As Nick Taylor’s winding 72-foot eagle putt dropped into the cup, bedlam ensued.

Sinking the longest putt of his PGA Tour career on the fourth hole of a nail-biting playoff, the 35-year-old had just ended the 69-year wait for a Canadian golfer to win the Canadian Open in the most astonishing way imaginable.

The celebrations matched the moment on Sunday. As Toronto’s Oakdale Golf and Country club crowd erupted, their home hero had just enough time to raise his fist in victory before he was wrapped up in a hug by caddie Dave Markle.

Overhead, champagne rained down on the pair, sprayed enthusiastically by fellow pro and compatriot Adam Hadwin. Then, abruptly, it stopped.

A security guard, appearing to mistake Hadwin for an invading member of the gallery, skirted around Taylor to take down the bottle-wielding golfer, driving him to the floor of the 18th green with a linebacker-esque tackle.

Onlookers, including Markle, rushed in to clear up the case of mistaken identity. Hadwin was quickly helped back to his feet, with footage showing him stood arm in arm with the security guard shortly after.

“The security officer was doing their job and acting in the moment amidst a flurry of excitement and celebration on the green following one of the most iconic moments in Canadian sport,” Taylor said.

“We are pleased with how both parties quickly rectified the misunderstanding and embraced the moment.”

Hadwin clearly saw the funny side, changing both his profile and cover picture on Twitter to a close-up of the tackle. Another picture posted by Hadwin, captioned “Put in the Louvre!” captured Taylor and Markle turning to look just as the world No. 75 was hauled down.

“Corner of my eye I saw he got a nice tackle there,” Taylor told reporters.

“I hope he’s all right. He was upright when I saw him later, so I hope he doesn’t wake up tomorrow morning with any broken ribs or anything.”

Confirmation of Hadwin’s clean bill of health – and an apology – followed later from his wife Jessica via Twitter.

“I’m thrilled to report that @ahadwingolf is still among the land of the living and in true Canadian form, apologized to the security guard for being tackled,” she said.

As footage of the tackle quickly spread across social media – including a cinematic slow-motion close-up from the Canadian Open’s official account – Hadwin’s counterparts revelled in his misfortune.

“Hahahahaha man down!!!!!!” said two-time major champion Justin Thomas, while English golfer Tyrrell Hatton added: “Praying for Adam Hadwin, what a tackle.”

‘Everything’

The incident added another layer of spectacle to a day that had already overflowed with drama, and one that will live long in the memory for Taylor.

Seeking to end a three-year wait for his third PGA Tour win, the Winnipeg-born golfer was serenaded throughout the week by the Canadian crowds, who broke out into a chorus of the national anthem at one point during his final round.

It soundtracked a brilliant Sunday showing from Taylor, who – having begun his tournament by shooting 3-over par – closed with a six-under round to finish on 17-under. It put him level at the top of the leaderboard with England’s Tommy Fleetwood, in pursuit of a first PGA Tour title.

That sent the pair into the first PGA Tour playoffs of their careers, and after three holes, they still could not be separated. Having both birdied the first replay of the par-five 18th, the duo parred the same hole again before repeating the feat at the par-three ninth hole.

The fourth playoff hole signalled a return to the 18th tee. Though Taylor found the green in two strokes, a superb fairway approach from Fleetwood offered the Englishman birdie chance from 12 feet.

Yet that would be Fleetwood’s last shot of the tournament. A remarkable uphill putt saw Taylor eagle for the win to become the first Canadian since Pat Fletcher in 1954, and the sixth in history, to win his country’s National Open.

Compatriots Mike Weir, Corey Conners and Hadwin, were among those who surged onto the 18th green to congratulate Taylor, whose win secured him $1.62 million in prize money and jumped him 15 places to 44th in the world rankings.

“I heard someone shout out there, “everything,” and I don’t know any other word to use other than that,” Taylor said.

“I think it’s a tournament that we’ve circled on our calendar since probably junior golf. Ever since I’ve been on the PGA Tour this is one that we want to do as well as we can in, and the crowd support was the most unbelievable thing I will probably ever experience in my life.

“To break that curse – if you want to call it – I’m pretty speechless. I don’t think it’s going to sink in for quite some time what happened today.”

And before he had made any comment on his own 18th green moment, Hadwin first sent his congratulations to Taylor.

“Words cannot describe the magnitude of what you just accomplished. So proud of you,” he tweeted.

What we saw unfold along the Eastern Seaboard last week was surreal. The smoke-filled skies across the skyline of Big Apple and the nation’s capital, professional sporting events being postponed.

It was like something out of a movie. But just because the smoke has mostly cleared for now doesn’t mean those apocalyptic scenes won’t be back later in the summer.

Canada’s fire season is just getting going and with more fires burning out of control, it could be a summer of smoke.

“It’s likely we’re going to see a particularly bad air quality for the rest of the fire season compared to what we’re used to,” Quinn Barber, fire science analyst with the Canadian Forest Service told me Friday on the phone. “And that goes for Canada, and for those unfortunate enough to be downwind of us, the Eastern Seaboard.”

I think what happened last week opened the eyes of many who realized for the first time what effects such fires can have on the West each year.

And it also opened our eyes to how far-reaching the effects from wildfires can be felt. Yet no one is feeling it more than Canada.

“The map of fires looks like chickenpox,” Barber said. “It’s just covered in perhaps 50 fires, 30 of which happened in the last day.”

As of a week ago, Canada had more people evacuated from their homes because of wildfires than ever before in a fire season, according to Barber.

He said it results in thousands of hospitalizations and hundreds of premature deaths each year.

With this year’s fire season off the charts, the numbers could increase. And sadly, it’s only June. Fire season has at least three more months to go.

“We’re at over 4.5 million hectares (11 million acres) burned, which means this is the most area burned we’ve had in ever for a spring fire season,” Barber explained.

Canada’s hot and dry conditions over the last few months primed the forest to burn in unprecedented ways.

Lightning from spring storms moving across the country started as many as 100 new fires a day, according to Barber. It has resulted in this year’s fires burning in unprecedented ways.

“No matter how many people no matter how many water bombers, you can’t stop that many fires at once,” said Barber. “There’s nothing you can do to stop them, except to wait for them to slow down or turn.”

Many of the fires that started in Quebec were in incredibly rural areas, far away from roads or points of access, making it impossible to put them out.

“In some ways, they’re good for the forest, the forest is adapted for them. But humans are not,” Barber said. “Living up there means we have to get used to these sorts of events and do our best to be prepared for them.”

It could become our new normal. Smoke-filled summer skies and poor air quality during the months we are meant to be outdoors.

“Perhaps those areas closest to the fire are the worst. But we’re all impacted, millions of people,” Barber said.

Smoke forecast

This week’s smoke forecast looks better. The air quality across the East Coast has vastly improved compared to last week.

Rain chances will stay in the forecast for the Northeast and parts of New England this week, which will help improve air quality even further.

There is also significant rain forecast across eastern sections of Canada, which will help air quality and help firefighters extinguish the roughly 130 active wildfires currently burning across Quebec.

However, the smoke could return in the weeks ahead as wildfire season continues across Canada.

Following the harassment of WNBA star Brittney Griner at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, Phoenix Mercury’s leadership plans to make adjustments to prioritize players’ travel safety, head coach Vanessa Nygaard said Sunday.

The man, described by the WNBA in a statement as a “social media provocateur,” yelled at the two-time Olympic gold medalist about “the Merchant of Death.”

The increasingly heated altercation resulted in the man being tackled and police getting involved, according to the source.

“League rules mandate that I can’t speak about travel, but I can speak about safety, so we will ensure that our players and our organization and our staff are safe,” Nygaard said ahead of the Mercury’s Sunday game against the Indiana Fever.

“We will be making adjustments that maybe should’ve happened before, but right now, we’re going to prioritize the safety of our players, and we’ve seen that our organization has supported us,” the head coach said.

When asked if Griner was approved to charter flights and why she wasn’t chartering on Saturday, Nygaard said the team was following league-established rules and guidelines.

In a statement Saturday, the WNBA said it worked with the Mercury and Griner’s team to ensure her safety prior to the season, adding that she had been given permission to charter flights.

Mercury center Brianna Turner called the harassment incident “very alarming,” saying it was “startling” to have people waiting for them at the gate shouting and causing a scene.

“That’s obviously nothing no one wants to deal with, especially when you’re on a business trip for work,” she said.

Griner’s longtime teammate and WNBA star Diana Taurasi said that the harassment occurred during the team’s first public appearance since Griner’s release.

“It was literally the first time we were in public together,” Taurasi said.

Describing the incident as “unnerving,” Taurasi said the players’ safety comes first.

“Basketball is secondary to all that,” Taurasi said. “People have families, kids, and to be put in that situation really is pretty disrespectful to, I think, not only (Griner), but to our team, to the league really. So hopefully they can take steps into making sure that the security of our players throughout the league is at the forefront.”

In response to the incident, the Women’s National Basketball Players Association issued a statement calling for greater flexibility regarding charter flights for athletes.

Griner and her teammates experienced “a calculated confrontation that left them feeling very unsafe,” said the organization. “Everyone who was paying attention knew this would happen. We could have and should have been more proactive.”

“Every commercial flight forced upon our players is a threat to their health and safety,” the association went on in the statement. “We implore the league and the teams not to wait another day to change the rule regarding travel.”

The path of totality. That’s where you’ll want to be on April 8, 2024, to take advantage of the last opportunity for decades to see a total solar eclipse over the contiguous United States.

The path, which will be about 115 miles (185 kilometers) wide, will make its way across northern Mexico, cross 13 US states and eastern Canada. The celestial event is bound to inspire an influx of travelers to points falling within that zone.

Just under seven years after the American eclipse in August 2017, next year’s total solar eclipse will provide the last easy access to such an event for most US residents until August 23, 2044.

And while it’s still 10 months away, it’s definitely time to make plans.

Study the path of totality

April is unlikely to yield the kind of weather that most US viewers enjoyed for the 2017 eclipse in August. The best bet, climate-wise, isn’t in the United States at all.

Mexico, where the eclipse track reaches landfall near Mazatlán on the Pacific Coast, offers the best odds of favorable weather, according to Jay Anderson, a retired meteorologist with Canada’s weather service and an amateur astronomer who created the website Eclipsophile.com.

Parts of Texas look pretty good as well, although not as favorable as spots in Mexico. See Eclipsophile and this analysis from Space.com for more details.

The path enters the US in Texas, traverses that state and travels through Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Farther north near the Canadian border, there’s a lot of potential for cloudiness, Anderson said.

“The city I sort of identified as the most likely to have good skies [in the United States] is a place called Junction, Texas, which is a little bit toward the edge of the eclipse track in the Texas Hill Country,” said Anderson. “But they statistically are in one of the areas most likely to have clear skies, but having said that, it still means that they only have about a 55% chance of clear skies on that day. So, you know, it’s no guarantee anywhere.”

Some parts of Mexico in the path historically see 30% average cloud cover, Anderson said, whereas Junction is in the 40% range and San Antonio about 60%.

“Climate is the average of everything, but what actually happens on eclipse day will be something different,” Anderson said.

Decide how determined you are to see the eclipse

Are you willing to drive eight hours and take a day or two off work? The eclipse is on a Monday, but traffic late in the day could be fierce. Are you ready to change your plans days before if the weather looks better elsewhere?

Some eclipse viewers will go to great lengths.

Anderson said most of the people from Europe who participate in an eclipse message group he’s part of are heading to Texas to see the 2024 event.

And he knows of a number of travelers who have made motel bookings in several places along the path so that they have options just before the eclipse to seek out the best weather conditions and cancel the extra rooms.

“But you’re dealing with a hard-core eclipse chaser when you start making three or four motel bookings to have a number of different places to go,” Anderson said.

Iffy April weather certainly could present visibility problems.

“So somebody who really was determined to see that eclipse should be flexible and be prepared to move,” Anderson said.

It’s time to book lodging

Now is the time to reserve rooms, says Dave Clark, who runs the website NationalEclipse.com.

In some places along the path, hotels are already booking up and rates for remaining rooms in those spots are high.

Take Russellville, Arkansas. This week, a search on Booking.com showed 87% of places to stay were unavailable on April 7-9, 2024, in the city of about 30,000. Two hotels that had available rooms, Motel 6 and American Inn & Suites, had rates for that period of $500 and $699 per night, respectively.

But many larger cities have more rooms to work with and more availability.

Vacation rentals are another option. A look at Airbnb pricing in several locations along the eclipse’s path suggests that while some property owners are well aware ($1,000-plus a night aware) of the significance of April 8, 2024, others haven’t hiked up their rates for the coveted dates. At least not yet.

Carla Pendergraft, assistant director of tourism at the Waco Convention Center & Visitors Bureau, said that very few hotels show availability right now. “However, some hotels may not have opened up their reservation system as of yet, so additional rooms may come onto the market.”

Airline tickets can wait

While you’ll want to lock in your lodging sooner rather than later, that’s not the case for airline tickets, says Scott Keyes, founder of airfare tracking site Going.com.

There’s such a thing as too early for airline tickets, and we’re still in that window. “The early bird gets the worm but not the earliest bird,” he said.

And because the path of totality stretches across 13 states as well as parts of Mexico and Canada, there are plenty of places to fly into.

“Because it’s really spread out, I think that’s going to limit the amount of airfare inflation that you might otherwise see,” if it was only going through a small area, Keyes said.

What he calls the “Goldilocks window” –  the just-right time – is generally one to three months in advance for domestic flights at an off-peak time such as April.

“That would be booking somewhere between January and March. You know, maybe if there’s a lot of media attention and excitement coming up, just maybe you could start to find some good deals in December, a little bit earlier.”

And the good news about post-pandemic air travel is that most US airlines have permanently adopted penalty-free changes for most fare classes.

So if the weather looks bad and you decide to change course and fly to another city, you can cancel your flight and take the credit from that one to book a new flight to another city. You’ll just have to pay the fare difference.

You could buy multiple airline tickets, but Keyes said the problem with that is that most credits must be used within a year. But if you have frequent flyer miles, you can easily cancel miles trips, and the miles will go right back into your account, he said.

Driving offers flexibility

If you’re within driving distance, going by car gives you a lot of flexibility, particularly if you’re more interested in a remote location than a group-watch event.

Pendergraft, the assistant tourism director from Waco, advises travelers to decide what kind of experience they’re seeking: a big festival like the one Waco is putting on or “do they want to rough it in a self-contained RV out in a field?”

Links to eclipse festivals, campouts and other events in states across the path are available on NationalEclipse.com.

Be aware that congestion is likely, Pendergraft said. “The eclipse tourist should look for a city with adequate services and traffic control, because there will be cars and private planes chasing the eclipse all the way along its path.”

Traffic was a major problem for the 2017 total solar eclipse, Clark said, “and the same problem will certainly occur in 2024. So, having a place to stay inside the eclipse path, and staying for at least an extra day after the eclipse, is ideal to avoid traffic.”

Ultimately, travelers have to decide just how far – and how flexibly – they’re able to travel for a chance to spot the celestial marvel, said Anderson.

“They’re worth seeing,” he said. “ ‘Worth the trip’ as they would say in the travel industry.”

While the average width of an airplane seat has been shrinking for decades, bodies are getting larger around the world, with experts predicting that over half of the global population will be overweight or obese by 2035.

This ultimately means that more and more passengers are likely to be finding it difficult to fit into airplane seats, and some may be hit in the pocket as a result.

Policies around plus-size travelers tend to vary from airline to airline. While a number, including United Airlines, require “customers who require extra seating” to buy an additional seat in advance, some refund the purchase if one or more seats are available after takeoff. However, there is no universal standard as such.

Different airlines have different guidelines. Some have no guidelines at all, meaning that even well-informed travelers can have trouble keeping up.

Policy confusion

In April, plus-size travel influencer Jae’lynn Chaney launched a petition urging the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to mandate all airlines for a comprehensive customer-of-size policy that “prioritizes the comfort and well-being of all passengers.”

Charles Leocha, co-founder of airline consumer advocacy group Travelers United, shares this sentiment.

“All plus-sized passengers are appreciative of knowing the rules,” he adds. “It eliminates many misunderstandings.”

Outside of the US, the Australian Consumer Law prohibits airlines from charging passengers different amounts based on their body sizes.

Meanwhile, the “one person, one fare” (1p1f) policy, which prevented domestic airlines Air Canada, Air Canada Jazz and WestJet from charging passengers requiring an extra seat for more than one fare, was passed by the Canadian Transportation Agency in 2008.

Obesity is recognized as a disability in Canada, and passengers must be considered “functionally disabled by obesity,” to meet the requirements for a free extra seat.

However, the rule only applies to domestic flights, which means that plus-size travelers still need to buy an extra seat when going on an international flight.

Tight fit

One of the various demands listed in Chaney’s petition, which had received over 17,000 signatures at the time of writing, is that all airlines “provide accessible additional seats to customers-of-size” who may require more space or “encroach onto another passenger’s space.”

“These passengers should be provided with an extra free seat, or even multiple seats, to accommodate their needs and ensure their comfort and safety, as well as those around them, during the flight,” reads the petition.

For Chaney, who has needed a seat belt extender from a young age, the issue is a hugely personal one.

“I kind of knew that planes were not built for people like me by the time I was 12,” she says, recalling trying to tuck her seatbelt underneath her stomach so that flight attendants couldn’t see that she hadn’t been able to buckle it.

“There was a really tight fit on the seats. And being such a young child at the time, traveling without my parents was really stressful for me. Because I didn’t know how to advocate for myself.”

Chaney feels that airline policies that require plus size travelers to buy an extra seat while flying are “discriminatory,” pointing out that passengers like her are “paying twice for the same experience.”

“People with smaller bodies get to pay one fare to get to their destination,” she says. “And we have to pay two fares, even though we’re getting the same experience. If anything, our experiences are a little bit more challenging.”

United Airlines, one of the US airlines that requires larger passengers to purchase an extra seat, declined to comment.

Chaney dismisses suggestions that plus-size travelers are asking for special treatment, stressing that they are simply “asking for the same dignity and respect from an airline that someone in a smaller body gets.”

Human rights issue?

Canadian air passenger rights advocate Gabor Lukacs says he views the practice of charging larger passengers for two seats as a human rights issue.

“There is, unfortunately, a lot of negative attention and prejudice against plus-sized people.

“But it’s not as if someone is getting up in the morning and making a decision that they’re going to be a large person.

“So through that lens of human rights, I don’t see any justification for charging these people a double fare.”

Lukacs goes on to point out that airlines don’t provide discounts to people who are smaller sized, or even children, even though they’re much lighter, and therefore “less fuel is being consumed to transport them.”

“I’d be very concerned to see this type of argument being advanced where immutable characteristics of a person are being used for assessing fees,” he adds. “It can be a slippery slope.”

According to Chaney, aside from being a “financial burden,” the prospect of paying for two seats is an added complication to an experience that is already very difficult for many plus sized travelers.

“There’s so many different things, obstacles, that are in the way,” she explains.

Chaney regularly shares tips on flying as a plus-size person on her TikTok channel and says that one of the questions she’s asked the most is, “What do I do if the seatbelt does not fit?”

“It surprises me every time that many people don’t know that seat belt extenders exist,” she adds. “And that they’re available on all flights.”

Chaney admits that having to ask for a seat belt extender “isn’t always the most comfortable experience,” particularly when faced with hostile passengers, or even flight attendants, on some occasions.

Constant challenges

“The stereotypes that surround plus-size travelers, and the hostility towards us when we’re traveling by plane is honestly horrendous,” she adds.

“It can just be such an uncomfortable experience. People treat us very much differently.”

While Chaney stresses that much of the feedback she’s received since launching her petition has been hugely positive, she admits that she’s been subject to abuse, and even death threats, from members of the public.

“I have chosen to focus on the positivity and support,” she adds.

Earlier this year, content creator and plus size travel expert Kirsty Leanne went viral after posting a video of herself struggling to fit in an airplane seat while flying with a budget airline.

Leanne, who is also the founder of website Plus Size Travel Too, says she was shocked by the sheer volume of negative comments she received after sharing the clip, which detailed many of the problems she and other plus-size travelers face while onboard a plane.

“I thought I would get one or two negative comments as I always do with videos talking about being plus-size, but not to the extent that I did.”

Over the past two decades, the width of the average seat has shrunk from 18.5 to 17 inches. Meanwhile, according to a study by the World Obesity Federation, around 38% of the world population are overweight or obese.

“This [shrinking seats] has had such a negative impact on plus-size travelers,” says Leanne. “So not only does it deter them from flying, but it also makes it incredibly uncomfortable for those that do choose to fly.

“With shrinking seats, there should be acknowledgement that plus-size people may require certain accommodations in order to allow them to fly safely and comfortably.”

“The agency is reviewing the thousands of comments it received on whether current seat size and spacing affect passenger evacuation,” the FAA said in a statement.

In 2022, Flyers Rights, a nonprofit organization, petitioned the FAA to regulate a minimum seat size, citing concerns about medical risks, including blood clotting, due to limited space, among other issues.

However, the petition was denied by a US appeals court earlier this year.

For Lukacs, decreasing airplane seat sizes are something that all travelers, not just those who are plus sized, should be troubled by.

“It is a concern, because being crammed in a very small seat could, apart from your comfort,  also affect your health, in terms of risks of deep vein thrombosis,” he notes.

“I’m not sure what the science is on that today, but I could see that being a problem. And also, we’re not cattle.

“We do expect, when we board a plane, to be treated with some reasonable level of respect.”

Back in 2013, Samoa Air, the flag carrier of Samoa, previously known as Polynesian Airlines, became the first airline to begin weighing passengers at the airport.

And last month, Air New Zealand confirmed that it will be weighing passengers as part of a “passenger weight survey,” to calculate data on the weight load and distribution for planes.

The national carrier of New Zealand has stressed that the survey is voluntary.

Chaney, who last took a plane ride in April 2022, says she’s most comfortable flying with Southwest Airlines, explaining that the airline’s “customer of size and extra seat policy,” which stipulates that passengers who require extra room can purchase another seat at the time of booking and claim the money back after contacting customer service.

Open hostility

When she flies with her partner Jake, who is also plus sized, the couple have to decide whether to buy four seats and sit apart, or purchase three seats between them and “just have it be a little bit of a tight fit.”

“We also make sure that our flights are only six or seven hours max, because we can’t use the restroom comfortably on the plane,” adds Chaney, who says that Jake has had passengers refuse to sit next to them.

Like Chaney, Leanne feels that it’s important to share her experiences, good and bad, while traveling, and hopes that other plus size travelers, who might be wary of getting on a plane, will see that “there’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

“Although it may be incredibly daunting and overwhelming to travel in a larger body, please do not let the experience of flying while fat put you off traveling,” she says.

“There are so many incredible things to see out there and I promise you, it’s worth it.”

According to Chaney, one of the biggest misconceptions about plus size travelers is the notion that they don’t consider how much space they take up.

“They [other travelers] think that we want to invade their space, or that we don’t care if we’re invading their space, or encroaching upon their space, especially in air travel,” she says.

“And that’s where a lot of the blatant hostility will come from. When in reality, so many people that I talk to, speak about how they try to shrink themselves.

“They try to lean up against the window. They try to make themselves as small as possible when traveling by plane, simply so that they don’t offend somebody else. So that they don’t have to face hostility or embarrassment.

“I know it’s something I think about all the time in life, no matter where I am.”

Saudi Arabia and the United States announced a 24-hour ceasefire starting Saturday between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, the Saudi Foreign Ministry said in a statement Friday.

The ceasefire is effective starting 6:00AM Khartoum time [12:00a ET Friday], the statement said.

The two warring factions agreed to allow for the movement of humanitarian aid all throughout Sudan, the statement said.

“Saudi Arabia and the US join the Sudanese people in their frustration over the non-commitment of the previous truces,” the statement said.

On Thursday, Sudan’s foreign ministry which backs the country’s armed forces notified the United Nations that Volker Perthes, the special representative of the UN Secretary-General in Sudan, and head of the UN Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS), had been declared “persona non grata.”

“The Government of the Republic of Sudan has notified the Secretary-General of the United Nations on Thursday 8th June 2023 that it has declared Mr Volker Perthes, the head of UNITMAS, persona non grata as of today,” the Sudanese foreign ministry said in a statement Thursday.

Sudan’s foreign ministry did not clarify in the statement the reason behind the declaration.

Last month, Sudan’s military ruler General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan wrote a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres asking that Perthes be removed from his post in the country, the Sudanese presidency said, according to Reuters.

Guterres was “shocked” by the letter he received from al-Burhan, his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said at the time, adding that the Secretary-General is “proud” of the work that Perthes has done in Sudan.

Perthes, who was appointed to his role in 2021, has voiced strong concern over the conflict. In an address to the UN Security Council earlier this week, he criticized both leaders of Sudan’s warring parties and warned of “a growing ethnicization of the conflict.”

“Neither side has yet shown the ability to decisively claim a military victory,” Perthes said.

Last week, the UN Security Council voted to extend the UNITAMS mandate in Sudan for only six months, until 3 December 2023, the UN said in a statement.

UNITAMS, created in June 2020 to facilitate a renewed civilian-led transition to democracy in Sudan after the fall of Omar al-Bashir a year earlier, had since been renewed annually for a year.

Weeks of fierce fighting in Sudan between Burhan’s Sudanese Armed Forces and the country’s Rapid Support Forces led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo have left the country in turmoil and scrambled hopes for a peaceful transition to civilian rule.

The Colombian government and the National Liberation Army (ELN) – one of the oldest and largest guerrilla groups still operating in the country – have agreed to implement a bilateral, six-month ceasefire starting on August 3.

The agreement comes after months of private negotiations in Cuba, Mexico, and Venezuela, and was ratified on Friday during a ceremony in Havana presided over by Colombian President Gustavo Petro, his Cuban counterpart Miguel Diaz-Canel and the ELN’s chief commander, known by his nom de guerre ‘Antonio García.’

Both sides also pledged to hold further negotiations in Venezuela starting in August. Cuba, Mexico, Norway, and Venezuela have acted as “guarantors” for the peace talks, as well as the United Nations and the Colombian Catholic church.

The Colombian government and the ELN have been engaged in peace negotiations since at least 2012, but the six-month ceasefire agreed on Friday is the longest agreed upon since the guerrilla group formed in 1963, said the ELN’s chief negotiator known by his alias ‘Pablo Beltrán.’

In January 2019, then-Colombian President Ivan Duque suspended peace talks after the ELN killed 22 police cadets in an attack against the national police academy in Bogota, Colombia.

Friday’s agreement is different from the historic 2016 peace agreement between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – FARC, another guerilla group operating in the country since the 1960s and was dismantled in 2017.

The ELN is still present in large swathes of the Colombian countryside and operates a military force of several thousand men according to military analysts and the Colombian military forces.

Considered a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union, the group is accused of being involved in the production and trafficking of cocaine to finance its operation.

The agreement comes as the Petro administration wrestles with a series of scandals. Last week, Petro’s chief of staff Laura Sarabia and the Colombian ambassador to Venezuela, Armando Benedetti, both resigned amid mutual accusations of wiretapping.

It’s not every day that you see billboards in Hebrew on the streets of Tehran.

This one, posted across the Iranian capital this week, reads: “400 seconds to Tel Aviv” in Persian, Arabic and Hebrew. It is an announcement of the latest missile in Iran’s fast expanding arsenal of weapons – one that Iran’s military says can travel up to 15 times the speed of sound.

The missile is called Fattah, apparently named after one of the 99 names of God in Islam meaning “victory giver.” It was unveiled this week as a historic achievement for the country’s military.

The hypersonic projectile has the ability to “penetrate all air defense missile systems and detonate them,” Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRCG) Aerospace Force Commander Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh said in comments published by the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

The IRGC says it can move within and above the earth’s atmosphere and has a range of 1,400 kilometers (870 miles). That would put Israel within reach. Hypersonic missiles are those that can travel at a speed beyond Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound.

Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant was quick to dismiss the potential threat posed to his country.

“I hear our enemies boasting about weapons they are developing,” he said in comments published in Israeli media. “To any such development, we have an even better response – whether it be on land, in the air, or in the maritime arena, including both defensive and offensive means.”

Iran’s claims have not been independently verified but experts say they follow tangible progress in missile development.

Uzi Rubin, founder and former director of the Israel Missile Defense Organization at the Israeli defense ministry has no reason to believe the missile is not real and functional.

But he noted that it’s not necessarily a major “revolution” in Tehran’s missile capabilities, adding that it’s not the first hypersonic missile Iran has designed, even though it is a “revolutionary design.” Experts say that most ballistic missiles can travel at hypersonic speeds.

Alex Vatanka, director of the Iran Program at the Middle East Institute in Washington, DC, said that Iran has “a long history of making exaggerated claims” when it comes to developing missiles. “That said, Iran has made huge advances in this sector and no one can deny that. Has Iran made it to the A-list among countries that can produce hypersonic missiles? That is not the case.”

The United States says Iran has the largest ballistic missile force in the Middle East and considers its missile arsenal as one of its “primary tools of coercion and force projection.”

Iran has in the past insisted that its missile program is solely for defensive purposes. Kayhan newspaper, whose editor is appointed by Iran’s supreme leader, however said in an editorial this week that the purpose of the Fattah missile is also “to show its deterrence in economic and political areas.” Under heavy American sanctions, Iran regularly accuses the United States of waging an economic war against it.

Difficult to intercept

Since 2017, Iran has carried out five major cross-border ballistic missile strikes in the region, said John Krzyzaniak, a research associate at the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control in Washington, DC. Those include two attacks on ISIS in Syria, and three in Iraq claiming to have targeted US forces, Kurdish militants and Israeli intelligence.

Experts say what distinguishes Iran’s new missile from other projectiles it has designed is that it is maneuverable. It has a movable nozzle that allows it to travel an irregular path, making it difficult to intercept.

“If Iranian officials’ claims about the new Fattah missile are true, then it will certainly have more maneuverability compared to previous systems,” said Krzyzaniak. “But it doesn’t achieve this in the same way as other countries’ hypersonic weapons, and it probably won’t have maneuverability to the same extent.”

He said that Iran’s claims about the Fattah are mostly credible as the missile is “largely an iteration on earlier, proven technology that Iran has developed domestically.”

What does this mean for existing missile defense systems in the Middle East?

Israel has several missile defense systems. Its Iron Dome is designed to protect against short range rockets, like those launched from neighboring Gaza or Lebanon. David’s Sling deters medium range projectiles. For longer-range ballistic missiles, it has the Arrow family of defense systems that has an operational range of 2,400 kilometers (1,500 miles).

Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates deploy the US-made Patriot missile defense system, and Saudi Arabia and the UAE also use the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system that can intercept short- and medium-range ballistic missiles at higher altitudes. THAAD was used in combat for the first time ever in January 2022 when a Houthi missile was launched against the UAE.

“It’s possible that Patriot is capable of shooting down a Fattah missile, but hard to say for sure since there are still a lot of unknowns with both systems,” said Krzyzaniak. “Reports out of Ukraine suggest Patriot has shot down Russian Kinzhal missiles, which are similar to Fattah in that they can maneuver at high speeds.”

He noted however that Patriots deployed in Saudi Arabia failed to shoot down several missiles fired by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen “even though those weren’t particularly sophisticated.”

“Even a highly capable missile defense system can ‘fail’ if it’s in the wrong location, if its radar is facing the wrong direction, if the missiles are flying too low to be detected, or if there are too many missiles in a single barrage,” he said.

Gulf Arab states have long argued for Iran’s missile program to be part of Western nations’ talks with Tehran on its nuclear program, arguing that the projectiles pose a more direct threat to their safety. Iran’s Arab adversaries in the region have however begun reconciling with the Islamic Republic of late, significantly reducing the potential for conflict in the Persian Gulf.

That leaves Israel as the state that is likely to be most concerned about Iran’s new missile.

Rubin, the former Israeli defense official, said he’s confident that even if Israel doesn’t have the capability to protect against it now, “we’d be able to defend against it (in the future).”

Lionel Messi and his Argentina teammates were temporarily “trapped” in their Beijing hotel at the weekend after large numbers of fans gathered outside to see the star, Chinese state media reported, as police warned of scammers attempting to cash in on “Messi mania.”

Messi, who led Argentina to World Cup glory last year and is widely regarded as one of soccer’s greatest ever players, received a rapturous welcome from fans Saturday after landing at the Beijing airport ahead of a friendly match against Australia in the Chinese capital.

“Messi” soon became the top trending topic on Chinese social media platform Weibo, while video footage showed hundreds of fans swarming the team’s hotel entrance in the hope of catching a glimpse of their idol.

Argentina’s pre-match training session was delayed for safety reasons Sunday after “outrageously passionate” fans made it impossible for the team to leave their hotel, Global Times reported, citing game organizers. Photos and videos show the team eventually trained on Sunday night.

One fan was so eager to meet Messi that he spent 10,000 yuan ($1,400) on rooms at multiple Beijing luxury hotels in the hope of seeing the star, the state-run outlet said.

Despite costing up to $4,800 yuan ($670), tickets for the match Thursday at the 68,000-capacity Workers Stadium sold out within 20 minutes, according to Global Times, with resale sites advertising tickets for multiple times their face value.

Beijing police meanwhile have warned fans to beware of scams after an ad went viral on Weibo that falsely claimed to offer dinner with Messi for 300,000 yuan ($42,000) per person.

Beijing’s public security bureau debunked the rumor on its official Weibo account, joking, “If you can be scammed of 300,000 yuan, then our police will raise a glass to you.”

Several unofficial Weibo accounts also claimed to offer VIP stadium passes, front-row seats for the game and autographed Argentina jerseys at inflated prices.

Messi, 35, last visited China in 2017 with his former club Barcelona.

The seven-time Balon d’Or winner announced last Wednesday he would be joining Major League Soccer outfit Inter Miami after his contract with Paris Saint-Germain runs out this summer. The blockbuster news reportedly caused ticket prices to soar nearly 1,000% for some games in the United States.

Argentina will next travel to Jakarta for a friendly against Indonesia on June 19, though it is unclear if Messi will join the squad for that game.

WNBA icon Sue Bird finally got the send off her illustrious career deserved on Sunday as the Seattle Storm retired her iconic No.10 jersey.

In an emotional ceremony which reportedly lasted almost three hours, Bird addressed a packed crowd at the Climate Pledge Arena and was joined by a number of stars who paid tribute to her 20-year career in the league which ended last season.

The jersey retirement ceremony followed Seattle Storm’s 71-65 defeat to the Washington Mystics but the night was very much about one woman.

Bird was given a standing ovation as she took her seat court-side before the match but the official ceremony got underway shortly after the final buzzer.

“I didn’t anticipate it being that long but the truth is, I don’t know if I could have taken anything out,” she told reporters, joking about the length of her speech which reportedly lasted over an hour and a half itself.

“That’s what this has meant to me. It was just so important for me to say names, to point people out and to tell them what they meant. I’m already thinking about things I wish I would have said.”

Bird, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2002 WNBA draft, played her entire career with the Storm, where she won four championships, along with five selections to the All-WNBA first team and a record 12 All-Star Game appearances.

She won championships at every level, notably a record-tying five Olympic basketball golds with Team USA, and is the WNBA all-time leader in assists.

She was joined on stage by the likes of rapper Macklemore and her partner, USWNT great Megan Rapinoe, who were among many to share their memories of Bird’s career.

“There is no one like you. You’re everything on the court that everyone could ever wish to be. All of the dreams that little kids have, you’ve done it all,” a tearful Rapinoe said in her speech.

“You’re so much better off of it. You’ve given everybody this beacon for all of these years. How to be. How to carry yourself. How to treat people.”

Bird’s No.10 shirt was lifted to the rafters inside the stadium where it will continue to pay tribute to arguably the most impressive WNBA career to date.

“I will forever miss it, and that’s OK,” Bird said. “I think some people try to avoid missing it when they’re in my seat up here, and the reality is I’m always going to miss it.”