JEDDAH: With under a week to go to the biggest fight of the year, billed the “Rage on the Red Sea,” Anthony Joshua reflected on his first visit to Saudi Arabia in 2019 and how he is ready to “put on a show” for his second fight in the Kingdom: The rematch against Oleksandr Usyk.

At face value, Joshua’s ambitions are simple.

“Last time here I became two-time champion,” he says, just days out from his rematch. “The sole aim now is to become three-time!”

Scratch the surface a little, though, and there is a far greater depth to the goals of both the fighter and host nation.

The last time Joshua fought here he did so under similar circumstances. He went into 2019’s “Clash of the Dunes” in Diriyah bidding to reclaim the belts he had lost to his opponent just months earlier, and does so again in Jeddah after dropping those same titles to Usyk last year.

Joshua went on to outclass Andy Ruiz Jr. from start to finish in Diriyah, and the Briton, understandably, recalls the night with real fondness.

“I have great memories from 2019,” he said. “Everything about the event was spot on. From the purpose-built stadium, the organization and the hospitality, it was all 10 out of 10. It was a phenomenal event for boxing in general and, of course, very special for me as I became two-time champion.”

A seed was planted on Dec. 7, 2019, and boxing in the Kingdom has grown at a rapid pace ever since. There has been a 300 percent increase in participation across men and women in Saudi Arabia, the number of boxing gyms in the country has climbed from seven to 59, and last December saw the Saudi Arabian Boxing Federation introduce the first ever women’s boxing championship.

“Clash of the Dunes” left a legacy for boxing to build upon in Saudi Arabia, something the Joshua is immensely proud of and hopes to further once again when he takes on Usyk at King Abdullah Sports City on Saturday, Aug. 20.

“It’s fantastic that the country has taken the sport to heart,” said Joshua. “I know it has grown by over 300 percent, lots of facilities have opened since 2019 and the women’s championship happened last year. As professional fighters competing on a global scale it is fantastic to see the sport grow and inspire a new generation to it.”

Joshua departed Saudi Arabia a hero in 2019, having brought the pinnacle of the sport to the country for the very first time. The welcome he was given, as well as the support throughout his time there, left a mark on him.

“I have been shown such kindness since I have been here,” he explained. “It is obvious to me that the country has really embraced the sport and that certainly fills me with energy to want to perform in front of the fans.”

The 32-year-old will need all the energy he can muster from the Jeddah crowd as he runs it back against a man widely regarded as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters on the planet.

Usyk extended his career unbeaten run to 19 fights by securing a unanimous points victory over Joshua, and the 35-year-old Ukrainian is a technical master in the ring. But, while Joshua insists Usyk deserves the respect his achievements command, he is ready to make the most of a rare opportunity at redemption.

He said: “Things happen in life, but resilience and mental toughness and consistency will always prevail, so we are still on the right road. I am focused on the target and goal and it’s all about performance now. I had to take the defeat like a man and hold myself accountable. I simply have to reverse it and move forward.

“We have to give him credit, I respect him for his craft. I am motivated to get better. The great thing is I have a second chance to beat him. You can put me down, but you can’t keep me down.

“My team and I are focused on the goal, taking all the learnings from the last fight and on Aug. 20 I will entertain the fans who come out to see a huge night of heavyweight boxing.”

The battle that tops the billing at “Rage on the Red Sea” is the obvious big-ticket draw for fight fans both watching in the stadium and at home on pay-per-view, but the remainder of the card will make history, too, and is littered with talented, high-stakes bouts from start to finish.

The impact of this event on the ongoing transformation of Saudi Arabia through sport will continue the momentum from the incredible response to “Clash of the Dunes.”

There is Saudi fighter Ziyad Al-Maayouf to inspire local fight fans, while Ramla Ali and Crystal Garcia Nova will be the first female boxers to ever feature in an official international fight in Saudi Arabia. Then there are light-heavyweight and heavyweight final eliminators between Callum Smith and Mathieu Bauderlique, and Filip Hrgovic versus the undefeated Zhilei Zhang, respectively.

Added to that are names such as former two-weight world champion Badou Jack and his opponent Richard Rivera, as well as Daniel Lapin, Jozef Jurko, Andrew Tabiti and Tyrone Spong.

For Joshua, this means only one thing: This event is not to be missed.

“All focus is on fight night, and we are certain to put on a serious show for them,” he said.

“I can’t wait to see everyone at the arena. It is set to be an unbelievable night of championship-level boxing. For any sports fan this is not to be missed, it has all the ingredients to go down in boxing history.”

 

“Foster parents” who take care of native beehives in their own backyards have helped a Queensland macadamia nut farmer develop a pollination backup plan should the invasive varroa mite spread.  

Geoff Chivers started investigating using the small, stingless insects to pollinate his orchards, which were some of the oldest in Bundaberg, when varroa mite first started spreading around the world. 

In five years, he has gone from five beehives to 150, which he said was made possible by a group of enthusiastic locals he called the “foster parents”.

“We need to have feed for those bees in the off-season,” he said.

“We actually host them out to families and friends in Bundaberg who have either large areas of native bush around them or backyards in the middle of town where there’s lots of flowering plants or vegetable patches.”

He was not looking for any new foster parents, with all of the beehives adopted and thriving in their host homes.

“We’ve found that the bees actually flourish in the urban environment because of the variety of flowers and other things that they can collect pollen from,” he said.

Macadamia trees have a short flowering window, and because orchards are large and surrounded by monoculture crops, the bees would not have enough food or variety without their host families. 

“The foster parents love it, they really become attached their hives,” he said.

“There’s a lot of people that just love to sit out and watch the bees come and go and just do what they do.”

Win-win for bees and community

All of Mr Chivers’ beehives currently have homes with foster parents like retiree Hugh O’Malley, whose wife Allison first suggested they get involved. 

“I’ve got a little vegetable garden and I’d had trouble with a lot of plants, like cucumbers for example, with pollination,” Mr O’Malley said.

He said the bees were low-maintenance and easy to integrate into his existing garden. 

“If they need any water they get it off a bit of dew off the grass and of course they know where to go for food,” he said. 

“So I don’t have to do anything … I don’t use any sprays or anything like that, which is good for the bees.

It’s estimated about 90 per cent of the pollination for macadamia nuts is done by honey bees, but with the detection of the devastating varroa mite in New South Wales, farmers in Queensland have been considering their options should bee numbers drop significantly.

Patience pays off

Mr Chivers said it had taken years of experimentation and education to get the native bees working in his orchard, but he was seeing tangible results. 

“We placed the bees around the outside of the orchard believing that they would move through the orchard,” he said. 

“What we actually saw was around the outside of the orchard, we’re getting a much better nut set, but not so much into the orchard.

In one of the oldest orchards in the district, he said kernel recovery — a measure of how much nut is inside the shell that determines what the grower is paid — had risen from 30 to 35 per cent.  

Some limits

While it was a success for his farm, Mr Chivers acknowledged there were limits to how much the bees could do in place of traditional honey bee pollination, particularly when it came to breeding and splitting beehives, which is a much slower process in the stingless varieties.

“We couldn’t go out tomorrow and get enough hives to pollinate all the macadamia orchards or other farms around here, but we have enough now, I believe to pollinate, all our own farms,” he said.

Don’t look now, but the 2022 NFL season is just around the corner. Training camps opened in July, preseason games started in August and the official NFL season itself kicks off on Sept. 8. Each team plays three preseason games before it cuts down to its final, 53-man roster to begin the season. The final nationally televised game of the first week features the Minnesota Vikings against the Las Vegas Raiders at 4:25 p.m. ET (1:25 p.m. PT) on NFL Network.

Here’s what you need to know to watch NFL preseason games without cable.

The NFL Network will broadcast most of the nationally televised preseason games, while CBS, Fox, ESPN and Prime Video will show a few other national games. Local networks, including CBS, NBC and Fox, carry the rest of the games.

Looking ahead to the regular season, CBS (and Paramount Plus) and Fox carry the games on Sundays, ESPN shows Monday Night Football, Prime Video shows Thursday Night Football and NBC (and Peacock) shows Sunday Night Football.

Here’s the remaining NFL preseason TV schedule for the last day of week 1 (all times ET), as well as a look ahead to week 2, with nationally televised games in bold.

Sunday, Aug. 14

• Minnesota Vikings at Las Vegas Raiders, 4:25 p.m. on NFL Network

Week 2

Thursday, Aug. 18

• Chicago Bears at Seattle Seahawks, 8 p.m. on ESPN

Friday, Aug. 19 

• Carolina Panthers at New England Patriots, 7 p.m. on NFL Network
• New Orleans Saints at Green Bay Packers, 8 p.m
• Houston Texans at Los Angeles Rams, 10 p.m. on NFL Network

Saturday, Aug. 20 

• Denver Broncos at Buffalo Bills, 1 p.m. on NFL Network
• Detroit Lions at Indianapolis Colts, 1 p.m.
• Washington Commanders at Kansas City Chiefs, 4 p.m. on NFL Network
• Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Tennessee Titans, 7 p.m. on NFL Network
• Pittsburgh Steelers at Jacksonville Jaguars, 7 p.m.
• Las Vegas Raiders at Miami Dolphins, 7 p.m.
• San Francisco 49ers at Minnesota Vikings, 7 p.m.
• Dallas Cowboys at Los Angeles Chargers, 10 p.m. on NFL Network

Sunday, Aug. 21

• Philadelphia Eagles at Cleveland Browns, 1 p.m. on NFL Network
• Cincinnati Bengals at New York Giants, 7 p.m. on NFL Network
• Baltimore Ravens at Arizona Cardinals, 8 p.m. on Fox

Monday, Aug. 22 

• Atlanta Falcons at New York Jets, 8 p.m. ET on ESPN

For the full preseason schedule check out NFL.com.

Four of the five major live TV streaming services carry NFL Network — all but DirecTV Stream. All five carry ESPN and Fox, and all but Sling TV carry CBS. For the games on CBS and Fox, keep in mind that not every service carries every local network, so check each one using the links below to make sure it carries CBS and Fox in your area.

All of the live TV streaming services above offer free trials, allow you to cancel anytime and require a solid internet connection. Looking for more information? Check out our live-TV streaming services guide.

A Palestinian gunman opened fire at a bus near Jerusalem’s Old City early Sunday, wounding eight people in an attack that came a week after violence flared up between Israel and militants in Gaza, police and medics said.

Two of the victims were in serious condition, including a pregnant woman with abdominal injuries and a man with gunshot wounds to the head and neck, according to Israeli hospitals treating them.

The U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Tom Nides, tweeted that there were American citizens among the wounded. An embassy spokesperson disclosed no other information or details.

U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer said a press conference Sunday that three of the eight people wounded in the attack were Americans from Brooklyn. 

The shooting happened as the bus waited in a parking lot near David’s Tomb on Mount Zion, just outside the Old City walls. Israeli media identified the suspected attacker as a 26-year-old Palestinian from east Jerusalem.

Israeli police said forces were dispatched to the scene to investigate. Israeli security forces also pushed into the nearby Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan pursuing the suspected attacker.

Later on Sunday, police said the suspected attacker turned himself in. Speaking at a meeting of his Cabinet on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said the suspected attacker was a resident of Jerusalem who was operating alone during the shooting and who had previously been arrested by Israel.

The attack in Jerusalem followed a tense week between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.

Last weekend, Israeli aircraft unleashed an offensive in the Gaza Strip targeting the militant group Islamic Jihad and setting off three days of fierce cross-border fighting. Islamic Jihad fired hundreds of rockets during the flare-up to avenge the airstrikes, which killed two of its commanders and other militants. Israel said the attack was meant to thwart threats from the group to respond to the arrest of one of its officials in the occupied West Bank.

Forty-nine Palestinians, including 17 children and 14 militants, were killed, and several hundred were injured in the fighting, which ended with an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire. No Israeli was killed or seriously injured.

The Islamic militant group Hamas, which controls Gaza, stayed on the sidelines.

A day after the cease-fire halted the worst round of Gaza fighting in more than a year, Israeli troops killed three Palestinian militants and wounded dozens in a shootout that erupted during an arrest raid in the West Bank city of Nablus.  

Blasts ripped through a fireworks warehouse in a shopping mall in the Armenian capital of Yerevan on Sunday (Aug 14), Russian news agencies reported, killing two people and injuring 60.

Video footage showed thick grey smoke rising above a building, followed by an explosion that sent people running from the scene.

People were trying to clear rubble and debris from a building that suffered extensive damage as clouds of dust and smoke hung in the air. Other bystanders were helping victims.

Armenia’s health ministry said that the number of people injured had reached 60, of whom 22 had already been discharged. Two people died, the ministry said on Telegram.

Firefighters were struggling to contain the blaze as fireworks continued detonating, complicating the search and rescue operation, TASS cited the head of the ministry’s rescue service as saying.

It was not immediately clear what caused the fireworks to detonate.

A powerful explosion has rocked a shopping centre and caused a fire in Armenia’s capital, Yerevan.

Officials say one person died and 34 were injured in the blast at the Surmalu market.

Video shows people running as a massive plume of smoke spreads quickly following the explosion.

Texas, the second-largest state in the United States, has rivers, lakes, lowlands, and mountains. Although Texas is generally fairly hot and humid, especially in the summer, it also boasts a wide range of temperatures. Texas may be known for its hot weather, which goes well with its world-famous barbecue, but it also has many freshwater lakes, which can be incredibly refreshing, especially given the hot weather.

Texas is home to many natural and artificial lakes, which provide numerous chances for freshwater fishing and lakeside holidays. These lakes range from a few hundred hectares to more than 100,000 acres. Texas may be home to numerous lakes, yet almost all these bodies of water are man-made or artificial. So, are there any natural lakes in Texas? If so, how many are they? Below, we will explore how many natural lakes the Lone Star State is home to and why the state has more artificial reservoirs than natural ones.

How Many Natural Lakes are in Texas?

Texas is home to over 7,000 lakes, but only one of them is considered natural. Bizarre, isn’t it? Texas has more than 7,000 lakes, most in the state’s central and eastern regions, and many are close to Dallas. Apparently, there aren’t many natural lakes in the state. The only natural lake in the state is Caddo Lake in East Texas, created by a log jam put in place in the early 20th century. But is the second-largest state in the nation really home to just one naturally occurring lake?

The fact that Texas has just one natural lake is widely known among Texans. It’s called Caddo Lake, located in East Texas, on the border between Texas and Louisiana. Caddo, however, is merely Texas’ largest natural lake. There are several others, although the majority are so small that it is debatable whether they should be considered lakes, ponds, or swamps. Moreover, it’s unlikely that you’ve heard of them because virtually every lake you’ve heard of is artificial. This incorporates more than 200 more reservoirs around Texas, such as Lake Livingston, Lake Texoma, and Lake Houston. Most of the state’s remaining lakes were constructed in reaction to Texas’ occasional tendency for its normally calm rivers to flood amid heavy rains.

Natural Lake in Texas: Caddo Lake

A lake and bayou called Caddo Lake separate Texas from Louisiana. It has a size of 25,400 acres or 39.7 square miles, ranking it among both states’ largest lakes. Up to the 19th century, the lake served as a settlement for the Caddoans, a Southeastern Native American tribe. The swamp surrounding the lake contains one of the largest flooded cypress trees in the United States, adding to its allure and is the reason it is a conservation area on a global scale. 

However, according to experts, Caddo Lake is more of a swamp. Because of artificial dams, it is gradually transforming into a lake; technically speaking, it is no longer entirely natural.

Despite being the only recognized natural lake in Texas, Caddo Lake is both a natural reservoir and a man-made lake. It was created hundreds of years ago due to the Red River becoming blocked by debris. An artificial dam was built to safeguard the lake that people had previously been residing next to for millennia when the federal government removed the stopper, known as the Red River Raft, in the late 19th century.

What Animals Live in Caddo Lake?

In addition to hosting owls, eagles, frogs, river otters, beavers, bobcats, snakes, and alligators, Caddo Lake is now an internationally protected wetland. It also features over 70 different types of fish, making it a well-liked fishing location. You can go canoeing among groves of moss-covered cypress trees on this lake in northeast Texas while fishing for bass, catfish, and crappie. But you can’t swim in the lake since it is one of the most alligator-infested lakes in the country.

How Was Caddo Lake Formed?

Most geologists believe that the “Great Raft,” a 100-mile (160-km) log jam on the Red River in Louisiana, produced Caddo Lake, either gradually or catastrophically, potentially drowning the pre-existing low-lying basin. As Captain Henry Miller Shreve and the Army Corps of Engineers gradually cleared the log jams in the lake and on the Red River, the lake gradually altered shape and eventually dropped over 10 feet, wiping out the East Texas ports and their riverboat industry.

The discovery of oil beneath Caddo Lake brought the industry back to the area. The first over-the-water oil platform in history was finished at Caddo Lake in 1911.

In 1913 and 1914, an ecologist surveyed Caddo Lake and hypothesized that the lake originated between 1770 and 1780 based on an analysis of the cross sections of bald cypress and hardwood trees as well as numerous dead stumps.

Why Are There So Many Man-Made Lakes in Texas?

Devastating floods that claimed lives and destroyed homes and cattle are frequently mentioned in early records of Texas, especially near the Brazos. Officials started constructing dams along Texas rivers in the 1930s and 1940s to establish flood control lakes that would soak up floodwaters and lessen havoc and casualties. As per the Texas Water Development Board, 187 man-made water supply reservoirs greater than 5,000 acres in the state remarkably resemble natural lakes.

The US Army Corps of Engineers was entrusted with creating several additional reservoirs for flood control over the following decades as the demand for such flood control projects built up in the 1950s. Coincidentally, Texas’ worst drought occurred in the 1950s, making water supply a second priority for these reservoirs.

In addition to lakes and reservoirs, the state has playas and resacas in its watery repertoire. A reservoir is created by damming a river. In contrast, resacas are tiny lakes produced naturally at horseshoe bends in rivers that were left as independent water bodies when the river changed course. The size of a playa can vary from 15 acres to 800 acres. Despite Texas’ limited natural lake resources, many other bodies of water resemble lakes.