Hawaii’s Big Island is under a tropical storm warning as Tropical Storm Calvin is forecast to pass over or just south of the island, threatening to bring dangerous coastal surf, heavy rain and gusty winds to the area, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Calvin is expected to remain a weak tropical storm as it swiftly presses westward and passes by the state. As of late Monday night, the storm was about 570 miles east of Hilo with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph.

The heavy rainfall poses the most significant threat, prompting flood watches for the islands of Maui, Molokai, Lanai, Kahoolawe and the Big Island from Tuesday evening through Wednesday afternoon.

“Excessive rainfall may lead to flooding conditions and landslides over steep terrain, especially along east and southeast facing slopes,” the National Weather Service in Honolulu said.

Heavy rain and isolated thunderstorms will reach the Big Island by Tuesday evening, and continue through the night. Moisture associated with Calvin will move up the island chain Tuesday night through Wednesday. Flash flooding is the primary threat, especially for Big Island. pic.twitter.com/84CAA2ygA6

— NWSHonolulu (@NWSHonolulu) July 18, 2023

The storm is also expected to generate swells and rapid surf along east-facing shorelines on Tuesday and into Wednesday, the weather service said in a tweet. The agency warned the elevated surf could become life-threatening in some areas.

Between 4 to 8 inches of rainfall are forecast through Thursday, mainly along windward areas of the Big Island, and 1 to 4 inches are expected elsewhere across the state, the hurricane center said.

“Paris is always a good idea,” as Audrey Hepburn tried to persuade Humphrey Bogart in the 1954 film “Sabrina.” He was less convinced but for most of us, living in Paris is a dream. A dream that can feel impossible to achieve – but it can come true.

Officially, some 31,000 Americans are registered as living in France, with officially around half of those calling Paris home, according to The Local France. Realistically, that number is roughly tenfold that, once you add students, short-term workers and people not registered with the embassy.

Paris has always been a draw for the creative set, from Ernest Hemingway to the Fitzgeralds, Ezra Pound to Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas. But is it all la vie en rose as the Netflix hit “Emily in Paris” tries to convince us? Having lived in Paris myself from 2015 to 2020, I have to admit that Emily hasn’t got it all that wrong.

Despite the fact that Paris ranks in top 10 lists of the most expensive cities to live in – and can be a focus of intense and sometimes violent protests, as was the case in June and July 2023 – I never lost my rose-tinted glasses.

Most residents don’t have a wardrobe of designer clothes, but I fell in love with the city every time I stepped out of the front door – even if I had to step over uncollected garbage or dodge rioters on the way to the Metro, which was probably boarded up anyway. Regardless of the hysteria-inducing bureaucracy, the demonstrations and the constant strikes, Paris is beautiful. Lingering on a café terrace with a glass of wine is a perfect lifestyle, and there’s no doubting the romance in the air.

So, how did all these people living the proverbial dream in the City of Light get there? Let’s meet some American immigrants who are still loving every minute of life in Paris.

Kasia Dietz, handbag designer

It was an Italian who brought Dietz from New York City to Paris in 2009. Leaving her yoga class, she met her husband-to-be, who just so happened to live in Paris. Already a Polish (and therefore European Union) passport-holder, Dietz had easy entry into France, and then received her residency by marrying her Italian.

Despite being in love in the City of Love, moving wasn’t easy, she explains:

“With over a decade of experience as a print producer in NYC’s fast-paced advertising industry, I thought it wouldn’t be a problem finding work in Paris, Dietz says.

“My job hunt proved otherwise. With no experience in Paris and no connections, no one would hire me. Unable to find even temporary work, I started writing a blog to feel more connected to my new life. Along with writing, which was always a passion, I decided to follow my dreams of designing.

“This is when I launched Kasia Dietz handbags. I couldn’t initially find a local manufacturer, so I bought a sewing machine and made my own samples.”

But success came, and Dietz even premiered a collection at Le Bon Marché, the high-end department store on Paris’ fashionable Left Bank.

Having grown up in the Hamptons, Dietz misses the East Coast sunshine when the typically Parisian grisaille, a seasonal grayness of skies, descends.

“I love how culturally rich Paris is, with an endless array of museums, restaurants, cafes and hidden gems to discover around every cobbled corner. But winter months can be tough when there’s a lack of sunlight and the locals appear more dour,” she says. “Some days I miss the lightness and ‘can-do attitude’ Americans possess but I choose to surround myself with a global mix of positive people in Paris, French included.”

Dr Monique Y. Wells, nonprofit founder and tour operator

From Houston, Texas, Wells first visited Paris in 1989 as part of a European trip with her college sorority sisters. While there, she’d got the feeling that she would return one day – and three years later she was offered a job as a pathologist for a Paris-based pharmaceutical company. That meant visas for both Wells and her husband.

“My husband and I renewed our residency cards without assistance for the first five years that we were in Paris. After five years of legal residency, we became eligible for French citizenship and decided to apply.”

She later set up her own consulting business in pre-clinical safety and started a tour business, “Discover Paris!” In 2018 she rebranded it Entrée to Black Paris, looking specifically at the city’s African American history.

Today, she runs the tour business as well as providing preclinical safety training and mentoring through her US non-profit, the Wells International Foundation.

“I began my journey as a travel professional focused solely on African American history in Paris – not because the city ‘lacked’ something, but because I wanted to learn something and share what I learned with African American travelers,” she says, adding that the tours and activities feature the “history, culture and contemporary life of the larger African diaspora in Paris.”

“While our clients are largely African American, over the past few years we have had increasing numbers of White Americans, White French, and White and Black Europeans from other countries engaging our services,” she adds.

Her years in Paris have also opened her eyes to the French approach to Black people.

“Blackness is filled with nuance – from the way you view yourself to the way others view you,” she says. “For me, the most interesting aspect of this is watching French people who encounter me for the first time and hear me speak French try to figure out ‘where I’m from.’ At first, I didn’t understand the significance of this.

“But as time went on, I learned the reason this was important to them – consciously or unconsciously, they want to know where I’m from to know how to treat me. This is radically different from what Black people experience in the US. And for some African Americans, it can be disorienting.”

Preston Mohr, sommelier

Born and raised outside of Minneapolis, Mohr first came to Paris as a study-abroad student in 2003 and has lived here for the better part of the last 20 years. But his Parisian dream started long before that.

“I told my mother when I was seven that I was moving to Paris, despite having no connections to France,” he says. “Maybe I had lived here in a past life? It was the determination and dream of seven-year old Preston that made me focus on my goal of moving to France.”

Immigrating to France is never easy and the bureaucracy can be torturous, but Mohr says that there are always ways. His path started with a student visa, followed by one for teaching, allowing him to work part-time. He was then sponsored by the French American Chamber of Commerce, giving him time to stay for 18 more months and build his life in Paris.

As you’ll imagine from his visa process, he’s held many different jobs to make that Parisian life. After working as an English language assistant in a public high school, he enjoyed an internship at La Fondation Yves Saint Laurent (just a few offices away from the late designer), and even worked briefly as the personal secretary to movie star Olivia de Havilland.

He was a housekeeper for a serviced apartments agency, and cleaned toilets, among other things. “I think this varied experience has given me great perspective and understanding of Paris,” he says. But his work in the tourism and hospitality sector (he ran Paris by Glass tours from 2012 to 2020) would lay the groundwork for his future in wine.

He recalls: “For the last 12 years, I have been working in various aspects of the wine industry. I worked for many years as a wine educator, teaching and instructing a primarily foreign clientele on the wines, foods and their traditions in France.” He’s now director of sales & marketing for the Wine Scholar Guild which provides specialized certification programs for wine professionals and serious enthusiasts.

For an American, setting out to become a sommelier in France is quite an ambitious undertaking.

“It definitely wasn’t easy in the beginning but things have really changed in the last 10 or so years,” he says. “When I was getting my start in the industry, I was definitely one of very few foreigners trying to make a name for themselves. Today, Paris is quickly becoming a true international wine city, very open to change and outside influence.

And, being a gay man, he also appreciates that same open Parisian attitude to being who you are.

“Paris has had a storied past of being a refuge for outsiders. I think most people move to Paris to live an enhanced version of their previous life. All of the senses are heightened here, and one can truly escape in the anonymity of this huge, foreign metropolis,” he says.

“Paris is a place where you can dream, be who you are, and be constantly inspired to live a beautiful life.”

Lindsey Tramuta, author

For Tramuta, swapping Philadelphia for Paris wasn’t so much following a dream as a natural progression. Having studied French from the age of 12, at 21, she crossed the Atlantic to study there. A student visa allowed her to stay until she met and married her French husband, becoming a naturalized citizen in 2014.

Working as a journalist reporting on the changing city for various international publications, she eventually progressed to writing books about the city and its people. “I wanted to document the evolution and argue that it’s because of the mix of old and new that the Paris of today is so special and dynamic,” she says. “The New Paris” was published in 2017 to great success, spurring Tramuta onto the next project.

“Once ‘The New Paris’ came out, I had the opportunity to meet even more individuals shaping the city, such as Mayor Anne Hidalgo, and one of those encounters triggered the idea for ‘The New Parisienne,’” she says, referring to her second book.

“If I tried to debunk stereotypes in the first book, the second is an attempt to upend tired and reductive narratives about the city’s most fetishized resident: its Parisiennes.”

So many famous authors, if mostly novelists, have been inspired by Paris. Tramuta feels part of the endless creativity surging through the city: “It’s special to be part of a legacy, not only of writers in Paris but of American writers in Paris. It truly is the city that inspires endlessly, both positively and negatively. There is always something to discover, explore, and share with readers. And as writers, we are fortunate to live in a place that reveres the written word and where readers are eager to engage with writers in bookshops and other forums.”

The culture shock that affects many emigrants from the US to Europe never really hit Tramuta. “Honestly, since I came at a young age and never left, I essentially became an adult in Paris and adapted to the lifestyle and way of being very quickly,” she says.

“If I recall any culture shock in those early days, it was the general acceptance with a lack of convenience and customer service. But the longer I’m here, the more I have normalized those aspects of life and business. Because I never perceived the US to be the default or ‘right’ way of operating, I overcame the tendency to endlessly compare the US to France.”

Sylvia Sabes, writer and photographer

Sabes, from San Francisco, followed a childhood dream of moving to Paris, but it took a few attempts. “I spent my first summer here in 1982 when I was 16 years old. It was with friends of the family, and I was left to discover the city on my own.”

She returned at age 20 to study for a year at the Sorbonne University, but then went back to the States.

“I didn’t know how to [move back to Paris] on my own, so I married a man with a French passport, had kids and only moved when my husband’s company finally transferred him here,” she says.

Finding work in her field – she’d been an advertising creative director – was a little more complicated. “The French have a hard time with people who reinvent themselves professionally,” she says. “But a headhunter was desperately looking for somebody who could do some copywriting for an agency, and I said sure. I don’t wear make-up but somehow have a gift for communicating with women who love it, so I did a lot of work for L’Oreal. It was great. I got to write scripts for Jane Fonda and Eva Longoria. I even directed a reading with Andie McDowell. [But I was] earning a quarter of what I’d earned in the US.”

Other than copywriting, Sabes freelances as a writer and photographer for international magazines and is the Paris “curator” for Luxe City Guides. She also writes guidebooks for private banks who want personalized gifts for their clients. She wrote a novel during the pandemic, which she’s currently looking for an agent for. Of course, it’s set in Paris.

But France has also brought racism her way. “I’m Jewish, but not at all religious,” she says. “Living in California, it was a non-issue, but here even the people closest to me are very aware of me being different. Also, living in California, thanks to political correctness, I never heard antisemitic comments – no matter what people thought, they kept those thoughts private. They’re less inhibited about that in France, so I hear more antisemitism – even from people who’d be shocked to learn their beliefs are antisemitic.”

Richard Nahem, tour guide

A chef and caterer in New York, where he was born and raised, Richard Nahem gave up a successful but stressful career in 2005.

“I was a private caterer and had a niche business catering photo shoots for major fashion and lifestyle magazines including Elle and Harper’s Bazaar. I fed Whitney Houston, Madonna, Joan Rivers and Cindy Crawford. But I was burnt out from being in the kitchen for 21 years and was looking to do something new,” he says.

Having fallen in love with the city over many previous visits, he decided to take the plunge. Nahem doesn’t reveal the exact way he moved through the tortuous immigration process, but he arrived in Paris on a tourist visa and soon had a carte de sejour (residence permit). Don’t get too excited – American passport-holders wanting residency cannot generally do this.

Friends and family immediately started visiting.

“I would meet them and stroll through my neighborhood, the Marais, sharing all the cool boutiques, restaurants, cafes, specialty food shops, beautiful architecture and hidden streets,” he says.

“I also gave them advice about practical things, like tipping and service. After doing it about 15 times, my entrepreneurial light bulb went off, and I thought, maybe I can do the same thing with strangers – show them places they may not find on their own, but privately with a group of six people or fewer. I posted my website in February 2007 and 10 days later, someone booked a tour. It’s been going strong ever since.” His Eye Prefer Paris tours show visitors a Paris that usually only locals get to discover.

Many visitors rave about the slower pace of life in Paris – but that relaxed way of life can grate on new locals with a list of chores to tick off.

“Simple errands, which usually take an hour or two, can take a half a day sometimes,” says Nahem. “I wasn’t prepared for the slower pace of life after living in New York all my life. I just don’t understand why simple transactions take so long. Why does the ticket seller at the museum have to chat with each client for 10 minutes, when all I want to do is get my ticket and enter the museum?”

In many travelers’ minds, Mongolia conjures images of vast plains, nomadic gers, desert landscapes and one of the most famous warriors of all time, Genghis Khan.

Though the famed first khagan of the Mongol Empire died in 1227, his legendary pursuits continue to reverberate across this beautiful land. The country’s most important annual event, the Naadam festival, is no exception.

Nowadays it’s the event of the year, a nationwide celebration of sports and arts attended by thousands of Mongolians and a hot draw for international tourists, too. Given its popularity, travelers looking to experience this one will want to start looking ahead to July 2024 now.

Here’s a quick guide to the action and how to see it.

What is the Naadam festival?

The event is often referred to as “Eriin Gurvan Naadam” – which translates to “Three Manly Games.”

“Naadam means ‘games’ in the Mongolian language and it includes three main competitions, Mongolian wrestling, archery and horse racing,” he explains.

It’s also the largest gathering in Mongolia, with 21 provinces all taking time off to celebrate their traditional nomadic culture and heritage, “from the capital city of Ulaanbaatar to the remote towns of the Gobi.”

The main official event takes place July 11-13 in the capital city, in Ulaanbaatar’s National Stadium.

“During the festival, it is possible to see pride, joy and happiness on every face,” says Ganbaatar. “Naadam has become (part of) the national identity of Mongols.”

It all started with Genghis Khan

It wasn’t until 1921 that Naadam was officially declared an annual national holiday in Mongolia.

For hundreds of years though, this trio of events – archery, horse riding and wrestling – was believed to have been integral to building important skills for the region’s nomads as well as Mongolian soldiers.

According to some historical accounts, in the early 13th century, after Genghis Khan defeated his enemies and ruled over the Mongol tribes, he held the games as a celebratory event.

Providing evidence of this, the Stele of Genghis Khan – a stone dating back to the 1200s bearing the first known Mongolian script – depicted a nobleman named Yesunge who managed to shoot a target with an arrow from a distance of more than 500 meters.

In 2010, Naadam was added to the UNESCO List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

“Mongolian Naadam is inseparably connected to the nomadic civilization of the Mongols,” says the UNESCO inscription.

“The three types of sports are directly linked with the lifestyles and living conditions of the Mongols and their transmission is traditionally undertaken through home-schooling by family members, although formalized training regimens have recently developed for wrestling and archery. The rituals and customs of Naadam also accentuate respect for nature and the environment.”

Easier than ever for international travelers to visit

The multi-day national Naadam holiday was extended from three to five days by the Mongolian Government in 2020, and much of the country shuts down during this period.

Naadam is also one of the most popular times for international travelers to visit Mongolia, with more than 11,000 foreigners coming specifically to see the games in 2019 according to local news reports citing government statistics. The country received about 637,000 international travelers in total that year.

The Naadam games took place virtually for two years, from 2020-2021, because of the pandemic. With the effects of border closures still lingering in 2022, hopes were high among authorities that the just-concluded 2023 Naadam festival would mark the start of a comeback for international tourism.

To boost tourism in general, the Mongolian government declared 2023-2025 the “Years to Visit Mongolia.” As part of the campaign, travelers from an additional 34 nationalities can visit Mongolia visa-free for up to 30 days.

The addition of several European countries as well as Australia and New Zealand brings the total number of countries and territories on Mongolia’s visa-exempt list to 61.

From the capital to the countryside

In addition to the major festivities held in Ulaanbaatar, there are Naadam games – of different scales – held across Mongolia in the countryside. Many tour companies offer these as an alternative.

Travelers headed for the main Naadam festival at the National Stadium can expect a massive party with an opening ceremony, parades, performances and, of course, the games, to be held in Ulaanbataar over a few days.

The opening ceremony is a grand celebration that showcases the best of Mongolian dance, music and other cultural traditions. One particularly special event that takes place during this event is the parade of the Nine White Banners. Horse riders in traditional attire march into the stadium hoisting a banner attached to a pole with white horse tail hairs on top.

According to Nomadic Expeditions, the white banners were carried during peace negotiations and festivals since the time of Genghis Khan.

Today, the Nine White Banners are a sacred emblem of Mongolia and are usually kept in the State House.

Can women compete in the ‘manly games’?

Most of the games are open to participants of all ages and genders, except for wrestling. Male athletes only.

In Ulaanbaatar, hundreds of the nation’s top wrestlers compete for two days in nine untimed, single-elimination rounds.

“There are no age limits, no time limits, and certainly no size limits in competition,” says Nomadic Expeditions on its website. “It is not uncommon to see a David and Goliath-style match, often with the smaller guy winning.”

Multiple competitions happen at the same time as athletes, dressed in a hat, a shoulder vest and shorts, pair up and try to throw their opponents to the ground. A competitor loses if any parts of their body other than their hands and feet touch the ground.

The main archery competitions take place next to the National Stadium, at the National Archery Field, over several days. In one style of event, for example, the archers shoot their arrows toward a series of leather targets on the ground. Those who hit the most win.

Meanwhile, the horserace competitions are held at fairgrounds outside Ulaanbaatar. These long-haul races test the horses’ endurance and the animals are primarily ridden by child jockeys. Though the sport is part of the country’s heritage, the age of the riders has attracted criticism in recent years. leading the government to amend related regulations to improve safety standards surrounding the sport.

At the end of each race, the crowd rushes forward to surround the winning horse. Why? The sweat of the winning horse is said to be lucky.

Any special foods?

Visitors to any of the Naadam festivals are going to eat well.

Vendors and markets pop up outside each of the game venues in each province.

In between the games, spectators would be wise to grab a khuushuur, a round deep-fried meat dumpling that is the unofficial snack of Naadam, from a street vendor nearby.

Is it difficult to get tickets?

International travelers should arrange their accommodation and tickets far in advance if they wish to visit Mongolia during the Naadam festival. That includes the weeks before and after the games.

Tickets to the opening and closing ceremonies in Ulaanbaatar are especially limited.

The stadium seats 11,000 people and around 2,500 tickets are reserved for international tourists each year. This year’s prices were $25 per ticket.

Ticket sales usually only open about a week before the game. But travelers can purchase through a tour company in advance. Some book through their local hosts and accommodations.

If you fail to get a ticket, you can still attend the horseraces.

Four young children found last month after surviving 40 days in the Amazon rainforest following an air crash have been released from hospital and are in good shape, according to Colombian authorities.

The four children, ages between 1 and 13, have been receiving treatment at Colombia’s Military Hospitalin Bogota since they were found on June 9.

They were released from the medical facility on Friday and are now staying at a shelter home, according to Astrid Garces, director of Colombian Children Welfare Agency ICBF, at a press briefing Friday.

The children are staying at one of the 188 shelters the agency runs across Colombia.

“Considering everything they went through, they are actually well,” Garces said.

“Their physical health is perfect, and in the hospital, they started receiving care from a team of psychologists and anthropologists,” he added.

Lesly Jacobombaire Mucutuy, 13, Soleiny Jacobombaire Mucutuy, 9, Tien Ranoque Mucutuy, 4, and infant Cristin Ranoque Mucutuy were stranded in the Amazon jungle on May 1 following a deadly plane crash that killed their mother Magdalena Mucutuy Valencia alongside other passengers and the pilot on the aircraft.

Traces pointing to their survival sparked a massive military-led search involving more than hundred Colombian special forces troops and 70 indigenous scouts combing the area.

For weeks, the search turned up only tantalizing clues, including footprints, a dirty diaper and a bottle, until they were found last month, with Colombian President Gustavo Petro calling them “children of the jungle”.

The children ate three kilograms (six pounds) of farina, a coarse cassava flour commonly used by indigenous tribes in the Amazon region, to stay alive, according to a Colombian military special forces official.

On Friday, the ICBF said it is expected to make a case in front of a family court to determine who will get legal custody over the four children, through a process known as “reinstatement of right.”

Their grandparents previously made an appeal to the children to be returned to them.

Both the father of the two youngest children, Manuel Ranoque, and the maternal grandparents have requested legal custody over them, and a family court will have to rule over their fate.

The ICBF did not comment further on the legal matter saying it is a private matter.

The United Nations said it was “very concerned” about the widespread use of violence by police against protesters in Kenya, after clashes against tax hikes reportedly turned deadly.

“Reports say up to 23 people have been killed and dozens injured in the demonstrations in the past week,” UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Jeremy Laurence said Friday in a press release.

Laurence called for “prompt, thorough, independent and transparent investigations into the deaths and injuries. Those responsible must be held to account. Effective measures to prevent further deaths and injuries must be adopted.”

“In light of calls for further protests next week, we call on the authorities to ensure the right to peaceful assembly as guaranteed by the Kenyan Constitution and international human rights law.

The policing of protests must seek to facilitate peaceful assemblies, and any use of force must be guided by the principles of legality, necessity, proportionality and non-discrimination. Firearms should never be used to disperse protests,” Laurence said.

Laurence also appealed “for calm and encourage open dialogue to address social, economic and political grievances, with the aim of identifying lasting solutions in the interests of all Kenyans.”

Demonstrations have flared in Kenya over a raft of unpopular tax hikes proposed by the national government.

Kenyan opposition leader and former prime minister Raila Odinga has led calls for protests over the increases.

Odinga lost the election in August last year and believes the results were manipulated and has since led civil disobedience protests against his political rival.

A Kenyan court temporarily halted the implementation of the Finance Act 2023 touted by President William Ruto as a measure to shore up public finances and increase domestic revenue.

However, the Ruto administration defied the court order and increased tax on fuel prices, which has led to a rise in cost of transport and staple goods.

High-speed racing is accustomed to high-speed collisions, such is the nature of the sport.

But rarely have we seen a crash as dramatic as what took place on Saturday during the first of Formula E’s double-header of races in Rome.

On turn six of the ninth lap, Jaguar driver Sam Bird – leading the race at the time – appeared to lose control of the back of his car before colliding with the barrier to spin his car into the middle of the track.

This, as it turned out, was a particularly bad bit of luck for Bird who was unable to move in the middle of the track on a blind corner where cars travel at extremely high speeds. 2016/17 Formula E drivers champion Lucas di Grassi later called the corner “probably the most dangerous on this track.”

In the immediate aftermath, multiple cars made slight contact with Bird’s car, in particular Envision Racing’s Sebastien Buemi who hit the back of the Jaguar car, launching Buemi up and into the wall at an angle before he landed back down.

While other drivers were able to narrowly avoid a serious collision, while still making contact, the same could not be said about Maserati MSG Racing’s Edoardo Mortara who drove straight into the side of Bird’s car.

The race was immediately red flagged and delayed for 45 minutes. In total, six drivers could not continue in Saturday’s race because of their involvement in the crash.

The frustration of the drivers involved was evident to hear, particularly from Buemi.

“For f**k sake! When is this luck going to f**king stop? For f**k sake! What the f**k is that?” Buemi could be heard saying to his team on his radio.

“Guys, I’m so sorry but I couldn’t do anything.”

Thankfully, no driver sustained any serious injuries and all able to walk away.

One of the drivers whose race ended prematurely, di Grassi, expressed his relief at just being able to walk away with no injuries.

“I am very happy all the drivers are safe,” di Grassi said. “I had zero problem physically and the car had minor damage compared to what could have been, so in one way, we have been lucky today that nothing more serious happened.

“Thanks to the FIA and Formula E Safety requirements, also, not only for the car but also for the track – although that corner is probably the most dangerous on this track. It’s a very fast, blind corner and we are racing and there is no space to run off. In a straight, you can see more. In a corner like this, it is very hard to evaluate if the track is fully blocked or not. In the end, the safety of the drivers was due to the car being very strong and the track being well built.”

With a race the very next day, many of the teams worked until the early hours of the morning in an attempt to fix their cars, with Formula E presenter Saunders Carmichael-Brown reporting that after “one of the biggest incidents, if not the biggest we’ve seen in Formula E history on track,” there was a “massive collaborative effort” from almost a third of the paddock.

“A community effort to share parts and make sure we can get as many cars as possible on track [on Sunday],” Carmichael-Brown said.

Extraordinarily, all drivers involved in the collision made it on track for the second race of the double header, with Bird finishing third, Buemi fourth and Mortara fifth.

With a basketball résumé among the most accomplished in NBA history, Steph Curry went to work on his golfing CV over the weekend.

A walk-off eagle saw the Golden State Warriors icon win the American Century Championship in stunning fashion in Stateline, Nevada, on Sunday, becoming the first active professional athlete to win the celebrity tournament in 23 years.

Curry had lit up Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course with a sensational 152-yard hole-in-one on Saturday, and repeated his celebration of whisking off his cap and sprinting away after his nerveless final putt secured him a two-point victory over former US tennis player and playing partner Mardy Fish.

Yet while his second round ace had been marked by a charge down the fairway and a lap of the green, the 35-year-old toasted his winning eagle by heading straight for his wife Ayesha.

“She knows how much I love this game,” Curry told reporters.

“It’s always on the TV. It doesn’t matter what tournament it is, I’m watching the game. I’m trying to soak up as much as I can.

“So as soon as I made it, I made the putt, I knew where she was, and I had to go straight to her because I appreciate the fact that – even on our vacation – she’ll let me play.”

Victory saw the four-time NBA champion clinch the $125,000 winner’s prize for topping a star-studded US celebrity field of more than 90 players.

Hollywood actors, comedians, and entertainers all featured, but it was athletes past and present who made up the majority of the field, ranging from current NFL stars Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Aaron Rodgers to golfing great Annika Sorenstam.

Curry had taken a three point lead over Fish and NHL player Joe Pavelski into the third and final round of the event, which used the Modified Stableford format to award points by score per hole.

A final round 25 was enough to hold off Fish, who closed with 26, and see Curry join American NFL kicker Al Del Greco (2000) and Canadian NHL player Mario Lemieux (1998) as only the third active pro athlete to win the event.

Curry admitted that the tournament had been circled on his calendar ever since the Warriors’ hopes of an eighth franchise championship were ended by the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference semifinals in May.

“That was a lot of the motivation, not giving up hope that it would have to take till I was retired to be able to play more golf throughout the year to be ready for this,” Curry said.

“Even the last two months since we finished our playoff run till now, the preparation for this tournament has kind of always been the running joke, and it paid off.”

‘Therapy’

The two-time NBA MVP’s love for golf is well-documented, and in 2022, he launched the “Underrated Golf Tour” to provide a competitive, all-expenses paid opportunity for underrepresented young players.

For Curry, the fairways are his “therapy” away from the mania of the basketball season, yet the NBA’s all-time three-point scoring leader approaches golf with identical levels of focus.

At the first tee Sunday, the guard could be seen checking his pulse.

“I do that during timeouts in basketball … I wanted to get a check on where it was,” Curry admitted.

“I do a lot of breathing work during basketball games to control all of that and recover quicker. So I try to bring that philosophy out here because I’m a fish out of water out here on the course dealing with those emotions.

“It’s entirely different in a basketball game because it’s so reactive on the hardwood, but out here, you have to be able to control all of those thoughts and just seek positivity into yourself. Just tell yourself you’re built for this because you’ve been through other scenarios where you needed to perform and you live with the results.

“It’s not like you can will it in. You just live with the results.”

Prince George and Princess Charlotte, the two oldest children of Britain’s Prince and Princess of Wales, sat on the edge of their seats in the Royal Box to watch the nail-biting men’s Wimbledon final on Sunday.

The siblings, who are second and third in line to the throne, joined their parents as they applauded 20-year-old Carlos Alcaraz, who defeated World No. 2 Novak Djokovic to clinch his maiden Wimbledon title.

The family arrived at around noon local time (7 a.m. ET), and were greeted by Wimbledon staff, police dog Stella and British men’s wheelchair doubles’ champion Gordon Reid, the UK’s PA Media new agency reported.

Charlotte, aged eight, wore a floral blue dress for her first appearance at the prestigious tennis tournament, while 10-year-old George sported a navy blue suit and striped tie. They sat next to their parents, Prince William and Catherine, Princess of Wales.

The young Spaniard triumphed over Djokovic, aged 36, in a thrilling five-set final.

Alcaraz became the third-youngest Wimbledon champion in the Open Era, adding a second major title to his resume after winning the US Open in September.

The Prince and Princess of Wales congratulated Alcaraz on his effervescent victory.

“A day to remember,” Kensington Palace said in a statement on Twitter.

“Congratulations to the new men’s #Wimbledon champion @carlosalcaraz. And a massive thanks to everyone who makes @Wimbledon so special – until next year!”

King Felipe of Spain was also a guest in the Royal Box on Sunday, the BBC reported.

By the time the Silver State Hotshot crew arrived from Nevada a few weeks ago, Canada’s wildfires had already scorched millions of acres and shattered all-time burning records.

So everyone already knew what they were up against.

“In the scope for us, in the states, this would one of the largest fires to occur – ever … It’s a gigafire,” said Zac Krohn, a division supervisor with the US Forest Service as he briefed the hotshot crew on another steamy day in northern Quebec.

The firefighters on Saturday took in the instructions, suited up, shouldered axes and chain saws and hiked into burned and barren forests looking for dangerous hotspots still smoldering.

“At this point, we’re just trying to secure the edge and protect the community,” said Krohn. There was no taming these wildfires now, they were too vast and too hot, he said.

Crews know the work will be brutal: They have long days, as much as 16 hours, traveling to new areas detected as hotspots and sometimes hiking hours to get to them.

Canada is already on pace to have its worst wildfire season in recorded history and the season is little more than half over.

There are more than 880 fires burning throughout the country and the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre says at least 580 of the current wildfires are “out of control,” according to its website.

And the conflagrations are having an enormous impact on Canada’s neighbor, as well: Forecasters predicted around 70 million Americans on Monday would see decreased visibility and poor air quality, including residents of Chicago, Detroit, New York, St. Louis and Cleveland.

“It’s no understatement to say that the 2023 fire season is and will continue to be record-breaking in a number of ways,” said Michael Norton, a director general with Canada’s Northern Forestry Centre, during a technical briefing earlier this month.

“The total area burned now exceeds any year on record since we started measuring and keeping accurate records,” he said.

According to data, this weekend the country set yet another record – with nearly 25 million acres consumed, an area nearly the size of Ohio.

“When it’s the year to burn and the conditions are right, it’s just going to continue to burn. The best thing we can do as an incident management team is to focus on protection of people and communities,” said Matt Rau, an incident commander with the Southwest Area Incident Management Team based in the United States.

For weeks now, Rau’s hotshot crews have been scanning blackened and scarred forests from the air and on the ground trying to assess how best to protect people and property.

Amid the cliché on everyone’s lips – that Canada isn’t out of the woods yet – firefighters pitching in from all over the world are taking in the scope of this emergency.

The wildfires continue to defy history even though an increased number of firefighters and rainfall have managed to at least mitigate some of the damage. But the work is dangerous. On Sunday, Canadian authorities announced a second firefighter had died battling the wildfires.

Officials cautioned that any rain was like a drop in an otherwise empty bucket, with nearly every region in the grips of some stage of drought.

Temperatures were hotter than usual during the spring and severe weather and lightning strikes ignited forests already compromised by climate change.

“When they burn like this there’s no way to even put people in front of it to stop the fire, there’s no amount of resources on the ground or from the sky that’s going to be able to stop of these fires when they get the momentum,” said Rau.

His base of operations is in Lebel-sur-Quévillon, a Quebec town that has already evacuated twice since fire season started.

International crews from the US, South Korea, South Africa, Portugal and several other countries have pitched in, coordinating with Canadian resources that are already stretched.

And this weekend the Canadian government called in the military to help battle new blazes in western provinces. Bill Blair, the emergency preparedness minister, tweeted that he had approved a request for federal assistance and the armed forces would be deployed.

The town of Chibougamau, Quebec, is still on edge after evacuating the entire community of about 7,000 in a matter of hours in June.

Mayor Manon Cyr, on describing the decision to evacuate, said: “Strangely, I wasn’t scared, I was mad. And then I have to calm down and say, ‘Manon, you have a job to do. And that’s why I said to my people let’s stay calm, let’s be patient, keep it Zen.”

Residents have been back for weeks, but they know the threat will continue through summer, maybe longer.

“Don’t be surprised if it continues and, secondly, this is a problem that is going to go on into the future,” said Rau.

That also applies to US residents who once again this week will be dealing with air quality alerts, now from wildfires in Canada’s west, he said.

Canadian wildfire smoke is bringing unhealthy air across the northern tier of the United States to start the week, triggering air quality alerts for more than a dozen states from Montana to Vermont.

Forecasters predicted around 70 million people would see decreased visibility and poor air quality, including residents of Chicago, Detroit, New York, St. Louis and Cleveland.

On Monday, the plume of smoke stretched across the US like a noxious belt with several states experiencing “unhealthy” air, which is Level 4 of 6 on the Air Quality Index. Some of the unhealthy air stretched as far south as northern Alabama on Monday morning.

The smoke could linger into Tuesday across parts of the East Coast, but is not forecast to reach the same “hazardous” levels there as it did in early June. The smoke should get less potent as the week progresses, according to the Weather Prediction Center.

The entire state of New York is under air quality health advisory due to smoke from wildfires in western Canada. “The smoke is expected to cause the Air Quality Index to reach levels in Upstate communities which are ‘Unhealthy for All’ New Yorkers,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a news release.

The state is activating emergency notifications on roads and making masks available for distribution, Hochul said.

Winds will continue to push the smoke eastward, bringing a smoky haze to the Northeast early in the week.

Hundreds of fires burning across Canada

The plume was birthed from nearly 400 fires ignited in Canada’s province of British Columbia in the past week, nearly half of which were started by 51,000 lightning strikes from thunderstorms, the British Columbia Wildfire Service said. Some of those thunderstorms were “dry” or produced inconsequential amounts of rain to help quench any fires – a dangerous prospect in a province experiencing the worst level of drought.

The province is expected to receive federal assistance to help with its ongoing wildfires, according to a Sunday news release from Public Safety Canada.

There are more than 880 fires burning throughout Canada and the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre says at least 580 of the current wildfires are “out of control,” according to its website.

On Sunday, Canadian authorities announced a second firefighter had died battling the wildfires.

“We regret to share the tragic news that a firefighter from Fort Liard has passed away from an injury sustained while fighting a wildfire in the Fort Liard District Saturday afternoon,” Canada’s Northwest Territories said in a statement.

On Thursday, officials had confirmed the death of a firefighter responding to a blaze near Revelstoke, a town in southeastern British Columbia.

“I’m incredibly saddened by the news from the Northwest Territories, that another firefighter has lost their life battling wildfires,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted Sunday. “To their family, their friends, and those they were heroically serving alongside: Canadians are keeping you in our thoughts. We’re here for you.”

Pollutants affect millions

Wildfire smoke contains tiny pollutants known as particle matter, or PM 2.5, that can get into the lungs and bloodstream once inhaled. These pollutants most commonly cause difficulty breathing and eye and throat irritation, but have also been linked to more serious long-term health issues like lung cancer, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Parts of the US will be at risk of smoke for the foreseeable future depending on weather patterns and fire flare-ups because Canada is experiencing its worst fire season on record. More than 24 million acres have burned so far this year, an area roughly the size of Indiana.

British Columbia has had more than 1,000 fires start since April. Those fires have already burned through nearly three times the amount of land compared to an average year in British Columbia over the last 10 years, the province’s wildfire service said.