Chutatip “Nok” Suntaranon still remembers the moment she first saw Ziv Katalan in vivid detail.

It was September 2006 on a Thai Airways flight from Bangkok to New York City. A Business Class flight attendant, Suntaranon was roaming the cabin and greeting guests as they settled into their seats.

When Katalan, a professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, stepped onboard, she noticed him right away.

And as that flight to New York took off, so too did their story. Those 18 hours in the air would lead to a globe-trotting romance with glamorous rendezvous around the world and nearly two decades full of adventures together.

A chance meeting in the sky

As one of Philadelphia’s top chefs, Suntaranon has earned abundant praise for her bright, spicy Southern Thailand food at Kalaya Thai Kitchen.

But before she found her calling in the culinary world, she worked as a business and first class cabin flight attendant for two decades.

On the day she met Katalan, Suntaranon was initially scheduled to work on a route from Bangkok to Rome, but Thai Airways reassigned her to New York at the last minute.

And as it so happened, the business class cabin was nearly empty, so she had more time than usual to chat with passengers.

“I always like to talk to people and take care of them, so I offered him red wine and made him two or three cups of espresso,” she says.

“I spent some time talking with Ziv and the passenger in front of him – a really funny guy. I wasn’t flirting, just being friendly and doing my job.”

As the flight neared its destination, the passenger told Suntaranon she should be Thailand’s “Next Top Model,” then turned to Katalan and quipped, “If you don’t ask her out, I will,” she recalls with a laugh. “It was really cute.”

Katalan didn’t let the opening slip away.

“Nok stood out with her personality, charm and beauty – I do a lot of air miles, and I have never encountered anyone at 36,000 feet with Nok’s personality,” says Katalan of first impressions.

Before disembarking, he offered to take her out while she was in New York.

“I told him where the crew was staying and said he could call me there,” she adds. “And he did!”

When opposites attract

After attending a work meeting in Philadelphia, Katalan returned to New York City the next day to take Suntaranon to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).

As they wandered through MoMa, Suntaranon and Katalan say they felt at ease in each other’s presence despite some apparent contrasts.

Quiet and contemplative, Katalan is serious and deliberate, with a calming presence and a gift for numbers, says Suntaranon. “He’s the smartest man I have ever met.”

Suntaranon is described by Katalan as having a larger-than-life personality – warm, joyful, generous and compassionate. She can also have a short fuse, he adds.

“It’s kind of an attraction of opposites,” says Katalan. “But on a fundamental level, we have full compatibility because we cherish many of the same things in life.”

As they admired the museum’s renowned collection of modern and contemporary art, they discovered just how much they had in common – a love of art, travel, food and family.

They also found themselves in similar stages of life, having left significant previous relationships not long ago.

Katalan had separated from his wife of 20 years, with whom he has a daughter, six years earlier and still maintained a close friendship.

Meanwhile, Suntaranon had divorced her husband just a few months prior and still co-owned an Italian restaurant in Bangkok with him.

“When you enter a second relationship, you don’t work on the same pathways as you do the first time,” says Katalan. “It was much easier for both of us to live in the moment and see where it led.”

Later that evening, they enjoyed a drink at the Royalton Hotel in Midtown, then continued the evening with dinner at Blue Fin, a sleek Japanese restaurant inside W New York in Times Square.

“I remember sitting and talking about my life with Ziv and just thinking how smart he was – I was really impressed with how he talked about numbers. We had so much fun and a lot of good laughs.”

Then Katalan took the train back to Philadelphia and Suntaranon returned to Thailand.

A relationship takes flight

A few months later, Katalan called Suntaranon to wish her a happy New Year. As it happened, she was scheduled to fly to New York again in February, so they planned another date.

Suntaranon felt more reluctant this time – she looked forward to spending more time with Katalan but worried it was too soon to get involved with anyone.

She set her reservations aside for the evening, excited to explore more of the city.

Katalan took her to one of his favorite restaurants, Masa, a renowned sushi bar in the Time Warner Center at the southwest corner of Central Park.

“We loved every bite of it. We talked about the restaurant scene in New York, chefs like David Bouley,” she says. “I had traveled the world, so I knew a lot of great restaurants but none in New York. So we exchanged notes and just really bonded over food and travel.”

The next day, Katalan invited Suntaranon to join him on a three-week trip around Asia and the Pacific, with stops in Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.

“I told Ziv, ‘I have never been with anybody that long. Three weeks is a long time,’” says Suntaranon.

“And I remember him saying, ‘Even for three hours, three days, three weeks or forever, I am happy to be with you.’”

Three weeks went by fast – a pleasant surprise for two very independent individuals.

“We spent so much time together, walking, talking and eating delicious food,” recalls Suntaranon.

“While driving on the Great Ocean Road, there was no GPS, only a map. I was doing the navigation… unsuccessfully. But Ziv was so calm. He didn’t get mad – he was so easy to be with.”

She also saw his nurturing side when Katalan tended to her injuries after a cycling accident in Nha Trang, Vietnam.

Suntaranon realized during that trip that he had everything she was looking for.

“He’s warm, genuine and super direct. He’s very smart, kind, and incredibly thoughtful – and sometimes he is a pain,” she laughs.

Round-the-world romance

From there, they started meeting in cities all over the globe – Los Angeles, London, Tel Aviv, Frankfurt, Paris, Milan – sometimes just for an hour at the airport during a layover.

“One time, Ziv was on his way back from Ireland with transit through London, and I got called to London, so we met there for just one night,” says Suntaranon with a smile.

It took a lot of dedication and coordination.

“That’s how we maintained a global relationship for 1.5 years. We made it work. Even 24 hours in Paris or London, we made it work,” she adds.

But soon, things grew even more complicated.

In 2008, Thai Airways stopped flying to New York, so Suntaranon had to get a tourist visa – which required hours at immigration upon arrival at US airports – whenever she wanted to visit Katalan.

“So Ziv said, ‘Well OK, then we need to get married so you can have a green card,’” explains Suntaranon. “We are both adults, so it was realistic and sensible. But there was a lot of love behind it.”

Katalan says it may have been a practical decision but also a way to buy more time with her.

“It was romantic but pragmatic at the same time. I wanted something that would enable us to keep this going as long as we both wanted – the longest runway possible.”

Evolving in Philadelphia

On August 8, 2008, the couple married at SALA Phuket, a Thai beach where they invited friends and family to celebrate with them at a pool villa for 10 days.

Afterward, the newlyweds maintained their long-distance relationship while Suntaranon continued to work as a flight attendant and run her restaurant.

She left her airline job in 2009 and, a year later, closed the restaurant and moved to Philadelphia. With nothing to do in her new US home, she spent her days shopping for ingredients, cooking and giving out food to her neighbors.

The following year, she enrolled at what was then the Institute of Culinary Education (later the French Culinary Institute New York) and felt like she had found her calling.

“Every day was like a dream to me – just cooking and eating in different restaurants in New York – and I also had my internship at Jean-Georges (a two-Michelin-starred French restaurant in New York),” she shares, pausing to lovingly scold Titi, her mini pomeranian, for chewing on a shoe box.

“Ziv was the person who told me that I am a very talented cook – I never thought of myself as a great cook, but he believed in me.”

After culinary school, Sutaranon moved to France for a short-lived internship (“I got kicked out because I screamed at the chef for being drunk and abusive,” she explains) and then returned to Philadelphia, where she launched a catering company in 2015.

As the business expanded, she found a larger commercial space in the charming Bella Vista neighborhood, which she would use to open her restaurant, Kalaya Thai Kitchen, in 2019.

Suntaranon’s soulful, authentic southern Thai food and warm hospitality have earned her restaurant glowing reviews and industry recognition, including the James Beard award for Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic in June.

Building on her success, Suntaranon recently relocated to a larger, more modern space where 14-foot-tall palm trees and contemporary Thai artwork offer tasteful nods to Southeast Asia.

“Nok always has a vision – always has 20 different things in the making. She’s just an unbelievable entrepreneur, the most impressive person with leadership skills and the ability to touch people’s lives,” Katalan adds.

Named after the chef’s mother, Kalaya showcases the complexity and vibrancy of the food Suntaranon grew up eating in Trang, a small city southeast of Krabi in southern Thailand.

“I grew up very poor. I am who I am because my family sacrificed so much of their lives for me, and my mother is the inspiration for everything I do,” Suntaranon shares.

“She’s tough. She’s a hard worker. She’s super smart and super caring. I wanted to name the restaurant after her, so we can talk about how amazing she is every day.”

Some things never change

After 15 years of marriage and making it work between two demanding schedules, the jet-setting couple say they have always prioritized travel together.

Suntaranon and Katalan have visited Paris and Tel Aviv, Morocco, Italy, Spain and Kenya – often combining work and play.

These days, Suntaranon is kept busy at her new restaurant location. At the same time, Katalan continues to travel extensively for work, bouncing from the Baltic to India, from Thailand to Colombia, to implement new Wharton programs around the globe.

They can’t travel together quite as often as they used to, but that makes each trip all the more meaningful, Suntaranon says.

“I don’t take travel for granted anymore. Now, it’s really significant – and getting older, slowing down, and our perspective is deeper,” she reflects.

“Our travel patterns and conversations have changed, but our bond is strong. We are still the same – restaurants, museums and markets are still part of the plan.”

Carved through and framed by the mighty River Danube, Budapest and its beautiful skyline make it one of Europe’s finest and most compelling cities.

Hungary’s capital became one city in 1873, when Buda, on the western banks of the Danube, and Pest, on the east, united to become the second largest city in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Its vast parliament building, citadel and castle are legendary. But it’s beyond these fabulous sights that the true Budapest reveals itself.

Today, Budapest is emerging from decades of fast-paced change, brought about by the collapse of communism in 1989 and the burst of creative energy that came with those newfound freedoms. The brutality of 40 years of communist rule and the preceding period of fascism has left its mark on the city, but there is a steadfastness here that feels inescapable. An ability to carry on in the face of the greatest of challenges.

Out of the ruins

The Ruin Bars District is the apotheosis of local people seeing opportunity in adversity. And while many of those managing, working and drinking in these establishments may not remember the fall of the Berlin Wall, it’s clear that their psychology and philosophy have been affected by the momentous event.

Budapest’s ruin bars first emerged in the early 2000s, when young creatives looking for a new, affordable space for people to hang out began developing pop-up bars in crumbling buildings in the VII District, which during Nazi times had been the Jewish Ghetto.

Szimpla, which first opened in 2002 in a spot on Kazinczy Street, was quickly followed by a handful of others, helping to foster a hip scene that soon began attracting tourists.

“There was no money to invest, to rebuild them,” explains Katinka Orosz, who manages Szimpla, which moved to its present location in 2004. “And it was a kind of good way to find out something from this,” she adds, showcasing the mismatched furniture and shabby chic decor. The bars started out as cultural hubs, but it wasn’t long before the vibe became more party-focused.

“Twenty years ago this part of the city was very empty and ugly,” says Orosz. “(It was a) very hard economical situation.”

The change is something to behold. Spots like Szimpla and Fuge Udvar, replete with a fig tree in the bar itself, have become essential stop-offs for visitors to Budapest.

The Ruin Bar District has seen its success spread too, with other bars appearing in ruined buildings across the city. That means mainstream recognition, but it also helps reveal the vitality and urge for change after such a challenging period in Hungary’s history.

A delicate matter

It’s a sobering fact that, just 35 years ago, Budapest had a much different feel compared with its current vibrant air. An atmosphere of fear and terror was pervasive and 60 Andrassy was the nerve center of it all.

Today, it’s home to the House of Terror museum. In previous incarnations it was the headquarters of the local Nazi party and, following World War II and Hungary’s position within the Soviet sphere of influence, the head of the communist secret police.

Since 2002 it has been a memorial to those captured, held, tortured and killed in this building by both regimes, during what those in Budapest call the double occupation. The wall of images showing the more than 3,000 people who perished here is a stark reminder of the brutality experienced by local people during the second half of the 20th century.

The blaring of communist propaganda and the cramped cells ensure visitors are left in no doubt as to how challenging these times were.

A hulking tank dominates the permanent exhibition. This speaks to the biggest, most chilling event in Hungary between the end of World War II and the collapse of communism: The 12 days in November 1956 when Soviet troops entered Budapest and brutally crushed an uprising demanding more democratic politics.

It’s an event that still looms large in Hungarian culture, one which showed the world how far the Soviet regime was willing to go to suppress dissent across the Eastern Bloc.

Coming to terms with Budapest’s history is not without challenge. To ignore it would be irresponsible, but addressing the wrongs is a delicate matter, even today.

While the House of Terror highlights the hidden horrors of the occupation, Memento Park shows the more obvious, outward attempts of communist rulers to exert their influence.

Here, more than 40 statues and monuments torn down after 1989 have been given a new home, designed to show how the Soviet Union wanted everyone to know who was really in charge.

It is an elegant solution to an age-old problem: How to preserve something that is clearly part of the country’s past, something you no longer wish to celebrate, but needs to be remembered.

An independent streak

Today’s Hungary has a much different spirit compared with that of the country that was occupied for so long. It is part of the European Union, a member of NATO and feels more westward facing than ever.

That’s not to say, however, that the country, and Budapest in particular, does not have a strong independent streak. And nowhere sums this truly local vibe up quite like Bakancsos Piac, a bustling flea market. Away from the tourist trail, it is an institution, a suburban experience and a place for those who love an impulse purchase, not to mention somewhere to hone your bargaining skills.

Bakancsos Piac opens at 6 a.m. on weekends, all the better for those who love to pick up a bargain before breakfast. There’s every bit of bric-a-brac you could possibly want, from vintage lampshades to Egyptian-style bronze busts. Classic Beatles LPs stand next to chipped vases. It’s a place to pick up unique souvenirs, but also get a good look at the soul of the city too.

If Bakancsos Piac is imbued with the spirit of Budapest, then so too is the game of button football. Also known as sector football, this century-old pastime has a cult following of grown men, who came of age at a time when it was a key part of everyday life here.

The concept is simple: flicking buttons across a tabletop soccer pitch in a bid to score a goal. To master it, however, takes years of practice.

It is, explains legendary player Imre Horvath, a Hungarian national sport. He’s been playing for 52 years, right through communist occupation when the government would not allow him and his fellow players to form a national association.

Today, Horvath is president of the International Table Football Confederation, determined to keep the tradition alive. It is something he and his friends learned from their fathers and grandfathers, handed down in the spirit of independence that marks the game out as a Hungarian one-off.

Pinball wizards

Although button football provided a much-needed diversion for many people during communist rule, more Western imports were also on offer. And just a short walk from the Danube, the iconic Budapest Pinball Museum (Flippermuzeum) showcases a period of misspent youth and a look at an unlikely source of excitement for kids starved of other kinds of fun during those lean years.

While the machines themselves, all incredible vintage models, bring back happy memories of childhood for Mark Pataki, who looks after the museum’s marketing, they also represent an ideal with which he grew up.

“For some reason the state imported these machines in large numbers into Hungary,” he explains. “Basically, these machines meant the Western world: a taste of freedom and belonging.”

Some of the machines feature fancy LEDs and movie themes. But there’s even a vintage model dating back to 1947, with just the flippers and pinballs and a fiendishly difficult setup that makes it impossible to play. It’s a slice of Hungarian history that feels entirely in keeping with Budapest’s quest to find hope amid the darkness.

It’s this energy that perhaps defines modern day Budapest. It is a city steadfast in raising up its traditions and culture in the face of adversity, while fostering a determined spirit that gives the place an independence all of its own.

Brazil’s highest electoral court has barred former President Jair Bolsonaro from running for political office until 2030, after finding him guilty of abusing his power and misusing public media during last year’s election campaign.

Five out of seven judges found the former president guilty, effectively ending any hope of a political comeback in the forthcoming 2026 election. Two of the judges voted against the decision, which prevents Bolsonaro from running for public office for eight years.

The case stems from a meeting Bolsonaro held with foreign ambassadors in July 2022, in which he spread false information about Brazil’s electoral system and brought its credibility into question ahead of last year’s fractious election. The meeting was livestreamed by official television channels and on YouTube.

YouTube took down the livestream of the event for not complying with its fake news policy.

Judge Alexandre de Moraes, who presided over the court, cast his vote last. “Let us reaffirm our faith in our democracy and the rule of law,” he said after voting in favor of the guilty verdict.

Moraes added that with the vote Brazilian authorities would show they do not tolerate “criminal extremism attacking the powers of the state, fake news, disinformation to try to deceive voters.”

Bolsonaro has denied any wrongdoing. Speaking to Brazilian radio station Itatiaia on Friday, Bolsonaro said he planned to appeal the court’s decision.

The far right politician lost the election by the narrowest margin in decades to current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Riots on January 8 saw pro-Bolsonaro protesters breaking into government buildings in Brasilia, following weeks of demonstrations over the election results.

The case at the Superior Electoral Court began with a lawsuit brought by Brazil’s Democratic Labor Party against both Bolsonaro and Walter Braga Netto, his running mate in the 2022 elections. The majority of judges voted to find Braga Netto not guilty.

During the meeting with ambassadors, the former president allegedly said the 2022 elections might be compromised due to fraud, according to a report by Judge Benedito Gonçalves.

Bolsonaro also allegedly said that in 2018 voting machines had changed voters’ choices to benefit his opponent, and that the Brazilian voting machines are not auditable, while insinuating that electoral and judicial authorities were protecting “terrorists,” the report added.

Such claims of flaws in the electoral system have all been denied by Brazil’s electoral authorities.

The case at the Superior Electoral Court is one of several cases against the former president.

The girlfriend of former NFL quarterback Ryan Mallett, who died last week in an apparent drowning off a Florida beach, said she tried hard to save him.

“I trust that God has a plan for everything, but I don’t think I will ever understand why this happened,” Madison Carter wrote on Facebook.

“I’m so sorry I couldn’t save you, and I hope you know how hard I tried.”

First responders were called to the scene after a group of people were spotted in the water near a sandbar struggling to make their way back to shore, the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office said.

Mallett was among the group and was pulled out of the ocean by lifeguards after going underwater but was not breathing when he made it back to shore, the sheriff’s office said.

Carter described Mallett as talented, dedicated, and passionate.

“Those of us who were lucky enough to know your heart know that it was even bigger than your larger-than-life personality and stature. Nothing was ever about you, it was always about others,” she wrote.

“Words cannot convey how badly I miss you. I hope you know how loved you are. By myself, your amazing family, your friends, your teammates, your students, and countless others. I don’t know how I’ll ever get past this. But I’m so honored to love you and be loved by you. You changed my life, and I’m forever grateful for the time we had.”

Mallett was a star with the Arkansas Razorbacks before he was drafted in 2011 in the third round by the New England Patriots, the NFL said. He spent seven years in the NFL with the Patriots, Houston Texans and Baltimore Ravens.

He played in 21 games, went 3-5 as a starter, and compiled 1,835 passing yards, nine touchdown passes and 10 interceptions, the NFL said. His career ended in 2017.

Authorities had been warning beachgoers as rip currents claimed at least 11 lives in two weeks last month along the Gulf Coast.

Yellow flags indicating “a medium hazard, moderate surf and/or currents” were flying along Destin beaches, though “there were no rip currents present in the area in which we responded to Ryan Mallett,” the Destin Fire Control District said in a statement.

Mallett’s death “seems to be just a tragic accident and not something to do with the conditions of the surf or tides or currents,” Okaloosa County Sheriff Eric Aden said.

NFL star Tom Brady shared online a photo of himself and former Patriots teammate Mallett on the field. “We lost a great man. Thank you for everything Ryan,” Brady wrote on Instagram. “Praying for the Mallett family and all their loved ones tonight.”

The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is institution that says it’s responsible for the “custodianship of the laws of the cricket” and on its website there is a section devoted to the sport’s “spirit.”

In it, the MCC highlights the respectful manner in which the sport should be played, notably: “Respect your captain, team-mates, opponents and the authority of the umpires … create a positive atmosphere by your own conduct, and encourage others to do likewise” and “show self-discipline, even when things go against you.”

On Sunday at Lord’s Cricket Ground – known as the ‘home of cricket’ and owned by the MCC – any idea of the “spirit” of the sport appeared to be in short supply.

Tensions were sparked after the controversial dismissal of England batter Jonny Bairstow on day five of the second Test of the 2023 Ashes series between England and Australia.

Bairstow had walked down the wicket thinking the over was finished, but Australian wicketkeeper Alex Carey threw the ball at the stumps and the England batsman had to be given out.

The incident, whilst not against the laws of cricket, divided many as to whether it went against the spirit of cricket, including many inside Lord’s.

Usually viewed as a welcoming and cerebral crowd, many spectators at Lord’s booed the Australian team throughout the remainder of the ill-tempered game, with some chanting: “Same old Aussies, always cheating.”

Those feelings of injustice then spilled over in arguably the very embodiment of Lord’s and the MCC: the ground’s Long Room.

The Long Room is one of sport’s most unique settings; a room filled with MCC members through which players of both teams have to travel to reach the playing area from their respective dressing rooms.

Usually a space where the most vociferous reactions are limited to applause or cheering – for both the home or away teams – videos on Sunday showed members booing and yelling “cheats” at the Australian players as they walked through the Long Room at lunch to reach their changing room.

“I wasn’t going to stand by and cop it, so I just talked to a few of them. A few of them were throwing out some pretty big allegations and I just called them up on it.”

The abuse continued to just before the stairs up to the teams’ dressing room, with batter Matt Renshaw seen pointing and laughing at one of the MCC members shouting abuse at the team.

In a statement, Cricket Australia alleged that members of the team were “verbally abused, with some being physically contacted, as they made their way to lunch through the members area.”

The MCC released a statement saying that it “unreservedly apologized” to the Australian team, later saying it had suspended three of its members identified involved in the confrontations, barring them from Lord’s while an investigation is carried out.

“We maintain that the behavior of a small number of Members was completely unacceptable and whilst there was no suggestion by Pat Cummins [Australia’s captain] in the post-match press conference that there was any physical altercation, it remains wholly unacceptable to behave in such a way, which goes against the values of the Club,” the statement said.

“MCC condemns the behavior witnessed and once again we re-iterate our apology to Cricket Australia. We are thoroughly disappointed to be talking about poor behavior when the Long Room, as stated by Pat Cummins himself, is otherwise renowned for being ‘really welcoming.’ It has been a thrilling day to finish off a wonderful five days of Test cricket.”

Australia captain Cummins highlighted how the treatment from the MCC members was different to years past in his post-match media conference after his team had won by 43 runs to take a 2-0 lead in the best of five Test series.

“I don’t think (the insults) hurts any more than normal,” he said. “I think just the standards that I guess are held by the members are maybe a bit different to what you’d expect from certain sections of let’s say the crowd at Edgbaston.”

Lord’s and, by extension, the MCC is renowned for being a bastion for grace and sportsmanship as the de facto home of cricket. They are tasked with writing the laws of the game and membership to the MCC is a highly-sought after, with a waiting list of about 29 years.

Indeed, on the MCC’s website, it says that: “Any action which is seen to abuse this Spirit causes injury to the game itself.”

Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) coach Christophe Galtier is to stand trial in Nice, France, over allegations of psychological harassment and racial discrimination, according to the public prosecutor involved in the case.

Xavier Bonhomme, the prosecutor for the judicial court in Nice, tweeted a photo of the office’s press release relating to the matter on Friday. The trial is set for December 15.

The prosecutor’s press release noted that his office opened a preliminary investigation into Galtier and his son, John Valovic, following press reports in April that Galtier allegedly made statements that there were too many Black and Muslim players on the team.

According to the press release, as a result of searches and interviews, Galtier and Valovic were placed in police custody on Friday and had hearings with the investigators.  Prosecutors say the two men have denied the offenses.

Prosecutors in Nice say that the preliminary investigation involved interviews with Nice players during Galtier’s tenure, as well as directors and staff members at the club.

Valovic was not charged and was released following the hearings as he had no official role at Nice.

In an April statement issued by Galtier’s lawyer, the coach “firmly denies” the allegations, describing them as “insulting and defamatory.” Galtier’s lawyer, Olivier Martin, announced at the time the immediate opening of “the necessary legal proceedings” in the statement.

The prosecutor’s press release discusses a 2022 interview with Julien Fournier, the former sporting director of Galtier’s previous club OGC Nice, where Fournier told journalist Julien Absalon that, “If I explain the real reasons we (Fournier and Galtier) argued, he would never work in a locker room in France or Europe again.”

The statement goes on to discuss the widespread media coverage in April of a series of leaked emails from Fournier to Dave Brailsford, a director at INEOS, which owns the club.

The press release states that the emails from Fournier describe a meeting with Galtier’s son, John Valovic, who was presented as the coach’s agent. In that meeting, Valovic allegedly expressed Galtier’s complaints over the Nice squad having “too many Black and Muslim” players in the team, which meant it did not suit “the reality” of the city.

Prosecutors say the maximum punishment Galtier could face if found guilty of psychological harassment and racial discrimination is a three year prison sentence and a €45,000 fine (around $49,000)

Novak Djokovic had a brief stint as a groundsman during his first-round match at Wimbledon on Monday, using his towel to dry the grass on Centre Court.

Djokovic, looking to win a men’s record-extending 24th grand slam title at the tournament, and his opponent Pedro Cachín endured a delay of almost an hour and a half after the first set due to a damp, greasy playing surface.

When the match resumed, Djokovic triumphed 6-3 6-3 7-6 (7-4) against the Argentine to kick off his pursuit of a fifth straight Wimbledon title.

“I normally come out with rackets, not with towels,” the world No. 2 joked during his on-court interview.

“It was fun to do something different – a little bit of a strange feeling but hopefully you guys liked it.”

The roof of Centre Court was closed at the end of the first set but the playing surface remained slippy, prompting Djokovic to mop and fan the grass with a towel while ground staff used leaf blowers in an attempt to dry it out.

As the rain stopped, the roof was opened once more and play could resume.

“It was definitely frustrating, of course, for the crowd waiting for us to come out on the court,” said Djokovic.

“Us players, we both wanted to play, but the conditions were not great. Obviously, it was still slippery under the roof. Once the roof was open, it was a different story. After five, 10 minutes, we were out and about.”

Unperturbed by the delay, Djokovic breezed through his first-round encounter against Cachín in a playing time of two hours and 12 minutes.

It means the Serbian star has now won 29 matches in a row at Wimbledon – a staggering streak which stretches back to his retirement in the quarterfinals six years ago.

His bid to capture a third grand slam title this year will continue on Wednesday against Australia’s Jordan Thompson, who came from two sets down to defeat American Brandon Nakashima 2-6 2-6 6-4 7-6 (7-4) 6-3.

Severe storms and record heat pose serious risks for the Fourth of July holiday, so don’t be surprised if the forecast forces a celebration backup plan.

While the record heat might be easing in the South, it’s building elsewhere. And the storm threat isn’t taking a holiday as it remains active through much of this week after recent deadly storms across the country.

Get your local forecast here

Here’s what to plan for today, and on the Fourth of July, region by region:

Mid-Atlantic and Northeast: Severe storms will threaten millions

Southeast: Heat indices climb as high as 110 degrees with storms possible

Some storms could be severe both today and on the Fourth of July during the afternoon and late evening hours, with damaging winds, large hail and an isolated tornado or two. Have a plan in place in case you need to seek shelter at a holiday celebration. Heat advisories are in effect from the North Florida coast to southern Virginia where temperatures will top out in the upper 90s. The heat index for these areas could reach a dangerous 110 degrees, so make sure to drink a lot of water and have a cool place to take breaks from the heat outdoors.

Midwest and Plains: Severe storms and the hottest temperatures of the year so far

The West: No storm threat, but dangerous heat

Severe storms and excessive rainfall forecast for much of the week

Severe storms and torrential rain won’t stop after the holiday. On Wednesday, the threat will cover roughly 90 million people. The main risk area will be across the Midwest and Southern Plains with a Level 2 out of 5 slight risk for places like Chicago, Indianapolis, Denver, Kansas City, Missouri and Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The Storm Prediction Center is also highlighting an area in the Plains on Thursday to watch out for the threat for severe weather, but it’s too early for the details. Make sure to check back here for any updates through the week.

Any of these storms will have the potential to produce torrential rainfall, so be prepared for flash flooding through the week.

On a rocky outcrop almost 2 miles beneath the surface of the Pacific Ocean off Costa Rica, researchers have documented an active octopus nursery. It may be the third known example of a brooding site where huge numbers of the creatures cluster together.

During a three-week expedition this month, scientists on board Schmidt Ocean Institute’s Falkor research ship saw hundreds of octopuses and watched their babies hatch at the soccer field-size Dorado Outcrop. Located 2,800 meters (1.7 miles) deep in the lower reaches of the so-called twilight zone, it was one of six underwater mountains surveyed by the vessel’s underwater robot, ROV SuBastian.

“We could see that some of them were ready to pop — like the octopus just came out,” said geomicrobiologist Beth Orcutt, a senior research scientist at the Maine-based Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, who led the expedition along with Jorge Cortés of the University of Costa Rica. “It was a really exciting moment because we weren’t expecting it.” Cortés is a researcher at the university’s Center for Research in Marine Sciences and Limnology.

The expedition also captured spectacular footage of other deep-ocean life, including tripod fish, rays and coral gardens.

Mystery solved?

The discovery of an active community of octopus moms and babies solved a mystery that had perplexed scientists.

A subsea vehicle first spotted a large group of octopuses on the Dorado Outcrop in 2013 during an expedition to understand the area’s geochemistry.

It was the first time that octopuses, typically solitary creatures that like cooler waters, had been spotted clustered in such numbers in this way on a low-temperature hydrothermal vent — an opening in the seafloor where warm, chemical-rich fluids flow out.

Scientists observed that the octopuses appeared stressed and could not see any developing embryos in the 186 eggs they counted in still images and video footage. The research team thought conditions were too inhospitable to make it a great place to start a family.

“I was part of the team that went to the site (10 years ago). We just went to that one outcrop to look for evidence of low-temperature vents and discovered that there were those octopuses, but they didn’t seem to be successfully brooding,” Orcutt said.

“So the goal was to go back to Dorado and figure out what’s going on, and we discovered it is an active nursery. We saw babies being born.“

The researchers also found one other smaller octopus nursery on a low-temperature hydrothermal vent on an as-yet-unnamed seamount.

Possibly a new species

The discoveries add to evidence that some species of deep-sea octopus may seek out low-temperature hydrothermal vents for brooding their eggs. The warmer fluids may provide an advantage to egg development, even if the lower oxygen would make it harder to breathe. Octopuses are famously self-sacrificial mothers — after laying a clutch of eggs, they quit eating and waste away, typically dying by the time the eggs hatch.

“We don’t know why they are attracted to this place. Perhaps they just stumble upon it, perhaps they seek it out, maybe for the warmth, maybe for the bare rock, maybe for some reason beyond our comprehension,” said octopus specialist Janet Voight, an associate curator of invertebrate zoology at Chicago’s Field Museum who was part of the latest expedition. She was one of three authors of a 2018 paper analyzing the initial footage taken in 2013.

Voight and her coauthors speculated an octopus population might be in a healthier habitat nearby and the octopuses captured in the photos and video footage were a doomed surplus group that had inadvertently chosen to set up home in the wrong neighborhood.

“Watching the ROV’s light reveal the hundreds of animals, I was just thrilled!!” she said via email.

Scientists believe this octopus is potentially a new species of Muusoctopus, a genus of small to medium-size octopus. It’s not known how long the deep-sea octopuses brood their eggs for at that location, Orcutt said.

The main aim of the June expedition was to better understand the hydrogeology, microbiology, ecology and geochemistry of the Dorado Outcrop and its octopuses, she added. The team collected cores of sediment and microorganisms for lab analysis. The scientists also plan to return to the site in December to collect octopus eggs from devices they deposited recently to find out why the creatures like to brood there.

The other known octopus nursery is about 3,200 meters (2 miles) below the ocean surface on the Davidson Seamount off the coast of Monterey, California, where thousands of octopuses cluster around a vent, and a smaller nursery that was found on a 2,600-meter-deep (1.6-mile-deep) basalt outcrop in the North Pacific Ocean known as Baby Bare, Voight said. Orcutt added, however, that it wasn’t clear whether octopuses were actively breeding there.

A 57-year-old Thai woman had to have her leg amputated after she got caught up in a moving walkway at an international airport in Bangkok on Thursday in a freak accident that has yet to be fully explained by authorities.

Don Mueang International Airport’s director Karant Thanakuljeerapat said the incident took place at around 8:27 a.m. local time (7:27 p.m. ET) in the southern corridor of the domestic passenger terminal.

Speaking at a news conference Thursday, Karant said the woman, who was traveling to the southern city of Nakhon Si Thammarat, had a “severe” accident at the end of a moving walkway after her left leg became caught in the end of the walkway.

Medics responded quickly and the woman was transferred to the nearest hospital, though the severity of her injuries led to the amputation of her leg up to the kneecap, Karant said.

She has since been transferred to Bumrungrad International Hospital, one of the country’s top medical facilities, the director added.

“I would like to convey our deepest sorrow,” Karant told reporters.

The woman’s son, Krit Kittirattana, released a statement on Facebook in which he described the accident as “heartbreaking”.

He said his mother has had an operation but still faces risks of potential complications and that doctors were keeping a close watch for any signs of infection.

“My mother has continued to express her strength through her face and voice. But deep down we know that her heart is broken since she suddenly lost her leg,” he wrote.

He added that the family has requested surveillance camera footage of the accident.

Karant, the airport director, said Airports Of Thailand (AOT), the state-owned company that operates airports across the country, would take care of all medical expenses and provide compensation.

All of the airport’s moving walkways have had their service suspended while the cause of the incident is investigated and engineers do safety checks, he added.

“The cause of the incident is still under investigation to find the facts. We might need to set up a fact-finding committee with outsiders to join in order to achieve impartiality and transparency,” he said.

He said closed-circuit television footage available was taken from afar, thereby taking his staff more time to investigate.

He refrained from making any preliminary conclusion at this stage.

The director, however, defended the airport’s routine maintenance and checkups.

One of the two international airports in Bangkok, Don Mueang is located in the northern part of the capital. It was previously the city’s main airport until the newer and larger Suvarnabhumi Airport opened in 2006.

Thailand is a hugely popular tourist destination for those seeking warm weather and palm fringed beaches.

The country has also been pushing hard for its health tourism with an abundance of private hospitals.

Prior to the coronavirus pandemic tourism accounted for some 12% of the country’s economy with nearly 40 million arrivals in 2019.

Arrival numbers were decimated during the pandemic but have begun recovering in recent months. Thailand beat its tourist target in the first quarter of 2023, logging 6.15 million arrivals between January and March.