racy, check out some fire dancers performing in Surf City, or stand-up paddlers competing in bombing surf at Doheny State Beach.

Grab your beach towel and head to one of these events:

What’s up, SUPs

Pacific Paddle Games is part serious competition, part fun festival.

The event is back at Doheny State Beach in Dana Point, where some of the world’s best stand-up paddleboard competitors will be showcasing their skills during the two-day event.

The elite racers and SUP surfers will be competing for a $60,000 award – the largest offered for any SUP event in the world.

“It’s like the Superbowl of Sup,” said professional SUP racer Susak Molinero, who traveled from Spain for the competition. “To be here is a dream.”

The event kicks off with the distance race on Saturday morning, Oct. 6, and technical racing in the afternoon. Surf forecasts are showing 6-foot surf through the weekend, which will make for challenging conditions – and plenty of wipe outs.

After you’re done cheering on your favorite athlete, head to the exhibition area where there will be a beer garden and demo zone.

Or bring your yoga mat for a stretch session on the grassy area of the fitness zone. Surf fans may want to sign up for the 8 a.m. Sunday yoga class hosted by Pipeline Master and icon Gerry Lopez.

As the sun goes down, check out the Pacific Paddle Games after-party that kicks off 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, open to the public for the first time. While racers have free admission, other attendees will have to pay $25 ticket price online, or $35 at the door. There will be live music put on by Flock of 80s, as well as food and drinks.

“If you love stand-up paddling, this is the place to be this weekend,” said Italian racer Paolo Marconi, who was practicing on Thursday at Doheny. “It’s the best race in the world. No matter the result, you have fun.”

More info: supthemag.com/ppg

Aloha, Surf City

A taste of the islands is coming to Huntington.

For the third year, the He’e Nalu Aloha Pier Festival will be happening at the pier, with vendors, food and music.

The event, which kicks off at 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 6, and goes until sundown, draws an estimated 10,000 people. It is put on by Duke’s Restaurant, which is celebrating 20 years this year.

One of the biggest draws: fire dancers who put on an exhilarating performance for the crowd.

All the Pacific Island cultures are celebrated. It’s a way to introduce people areas like Samoa, Tahiti and others in the Polynesian culture, according to Brett Barnes, Duke’s Restaurant manager.

“It really drives home what ‘aloha’ is all about,” Barnes, one of the coordinators, said. “People from all cultures come and have fun.”

Barnes said the event is a way to honor Duke Kahanamoku, whom the restaurant is named after, a tribute to the surfer who helped popularize the sport on the mainland.

“The mixing of the Hawaiian surf culture and the California culture, they go hand-in-hand,” he said. “You can get that Hawaiian vibe in Huntington, even though it’s in California.”

Sand art

The 57th annual sandcastle contest is happening in Corona del Mar, with teams making elaborate designs on the beach. The event draws thousands of spectators and teams who compete to win prizes.

This year’s theme: “Have a Ball.”

The event takes place at Big Corona from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 7, with judges walking around to take note of their favorite designs.

San Clemente Seafest

The 31st Annual San Clemente Seafest, a celebration of the sea organized by the San Clemente Chamber of Commerce, happens on Sunday, Oct. 7.

For seafood lovers, come down starting at 9:30 a.m. for the chowder cook off, an event that brings down local restaurants, local businesses and home chefs to showcase their chowder-making skills. The tasting wraps up by 1:30 p.m..

If you’re not full from the tasting, grab a freshly-cooked lobster from Fisherman’s Restaurant to eat right on the sand.

There’s more events like a surf contest and arts and crafts for the kids, plus a U.S. Coast Guard Search and Rescue Demo Operation that will happen off the pier.

What’s up with mortgage rates? Jeff Lazerson of Mortgage Grader in Laguna Niguel gives us his take.

Rate news summary

From Freddie Mac’s weekly survey:  The 30-year fixed rate averaged 4.71 percent, down 1 basis point from last week.  The 15-year fixed averaged 4.15 percent, also down 1 basis point from last week.

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported loan application volume was unchanged from the previous week.

Bottom line: Assuming a borrower gets the average 30-year fixed rate on a conforming $453,100 loan, last year’s payment was $229 lower than this week’s payment of $2,353.

What I see: Locally, well-qualified borrowers can get the following fixed-rate mortgages without points: A 15-year at 3.875 percent, a 30-year at 4.5 percent, a 15-year high-balance ($453,101 to $679,650) at 4.25 percent, a 30-year high balance at 4.75 percent, a 15-year jumbo (over $679,650) at 4.75 percent and a 30-year jumbo at 4.875 percent.

What I think: Sellers have been showing their swagger, demanding lofty prices for a good six years. Buyers bit.

And I was euphoric each time one of my clients won a bidding war and struck what was at the time, housing gold.

Not anymore.

Now, armed with sales slowdown news, more and more bold buyers are ruling the roost, dictating the deal terms.

Holy momentum shift!

But wait. Where are we headed?

Mortgage rates are rocketing up. Three-percent mortgage rates are long gone. Even the four-percent mortgage is starting to fade, making the cost to carry a house payment much more expensive.

Conventional chatter is pointing to a recession in perhaps a year or two. How deep? How long? How far will home prices fall?

Is renting a better move than buying? Is staying put a better move than selling your residence to buy that McMansion you’ve been eyeing?

Here are some rent-vs.-buy comparisons at three different price points, based on research from Lance Siegel, president of HVCC Appraisal Ordering Service in Lake Forest:

1) A two-bedroom, 1,150-square-foot Rancho Santa Margarita condo will rent for about $2,300. This same property will sell for about $425,000. Assuming a well-qualified buyer putting 5 percent down on a conventional, 30-year fixed-rate at 4.5 percent and a $275 homeowners association fee, the total house payment is $2,946.

The buyer will pay $646 more per month than the renter. And, the buyer will likely need to come up with more than $25,000 for a down payment and closing costs. Renting this condo will be cheaper than buying — unless this is a married couple with a lot of tax write-offs to begin with.

A married couple that rents automatically gets a $24,000 standard deduction. But buyers with sufficient tax-write-offs can beat that standard deduction by including mortgage interest and property tax payments.

2) A three-bedroom, 2.5-bath, 2,000-square-foot house in Placentia will rent for $3,300. This same property will sell for about $735,000. The house payment will be $3,980 a month, assuming a well-qualified buyer is putting 20 percent down on a 30-year agency high-balance fixed at 4.75 percent and there are no HOA fees.

Owning that house will cost $680 more per month. The mortgage interest deduction will be $3,700 more than the $24,000 standard deduction. Borrowers also receive a $9,180 property tax deduction. Again, if the buyers have enough in additional tax write-offs to offset that $680 per month in house payments, then buying can be cheaper than renting.

3) A four-bedroom, three-bath, 3,000-square-foot house in Laguna Niguel will rent for about $5,200 per month. That same property will sell for $1.25 million. Assuming a 25 percent down payment on a 30-year jumbo fixed rate at 4.875 percent and a $160 HOA fee, the total house payment is $4,808.

Owning will cost $391 more per month. The mortgage interest deduction will be $36,312 compared with the $24,000 standard deduction, plus up to $10,000 in state income and local property taxes. That should provide enough tax savings to offset the increase in house payments.

Please be mindful that costs vary per property, per buyer and per individual tax rate. These calculations also don’t take maintenance costs into consideration. And you should factor income you might otherwise earn from funds used for the down payment and closing costs. Consult with your tax advisor.

My advice to you is to buy only if you are going to hold at least five years. Otherwise, rent.

Mortgage broker Jeff Lazerson can be reached at 949-334-2424 or jlazerson@mortgagegrader.com. His website is www.mortgagegrader.com.

By GREGORY KATZ, RAPHAEL SATTER and LORNE COOK

BRUSSELS— The United States and other Western nations leveled a torrent of new allegations against Moscow’s secretive GRU military spy agency on Thursday, accusing its agents of hacking anti-doping agencies, plane crash investigations and a chemical weapons probe as well as launching cyberattacks that rocked America’s 2016 election and crippled Ukraine in 2017.

The roll-call of GRU malfeasance began at midnight in Britain, when British and Australian authorities accused the Russian agency of being behind the catastrophic cyberattack that caused billions in losses to Ukraine in June 2017 and a host of other hacks, including the Democratic Party email leaks and online cyber propaganda that sowed havoc before Americans voted in the 2016 presidential election.

Hours later Thursday morning, Dutch defense officials broadcast photos and a timeline of GRU agents’ botched attempt to break into the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons using Wi-Fi hacking equipment hidden in the back of a sedan. The chemical weapons watchdog was investigating a Novichok nerve agent attack on a former GRU spy, Sergei Skripal, that Britain has blamed on the Russian government. Moscow has denied the charge.

The Dutch also accused the Russian agency of trying to hack into the investigation of the 2014 downing of a Malaysian Airlines flight over eastern Ukraine that killed all 298 people on board. A Dutch-led investigation team says it has strong evidence that the Buk missile which brought the plane down came from a Russia-based military unit. Russia has denied the charge.

Then came the U.S. government’s turn, with the U.S. Justice Department charging seven Russian GRU intelligence officers — including the four nabbed in The Hague — of an international hacking rampage that targeted more than 250 athletes, a nuclear energy company and a Swiss chemical laboratory.

U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis said the West has “a wide variety of responses” available.

“Basically, the Russians got caught with their equipment, people who were doing it, and they have got to pay the piper. They are going to have to be held to account,” Mattis said, speaking in Brussels where he was meeting with NATO allies.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry is rejecting the Dutch and British accusationsas “propaganda.” The ministry dismissed the accusations as a sham, claiming their comments reflect “Western paranoia about the omnipotent Russian cyberspies.”

But t the allegations leveled by Western intelligence agencies, supported by a wealth of surveillance footage and overwhelmingly confirmed by independent reporting, painted a picture of the GRU as an agency that routinely crosses red lines — and is increasingly being caught red-handed around the world.

The U.S. indictment said the GRU targeted its victims because they had publicly supported a ban on Russian athletes in international sports competitions and because they had condemned Russia’s state-sponsored athlete doping program. U.S. prosecutors said the Russians also targeted a Pennsylvania-based nuclear energy company and the OPCW, which was investigating possible war crimes in Syria and the March poisoning of Skripal and his daughter in the English city of Salisbury.

The U.S. indictment says the seven defendants are all Russian citizens and residents. They include four GRU agents expelled last spring from the Netherlands.

They were identified as: Aleksei Sergeyevich Morenets, 41; Evgenii Mikhaylovich Serebriakov, 37; Ivan Sergeyevich Yermakov, 32; Artem Andreyevich Malyshev, 30; and Dmitriy Sergeyevich Badin, 27; who were each assigned to Military Unit 26165, and Oleg Mikhaylovich Sotnikov, 46, and Alexey Valerevich Minin, 46, who were also GRU officers.

The U.S. indictment says the hacking was often conducted remotely. If that wasn’t successful, the hackers would conduct “on-site” or “close access” hacking operations, with trained GRU members traveling with sophisticated equipment to target their victims through Wi-Fi networks.

The GRU’s alleged hacking attempts on the chemical watchdog agency based in The Hague, Netherlands, took place in April and were disrupted by authorities, Dutch Defense Minister Ank Bijleveld said Thursday. Four Russian intelligence officers were immediately expelled from the Netherlands, she said. Those were Minin, Sotnikov, Serebriakov and Morenets.

The British ambassador to the Netherlands said the men caught with spy gear outside OPCW were from the very same GRU section (Unit 26165) accused by American investigators of having broken into the Democratic National Committee’s email system before the 2016 U.S. election.

On Thursday, Australian and British spies endorsed the American intelligence community’s reported attribution of the catastrophic June 2017 cyberattack on Ukraine to the GRU. The malicious software outbreak briefly knocked out cash machines, gas stations, pharmacies and hospitals and, according to a secret White House assessment recently cited by Wired, dealt $10 billion worth of damage worldwide.

The hack and release of sports figures’ medical data in 2016 and the downing of Flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014 also allegedly carry the GRU’s fingerprints. Dutch investigators said the snoopers nabbed outside the OPCW also appear to have logged into the Wi-Fi networks near the World Anti-Doping Agency and the Malaysian hotels where crash investigators had gathered to investigate the shooting down of passenger flight MH17.

Russia’s interests were at stake in both cases. The OPCW was investigating the Skripal nerve agent poisoning, which Russia denied, and Russia was being blamed for the shooting down of MH17 over eastern Ukraine, where Ukrainian forces were fighting Russia-backed separatists at the time.

The leaders of Britain and the Netherlands on Thursday condemned the GRU for “reckless” and “brazen” activities around the world and vowed to defend vital international agencies from Russian aggression.

“This attempt, to access the secure systems of an international organization working to rid the world of chemical weapons, demonstrates again the GRU’s disregard for the global values and rules that keep us all safe,” British Prime Minister Theresa May and Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte said in a joint statement.

Britain’s ambassador to the Netherlands, Peter Wilson, said the GRU would no longer be allowed to act with impunity. Britain blames the secretive agency for the March poisoning of Skripal and his daughter.

The Associated Press, meanwhile, independently corroborated information that matches details for two of the alleged Russian agents named by the Dutch authorities.

An online database for car registration in Russia showed that Aleksei Morenets, whose full name and date of birth are the same as one of the Russians expelled by the Dutch, sold his car in 2004, listing the Moscow address where the Defense Ministry’s Military University is based.

Alexey Minin, another Russian whose full name and date of birth match the details released by Dutch authorities, had several cars, including an Alfa Romeo, that were registered and sold at the address where the Defense Ministry’s GRU school is located. In some of the filings, Minin listed the official military unit number of the GRU school as his home address.

Earlier, British Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson branded a series of global cyberattacks blamed on Russia as the reckless actions of a “pariah state,” saying that the U.K. and its NATO allies would uncover such activities in the future.

“Where Russia acts in an indiscriminate and reckless way, where they have done in terms of these cyberattacks, we will be exposing them,” Williamson told reporters in Brussels at talks with Mattis and other NATO officials.

Gregory Katz and Raphael Satter reported from London. Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow, Raf Casert in Brussels, and Michael Balsamo and Eric Tucker in Washington, contributed to this report.

A 27-year-old La Habra woman died early Wednesday in a freeway crash in Riverside, authorities reported.

Karim Lugo was driving a 2014 Toyota Corolla that crashed into the back of a tractor-trailer on the northbound 215 Freeway north of Central Avenue, California Highway Patrol Sgt. Mark Manz said.

It was raining at the time of the collision, but investigators have not determined if that was a factor in the crash, Manz said

Lugo was identified by the Riverside County Coroner’s office. No one else was reported injured in the 1:26 a.m. collision.

Witnesses said the Corolla was coming up on the scene of an accident that had happened shortly before in the right lanes of the freeway, swerved to avoid it, and hit the back of the slower-moving rig,  Manz said.

The collection, presented in a salon at the Ritz Paris, was strangely wrinkled. Not to worry — it was all part of Inès de la Fressange’s vision of Parisian chic. “People are scared of linen and see it as a difficult fabric,” said the designer. “But I wanted to show that things needn’t be perfectly ironed. It gives the feeling that you’re still on holiday.”
Nevertheless the effect was scruffy, and diverted the attention from the stronger points of the collection. There was a pair of “new denim” straight leg trousers in dark blue linen, created in reaction to the Parisian heat wave; a cowboy style red shirt — “because you can look Parisian wearing a shirt from Texas” — and an elegant two-piece beige checked suit, that de la Fressange herself was wearing.
Masculine-inspired tailoring was as efficient as always, but the designer seemed tired of churning out the same old “Parisienne” ideal. “People always think that chic has to be conventional, when there isn’t necessarily a link between the two things,” she said. “I’m bored with conventionalism.”
In reaction to that, the collection went full Seventies, with colorful printed silk shirts and flared trousers. The whole offering seemed to miss the

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PARIS — A Balenciaga garment made from the recycled fibers of a Max Mara camel coat. That’s the reality for a growing number of brands embracing the circular economy, a hot topic at recent Première Vision Paris and Texworld shows here.
“You see mills that are starting to weave fabrics with fibers recycled from plastic bottles, discarded clothes, discarded polyesters. Materials are freshly rewoven with these fibers and they look really luxurious, they look perfect,” said Olivier Theyskens, jury president of the 10th anniversary of the PV Awards.
Held Sept. 19 to Sept. 21 at the Parc des Expositions in Paris Nord Villepinte, the show for the first time exceeded the 2,000 exhibitor mark, with 190 new companies. The edition also saw the launch of the Marketplace Première Vision via a physical space, allowing visitors to experiment and test out the platform.
One of the main challenges for recycled fibers, explained Francois Souchet, director of Make Fashion Circular at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, is the loss of quality and lack of real technologies available at scale.
“When we talk to luxury brands, one of the main concerns is, ‘Is this fabric very durable? Can it compete with the level of quality that we want to

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MILAN — Speculation over the future of Trussardi has been mounting in Milan. The family-owned house has been for years the target of merger-and-acquisition rumors. Most recently, management company Quattro R SGR SpA, incorporated in 2016, has been indicated as a potential suitor. Quattro R manages a fund of more than 700 million euros and, according to its web site, it “targets Italian companies with solid business fundamentals despite temporary financial distress.” The fund, which includes Cassa Depositi e Prestiti controlled by the Minister of Economy and Finance, is headed by chairman Andrea Morante. Morante has a longstanding experience as an investment banker and in fashion, and he is chairman of Sergio Rossi as well as a former chief executive officer of Pomellato.
Trussardi and Quattro R had no comment on the rumors.
The Trussardi Group reported sales of 154 million euros in 2017 and, in March, a group of six banks subscribed a financing operation for a total value of 51.5 million euros. On top of this, the Trussardi family stipulated a capital increase of 5 million euros.
The company has been focusing on the signature line and the Trussardi Jeans collection, simplifying the product offer and increasingly focusing on accessories, which in 2018

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INFLUENCER AWARD: The French government recognized Chanel for its commitment to supporting craftsmanship at an awards ceremony held during Paris Fashion Week.
Bruno Pavlovsy, Chanel’s president of fashion and president of its Paraffection subsidiary, which controls 26 specialty ateliers, accepted the prize for economic influence at the Grand Prix du Rayonnement Français awards, held in the presence of Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on Tuesday night.
The audience of politicians, business leaders and creatives included Virginie Viard, fashion studio director at Chanel; Eric Pfrunder, image director at Chanel; Anna Wintour, editor in chief of U.S. Vogue, and Marie-Louise de Clermont-Tonnerre, a longtime communications executive at the house, who also sat on the jury.
In his acceptance speech, Pavlovsky noted that Chanel’s collaborations with artisans date back to founder Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, who worked with Massaro on the production of her signature two-tone shoe, jeweler Goossens for her costume jewelry, and Lemarié on the camellias that are an emblem of the house.
“For these houses, it is as much about heritage and preserving cultural and technical knowledge as it is about resolutely looking ahead. To that end, these skilled artisans are permanently innovating, recruiting and reinventing their trades and techniques in the service of creation and

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TOKYO — After more than a decade with Moncler, designer Francesco Ragazzi launched his Los Angeles-inspired streetwear brand Palm Angels in 2015. Now things have come full circle as he was one of eight designers to participate in the Moncler Genius project. Ragazzi was in the Japanese capital on Thursday to celebrate the opening of the Moncler Genius Building, a pop-up store in the city’s Aoyama district.
“I started at Moncler, so when they asked me to be a part of this project, it was an honor for me,” said Ragazzi, who still serves as Moncler’s artistic director. “I had to put my understanding of the brand and my experience and sort of play with its DNA – the down jackets and the shiny fabric. The show in Milan was like a museum, and this is kind of like the gift shop of the museum.”
The store’s interior has simple white walls and black fixtures, allowing the unique designs to speak for themselves. In addition to the clothing collections, there are items such as toy cars and figures, skateboards, and more. Ragazzi’s collection is distinguished by phrases such as “I’m so high” and “Make it rain.”
As reported, in addition to the Tokyo location,

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LOS ANGELES — Monogram doesn’t care to operate as a mono-category business. Plenty’s been happening over the past several months in a bid to diversify and grow the business.
The founders, for starters, made the move to Atwater Village from Brooklyn to be closer to the company’s manufacturing facilities. The Los Angeles area is where all of its fabric sourcing, screenprinting, cut-and-sew and other points of production are based.
The company, launched as a direct-to-consumer T-shirt brand with a vintage vibe, is still small with Jeff Halmos and his wife and cofounder Lisa Mayock the only two running the business. They work with freelancers and outsource services such as shipping and warehousing.
Earlier this year, the company dipped a toe into wholesale for the first time with Barneys New York. In a few weeks the brand will begin shipping to specialty stores, such as TenOverSix and Fred Segal in the U.S., in addition to some doors in Japan, Korea and Australia.
“We’re keeping the distribution fairly limited and just making sure that it’s the right kind of store that we think would be able to sell the product really well,” Halmos said. “They’re going to be buying primarily bestsellers and our site will still have

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