Fifteen years after splitting up, iconic British rock band Oasis sent shockwaves through the global live music scene when they announced their long-awaited reunion tour, triggering a feverish ticket rush that would ultimately spark a major consumer law controversy. When tickets went on sale to the public on August 31, 2024, more than 900,000 passes sold out almost instantly, as hundreds of thousands of diehard fans waited for hours in virtual waiting rooms across the world, hoping to secure a spot at the band’s first shows in over a decade. The band was even inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame the same year, adding extra momentum to the reunion hype.
作者： admin
-
Ex-F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone detained at Portuguese airport for carrying shotgun
A recent incident at a Portuguese airfield near Lisbon has put former Formula 1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone back in the spotlight, as the 95-year-old motorsport magnate was briefly taken into custody on Monday for carrying an unlicensed firearm. The episode unfolded when Ecclestone landed at Tires Airport, where personnel from Portugal’s Public Security Police airport division discovered a shotgun in his belongings that he did not hold the required legal permit for.
In comments given to British newspaper the Daily Mail following his release, Ecclestone acknowledged he had brought the weapon with him from his Swiss residence, saying he planned to use it for pigeon shooting. When asked about the required permit documentation — what he described as a “blue book” — Ecclestone told officers he rarely travels with that type of paperwork, or most official documents in general. “They said they would arrest me, but after what seemed like hours we sorted it out, but it has been wall-to-wall aggravation,” he told the outlet.
Officials confirmed Ecclestone was released from custody several hours after he was detained. The motorsport figure, who splits his time between homes in Switzerland and Portugal, is no stranger to airport weapons-related incidents. Back in May 2022, he was detained at Brazil’s Viracopos Airport after law enforcement found a .32-caliber pistol in his carry-on. That case resulted only in a fine, with no further legal action taken against Ecclestone after the incident.
A towering figure in Formula 1 history, Ecclestone first secured marketing and television rights to the global racing series in the late 1970s, growing F1 from a niche motorsport into a billion-dollar global entertainment brand. He officially took the reins as F1’s chief executive in 1987, a role he held for 30 years until selling his controlling stake and stepping down in 2017. Though he is no longer in charge of the series, the British business magnate still regularly attends Grands Prix as a spectator and honorary figure.
-
Record-breaking France aims for medal round of women’s FIBA World Cup for first time in 73 years
BERLIN – A historic three-point shooting display has cemented France’s place in the quarterfinals of the 2024 Women’s FIBA World Cup, after the European side posted a dominant 111-56 victory over Nigeria on Monday while shattering a tournament record set just three days prior.
The French squad drained 22 three-pointers throughout the matchup, surpassing the previous benchmark of 20 three-pointers Japan notched in its opening-round win against Mali earlier in the competition. The record-breaking shot came from Migna Toure, who sunk a corner three with 5:45 remaining in the fourth quarter to push France past the old record at 21. Following the game, Toure admitted she had no idea the team was nearing the historic mark when she stepped up to take the shot.
“I didn’t know we broke the record, to me it was just a corner 3,” Toure told reporters after the win.
Forward Gabby Williams led France’s historic shooting performance, converting six of her eight three-point attempts, while guard Marine Johannes added five threes of her own. As a team, France finished 22-for-40 from behind the three-point arc, an impressive 55% conversion rate that left opponents overwhelmed.
This red-hot form continues a strong run for France, which entered the World Cup fresh off a narrow one-point silver-medal loss to the United States at the 2024 Paris Olympics this summer. Through three preliminary round matches, France has won each contest by an average margin of 43 points, signaling the team is one of the most dominant contenders in the tournament.
Johannes attributed the team’s overwhelming success to a balanced approach on both ends of the court. “I think we are just happy about the way we are playing right now,” Johannes said. “We are shooting the ball and playing good defense so we can run the floor. I think we are pretty good when we push the ball.”
Williams echoed her teammate’s comments, noting that France’s unprecedented roster depth is its biggest competitive advantage in the condensed tournament schedule. “Our depth is definitely going to be our strength. Especially in this compact a tournament,” Williams said. “It’s physical, it’s tough. You know, it’s fatiguing. So if we can be able to just put someone on the court for five minutes, they give their all and our intensity never drops. That’s going to be our goal.”
With the preliminary round wrapped up, France now has several days of rest before its quarterfinal matchup. A win in the next round would see France advance to the tournament’s medal round for the first time in 73 years. The team’s best finish in FIBA Women’s World Cup history came back in 1953, when it claimed bronze under the tournament’s old round-robin format.
-
Wolves sign former Sunderland winger Traore
Championship side Wolverhampton Wanderers has added valuable depth to its attacking options, confirming the signing of experienced Burkina Faso international winger Bertrand Traore on a 12-month contract. The 31-year-old left-footed attacker brings a wealth of experience across top European leagues to the club, becoming Wolves’ latest addition as they target promotion back to the Premier League this season.
Traore’s professional journey first brought him to English football as an 18-year-old recruit to Chelsea’s squad, where he earned his first taste of both Premier League and UEFA Champions League football. He then moved on to two successive loan spells in the Netherlands, first with Vitesse Arnhem and later Ajax, where he played a key role in guiding the club to a UEFA Europa League final appearance.
After his stint in the Netherlands, Traore spent three seasons with French Ligue 1 side Olympique Lyonnais, before a £17 million transfer brought him back to the English top flight with Aston Villa. Across four seasons at Villa Park, he made 62 appearances and found the back of the net 10 times, before brief spells with La Liga club Villarreal and a second stint at Ajax. Most recently, he spent a single season with Championship side Sunderland, making 12 appearances before leaving the club in the spring of 2025.
A highly decorated international player, Traore has earned 91 caps for his home nation of Burkina Faso, and even captained the side at this year’s Africa Cup of Nations, highlighting his leadership experience at the highest level of international football.
Wolves interim head coach Cesar Peixoto highlighted that the club specifically targeted a player of Traore’s profile to strengthen their attacking depth ahead of the grueling Championship campaign. Speaking to the club’s official website, Peixoto explained that Traore brings all the technical and physical traits the squad needs at the winger position: “He has the right characteristics I want in this position – good one-versus-one ability, strong on the ball, left-footed to either score or create goals, and quick to exploit open space behind opposing defenses.”
Peixoto acknowledged that Traore, who has been training independently in recent weeks, will need some time to build match fitness and integrate into Wolves’ tactical system, but emphasized he is a valuable addition to the squad’s options. With the Championship proving to be an extremely physically and mentally demanding division – a fact underlined by Wolves’ hard-fought 2-2 draw away at Birmingham City over the weekend – Peixoto noted that competition for places and depth across every position is critical to the club’s promotion fight. “We need two players in each position to manage the packed fixture schedule,” he added, “and Bertrand gives us another great option to help us fight to earn promotion back to the Premier League.”
-
Thousands turn out in Serbia for funeral of ‘Butcher of Bosnia’ Ratko Mladić
The death of convicted Bosnian Serb military leader Ratko Mladić at age 84, while serving a life sentence for genocide at a United Nations prison in The Hague, Netherlands, has drawn thousands of mourners to the Serbian capital of Belgrade for a public funeral, while triggering sharp international backlash over efforts to honor a man widely branded the “Butcher of Bosnia”.
Mladić commanded Bosnian Serb military forces during the 1992–1995 Bosnian War, waging a campaign of ethnic cleansing to forcibly expel non-Serb populations from territory claimed by Bosnian Serb separatists. His forces oversaw the 44-month siege of Sarajevo that killed more than 10,000 civilians, and he was ultimately found guilty of genocide for orchestrating the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, where roughly 8,000 Bosniak Muslim men and boys were executed in the worst European atrocity committed since World War II. After 16 years as a fugitive, Mladić was arrested in 2011, and following a nine-year international trial, he received a sentence of life imprisonment in 2021.
Despite his confirmed conviction for mass atrocities, Mladić retains a deeply revered status among many Serbian nationalists, who view him as a heroic defender of Serbian interests. This divide was on full display in the days leading up to and during his funeral. Plans to grant Mladić an official state funeral were initially announced by a Serbian government minister, but the proposal was scrapped after widespread pushback from European leaders. Even so, the event retained significant state-aligned support: Mladić’s remains were transported back to Serbia from The Hague on a government aircraft, carried by six active-duty soldiers, and free bus transport was organized to bring mourners from across Serbia and the Bosnian Serb entity of Republika Srpska to the capital.
Long queues formed outside Belgrade’s St Luka church hours before the public lying in state began, with thousands of people waiting to pay their respects. Attendees included multiple sitting Serbian government ministers — including Defence Minister Bratislav Gašić and Justice Minister Nenad Vujić — and the funeral service itself was led by Patriarch Porfirije, head of the Serbian Orthodox Church. In his remarks, the patriarch stated that Mladić’s name would remain “deeply etched in the memory and prayers of the majority of our Serbian Orthodox people, who feel and nurture a deep sense of gratitude towards him.” Many in attendance were war veterans, and some attendees wrapped themselves in Serbian flags emblazoned with Mladić’s portrait. Outside the church, mourners lit candles as a choir performed over loudspeakers under clear skies. Mladić’s coffin was guarded by veteran volunteers inside the church, as his immediate family received condolences from the public. The tribute extended even to Serbian football: the night before the burial, supporters of top-tier club Red Star Belgrade unfurled a large tifo display honoring Mladić ahead of their capital derby match against Partizan Belgrade.
The public honoring of Mladić has prompted fierce condemnation from international bodies and war survivors alike. The European Union, which Serbia has sought to join since 2012 (with accession talks currently stalled), issued a formal statement denouncing any glorification of the convicted war criminal. “Ratko Mladić was a convicted war criminal who committed war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity,” the statement read. “Any glorification of war criminals, genocide denial and revisionism contradict the most fundamental European values and have no place in the EU or in EU candidate countries.”
For survivors of Mladić’s campaign of violence, the funeral has reawakened decades-old trauma. Zdravka Gvozdjar, a Sarajevo resident whose nine-year-old son was killed by Mladić-led forces during the siege of the capital, called the public funeral “really horrible.” “Mladić deserved to be erased from memory for good, not to be promoted as a hero,” she told reporters. “He should only be remembered as a butcher.”
Analysts point to systemic failures in confronting the legacy of the Bosnian War as the root of Mladić’s continued popularity in Serbia. Daniella Peled, editor at the Institute of War and Peace Reporting, who covered Mladić’s international trial extensively, noted that while the UN tribunal produced a comprehensive, evidence-based record of Mladić’s crimes, Serbia’s domestic media and education systems have not acknowledged the full scale of his atrocities or centered the perspectives of survivors. Pro-government outlets in Serbia regularly frame Mladić as a loyal soldier who only followed orders, Peled explained, leaving many ordinary Serbs with a skewed understanding of his actions. “It’s extremely challenging for post-conflict societies to undertake a national reckoning or acknowledge responsibility for the crimes of the past,” she added.
-
‘It’s not surprising’: Americans react to record high Labor Day fuel prices
As millions of American households prepared for their Labor Day road trips and holiday getaways, they encountered a new unwelcome milestone: for the first time in the country’s recorded history, average retail gasoline prices climbed above $4 per gallon heading into the annual late-summer holiday. This new all-time high for the Labor Day weekend, while striking for its place in the annual calendar, still remains well below the absolute peak national price tag set just over two years ago. Back in June 2022, skyrocketing global energy costs pushed the U.S. national average gasoline price to a record $5.02 per gallon, equivalent to roughly £3.71. Against this backdrop, the reaction from everyday American drivers has been marked by a sense of resignation rather than shock, with many saying the current price surge is entirely unsurprising in the current economic climate. Ongoing supply chain shifts, OPEC production cuts, and rising summer travel demand have combined to put steady upward pressure on fuel costs throughout 2024, leaving drivers accustomed to consistent price increases heading into major travel holidays. While the $4 per gallon threshold is a first for Labor Day, many consumers have already adapted their travel plans and budgets to accommodate higher energy costs, turning to carpooling, shorter trips, and alternative transportation to offset the extra spending at the pump.
-
SOLHEIM CUP ’26: Capsules of European players
As the 2025 Solheim Cup prepares to kick off this Friday at Netherlands’ Bernardus Golf, all eyes are turning to Team Europe’s full roster of competitors, a mix of seasoned veterans with decades of team experience and exciting rookie prospects making their first appearance in one of women’s golf’s most prestigious team events. Below is an in-depth profile of every player set to represent the European side, broken down by career milestones, past Solheim Cup performance, and recent form heading into this year’s competition.
Celine Boutier, 32, of France, enters the tournament ranked 34th in the world with 11 global professional wins to her name, including the 2023 Evian Championship. Making her fourth Solheim Cup appearance, the French star holds a career team record of 7-6-1 across matches. Boutier has experienced both the highest highs and lowest lows of Solheim Cup competition: she went undefeated with a 4-0-0 record in her 2019 debut, but dropped all three of her matches during the 2023 event hosted in Spain. She earned a win on the LPGA Tour at the ShopRite LPGA earlier this year, carrying momentum into her fourth showing.
Spain’s Carlota Ciganda, 36, is one of Team Europe’s most experienced competitors, ranked 60th globally with 11 worldwide professional titles. Ciganda is tied with England’s Charley Hull for the most Solheim Cup appearances in Team Europe’s 2025 roster, marking her seventh trip to the team event with a career record of 12-11-1. Her most iconic Solheim Cup moment came on home soil in 2023, when she defeated American star Nelly Korda to lock in Europe’s retention of the cup.
At 27, Sweden’s Linn Grant holds the 61st spot in the global rankings with nine worldwide professional wins, though she has yet to claim a major championship title. Grant is making her third Solheim Cup appearance with a career team record of 3-6-0. The talented Swede has struggled with consistency throughout 2025, missing the cut in four of this year’s five major championships and finishing outside the top 60 in the remaining event. She dropped all four of her matches during the 2024 Solheim Cup, and will be looking to turn her form around at Bernardus Golf.
Germany’s Esther Henseleit, 27, enters the tournament as one of Europe’s top-ranked competitors at 20th in the world, with two global professional titles to her name. Henseleit is making her second Solheim Cup appearance, holding a 1-1-1 career record from her first showing. The German player has hit her stride in recent years, claiming a silver medal at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games and coming within a putt of winning the Women’s British Open, where she holed a dramatic 45-foot birdie putt to force a playoff before ultimately falling short.
Charley Hull, 30, of England, ranks eighth in the world with eight worldwide professional wins, and is tied for the most Solheim Cup appearances on Team Europe with her seventh showing this year. Hull boasts an impressive career team record of 15-9-3, widely regarded as the energetic heart of the European side and one of the most charismatic personalities in global women’s golf. Her signature aggressive playing style has consistently delivered results in Solheim Cup match play, and she is expected to be a key contributor for Europe in 2025.
Denmark’s Nanna Koertz Madsen, 31, ranks 68th globally with two professional wins, and is making her second Solheim Cup appearance, her first in five years. Madsen holds a 1-1-1 career record from her debut team appearance, but has not claimed a professional tournament win in four years heading into this year’s event.
Ireland’s Leona Maguire, 31, is ranked 78th in the world with three worldwide professional wins, making her third Solheim Cup appearance with an impressive career record of 8-3-1. Named Europe’s top match play competitor during the 2021 Solheim Cup, Maguire has struggled through a two-year winless slump, and only appeared in two matches during the 2023 tournament. She will be aiming to recapture her standout match play form in the Netherlands.
The 2025 Team Europe roster includes four first-time Solheim Cup competitors, headlined by 21-year-old French rookie Nastasia Nadaud. Ranked 89th globally with one professional win, Nadaud earned her spot after claiming victory at the Ladies European Tour season finale last year.
Another rookie, 23-year-old Spaniard Julia Lopez Ramirez, enters her first Solheim Cup ranked 93rd in the world with no professional wins to date. In just her second full season as a professional, Lopez Ramirez rose to the top of the women’s world amateur rankings in 2024 before leaving Mississippi State University to turn pro.
England’s Mimi Rhodes, 24, is the third rookie on Team Europe, ranked 105th globally with three professional titles. Rhodes earned promotion to the event after claiming three wins on the Ladies European Tour last season, though she has only notched two top-10 finishes on the LPGA Tour in 2025 so far.
Sweden’s Maja Stark, 27, enters the tournament ranked 28th in the world with seven global professional wins, including the 2025 U.S. Women’s Open – the biggest win of her career to date. Stark held off American star Nelly Korda to claim the major title last year, which remains her most recent tournament win. Making her third Solheim Cup appearance, she holds a career team record of 3-3-2.
The final member of Team Europe’s 2025 roster is 22-year-old English rookie Lottie Woad, who has skyrocketed to seventh in the world rankings in just the early stages of her professional career. Woad notched an amateur win at the Women’s Irish Open followed by a professional victory at the Women’s Scottish Open, a dynamic start to her career that has led many golf analysts to predict she will compete like a seasoned veteran rather than a first-time Solheim Cup rookie in this week’s tournament.
-
Russia shuts German consulate in St. Petersburg in tit-for-tat move after Leipzig drone incident
Diplomatic tensions between Russia and Germany have surged to a new low this week, as Russia’s Foreign Ministry announced Monday it will shutter Germany’s consulate general in St. Petersburg — the latest retaliatory measure in a rapidly expanding cycle of reciprocal diplomatic actions. The escalation traces back to an alleged attempted drone strike at Germany’s Leipzig/Halle Airport in early August, a plot Berlin has openly blamed on Russian actors.
According to the official Russian Foreign Ministry statement, all operations at the St. Petersburg German consulate must cease, and all consular staff are required to exit Russian territory by September 18. The announcement also reaffirmed an earlier order to close two German-run cultural institutions, the Goethe-Institut centers in Moscow and St. Petersburg, giving their personnel until this coming Sunday to leave the country.
Moscow framed the entire set of measures as a direct response to what it called Germany’s “unfriendly” actions taken just last Wednesday. In that move, Berlin ordered the shutdown of Russia’s consulate in the western German city of Bonn, as well as the Russian House cultural center located in the heart of Berlin, Germany’s capital.
The root of the current confrontation lies in the August 4 incident at Leipzig/Halle Airport, a critical European cargo hub that frequently handles shipments of military and humanitarian aid bound for Ukraine amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict. German authorities discovered an explosive-laden drone positioned in close proximity to a Ukrainian cargo plane parked at the airport; the device was successfully disarmed before it could cause any harm or casualties.
Russian officials have flatly denied any connection to the attempted attack, with Moscow characterizing the entire incident as a deliberate provocation staged against Russia. “It was the German authorities who once again provoked a new round of escalation in bilateral relations,” the Russian Foreign Ministry stressed in its statement Monday. “All responsibility for the consequences lies entirely with the German government.”
This latest exchange comes amid a broader pattern of accusations from Western governments, which have repeatedly claimed Moscow is orchestrating a coordinated campaign of sabotage and disruptive activities across Western nations. Western officials argue these actions are intended to erode public and political support for Ukraine, and to destabilize domestic political order in European countries. The Kremlin has consistently rejected all such allegations as unfounded and misleading.
-
Russia and North Korea open the first road link across shared border
On Monday, a historic milestone in bilateral relations was reached as Russia and North Korea inaugurated their first ever road bridge across their shared border, a project that Moscow’s top officials say will accelerate the growing partnership between the two nations.
Stretching one kilometer (0.6 miles) across the Tumen River – the natural waterway that forms the eastern border between North Korea, Russia and China – the two-lane crossing is designed to accommodate up to 300 vehicles per day, paired with a newly built border inspection facility on the Russian side, according to an official statement from the Russian government.
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin joined the opening ceremony remotely via video link, and emphasized the transformative potential of the new infrastructure. “I am convinced that the expansion of transport infrastructure near the border will give a powerful boost to the further development of trade, economic, technological, scientific and cultural cooperation between the Russian Federation and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” Mishustin said in his remarks.
The launch of the road bridge comes amid a steady deepening of diplomatic, economic and security ties between Moscow and Pyongyang over the past several years. Prior to this new automobile crossing, the two countries were already connected by a cross-border railway bridge and regular air links. Planning for the road bridge was formalized in 2024, with construction work kicking off last year to complete the project on schedule.
In recent months, Pyongyang has gradually loosened pandemic-era border restrictions, welcoming back Russian tourist groups starting in February 2024 as cross-border movement resumes. International observers have also noted growing military cooperation between the two nations, with reporting indicating North Korea has supplied ammunition and personnel to support Russia’s military operations in Ukraine, a partnership that has drawn international scrutiny amid ongoing global condemnation of Moscow’s invasion.
-
Julie Allemand breaks World Cup assist record in Belgium’s 80-68 win over Australia
BERLIN (AP) — In a standout performance that cemented her place in international basketball history, Belgian point guard Julie Allemand has become the all-time assist leader in FIBA Women’s World Cup history, breaking a record that had stood for years. Allemand surpassed former Spanish star Laia Palau’s previous benchmark of 108 career assists during the first half of Belgium’s 80-68 victory against Australia, a win that locked in Belgium’s place in the tournament’s quarterfinal round. By the end of the match, Allemand had pushed her career World Cup assist total to 111, a mark that now outpaces not only Palau but also two of the most legendary names in women’s basketball: Dawn Staley and Sue Bird.
Speaking after the game, Allemand framed her historic achievement as a reflection of her national team’s collective playing style rather than an individual win. “I’m just so proud because for Belgium, this is how we play,” she said. “We are so unselfish. I’m just happy to have that one as a special one, especially when you look at the names next to me.”
Belgium head coach Mike Thibault emphasized the magnitude of Allemand’s milestone during the postgame press conference, singling out the guard for her consistent playmaking prowess. “It’s a huge accomplishment over here,” Thibault said. “The leading assist person in World Cup history after today. Some pretty good players on that list too, so I think that’s pretty exciting.”
Entering the 2024 tournament, Allemand already held 87 career World Cup assists. She added 24 more in the opening three games of this year’s event, setting the stage for her record-breaking play. The milestone assist came with 1:58 remaining in the first half, when Allemand set up teammate Emma Meesseman, who was fouled and sank both of her resulting free throws. Unlike WNBA rules, FIBA officially credits an assist to the player who creates the scoring opportunity even when the basket comes via foul shots, allowing Allemand to officially claim the record on that play.
An interesting subplot to the match: Allemand currently plays alongside Australia head coach Sandy Brondello in the WNBA, where the pair leads the Toronto Tempo. Brondello made clear after the game that Allemand’s historic achievement came as no shock to her, pointing to the guard’s well-known selfless playing style. “I think it says a lot about what she does, she’s a pass-first point guard,” Brondello said.