Vinícius Jr scored the goal that secured Real Madrid’s 14th European Cup last May, and this season his brilliance has continued to light up the team’s Champions League campaign.

The supremely talented 22-year-old – widely considered one of the world’s best players – has six goals in seven matches in Europe and another eight in La Liga, but he has also become a repeated victim of “hate crimes” in Spain, according to a players’ union.

Ahead of the derby against Atlético Madrid in January, an effigy of Vinícius was hanged from a bridge in Madrid, while racist slurs have been caught on camera during Real’s matches at Osasuna, Mallorca, Real Valladolid and Atlético.

As of yet, there have been no punishments handed down by Spain’s leading football authority – the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) – or any local prosecutors, but investigations into some cases are still ongoing.

Instead, LaLiga can only pass on any incidents of abuse to RFEF committees or regional prosecutors, who deal with them as legal cases before sporting punishments are handed out.

LaLiga says it gives out the ‘Fan’s Handbook,’ written in collaboration with the Club Supporters’ Federation, in stadiums before each season starts, highlighting which practices should “represent the values” of football.

It also sends a ‘Player’s Handbook’ to every player before the start of the season, encouraging them to be respectful and to report any racist or violent behavior they witness.

“So it is the State, the Justice and the Security Forces [police and Civil Guard] who must investigate and act immediately in the face of this type of event,” the AFE said. “Then, within the sports field, there is a disciplinary code that also contemplates possible sanctions for this type of conduct. We want to insist that what happened with Vinícius is a hate crime, which is criminally prosecuted.”

Piara Powar, the executive director of the Fare Network, an organization set up to combat discrimination across European football, says football leagues and authorities in Spain are “washing their hands” of these incidents.

Then, either through disinterest or a lack of understanding of football and the gravity of these incidents, local prosecutors are not adequately dealing with the investigations, Powar says.

“In Spain, this structure has been allowed to develop over the years and it hasn’t been challenged,” he says. “You often have an individual judge, who is linked to a local authority or a regional authority, who then sits as a quasi-judicial figure instead of a disciplinary committee or regulatory commission, which is what happens in other countries.

“Often, the individuals taking them are then completely disconnected from football and completely disconnected from the implications of their decisions, and often apply a mixed standard of evidence to them based partly on a criminal standard and partly on a civil standard – and the two standards are very different.

“So you have these cases that are being constantly dismissed and when they are passing the judgment on them, the sanction is usually a minor fine that has no impact at all.”

Powar says the way football and legal authorities in Spain deal with incidents of racist abuse at matches has led to the “system falling apart” in the country.

“It’s not effective, it has never been effective and some people treat it as a joke, but nobody relies on it as a reliable intervention that’s going to create a change,” he adds.

“I think you genuinely have an FA [RFEF], who either through disinterest or just through not understanding what they need to do, who are not doing anything themselves.

“We now need to move to a centralized template to assist the way UEFA is looking at how FAs are conducting the disciplinary regulations, how they’re enforcing them and making sure that the processes are fit for purpose.”

‘Racist campaign against Vinícius’

Incidents of players being racially abused by fans have tarred numerous LaLiga matches this season.

Instances of racist abuse directed at Vinícius make up eight of these cases and four – including three involving the Real star and one involving Athletic Bilbao’s Nico Williams – have been archived without a punishment being handed out.

In addition to the local Madrid prosecutor choosing not to issue any punishments because they only “lasted for a few seconds,” other reasons from regional prosecutors for not trying cases include “could not identify the perpetrators,” “does not seem to be” covered by the penal code and “do not cross the line for a penal breach,” LaLiga said.

When asked to explain how it failed to identify the fans who racially abused Vinícius at FC Barcelona’s Camp Nou stadium on October 24, 2021, the Barcelona prosecutor said they are not able to reveal details as the investigation is private.

“In other cases, the investigation has been successful, such as the racist insults to Iñaki Williams [in January 2020] where the prosecution, after the investigation was carried out, filed a complaint and described it as a hate crime. It is currently awaiting a trial date.”

Powar says for a football regulatory case to take three years, “particularly a very simple one,” proves how “the system is failing in Spain.”

“These hearings should be heard by a committee of the FA, independently appointed, and they should be heard within days, if not weeks,” he adds.

“That is how this system should operate and then the sanction that results is implemented during the season, very quickly and the principles of natural justice are respected, but as it is, the victims are being failed.”

The painstakingly slow process in Spain appears all the more convoluted when compared to a recent case in England, in which a local court handed down a three-year ban to a fan just three months after he had shouted a racist slur at Chelsea’s Raheem Sterling.

Esteban Ibarra, the president of the Movement Against Intolerance, a Spanish organization that aims to educate on discrimination and track incidents of racist abuse in football, called the archiving of the Vinícius case at the Camp Nou by local authorities “inconceivable.”

“We flatly deny that Spain is a racist country, but we affirm that there are numerous racist behaviors in our country,” Ibarra added in a statement on the organization’s website.

“We maintain that there are plenty of racist incidents, which have not been stopped when there is relevant legislation and sufficient law, policing and institutional capacity to put an end to this ignominious behavior.

“The racist campaign against Vinícius began a long time ago.”

The Spanish Penal Code says racist acts – relating to ethnicity, race or national origin – that “harm the dignity of people” through “contempt” or “humiliation” can carry a punishment of six months to two years in prison.

Spain reports its hate crimes to the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), whose records show there were 1,802 hate crimes recorded by police in 2021 – the most recent data available – with 192 cases leading to prosecutions and 91 to sentences.

Compare that to England and Wales, where there were 155,841 hate crimes recorded by the police in the year ending March 2022, a 26% increase on the previous year.

Another case that has been “provisionally archived” is that of Vinícius at Mallorca on March 14, 2022, in which the Mallorca prosecutor says it was unable to identify the perpetrator.

The prosecutor explains that while cases of racist abuse are “absolutely rejectable” and “typical of profane and despicable attitudes,” under Spanish law incidents “do not always inevitably entail a criminal response.”

However, the prosecutor pointed to two cases in 2023 – another involving Vinícius and one involving Villarreal’s Samu Chukwueze – in which they have successfully identified the offender and are currently in the “judicial investigation phase.”

“When this phase is completed, the existing incriminating elements will be evaluated and the existence or not of a possible crime of discrimination will be specified,” they said.

Last month, the National Sports Council of Spain proposed a €4,000 fine and a 12-month ban from entering football stadiums for the Mallorca fan identified for abusing Vinicius at the match on February 5 this year, but the punishment is yet to be handed out.

“We understand that these types of events must be prosecuted and condemned,” the AFE said.

“We are in favor of penalizing this behavior. Society in general reproaches this type of behavior. The culprits must be found, brought to trial and sentenced.”

Individual clubs can take action against any supporters they believe to be guilty of directing abuse towards players, but these instances are rare.

This season, only Valladolid has taken such action, suspending the season tickets of a dozen members it identified with the help of the police.

In a statement, Valladolid said the events that occurred were “typified as racist and intolerant,” but the club still insisted that it “does not consider its fans to be racist.”

Vinícius has used his platform numerous times this season to call for more action to be taken by authorities, but his pleas have so far fallen on deaf ears.

“‘As long as skin color is more important than the brightness of the eyes, there will be war.’ I have this sentence tattooed on my body,” Vinicius Jr posted on Instagram earlier this season in response to what he described as racist criticism from a TV pundit.

“You can’t even imagine. I was a victim of xenophobia and racism in a single statement. But none of this started yesterday.

“The script always ends with an apology and an ‘I’ve been misunderstood,’” he said. “But I’ll repeat it for you, racist[s]: I will not stop dancing. Whether it’s in the Sambadrome, in the Bernabéu or wherever.”

Media storm

Powar says he has noticed a theme in the Spanish media that intends to apportion part of the blame for the racist abuse to Vinícius himself, which often insinuates that the Brazilian “brings it upon himself” with the way he plays or celebrates goals.

Last September, Pedro Bravo – a leading agent and president of the Association of Spanish Agents – compared Vinícius to a monkey on a football program.

And earlier this month, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was left dumbfounded when a reporter asked him if he thought Vinícius’ “provocative behavior” on the pitch had led to the racist abuse.

Still only 22, Vinícius has quickly developed into one of the world’s most talented players.

Known for his dazzling skill and flair, Vinícius’ dancing goal celebrations have also become famous in Spain and in his native Brazil.

It was after another one of these celebrations that Bravo said Vinícius should “stop playing the monkey.” In response, the Madrid superstar insisted he was “not going to stop” celebrating his goals with dancing.

“Part of the discourse – and I’ve seen that in editorials in Spanish newspapers in the last months – is that people say what’s happening is wrong, but he also has to carry some of the blame,” Powar says.

“That has fed itself and Vinícius is now getting racially abused very explicitly at every match.”

The AFE says racism should be viewed as a societal issue in Spain, rather than one that just concerns football and last month held a meeting with the Movement Against Intolerance to begin forming a plan on how to tackle racist abuse at matches moving forward.

In a mission statement, the two organizations said they will begin working together on campaigns and training to educate and raise awareness about the “scourge” of racism in football.

Additionally, they will also appear jointly in criminal cases against incidents of racist abuse and report incidents that they believe should be investigated to the Hate Crimes Prosecutor.

Given the convoluted nature of the process in Spain and a system “riddled with a sense of issues being kicked into touch,” Powar says, it seems – for now at least – players will be left waiting for some time to receive justice – if it ever arrives.

Violent clashes erupted in the Italian city of Naples on Wednesday as ticketless German soccer fans descended on the city for a key Champions League match which they had been banned from attending.

Footage filmed by Reuters shows groups of men attacking riot police with flame throwers and objects in the smoke-shrouded streets of Naples.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Naples Mayor Gaetano Manfredi condemned the violence and said he had called Germany’s Ambassador to Italy, Viktor Elbling.

According to news outlet Football Italia, around 400 Frankfurt fans have traveled to Naples.

Following reports of violence in the first leg of the tie back in Germany, Italian authorities banned Napoli from selling tickets for Wednesday’s match at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium to Frankfurt fans, according to a statement from Eintracht Frankfurt published on its website on Sunday.

Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant has been suspended by the NBA for eight games without pay for “conduct detrimental to the league,” officials announced Wednesday.

The punishment follows an incident where Morant was seen in an Instagram Live video holding a gun at a nightclub outside Denver.

The league said an investigation “did not conclude that the gun at issue belonged to Morant, was brought by him into the nightclub or was displayed by him beyond a brief period. The investigation also did not find that Morant possessed the gun while traveling with the team or in any NBA facility.”

The suspension includes the five games Morant has already missed since the incident and Memphis’ games on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

He will be eligible to play Monday in a home game against the Dallas Mavericks.

Morant met Wednesday with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver.

“Ja’s conduct was irresponsible, reckless and potentially very dangerous,” Silver said in a statement. “It also has serious consequences given his enormous following and influence, particularly among young fans who look up to him.

“He has expressed sincere contrition and remorse for his behavior. Ja has also made it clear to me that he has learned from this incident and that he understands his obligations and responsibility to the Memphis Grizzlies and the broader NBA community extend well beyond his play on the court.”

Earlier this month, the police department in Glendale, Colorado, a suburb of Denver, said the agency would not recommend charges against Morant.

Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the number of games Ja Morant has missed.

Parts of a nor’easter that buried portions of the Northeast under feet of snow and left hundreds of thousands without power will linger Wednesday over New England, where it is expected to bring limited snow but heavy winds that could cause more outages before shifting off the coast.

An additional 1 to 4 inches of snowfall is forecast over parts of upstate New York and New England on Wednesday, the National Weather Service says, after some parts of the region were pummeled with more than 2 feet of snow Tuesday.

Several communities reported snowfall of 36 inches by Tuesday night, including the towns of Moriah and Stony Creek in New York, and Marlboro, Vermont. In Beacon, New York, 43 inches of snow was reported but that number may be inaccurate based on totals in surrounding areas.

Though snowfall will taper off significantly overnight, strong winds with gusts of up to 50 mph were expected to blow through areas of the mid-Atlantic and the Northeast throughout the morning.

The nor’easter – a type of storm that travels along the Eastern Seaboard and brings winds from the northeast – disrupted daily life across swaths of the region, creating treacherous or impossible to navigate road conditions and creating hazards for those trying dig out of the snow.

In Derry, New Hampshire, a falling tree struck and trapped a child who’d been playing near a parent who was clearing snow Tuesday afternoon, the city fire department said. Firefighters and police officers used chainsaws and shovels to free the child, who was brought to a hospital with minor injuries.

“Please be mindful of the increased danger for injuries and heart attacks when shoveling heavy-wet snow,” the National Weather Service cautioned Tuesday.

The storm also caused a slew of school closures and class delays across the region on Tuesday. Some schools also will be impacted Wednesday, including Worcester Public Schools in Massachusetts, which announced a two-hour delayed start.

In New York, where about 40,000 residences and businesses remained without power early Wednesday, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced several warming centers available in hard-hit counties, including Albany, Ulster and Saratoga counties. The governor also implored residents to “continue to avoid unnecessary travel so plows and emergency personnel can do their jobs.”

Heavy snow hinders travel

More than 2,000 flights within, into or out of the United States were canceled Tuesday, and more than 6,000 additional flights were delayed, mostly connected to airports in the Northeast as the storm plowed through the region, according to tracking site FlightAware.

Airlines including Delta, American, United, Southwest, JetBlue and Spirit have issued travel waivers or flexible rebooking policies for passengers whose flights were impacted by the winter weather.

Officials throughout the affected region warned drivers to take extra precautions or avoid snow-covered or icy roads.

In New Hampshire, state troopers responded to more than 200 crashes and vehicles that had traveled off the road, New Hampshire State Police said in a tweet.

States deployed teams of plows and other emergency response vehicles, including the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, which said it sent 1,813 pieces of equipment to respond to the storm and treat roads. The department also issued a 40 mph speed restriction on Interstate 90, which stretches through the state.

Hurricane hunters collecting storm data on both coasts

As the nor’easter swept through the Northeast and a separate atmospheric river system hit the Pacific coast, hurricane hunters with the US Air Force Reserve collected data that could improve future forecasts for the regions.

We at it again flying another #AtmosphericRiver in the Pacific and the developing #snow storm in the Atlantic. The @53rdWRS is continuing to gather critical data from coast to coast to improve forecasts of these highly impactful late-season winter storms. pic.twitter.com/x0KSub68OT

— Jeremy DeHart (@JeremyDeHart53d) March 14, 2023

But now, the hurricane hunters can fly to the storms and deploy instruments that can relay pinpointed live weather data. The data can be immediately included in weather forecast models, which improves the accuracy of the forecast dramatically.

“We’re flying missions from sea to shining sea out here,” the hurricane hunters tweeted on Tuesday. “It’s just what we do.”

The storm system that’s hammered California this week is heading east – but not before dousing the state with more torrential rain and knocking out power with ferocious winds.

Daily rainfall records were shattered Tuesday in Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and Santa Maria. The deluge will keep hitting Southern California on Wednesday before moving east, threatening 25 million people in the central US.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom expanded a state of emergency to cover 43 of the state’s 58 counties Tuesday night as high winds and intense rain wrought havoc in the state.

Some cities endured hurricane-force winds. Top wind gusts of 97 mph were measured at Santa Clara County’s Loma Prieta, 93 mph at Alameda County’s Mines Tower and 74 mph at San Francisco Airport, according to the National Weather Service.

In San Francisco, firefighters believe fierce winds sent out glass falling from a downtown high-rise building, they said.

Across the state, more than 169,000 customers had no electricity Wednesday afternoon, according to PowerOutage.us.

All this severe weather is caused by the 11th atmospheric river to strike California this season. And it won’t be the last, with yet another set to pummel the state next week.

Atmospheric rivers are long, narrow bands of moisture that can carry saturated air thousands of miles like a fire hose.

“These atmospheric rivers are transporting a ton of moisture from the Pacific Ocean out to the West Coast of the US,” said Maj. Chris Dyke, a member of the Air Force Reserve’s “Hurricane Hunters” weather reconnaissance team.

The squadron has been flying planes into California’s storms to drop instruments called “dropsondes” inside atmospheric rivers to relay live weather data. The information is immediately put into weather forecast models, which dramatically improves the accuracy of forecasts.

Storms push east with tornado, flood risks

As the storm creeps east, parts of Arizona and Nevada are under flood alerts Wednesday.

In Arizona, several creeks and rivers in the Flagstaff area are expected to rise Wednesday and Thursday due to heavy rain and melting snow, the local National Weather Service office said. “Flooding is likely along Oak Creek and Wet Beaver Creek,” NWS Flagstaff tweeted.

And after this atmospheric river dies down, California will get walloped by yet another. The next one will likely pummel California between March 21 to 23 with more rain, snow, fierce winds and flooding, forecasters said.

Atmospheric rivers are typically 250 to 375 miles wide and can stretch more than a thousand miles, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says.

While they’re an important source of rainfall for the West, atmospheric rivers can create conditions similar to those of hurricanes when they pass over land, NOAA said.

And due to the effects of global warming, scientists believe atmospheric rivers can become more intense as the air temperatures increase.

Atmospheric rivers will be “significantly longer and wider than the ones we observe today, leading to more frequent atmospheric river conditions in affected areas,” a NASA-led study found.

‘I want to cry, but what’s crying going to do?’

More than 70,000 Californians were ordered to flee their homes during the latest atmospheric river that turned streets into lakes, caused a levee to breach and threatened mudslides.

In Placer County, a mudslide Tuesday evening caused major damage to a home in Colfax, prompting an evacuation warning for other homes, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s Nevada Yuba Placer Unit.

In Monterey County, crews have been racing to fix a breach in a river levee Friday that sent water gushing into the nearby community of Pajaro. More than 2,000 people were evacuated from the Pajaro area, Monterey County Sheriff Tina Nieto said.

Water from another breach eroded nearby bridges and inundated California’s famed Highway 1, which had to be closed, Monterey County officials said.

“I want to cry, but what’s crying going to do?” Michelle Keith said. “It’s just sad, so sad.”

Another Pajaro resident, Ruth Ruiz, hasn’t been able to return home since she left in hurry before dawn Saturday. Ruiz is worried about how long it’ll take to get back to normal life after she returns home, she said.

Polish pilot Lukasz Czepiela made aviation history on Tuesday, becoming the first person to land a plane on the helipad of the iconic Burj Al Arab Jumeirah hotel in Dubai.

Czepiela was able to bring his specially adapted light aircraft to a stop in just 21 meters (68 feet), landing on a platform only 27 meters (89 feet) wide, 212 meters (696 feet) above the ground on top of the 56-story building.

“The biggest challenge was the lack of any external points of reference, which is usually found at an airport where you have hundreds of meters of runway,” he told sponsors Red Bull.

The stunt had been in the planning since 2021 and required 650 test landings, according to Red Bull.

Czepiela’s day job is captaining an Airbus A320, but he has some impressive flying achievements under his belt, including winning the 2018 world championship challenger class title in the Red Bull Air Race, and landing an aircraft on a wooden pier in Sopot, Poland.

Czepiela joins an elite group of sporting legends who have graced the helipad of the sail-shaped hotel, including tennis champions Roger Federer and Andre Agassi, who played a match there in 2005, and former F1 Grand Prix winner David Coulthard, who performed donuts there in 2013.

A light-filled, green haven that brands itself as a “destination in itself,” Singapore’s Changi Airport has reclaimed its spot at the top of Skytrax’s annual ranking of the world’s best airports.

Skytrax, a UK-based airline and airport review and ranking site, compiles its list by surveying travelers from across the world and asking them to rate the entire airport experience – from check-in to departures and everything in between.

Singapore Changi Airport previously topped Skytrax’s list for eight years running, but in 2021 and 2022 dropped a couple of spots down the list as passenger numbers fell during the pandemic, with Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar, taking the top gong instead.

Miller says Changi airport “offers something for everyone,” and suggests that is a “key driver” of its continuing popularity.

Some of Changi’s charms include a spectacular 40-meter-tall (around 130 feet) indoor waterfall, a butterfly garden and an IMAX cinema – not to mention more than 280 retail and dining outlets, perfect for killing time during a layover.

“Singapore Changi is primarily a transit airport, and from the customer feedback, the airport performs well because it offers such a wide range of facilities and amenities for all types of customers – families, business and leisure travelers are all well catered for,” says Miller.

Hamad International Airport, which this year earned the second place in Skytrax’s list, also offers amenities designed for transiting travelers – including city tours for those spending more than eight hours waiting for their connecting flight.

This year, Skytrax’s 2023 top five was rounded out by Tokyo’s International Airport, known as Haneda, (number three), Incheon International Airport (number four) and Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport (number five).

From airport dining to airport art

Skytrax also hands out other awards, including regional prizes, with Changi Airport nabbing the gong for Best Airport in Asia, as well as winning World’s Best Airport Dining and World’s Best Airport Leisure Amenities.

Changi’s on-site hotel, the luxurious Crowne Plaza Changi Airport, was crowned world’s best airport hotel for the eighth consecutive year.

Meanwhile, second-place Hamad International Airport also won World’s Best Airport Shopping, Best Airport in the Middle East and Cleanest Airport in the Middle East, while third-place Tokyo Haneda Airport was crowned the overall cleanest airport.

Bahrain International Airport won World’s Best Airport Baggage Delivery and Incheon Airport is apparently the airport with the best staff and immigration processing.

Meanwhile the once-lambasted New York LaGuardia Airport continued its successful rehabilitation quest, with its new Terminal B awarded World’s Best New Airport Terminal.

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport is the highest rated US airport, coming in at number eighteen on Skytrax’s list and awarded Best Airport in North America.

Cape Town International Airport is the best airport in Africa, Delhi Airport is the best airport in India and South Asia and Bogota’s El Dorado International Airport won the Best Airport in South America award.

This year, the Skytrax team also premiered a new category celebrating airport art, judged by a separate panel rather than via the customer survey.

The Houston Airport System, which boasts one of the largest collections of public art in the state of Texas, won this award on behalf of William P. Hobby Airport and George Bush Intercontinental Houston Airport.

Skytrax World’s Top 20 Airports for 2023

1. Singapore Changi Airport

2. Hamad International Airport

3. Tokyo International Airport (Haneda)

4. Incheon International Airport

5. Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport

6. Istanbul Airport

7. Munich Airport

8. Zurich Airport

9. Narita International Airport

10. Madrid-Barajas Airport

11. Vienna International Airport

12. Helsinki-Vantaa Airport

13. Rome Fiumicino Airport

14. Copenhagen Airport

15. Kansai International Airport

16. Chubu Centrair International Airport

17. Dubai International Airport

18. Seattle-Tacoma International Airport

19. Melbourne Airport

20. Vancouver International Airport

At least 22 people, including three monks, were killed at a monastery in Myanmar’s Southern Shan State on Saturday as local insurgent groups and the military-backed junta accused each other of carrying out a massacre.

Myanmar has been mired in political violence since military leader Min Aung Hlaing seized power in a 2021 coup that upturned any hope the Southeast Asian nation of 55 million people would become a functioning democracy.

The coup was followed by a brutal military crackdown against pro-democracy protesters that saw civilians shot in the street, abducted in nighttime raids and allegedly tortured in detention.

Since the coup, at least 2,900 people in Myanmar have been killed by junta troops and over 17,500 arrested, the majority of whom are still in detention, according to advocacy group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).

The coup has also resulted in a surge in fighting between the military and a raft of resistance groups allied with long-established ethnic militias in a country that has been plagued for decades by insurgencies.

Resistance groups have repeatedly accused Myanmar’s military of carrying out mass killings, air strikes and war crimes against civilians in the regions where fighting has raged, charges the junta repeatedly denies – despite a growing body of evidence.

The latest allegation of an atrocity emerged last week in Shan State, the remote and mountainous northeastern chunk of Myanmar that borders China, Laos and Thailand.

Many were seen wearing civilian clothes and had multiple gunshot wounds. Among them were also three bodies dressed in saffron orange robes, traditionally worn by Buddhist monks.

In the video provided by the group, visible bullet holes could be seen on the walls of the monastery.

The bodies were seen lined up and slumped against the monastery’s walls with pools of blood on the ground below.

‘Tortured and executed’

Both the KNDF and Myanmar’s military agree fighting took place in the area but two competing narratives have emerged in the aftermath of the killings at the monastery.

Fierce fighting had taken place between local insurgent groups and Myanmar’s military in an area near Nan Nein Village last week.

That fighting spilled over with the military shelling and launching airstrikes directly at the village forcing the civilians to take refuge in the nearby monastery, Soe Aung said.

Describing the carnage, Soe Aung said: “These civilians and monks were tortured and executed by the Burmese military.”

“The monks did not want to leave their monastery so civilians and monks stayed there together,” he continued.

Because of the way the bodies were discovered lined up in front of the monastery, Soe Aung suggested that they were killed by “a hit squad.”

The victims were all unarmed and many bodies showed signs of “torture and beatings” with “sustained bullet wounds to the head,” he added.

Blame game

Myanmar’s junta spokesperson Major General Zaw Min Tun dismissed accusations the military was responsible.

In comments carried by the state run newspaper Global Light of Myanmar on Tuesday, he blamed “terrorist groups” for the violence at the monastery, naming the Karen National Police Force (KNPF), the People’s Defence Force (PDF) and the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP), an administration uniting ethnic groups in the state.

Zaw Min Tun claimed fighters opened fire after “the Tatmadaw (cooperated) with the local people’s militia and took security measures for the region.”

“When the terrorist groups violently opened fire… some villagers were killed and injured. (Others) ran away.”

“It is not our policy to put fighters in the village because it could bring conflicts to the civilians,” he said.

The area has seen fighting for several weeks, he added – most of it concentrated in surrounding jungle and mountain areas.

The Myanmar military’s attack on the Nan Nein Village also included a “bombardment” involving air strikes, according to the KNDF.

‘Terror campaign’

The junta’s coup toppled the government of democratically elected civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was later sentenced to 33 years in jail following a string of secretive and highly-politicized proceedings.

Aung Myo Min, spokesman for the National Unity Government that represents the ousted civilian leadership, called the latest attack in Nan Nein village “a terror campaign” and said the country was in the “worst situation” right now.

“In the past three months, there has been an increasing number of civilians killed. The number of mass killings committed by the military has increased and… the military has been using more forms of violence against the people,” he said.

“The casualties in this massacre… it’s very clear that they are civilians (and) not involved in any kind of opposition movement against the military,” he added.

Myo Min described the killings as “cold blooded” and said they fit a pattern of the Myanmar military routinely attacking civilians.

Asia deputy director of Human Rights Watch Phil Robertson called for stern action.

“Every day across the country, Myanmar’s military and police are committing brutal acts that constitute crimes against humanity. Massacring civilians in a hail of bullets at a Buddhist monastery shows the desperate savagery of a regime wholly divorced from the Burmese people,” Robertson said.

“Governments around the world should recognize that Myanmar’s military junta government does not care about words,” he added.

“It must be hit by a global arms embargo imposed by the UN and the kind of decisive sanctions needed against the Tatmadaw and its business interests… that keep this atrocious, rights abusing military in the field – massacring civilians without remorse.”

A gargantuan mass of seaweed that formed in the Atlantic Ocean is headed for the shores of Florida and other coastlines throughout the Gulf of Mexico, threatening to dump smelly and potentially dangerous heaps across beaches and put a big damper on tourist season.

The seaweed, a variety called sargassum, has long formed large blooms in the Atlantic, and scientists have been tracking massive accumulations since 2011. But this year’s sargassum mass could be the largest on record — spanning more than 5,000 miles from the coast of Africa to the Gulf of Mexico.

The blob is currently pushing west and will pass through the Caribbean and up into the Gulf of Mexico during the summer, with the seaweed expected to become prevalent on beaches in Florida around July, according to Dr. Brian Lapointe, a researcher at Florida Atlantic University’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute.

“This is an entirely new oceanographic phenomenon that is creating such a problem — really a catastrophic problem — for tourism in the Caribbean region where it piles up on beaches up to 5 or 6 feet deep,” Lapointe added.

He noted that in Barbados, locals were using “1,600 dump trucks a day to clean the beaches of this seaweed to make it suitable for tourists and recreation on the beaches.”

What is sargassum

Sargassum is a catch-all term that can be used to refer to more than 300 species of brown algae, although Sargassum natans and Sargassum fluitans are the two species most commonly found in the Atlantic.

The algae has its upsides when adrift at sea.

“This floating habitat provides food and protection for fishes, mammals, marine birds, crabs, and more,” according to the Sargassum Information Hub website, which is a joint project among various research institutions. “It serves as a critical habitat for threatened loggerhead sea turtles and as a nursery area for a variety of commercially important fishes such as mahi mahi, jacks, and amberjacks.”

The problems arise when sargassum hits the beaches, not only piling up in mounds that can be physically difficult to navigate but also emitting a gas that can smell like rotten eggs. And it can quickly turn from an asset to a threat to ocean life.

“It comes in in such a large quantities that it basically sucks the oxygen out of the water and creates what we refer to as dead zones,” Lapointe said. “These are normally nursery habitats for fisheries … and once they’re devoid of oxygen, we have lost that habitat.”

Sargassum can also be dangerous to human health, Lapointe noted. The gas that the rotting algae releases, hydrogen sulfide, is toxic, and it can cause respiratory problems. The seaweed itself also contains arsenic in its flesh, making it dangerous if ingested or used for fertilizer.

“You have to be very careful when you clean the beaches,” he warned.

Mounds of algae dumped on beaches also cost millions of dollars to clean up, notes the Sargassum Information Hub.

Why 2023 has a sargassum problem

Just like plants and crops on the ground, the proliferation of seaweed can shift year to year depending on ecological factors, affected by changes in nutrients, rainfall and wind conditions, said Dr. Gustavo Jorge Goni, the director of the Physical Oceanography Division at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory.

Likewise, currents at sea can alter sargassum’s annual growth and how much accumulates, Goni added. Phosphorus and nitrogen in the sea can also serve as food for the algae.

Those elements can be dumped into the ocean from rivers, which gain concentrations of phosphorus and nitrogen from human activities, such as agriculture and fossil fuel production, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

For now, researchers are looking into ways to thwart its impact on beaches, possibly by sinking the seaweed to the bottom of the ocean or harvesting it for use in commercial products such as soap, Goni said.

Goni also cautions that research into these sargassum accumulations is new, and it’s likely scientists’ understanding of how the algae grows will shift over time.

“Whatever we believe we know today, it may change tomorrow,” he said.

After the NFL scouting combine, the beginning of the free agency period is the next major milestone in the upcoming season’s checklist.

While it officially opens at 4 p.m. Eastern Time on March 15 when the new league year begins in earnest, teams are able to negotiate with the agents of upcoming unrestricted free agents during a two-day period before that point.

Upon the beginning of the new league year, players can officially sign with new teams, trades become official and contracts come to an end.

In recent years, spending has risen – the annual salary cap for each team has grown to $224.8 million per team in 2023 – and teams have been more aggressive with their willingness to part with draft stock for proven assets.

And this year looks to be no different with some massive deals reportedly completed.

All-Pro cornerback Jalen Ramsey has reportedly been traded from the Los Angeles Rams to the Miami Dolphins and numerous quarterbacks have agreed to deals already – Geno Smith at the Seattle Seahawks, Daniel Jones at the New York Giants and Derek Carr with the New Orleans Saints.

But there are some huge dominoes yet to fall, which could shape the fabric of the league.

Quarterback questions

As the most important position in the sport, it is only right that the biggest questions surround some of the highest profile quarterbacks in the league.

The majority of the interest surrounds two main names at very different points in their careers.

For Aaron Rodgers, he likely has one big decision left in his career at 39 years old.

Despite hinting at a divorce from the Green Bay Packers for multiple seasons, now seems to be the closest Rodgers has come to leaving, with the New York Jets pursuing the four-time NFL MVP with vigor.

With a young and talented team, the Jets seem just a quarterback away from serious contention and Rodgers could be that missing puzzle piece.

By contrast, Lamar Jackson has a lot more of his career to come but, like Rodgers, could also be heading for pastures new by leaving his longtime home with the Baltimore Ravens.

Having failed to come to terms on a long-term contract over the last two years, the Ravens applied the non-exclusive franchise tag on Jackson last Tuesday. That means that 26-year-old is free to negotiate with other franchises, but should he sign an offer sheet with another team, the Ravens will have five days to either match the deal or receive two first-round picks in return.

The Ravens have made it clear for a while that they want to have Jackson, an MVP winner in 2019, at the helm for many years to come, but the two sides haven’t been able to reach an agreement on a contract for a while now. The non-exclusive tag comes with a salary-cap cost of $32.4 million for the upcoming season.

While Rodgers’ decision appears to be remain in Green Bay or sign with the Jets, Jackson’s options seem wide open. Numerous teams across the league – Atlanta Falcons, Washington Commanders, Indianapolis Colts, Carolina Panthers, Las Vegas Raiders and San Francisco 49ers – are reportedly all interested.

Both Rodgers and Jackson could transform franchises from outsiders to title challengers. But with as many as four quarterbacks projected to be drafted high up in this year’s draft, it throws into question whether teams prefer a long-term project or a short-term fix.

Defensive stars on the move

Although offenses have been prioritized over recent years as scoring has gone through the roof, we could see defenses around the league bolstered with some big names on the move.

The biggest move set to happen is Ramsey’s return to Florida after being traded from the Rams to the Dolphins in exchange for a third-round pick and tight end Hunter Long.

The arrival of three-time first team All-Pro Ramsey transforms a Dolphins team from up-and-comer to title challenging outfit, whilst also continuing the Rams’ rebuild.

Elsewhere, there are a number of key defensive players who are available through free agency, including two from last season’s Super Bowl runners up.

Safety Chauncey Gardner-Johnson and cornerback James Bradberry would all make excellent additions to new teams with their contracts with the Philadelphia Eagles having expired, whilst also earning themselves a pretty penny.

Bobby Wagner, Lavonte David, Byron Murphy and Jordan Poyer could all be valid contributors too.

Offensive weapons at a premium

In terms of the offensive side of the ball, teams will have to be selective about the talent they decide to acquire.

Many of the offensive weapons who were scheduled to hit the open market were given the franchise tag by their teams.

That means a one-year tender offer of the average of the top five salaries at the player’s position for the current year, or 120 percent of his previous salary, whichever is greater.

Running back Saquon Barkley will return to the Giants, tight end Evan Engram to the Jacksonville Jaguars, Josh Jacobs to the Las Vegas Raiders and Tony Pollard to the Dallas Cowboys.

Elsewhere, firepower is in high demand and short supply. Odell Beckham did not play last season, Jackobi Myers is a solid No. 2 or No. 3 receiver and JuJu Smith-Schuster, coming off a Super Bowl ring, was quiet in the playoffs.

The tight-end market could prove a little more fruitful for teams, with Dalton Schultz, Mike Gesicki and Robert Tonyan all available.

Teams could also replenish offensive line needs with Orlando Brown, Kaleb McGary, Dalton Risner and Isaiah Wynn available.