Saudi Arabia has been in the headlines a lot lately – this time for trying to find its place in the sporting world.

It’s spending big money. In an announcement that shocked the sporting world on Tuesday, golf’s US-based PGA Tour announced a merger with its rival, the Saudi-backed LIV Golf and the Dubai-sponsored DP World Tour (formerly known as the European Tour), ending a feud that has dogged the men’s professional game for the past year.

The shock partnership has set tongues wagging in capitals and on links courses around the world.

Already home to Portuguese soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo, who is reportedly on a $200 million-a-year package, the Saudi Pro League this week also welcomed Ballon d’Or winner and France international Karim Benzema.

The last time most people paid this much attention to the kingdom was 2018 when Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered by Saudi government agents in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

The kingdom’s golfing coup is perhaps the crowning sporting achievement so far of heir apparent Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS).

He has already landed a slot on the Formula One circuit, hosted all-star boxing fixtures as well as staging a string of global and regional musical events to wow local audiences to whom all of this is almost out of reality.

Before MBS got power, none of this was possible.

The speed and scale of his changes has earned him popularity among many of the country’s youth that is as unexpected as it is rare in Saudi’s history.

In sports, reputations are built on moments of brilliance. Conversely, in politics stripes are typically earned slowly. Decisions can take years to mature to benefits. For MBS, it’s different.

He is in a rush, as a disruptor. Indeed, he shored up his power by shaking down the old guard in 2017, many of whom were potential rivals for power.

More than 200 royals and businessmen were locked up at the Ritz hotel in Riyadh that year on allegations of corruption. The result was that formerly flamboyant and talkative royals with potentially powerful royal pedigrees have far less influence today and little chance of acquiring it.

It’s fair to say among MBS’s erstwhile Western partners he is still seen as a potentially hazardous interlocutor.

To them, he is seen as being responsible for sending the hit team that killed, dismembered and burnt Khashoggi, who was becoming critical of MBS’s high-speed reforms. MBS denied any personal involvement in the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi but took full responsibility as the country’s leader.

Khashoggi’s killing tarnished MBS’s reputation, and potentially set back his father King Salman’s ambitions for him to modernize the kingdom.

In 2015, when King Salman took the throne, the nation was ossifying, its royal court and bureaucracy bloated, sclerotic and by the accounts of many Saudis, deeply corrupt.

On the streets, conservative Islamist police held sway and women were banned from driving. The country had got stuck in a cultural time warp ever since its rulers panicked when Muslim radicals stormed Mecca in 1979. The royals feared for their future and pacified the Islamists by giving conservative religious scholars an outsized role in running the Kingdom.

Regional outlier

By the time King Salman came along, the 21st century was passing Saudi Arabia by.

The largest and most powerful of all the Gulf kingdoms was a cultural outlier, decades behind its neighbors in business and development, punching woefully below its weight.

That was until King Salman empowered MBS, not his oldest, but his chosen son, to fix it.

The LIV golf tour is the latest example, not just his intent to do that, but the lengths he is willing to go to achieve it.

Since getting to power, he banished the religious police almost overnight, downsizing Islam’s space in public life and replacing it with a new type of Saudi nationalism.

Women were allowed to go to soccer stadiums with men, national day parties were held outdoors on streets with music and dancing, unheard-of before the MBS era.

The changes didn’t stop there. Liberalizations allowed unmarried men and women to sit together in cafes, work in the same office, shop in the same stores together. New neighborhoods of Riyadh sprang up to cater for a new way of life.

Ultramodern office complexes dotted with fountains and palm trees, and street-side cafes that looked and felt like Dubai lured the countries young out of their homes.

MBS is the architect of a new and freer way of life for many, but those that cross him and take to social media to question his decisions risk disappearing. Even the few released after international pressure, like Loujain Al Hathloul, are out but can’t leave the country and have been warned to keep their thoughts to themselves or risk returning to prison.

Yet despite the harsh edges there is a soft power at work. Saudi has recently begun building a soccer league of extreme excellence with mega-priced European stars atop their lineup.

MBS wants the world to take him as seriously as many of his citizens now appear to.

Moscow and Beijing have got the message. Chinese President Xi Jinping has become an increasingly close geostrategic partner and Russian President Vladimir Putin, for now at least, benefits as MBS cuts oil production, ignoring US concerns that high oil prices help Moscow pay for its war in Ukraine.

The crown prince has also embarked on a regional and international diplomatic path aimed at making the kingdom a bigger player on the global stage. Saudi Arabia has led efforts to bring Syria in from the cold and tried to mediate in conflicts such as those in Sudan and even Ukraine. MBS has begun mending fences with former foes, including Turkey, the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Yemen’s Houthi rebels and even arch nemesis Iran. The thinking is that for his economic plans to succeed, he needs to guarantee stability.

On oil, he has made Saudi Arabia a bolder player. Once quick to heed US calls to open the taps and bring prices down, the kingdom is now ignoring those requests, at the risk of hurting its decades-long partnership with Washington. The message is that Saudi interests come first. And those interests are to bring in as many petrodollars as possible for the kingdom not to fall into a budget deficit or see its megaprojects fail.

What’s best for his nation

Like Putin and Xi, MBS wants what he thinks is best for his nation and for him that means the old paradigm of access to affordable energy in exchange for Western security guarantees that shunted Saudi Arabia in to a cultural cul-de-sac is no longer an option.

Perception is everything. America’s pivot to Asia, its failure in 2011 to stand by deposed allies during the Arab Spring and now its backing for Ukraine that most in the Gulf consider more misguided Western hegemony redolent of failed wars in Iraq and Afghanistan all help grease MBS’s tracks to a new relationship where he has some levers too.

The US wants oil production up, support for Ukraine and normalization with Israel.

But it’s on the streets of Riyadh and Jeddah where MBS’s potentially biggest challenges lie.

The clock is ticking on his Vision 2030, a bold and brash reimagination of city life supported by non-oil industries. It’s not just a new way to live but a necessary employer to cater for the country’s outsized young population. Two-thirds of Saudis are under the age of 35, and in part thanks to MBS, are finally tasting what their contemporaries in the outside world have enjoyed for years.

Saudi officials say Vision 2030 for a new city on the Red Sea and another mega project – the new Murabba – in the capital Riyadh may never be even partially realized but are intended to inspire the country and investors.

These are big gambles to keep people at work, and therefore happy in their lives and less likely to challenge MBS’s autocratic rule.

Plans of such scale are more often realized over generations rather than in the lifetime of a generation already alive and hungry for a meaningful future.

MBS is in a hurry. He is staking stability on a heady cocktail of ambition and panacea for the people. The image makeover is well underway, but the longer it takes to deliver on the substance, the higher the risk of failure.

New York Mets pitcher Drew Smith has been given a 10-game suspension following his ejection on Tuesday for the apparent use of a sticky substance on his hands.

Michael Hill, MLB’s Senior Vice President of On-Field Operations, announced the decision which also includes an undisclosed fine for violating the prohibitions on foreign substances.

Players are permitted to use sweat and rosin on their hands, but too much of either substance is illegal in the MLB and could lead to an ejection.

Smith told reporters after the game that he had used the same amount of rosin he usually does and has experienced no other issues so far this season.

“My hands weren’t sticky,” Smith said. “The process is so arbitrary. It can change from one crew to the other. I think that’s the main issue. It just sucks for the team not having a guy for 10 days.”

In 2021, MLB introduced a new rule that meant players ejected due to sticky substances can be suspended for 10 days.

Smith’s Mets teammate Max Scherzer was ejected for the same reason earlier this season.

“We’re all angry about this one,” Scherzer told reporters after the game. “If you feel his hand, you don’t feel anything.”

Smith was stopped for a routine check in the seventh innings of the Mets’ 7-6 loss to the New York Yankees on Tuesday, before having his hands checked by all four umpires.

According to MLB.com, crew chief Bill Miller told reporters: “I don’t know what it [the substance] was, I just know it was sticky.”

The Mets will not be able to replace Smith for the 10-game stretch, according to MLB rules.

A tournament of two big firsts gets underway at the 123rd US Open on Thursday.

For the first time in its illustrious 126-year history, California’s iconic Los Angeles Country Club plays host to a major championship.

It’s also the first major since the golfing world was rocked by the announcement of a partnership between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, and LIV Golf earlier this month. The fallout from the shock news has continued in California, with players peppered by questions surrounding the reconciliation of the warring tours.

World No. 2 Jon Rahm spoke of the “betrayal” felt by PGA Tour players following the “bombshell” announcement, expressing his discomfort at the perceived lack of clarity and unanswered questions surrounding the deal.

However, one of the partnership’s primary architects, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, was not on site to respond as he recuperates from a medical situation. Monahan has been relieved of day-to-day duties while he recovers, the PGA Tour announced Tuesday.

While developments around the unification continue to rumble on, the US Open will be a chance for the golf to take center stage as Matt Fitzpatrick seeks to become the first player to defend the US Open trophy since Brooks Koepka in 2018.

The Englishman clinched his first major title in thrilling fashion in Massachusetts a year ago, edging American duo Scottie Scheffler and Will Zalatoris by a single stroke following a pulsating three-way fight in the final round.

Meanwhile, Koepka is chasing a back-to-back feat of his own. The LIV Golf star is bidding for a consecutive major title after a brilliant victory at the PGA Championship in New York last month. It was his fifth major and completed a long-awaited return to the sport’s summit.

A strong field will be out to deny the American, with world No. 1 Scheffler, 2023 Masters champion Rahm and four-time major champion Rory McIlroy among the favorites to beat Koepka to the title.

Three-time US Open champion Tiger Woods will not be among those teeing up, the 47-year-old withdrawing last month as he continues to recover from recent surgery on his ankle.

How to watch

Viewers in the US can watch Thursday and Friday’s opening rounds from 9:40 a.m. ET on Peacock before coverage switches to USA Network (1 p.m. to 8.pm) and then NBC (8 p.m. to 11 p.m.).

The weekend’s closing two rounds will be broadcast on NBC from 1 p.m. ET to 11 p.m ET, with streaming options also available on the US Open website.

UK viewers can follow the action via Sky Sports Golf, which will begin coverage of the first two rounds from 3 p.m. BST. Saturday’s broadcast is slated to begin at 6 p.m BST, with Sunday’s final round shown from 5.30 p.m BST.

For more information on how to watch, check the US Open website.

Fitzpatrick primed for title defense

Victory at last year’s tournament announced Fitzpatrick’s arrival on golf’s biggest stage.

Before his pulsating triumph at Brookline, the Sheffield-born golfer had starred at both the amateur level and on the DP World Tour but had yet to get over the line in a PGA Tour event.

Fitzpatrick ended that wait emphatically, not scoring above par in any of his four rounds to hold off Scheffler and Zalatoris. After a second PGA Tour victory at the RBC Heritage in April earlier this year, the world No. 8 touches down in Los Angeles as one of the field’s most feared names.

“Winning last year gave me the boost that when I played my best or when I play well I can compete with anyone and I can win a major,” Fitzpatrick told reporters Wednesday.

“That was the biggest thing for me to take away turning up to events, knowing that, ‘Okay, my game feels in good shape. I’ve got a chance to win this week,’ whereas maybe previously I’ve almost felt like I played well and not necessarily competed in majors, whereas now I feel like it’s kind of the opposite.

“As long as my game is there or thereabouts, I feel like I can perform.”

Koepka targeting double digit majors

A successful defense would see Fitzpatrick replicate Koepka’s feat, and the Englishman would surely love to follow the career trajectory of the American, five years his senior at 33.

Koepka arrives in California chasing a sixth major championship and riding a wave of form not seen since the era of dominance that saw him clinch back-to-back pairs of PGA Championship and US Open titles in an unprecedented stretch between 2017 and 2019.

Triumph at the PGA Championship avenged a runner-up finish at The Masters to Rahm a month prior, as Koepka held off a final round challenge from Norway’s Viktor Hovland to lift his third Wanamaker Trophy.

After injuries and loss of form had compounded a grueling fall from the upper echelons of the sport, the victory was Koepka’s favorite yet.

“For all the stuff I had to deal with, all the pain, the tears, all the stuff that went into it,” he told reporters Wednesday.

“There’s probably five, seven people in this whole world that really know what I went through and that were there every step of the way. I think they enjoyed it maybe even more than I did.”

Yet Koepka is leaving the door open for plenty more favorites. A minimum of four more majors is the aim as he looks to join Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Walter Hagen as the only men’s golfers to win 10 or more.

“Double digits, that’s what I’m trying to get to,” he said.

“I don’t think it’s out of the question for me. I think the way I’ve prepared, the way I’ve kind of suited my game for these things is going to help me.

“I’m only 33, so I’ve definitely got quite a bit of time. I’ve just got to stay healthy and keep doing what I’m doing.”

Olympic ski jumper Patrick Gasienica died at the age of 24 on Monday, USA Nordic has announced.

A GoFundMe page shared by USA Nordic, who confirmed his death Wednesday, said he died in a motorcycle crash returning from work.

Gasienica, who was born in Mchenry, Illinois, represented the USA in his first Olympic Winter Games in Beijing 2022.

He made his International Ski Federation (FIS) Ski Jumping debut in 2015, and went on to represent the United States at FIS Junior World Ski Championships in 2016 and 2017, and the 2019 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Seefeld, USA Nordic said in a statement published by U.S. Ski & Snowboard announcing his death.

“USA Nordic and the Ski Jumping community are saddened to hear about the passing of Patrick Gasienica,” USA Nordic said in a statement on Twitter.

“A 2022 Beijing Winter Olympian, Patrick was an incredible competitor, teammate and friend.”

They added: “He will be dearly missed. Rest in peace, Patrick.”

For most people, after winning the NBA Finals MVP trophy, you wouldn’t let it out of your sight. But Nikola Jokić is not most people, and the Denver Nuggets star seemed to have misplaced his award.

After dominating in the Denver Nuggets’ 4-1 NBA Finals win over the Miami Heat, Jokić deservedly picked up the award given to the best player throughout the series.

The Serbian averaged an incredible 30.2 points, 14 rebounds, 7.2 assists, and 1.4 steals as he continued his imperious postseason form against the Heat.

However, Jokić revealed in an interview with ESPN’s Malika Andrews the day after the Finals concluded that it didn’t take long before he had misplaced the Bill Russell NBA Finals Award.

When the two-time MVP showed up for the interview without the coveted prize, Andrews questioned Jokić on the trophy’s whereabouts.

“I really don’t know,” Jokić explained. “I left it in [equipment manager Sparky Gonzales’] room and it’s not there anymore. So, I don’t know. But hopefully it can arrive in my house.”

Andrews later tweeted that – thankfully – the trophy was in safe hands and ready for Denver’s parade.

Fans of the NBA have become accustomed to the Serbian’s carefree attitude throughout his time in the league.

Jokić’s easy-going attitude to basketball was further summed up when asked if he can improve beyond his already incredible skill-level.

“I think I can be much better. But you need to still sacrifice yourself. Basketball is not the main thing in my life.
It’s something that I’m good at,” the center nonchalantly added.

“They didn’t believe in the fat boy,’ Jokic added on his journey to success. “It seems like it worked out. Don’t bet against the fat boy.”

Champions celebration

Straight after winning the NBA Championship, Jokić was asked by ESPN’s Lisa Salters how it felt to get his hands on basketball’s most coveted prize.

Jokić responded with: “It’s good, it’s good. The job is done, we can go home now.” The 28-year-old’s desire to go home was also repeated in a postgame conference when asked about today’s parade.

“No. I need to go home,” was the superstar’s immediate response to hearing the parade would commence on Thursday.

However, it seems the celebrations will be just as understated in his home country, Serbia.

“I don’t want anything big, I just want to relax and go home, be around my close friends and family and just enjoy the moment,” the five-time All-Star told Andrews.

The Denver Nuggets’ championship celebration starts with a pre-rally at 11:00 a.m. ET before the main event tips off at 12:00 p.m. ET at Union Station, Denver.

Thick plumes of smoke from dozens of wildfires raging in Ontario, Canada, are billowing across the US border, compromising the air quality for millions of residents in Wisconsin and Minnesota.

The entire state of Minnesota and most of Wisconsin were under air quality alerts Wednesday as a gray haze from wildfire smoke shifted south, according to the National Weather Service.

Parts of both states experienced air quality marked as “unhealthy” or “very unhealthy” on Wednesday afternoon – levels 4 and 5 out of 6, according to the monitoring website AirNow.

Dun Dunn Dunnnn. Dun Dun Dunn Dunn. Dun Dun Dunnn. Dunn Dunnnnn….. #mnwx #wiwx pic.twitter.com/IeLoQDjq9t

— NWS Twin Cities (@NWSTwinCities) June 14, 2023

“Smoky skies and poor air quality will continue through Thursday with the worst conditions expected tonight,” the National Weather Service in the Twin Cities said Wednesday.

By Thursday morning, air quality should begin improving as the smoke clears, the weather service in Duluth, Minnesota, said.

The air quality alert in Minnesota has been extended through Friday morning because smoke might take time to dissipate, according to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. The air quality alert in Wisconsin is in effect until noon local time Thursday.

In Canada, at least 63 wildfires are spread across Ontario, where the worst conditions are in the northwest region while the northeast is experiencing less significant fire hazards, a wildfire map shows.

For most areas in Ontario, the air quality health index was observed as “low risk” Wednesday, ranging from level 2 to 3 of 10, according to the country’s air quality monitoring website.

Meanwhile, areas including Chatham, downtown Toronto and Windsor had an air quality health index of moderate, which is level 4 of 10. Those areas are also forecast to improve over the next couple of days. Montreal in Quebec faces a forecast of moderate risk with level 5 of 10 on Thursday.

In addition to Wisconsin and Minnesota, smoke from the fires was also detected over parts of Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and North Dakota as of Wednesday night, another map shows.

“Smoke originating from Canadian wildfires continues to move southeast across Wisconsin,” the state Department of Natural Resources said. “People with heart or lung disease, older adults, and children should reduce prolonged or heavy exertion.”

The compromised air quality from Canadian wildfires comes just days after dense smoke clouds from wildfires in Quebec last week descended on eastern Canada and a large swath of the US, stretching from the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic to the Ohio Valley and Midwest.

Thick smog wrapped major metro areas including New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, DC, in an orange haze for days. The dense smoke forced officials to close schools, ground flights due to poor visibility, shutter zoos and beaches and pushed many to mask up outdoors.

Scientists warn such events are more likely to continue as the planet warms, creating the ideal environment for more severe and frequent wildfires.

Wildfire smoke is particularly dangerous because it contains tiny particulate matter, or PM2.5, the tiniest of pollutants. When inhaled, it can move deep into lung tissue and enter the bloodstream.

It comes from sources including the combustion of fossil fuels, dust storms and wildfires. Such smoke has been linked to several health complications including asthma, heart disease and other respiratory illnesses.

More than a hundred thousand were without power Wednesday night as severe weather produced tornadoes, high winds and large hail that prompted more than 250 storm reports in the South.

As of 3 a.m. ET, more than 135,000 homes and businesses in the region were in the dark across in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and Texas, according to tracking site PowerOutage.us.

There were at least eight tornado reports and 85 reports of hail, according to the Storm Prediction Center.

Almost 10 million people were under severe thunderstorm watch, meaning the risk of hazardous weather was high but where and when the storm will hit are uncertain.

“Severe storms will be possible well into tonight,” officials with the National Weather Service tweeted Wednesday.

Check your local forecast here

The weather service office in Mobile, Alabama, reminded residents to be prepared.

“Severe thunderstorms continue to move across the area this evening,” the office said, urging those in the area to check local television stations, weather apps or NOAA Weather Radio to stay informed.

Part of the joy of travelling comes from experiencing the unfamiliar – a different climate, culture or cuisine. But when it comes to paying for things abroad, we might feel more comfortable using the currency we are most familiar with, the one we use at home.

This has recently become a common – and expensive – option for tourists withdrawing money from cash machines, or paying electronically in shops and restaurants.

When a restaurant bill arrives for example, foreign customers may be offered the choice on the card reader to pay in their home currency rather than the local one. This feature, known as “dynamic currency conversion” or “currency choice” sounds appealing at first – a service which has done the hard work for you, converting the bill to a currency you understand, giving you a better idea of how much money you are spending.

But it comes at a price – as the fees charged for this convenience can be exorbitant. In fact, one study shows that the average fee applied to this kind of conversion is a whopping 7.6%, more than double the cost of paying in the local currency (usually between 1.5% and 3%).

So suppose a French traveler goes out for dinner in a British town, and the final bill comes to £88.43, the equivalent of 100 euros or about $108. Paying in UK currency, which would then be converted to euros by the French diner’s bank, would lead to a payment of around €102. But using the dynamic currency conversion to pay the restaurant bill directly in euros would end up costing them €107.60.

Despite the high fees, our research shows that more than half of international customers still choose to pay in their familiar home currency. The most obvious explanation for this is an understandable preference for the familiar when dealing with money abroad.

But it is also true that the fees are not explicitly shown to customers. That is, tourists may see the applied exchange rate, but they are not shown the hidden fees or how that exchange rate compares with others.

And while expensive for tourists, the currency choice “service” can be highly lucrative for those who operate it. The companies which provide dynamic currency conversion options earn significant conversion revenues – a portion of which is often shared with the business where the transaction takes place.

Sources indicate that extra revenues for retailers come to around 1% of the transaction value. We have also been told of well known department stores training employees to actively encourage foreign customers to pay for purchases in their home currency.

Greater transparency

And despite the high conversion fees involved with dynamic currency conversion, most government regulators around the world have been hesitant to intervene. One possible reason for this is that regulation would be seen as potentially hitting the profits of local businesses.

The exception is the European Union (EU), which considers excessive transaction costs to be a barrier to the development of businesses and aims to protect European consumers.

The latest EU regulations (not yet enforced) aim to enhance transparency by including extra information about the costs of currency choice on card readers and ATMs.

This is a step in the right direction. But we would in fact encourage a reduction in the amount of information to make things simpler, so that customers are made aware purely of the percentage fee being added if they choose to pay in their own currency. We also think there should be maximum conversion charges to protect unaware customers from excessive fees.

With the continued growth of international travel, it is crucial to find ways to help people make informed financial decisions when dealing with exchange rates and making payments outside of their currency zone.

But for now, travelers are likely to spend more of their money abroad than they need to, because of something they intuitively feel will make a transaction simpler and less time consuming.

So if you’re on holiday or traveling for work, our advice is to decline the option of paying in your home currency and instead opt for the more reasonable conversion fees charged by your bank. Your travel experience could end up much cheaper if you do.

Dirk Gerritsen is an assistant professor of finance and financial markets at Utrecht University, Bora Lancee is a researcher at Utrecht University and Coen Rigtering is assistant professor in strategy and organization at Utrecht University.

Egyptian authorities have banned swimming near a beach at an Egyptian Red Sea resort following a deadly shark attack that killed a Russian citizen on Thursday, according to Egyptian and Russian officials.

The incident took place in the popular tourist city of Hurghada on Egypt’s eastern coast.

Russian Consul-General Viktor Voropayev told Russia state-run TASS news that a Russian national who was born in 1999 “died as a result of a shark attack.”

“This has been confirmed by Egypt’s competent authorities,” Voropayev said, as cited by TASS.

Minister of Environment, Yasmine Fouad, ordered a committee to investigate the incident, according to a statement released by Egypt’s Environment Ministry.

She also directed local authorities to implement the “highest levels of safety for those who go to the beaches of the Red Sea, and to take all possible measures to avoid a recurrence of the shark attack incident again,” the statement said.

According to the statement, a specialized team was able to capture the “Tiger shark” that caused the incident “to examine it to find out the possible reasons for its attack and to indicate whether it is the same fish that caused previous accidents.”

The Environment Ministry issued a two-day ban on swimming starting Friday, including snorkeling and all other water sports activities in the area between Gouna to the north of Hurghada and Soma Bay to its south.

Over the past years, several similar incidents have happened in the Egyptian Red Sea.

In 2022, two women were killed in shark attacks in Egypt’s Red Sea, south of the city of Hurghada, according to the Egyptian Ministry of Environment.

In 2020, a Ukrainian boy lost an arm, and an Egyptian tour guide lost a leg in a shark attack. In 2018, a shark killed a Czech tourist off a Red Sea beach,” according to the state-run Al-Ahram Online newspaper.

Germany has returned six mummified Māori heads to New Zealand, together with the remains of almost 100 Māori and Moriori ancestors.

The New Zealand Museum Te Papa Tongarewa, which works to preserve the country’s heritage and cultures, held a private repatriation ceremony on Wednesday to mark the return of the remains from seven different German museums.

The relics are a dark reminder of how the body parts of indigenous people were swapped and sold in a grisly, exploitative trade, not just in Germany, but around the world.

In Māori culture, the head was considered the most important part of the body. The face was marked with tattoos to designate identity and status, according to the Smithsonian magazine.

New Zealand enacted a government program called Karanga Aotearoa in 1990 to retrieve and repatriate the remains of its indigenous people, the country’s Māori, and the Moriori who inhabit the Chatham Islands.

Back in 2016, the Smithsonian Institution returned the remains of 54 indigenous people, including four mummified Māori heads, to Te Papa. Other institutions that have repatriated relics via the museum include London’s Natural History Museum and the Natural History Museum in Vienna.

The latest repatriation involved the skeletal remains of 95 ancestors of both peoples, together with six mummified tattooed Māori heads. They were returned by seven German institutions: the Grassi Museum in Leipzig; Reiss Engelhorn Museums in Mannheim; Linden Museum in Stuttgart; the Stuttgart State Museum of Natural History; Georg August University in Göttingen; Roemer und Pelizaeus Museum in Hildesheim and Museum Wiesbaden.

Te Papa Tongarewa oversees the repatriation on behalf of New Zealand’s government. “The single goal of repatriation is not to hold the remains at Te Papa indefinitely but to return them to their communities,” the museum says on its website.

Māori and Moriori believe this return to their homelands will restore dignity to both the dead people and their living descendants.

The mummified heads—often of chiefs or warriors—were part of a Māori tradition to preserve loved ones or reviled enemies, according to Te Papa.

When Western explorers arrived, they became increasingly curious about the mummified heads, according to the museum.

Wednesday’s ceremony followed a series of formal handover events in Germany throughout May and June.

The move by Germany offers “pathways to meaningful reconciliation and healing,” according to Arapata Hakiwai, Te Papa’s Māori co-leader.

Te Herekiekie Haerehuka Herewini, Te Papa’s head of repatriation, said: “Our colleagues from these German institutions have shown significant respect and understanding towards Aotearoa New Zealand, Māori and Moriori, and demonstrated a strong sense of doing the right thing.”

Three of the heads, known as toi moko, were repatriated from the Reiss-Engelhorn Museums.

“The toi moko became sought-after trade goods in the 18th and 19th centuries. Two of the heads kept in the Reiss-Engelhorn Museums probably arrived in Mannheim via this route and various stations.

“Research suggests that the third head is the remains of a tribal leader who traveled to Europe and died here. His head was therefore not mummified in the traditional way, but probably by a taxidermist in Europe.”

Among those to attend the private ceremony at the museum in Wellington was New Zealand’s Ambassador to Germany, Craig Hawke, who also attended the handover ceremonies in Germany.

Ahead of the event, he tweeted: “The ancestral remains will be received at @Te_Papa next Wednesday. On their journey back home to #Aotearoa to find their final resting places, we bid them farewell: ‘Kia hora te marino, kia whakapapa pounamu te moana, kia tere te kārohirohi i mua i tō huarahi.’ #repatriation

“English translation: ‘May peace be widespread, may the sea glisten like greenstone, and may the shimmer of light guide you on your way.’ #arohanui.”