When hundreds of Israeli settlers rampaged through Huwara and surrounding Palestinian towns in the occupied West Bank on February 26, leaving at least one Palestinian man dead and hundreds of others injured, it was billed as “revenge” after a Palestinian gunman killed two brothers who lived nearby.

What unfolded was violence so brutal that the Israeli military commander for the West Bank called it a “pogrom,” and said that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had not been sufficiently prepared for revenge attacks. An inquiry by the IDF found that the military failed to deploy enough soldiers to prevent the riots. “This is a severe incident that took place under our responsibility and should not have happened,” Israel’s top military officer, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, said in a statement in March.

The soldier, whose account was provided by Breaking the Silence, a non-governmental organization established by IDF veterans that offers a platform to speak out confidentially, said dozens of armed forces were on the scene, operating alongside Israel Border Police, and they were aware of the threat the settlers posed but did nothing to intervene. “We just let them continue to advance,” the soldier said, adding that the army generally “doesn’t know how to deal with settler terrorism.”

In the aftermath of the violence, Israel’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, a settler who opposes Palestinian sovereignty, said that “Huwara needs to be erased.”

Residents of the town, which straddles the main road running north to south through the West Bank, have long been harassed by settlers passing through. But, in the wake of the violence, they said they are more terrified for their security than ever before.

Seeking revenge

The two Israeli brothers, Hillel Menachem Yaniv, 22, and Yagel Ya’acov Yaniv, 20, whose killings triggered the rampage lived in Har Bracha, a Jewish settlement in the hills above Nablus, about 4 miles away from Huwara. Hillel had recently completed his mandatory army service, and Yagel was set to start the recruitment process.

They were on their way to their yeshiva, a Jewish religious school, when they were attacked by a Palestinian gunman, identified as a member of Hamas by both the militant group and the IDF. The shooting came days after a massive Israeli military incursion into Nablus in search of wanted militants left at least 11 Palestinians dead.

In response to the Yanivs’ deaths, administrators for a WhatsApp group called Fighting for Life, which coordinates settler demonstrations, called on members to “fight back” and march from two settlements: Yitzhar to the north, and Kfar Tapuach to the south. The post was disseminated on several settler WhatsApp groups, as well as on social media, suggesting that the threat of violence would have been well known to authorities beforehand.

“We demand revenge! We must fight back! Following the fatal attack in broad daylight in Huwara today, we’re leaving our houses and fighting for our lives!” the post read. “18.00 – March from the big Yitzhar junction and from Tapuach junction to the scene of the attack in Huwara!”

Huwara residents said much of the angry mob on February 26 descended on the town from Yitzhar, a nearby hillside settlement, which is built in part on privately owned Palestinian land.

Son Har-Melech, from security minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit party, posted a tweet from Huwara where she said she went to support “residents of Samaria who have come out to protest and to demand security, after long months of abandonment.” Israel officially refers to the West Bank by the biblical names Judea and Samaria.

Another Knesset member, Zvi Sukkot, from Smotrich’s ultra-nationalist Religious Zionism party, who lives in Yitzhar, posted on Twitter saying: “Huwara’s killers’ nest needs to be taken care of.” Later, he shared a photo of himself with settlers at Tapuach junction, where they had gathered to march to the town.

Since Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967, the territory, which residents hope will form part of a future Palestinian state, has been carved up and divided by Israeli settlements. Huwara, which is home to about 7,000 people, is surrounded on three sides by settlements that have a reputation for being extremist.

Most of the world considers these settlements illegal under international law, but, in spite of this, successive Israeli governments have pledged support for them. The International Criminal Court considers the transfer by an occupying power of its own civilian population into territory it occupies a war crime. Israel views the West Bank “disputed territory,” and contends its settlement policy is legal.

“Right-wing extremist groups on WhatsApp and Telegram have become ticking time bombs,” Schatz said, adding that the groups are used routinely by settlers to organize violence. “They [Israeli security forces] ignored their duty to monitor violent groups and failed to stop the violence during the event. We are extremely worried and uncertain that they are prepared to prevent the next event.”

The attack

Ziad Dumaidi, 48, knew the Israeli settlers were coming through word-of-mouth and social media, so he prepared for the worst. He bought water, fixed the fire extinguisher, and parked his car at a friend’s house. In the past, settlers had swarmed his home, lobbed stones at his windows and tried to break in, Dumaidi said. But they had never tried to set it alight.

Footage showed the mob throwing stones at residents gathered on their balconies, windows and rooftops. Then they set ablaze a parking lot full of cars, part of a dealership and repair shop at the entrance of the town — one of the small businesses that both Palestinians and Israelis would take their vehicles to be fixed in Huwara, an economic hub for the area.

The Palestine TV livestream showed at least three armored Israeli military vehicles on the main road in Huwara, and several soldiers patrolling the street. Israeli soldiers can be seen in the footage firing tear gas up at residential buildings, which settlers are also targeting with stones.

Videos chronolocated at 8:25 p.m. show fire trucks and ambulances being stopped by Israeli soldiers at the roundabout leading to Huwara’s main street. According to a Palestine Red Crescent Society spokesperson, the emergency vehicles were ambushed by settlers while the military watched. “When Israeli forces finally let them in, they told them that it’s at their own risk, and if settlers attacked them, it’s their own responsibility,” the spokesperson said.

The fires and violence could have been prevented if the army had used force against the settlers to stop them from entering Huwara in the first place, the soldier added. “You have a group of dozens of people you see who are hot-headed and they start walking towards Huwara, they are masked and some of them may have knives. What do you think they are coming to do? … At this point, they [the army] should have started shooting tear gas, and stun grenades and start repelling them,” he said.

In the Palestinian town of Za’tara, between Kfar Tapuach and Huwara, which was also attacked on February 26, Sameh Aqtash, a 37-year-old aid worker and father of five, was shot in the abdomen. His brother, Abdalmenem, said that night 30 settlers approached their village on their way to Huwara. They told them to leave. Soon after, they returned with a group of Israeli soldiers in tow, Abdalmenem said.

“The settlers started throwing rocks at us, so we threw rocks back. … Then they started shooting live bullets at us, not tear gas or rubber bullets, live fire from the get-go,” he said. “Normally when the Israeli military comes, they protect the settlers. They don’t stop the settlers from attacking areas or burning stuff, they just surround the settlers so no one can attack them. And this is what happened when Sameh was killed.”

The aftermath

Since Israel’s new government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was sworn in late last December, the most right-wing and religiously conservative in the nation’s history, violence between settlers and Palestinians in the West Bank has flared.

As of mid-May this year, the United Nations has reported 421 settler-related incidents in the occupied territory, leading to the deaths of eight Palestinians — nearly triple last year — as well as injuring hundreds and causing property damage. In the same period, Israeli forces have killed more than 100 Palestinians in the West Bank. The IDF says most are terror suspects or people engaging violently with its troops during raids, but does not offer evidence.

Attacks by Palestinians have left 14 Israeli settlers dead in the occupied West Bank this year, according to the United Nations.

On March 19, a Palestinian gunman opened fire on an Israeli couple in their car at a junction in Huwara, wounding one man who also had US citizenship, according to authorities. Later that month, on March 25, there was another shooting attack on two IDF soldiers. The next day, Sukkot — the far-right Knesset member — marched through the Palestinian town brandishing an Israeli flag. He called for the government to set up roadblocks and close all businesses in Huwara.

“We will continue to live here and there will be a lot more Jews who will come here to the village of Huwara and will also live here in the settlements. The attacks won’t help, throwing stones won’t help, throwing fire bottles and the incitements won’t help. We’re here to stay,” he said in a video, which was shared on Twitter.

Sukkot has been arrested several times on suspicion of organizing attacks on Palestinians, including an arson attack on a mosque near Huwara in 2010; he denied the allegation and was released.

Israeli soldiers are now on permanent patrol of the town, periodically closing roads and forcing shops to shutter, according to residents, who said it is impacting their livelihoods. The IDF has said it is enforcing security in Huwara, but residents feel as though they are being punished.

Residents in Huwara say they are still dealing with the trauma of February 26, reeling from what they described as the IDF’s inaction, and are fearful of more settler violence.

“This is the fourth time my house comes under attack. And I’m telling you the Israeli officers are always with them,” Dumaidi said, recalling three settler attacks on his home in October and previous attempted break-ins. “They just let them do whatever they want.”

“Even when it comes down to a humanitarian level, they think, let them die. What is left for our dignity? What’s left after burning? There is nothing left.”

World No. 2 Jon Rahm has said “a lot” of players on the PGA Tour feel “betrayal” after the shock announcement of its partnership with LIV Golf.

Rahm, speaking ahead of the US Open at Los Angeles Country Club in California which begins on Thursday, called last week’s news a “bombshell” to him and his colleagues.

“Well, there’s a lot of not-answered questions. It’s tough when it’s the week before a major. Trying not to think about it as much as possible,” the Spanish player told reporters.

“I think it gets to a point where you want to have faith in management, and I want to have faith that this is the best thing for all of us, but it’s clear that that’s not the consensus. I think the general feeling is that a lot of people feel a bit of betrayal from management.”

“I understand why they had to keep it so secret,” he added, citing the likelihood of leaks to the media.

“It’s just not easy as a player that’s been involved, like many others, to wake up one day and see this bombshell. That’s why we’re all in a bit of a state of limbo because we don’t know what’s going on and how much is finalized and how much they can talk about, either.”

Last week, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan announced a partnership with the European-based DP World Tour and LIV Golf, unifying the trio under a new, yet-to-be-named, commercial entity and consequently ending a feud that has dogged the men’s professional game for the past year.

The announcement led to the US Senate opening an investigation into the proposed merger between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf’s owners – Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) – on Monday.

The decision appeared to take the golfing world by surprise, including Rahm, who said he was having a “normal morning making coffee and breakfast” when he describes “texts just flowing in.”

“I thought my phone was going to catch on fire at one point. There were so many questions that I just couldn’t answer. It’s basically what it was,” he said.

“I think it was that day at one point I told (Rahm’s wife) Kelley I’m just going to throw my phone in the drawer and not look at it for the next four hours because I can’t deal with this anymore.”

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler echoed Rahm’s surprise, saying in his pre-major press conference that he found out the news while at the gym. “I didn’t really know what was going on. Still don’t really have a clue,” Scheffler added.

While Rahm admitted that he wasn’t a fan of the shifting sands, he would bow to the people making decisions.

“It’s a state of uncertainty that we don’t love, but at the end of the day, I’m not a business expert. Some of those guys on the board and involved in this are (experts),” he said.

“So I’d like to think they’re going to make a better decision than I would, but I don’t know. We’ll see. There’s still too many questions to be answered.”

Questions remaining

The partnership seemingly ends a year of division in golf, and with it, animosities between the two sides of golf.

The decisions of some players to leave the established PGA Tour and DP World Tour to sign up with LIV Golf last year were met with consternation by many others.

Now, with the two sides uniting once again, it opens questions about LIV Golf players’ eligibility for this year’s Ryder Cup which begins in September.

Rahm has been a strong advocate of allowing LIV Golf players to be allowed to compete in the biennial tournament. Players wanting to be a member of Team Europe need to be from Europe and a member of the DP World Tour.

However, players who left to join LIV Golf resigned their DP World Tour membership to do so. If they wanted to apply to rejoin the tour for the 2023 season, they had to hand in their documentation to do so by May 1.

DP World Tour CEO Keith Pelley said subsequent requests would require proof of an exceptional circumstance to be granted, something he said would “be difficult and highly unlikely that that would happen,” per Reuters.

Team Europe’s all-time leading scorer and Rahm’s compatriot Sergio Garcia would miss out under those current regulations.

Rahm said that he has “no idea” about whether that will change and that he would support Team Europe’s captain Luke Donald.

“Again, we have no clue. The only thing I can say at this point is I have faith in Luke Donald, and I have faith that Luke is going to do the best and he’s going to try to make the best decision for Team Europe, and that’s all I can do,” the Spaniard said.

“At the end of the day he’s the captain and I’m not. It’s his ship to steer. I have faith in my captain and I’m hoping – not hoping. I’m sure we’re going to end up with the best team we can end up with.”

For the US Ryder Cup team, players who join LIV can still compete as they didn’t have to give up their PGA of America membership – they were banned from the PGA Tour – and the association is one of the organizers of the event.

Just hours after Nevada took a big step toward approving the Oakland Athletics’ move to Las Vegas, A’s fans held a “reverse boycott” during a game at the Oakland Coliseum.

The Nevada state Senate passed a bill which will help to fund the new stadium being built to house the franchise – if the proposed move is finalized.

However, this didn’t stop Oakland fans from turning up en masse Tuesday night to protest the owner’s desire to relocate the MLB team.

Many of the 27,759 fans donned signs in opposition to the ownership team, in particular John Fisher.

A common theme among the signs were fans urging the owners to “sell” the franchise. One sign was emblazoned with “sabotage,” while another issued a warning: “Vegas Beware.”

“The grass could be greener somewhere else and so, if it can happen to us it can happen to you, it can happen to anybody,” Stu Clary, who came up with the idea for the reverse boycott, told KNBR.

“The whole community loses out on something special if the A’s leave,” he added.

Throughout the game, chants of “Sell the team” could be heard reverberating around the stadium as fans voiced their frustration.

Many wore green T-shirts with “SELL” written across the front.

In front of the packed-out Coliseum, the A’s beat the Tampa Bay Rays 2-1 and continued their unlikely win streak – stretching the run to seven games.

The Rays are the best team in baseball with a 48-22 record but this did not dissuade the A’s from sealing the win in front of their home crowd to improve to 19-50 – no longer the worst record in the MLB.

“Tonight was as close to a playoff crowd as I’ve experienced managing. The energy and atmosphere was everything that this stadium can be,” said A’s manager Mark Kotsay, per MLB.com. “For that to happen and for us, to play a good game all around in front of that crowd, I couldn’t be happier.”

“It was cool. It was really fun,” added A’s designated hitter Brent Rooker. “The fans came out and made it very clear how passionate they are about the city and this team, which was cool to see. We fed off that energy all night.”

Despite the jubilation after the win, fans continued to make their feelings clear. As Athletics pitcher Trevor May recorded the last out, A’s fans threw trash onto the field to highlight their anger toward Fisher.

From ticket sales, the Athletics raised $811,107 which will be donated to the Alameda County Community Food Bank and the Oakland Public Education Fund.

The Athletics reached a binding agreement with Bally’s Corporation, along with Gaming and Leisure Properties (GLPI), to build a stadium on Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue, Bally’s Corporation announced last month.

The new ballpark is expected to accommodate nearly 30,000 fans and bring in 2.5 million spectators annually, according to Bally’s.

The agreement is contingent upon MLB relocation approval and the passing of public financing legislation.

The Athletics have played in the city of Oakland since 1968.

In various households across the Palm Springs area this week, some Californians will have seen the face of a previous Uber driver staring back at them on sports broadcasts and online articles.

While many of the passengers Berry Henson has taxied during some 3,000 rides knew he played golf, few were aware of just how good he is. On Thursday, their 4.99-rated driver will tee off at Los Angeles Country Club for the US Open.

The 43-year-old’s world has turned upside down since he stamped his ticket to the 123rd edition of the tournament with a dominant performance across 36 holes in final stage qualifying at Canoe Brook Country Club in Summit, New Jersey on July 5.

Henson, ranked 444th in the world, shot seven-under overall to clinch the second of four available spots from the 67-player field.

Dubbed “Golf’s Longest Day,” the second and final stage of sectional qualifiers hosted across the US and Canada confirmed the last of the 64 US Open places, whittled down from the record 10,187 entries who attempted qualification this year.

For Henson, who has played just three events on the PGA Tour since turning pro in 2003, the US Open will mark a dream first career major appearance.

“To put in the work that I’ve put in the last few years and reach a goal that has been a dream, I don’t know if I can summarize it right now … I’m just living a day at a time.

“I feel like I’m leading a golf tournament every day. New emotions, new feelings, but I feel like I’m getting through it pretty good.”

Tee drive

Better yet, it will effectively be a home tournament for Henson, born a one-hour drive away in Thousand Oaks.

And, given his second job away from the golf course, they are roads he knows well.

Henson began driving for Uber in 2016 when he was temporarily sidelined by a wrist injury. Looking for something to occupy his restless mind, as well as needing to rent a car, ferrying passengers in the Palm Springs area offered a convenient solution to both problems.

Racking up rides in spare time away from the fairways, he used the money earned to pay off the costs of his rental car and food expenses, as well as raising money for a charity in Thailand, where he now lives.

Favorite passengers have included actor Ke Huy Quan, who played Richard “Data” Wang in his beloved film “The Goonies,” as well as Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios.

Henson chatted at length with his fellow athlete about the trials and tribulations of professional sport, though the majority of his passengers typically have to play a game to find out their driver’s true occupation.

“I usually let them ask me questions to find out what I really do and I can only answer yes or no,” Henson said.

“A lot of my Uber passengers, when they find out what I do, end up following me on social media – they can’t believe it at first.

“I’ve had a bunch of them message me this week like, ‘Oh my gosh you were our Uber driver!’ I think I might have a few of them out here rooting me on this week, you never know.”

Long road

Teeing up alongside the game’s biggest stars Thursday will mark the greatest stopover yet in what has been a long and winding road for the self-described “journeyman.”

Pepsi Tour, Hooters Tour, eGolf Tour: name a professional golf league and Henson has probably played it over the course of his 20-year career.

After several attempts to gain his card for the PGA Tour and DP World Tour (formerly the European Tour) via Qualifying School narrowly fell short, in 2011 the University of San Diego alumnus found himself down to his last sponsor.

Needing to take a big swing, Henson forked out $5,000 to compete on the Asian Tour. The gamble paid off: he rattled off two wins in his rookie season and, having settled in Thailand, has played most of his golf on the tour for the last decade.

“It’s been an unbelievable place for me to get better, hone my game,” he said.

“The journey just seems to keep continuing for me. I’m 43, I feel like I’ve got plenty years left in the tank.

“My team have kept me very sharp, very healthy, and I’m looking forward to what’s in store not just this week but towards the remainder of my golf career.”

Henson has already penned a chapter in his fairytale week after playing practice rounds with Phil Mickelson last weekend. The six-time major winner took Henson up on the offer after reaching out to congratulate him on qualifying via Twitter.

“It was unbelievable … I can’t thank him enough for doing that and giving me all the nuggets that he’s given me,” Henson said.

“He could not have been more accommodating to me and my team on getting ready for my first major. He wants me to do well, and I want him to do well.”

‘I just know she’s here this week’

Nicknamed “The Hensonator,” a comic alter-ego tag given to him by a college coach, the 43-year-old can expect many of his friends and family – “The Hensonator Nation” – to be cheering from the sidelines at Los Angeles Country Club.

However, one absence will hit hard. Henson’s mother died in March following a battle with dementia. Though his step-dad was alongside her, Henson was in Thailand when he received the news.

“I think she’s gonna pass on a lot of birdies this week,” Henson said.

“I didn’t feel nervous [in New Jersey], I felt emotional and I kept telling myself, ‘No, you can’t go there, you can’t go there’ … I feel like the more I talk about it, the more I can grieve a little bit because I haven’t been able to grieve.

“I just know she’s here this week. I know it, I can feel it, it’s just a special week and I can’t wait to walk up that green on Sunday.”

About 70 million people across the South and parts of the Northeast face the threat of severe weather Wednesday, including the potential for damaging winds, very large hail and isolated tornadoes, a few of which could be strong.

A second wave of severe weather during the afternoon will produce the potential for the most dangerous weather.

The area facing the biggest threat stretches from northeast Louisiana to north Florida, according to the Storm Prediction Center.

This level 4 out of 5 “Moderate Risk” of severe weather includes Jackson, Mississippi; Montgomery, Alabama; and Columbus, Georgia.

“A busy 24 hours is ahead of us as an anomalous pattern for June continues to take shape, the National Weather Service office in Jackson warned. “Local residents are strongly urged to be weather aware particularly this afternoon into tonight due to the strong likelihood of significant severe weather.”

Tennis ball-sized hail, damaging winds up to 80 mph and isolated tornadoes are possible, the weather service said.

“Multiple waves of storms are possible, and unfortunately, they may persist well into the overnight tonight,” the Jackson office said Wednesday morning.

A level 3 out of 5 “Enhanced Risk” of severe weather extends from the Ark-La-Tex region to the Georgia coast.

This includes Shreveport, Louisiana; Mobile and Tuscaloosa in Alabama and Savannah, Georgia.

Floodwaters are receding following the collapse of the Kakhovka dam, but debris washed along the Dnipro river is turning Odesa’s Black Sea coastline into “a garbage dump and animal cemetery,” according to Ukrainian authorities.

“A lot of mines, ammunition and other explosive objects are being carried into the sea and thrown onto the shoreline,” Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs said on its website at the weekend, adding that border guards had observed a “plague of fish” in the area.

“The Dnipro river flows into the Black Sea, bearing many signs of the devastation caused by Russians,” the ministry said.

“The consequences of ecocide are terrible,” it added.

The collapse of the dam in southern Ukraine on June 6 is one of the biggest industrial and ecological disasters in Europe for decades. The catastrophe has destroyed entire villages, flooded farmland, deprived tens of thousands of people of power and clean water, and caused massive environmental damage.

But it’s still impossible to say whether it collapsed because it was deliberately targeted as part of Russia’s war in Ukraine or whether the breach could have been caused by structural failure. Several Western officials have blamed the collapse of the Russian-occupied dam on Moscow.

A total of 2,699 people, including 178 children, have been evacuated from endangered settlements in the Kherson region since the collapse, the Ukrainian head of the regional military administration Oleksandr Prokudin said in a Telegram post on Saturday.

Swimming, fishing banned

Swimming and fishing have been banned in the region and people are being advised to drink only bottled or imported water, Prokudin said.

Meanwhile thunderstorms and squall winds expected on Sunday mean “volunteers will not be allowed to perform any rescue operations,” he added.

“The concentration of harmful substances in water samples is ten times higher than the permissible norm,” Prokudin said.

Prokudin said the area of flooded territories in Kherson region had “decreased almost by half” and the average water level had decreased by 27 centimeters (0.9 feet) to 4.45 meters (14 feet).

However, “32 settlements on the west bank of Dnipro river are still flooded and 3,784 residential buildings are under water,” he said.

Prokudin also described the situation on the “temporarily occupied east bank” as “critical.”

“Now 14 settlements are flooded there. The (Russian) occupation authorities are not carrying out evacuation measures,” he added.

Call for international support

The developments came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for international support to help rescue victims of the dam collapse in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine.

“Russia does not provide any real help to the people in the flooded areas” that are under its occupation, Zelensky said in his nightly address on Saturday.

“In the occupied territory, it is only possible to help people in some areas – Russian terrorists are doing everything to make the victims of the disaster as many as possible. Russian shelling continues – even at evacuation points,” Zelensky said.

The Ukrainian leader has previously accused Russian forces of shooting at Ukrainian rescuers trying to reach flooded areas in the Kherson region that are under Russian control.

“We are pressing and encouraging so that international organizations and international support come to the part of Kherson region where the occupiers are now,” Zelensky emphasized in his Saturday address.

The Ukrainian president said “over 3,000 people have already been evacuated in Kherson and Mykolaiv regions” following the dam collapse – but that was only in the “free territory under our control.”

On Saturday, the Russian Foreign ministry released a statement blaming the dam’s collapse on “methodical attacks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.”

It claimed that “regular attacks” on the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant from Ukrainian armed forces “led to the destruction of its structures and the uncontrolled discharge of water from the Kakhovka reservoir downstream of the Dnipro river.”

Far-reaching impact

The impact of the dam collapse has been felt far beyond the Kherson region.

In addition to the Black Sea coast, in the Dnipropetrovsk region, the Marhanets, Nikopol, Pokrovsk and Hrushivka communities have been partially left without water supply, Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs website reported Sunday, while a “whole section of a railway track was destroyed near Nikopol, according to the Ukrainian rail authority.

In Mykolaiv, access roads to the village of Afanasivka, where 379 residents live, have been completely cut off, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine reported.

Meanwhile, during a visit to Ukraine Saturday by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Zelensky offered his country’s assistance in fighting the wildfires that have consumed many parts of Canada.

“Of course, we will not stay away from the disaster Canada is facing now,” Zelensky said.

“Massive wildfires, colossal environmental losses, and threats to people… Ukraine is ready to help extinguish fires if Canada needs such international assistance.”

“Our Ukrainian sense of international relations is precisely in the fact that we should always take care of each other when support is needed. And really help,” Zelensky said.

Editor’s note: The southern Ukrainian city of Melitopol has long been known for its sweet delights. The name “Melitopol” means “the Honey City” in Ukrainian and the city’s official logo features a cherry, a nod to the deep red fruit the region is famous for.

But life in Melitopol is anything but sweet. The city was captured by Russian troops shortly after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year. Pro-Ukrainian partisans have remained active in the city, orchestrating several attacks against the pro-Russian administration installed in the place of its elected leaders. The Zaporizhzhia region in which the city lies is partially occupied by Russia and was illegally annexed last September.

There is terror in Melitopol. But it’s quiet, you don’t see it in the streets.

For partisans, the situation here is terrible. For those of us who rejected Russian passports and are now known as “the unreliable,” the situation is terrible. But if you go to the market, you wouldn’t think that anything is going on.

The Russians are trying to force everyone here to get Russian passports. It’s easier to manipulate people when they have Russian citizenship. Not getting the passports makes our life very difficult. They are refusing to give us access to hospitals and so on. We are a family of farmers and we are losing our land because we don’t have any Russian documents.

I’m afraid I will eventually have to get it. But we are delaying this moment. One relative went to the office and the queues were huge because everyone was intimidated into getting a passport. The process has sped up. Previously, you had to wait a month or two, but now they can print a passport in a week.

Everyone was given cash welfare payments until February, but starting in March, only people with Russian passports get them. That’s why many pensioners started getting passports now because there was no need for it before. Disabled people, people on low incomes, and those who wanted to use free healthcare took the passports immediately after the Russians started offering them, because they didn’t want to lose the benefits.

All in all, a large percentage of the population already has Russian passports. If you don’t, you’re a black sheep, and you can be subject to a frisking.

Here in Melitopol, searches are usually conducted after shelling and after guerrilla attacks on pro-Russian collaborators. My grandmother’s house was searched because a Russian soldier deserted when he was in the village. They searched the houses in the village, trying to find him.

The people who remained in Melitopol can be divided into several categories. There are those who are basically satisfied with the current pro-Russian government. There are those who don’t care and who would support whoever gives them more money in cash payments.  

Those who stayed mostly support the pro-Russian government. They are convinced that it is here to stay.  

Obviously, there are also Ukrainian patriots, those of us waiting for Ukraine to win this war. We whisper to each other in the market. You can tell that someone is supporting Ukraine at the market when you ask for high quality produce. Vendors start cursing Russia because they now have to choose between selling bad products and worse products.

There are still a lot of partisans, God bless them, but we are in the minority. Most of the Ukrainian patriots have left, especially those who actively participated in rallies, because there was a direct threat to their lives.

Our neighbor turned us in for supporting Ukraine, but we are not being touched, at least not yet. My neighbor works for the new government and she knows that we actively opposed Russia during the first phase of the war.

I think we will be issued some kind of document that they give to “the unreliable” which says we have refused the passports. This means nothing except showing that we refused to take Russian passports. It’s a temporary certificate of non-citizens, but you either take this piece of paper or you have to leave Melitopol. So, we are going to take it.

Until April, it was possible to move freely throughout the occupied zone without documents. Now you need a Russian passport or the non-citizen document, but they keep issuing warnings and saying that you need to get a Russian passport by June or you will not be allowed to leave.

People here are encouraged to send their children to summer camps in Crimea, like they were last year. Some parents on our street voluntarily sent their children to Crimea for a month and the children came back. But our neighbors, who have since left for Germany, did not want to send their son to a Russian school or to a camp, and it was okay. Their son stayed at home all year, studying online at a Ukrainian school. Children are not taken away by force here. You have to understand that parents send them there voluntarily.

We call the war a ‘situation’ here   

It’s true that the occupiers are worried about the counteroffensive. The mood in the city has changed dramatically over the past month, from “Melitopol is forever with Russia” to thinking where and how they will build defense lines.

Of course, this is just what the ordinary soldiers in the city are saying, but there is no longer that victorious mood. I feel that something is going to happen here soon. Ukrainian hryvnias are being bought up in the market, and farmers are refusing to sell their products, because they are waiting to give it to Ukraine. And all the neighbors who are in favor of Russia have stopped communicating with us, because they are no longer sure that Russia will stay here forever and are afraid to talk.

There are more or less no problems with getting food. There is no variety, but there are no shortages either. The standards and packaging have completely changed since the invasion started. Butter that is made at the same factory tastes so bad now that we don’t know what to do to mask the taste.

Everything that is imported from Russia contains palm oil. That’s not an exaggeration, the ingredient list of a candy lists palm oil three times. It’s in everything. Sausages, cheese, candy, cookies, butter.

But the biggest problem is with medicines and household goods, as well as baby food. Russia doesn’t have good quality medicines and there is no choice. You go to a pharmacy and they give you one option, take it or leave it. People inquire about medicines for 10 minutes and in the end, they only have iodine. A woman in front of me was trying to buy Nestlé baby food, but the price was out of this world. She ended up buying some Russian-made equivalent.

My mother and grandmother have diabetes. The Russian medicines have the same active ingredient but they affect them in completely different ways. They have different dosages and excipients and my mother and grandmother started feeling much worse when they began taking them. We received some Ukrainian medicines from Ukraine through Crimea, enough for a month and a half.

The cynicism of doctors and pharmacists here is overwhelming. No one says anything directly. We call the war a “situation” here. So, they just answer: “Well, this is the situation, if you need it, go to Ukraine or Europe.” When I told the doctor that I needed specific medication, I was told to go to the city of Zaporizhzhia to buy it. And just so you understand, to go to Zaporizhzhia, you have to go via Moscow. That’s the only way.

In Russia, they don’t have the same standards and regulations for products. Nothing like that. Russian soaps, shampoos, and toothpastes are of terrible quality. Belarusian ones are a little better, and the best option for us here is Turkish shampoo. There are a lot of Chinese and Turkish products on the market. Russian and Chinese products are of the worst quality, while Belarusian and Turkish products are more or less okay, but more expensive.

The problem is that only the military here have a lot of money, and often they buy everything decent. The rumours that Russians themselves do not want to buy Russian products are true. Until September, Ukrainian products were smuggled to Melitopol and the Russian military bought everything themselves. Soldiers stood in line in front of me and asked for Ukrainian socks and soap. Now there are no Ukrainian goods anymore.

Everyone is pretending to live a civilian life. There’s no talk of evacuation. People are used to the explosions and to the fact that from time to time there are burnt-out cars of pro-Russian collaborators on the main street. People are used to the fact that Russian troops and authorities can come to your house and kick you out.

People have gotten used to everything over the year.

The date is set, venues have been chosen, tickets are on sale.

One hundred years after the Olympics last graced the streets of Paris, the city is braced for the return of the world’s largest sporting event next summer.

While organizers and the French government claim that it’ll be the most inclusive games yet, a growing chorus of voices isn’t convinced.

Accessibility is a main concern, both financially due to the eye-watering cost of tickets, and for disabled people who worry about navigating Paris’ decades-old transport infrastructure.

Olympic games, titanic prices

Flavien Lallemand had barely made it on the Paris 2024 ticketing site, before deciding it wasn’t worth it.

“It’s a shame, it’s being done in our city, it’s just next door, we’ll be bothered by all the visitors etc; we’ll be impacted but we won’t have the positive sides,” he said, adding that he’ll likely end up watching the games on TV at home.

Many French people have taken to social media to protest the cost of tickets, complaining that those available are were well beyond average budgets.

It’s an embarrassing distraction for the games organizers, who have trumpeted the events accessibility credentials.

“Paris 2024 will be the first Games to focus on solidarity and inclusivity,” boasts their official site.

The cheapest tickets for the main games were put on sale from 24 euros ($26), with Paralympic tickets sold from 15 euros ($16). However, these tickets were limited in number and often were for tournaments like basketball or soccer taking place in other French cities. By the time many sports fans were able to purchase tickets, more affordable options were often scarce.

Unlike past Games, Paris 2024 set up a “games pack” purchase system. Members of the public were asked to sign up for a lottery draw for the chance to buy tickets. From mid-March, when sales started, lottery winners had a 48-hour window to buy tickets from a minimum of three events, reserving the same number of tickets for each session.

For those hoping to see just one sport, it meant potentially tripling their budget, although organizers have promised to allow resale of unwanted tickets next spring.

“The price makes me sick,” European medalist and former Olympic gymnast Marine Debauve said of the 690 euros ($742) that tickets to a gymnastics final event would cost her.

“It may be easier to participate in the Olympics than see it as a spectator in my own country,” she said on Facebook, echoing the anger of current athletes at not being able to secure tickets for their families.

He said the ticketing was “really exorbitant,” especially for what “is fundamentally an affordable sport for all and accessible, and there aren’t great stars.”

“We know there’s much more demand than supply,” regarding tickets, Estanguet added.

Some 10% of the approximately 10 million tickets on sale for the games are priced at 24 euros, with half on sale for under 50 euros ($54). Organizers say the Games’ pricing isn’t more expensive than the London 2012 Olympics.

In contrast to past Games, the Paris 2024 opening ceremony will be held along a stretch of the River Seine, which crosses the city, offering unprecedented (and mostly free) access to the competition’s overture.

Even so, the best views of the floating parade from the river banks will be ticketed, with some spots on sale for as much as 2,700 euros ($2,900).

Obstacles to entry

Paris 2024 organizers have boasted that inclusion is at the heart of the project and that the Paralympic Games next September will be the “most accessible ever,” styling itself as a leader in accessibility. One half of the official mascot pair – two smiling Phrygian caps – sports a prosthetic leg, the first mascot to do so, according to organizers.

“It’s a strong message to have a mascot with a visible disability,” Estanguet said last November when the mascots were revealed, adding that the imagery promotes a message of inclusion and value for disabled people in society.

But that’s little relief for disabled visitors, who will have few accessible ways to get around the city.

Paris’ more-than-century-old metro network, riddled with staircases and lacking in elevators, is notoriously inaccessible for disabled passengers.

President Emmanuel Macron announced in April that the government would spend 1.5 billion euros to improve disabled access across France and committed to making the Games “100% accessible” to people with reduced mobility.

Disability rights activist Stephane Lenoir is “rather worried” about disabled access around Paris for the Games, with one line “far too little” to serve the needs of the disabled community.

Currently, only one metro line is entirely step-free, the M14 line that traverses the city. Only an estimated 10% of the network’s 332 stations will be accessible for wheelchair users by the Games.

Compare that to London, where ahead of the 2012 Games, the city ensured step-free access for around a quarter of stations in the Tube – the name for the London Underground – despite it being far deeper that Paris’ and the world’s oldest network. In Tokyo too, home to the postponed 2021 Games, more than 95% of metro stations were step-free in 2020.

Organizers have promised shuttle buses between Paris’ main train stations and Games venues, but Lenoir is worried about a lack of information about bus access and capacity, especially for families traveling with disabled ticket-holders.

Nicolas Merille, from APF France Handicap, a national disability rights association, blamed the difficulties on France’s approach to accessibility in general.

Disabled people “are perceived as social and medical cases, they are not considered as citizens,” he said.

“Wheelchair travel is always made precarious, with no guarantee of trouble-free travel,” Merille said.

Two teenage students and a man in his 60s were stabbed to death, and a further three people were injured after a stolen van plowed into them, in a spree of violence across the English city of Nottingham early Tuesday morning.

Barnaby Webber and Grace Kumar, both 19-year-old students at the University of Nottingham, and Ian Coates, 65, a school janitor, were fatally stabbed.

A 31-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder. Nottinghamshire Police said Wednesday that they were “working closely with counter terrorism policing to establish the facts,” but added they were keeping an “open mind” about the motive.

Police were called to Ilkeston Road in the northwest of the city just after 4 a.m. local time (11 p.m. ET) on Tuesday, after a member of the public reported that two young people had been stabbed and were unresponsive.

Another member of the public then called police to Milton Street, after the driver of a stolen van had attempted to run over three people – in an attack which left one man in hospital in a critical condition, and two others with minor injuries.

The vehicle was then stopped on Maple Street, where the suspect was tasered and detained on suspicion of murder by police officers.

Coates was later found dead from knife injuries on Magdala Road by a member of the public, police said.

“At the moment, we believe that the suspect has stolen this man’s vehicle and driven it to Milton Street, where he has then driven at members of the public,” Chief Constable Kate Meynell told reporters on Tuesday evening.

Meynell said “we are still in the early stages of the investigation and need to determine exactly what the motives were behind this attack.”

One eyewitness, Lynn Haggitt, told the BBC she saw a white van go “straight into these two people,” during her work commute.

“The woman went on the kerb. The man went up in the air. It was such a bang,” Haggitt said. “I wish I never saw it, it’s really shaken me up.”

“I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Detectives have spent “countless hours piecing together” the events using security camera footage and eyewitness accounts, according to a police statement released Wednesday.

The statement added that investigations so far had found that “a man matching the description of the suspect” tried to break into a residential home, but “was denied entry.” The incident was not reported to the police at the time.

‘Complete devastation’

“It is with great sadness that we confirm the sudden and unexpected death of two of our students following a major incident in Nottingham city center overnight,” the University of Nottingham’s vice-chancellor Shearer West confirmed in a statement on Tuesday.

The university added that this is likely to cause distress for staff and students in the community and that support is available through their wellbeing services.

Tributes have poured in for the three victims: Webber, Kumar and Coates.

“Complete devastation is not enough to describe our pain and loss at the senseless murder of our son,” Webber’s family said Wednesday in a statement shared by Nottinghamshire Police. “His brother is bereft beyond belief.”

Webber, from Taunton, England, was a talented young cricketer who was studying history, according to the statement.

“Barnaby Philip John Webber was a beautiful, brilliant, bright young man, with everything in life to look forward to,” his family said.

“At 19 he was just at the start of his journey into adulthood and was developing into a wonderful young man,” the family added.

Bishops Hull Cricket Club, Webber’s local team where he had played since 2021, also released a statement following the news, calling him a “dear friend and teammate” and inviting members of the public to leave flowers for him at the club.

“‘Webbs’ joined the club back in 2021 and has since then been a key part of our club and made such an impact in such a short space of time,” the statement said.

Kumar, a first-year medical student and a hockey player for the England Under-16 and Under-18s squads, also received tributes from her family and from teams she represented.

Her family said: “Grace was an adored daughter and sister; she was a truly wonderful and beautiful young lady.”

“We were so incredibly proud of Grace’s achievements and what a truly lovely person she was. She was resilient and wise beyond her years. Grace was so happy in life fulfilling her ambition of studying to become a doctor whilst playing topflight hockey at university,” the statement added.

Kumar’s parents said: “Words cannot explain our complete and utter devastation.”

“We are all deeply saddened by the news,” England Hockey, the national governing body for field hockey, said in a statement. “Our thoughts are with Grace’s family, friends, teammates and the whole hockey community at this time,” it added.

Coates’ employers, the L.E.A.D. Academy Trust and Huntingdon Academy, also expressed shock at the school site manager’s death.

“Ian was a much-loved colleague who always went the extra mile for the benefit of our children and will be greatly missed. As a school community, it will take time to process this deeply upsetting news,” Ross Middleton, headteacher of Huntingdon Academy, said in a statement Wednesday.

L.E.A.D. Academy Trust CEO Diana Owen said in a statement: “I am deeply shocked and saddened to hear about this tragic news. Ian was a beloved and respected member of the Huntingdon Academy staff.”

A vigil was held for those killed at St Peter’s Church in Nottingham on Tuesday evening, and the Lawn Tennis Association held a minute of silence for the victims before play began at the Rothesay Open in Nottingham on Wednesday.

The city of Nottingham will hold a separate vigil at 5.30 p.m. local time (12.30 p.m. ET) on Thursday for Webber, Kumar and Coates.

“Our city remains in shock after the tragic death of three people. We know the impact of these awful events will be felt not only by the victims’ families and friends but by the wider Nottingham community and so it is important that we take time to join together to share our grief and to remember the people we have lost,” said Leader of Nottingham City Council David Mellen in a Wednesday statement.

Uncertain motives

Chief Constable Meynell told reporters on Tuesday evening that police were working to determine the suspect’s motives.

“Officers have also carried out a number of searches at addresses across the city to gather evidence,” Meynell said.

“A team of dedicated detectives are investigating the circumstances surrounding the incidents and will continue to gather evidence over the coming days,” she added.

No further arrests have been made, according to Meynell, who did not take questions from reporters.

“This is a very sad day for our city and we will do everything possible to get justice for the victims and their families,” Meynell said.

The Vegas Golden Knights, in just their sixth NHL season, defeated the Florida Panthers 9-3 Tuesday night in Las Vegas to win the franchise’s first Stanley Cup in five games.

Vegas captain Mark Stone had a goal in each period to lead the Golden Knights, who joined the NHL before the 2017-2018 season.

The 31-year-old Stone becomes the first player since 1922 to net a hat-trick in a Stanley Cup-clinching victory, according to the NHL.

After the game, each player took a turn, as is tradition, in hoisting the famed trophy.

“Unbelievable,” Stone told TNT of the experience. “I just looked at my teammates’ eyes … One of the craziest feelings I’ve ever had. Just to know that I did it with my 25, 30 best friends makes it that much more special.”

The Golden Knights’ offensive prowess was again in full display on Tuesday night in front of a raucous crowd inside and outside of T-Mobile Arena. The Golden Knights became the seventh team in NHL history to score five or more goals in three or more games of the same Stanley Cup Final series.

The championship is the second major title in two years for the city of Las Vegas. In 2022, the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces won the league crown with a 3-1 series win over the Connecticut Sun.

Vegas led 2-0 at the first intermission, then the rout commenced in the second period as the newly crowned champs scored four times and took a 6-1 lead into the final 20 minutes.

Golden Knights goalie Adin Hill let in two goals but continued to thwart the Panthers with several fine saves in the third.

Jonathan Marchessault won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the best player in the postseason. But he deflected credit for the championship.

“You know, one night it’s one guy, one night it’s another guy,” he told TNT. “That’s the mentality we had this year. We’re a bunch of good teammates in that locker room. … Everybody stepped up at different times.”

Vegas pulls away with a flurry of goals

Stone put the Golden Knights up 1-0 with a short-handed goal with 8:08 left in the first period. Less than two minutes later, the puck got under Florida goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, and Vegas’ Nicolas Hague snapped it into the net for a 2-0 lead.

Already facing an uphill battle in the series, the Panthers were without superstar Matthew Tkachuk for Game 5, who was ruled out due to a fractured sternum. Tkachuk had led the Panthers with 24 points and 11 goals, including several game-winners, in the playoffs.

But early in the second period the Panthers cut the deficit to one when Aaron Ekblad scored on an assist from Nick Cousins. Ekblad’s second goal of the playoffs made it 2-1 with 17:45 remaining in the second.

Alec Martinez reestablished a two-goal lead for the Golden Knights with a wrist shot that found the top shelf over Bobrovsky’s right shoulder. With 9:32 left in the period, it was 3-1 Golden Knights.

Vegas extended the lead to three when Reilly Smith scored on a nifty pass from William Karlsson to his wide-open teammate. The score was 4-1 Vegas with 7:47 left in the second period.

The fifth goal for Vegas came when Stone fired in his second on a smart cross-ice pass from Brett Howden with 2:45 remaining before the intermission.

Disaster struck for the Panthers when – with just seconds left in the period – Florida failed to get the puck out of the defensive zone and Smith picked it up at the blue line. He fed Michael Amadio in front of the net and his rebound shot trickled under Bobrovsky’s leg.

In the third period, Ivan Barbashev of the Golden Knights made it 7-1 before Florida’s Sam Reinhart and Sam Bennett scored consolation goals.

Stone capped his hat-trick with an empty net goal as Florida played with six skaters to make it 8-3. Then with just over a minute left in the season, Nicolas Roy made the final score 9-3.

After making the Stanley Cup Final in the franchise’s inaugural season, the Golden Knights returned to the championship series for a second time in their young history.

“That pain was, it was tough. to be honest. It took me almost couple months, a full year, to get over it cause you’re so close but so far,” said Marchessault, who has been with the team all six seasons. He said his approach changed and “look at where we are right now. Our team has been unbelievable since the beginning. And we’re winners.”

With the victory the Golden Knights became the second-fastest franchise in the league’s modern era – since 1943-44 – to win a championship. The Edmonton Oilers won the Stanley Cup in the franchise’s fifth season in the NHL.