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Doja Cat at Coachella review – an electrifying tour de force

Empire Polo Club, Indio, California

Festival headliner delivered an A-game set, ignoring some of her mainstream hits yet bringing enough energy to power what some have called a middling year

D oja Cat took the Coachella main stage as the last official act to perform on Sunday’s bill, becoming the first female rapper to headline the festival. (She’s also only the second Black woman to do so, after Beyoncé in 2018.) Her closer rounded out a Sunday showcase of powerhouse female performers such as Reneé Rapp and Kesha duetting the recession banger TiK ToK – changing the opening line to “wake up in the morning saying fuck P Diddy” – and Victoria Monet grinding through a slick and ultra-sexy set, at one point receiving artfully-simulated oral sex from a background dancer.

It would be diplomatic to say that Doja maintains a distant relationship with her fans, who call themselves kittenz, though their fave does not sanction this moniker. Doja has told those who engage in parasocial relationships with the idea of her to “get off your phone and get a job” and “rethink everything” about their lives. Such boundary-setting has cost her some Instagram followers – around 300,000, to be exact, after going off on them in a social media tirade – but she could care less. “I feel free,” she wrote in an Instagram story after the snafu last year.

So it’s not surprising that Doja kept the stage banter to a minimum; about an hour in, she allowed a cursory, but seemingly genuine, “Thank you everyone.” That was about it. Still, Doja didn’t need to give us the cliched “it’s always been a dream to perform on this stage” monologue to show a deep respect for her audience. She did so by putting on a tour de force of a set, one that merged her musical talents with a clear knack for spectacle. I suspect it will become a staple on best-of-Coachella lists for years to come.

Doja first appeared by popping up on the stage’s extended catwalk, opening the night further back in the crowd, so those of us who hadn’t made it to the pit got a good look at her, too. She first wore an all-white hazmat suit. I thought it was a little Patrick Bateman; the girl next to me remarked that Doja looked like “a whole-ass sperm”.

Whatever the inspiration, she took that off pretty quickly, revealing extra-long blonde hair that went well past her butt, and a matching tunic also made of hair. Her background dancers matched in their own full hair suits, and when paired with their syncopated moves, the vibe was a little Bob Fosse meets Fraggle Rock. The South African a capella group The Joy encircled Doja during Shutcho, a diss track for haters that the group turned into a melodic, choir-like crescendo.

Though Doja is a very 2020s pop star, terminally online and well-versed in the meme ecosystem, she didn’t rely on many gimmicks to make it through her set. The stage design was sparse and industrial. Her numerous outfit changes kept the same off-white palette, very Virgil Abloh-esque aesthetic: sculptural, sleek, architectural. My favorite look was a shaggy bikini set by Entire Studios that could have been a reference to Jane Fonda as Barbarella, or just a sartorial nod to the concept of merkins.

Doja tapped A$AP Rocky, 21 Savage and a giant recreation of a T-Rex fossil for guest stars. During her penultimate song, Paint the Town Red, which samples Dionne Warwick’s 1963 hit Walk on By, I wondered for a moment if Doja was about to make my entire life and bring out the octogenarian legend herself. Instead, she did perhaps the opposite of that and rolled around in a sapphic mud pit with her background dancers for the finale, Wet Vagina.

Though Doja found mainstream success in the pop arena with early pandemic groovers like Kiss Me More and Say So, her Coachella set stuck to rap. Understandably, much of it came from her latest release, last year’s Scarlet. She described the album as a“masculine” response to her desire of moving away from pop princess-dom.

This meant that the fans who were there for Doja’s more accessible fare may have been disappointed by the exclusion of those songs – when the set ended, many mulled around the stage as if they were sure she’d come back rearing into Say So. (Again, she didn’t.)

But to me, it didn’t matter: Doja followed her gut, performed the songs she felt represented her best, all presented in an energetic, top-of-game triumph. For all the endless chatter this year about a lackluster lineup, Doja proved she’s worthy of a headline spot, so long as the people in charge – and, crucially, her fans – trust her to do it her own way.

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Ormond Beach police chief completes 75-mile leg of Florida Tour de Force, prepares for Unity Tour

The police chief and an obpd corporal joined the tour de force in titusville and finished the last leg of the ride to daytona beach shores..

• By Observer Staff
• | 5:00 p.m. April 25, 2024
• Leave a comment

• Ormond Beach Observer

Ormond Beach Police Chief Jesse Godfrey and Cpl. Rhett Summerlot rode the last 75.8 miles of the Florida Tour de Force. 

The Tour de Force is a memorial bike ride honoring fallen law enforcement officers. The 270-mile marathon left North Miami Beach on April 8 and ended in Daytona Beach Shores on April 12. Godfrey and Summerlot joined the group in Titusville in Brevard County and biked the remaining miles to Daytona Beach Shores.

Godfrey said, in a statement submitted to the Observer , they participated in the bike marathon to first and foremost honor fallen Florida law enforcement officers.

“We participate in the Florida Tour de Force ride first and foremost to honor the fallen Florida officers. We ride on Day 5, from Titusville to Daytona Beach Shores. 

"Having recently lost Cpl. Michael Bakaysa, it makes this ride extremely meaningful to us as an agency," Godfrey said. 

Bakaysa died on Dec. 1 after a medical incident following a training session two weeks prior. He was 54 years old and had worked for the OBPD for over 27 years.

Godfrey said the Tour de Force also serves as good training for cyclists participating in May in the Police Unity Tour,  a three-day, 250-mile ride from Virginia to Washington D.C. The Unity Tour raises awareness for officers who died in the line of duty and money for the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, according to the Unity Tour's website.

The Tour first began in 1997 with just 18 riders but has since grown to annual include 2,600 riders nationwide, across nine local chapters, the website said.

Summerlot said he trains for the Unity Tour throughout the year and he could tell in the Tour de Force leg he completed that the training had paid off. Godfrey was the one who got Summerlot to join in the first time, Summerlot said.

The principle of the two rides, he said in the statement, is to honor fallen officers.

"The Unity Tour's motto for the [Florida] Chapter 8 is 'we ride for those who died,'" he said. "That's why we ride and that's why I wanted to do it."

Pulling into the memorial ceremony in Washington D.C. at the end of the ride, alongside all the other officers is "breathtaking," Summerlot said.

The Unity Tour begins on May 9 in Norfolk, Virginia, according to the event website. Cyclists will arrive in Washington D.C. for the ceremony at around 2 p.m. May 12.

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tour de force

Definition of tour de force

Examples of tour de force in a sentence.

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'tour de force.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

1802, in the meaning defined above

Dictionary Entries Near tour de force

tour d'horizon

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“Tour de force.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tour%20de%20force. Accessed 28 Apr. 2024.

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Team Slyly Targets Justices in 'Tour de Force' Brief by Jack Smith

S pecial Counsel Jack Smith's legal team has deftly approached conservative members of the Supreme Court in their latest brief, intensifying the legal battle against Donald Trump. This maneuver is part of the federal prosecutors' preparation for a significant confrontation before the nation's highest court.

Filed with the D.C. Court of Appeals, the Smith team's 82-page document strategically references opinions from conservative Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, and Brett Kavanaugh. The brief robustly counters Trump's claim for "absolute immunity" from prosecution for alleged crimes committed during his presidency.

Andrew Weissmann, former Assistant U.S. Attorney and NYU Law Professor, praised the brief as a "tour de force." Commenting on X, Weissmann highlighted its clear focus on Supreme Court review. He likened the brief's style to that of Michael Dreebon, a former Deputy Solicitor General and renowned Supreme Court expert.

Dreebon, who recently joined Smith's team, was credited in a Smith team legal document for the first time this month, as reported by Bloomberg. Christian Vanderbrouk, a conservative commentator and former member of the George W.

Bush administration, lauded the brief for its apt citations from conservative justices.

Upholding Subversion Charges

The Smith team's brief supports U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan's decision to uphold felony election-subversion charges against Trump.

It argues for the dismissal of Trump's appeal this month, which is based on his immunity claim. The brief emphatically states that Trump is incorrect in asserting "absolute immunity" for alleged illicit actions while in office.

According to the Smith team, the principles of separation of powers, constitutional text, and precedent all clearly indicate that a former President can be prosecuted for criminal acts committed during their term. This includes actions aimed at unlawfully retaining power despite an electoral loss.

Prosecutors have cautioned that Trump's broad claim of immunity poses a significant threat. It could potentially enable presidents to commit crimes to remain in office, an outcome the Founders neither intended nor would have tolerated.

The brief further warns that Trump’s allegations, which describe an unprecedented effort to retain power through criminal means, undermine the democratic and constitutional foundation of the Republic. Additionally, prosecutors argue that absolute immunity might shield a president guilty of actions as extreme as selling nuclear secrets to adversaries, directing the FBI to plant false evidence against political rivals, or ordering the National Guard to eliminate critics.

This submission counters an earlier brief by Trump's lawyers, who declared the charges against the former president "unlawful and unconstitutional." They have urged the D.C. Circuit to return the case to Judge Chutkan with instructions to dismiss the indictment with prejudice.

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Legal experts: Jack Smith's "tour de force" filing "slyly" takes a hammer to Trump immunity defense

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Donald Trump is poised to lose his presidential immunity appeal in his election interference case, an ex-associate White House lawyer in the former president's administration says .

Trump is accused of four felonies related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and his role in the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021. His lawyers have tried to invoke presidential immunity in an effort to have the federal case thrown out, claiming he has "absolute immunity" from criminal prosecution for actions he took while in office.

"So, [special counsel] Jack Smith has a winner on this one, right?"  Jim Schultz said during an interview with CNN on Monday, noting that the case will appear before the D.C. Circuit Court, which he added is widely understood among the legal community to be the "the warm-up act for the Supreme Court."

Smith, in a rare move, last month petitioned the Supreme Court to circumvent the D.C. Circuit and deliver an expedited ruling on the immunity question. The high court, however, rejected the request, offering no explanation for the decision.

The three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit will hear arguments in the case on Jan. 9 after receiving the briefs filed by both parties.

"I think in this instance, the D.C. Circuit Court is going to act swiftly, and I think they’re going to knock down this immunity claim, you know, very swiftly," Schultz said in his interview.

“Jack Smith has a winner on this one.” Former Trump White House lawyer Jim Schultz says the Supreme Court will “knock down” Trump’s claim of immunity “very swiftly”. (Video: CNN) pic.twitter.com/0HTAKzniP2 — Mike Sington (@MikeSington) January 1, 2024

In a court filing Saturday, Smith's office urged the federal appellate court to reject Trump's immunity claim, arguing that it "threatens to license presidents to commit crimes to remain in office," according to The Messenger .

The 82-page brief asserts that U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan was right in upholding the charges in an early December decision, and argued Trump's appeal should be dismissed. It responds to a filing submitted to the D.C. Circuit by Trump's legal team last week, which argued that the charges against the former president are "unlawful and unconstitutional" and called on the appellate court to return the case to Chutkan "with instructions to dismiss the indictment with prejudice."

The former president is "wrong" in claiming he must be "cloaked with absolute immunity from criminal prosecution" for illicit behavior while serving as president, the federal prosecutors declared.

"Separation of powers principals, constitutional text, and precedent all make clear that a former President may be prosecuted for criminal acts he committed while in office — including, most critically here, illegal acts to remain in power despite losing an election," they wrote in the brief.

Trump's "sweeping immunity claim threatens to license presidents to commit crimes to stay in office," prosecutors added. "The Founders did not intend and would never have countenanced such a result."

CNN legal analyst Norm Eisen argued that the brief was a strong move against Trump's efforts to delay the criminal proceedings by putting forth the immunity argument.

"Jack Smith hammers him with all the weaknesses of that claim in this new filing," Eisen said. "There's nothing in the Constitution. Not its text, its structure, its history. There's no precedent, there's no case law for this kind of absolute immunity."

Eisen believes that Smith's filing will not only extinguish the presidential immunity claim but hasten the debate so his federal election interference case against Trump, which is stayed until the question is resolved, can progress.

"Trump knows he's going to lose," Eisen explains. "He's playing for delay, trying to push this out as long as possible."

If Trump were to succeed in delaying the trial past November and reclaiming the White House, he could order the Justice Department to throw out the case. Eisen, however, believes Smith "has the upper hand" in the matter.

"Smith is telling the D.C. Circuit, 'Hurry up, decide fast,'" he said, later noting that the case could begin early this year if the Supreme Court refuses to consider the case after the federal appellate court's decision.

The Supreme Court has "very often refused to consider...Trump's request for relief on Democracy-related issues," Eisen said. "If that happens, and it's wrapped up, then this trial, I don't think it can go March 5, but it can go in March."

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Former Mueller prosecutor Andrew Weissman called Smith's Saturday filing a "classic Dreeben," referencing former Deputy Solicitor General Michael Dreeben, another Mueller investigation alum that Smith brought on his team to press the top court, and noted that the brief was meant to be read by the Supreme Court justices.

"Let's just say this brief is classic Dreeben (ie a tour de force, and VERY geared to S Ct review)," Weissman wrote on X , formerly Twitter.

I agree; let's just say this brief is classic Dreeben (ie a tour de force, and VERY geared to S Ct review). https://t.co/IgrAptZhEk — Andrew Weissmann (weissmann11 on Threads)🌻 (@AWeissmann_) December 31, 2023

"Smith slyly notes that Trump himself previously told the [Supreme Court] in a case where he sought (unsuccessfully) immunity from a state grand jury subpoena that he [would] NOT be immune post-Presidency and [would] not be thereafter 'above the law,' Weissmann added in a second post .

Smith slyly notes that Trump himself previously told the S Ct in a case where he sought (unsuccessfully) immunity from a state grand jury subpoena that he wd NOT be immune post-Presidency and wd not be thereafter "above the law." Trump v. Vance. https://t.co/O3uollB7u9 — Andrew Weissmann (weissmann11 on Threads)🌻 (@AWeissmann_) December 30, 2023

Conservative attorney George Conway took note of another phrase in Smith's filing.

"Also: 'a president who sells nuclear secrets to a foreign adversary,'" Conway tweeted , quoting the brief. "Interesting choice of hypotheticals."

Also: “a president who sells nuclear secrets to a foreign adversary” Interesting choice of hypotheticals …. https://t.co/TJPY87MWb0 — George Conway (gtconway3 on Threads—try it!) (@gtconway3d) December 31, 2023

MSNBC legal analyst and former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner is also confident that Smith will add co-defendants to his election interference case against Trump.

During an appearance on Brian Tyler Cohen's YouTube show "The Legal Breakdown" in late December, Kirschner predicted that Smith will "absolutely" charge the six, currently unindicted co-conspirators in the case, which includes "people like Mark Meadows, and Rudy Giuliani, and Sidney Powell, and John Eastman, and Kenneth Chesebro."

Former White House Chief of Staff Meadows, ex-New York City Mayor Giuliani and attorneys Powell, Eastman and Chesebro are also among the co-defendants in Fulton County, Ga. District Attorney Fani Willis' sweeping racketeering case, which charges its 19 defendants for actions related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia.

Powell and Chesebro have brokered plea deals with Fulton County prosecutors, skirting prison and agreeing to fully cooperate with Willis and her team. Meadows, Giuliani and Eastman, however, have not made plea deals in the case.

"You have heard me say before, I am not a betting man. I am not a high roller; one dollar is my betting limit," Kirschner told Cohen. "I would bet the full buck on those six unindicted co-conspirators being indicted…. [Smith] will absolutely, in my opinion, indict those six, though perhaps, he's waiting for Donald Trump's trial to run its course first."

Cohen mentioned that no members of Congress have been criminally indicted for their efforts to help Trump's alleged bid to subvert his electoral defeat. Kirschner believes that they should be.

"I think the Department of Justice is falling down on the job…. There are insurrectionists in Congress who have not been held accountable for their crimes," Kirschner said. "Some of them are still in Congress trying to kill us from within, kill our democracy. And I wish I had an answer to the question: Why haven't they been dealt with."

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tour de force

[ t oo r d uh fawrs , - fohrs ; French too r d uh fawrs ]

Herman Melville's Moby Dick was a tour de force.

The way the president got his bill through the Senate was a tour de force.

• a feat requiring unusual strength, skill, or ingenuity.

/ ˈtʊə də ˈfɔːs; tur də fɔrs /

• a masterly or brilliant stroke, creation, effect, or accomplishment
• A feat accomplished through great skill and ability: “The speech was a tour de force; it swept the audience off its feet.”

Discover More

Word history and origins.

Origin of tour de force 1

Example Sentences

In her aching memoir, she embarks on a tour de force examination of her childhood, marked first by her mother’s abandoning her when she was a toddler and later by the death of her beloved father.

Through the late 1960s, Capote claimed to be writing his masterpiece, his tour de force based on his swans, but several deadlines passed for it.

At 35, Hawa Hassan is already a tour de force when it comes to Somali food in America.

Understated yet opulent, measured, and intensely creepy, it’s a tour de force in balancing uncomfortable levels of tension and suspense with deep pathos.

Page’s tour de force performance in Hard Candy led, two years later, to Juno, a low-budget indie film that brought Page Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations and sudden megafame.

His family memoir, Sweet and Low, is a tour de force of reporting and memory—tender, curious, and exceptionally funny.

It is a tour de force of reporting: 13,000 words on a two-week deadline.

It's also a masterpiece of choreographed c--tery—Joffrey's final tour de force.

And, of course, she's best known for her ball-busting tour de force as Ed Helms's wife in The Hangover.

As a result, his version is a technical tour de force but a movie that never gets under your skin.

As a tour de force in the gentle art of lying, the snake-story is justly esteemed.

As a tour de force of geometrical imagination it would be difficult to parallel this hypothesis.

The physical tour de force, was one of those feats of agility in which Neb had been my instructor, ten years before.

If the Mastersingers was a little less successful as a work of art we should still have to regard it as an amazing tour de force.

The music for such incidents cannot be of the highest beauty; here we have one of the cases of a tour de force.

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Definition of tour de force noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

tour de force

• a cinematic tour de force
• It was described as a ‘literary tour de force’.

Definitions on the go

Look up any word in the dictionary offline, anytime, anywhere with the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary app.

• Mike Matteo | [email protected]

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Over 1,000 cyclists rode the scenic route around the borough for the 12th Tour de Staten Island on Sunday.

Departing in waves on Sunday morning, riders were split into two groups for either a 35- or 50-mile route. Both routes ran through Staten Island’s most scenic landmarks like the Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Gardens, Livingston; Historic Richmond Town, Richmond; Conference House Park, Tottenville, and Great Kills Park.

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Rena Pederson’s ‘King of Diamonds’ follows jewel thief who terrorized Dallas’ uber-rich

It was a warm night downtown on April 4, and the sold-out audience inside the Dallas Museum of Art leaned in as Rena Pederson talked about her true-crime tour-de-force, King of Diamonds. “An extremely talented jewel thief – Houdini-like – stole millions from the richest people in Dallas and got away with it,” she told the crowd in her West Texas accent, as she sat in an armchair under a giant overhead screen, her silver hair catching the light. “So who was he? How did he do it? And why...

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Tour de Force: Evolving Force Majeure Considerations One Year into the Pandemic

As the pandemic has evolved, so too has the number and complexity of the questions arising in force majeure disputes. Regardless of whether a party is seeking to invoke, or defend against invocation of, a force majeure clause, the answers to those questions will vary across jurisdictions, and will require a careful analysis of the governing contract language, causation, and adherence to notice requirements.

When the pandemic started in the spring of 2020, most force majeure disputes revolved around relatively straightforward questions: did the clause in question cover pandemics and/or governmental shutdown orders (or, in some instances, the resulting economic fallout)?

One year in, this discrete set of questions has fractured into multiple, more nuanced and complex questions. For example:

• If a party has not yet invoked a force majeure clause based on COVID-19, can it do so now based on a spike in infection or hospitalization rates?
• Likewise, if a party did not invoke the clause based on an initial shutdown order, can it do so now, based on a more restrictive or reinstated order, or the prolonged impact of the initial order?

The overwhelming majority of early pandemic/force majeure cases, moreover, involved force majeure clauses drafted pre-COVID-19. 1 It remains to be seen how will courts evaluate and rule on force majeure arguments made in connection with contracts drafted after the pandemic had been declared.

The answers to these questions will likely vary significantly across jurisdictions, because they depend on a number of variables, including whether or not the contract language addresses “foreseeability” as a condition to invoking a force majeure provision and how the governing law treats the foreseeability of a force majeure event at the time of contracting. Under Texas law, for example, the party claiming force majeure is not always required to demonstrate that the event in question was unforeseeable, unless the clause expressly requires a lack of foreseeability: in other words, Texas courts are reluctant to imply a lack-of-foreseeability requirement unless the clause demonstrates that the parties intended one. See TEC Olmos LLC v. ConocoPhillips Co. , 555 S.W.3d 176, 183 (Tex. App. 2018) (“[W]hen parties specify certain force majeure events, there is no need to show that the occurrence of such an event was unforeseeable.”). In the majority of New York cases, however, lack of foreseeability is treated as prerequisite, regardless of whether the clause expressly requires it. See Goldstein v. Orensanz Events LLC , 146 A.D.3d 492, 493 (1 st Dep’t 2017) (holding that the force majeure clause “must be interpreted as if it included an express requirement of unforeseeability or lack of control”). Accordingly, a Texas court would likely interpret a force majeure clause drafted post-pandemic very differently than a New York court.

As for parties that have not previously invoked their rights under a force majeure clause but are now attempting to do so—perhaps based on an infection surge or the prolonged impact over time of the shutdown orders—the outcome may turn on contractual notice requirements. Force majeure clauses typically require that the party seeking to avail itself of protection must provide its counterparty with prompt notice of the event or circumstance being asserted that is impairing its performance, together with a description of the obligations for which relief is being sought. The party seeking force majeure protection at this time (after COVID-19 has been in the public consciousness for a year) must therefore carefully consider (and articulate in its notice) the basis on which the circumstances or change in circumstances support their assertion. Failure to formulate a sound rationale in a notice could defeat the assertion or result in waiver. Parties seeking to refute the merits of a force majeure assertion will likely point out that the notice is delinquent and surely should have been provided at an earlier time, given the duration of the pandemic.

Developing COVID-19 Force Majeure Case Law

(Updates since the last issue are bolded below.)

Central District of California (Extension of closing date

Pacific Collective LLC v. Exxonmobil Oil Corp. , No. 2:20-cv-03887-ODW-RAO (C.D. Cal. 2020) (Commercial real estate buyer seeks to extend closing date of real estate purchase on basis that Safer-At-Home orders constitute force majeure as defined in purchase agreement; Removed from California state court on April 29, 2020; Case transferred from Judge John A. Kronstadt due to self-recusal; Case ordered referred to ADR.) ( 04/03/2020 Complaint ; 04/30/2020 Order to Reassign Case ; 05/05/2020 Order Returning Case For Reassignment Upon Recusal ; 11/05/2020 Order/Referral to ADR )

Southern District of Florida (Excuse from rent payment)

Palm Springs Mile Assocs. LTD. v. The Men’s Wearhouse Inc. , No. 20-cv-21965 (S.D. Fla. 2020) (Men’s Warehouse invokes force majeure defense against breach of contract claim, alleging its obligation to pay rent was excused by COVID-19; Suit voluntarily dismissed on June 1, 2020.) ( 05/11/2020 Complaint ; 06/01/2020 Notice of Voluntary Dismissal )

Northern District of Illinois (Excuse from rent payment)

In re Hitz Rest. Grp. , No. 1:20-br-05012 (Bankr. N.D. Ill. 2020) (Restaurant-group tenant invokes “governmental action” phrase of force majeure clause, arguing rent obligation was excused by the Illinois Governor’s Coronavirus Order shutting down on-premises dining, theorizing that the Order prevented it from operating its business; Court agrees in part, holding tenant’s rent obligation would be reduced on a pro rata basis in accordance with the decrease in revenues from its inability to offer on-premises dining; Case dismissed on July 21, 2020.) ( 04/27/2020 Creditors’ Motion for Relief from Automatic Stay ; 05/12/2020 Debtor’s Response ; 05/26/2020 Creditors’ Reply ; 06/02/2020 Memorandum Opinion ) (See our prior article on this decision and an in‑depth analysis of this decision .)

Eastern District of New York (Excuse from transaction closing; Excuse from contract performance)

Gomel Capital Partners LLC v. 601 NE 29 Drive LLC, et al. , No. 1:20-cv-01922-FB-JO (E.D.N.Y. 2020) (Plaintiff seeks to terminate real property purchase contract and to recoup $275,000 deposit, alleging that the “outbreak of the COVID-19 global pandemic is a Force Majeure event, a quintessential ‘act of God’,” and invoking contractual provision that permits termination when a Force Majeure event prevents performance of the contract for “more than 30 days beyond the Closing Date”; Case voluntarily dismissed on July 13, 2020.) ( 04/27/2020 Complaint ; 07/13/2020 Letter Motion by Plaintiff Informing Court of Settlement ; 07/13/2020 Notice of Voluntary Dismissal with Prejudice )

Williamsburg Climbing Gym Co. LLC and Fifth Concerto Holdco Inc. v. Ronit Realty LLC , No. 1:20-cv-02073 (E.D.N.Y. 2020) (Tenant seeks rescission and declaration that it lawfully terminated lease pursuant to common law doctrines of impossibility and frustration of purpose because COVID-19 pandemic and Governor’s executive orders mandated business closure and stoppage of construction; landlord asserts breach of contract counterclaim on basis that that lease’s force majeure clause expressly carves out rent payment obligations; tenant argues that force majeure clause is inapplicable because pandemic is not an enumerated event and frustration/impossibility are separate doctrines; counterclaims and answer amended on other grounds; Defendants agree with Plaintiffs to participate in mediation.) ( 05/06/2020 Complaint ; 06/24/2020 Answer and Counterclaims ; 06/24/2020 Defendant’s Pre-Motion Letter to the Court Re: Judgment on the Pleadings ; 07/01/2020 Plaintiff’s Pre-Motion Response Letter to Court re: Judgment on the Pleadings ; 07/23/2020 Amended Counterclaims ; 08/06/2020 Answer to Amended Counterclaims ; 08/14/2020 Plaintiff’s Pre-Motion Letter to the Court Re: Intent to file a Motion for Summary Judgement ; 8/20/2020 Defendant’s Pre-Motion Letter to the Court Re: Plaintiff’s Intent to file a Motion for Summary Judgement ; 10/23/2020 Defendant’s Letter Agreeing to Mediation )

Banco Santander (Brasil) S.A. v. American Airlines Inc. , No. 20-cv-3098 (E.D.N.Y. 2020) (Plaintiff seeks declaration that it is entitled to terminate pursuant to force majeure clause that covers “act of God” and “act of government”; Defendant argues that Plaintiff failed to state a claim because the agreement contemplated the force majeure event and those provisions govern; Plaintiff argues that it sufficiently plead that the agreement does not contemplate the force majeure event and is entitled to such declaration.) ( 07/10/2020 Complaint ; 0/8/24/2020 Supplemental Complaint ; 09/04/2020 Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss for Failure to State a Claim ; 09/25/2020 Plaintiff’s Memorandum in Opposition to Motion to Dismiss for Failure to State a Claim, refiled under seal 10/07/2020 ; 10/09/2020 Defendant’s Reply in Support of Motion to Dismiss)

Southern District of New York (Excuse from contract performance; Excuse from payment obligation)

D’Amico Dry D.A.C. v. McInnis Cement Inc. , No. 1:20-cv-03731-VEC (S.D.N.Y. 2020) (Shipping company alleges breach of contract against cement supplier and seeks maritime attachment of assets pending arbitration on the basis that supplier defaulted prior to COVID-19 and then invoked force majeure clause as a pretense to terminate; Court enters ex parte order of attachment and denied cement supplier’s motion to vacate same; Parties entered into a confidential settlement agreement.) ( 05/14/2020 Complaint ; 05/25/2020 Defendant’s Motion to Vacate the Process of Maritime Attachment ; 06/03/2020 Plaintiff’s Opposition to Defendant’s Motion to Vacate the Process of Maritime Attachment ; 06/30/2020 Opinion Order Denying Motion to Vacate the Process of Maritime Attachment ; 09/02/2020 Plaintiff’s Consent Letter ; 09/03/2020 Memo Endorsement of Plaintiff’s Consent Letter ; 09/04/2020 Order of Dismissal with Prejudice )

Delta Corp Shipping Pte Ltd v. Rankers International Pvt Ltd , No. 1:20-cv-09258-PAE (S.D.N.Y. 2020) (Plaintiff and defendant had entered into a charter party agreement, whereby defendant agreed to transport bulk salt from India to China for the plaintiff; in March 2020, defendant attempted to cancel the agreement by invoking the doctrine of force majeure due to the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting challenges for defendant’s operations, but plaintiff alleges that the force majeure clause of the agreement does not cover the COVID-19 challenges that defendant suffers from) ( 11/04/2020 Complaint ; 11/05/2020 Plaintiff’s Memorandum of Law in support of Request for Issuance of Maritime Attachment and Garnishment ; 11/05/2020 Declaration in support of Plaintiff’s Request for Issuance of Maritime Attachment and Garnishment ; 12/21/2020 Amended Complaint)

E2W LLC v. Kidzania Operations S.A.R.L. , No. 1:20-cv-02866-ALC (S.D.N.Y. 2020) (Franchisee invokes force majeure clause in franchise agreement, alleging that government shutdown orders excuse its payment obligations and obligation to open an additional franchise location; Court, without any reasoning, grants franchisee’s application and compels the parties to maintain the status quo during the pendency of their arbitration; Parties arbitrating claims in the ICC; Matter is stayed pending arbitration.) ( 04/06/2020 Complaint ; 05/11/2020 Order Granting Preliminary Injunction ; 05/22/2020 Answer ; 10/08/ 2020 Notice of Case Reassignment ; 10/23/2020 Joint Report in Response to the Notice of Reassignment Entered October 8, 2020 )

Everlast World’s Boxing Headquarters Corp. v. Transform SR LLC , No. 1:20-cv-09095-RA (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 29, 2020) (Plaintiff sues Defendants Sears and Kmart for breach of contract, alleging Defendants failed to pay Plaintiff royalties while continuing to sell Plaintiff’s products; Defendants argue that invocation of force majeure clause excused royalty payments and counterclaim against plaintiff for failure to abide by force majeure clause in the agreement; Plaintiff moves for summary judgment, arguing the force majeure clause does not excuse Defendants’ failure to remit the required royalties; Defendants filed a response letter noting Defendants were in the process of preparing a motion for judgment on the pleadings to address Defendants’ invocation of the lease’s force majeure clause and the Court’s subject matter jurisdiction over the suit should Plaintiff’s Lanham Act claims be dismissed; Parties settle the dispute and the Court so-orders stipulation of discontinuance with prejudice .) ( 10/29/2020 Complaint ; 12/11/2020 Answer and Counterclaim ; 12/30/2020 Plaintiff’s Reply to Defendants’ Counterclaims ; 01/07/2021 Plaintiff’s Pre-motion Letter Seeking Leave to File Motion for Summary Judgment ; 01/12/2021 Defendants’ Response Letter to Plaintiff’s Pre-motion Letter Seeking Leave to File Motion for Summary Judgment ; 03/04/2021 Stipulation of Discontinuance with Prejudice )

The Gap Inc. v. Ponte Gadea New York LLC , No. 1:20-cv-04541 (S.D.N.Y. 2020) (Tenant seeks, inter alia , rescission/cancellation of lease, arguing that COVID-19 crisis and civil orders constitute a “casualty” within the meaning of the force majeure clause causing a permanent abatement of rent and the lease to terminate; Landlord counterclaims alleging breach of contract and argues that COVID-19 and civil orders are not within the scope of the force majeure clause and that the force majeure clause does not excuse contractual rent payment obligation; Tenant answers with general denials of landlord’s allegations regarding the force majeure clause and asserts affirmative defenses on other grounds; Tenant seeks stay pending decision by multidistrict litigation panel to consolidate this and 32 other substantively similar actions pending against Tenant in federal district courts; multidistrict litigation panel denied transfer; Court grants defendant/landlord’s motion for summary judgment and dismisses plaintiff’s complaint in the entirety holding that the pandemic and resulting lockdowns did not constitute a “casualty” because that term “refers to singular incidents, like fire, which have a physical impact in or to the premises.” ) ( 06/12/2020 Complaint ; 07/07/2020 Answer and Counterclaims ; 07/28/2020 Answer to Counterclaim ; 08/11/2020 Plaintiff’s Motion to Stay Pending Decision by Multidistrict Litigation Panel to Accept Transfer of Federal Court Actions ; 09/18/2020 Defendant’s Memorandum of Law in Further Support of Motion for Summary Judgment ; 09/25/2020 Reply Memorandum of Law ; 03/08/2021 Memorandum and Opinion )

Hunter Commc’ns. Inc. v. Panasonic Avionics Corp. , No. 7:20-cv-03434 (S.D.N.Y. 2020) (Defendant asserts force majeure defense against breach of contract claim brought by satellite communications provider, alleging that COVID-19 excused payment obligations under master service agreement for satellite bandwidth capacity services; Plaintiff argues that force majeure defense should be stricken because Defendant did not allege that payment breaches were result of COVID-19; Defendant file notice of intent to file amended answer; the Court grants Plaintiff’s motion to dismiss and then dismisses the case upon a settlement agreement.) ( 05/01/2020 Complaint ; 06/26/2020 Answer ; 07/17/2020 Plaintiff’s Letter Motion ; 07/22/2020 Defendant’s Letter Reply ; 08/21/2020 Amended Answer ; 09/04/2020 Plaintiff’s Second Letter Motion ; 09/11/2020 Defendant’s Second Letter Reply ; 09/15/2020 Order Granting Second Letter Motion ; 10/05/2020 Order of Dismissal )

JN Contemporary Art LLC v. Phillips Auctioneers LLC , No. 1:20-cv-04370-DLC (S.D.N.Y. 2020) (Plaintiff seeks preliminary injunction preventing Defendant from invoking clause that allowed it to terminate consignment agreement if performance were delayed due to “circumstances beyond [the parties’] reasonable control,” and argues that Defendant’s decision to terminate was not caused by the pandemic but rather was the result of a deliberate business decision; Defendant argues that the pandemic is within the scope of the force majeure clause because it is a “natural disaster” and that performance is excused because the specific auction noted in the contract was postponed; Court denies mandatory injunction; Plaintiff amends complaint on other grounds; Defendant moves to dismiss the Complaint arguing that Plaintiff did not state a claim for breach of the agreement because Defendant’s performance was excused due to the force majeure clause; Plaintiff argues that the specific auction noted in the contract was not date nor site specific so Defendant was not prevented from performing and COVID-19 and government regulations were not specifically listed in the force majeure clause; Court dismisses case in favor of Defendant, noting that “[t]he pandemic and the attendant government-imposed restrictions on business operations permitted [Defendant] to invoke the Termination Provision,” as the force majeure clause specifically stated that it was triggered when the auction “is postponed for circumstances beyond our or your reasonable control” and further finding that the force majeure clause was triggered upon the occurrence of a “natural disaster,” reasoning that “[i]t cannot be seriously disputed that the COVID-19 pandemic is a natural disaster”; Plaintiff appeals; Plaintiff argues the lower court erred in finding that the force majeure clause voided the contract because, inter alia , (i) the court did not narrowly construe the clause, (ii) whether the pandemic is a “natural disaster” is a disputed factual matter, (iii) the court did not analyze whether pandemic proximately caused non-performance, (iv) whether the pandemic was reasonably foreseeable is a disputed factual matter, (v) invocation of the force majeure clause netted the defendant a better-than-bargained-for deal, and (vi) Defendant was not prevented from performing and did not attempt to perform .) ( 06/09/2020 Complaint ; 06/12/2020 Plaintiff’s Memorandum of Law in Support of Motion for Preliminary Injunction ; 06/23/2020 Amended Complaint ; 06/23/2020 Plaintiff’s Amended Memorandum of Law in Support of Motion for Preliminary Injunction ; 07/02/2020 Defendant’s Memorandum in Opposition to Plaintiff’s Order to Show Cause for Preliminary Injunction and Temporary Restraining Order ; 07/09/2020 Plaintiff’s Reply in Further Support of Motion for Preliminary Injunction ; 07/15/2020 Order Denying Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction ; 07/31/2020 Plaintiff’s Second Amended Complaint ; 08/28/2020 Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff’s Second Amended Complaint ; 09/18/2020 Plaintiff’s First Memorandum of Law in Opposition to Motion to Dismiss ; 10/02/2020 Defendant’s Reply Memorandum of Law ; 12/16/2020 Memorandum and Opinion; 01/06/21 Notice of Appeal ; 02/26/2021 Brief for Plaintiff/Appellant )

Viamedia Inc. v. WideOpenWest Finance LLC , No. 1:20-cv-04064-VM (S.D.N.Y. 2020) (Plaintiff seeks preliminary injunction enjoining defendant from terminating television advertising management agreement, alleging that plaintiff’s late payments under agreement are excused based on “COVID-19 and the attendant economic crises prompted by government ordered lock downs and stay at home orders, which qualify as both acts of God and/or events beyond the reasonable ability of [plaintiff] to control”; Court denies preliminary injunctive relief; Parties commence arbitration and award issued under seal.) ( 05/27/2020 Plaintiff’s Memorandum of Law in Support of Motion for Preliminary Injunction ; 06/19/2020 Amended Complaint ; 06/22/2020 Order Denying Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction ; 09/18/2020 Defendant’s Letter Motion to Seal Arbitration Award ; 09/22/2020 Order Granting Letter Motion to Seal ; 09/24/2020 Defendant’s Motion to Confirm Arbitration Award )

Northern District of Texas (Excuse from refund obligation, Excuse from lease obligations)

W.L. Petrey Wholesale Co. Inc. v. V2 Incentives LP , No. 4:20-cv-00447-A (N.D. Tex. 2020) (Plaintiff seeks refund of amounts paid to travel broker, arguing that force majeure clause requiring refund was triggered by government lockdowns and decrees that made trip impossible; Defendant argues affirmative defenses of repudiation, material breach, and failure to mitigate.) ( 05/19/2020 Amended Complaint ; 06/16/2020 Answer ; 11/17/2020 Amended Answer )

Hibbett Sporting Goods Inc. v. Weatherford Dunhill LLC c/o Dunhill Prop. Mgmt. Services Inc. , No. 4:20-cv-00607-O (N.D. Tex. 2020) (Tenant seeks declaratory judgment that rental and payment obligations and any obligation to continuously operate within mall were excused while Governor’s order mandated closure of the mall; Landlord moves for dismissal on procedural grounds; Court grants parties’ voluntary dismissal of the case with prejudice.) (06/10/2020 Complaint ; 07/20/2020 Motion to Dismiss on Procedural Grounds; 08/20/2020 Plaintiff’s Response to Motion to Dismiss ; 09/04/2020 Defendants’ Reply in Support of its Motion to Dismiss ; 11/02/2020 Joint Stipulation of Voluntary Dismissal ; 11/03/2020 Order Granting Joint Stipulation of Voluntary Dismissal )

Southern District of Texas (Excuse from transaction closing)

Khan v. Cinemex USA Real Estate Holdings Inc. , No. 4:20-cv-01178 (S.D. Tex. 2020) (Plaintiff seeks, inter alia , specific performance ordering defendant to close on cinema chain purchase transaction, arguing that defendant’s reasons for refusing to close that relate to COVID-19 are invalid because the contract was negotiated after the pandemic was declared and the Material Adverse Effect clause expressly excludes pandemics; case automatically stayed because defendant filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.) ( 04/02/2020 Complaint ; 06/01/2020 Order Staying the Case due to Defendant filing bankruptcy )

Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas ( Excuse from contract performance; Excuse from payment obligation)

In Re: Cec Entertainment Inc., et al , No. 20-33163 (Bnk. S.D. Tex. 2020) (Plaintiff, a nationwide operator of Chuck E. Cheese venues, seeks rent abatement or reduction at six locations across three states in the wake of new pandemic safety measures and government-imposed regulations pursuant to the court’s equitable power to alter Plaintiff’s rent obligation under the Bankruptcy Code, or alternatively, under its lease agreements’ force majeure provisions; Court denies Plaintiffs’ motion for abatement, holding that the leases’ force majeure provisions do not excuse Plaintiffs’ monetary obligations, including rent payment.) ( 08/03/2020 Abatement Motion ; 12/14/2020 Abatement Opinion )

Eastern District of Virginia (Grounds for contract termination)

Sodexo Operations LLC v. Va. Aquarium & Marine Sci. Ctr. Found. Inc. , No. 2:20-cv-00309-AWA-RJK (E.D. Va. 2020) (Food services provider exercised right to terminate contract pursuant to “act of God” and “governmental policy” terms in force majeure clause and alleges defendant’s refusal to reimburse plaintiff for unamortized portion of capital investments is a breach of their contract; Parties settle and Court orders case dismissed with prejudice.) ( 06/19/2020 Complaint ; 08/18/2020 Answer to Complaint and Affirmative Defenses ; 08/28/2020 Motion to Dismiss Pursuant to Settlement Agreement ; 09/03/2020 Order Dismissing Case )

Delaware (Excuse from transaction closing)

Forescout Technologies Inc. v. Ferrari Grp. Holdings L.P. , No. 2020-0385 (Del. Ch. 2020) (Plaintiff/target asserts breach of contract and specific performance claims against defendant/buyer for failure to close merger deal worth $1.9 billion, on ground that COVID-19 does not constitute a Material Adverse Event permitting buyer’s termination of merger agreement; Buyer asserts declaratory judgment counterclaims that, inter alia , target’s financial troubles caused by COVID‑19 constitute a Material Adverse Event because, notwithstanding the explicit exclusion of “epidemics” and “pandemics” as Material Adverse Events, target’s financial troubles are disproportionate in comparison to other similar companies and therefore fall within the “materially disproportionate adverse effect” savings clause; Case voluntarily dismissed with prejudice on July 15, 2020.) ( 05/19/2020 Complaint ; 06/05/2020 Counterclaim ; 07/15/2020 Voluntary Dismissal with Prejudice )

Florida (Extension of closing date)

LFG Acquisitions LLC v. CSPS Hotel Inc. , No. 20-CA-003842 (Fla. Cir. Ct. Hillsborough Cty. 2020) (Plaintiff seeks to delay closing of real estate sale pursuant to force majeure provision in purchase agreement; Defendant answers denying that Plaintiff was entitled to invoke force majeure provision arguing that pandemic did not prevent or reasonably interfere with Plaintiff’s ability to close sale.) ( 05/05/2020 Complaint ; 05/29/2020 Answer ; 10/03/2020 Restated Answer to Complaint)

New York (Grounds for contract termination, Excuse from default)

223 Avenue B LLC v. Subway Real Estate LLC , No. 613065/2020 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. N.Y. Cty. 2020) (Plaintiff-landlord seeks damages for past due rent payments and anticipatory breach of lease agreement by Defendant-tenant, claiming defendant-tenant’s sublessee abandoned the premises and left it in poor condition, Plaintiff sent notices of default to Defendant and sublessee, contending that Defendant had erroneously claimed it was excused from performance by force majeure events (the pandemic and government shut down orders); Defendant answers, asserts affirmative defenses, and counterclaims that the pandemic and government orders constitute “casualties” suspending defendant’s obligations pursuant to the force majeure clause and triggering rent abatement; Plaintiff answers and admits that the force majeure clause “provides, in part, that in the event of a casualty, the defendant’s obligation to pay rent is abated” but appears to disagree when that rent abatement privilege is triggered. ) ( 11/13/2020 Complaint ; 11/17/2020 Amended Complaint ; 12/28/2020 Answer ; 01/27/2021 Answer, Counterclaims, and Crossclaims ; 02/16/2021 Reply to Counterclaims )

850 Third Avenue Owner LLC v. Discovery Commc’ns , No. 654148/2020 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. N.Y. Cty. 2020) (Plaintiff-landlord sues defendant-tenant for unpaid rent after defendant-tenant allegedly overstayed at the property once its lease expired, arguing that the State’s COVID-19 restrictions are not “act[s] of disorder” within the scope of the force majeure clause and that they did not cause defendant’s inability to move out at the time the lease expired because moving companies were “essential businesses” that operated throughout the pandemic; Defendant argues that the “shortages of labor” and catchall clauses of the force majeure provision extended the time available to remove its property from the premises because the pandemic and government-ordered closures prevented Defendant from removing its property and caused labor shortages among moving companies; Plaintiff moves for summary judgment, arguing that “the force-majeure clause in the lease does not apply to governmental restrictions” because the government shut-down orders were not unforeseeable when the lease was executed and the catchall phrase in the force majeure clause must be read narrowly; Plaintiff opposes motion for summary judgment arguing, inter alia , (i) that the pandemic is an “Act of God” and (ii) that consistent with the December 16, 2020 JN Contemporary opinion, application of the esjudem generis principle instructs that the pandemic is encompassed within the force majeure catch-all clause; Defendant argues that (i) the force majeure clause by its terms does not excuse rent payment obligations, (ii) the government orders proximately caused Defendant to breach, not the pandemic, and (iii) the force majeure clause in JN Contemporary is distinguishable. ) ( 08/31/2020 Complaint ; 10/23/2020 Answer and Counterclaims ; 12/14/2020 Plaintiff’s Memorandum of Law ISO Motion for Summary Judgment, or Alternatively, Dismissing Defendant’s Counterclaims ; 01/06/2021 Reply to Counterclaims ; 02/04/2021 MOL Opposing MSJ and to Dismiss Counterclaims ; 03/04/2021 Reply in Further Support of MSJ and Dismissal )

Adam Sanders, et al. v. Edison Ballroom LLC , 654992/2020 (Sup. Ct. N.Y. Cty.) (Plaintiffs seek return of deposit from Defendant-ballroom, which was supposed to host Bat Mitvzah celebration, on the basis that the Governor’s Executive Orders (the Orders) made performance illegal and/or impossible and that the Orders are force majeure events; Defendant denies that the contract should be terminated and the deposit returned, instead claiming that the contract obligations should be suspended; Plaintiffs move for summary judgment, arguing that Defendant is trying to rewrite the contract; Defendant reply, arguing that the Court has the power to rewrite the contract because of a fundamental change in circumstances.) ( 11/18/2020 Complaint ; 12/07/2020 Answer and Counterclaim ; 01/06/2021 Plaintiffs’ Motion for Summary Judgment ; 01/26/2021 Defendant’s Opposition to and Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment ; 02/01/2021 Plaintiffs’ Reply ; 02/02/2021 Defendant’s Reply )

Alexandria Gayle Williams v. 4545 East Coast LLC , No. 713984/2020 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. Queens Cty. 2020) (Plaintiff apartment tenant seeks rescission of lease, arguing that pandemic and Governor’s Orders destroyed all personal and economic value in the lease and that the Court should excuse performance pursuant to an “Implied Force Majeure” clause; Defendant broadly denies Plaintiff’s claims as “without basis in law” and counterclaims for breach of contract; Defendant moves for summary judgment, arguing, inter alia , that allowing the Court to write in an “implied” force majeure clause would “change the face of contract law across all spectrums of law as we know it.” ) ( 08/25/2020 Complaint ; 10/09/2020 Answer with Counterclaims ; 10/28/2020 Answer to Defendant’s Counterclaims; 01/21/2021 Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment )

Anvil Mechanical Inc. v. GCT Constructors JV , No. 654448/2020 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. N.Y.) (Plaintiff subcontractor seeks breach of contract damages against Defendant contractor, arguing that the contractor wrongfully terminated subcontract, that the subcontractor could not safely work in the absence of pandemic safety protocols, and that the pandemic is a force majeure event; Defendant contractor denies the pandemic is a force majeure event and counterclaims that the subcontractor materially breached the subcontract. ) ( 09/15/2020 Complaint ; 01/28/2021 Answer and Counterclaim )

Bath & Body Works LLC v. 304 PAS Owner LLC Successor , No. 651836/2020 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. N.Y. Cty. 2020) (Plaintiff seeks rescission of commercial property lease and declaration the lease is unenforceable because COVID-19 and related government mandated shutdowns frustrated the purposes of the lease; Defendant argues plaintiff tenant recognized that a variety of “force majeure” events might occur, including those forming the bases of plaintiff’s claims, but specifically agreed in a lease rider that such events would only permit delayed performance, not excuse payment of any monetary sums due under the lease and its supplemental rider.) ( 06/08/2020 Complaint ; 06/29/2020 Answer and Counterclaims ; 8/19/2020 Reply to Counterclaims )

Broadway/72nd Street Assocs. II LLC v. Bloomingdale’s LLC , No. 653760/2020 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. N.Y. Cty. 2020) (Plaintiff-landlord sues Bloomingdale’s (defendant-tenant) and Macy’s (defendant-guarantor) for Bloomingdale’s failure to pay fixed rent and additional rental payments under lease agreements, which specifically provides that “Tenant shall under no circumstances fail or refuse to pay any installments of fixed annual rent or any additional rent;” Plaintiff-landlord sues Macy’s for failure to satisfy its obligations under the guarantee agreement, which provided that Macy’s guaranteed to plaintiff-landlord “the full and timely payment” of all rent under Bloomingdale’s lease; Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s argue that their obligations under the lease and guarantee agreements were suspended under the doctrines of frustration of purpose and impossibility of performance due to COVID-19 forcing Bloomingdale’s to close their store; Plaintiff-landlord files motion for summary judgment on its claims, as well as defendants’ counterclaims, arguing that the lease is clear and unequivocal that force majeure events would not suspend Bloomingdale’s obligations to pay rent under the lease, and that financial difficulties arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic and other government shut-down orders do not excuse contractual performance under the doctrines of frustration of purpose and impossibility; Parties stipulate discontinuance of suit with prejudice) ( 08/12/2020 Complaint ; 09/14/2020 Answer and Counterclaims ; 10/20/2020 Plaintiff’s Motion for Summary Judgment ; 12/28/2020 Stipulation of Discontinuance with Prejudice ; 12/29/2020 Order denying Motion for Summary Judgment as moot, action discontinued with prejudice )

Buonincontro v. Edison Ballroom LLC , 654844/2020 (Sup. Ct. N.Y. Cty.) (Plaintiffs seek return of money deposit from Defendant-ballroom, arguing that performance of their indefinitely-delayed wedding celebration was made illegal, impractical, and impossible by the Governor’s Executive Orders and that the force majeure clause expressly requires the full return of the deposit; Defendant denies that contract should be terminated and deposit returned, instead claiming that contract obligations should be suspended.) ( 09/30/2020 Complaint ; 12/29/2020 Answer and Counterclaim )

Change Your Life LLC v. 9E16 by 1771 Holdings LLC , No. 157335/2020 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. N.Y. Cty. 2020) (Plaintiff-fitness center seeks declaration that the pandemic is a force majeure event excusing its obligation to pay rent to defendant-landlord during the pandemic; Plaintiff seeks to enjoin Defendant from terminating lease or possessing property, arguing that Governor’s Orders prohibit proceedings for nonpayment of rent; Defendant argues that Plaintiff’s injunctive relief should be denied because, inter alia , Defendant did not initiate a proceeding in violation of the Governor’s Orders; Defendant denies Plaintiff’s claim that pandemic is a force majeure event and seeks damages and other relief; Plaintiff broadly denies Defendant’s counterclaims; Court denied OTSC as moot after Plaintiff withdrew request for injunction at hearing.) ( 09/11/2020 Complaint ; 09/11/2020 Plaintiff’s Memo in Support of Order to Show Cause ; 10/02/2020 Defendant’s Memo in Opposition to Order to Show Cause ; 10/06/2020 Answer and Counterclaims ; 10/26/2020 Plaintiff’s Reply to Counterclaims ; 11/10/2020 Order Denying OTSC as moot)

Cinema Square LLC v. Jeffries Loancore LLC , No. 650645/2021 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. N.Y. Cty. 2021) (Plaintiff-owner of premises seeks declaration and injunction stopping creditors from foreclosing property, arguing, inter alia , that “common law force majeure” excused payment obligations because the pandemic and related government orders inhibited Plaintiff’s tenant’s operation of movie theater; Defendants argue that TRO should be denied because, inter alia , the loan agreement does not contain a force majeure clause and New York does not have a “common law doctrine of force majeure” and the risk that the tenant does not pay is the borrower’s risk, not the lender’s; Court denies motion for TRO/PI holding on this basis; Plaintiff files notice of discontinuance, without prejudice.) ( 01/28/2021 Complaint ; 01/28/2021 MOL ISO TRO and PI ; 02/03/2021 Defendants’ MOL in Opposition to TRO ; 02/04/2021 Plaintiffs’ Affirmation in Further Support of TRO ; 02/08/2021 Defendants’ Supplemental MOL in Opposition to TRO ; 02/11/2021 Plaintiffs’ Reply in Further Support of TRO ; 02/11/2021 Decision and Order re TRO ; 02/19/2021 Notice of Discontinuance )

D2 Mark LLC v. OREI VI Investments LLC , No. 652259/2020 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. N.Y. Cty. 2020) (Hotel group seeks, inter alia , to preliminarily enjoin junior creditor from foreclosing after hotel group missed one payment obligation due to COVID-19, arguing that loan agreement expressly excused defaults occurring “in connection with” a force majeure event; Court enjoins junior creditor from holding a sale before July 23 and orders junior creditor to issue new, commercially reasonable notice of sale.) ( 06/06/2020 Complaint ; 06/23/2020 Decision and Order on Plaintiff’s Order to Show Cause ; 08/03/2020 So-Ordered Stipulation Discontinuing the Action with Prejudice )

DHG Mgmt. Co. v. French Partners LLC, et al. , No. 654319/2020 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. N.Y. Cty. 2020) (Plaintiff-tenant seeks breach of contract damages against Defendant-landlord for preventing access to the property during the Government-ordered lockdown, arguing that access was expressly warranted and excepted from force majeure clause; Defendant moves to dismiss, arguing that Governor’s Orders were beyond its control, that they mandated reductions in persons allowed on premises, and that Defendant allowed access to the property; Court denies dismissal of breach of contract count and grants dismissal of conversion count; Defendant moves for summary judgment arguing Plaintiff’s access to the property remained unfettered through their tenancy, including during the pandemic, and that while the Governor’s Orders may have limited the amount of people allowed on the property at one time, Defendant never denied Plaintiff’s access; Court denies Defendant’s motion for summary judgment, stating that factual disputes remain regarding, inter alia , the access provided to Plaintiff. ) ( 09/09/2020 Complaint ; 10/05/2020 Notice of Motion to Dismiss and Affirmation in Support of Motion to Dismiss ; 10/12/2020 Affirmation in Opposition to Motion to Dismiss ; 10/21/2020 Order Denying in Part Motion to Dismiss ; 11/18/2020 Answer with Counterclaims; 01/06/2021 Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment ; 01/12/2021 Plaintiff’s Cross-Motion Per CPLR § 3012(d)) ; 01/28/2021 Order Denying Summary Judgment )

Iluka Resources Limited v. Chemours International Operations Sarl, et al. , No. 653398/2020 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. N.Y. Cty. 2020) (Ore supplier seeks, inter alia , breach of contract damages and declaratory relief, arguing that the COVID-19 pandemic is not among the specified force majeure “events” and did not actually prevent buyer from accepting and paying for shipments of materials; Buyer moves to dismiss, arguing, inter alia , that its purchase obligation is excused pursuant to the contract’s “Excused Performance” (force majeure) clause because the pandemic diminished its customers’ need for ore; Supplier argues that Buyer failed to establish that customers’ diminished demand for ore excuses its obligation to take delivery; Buyer replies that its performance is excused pursuant to the clause because the pandemic is an “element[] of nature” that “hindered” its “ability to take or pay for Material.”) ( 08/06/2020 Complaint ; 10/05/2020 Motion to Dismiss and Memorandum of Law in Support of Motion to Dismiss ; 10/19/2020 Memorandum in Opposition to Motion to Dismiss ; 11/02/2020 Reply Memorandum in Support of Motion to Dismiss )

Information Services Group Inc. v. Penton Learning Systems LLC , No. 160890/2020 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. N.Y. Cty. 2020) (Plaintiff seeks refund of fee paid for in-person sponsorship event that was cancelled because of COVID-19, arguing that a full refund was contractually required in the event of a force majeure event and that the pandemic is within the scope of the force majeure clause; Plaintiff discontinues proceeding. ) ( 12/15/2020 Complaint ; 12/24/2021 Notice of Discontinuance )

Little Fish Corp. v. Paramount Leasehold LP , No. 150164/2021 (Sup. Ct. N.Y. Cty. 2021) (Plaintiff-tenant files Complaint and motion seeking a Yellowstone Injunction preventing defendant-landlord from terminating the parties’ commercial lease due to plaintiff’s failure to make rent payments and to “continuously operate” its business, arguing that the lease expressly excuses plaintiff’s obligations in the event of “restrictive governmental laws and regulations, riots, insurrections, or other reason of like nature”; Defendant argues that rent payment obligations are specifically carved out of the force majeure clause and that Governor’s Orders were not force majeure events; Plaintiff asserts affirmative defense that the “pandemic and associated governmental orders constitute” a casualty or force majeure event pursuant to the contract. ) ( 01/07/2021 Complaint ; 01/07/2021 Plaintiff’s Memorandum of Law in support of Motion for Yellowstone Injunction ; 01/19/2021 Defendant’s MOL in Opposition and Cross-Motion ; 01/28/2021 Answer and Counterclaims ; 02/11/2021 Reply to Counterclaims )

Entertainment | BROADWAY REVIEW: ‘Heart of Rock and Roll’ is…

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Subscriber only, entertainment | broadway review: ‘heart of rock and roll’ is funny, unpretentious ’80s fun.

Back in the 1980s, Huey Lewis and the News were sometimes compared with The Cars and even Elvis Costello. But their string of catchy hit singles also had the distinctive everyman air of flowing out of a bunch of regular dudes who could just as easily have been headlining your local tavern.

That’s presumably why book writer Jonathan A. Abrams (working from a story co-written with Tyler Mitchell) set the new jukebox musical “ The Heart of Rock and Roll ” in Milwaukee and Chicago, even though Lewis was born in NYC and raised in California. His numerous hits like “This is It,” “Stuck With You,” “Giving It All Up for Love,” and “Power of Love” just seem to fit the Midwest gestalt.

Over time, these earworms often have become disassociated with their creators; most everyone knows “The Heart of Rock and Roll,” but Huey Lewis and the News are rarely top of mind.

Ideal fodder, then, for a modestly scaled and warm-hearted jukebox show that might prove to be one of the sleeper hits of the season. That’s thanks to an inestimably witty book with plenty of hard laughs and a suite of winning lead performances under director Gordon Greenberg .

With the help of a killer ensemble decked out in glittery ’80s trashiness, Lorin Latarro’s tour de force choreography starts on an industrial assembly line and then lets young bodies move energetically and unpretentiously through time and space. The show captures much of “Road House” or even “Dirty Dancing,” as well as drawing from the Broadway world of “ Rock of Ages ” and “ School of Rock .”

It’s a sort of gritty, Midwestern “ Mamma Mia ,” with paper-pushers and Lake Michigan basement dwellers taking the place of the beautiful Greeks astride the Ionian Sea.

The premise here is that working-class Bobby (Corey Cott) has given up on his dream of being in a successful band and gone to work for a Wisconsin cardboard box company (an industry that keeps on giving in the gag department. But you can’t keep an ambitious guy down. Bobby crashes a sales convention in Chicago’s Drake Hotel, simultaneously trying to prove to company owner Stone (John Dossett) and his daughter — and Bobby’s love interest — Cassandra (McKenzie Kurtz) that he can strike a deal with an IKEA-like mogul, Fjord (Orville Mendoza), for more boxes than Milwaukee has Miller Lites.

Obstacles are in the way: Cassandra has a Princeton “Pez Dispenser” (Billy Harrigan Tighe) wooing her and Bobby has old bandmates (F. Michael Haynie, Raymond J. Lee and John-Michael Lyles) who want him back. Then there’s the head of H.R., Roz (Tamika Lawrence), who has dreams of her own.

None of this is to be taken too seriously, and there is no reinvention nor pretentious grabs for awards and critical acclaim. “The Heart of Rock and Roll,” which does not look like it cost $30 million dollars and is all the better for that, feels happy to play to its target audience of Huey fans who prefer a decent beer to Moet & Chandon any night of the week.

Aside from a truly lovely central performance from Cott, all handsome heart and full-on commitment to his loser guy’s optimism, the biggest surprise of this show is how funny it turns out to be. There’s a series of wicked lines that reminded me of both Tina Fey and “The Office,” given how often H.R. and paper factor in the plot.

The show is never crass and does not overpush its genuinely warm welcome from the work-weary. Hip to be square indeed.

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tour de force noun

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What does the phrase tour de force mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the phrase tour de force . See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.

Entry status

OED is undergoing a continuous programme of revision to modernize and improve definitions. This entry has not yet been fully revised.

How common is the phrase tour de force ?

How is the phrase tour de force pronounced, british english, where does the phrase tour de force come from.

Earliest known use

The earliest known use of the phrase tour de force is in the 1800s.

OED's earliest evidence for tour de force is from 1802, in a letter by Lord Elgin.

tour de force is a borrowing from French.

Etymons: French tour .

Nearby entries

• toupee, n. 1727–
• toupeed, adj. 1847–
• toupet, n. 1728–
• toupeted, adj. 1903–
• toupet-titmouse, n. 1785–
• tour, n. c1320–
• tour, v. 1746–
• Tourangeau, n. & adj. 1883–
• Tourangeois, adj. & n. 1857–
• tourbillion | tourbillon, n. 1477–
• tour de force, n. 1802–
• Tour de France, n. 1922–
• tour d'horizon, n. 1952–
• tourelle, n. c1330–
• tourer, n. 1927–
• tourette, n.¹ 1881–
• Tourette, n.² 1899–
• Tourettism, n. 1981–
• tourification, n. 1802–
• tourify, v. 1820–
• tourifying, adj. 1825–

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Meaning & use

Pronunciation, entry history for tour de force, n..

tour de force, n. was first published in 1913; not yet revised.

tour de force, n. was last modified in July 2023.

Revision of the OED is a long-term project. Entries in oed.com which have not been revised may include:

• corrections and revisions to definitions, pronunciation, etymology, headwords, variant spellings, quotations, and dates;
• new senses, phrases, and quotations which have been added in subsequent print and online updates.

Revisions and additions of this kind were last incorporated into tour de force, n. in July 2023.

Earlier versions of this entry were published in:

OED First Edition (1913)

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• View tour de force in OED Second Edition

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Citation details

Factsheet for tour de force, n., browse entry.

Rainbow Six Siege 'Tour De Force' Battle Pass imminent, expands to 45 tiers

Ubisoft has teased its upcoming Steel Wave Battle Pass "Tour De Force," scheduled to release on June 29.

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege has received Operation Steel Wave , the latest seasonal refresh expanding Ubisoft's hit tactical shooter. The update marks the arrival of new Operators Ace and Melusi, coupled with a fresh coat of paint for the fan-favorite House map. Ubisoft has launched the patch with a new one-minute Steel Wave trailer, finally shedding light on its future Battle Pass.

Rainbow Six Siege's third main Battle Pass adopts the title "Tour De Force," once again serving an extensive lineup of cosmetics, tied to a multi-stage progression system. Ubisoft has expanded the next iteration to 45 tiers, resulting in 10 additional levels over past reward tracks. Tour De Force is scheduled to release on June 29, tailing Steel Wave deployment by two weeks.

We're yet to receive the full list of Battle Pass rewards with Tour De Force, but its brief video presence suggests new skins for Twitch, Rook, Fuze, Maverick, and Nokk will be included. Twitch and Rook undergo motorcycle-themed revisions, while some Operators receive new orange-tinted Operation Blacksmith uniforms.

The usual Battle Pass structure returns with Tour De Force, split between a free track complimentary to all players, matched with paid "Premium" track. While the free Battle Pass provides a small sample of the available cosmetics, unlocking the Premium track grants all limited-time items, with R6 Credits and Alpha Packs in tow. The same 1,200 R6 Credits price applies, with a 30 percent discount for Year 5 Pass holders.

In the meantime, Rainbow Six Siege Operation Steel Wave is now available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. However, for access to new Operators Ace and Melusi today, you'll need the new Year 5 Pass.

The Year 5 Pass unlocks the game's next six Operators, alongside exclusive in-game gear, progression boosters, and much more. With Rainbow Six Siege's next update around the corner, it provides all you need for 2020.

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Annual tour de force charity race will honor north country native hunter labombard.

As they look ahead to the starting line, Hunter's friends and family said the race means so much, giving the community a chance to come together to mourn, race, and make lasting memories along the way.

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An annual event honoring fallen officers in Northern New York will be dedicated to a local hero this year.

The Tour De Force Charity Race in Plattsburgh invites participants to run, bike, or walk the course, with nearly two-hundred people expected to take on the race.

Organizers are getting ready for the eighth annual Tour De Force Charity Race.

"[It] started in 2002 by Robert de Paolis, a retired NYPD officer to celebrate the lives of people we lost in 9/11," said Thomas Brown, Race Director for the Tour De Force.

The annual Plattsburgh Tour De Force Run and Bike Race began in 2015 and and is an offshoot of the national Tour De Force Charity, which began in the early 2000s in New York City.

This year, the race will honor a beloved member of the community and dedicated law enforcement officer Hunter LaBombard, a border patrol agent who died unexpectedly in January.

"I had never heard about the race, and it was actually a blessing disguise because we were really struggling with the grief," said Debbie LaBombard, Hunter's mother.

The North Country native described his role with U.S. Customs and Border Protection as a promise to protect and serve his country.

After graduating from Paul Smith's College, he went on to train in New Mexico before serving for a brief time in Texas.

"My husband had to have complete neck surgery, so he couldn't do much, so Hunter got a compassionate transfer and came home and surprised us on Father's Day. [He] never let us know he was coming home; just walked up the door," said LaBombard.

"You don't realize how much it means until it's one of your own, it means a lot," Chris LaBombard, Hunter's father.

The Tour De Force Charity Race kicks off Sunday, May 7 at Point Au Roche State Park at 7 a.m.

The race starts after an opening ceremony which will include a procession for Hunter LaBombard, beginning at the Northern Adirondack Central School.

If you're interested in participating in the race, more information can be found on the Tour De Force website .

Definition of 'tour de force'

• tour de force

tour de force in British English

Tour de force in american english, examples of 'tour de force' in a sentence tour de force, browse alphabetically tour de force.

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• tour d'horizon
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Tour de Force

Alvaro Silberstein, MBA 17, helps those with disabilities navigate the world.

Back when Alvaro Silberstein was a teenager who surfed, snowboarded, and played on Chile’s under-19 national rugby team, he sometimes imagined a scenario in which he might need a wheelchair. “I was involved in sports where those kinds of injuries happened,” says Silberstein, “so I did consider the possibility. I loved being outside in nature, and I always told myself that if I faced the kind of mobility challenges that meant I couldn’t go on big outdoor recreational adventures, I would prefer to die.”

Then the worst actually happened. When he was 18, Silberstein was struck by a drunk driver and left fully paralyzed from the chest down and partially paralyzed in his arms and hands. Since that day, he hasn’t just continued to undertake physically arduous adventures in remote locations around the world, he’s also co-founded a company, Wheel the World, that makes it possible for travelers with disabilities and their families to follow in his wheelchair tracks—and forge their own new trails. “We’re trying to change perceptions around disabilities and push the boundaries of what’s possible,” says Silberstein.

The idea for the company was born from an ambitious trek in Patagonia that Silberstein took in 2016, while still a student at Haas. His dream had always been to visit the rugged Torres del Paine National Park in Chile and traverse its iconic five-day W Trek.

“My friends and family in Chile had been there, but I assumed it was impossible for me,” says Silberstein. “But after my experience in California, where I was amazed that I could visit places like Yosemite, Big Sur, and the redwoods, I said, ‘OK, let’s figure it out.’”

Together with his childhood friend and Wheel the World co-founder, Camilo Navarro Bustos, Silberstein began organizing a trip and fundraising to purchase a specially adapted wheelchair built to handle rough terrain with the help of a team. That’s when the two men realized they had a unique opportunity: they could make the chair permanently available in Patagonia to other adventurers with physical limitations. “We had the chance to not only impact my life and fulfill my dream to visit Patagonia,” Silberstein says, “but to open this path to others.”

In April 2016, together with a film crew and a team of twelve—including experienced mountaineers, disabilities experts, and a physical therapist specializing in spinal cord injuries—who pushed and pulled the chair along the arduous 50-mile route, Silberstein completed the W circuit, arriving at the Mirador Base de las Torres as a national hero in Chile.

Before Silberstein even made it back to the airport, there was already an inquiry about using the adapted wheelchair for a 14-year-old boy who had refractory epilepsy and who was later able to complete the trek as well. “The real aha moment was when other disabled people reached out to say, ‘I want to do that same trip,’” says Silberstein. “That really validated our decision to start Wheel the World.”

Expanded purpose

Today, Wheel The World has 28 employees from 10 different countries, working across the globe from Berkeley, California, to Santiago, Chile, to Lyon, France, and beyond. Initially the focus was on guided adventure travel like Silberstein’s Torres del Paine trip, but demand from travelers with disabilities for destinations closer to home caused the company to expand its remit. “Wheel the World is the Expedia of accessible travel,” says Silberstein. “You can book a hotel in New York City, but you can also book a five-day trip to Easter Island.” Travelers book through GoWheelTheWorld.com, and the company generates revenue like any other online travel agency.

One reason travelers with disabilities appreciate WTW is the granular detail the company provides on accommodations—not just whether a hotel or an experience is standards-compliant. “In the U.S.,” explains Silberstein, “standard ADA-compliant bed height is something like 80 centimeters, because many in the U.S. use power wheelchairs that are relatively tall. In Spain, however, a standards-compliant bed is only 40 centimeters high, because the majority of users there are in lower, manual chairs.”

That’s why WTW listings include exact measurements for bed heights and bathroom door widths, availability of ramps and elevators, hearing disability guidance, and more. The listings are developed with the help of volunteer “mappers” who take measurements and photos of hotel rooms and facilities. The detail enables travelers with disbilities and their companions to enjoy their vacations without the anxiety of unexpected access issues—in other words, to have a trip exactly like those that able-bodied travelers take for granted.

Silberstein says that hotel and tour operators are eager to work with WTW to learn how to make their properties and experiences more inviting for the disabled community. In part it’s because the market for accessible travel encompasses so much more than just the estimated 15% of the world’s population that has a disability—it also includes their travel companions as well as aging travelers who may need special accommodations. Half the customers booking travel via WTW are the able-bodied companions or family members of a traveler with a disability, Silberstein says. “We like to say that the disabled are the only minority that isn’t actually a minority.”

WTW offers a free online course around accessibility for travel professionals, enabling destinations and hotels to become a certified WTW partner. “We will achieve total inclusion when we make businesses realize that if they build customer experiences that are well-designed for people with disabilities, it’s a good opportunity for them, too,” says Silberstein.

Sense of urgency

WTW’s pre-pandemic growth certainly reflected that market potential, with the company roaring from a record 2019 into January 2020 with a new round of funding and a long list of projects to undertake. Then came COVID, and its universal beatdown to the travel industry. “The pandemic was a disaster for the goals we had set,” says Silberstein. “So we focused on what was in our control: developing systems and technologies to accommodate our growth once the pandemic was over and building more partnerships with operators and hotel chains around the world.”

That pivot paid off. In 2021, despite continued challenges to the travel industry, WTW served five times the number of people it did in 2019. Silberstein plans to keep that momentum going. “In 2021, we impacted around 1,000 people; we want to make that 5,000 travelers by end of 2022,” he says. To do that, WTW plans to expand to 45 employees and to increase the number of “products” (i.e., WTW-accredited hotels or tours) from 600 to 9,000 within the next two years. The company recently closed a $5 million Series A funding round, including backing from the former Booking.com team, which should help make those ambitious growth targets possible.

The very success of WTW contributes to Silberstein’s sense of urgency. “We recently heard from someone whose boyfriend had both legs amputated six months earlier and who was finally feeling ready to look at travel experiences again,” he says. “She went on our platform to research accessible destinations in Denver, which we don’t cover yet. But she thanked us for leading the way, because it had been difficult to find useful resources for planning.”

Like so many stymied travelers during the past two years, Silberstein has been making plans for his own post-pandemic excursions. “I have been so focused on work for the past two years, but I really want to do a trip to Machu Picchu and the Amazon with an operator we have in Peru,” says Silberstein. “We also have an experience in Lake Titicaca in Peru, where you row in Polynesian kayaks to different small towns around the lake. I had planned to do that with my three older brothers in 2020, and we had to postpone. But now we are looking forward to completing it in 2022.”

Thinking back to the young man who believed death would be preferable to life in a wheelchair, Silberstein is philosophical. “If I could go back to my younger self,” says Silberstein, “I would tell him this: Your life will look very different from what you expect—and maybe that feels like bad news to you. But even if it takes time, you’ll be able to overcome every challenge that you’ll face.”

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Muted Reactions to Israeli Strikes on Iran Hint at De-Escalation

Israel had vowed retaliation for Iran’s attack last weekend, but the strikes reported overnight were limited, and Iran downplayed them.

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Farnaz Fassihi ,  Ronen Bergman and Patrick Kingsley

Here are the latest developments.

The Israeli military struck Iran early on Friday, according to two Israeli and three Iranian officials, in what appeared to be Israel’s first military response to Iran’s attack last weekend but one whose scope, at least initially, appeared to be limited.

The Iranian officials said that a strike had hit a military air base near the city of Isfahan, in central Iran. Initial reaction in both Israel and Iran was muted , which analysts said was a sign that the rivals were seeking to lower the temperature of their conflict. World leaders, who for nearly a week have urged Israel and Iran to avoid starting a broader war in the region, called for both sides to de-escalate tensions on Friday.

The Israeli military declined to comment on the strike. A senior U.S. official said that Israel had notified the United States through multiple channels shortly before the attack. All the officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

The explosions came less than a week after Iran fired more than 300 missiles and drones at Israel — nearly all of which were shot down — in response to an April 1 strike on an Iranian diplomatic compound in Syria that killed seven Iranian officials. That attack brought the decades-long shadow war between Israel and Iran — waged on land, at sea, in air and in cyberspace — more clearly into the open.

Here’s what else to know:

A Western official and two Iranian officials said that Israel used both missiles fired from warplanes and drones in the strike , suggesting that the attack included more advanced firepower than initial reports indicated. Iranian officials initially told The New York Times that the attack had been carried out only by small drones, possibly launched from inside Iran, and that radar systems had not detected unidentified aircraft entering Iranian airspace. They said that a separate group of small drones was shot down in the region of Tabriz, roughly 500 miles north of Isfahan.

In public, Iranian officials sought to downplay the strike. Maj. Gen. Abdolrahim Mousavi, the commander in chief of Iran’s army, said explosions heard early Friday in Isfahan “were from our air defense firing at a suspicious object,” and that there had been “no damage.” Iranian news agencies appeared keen to show that things were “back to normal” in the city.

President Ebrahim Raisi of Iran had warned that “the tiniest act of aggression” on his country’s soil would draw a response. But in the hours after Israel’s strike, there have been no public calls for retribution by Iranian officials. One lawmaker, Seyed Nezamedin Mousavi, called the strike “ridiculous,” saying it showed Israel “is content with these ineffective actions.”

Isfahan is one of Iran’s most famous and historic cities . The area also hosts a number of Iranian military sites. Iranian media reported that nuclear facilities in Isfahan had not been hit.

Israeli leaders came close to ordering widespread strikes in Iran on the night Iran attacked, officials said, but the war cabinet postponed a decision. Mr. Biden and other world leaders urged Israel for days not to retaliate in a way that would inflame a wider Middle East war while it fights Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, both allies of Iran.

Alissa J. Rubin

An explosion damages a military base in Iraq used by an Iran-backed armed group.

Iraq’s joint military command says one person was killed and eight were injured in an explosion early Saturday at a base used by an Iranian-backed armed group, Harakat al Nujaba, in Iraq’s Babylon Province.

In a carefully worded statement, Iraq’s military did not attribute the explosion to an air attack with a missile or a drone. “Air Defense Command confirmed that there was no drone or jet fighter in the airspace of Babylon Province before and during the explosion,” the statement said.

Privately, however, military officials say it appears that at least one projectile hit inside the Kalsu base’s perimeter. A video taken shortly after the event and posted on social media showed damaged buildings and a large rubble-filled crater. A second video showed several parts of the base on fire.

According to Iraq’s joint command, the base is used by several elements of the Iraqi security forces including the Iraqi Army and police as well as the Popular Mobilization Forces , or P.M.F., an umbrella organization.

The P.M.F. includes some brigades that are backed by Iran. The one stationed at this base, Harakat al Nujaba, has participated in attacks on U.S. installations in Iraq and Syria. More recently it has joined with other Iranian-backed forces in Syria and Lebanon to attack Israeli territory.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the strike.

The U.S. military, which has carried out strikes on Iranian-backed armed groups in Iraq in the past, said in a statement released shortly after the attack that it had not participated in strikes on locations in Iraq. The Israeli military declined to comment.

The explosion came a day after Israel attacked a military air base near the city of Isfahan in central Iran, according to two Israeli and three Iranian officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. That attack, on Friday, appeared to be Israel’s first military response to Iran’s huge drone and missile attack on Israeli soil nearly a week ago.

Falih Hassan contributed reporting from Baghdad.

Farnaz Fassihi

Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, who is in New York attending U.N. meetings, told Iran’s state news agency that the small quadcopter targeting a military base in Isfahan did not have casualties or damage. “Israel is determined to portray its defeat as a victory,” Mr. Amir Abdollahian said, the most senior official to comment on the attacks and draw a link to Israel publicly.

Christoph Koettl and Christiaan Triebert

Satellite imagery shows that a precision attack damaged an air defense system at an Iranian base.

The Israeli attack on an Iranian air base in Isfahan hit a crucial part of an air defense system, a New York Times analysis of satellite imagery found.

Images showed that the precision attack at the Eighth Shekari Air Base damaged or destroyed the “flap-lid” radar , which is used in S-300 air defense systems to track incoming targets.

The Times used several satellite images in its analysis; the location of the damaged area was first pointed out on the social media platform X by Aurora Intel , and the findings have also been confirmed by a former U.S. government imagery analyst, Chris Biggers.

The radar is typically surrounded by several vehicles, including four trucks carrying missiles. Before the strike, the missiles were seen positioned next to the radar. After the strike, they had been moved and did not appear visibly damaged. It was not clear why the missiles had been moved. However, the fact that they appear undamaged indicated that the attack had a very precise target, according to Mr. Biggers.

Other areas of the air base and adjacent airport also appeared to be undamaged. The precision of the strike, deep within Iran and with several sensitive sites close by, suggested Israel chose the specific and narrow target, the air defense system.

According to the Missile Defense Project of the Washington think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies, Iran has acquired Russian-made S-300 air defense systems to deter Israeli and other airstrikes.

Reporting from the Capitol

Liberal Democrats urge ‘no’ vote on Israel aid to pressure Biden on Gaza.

A group of left-leaning House Democrats is urging its colleagues to oppose the $26 billion aid package for Israel, hoping to maximize the number of “no” votes from the party and send a warning to President Biden about the depth of his political coalition’s discontent over his support for Israel’s tactics in Gaza.

Framing the upcoming vote as a make-or-break moral choice akin to Congress’s votes to authorize and fund the Iraq war, progressive leaders in the House are working to muster a sizable bloc of Democratic opposition to the aid measure, which is expected to pass on Saturday and become law in the coming days.

“In the wake of those votes, people came around much, much later and said, ‘We shouldn’t have allowed that to go forward,’” Representative Pramila Jayapal, Democrat of Washington and the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said of the decades-ago debate over Iraq. “And I think that this is that moment.”

Representative Joaquin Castro, Democrat of Texas, called it a “defining vote,” adding, “We’re either going to participate in the carnage, or we’re not.”

There is little doubt that the bill, which would send roughly $13 billion in military assistance to Israel as it continues its offensive in Gaza, will pass the House, along with money for Ukraine, Taiwan and other American allies.

But progressive Democrats estimated that 40 to 60 members of their party may oppose it on the House floor on Saturday. That would be a striking signal from Congress, where ironclad bipartisan backing for Israel has long been the norm. And it would highlight the fraught divisions the war in Gaza has sown within the Democratic Party, even as more Democrats including Mr. Biden have begun to criticize Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s approach to the conflict and urge him to better protect civilians.

The legislation would allocate $5 billion to Israel’s defense capabilities and $9 billion for “worldwide humanitarian aid,” including for civilians in Gaza. But it would not place further conditions on how Israel could use American military aid, nor block future arms transfers from the United States as an increasing number of Democrats have sought to do.

Democrats who are leading the push against the Israel aid bill said they strongly supported the Jewish state and its right to defend itself, and would vote in favor of sending military aid that supports Israel’s defense capabilities, such as by replenishing the Iron Dome, David’s Sling and Iron Beam defense systems. They also denounced the Oct. 7 terrorist attack by Hamas that prompted the war, and said the hostages taken by Hamas must be released.

But they argued that approving more offensive weaponry without conditions was an untenable moral and political position that would amount to an endorsement of Mr. Netanyahu’s prosecution of the war, including his intention to invade Rafah over the objections of the Biden administration. More than 33,000 people in Gaza have been killed since the start of the conflict, according to the health ministry there, and the population is facing a hunger crisis.

“I understand the need for defensive weapons for Israel, particularly in light of the attack by Iran,” said Representative Ro Khanna, Democrat of California, who ran his first campaign on an antiwar platform and helped lead efforts to end U.S. participation in the war in Yemen. “But there is no justification to provide bombs and weapons to Netanyahu to continue the war in Gaza that is killing thousands of innocent Palestinian women and children.”

Saturday’s vote will recall a similar situation from 2007, when the speaker at the time, Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, split a piece of spending legislation to allow Democrats to register their opposition to funding the Iraq war while backing a domestic funding bill. Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican of Louisiana, similarly divided the foreign aid package to be considered on Saturday in order to get each element across the finish line in the face of distinct coalitions of resistance to different pieces of the bill.

In a critical test vote on Friday , the House agreed, 316 to 94, to bring up the package, with 39 Democrats — mostly progressives — joining 55 Republicans in opposition.

“This is a moment for members of Congress who support a safe and secure Israel to send a message that giving Netanyahu more offensive weapons is not a path for peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians,” Representative Becca Balint, Democrat of Vermont and the first Jewish member of Congress to call for a cease-fire, said in an interview. “To give Netanyahu more offensive weapons at this stage, I believe, is to condone the destruction of Gaza that we’ve seen in the last six months. And it’s also a green light for an invasion of Rafah.”

Representative Lloyd Doggett, a Texas Democrat who led the opposition to funding for the Iraq war in 2007, said the conversations among Democrats in Congress opposing continued U.S. backing for the war in Gaza were “not unlike” those that took place 17 years ago.

“We may well be casting the vote on whether a much wider war takes place, and whether American weapons go that result in the death of thousands of innocent people,” Mr. Doggett said.

The Democrats who oppose the aid package for Israel represent a minority of their caucus. But they see a “no” vote as part of a strategy to pressure Mr. Biden to condition aid and halt future offensive weapons transfers. Through many meetings, text chains and conversations with the administration, they have worked to shift the president’s approach to Israel, while underscoring the electoral risks Mr. Biden faces among voters who helped power him to the White House in 2020 and are now furious over his handling of the war.

“The only way to get a course correction is for a sizable number within the Democratic caucus to say it must shift,” Ms. Balint said.

Representative Dan Kildee, a Michigan Democrat who has been pressing Mr. Biden to withhold offensive weapons from Israel, said a big “no” vote would strengthen the president’s hand to do so.

“It helps the administration to have some number of Democrats express ourselves in this way,” he said.

Representative Greg Casar, Democrat of Texas, said he hoped a substantial number of Democrats opposing the bill would give the Biden administration greater leverage to influence the Israeli government’s approach to the war.

“I hope this vote will show the world that there is a really significant segment of the United States that doesn’t want to see expanded and widening wars,” he said.

Farnaz Fassihi and Eric Schmitt

Israel used missiles as well as drones in its overnight strike on Iran, officials say.

Israeli warplanes fired missiles on Iran during a retaliatory strike early Friday morning, one Western official and two Iranian officials said, suggesting that the attack included more advanced firepower than initial reports indicated.

It was not immediately clear the types of missiles used, from where they were fired, whether any were intercepted by Iran’s defenses or where they landed.

The Western official and the Iranian officials requested anonymity to discuss classified information.

Previously, Iranian officials said Friday’s attack on a military base in central Iran was conducted by small aerial drones, most likely launched from inside Iranian territory. A separate group of small drones, they said soon after the attack, was shot down in the region of Tabriz, roughly 500 miles north of Isfahan.

Israel has not publicly claimed responsibility for Friday’s attack and would not comment on the use of planes or missiles.

Israel’s strike came in response to an Iranian attack last weekend in which Iran fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel. A majority of the weapons used in that salvo were fired from Iranian territory and intercepted by Israel and its allies before causing any damage.

By contrast, the Iranian officials said, Iran’s military did not detect anything entering Iran’s airspace on Friday, including drones, missiles and aircraft. Iran’s state news agency IRNA reported that no missile attacks occurred and that Iran’s air defense system was not activated.

Iran’s decision to launch its strike primarily from its own soil last week was perceived by Israel as an escalation in the countries’ long-simmering shadow war. The Iranians believe the large salvo is helping with deterrence. Throughout the yearslong conflict, the two countries have traded clandestine attacks, including targeted assassinations, cyberattacks and conventional strikes conducted from and within third countries.

Iran’s attack last week was itself prompted by an Israeli strike on April 1, in which Israeli aircraft killed several Iranian armed forces commanders in Syria.

By using drones seemingly launched from inside Iran’s territory rather than its own, Israel hinted at a willingness to turn down the temperature on the conflict while also demonstrating an ability to conduct attacks that Iran could not detect.

One Iranian official, a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, said that even though the strike did little damage, the likelihood that drones were fired from under Iran’s nose sent a message about Israel’s capabilities.

A guided missile fired from an undetected warplane, even if it landed outside Iranian territory, would most likely deliver a similar threat.

Officials from both countries remained largely quiet about Friday’s attack, a gesture that appeared aimed at de-escalating a conflict some fear could spiral into a broader regional war. Israel’s silence on the attack, an Iranian official said, would allow Tehran to treat the strike as it had comparable previous attacks and not prompt an immediate response.

Mahdi Mohammadi, a senior adviser to Iran’s Parliament speaker, said that Israel’s limited attack on Iran showed that Iran had achieved its goal of deterrence. Israel’s refusal to openly claim responsibility, he said, amounts to a victory for Iran.

Israel’s attack, he said on the messaging app Telegram, was meant to show that it had the “capability to access Iran but in practice it also showed that it has accepted that it should not repeat its miscalculation.”

Peter Baker

The White House maintained public silence about the Israeli strike on Iran. “I’m not going to speak or speculate about any of the reports that are out there,” Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said at her daily briefing. John Kirby, the national security spokesman who typically speaks on foreign policy issues, did not join the briefing.

Jean-Pierre did repeat the president’s standard position urging against widening the war: “We do not want to see this conflict escalate. We continue to consult with our allies and partners, including in the region, to reduce further risk of escalation in the region.”

Raja Abdulrahim

Israel reportedly strikes an air defense site in Syria.

The Israeli military struck a Syrian air defense site in southern Syria with missiles early Friday, causing material damage, though no casualties were reported, according to Syrian state news media.

Syria’s official news agency, SANA, provided no other details and Israel did not comment on whether it was responsible for the attack, in keeping with its usual practice.

The strike happened around the same time that Israel carried out a strike on a military air base near the city of Isfahan, in central Iran.

That strike came less than a week after Iran fired more than 300 missiles and drones at Israel — nearly all of which were shot down — in retaliation for an April 1 attack on an Iranian diplomatic compound in Syria that killed seven Iranian military officers.

Friday’s strike in Syria targeted a radar system in the southern province of Dara’a, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group based in Britain.

The Syrian military detected Israeli aircraft entering Syrian airspace, but its air defenses did not try to intercept the strikes, the Observatory said.

Iranian-backed armed groups throughout Syria have been on high alert since Iran’s strikes on Israel last weekend, the Observatory said. The groups obscured their positions and gave some of their leaders a week of leave.

Iran is closely allied with Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia, and with the Syrian government, and both Hezbollah and Iran’s Quds Force operate in Syria. For years, Iranian proxies like Hezbollah have launched strikes at northern Israel.

Israel has repeatedly targeted Iran and its allies with strikes in Syria, including in Damascus, the capital, and Aleppo.

Attacks across Israel’s borders with Syria and Lebanon have escalated since the Oct. 7 assault by Hamas on Israel.

Since the first of the year, Israel has carried out nearly three dozen attacks in Syria, destroying buildings, military headquarters and weapon and ammunition warehouses, the Observatory said. The strikes have killed 129 fighters and 12 civilians, the group said.

Adam Rasgon

Jordan will not allow its airspace to be violated by either Israel or Iran, Jordan’s foreign minister told his Iranian counterpart in a phone call, the official Jordanian news agency, Petra, reported.

Jordan lies between the two enemies, and it played a key role in helping shoot down the barrage of missiles and drones Iran fired at Israel on Saturday.

Leily Nikounazar and Gaya Gupta

Residents of Isfahan describe their fears of an escalated war.

Daily life appeared to return to normal in Isfahan on Friday, according to Iranian state news media and a resident who was interviewed, hours after Israel’s attack on a nearby military base continued the cycle of strikes and counterstrikes between the two countries.

But tensions from the overnight attack reverberated through the city, and some residents described the threat of full-fledged war as crippling — despite analysts’ assessment that both nations were trying to avoid further escalation.

Mehrdad, 43, an engineer from Isfahan, said the latest retaliation left him and his pregnant wife feeling stressed and unwell. He asked that his last name not be used for fear of retribution.

“The future of this country concerns me,” he said. “I believe nothing good is expected.”

Though he said that the city had returned “back to its normal” and reactions from officials were muted — which he believed was to help make people feel at ease — many residents remain scared after a stressful night of explosions.

For the first six months of the war between Israel and Hamas, Iran’s involvement in fighting had been limited to its proxies, including the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and the Yemeni Houthi militia. But after Iran’s first direct strike on Israel last weekend, Mehrdad said, “things are coming to the surface.”

He hoped that diplomatic mediation would put an end to the threat of war, and he worried that the county’s infrastructure would be “ruined” by further Israeli attacks.

“Our economic situation is awful. We have 50 percent annual inflation,” he said. “Now guess what would happen if the war materialized. What would happen to our living conditions in this country?”

Mahsa, 34, an accountant from Isfahan who also asked that her last name not be used for fear of retribution, described a tense atmosphere of fear and instability. The economy is often the main topic of conversation when people gather, she said, and many are worried about the consequences of a wider war.

“When Iran attacked, we were all worried and we really didn’t know what to expect,” she said, describing the cycle of retaliation between Israel and Iran as a “show game.”

“Of course, after this Israeli attack, the direction of the game will be determined,” she added. “Either a full-scale war, or the end of this line, or just threats.”

The distress is crushing. Mahsa said her mental health had deteriorated, describing an instance last week when she broke down sobbing in the middle of the street for seemingly no reason while on a run. Dreams seem “more impossible to achieve, day by day,” she said.

“We don’t have much mental energy left,” she added.

An earlier version of this article misstated the gender of Mahsa, an accountant from Isfahan, Iran. She is female, not male.

How we handle corrections

The seemingly small scale of Israel's attack may give both countries an exit from the cycle of escalation. “It appears we are out of the danger zone and, because Israel’s strike was limited, it has allowed both countries to back down for now,” said Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House.

The few Iranian officials who have talked publicly about the attack have downplayed it, suggesting a bid to de-escalate. A lawmaker, Seyed Nezamedin Mousavi, called the strike "ridiculous,” saying it showed Israel “is content with these ineffective actions.” A former foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, dismissed it as "fireworks."

Cassandra Vinograd

Here is a look at the recent history of Iran-Israel hostilities.

For decades, Israel and Iran have fought a shadow war across the Middle East , trading attacks by land, sea, air and in cyberspace. A recent round of strikes — mainly an aerial barrage by Iran against Israel last weekend — has brought the conflict more clearly into the open and raised fears of a broader war.

A retaliatory Israeli strike on an Iranian air base on Friday, however, appeared limited in scope, and analysts said it suggested an effort to pull back from the dangerous cycle and potentially move the war back into the shadows.

Here is a recent history of the conflict:

August 2019: An Israeli airstrike killed two Iranian-trained militants in Syria, a drone set off a blast near a Hezbollah office in Lebanon and an airstrike in Qaim, Iraq, killed a commander of an Iran-backed Iraqi militia. Israel accused Iran at the time of trying to establish an overland arms-supply line through Iraq and northern Syria to Lebanon, and analysts said the strikes were aimed at stopping Iran and signaling to its proxies that Israel would not tolerate a fleet of smart missiles on its borders.

January 2020: Israel greeted with satisfaction the assassination of Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani , the commander of the foreign-facing arm of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, in an American drone strike in Baghdad.

Iran hit back by attacking two bases in Iraq that housed American troops with a barrage of missiles, wounding about 100 U.S. military personnel .

2021-22: In July 2021, an oil tanker managed by an Israeli-owned shipping company was attacked off the coast of Oman, killing two crew members, according to the company and three Israeli officials. Two of the officials said that the attack appeared to have been carried out by Iranian drones.

Iran did not explicitly claim or deny responsibility, but a state-owned television channel described the episode as a response to an Israeli strike in Syria.

In November 2021, Israel killed Iran’s top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh , and followed up with the assassination of a Revolutionary Guards commander, Col. Sayad Khodayee , in May 2022.

December 2023: After Israel’s bombardment of Gaza began in response to the Oct. 7 Hamas-led assault, Iranian-backed militias stepped up their own attacks . And late last year, Iran accused Israel of killing a high-level military figure, Brig. Gen. Sayyed Razi Mousavi , in a missile strike in Syria.

A senior adviser to the Revolutionary Guards, General Mousavi was described as having been a close associate of General Suleimani and was said to have helped oversee the shipment of arms to Hezbollah. Israel, adopting its customary stance, declined to comment directly on whether it was behind General Mousavi’s death.

January 2024: An explosion in a suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, killed Saleh al-Arouri , a Hamas leader, along with two commanders from that group’s armed wing, the first assassination of a top Hamas official outside the West Bank and Gaza in recent years. Officials from Hamas, Lebanon and the United States ascribed the blast to Israel , which did not publicly confirm involvement.

Hezbollah, which receives major support from Iran, stepped up its assaults on Israel after Mr. al-Arouri’s death. Israel’s military hit back at Hezbollah in Lebanon, killing several of the group’s commanders .

March: An Israeli drone strike hit a car in southern Lebanon, killing at least one person. Israel’s military said it had killed the deputy commander of Hezbollah’s rocket and missile unit. Hezbollah acknowledged the death of a man, Ali Abdulhassan Naim, but did not provide further details.

The same day, airstrikes killed soldiers near Aleppo, northern Syria, in what appeared to be one of the heaviest Israeli attacks in the country in years. The strikes killed 36 Syrian soldiers, seven Hezbollah fighters and a Syrian from a pro-Iran militia, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based group that tracks Syria’s civil war.

Israel’s military did not claim responsibility. But the country’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, wrote on social media, “We will pursue Hezbollah every place it operates and we will expand the pressure and the pace of the attacks.”

April: A strike on an Iranian Embassy building in Damascus on April 1 killed three top Iranian commanders and four officers. Iran blamed Israel and vowed to hit back forcefully.

Two weeks later, Tehran launched a barrage of more than 300 drones and missiles at Israel, an unexpectedly large-scale attack , although nearly all the weapons were shot down by Israel and allies. Israel said for days it would respond, before a strike on Friday hit a military air base near the central Iranian city of Isfahan.

Israel has commonly used exploding drones in attacks on Iran.

Iranian officials said that the Israeli strike on Friday morning was carried out by small exploding drones, a tactic that would follow a well-established pattern in Israeli attacks on Iranian military targets.

As Israel has targeted Iranian defense and military officials and infrastructure, small drones — specifically ones known as quadcopters — have been a signature of those operations. Quadcopter drones, so named because they have four rotors, have a short flight range and can explode on impact.

The drones might have been launched from inside Iran, whose radar systems had not detected unidentified aircraft entering Iranian airspace, Iranian officials said. If the drones were launched within the country, it demonstrates once again Israel’s ability to mount clandestine operations in Iranian territory .

Israel’s military has not commented on Friday’s strike. Though it rarely claims responsibility publicly for attacks against Iranian targets, several attacks in recent years have used drones:

August 2019: Israel sent an exploding drone into the heart of a Hezbollah-dominated neighborhood in Beirut, Lebanon, to destroy what Israeli officials described as machinery used in the production of precision missiles.

June 2021: A quadcopter exploded outside Tehran at one of Iran’s main manufacturing centers for centrifuges, which purify uranium and are used at the country’s two major uranium enrichment facilities . Western officials have closely watched activity at those facilities for signs that Iran could be moving toward producing a nuclear weapon. Iran claimed that there had been no damage to the site outside Tehran, but satellite images showed evidence of significant damage.

February 2022: Six quadcopters exploded at Kermanshah, Iran’s main manufacturing and storage plant for military drones.

May 2022: A strike targeted the highly sensitive Parchin military site outside Tehran, where Iran develops missile, nuclear and drone technology. Quadcopter drones exploded into a building, killing an engineer and injuring another person, Iranians with knowledge of the attack said at the time.

January 2023: A drone attack on an Iranian military facility in January 2023 caused a large explosion in the center of Isfahan, the city near the air base that was struck on Friday. At the time, Iran made no effort to hide the fact that an attack had happened, but said it had done little damage. Iranian state media reported that drones had targeted an ammunition manufacturing plant but had been shot down by a surface-to-air defense system.

Michael Crowley

Traveling with Secretary Blinken

Blinken says the U.S. has not been involved in ‘offensive operations’ in Iran.

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said on Friday that the United States “has not been involved in any offensive operations” in Iran when asked about Israel’s strike on the country on Friday, but he declined to comment further.

Mr. Blinken spoke on the last day of a meeting of Group of 7 ministers in Capri, Italy, where the agenda was dominated by the conflict in the Middle East, including the exchanges of strikes in the past week between Israel and Iran. In remarks to reporters before departing the island, Mr. Blinken said the G7 was unified in urging de-escalation between Iran and Israel to avoid a wider war.

But Mr. Blinken would not even directly confirm the Israeli strike, which appeared to be the country’s first military response to Iran’s attack last weekend, referring instead to “reported events,” and he would not say whether the United States had been notified in advance of the Israeli action. Shortly before he spoke, Italy’s foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, told reporters that the United States had been “informed at the last minute” of the Israeli strike.

“But there was no involvement on the part of the United States,” Mr. Tajani said. “It was simply information which was provided,” adding that he believed the G7’s collective efforts deserved credit for “the small scale of the event.”

Mr. Tajani did not say how he knew the United States had not been notified in advance, but he had recently come from a meeting with Mr. Blinken and other G7 ministers. A senior American official said on Friday that Israel had notified the United States through multiple channels shortly before its attack on Iran.

The G7 weighed in collectively in a statement concluding the three-day meeting, urging countries to prevent further escalation “in light of reports of strikes” on Friday. The G7 includes Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States and the European Union.

The statement also said that the member nations “condemn in the strongest terms Iran’s direct and unprecedented attack” on Israel.

“Israel and its people have our full solidarity and support and we reaffirm our commitment toward Israel’s security,” it added.

The G7 also issued a new warning to Tehran, demanding that “Iran and its affiliated groups cease their attacks” throughout the Middle East and saying that “we stand ready to adopt further sanctions or take other measures.”

Mr. Blinken said of Iran that “degrading its missile and drone capabilities” was a key G7 goal.

Mr. Blinken also addressed the ongoing conflict in Gaza, pointing a finger at Hamas for the failure so far to reach a cease-fire deal that would include the release of Israeli prisoners.

“The only thing standing behind the Gaza people and a cease-fire is Hamas,” he said.

But he also addressed a major friction point with Israel, warning against what Israel says is its planned attack on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians have sought shelter from fighting elsewhere in the enclave. Israel has said an invasion of Rafah is necessary to eliminate Hamas battalions in the city.

“We cannot support a major military operation in Rafah,” Mr. Blinken said. Mr. Blinken said that protecting and caring for civilians amid such an operation was “a monumental task for which we have yet to see a plan.”

Asked about the U.S. veto on Thursday of a United Nations Security Council resolution to recognize a Palestinian state, Mr. Blinken said that while the United States supports the creation of such a state, doing so requires negotiations and that the proposed resolution “will have no effect on actually moving things forward and achieving a Palestinian state.”

He added: “You can put something down on a piece of paper and wave it around. It has no effect. What does and can have an effect is actual diplomacy.”

Mr. Blinken also noted that, under U.S. law passed by Congress, U.N. acceptance of a Palestinian member state would require “cutting off all of our funding for the United Nations.”

The Iranian news media appear keen to show that things are “back to normal” in Isfahan. The official news agency, IRNA, published a gallery of photos — people strolling, shoppers at a market, a child with a soccer ball — that it said showed “normal life” in the city today. Flights at the Isfahan airport, which had been suspended for a few hours, have resumed, it said.

Joe Rennison

S&P Global Ratings downgraded Israel’s credit rating on Thursday evening, citing the confrontation with Iran. It lowered Israel’s rating to A+ from AA-. That’s still a high rating on a scale that runs from triple-A down to D.

Maj. Gen. Abdolrahim Mousavi, the commander in chief of Iran’s army, said explosions heard early Friday in Isfahan “were from our air defense firing at a suspicious object. There has been no damage from the incident.” He said that experts were investigating the episode.

Reporting from Jerusalem

World leaders call for de-escalation after Israel’s strike in Iran.

World leaders on Friday urged Israel and Iran to de-escalate tensions after Israel struck an Iranian military base, the latest salvo in a cycle of retaliation that has raised fears of a broader war in recent weeks.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of Britain, whose military participated in defending Israel last weekend against Iran’s missile and drone attack, told reporters, “Significant escalation is not in anyone’s interests — what we want to see is calm heads prevail across the region.”

Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, the European Union’s executive arm, told reporters during a visit to China, “It is absolutely essential that the region remains stable and that all sides refrain from further action.”

Italy’s foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, said the Group of 7 nations — which includes Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States — had changed the agenda of its meeting Friday on the resort island of Capri to “address the Iran issue and put priority attention on the Middle East.”

“The political goal of the G7 is de-escalation,” Mr. Tajani said.

The government of Jordan, which has been criticized in the Arab world for playing a role in intercepting Iran’s attack last weekend, issued an especially pointed plea.

“Israeli-Iranian retaliations must end,” Ayman Safadi, Jordan’s foreign minister said on Friday. He urged the international community to turn its attention back to Gaza, where six months of Israel’s bombardment and ground invasion have killed over 33,000 people and led to extreme hunger in parts of the territory.

“The inhumane war on Gaza must end now,” Mr. Safadi said. “The focus of the world must remain on ending the catastrophic aggression on Gaza.”

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Rest Day walks American Eagle recce #northerncalifornia #coastline #nature #travel #wild #planning #drivetastefully #experience @eagle.etypes

Rest Day walks American Eagle recce #northerncalifornia #coastline #nature #travel #wild #planning #drivetastefully #experience @eagle.etypes ...

Wow. What a spot. American Eagle recce. #america #westcoast #architecture #roadtrip #planning #seascape #nature #design

Wow. What a spot. American Eagle recce. #america #westcoast #architecture #roadtrip #planning #seascape #nature #design ...

One of the many symbols associated with the great American Road Trip. We are currently enjoying the Californian sunshine on our initial recce for an @eagle.etypes tour next year. American Eagle 2025

One of the many symbols associated with the great American Road Trip. We are currently enjoying the Californian sunshine on our initial recce for an @eagle.etypes tour next year. American Eagle 2025 ...

We have been sorting out the office and came across a load of old passports. Here lies over 20 years of working in Adventure Travel. Each page has a story to tell…😎

We have been sorting out the office and came across a load of old passports. Here lies over 20 years of working in Adventure Travel. Each page has a story to tell…😎 ...

Mother Nature always wins…

Mother Nature always wins… ...

Tour de France 2024

Latest news from the race.

Remco Evenepoel's Tour de France ambitions back on track after high-speed Itzulia crash

‘The pain is getting less and less’ - Remco Evenepoel optimistic after Itzulia crash

'Walk first, ride indoors and then on the road' - Jonas Vingegaard's road to recovery after Itzulia crash

2024 tour de france information.

The 111th edition of the Tour de France starts in Florence, Italy, on Saturday, June 29 and ends three weeks later in Nice on Sunday, July 21. It is the first time the Tour starts in Italy and the first time it finishes in Nice to avoid the preparations for the 2024 Paris Olympics Games, which begin just a week later.

The route of the world's biggest race covers a total of 3,492km with some 52,320 metres of overall elevation, passing through four nations – Italy, San Marino, France, and Monaco. It features two individual time trials for a total of 59km, four mountain-top finishes, a series of gravel sections on stage 9, and a final hilly time trial to Nice. The official route was unveiled on October 25 in a special ceremony in Paris.

Tour de France champion  Jonas Vingegaard  (Jumbo-Visma) won his second GC title last year and will be back to defend his title against top rival Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), who finished second overall. Vingegaard is likely to face a huge challenge from not just Pogačar, but also Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) and former teammate turned rival Primož Roglič (Bora-Hansgrohe).

Join Cyclingnews' coverage of the 2024 Tour de France with live coverage, race reports, results, photo galleries, news and race analysis.

• Tour de France 2024 route

The 2024 Tour de France includes 52,230 metres of vertical gain across 3,492km of climbs, sprints and time trialling from Italy into France, with fewer high climbs than in the past and shorter stages. 

It is a balanced three weeks of racing that includes eight flat stages, four mountain-top finishes and two individual time trials, the final test against the clock is a hilly time trial to Nice that could create suspense. The race has 25km of racing above 2,000 metres and 27 mountains classified as second, first, or HC.

Florence, Italy, will host the team presentation, and stage 1 will roll out from Piazzale Michelangelo to open the Grand Tour for the first time. The first two stages are just over 200km each and include climbing, with the third day in Italy a flatter affair at 225km from Piacenza to Turin. 

Stage 4 heads into France and straight away to the Alps, with climbs across Sestriere, the Col de Montgenèvre and the Col du Galibier before a fast descent to Valloire. After two days with opportunities for breakaways and fast finishers, the first time trial comes on stage 7 at 25km. The first week ends with back-to-back stages ending in the champagne capital of Troyes to the southeast of Paris, including stage 9, which is a far tougher day due to the 14 sectors of gravel.

Week two of the 2024 Tour starts with a four-day ride south to the Pyrenees via the Massif Central and the rural France Profonde, with stages to Saint-Amand-Montrond, Le Lioran, Villeneuve-sur-Lot and then Pau. The Tour celebrates the Bastille Day holiday weekend in the Pyrenees with consecutive mountain finishes - stage 14 finishes in Pla d'Adet after climbing the Col du Tourmalet and the Hourquette d’Ancizan while stage 15 climbs the Portet d'Aspet and the Col d’Agnes for the finish up to Plateau de Beille.

Following the second rest day in Gruissan on the Mediterranean coast near the border with Spain on Monday, July 15, the final week leads into the Alps. The contenders should face a final shakeout once the race reaches stage 20, as the 2,802-metre high Cime de la Bonette and final ascent to Isola 2000 will be decisive. The final stage of the 2024 Tour is a 34km hilly time trial from Monaco to Nice.

Check out all the details of the 2024 Tour de France route .

• There's no way to Jumbo-proof the Tour de France - 2024 route analysis
• ‘I think it’s a good parcours for me’ - Jonas Vingegaard keen on 2024 Tour de France route
• Mark Cavendish: 'It might be the hardest route I've ever seen at the Tour de France'
• Jasper Philipsen sees 'a very difficult end' for sprinters in 2024 Tour de France
• Tour de France 2024 gravel stage 'increases chance of bad luck' says Plugge
• Remco Evenepoel tempted by 2024 Giro d'Italia-Tour de France combo
• Regal reveals for Tour de France, Tour de France Femmes 2024 routes - Gallery
• As it happened: All the information about the 2024 Tour de France route unveiled
• Tour de France 2024 routes – All the rumours ahead of the official presentation

Tour de France 2024 Contenders

Defending Tour de France champion  Jonas Vingegaard will again have a strong Jumbo-Visma team to support his quest for a third title, but this time, former team leader Primož Roglič has turned to rival as he looks to give Bora-Hansgrohe top billing. Vingegaard will also face huge challenges from Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep). 

In the flat stages, look for last year's green jersey victor Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) to contest for another title against Fabio Jakobsen , now with Team dsm-firmenich, and Caleb Ewan , now with Jayco-AlUIa. And fastman Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan) is back for an 18th pro season to mix it up in the sprints, on the hunt for a record-breaking 35th Tour de France stage victory.

And there will be opportunities across the three weeks for breakaway riders to shine, including the likes of Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-QuickStep), Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck).

Tour de France 2024 stages

• Tour de France past winners
• Stage 1 | Florence - Rimini 2024-06-29 205km
• Stage 2 | Cesenatico - Bologna 2024-06-30 200km
• Stage 3 | Piacenza - Turin 2024-07-01 225km
• Stage 4 | Pinerolo - Valloire 2024-07-02 138km
• Stage 5 | Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne - Saint-Vulbas Plaine de l'Ain 2024-07-03 177km
• Stage 6 | Mâcon - Dijon 2024-07-04 163km
• Stage 7 | Nuits-Saint-Georges - Gevrey-Chambertin (ITT) 2024-07-05 25km
• Stage 8 | Semur-en-Auxois - Colombey-les-Deux-Églises 2024-07-06 176km
• Stage 9 | Troyes - Troyes 2024-07-07 199km
• Rest Day 1 | Orléans 2024-07-08
• Stage 10 | Orléans - Saint-Amand-Montrond 2024-07-09 187km
• Stage 11 | Évaux-les-Bains - Le Lioran 2024-07-10 211km
• Stage 12 | Aurillac - Villeneuve-sur-Lot 2024-07-11 204km
• Stage 13 | Agen - Pau 2024-07-12 171km
• Stage 14 | Pau - Saint-Lary-Soulan (Pla d'Adet) 2024-07-13 152km
• Stage 15 | Loudenvielle - Plateau de Beille 2024-07-14 198km
• Rest Day 2 | Gruissan 2024-07-15
• Stage 16 | Gruissan - Nîmes 2024-07-16 187km
• Stage 17 | Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux - Superdévoluy 2024-07-17 178km
• Stage 18 | Gap - Barcelonnette 2024-07-18 179km
• Stage 19 | Embru - Isola 2000 2024-07-19 145km
• Stage 20 | Nice - Col de la Couillole 2024-07-20 133km
• Stage 21 | Monaco - Nice (ITT) 2024-07-21 34km

Latest Content on the Race

By James Moultrie published 26 April 24

News Belgian superstar training on the road three weeks after breaking collarbone and scapula

By Stephen Farrand published 19 April 24

News Belgian reveals the dynamic of his crash and his hopes for the Tour de France and Paris Olympics

By Stephen Farrand published 18 April 24

News 'In two weeks, we'll know what is possible' - Visma DS Frans Maassen on Dane's chances of riding the Tour de France

'The goal is to win the Tour de France' - Jai Hindley and new role with Primoz Roglic

By Sophie Smith published 16 April 24

In-depth Team sports director says Hindley is 'a champion in cycling', 'sometimes too nice' and talks about a different kind of season with a different kind of leader

'I hope and think my long term goals will not change' – Remco Evenepoel weighs crash consequences

By Simone Giuliani published 5 April 24

News After breaking collarbone, shoulder blade in Itzulia Basque Country crash Belgian indicates Ardennes out but Tour de France hopes alive

Miguel Indurain - 'Tadej Pogačar can do the Giro d'Italia-Tour de France double'

By Alasdair Fotheringham published 29 March 24

News All-time Spanish great says Slovenian star could win both Grand Tours in 2024

Awe-inspiring TTT footage at Paris-Nice leads to possible drone footage for Tour de France

By James Moultrie published 12 March 24

News 'Nothing has been decided but we're thinking about it' says broadcast director with eyes on Troyes gravel stage

Bora-Hansgrohe to roll out Red Bull branded kits, bikes before Tour de France

By Stephen Farrand published 7 March 24

News German team working on new colours after energy drink buys 51% controlling stake

‘I’d like to get back’ - Tour de France return remains the goal for Chris Froome

By James Moultrie, Stephen Farrand published 5 March 24

News Four-time winner lines out at Tirreno-Adriatico for his first WorldTour appearance since April of last year

Roglic predicts 'beautiful' Tour de France matchup with Vingegaard, Pogacar and Evenepoel

By James Moultrie published 20 February 24

News 'It's the best for us to have the highest level, and the best one will win' says Slovenian ahead of season debut in Paris-Nice

Top News on the Race

‘I’m not delusional but I’m not under-ambitious’ - Sepp Kuss clarifies his Tour de France ambitions

'This is not our project' – Tour de France director claims One Cycling reforms doomed to failure

Remco Evenepoel: Tour de France podium would be a dream come true

'To fight for the same thing is exciting' – Geraint Thomas relishes Giro-Tour battle with Pogacar

Related features.

The event of the summer – Remco Evenepoel's Tour de France debut

Tour de France 2024 - Four contenders, four different paths to the big showdown

'If nothing goes wrong, Tadej is boss’ - Adam Yates on the Tour de France and life with Pogacar

'It's a year to rebuild and find my feet again' – Caleb Ewan starts over at Jayco-AlUla

• Cambridge Dictionary +Plus

Meaning of tour de force in English

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• a feather in your cap idiom
• accomplishment
• achievement
• achievement test
• have something to your credit idiom
• have something under your belt idiom
• secret sauce
• sense of achievement
• stratosphere

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Word of the Day

doggie day care

a place where owners can leave their dogs when they are at work or away from home in the daytime, or the care the dogs receive when they are there

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Tour de Force

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In his favorite golden-hued daydream, Ian MacFawn is biking across the French Alps, pumping his legs through the burn, bowing his head against the breeze and drawing on all his reserves of willpower. His fellow cyclists surround him, packed tight like a honeycomb, so close he can feel their drift and hear their grunts of effort. Together, they climb.

This scene won’t stay a daydream for long. In June, MacFawn will join 21 other amateur cyclists from around the world to take on The Tour 21, a grueling 2,115-mile-long biking challenge over the same Tour de France racecourse the professionals will tackle a week later. Their objective isn’t just athletic glory. MacFawn and the others are raising over $1 million for Cure Leukaemia, a United Kingdom-based nonprofit connecting people with blood cancer to potentially lifesaving treatment options.

His interest is also personal. Just a month before he learned about the race, his uncle died of a rare blood cancer.

“I just thought: I love research, I love biking, I love the tour,” MacFawn says. “I want to do this and dedicate my ride to him.”

It is a thrill — an honor, really — to have even been chosen to participate, he says. But at first, the magnitude of the work ahead gave him pause. Joining The Tour 21 means committing to nearly a year of intense training, five weeks off work and six to eight hours of cycling per day for 21 days — intimidating feats, even for a former Division I college track and field athlete like MacFawn. Plus, each cyclist is tasked with fundraising at least $36,000 for Cure Leukaemia. Ultimately, encouragement from his wife, Lauryn, and his abiding dedication to cancer research gave him the confidence and motivation needed to take on the challenge.

As his training intensifies, the scientist-cyclist is feeling excited, if a little apprehensive. He fears flat tires, rain and “getting hungry with 25 miles to go in the day.” But it helps to know his parents and wife will be there cheering him on. After he crosses the finish line at the Arc de Triomphe, they’ll all celebrate with a four-night stay in Paris.

But the real win, MacFawn says, will be knowing he’s part of a team helping to move cancer research forward, both inside the lab and out on the course.

“I’m humbled to be able to help people in my field in this way,” he says. “Anyone who studies cancer feels like a colleague.”

This story was published on March 13, 2023. It is part of Pitt Magazine's Spring 2023 issue.

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Welcome to Tour De Force

2021 Tour de Force Video

by Thomas Yoxall

What is the Tour de Force 9/11 Memorial Bike Ride

From the beginning.

The “Tour de Force” was started in 2002 after NYPD Det. Robert De Paolis (ret) decided to ride his bike to honor the fallen police officers that gave their lives in the September 11, 2001 attacks. He was then joined by 7 other members of the NYPD and one member of the Bronx District Attorney's Office and along with four volunteer support personnel, they cycled their way from the Pentagon in Arlington, VA, to Ground Zero, NYC.

In 2003, the Tour de Force was incorporated in the state of New York as a nonprofit charity and later gained 501(c)3 status from the IRS.

History of the Tour

The Tour de Force has evolved into a four-day, 280 mile ride, in which 300 law enforcement officers from across the U.S. and abroad, along with some family and friends, participate to raise funds for the families of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty. Each participant, support team member and staff, raise funds and put in a lot of work throughout the year to make this event a huge success.

The Charity

The fundraising supports the families of fallen police officers.

The ride is a 4 day ride.

We remember the victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorists attacks.

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Tour de Force 9/11 Memorial Bike Ride

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Tim McGraw draws country music fans to Pittsburgh for 'Standing Room Only' tour

Pittsburgh’s country music fans were out in full force Saturday night at PPG Paints Arena — all for 56-year-old singer Tim McGraw’s “Standing Room Only” tour.

Sporting a V-neck maroon T-shirt and skinny jeans, McGraw entered from under the stage following a sequence of silhouettes that were projected on the large screen, much to the audience’s anticipation.

The country singer opened with his bold hit “Truck Yeah,” which transitioned into “Southern Voice” and “All I Want Is a Life,” which had a retro, red vibe.

During the second tune, McGraw played guitar, and a bright, colorful mountain scene with a truck, flowers and trees was projected on the backdrop.

McGraw then performed a cover of Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer,” which featured theater imagery with a chandelier in the background. The rendition included heavy drums, guitar and bass, and it had country undertones.

After the song, he paused to introduce himself.

“How you doing? My name’s Tim,” he said — in a Southern accent, of course.

McGraw explained that he usually doesn’t talk much during his concerts. He promised the audience that the more they drank, the better his music would sound, which earned some laughs from the crowd.

Arguably one of the best Tim McGraw songs was performed next: “Just to See You Smile.” He went around and reached down to the fans standing in the front row to touch their hands during this one.

Tim McGraw sings his hit “Just To See You Smile” here at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh @TribLIVE pic.twitter.com/tbBRRtXK2U — Megan Swift (@mgswift7) April 28, 2024

He then played “Over and Over,” which had a farmhouse in the background, and “Shotgun Rider,” which had a cityscape with fast-paced traffic in the background.

One of McGraw’s brand-new tunes, “One Bad Habit,” was next up. It’s from his EP titled “Poet’s Resumé,” which was released last November. The crowd cheered for this one, as it played images of him and his wife, Faith Hill, performing together and just being generally cute together.

He played “Watch the Wind Blow By,” and the slow groove had a few couples in the crowd dancing together or putting their arms around each other.

The audience got excited for “Something Like That,” and there was an artsy background with pastel paint splotches and a watercolor scene for “Where the Green Grass Grows.”

McGraw played the title song from his album next, “Standing Room Only,” which had a blue and galaxy-themed background. He said he was going to “get a little pretty” during that one.

The audience was back on its feet for “Red Ragtop.”

“What the hell’s going on?” McGraw asked after the number. “If this was California, these lights would be really beautiful.”

“Highway Don’t Care” was definitely a fan favorite of the night, as it’s a collaboration with superstar Taylor Swift and singer Keith Urban. The tune had the music video projected in the background, which is very black and white, and the background also depicted cracked glass.

People sang along to Swift’s lyrics in the duet, and there was a sick guitar solo as well.

“Give it up for Miss Swift,” McGraw said at the end to loud cheers.

Perhaps one of the most energetic numbers of the night was “I Like It, I Love It” — as people were literally screaming. The upbeat number had county fair imagery with fireworks, and the crowd was on its feet dancing.

McGraw closed out his main set with “Felt Good on My Lips” and “Real Good Man.”

Both Abby Anderson and Carly Pearce opened for McGraw, offering an energetic beginning to the concert.

For his encore, McGraw sang three very emotional tunes: “The Cowboy in Me,” “Humble and Kind” and “Live Like You Were Dying.”

Phone lights were turned on, and the audience swayed to “Humble and Kind.”

“Thank you so much for that song,” McGraw said after that tune.

The final number had McGraw’s fans singing along, and he ended the concert with a curtsy.

Megan Swift is a TribLive reporter covering trending news in Western Pennsylvania. A Murrysville native, she joined the Trib full time in 2023 after serving as editor-in-chief of The Daily Collegian at Penn State. She previously worked as a Jim Borden Scholarship intern at the Trib for three summers. She can be reached at [email protected].

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Tim McGraw setlist Truck Yeah Southern Voice All I Want Is a Life Tiny Dancer (Elton John cover) Just to See You Smile Over and Over (Nelly cover) Shotgun Rider One Bad Habit Watch the Wind Blow By Something Like That Where the Green Grass Grows Standing Room Only Red Ragtop Highway Don't Care I Like It, I Love It Felt Good on My Lips Real Good Man Encore The Cowboy in Me Humble and Kind Live Like You Were Dying

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Reinsurance News

Aon completes acquisition of broker nfp.

26th April 2024 - Author: Saumya Jain

Global insurance and reinsurance brokerage Aon has completed the previously announced acquisition of NFP , a middle-market property and casualty broker, benefits consultant, wealth manager and retirement plan advisor.

Aon has purchased the P&C broker from funds affiliated with NFP’s main capital sponsor, Madison Dearborn Partners, and funds affiliated with HPS Investment Partners for $13 billion, including $7 billion in cash and assumed liabilities as well as $6 billion in equity in the form of 19 million Aon shares

As an Aon company, NFP will operate as an independent and connected platform delivering Risk Capital and Human Capital capabilities from across Aon and will continue to be led by Doug Hammond, Chief Executive Officer, reporting to Eric Andersen. President, Aon.

Greg Case, CEO, Aon, commented, “It is a historic day for our firm as we welcome NFP to Aon and work together to help clients address increasing volatility across risk and people issues.

“With high-performing teams and leading content and capability – further enabled by our Aon Business Services operating platform – we will create more value for our clients, while also enhancing long-term shareholder value creation for investors. This acquisition is another example of how we are going further, faster with our 3×3 Plan to accelerate our Aon United strategy and further enhance our relevance to clients.”

Andersen further added, “The idea of being ‘independent and connected’ is key to how we will collaborate and create more options for clients across our Risk Capital and Human Capital capabilities. Doug and his team have built an exceptional client-centered business and we are focused on using our Aon Business Services platform to scale delivery of new capabilities to small and middle market clients across Aon and NFP.”

The duo stated that the faster-than-anticipated close date contributes to expected accretion and free cash flow benefit realization a year earlier than modelled at the announcement.

Hammond said, “With Aon’s acquisition of NFP now complete, we are starting an exciting new chapter in our company’s history. We look forward to the positive impact that our complementary expertise and capabilities will have on all stakeholders. Aon’s diverse resources and global reach enhance our ability to serve the dynamic risk, workforce, wealth management and retirement needs of our clients. We remain focused on both advancing a culture colleagues want to be part of and working together to contribute to our collective growth and success.”

UBS Investment Bank served as the exclusive financial advisor to Aon on the transaction, meanwhile, Citi served as a financial advisor advised on transaction financing. Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP and McDermott Will & Emery LLP acted as external legal counsel.

For NFP, Evercore acted as the lead financial advisor with support from Barclays, BofA Securities, Inc., Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., Jefferies LLC and TD Securitie. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Ropes & Gray LLP acted as external legal counsel and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP acted as external legal counsel to NFP’s capital sponsors.

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Tours de force NYT Crossword Clue

Tours de force Crossword Clue Answers are listed below. Did you came up with a solution that did not solve the clue? No worries we keep a close eye on all the clues and update them regularly with the correct answers.

TOURS DE FORCE NYT