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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Champions celebration

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Check your local forecast here

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Greater transparency

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.