Thousands of marchers arrived in Jerusalem Saturday, the culmination of a five-day walk from Tel Aviv to protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans to weaken the powers of Israel’s courts.

The demonstrators arrived the day before Israeli lawmakers begin debating what could become the first element of the plan to be voted into law.

The arrival of the march comes as the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, prepares to begin on a bill that would strip the Supreme Court of the power to declare government decisions “unreasonable,” removing one of the few checks on the government in a country that has no written Constitution.

Netanyahu is pressing on with his plans after pausing them earlier this year in the face of widespread protests and international pressure.

The reasonableness bill is one part of the package and requires two more Knesset votes to become law. It could pass as early as Monday. Other proposals include giving the government a greater say in appointing judges.

Netanyahu and his allies call the measures “reforms” and say they are required to rebalance powers between the courts, lawmakers and the government. Opponents of the plan call it a coup say it threatens to turn Israel into a dictatorship by removing the most significant check on government actions.

There are suggestions that Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party, is trying to delay the vote after more than 1,000 Air Force reserve officers threatened to stop volunteering if the bill passed.

Such a move could impact Israeli military capabilities amid a surge in Israeli-Palestinian violence and with the country regularly bombing Iranian-linked targets in Syria.

The reservists signed an open letter warning against the changes.

“Legislation that allows the government to act in an extremely unreasonable manner will harm the security of the State of Israel, will cause a loss of trust, is a violation of my consent to continue risking my life – and will lead with deep sorrow and no choice but to suspend my volunteering of service in the reserves,” the letter said.

Amid Israeli media reports that Gallant was pushing for a delay, his office released a brief statement Friday night saying the defense minister “is working in every way to bring about a broad consensus, prevent damage to Israel’s security and keep the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] out of the political controversy.”

Netanyahu announced earlier in the year that he was firing Gallant for calling for a delay to the overhaul, but the dismissal was quietly shelved and never took effect.

In addition to the march to Jerusalem, anti-overhaul demonstrations are scheduled to take place Saturday night around the country for the 29th week in a row.

Women’s World Cup 2023: Live scores, fixtures, results, tables and top scorers

South Korea forward Casey Phair on Tuesday became the youngest ever player to appear at the World Cup – just 26 days after celebrating her 16th birthday.

The US-born teenager came on as a 78th minute substitute in South Korea’s 2-0 loss to Colombia in Sydney, beating the record of Nigeria’s Ifeanyi Chiejine, who was 16 years and 34 days old at the 1999 Women’s World Cup.

The Group H clash Tuesday also saw another record broken – the 22 years and 256 days between Phair and South Korean goalkeeper Kim Jung-mi is the biggest age gap between teammates in Women’s World Cup history, according to FIFA.

Phair is the first player of mixed heritage to be selected for a Korean World Cup squad, according to Reuters. After announcing her selection, South Korea coach Colin Bell said it was his duty to protect the teenager from the glare of publicity.

South Korea next face Morocco in Adelaide on Sunday.

Norman Whiteside is the youngest player to appear at the men’s World Cup, representing Northern Ireland in 1982 at age 17 and 41 days.

Smoke from more than 1,000 wildfires burning across Canada has wafted over the northern US, bringing poor air quality and pollution that threaten residents’ health to northern US cities including Chicago, Illinois, and Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Chicago, Minneapolis and Detroit, Michigan, are now among at least three major US cities that are ranked in the top 20 most polluted cities in the world, according to global pollution tracker IQAir.

The smoke has drifted over the Great Lakes region, in particular, as about 1,090 active fires blaze throughout Canada, more than 670 of which are considered “out of control,” according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre. That’s up from more than 880 fires there last week.

The bulk of the country’s wildfires are burning in British Columbia, where more than 460 fires are ongoing, the agency reports.

In the US, the National Weather Service (NWS) has issued air quality alerts for millions of people across Michigan and parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana.

The blanket of hazy skies follows a belt of Canadian wildfire smoke which stretched across the US last week, triggering air quality alerts for more than a dozen states from Montana to Vermont, with some smoke reaching as far South as Alabama.

The smoke is expected to shift eastward through the Great Lakes region through Tuesday and disperse by Wednesday – just as the upper Midwest is forecast to see some of its hottest temperatures so far this year. Minneapolis could reach 100° and Chicago will be in the upper 90s.

The EPA in Illinois has declared an “Air Pollution Action Day” through Tuesday due to the “persistent” wildfire smoke causing elevated air pollution in the region. Similar advisories have been declares in Michigan and Wisconsin.

The city is recommending that those with chronic respiratory issues limit their activities outdoors and is advising against strenuous activity for children, teens, seniors, people with heart or lung disease, and pregnant people.

“All Chicagoans may also consider wearing masks, limiting their outdoor exposure, moving activities indoors, running air purifiers, and closing windows,” the city said in a release Monday.

Wildfire smoke is packed with tiny pollutants – known as particulate matter – that can infiltrate the lungs and blood stream if inhaled. Particulate matter can commonly cause difficulty breathing and eye and throat irritation, but has also been linked to more serious long-term health issues such as lung cancer, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Canada suffers worst fire season on record

The US is likely to see the downwind effects of Canada’s prolonged wildfires as the country continues to experience its worst fire season on record.

Almost 29 million acres of Canadian land have been scorched so far this year, according to the national fire center. Smoke from the blazes this summer have so far touched the American South and traveled across the Atlantic and into Europe.

The crisis has elicited a flood of international support, as fire and emergency response personnel have deployed to the country from nations including the US, Australia and Brazil. At least two Canadian firefighters have died while battling the flames.

Hard-hit British Columbia will receive federal assistance from the Canadian Armed Forces, Public Safety Canada announced last week.

Hundreds of British Columbia’s fires have been ignited by lightning strikes from thunderstorms, according to the British Columbia Wildfire Service. Some of those thunderstorms were “dry,” producing insufficient amounts of rain to help quench any fires – a dangerous prospect in a province experiencing severe drought.

As the human-driven climate crisis intensifies, scientists expect wildfire seasons will increase in severity, especially as droughts and heat become more common and more severe across the world.

Women’s World Cup 2023: Live scores, fixtures, results, tables and top scorers

The Philippines stunned New Zealand 1-0 to earn its first ever Women’s World Cup victory on Tuesday off California-born Sarina Bolden’s 24th-minute goal.

Bolden’s first-half header was the country’s first ever goal in the competition’s history.

The World Cup co-host looked to have earned itself a route back into the game midway through the second half when Jacqui Hand’s looping header floated over a despairing Olivia McDaniel in goal, but it was later ruled out by the video assistant referee (VAR) for offside.

The World Cup debutant was able to withstand New Zealand pressure, including a truly remarkable diving save from McDaniel in added time at the end of the game, to earn a historic victory, sparking scenes of jubilant celebrations.

“I literally can’t put it into words,” Bolden said afterwards. “This has been a dream of mine as a little kid to just be here at the World Cup, let alone even score.

“I couldn’t have done it without my teammates, the staff, the fans, the Philippines as a whole. It’s just amazing right now to feel this win and this energy in this stadium right now, so it’s just amazing.”

In a finely-poised Group A, the Philippines – after becoming the first of the debutant teams to win at the 2023 Women’s World Cup – now has an opportunity to make yet further history by reaching the knockout phases with one group game remaining.

It is a memorable moment for the country, many of whose players are US-born and ply their trade around the world.

Chief amongst those is Bolden, who was born in Santa Clara, California, and plays for Western Sydney Wanderers in the Australian A-League.

Before joining the national team, Bolden – who qualifies to represent both the US and the Philippines – had never been to the Asian nation. Now, she’s one of the team’s most recognizable stars.

“I know soccer isn’t the main sport in the Philippines… But I think by seeing us on the big screen, on the big stage, I think more people are going to be really interested and want to get into soccer.”

Bolden said she’s already seen awareness and interest grow in the Philippines following the team’s on-field successes and historic qualification for the World Cup.

“I think the excitement is really growing from grassroots. People are really trying to spread the word,” she said, sharing an anecdote in which her mother randomly approached a Filipino coworker to let them know that the women’s national team was playing in this year’s World Cup.

“I know people are talking, Filipino Americans especially, about how huge this is,” Bolden added. “So I can imagine the word is spreading.”

With her goal, the 27-year-old Bolden became the Philippines’ record women’s international goalscorer.

Team goalkeeper McDaniel, who provided many key saves and interventions to keep her side in the game, was also born in California and plays for Stallion Laguna back in the Philippines.

Lorine went onto say that, for the Philippines, “this is a big achievement for us.”

“We’re so happy,” she said, adding she felt “beyond words.”

Having won its opening group game last time out, New Zealand missed out on making its own slice of history by qualifying for the knockout phase for the first time.

Switzerland and Norway play out goalless draw

In Tuesday’s late game, Switzerland and Norway played out a 0-0 stalemate in Hamilton, New Zealand.

Both teams struggled to create clear cut chances, with Norway missing its talismanic striker Ada Hegerberg after she suffered an injury in warms ups.

Neither side lacked for attacking endeavor, but both couldn’t find that cutting edge to make the breakthrough for the decisive goal.

The point proves an important one for Switzerland which remains atop Group A, while Norway faces a stiff task to qualify for the knockout phases with just one point after its opening two games.

In their final group games on Sunday, July 30, Switzerland faces New Zealand while Norway plays the Philippines knowing it needs a victory to have any chance of making it through to the next stage.

Colombia cruises past South Korea

In Tuesday’s first game, Colombia got its World Cup campaign off to the perfect start, beating South Korea 2-0.

A first-half penalty from Catalina Usme got the ball rolling for the South American side before 18-year-old Linda Caicedo doubled the lead.

In a stadium dominated by Colombia fans, the world No. 25 looked the strongest throughout as it claimed only its second ever World Cup victory.

For South Korea, forward Casey Phair made history by becoming the youngest ever player to appear at the World Cup – just 26 days after celebrating her 16th birthday.

The US-born teenager came on as a 78th-minute substitute in the loss in Sydney, beating the record of Nigeria’s Ifeanyi Chiejine, who was 16 years and 34 days old at the 1999 Women’s World Cup.

It’s been so blazin’ hot in this record-setting summer that it’s hard to even fathom the question: Is it time to start buying airline tickets for winter holiday travel to lock in a decent price?

The calendar knows what’s hard for our heat-addled minds to realize: Thanksgiving in the United States is only four months away, and Christmas and New Year’s is just a month later.

Christmas is definitely on the mind of 61-year-old John Leibach of Augusta, Georgia. An employee of an engineering firm, Leibach has deep roots in Germany and has gone to visit family in Mainstockheim, a small town in Bavaria, for decades.

He loves the Christmas markets there. “I find German Christmas is just a little less commercial … and this goes back to my childhood – my dad took us there a lot.”

Forecast: Busy season ahead

Before buying a ticket, it’s good to know what to anticipate in airports and this skies this winter.

That’s right in line with what Scott Keyes, founder of travel site Going, is expecting for the holidays.

The silver lining? “I’m pretty bullish in terms of where things are headed fare-wise,” Keyes said.

Keyes noted that airfares have been “falling rapidly in the past year.” He said it hit a peak in May 2022 and has fallen in 10 of the past 13 months.

“That’s all telling me that while things are going to continue to be busy, airlines don’t have the same amount of pricing power they did last year, so you can certainly expect there to be more cheap flights available and at the very least not expect to have to pay these sort of eye-popping, borderline-gouging prices.”

Is it time to buy winter tickets now?

“I would say that Christmas in July – July 25 – is when you should start planning your Christmas travel. Not booking it, but planning it,” said Haley Berg, lead economist at the travel app Hopper.

Berg noted a new costly habit in the flying public she’s seen popping up.

“Travelers post-pandemic are planning very last minute. They’re booking much closer to flight departures,” she said. Flyers can miss out on deals any time of year by waiting so late but doing so for the winter holidays causes “bigger consequences,” she warned.

For international flights, Berg advises booking by the second week of September to avoid higher prices.

“For domestic, you have a little bit more time. Prices will probably be at their lowest the last two weeks of September, the first two weeks of October. … Don’t expect to book domestic trips for the holidays for a couple of months,” Berg said. “Prices are still pretty elevated, but they are going to drop into that sweet spot.”

The ‘Goldilocks window’

Keyes of Going compares ticket shopping to clothes shopping.

“The secret to getting cheap holiday flights can be summed up in four words: Always book opposite season,” he said. “Think about it like you’re buying a winter coat. When are those going on sale? In the summertime. When are swimsuits going on sale? In the wintertime. … That’s how it works with peak travel airfare.”

Keyes said the period each year when cheapest winter holiday flights are most likely to surface is known as the “Goldilocks window.” For domestic flights this year, that’s roughly three to six months out, he said. For international, it’s four to even 10 months out.

“We are right now in those Goldilocks windows, certainly for international travel and even getting there for domestic travel as well,” Keyes said in mid-July. “It’s not that everybody who is hoping to travel this Christmas or New Year’s should run out and book their flight today, regardless of the fare, but now is the time when you should be starting to watch it.”

For US-based flyers, routes to Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean are more in tune with domestic pricing patterns than international flights to Europe and Asia, Keyes said.

Keyes recently saw some cheap flight examples in mid-July for Christmas: New York to Dublin nonstop $527 roundtrip. Flights to Azores for $680 roundtrip. Those were more than half off what he’d expect them to cost a few months from now, he said.

The dangers of dawdling

Dengler of the Vacationer is firmly in the early worm camp.

“There are only a limited number of days and flights available during the holiday season, which is why it is essential to start your search now,” he said. “As November and December approach, desirable times, seats, and routes are going to either sell out or considerably increase in cost.”

“I recommend booking Thanksgiving flights by late August or early September. At the absolute latest, book by Halloween. For Christmas, I also recommend booking by late August or early September. At the latest, you should book by Thanksgiving,” he said.

“Booking a Thanksgiving flight in November or a Christmas flight in December is likely going to lead to an expensive, undesirable flight time with one or more connections.”

Dengler advised people to move quickly – and book directly with the airline.

“In the event you need to change your itinerary due to a cancellation or significant delay, it is much easier to be able to contact your airline’s support team as opposed to a third-party booking service.”

Other money-saving tips

The dates you depart and return are just as important as how far out you book a ticket when it comes to better fares, Berg said.

If you have the timing flexibility, she said comparing prices for various combos of departures and returns can yield some savings. And if you don’t mind it, flying on the actual holiday is usually the cheapest date – and the least crowded, Berg said.

For Thanksgiving and Christmas, Dengler recommends flying out as far in advance of the holiday as possible. When returning, fly home as many days as possible after the holiday.  The Vacationer also offers a full, detailed strategy for winter holidays 2023.

Thanksgiving is the hidden best week of the entire year for international travel.

Scott Keyes

Keyes offered up this bonus if you’re in the United States: “Thanksgiving is the hidden best week of the entire year for international travel. And here’s why: It is a very American-centric holiday. People are traveling home to be with the family, have turkey, watch football. It’s all great, but by definition, all those people traveling domestically are not traveling internationally.”

While domestic fares might get very inflated that week, international fares could offer huge savings.

“It can cost the same price to fly to Reno, Nevada, as to Rome, Italy. Nothing against Reno, but I certainly imagine I’d have a more memorable trip going to Italy than to Nevada.”

Dengler at the Vacationer cited a great example: A roundtrip flight out of New York to Rome via Air Canada for only $552 from Sunday, November 19, through Tuesday, November 28.

Holding off – but not for too long

Back in sweltering Augusta, Georgia, John Leibach is biding his time for his cool Christmas vacation – but not for too long. Leibach said he’s waiting intentionally for the summer vacation frenzy to end and to figure out exactly how much time off he can take.

Right now, he’s aiming for a September purchase.

“The holding off is not a pricing bet as much as it is being sure I’m comfortable being away from work that long. … [But] I think it’s good odds the pricing will come down once summer travel ends.”

He paid almost $2,000 for a roundtrip ticket to Frankfurt in May. He’s hoping for a price between $1,500 and $2,000 for his Christmas trip. “If it’s higher, I’ll still go.”

Leibach should have decent prospects for a decent deal if Keyes’ forecast holds. The best bargains are likely to happen from now to mid-September, Keyes said.

“Your odds of a cheap flight over Christmas and New Years are at their best over the next two months, and then your odds start to decline precipitously as we get closer to the actual holiday period.”

This time of year, the shark-related news stories start to circle. New York increases patrols after five bites in two days; a shiver of at least 50 sharks is filmed off Long Island; beachgoers spot a shark swimming near a crowded Florida shore.

Despite our fearful fascination with these majestic beasts of the ocean, the chances of one of those needle-like teeth ever puncturing your skin are staggeringly low: more than one in four million, according to the International Shark Attack File (ISAF), the world’s most comprehensive database of all known shark attacks.

There were just 57 confirmed unprovoked shark attacks last year, out of a global population of 8 billion, five of which were fatal. However, some places around the world have much higher rates of shark attacks than others, with the numbers rising with the passing years.

Let’s take a look at the locations worldwide with the highest rates of shark attacks between 2012 and 2021 and the reasons they’ve become hot spots.

Florida (259 bites)

The absolute prime time, location and activity for a shark bite encounter would be to go surfing in Florida’s Volusia County between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. on a September afternoon, according to ISAF stats.

Volusia, home to world-famous Daytona Beach, has the dubious honor of being known as the “shark bite capital of the world.” New Smyrna Beach, just south of the city, is an epicenter of shark activity.

Australia (143 bites)

In 2022, there were nine unprovoked incidents in Australia: four in New South Wales, four in Western Australia and a single incident in Victoria.

Worldwide, bite victims are most commonly atop the water on a surf board, water skis or other flotation device at the time of the attack. “Try to avoid splashing at the surface, because it generates sounds that are reminiscent of struggling fishes,” says Gavin Naylor, director of the Florida Program for Shark Research, in the Florida Museum’s advice to swimmers.

Hawaii (76 bites)

Maui is the second-largest of Hawaii’s islands, but it’s by the far the liveliest when it comes to human-shark encounters. A big factor in this is the unique underwater terrain: Maui’s gently sloping insular shelf habitats are particularly enticing to tiger sharks.

Fishing is, unsurprisingly, another higher-risk activity in waters in which sharks dwell. In May 2023, a kayaker fishing in shallow waters offshore in Windward Oahu, Hawaii, when a tiger shark slammed into his boat (see the video above).

South Africa (29 bites)

South Africa had 29 unprovoked shark bites between 2012 and 2021, of which six were fatal. Western Cape, which includes the Gansbaai Coast, has the most recently recorded attacks. Gansbaai has traditionally been a spot for sighting great white sharks, but in recent years they’ve been driven off by orcas, according to recent reports.

The ISAF points out that it’s very hard to positively identify species involved in attacks, due to victims being understandably distracted in the heat of the encounter, but white sharks are the species that have been most commonly implicated.

South Carolina (45 bites)

None of the 45 unprovoked attacks in South Carolina in the decade-long time frame were fatal. Charleston, Horry and Beaufort were the site of the majority of incidents.

California (29 bites)

San Diego is the shark bite hot spot of California, with 20 confirmed unprovoked shark attacks since 1926.

North Carolina (31 bites)

Brunswick County, on North Carolina’s southeast corner, is brimful of beaches and is therefore unsurprisingly the region with the highest number of recorded attacks: 17 of them since 1935.

North Carolina’s coastal waters lie on an important migration route for marine species, writes Chuck Bangley in North Carolina Sea Grant’s “Coastwatch,” which means most types of shark dwelling on the US east coast will pass through here at some point of the year.

Réunion Island (19 bites)

Lying in the Indian Ocean between Madagascar and Mauritius, Réunion is a rainforested volcanic island teeming with wildlife, including plenty of sharks around its crystal-blue shores.

Between 2012 and 2021, there were eight fatal attacks here, meaning that by some measures this island is one of the deadliest places on Earth in terms of shark encounters. Geography plays its role here: Réunion Island lies on what’s been dubbed a “shark highway” between the shark-rich waters of Australia and South Africa, meaning human adventurers in the Indian Ocean may as well be opening the porch door and walking straight into the sharks’ front room.

Brazil (10 bites)

The state of Pernambuco in northeast Brazil is home to buzzing Boa Viagem Beach as well as the Fernando de Noronha archipelago of 21 islands and islets. And it also has nearly six times as many shark encounters as anywhere else in the country. An April 2023 study by the International Journal of Oceanography and Aquaculture reports that the local government is looking to fund scientific research to investigate the “huge number of unprovoked shark attacks [that] have suddenly started at Pernambuco’s inshore waters” since the 1990s.

Bahamas (5 bites)

Nurse sharks are a largely unaggressive, docile species, which means that swimming alongside them is a popular tourist activity in the Bahamas. However, they’re big fellas – growing to up to 14 feet in length – and, as is to be expected with wild creatures, attacks do happen on very rare occasions.

Sometimes it only takes one visit to convince visitors to pack up their belongings and move to Bonaire permanently.

Susan Davis lived in Chicago her entire life before taking a scuba diving trip to Bonaire in 1988. Just four years later, Davis kissed her American life goodbye and bought a one-way ticket back to the Dutch Caribbean island, where she now works as a bird guide.

“I fell in love with Bonaire,” Davis, now in her mid-60s, says of her initial visit. “The day it was time to fly home, I remember I sat on the bed at my accommodations and said to myself, ‘Someday I want to live here.’”

She’s not alone.

In the 1960s, Bonaire had a population just less than 6,000, but this more than doubled to 15,000 by 2010. Today, about 23,000 people call Bonaire home, according to Statistics Netherlands (CBS), which has been providing information about the Netherlands for more than a century.

“It is not difficult for an American citizen to move to the island, but patience is required, as it is a standard paperwork procedure,” says Rolando Marin, the information officer for Tourism Corporation Bonaire. “The positive and peaceful vibe of the island gets tourists hooked.”

More than a spectacular diving destination

First, a little background.

Bonaire, pronounced “Bone-air,” is located just off the coast of Venezuela, and it’s one of the three ABC islands: Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao. Bonaire is a special municipality of the Netherlands; Aruba and Curaçao are autonomous countries within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Bonaire is just 111 square miles (287 square kilometers), and you can drive around it in three or four hours.

Bonaire is known for its scuba diving, but unless you’re Dutch or an avid diver, you probably haven’t given the island much thought. But it’s more than great diving that’s persuaded new arrivals to drop their former lives and move to a sparsely populated island.

It’s a three-hour direct flight from Miami into a teeny tiny airport, and then a 10-minute drive to the island’s capital, Kralendijk, where most of the resorts are concentrated. At Delfins Beach Resort, the rooms are outfitted with mini-kitchens, as the majority of guests have extended stays of a few weeks or longer. There are also rental homes via Airbnb available, and many are less than $100 per night.

At restaurants, local catches, including tuna, barracuda, mahi-mahi and bonefish, are highlighted on the menus, and sustainability is emphasized.

The very popular Cactus Blue Bonaire food truck is a draw for locals, who line up on the side of the road at lunch to snag a lion fish wrap. Lion fish are an invasive species that divers catch daily to keep its population at bay. The food truck, which serves lunch on weekdays close to a dive site near the airport, uses on reusable plates, along with glass bottles of fresh fruit juice that customers are asked to return.

The island exhibits a communal commitment to conservation. They have a donkey sanctuary, a sea turtle conservation group, a flamingo sanctuary, a coral reef renewal foundation and more. Officials are trying to rid the entire island of plastic, and many single-use plastics – such as straws and plastic cutlery – were banned in 2022.

Protected natural beauty

Bonaire had always been the least developed island among the ABC islands, and a 1969 land deal helped stave off future development with the establishment of a national park. “Boy” Herrera, the owner of the former Washington Plantation, made a deal with the government to take over the land upon his death with the sole purpose of keeping it a nature sanctuary, explains Annette Emerenciana, spokeswoman for Tourism Corporation Bonaire. Another plantation was added to the area 10 years later. Washington Slagbaai National Park covers just under 14,000 acres.

Then, in 1999, the Bonaire government purchased Klein Bonaire (an uninhabited island a half mile offshore) from the private sector for $4.6 million with the agreement that it would remain a naturally preserved island. Development is prohibited. It’s home to turtle nesting grounds, and it’s accessible via water taxi or boat excursions.

Harry Schoffelen, co-owner of the Cactus Blue Bonaire food truck, visited Bonaire from the Netherlands in 2010 when he was at a crossroads in his life, and he never left.

“What’s there not to love?” says Schoffelen, who’s in his late 50s. “We get this so many times – people arrive for the first time, and they’re already looking at buying a house here. It’s mind boggling, but you fall in love.”

Bonaire is considered safe; the US State Department puts the island in its lowest, Level 1 travel risk category encouraging visitors to exercise normal precautions.

The weather is warm, the public schools are excellent and free health care is provided to residents. There are no traffic lights, goats and flamingos roam freely, the beaches are beautiful and housing is relatively affordable for some incoming residents.

Moving to the island

That’s why Kiki Multem decided to move to Bonaire after visiting for five days in 2021.

“Bonaire is super laid back and easy-going,” says Multem, a travel blogger in her early 30s. “People are extremely friendly, and I really found peace here. Living the island life changed me so much as a person in a good way.”

Perhaps one reason why so many people drop their previous lives to move to Bonaire is the relative ease of staying for an extended period. If you have a Dutch or US passport, you can stay in Bonaire for six months per year without a residence permit. Many other nationalities can stay for up to 90 days at a time without a residence permit.

If you hold a Dutch or US passport and want to stay longer than six months or work on the island for any period exceeding 90 days, you must apply for a permit.

There aren’t any restrictions on foreign home buyers in Bonaire. There are more details on this government site on requirements for various living situations, including retiring to the island.

Living in Bonaire does take an adjustment, although they do get Amazon deliveries.

When Davis first moved to the island, there was a dearth of supplies, from groceries to hardware items to home decor. She remembers being happy if she found mushrooms in the supermarket. And the prices for most items are higher than they are in the United States or in Europe because of shipment costs and import duties.

And yet she lives on an island and pets donkeys as they wander through the streets. People are nice, she goes to the beach every day and passion fruit is readily available.

When Davis got a flat tire, other drivers stopped to help before she even had the chance to get out of the car.

“Bonaire has a certain magic,” Davis says. “When people arrive the first time, they see a lovely island with beautiful seas, lands and friendly people. But by the time they have spent a week here, the magic has insinuated itself into them: They feel the pull of the island.”

On Thursday evening, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office announced a last-minute televised statement by Benjamin Netanyahu.

Rumors and reports had been swirling that Netanyahu was going to step back or soften one bill of the judicial overhaul legislation that was set to come up for its final votes early next week: the reasonableness standard.

But instead, despite the tens of thousands of protesters, the increase in refusals to serve by military reservists and even a very public and harsh criticism of the judicial overhaul plan by US President Joe Biden, Netanyahu refused to back down.

Netanyahu spent the speech extolling how this piece of legislation, which would strip the Israeli Supreme Court of its ability to declare government actions “unreasonable,” would strengthen democracy, not destroy it – even though the Supreme Court is the only check on government actions in Israel, since the executive and legislative branches of government are always controlled by the same governing coalition. He said he was still open to discussions with the opposition, but blamed them for the breakdown in negotiations towards a compromise over the past few months.

He saved his harshest criticisms for two groups: the demonstrators on the streets and the military reservists who are refusing to serve in protest. Netanyahu said “extremists” in the protest movement “do not want any compromise but are striving for only one thing – to sow chaos in the country,” and chastised the tens of thousands of demonstrators who have been taking to the streets, blaming them for blocking traffic, trains, even ambulances (a charge the protest organizations have vehemently denied).

Even worse, he said, the growing number of military reservists who are refusing to serve as a form of protest “endangers the security of us all, of every citizen of Israel.”

“When elements in the military try – with threats – to dictate policy to the government, this is unacceptable in any democracy, and if they succeed in dictating their threats, this is the end of genuine democracy,” he said, warning that “refusal to serve by one side will certainly lead to refusal to serve by the other.”

The speech comes after a whirlwind trip to the United States by Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who has been acting as mediator on the talks between the government and opposition. Herzog got the type of welcome in the US that Netanyahu has yet to receive – an Oval Office sit-down with President Biden, a speech to Congress, and meetings with every top American political figure.

Herzog used his speech to send a message – Israel and the United States are and will forever remain good friends, no matter what internal turmoil may be boiling. He leaned on history and the Bible to tie the two countries together, declaring that Israeli “democracy is strong and resilient” as he received more than a dozen standing ovations from US senators and representatives – including when he extolled the very institution Netanyahu is trying to weaken: a “strong Supreme Court and independent judiciary.”

“We are so very proud of the true friendship we have forged. A mutually beneficial partnership that has withstood challenges and weathered great disagreements, because it is based not on uniformity of approach, but on the ultimate currency of trust,” Herzog said. “It is not dependent upon operating in harmony, but on the history we share, on the truths we cherish, on the values we embody. ”

But the day before, Biden had been sounding a warning siren to Netanyahu via the New York Times’ Thomas Friedman: Pass this overhaul without broad consensus and you’re risking our relationship.

“This is obviously an area about which Israelis have strong views, including in an enduring protest movement that is demonstrating the vibrancy of Israel’s democracy, which must remain the core of our bilateral relationship,” Biden told Friedman in their one-hour and 15-minute meeting. “Finding consensus on controversial areas of policy means taking the time you need. For significant changes, that’s essential. So my recommendation to Israeli leaders is not to rush. I believe the best outcome is to continue to seek the broadest possible consensus here.”

Friedman’s own interpretation of Biden’s feelings went even farther: “He is basically pleading with Netanyahu and the prime minister’s supporters to understand: If we are not seen to share that democratic value, it will be difficult to sustain the special relationship that Israel and America have enjoyed for the last 75 years for another 75 years.”

But in his speech on Thursday Netanyahu seemingly dismissed such concerns.

“Citizens of Israel, all of the remarks about the destruction of democracy are simply absurd,” Netanyahu said. “This is an attempt to mislead you over something that has no basis in reality.”

Netanyahu claimed “efforts are being made to reach agreement on the issue of reasonableness,” but made no indication about any plans to pull the final votes for the legislation, scheduled for Sunday and Monday.

Friedman’s column made major waves in Israel, dominating media coverage. So too did a discrepancy between the White House and Netanyahu’s office over whether, during a Monday phone call between the two leaders, a proper and formal White House invitation had been extended to Netanyahu. The Israeli readout used the word “invitation,” while White House would only say the two leaders had “agreed to meet” in the US before the end of the year.

Meanwhile, the protest movement is still incredibly active, with more taking to the streets on Thursday evening in impromptu demonstrations, amid reports of more and more reservists vowing they will not serve. That potentially puts Israel’s military preparedness at risk, just as the reasonableness legislation is set to go through its final votes early next week. Should it pass, it will be the first aspect of the judicial overhaul to do so.

Dozens of German police officers are using helicopters, drones and infrared cameras to track down what is believed to be a lioness spotted on the outskirts of Berlin.

Police are working with a team of experts, including a veterinarian and hunters, as part of a search which began around midnight local time (6 p.m. ET Wednesday) in Kleinmachnow, just beyond the city limits, after several eyewitnesses reported seeing a large predatory cat chasing a wild boar.

“As of 13:10 (7:10 a.m. ET) I can inform you that the lioness has not yet been sighted. This means that our measures here in Kleinmachnow are still running at full speed at the moment,” said Kleinmachnow mayor Michael Gruber at a press conference Thursday.

“We are searching together. The police and also other forces are trying to find the lioness,” he added.

A large-scale search employing two helicopters and a convoy of 30 police vehicles and 100 police officers is underway.

It is currently unknown where the wild animal came from.

Police spokesperson Kerstin Schroeder said authorities “investigated the origin of the animal during the night. That is to say, we checked zoos, animal parks and other animal-keeping facilities and made inquiries. No animal of this kind has disappeared from any of these facilities.”

Police had earlier warned residents in parts of Berlin to stay indoors.

“Please avoid leaving the house due to an escaped wild animal in the Kleinmachnow, Teltow & Stahnsdorf (PM) area and also bring your pets into the house. Our colleagues are on site and checking the situation,” local police said Thursday morning on Twitter.

Police urged people to call emergency services if they spot the animal.

The head of the Belarusian Red Cross has sparked an international outcry with his announcement that the organization is involved in the relocation of Ukrainian children from Russian-occupied areas to Belarus, a stark admission that potentially could make the group complicit in what Ukraine says is a war crime.

Dzmitry Shautsou, the chief of the Belarusian branch of the Red Cross, said in an interview with a state TV channel Belarus 1 that the organization was bringing Ukrainian children to Belarus for “rehabilitation,” according to a report about the interview by the independent Belsat TV.

“When they accused the Republic of Belarus of kidnapping children who come to us for rehabilitation – frankly speaking, the Belarusian Red Cross has been, and is, and will be actively involved in this,” Shautsou said.

Ukraine has long accused Russia of forcibly deporting Ukrainian children from occupied areas. Some Russian officials have admitted the practice, publicly boasting about their efforts to bring children to Russia, place them in Russian families and, in some cases, give them Russian passports.

But Shautsou’s statement was the first time the Belarus Red Cross has admitted taking part in the deportations. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the Red Cross umbrella organization, expressed “grave concern” and called for the practice to stop.

Under international agreements, including the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, the deportation of a civilian population is considered a war crime and forcible transfers of children of one group to another group amount to genocide.

It is unclear how many Ukrainian children have been deported to Russia or Belarus since the beginning of the war. Official numbers from the Ukrainian government show that almost 20,000 how been deported or forcibly displaced, and 1,000 are missing, but the government says the numbers could be much higher.

Shautsou described the children as coming to Belarus “to have a rest,” adding: “We try to do everything for them to make them feel at home. So that they would not need anything. And most importantly, they were surrounded by love.”

The Belarus 1 report showed Shautsou visited Russia-occupied areas in eastern Ukraine, including the cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, while wearing military clothes adorned with the letter Z, according to Belsat TV. The letter has become a pro-war symbol of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Shautsou’s trip and admission led to fierce criticism from Ukraine and the international community.

“The extraordinary circumstances of this visit, including the use of a symbol associated with one of the parties to the international armed conflict in Ukraine, implicate the Fundamental Principles of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement,” the IFRC said in a statement, adding that it had referred the case to its independent investigating committee.

“We have contacted the Belarus Red Cross to express our grave concern and to stop any similar activity in the future,” the statement said, adding that “actions by any of our member national Red Cross or Red Crescent Societies in contradiction with our humanitarian mission” are “taken extremely seriously.”

The Ukrainian branch of the Red Cross has called for the IFRC to denounce the Belarus Red Cross’ involvement in the deportations. “We implore them to carefully consider the matter of excluding the Belarus Red Cross from the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement,” the group said in a statement.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that “all those responsible for stealing Ukrainian children must be held to account.”

“I call on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue an arrest warrant for Dzmitry Shautsou, who has publicly confessed to the crime of unlawful deportation of children from occupied areas of Ukraine,” he said on Twitter.

The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova for an alleged scheme to deport Ukrainian children to Russia.

The Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is a close ally of Putin. He has allowed Russian troops to use Belarus as a staging ground for their full-scale invasion of Ukraine Russia launched in February 2022. He has since agreed to have Russia place its tactical nuclear weapons into the territory of Belarus. Most recently, he provided a safe haven for the Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin after the mercenary group’s short-lived mutiny in Russia last month.