Before Qatar first struck “black gold” in 1939, life in the Gulf revolved around pearls. These iridescent gems of the deep shaped the culture, politics, regional relations and fortunes of its inhabitants over more than 7,000 years – not least Qatar’s ruling Al Thani family, who were the dominant force in the local pearling industry at its peak around the turn of the 20th century.

Revered for their brilliant luster and luminosity, Gulf pearls were a particular hit with the aristocratic and emerging middle classes of Europe and the US. Along with its neighbors and fierce rivals Bahrain and some parts of the Trucial States (which encompass today’s UAE), Qatar rose to the increasing global demand, with 48% of its 27,000-strong population in 1907 (or nearly all men) employed in pearling.

Half a century later, however, it was all over, with the political resident (the chief British representative in the Gulf) writing in 1958: “For the first time in very many years no pearling boat left Doha harbor, and the hulks of what used to be a considerable fleet lie rotting on the coast.”

The arrival of oil was just one of multiple factors that led to the swift and crushing demise of the Gulf pearling industry. But while many physical remnants of Qatar’s pearling past have since succumbed to the bulldozers, this rich heritage remains woven into the fabric of the nation.

Scratch the surface of Qatar today, and references to its pearling past are ever-present, from public art – notably the Pearl Monument at the entrance to Doha’s Dhow Harbour depicting a giant, pearl-bearing oyster – to modern architecture including The Pearl-Qatar, a glitzy residential and lifestyle development built on a former pearling bed.

Keen-eyed commuters will also note the pearlescent tiles featured throughout Doha’s metro stations.

Visitors can still shop for rare (and eye-wateringly expensive) Gulf pearls at The Old Pearl Diver boutique in Doha’s Souq Waqif run by octogenarian Saad Ismail Al Jassem, who claims to be one of Qatar’s last commercial pearl divers.

Risky lives

And while commercial pearl diving has yet to enter a renaissance in Qatar as it has in Bahrain and the UAE, the nation continues to revive its pearling heritage at annual festivals including the Senyar Festival, which includes a pearl diving contest, and the Katara Traditional Dhow Festival, marked by a program of maritime displays and traditional activities.

Offering similarly evocative insights throughout the year are Qatar’s museums including Doha’s National Museum of Qatar, where the immersive film “Nafas” (Breathe) by Mira Nair brings the hardships of pearling to life.

In the nation’s northwest, a small pearling display at Al Zubarah Fort, which sits astride the ruins of a former pearling port (now publicly accessible via a boardwalk opened in November 2022) offers another intriguing taste of life in Qatar’s coastal pearling communities.

While the tujar (richest pearl merchants) and sheiks who controlled the pearling fleets accumulated great wealth from the trade, life for ghasa (pearl divers), who would spend more than four months of each summer at sea, was “pretty grim”, says Robert Carter, senior archaeology Specialist at Qatar Museums and author of “Sea of Pearls: Arabia, Persia, and the Industry That Shaped the Gulf.”

“They didn’t have much to eat except rice, fish and maybe a bit of bread, so scurvy was a problem,” Carter explains. “Water was strictly rationed, so they would have to wash in the sea; and they were damp all the time, so they got horrible fungal diseases.”

Carter also notes accounts of divers, who typically made 50-60 dives per day,getting stung by rays and eaten by sharks.

When divers – weighed down by a rock – had collected around 20 oysters, they would tug on a rope to be pulled back up to the surface by a siyub (rope hauler). Any pearls found in the mollusks were graded and kept under lock and key on the dhow (pearling boat), with the opened shells either tossed back into the sea or kept to sell as mother-of-pearl. A member of the crew caught attempting to conceal a pearl, according to the late Australian mariner and writer Alan Villiers, would risk being beaten to death.

“The profits were shared among the crew, so stealing a pearl would mean breaking an enormous bond of trust,” explains Carter. A decent payday was never guaranteed anyway, with lackluster seasons often leaving divers, haulers, and even dhow captains without the means to support their families through to the next season. Slaves, meanwhile, were required to hand over their share to their masters.

Desert relics

The pearling industry historically had complex labor practices. At its peak it is estimated that a significant portion of pearl divers were enslaved. Despite the 1807 abolition of slavery in the British Empire, slavery was permitted to continue in Qatar for nearly four decades after the region became a British Protectorate in 1916.

Part of central Doha’s Msheireb Museums, Bin Jelmood House – the former home of a slave trader – documents Qatar’s slavery history, with displays touching on the role of slavery in the pearling industry.

Among the more mysterious links to Qatar’s pearling past are some physically etched into its desert landscape. Near the dreamy turquoise beaches of Fuwairit, one of many abandoned pearling settlements in remote northern Qatar, the publicly accessible rock carvings of Al Jassasiya – thought to be up to 250 years old – clearly depict, among other things, pearling dhows with oars sticking out from mandorla-shaped hulls like legs on an insect.

The shifting sands of the Qatari desert continue to reveal clues about Qatar’s pearling history, including the 2022 discovery of a Neolithic pearl bead by Qatar Museums’ head of excavation and site management, Ferhan Sakal – thought to be the oldest pearl uncovered in Qatar.

There are likely many more treasures waiting to be uncovered, yet the evidence already tells us, Carter says, that the pearling industry played a much more pivotal role in Qatar’s story than it is often given credit for.

“There would likely be nobody here except for the Bedouin if it wasn’t for the pearl fishery,” Carter says.

A flock of grazing sheep is helping archaeologists to preserve the ancient ruins of Pompeii, the Roman city that was buried under meters of pumice and ash in the calamitous eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79.

Archaeologists have uncovered only around two thirds of the 66-hectare (163 acres) site at Pompeii since excavations began 250 years ago.

Preserving the unexplored sections of the ancient city against erosion by nature and time is a priority for those who manage the site.

“If grass and other plants grow in or on the ancient walls and houses this is a problem. So we try to have a sustainable approach to the whole environment in order also to avoid using substances then to avoid growing plants, having plants growing on the walls and ruins,” said Gabriel Zuchtriegel, the director of the Pompeii Archaeological Park.

The flock of 150 sheep has been deployed to Regio V, a northern section of the city, where grassy hills are dotted with the ruined remains of ancient houses and shops.

Regio V is still off limits to the millions of visitors who come to Pompeii each year, but as part of its conservation efforts the archaeology park has in recent years launched new excavations at the site.

Among the striking discoveries since 2018 were vibrant frescoes, a snack shop and the skeletal remains of people killed in the eruption.

Zuchtriegel said the sheep initiative does not contribute to efforts of reducing carbon emissions, but helps to save money and preserve the landscape.

“It’s also something which really gives an idea of how Pompeii was in the time when it was rediscovered. It was woods, vineyards, sheep and it was this kind of rural environment and in the midst of that you had Pompeii.”

At home in Anchorage, Alaska, nurse Teresa Gray was playing a board game with her children when she heard about the massive earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria on February 6.

Although she was more than 5,500 miles away from the disaster, she immediately sprang into action.

Gray’s nonprofit, Mobile Medics International, sends small teams of volunteer medics to humanitarian crises around the world. They are typically on the ground to help within the first few days.

By February 7, Gray had received permission from Turkey’s Ministry of Health to join the relief efforts, and she flew out early the next morning.

She packed up supplies to help hundreds of patients, ranging from trauma dressings to antibiotics to acetaminophen. She also prepared the equipment her team would need to be self-sustaining in freezing winter conditions.

“The buildings have been substantially damaged, so you can’t stay inside, it’s too dangerous,” she said. “We’re going to be sleeping in a tent, eating MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) … This is not going to be a good time.”

Gray also did a video call to touch base with her team, which included a paramedic from London, a doctor from Malaysia, and a nurse anesthetist from Missouri. It was a hectic time for Gray, who says she gets “hyper-focused” before each mission, trying to anticipate problems that might arise.

“We need to find a safe place to be. What if somebody forgot their sleeping bag? We don’t speak the language, so I need to find some interpreters,” she said. “These are the things that run through my mind as I’m getting ready to go to the airport.”

After an epic journey through Seattle and New York, Gray finally landed in Turkey late on February 9 and met up with her team. They made their way to Hatay Province and once there, began doing mobile clinics on the streets of Samandag.

For Gray, the destruction she saw was difficult to comprehend.

“Just the total amount of annihilation … this is probably the most devastation that I have ever seen on any mission that we’ve been on,” she said.

Since so many structures were unstable, the government had mandated that all families must sleep outside in tents. In a cell phone video made on Valentine’s Day, Gray described how she and her group would go street to street, stopping at tents to offer their help. She reported treating people for earthquake injuries, including a girl who had been trapped in the rubble for more than 12 hours, as well as sicknesses like the flu that had been exacerbated by the living conditions.

“Whatever they need us to look at, we will,” she said. “Then we go back, sleep in our car. Get up the next morning and do it again.”

They treated hundreds of people during their 10-day mission, Gray said. One of their interpreters, a high school teacher who they called K.T., became an essential part of their team. In a cell phone video, K.T. told Gray what the people they were helping had said to her.

“They told me, ‘Say them (sic) thank you. It’s really good for us because … we can’t see any doctor, we can’t go any hospital,” K.T. said.

K.T. had also suffered a great deal. Two of her students had been killed in the earthquake, and the school where she taught had been destroyed. She and most of her extended family – a total of 15 people – lost their homes and were forced to take refuge in a greenhouse on their property.

Despite their own hardship, K.T.’s family adopted Gray’s group as their own, Gray said – letting them stay on their property, making them tea and coffee, and sharing meals with them. Their generosity served as another reminder that, even in desperate times, humanity shines through.

On February 19, Gray got back to Alaska. When a 6.3 magnitude aftershock hit Turkey the next day, she immediately reached out to K.T. and others she befriended on her journey to make sure they were all okay. She’s working to send another team of volunteers very soon.

Want to get involved? Check out the Mobile Medics International website and see how to help.

Even before they could climb into the ring, Cuba’s female boxers had to roll with the punches.

While the island has long been famed for its top-level male boxers, women were blocked by an official prohibition on their practicing the sport competitively.

Cuba’s government-run INDER sports institute claimed the sport was too violent for women, even as Cuban female athletes competed successfully in judo, karate and taekwondo.

For many hopeful women boxers on the island, the ban smacked of sexism – and a missed opportunity.

“We are always fighting for something, to raise our kids, to help our families, to be independent.”

Flores says she trained for years as many women interested in boxing do in Cuba: on her own dime and in gyms lacking in even the most basic equipment.

While they could learn and practice the sport as a hobby, the ban on women’s boxing meant Cuban female athletes could not take part in tournaments on the island or abroad.

At least officially, women’s boxing in Cuba did not exist.

A new dawn

In December, the first cracks in that glass ceiling appeared when officials made an about face after announcing that they had obtained the proper safety equipment for them – such as padding and head gear.

“We took this step when we were sure, really convinced that it was the moment and we didn’t have any concerns because our women would be protected,” Cuban Boxing Commission President Alberto Puig de la Barca told reporters at a news conference.

The change, sports officials said at the news conference, was also the result of a newly implemented family code on the island that said women were required by law to have the same opportunities as men. That apparently included boxing.

Two weeks later, the first try outs were held at a cramped facility with a single boxing ring. Many of the women boxers had only recently switched from competing in martial arts or had merely dabbled in boxing.

Still, they sparred with passion, drawing appreciative cheering and applause from spectators.

After the first bout, an announcer exclaimed to the crowd of people watching, “This is historic!”

Boxer Legnis Cala Massó said she started boxing to learn self-defense and was still shocked to be putting on gloves to potentially represent her country.

While Cuba’s female boxers have a long way to go, officials are hopeful that their enthusiasm and natural ability can make up for lost time. Sports officials predicted that Cuban women boxers would compete in the Central American and Caribbean Games starting in June and the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

“In my case all the comments I have received have been positive. That if I make an effort, I can achieve it,” she said. “That Cuban women have the potential for this.”

Time might have run out for Novak Djokovic to be admitted US entry to play at Indian Wells, but US politicians – notably Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis – are lobbying for regulations to change and allow the world No. 1 into the country in time for the Miami Open.

The US still requires international visitors to be vaccinated against Covid-19, and the Serbian, who has previously said he remains unvaccinated, confirmed he had applied for special permission to enter the country ahead of both tournaments.

However, Indian Wells organizers announced on Sunday that Djokovic had withdrawn from the tournament, where main draw play began Wednesday.

DeSantis said he would “run a boat from the Bahamas” for Djokovic to compete in the Miami Open tennis tournament later this month.

“I would run a boat from the Bahamas here for him. I would do that a hundred percent,” DeSantis said at a press conference in Tampa Wednesday.

“I think his people are looking at it, and I’m not sure that’s the way they want to come into the country, which I understand. I think it’d be a great moment, but you know, nevertheless.”

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director, proof of Covid-19 vaccination is required for non-U.S. citizens, non-immigrant passengers arriving from a foreign country to the US by air, though that applies to other forms of travel.

On Tuesday, DeSantis had called on US President Joe Biden to intervene and allow Djokovic to compete in the tournament.

“The only thing keeping Novak Djokovic from participating in the Miami Open tennis tournament is President Biden’s misguided and unscientific COVID-19 vaccination requirement for foreigner travelers,” DeSantis, who has separately vowed to permanently ban mandates related to coronavirus mitigation as he considers a presidential bid, said on Twitter.

“Mr. President – lift your restrictions and let him compete,” he added.

Republican Senators Rick Scott and Marco Rubio of Florida also urged the US president to allow Djokovic into the country to play.

“On a question of regarding the vaccination requirement, I refer you to the CDC – are the ones who deal with that,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday.

The vaccine requirement, she said, “is still in place, and we expect everyone to abide by our country’s rule, whether as a participant or spectator.”

US Open organizers said on Friday that they and the United States Tennis Association were “hopeful” that Djokovic was successful in his petition.

“Novak Djokovic is one of the greatest tennis players of all time and a six-time champion of the Miami Open,” the Miami Open said on Twitter on Friday.

“We hope he is allowed entry into the country so Floridians have the opportunity to see him compete once again.”

“Look, last year I did miss both Indian Wells, Miami and all the US Open swing,” the 22-time grand slam winner Djokovic told reporters in Belgrade last month.

“So it wouldn’t be the first time if it does happen. I mean, I hope it doesn’t, but that’s all I can do. All I can do is hope at the moment because, you know, my position stays the same. There’s not much else I can do except wish for a positive result,” he said.

Djokovic returned to the world No. 1 position when he defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas to win a record 10th Australian Open in January.

It was his 22nd major title, which tied him with Rafael Nadal for the most grand slam singles titles in men’s tennis history.

The Miami Open’s main draw play starts March 22 and and the tournament nds April 2.

A star-studded field will contest a record $25 million prize purse at The Players Championship on Thursday.

The field includes a trio of stars who have already held the world No. 1 spot in 2023 – Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and Jon Rahm, who currently tops the rankings – but there will be one glaring absence at TPC Sawgrass for the PGA Tour’s flagship event.

In the championship’s 49-year history, no player has ever successfully defended the title and with reigning champion Cameron Smith barred from competing due to his involvement in the LIV Golf Series, that run is guaranteed to tick over to half a century.

“Yes, it’s awkward,” PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan told reporters Tuesday when quizzed on the Australian world No.5’s absence.

“He was a deserved champion … but ultimately that’s a decision he made, and we’ve got an unbelievable field here this week and a history and tradition that one of these 144 is going to go seek to get.”

Elephants in the room

Smith headlines a host of big names who will not tee up in Florida due their involvement in the breakaway Saudi-backed tour.

Five of last year’s top 10 at the event – Smith, Anirban Lahiri, Paul Casey, Harold Varner III and Dustin Johnson – have joined LIV Golf.

Ensuring a field packed with the best golfers has been a cornerstone of The Players Championship’s claim to being golf’s “fifth major,”, yet six of the world’s top 50-ranked players – including Chilean duo Joaquin Niemann and Mito Pereira – will be absent for same reasons as Smith and co.

And as major champions in the previous five years, LIV Golf players Brooks Koepka, Bryson Dechambeau, Patrick Reed, and Phil Mickelson would all have been eligible to feature.

As a result, a string of questions posed to players ahead of the tournament focused on who was not playing, as opposed to who was.

“Would it be better if the defending champion was here this week? Absolutely,” McIlroy, champion in 2019, told reporters.

“But he made a decision that he felt was the best thing for him, and he knew that decision was going to come with consequences, and one of the consequences is right now not being able to play on the PGA Tour.”

Rahm’s response to Smith’s exclusion echoed that of McIlroy’s, with the Spaniard adding that “different circumstances” mitigated his belief that “defending champions should always be there.”

Some players made a choice of going to a different golf league knowing that they weren’t going to be allowed to play here,” Rahm said.

“And yes, this is a massive event. It is very close to major quality event, but it’s still a PGA Tour event.”

Smith will be watching, but exactly where from remains to be seen. In an interview shared on Twitter by Golf.com, the Australian – who lives in Florida – said he would be tuning in via TV before adding he would “love to get out” to TPC Sawgrass for the event.

“I don’t know how it would be received,” Smith said.

“But even getting out there and watching, walking around in the crowd, might be pretty funny.”

A new era

Arguably the most dominant theme of the pre-tournament press conferences though, concerned last week’s announcement of the PGA Tour’s revamped 2024 calendar.

Under the new schedule, eight “designated events” will offer increased prize purses, smaller fields, and no cuts – all features of the LIV Golf Series.

The restricted field sizes – between 70 and 78 players – twinned with eligibility criteria designed to reward “top performers” on the PGA Tour, has led to concerns that the revamped schedule could lead to a “closed shop,” leaving lower-ranked golfers out in the cold.

A players meeting was held Tuesday morning to discuss the changes, McIlroy said. The Northern Irishman, who joined Scheffler in backing the new schedule last week, believed those talks were positive.

“When more information and data was presented to them, the people that maybe had reservations about it I think came around, or at least were more informed on their opinions,” said McIlroy.

“It was good for them to see that and to see what the thinking is behind what we’re really trying to do here. I think the temperature in the room was nowhere near as hot as I anticipated it to be once the information was laid out.”

Rahm, who said he did not attend the players meeting as he was spending time with his children, added that while he understood some of the grievances, he believed the changes were “the best for everybody” in the long term.

McIlroy has been an outspoken critic of the LIV Golf Series since its arrival last year.

However, in light of the PGA Tour’s changes, the four-time major winner believes the breakaway series has ultimately been beneficial to golf.

“I’m not going to sit here and lie – I think the emergence of LIV or the emergence of a competitor to the PGA Tour has benefited everyone that plays elite professional golf,” McIlroy said.

“When you’ve been the biggest golf league in the biggest market in the world for the last 60 years, there’s not a lot of incentive to innovate.

“This has caused a ton of innovation at the PGA Tour, and what was quite, I would say, an antiquated system is being revamped to try to mirror where we’re at in the world in the 21st century with the media landscape.

“The PGA TOUR isn’t just competing with LIV Golf or other sports. It’s competing with Instagram and TikTok and everything else that’s trying to take eyeballs away from the PGA TOUR as a product.”

Again, Rahm agreed with McIlroy, adding that such changes would “never” have happened without LIV Golf.

“So to an extent, like I’ve said before, we should be thankful this threat has made the PGA TOUR want to change things,” Rahm said.

“I wish it didn’t come to the PGA TOUR being under fire from somebody else to make those changes and make things better for the players, but I guess it is what we needed. It is because of LIV Golf, otherwise we wouldn’t have seen any of this.”

Tee times

Play begins with the first trios teeing off at 6:50am ET on Thursday, as a glittering field throws up a host of big-name groupings.

7:34am – Patrick Cantlay, Tony Finau, Tom Kim

7:45am – Collin Morikawa, Rickie Fowler, Adam Scott

7:56am – Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm

12:34pm – Matt Fitzpatrick, Viktor Hovland, Shane Lowry

12:45pm – Kurt Kitayama, Will Zalatoris, Xander Schauffele

12:56pm – Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, Max Homa

How to watch

Golf Channel will be broadcasting the first two rounds of the event from 12pm to 6pm ET on Thursday and Friday, before coverage switches to NBC – from 1pm to 6pm ET – for the two final weekend rounds.

Viewers in the United Kingdom and Ireland can watch via Sky Sports from 11:30am Thursday.

More information on how to watch can be found on the PGA Tour’s website here.

Facing three injuries, the Memphis Grizzlies have taken another player off their court. But this time, it’s due to police and NBA investigations into the team’s star player.

The Grizzlies lost their second straight game Tuesday without star guard Ja Morant, who is under investigation after the 23-year-old posted an Instagram Live video of himself Saturday appearing to hold a gun at a nightclub outside of Denver.

Morant has apologized for his actions via his representation on Saturday, after Memphis announced he would be away from the team.

Morant said he would take time away “to get help and work on learning better methods of dealing with stress and my overall well-being.”

Memphis head coach Taylor Jenkins said Sunday there is no timetable for Morant’s return. The team tweeted Wednesday that Morant will miss at least four more games, meaning he will return no earlier than March 17.

Morant is averaging 27.1 points per game in his fourth NBA season.

The Instagram video, posted early Saturday morning and shared widely on social media, shows Morant briefly flashing what appears to be a gun while listening to music at a nightclub.

The police department in Glendale, Colorado, a suburb of Denver, said Wednesday the agency won’t recommend charges against Morant.

“(The department) was not able to determine that probable cause existed for the filing of any charges. In this case, it should be noted that on the night in question (police) did not receive any calls for service at the nightclub regarding a weapon of any type,” department officials said in a statement.

No one made a complaint and investigators concluded no one was threatened or menaced with a gun, police said.

It’s unknown why Morant was carrying a gun or if it was his. The Grizzlies played in Houston against the Rockets on March 1 before heading to Denver for a game against the Nuggets on March 3.

If Morant did bring the gun onto team facilities – which also includes the team plane – he is subject to NBA discipline according to its Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

The CBA states that players are prohibited from carrying firearms while “physically present at a facility or venue owned, operated, or being used by a Team, the NBA, or any League-related entity, and whenever a player is traveling on any NBA-related business, whether on behalf of the player’s Team, the NBA, or any League-related entity”

If a player is in violation of the ruling in the CBA, they could face a fine and/or a suspension.

“The Commissioner shall have the power to suspend for a definite or indefinite period, or to impose a fine not exceeding $50,000, or inflict both such suspension and fine upon any person who, in his opinion, shall have been guilty of conduct prejudicial or detrimental to the Association,” the CBA reads.

While it is unclear what punishment Morant could face, the most recent example of a gun-related incident came in the 2009/10 season when Gilbert Arenas, a three-time All-Star, was suspended until the end of the season – 50 games – for bringing unloaded guns into his team’s locker room, and making light of the incident once he was punished.

Arenas pleaded guilty but avoided jail time and was sentenced to two years of supervised probation, was embroiled in a dispute with teammate Javaris Crittenton – who was also suspended the rest of the season for the incident – over money in a poker game.

The US government said at the time that Arenas brought at least one firearm into the Washington Wizards’ locker room.

Arenas would later return to the Wizards, while Crittenton was released by Washington after his suspension, playing two more years of professional basketball before being charged with murder in August 2011. In April 2015, Crittenton plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter with a weapon and aggravated assault with a firearm and was sentenced to 23 years in prison.

Meanwhile, the Grizzlies are not having a great time of it on the court. Their 112-103 defeat by the Los Angeles Lakers at the Crypto.com Arena in LA on Tuesday came two days after losing in the same building to the Los Angeles Clippers.

Jaren Jackson Jr. led the way for the Grizzlies, finishing with 26 points, but it wasn’t enough as a dominant Anthony Davis – who racked up 30 points and 22 rebounds – and 17 points each for Dennis Schröder, Rui Hachimura and Austin Reaves led the surging Lakers to a seventh win in 10 games as they attempt to make the playoffs.

Still, the Grizzlies sit third in the Western Conference with a 38-26 record.

It’s enough to give anyone already on edge about flying hassles has yet another reason to pop an antacid or two: the prospect of delayed, lost or damaged baggage.

The concern is valid.

Especially when an epic winter storm sweeps across the land and one airline has a complete meltdown. Or when an airline insists it has your baggage secure in a distribution center but your tracking device shows it’s been taken to various malls and McDonald’s.

Handing over checked suitcases can almost feel like a leap of faith in circumstances these days.

In the meantime, you’re not totally powerless. There are things you can do and strategies you can take to help avoid losing a bag or at least minimize the impact of delayed, lost, stolen and damaged luggage.

Before you go to the airport

Book nonstop flights: If you’re really concerned about your checked luggage, prioritize nonstop flights or at least layovers with a generous amount of time, said Scott Keyes, the founder of flight deals and travel advice site Scott’s Cheap Flights (now called Going.com).

“Bags are most likely to get lost in that transfer between planes at connection, especially if there’s a tight connection.” And he said that’s doubly so for international flights with tight connections.

Consider discount airlines: He said full-service airlines are more likely to lose your bags than the discount airlines, which tend to have more nonstop flights that have a lower likelihood of losing a bag in transit.

Legacy airlines tend to have more connecting flights. Keyes said he wouldn’t make a booking decision based solely on this, but it’s “an interesting side factor to consider.”

She also said people should lay out what they are planning to pack on the bed and take a picture of that, too. If the bag is lost, that helps create a content record.

Use baggage tracking: “Many airlines allow you to see the status of your bags in their apps, which can help give you peace of mind that your bag is on the flight with you — or at least give you insight into your bag’s location should it get delayed,” Scott’s Cheap Flights said in an email news release.

You can set up independent tracking yourself. Paula Twidale, senior vice president of travel for AAA, said one option is called AirTag, and it connects with an Apple device so you can track the tag’s location.

Properly ID your suitcases on the inside, too: The consumer advocate group Travelers United says put your info on the inside, too, in case your outside tag gets torn off. Hoban makes the same suggestion.

“I have had a bag taken off the carousel at the airport in Salt Lake [City]. Luckily, I knew the people who took my bag so it was easy to exchange it,” she said. “But again, what if I did not know those people? What if they were total strangers and got my bag home? Hopefully, they’re good, honest people and see that I have a name and phone number in the bag that they can call me and let me know the mistake.”

The power of carry-ons: The airlines can’t lose baggage you never check in. Twidale suggests packing as light as you can and use just carry-ons. You’ll save time leaving the airport and have more peace of mind.

Review your credit card coverage: Before you buy extra travel insurance, Keyes suggested you check your credit card policy for travel protection.

You might get supplemental compensation (for what the airlines don’t cover) not only for lost bags, but also for reimbursements for things you may need to buy while you’re waiting for your bag.

At the airport before you fly

Check your bags in a timely manner: Travelers United says last-minute baggage check-ins can lead to a greater chance of trouble.

“Don’t push the system. The smallest delay can have serious consequences when your luggage is cruising down the conveyor belt and selected for security examination with little time to spare,” its website says.

Work that phone camera again: Keyes suggested that just before handing over your checked suitcases, open them up and take a picture.

“If your bag does get lost, and you’ve got any valuables in there … having a photograph of what was in there is really going to bolster your case to get compensation after the fact.”

Check your baggage tag’s destination: Travelers United also advises you double-check your airline luggage tags and make sure they’re going to where you are going, especially if you’re doing curbside check-in. And the North Carolina Consumers Council reminds people to keep hold of their the baggage claim ticket or sticker.

If your baggage is delayed

Scope out other spots at the airport: If your suitcases aren’t on the designated pick-up carousel, The Points Guy travel advice website suggests checking nearby carousels and if you don’t see them there, try the airline’s baggage office. This is also a good time to put those aforementioned tracking apps to work.

Report your issue and fill out forms at the airport: If your bags haven’t shown up, let the airline know.

“Many times, airline personnel will explain that the luggage has been located but will be delayed until the next flight,” Travelers United says. “If you have the time, wait. If not, fill out the appropriate lost luggage forms at the airport.”

Let the airline deliver your bags: Keyes said if an airline can locate your suitcases but it’s going to be hours before they arrive, make sure the reps have the address where you’ll be and use the airline’s delivery service.

Keep receipts: “If you buy anything to get you through the days without your luggage — from a new swimsuit to toothpaste — keep the receipts. You may need these to get reimbursed,” Scott’s Cheap Flights advises.

If your luggage is lost

Check your airline’s claims and compensation policy: Each airline should have website information on what to do if your bag is lost. For example, this is Delta Air Lines’ page. This is American Airlines’ page. And this is Southwest Airlines’ page. And airlines based outside the United States have their own systems. This is what to do if flying British Airways.

If the airline isn’t being helpful: “If the airline is dragging its feet on compensation … don’t be afraid to complain to the Department of Transportation, Keyes said regarding US airlines. You can file a complaint here.

“They’ve got a special aviation enforcement office where they’re being much more pro-active about protecting consumers and trying to clamp down on airlines when they’re not providing customers with the type of compensation or reimbursement that they’re required to do under federal laws.”

For information of making claims for UK flights, click here. And check the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority’s site here. Get more information on Canadian flights here.

Liability limits: There’s fine print, exceptions and paperwork / documentation hurdles, but you can eventually get cash for your lost bags.

For US domestic flights, the maximum liability amount allowed by DOT regulation is $3,800. Airlines are free to pay more than the limit, but are not required to do so. For international flights, that figure is $1,780. Find out more from the DOT here.

Damaged bags: If you see your luggage is damaged while still at the airport, report it there. Airlines aren’t required to pay for damages to items caused by improper packing, according to the DOT, nor are they responsible for “certain categories of items (for example: fragile items, electronics, cash, perishable items …)”

They are liable for damage to wheels, handles and straps.

Officials in California are imploring residents to prepare for a powerful storm set to lash the region with torrential rain later this week as the state continues to recover from colossal amounts of snow that trapped mountain communities.

About 17.5 million people across central and Northern California – including the San Francisco Bay area and Sacramento – and parts of Nevada were under flood watches Wednesday ahead of a storm set to drench the region Thursday with dangerous amounts of rain in most of the places that currently have existing layers of heavy snow from previous brutal storms.

“A storm arriving Thursday will bring a threat of flooding from a combination of heavy rain and snowmelt to lower elevations and foothills in California, especially below 5000 feet,” the Weather Prediction Center said. “And heavy, wet snow at higher elevations will lead to difficult travel and impacts from snow load.

“Creeks and streams in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada will be most vulnerable to flooding from rain and snowmelt.”

In response to the ominous forecast, officials in Marin and Monterey counties in California have begun preparations ahead of the looming storm, which is expected to strike the area as a strong atmospheric river event.

For the Big Sur community in Monterey County, the emergency services office went as far as advising residents and businesses to stock up on essentials that would supply them for at least two weeks. The county has also made sandbags available for residents who need them to protect their property. The Big Sur area, roughly 150 miles south of San Francisco, is one of central California’s renowned tourist attractions with picturesque rugged cliffs, mountains and hidden beaches along the Pacific Coast Highway.

Marin County’s fire department will have staff prepared for rescues in anticipation of possible flooding, county Fire Chief Jason Weber said.

Marin County, where a flood watch is in effect beginning Thursday, is home to one of California’s urban search and rescue task forces, and it will make its resources available for other counties as needed, Weber said.

This week’s severe weather threat comes as much of California has been hit with several back-to-back rounds of heavy snow that made roads impassable for days and knocked out power for thousands of residents as temperatures dropped.

Meterologist Katrina Hand of the Sacramento office of the National Weather service said when the storm first hits that area there likely will be some urban flooding, ponding and flooding from the smaller creeks and streams. Later, as the main rivers rise, more roads will flood.

Strong winds that could knock down power lines are also in the forecast, she said.

In hard-hit San Bernardino County, where mountain residents have been trapped in their homes, crews conducted dozens of rescues over the weekend, the county’s sheriff’s department said on Facebook. On Monday night, the county continued well-checks and community outreach, the sheriff’s department said. Despite the removal of large amounts of snow, some roads remained closed early Wednesday.

In addition to the heavy snow that overwhelmed the state last week, more than a foot of additional snow has already fallen this week in some mountainous parts of Northern California. And Wednesday is expected to bring more to that region, where lower elevations could see between 1 and 6 inches of snow with isolated totals surpassing a foot of snow across highest elevations of the Sierra Nevada mountain range.

The impending atmospheric river event won’t be the first this year to lash California. Late last year and into the new year, multiple rounds of heavy rains from atmospheric rivers devastated much of the state – soaking entire neighborhoods and unleashing mudslides while killing at least 18 people.

Atmospheric rivers are long, narrow bands of moisture in the atmosphere that transport warm air and water vapor from the tropics. They can extend for thousands of miles and dump rain and snow when they make landfall.

The danger of rainfall on top of existing snow

Much of California stands to be impacted by this week’s expected atmospheric river.

The Weather Prediction Center says parts of the state have a level 3 of 4 risk – the second-highest on the center’s scale – of excessive rain Thursday into Friday.

The storm is expected to drop some significant rainfall on top of some heavy snowpacks. The National Weather Service is expecting widespread rainfall totals of 2 to 4 inches, with isolated amounts up to 8 inches.

“The uncertainty lies in how much rainfall will be absorbed by the snowpack before there is significant release of that water into the rivers,” the Weather Prediction Center said. “It’s likely some of the (precipitation) will simply be absorbed into the many feet of snow at the highest elevations, but lower elevations, generally below 5,000 ft, appear most likely to not have the snowpack necessary to absorb the multiple inches of rainfall expected.”

Additionally, the threat of heavy rain seeping into deep snowpack could lead to the snow’s weight to increase, which can cause roofs to collapse, the prediction center noted. “Affected communities are urged to remove the existing snow from their roofs to mitigate this,” the weather agency added.

California Department of Transportation District 3 spokesperson Steve Nelson said this weekend is expected to bring “chaos” on the roads.

Referring to Interstate 80 he said if it’s a wet snow that will create issues with traction. If it’s a regular snowfall, they can keep the highway open to vehicles with chains or four-wheel drive, he added.

According to Nelson, officials were holding all big rigs at Applegate, about 40 miles from Sacramento, and holding all westbound traffic at Truckee, about 30 miles southwest of Reno, Nevada, due to multiple spinouts near the Donner Summit where there is hundreds of inches of snow.

Interstate 80 heads northeast from San Francisco and has been closed several times during recent weather.

After at least six incidents this year, the nation’s top aviation official says he does not know whether close calls involving airliners are on the rise, but says the issue and its causes will be examined at a safety conference next week.

“It’s a good question,” Billy Nolen, acting head of the Federal Aviation Administration, said after testifying to the Senate Commerce Committee – his second time there in a month.

Nolen defended his agency’s handling of the safety incidents, some of which were averted when pilots – not the air traffic controllers from his agency – avoided a collision. He said officials are “treating each of these as if it had been an actual event.”

“The FAA absolutely has a grasp on the situation and it’s something that we look at every day,” Nolen told reporters. “We’ll take a look at these near misses and see if there are lessons to be learned.”

He said a major safety meeting next week will include industry officials and ask the “hard questions.”

“Let’s just stop to see – are there any dots that we need to connect, and if so what might they be?” Nolen said.

Inside the committee room, Nolen said that the agency does not take safety for granted and is looking for opportunities to improve.

The FAA pointed to its Runway Safety Council (RSC) and Runway Safety Action Teams (RSAT) that are aimed at mitigating or eliminating such incidents.

Nolen also said that the FAA will use “every step, every tool that we have available in our disposal” to address unruly passengers like one accused of trying to stab a flight attendant earlier this week.

Last year, the agency logged more than 2,300 reports of unruly passenger behavior. Investigations were initiated in 823 cases, and 80 cases were referred to the FBI for criminal review.