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Michelle Williamsis thinking about her lateDawson's CreekcostarJames Van Der Beek"constantly."

At the 2026 Actor Awards on Sunday, Williams addressed the passing of her former costar for the first time sincehis deathtwo weeks ago at 48 after a battle with colorectal cancer."I'm thinking about him," Williams toldEntertainment Tonightafter Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series for her performance inDying for Sex. "And I'm thinking about his family constantly."

She added, "I also just want to say it's been such an amazing thing as James is a friend and a friend of the family to see the response in the wake of his passing."Referencing the theGoFundMethat has raised $2.75 million dollars to support Van Der Beek's wife Kimberly and their six children, Williams continued, "I just really want to say thank you to each and every person who has contributed to sustaining their lives and their children's lives. It's an incredibly meaningful thing to witness."Williams and Van Der Beek starred on all six seasons of the seminal WB teen drama from 1998-2003.Van Der Beek died on Feb. 11, Kimberly announced in a statementon his social media accounts."Our beloved James David Van Der Beek passed peacefully this morning," her statement said. "He met his final days with courage, faith, and grace. There is much to share regarding his wishes, love for humanity and the sacredness of time. Those days will come. For now we ask for peaceful privacy as we grieve our loving husband, father, son, brother, and friend."

A cause of death has not been shared, but the actor previously opened up about his diagnosis of stage 3 colorectal cancer in November 2024 at age 46.

"That's one of the reasons I want to talk about it andthereason I'm talking about it so openly,"Van Der Beek told PEOPLEdays after publicly revealing his diagnosis. "I've been dealing with this pretty much in secret for a while, and in the past, I've found it helpful and cathartic to share things publicly. And I've found a lot of support that way. But more than that, I really wanted to raise awareness."

Van Der Beek was unable to attend a September 2025Dawson's Creekreunion charity event in person due to "two stomach viruses," so hemade a surprise appearancevia a prerecorded video instead. His gaunt appearance on camera sparked overwhelming concern from fans who worried that his cancer was taking a turn, but the actor clarified that his weight loss was "not cancer-related" in an interview withTodayshow cohost Craig Melvin in December 2025.

Van Der Beek's wife and their six children attended the charity reunion event in his place, where two of his daughterswent onstage to sing the show's theme song— Paula Cole's "I Don't Want to Wait" — with his former costars Williams, Katie Holmes, Joshua Jackson, Busy Philipps, Mary Beth Peil, John Wesley Shipp, Mary-Margaret Humes, Nina Repeta, Kerr Smith, and Meredith Monroe.

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"As crushed as I was not being able to go to thatDawson's Creekreunion, my family got to go. And I was Zooming in on that night, and they got a standing ovation just for taking their seats," Van Der Beek recalled. "And all that love that would have otherwise been directed at me, was directed at my family. It was just one of the most beautiful moments I've ever gotten to witness. I'm just so grateful to the fans for doing that."

The last time the entire cast was reunited under the same roof was forEntertainment Weekly's cover story shoot celebrating the 20th anniversary ofDawson's Creek.Van Der Beek and his costars Holmes, Jackson, Williams, Philipps, Smith, Monroe, and Peil became a family again for the2018 EW shoot. Dawson, Joey, Pacey, Jen, and more caught each other up on how the small-town, coming-of-age drama changed their lives.

"I was doing some appearance for The WB at the time, and it was pandemonium, like five times as many people as they thought would show up showed up,"Van Der Beek sharedduring the reunion. "We ran out of headshots. Girls were getting pressed against barricades. They had to take me out in a police car to get me out of there. To this day, whenever I hear a gaggle of teenage girls cackling and giggling, I have the lamest form of PTSD ever."

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Series creator Kevin Williamson told EW at the time that he originally envisioned Jackson for the part of Dawson. But the WB said no, so he went back to the drawing board. He's grateful that he did, because when he did meet Van Der Beek, he knew at once the actor wasperfect for the part. "He looked the part, he acted the part, he talked the part," Williamson said. "And he was so intelligent, he was so smart. He didn't look like a nerd but he was a nerd inside."

Following his death, the officialDawson's Creekaccount paid tribute to its staron social media by sharing a throwback photo of Van Der Beek with a caption that read, "His iconic portrayal of Dawson Leery helped define a generation of television for fans and continues to resonate with audiences today. Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones."

Read the original article onEntertainment Weekly

Open the airplane-tracking websiteFlightradar24right now and the change is unmistakable. Where one of the world's busiest aviation crossroads should be — a dense web of aircraft linking Europe, Asia and Africa — there is instead a yawning gap. A hole in the sky.

As conflict escalates in Iran with knock-on effects across the Middle East, vast swaths of regional airspace haveclosed or emptied. And because this region sits at the center of modern long-haul travel, the disruption is rippling far beyond it.

For decades, Europe-to-Asia traffic has flowed straight through the Middle East. The region is home to some of aviation's most powerful megahubs — Dubai International Airport, Hamad International Airport and Zayed International Airport — and to carriers such as Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways, whose business models are built on connecting East and West.

When that airspace closes, the consequences are immediate and global. Flights must reroute, often adding time, burning more fuel and creating knock-on complications for crews and aircraft — and higher costs.

Aircraft are displaced and crews stranded. As uncertainty mounts, there are implications for aircraft insurance, ticket prices and operational sustainability.

A collapsed bridge

Tony Stanton, consultant director of Strategic Air in Australia, describes Middle Eastern airspace as "a high-capacity bridge" between Europe and Asia.

"When that bridge collapses, or the bridge closes, the traffic doesn't largely disappear," Stanton tellsCNN Travel."It tends to funnel either north or south into those two main corridors, and then what we see is those two corridors become very congested because they're narrow corridors."

The result: longer delays, more disruptions, greater uncertainty.

There's no room for improvisation. "Airlines can't just fly anywhere they like," Stanton says.

"They need permission to overfly each country's air space, and they can only route through airspace that's open and managed by air traffic control," he says. "They need to, obviously, get those permissions to overfly countries that they weren't overflying before."

Airlines do prepare for geopolitical volatility. Sophisticated risk-monitoring systems scan global flashpoints, allowing operations teams to model contingencies before closures actually happen.

New flight plans are calculated, fuel loads adjusted and crews repositioned — all through what Stanton says is a "well-oiled process."

But even this system can strain under prolonged disruption.

The current "hole in the sky" evokes earlier aviation shocks, including the months of paralysis during the Covid-19 pandemic, the days of transatlantic shutdown during the 2010 Icelandic volcano eruption, and the stillongoing rerouting caused by the Russia-Ukrainewar.

Japan AirlinesFlight JL43from Tokyo to London is a case in point. Before Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, it flew west over Russian territory. For the past three years, it has operated eastward over the Pacific, Alaska and Canada —addingup to 2.4 hours and burning about 5,600 extra gallons of fuel per flight, an increase of roughly 20%.

Those kinds of detours come at a cost.

Long-haul aircraft already carry contingency fuel in case of last-minute route changes, but extended operating time can require additional crew members — or even fuel stops if the new routing exceeds the aircraft's range.

"That also adds costs," Brendan Sobie, a Singapore-based aviation analyst and consultant, tells CNN Travel. "In some extreme cases, you might even need to have a fuel stop because the longer flight is out of the range of the aircraft that's being used. You add cost because you have to land to take off again. You have additional charges related to a refueling scenario."

Airlines will be covered, to some extent, by insurance, says Stanton.

"There is actually a thing called war risk insurance," he explains. That doesn't mean airlines will be monetarily unaffected. "If the insurers see the risk increasing, well, they'll seek to increase the premium."

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Meanwhile, oil prices, sensitive to Middle East conflict, add another variable.

"Airline stocks obviously took a little bit of a dive today because of the economic political uncertainty that can impact demand, sometimes, particularly short term," says Sobie.

In the short term, travelers are unlikely to see a sudden hike on flight prices.

But, says Stanton, if the Iran crisis becomes "a sustained international event, then airlines will then seek to incorporate their increased operating costs, their reduced effective capacity of the aircraft, back into ticket prices … Airlines will seek to and they'll have to recover their costs."

Misplaced crew and aircraft

The operational consequences go beyond fuel. Right now, many crew members and aircraft are stuck in affected regions — one of the reasons why travelers across the globe might experience knock-on flight chaos this week.

"You could be anywhere around the world, and you will likely be affected by what's going on at the moment," says Stanton. "An aircraft that currently is sitting in London — in the system the airline might have anticipated that being in Singapore or Brisbane or some other place."

Carriers do have contingency plans for this kind of scenario, activating reserve crews held on standby.

"Ordinarily, for when people call in sick, they'll activate the reserve crews," says Stanton. "They'll swap aircraft. They also have standby aircraft, and they'll even cancel flights to try and reset the network — that complicated, interconnected system."

Airlines house stranded employees in hotels as they wait to see when — or to what degree — airspace reopens and how the situation develops.

Emirates has alreadyannounced a limited resumption of some serviceson Monday evening.

As crew wait for updates, some airline employees have been posting updates on social media. Virgin Australia flight attendant Sarah Goodwin updated followers on TikTok, calling being stuck in the Qatari capital Doha "the craziest situation."

"I never, ever, in my life thought that I would ever be in a situation where I can hear missiles," shesaid.

Airlines' focus will be keeping crew safe, says Brendan Sobie.

"In this kind of crisis situation, obviously, safety is first and foremost … You try to look after your crew as best as you can," he says. "And then, once things improve, you try to restart things and move the crew back into position, get them back home and start to try to return to normal operations as quickly as possible, but obviously as safely as possible as well."

Austrian Airlines, part of the Lufthansa group, ran a crew evacuation flight to Muscat, Oman, returning to Vienna, Austia on Monday morning local time, a spokesperson for the airline told CNN.

When will flights return to normal?

The longer the disruption lasts, the longer the recovery times, says Sobie. "If everything completely reopens, that makes it easier than, say, a partial reopening where there's still a lot of limitations. So, it's really impossible to predict or forecast, in this case — or in any case, really — how long it will take for a return to normal operation."

But safety concerns beyond the affected region are unwarranted, Stanton adds. "Major airlines don't just make these decisions just by looking at Flightradar24 and going, 'All right. Everybody else is going to the north. Let's go north.'"

He reiterates that airlines "run really structured intelligence, informed risk assessments."

"They've got specialist security teams, flight ops teams, dispatch teams. They listen to government advice. They probably get some intelligence that we don't get, and they make very careful decisions about when they're going to operate," he says.

"Particularly the major airlines … I personally would be comfortable to jump on a British Airways or a Qantas or Emirates aircraft if that aircraft was operating, because I have comfort in the systems and the risk assessments that the airlines would be running in the background to operate their assets."

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Chad Baker-Mazara'scollegiate career appears to have come to an unceremonious end on Sunday, March 1.

Southern Californiaannounced that the sixth-year and graduate transfer is no longer with the program, following his decision to not re-enter Saturday's 82-67 loss against Nebraska.

REQUIRED READING:Ranking top 10 players in college basketball for conference tournaments

Baker-Mazara's exit from the team comes at an interesting time for the Trojans. The team had been on the first four out inUSA TODAY Sports' latest bracketology, but have lost five games in a row.

Here's what you need to know about why Baker-Mazara left USC:

Why did Chad Baker-Mazara leave USC?

In his first year with USC ―and his sixth collegiate season ―Baker-Mazara led the Trojans with 18.6 points, 4.4 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game. All of his averages were career highs, as he started 22 of 26 games he appeared in for USC.

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However, against Nebraska after scoring 14-first half points, Baker-Mazara exited the game three minutes into the second half after falling hard on the baseline while trying to chase down Nebraska's Pryce Sandfort. He went to the locker room and never re-entered the game.

"He said he couldn't go," head coach Eric Musselman told reporters after the game.

According to a report from theLos Angeles Times' Ryan Kartje, "it wasn't any one incident, but an accumulation of issues that led to Baker-Mazara's departure."

Does Chad Baker-Mazara have any eligibility left?

After playing six collegiate seasons, Baker-Mazara is out of eligibility, effectively ending his college career.

How old is Chad Baker-Mazara?

Baker-Mazara was born on Jan. 27, 2000. That made him 26 years old during the 2025-26 college basketball season.

Chad Baker-Mazara stats

Here's a look at Baker-Mazara's stats in his six collegiate basketball seasons:

• 2020-21 (Duquesne): 9.5 points, 2.9 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 1.0 steals and 0.9 blocks per game on 43.8% shooting, 41.7% 3-point shooting in 24.4 minutes per game (15 games, 13 starts)

• 2021-22 (San Diego State): 6.4 points, 2.0 rebounds, 0.6 assists, 0.7 steals and 0.5 blocks per game on 42% shooting, 39.3% 3-point shooting in 12.8 minutes per game (31 games, 0 starts)

• 2022-23 (Northwest Florida State): Did not play

• 2023-24 (Auburn): 10 points, 3.7 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.0 steals and 0.5 blocks per game on 45.2% shooting, 41.8% 3-point shooting in 21.7 minutes per game (35 games, 9 starts)

• 2024-25 (Auburn): 12.3 points, 3.0 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.2 steals and 0.6 blocks per game on 44.8% shooting, 38.1% 3-point shooting in 25.6 minutes per game (38 games, 34 starts)

• 2025-26 (USC): 18.5 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 0.7 steals and 1.3 blocks per game on 44.4% shooting, 38.1% 3-point shooting in 29.6 minutes per game (26 games, 22 starts)

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Why did Chad Baker-Mazara depart USC basketball?

During her 11-year WNBA career, Chelsea Gray has collected an impressive cabinet of championships and awards. She added yet another accomplishment to her collection Monday, as Gray was named the MVP of Unrivaled's 2026 season.

Gray, 33, turned in a fantastic season with Rose BC, averaging 24.2 points, 6.1 assists and 5.6 rebounds in 14 games played.

Despite Gray's success, Rose BC went just 6-8 in the regular season. That was good enough to secure a playoff spot, but the team's success in the postseason proved to be short lived. Rose BC was eliminated from the playoffs Saturday, losing to Breeze BC.

While that was a disappointing result — especially considering Rose BC won the Unrivaled 3-on-3 championship last season — it was still a highly effective Unrivaled season for Gray. In addition to winning the league's MVP award,Gray also won its 1-on-1 tournamentin February. That earned Gray an extra $200,000.

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Gray can add that MVP award to an already impressive cabinet of awards. Over her WNBA career, Gray has made six All-Star teams, is a three-time All-Pro and a four-time WNBA champ. She also earned the finals MVP in 2022, when she averaged 18.3 points and six assists per game for the Aces.

Gray has come a long way since being selected by the Connecticut Sun with the No. 11 pick in the 2014 WNBA Draft. After missing her entire rookie season, Gray put up modest numbers over her next two years in a reserve role.

But once she earned a starting role in 2017, her career took off. Gray made three consecutive All-Star appearances over her next three seasons. She saw all of her stats increase, though managed to more than double her scoring output from her first two seasons.

[Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Baseball league for the 2026 MLB season]

All of that made Gray one of the WNBA's best players, something she's further established by helping the Aces win the WNBA championship in three out of the past four seasons.

KC Concepcion impressed despite not participating in some drills at the 2026 NFL combine. The Texas A&M wideout was considered a borderline first-round pick in the NFL Draft heading into the event, though he may have shownenough skills to move up draft boardsafter a solid performance.

But bad actors tried to throw cold water on Concepcion's combine performance after clips of his media interviews drew attention.Concepcion addressed those clipsSunday night with a heartfelt post about going through life with a speech impediment.

In the post, Concepcion explained that he wants to be "a role model for those who may be scared to speak." He offered thanks to those who supported him and encouraged others to not be affected by the negative thoughts of others. He ended the post with the hashtag #stopthenegativity.

Throughout his draft journey, Concepcion hastalked openlyabout his speech impediment. Concepcion said it used to be worse earlier in his life, but that taking speech classes helped.

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In September, he told the Associated Press he's learned toembrace the impediment as something that makes him unique.

"Everybody has their own flaws, and it's just about how you embrace those flaws and that makes you you," he said.

Concepcion also appeared on Shannon Sharpe's podcast in November totalk about his speech impediment.

The 21-year-old Concepcion finds himself high up on NFL Draft boards after turning in a strong junior season at Texas A&M. After transferring from North Carolina State, Concepcion gained 919 receiving yards and scored nine touchdowns in his first season with the Aggies.

That performance was good enough to make Concepcion a possible first-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. That's exactly where he sits in Yahoo Sports' latest mock draft, which was released post-combine. Inthat mock draft, Concepcion is going just inside the first round, with the New England Patriots taking the wideout at pick No. 31.

Former U.S. Open tennis champion Daniil Medvedev has indicated he's one of what the ATP Tour calls "a small number of players and team members" it is trying to help leave Dubai as thewar in the Middle Eastcauses awidespread travel shutdownthat has also caused issues for athletes heading to the Paralympics.

Travel Issues Tennis

Medvedev's Instagram account reposted on Monday a report from a Russian-language tennis outlet, Bolshe, which said he was safe and staying at a friend's apartment in Dubai, amid flight cancellations after winning the ATP event there last week.

"The health, safety and wellbeing of our players, staff and tournament personnel is our priority. We can confirm that a small number of players and team members remain in Dubai following the conclusion of the recent ATP 500 event," the ATP Tour said in a statement Monday.

"They and their teams are being accommodated in the tournament's official hotels, where their immediate needs are being fully supported."

Medvedev and others are due to play at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, California, where main-draw matches start Wednesday.

"We are in direct communication with those affected, as well as with tournament organizers and security advisors," the ATP said. "At this stage, travel assessments remain subject to ongoing assessment in line with airline operations and official guidance. We will continue to provide appropriate support to ensure players and their teams can depart safely when conditions allow."

The Winter Paralympics open in Italy on Friday and some athletes are facing travel difficulties, the International Paralympic Committee said.

"We are in close contact with all delegations competing at the Games as well as other stakeholders. Many of the teams are already in Europe attending training or holding camps, but the closure of airspace in the Middle East is impacting the arrival of some stakeholders," the IPC said in a statement.

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The IPC confirmed to The Associated Press that the affected stakeholders include athletes.

"We would prefer not to comment on the status of individual delegations or stakeholders at this stage but can provide assurance that we are working diligently with Milano Cortina 2026 to find solutions for those affected," the IPC added.

Iran has one cross-country skier expected to compete at the March 6-15 Paralympics.

Cricketers from England and Pakistan's men's developmental teams were in the United Arab Emirates at the weekend ahead of Sunday's game that was cancelled.

Youth basketball players alsofaced travel issueswhen a EuroLeague tournament there was canceled at the weekend.

Numerous sports events in the region have shut down, withAsian Champions League soccer gamesand the Qatari league on hold. The governing body which oversees Formula 1 said Monday it will focus on "safety and wellbeing" as itconsidersupcoming races in the region.

AP tennis:https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

Welcome back to another 'advanced English words' quiz! If you've checked out our32 Advanced English Words That Only Smart People Knowquiz, then you'll know what's expected of you here. Some of these words may seem very familiar to you. Maybe you've even used a few in conversation. But do you actually know what they mean?

This quiz will give you 30 advanced English words that regularly trip people up. The kind you see in books, headlines, academic writing, and debates. If your vocabulary is as strong as you think it is, this should be easy.

Ready to challenge yourself? Begin!

🚀 💡 Want more or looking for something else? Head over to theBored Panda Quizzesand explore our full collection of quizzes and trivia designed to test your knowledge, reveal hidden insights, and spark your curiosity.💡 🚀

What does this word mean?

◯ Carefully planned◯ Done routinely with little care◯ Deeply regretful◯ Overly emotional over the smallest things

Choose the correct meaning of this word:

◯ Extreme greed◯ Fear of change◯ Sudden confusion◯ Strong loyalty

Complete the sentence:

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What does this word mean?

◯ Reserved◯ Distracted◯ Persuasive◯ Loud

Fill in the blank:

◯ impartial◯ benevolent◯ amenable◯ obstinate

Match this word to the definition:

◯ Being socially awkward◯ Morally corrupt◯ Having great knowledge◯ Too easily offended

What does this word mean?

◯ Irritable◯ Generous◯ Shy◯ Competitive

Complete the sentence:

🧠 Curious to see the rest? Take the full quiz here 🧠