Global Pulse

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  • AI-generated artists break through in country music

    AI-generated artists break through in country music

    The rise of artificial intelligence has sent ripples through nearly every creative industry in recent years, but few could have predicted that one of its most notable breakthroughs would be in the heart of Nashville’s country music scene. Today, multiple fully AI-created artists regularly rank among the most streamed country acts in the United States, a trend that has sparked heated debate among songwriters, producers and industry analysts about the future of a genre built on personal storytelling and human emotion.

    Unlike human country stars who build fanbases through years of touring and live performances, these AI acts — including Breaking Rust, Cain Walker, Aventhis, and Outlaw Gospel — are entirely digital creations. Every part of their public persona, from their stage names and visual likenesses to the melodies and lyrics of their charting tracks, is generated by machine learning models. Even their signature vocal performances, which lean into the genre’s classic raspy, gravelly baritone archetype, are indistinguishable to many listeners from those of human singers. The viral hit “Whiskey & Water,” credited to AI act Cain Walker featuring Cade Winslow, stands as one prominent example of how far this technology has advanced.

    For many human songwriters working in the genre, this rapid shift has been unsettling. “That’s a phenomenon I didn’t see coming. I thought AI was going to be curing cancer or something,” said Jennie Hayes Kurtz, a member of the country group Brother and The Hayes. Kassie Jordan, who performs with her husband as the duo Blue Honey, echoed that concern, noting how easy it has become for amateur creators to generate full tracks by typing a few prompts into a chatbot. “As a songwriter, it’s kind of like, is anyone going to even think I really wrote this?” she questioned.

    Industry analysts point to a long-running shift in mainstream country music that cleared the way for AI to gain a foothold. Berklee College of Music professor Joe Bennett explained that the modern iteration of country, which rose to mainstream prominence in the early 2000s, has increasingly leaned into a polished, pop-influenced sound built on repetitive melodic structures and formulaic lyrical themes. Many observers argue that mainstream country has grown progressively more formulaic as it chased broader mainstream audiences in recent decades, setting the stage for AI to replicate its signature sound with surprising accuracy. After years of being outperformed by rap and Latin music on streaming platforms, country has staged a major mainstream comeback over the past five years, with stars like Morgan Wallen and Zach Bryan claiming spots among the top 10 most streamed artists on Spotify in 2023. But that commercial comeback has come with a tradeoff, critics say: much of today’s top-charting country prioritizes broad appeal over the raw, personal storytelling that defined the genre’s roots.

    “A big portion of popular country music has become kind of shallow, so that is pretty easy to duplicate,” Jordan explained. Bennett’s analysis backs that up: an early review of top AI-generated country tracks found that even very basic, vague text prompts are enough to generate a song that fits the mold of modern mainstream country.

    So far, the industry has been slow to address the influx of AI-generated content. None of the creators behind the top AI country projects responded to requests for comment from AFP, and only one major streaming platform — Deezer — currently requires clear labeling for AI-generated music. Bennett argues that the industry must move quickly to implement reliable AI detection tools, noting that consumer demand for transparency around AI content is already growing.

    Not all industry insiders are pessimistic about the trend, however. Many note that country music has long evolved with changing technology, and the current shift may ultimately reinforce the value of human-created art. Hayes Kurtz points out that the listener base is split: casual passive streamers may not care whether a track is AI-generated, but the core audience of active country fans — those who attend live shows, buy artist merchandise, and follow artists closely — deeply value the authenticity and personal connection that comes with human-created music. “That audience seems to really care if the music is made by the actual humans they are going to see,” she said.

    Jordan remains optimistic that the genre will retain its human core, pointing to a growing movement of new artists returning to the genre’s traditional, storytelling-focused roots. “There’s another wave of country artists that are coming that is really into doing it the old school way and showing emotion,” she said. “That will be harder for AI to duplicate. That might save the genre.”

  • JD Vance due in Hungary to back Orban’s re-election bid

    JD Vance due in Hungary to back Orban’s re-election bid

    As Hungary prepares to hold a pivotal parliamentary election on April 12 that will shape the future of its 40-year political veteran leader Viktor Orban, the Trump administration is throwing its full weight behind the incumbent prime minister with a high-profile visit from U.S. Vice President JD Vance.

    Vance is scheduled to appear alongside Orban at a mass election rally Tuesday, held inside a packed Budapest football stadium, marking the most visible show of American support for Orban’s re-election bid to date. This visit builds on an endorsement from President Donald Trump last month, when the U.S. commander-in-chief released a pre-recorded video message to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) held in the Hungarian capital, declaring he gave Orban his “complete and total support”.

    The upcoming election stands as the stiffest test Orban has faced in his nearly four decades in Hungarian politics. His main challenger is Peter Magyar, a one-time insider within Orban’s ruling Fidesz party who broke ranks two years ago to launch his own centre-right opposition movement, the Tisza Party. Most independent public opinion polls put Tisza 10 to 20 percentage points ahead of Fidesz, with only the pro-Orban Nezopont polling agency recording a narrow lead for the incumbent.

    The close alliance between Orban and Trump stretches back to the 2016 U.S. presidential election, when Orban became the only European Union leader to publicly endorse Trump’s candidacy. That long-standing relationship has only deepened over the years: Orban threw his full support behind Trump’s 2024 re-election campaign, and traveled to Washington D.C. last October to negotiate a critical exemption for Hungary from U.S. sanctions targeting Russian energy giants Rosneft and Lukoil. Trump has since framed the exemption as a personal agreement between the two leaders, strongly indicating that a new Hungarian government after the election would lose the exception and be forced to restart the application process from scratch.

    Hungary is a notable outlier among EU member states, having openly rejected Brussels’ calls to cut its reliance on Russian fossil fuels. The country currently depends heavily on Russian crude oil delivered via the Druzhba pipeline that crosses Ukraine, and Russian natural gas transported through the TurkStream pipeline running through southern Europe. Both energy routes have run into major disruptions in recent months: no oil has flowed through Druzhba to Hungary since the end of January, after a Russian attack on Ukrainian oil infrastructure left operations halted. Orban has pinned blame on Kyiv for refusing to restart flows, while the Trump administration has offered no public diplomatic support to Budapest on resolving the pipeline standoff. To avoid widespread fuel shortages, Hungary has been forced to draw down its national strategic reserves and import non-Russian crude via an alternative pipeline route from Croatia.

    A new crisis emerged just days before Vance’s visit, when Serbian authorities announced they had found and defused explosive devices near the TurkStream pipeline, located close to the Serbia-Hungary border. Orban and his aligned pro-government media have framed the incident as a deliberate terrorist attack targeting Hungary’s critical energy infrastructure. But Magyar and former Hungarian intelligence officials have leveled explosive counter-accusations, claiming Orban orchestrated the incident in coordination with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic to sway undecided voters ahead of the vote.

    Orban has centered his entire re-election campaign on vocal hostility to Ukraine and its President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a stance that has become a core wedge issue in the race. His administration has also been rocked by a recent damaging leak: private phone conversations between Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto and senior Russian officials spanning multiple years were published. Transcripts of the calls suggest Szijjarto regularly shared confidential details of closed-door EU summit discussions with the Kremlin, and lobbied to remove Russian officials from EU sanctions lists at Moscow’s request. Szijjarto has defended the communications as standard, routine diplomatic practice.

    For Orban, Vance’s visit carries high stakes: the incumbent is banking on the show of high-level U.S. support to convince undecided Hungarian voters that he remains a strong, internationally respected leader capable of steering the country through a period of global uncertainty.

  • Tokyo confirms Japanese national held by Iran freed

    Tokyo confirms Japanese national held by Iran freed

    In a development announced Tuesday by Japanese officials, a Japanese national who had been held in Iranian custody since January has been released, marking the second such release of a Japanese citizen by Iran in as many months. Multiple Japanese media outlets, including Kyodo News, have identified the released individual as the Tehran bureau chief for Japan’s national public broadcaster NHK, though the network has not yet issued an official confirmation.

    Japanese government spokesperson Minoru Kihara shared detailed information on the release with reporters, confirming that Japanese diplomatic representatives in Iran verified the detainee’s release, which took place on April 6 local time. “The Japanese embassy in Iran has confirmed that a Japanese national who was detained by Iranian authorities on January 20 was released on April 6 local time,” Kihara stated. Following the release, Kihara added, Japan’s ambassador to Iran met directly with the freed citizen and confirmed that they are in good health.

    The case dates back to late January, when Iranian authorities first took the Japanese national into custody. Initial media reports at the time suggested the detainee had been transferred to a notorious Tehran prison that commonly holds political detainees. Japanese officials confirmed the detention shortly after it occurred but declined to share any additional details on the case or the identity of the detainee, and NHK also declined to comment on the situation at the time.

    This release comes just one month after the Japanese government confirmed that a second Japanese national being held in Iran had been released. At the time of that previous release, officials also did not share extensive details on the circumstances of the detention or the subsequent release, leaving unanswered questions about the nature of both detentions and the diplomatic process that led to the citizens being freed.

  • India’s high-growth economy gets a Middle East oil shock

    India’s high-growth economy gets a Middle East oil shock

    Just weeks ago, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) lauded the nation’s rare combination of robust economic expansion and contained inflation as a ‘Goldilocks’ moment — a sweet spot few major global economies could claim. Today, that optimism has crumbled, swept away by the escalating conflict in the Middle East that has sent shockwaves through India’s energy-dependent economy.

    As one of the world’s most reliant nations on Gulf energy imports, India faces uniquely acute risks from the crisis: 60% of its natural gas, over 90% of its cooking gas (LPG), and a quarter of its fertiliser imports originate from the Middle East. This deep supply dependence has turned regional tensions into an immediate domestic crisis, with visible disruptions rippling from currency markets to neighborhood restaurants.

    The most immediate impact has played out in foreign exchange markets, where the Indian rupee has tumbled to repeated record lows, falling nearly 10% against the U.S. dollar over the past 12 months. While the RBI’s intervention to curb speculative trading has temporarily slowed the rupee’s slide, economists warn the relief is likely temporary. Global investment firm Bernstein projects that if the conflict drags on through most of 2026, the rupee could plummet past 110 against the dollar, a outcome the firm describes as catastrophic. Even a quick resolution to the conflict would not reverse the current downward trajectory, analysts agree.

    A persistently weak rupee amplifies pressure across every corner of the Indian economy. It raises import costs for energy and goods, pushes up consumer prices, erodes corporate profit margins, widens government fiscal deficits, and discourages foreign investment into Indian equities. Already, India’s benchmark stock indexes have fallen 12% since the start of 2026, driven by broad foreign capital outflows that have erased the wealth effect that had powered upper-class consumption, a key engine of India’s recent growth.

    The conflict has also cast a shadow over India’s medium-term growth and inflation outlook. India’s finance ministry warned in its latest monthly economic review that higher import and logistics costs, paired with potential declines in remittances from the 10 million Indian citizens living in the Gulf, could have a significant impact on economic performance. Early indicators already show a measurable moderation in activity across multiple sectors.

    Before the crisis, India projected gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 7% for the 2026-27 financial year, a pace that would keep it on track to overtake Japan as the world’s fourth-largest economy. Now, leading brokerages estimate the Gulf crisis could cut growth by up to a full percentage point. Compounded by recent downward revisions to India’s GDP statistics following a base year update, the setback will almost certainly delay the nation’s long-held goal of rising to fourth place in global GDP rankings.

    Energy shortages have already hit everyday life across India. While the Indian government has absorbed most of the crude oil price shock to keep pump prices stable ahead of key state elections — cutting excise duties on petrol and diesel and imposing windfall taxes on fuel exports — LPG and natural gas shortages have forced widespread closures. Restaurants, hotels, food processing facilities, ceramics manufacturers, and even funeral services have suspended operations in parts of the country due to lack of fuel. Care Edge Ratings notes that fertiliser supply disruptions could also harm India’s large agricultural sector ahead of the upcoming sowing season, which already faces elevated risk from the El Niño weather pattern.

    Former Indian chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian warns the crisis could deliver a large-magnitude stagflationary shock, with rising inflation paired with stagnating growth. ‘The stag part of the stagflation is already being felt in terms of restaurants closing down and households having less natural gas,’ Subramanian told India Today TV. Early worrying signs include migrant workers beginning to leave major urban centers like Mumbai in response to energy shortages, echoing population shifts seen during Covid-19 lockdowns. Economists warn that if labor shortages emerge and wage pressures rise, the country could face persistent supply-side headwinds.

    To address the crisis, the Indian government has proposed a $6.2 billion economic stabilization fund and has requested approval for additional spending on food and fertiliser subsidies. The funding has been freed up by cutting non-essential spending, likely from infrastructure allocations for roads and railways. Even so, Bernstein notes the fund remains modest relative to the scale of the current economic challenge.

    For its part, the RBI is widely expected to hold interest rates steady at its upcoming policy announcement this week, as policymakers wait for clarity on how long the conflict will last. Care Edge Ratings explains that a ‘wait and watch’ approach preserves the central bank’s flexibility to adjust policy once the full scale of risks to growth and inflation becomes clear.

    Amid the widespread gloom, analysts point to a few bright spots. A weaker rupee could improve the competitiveness of India’s export sector, and the country’s current comfortable foreign exchange reserves provide a larger buffer against market volatility than past crises. Still, Subramanian and other experts frame the crisis as a critical wake-up call for India to address longstanding vulnerabilities in its energy sector. The path forward, they argue, requires building larger strategic energy stockpiles, diversifying import sources, and accelerating the transition to renewable energy in the long term.

  • Watch: Artemis II mission loses contact with Earth for 40 minutes

    Watch: Artemis II mission loses contact with Earth for 40 minutes

    NASA’s Artemis II lunar mission faced an unexpected disruption on Tuesday when all communications between the spacecraft and ground control on Earth were cut off for nearly 40 minutes, triggering temporary concern among mission teams monitoring the test flight. The 40-minute blackout, which unfolded as the crew conducted routine system checks ahead of their planned lunar flyby, marked one of the first major unplanned technical hurdles for the Artemis program’s first crewed mission.

    Once ground controllers reestablished stable communication links with the spacecraft, astronaut Christina Koch, one of the four members of the Artemis II crew, shared her first reaction to reconnecting with mission control. “It is so great to hear from Earth again,” Koch said in remarks that were broadcast publicly shortly after contact was restored.

    Mission officials have not yet released a full public explanation of what caused the communications outage, but initial preliminary assessments indicate the issue was linked to a planned testing procedure that temporarily switched off the spacecraft’s primary communication transponders, rather than an unexpected technical failure. The Artemis II mission, which is scheduled to carry four astronauts around the moon and back to Earth later this year, is a critical precursor to the Artemis III landing mission that aims to put the first woman and person of color on the lunar surface. The mission is designed to test all of the core systems required for long-duration deep space human flight, including communication networks, life support, and navigation capabilities, ahead of future crewed lunar landing missions and eventual crewed missions to Mars.

  • Augusta already firm and fast ahead of 90th Masters

    Augusta already firm and fast ahead of 90th Masters

    As the 90th edition of the Masters — golf’s first major championship of the 2025 season — prepares to kick off this week at Augusta National Golf Club, the world’s best players have already taken to the iconic course for opening practice rounds, with firm, fast playing conditions shaping up as a defining challenge for the entire tournament.

    World number one Scottie Scheffler and defending Masters champion Rory McIlroy were among the first big names to test their shots on Monday, joining dozens of top competitors in fine-tuning their games ahead of Thursday’s opening round. Forecasters are calling for zero rain across the tournament week, leaving the venue’s famous undulating greens primed to stay rock-hard and lightning-quick for all four rounds.

    Cam Smith, the 2022 British Open champion from Australia, got an early look at the course during practice and shared his take on the playing conditions. “The course is in great shape, and it’s already pretty firm,” Smith explained. “It seems like there’s just a little bit more grass. It’s a little bit fuller… It will be firm and fast, I would assume.”

    Practice unfolded under soft cloudy skies with only a light breeze drifting through the historic Georgia pines, as hundreds of spectators turned out to catch a glimpse of golf’s biggest names ahead of the competition. Two-time Masters winner Jose Maria Olazabal of Spain offered a key early prediction for how the week will play out: “You will see long hitters doing well here,” the Spaniard said.

    McIlroy, who captured his first career Masters title last year to complete a career Grand Slam and become one of only six players in golf history to achieve the feat, started his practice rounds over the weekend to acclimate to the course. The 36-year-old Northern Irish world number two acknowledged that the early days of tournament week are about settling in, with the intensity ramping up as the first round approaches. “The first few days it’s all about enjoying the perks,” McIlroy said. “But once Tuesday night is over, the serious business begins. There’s a mental change where I’m focused on the play and hopefully winning another Masters.”

    If McIlroy defends his title this week, he will join an elite group that only includes Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo, and Tiger Woods as the only golfers to claim back-to-back Masters championships.

    For Scheffler, this week marks his return to competitive golf for the first time since he tied for 22nd at the Players Championship three weeks ago. The top-ranked American and his wife Meredith welcomed their second child, son Remy, on March 27, and the entire family has traveled to Augusta to join him for the tournament. “It has been fun,” Scheffler said of the new addition to his family ahead of his run at the green jacket.

    Scheffler, a 29-year-old two-time Masters champion, has already posted an impressive season in 2025: he claimed his first win of the year at the American Express in January, and has stretched a remarkable run of 18 consecutive top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour. Fresh off wins at last year’s British Open and PGA Championship, Scheffler is already on track to complete his own career Grand Slam if he claims the US Open title in June.

    This year’s 91-player Masters field features 46 competitors from outside the United States, but two of the sport’s most iconic names will be absent from the tournament line-up: five-time winner Tiger Woods and three-time champion Phil Mickelson. It is the first time both players have missed the event since 1994: Mickelson is sidelined by unspecified family health issues, while Woods is taking a break from competition to receive treatment following his arrest on a DUI charge last month.

    Two-time Masters winner Bubba Watson opened up about Woods’ absence, saying he is rooting for the 15-time major champion off the course. “I’m pulling for him as a human being, forget his golf,” Watson said. “Anybody that’s struggling with anything, I feel for him because I’ve went through a lot of mental stuff. Nothing but love for him and hopefully he can come back stronger.”

    Among the other top contenders vying for the green jacket this year is Bryson DeChambeau, the two-time US Open champion who claimed back-to-back LIV Golf titles in Singapore and South Africa last month. DeChambeau, who notched a sixth-place finish at the Masters in 2024 and a fifth-place finish in 2023, is making his 10th career start at Augusta this year, and said he has been working toward his first Masters win for more than a decade. “There’s always passion out here. I’ve been trying to win this event for a lot of years,” DeChambeau said. “I’ve learned a lot of lessons and hopefully my game is in the place where I can finally win it this year. My swing is in a great place. Putting is in a great place. Chipping is in a great place. I just want that iron play to be stellar this week.”

    Another top LIV Golf contender in the field is Jon Rahm, the 2023 Masters champion and 2021 US Open winner who claimed the 2024 and 2025 LIV Golf season titles. The 31-year-old Spaniard picked up his third LIV victory last month in Hong Kong, and has already notched three runner-up finishes this season in South Africa, Adelaide, and Riyadh. Rahm said he is eager to reconnect with the unique energy of Augusta National this week. “I have to get that ‘back to Augusta’ feeling. It’s important,” Rahm said. “I’m really happy with all areas of my game… I can be happy without being satisfied.”

  • Lunar crater named after Artemis commander’s deceased wife

    Lunar crater named after Artemis commander’s deceased wife

    In a deeply emotional moment that blended humanity, exploration, and remembrance during NASA’s historic Artemis II lunar flyby mission, the four-person crew announced a heartfelt proposal Monday to name a prominent lunar crater after mission commander Reid Wiseman’s late wife, Carroll Taylor Wiseman, who lost her battle with cancer in 2020.

    Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen shared the announcement during a live global broadcast from the crew’s spacecraft, thousands of kilometers from Earth. “It’s a bright spot on the Moon. And we would like to call it Carroll,” he said, noting that the crater is visible from Earth during specific points of the Moon’s orbital transit around our planet. As Wiseman and his crewmates wiped away tears, the group shared a quiet, weightless embrace floating in the microgravity environment of their deep space craft.

    Alongside the proposal for the crater named Carroll, the crew also put forward a second name, “Integrity,” for another nearby lunar feature — a tribute to the name the crew has given their Artemis II spacecraft. A NASA spokesperson based in Houston confirmed Monday that all naming suggestions put forward by the Artemis II crew will be formally submitted to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), the globally recognized governing body responsible for officially naming celestial bodies and surface features across the solar system.

    Monday’s announcement came as the Artemis II crew made history of their own, becoming the humans who have traveled farther from Earth than any previous mission. As part of the flyby mission, the crew is preparing to observe regions of the lunar far side that have never before been viewed directly by the human eye, a milestone that paves the way for future crewed lunar landings as part of NASA’s broader Artemis program, which aims to establish a sustained human presence on the Moon.

    Hansen emphasized that the mission’s legacy extends beyond this single flight, framing it as a call to action for current and future generations of explorers. “We most importantly choose this moment to challenge this generation and the next, to make sure this record is not long-lived,” he said.

    Reid Wiseman, a former U.S. fighter pilot, has raised the couple’s two young daughters as a single parent since Carroll’s passing from cancer in 2020. The tribute on the Moon stands as a permanent memorial to her, carried into the final frontier by the husband who continues her legacy on Earth.

  • Napoli’s Serie A title defence boosted by beating AC Milan

    Napoli’s Serie A title defence boosted by beating AC Milan

    The fight for Italy’s most prestigious domestic football trophy, the Serie A Scudetto, delivered another pivotal twist this week, as defending champions Napoli secured a critical 1-0 victory over title rival AC Milan on Monday that reignited their hopes of retaining their crown. The match, played out at the packed Stadio Diego Armando Maradona in Naples, remained tight and disjointed for most of 79 minutes, until substitute Matteo Politano stepped off the bench to rifle home the only goal of the night, sending the home crowd into raptures.

    Politano’s finish, his second league goal of the entire season, capped a dominant performance from Antonio Conte’s side and stretched their winning streak to five consecutive matches. The result was enough to push Napoli past Milan in the league table, lifting the reigning champions into second place. However, Inter Milan still hold a commanding position at the top of the standings, holding a seven-point lead over Napoli with just seven matches left to play in the campaign. Conte acknowledged the uphill battle his side faces, particularly after a season marred by repeated injury setbacks that could have derailed their title bid entirely.

    “It’s a happy moment for us because we’re back in second place,” Conte told reporters after the win. “I thanked the boys for what they’ve done this season as it could have finished badly. We’ve got back to what we were like last season, we’ve got to keep going without getting ahead of ourselves.”

    Monday’s defeat leaves AC Milan with an almost insurmountable gap to close on league leaders Inter, who sit nine points clear of Stefano Allegri’s side. With their title hopes effectively extinguished, Allegri admitted his team will now shift their full focus to securing a top-four finish to qualify for next season’s Champions League. “I think we’re done with the Scudetto race. We’re nine behind Inter and Napoli are ahead of us now,” Allegri said. “We’ve got an advantage of a few points for the Champions League, let’s try to keep it that way by winning some matches.”

    Napoli earned the vital win without two key attacking players: Romelu Lukaku, who angered club leadership by remaining in Belgium to receive treatment for a hip injury, and Rasmus Hojlund, who was sidelined by a stomach bug. Prior to Politano’s match-winning strike, the closest either side came to breaking the deadlock was a long-range stinging drive from Napoli winter signing Giovanni, which forced AC Milan keeper Mike Maignan into the match’s best save. Politano’s winner came when he pounced on a weak headed clearance from Koni De Winter, firing a powerful first-time finish past the outstretched Maignan to seal three points.

    In another key match in the race for Champions League qualification, Juventus closed the gap on the top four to just a single point with a comfortable 2-0 home win over Genoa. Juventus took full advantage of fourth-placed Como dropping points in a 0-0 draw against Udinese earlier on the same matchday, opening the scoring through Gleison Bremer’s header just four minutes into the match. American midfielder Weston McKennie doubled the lead 13 minutes later, a finish that pushed his season league goal tally to five—matching his best single-season return from his debut 2020-21 campaign with the club. McKennie brushed off the personal milestone after the match, telling DAZN that “the important thing is getting into the Champions League.”

    Juventus had backup goalkeeper Michele Di Gregorio to thank for preserving their clean sheet, after he pulled off a spectacular double save to deny a spirited Genoa side. Di Gregorio, who has endured a difficult second season with Juventus after being dropped from the first team in February following a string of costly mistakes, was only called into action on Monday after starting keeper Mattia Perin was pulled off at halftime with a calf injury. He first saved a penalty from Aaron Martin, then blocked a follow-up volley from Vitinha to keep Genoa off the scoresheet. Bremer defended his teammate’s performance after the match, saying: “He has some good moments and some tough moments, but we always knew that he was a quality goalkeeper. He knew that his moment would come.”

    The three points moved Juventus five places within the Champions League race, opening up a three-point gap over sixth-placed Roma, who were beaten 5-2 by Inter on Sunday. Juventus also hold a four-point advantage over seventh-placed Atalanta, who secured a 3-0 away win over Lecce. The two sides will face off this coming Saturday in Bergamo in what is shaping up to be a critical match for Champions League positioning, while Como hosts league leaders Inter the following day.

    For Genoa, the defeat did little to damage their bid to avoid relegation, as they remain six points clear of the relegation zone. The biggest loser of the matchday was Lecce, whose heavy 3-0 defeat to Atalanta left them stuck in the bottom three, level on 27 points with Cremonese. Cremonese sit just outside the drop zone thanks to a superior head-to-head record, leaving Lecce fans booing their side off the pitch at full time amid growing frustration over their drop in form.

  • ‘They’re animals’: Trump doubles down on threat to destroy Iran’s critical infrastructure

    ‘They’re animals’: Trump doubles down on threat to destroy Iran’s critical infrastructure

    Seven weeks into the joint US-Israeli military campaign against Iran, US President Donald Trump has issued a stark ultimatum to Tehran: meet Washington’s preconditions for a negotiated settlement by 8 p.m. Washington local time Tuesday, or face the full obliteration of Iran’s core national infrastructure, including its energy grids, communications networks, and civilian water systems. The escalated rhetoric comes as Iranian officials have repeatedly rejected US overtures, insisting Tehran retains meaningful battlefield leverage and that Washington cannot be trusted to honor any diplomatic agreement.

    Trump first laid out the aggressive threat during remarks to reporters at the annual White House Easter Egg Roll on Monday. “We are obliterating that country, and I hate to do it, but we’re obliterating [them] and they just don’t want to say ‘uncle’. They don’t want to cry, as the expression goes, ‘uncle’, but they will. And if they don’t, they’ll have no bridges, they’ll have no power plants, they’ll have no anything,” the president told assembled media.

    When a reporter pressed Trump on whether such a deliberate attack on civilian infrastructure would qualify as a war crime under international law, Trump justified the threat by claiming the Iranian government had killed 45,000 people in recent weeks. No independent verification of this claim has been possible; Iranian authorities have reported just under 4,000 total deaths linked to mass anti-government protests that began in January, a figure that includes both civilian protesters and slain police officers. Undeterred by the lack of corroboration, Trump doubled down on his denunciation, calling Iranians “animals” that must be stopped, and falsely claimed that Iranian civilians “want to hear bombs because they want to be free.”

    The 1949 Geneva Conventions explicitly ban deliberate attacks on infrastructure that cuts off civilian access to basic survival needs, a provision that would cover the targets Trump threatened to destroy.

    Speaking on a virtual panel hosted by the Executive Intelligence Review earlier Monday, Iran’s ambassador to Armenia Khalil Shirgolami pushed back against Washington’s maximalist demands, arguing that Trump’s aggressive approach is fundamentally nonviable. “President Trump had, several times, the chance to find a real solution and political settlement for the nuclear issue of Iran, and at least two times he betrayed diplomacy and he betrayed the negotiating table, and he bombed the negotiation table, actually,” Shirgolami said. “The United States is not in a position in terms of the battlefield operation to be putting all those preconditions.”

    Shirgolami’s remarks referenced Washington’s previously proposed 15-point peace framework, which was transmitted to Tehran via Pakistani intermediaries last month. The US proposal is reported to require Iran to completely end all uranium enrichment activities and fully dismantle its domestic missile program, demands Iran has repeatedly rejected.

    Pakistan, which has mediated quiet backchannel talks between the two sides, presented a new tentative peace framework dubbed the “Islamabad Accords” to both Washington and Tehran on Monday. The new proposal outlines a two-stage process: it calls for an immediate ceasefire first, followed by negotiations to finalize a full comprehensive agreement within a 15 to 20-day window. Shirgolami confirmed that Iran rejects a standalone temporary ceasefire, instead demanding a permanent end to all US and Israeli aggression, the establishment of a joint international mechanism to secure unimpeded trade passage through the Strait of Hormuz, and full compensation for all damage and losses caused by the ongoing conflict.

    Prior to Trump’s press conference at the Easter Egg Roll, Shirgolami noted that Iran’s strategic approach to negotiations is rooted in the proverb “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me,” explaining that Washington has repeatedly broken past commitments, so it cannot be trusted without ironclad guarantees. “We need to go for a new equation, in which I mean, in that equation, there will be real guarantees for non-aggression against Iran, for preserving Iran’s rights, for the nuclear, peaceful energy and enrichment,” he added.

    During Monday’s Easter event, Trump also told reporters that if his policy decisions were not constrained by the will of the American public, he would simply seize Iran’s oil reserves for US profit. “It’s there for the taking. There’s not a thing they can do about it. Unfortunately, the American people would like to see us come home. If it were up to me, I’d take the oil. I’d keep the oil and would make plenty of money,” he said. When pressed on the comment later in the White House briefing room, Trump defended the framing by noting “I’m a businessman first.”

    Expanding on his vision for a post-deal settlement, Trump also floated the idea of the US seizing full control of the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, through which a significant share of global oil trade passes. When a reporter asked if Trump would accept ending the conflict in exchange for the right to charge tolls for vessels passing through the Strait, Trump responded: “What about us charging? I’d rather do that than let them [or] have them run it. Why shouldn’t we? We’re the winner. We won. Okay? They are militarily defeated.”

    Currently, the Strait of Hormuz remains operational under Iranian control, which operates a three-tiered access system: vessels from countries friendly to Iran are granted free routine passage, vessels from neutral countries that pay a fee denominated in Chinese yuan are also allowed through, but all ships linked to the US and Israel are barred from transiting. Trump reiterated Monday that any final deal must guarantee unimpeded, free passage for all global oil and commercial traffic through the waterway.

    When asked about the newly proposed Islamabad Accords ceasefire framework, Trump told reporters he “can’t talk about the ceasefire” but claimed “we have a willing participant on the other side” referring to Iran. That claim directly contradicts Shirgolami’s confirmation that Iran rejects any temporary ceasefire proposal that does not include pre-agreed commitments to end aggression permanently and provide security guarantees.

  • ‘Hacks’ has ‘perfect’ ending after 5 seasons, says star Smart

    ‘Hacks’ has ‘perfect’ ending after 5 seasons, says star Smart

    After five critically acclaimed, award-studded seasons, the beloved HBO comedy series ‘Hacks’ is preparing to draw its curtain, and lead star Jean Smart says the story’s final chapter delivers a conclusion that could not have been more fitting. Smart, who has taken home the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series four consecutive times for her portrayal of iconic aging comedian Deborah Vance, opened up about wrapping up the groundbreaking series in a recent press briefing ahead of the fifth and final season’s launch.

    When co-creators Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, and Jen Statsky first walked Smart through their planned ending for Vance and her sharp-witted mentee Ava Daniels, played by rising star Hannah Einbinder, the veteran actress admitted she had initial uncertainties about how the narrative would land. “I didn’t really have an idea of how it would end. I wanted to be surprised,” Smart told reporters, adding that she had embraced unforeseen narrative turns throughout her five years on the project. “I’ve loved being surprised every episode for all these years.”

    Smart shared that she was initially taken aback by the creative team’s final plot direction for the two core characters. “I was not sure,” she confessed. “But I said: ‘Hey, I trust you guys. Always have, always turns out great.’ And it did. And now I think it was perfect.”

    Since making its debut on HBO Max in May 2021, ‘Hacks’ has earned near-universal critical praise, cementing its status as one of the most celebrated comedy series of recent years. Across its first four seasons, the show dominated awards circuits, racking up multiple Emmys and Golden Globe Awards, with honors recognizing not just its lead performances but also sharp writing and innovative directing.

    Co-creator Paul W. Downs explained that the series finale wraps up the core theme that anchored the show from its very first episode: legacy and what a person leaves behind after their career comes to a close. “It is about what we set out in the very first episode, which is your legacy and what you leave behind,” he said. “We’re leaving behind a series, and we’re thinking about that for ourselves and for our characters.”

    For the cast, saying goodbye to the show and characters they have lived with for four years has brought a mix of joy and sadness. Einbinder, who has portrayed Ava throughout the character’s entire journey of personal and professional growth, said she could not have asked for a more satisfying conclusion to the story. The 30-year-old actress noted that it has been a privilege to grow alongside her character, and that every evolution the pair underwent across five seasons felt earned and purposeful. “I think every evolution that these characters have undergone has felt warranted and earned,” she said. “Everything that I would hope for them has been achieved.”

    For 74-year-old Smart, the reality of the show ending sank in slowly as the cast filmed final scenes on each of the series’ iconic sets. The actress joked that production allowed her to take small mementos from each set as keepsakes to remember her time on the groundbreaking comedy.

    Viewers will get to see the highly anticipated final chapter when the fifth and final season of ‘Hacks’ premieres on HBO Max on April 9.