During Guatemala’s violent, decades-long civil war, an estimated 200,000 people were killed. Among them was Brenda Lemus’s father, Bernardo Lemus Mendoza, a prominent academic and intellectual who spoke out against the government.

“There were many people who were fighting for their rights, who were being repressed,” Brenda Lemus said. “My father (fought for) … their right to an education and access to work. He was persecuted, he was exiled from the country many times, and he was ultimately assassinated.”

Lemus’s father grew up in poverty in the small rural town of Purulhá, several hours outside of Guatemala City. Despite the odds, she said he managed to graduate school and eventually become the financial director at the San Carlos de Guatemala University.

During the peace process, the Guatemalan government wanted to dignify the memory of those killed by the state. To commemorate Bernardo and his love of literature, the government donated 180 books to his family to start a library in his hometown. In 2011, the Bernardo Lemus Mendoza Library opened in Purulhá.

Lemus relocated her family there and dedicated herself to getting the library off the ground. Today, it serves as a beacon of hope and a center of learning for young people living in extreme poverty.

From the start, Lemus saw how the community was struggling in many ways.

“The community’s youth had a lot of needs, especially in education,” Lemus said. “But all the books that were given to us … were about the armed conflict. None of them were for kids or young people, and there were no schoolbooks at all.”

Children would arrive at the library looking for books so they could attend school and do their homework. Many families couldn’t afford school supplies. So, Lemus got schools to agree to donate books, and she started giving them to children in the community.

She also saw that students needed notebooks for class. Some were writing on crumpled, old, torn pieces of paper.

“It made me think about when I was younger, going to school and hiding my notebooks because I didn’t want to do my homework. I had everything. And yet here were a bunch of kids who had nothing, holding on to a rotten piece of paper to be able to take notes,” Lemus said. “That filled me with compassion for these kids. I wanted to help them as much as I could.”

Realizing that young people in Purulhá were growing up under similar conditions as her father had, Lemus wanted not only to address their needs but to help them break the cycle of intergenerational poverty.

In 2012, she co-founded Yo’o Guatemala, a nonprofit whose name means “together we go.”

She began providing after-school programming and noticed many students had trouble focusing.

“I had to repeat the subjects often until one of the kids said to me, ‘Please, don’t repeat it to me again. I just can’t concentrate because I’m so hungry,’” Lemus said. “We realized that many of our kids were malnourished, some chronically, and it was impossible for them to focus on anything else.”

Her organization started a nutrition program for more than 40 families suffering from chronic malnutrition and has since expanded, providing extensive literacy, health, and community building programs.

“My goal with all of this is to make sure the kids in this community get a proper education, eat well, and get ahead with the same opportunities as if they were my own kids or yours,” Lemus said. “We are dignifying the memory of my father, and we are dignifying the lives of the children of Purulha.”

Brenda Lemus: In Purulhá, girls stop studying very early, get pregnant, get married, and the cycle repeats itself. It’s a cycle of poverty that seems endless; it’s like a spiral that takes them to the bottom. We want to break (that) through education.

Parents usually reject sending their daughters to school because they help mom at home. The girls don’t perform the same as boys in school because it’s different: The boy goes to school, and when he leaves, he goes to play soccer. The girl goes to school, and comes home to cook, take care of siblings, wash clothes. And so she drops out of school because she doesn’t do her homework. Of course she doesn’t do her homework because she has too much of a burden at home. The girls have the entire burden, and it isn’t easy.

We currently have 10 girls in our residency. The girls come on Mondays, leaving on Fridays. They spend weekends at home. We are in charge of everything with respect to them during that time. And we give the opportunity to the girls who are much more vulnerable when it comes to dropping out of school. I’m convinced that by giving the girls an integral educational opportunity, with quality, we can break the cycle of poverty.

Lemus: We began a daycare program for children. We receive them very early because most of their mothers work in the local market. We give them a warm breakfast. We give them all the stimulation that they should have according to their age, but we teach the children to be independent.

They are usually the youngest in their house and the last in the food chain, so they have to fight for a piece of bread. We teach them to wash their dishes, to clean up if they spilled. We give them pediatric check-ups with vitamins, taking care that they don’t get sick. They become very independent children who then excel.

Lemus: The eco-brick program has a special magic because it is the education of the children, by the children, through garbage. Children whose parents are unable to buy them school supplies have the opportunity to recycle materials such as non-recyclable aluminum or single-use plastics, encapsulating them in PET bottles forever.

The children collect garbage, clean the environment, recycle, and they receive school supplies as the tradeoff – for 10 eco-bricks, they have their full list of school supplies. If they deliver five more bricks, they get to take a brand-new backpack. With (the eco-bricks), schools are built in other parts of Guatemala by volunteers who come from the United States.

The value and dignity of the hard work they do is instilled in all the children. They provide their community with cleanliness and sanitation through recycling; this gives them dignity. The children come here in hopes of being able to finish their studies without dropping out. But they earn it with pure, hard work. This has allowed youth to have better opportunities for more dignified paid jobs.

Want to get involved? Check out the Yo’o Guatemala website and see how to help

To donate to Yo’o Guatemala via GoFundMe, click here

Louisiana State University star Angel Reese says that neither she, nor her team, would be visiting the White House after the Tigers defeated the University of Iowa Hawkeyes 102-85 to win their first NCAA women’s basketball national championship.

Traditionally, the national champions would be invited to the White House. But after comments from first lady Jill Biden suggesting that Iowa be invited as well before appearing to walk that back, Reese told “I AM ATHLETE” podcast hosts Brandon Marshall and Ashley Nicole Moss: “I don’t accept the apology because you said what you said … You can’t go back on certain things that you say … They can have that spotlight. We’ll go to the Obamas.’ We’ll go see Michelle. We’ll see Barack.”

Reese, who was named the women’s tournament Most Outstanding Player as a result of her standout performances, also said separately: “I just know if the roles were reversed, they wouldn’t be the same. If we were to lose, we would not be getting invited to the White House.”

But Wednesday, the school’s athletics department said they would “certainly accept an invitation.”

Speaking on Monday, Biden congratulated both teams on their performance in Sunday’s national championship game, as well as specifically highlighting Iowa’s sportsmanship.

“Last night, I attended the NCAA women’s basketball championship,” said Biden, while speaking at an event at the Colorado State Capitol in Denver.

“So I know we’ll have the champions come to the White House, we always do. So, we hope LSU will come but, you know, I’m going to tell Joe [Biden] I think Iowa should come, too, because they played such a good game.”

Reese, a 20-year-old forward, responded to Biden’s comments, calling them “A JOKE” on Monday, and on an Instagram post from “The Shade Room,” the recently crowned NCAA champion commented: “WE NOT COMING. period.”

By Tuesday, Biden appeared to walk back the comments, with first lady press secretary Vanessa Valdivia saying in a tweet that they “were intended to applaud the historic game and all women athletes. She looks forward to celebrating the LSU Tigers on their championship win at the White House.”

President Biden had previously said that LSU would be invited to the White House, along with NCAA men’s champions, the University of Connecticut.

Reese’s teammate Alex Morris took to Twitter to ask Michelle Obama whether her team could celebrate their win at their house, after Barack tweeted his congratulations to the team.
After LSU’s victory on Sunday, head coach Kim Mulkey said she would go to the White House if the team was invited.

A spokesperson for the Obamas declined to comment.

Meanwhile, Iowa’s Caitlin Clark said Tuesday that Iowa shouldn’t be invited to White House.

“I don’t think runner-ups usually go to the White House. I think LSU should enjoy that moment for them and congratulations, obviously, they deserve to go there. Maybe I could go to the White House on different terms though,” Clark said. “That’s for LSU. That’s a pretty cool moment and they should enjoy every single second of being a champion.”

History never forgets a champion. When you win one of sport’s biggest titles, you become immortal.

Win multiple times and your legacy is even greater. To think of The Masters is to think of Jack Nicklaus, the most successful champion in the major’s history with six wins, and Arnold Palmer, who donned the winner’s green jacket four times in just six years at Augusta National.

And yet for decades, two former champions with a combined nine wins lay buried in unmarked graves.

Willie Peterson caddied Nicklaus’ first five victories, while Nathaniel “Iron Man” Avery was on the bag for all four of Palmer’s triumphs. Avery’s headstone was only installed at Augusta’s Southview Cemetery, in Georgia, in 2017, 32 years after his death. Three years later, a 10-minute drive away at Cedar Grove Cemetery, Peterson – who died in 1999 – received his.

They were just two of Augusta National’s original caddie corps, all of them Black men who, from the inaugural edition of the tournament in 1934, guided golfers around the fabled course.

Every subsequent year for almost half a century, they would play substantial – sometimes pivotal – roles in the destination of the green jacket.

Kings of the Hills

The stories of the original group of Augusta caddies almost always began in the same place: Sand Hills.

Located just three miles from The Masters venue, the historically Black district lay adjacent to Augusta Country Club. There, local kids between 10 and 12 years old could earn a wage carrying the bag for members.

Around 90% of Augusta National’s original caddie corps grew up in the Sand Hill neighborhood, according to Leon Maben, vice president of the board of directors at Augusta’s Lucy Craft Laney Museum of Black History.

Eventually, many would hop across Rae’s Creek to begin work at Augusta National. Or as Ward Clayton, author of “Men on the Bag: The Caddies of Augusta National,” terms it: they “graduated.”

“It wasn’t as much of an age thing as it was just your ability. You had to learn to how to act around adults, how to read greens, how to tell guys what clubs to hit, what their yardage was, and how to read people.

“You had to become a little bit of an amateur psychologist … you had to read them right away, from the first hole.”

There was strong incentive for graduating. A “good bag” at Augusta National would pay up to $5, Maben said, offering $20 for a particularly lucrative day’s labor.

For Jariah “Jerry” Beard, caddie for 1979 Masters champion Fuzzy Zoeller, it meant he could earn as much in a day as his parents could in a week working at the city’s John P. King mill.

‘The Godfather’

If caddying was an education, then Willie “Pappy” Stokes was its headmaster.

Having grown up on the very grounds Augusta National was built on, a 12-year-old Stokes was hired to provide water to workers constructing the club. During bad weather, the youngster closely studied how rain streamed across the terrain, always trickling towards the course’s lowest point: Rae’s Creek.

That realization formed the basis of Stokes’ ability to read greens with near-perfect accuracy, a knowledge he imparted to budding students at Saturday morning “caddie school.”

At just 17-years-old, Stokes helped Henry Picard to the 1938 Masters title. He would retire after helping four different players to five wins at Augusta and having sealed his status as “The Godfather” of caddies.

Stokes’ knowledge trickled down to those that followed, epitomized by Beard in 1979. To this day, Zoeller remains the only golfer to win The Masters on his first attempt, as Beard steered the debutant around Augusta “like a blind man with a seeing-eye dog.”

And they were Zoeller’s words, not Beard’s, relayed by the American in “Loopers: The Caddie’s Long Walk,” a 2019 film co-produced by Clayton.

Maben often joked with Beard, who died in March aged 82, that Zoeller ought to give him his green jacket.

“These guys were ahead of their time,” Maben said. “They knew Augusta National like the back of their hand and were able to direct a golfer without any type of instrument like today’s caddies (use).

“They didn’t have no book to go by or no instrument to say how the wind was blowing that day, anything like that. They were the best at what they did.”

Dead man walking

And as with “The Godfather,” caddie nicknames were par for the course.

Tommy “Burnt Biscuits” Bennett, on the bag for Tiger Woods’ first Masters in 1995, got his moniker after an attempt as a child to steal biscuits being baked on his Grandma’s wooden stove ended with him badly scalding himself, according to ESPN.

Then there was John H. “Stovepipe” Gordon, Frank “Marble Eye” Stokes, and Matthew “Shorty Mac” Palmer. Avery’s “Iron Man” title had multiple stories as to its origin, according to Clayton, one being that he inadvertently cut off a finger while playing golf with a hatchet and another that he injured a hand playing around with powerful firecrackers.

But Clayton has a clear favorite in the nickname department: Willie “Cemetery” Perteet, former caddie for President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The story, as recounted by Clayton, goes as follows.

Caddie by day, jazz band drummer in downtown Augusta by night, Perteet was leaving a gig one evening when he was jumped by a gang brandishing knives. The group had been gathered by the caddie’s ex-girlfriend, who was “terrifically hurt” after he had ended the relationship.

Hospitalized by his injuries, Perteet later returned to consciousness – but not in a hospital bed. Instead, he awoke in a refrigerated bay, staring into the horrified eyes of a mortician.

“The doctor evidently gave him too much medication and they thought he was dead,” Clayton explained.

“So all the caddies give him the nickname ‘Dead Man.’ President Eisenhower, right at the outset, said, ‘I don’t really like that title. We’re just going to call you Cemetery.’”

Washed away

Though those who worked the bag were often close with the golfers they paired with, there was an enduring divide – social, as caddies, and racial, as Black men in America.

Only allowed to play the course on the days Augusta National was closed to members, caddies were “considered a lower class,” despite the respect for their craft, Clayton said. Maben, having spoken to many of the original caddies, agreed.

“That’s during segregation, Jim Crow period, and Black men was downgraded in society, called boy, n***er and all that,” Maben said.

“The way I analyze it, from a lot of the conversations I had, they knew their place at that time in society.”

In 1990, TV executive Ron Townsend became the first Black member admitted to Augusta National, 15 years after Lee Elder had become the first Black golfer to compete at The Masters.

By the time Townsend arrived, most of Augusta’s original caddie corps had disappeared. For the first 48 years at The Masters, golfers had to employ the services of the club’s caddies, but from 1983 onwards, they could bring their own.

Part of the reason lay in events at the previous year’s tournament, when a miscommunication led to some caddies missing a morning tee time. Several golfers used the incident as leverage in their bid to persuade The Masters to allow players to bring the caddies they employed year-round on the PGA Tour.

Clayton believes the arrival of Tour caddies was a matter of when, not if. “There’s no doubt that there was still a large, large group of excellent caddies at Augusta National. But the depth of those caddie ranks were not as great as what the players wanted,” he said.

“It would just have been nice if it was done in a more seamless manner versus what occurred.”

Regardless of the cause, the impact was profound. The 1983 Masters saw the first White caddies walk the greens at the major, with just 19 Black caddies on the bag, Clayton said.

Peterson was furious after entering the caddy facility to find his trusty No. 1 locker had been taken by an unknowing “Tour caddie.” The matter was quickly resolved, but the outgoing caddies were distraught – a pain felt both emotionally and financially.

“They felt like their jobs were being taken from them,” Clayton explained. “They didn’t have a lot of time for these guys coming in from the outside.”

Within a decade, less than 10 of the original caddie corps remained, he added.

“It was a hard thing for all the guys because many of them were really good caddies and had experience about that golf course. At least 25-30 of those pros should not have let their caddies go.”

Dream team

Yet Jackson’s story at Augusta National would not end for another 40 years.

Like many others, Jackson had begun working at Augusta Country Club before graduating to Augusta National in 1958 to learn his trade under Stokes. He arrived with the nickname “Skillet” because he supposedly couldn’t throw a baseball hard enough to break an egg.

In 1976, he paired with Crenshaw for the first time. For renowned putter “Gentle Ben” and the soft-spoken Jackson, green-reader extraordinaire, the partnership was a match made in heaven. After finishing runner-up on their first outing together, in 1984 Crenshaw clinched a two-shot victory over Watson to seal his maiden major title.

Crenshaw and Jackson would celebrate a second green jacket in 1995. It marked a hugely emotional victory for the Texan golfer, whose mentor Harvey Penick had died just before the tournament, leaving him in “shambles,” Jackson said.

When Crenshaw tapped home his winning putt, the duo shared a long hug on the green. Almost 20 years later to the day, the pair would repeat the gesture when – after their 39th outing – they retired together at the 2015 Masters.

The pair’s friendship lies at the heart of a forthcoming documentary on Jackson’s life, “Rise Above.”

“That’s how America ought to be,” Jackson says in the film. “The Black man taking care of the White man and the White man taking care of the Black man.’”

For Jackson, the core message of the documentary is about respect.

“If you’re righteous, you’re righteous. If you’re unrighteous, you’re gonna be a hater anyway.”

Center stage

Clayton will be at Augusta National this week, overseeing content for Masters.com, keeping a close eye on the men in the white jumpsuits and green hats carrying the clubs of those vying for the 2023 green jacket.

He will do so with as comprehensive a knowledge of the history of the club’s caddies as any in attendance. Yet prior to researching his 2004 book, mythic stories of “The Godfather,” “Cemetery,” and Augusta’s original caddie core were just that to him – myths. And that troubled Clayton.

“That was my effort, to tell their stories,” he said. “Because I thought they played a vital, vital role in making that club what it is and also helping golfers win … they deserved their attention.

“A lot of them aren’t with us any longer. That number is diminishing every year and they should be honored or remembered in a way that tells the story of who they are.”

Preserving and spreading those stories is an ongoing mission. Clayton helped get the headstones for Avery and Peterson, with Palmer and Nicklaus also involved for their respective caddies.

This year, the Lucy Craft Laney Museum will put the legacy of Augusta’s Black caddies – quite literally – center stage.

Twice a month at the museum, supplementing its regular tours, the “Men on the Bag Experience” will see the stories of three original Augusta caddies – Stokes, Perteet, and Peterson – acted out in a play.

At the end of each performance, at least two original caddies – or “living legends” as Maben refers to them – will emerge from the audience to host an on-stage Q&A. Each will be immortalized in a sports trading card, stylized with their picture, story, and stats, to be signed and distributed to patrons as they leave the show.

Maben rarely calls them caddies. It’s almost always “living legends,” “superstars” or, most commonly of all, “champions.”

And history never forgets a champion.

Iowa’s Caitlin Clark has said LSU’s Angel Reese shouldn’t be “criticized” for the gesture she directed at her.

Near the end of LSU’s victory over Iowa in the NCAA women’s basketball national championship game on Sunday, Reese could be seen approaching Clark before moving her open hand in front of her face – popularized by WWE star John Cena to mean “you can’t see me” – before pointing to her ring finger in a gesture some interpreted as a reference to the place her newly acquired championship ring might sit.

Clark made a similar gesture to another player earlier in the tournament.

The gesture sparked much debate, especially on social media. Some criticized Reese, while others defended her actions, highlighting how there was no public outrage in response to Clark’s gesture earlier in the tournament.

In the press conference after claiming LSU’s first NCAA women’s basketball national championship, Reese referenced the difference in reaction she received as a result of her gesture compared to the one Clark received.

Clark, who had 30 points in the national championship game, said that trash talking is a part of basketball.

“I don’t think Angel should be criticized at all,” Clark said in an ESPN interview on Tuesday. “I’m just one that competes, and she competed. I think everybody knew there was going to be a little trash talk in the entire tournament. It’s not just me and Angel.

“We’re all competitive. We all show our emotions in a different way. You know, Angel is a tremendous, tremendous player. I have nothing but respect for her. I love her game – the way she rebounds the ball, scores the ball, is absolutely incredible. I’m a big fan of her and even the entire LSU team. They played an amazing game.”

She added: “Men have always had trash talk … You should be able to play with that emotion … That’s how every girl should continue to play.”

Clark also echoed what she said in the immediate aftermath of Sunday’s game, saying that she didn’t see the gesture Reese made at the time.

“I haven’t been on social media a ton since we lost,” Clark said. “But I think the biggest thing is, it was a competitive, super, super fun game. That’s what’s going to bring more people to our game. I think the viewership speaks for itself.

“I’m just lucky enough that I get to play this game and have emotion and wear it on my sleeve, and so does everybody else. So that should never be torn down. That should never be criticized because I believe that’s what makes this game so fun. That’s what draws people to this game. That’s how I’m going to continue to play. That’s how every girl should continue to play.”

Criticism around dual White House invite

Clark’s comments come a day after first lady Jill Biden appeared to walk back suggestions that the White House might invite both LSU and Iowa’s women’s basketball teams.

Speaking on Monday, Biden congratulated both teams on their performance in Sunday’s national championship game, as well as specifically highlighting Iowa’s sportsmanship.

It is traditional for the national champions to be invited to the White House, but not for the runners-up. Reese tweeted a link to the story which included Biden’s comments, calling it “A JOKE” along with three rolling-on-floor-laughing emojis.

In a comment on an Instagram post from ‘The Shade Room’ which included Reese’s tweet, the recently crowned NCAA champion said: “WE NOT COMING. period.”

Press secretary to the first lady Vanessa Valdivia sought to clarify Biden’s comments on Tuesday, saying in a tweet that they “were intended to applaud the historic game and all women athletes. She looks forward to celebrating the LSU Tigers on their championship win at the White House.”

Hawkeyes junior guard Clark weighed in on the matter, saying that she believed LSU should celebrate their moment in the sun alone.

“I don’t think runner-ups usually go to the White House. I think LSU should enjoy that moment for them and congratulations, obviously, they deserve to go there. Maybe, I could go to the White House on different terms though,” Clark said.

“That’s for LSU. That’s a pretty cool moment and they should enjoy every single second of being a champion.”

Iowa coach Lisa Bluder agreed with Clark’s thoughts. “I gratefully acknowledge the First Lady’s sentiments, but a day at the White House should belong solely to the champion, LSU and Coach Mulkey,” Bluder tweeted.

“We would welcome the First Lady and President to come to Iowa’s ‘House’ – Carver Hawkeye Arena – any time!”

On Tuesday, Clark earned yet another award for her record-breaking season – the 2023 John Wooden Award for most outstanding player in women’s college basketball.

Clark and Reese both had outstanding individual seasons and, through their own unique skillsets and personalities, helped popularize women’s college basketball to a whole different level.

After Sunday’s national championship, Reese acknowledged that she’s grown the game; a sentiment Clark echoed.

“It’s honestly probably pretty hard for me to wrap my head around [the last season],” Clark said. “It will probably take me a few weeks to reflect on the whole year. Just the last month in general has been kind of a wild whirlwind, and I’m lucky to be a part of it.

“I just want to inspire young boys and young girls to be able to dream and do the same things that I have done. I was just that young girl. I looked up to WNBA players, NBA players, college athletes, even other pro sport athletes. All you have to do is dream, work really hard and be surrounded by really, really good people that believe in you, too.”

A storm system on Tuesday evening was bringing severe weather including tornadoes, large hail and strong winds to states from the South to the Upper Midwest, including areas devastated by recent tornadoes.

There were more than 100 reports of hail by about 10 p.m. ET, according to the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center. There were five preliminary tornado reports, the agency said.

Two people were evacuated from a gas station in the northwest Illinois town of Colona after a tornado struck there Tuesday morning, police said.

The tornado has been rated as an EF2 with an estimated peak wind of 115 mph, the weather service said.

“The major center of damage from today’s storm was Shell Gas station and the building directly behind it,” according to the Colona Police Department. “There are no injuries reported at this time.”

Forecasters said they were concerned especially dangerous nighttime tornadoes could strike parts of Arkansas, Oklahoma and southern Missouri overnight – potentially causing more destruction in areas already pummeled by last week’s deadly tornadoes and storms that killed 32 people.

Tornadoes that strike in the middle of the night are often deadlier than twisters that hit during daytime hours because people are less likely to get weather alerts when they’re asleep, research shows.

Baseball-sized hail fell

The first round of storms started in the afternoon, dropping very large to giant hail, according to the Storm Prediction Center. Davenport, Iowa, reported 4-inch hail – just larger than a softball – while Oswego and Aurora, both western suburbs of Chicago, saw baseball-sized and pool-ball-sized hail, respectively.

“Worst hail I’ve ever heard in Davenport,” Paul Schmidt wrote on Facebook, saying he worried about the condition of his home. “Sounded like bricks hitting the roof.”

About 3 million people were under a tornado watch in parts of Illinois, Iowa and Missouri until 10 p.m. CT, according to the National Weather Service, bringing the threat of tornadoes, widespread large hail and wind gusts of up to 70 mph. The area includes cities like Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Columbia, Missouri.

The Storm Prediction Center said a Level 4 storm risk area, which means long-lived, “widespread and intense” storms are likely, included southern Missouri and parts of Arkansas and Oklahoma. The area included just over 1.2 million residents.

More than 9.5 million people live in a Level 3 of 5 risk area that includes St. Louis; Madison, Wisconsin; Aurora, Illinois; Des Moines, Iowa; and Little Rock, Arkansas – which was ravaged by a violent tornado Friday. A Level 3 risk means numerous severe storms are possible, and some may be intense.

“Weather conditions in these areas could be life-threatening at times, and those in affected areas should pay close attention to the local NWS Weather Forecast Office for Advisories, Watches, and Warnings,” the Weather Prediction Center warned.

More than 50 tornadoes touched down in several states Friday and Saturday, obliterating houses and leaving communities wondering how they’ll recover.

Blizzard conditions are expected to cause highway closures for days

South Dakota is facing a different kind of extreme weather. More than 140 miles of the Interstate 90 and about 85 miles of I-29 are closed indefinitely due to blizzard conditions, according to an alert on the state’s Department of Transportation website.

The closure affects I-90 from Rapid City to Murdo and I-29 from Watertown to the border with North Dakota, the department said.

“Accommodations at Murdo are limited. Adjust travel plans and seek shelter elsewhere. Expect multiple day closures,” the alert warned.

US 12 near Summit, South Dakota, is “solid ice and hard to even walk on,” according to the highway patrol. “We need our citizens and visitors help to make sure everyone stays safe during this storm. US 12 westbound from Summit is impassable and more and more vehicles keep getting stuck there.”

The highway patrol asked people to stay home but if not, “be prepared in case you get stranded.”

The National Weather Service issued a blizzard warning and a winter weather advisory for the affected areas.

‘Extremely critical’ fire threat in the Southwest and Plains

More than 11 million people from southeastern Arizona to southeastern Nebraska are under red flag warnings Tuesday.

According to the National Weather Service, red flag warnings are issued when warmer temperatures, low humidity, and strong winds are anticipated to combine to increase the risk of fire.

Fires could be fueled by dry surface air, breezy winds, dead grass and brush and warm temperatures,” the weather service office for Omaha and Valley, Nebraska, said.

An “extremely critical” Level 3 of 3 fire risk is in place across parts of eastern New Mexico, western Texas, western Oklahoma and southern Kansas. This area includes the Texas cities of Lubbock, Amarillo, Midland and Odessa; and the New Mexico city of Clovis.

“Dangerous fire weather conditions are expected on Tuesday with potential for multiple large, dangerous, and fast moving fires,” the weather service said. “Extreme caution should be used to avoid sparks and open flames.”

A broader Level 2 “critical” risk encompasses the Level 3 area and extends from the Texas-Mexico border to southwestern Iowa, including Oklahoma City and Norman in Oklahoma, Wichita in Kansas, and Abilene and Wichita Falls in Texas.

A destructive storm system that spawned at least 11 tornado reports and killed five people in Missouri now threatens millions more from Texas to New York with damaging winds, large hail and more potential twisters.

At least five people were killed when a possible tornado struck Bollinger County, Missouri, Sheriff Casey Graham said Wednesday.

Another five people were reported injured, said Missouri State Highway Patrol Col. Eric Olson. At least 87 structures were damaged – including 12 of which were totally destroyed, Olson said.

Authorities were still involved in search and rescue efforts, a highway patrol official said.

More than 50 million people were under a threat of severe weather Wednesday from Texas to New York, as the storm system trekked east across the central US after battering parts of Missouri, Iowa, Illinois and Michigan.

At least nine tornadoes were reported Tuesday, including two in Iowa and seven in Illinois – where several buildings were damaged in the town of Colona and multiple semi-trucks were toppled over along the I-88.

An enhanced risk – Level 3 out of 5 – of severe storms remains in place from northwestern Tennessee to north Ohio, including Columbus, Nashville, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Louisville.

A Level 3 enhanced risk means multiple persistent and widespread severe storms are possible.

And while tornado watches were no longer active by Wednesday evening, at the peak of the storm earlier in the day, there were more than 20 million people under tornado watches that extended more than 800 miles, from eastern Arkansas to southeastern Michigan.

This latest round of severe weather comes just days after parts of the South and Midwestt were ravaged by violent storms and tornadoes that left 32 people dead.

Softball-sized hail ‘sounded like bricks hitting the roof’

The most notable impact has been large, baseball-sized hail. More than 170 hail reports emerged from Iowa, Illinois, Missouri and Michigan on Tuesday.

Davenport, Iowa, was pummeled with 4-inch hail – larger than a softball.

“Worst hail I’ve ever heard in Davenport. Sounded like bricks hitting the roof,” Davenport resident Paul Schmidt wrote on Facebook.

Farther east in Oswego, Illinois, baseball-sized hail plummeted from the sky.

Blizzard conditions engulf parts of the Northern Plains

As twisters threaten the Midwest and South, winter storms are expected to plague the Northern Plains. The region is expected to be hit by a blizzard Wednesday, a day after “blizzard conditions” led to the shutdown of more than 100 miles of Interstate 90.

Widespread heavy snow has fallen across the Rockies and is expected to continue over the Northern Plains, which have been seeing snowfall for several hours.

“Blizzard warnings are in effect for parts of the Dakotas where snow showers and strong winds will cause blowing snow and reduced visibility, which will make travel dangerous,” the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center said Wednesday afternoon.

Parts of eastern North Dakota and northern Minnesota will see several inches worth of snow Wednesday, the center added.

The North Dakota Department of Transportation urged drivers to stay off the roads, warning conditions are too dangerous even for emergency crews.

“If you don’t need to drive, stay off the roads. It’s dangerous for you and emergency crews. If you’re stranded, crews may not be able to reach you,” the transportation department tweeted.

Meanwhile, sleet and freezing rain will impact parts of the Upper Great Lakes and New England, the prediction center said.

“Winter Weather Advisories are in effect for parts of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont through early Thursday morning,” the center added, warning of possible power outages and difficult travel conditions.

Five of the world’s busiest airports for passengers in 2022 were in the United States, according to preliminary global air traffic figures.

Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport was still the world’s busiest airport for passenger volume in 2022, holding the top spot it reclaimed in 2021 after being knocked off stride by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Airports Council International, a trade association representing nearly 2,000 airports, released the rankings on Wednesday.

Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver and Chicago O’Hare took the second, third and fourth slots, respectively. Los Angeles was No. 6 among the busiest airports in 2022.

The strong US showing is thanks to a healthy rebound in the domestic market. All of the US airports in the top 10 have significant domestic passenger shares – between 75% and 95% domestic traffic, according to ACI.

In 2021, eight out of the top 10 busiest airports were in the United States.

More broadly, domestic markets are recovering faster than international markets.

However, Dubai International (No. 5), London Heathrow (No. 8) and Paris Charles de Gaulle (No. 10) returned to the top 10 in 2022 after two pandemic years of being knocked off their pre-pandemic top 10 perches.

The London hub recorded the largest year-over-year traffic jump of the top 10, with a nearly 218% increase in passenger volume from 2021, thanks to the lifting of restrictions in March 2022.

And Dubai was the No. 1 airport in 2022 for international passengers, followed by London Heathrow and Amsterdam Schiphol.

New to the overall top 10 for passengers in 2022 were Istanbul Airport at No. 7 and Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi at No. 9.

For the first time in many years, no airports in China made it into the top 10 busiest list. After the United States, China is the world’s second-largest domestic travel market.

Global traffic in 2022 reached nearly 7 billion passengers, 73.8% of 2019 levels, according to ACI, with domestic travel at 80% of 2019 levels and international traffic at 60%.

Air travel should be ‘much better’ in 2023

Last year also brought big air travel disruptions in some regions related to surges in demand that outpaced ramp-ups in staffing and capacity, which had been slashed early in the pandemic.

This year should be “much better,” de Oliveira said, noting that air travel is an “ecosystem.”

“We don’t have an airline without an airport. We don’t have an airport without an airline, but you don’t have the industry without the customer, the passenger.

“That’s why for us it’s very important to maintain and work together with the whole ecosystem to provide a good service for our passengers. And in that way, we are much more prepared than last year to cope with the demand,” he said.

One of the biggest lessons for the industry from the pandemic? A need for global collaboration.

“We cannot take decisions that are not based in facts, that are not based in science,” de Oliveira said, noting a need for coordinated rules “rather than each country taking a decision based on their own conclusions about the measures they need to take. The coordination for us is more important than what kind of rules that you apply.”

ACI expects global passenger traffic to reach 92% of 2019 levels in 2023. A full recovery to 2019 levels isn’t expected until 2024.

World’s top 10 busiest airports for passenger traffic in 2022

1. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta, Georgia (ATL): 93.7 million passengers; up 23.8% from 2021

2. Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas (DFW): 73.4 million passengers; up 17.5% from 2021

3. Denver, Colorado (DEN): 69.3 million passengers; up 17.8% from 2021

4. Chicago O’Hare, Illinois (ORD): 68.3 million passengers; up 26.5% from 2021

5. Dubai, United Arab Emirates (DXB): 66.1 million passengers; up 127% from 2021

6. Los Angeles, California (LAX): 65.9 million passengers; up 37.3% from 2021

7. Istanbul, Turkey (IST): 64.3 million passengers; up 73.8% from 2021

8. London Heathrow, United Kingdom (LHR): 61.6 million passengers; up 217.7% from 2021

9. Delhi, India (DEL): 59.5 million passengers; up 60.2% from 2021

10. Paris Charles de Gaulle, France (CDG): 57.5 million passengers; up 119.4% from 2021

Austin is basking in plenty of praise ‘n’ glory these days.

The city is like the most popular student in high school – and people love everything about the kid. People want to listen to the same music, use the same technology and eat the same food as the kid. They’re ga-ga for the kid.

But José Ralat, who has held the title of taco editor at the venerable magazine Texas Monthly since 2019, isn’t so dazzled by the kid. At least when it comes to his beloved tacos.

Ralat contends the capital city of Texas has only recently started to deliver on its vaunted reputation – whipped up by what he calls “coastal elites” – for great tacos.

He made his case in a November 2022 article on the “The Top 25 New(ish) Taquerias in Texas” when he wrote: “One of the biggest surprises is that, finally, Austin tacos are earning the praise long heaped on them by out-of-towners and media personalities who mistook stylish mediocrity for regional excellence.”

It takes some passion, guts and expertise to call out longstanding prestige. But Ralat has those qualities – honed over many years – to do just that.

Ralat’s purview extends beyond tough-love criticism of Austin. He also has a lot to say about taco culture in the rest of Texas, where to get some of the best ones in the state and how its tacos stand up to another big state long associated with them.

How to create your dream job

In 2015, Ralat co-edited a taco feature for Texas Monthly. He enjoyed it so much that he immediately pitched himself for a job that didn’t exist. And he was turned down. Repeatedly. But Ralat didn’t give up.

“After multiple freelance assignments for the magazine, I got the job. … It was a four-year argument.”

It’s a very singular title. Ralat said he’s the only taco editor in the United States – and the world. And after he landed the role, the University of Texas Press published Ralat’s book, “American Tacos: A History and Guide,” in 2020.

Ralat said there’s a lot more to his Texas Monthly duties than eatin’ tacos and rating them.

“Yes, I do criticism. Yes, I do trend pieces. My stories are superficially about the food, but more about the people.”

“Why tacos as the entry point? I was looking for something that was missing from journalism. But also something that I was very passionate about that connected my personal life with my professional life.

“I got into it mainly through falling in love with a young lady of Mexican descent from Texas. And she introduced me to breakfast tacos, and she downright forced me to eat cow tongue. … I was head over heels for both the food and the girl,” Ralat said.

All of this has given Ralat the perfect perch to observe and critique taco culture in Texas, which was born out of its long, intertwined history with Mexico.

How Austin is turning things around

When it comes to cuisine, “Austin is a Tex Mex town that historically has not had diversity until recently,” Ralat said.

“For example, they like to claim breakfast tacos.” Breakfast tacos didn’t come to Austin until roughly the late ’70s, he said. “Meanwhile, in the ‘50s and earlier, they were being eaten in the Rio Grande Valley, on the border with Mexico, and in San Antonio,” Ralat said.

All these major tourist and media draws gave coastal elites this very narrow idea of what Austin was.

José Ralat, taco editor at Texas Monthly

Austin’s breakfast taco reputation “was concocted out of the commercialization of South by Southwest, tech companies opening offices there. … All these major tourist and media draws gave coastal elites this very narrow idea of what Austin was.”

But things are changing for the better. Ralat said 2019 was something of a turning point for Austin becoming a better taco town.

“What has happened now is you’ve had a small community of young taqueros and chefs who have decided to combine their talents and focus on quality while ignoring the noise.”

Take Nixta Taqueria in Austin. It specializes in hand-made tortillas using a nixtamalization process that indigenous peoples in what is now Mexico employed before the Spanish conquest.

“The fillings are predominately vegetarian. They do wonderful things with beets. Wonderful things with cauliflower. And they’re always trying something new. That flies in the face of meat-heavy Texas.”

What inspired these vegetarian leanings?

Chef Edgar Rico of Nixta said via emai, “I grew up in Visalia, California, which is near Fresno – the Salad Bowl of America. And I also spent my formative years as a chef in LA, which has unmatched farmers markets. … I was fascinated in making vegetables taste just as good as – if not better – than a piece of meat.”

Rico’s favorite veggie item is the beet “tartare” tostada “because people tend to not really love beets. This dish is such a great use of taking something that is generally not executed well when cooked. … When we add our salsa macha, horseradish, avocado crema, and other aromatics, it boosts more of the roasted notes in the beets and completely transforms the dish into this beautiful, umami bomb.”

Nixta isn’t the only new game in town.

Ralat also gave a shout-out to Cuantos Tacos, which focuses on “fantastic” Mexico City-style tacos.

He went back and forth to Mexico City for a couple of years to see how things were done and opened his place in 2019. Finding the right kind of tortilla was crucial for Robledo.

“Luckily we found some from a small mom and pop shop in San Antonio. … I knew these were the tortillas I needed to use for my business.” He said they’re worth the effort to have those nixtamalized tortillas delivered to Austin.

Ralat praises this new wave of taco makers in Austin.

“They look out for each other, and they look out for the community. And they welcome and encourage competition and fraternity, which is something that was previously really lacking.”

In his 2022 Texas Monthly piece, Ralat spotlighted some relative newcomers in Austin, including Con Todo, where he likes tacos Bistec Estilo Matamoros (a small, oil-bathed corn tortilla bearing chopped beef; a sprinkling of queso fresco, onion and cilantro; and a thin slice of avocado).

Passionate taco preferences

Want to start a heated argument in Texas? Try slapping a “best tacos” label on a city or region and gird yourself.

When it comes to tacos, “Texans are fiercely loyal to their cities and will cheer them on hell or high water and talk smack about other cities.”

“The idea is better approached as: ‘What do these cities specialize in that other cities don’t? What is regional?’ “

The geographical and cultural vastness of Texas comes into play here.

“There’s where you get things like San Antonio’s puffy taco. You get breakfast tacos in Brownsville and in the rest of the Rio Grande Valley. You have contemporary or modern tacos in Dallas that are really fascinating.”

But the idea of regional tacos is starting to dissipate as people move, Ralat said. “So now, it’s quite easy to find tacos from Brownsville and El Paso in Austin.”

Planning a trip with tacos in mind

Texas is way, way too big to take in on a long weekend or even a weeklong trip. If visitors wanted to make tacos a key part of a trip, where in Texas should they go?

Ralat suggests heading about 80 miles (129 kilometers) south of Austin down Interstate 35.

“San Antonio is the culinary and cultural heart of Texas. It’s where Tex Mex was crystallized. … It’s one of the oldest cities in Texas, so it has wonderful history, not just the Alamo.

“You can visit Native American sites. You can shop. There are wonderful museums there. And you’ll get a taste of not just Texas but of Mexico.

“You’ll get the puffy taco, but then you’ll get dishes like the taco al pastor at this small taqueria called El Pastor Es Mi Señor. It’s one of my Top 25 … and arguably serves the best tacos al pastor in Texas.”

Alex Sarmiento, general manager of El Pastor, said he and his family members were inspired by the flavors they missed from growing up in Mexico City.

“I think our Tacos al Pastor are special because we put our love on every single taco. … They have all our childhood memories on every single taco,” he said via email. “This taqueria has always been about remembering from where we came from.”

Ralat also suggests these other spots in San Antonio:

• Ray’s Drive Inn: It “has been serving stellar San Antonio-style puffy tacos since the 1950s.”

• Stixs and Stone: “The Alamo City staple of barbacoa and Big Red are combined into magnificent barbacoa tacos in Big Red-infused corn tortillas.”

Smackdown: California vs. Texas

Ralat is unabashed when asked to compare the California taco scene with that of Texas.

“What state is better? HANDS DOWN Texas,” his voice louder and more emphatic than at any point in the interview.

When challenged to make a case for Texas, he cited:

• The Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, which “ships in everything.”
• “The port city Houston gets everything.”
• Large vibrant immigrant population bringing tacos from Mexico and elsewhere.

Texans want to share their food, he said, and “the best way to share food in Texas is in a tortilla.”

Ralat resides in Dallas, hundreds of miles from the border with Mexico. But he can travel figuratively with food.

“Within five miles of my house, I can reach eight Mexican states. I think that’s great. California is big, but Texas is bigger.”

He’d spent years backpacking around the world, and Japanese traveler Daisuke Kajiyama was finally ready to return home to pursue his long-held dream of opening up a guesthouse.

In 2011, Kajiyama arrived back in Japan with his Israeli partner Hila, who he met in Nepal, and the pair set about finding the perfect location for their future venture.

However, there were a couple of major stumbling blocks in their way. To start with, Kajiyama had very little money to speak of after years of globetrotting around destinations like Korea, Taiwan, India, Nepal, Guatemala, Cuba and Canada.

He also happened to have his heart set on a traditional Japanese house, typically known as kominka, which are usually passed down over generations.

Guesthouse dream

When he was unable to find anything that met his requirements, Kajiyama decided to shift his search to include the growing number of abandoned homes in the country.

As younger people ditch rural areas in pursuit of jobs in the city, Japan’s countryside is becoming filled with “ghost” houses, or “akiya.”

According to the Japan Policy Forum, there were 61 million houses and 52 million households in Japan in 2013, and with the country’s population expected to decline from 127 million to about 88 million by 2065, this number is likely to increase.

Kajiyama was driving around Tamatori, a small village located in the Shizuoka prefecture, between Kyoto and Tokyo, surrounded by green tea plantations and rice fields, when he came across an elderly woman farming, and decided to approach her.

“I said ‘Do you know if there are any empty houses around here?’ And she just pointed,” he recalls.

He looked over at the area that she was signaling to and spotted two neglected houses side by side – a former green tea factory and an old farmer’s home – located close to a river.

Both properties had been uninhabited for at least seven years and needed a huge amount of work. Kajiyama asked the woman to contact the owner to find out if they’d be interested in selling.

“The owner said that no one could live there, as it was abandoned,” he says. “But he didn’t say ‘no.’ Everybody was always saying ‘no.’ But he didn’t. So I felt there was a small chance.”

Ghost house

Kajiyama returned to visit the houses around five times, before going to visit the owner himself to negotiate an agreement that would see him use the old green tree factory as a home, and convert the farmer’s house into the guesthouse he’d always envisioned.

While he was keen to purchase both of the homes, he explains that the traditions around home ownership in Japan mean that he is unable to do so until it’s passed down to the son of the current owner.

“They said ‘if you take all the responsibility yourself, you can take it.’ So we made an agreement on paper,” he says.

Both he and Hila were aware that they had a lot of work ahead of them, but the couple, who married in 2013, were thrilled to be one step closer to having their own guesthouse in an ideal spot.

“It’s a very nice location,” says Kajiyama. “It’s close to the city, but it’s really countryside. Also people still live here and go to work [in the city].

“The house is also in front of the river, so when you go to sleep you can hear the sound of the water.”

According to Kajiyama, the process of clearing the house, which is around 90 years old, before beginning the renovation works was one of the hardest parts of the process, simply because there was so much stuff to sort through. However, he was able to repurpose some of the items.

During the first year, he spent a lot of time connecting with locals, gaining knowledge about the home, and helping the local farmers with farming for the first year or so.

Authentic style

Although he wasn’t hugely experienced with renovation work, he had spent some time farming and completing building while he was backpacking, and had also taken odd jobs fixing peoples homes.

He completed much of the work on the guesthouse himself, replacing the floors and adding in a toilet, which he says was a wedding present from his parents, at a cost of around $10,000.

“I’m not really a professional,” he says.” I like to do carpentry and I enjoy creating things, but I have no experience in my background.

“From my several years of backpacking, I saw so many interesting buildings, so many houses of interesting shapes and I’ve been collecting those in my brain.”

Kajiyama was determined to keep the house as authentic as possible by using traditional materials.

He saved money by collecting traditional wood from building companies who were in the process of breaking down traditional houses.

“They need to spend the money to throw it away,” he explains. “But for me, some of the stuff is like treasure. So I would go and take the material that I wanted.

“The house is a very, very old style,” he says. “So it wouldn’t look nice if I brought in more modern materials. It’s totally authentic.”

He explains that very little work had previously been done to the house, which is quite unusual for a home built so many years ago.

“It’s totally authentic,” he says. “Usually, with traditional houses, some renovations are made to the walls, because the insulation is not so strong. So you lose the style.”

Lengthy process

He says he received some financial support from the government, which meant he was able to bring in a carpenter and also benefited from Japan’s working holiday program, which allows travelers to work in exchange for food and board, when he needed extra help.

After doing some research into Japanese guesthouse permits, he discovered that one of the simplest ways to acquire one would be to register the property as an agriculture guesthouse.

As the area is filled with bamboo forests, this seemed like a no-brainer, and Kajiyama decided to learn everything he could about bamboo farming so that he could combine the two businesses.

“This is how I started farming,” he says.

In 2014, two years after they began working on the house, the couple were finally able to welcome their first guests.

“It was a beautiful feeling,” says Kajiyama. “Of course, this was my dream. But people really appreciate that it was abandoned and I brought it back to life.”

He says that hosting guests from all over the world has helped him to stay connected to his former life as a backpacker.

“I stay in one place, but people come to me and I feel like I’m traveling,” he says. “Today, it’s Australia, tomorrow it’s the UK and next week South Africa and India.

“People come from different places and they invite me to join them for dinner, so sometimes I join someone’s family life.”

Sadly, Hila passed away from cancer in 2022. Kajiyama stresses that his beloved wife played a huge part in helping him achieve his dream of having a guesthouse and says he couldn’t have done it without her.

“We were really together,” he adds. “She created this place with me. Without her it would not have been like this.”

While the three-bedroom guesthouse, which measures around 80 square meters, has been open for around eight years, Kajiyama is still working on it, and says he has no idea when he’ll be finished.

“It’s never ending,” he admits. “I’m halfway, I feel. It is beautiful already. But it started off abandoned, so it needs more details. And I’m getting better at creating, so I need time to do it.”

Complete transformation

He explains that he’s unable to complete work on the home while guests are there. And while the property is closed during the winter, he spends two months as a bamboo farmer and usually spends a month traveling, which doesn’t leave him much time for renovations.

“Sometimes I don’t do anything,” he admits.

Yui Valley, which offers activities such as bamboo weaving workshops, has helped to bring many travelers to the village of Tamatori over the years.

“Most of the guests come after Tokyo, and it’s such a contrast,” he says. “They are really happy to share the nature and the tradition in our house.

“Most people have dreamed of coming to Japan for a long time and they have a very short time here.

“So they have such a beautiful energy. I’m happy to host in this way and join their holiday time. It’s very special [for me].”

Kajiyama estimates that he’s spent around $40,000 on the renovation work so far, and if the feedback from guests, and locals, is anything to go by, it seems to have been money well spent.

“People appreciate what I’ve done,” he adds. “So that makes me feel special.”

As for Hiroko, the woman who pointed out the house to him over a decade ago, Kajiyama says she’s stunned at the transformation, and is amazed at how many international travelers are coming to Tamatori to stay at Yui Valley.

“She cannot believe how much more beautiful it is [now],” he says. “She didn’t think it was going to be like this. So she really appreciates it. She says ‘thank you’ a lot.”

Yui Valley, 1170 Okabecho Tamatori, Fujieda, Shizuoka 421-1101, Japan

Russia could place powerful strategic nuclear weapons in Belarus, on top of the tactical nuclear warheads Moscow is already planning to deploy there, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said during a national address on Friday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced last week that Moscow would complete the construction of a storage facility for tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus by the beginning of July. After days of silence, Lukashenko welcomed the move on Friday, announcing he had intensified talks with Putin about deploying both tactical and strategic nuclear weapons in the country.

The mentioning of strategic nukes is an escalation in rhetoric from Lukashenko. While tactical warheads are designed for use in a limited battlefield, for example to destroy a command post or a column of tanks, strategic nuclear warheads are designed to destroy entire cities. Russia has not announced any plans to send strategic nuclear weapons to Belarus.

Lukashenko, who has been asking Putin for nuclear weapons for a while, claimed Belarus needed the weapons because Ukraine’s Western allies were planning a coup against him. He baselessly accused Western countries of “preparing to invade” Belarus from Poland and “destroy” it.

“If necessary, Putin and I will decide and introduce strategic nuclear weapons here. And they must understand this … We will stop at nothing, protecting our countries, our states and their peoples,” the Belarusian leader was quoted as saying by state media BELGA.

The two leaders are scheduled to meet next week.

“We are not a nuclear country and we don’t want to deploy nuclear weapons in our state,” she said, adding that the decision violates Belarus’ constitution.

Belarus is one of Russia’s few allies in its war on Ukraine. While the country’s military isn’t directly involved in the fighting, Belarus helped Russia launch its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, allowing the Kremlin’s troops to enter the country from its territory.

Putin said last week that Moscow has already transferred an Iskander short-range missile system to Belarus. The device can be fitted with nuclear or conventional warheads. However, the Russian leader said he would not transfer control of the tactical nuclear weapons to Lukashenko, likening the move to Washington’s practice of stationing nuclear weapons in Europe to keep host countries, like Germany, from breaking their commitments as non-nuclear powers.

“Our converted planes can also carry a nuclear warhead. You heard from the president of Russia about joint plans to create the appropriate infrastructure on the territory of Belarus. I just want to clarify: The entire infrastructure has been created and is ready,” Lukashenko said.

Lukashenko said that Minsk and Moscow would make “every effort and use the means to ensure their sovereignty and independence.” He specifically accused Poland and its “zealous” Western neighbors of building up the “formation of certain regiments, banners, legions” for a “subsequent coup in Belarus.”

Speaking to the nation on state TV, Lukashenko also called for the freezing of “hostilities” in Ukraine.

“It is necessary to stop hostilities and declare a truce that prohibits both sides from moving groups of troops and from transferring weapons, ammunition, manpower, and equipment. All stopped, frozen,” Lukashenko said.

However, both Russia and Ukraine immediately rejected the proposal.

Senior Ukrainian Presidential Adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said there cannot be a ceasefire while Russian forces continue to occupy Ukrainian territory.

“Any ceasefire will mean [the Russian Federation’s] right to stay in the occupied territories. This is totally inadmissible,” Podolyak said.

The Kremlin also ruled out the proposal on Friday. “In the context of Ukraine, nothing changes. The special military operation continues because at the moment it is the only way to achieve the goals that our country faces,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a regular call with journalists, referring to the invasion by the Russian propaganda phrase.

But while he called for a truce, Lukashenko added a warning to the West that Moscow would be obliged to use the “full power of its military-industrial complex and the army to prevent the escalation of the conflict – phosphorus ammunition, non-depleted uranium, and enriched uranium – everything must go into action if there is deception and even the slightest movement across the border of Ukraine is noticed.”