In the distant past, Muslim pilgrims came to the holy city of Mecca on foot. Now, though, they can come via high-speed train.

About 50 times a day these sleek, long-nosed javelins shoot across the baking-hot deserts of Saudi Arabia, reaching speeds of up to 300 kph (186 mph) carrying pilgrims and other passengers.

The trains, among the world’s top 10 fastest, are just the beginning of a rail network expected to expand right across the Middle Eastern kingdom as it invests billions in infrastructure to boost tourism and diversify revenues beyond oil.

From Jeddah, the country’s second largest city, religious pilgrims and leisure travelers alike can now transfer from the arrivals terminal of King Abdulaziz International Airport to a gleaming station where electric express trains hurtle out across the country.

With the 2023 hajj period taking place between June 26 and July 1, the country has added extra trains to handle the large number of travelers coming to take part in the religious event.

According to Tawfiq Al Rabiah, Minister of Hajj in Saudi Arabia, “over two million pilgrims from over 160 countries will come together” this year.

“With a well-connected road and train network, shuttle bus services, and integrated infrastructure, pilgrims are guaranteed a seamless travel experience, regardless of their language or unique needs,” Al Rabiah said in a media release.

Getting on board

Although only Muslims can visit Mecca, all travelers can enjoy these new Haramain high-speed trains on a 450 kilometer (280 mile) line that stretches out along a section of Saudi’s Red Sea coastline.

Haramain means “two sanctuaries” in Arabic, named for the holy cities of Mecca and Medina that sit on the line’s opposite ends. Opened in 2018, it also connects Jeddah’s airport, Jeddah Al-Sulimaniyah (near the city center) and King Abdullah Economic City.

So what’s it like to ride?

On a typical weekday in early 2023, an economy ticket between Jeddah Al-Suleimanyah and the King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC, pronounced like “kaish”) cost 57.50 Saudi riyals, (about $15.30), while a business class seat was 97.75 riyals (about $26).

The app accepts Apple Pay and other digital wallet options.

Choosing specific seats is a snap. The app shows the layout of train cars so passengers can choose a window or aisle seat and decide on whether or not they want to face the direction of travel. When booking for groups or families, the app will automatically select seats next to each other if they’re available.

Station to station

The stations along the route are efficient, modern, and comfortable. They’re also beautiful. Both Jeddah and KAEC stations – which are nearly identical – are said to be inspired by diamonds. Designed by UK architects Foster + Partners, they have sharp, crisp angles, sleek black walls, and small starlike carvings in the ceiling that allow different variations of light to filter in throughout the day.

These hubs don’t have the busy, lived-in feel of a commuter rail station like New York City’s Grand Central or Paris’ Gare du Nord.

The stations are stunning, but they’re also, for the most part, empty.

There aren’t many amenities in the stations, and travelers tend to show up shortly before their scheduled trains rather than spend time milling around.

KAEC has a Dunkin’ Donuts and not much else. Al-Sulimaniyah in Jeddah is busier, with a few tea and coffee shops (including a Starbucks) and a grocery store.

While the stations may be gorgeous but a bit lonesome, the train experience is buoyant and alive.

The pilgrimage track

It takes just 32 minutes to travel from Jeddah to KAEC – a distance of 111 kilometers (69 miles).

On a pre-Ramadan Thursday journey at around 2 p.m., business class was fairly quiet, while the economy class cars were full, mostly with passengers en route to Mecca for umrah.

Unlike its better known counterpart the hajj, umrah is an optional pilgrimage for Muslims who want to visit the holy city and the Kaaba, the most sacred site in Islam. While the hajj is considered a religious duty for Muslims to be undertaken at specific times of the year, umrah can be done at any time and isn’t considered an obligation.

It is easy to tell which passengers were heading to Mecca for this exact purpose: Men and boys undertaking umrah wear two unstitched white toweling garments, and many shave their heads when they complete the trip. Women can also wear similar white garments, although it’s not required for them to do so.

The car was packed with multi-generational families, who were occupied with entertaining small children and listening to Arabic-language pop music. The atmosphere was celebratory and spirited.

Umrah has become big business for the railway. According to the Saudi Gazette, demand has been so high for train tickets for religious pilgrims that HHR will run more than 100 train trips per day during the month of Ramadan, which runs between mid March and mid April in 2023 – many more than usual.

Though more sparsely populated, business class offered more perks.

Even on a short journey like the one from Jeddah to KAEC, business class passengers are entitled to a full meal service. This consists of hummus, a few rounds of pita bread, a chocolate chip muffin, a fruit cup, a croissant, and a choice between apple juice and water. It is served by a uniformed attendant out of an airplane-style beverage cart.

There are also small seat-back TVs with limited viewing options – on this trip: Paw Patrol, Formula E racing or an Islamic sermon.

Especially on short journeys, simply taking in the dusty view outside your window is a much better alternative.

Still, this isn’t a slow, daydreamy ramble through remote regions. You’ll mostly see Jeddah exurbs, not a wide-open desert landscape, and the nearby Red Sea is just tantalizingly out of view.

Announcements on board are made in Arabic and English, and all signage is in both languages as well. Once travelers walk to the train platforms, uniformed attendants will help them find their boarding zone, carry luggage and help with wheelchairs and strollers.

In economy class, seats are in a two-by-two configuration. Half the seats face forward and half backward, with small tables where the center rows meet to face each other. Meanwhile in business class, the seats are arranged with two on one side of the aisle and single seats along the other.

In both service classes, seats have armrests and seat-back tables, and there are spaces for luggage storage at either end of the cars. The seats and other interiors are mostly in shades of tan, light gold, and white, all the better for offsetting the desert landscape outside.

Seamless is a good word to sum up the HHR train experience. The train is quiet and the ride smooth – no abrupt turns or sudden jolts.

Steering into the future

Although passengers can’t see the train’s driver, it is a possibility that their train may have a woman at the helm.

In January 2023, the first class of 32 women graduated from a one-year training program at the Saudi Railway Polytechnic, qualifying them with licenses to conduct high-speed trains on the Haramain network.

By contrast: in 2018, when the rail line first opened, women in the kingdom had just begun to drive cars.

When it comes to high-speed railway, it seems as though the Haramain line is only the beginning in Saudi Arabia. There are also enhancements to existing lines in the country’s northwest, with more high speed services planned.

In January 2022, Saudi Arabia’s Investment Minister Khalid al-Falih announced plans to build 8,000 kilometers (4,970 miles) of rail across the entire country.

Riyadh to Jeddah via bullet train? It could happen.

Four people were killed and four more were wounded in shootings near the settlement of Eli in the West Bank, Israeli authorities and emergency services said Tuesday.

One of the suspected gunman was killed at the scene by a civilian, and the second was killed by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Israel Security Agency forces after they tracked down the car he was traveling in, the agencies said in a joint statement.

The four wounded were taken to hospitals in Jerusalem or Petach Tikva, the Magen David Adom rescue service said.

Hamas, the Palestinian militant movement, claimed the two gunmen as members, calling the attack “a natural response” to the Israeli raid on Jenin a day earlier that left six Palestinians dead.

The shooting attack began in a restaurant near a gas station, where two gunmen shot dead three civilians, said Moti Bukchin, a spokesman for the Zaka rescue service.

The gunmen then came out of the restaurant and fatally shot a civilian refueling his car at the gas stations, Bukchin said.

Another civilian shot and neutralized one of the gunmen while the second fled, the Zaka spokesman said. Zaka is handling the bodies of the four dead, he said.

Maj. Nir Dinar, an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson, said the terrorist who had been neutralized at the scene was dead.

The four Israelis killed were named by their communities as Elisha Antman, 18, and Ofer Fierman, 63, both from Eli; Harel Masoud, 21, from Yad Binyamin; and Nahman Shmuel Morduf, 17, from Ahiya.

Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir went to the scene of the shooting and called for settlers to arm themselves.

“I’m calling on the residence of Judea and Samaria to carry weapons,” he said, using the Biblical names that Israel officially uses to describe the West Bank. “They save lives…. We are sitting here like ducks in a barrel.”

Ben Gvir called for Israel to be more aggressive in the West Bank: “Return to the targeted killings, pull down buildings, put up roadblocks, deport terrorists, and put into law the death penalty for terrorists.”

Second suspect tracked down

Israeli Security Agency, known as Shin Bet, and IDF forces later “shot and neutralized” the second suspect, according to a joint statement from the two organizations.

Shin Bet tracked a Toyota vehicle in which the suspect fled, the statement said.

“During the arrest attempt, the suspect tried to escape from the vehicle, was shot and neutralized by the forces. No injuries to our forces,” the statement said.

The statement said a weapon used in the attack was found in the car.

Israeli troops had set up roadblocks in the area, the IDF said.

Residents of Eli were told to stay in their homes while the search for the second gunman was ongoing.

The chief IDF spokesperson, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said in a statement that the IDF did not have intelligence information warning of the attack before it happened.

Hamas later claimed the gunmen as members, and said they were acting in response to a huge firefight in Jenin on Monday.

“We mourn the martyr Muhammad Shehadeh, and we affirm that the operation south of Nablus is a clear message to the criminal occupation government,” Hamas said in a statement referring to Israel.

Hamas said Shehadeh was 26 and from the village of Urif, southwest of Nablus. The other gunman was named as Khaled Sabbah, 24, from Tubas in the West Bank.

Videos from his home village showed a funeral procession and burial for him shortly after he was tracked down and killed by the IDF and Shin Bet.

Photographs on social media suggested that the two were friends.

The shooting “came as a natural response to the Jenin massacre yesterday,” the militant group said.

Neve Yaakov is built on land which Israel captured in 1967, which makes it a settlement under international law. Israel unilaterally annexed it along with other parts of east Jerusalem in 1980, and considers it a neighborhood of Jerusalem.

Call for international intervention

There are now fears of attacks by settlers against Palestinians in revenge for Tuesday’s shooting.

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Tuesday called for “urgent and genuine international intervention, particularly from the United States,” to prevent “escalating attacks.”

It warned of a “planned explosion” by “extremist elements,” referring to Israeli settlers.

The latest violence comes a day after an Israeli military raid in the city of Jenin killed six Palestinians, including three militants, and injured 90 others. Eight Israeli military personnel were injured in the incursion to arrest two wanted Palestinian suspects.

While the Palestinian ministry released its statement, the US Ambassador to Israel, Tom Nides, condemned the killing of the four Israelis Tuesday.

“I condemn in the strongest terms the senseless murder of four innocent Israelis today — my heart is with their grieving family members,” Nides said on his official Twitter account. “Deeply concerned about the civilian deaths and injuries that have occurred in the West Bank these past 48 hours, including that of minors. Praying for the families as they mourn the loss of loved ones, or tend to those injured.”

Late Monday, after the Jenin raid and before the shooting near Eli, a State Department spokesperson said the US “urges de-escalation between Israel and the Palestinians.”

“It’s literally like winning the Academy Award of humanitarian aid work.”

Elevating the work of the CNN Heroes

“There’s an African proverb: ‘If you wanna go fast, go alone. If you wanna go far, go together.’ So often, these social entrepreneurs are alone. And … coming together periodically is energizing. It spurs innovation. It creates communities,” he said.

“I’m just inspired by the many ways that people are solving big problems without a lot of resources,” she said.

Turning lessons into action

The Heroes arrived in Miami with their own unique goals for the summit and training. Some were focused on their nonprofit’s financial planning, others hoped to find new ways to share their stories and reach a broader audience, while others looked to connect with donors to help fuel their work.

“Everything they said in that seminar that should not be done is what my accountant was doing,” Raines said, adding that she felt that she just got “that little push from the universe” and made the decision to fire her accountant.

In that moment, Raines was glad to have so many people surrounding her who knew what she was going through.

“If it’s going to happen, at least it happened at a damn summit where people are enriching me and telling me what I should do,” said Raines. After she left Miami, she said she found an amazing new accounting firm to handle Beauty 2 the Streetz’s business.

“In my mind it’s like TikTok is for dancing and for fun little things. It has nothing to do with removing the bias that exists in health care,” said Stanford, founder of the Black Doctors Covid-19 Consortium.

To bring attention to her mission of healthcare equity, Dr. Stanford came up with the hashtag #MyCultureMyCare and began using it to help build a new community online.

Combining forces for a day of service

“You know, I’m a beach girl. It felt good,” she said. “It was nice to be … in a different area and still be helping wildlife.” Now, Doughty is considering organizing a similar event back home.

Other Heroes opted to help restore the Key’s topography by removing invasive plant species and planting native ones. Hope Renovations founder Nora El-Khouri Spencer, who trains women for construction careers, said she felt “right in my element with a shovel in my hand diggin’ in the dirt.”

For Spencer, this service project helped her reflect on the importance of broadening her horizons.

“I think sometimes we get so involved in our own giving to the community … that it’s really nice sometimes as a group to just step outside of that and give to other causes.”

Returning home refreshed and ready

“Almost everything was demystified this week … even this mystery around being a Hero. For the first time I walked into a room, and I felt embodied as a Hero.”

Rio de Janeiro’s notorious Cidade de Deus favela was immortalized in the 2002 film bearing its name in English, “City of God.” The movie was critically acclaimed for its depiction of gang violence in the favela, and today, life there is still incredibly dangerous as the police and gangs wrestle for control.

According to Brazil’s Public Security Institute (ISP), there were 768 violent deaths in the state of Rio De Janeiro in January and February of this year alone, up 6% from the same period in 2022.

Against this violent backdrop, Marcelo Modesto, a City of God native, is using golf to try to transform the lives of the children who live there.

Entering the favela, it’s impossible not to be struck by the harsh realities faced by its residents. Drug dealing, checkpoints and armed gang members on motorbikes provide a grim backdrop to people’s everyday lives.

However, amidst this bleak environment, Modesto’s golf academy stands as a sanctuary, offering hope and protection to the children within its confines. 

“The work that we develop … is to prove to society, to Rio de Janeiro and to the world, that the City of God also has people who make a difference.”

On a small patch of grass, Modesto devotes his time and expertise to teaching golf to 20 to 30 children from the favela at a time. Without public or private funding, Modesto started the lessons in 2019 with a passion for golf and the aim of getting the children in his community off the streets. Beyond learning the techniques of the game, every swing of the club, every lesson on discipline and respect carries immense significance.

Modesto is striving to create opportunities for these children far beyond golf. “I’m sure that in the future, maybe five, 10 years from now, we will really have champions,” he says. “Regardless of whether they are great golfers, they can be great doctors, great lawyers, great coaches, great businessmen.”

Transformative power

Modesto’s passion for golf began during his early years as a caddie, where he not only learned the intricacies of the game but also invaluable life lessons. “Golf, after my mother, was what taught me social etiquette initially. I learned how to dress, how to speak, how to behave, how to sit at the table and how to make money,” he explains.

Recognizing the transformative power of the game, he set out to share these experiences. He now receives support from Rio’s Olympic Course, built for the 2016 Olympic Games, where he is able to take his students. “We train with them twice a week at my mini center … and every 15-days we take these children to the Olympic Course,” he says.

“If we can take these children to a course, they will certainly have more awareness of the competition, of the space.”

Carlos Favoreto is the president of the Olympic Course and says he feels that social inclusion is a big part of the Olympic legacy in Rio. “Social projects are the biggie for me,” he says. “We live in a country where the financial divide is enormous, you’re either very poor or very rich.

“Giving the very poor the chance to visit a place like this and see they could also play golf is important … who knows? Maybe we could have a golf Pele … from one of our poor communities.”

The golf academy is welcomed by worried parents, as it keeps children off the streets where there’s a risk of being scouted by drug gangs seeking messengers and couriers, according to Modesto.

“The outside people respect this space here,” says Tiago Albuquerque, a retired English teacher who volunteers his time to provide English lessons to Modesto’s pupils.

“They have kids who are their relatives,” Albuquerque says, referring to the gang members in the favela. “They don’t want them following the same bad track they did, they want these kids away from evil.”

A report from UNICEF estimated that in 2019 nearly 1.1 million school-aged children and teenagers in Brazil were out of school, with 90.1% of those children coming from households earning below the minimum wage.

“There are fathers here, there are mothers who don’t have [their own] room … there are fathers, there are mothers here who go to the market to try and get produce that has expired so they can provide food to eat,” Modesto says of the challenges families face in the favela.

“For the children, their parents have a low education level, sometimes the father is a drug addict or alcoholic. In addition to us having to teach golf, we have to be a psychologist, a social worker,” Modesto explains.

“It’s changed my life”

For the children enrolled there, the golf academy can be transformative, providing opportunities on and off the course.

“Marcelo told me to put my name down, my mum signed, and everything changed in my life,” says 11-year-old David Loreno Marcelo Moreno.

“My teacher let me come here, and I’m improving,” says 11-year-old Alexandre Gomes Goncalves. “It’s changed my life a lot. I had nothing to do, now I do.”

Modesto has no financial backing, but he has lofty ambitions for his project moving forward. He plans to set up more golf centers in the city of Rio, and to create a community golf championship for children from across the entire state, which he hopes could lead to a sports exchange program with the US and Europe.

Despite the challenging circumstances, Modesto remains resolute in his mission. “Gunshots don’t scare me anymore. It’s normal for one to die today or to die tomorrow,” he says. “So our reality is very sad. What do I try to do? I only try to show these children, with the work I’m developing here, that they can be someone different, that they can be part of a society while contributing to a better world.”

European soccer’s summer transfer window is in full swing, with several household names already moving to pastures new.

It is one of the most feverish periods on soccer’s calendar, as ITKs – “In The Knows,” people with sources who break transfer news – battle it out on social media to be the first to reveal where a player is going next.

The transfer window for clubs in England and Scotland opened on June 14, but clubs will not be able to sign players from abroad until the international window opens on July 1. All of Europe’s top five leagues close their transfer windows on September 1.

This year, however, there is a significant new factor: Saudi Arabia.

In much the same way the Chinese Super League barged its way onto the scene several years ago with enormous transfer fees and player salaries, Saudi Arabia is now tempting some big names in Europe to move east for one final mammoth payday. That follows Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo’s move to Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr in December 2022.

Karim Benzema – Real Madrid to Al-Ittihad

In the first major coup of the summer for the Saudi Pro League, Karim Benzema has agreed to join Al-Ittihad once his contract expires with Real Madrid. The deal is estimated to be worth more than 100 million euros ($106.89 million), according to media reports.

Now 35, Benzema has been one of the world’s best strikers for more than a decade, racking up an eye-watering number of trophies in his 14 seasons with Real Madrid, including five Champions League crowns and three La Liga titles.

His performances during the 2021/22 season – when Real won the Champions League and La Liga double – saw the Frenchman collect the Ballon d’Or award for the best player in the men’s game last year.

Jude Bellingham – Borussia Dortmund to Real Madrid

Perhaps the most sought-after player in world soccer this summer, Jude Bellingham is taking his considerable talents to Real Madrid next season after Los Blancos paid Borussia Dortmund a reported €103 million ($110.4 million) for his signature.

Still only 19, Bellingham has grown into one of soccer’s most complete midfielders since moving to Dortmund from boyhood club Birmingham City in 2020 and has also become a key figure for the English national team.

After a disappointing season, Real Madrid will be hopeful that Bellingham will be a star midfielder for years to come once the ageing Luka Modric and Toni Kroos depart.

N’Golo Kanté – Chelsea to Al-Ittihad

N’Golo Kanté, the all-action midfielder who has rightly drawn praise as one of the best midfielders of his generation, soon became another major name to move to Saudi Arabia, joining Benzema at Al-Ittihad on a free transfer following the expiration of his Chelsea contract at the end of June.

The 32-year-old midfielder has signed a contract worth around £86 million ($109.8 million) a year, according to UK media.

In his eight years in England, Kanté won two Premier League titles – the first as part of Leicester City’s improbable 5000-1 triumph – the Champions League, the FA Cup, the Europa League, the UEFA Super Cup and the Club World Cup.

Above all else, it’s his almost superhuman fitness that stands out, though he did struggle with injuries last season. So incredible has Kanté’s work rate been since he first arrived in England with Leicester in 2015, he has often been described as single-handedly covering the ground of two midfielders.

Christopher Nkunku – RB Leipzig to Chelsea

Three years after arriving at RB Leipzig from Paris Saint-Germain, Chrisopher Nkunku has established himself as one of European football’s most exciting forwards.

During the 2021/2022 season, the Frenchman scored 35 goals – including seven in six Champions League games – and registered 16 assists in all competitions. Nkunku followed up with another 23 goals in the 2022/2023 campaign as Leipzig won the German Cup for the second straight season.

Chelsea has reportedly paid Leipzig £53 million ($67.7 million) for Nkunku’s services, marking another significant outlay for the club’s American owner Todd Boehly, who will be hoping the 25-year-old can provide the firepower the team so desperately needs in attack.

Kai Havertz – Chelsea to Arsenal?

Arsenal is reportedly close to completing the signing of Chelsea forward Kai Kavertz for £65 million ($83 million) as Mikel Arteta looks to bolster his squad following the team’s capitulation in the Premier League title race.

If Arsenal can get the deal over the line, Havertz will immediately improve the Gunners’ starting XI. Many fans have expressed their surprise that a player of his quality is being sold to a direct rival, but Boehly has put together a bloated squad that desperately needs trimming.

Havertz scored the winning goal for Chelsea against Manchester City in the 2021 Champions League final and Arsenal will be hoping for more of that magic as the team returns to European football’s premier competition for the first time since 2016-17.

Declan Rice – West Ham to Arsenal?

After guiding West Ham to the Europa Conference League title, the team’s first major trophy since 1980, club captain Declan Rice is potentially on the move to Arsenal.

Still just 24, Rice has established himself as one of Europe’s most promising holding midfielders, with West Ham’s reported asking price sitting around £100 million ($127.7 millon). Rice has shown some attacking flare, too, scoring a stunning solo effort against Gent in the Europa Conference League by running half the length of the pitch before slotting the ball home.

Rice, who was in the youth ranks at Chelsea and then West Ham, was voted Conference League player of the season. Arsenal will reportedly have to fend off interest from Manchester City and Manchester United for his signature.

Mateo Kovačić – Chelsea to Manchester City?

Fresh off the back of becoming just the second English team in history to complete the Treble, Manchester City’s recruitment to bolster the squad for the defence of all three titles is already well under way.

Chelsea’s Croatian midfielder Mateo Kovačić looks set to become Pep Guardiola’s first major addition of the window for a reported cut-price £30 million ($38.3 million) as Chelsea continues its summer clear-out.

With club captain İlkay Gündoğan looking increasingly likely to leave the club and Bernardo Silva also weighing up his options, City will need Kovačić to hit the ground running if the club is to continue its dominance in England and Europe.

Alexis Mac Allister – Brighton to Liverpool

Alexis Mac Allister enjoyed a sensational season for Brighton in the Premier League, but it was his performances for Argentina at the World Cup that really made everyone sit up and take notice.

After Lionel Messi, it could be easily argued that Mac Allister was Argentina’s best player in Qatar, his movement and link-up play in attack a crucial factor in La Albiceleste lifting the trophy for the first time since 1986.

Liverpool reportedly paid an initial fee of £35 million ($44.6 million), which could rise to £55 million ($70 million) in add ons, with Jurgen Klopp hoping Mac Allister will fill the departing Roberto Firmino’s sizeable shoes at Anfield.

Rúben Neves – Wolverhampton Wanderers to Al Hilal

Rúben Neves may not be the biggest star to take his talents to Saudi Arabia, but his reported £47 million move to Al Hilal is notable because the midfielder is still only 26 years old. Until his transfer, it had only been players in the twilight of their careers that had moved to the SPL.

Considering Barcelona was reportedly keen to sign Neves, the deal is a significant coup for Al Hilal and the league in general, but the size of the transfer fee has raised eyebrows given the Portugal international only has a year left on his deal. No club in Europe would have paid close to that fee for a player that could leave for free next season.

Neves has been a star for Wolves since joining when the club was in the Championship, England’s second tier, and has only improved since earning promotion to the Premier League, where he has established himself as the team’s best player and captain.

University of Colorado football head coach Deion Sanders will undergo surgery for blood clots in both of his legs on Friday but will not need to have his foot amputated, the 55-year-old said in a video Thursday.

“I went to the doctors the other day to check myself out and I have two clots in my leg,” Sanders said.

“One in my right leg, one in my left leg which is my thigh. Now I have a procedure tomorrow to try and get those clots so I can have proper blood flow through the leg so they can fix the toes.”

Last week, during an episode of “Thee Pregame Show” on YouTube, the former NFL and MLB star met with his medical team where Sanders revealed he can’t feel the bottom of his left foot.

In the meeting, he discusses the possible next steps to alleviate the daily pain, with the doctors suggesting doing an initial surgery on Sanders’ foot to realign one or more of his toes that have had more pressure put on them due to his previous toe amputations.

Earlier this year, Sanders said he had nine surgeries, including eight within a month on the left leg, after developing blood clots that resulted in him having two toes amputated in 2021 while he was the football head coach at Jackson State University.

Sanders missed three games due to the amputations.

“There’s no talk of amputation. There’s no talk of any of that whatsoever,” Sanders said on Thursday.

“The doctors were just telling me worst comes to worst, this was going to happen but I believe in staying right so you don’t have to go left.”

The Pro Football Hall of Famer is scheduled to make his Colorado coaching debut on September 2 against TCU.

“You’ve got to understand – I ain’t going nowhere, because we coming,” Sanders added.

“I’m just trying to get all this straight, so when I walk that sideline and I walk my walk, and then I’m going to talk my talk, that I can walk my walk.”

In a room packed full of promising hopefuls, looking to make a mark at one of men’s basketball’s showpiece occasions, it can be hard for some prospects to stand out at the NBA draft.

Gradey Dick didn’t encounter any such problems – his red sequinned suit, inspired by ‘The Wizard of Oz’ movie, immediately caught the eye at this year’s draft at Barclays Center, home of the Brooklyn Nets, in New York on Thursday.

The former Kansas Jayhawks guard-forward was chosen as the No.13 pick by the Toronto Raptors but it was his choice of outfit that stole the headlines.

In addition to the ruby suit, Dick also wore shoes with red soles and a silver chain.

“I’m from Kansas,” Dick said ahead of the NBA Draft ceremony. “You’ve got the ‘Wizard of Oz’ with Dorothy and her red slippers, I kind of put that into the jacket.”

Regarded as one of the greatest movies of all time, “The Wizard of Oz” transplants Dorothy Gale, played by Judy Garland, along with her little terrier, Toto, from the Kansas farm where she lived with her Auntie M and Uncle Henry to a mysterious place called Oz.

“I’m just being goofy in myself,” added Dick, who was born in Wichita, Kansas. “People are going to think I’m crazy but the mentality was that I’m going to wear this suit probably once in my entire life so I might as well just go all out.”

Dick, who is 6 feet 8 inches tall, opted to leave Kansas after his freshman season for the NBA after forgoing the remainder of his college availability.

His mother, Carmen, enjoyed an accomplished college career playing basketball for Iowa State in the 1980s.

The 19-year-old, known for his shooting, averaged 14.1 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game in his one season with the Jayhawks.

Dick also set a University of Kansas freshman record for three-point field goals, making a total of 83.

Off the court, Dick has become known for his charismatic personality and love for social media – the youngster has over 170,000 followers on TikTok.

His popularity is only set to soar and he’s already been noticed by celebrity A-listers, with Canadian rapper and Toronto Raptors fan Drake following him on Instagram.

“I need Drake to wear my jersey. That’s the priority,” Dick joked with reporters at the ceremony on Thursday.

But while his off court antics have certainly made an impression, Dick said he was focused on making an early impact now that he’s off to see his new team, which failed to make the NBA playoffs last season.

The Raptors were the NBA champion in 2019 – the first team outside the US to manage that feat.

“I couldn’t think of a better place for me to get drafted to. Just the city and people combined is just amazing,” he told reporters.

“I know what I can bring to a team and I just want to come into that and perfect the role I’m given by the coach.”

Tropical Storm Bret continued to strike eastern Caribbean islands early Friday, pelting the region with stiff winds and heavy rain that could cause flooding and dangerous surf.

Bret, earlier packing near-hurricane-force sustained winds of 70 mph, weakened slightly to 60 mph with even higher gusts and was moving west at 17 mph, the National Hurricane Center said Friday morning.

TRACK TROPICAL STORM BRET

Moving west across parts of the eastern Caribbean’s Lesser Antilles island group, which includes Dominica, St. Lucia and Barbados, and the French overseas region of Martinique, the center of the storm was tracking 50 miles west of St. Vincent as of 2 a.m. ET Friday, the hurricane center said.

Tropical storm conditions – winds of at least 39 mph – extended outward up to 115 miles (185 kilometers) from the center of the storm, the hurricane center said.

“Grantly Adams International Airport on Barbados recently reported a sustained wind of 44 mph (70 km/h) and a gust to 56 mph (91 km/h) in thunderstorm activity well to the east of Bret’s center. Tropical storm conditions are also still being reported on St. Lucia and Martinique,” warned the NHC.

Tropical storm warnings were in effect late Thursday for Dominica, St. Lucia, Martinique, Barbados and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Through Saturday, the storm could bring 3 to 6 inches of rain to parts of the eastern Caribbean stretching from Guadeloupe to Barbados and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the hurricane center said. Some areas could see as many as 10 inches of rain.

Downpours could trigger flash flooding, particularly in high-terrain areas and potentially in urban areas.

Bret also is likely to whip up dangerous coastal swells that may create life-threatening surf and rip currents in parts of the islands.

After passing the Lesser Antilles, Bret is expected to weaken and press west into the eastern and central Caribbean Sea, the hurricane center said.

“Gradual weakening is anticipated over the next couple of days, and the system is likely to dissipate over the central Caribbean Sea Saturday night or Sunday,” the hurricane center said. “Tropical storm conditions are expected within the tropical storm warning areas” into early Friday.

The 2023 Atlantic hurricane season

Bret is the second named storm of the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season, which began on June 1 and will end November 30.

This year’s season is expected to bring a near-average number of storms: 12 to 17 named storms, five to nine hurricanes and up to four major hurricanes of Category 3 or higher, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has said.

An average Atlantic hurricane season has 14 named storms, seven hurricanes and three major hurricanes, according to the administration.

Tropical Storm Arlene became the first named storm of the season when it formed in the Gulf of Mexico earlier this month.

As Bret churned near the Caribbean, Tropical Storm Cindy formed over the central Atlantic, the National Hurricane Center said on Thursday. No coastal watches or warnings were in effect late Thursday, and Cindy is forecast to track to the northwest, remaining at tropical storm strength before dissipating next week.

To find one of the most iconic attractions in Saudi Arabia, don’t look for the building itself – look for the people with selfie sticks and ring lights.

Maraya is the largest mirror-covered building in the world, and at certain times of day the structure seems to evaporate into the surrounding desert.

The building – whose name means “mirror” or “reflecting” in Arabic – is a 500-seat concert hall, community center, and event space that has hosted performances from artists like Alicia Keys, Andrea Bocelli, Enrique Iglesias and John Legend.

But it’s also a work of art in its own right.

Set against the dramatic desert landscape in AlUla, just 14 miles from the epic architectural site at Hegra, Maraya was a joint collaboration between Italian design firm Giò Forma Studio and Black Engineering.

He continues: “We had the fortune of visiting the site and were profoundly touched by the natural and cultural landscape, so when we submitted our design, the first thing we wrote was ‘Nothing visible should be built here, so if we really have to, it should be a silent mirror cube.’”

The result, which took six months from concept to delivery and a mere 76 days of construction, was unveiled in 2019.

Site-specific challenges

Putting large amounts of glass in the middle of a scorching desert might seem like a recipe for blinding vision.

Boje and his team set out to find materials that would enhance the view of the landscape without exacerbating the sunny, hot conditions.

The first solution was a new kind of glass – made with copper.

Giò Forma Studio worked with US-based company Guardian Glass to create Guardian UltraMirror, a custom cladding product that was made to take Saudi Arabia’s warm, sunny climate into account.

In total, there are 9,740 panels cladding the building.

“Ingenuity and perseverance paid off well for Guardian Glass as we had to develop the solutions for Maraya Concert Hall’s unique needs,” Jasmin Hodzic, the company’s Asia and Middle East marketing director, said in a statement.

“The challenges posed by the terrain and time frame were in front of us, but we proceeded,” she added.

Intense heat can cause glass to oxidize, so the team developed a special coating for the Maraya glass that would be able to resist sandstorms, huge temperature fluctuations and other day-to-day weather challenges that can happen in the desert.

“Subtle curvature on the façade means that, from a distance, the building looks like a shimmering mirage of the surrounding panorama – but as visitors move closer, they see a perfect reflection of themselves.”

Art in the desert

Although Maraya was always intended to be in AlUla’s palm-strewn Ashar Valley, the exact location was selected in a way the architect calls “analog” – by simply taking large mirrors out into the expanse of sand and deciding which spot would be best.

The biggest challenge was having to create in a pure and untouched territory of unimaginable landscapes which is also being developed and discovered from a cultural point of view, and is therefore still developing its identity and design language,” says Boje.

So what is that design language Boje refers to?

In addition to Maraya, there is a veritable flood of art hot spots springing up in and around the historic area, featuring some of the most prestigious names in the cultural world.

French art book publisher Assouline published a series of titles showcasing Saudi archaeology and architecture. Visual art exhibitor DesertX has set up in AlUla twice, bringing artists from around the globe to create site-specific works.

That’s not all. Earlier this year, Le Monde reported that “starchitects” Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers were signing a deal to consult on building an outpost of Paris’ famed Centre Pompidou in AlUla, under the tentative name Perspective Galleries.

Going deeper

While some visitors might be satisfied with simply taking photos of Maraya and all its glimmering angles, they would be remiss not to head inside the building as well.

In addition to its musical performances, Maraya plays host to art shows, most recently Saudi Arabia’s first-ever exhibition of Andy Warhol, the legendary American artist who drew inspiration from pop culture and advertising.

Another major draw is Maraya’s restaurant, Maraya Social, perched on the rooftop with uninterrupted views of the desert.

Run by British chef Jason Atherton, who won a Michelin star for his London restaurant Pollen Street Social, the aesthetic is Europe-meets-Middle-East, all designed mezze style for sharing.

Don’t miss the excellent desserts, namely the banana-and-date pudding, which, considering you can practically touch AlUla’s many date farms from the building is about as local a dish as it gets.

Alcohol is banned in Saudi Arabia, so many restaurants and nightlife spots – Maraya Social among them – have put care into creating fun, creative craft mocktail menus.

The closest hotel to Maraya is the sprawling Banyan Tree resort.

Inspired by Bedouin culture, the hotel has suites with outdoor sections underneath swooping modern tents, plus outdoor fire pits, private swimming pools, and stargazing areas.

Some guests opt to walk the two kilometers across the valley, but the hotel also provides cars to ferry them between the two spots.

Still, whether you arrive by foot or by car, the best way to see Maraya is to come more than once. From streaky pink sunset light to twinkly dawns, each time of day creates a totally different experience.

Killings and attacks on communities in Darfur by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied militias have been reported “in clear violation” of a fragile ceasefire in Sudan, civil society groups said.

At least four civil society groups and activists have reported attacks which took place over the weekend in North Darfur.

The timings spill into Sunday – the first day of a 72-hour ceasefire announced by the two main warring parties, the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF).

A North Darfur civil society group and the Darfur Victims Solidarity Association said late Monday, the RSF seized an SAF garrison in North Darfur’s Tawila locality in the morning, killing a number of armed forces soldiers.

Residents of the community fled the area in fighting that started Friday evening.

There was a “clear violation of the armistice,” the groups said.

El Fasher Resistance Committees in North Darfur, part of a Sudan-wide civilian pro-democracy network, first alerted the attack on the Tawila community on Friday evening.

At least seven people were killed in the initial Friday attack, with the market, local government office and police station looted, livestock and cars stolen, and the town’s northern and eastern neighborhoods destroyed, the committees reported.

In a separate report released Monday, Dar Masalit (Home of Masalit) sultanate said “more than 5,000 people were killed and at least 8,000 injured” in a two-month period since the start of fighting – which began in Darfur on April 24 – in West Darfur’s capital El Geneina region alone.

The Masalit are the majority ethnic group in West Darfur. Their historic home encompasses a wider area that includes parts of eastern Chad, with a sultan as the traditional head of the non-Arab African community.

The Dar Masalit report accuses the RSF and allied Janjaweed militias of the killings and other crimes, as published by the sultanate.

“A series of systematic and bloody attacks launched by the RSF and the Janjaweed militia, with the aim of ethnically cleansing African civilians and of committing genocide,” were witnessed by the sultanate, the Dar Masalit report said.

Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA), a women’s rights group active in Darfur, reported over 1,000 deaths and 2,000 injuries in El Geneina since April 24.

And Sudan’s Minister of Health Haitham Ibrahim said 3,000 people have been killed across Sudan since the conflict started on April 15, in an interview on Saudi al-Hadath television Saturday.

Information on casualties from Darfur is limited due to the communication blackout, Ibrahim added.

Lawyers, doctors and teachers targeted

Civil society activists and monitoring groups have also reported the targeting of community leaders, lawyers, doctors, teachers and other professionals on the Masalit community in West Darfur, as well as in Khartoum, since the beginning of the conflict.

Several high profile Masalit figures have been killed in the past week, including West Darfur governor Khamis Abbaker.

The Darfur Bar Association (DBA) said Monday that two more members of the organization have been killed in West Darfur by the RSF and their militias, without specifying the day of the reported killings.

DBA named Professors Tariq Hassan Yaqoub Al-Malik, and the West Darfur humanitarian aid commissioner Al-Sadiq Muhammad Ahmed Haroun, both investigators of killings committed in 2021 at Krinding displaced persons camp in the state.

On Sunday, the DBA urged its members to leave the state’s capital, El Geneina, after the organization reportedly received threatening messages.

The United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS) condemned the killings, saying in a statement: “Compelling eyewitness accounts attribute this act to Arab militias and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), even though the RSF communicated a denial of their involvement to the mission.”

RSF General Abdel-Rahman Gumma on Monday repeated the paramilitary group’s denial of responsibility for the governor’s killing, blaming “outlaws.”

In a recorded voice message posted to Twitter, Gumma called the conflict in Geneina “tribal.”

The UN Human Rights Commission recently expressed concern about a “shocking rise in hate speech in West Darfur against the Massalit.”

“I am particularly concerned by reports of gender-based and sexual violence, and by the ethnic dimension of the violence in Geneina,” UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said Monday, adding to the growing number of concerned voices.

El Geneina center of attacks

The city of El Geneina witnessed the highest number of “violent attacks and crimes against humanity” in the month of May, when the RSF and Janjaweed targeted shelters and neighborhoods with “heavy artillery,” resulting in the deaths of hundreds of citizens on some days, the Dar Masalit report said.

The report cited the neighborhoods that came under the most fire, including Al Jamarek, Al Buhaira, Al Thawrah, Al Tadamon, Al Madaris, Al Mansoura, and Al Jabal among others.

On May 28 and 29, RSF and Janjaweed militiamen attacked the Misterei area, some 42 kilometers (26 miles) southwest of El Geneina, resulting in the deaths of dozens of civilians and “the displacement of the entire population of the region to Chad,” the report stated.

On June 15, the siege on all neighborhoods in El Geneina “intensified,” causing a large number of civilians to flee west toward Chad through the Hashab forests, the Dar Masalit report said.

Those fleeing were “brutally attacked…killed, wounded and their belongings robbed” by RSF and Janjaweed militiamen, the report added.

The Dar Masalit report sketched a broad picture of “ethnic cleansing” by the RSF and associated Janjaweed militias, with a severely deteriorated security and humanitarian situation in West Darfur.

Additional social media videos and testimony, as well as human rights activists and groups’ reports, support large sections of the Dar Masalit report findings.

In the past four days, 15,000 West Darfur refugees, including almost 900 wounded, have arrived in the Chadian border town of Adré, Medicins Sans Frontiers, also known as Doctors Without Borders, said Monday evening.

Fragile ceasefire

On Saturday, the US and Saudi Arabia announced the RSF and SAF agreed to a 72-hour ceasefire, with the two groups agreeing to refrain from military strikes and allow “the unimpeded movement of and delivery of humanitarian assistance.”

“The parties agreed that during the ceasefire they will refrain from prohibited movements, attacks, use of military aircraft or drones, artillery strikes, reinforcement of positions and resupply of forces, and will refrain from seeking military advantage during the ceasefire,” a joint statement from the US Embassy in Khartoum and the Saudi foreign ministry said in a joint statement.

The statement suggested that peace talks facilitated by the US and Saudi Arabia could be disbanded if the ceasefire isn’t honored.

It’s the latest ceasefire agreement in the ongoing conflict between the two Sudanese paramilitary groups that forced US diplomatic staff to evacuate Sudan in April.

The previous ceasefires haven’t stopped the fighting between rival factions.