Women in Berlin can now swim topless in the city’s public pools if they choose to – just as men can.

As well as being hailed as a step forward for gender equality in the German capital, the measure introduced this week is symptomatic of Germany’s love of Freikoerperkultur – literally translated as ‘free body culture’ – which has its roots in the late 19th century.

Berlin’s authorities took action after a female swimmer said she was prevented from attending one of the city’s pools without covering her chest in December 2022. The woman lodged a complaint with the city’s ombudsman’s office at the Senate Department for Justice, Diversity and Anti-Discrimination.

Authorities agreed that the woman had been a victim of discrimination and this week said that all visitors to Berlin’s pools, including women and those who identify as non-binary, are permitted to go topless.

It follows a similar incident at a Berlin water park in the summer of 2021. French woman Gabrielle Lebreton sought financial compensation from the city after security guards ordered her to leave the premise when she refused to cover up her breasts.

She was with her five-year-old son when the incident happened. Speaking to German newspaper Die Zeit at the time about why she believed it was gender discrimination, she said: “For me — and I teach this to my son — no, there is no such difference. For both men and women, the breast is a secondary sexual characteristic but men have the freedom to remove their clothes when it is hot and women do not.”

Berlin’s state government confirmed the move in a press release Thursday. “As a result of a successful discrimination complaint, the Berlin bathing establishments will in future apply their house and bathing regulations in a gender-equitable manner,” the statement reads.

The head of the ombudsman’s office, Dr. Doris Liebscher, hailed the move as a step forward for gender equality in the city.

“The ombudsman very much welcomes the decision of the bathing establishments because it creates equal rights for all Berliners, whether male, female or non-binary and because it also creates legal certainty for the staff in the bathing establishments,” she said.

Berlin resident Ida – who asked not to give her surname – welcomed the loosening of restrictions while questioning what it would really do for gender equality.

“Women, if comfortable with their own bodies and sometimes gawking strangers, won’t have a problem displaying their torsos in any case. It is great that there are no penalties for an accidental nip-slip so all in all, this is a beautiful thing.”

Ida also remained skeptical at how widely women would make use of the new rule. “I was once at a swimming pool in the Pankow district and remembering the audience, I would not go topless there. Germans, as a rule, are very neutral in that regard and won’t mind, but whether that translates well, we have to wait and see.”

The move is not unprecedented for Germany, with Goettingen in central Germany becoming the first city in the country to allow women to swim topless in public pools last summer.

City authorities made the decision following a gender identity row which saw a swimmer asked to cover up at a local pool. The swimmer refused on the grounds that he identified as male, and was subsequently banned from the premise, according to a report by Germany’s public broadcaster Deutsche Welle.

‘Another way of being’

As well as gender equality, the move also speaks to Germany’s love of Freikoerperkultur or FKK – which has its origins in the German Empire.

Rather than sexualizing the naked human body, the movement places emphasis on the health benefits of communal open-air nudity while exercising or being in nature.

Keon West, a professor of social psychology at Goldsmiths, University of London, has investigated attitudes towards nudity in various countries in Europe as well as further afield.

“The major contrast in attitudes towards nudity in Germany compared with the UK and America is that naked people in Germany are not kept separate from others.

“Instead, nudity is simply accepted as another way of being.”

He explained that this is because, in Germany, people who are “nude in public spaces are not automatically seen as dangerous or deviant.”

“They tend to let people do it and be very comfortable with it.”

Germany’s passion for nudity finds its origins in late-19th-century health drives. The country’s first FKK organization was established in 1898 and the concept quickly spread around the country, according to Deutsche Welle.

In 1920, Germany established its first nude beach on the island of Sylt. Barely a decade later, the Berlin School of Nudism, founded to encourage mixed sex open-air exercises, hosted the first international nudity congress.

The nudist movement was initially banned by the Nazis in a moral clampdown. However, it continued to gain popularity and had support among members of the paramilitary SS.

After World War II, nudism remained prominent in both East and West German states but was particularly prevalent in East Germany, becoming a form of escape from the uniforms, marches and conformity of the communist state.

The cultural movement remains popular in modern Germany. Today, there are about 600,000 Germans registered in more than 300 private nudist or FKK clubs and a further 14 affiliated clubs in Austria.

Here is a look at the life of economist and former Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti.

Personal

Birth date: March 19, 1943

Birth place: Varese, Italy

Marriage: Elsa Monti

Children: Giovanni and Federica

Education: Bocconi University, Milan, degree in economics, 1965; Post graduate studies at Yale University

Religion: Catholic

Other Facts

Nicknamed Super Mario.

Founding president of Bruegel, a think tank for economic policy.

Timeline

1970-1979 – Economics professor at the University of Turin.

1978-1994 – Writes economic commentary for Corriere della Sera, a daily newspaper.

1989-1994 – Rector of Bocconi University.

1994 – Becomes president of Bocconi University.

1995-1999 – Member of the European Commission as Commissioner for Internal Market, Financial Services and Financial Integration Customs, and Taxation.

1999-2004 – Member of the European Commission as Commissioner for Competition.

2001 – As the European Commission’s competition commissioner, Monti engineers the Commission’s block of GE’s $42 billion acquisition of Honeywell International.

2004 – The European Commission fines Microsoft more than $600 million for being in violation of EU competition law.

2005-2011 – International adviser to Goldman Sachs.

November 9, 2011 – Is named senator for life by Italian President Giorgio Napolitano.

November 16, 2011 – Is sworn in as Italy’s prime minister.

December 21, 2012 – Monti resigns.

February 24-25, 2013 – Monti’s bloc comes in fourth in parliamentary elections.

June 2013-November 2022 – Resumes his role as president of Bocconi University, a position he had given up when he became prime minister.

Protests erupted in Georgia this week after the country’s parliament passed the first reading of a draft law that would require some organizations receiving foreign funding to register as “foreign agents.”

Georgia’s ruling party announced Thursday morning it would scrap the controversial bill following two nights of widespread protests in Tbilisi over fears it would drive a wedge between the Caucasian nation and Europe.

However, the announcement was met with caution among protesters who say they will continue to demonstrate until the government formally denounces the bill and releases all those who have been detained.

The proposed legislation was compared to a draconian set of laws adopted in Russia and condemned by rights groups as a bid to curtail basic freedoms and crack down on dissent in the country.

The developments sparked mass unrest, with thousands of demonstrators gathering outside Tbilisi’s parliament building, waving not just the Georgian flag but also that of the European Union.

Meanwhile, Moscow said it has been watching the two-day riots with concern. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Thursday urged Russian nationals staying in the neighboring country to be cautious.

“This is our neighbouring state and despite the fact that we do not have relations with Georgia as such, the situation there cannot but cause our concern,” Peskov said. He went on to advise Russian citizens to “refrain from staying in areas where these street riots are taking place” and to be “extremely cautious.”

Georgia, which won its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, has long been playing a balancing act between its citizens’ pro-European sentiment and the geopolitical aims of its powerful neighbor, Russia.

In March 2022, Georgia applied for EU membership – an ambition that may be jeopardized by the proposed legislation.

Here’s a look at what the controversial law would have meant for Georgia, and how it reached this point.

What was in the bills?

According to Giorgi Gogia, associate director of the Europe and Central Asia Division at Human Rights Watch, two bills were being discussed in Georgia’s parliament.

The first bill would have required organizations including non-governmental groups and print, online and broadcast media to register as “foreign agents” if they receive 20% or more of their annual income from abroad.

Those who do not comply would have faced fines of $9,600 US dollars (25,000 Georgian Lari).

The second bill expanded the scope of “agents of foreign influence” to include individuals and increased the penalties for failure to comply from fines to up to five years in prison.

“Under the disguise of transparency, the latest statements by the Georgian authorities strongly suggest that if adopted, the law will be weaponized to further stigmatize and penalize independent groups, media and critical voices in the country.”

The first draft law passed on Tuesday in a session that was broadcast live on the legislature’s website, with 76 votes for and 13 against. The bill would have needed to pass further readings to become law.

The President of Georgia, Salome Zourabichvili, pledged to veto it, and as she threw her support behind protesters in a video message posted on Facebook.

“Those who support this law today, all those who voted for this law today are violating the Constitution. All of them are alienating us from Europe,” Zourabichvili said in the clip on Tuesday.

“I said on day one that I would veto this law, and I will do that.”

However, the country’s ruling Georgian Dream party – of which Zourabichvili is not a member – would have had the parliamentary majority to overcome a presidential veto, according to Human Rights Watch.

Which countries have imposed similar laws?

Georgia’s bill followed the model of a controversial law in neighboring Russia that has already imposed draconian restrictions and requirements on organizations and individuals with foreign ties, critics say.

The law was initially passed in 2012 amid a wave of public protests over allegations of election-rigging and Vladimir Putin’s intentions to return to the Russian presidency. It required organizations engaging in political activity and receiving funding from abroad to register as foreign agents and adhere to draconian rules and restrictions.

Russia’s law on Foreign Agents has been gradually updated since then, forming the backbone of an even tighter stranglehold on civil society in Russia over the past decade.

Gogia said the legislation is similar to the law in Russia in that it is “trying to create a special status and legal regime for organizations and media that receive foreign funding and – under the disguise of transparency – interferes with freedom of associations and media and with their legitimate functions.”

Asked during a press briefing Thursday if the Russian law had inspired the Georgian bill, Peskov said the Kremlin has “nothing to do with this” and pointed to legislation against so-called foreign agents in the US.

Russia-aligned Belarus has had a citizenship law in place since 2002 that has a similar impact. In December 2022, the Belarusian parliament passed amendments to the law which would enable the government to target members of the political opposition, activists and other critics in exile, according to Human Rights Watch.

The draft law would allow the president to strip Belarusians abroad of their citizenship, even if they have no other.

Who is the driving force behind the legislation?

The bills were nominally proposed by a faction in the parliament formed by members who left the ruling Georgian Dream party, but remained in the parliamentary majority, according to Gogia.

“However, the ruling Georgian Dream party fully and publicly supported the bills and campaigned for their adoption, and almost unanimously voted for it in the first reading yesterday,” Gogia said.

The European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), a think tank, believes the party is leading Georgia towards Russia’s sphere of influence.

“In the last few years, and especially over the past 18 months, Georgia’s ruling coalition has made a series of moves that seem designed to distance the country from the West and shift it gradually into Russia’s sphere of influence,” a report released by the ECFR in December said.

It pointed to Bidzina Ivanishvili, a former prime minister and billionaire, as a driving force behind this pivot towards Moscow.

“Much of the responsibility for this drift away from the EU lies with oligarch and former prime minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, whose Georgian Dream Party dominates the governing coalition,” the report said.

Ivanishvili made a fortune while living in Russia during its turbulent transition to a market economy, and was part of an influential group of Russian bankers who supported the re-election of former Russian President Boris Yeltsin in 1996, according to the ECFR.

What comparisons have been drawn to Ukraine in 2014?

Analysts have noted similarities between the situation in Georgia and Ukraine – both former Soviet republics which have found themselves caught between the East and the West.

The think tank ECFR drew comparisons between the situation in Georgia and Russia’s invasions of Ukraine in 2014 and 2022.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in 2011 that had Russia not invaded Georgia in 2008, NATO would have expanded into Georgia.

The 2008 conflict centered on South Ossetia and Abkhazia, two breakaway provinces in Georgia. They are officially part of Georgia but have separate governments unrecognized by most countries.

Both Abkhazia and South Ossetia are propped up by Russia.

The 2008 invasion of Georgia only lasted days, but it appeared to have the same revanchist ambitions that drove Putin’s invasions of Ukraine in 2014 and last year, writes the ECFR.

“In this light, Russia’s wars in Georgia and Ukraine seem part of a single imperial project,” the report said.

How would the legislation impact Georgia?

The Georgia bill was widely criticized as posing a potentially chilling effect for Georgian civil society, and particularly NGOs and news organizations with links to Europe.

It would also hamper Georgia’s bid to join the European Union. An EU statement Tuesday warned that the law would be “incompatible with EU values and standards” and could have “serious repercussions on our relations.”

In February, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price also said that “anyone voting for this draft legislation” could also imperil Georgia’s relationship with Europe and the West.

“I hope the Georgian authorities would heed to the warning and instead of passing the bills that would clearly impede the work of independent groups and media, they should ensure safe and enabling environment for civil society in the country.”

The four astronauts who make up the Crew-5 team aboard the International Space Station returned home from a five-month stay in space Saturday, splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico.

The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule disembarked from the space station at 2:20 am ET, beginning the final leg of the astronauts’ journey. The spacecraft then maneuvered back toward Earth before plunging back into the atmosphere for a landing off the coast of Tampa, Florida just after 9 p.m. ET Saturday.

Rescue ships awaited the team’s arrival, ready to haul the capsule out of the ocean and allow the crew to disembark, giving the astronauts their first breath of fresh air in nearly 160 days.

The four crew members — NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, astronaut Koichi Wakata of JAXA, or Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, and cosmonaut Anna Kikina of the Russian space agency Roscosmos — launched to the space station aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule this past October. They’ve spent the past few months carrying out research experiments and keeping up with maintenance of the two-decade-old orbiting laboratory.

And for the few days leading up to their departure, the Crew-5 astronauts had been handing off operations to the Crew-6 team, which arrived at the space station on March 3.

Meet the crew

Mann, a registered member of the Wailacki tribe of the Round Valley reservation, became the first Native American woman to travel into orbit. Like the other astronauts, she devoted time on her journey to public outreach, some of which focused on inspiring Indigenous children. During one outreach event in November 2022, Mann showed off a dream catcher — a traditional totem for Native Americans meant to ward off bad dreams — that she took with her to the space station.

As #NativeAmericanHeritageMonth comes to a close, we wondered… as @NASA_Astronauts first Native American crewmember on the @Space_Station, did @AstroDuke bring anything with her as a reminder of her tribal heritage? Watch the clip to find out! pic.twitter.com/sofD8FIBN3

— NASA STEM (@NASASTEM) November 30, 2022

“I am very proud to represent Native Americans and my heritage,” Mann told reporters before launch. “I think it’s important to celebrate our diversity and also realize how important it is when we collaborate and unite, the incredible accomplishments that we can have.”

Kikina’s participation in this flight came as part of a ride-sharing agreement by NASA and Roscosmos in July 2022. Despite geopolitical tensions between the United States and Russia as the war in Ukraine has escalated, NASA has repeatedly said its partnership with Roscosmos is vital to continuing the space station’s operations and the valuable scientific research carried out on board.

The journey marked the first trip to space for Mann, Cassada and Kikina.

Wakata previously flew on NASA’s space shuttle flights and Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft. This trip was the Japanese astronaut’s fifth spaceflight mission.

Two weeks after a boat packed with migrants sank off the coast of southern Italy, there is still no peace for the living or the dead, and the missing – mostly children – continue to wash up on the beaches.

The latest – a girl aged five or six – was discovered on Saturday morning, bringing the toll from when the ill-fated boat broke apart on the rocks on February 26 off the village of Cutro to 74. Nearly half were minors.

The local coroner’s office provided names for many of the dead including Torpekai Amarkhel, a 42-year-old female journalist from Afghanistan, who was killed along with her husband and two of their three children.

Her other child, a seven-year-old daughter, is among the approximately 30 people still missing, presumed dead, from the tragedy.

Amarkhel had fled Afghanistan with her family following the clampdown on women, her sister Mida, who had emigrated to Rotterdam, told Unama News radio, a United Nations project Amarkhel was involved in.

Shahida Raza, who played football and hockey for Pakistan’s national team, was also among the dead. A friend said she was traveling in the hope of securing a better future for her disabled son.

Initially, those found were given alphanumeric code numbers, rather than names. When first responders found the corpse of 28-year-old Abiden Jafari from Afghanistan, they identified her only as KR16D45 – KR for the nearby city of Crotone, 16 because she was the 16th victim found, D for donna or woman, and 45, her estimated age.

But after taking her to the morgue, they discovered she was a women’s rights activist who had been threatened by the Taliban, likely causing her to risk her life at sea.

The body of a six-year-old boy, first identified as KR70M6, was named by his uncle as Hakef Taimoori.

The uncle had a family photo showing the young boy wearing the same shoes as he had on when he washed up on the beach. His parents and two-year-old brother also died in the disaster. A third brother remains among the missing.

No return home for the dead

The dead have also been caught in a struggle between the Italian state and family members.

The Interior Ministry ordered that all bodies be transferred from Calabria where the caskets have been on display in an auditorium, to the Islamic cemetery of Bologna for burial, in keeping with Italy’s protocol for irregular migrants who die attempting to enter Italy.

Family members who either survived the wreck or came from other parts of Europe to claim their loved ones’ remains protested with makeshift signs and a sit-in in front of the auditorium on Wednesday.

All those who have not been identified will also be buried in Bologna along with the remains of a Turkish national who has been identified as one of the human traffickers.

The fate of the rest remains a point of negotiation, but the mayor of Crotone Vincenzo Voce said the Italian state would pay for any repatriations either to countries of origin or to be buried with family members in other parts of Italy.

Of the 82 survivors, three Turkish citizens and one Pakistan citizen have been arrested for human trafficking, and eight people are still hospitalized.

Most of the survivors were moved this week to a Crotone hotel after human rights advocates led by Italian leftist politician Franco Mari protested the conditions in which they were being kept, which included one shared bathroom for men and another for women near sleeping quarters that included only benches and mattresses on the floor to sleep.

Mari, who visited the reception center, tweeted that none of the survivors had sheets, towels or pillows. Twelve others were moved to a reception center for unaccompanied minors.

Questions over rescue

Against the backdrop of the saga about what to do with both the survivors and the victims, there is a growing firestorm about the rescue itself.

A surveillance plane for European border control Frontex had identified the ill-fated vessel the day before it sank and had alerted the Italian Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard said in a statement that the vessel was not identified as a migrant boat, and that, at any rate, it did not seem in distress.

Heat sensing surveillance images released by the Coast Guard show that only one person was visible on board the ship when they flew over it.

Survivors recounted to media and human rights groups that they were locked in the hull of the ship and allowed to come up for air at intervals during the four-day journey from Turkey.

On Thursday, the Council of Ministers led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni met on the disaster in Cutro and said they would focus on targeting trafficking rings and increasing jail time for human traffickers to 30 years.

Many of the government cars were pummeled with stuffed animals by protesters in Cutro who held signs that said “not in my name” to protest against blocking migrants and refugees from entering Europe through Italy.

The ministers also discussed “speeding up the mechanism for applying for asylum” rather than increasing the quota, which stands at accepting 82,700 migrants who qualify for asylum in 2023. So far this year, more than 17,600 people have reached Italy by sea.

In 2022, 105,131 people entered the country by sea. The process to apply for asylum often takes between three and five years, depending on the country of origin. People who are not from asylum-producing countries, but are economic migrants, are repatriated back to their countries of origin.

Italian President Sergio Mattarella said the Afghanistan citizens who survived would be prioritized for asylum. It is yet unclear if those who do not qualify will be repatriated to their countries of origin.

Meloni’s right-leaning government has vowed to clamp down on human traffickers and NGO rescue vessels. But the boats keep coming – hundreds of migrants were rescued this weekend – and signs are that they arriving earlier than ever. This tragedy is unlikely to be the last.

The BBC’s weekend soccer coverage has been plunged into chaos following its announcement Gary Lineker would “step back” from presenting, after he became embroiled in an impartiality row when he criticized British government policy on Twitter.

The broadcaster now faces a boycott from pundits, presenters and even players of its flagship soccer show “Match of the Day,” while other soccer programs – Football Focus and Final Score – and some radio programming have been forced off-air as a result of the furore.

Lineker criticized the government’s controversial new asylum-seeker policy on Tuesday and was subsequently relieved of his presenting duties this week since the BBC said his tweets breached their guidelines, specifically its commitment to “due impartiality.”

The BBC’s decision has sparked controversy, leaving the organization under fire from opposition politicians, the Broadcasting Entertainment Communications and Theatre Union who represent BBC staff, and its former director general Greg Dyke.

“The BBC will only be able to bring limited sport programming this weekend and our schedules will be updated to reflect that,” a BBC spokesperson said in a statement Saturday.

“We are sorry for these changes which we recognize will be disappointing for BBC sport fans.

“We are working hard to resolve the situation and hope to do so soon.”

In an interview with BBC News on Saturday, the broadcaster’s Director General Tim Davie was asked if he should resign over the crisis. He said he would not.

“I honestly do not believe, despite a lot of the commentary, that this is about left or right,” Davie said. The BBC is a “fierce champion of democratic debate, free speech, but with that comes the need to create an impartial organization,” he added.

When asked if he was sorry about the way he handled the situation, he said: “We made decisions, and I made decisions based on a real passion about what the BBC is and it is difficult – it’s this balance between free speech and impartiality.”

On Tuesday, Lineker tweeted “Good heavens, this is beyond awful” to a video posted on Twitter by the British Home Office announcing the new proposed policy – an attempt to stop migrant boats crossing the English Channel from France which has been criticized by the United Nations and other global bodies.

He added: “There is no huge influx. We take far fewer refugees than other major European countries. This is just an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s, and I’m out of order?”

As Britain’s public broadcaster, the BBC is bound by “due impartiality” – a much debated term which the organization defines as holding “power to account with consistency” while not “allowing ourselves to be used to campaign to change public policy.”

On Friday, the BBC announced Lineker would “step back from presenting Match of the Day until we’ve got an agreed and clear position on his use of social media,” adding it considered his recent social media activity to breach its guidelines.

In response, first pundits, then commentators, and then even Premier League teams announced their intention to boycott the show in support of Lineker.

BBC commentators Steve Wilson, Conor McNamara, Robyn Cowen and Steven Wyeth said in a joint statement issued late on Friday “in the circumstances, we do not feel it would be appropriate to take part in the programme.”

Jermain Defoe, a former England striker, announced Saturday he would not appear as a pundit on the Sunday show.

“It’s always such a privilege to work with BBC MOTD. But tomorrow I have taken the decision to stand down from my punditry duties. @GaryLineker,” Defoe tweeted.

Defoe’s announcement appears to be the first sign the British broadcaster’s Sunday television programming will also be affected.

Meanwhile, the Professional Footballers’ Association announced on Saturday “players involved in today’s games will not be asked to participate in interviews with Match of the Day.”

“The PFA have been speaking to members who wanted to take a collective position and to be able to show their support for those who have chosen not to be part of tonight’s programme,” the statement added.

“During those conversations we made clear that, as their union, we would support all members who might face consequences for choosing not to complete their broadcast commitments. This is a common sense decision that ensures players won’t now be put in that position.”

Following his side’s 1-0 defeat against Bournemouth on Saturday, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was asked about the BBC issue.

“I cannot see any reason why they would ask anyone to step back for saying that. I’m not sure if that’s a language issue or not,” the German told reporters.

“If I understand it right, then this is about an opinion about human rights and that should be possible to say.

“What I don’t understand is why everybody goes on Twitter and says something. I don’t understand the social media part of it but that’s probably [because] I’m too old for that.”

A political row

The BBC’s former director general Greg Dyke said the broadcaster has “undermined its own credibility” by suspending Lineker because it seemed like it had “bowed to government pressure.”

Keir Starmer, leader of the opposition Labour Party, said the BBC had got “this one badly wrong and now they’re very, very exposed.”

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon tweeted: “As a strong supporter of public service broadcasting, I want to be able to defend the BBC. But the decision to take Gary Lineker off air is indefensible. It is undermining free speech in the face of political pressure – & it does always seem to be rightwing pressure it caves to.”

Opposition Labour Party deputy leader Angela Rayner also lambasted the BBC’s decision in a tweet on Saturday.

“The BBC’s cowardly decision to take Gary Lineker off air is an assault on free speech in the face of political pressure from Tory politicians. They should rethink,” she tweeted.

Meanwhile Nadine Dorries, an MP with the governing Conservative party and former Culture Secretary, welcomed the BBC’s decision, tweeting: “News that Gary Lineker has been stood down for investigation is welcome and shows BBC are serious about impartiality.

“Gary is entitled to his views – free speech is paramount. Lots of non Public Service Broadcasters can accommodate him and his views and he would be better paid.”

For his part, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Saturday issued a statement saying he hopes the situation between the BBC and its star football host can be resolved but it is not a matter for the UK government.

Mikaela Shiffrin won her 87th World Cup race on Saturday to break the overall record set by skiing legend Ingemar Stenmark.

The American triumphed in the slalom in Åre, Sweden, to become the sport’s all-time winningest athlete.

“Pretty hard to comprehend,” Shiffrin said in her post-race interview. “My brother and sister-in-law are here. I didn’t know they were coming so that makes it so special.”

Shiffrin was in dominant form despite the history at stake. She beat Switzerland’s Wendy Holdener by 0.92 seconds, while Sweden’s Anna Swenn Larsson finished third.

The win comes on the same resort where she triumphed in her first ever World Cup race back in December 2012.

The two-time Olympic gold medalist was overcome with emotion after breaking the record which has stood since 1989.

“The best feeling is to ski on the second run because you have a lead and you have to be smart” she added.

“I just wanted to be fast too and ski the second run like its own race. I did it exactly how I wanted and that’s amazing.

“To the whole team and all the people who have helped me this whole season and whole career, all these people reaching out now after all these years, it’s pretty incredible. I just want to say thank you for that.”

Breaking Stenmark’s record caps off a remarkable season for Shiffrin given that she did not pick up a single medal from five races at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and failed to finish in three of them.

She has now taken 13 World Cup victories so far this season, four short of her own record of 17 set in 2018-19.

On Friday, the 27-year-old equaled Stenmark’s record with her 86th World Cup win and said she was humbled to be level with the icon.

“It is the greatest honor of my career to be mentioned in the same sentence as Ingemar Stenmark. Incomprehensible and truly unforgettable,” she tweeted Friday.

Longtime Minnesota Vikings coach Bud Grant died Saturday at 95, the “absolutely heartbroken” team said in a statement.

“We, like all Vikings and NFL fans, are shocked and saddened by this terrible news,” the statement said.

Grant coached the Vikings for 18 seasons from 1967 through 1983 and again in 1985. He was the engineer of the Vikings vaunted “Purple People Eaters” defense that won 10 division crowns in 11 seasons starting in 1968.

Grant led the Vikings to four Super Bowls, though his team never won. His 1969 squad has the distinction of winning the final NFL Championship game before the NFL and AFL merged the following season.

“No single individual more defined the Minnesota Vikings than Bud Grant,” Vikings owners Zygi and Mark Wilf said in a statement. “A once-in-a-lifetime man, Bud will forever be synonymous with success, toughness, the North and the Vikings. In short, he was the Vikings. Words can never truly describe Bud’s impact on this franchise and this community.”

Prior to his coaching success, Grant was drafted into both the NBA and NFL. He played two seasons in the NBA for the Minneapolis Lakers, winning the inaugural NBA Championship in his rookie season in 1950.

Grant left the NBA to join the NFL as a player for the Philadelphia Eagles. After two seasons, Grant headed to Canada, where he spent 14 seasons as a player and later a coach for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. He coached the Blue Bombers to four Grey Cup wins before returning to the NFL to coach the Vikings.

Grant was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1994.

Forceful flooding that washed away roads and sent residents across parts of northern and central California fleeing their homes is expected to continue Saturday and through the weekend as more rain arrives.

But Saturday is not projected to bring the torrential walls of rain that battered communities Friday, which saw bridges collapse, roads split open and caused thousands of power outages.

At least two people have died as a result of the storms, officials said.

“Overall the environmental ingredients aren’t as impressive as the recent strong atmospheric river event, but nonetheless a prolonged period of light to occasionally moderate rainfall is expected across parts of central to northern California” on Saturday, the Weather Prediction Center said.

The impacts from this week’s storms have been compounded after severe rainfall was dumped over the same areas buried by heavy snowfalls the past two weeks. Melting snowpack will play a role in prolonging flooding over the upcoming days, forecasters have said.

About 15 million people were under flood watches – stretching from as far north as Redding southward to San Bernardino in California, and included parts of northwest Nevada. Flood warnings were still in effect across portions of northern and central California through early Saturday.

A slight risk of excessive rainfall, a level 2 out of 4, has also been issued across portions of the northern California coast as well as down the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Widespread rainfall totals of 1 to 3 inches are expected Saturday.

Evacuations orders were expanded in Tulare County to include the community of Teviston as well as parts of Cutler and Exeter because river flow had increased, according to the county sheriff’s office Friday night. Officials urged residents to stay clear of waterways and avoid all unnecessary travel.

“Due to the amount of added water to Lake Success from the rain and runoff, the water levels are predicted to reach the spillway,” the sheriff’s office said.

Friday’s heavy rains pummeled Santa Cruz County, where about 700 residents in Soquel became trapped after a pipe failure led to severe flooding and the collapse of the one road linking the community to the rest of the region, according to Steve Wiesner, the county’s assistant public works director. Residents will remain isolated until a new crossing can be created, which could take days, Wiesner said.

“All night long, you could hear, the water is so saturated right and the cottonwoods especially are so weak, you could just hear them tumbling all night long,” Maleta said.

Soquel is one of the hardest-hit areas in Santa Cruz County, soaking more than 6.5 inches of rain in certain areas while widespread rainfall was about 2 inches, according to a report from the National Weather Service office in San Francisco.

As of Saturday morning, more than 41,000 homes and businesses across the state were without power, with about 30,000 of those outages in coastal Monterey County, according to tracking site PowerOutage.us.

The flooding has forced local emergency crews to rescue more than 90 people in Monterey County, Sheriff Tina Nieto said in a news briefing Saturday afternoon.

Workers attempted to prevent the levee catastrophe Friday night, but they were “overwhelmed by the flows coming down that watershed,” said Lew Bauman, interim manager of the county’s Water Resources Agency.

In the meantime, officials said people need to obey evacuation orders.

“It will take some time, particularly with repeated rain events, for the area to dry,” said Bauman.

Luis Alejo, chair of the Monterey County board of supervisors, tweeted Saturday that the “worst case scenario” had arrived with the Pajaro River overtopping and a levee breaching around midnight local time.

At 9 a.m. Saturday, the breach was 100 feet wide, officials said.

Sheriff’s deputies were going door-to-door to get remaining residents in affected neighborhoods to leave before water inundated their homes, said county Office of Emergency Services Manager Gerry Malais.

“National Guard high-water rescue vehicles that were requested by the County of Monterey and swift-water rescue team members are also on the scene,” the county said earlier Saturday.

To alleviate yet another natural disaster gripping California, President Joe Biden approved a state of emergency declaration requested by Gov. Gavin Newsom. The move frees funds for the millions of residents who have been hit with severe weather since the beginning of the year.

Meanwhile, Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo issued a state of emergency for Churchill, Douglas and Lyon counties in the northern section of the state due to flooding associated with the same storm.

“Severe weather has brought heavy rainfall, flooding, and infrastructure damage to northern Nevada. As severe weather conditions continue, further flooding and infrastructure damage are anticipated throughout the region,” the governor’s office said in a statement.

Parts of California saw more than a foot of rain

An atmospheric river – which consists of long, narrow bands of moisture in the atmosphere that carry warm air and water vapor from the tropics – brought colossal amounts of rain in places that could not bear taking any more.

Anderson Peak in Monterey County was drenched with 13.63 inches of rain, according to the NWS’ San Francisco office. Elsewhere in the county, isolated rainfalls in Hearst Castle were 11.61 inches and 8.36 inches.

Double-digit inches of rain were also seen in San Mateo County’s Pacifica, where 13.41 inches of rainfall were reported. Several areas in Santa Cruz County saw more than 5 inches of rain while 6.56 inches of isolated rainfall were recorded in Sonoma County.

In Tulare County, the sheriff’s office received reports of widespread flooding, collapsed bridges, downed trees and separated roads.

The intense rain came as 34 of California’s 58 counties have been under a state of emergency issued by the governor’s office due to previous storms and this week’s severe weather threat.

Officials release water from major dam

To manage the heavy amounts of rainfall, California water officials have begun releasing water from the main spillway at the Oroville Dam for the first time in four years, according to a news release from the California Department of Water Resources.

DWR has begun releasing water from the main spillway at #OrovilleDam. We are closely monitoring the upcoming storms & will continue working with the @USACEHQ as we adjust outflow of the spillway to manage lake levels & experience changes to runoff into the lake. pic.twitter.com/wKS8sLp9e9

— CA – DWR (@CA_DWR) March 10, 2023

The spillway of Oroville Dam, the nation’s tallest dam at 770 feet in the Feather River, opened Friday at noon and are expected to remain through the weekend.

“In anticipation of increased runoff inflows into the reservoir, DWR has begun increasing water releases to the Feather River through the Hyatt Powerplant and from the main spillway. These releases provide flood control protection for downstream communities,” the department said, adding that the tactic is coordinated closely with the US Army Corps of Engineers and other water operators.

In 2017, the dam was closed for two years after powerful storms caused Lake Oroville’s water level to rise and overflow the dam. It reopened in 2019 after crews reconstructed its full functionality.

A monument honoring famed abolitionist Harriet Tubman was unveiled in Newark, New Jersey, this week, replacing a statue of Christopher Columbus removed in 2020 amid social injustice protests, officials said.

The 25-foot-tall monument, titled “Shadow of a Face,” was revealed Thursday at the heart of the city’s recently renamed Harriet Tubman Square, Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka announced in a statement.

“In a time when so many cities are choosing to topple statutes that limit the scope of their people’s story, we have chosen to erect a monument that spurs us into our future story of exemplary strength and solidity,” Baraka said.

“We have created a focal point in the heart of our city that expresses our participation in an ongoing living history of a people who have grappled through many conflicts to steadily lead our nation in its progress toward racial equality.”

Harriett Tubman’s life

Tubman was born into slavery in Maryland and eventually escaped to Pennsylvania. From 1850 to 1860, she made more than a dozen trips to Maryland to help enslaved people reach freedom through the Underground Railroad, a secret network of routes and safe houses, according to the US National Parks Service.

The name of Tubman’s monument was inspired by the 1962 poem “Runagate Runagate” by Robert Hayden, which references the abolitionist. The monument was selected in June 2021 following a national open call and multiphase selection process, Baraka said.

Monument designer and architect Nina Cooke John said she wanted to incorporate the Newark community into the monument.

“One way I wanted to bring about their connection is really to meet the community with the prompt, ‘What is your story of liberation? What is your story – big or small – of really overcoming multiple obstacles that we all have to overcome,’ ” Cooke John said in an interview published by the Harriet Tubman Monument Project.

‘Compassion, courage’

Michele Jones Gavin, Tubman’s three-times great-grand niece, said the monument will commemorate the activist’s heroism and inspire future generations to take action in the face of injustice.

“Let’s forever remember Harriet Tubman, for her compassion, courage, bravery, service to others, her patriotism, and her commitment to faith, family, fortitude, and freedom,” Gavin said.

The Columbus statue Tubman’s memorial replaces was removed amid a nationwide racial reckoning following the murder of George Floyd in May 2020 at the hands of Minneapolis police.

The movement spurred the removal or renaming of dozens of monuments, including those of Confederate leaders and other controversial figures in US history.

Columbus has long been a contentious figure for his treatment of the Indigenous communities he encountered and for his role in the violent colonization at their expense.

A monument and audio experience

The monument includes two sections: a portrait wall and a mosaic of tiles, all contained within a circular learning wall inscribed with stories of Tubman’s life and Newark’s history of Black liberation, the mayor’s statement said.

The portrait wall features a larger-than-life depiction of Tubman while the mosaic features stories from Newark residents.

“Not only are their stories physically a part of the monument, but they can also come to the monument and feel that ownership because they were really a part of creating it,” Cooke John said in her interview with the Harriet Tubman Monument Project.

“Seeing their stories being a part of other stories of people from Newark in this mosaic that’s on the wall and is attached to the backside of the wall that has Harriet Tubman’s face, the central figure which grounds us in the larger-than-life story of Harriet Tubman.”

Residents also recorded some of their personal stories for the monument’s audio experience, according to the mayor’s statement. The audio experience includes the story of Tubman’s life, narrated by entertainer Queen Latifah. Audio clips will also be included in school curricula, in collaboration with the Newark Museum of Art.

To complement the monument, galleries at the Newark Museum of Art will incorporate stories related to slavery and the slave trade, Silvia Filippini-Fantoni, deputy director for learning and engagement at the Newark Museum of Art, said in a video interview published by the Harriet Tubman Monument Project.

Want to see the monument?

Harriet Tubman Square is near the intersection of Washington and Broad streets in downtown Newark’s arts district.

The monument is close to the Newark Museum of Art at 49 Washington Street. Click here for public transportation options to the area.