Eagles wide receiver Makai Lemon has officially become a part of the Philadelphia community.
As the invited guest for the Open Door Abuse Awareness and Prevention football combine for young athletes in honor of Juneteenth on Saturday, attendees welcomed Lemon with both words and actions, rushing to gates at Mastery Charter School to greet Philly’s newest Eagle. Author and social media personality Wallace Peeples, more commonly known as Wallo267, was also a guest at the event.
The event combined athletic training with teaching emotional skills and was held at Mastery Charter for youth and high school football players.
Valencia Peterson, ODAAP’s founder, said that through its decade-long mission, the organization uses sports to share its message because of the captive audience it offers as athletes rotate through stations in agility, jumping, a 40-yard dash, and more.
“It’s all about dosing the kids, giving them a little bit at a time over and over again of the same things,” Peterson said. “Just like a rep in football, you swing your arms enough, you know how to do it automatically when you’re on the field, and so that’s what it’s like.”
Kamden Cintron, 11, participates in the 40-yard dash at the Open Door Abuse and Prevention youth football combine on Saturday.
After completing the different stations, Peterson turned things over to Lemon and Peeples to say a few words and offer advice to the athletes.
“This is a blessing. I’m just preaching to all the kids that it’s an opportunity that they shouldn’t take for granted,” Lemon said. “Super grateful, to be out here with all the kids.”
Aliyoh Turay, 24, was in the same position as the kids Lemon spoke to on Saturday. Growing up in Philadelphia, Turay was a part of the ODAAP programs in high school. Now, he volunteers by helping at events like the combine and coaching.
Turay said ODAAP was like a family that helped him grow and navigate adversity. He hopes the tools for self advocating and handling adversity will pass on to the next generation currently participating in these events.
“Growing up some of us aren’t really taught how to speak up for ourselves and how to talk about what we’re going through and ask for help,” Turay said. “So, ODAAP has really been a tool I have used to grow and reach out for help and talk about what I was going through.”
Bryant Paden, known throughout the city as “Coach Slice,” said the goal for these events is for the athletes to “learn, that it’ll grow in them, and that they’re beginning to teach it to the next generation.”
Paden, Liberty Charter’s Pop Warner president, said that demonstrating skills of emotional intelligence, especially as the brain is still developing, allows participants to retain the message more.
“We’re teaching them how to use their energy and their emotions in a positive way, even when competing in such a physical sport,” Paden said. “I think just saying it, it comes off as just words, and so we want to make sure that not only we’re saying it, we’re able to, throughout their growth, point out examples of people doing the right thing and the wrong thing, so that they can see the difference in the consequences.”
Makai Lemon speaks with a parent at the Open Door Abuse and Prevention youth football combine on Saturday.
In hopes of continuing this education after Saturday’s event, a free copy of Peeples’ book “Say Yes to You and No to Them” was given to each parent at the event, as well as each of the high school students attending.
Peeples, who grew up in Philadelphia, said it was important to him to give back to the community and invest in its future, and hopes to see more athletes like Lemon doing the same in the future.
“I hope that we start seeing more professional athletes in the community, because it’s not just about the community coming out there and cheering for you, it’s also about you showing up for the community in different ways,” Peeples said. “The big plays really start in the community and showing up for the community. That’s the biggest play that you can make.”
As a U.S. Army soldier in Afghanistan in 2013, Dan Kovalik got used to the adrenaline rush of bullets whizzing by while on patrol. Risking his life was part of his job as he radioed in Apache helicopters to protect other soldiers.
But by the time he retired from the Army in 2018, his 23 years of military service had taken their toll. He had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and was rated 80% disabled by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Kovalik moved back to his hometown of Johnstown, Pa., where he struggled to find the sense of purpose and camaraderie that had come so easily in the military.
“I was looking for ways to be part of the community,” Kovalik said. “Church. The VFW. Then I tried jiujitsu.”
Kovalik, 49, shared his story Saturday from the deck of the USS New Jersey, the decommissioned Navy battleship in Camden. The battleship was host to dozens of fans of and participants in Brazilian jiujitsu — a martial art that uses grappling and leverage to subdue opponents — for a day of competition.
It was part of a two-day jiujitsu seminar and fundraiser put on by the We Defy Foundation, a Texas-based nonprofit that provides qualified combat veterans with free local jiujitsu classes and mentors who help them reintegrate into civilian life. Veterans must have been honorably discharged and have a VA disability rating of at least 80%.
“The physical execution and mental chess game helps me to focus,” Kovalik said. “That, and just going out for a beer or dinner with friends afterwards.”
Omar Feliciano, a 33-year-old Marine Corps veteran from Brooklyn, wins his match against Matthew Castillo, with Prodigy BJJ, at the We Defy Foundation jiujitsu event at the USS New Jersey in Camden on Saturday, June 20, 2026.
The program has over 500 veterans currently enrolled, We Defy Foundation executive director Kevin Linderman said. About 70% of those who enroll complete the one-year program.
“What makes it so different is, you have to do it with someone else,” Linderman said of jiujitsu. “When you’re grappling, you’re connecting with someone deeply. You’re both getting better through the process. It’s physical, and you’re learning how to operate under stress.”
It’s also one more way to fight an ongoing crisis, Linderman said. Though military veterans made up 7.6% of the U.S. population in 2020, they accounted for 14% of suicides, according to research published in the National Library of Medicine. The suicide rate among veterans is 1.5 times higher than that of the overall population, after adjusting for age and sex, researchers noted.
Though prevention efforts have shown some success, nearly 6,400 veterans died by suicide in 2023 — the most recent year for which data were available — according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Omar Feliciano of Brooklyn, N.Y., said he found Brazilian jiujitsu after struggling to process a traumatic event he witnessed while in the Marines.
“It really affected my sleep, my relationships with people,” Feliciano said. “I was irritable for no particular reason.”
After another Marine recommended the We Defy Foundation, Feliciano applied. Now, Feliciano benefits from the structure of attending jiujitsu class twice a week, keeping him physically active and building camaraderie with other people in his community.
The 33-year-old mechanical engineer said jiujitsu is helping him be a better father. He fought — and won — a jiujitsu match Saturday.
“We’ve seen that it has a significant impact in reducing PTSD, depression, and anxiety,” said Linderman, 52, who came to the sport in 2015 while dealing with multiple deaths among his family and friends. Much like the veterans he helps, Linderman said, he was caught in a “rumination cycle,” and he quickly learned that an evening of grappling with opponents was a great way to break that cycle.
Ethan Wanner, 21, of Williamsport, Pa. and Tried and True Gym, celebrates after winning his match against Josh Newhart, with 10P Bethlehem, at the We Defy Foundation jiujitsu event at the USS New Jersey in Camden on Saturday, June 20, 2026.
The foundation was formed in 2015 by Army veterans Alan Shebaro and Joey Bozik. Though Bozik lost part of one arm and both legs from the blast of a roadside bomb in Iraq, he learned how to adapt his body to the martial art. In the process, Bozik regained much of the community he had been missing, Linderman said.
As the COVID-19 pandemic waned, interest in the group accelerated, Linderman said. The organization has gotten $250,000 a year in financial backing from Facebook head Tom Alison. With 2,000 people moving through the program so far, interest is only growing. Linderman estimated that there are hundreds of thousands of Iraq or Afghanistan veterans who qualify for the program — including some who are struggling to find connection in civilian life.
“I think that a way for people to stay connected to each other is one of the most important things right now,” Linderman said.
WASHINGTON — For more than a year, the Pentagon has deployed about 9,000 active-duty troops along nearly 2,000 miles of the southwest border to confront migrants, smugglers, and drug cartels.
The troops are still there — at a cost of tens of millions of dollars each week — even though the Trump administration months ago largely achieved its goal of slashing illegal crossings.
The military patrols, working closely with Customs and Border Protection as well as the Mexican military, have pushed Mexican cartels and smugglers into more remote mountainous areas to evade detection.
But threats to U.S. troops are on the rise, U.S. officials say.
Some members of Congress have questioned whether the patrols are the best use of active-duty troops who would otherwise be training for deployments to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, or the Indo-Pacific. Lawmakers and independent analysts have voiced concerns that the border missions will distract from training, drain resources, and undermine readiness.
The mission marked a milestone late last month when its third commander, Maj. Gen. Curtis D. Taylor of the Army’s 1st Armored Division, took control of one of the centerpieces of the Trump administration’s Western Hemisphere security policy.
Challenges abound for the troops involved in the mission, which the military calls Ardent Vanguard.
Cartel activity increased along the border in February after Mexican forces, aided by the CIA, killed a notorious Mexican cartel leader known as El Mencho. Soon after, U.S. service members discovered that their phones had been hacked, and they began receiving threatening messages, congressional officials said.
“I’m very concerned about this operation and the safety of our Marines,” Rep. Sara Jacobs (D., Calif.), who sits on the Armed Services Committee, said at a hearing in March. “Our service members did not sign up for immigration enforcement, and this political stunt is putting their lives at risk.”
While U.S. forces deployed to the southern border use several counterdrone systems, the general in charge of helping defend U.S. territory said that many troops lacked adequate technology for patrols.
“It presents us a different challenge,” Gen. Gregory M. Guillot, head of the military’s Northern Command, said at a security conference in Tampa, Fla., last month. He noted the overall increase in anti-drone technology.
Unlike the drone wars on the battlefields of Ukraine or Iran, there have been no drone attacks on either side of this border conflict and no U.S. casualties, military officials say.
The mission to detect and interdict illegal activity across hundreds of miles of desert and mountainous frontier has also become a high-stakes proving ground for emerging technology, including counter-drone devices, remotely guided sea vessels, and advanced sensors.
Guillot said at a change-of-command ceremony in Arizona last month that the military had for the first time conducted joint patrols with Mexican soldiers using encrypted radios and high-energy lasers to knock down potentially hostile cartel-operated drones.
“My mission is to control the border,” Maj. Gen. David W. Gardner, commander of the 101st Airborne Division, said in a phone interview from Fort Huachuca, Ariz., before handing off the operation to Taylor. “We remain focused on the mission of sealing the border.”
Asked about confronting the drones and other security threats posed by Mexican cartels, Gardner said that U.S. forces had disabled or knocked down drones that the cartels use to find new smuggling routes around the U.S. patrols.
“The illicit actors are finding it more and more difficult to accomplish their objectives,” Gardner said.
Sen. Jack Reed (D., R.I.), the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, expressed concern at a hearing last month that the border mission was siphoning money from important training missions. He said the Army faced a nearly $2 billion budget shortfall largely because the Department of Homeland Security had not reimbursed it for border-support missions.
“I have received concerning reports about the potential for canceling training rotations, grounded flight hours, and reduced Guard and Reserve training resources,” Reed said, referring to the National Guard and Army Reserve. “These are real costs for real units.”
But several commanders and some troops stationed along the border said in interviews — some of them recent — that serving in one of Trump’s highest-priority missions gave them purpose. They are using many of their skills — route planning, mission rehearsals, patrols, and surveillance flights — in the real world against criminal smuggling gangs and Mexican drug cartels, instead of just practicing at their home bases or in exercises, they said.
There is no end in sight for the military mission on the border. The Pentagon said last May that the first four months of the operation cost $525 million. But the department declined to say what the total cost was now.
Before the opening of every new production at Bucks County Playhouse, producing director Alexander Fraser scans the audience and walks to the front of the stage to deliver a speech.
In his 12 years with the Playhouse, he has talked about preparation, execution, and the magic of seeing all these things coalesce. He’s thanked all the people involved in the production and the rows of theatergoers who’ve made it worth the grind.
When he arrived in New Hope over a decade ago, Fraser was “terrified” of these speeches. Now he relishes the spotlight.
“I hated doing them in the beginning, but now I’ve turned into Joan Rivers,” he joked.
Saturday’s opening of the 1949 musical South Pacific, however, won’t have him do his usual spiel. The opening of the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic is his last as the Playhouse’s producing director.
Alexander Fraser finds a pair of shoes from the 1975 musical A Chorus Line as he clears out his office Tuesday, April 7, 2026. His dog is Milo.
“It’s just surreal,” Fraser, who announced his departure last year, said. “It’s been a whirlwind couple of months …It’s been sweet and I feel really complete. I don’t have any regrets about it. I think it’s the right thing to do.”
Fraser is retiring from full-time production, and instead lending his services to develop new musicals and nightclub experiences. His production partners, Robyn Goodman and Josh Fiedler, will also be departing to work on current and future productions under their company, Aged in Wood.
Fraser said he already has a few irons in the fire, but he plans on spending the majority of his days sun-soaked on a beach in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and tanning like the “raisins” that walk the beaches of Palm Springs.
The departure, Fraser said, is easier knowing there’s an incoming leader with experience and ideas that mirror his own.
On June 22, theater veteranBT McNicholl will step in as the Bucks County Playhouse’s producing artistic director.
“I’m at home here,” said McNicholl, who grew up in Connecticut and led Los Angeles’ La Mirada Theatre for a decade.
Like Fraser, McNicholl has worked on several Broadway plays and musicals , including Billy Elliot, Cabaret, and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. As director, his work spans productions across Europe, Asia, and Australia, and his regional directing credits include productions at Goodspeed Musicals, the Walnut Street Theatre, and other places.
He said he’s excited to be at the helm of the nonprofit theater and embrace its audience, one that’s seen tremendous growth under Fraser’s leadership.
Alexander Fraser, producing director of Bucks County Playhouse, looks at memorabilia as he clears out his office on April 7, 2026. At right is a photo from the July 1952 issue of National Geographic, by photographer Robert F. Sisson for an article about the Delaware River. The caption reads, in part,: “June Lockhart Rehearses Her Lines on the Steps of Bucks County Playhouse. At left is list of plays produced by Theron Bamberger in 1949.
Fraser came to the Playhouse in 2014 from New York, where he produced on and off-Broadway productions for decades. It had only been three years since the historic theater’s $3 million facelift, thanks to Doylestown couple Kevin and Sherri Daugherty.
The theater, founded in 1939, was in dire straits after longtime owner Ralph Miller fell into debt in 2010. The theater lost its status with the Actors’ Equity union and Miller’s mortgage holder seized the venue.
Alexander Fraser (left), outgoing producing director of Bucks County Playhouse, clears out his office on April 7, 2026, joined by newly-appointed producing director BT McNicholl (right) going over old Playbills.
The Daughertys purchased the Playhouse in 2011, and reopened the theater after a year of renovations and repairs. Jed Bernstein, then producing director, set the revamp in motion and went on to become the president of New York’s Lincoln Center. That’s when Fraser stepped in to expand the theater’s revitalization. He recruited Goodman and Fiedler to the Playhouse.
The goal was to reinvigorate the Playhouse and New Hope’s theater community within two years. “It was naive on my part,” Fraser said.
He said people talked about the theater’s heyday, but the majority of people who came to New Hope were “bikers” and not interested in local theater.
“I didn’t realize how depressed [New Hope] was, and frankly, it was a challenge for me and my two producing partners to motivate this community and make this work,” he said.
Around 2019, Fraser said he finally felt things had turned around.
The trio went on to bring in productions like Steel Magnolias, Anastasia, Bridges of Madison County, Other Desert Cities, and Candace Bushnell’s one-woman show, True Tales of Sex, Success, and Sex and the City.
The productions drew theatergoers, both from in and outside of the borough.
During Fraser, Goodman, and Fiedler’s tenure, the organization’s annual attendance doubled, growing from just under 40,000 in 2014 to more than 85,000 in 2025, according to Playhouse officials. Subscriptions also increased, from 1,479 in 2015 to 3,303 in 2026.
The Playhouse then transitioned from a seasonal producing theater to a year-round producing organization.
The Bucks County Playhouse on April 7, 2026.
Nicole Hackmann, executive director at the Playhouse, said Fraser was on the front lines, ensuring there was enough funding to bring in top-end productions, and Goodman and Fiedler used their resources and connections to fill in the gaps.
The Playhouse’s revival didn’t just enliven the region’s theater community. It sparked an economic boom in the borough. As new restaurants, shops, and other businesses populated the town, New Hope Mayor Frank DeLuca said the Playhouse’s resurrection helped drive up support.
“The Playhouse is far more than a theater. It’s one of the cornerstones of New Hope, and a vital part of our community’s identity,” DeLuca said in a written statement to The Inquirer. “It enriches the lives of residents, attracts visitors from throughout the region, and helps support our local businesses by bringing people into town year-round.”
While leadership changes are difficult to navigate, Hackmann said, McNicholl is coming into a theater and arts community with “strong bones.”
“The brick work has been done so well, and [McNicholl] can come in and take off like a shot,” she said. “He’s inheriting an organization with an incredible staff that’s dedicated, determined, and has built something, which means he can fly.”
Alexander Fraser (left), outgoing producing director of the Bucks County Playhouse, clears out his office Tuesday, April 7, 2026, giving his old Broadway musical CDs to newly-appointed producing director BT McNicholl (right).
With the “magic set in place,” McNicholl said he’s ready to accept the baton Fraser, Fiedler, and Goodman are handing off to him.
“We’re part of the relay race,” he said. “I’m taking the next step on the trajectory that they’ve set in motion.”
McNicholl intends to strengthen the “symbiotic relationship” between the New Hope theater and Broadway, not only by bringing New York artists to Bucks County, but also by nurturing in-house productions that end up on Broadway.
At the top of his priority list, however, is to listen to the community that Fraser helped rebuild and the longtime theatergoers who grew up attending the regional gem.
“My job as a steward is to continue that growth and expand upon it,” he said.
Fraser is confident McNicholl will make those strides.
“I learned early on to leave while on top,” Fraser said. “I’m really happy this all worked out. The theater is doing great and there’s a great person coming in after me.”
As for his last speech on Saturday, Fraser doesn’t have notes prepared. He’s usually an “easy crier,” he said, so a friend convinced him to place a rubber band on his wrist, and then snap it whenever he felt the tears coming.There’s no telling how many times he will flick the rubber band against his wrist.
He looks forward to the journey that lies ahead but doesn’t think about his legacy.
James Burrows, the genre-shaping master of the television situation comedy who was a creator of Cheers and directed more than 1,000 episodes of that show and other TV classics like The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show, Taxi, Frasier, Friends, and The Big Bang Theory, died Friday. He was 85.
His agent, Rick Rosen, confirmed the death but did not say where he died or specify a cause.
Mr. Burrows earned a reputation as the “Steven Spielberg of sitcoms,” winning 11 Emmy Awards and receiving 47 nominations in a career that spanned five decades. In 1995, Bill Carter, writing in the New York Times, described him as “the man whose visual style and comedic instincts have helped create more comedy hits than anyone else in television.”
With a unique flair for the multicamera sitcom, Mr. Burrows won audiences by focusing on the laughs.
“When I direct a television show, I try to reach that sweet spot where the best script meets the best performance and the best chemistry between performers,” Mr. Burrows wrote in his 2022 autobiography, Directed by James Burrows, written with Eddy Friedfeld. “Hitting that exact moment, where these factors land in combination, results in the sweetest and most enduring laugh.”
Whatever the setting, whether a New York taxi garage or a neighborhood bar in Boston, he sought to nurture his actors into ensembles. “I guess I have a gift for creating families,” he told the Times in 2023.
Distinctly different from film directors, who control every aspect of a movie’s creative development, television directors often act as traffic cops on a set and toil in relative anonymity. They are part of a creative team led by a writer and executive producer, who also acts as the showrunner.
Television directors don’t usually exert control ahead of the writers. But Mr. Burrows defied that tradition. He was so skilled that he became the most sought-after and highly paid sitcom director during the golden age of network comedies in the 1980s, ’90s, and early aughts.
“I’m concerned about believability and the economy of the comedy, the shortest distance between the character and the laughter,” Mr. Burrows wrote in his autobiography. “When I direct an episode, I have lots of notes. I am apt to tell writers: ‘50 percent of what I say is gold and 50 percent is garbage. It’s your job to figure out which is which.’”
He grew up immersed in the world of New York City theater as the son of Broadway playwright and director Abe Burrows, who helped create such hits as Guys and Dolls and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.
He even started his career approaching television episodes as if he was directing a stage play, and the ensemble casts, including such stars as Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart, Judd Hirsch, Ted Danson, Jennifer Aniston, Sean Hayes, and Kelsey Grammer, loved working with him.
“He is without a doubt the person any actor wants calling the shots when the cameras are rolling,” Grammer, who played psychiatrist Frasier Crane on Cheers and Frasier, said in a 2019 episode of Inside the Actors Studio.
Because of his intuitive understanding of the timing and structure of a successful sitcom episode, Mr. Burrows was in constant demand, often working on more than one series at a time. He directed a staggering 75 pilot episodes that became series.
“I try to break down those barriers between writer and actor and director, and make everybody feel like they’re all a part of the process, without incurring the wrath of a writer,” Mr. Burrows said in a 2023 interview on the public radio station KCRW.
In 1994, for example, Mr. Burrows not only directed but also helped cast Friends. Before shooting the pilot, he gathered the group of mostly unknown young actors — Lisa Kudrow, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer, Matthew Perry, and Aniston — and flew them on a private plane to Las Vegas for a dinner at Spago at Caesars Palace.
He wanted to ensure that the cast members bonded. At dinner, he told them, “This is your last shot at anonymity. Once the show comes on the air, you guys will never be able to go anywhere without being hounded.”
James Edward Burrows was born in Los Angeles on Dec. 30, 1940, to Abe and Ruth (Levinson) Burrows. When he was 5, the family moved to New York City, where he grew up. His mother was a homemaker and social activist who instilled a lifelong sense of social justice in James and her daughter, Laurie.
His parents divorced when Mr. Burrows was 8, a trauma he said he carried into adulthood. His father’s success exposed him to theater luminaries. Having a famous father, however, was a mixed blessing.
Mr. Burrows knew he would always be considered “Abe’s kid,” so to avoid his father’s long shadow, he decided he had no interest in a theater career. Nonetheless, he attended New York’s High School of Music and Art and eventually found himself unable to resist show business. Countless visits to his father’s productions and rehearsals left an indelible impression about how to work with actors and crews.
Mr. Burrows graduated from Oberlin College in 1962 and the Yale School of Drama in 1965. There, he realized he couldn’t sing, dance, or write, but he became intrigued with the idea of directing.
After graduating, he became an assistant stage manager for Breakfast at Tiffany’s, a short-lived 1966 musical that featured Moore. After working as a stage director at dinner theaters for the next few years, Burrows realized that television situation comedies — which in essence are short stage plays in front of a camera — might be a perfect outlet for his skills.
In 1974, he wrote to Moore asking for a chance to work for her company, MTM, which produced her hit show. Her husband, Grant Tinker, invited Mr. Burrows to come to Los Angeles, where he was given his first shot at directing a sitcom. There, he met veteran TV director Jay Sandrich, who became a mentor.
After The Mary Tyler Moore Show, he directed episodes of the spinoffs Rhoda and Phyllis and later The Bob Newhart Show, Laverne & Shirley, and Taxi. In 1982, he teamed up with writer-producer brothers Glen and Les Charles, whom he knew from Taxi, to create Cheers, which changed the trajectory of his career and eventually brought him vast wealth through syndication and residuals.
Of the 275 episodes of the series over 11 seasons, Burrows directed all but 35. Its finale, in 1993, drew the second-largest audience for a series finale in television history. (Only the finale of M*A*S*H in 1983 drew more viewers.)
In 1981, he married Linda Solomon, with whom he had three daughters, Kat, Ellie and Maggie. The couple divorced in 1993. Mr. Burrows married Debbie Easton in 1997; she survives him, along with his daughters; a stepdaughter, Paris; and seven grandchildren.
Working into his 80s, Mr. Burrows maintained unabated enthusiasm for his craft.
“The laughter behind me is so rewarding for my soul, I would almost do it for free,” he told the Times in 2023. “And it’s nice to be able to go back to what happened to me 50 years ago and still have this feeling of creativity. When pilot season comes this year, I hope there is a pilot that I like.”
WARSAW, Poland — Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky has returned Poland’s highest state honor, after the Polish president stripped him of the award as a politically charged dispute over World War II history resurfaced.
Ukrainians believed the order “was meant for the Ukrainian People and our army,” Zelensky wrote in a social media post explaining the gesture. “Today, I sent the Order back to the President of Poland. I believe the future will confirm the respect Ukrainians deserve.”
The message published on X is accompanied by photos of the Polish order and a postal receipt that it was about to be mailed to the Polish presidential office.
President Karol Nawrocki decided to strip Zelensky of the Order of the White Eagle over the Ukrainian leader’s decision to name a military unit after a Ukrainian paramilitary organization accused of massacring Poles during WWII.
Former Polish President Andrzej Duda bestowed the award on Zelensky in 2023 for services to security, resilience, and the defense of human rights.
Zelensky issued a decree on May 26 naming a unit of Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, or UPA, which operated during the 1940s and 1950s and has been accused in Poland of mass killings.
“For the majority of Polish society, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army remains above all a formation responsible for cruel crimes against the citizens of the Polish Republic during World War II,” Nawrocki said in a 13-minute address on social media.
Zelensky’s move reopened old wounds in Poland
The Ukrainian decree was met with widespread criticism in Poland, which has hosted millions of Ukrainian refugees and is a key supporter of Kyiv as it has battled Russia’s four-year invasion. However, Nawrocki is a nationalist politician who has exploited anti-Ukrainian sentiment for electoral gain. Ukrainians in Poland have been facing increasing prejudice despite their contributions to the economy.
The decision to revoke the honor did not mean Poland’s support for Ukraine in its defense against Russia would decrease, Nawrocki said.
Ukraine is grateful to Poland for its support, and would stay open to resolve historical differences with Poland, Zelensky wrote Saturday in his post. “I am proud of our people and of EVERY Ukrainian warrior.”
Ukrainian Presidential Office chief Kyrylo Budanov wrote on Telegram that Nawrocki’s decision was “an unfriendly act toward our people” and “a gift to the Moscow aggressor, which will certainly use it against both of our countries.”
Four Ukrainian officials including Budanov said they would return state honors that Poland had issued them.
Some in Ukraine criticized the decision to return the Polish honors.
Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Ukraine’s former prime minister, wrote on X that one “harmful and incorrect decision by the current president of Poland cannot be corrected by other incorrect decisions of ours.”
Calls to resolve differences
Poland is scheduled to host a major event on Ukraine’s postwar reconstruction next week, which Zelensky was expected to attend.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, a political rival of Nawrocki, urged the two leaders to “tone down emotions, not stoke tensions.”
“The front line runs elsewhere,” Tusk wrote on social media Friday night, adding that the row between Poland and Ukraine “delights Putin and shocks our allies.”
Zelensky’s May decree said the designation was meant to restore military traditions and recognize the unit’s performance in defending Ukraine’s territorial integrity and independence.
The UPA fought for Ukrainian independence against both Nazi Germany and Soviet forces. But it has been accused of killing tens of thousands of Poles, mostly in the Nazi-occupied regions of Volhynia and Eastern Galicia. In 2016, the Polish Parliament recognized the crimes committed by UPA as genocide.
Ukrainians say armed formations on both sides, including the UPA and Polish underground forces, were involved in attacks and reprisals that led to large-scale civilian casualties among Poles and Ukrainians.
Poland and Ukraine had recently made progress on the issue of exhumation of Polish victims. A December meeting between the two presidents in Warsaw had signaled progress on historical reconciliation.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Saturday lashed out at Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, insisting that she asked “over and over” for a photo with him at the recent Group of Seven summit and criticizing what he said was Italy’s lack of cooperation during the Iran war.
The remarks deepen the spat that began this week with the Republican president’s interview with an Italian broadcaster, during which Trump claimed Meloni “begged” for the photo during the G7 meeting in France. Meloni has called that “completely fabricated.” The dustup led Italy’s foreign minister to cancel a planned trip to the United States as Meloni’s government lined up in her defense.
“Italian Prime Minister Gigiorgia Meloni asked, over and over, for a picture with me during the G-7 meeting in France,” Trump wrote on his social media platform while spending the weekend at the Camp David presidential retreat. He misspelled her first name in the initial post, which he later corrected.
He continued: “She is doing poorly in Italy with her level of popularity, possibly because she turned down the United States of America, a Country that truly loves and protects Italy, when it came to denying Iran from obtaining or developing a Nuclear Weapon (But so did NATO, for that matter!).”
Meloni soon responded, saying in a statement to Trump that “these constant, unprovoked attacks are senseless.”
“As for my popularity, being your friend certainly has not helped it, nor does it depend on my relationship with you. My popularity depends on my ability to defend Italy’s national interest, and that is exactly what I have always done,” Meloni said in a post on Instagram. She added that “in any case, my popularity is none of your concern. I suggest you focus on yours.”
Trump’s initial comments were aired Friday on the La7 network. A correspondent had asked the president about Ukraine, but Trump raised Meloni and made the claim about the photo. Trump said he was not obliged to take the picture with her but that he felt sorry for her and agreed, La7 said. The broadcaster put a dubbed version of the conversation online, but not the original English audio.
In his post, Trump also complained that Meloni would not allow the U.S. to use Italy’s landing strips or runways during the Iran war even though the U.S. is a leader in defense spending among NATO allies. That is a long-standing complaint about the military alliance and one that Trump raised before his White House meeting Wednesday with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and the NATO summit in Turkey next month.
Italy, a key logistics hub for the U.S., declined in March to allow American bombers headed for the Middle East to use a base in Sicily without parliamentary approval. It was a decision reflecting constitutional constraints and strong domestic opposition to the war. Meloni has insisted that any use of Italian bases for offensive operations would require parliamentary backing.
Trump vented his frustration about Meloni and on Saturday claimed that she “wants to be friends again” in light of the initial deal between the U.S. and Iran to end the war.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Saturday announced that federal authorities had made “multiple arrests” of people he said were vandalizing the Reflecting Pool as he struggled to explain why the $14-million-plus rehabilitation project he launched for the nation’s 250th anniversary seemingly backfired.
Trump said his predecessors had let the pool turn an algae-stained green and that he’d line it with “American flag blue” so it better reflected the Washington Monument. But after the new pool was unveiled, its blue tinge quickly became a familiar green. Workers treated it with chemicals to kill the algae, but then the painted blue lining on the bottom began to peel.
On Friday night, Trump posted about the pool.
“We’ve had some real problems with Vandalism at the beautiful Reflecting Pool,” he posted on his social media site Friday night. ”Just like three days ago, they destroyed the grass outside of the Pool, they’ve also done everything possible to hurt the inside surface that was just installed.”
He offered no details to substantiate his claim.
Agencies responsible for law enforcement and upkeep on the National Mall — the U.S. Park Police, National Park Service and Interior Department — did not respond to requests for comment. Trump on Saturday followed up by saying Park Police “have arrested multiple individuals for vandalizing our Nations magnificent Reflecting Poll,” meaning Pool.
He went on: “Who would do such a thing? These are very serious crimes having to do with the destruction of National Monuments. Years in jail!”
One man arrested was David Hearn, 67, of Bethesda, Md., who owned a company that made composite used to build watercraft. He said he stopped by the pool during his 64-mile bike ride Friday to see what was going on.
Hearn, a former Olympic canoe racer, told the Associated Press that he reached into the pool because he wanted to examine the peeling new coating. He said he briefly touched a chunk that was still attached to the side of the pool, then let go shortly after a park worker told him to.
But, Hearn said, he was then detained by National Guard troops and Park Police for five hours before being released Friday night.
“I’m a curious citizen,” Hearn said in a telephone interview. “I reached down to see what it felt like. It was very rubbery.”
The Washington Post first reported Hearn’s arrest, and he said he has a date to appear in court next month and is looking for legal help.
Even if someone pulled ribbons of paint from the side of the pool, it would not explain the clouds of algae in green water and swaths of loose blue paint detached from the bottom.
Trump insisted something nefarious has been going on at the scene. “No different than the chemicals that were used on the National Mall, they used something similar in the Reflecting Pool to try to destroy and demean our beautiful work,” he posted Friday evening.
That was an apparent reference to the discovery of large numbers etched in discolored grass on the National Mall the week before: “86 47.” Authorities said the numbers could have been meant as a threat to Trump, the 47th president. The number 86 can be slang for “getting rid of.” They are investigating.
Trump’s claims came after days of negative attention to the state of the pool, which has drawn television cameras and curious onlookers.
TYRE, Lebanon — Iran on Saturday said it closed the Strait of Hormuz because of Israel’s attacks in Lebanon and warned that while negotiators were going to Switzerland for talks with the United States on their interim agreement, not much is likely to happen if the fighting doesn’t stop.
U.S. President Donald Trump, in response, threatened to impose American tolls in the crucial waterway if a final deal with Iran isn’t reached in 60 days, saying the money would be for “services rendered as the Guardian Angel to the countries of the Middle East.” His social media post underscored that the agreement calls for toll-free travel for 60 days.
The announcements indicated a rough start to technical-level U.S.-Iran talks that key mediator Pakistan said will begin Sunday, with Qatari mediators also participating.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance left for Switzerland on Saturday evening, just as Iranian state TV posted video showing Iran’s negotiators arriving there. They include parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, and central bank and oil officials, among others. The deal calls for billions of dollars of Iran’s assets to be unfrozen.
Talks were meant to start Friday, but the Iranians initially canceled their plans to attend because of escalating fighting in Lebanon. Negotiators for the U.S. and Qatar, with help from Iran, worked out an agreement between Israel and Hezbollah to tamp down hostilities, according to U.S. and regional officials who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Vance told reporters he would be in Switzerland “for a day or two” but was optimistic on making progress in the nuclear talks and on a ceasefire in southern Lebanon.
Negotiations toward a final agreement will begin once key commitments are upheld, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said. If they are not, “the memorandum of understanding as a whole will be jeopardized.”
Strait once again becomes a challenge
But the strait has emerged again as a focus. Iran’s joint military command said it was closed because of the U.S. “clear breach of its commitments” by failing to end the war. The interim deal is meant to stop fighting on all fronts.
The U.S. disputed Iran’s announcement.
“Iran does not control the Strait of Hormuz. Traffic continues to flow, and U.S. forces are monitoring the situation to ensure this remains the case,” said Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson for U.S. Central Command. The military said that 55 merchant ships transited Saturday with more than 17 million barrels of oil.
The global economy braced for more uncertainty.
Ships began transiting after the interim U.S.-Iran agreement was signed earlier in the week, a milestone that left plenty of questions unanswered. The U.S. lifted its blockade of Iran’s ports and now allows Tehran to sell its oil freely — terms that have left some in the U.S. Congress asking whether the war was worth it.
Vance earlier confirmed that top negotiators Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff were already in Switzerland and working through technical details of anticipated negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program. The interim deal gives negotiators 60 days to reach a nuclear agreement, but the issue is intricate and the time can be extended.
Israeli attacks in Lebanon kill at least 16
A Hezbollah official told the Associated Press that Iran informed the militant group that Tehran will not reopen the strait until Israel announces publicly that it will comply with a “comprehensive ceasefire” in Lebanon and an end to military operations there. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
The official said Hezbollah will commit to a ceasefire if Israel does.
An Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, later said the military had received “updated directives from the political echelon to cease fire.” The official said the military is operating in a defensive manner in Lebanon, which includes the right to respond to Hezbollah attacks.
The official also said five Israeli soldiers had been killed in the past 48 hours in southern Lebanon.
Earlier Saturday, Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon killed at least 16 people, including two children, hours after reports emerged of a ceasefire agreement there. Seven people were trapped under rubble after strikes hit the southern city of Nabatiyeh and nearby villages, Lebanon’s National News Agency said.
The death toll in the latest war between Israel and Hezbollah has surpassed 4,000, Lebanon’s health ministry later announced.
An Israeli military official said Hezbollah fired more than 50 projectiles at Israeli forces in southern Lebanon overnight. Israel’s army said it struck dozens of Hezbollah targets and militants.
On Friday, the Israeli ambassador to Washington, Yechiel Leiter, said Israel “remains firmly committed to an immediate ceasefire” if Hezbollah honors the agreement and ceases hostilities.
Earlier Saturday, Hezbollah said it had committed to the ceasefire but blamed Israel for violating it Friday night and said it would repel attacks by Israeli troops.
Conflict could sink the US-Iran deal
Neither Israel nor Hezbollah are signatories to the deal between the U.S. and Iran.
A new round of U.S.-backed talks between the Lebanese government and Israel is expected in Washington next week.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to keep Israeli forces in southern Lebanon until any threat to Israel is eliminated. Hezbollah has refused to halt its attacks unless Israel commits to withdrawing from Lebanon.
Fighting continues near the Israel-Lebanon border
A strike on Lebanon’s Barish village killed four members of a family: parents and two children. In Arab Salim village, a body was pulled from a destroyed house, and in Doueir and Kfar Rumman villages, drone strikes killed a person on a motorcycle and a Lebanese soldier. Nine people were killed in strikes in Qannarit, Sohmor, and Shehour villages.
Israeli jets flew low over the coastal city of Tyre. Residents told the Associated Press they were relieved that Tyre had been spared in recent days, but now they were reminded that the war is not over.
“Our entire lives would change if there’s a ceasefire,” said one resident, Hussein Khoshman.
Some residents of northern Israel doubted the fighting would stop. “I don’t believe in a ceasefire because it doesn’t exist,” said Miriam Hod in Metula.
By the time you read this, Philadelphia will have hosted two matches in the FIFA World Cup and will be steadfastly preparing for a third in quick succession come Monday.
France, a favorite by many to win the whole tournament, will take on Iraq in the second game of Group I, but if it’s anything like the previous two matches, the game itself will once again not be the story.
Because for the past two games, the attraction has been that of the fans, and the unbridled passion people have for not just a team and its players, but the nation so many have bought jerseys for, the emblem they proudly wear above their heart, or in the middle of their chest.
The heart of Brazil is in Philadelphia ahead of their match against Haiti
This spectacle of what will result in 104 matches of underdogs becoming story lines, a U.S. men’s national team exercising the type of dominance very few expected, has also seen Philly lead the way on the main stage, creating lasting memories for thousands of fans who have flocked to the city, all while becoming lore, in the process.
In the lead-up to the World Cup, the story lines circulated the unforeseen, the question marks that surrounded what the World Cup’s return to the United States would look like.
It came on the heels of perceived rampant greed from FIFA, which enacted dynamic pricing for the first time, sending ticket prices soaring to the highest they’ve ever been. They opened the door for broadcasters to run advertisements midgame, under the guise of hydrating tired players.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino (right) gives President Donald Trump the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize at the World Cup draw last December.
Let’s not forget the lobbying of the sitting U.S. president in the process, going as far as to create an inaugural peace prize for him while his administration destabilized governments and enabled a war in the Middle East.
But look at how quickly all of that has fallen into the backdrop.
Soccer in its purest form has provided an escape for a nation that desperately needed one. And what it’s also proved in the process is that people of different races, colors, and creeds don’t hate each other as much as their social media algorithms might suggest.
Proof was on display right here in Philly in the form of fans who packed the stands over the last two matches.
Fans like Maxence Jeanty, a 41-year-old Haitian native living in Chicago who traveled to Philly from the Windy City, dressed in a suit depicting liberator Jean-Jacques Dessalines, a key figure of the Haitian Revolution.
Maxence Jeanty, 41, a fan from Chicago arrived at the FIFA World Cup game between Brazil and Haiti, dressed as Jean-Jacques Dessalines, the leader of the Haitian revolution.
“When I was growing up in Haiti as a kid, I watched the World Cup, and I’ll never forget watching the 1994 World Cup,” Jeanty said. “It’s been so long that my people haven’t made it to the World Cup that the choice was to choose either Brazil or Argentina [as the nation to support]. But now, we’re stepping on the field as equals, and no matter what happens, we’re stepping on the field as equals. The pride that brings to me and to every Haitian fan here, man, that’s indescribable.”
We witnessed massive gatherings on the most iconic steps of our fair city from supporters who, like Jeanty, boarded planes just to be a part of the moment.
Haiti fans celebrate during Friday’s FIFA World Cup Group C soccer match against Brazil.
Only a week and a half in, the World Cup has become for so many a momentary cure for what ails, the escape we didn’t know we needed. Lifelong supporters hang onto every kick, and casual fans are amazed by the sights and sounds.
Along the way, we’ve met supporters of other nations who’ve never met and have become instant friends. We saw dance parties on subway cars, in parking lots, and in the middle of streets.
Lucas Maninhu, 31, who arrived from New York and was draped in Brazil’s jersey, wanted to introduce me to his “new best friend,” a Haitian man who only wanted to go by Greguity. The two met in the parking lot on the day of the Brazil-Haiti match, struck up a conversation, walked into the stadium, and watched most of the game together.
Brazil fan Lucas Maninhu (right) and Haitian fan Greguity met at the World Cup match in Philly between Brazil and Haiti. Both said they’ve become “best friends” in the process.
“We met tonight,” Maninhu said. “We are here for different teams, but it doesn’t matter, tonight this is my boy. We’re all here for the same reason.”
And look, FIFA knows this. It knows the unifying power this tournament has had on the masses since before the end of the Second World War.
It’s why, despite laying the claim of being “Football for All,” this edition of the World Cup, from a financial perspective, has felt like football for the few.
But those few continue to sell out arenas, flock to stadium stores to buy World Cup merchandise, and drink $7 purified water. Outside the stadium, games are setting broadcast records, and people are filling the bars and restaurants across North America. There’s money to be made all around.
Let’s not forget the FIFA Fan Festivals, the official watch party situated in Philly at Lemon Hill. It’s made that neighborhood a noisy one, but it’s a good noise.
Think about it. At its core, the first 10 days of the World Cup have allowed many Americans to take a sigh of relief, to have something to look forward to, or have on in the background while life is happening in real time.
Cam Gorman, 23, of Gilbertsville, Pa., cheering with Philly Sports Guy Jamie Pagliei (front, center) at the FIFA Fan Festival in Lemon Hill as the U.S. beat Australia on Friday.
Here at home, you can try to equate the fervor to the Eagles winning it all in 2018, and then again in 2024, but it’s a different vibe, because this isn’t about wins or losses. To many fans, this is about the sheer joy that having the sport in their backyard has delivered.
It feels like the reprieve America needed, and Philly’s place in all of it has not gone unnoticed.
