Global Pulse

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  • UAE accused of training Colombian mercenaries for Sudan’s war

    UAE accused of training Colombian mercenaries for Sudan’s war

    On Tuesday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a damning new investigation that adds significant weight to mounting international allegations that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has offered direct military and financial backing to Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group already widely charged with perpetrating war crimes, crimes against humanity, and acts of genocide in Sudan’s ongoing catastrophic civil conflict.

    The 18-month-long conflict, which erupted in April 2023, grew out of a bitter power struggle between Sudan’s formal national military and the RSF, an organization with deep roots in the brutal Janjaweed Arab militias that carried out mass atrocities in Sudan’s Darfur region in the early 2000s. The fighting quickly spread from the capital Khartoum across the vast northeastern African nation, leaving a trail of devastation and death. Conflict tracking group ACLED estimates at least 59,000 people have been killed to date, a figure researchers acknowledge is almost certainly a major undercount due to restricted access to war zones.

    HRW’s latest report details that hundreds of Colombian private military contractors were trained by Emirati personnel at two UAE facilities: one in the Al Dhafra region, roughly 155 miles west of Abu Dhabi, and a second site within Abu Dhabi itself. After completing their training, the mercenaries were deployed to Sudan to fight alongside RSF units, the investigation found.

    One unnamed Colombian mercenary interviewed by HRW told researchers he personally helped train RSF recruits at camps near Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, as early as April 2023. He added that many of the trainees he instructed were underage young children. HRW’s findings were corroborated by interviews with a second Colombian mercenary, multiple former Colombian military officers, and cross-referenced with open source intelligence and previous United Nations reporting.

    A September 2024 report from a UN expert panel to the UN Security Council already confirmed that Colombian mercenaries have operated across multiple key conflict zones in Sudan, including Khartoum, its twin city Omdurman, Darfur, and Kordofan. The UN experts documented that the contractors took on direct combat roles, operating RSF drones, artillery, and armored vehicles, and participating in offensive ground attacks. These accounts were even implicitly confirmed by RSF commander Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, who acknowledged in a February 2025 video statement that Colombian mercenaries had assisted his forces with drone operations.

    According to HRW, the mercenary deployment was organized by Global Security Services Group, an Abu Dhabi-based private security firm chaired by Emirati national Mohammed Hamdan Al-Zaabi. Neither Emirati authorities nor the firm responded to HRW’s requests for comment. However, in response to questions from The Associated Press, the UAE Foreign Ministry issued a full denial of the allegations.

    “The UAE does not permit its territory to be used for the recruitment, training, financing or transit of foreign fighters to any conflict, including Sudan,” the ministry stated. It added that any private individual or entity, whether Emirati or foreign, that provides support to non-state armed groups “would be doing so without state authorization, in violation of Emirati law, and would be subject to criminal investigation and prosecution.”

    HRW said it has verified geolocated video footage showing Colombian mercenaries fighting alongside RSF forces during the group’s October 2024 capture of el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur. The UN-commissioned expert panel described the el-Fasher offensive as bearing all the “hallmarks of genocide,” with at least 6,000 people killed in just three days of fighting, per UN estimates.

    Mausi Segun, executive director of HRW’s Africa Division, emphasized that the mercenary recruitment builds on a growing body of irrefutable evidence of UAE complicity in RSF atrocities. “The recruitment of Colombian private military contractors adds to a growing body of evidence that the UAE provides military support to the Rapid Support Forces, which have repeatedly carried out heinous atrocities in Sudan,” Segun said.

    The rights group is calling on the international community, including the European Union, to pressure the UAE to end all support for the RSF by suspending bilateral military cooperation and arms sales to the Gulf state. “Other countries need to stop accepting the UAE’s blanket denials of support to the RSF which fly in the face of the facts, and should put an end to its impunity for war crimes and crimes against humanity,” Segun added.

    To date, the United States has imposed sanctions on multiple individuals and companies based in Bogota, Colombia, for their alleged role in recruiting and deploying mercenaries to fight alongside the RSF. However, Washington has yet to take action addressing the well-documented allegations of UAE support for the RSF, which the U.S. State Department has itself accused of carrying out widespread “summary executions, ethnically motivated attacks, sexual and gender-based violence, and torture throughout areas under its control” during the conflict.

  • ‘I think twice’: Minorities fear World Cup immigration enforcement

    ‘I think twice’: Minorities fear World Cup immigration enforcement

    As the 2026 FIFA World Cup co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico draws near, a historic moment for global football has become a source of deep anxiety for immigrant and minority communities across the US, who fear heightened immigration enforcement will put them at risk of detention or deportation even as they gather to cheer on their nations.

    For Haitian immigrant Emile, a 40-something truck driver based in Ohio who asked to keep his last name private, the excitement of Haiti’s first World Cup appearance in more than 50 years is tempered by constant fear. This year’s tournament marks Haiti’s return to the global football stage for the first time since 1974, a milestone Emile describes as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. “Singing my country’s national anthem in a stadium in front of the whole world is a historic moment that no one would want to miss,” he told Agence France-Presse. “But at the same time, I think twice. I don’t want to be arrested by ICE.”

    Emile, who currently benefits from temporary protected status (TPS) that shields him from deportation to crisis-stricken Haiti, has followed his lawyer’s advice to avoid air travel entirely over fears he will be apprehended by agents from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at airport security checkpoints. He is far from alone in this anxiety.

    Across the country, immigrant communities have grown increasingly wary of ICE’s aggressive enforcement tactics. For years, communities have watched heavily armed, masked ICE agents conduct high-profile, often violent raids in major US cities. Public outrage reached a boiling point after ICE agents shot and killed two American demonstrators during an operation in Minneapolis.

    Monica Sarmiento, a representative of the Virginia Coalition for Immigrant Rights, told AFP the pervasive enforcement has created a constant climate of fear. “Now, people are making sure that they are aware to what they are doing and they don’t feel safe,” she said. “They are afraid. We have seen very aggressive tactics (from ICE) that have gone after not only undocumented communities but also people with protective status.”

    Sarmiento noted that a large majority of immigrants targeted by ICE enforcement do not pose a public safety threat: 70% of those arrested, detained and deported in recent operations have no criminal record, and many have lived in the US for decades, contributing to local economies through tax payments. “Many of them have been here for decades, paying taxes for decades,” she added. “We are living in a fearful and hostile environment across the country, and not only for the World Cup but every single day.”

    Of the 104 total World Cup matches, 78 will be played across US cities between the tournament’s opening on June 11 and final on July 19. That means millions of fans—including hundreds of thousands of immigrant and minority supporters—will travel across the country to attend matches, bringing them into increased contact with law enforcement and immigration officials.

    The US Hispanic community, which makes up 20% of the national population and has large concentrations in World Cup host states including California, Texas and Florida and major host cities Miami, Los Angeles, Dallas and New York, has been particularly vocal about concerns over increased ICE activity around stadiums and fan zones. The roughly 850,000-strong Haitian American community, concentrated largely in Miami and New York, also faces elevated risk: the Trump administration has moved to end the TPS program that protects thousands of Haitian immigrants like Emile from deportation to Haiti, which is grappling with devastating gang violence, political collapse and extreme poverty.

    Fears have been amplified by recent high-profile cases of immigration enforcement targeting sports spectators. Last year, Human Rights Watch documented the case of an asylum seeker who was arrested by ICE and deported after attending the Club World Cup final in New Jersey with his children. Rights groups now warn that foreign tourists traveling to the US for the 2026 World Cup could also be targeted by immigration agents near stadiums and popular fan gathering zones.

    In April, more than 120 US civil rights organizations—including the prominent American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)—jointly issued an official travel advisory, warning all attendees, players, journalists and international visitors of the “risk of serious rights violations” during their time in the US. The advisory outlines a range of potential harms, from denied entry to racial profiling, arbitrary arrest, detention, deportation, and even cruel or deadly treatment while in ICE custody.

    In response to press inquiries from AFP, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE, downplayed the concerns. ICE has a long history of participating in security detail for major US events, including the annual Super Bowl. “International visitors who legally come to the United States for the World Cup have nothing to worry about,” a DHS spokesperson said. “What makes someone a target for immigration enforcement is whether or not they are illegally in the US.”

    FIFA, football’s global governing body, also responded to AFP’s request for comment, stating that it “is committed to respecting all internationally recognized human rights and strives to promote the protection of these rights.” Despite official reassurances, however, many immigrant fans across the US remain unconvinced, choosing to skip the historic tournament rather than risk their ability to stay in the country they call home.

  • Rescuers race to free seven people trapped in flooded Laos cave

    Rescuers race to free seven people trapped in flooded Laos cave

    A high-stakes rescue operation is unfolding in central Laos, where rescuers are battling treacherous conditions to reach seven people who have been trapped in a flooded cave system for almost a full week. The trapped group, made up of local villagers from Xaysomboun Province, entered the cave last Wednesday to hunt for gold deposits and wild game, but sudden rainstorms and subsequent landslides sealed off the only entrance, leaving them cut off from the outside world. One person who managed to escape the cave in the early hours of the incident was able to alert local authorities, triggering the massive multi-national response now underway.

    The cave system, a deep underground network long used by local villagers searching for gold, presents extreme challenges to rescue teams. According to rescuers on site, many connecting passageways measure barely 50 centimeters (20 inches) across, forcing divers and recovery teams to crawl through sharp, debris-strewn gaps that are almost entirely filled with murky floodwater. Rescue teams are currently working around the clock to pump standing water out of the cave system to open up accessible routes to the deeper chambers where the villagers are believed to be stuck.

    Drawing on experience from one of the most famous cave rescues in modern history, several veterans of the 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue in northern Thailand have joined the current effort. Among them is Kengkard Bongkawong, a member of Thailand’s Metta Tham Rescue unit who helped extract 12 young football players and their coach after they spent 18 days trapped in a flooded Chiang Rai cave. So far, rescuers have not been able to detect any confirmed signs of life from the trapped seven, but Kengkard remains optimistic in an interview with The Guardian, noting that “we are confident that they are still alive because there is still air in the cave”.

    Describing the brutal conditions of the search, Kengkard explained that the route itself is not geographically complex, but the extreme narrowness and sharp rock formations make progress agonizingly slow. “It’s so narrow that we have to crawl and tilt to pass through. Also, the rocks are really sharp,” he said. The 2018 Tham Luang rescue, which drew global headlines and involved more than 10,000 responders from 17 countries, has since been immortalized in multiple feature films and documentaries, including Ron Howard’s *Thirteen Lives* and the National Geographic documentary *The Rescue*. Today, that same hard-won expertise is being put to the test as teams race against the clock to bring the Laotian villagers home safely.

  • South Korean Starbucks boss apologizes for ad campaign that evoked massacre

    South Korean Starbucks boss apologizes for ad campaign that evoked massacre

    In the wake of widespread national fury over a tone-deaf promotional campaign that many South Koreans view as a deliberate mockery of victims of the 1980 Gwangju pro-democracy military crackdown, Shinsegae Group chairman Chung Yong-jin — the majority stakeholder in Starbucks’ South Korean operation — has issued his second public apology in just two weeks. The Tuesday televised address saw Chung bow three times, openly begging forgiveness from both the bereaved families of activists killed under the country’s former military dictatorship and the South Korean public at large.

    The controversy ignited when Starbucks Korea launched a marketing push for its extra-large “tank” branded tumblers, scheduling the promotion for May 18 — the annual anniversary of the 1980 Gwangju Democratic Uprising. That historic pro-democracy protest was brutally crushed by military forces deployed by the authoritarian government, which used tanks, attack helicopters, and live fire to suppress the movement, leaving hundreds dead or injured. The campaign compounded the insult with the slogan “Thwack it on the table!” — a phrase widely recognized as a reference to the infamous 1987 police cover-up of the torture death of student activist Park Jong-chol, where officers falsely claimed Park collapsed and died after investigators “hit the desk with a thwack” during interrogation.

    Public backlash was immediate and overwhelming. Within hours of the promotion going live, Shinsegae pulled the campaign and terminated the contract of Starbucks Korea’s chief executive. South Korean police have also launched a formal criminal investigation, prompted by formal complaints filed by Gwangju victim families. A growing national movement has called for widespread boycotts of Starbucks locations across the country, drawing condemnation from top South Korean government officials. Interior and Safety Minister Yoon Ho-jung announced that Starbucks products would no longer be purchased or used for any official government events, labeling the chain’s actions “anti-historical behavior.” South Korean President Lee Jae Myung further amplified the criticism in a post on X last week, calling the campaign “inhumane and disgraceful behavior by cheap profiteers who deny the values of the South Korean community, basic human rights and democracy.”

    During his address, Chung acknowledged the profound pain and anger the misjudged campaign had caused across the country, stating, “I take it very seriously the fact that many people felt deep pain and anger because of Starbucks Korea’s inappropriate marketing campaign.” He also urged the public not to direct frustration at frontline Starbucks store employees, emphasizing that full responsibility rests solely with corporate leadership. As of Tuesday, no major disruptive incidents at retail locations had been reported.

    Chung first issued a formal apology on May 19, where he acknowledged the campaign had caused “deep pain to the victims and bereaved families of the May 18 Democratization Movement as well as to the public.” Senior Shinsegae executive Jeon Sangjin told reporters this week that the company’s week-long internal review has not yet found conclusive proof that Starbucks Korea marketing staff intended to mock the pro-democracy movement, an accusation the employees involved have repeatedly denied. However, Jeon confirmed that a number of employees refused management demands to hand over their personal smartphones for internal investigation. The company says it will wait for the results of the official police inquiry, and any employee found to have intentionally ridiculed the Gwangju victims will face immediate termination.

    To contextualize the deep national sensitivity around the May 18 anniversary: the 1980 Gwangju crackdown took place just months after General Chun Doo-hwan seized control of the country in a 1979 military coup. Official South Korean government records place the confirmed death toll from the crackdown at roughly 200, but pro-democracy activists and Gwangju victim advocates have long maintained that the actual number of people killed was far higher. Chun’s authoritarian regime also imprisoned tens of thousands of political dissidents under the guise of rooting out “social evils.” The widespread public anger over Chun’s dictatorship ultimately culminated in mass nationwide pro-democracy protests in 1987, forcing the regime to approve a constitutional revision that established direct presidential elections — a turning point widely recognized as the foundation of South Korea’s modern democratic system.

  • Cleaning the chakras of Ecuador’s cats and dogs

    Cleaning the chakras of Ecuador’s cats and dogs

    In the bustling San Francisco market of Quito, Ecuador’s highland capital, a centuries-old Andean spiritual tradition is adapting to meet a modern, 21st-century need. Traditional local healers known as curanderas have carved out a unique new niche, offering energy cleansing rituals called limpias to the furry companions of anxious, doting pet owners.

    What began as a practice to clear physical, emotional, and spiritual blockages for human clients now extends to dogs, cats, rabbits, and even farm animals across the country. For devotees of the ritual, the treatment works to unblock blocked energy centers, or chakras, in animals, just as it does for people. Healers use a blend of ancestral tools: fragrant wild-harvested medicinal herbs, purifying smoke, raw farm eggs, and sacred Amazonian seeds to draw out negative energy and fend off harmful spiritual influences.

    Fifth-generation healer Nancy Correa comes from a long line of female curanderas, and she says her pet cleansing services have grown steadily in popularity in recent years. When 1-year-old golden retriever Lucas arrived at her stall after a frightening run-in with a neighborhood cat left him withdrawn and anxious, Correa pulled together a bundle of wild amaranth, rue, nettle, and eucalyptus to rub over his fur. She selects these specific herbs, she explains, because they grow wild in mountain ravines, absorbing the pure combined energy of water, air, and Andean sunshine.

    Lucas’s owner Ximena Tixi, a 49-year-old Quito architect, says she has already seen dramatic improvements after just two cleansing sessions. “He’s more active now, and he no longer carries that fear he had after the encounter,” she told Agence France-Presse. By the time Lucas showed up for his third session, he trotted willingly into Correa’s stall, his tail wagging with no sign of his earlier anxiety.

    A short walk away at the same market, fellow healer Amparo Lugmana recently led a cleansing ritual for her own 4-year-old mixed-breed dog Copito, who had been listless and “feeling down” for weeks. Lugmana rubbed rose petals, a raw egg, and healing herbs over Copito’s thick white curly fur, before finishing the ritual by tying a necklace of Amazonian huayroro seeds around his neck — a traditional charm meant to ward off negative energy and evil spirits.

    Lugmana is no stranger to treating animal clients: she has worked on cats, rabbits, and even ships post-treatment cleansing kits to rural areas for owners of cows and chickens that have stopped producing milk or eggs. The cost of a pet limpia ranges from just $5 to $10, depending on the size of the animal, making the ancient ritual accessible to many local pet owners.

    For Quito’s pet parents, the practice offers a low-cost, culturally rooted alternative to modern behavioral interventions for anxious or withdrawn pets, filling a gap between standard veterinary care and holistic wellness that resonates with Ecuador’s deep Andean cultural heritage.

  • Rubio to revive ‘Quad’ alliance in India, but staying power unclear

    Rubio to revive ‘Quad’ alliance in India, but staying power unclear

    A pivotal gathering of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, widely known as the Quad, is set to convene in New Delhi on Tuesday, where US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will push to revitalize the four-nation security bloc grouping the United States, India, Australia, and Japan. The meeting comes at a moment of deep uncertainty: growing tensions within the alliance over the recent US-Israeli attack on Iran and lingering questions about the long-term reliability of US commitment to the partnership, which Beijing has long viewed with deep suspicion.

    The summit gathering comes just 10 days after US President Donald Trump completed a warm state visit to Beijing, where he praised the idea of a US-China “G2” partnership. That framing has sparked unease among Quad members, many of whom view China’s rising regional influence as a core strategic threat, and fear a direct US-China grand bargain could leave their interests sidelined.

    For Rubio, who is making his first visit to India as Secretary of State, reviving the Quad is a personal priority. Within hours of his inauguration last year, he held a symbolic first meeting with Quad foreign ministers in Washington, and the group convened again in the US capital in July 2025. But a planned full leaders’ summit last year never materialized, after Trump refused to commit to traveling to New Delhi for the event — a sharp break from his predecessor Joe Biden, who had repeatedly insisted Quad leaders’ summits were a permanent fixture of US Indo-Pacific strategy.

    Rubio’s core goal in New Delhi is to lay the necessary groundwork to finally bring Trump to a Quad leaders’ gathering. In an interview with India Today, he emphasized that the alliance needs tangible progress to deliver results, not just symbolic meetings. “We want to make sure we do the work necessary and position it so, when they do meet, they’ll have very specific deliverables and things that actually they can announce,” Rubio said.

    One key area of consensus the bloc is looking to build out is cooperation on securing critical mineral supplies. The Trump administration has grown increasingly alarmed by China’s dominant market position in the rare earths and critical minerals that underpin the global high-tech and renewable energy sectors, and collaboration on supply chain resilience marks a rare area where the administration has embraced traditional alliance-building diplomacy. The bloc is also set to expand cooperation on maritime security, an issue of particular urgency for Japan, which has repeatedly pushed back against China’s assertive territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific’s contested waterways.

    But the alliance remains fractured by deep divisions over the recent US-Israeli military campaign against Iran, launched in late February after Tehran took control of the Strait of Hormuz in response to escalating pressure. The attack sent global oil prices soaring, hitting energy import-dependent Japan and India particularly hard. Beyond economic fallout, the Trump administration’s decision to launch the strike without consulting allied governments has left deep resentment: no US ally other than Israel has fully backed the operation, prompting Trump to publicly question the reliability of US partners.

    Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has taken the most sympathetic stance among Quad leaders, noting shared global concerns over Iran’s disputed nuclear program, but he has refused to contribute military or logistical support to the war effort. That partial backing was not enough for Trump, who has publicly stated he is “not happy with Australia.” For Japan and India, both of which have long maintained constructive diplomatic and economic ties with Iran, the situation is even more fraught. While the two countries grudgingly complied with US sanctions banning all imports of Iranian oil, they have rejected calls to fully back the military campaign.

    Ahead of Tuesday’s full Quad meeting, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi met with his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Monday, where he framed the gathering as a critical response to a shifting global order. “The world is faced with the most significant structural change in the post-World War II era, driven by a shift in the balance of power and the intensification of conflict and confrontation,” Motegi said, adding that it was vital for the bloc to address the “increasingly severe” global security environment.

    Jaishankar, for his part, sought to downplay widespread concerns that the Trump administration’s outreach to Beijing has eroded US commitment to the Quad. He noted that Trump was a strong backer of the alliance during his first presidential term, pushing back against narratives that US interest in the bloc is waning.

    First conceived by former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the Quad was founded on the idea that four like-minded Indo-Pacific democracies could align to counter growing Chinese influence. Under President Joe Biden, the alliance expanded its mandate far beyond security cooperation, adding work on disaster response, global public health, and supply chain resilience as core priorities. Now, as Rubio works to put the partnership back on track after months of stalled progress, the question remains whether the bloc can overcome internal divisions over Iran and persistent uncertainty about US commitment to deliver on its ambitious goals.

  • US military says it has launched new strikes on southern Iran

    US military says it has launched new strikes on southern Iran

    Tensions in the Middle East have reignited after the United States military confirmed it carried out fresh offensive strikes against targets in southern Iran, with operations focused on Iranian missile installations and small craft suspected of attempting to deploy naval mines.

    In an official statement released by US Central Command, the military framed the new strikes as a necessary act of self-defense, asserting the operations were intended to shield American service members from emergent threats posed by Iranian military assets. Central Command spokesperson Captain Tim Hawkins emphasized that the US military remains committed to protecting its personnel while upholding a stance of restraint amid the currently active ceasefire between the two nations.

    According to reporting from The New York Times, the targeted strike zone sits in the vicinity of Bandar Abbas, a strategic southern Iranian port city that hosts a major Iranian naval base and overlooks the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical chokepoints for global energy shipping. Iranian state media had already reported local authorities in Bandar Abbas were responding to reports of loud explosions across the area shortly before the US confirmation.

    As of this report, Iranian officials have not issued an official response to the latest US strikes, and experts remain divided over what impact the new military action will have on ongoing diplomatic negotiations aimed at securing a lasting peace deal between Washington and Tehran.

    The strikes come at a pivotal moment for diplomatic efforts: Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baqai recently acknowledged that incremental progress has been made during closed-door talks with US negotiating teams, but he pushed back against growing speculation that a final agreement to end the months-long conflict is close at hand.

    Just days earlier, former President Donald Trump had publicly hinted that a bilateral deal was within reach, only to reverse course moments later and say he had directed US negotiators to avoid rushing into a hasty agreement that did not serve US interests. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also fueled optimism earlier this week by suggesting a finalized deal could be reached as early as Monday. But Baqai pushed back on that timeline, noting that while large sections of the negotiating text have been agreed upon, no party can responsibly claim that a final signing is imminent.

    Despite official downplaying of an imminent breakthrough, Reuters confirmed that Iran’s top diplomatic negotiator and foreign minister traveled to Doha over the past week to hold discussions with Qatar’s prime minister about the framework for a potential US-Iran deal. Qatar has served as a key neutral mediator throughout the negotiations.

    The current ceasefire between US and Iranian forces has been in effect since April 8. To date, Iran has retained its military controls over commercial shipping moving through the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, while the US Navy has enforced a naval blockade of major Iranian ports. The current conflict erupted in late February, when the US and Israel launched a broad campaign of airstrikes across Iranian territory. Iran responded with coordinated attacks on Israel and US-aligned Gulf states, and temporarily closed the Strait of Hormuz entirely—a move that sent global oil prices soaring and triggered widespread economic uncertainty across international energy markets.

  • ‘I wish I did that’: Cameron Munster offers a simple bit of advice to Sam Walker that could spell trouble for the Blues

    ‘I wish I did that’: Cameron Munster offers a simple bit of advice to Sam Walker that could spell trouble for the Blues

    Nine years after delivering one of the most iconic debut performances in State of Origin history, Queensland Maroons captain Cameron Munster is passing on a lesson of self-belief to young rookie halfback Sam Walker, who is gearing up to make his first Origin appearance on Wednesday night. With simple but powerful words, Munster has urged the 20-something Sydney Roosters playmaker to “back yourself” as he steps onto what is forecast to be a rain-soaked field in front of 80,000 raucous New South Wales Blues supporters at Accor Stadium. Walker, widely regarded as a naturally unflappable competitor, will lean heavily on this advice from his experienced halves partner as he prepares for the biggest test of his young rugby league career to date.

    Walker earns his unexpected Origin call-up after incumbent playmaker and 2023 Wally Lewis Medal winner Tom Dearden was forced to withdraw with an ankle injury sustained during a recent North Queensland Cowboys club match. While the young halfback has previously trained and worked with Queensland rugby league immortal Johnathan Thurston, Munster and the entire Maroons squad are clear: they do not want Walker to try to emulate the legend’s playing style or live up to the shadow of iconic former number 7s like Thurston and Cooper Cronk. Instead, they want him to lean into the unique strengths that earned him this opportunity in the first place: his sharp short kicking game and unorthodox, unpredictable playmaking that has caught the eye of selectors and fans alike this NRL season.

    “There’s a reason why he’s been given the opportunity to wear that famous No.7 jersey,” Munster told reporters ahead of the clash. “We’re not expecting him to go out there to be Johnathan Thurston or Cooper Cronk or those type of guys that have been wearing the jersey before him. Go out there and be Sam Walker. Back yourself.” Munster added that the team has given Walker full creative freedom to play his natural game, even if some of his gambles do not pay off. “If it doesn’t come off, it doesn’t come off – that’s rugby league. I’d rather him out there giving it his all and trying his little tricks that he’s got in his bag than just sitting back and at the end of the game going ‘oh, I wish I did this, I wish I did that’,” he said. “We’ve given him full reins and full keys to the car, and hopefully you’ll see Sammy Walker blossom.”

    While Walker has never competed on the Origin’s national stage before, he has already proven his ability to perform under intense pressure at the club level. The young halfback has claimed Man of the Match honours three times in the Roosters’ iconic Anzac Day clashes against the South Sydney Rabbitohs, consistently showing fearlessness when all eyes are on him. He grew up watching generations of Maroons young guns make successful Origin debuts, and Munster’s own 2015 debut stands as the perfect template: in that series-deciding match, Munster ran 136 metres and set up two match-defining tries, cementing his place in Queensland Origin folklore from his very first game.

    Munster says he is confident Walker is ready to write his own Origin story, even if it does not follow a perfect narrative. “I guess you’ve got to sometimes write your own fairy tale. You’re not always going to be given the fairy tale,” Munster said. “It’s for him to go out there and get his game on and play well. There’ll be some times in that game where things might not go his way, and knowing Sammy, he’s that type of person with how calm he is that he’ll get on with his next job and do something spectacular.” The Maroons captain added that the team has no unrealistic expectations for the rookie: “We’re not expecting him to go out there and be man of the match. If he gets his job done, and everyone else in his team gets their job done, then we’re looking really excited and looking really forward to the way we can play.” Beyond Walker’s debut, Munster also expressed confidence in the depth of Queensland’s emerging halves talent, noting that the future of the Maroons program is in “good hands” with the likes of Dearden, Walker, Ezra Mam and Jake Clifford all coming through the development pipeline.

  • Swiatek, Rybakina cruise through Roland Garros openers

    Swiatek, Rybakina cruise through Roland Garros openers

    Opening day of the 2025 French Open at Roland Garros delivered a mix of dominant wins from title favorites and heartfelt farewells from tennis legends, as unforgiving 32-degree heat tested even the fittest competitors across the Parisian clay courts.

    Four-time champion Iga Swiatek, the tournament’s third seed, kicked off her campaign for a fifth Roland Garros crown in commanding form, easing past 19-year-old Australian qualifier Emerson Jones in just 60 minutes with a 6-1, 6-2 victory. The match marked Swiatek’s first Grand Slam appearance since pairing up with Francisco Roig, former long-time coach of 14-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal, a partnership that already appears to be paying dividends. The Pole, who claimed three consecutive French Open titles from 2022 to 2024 before falling to Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s semi-finals, will next face Czech prospect Sara Bejlek for a spot in the round of 32. Fresh off a semi-final run at the Italian Open earlier this month that signaled a return to peak form, Swiatek expressed confidence in her opening performance after the match.

    “I’m really happy with the way I played. It was a solid match from the beginning to the end. I technically knew how to play,” the 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024 champion said.

    Second seed Elena Rybakina, who already lifted the Australian Open trophy earlier this 2025 season, matched Swiatek’s straightforward win, dismissing Slovenian Veronika Erjavec 6-2, 6-2 on the iconic Court Philippe Chatrier. The Kazakhstani star echoed Swiatek’s relief at wrapping up the match quickly in the sweltering conditions, noting that the extreme heat made short, efficient runs through the draw a top priority. “It’s tough conditions but I’m happy things worked, and I’m looking forward to the next match,” Rybakina said, ahead of her second-round clash against Ukraine’s Yuliia Starodubtseva.

    Other women’s singles winners on opening day included Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina, who survived a dramatic three-set scare against Hungary’s Anna Bondar to keep her unbroken 13-year first-round win streak at Roland Garros intact. After dropping the opening set and trailing 3-1 in the deciding set, Svitolina rallied to secure a 3-6, 6-1, 7-6(10-3) win, just weeks after claiming her long-awaited fifth WTA 1000 title in Rome. Former tournament runner-up Jasmine Paolini also advanced with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska, while sixth seed Amanda Anisimova, last year’s runner-up at both Wimbledon and the US Open, beat French wildcard Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah 6-3, 6-1. In one of the day’s biggest upsets, 2024 Paris Olympic gold medalist Zheng Qinwen of China suffered a shock first-round exit, falling 6-4, 6-0 to Poland’s Maja Chwalinska — marking Zheng’s first ever opening-round defeat at the French Open.

    The most emotional moments of the day belonged to the departing legends of the sport, who said goodbye to Roland Garros ahead of their planned retirements at the end of the 2025 season. 2015 champion Stan Wawrinka, 41, brought an end to his Paris run with a four-set 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 loss to Dutch lucky loser Jesper de Jong, bowing out in front of a packed, cheering crowd on Court Simonne Mathieu. Wawrinka, who notched one of the most iconic upsets in Grand Slam history when he defeated Novak Djokovic to claim his only French Open title 10 years ago, enjoyed a fairytale run to the third round at January’s Australian Open in his final campaign, but could not replicate that form in the Paris heat.

    After the match, tournament organizers honored Wawrinka’s legendary career with a glass case holding a fragment of Roland Garros clay, followed by two video tributes screened across the venue’s big screens. The second tribute included personal messages from the sport’s all-time greats: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. “Thanks to all your support, I wanted to go on as long as possible, to 41 years of age, to continue living moments like this,” Wawrinka told the crowd.

    French home favorite Gael Monfils, 39, also played his final opening round at Roland Garros on Monday night, producing a rousing comeback from two sets down before fatigue got the better of him in the deciding set. The former tournament semi-finalist fell 6-2, 6-3, 3-6, 2-6, 6-0 to fellow French wildcard Hugo Gaston, closing out his Roland Garros career in front of his home crowd.

    In men’s opening round action, two-time Roland Garros runner-up Casper Ruud narrowly avoided a major upset against Russian qualifier Roman Safiullin, surviving a five-set thriller that was severely impacted by the day’s high temperatures. Both players called for medical time-outs in the fourth set, and took more than 16 minutes to return to court for the deciding set, with rallies slowing to a walk as fatigue set in. Ruud ultimately found enough energy to secure a 6-2, 7-6(7-5), 5-7, 0-6, 6-2 win, as Safiullin continued to wilt in the evening heat. Teenage Spanish rising star Rafael Jodar, who has rapidly climbed the ATP rankings this season after clay-court title runs and deep runs at the Barcelona, Madrid and Rome Open events, notched a straight-set win on debut, dismantling American Aleksandar Kovacevic 6-1, 6-0, 6-4. Fifth seed Ben Shelton, who has reached at least the quarter-finals at the other three Grand Slams already in his young career, kicked off his Paris campaign with a straight-set win over Daniel Merida.

  • Israel steps up Lebanon strikes as Netanyahu escalates offensive

    Israel steps up Lebanon strikes as Netanyahu escalates offensive

    On Monday, the Israeli military ramped up its air and ground strikes across Lebanon, acting on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s direct order to escalate operations with the stated goal of crushing Iran-backed Hezbollah. This escalation comes even as international diplomacy moves forward to end broader regional conflict, including a potential deal that would de-escalate the Lebanon front where clashes have persisted since early March.

    Though a formal ceasefire was implemented on April 17, cross-border fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah has remained a near-daily occurrence. In a pre-recorded video statement published to his Telegram channel, Netanyahu confirmed his administration’s push for expanded military action. “I have ordered an even greater acceleration of our operations,” he said. “It is true that they are attacking us with drones, including fibre-optic drones, but we have teams working on countermeasures and we will solve this issue… We will intensify our blows, increase our firepower, and we will crush them.”

    Witnesses with Agence France-Presse reported streams of civilian residents fleeing the southern suburbs of Beirut, a longstanding Hezbollah stronghold, shortly after Netanyahu’s announcement. Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) confirmed that the Israeli Air Force carried out multiple successive strikes in the eastern Bekaa Valley by Monday evening. Earlier in the day, dozens of airstrikes targeted a string of towns and villages across southern Lebanon, killing three people in separate strikes on two passenger vehicles and a motorcycle. Additional strikes later hit communities near the ancient coastal city of Tyre, following evacuation orders issued by Israel for 10 southern Lebanese villages.

    Israeli military officials justified the escalation by pointing to repeated ceasefire violations by Hezbollah. “In light of Hezbollah’s violation of the ceasefire agreement, the Israel Defense Forces are compelled to operate against it with force,” Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesperson, wrote in a social media post that listed the targeted villages. Hezbollah has continued to launch drone strikes targeting Israeli positions along the border and inside Israeli-occupied Lebanese territory, including multiple attacks on Monday. Late Monday, the group issued a statement confirming it had targeted three military barracks and one outpost in northern Israel, framing the strike as retaliation for Israeli violations of the truce.

    Data from Lebanese public authorities shows that Israeli strikes have killed more than 3,100 people in Lebanon since hostilities resumed in early March. On the Israeli side, the military announced Monday that one additional soldier had been killed in combat in southern Lebanon the previous day, bringing the total death toll for Israeli service members to 23 since clashes with Hezbollah began. One civilian defense contractor has also been killed in the fighting.

    The push for escalation has been amplified by two of Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners, who are calling for a dramatic expansion of the offensive deep into Lebanese territory. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a resident of an illegal settlement in the occupied West Bank, wrote on Telegram that “there is an urgent need to put an end to the threat posed by Hezbollah’s explosive drones.” He added, “For every explosive drone strike, 10 buildings must fall in Beirut.” National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir echoed the call, demanding a “return to intensive warfare” and an Israeli takeover of the Zahrani River, a waterway located far north of the Litani River, which the IDF has currently named as the southern boundary of its Hezbollah-clearing operation. Israeli forces currently control a roughly 10-kilometer deep strip of territory inside southern Lebanon.

    Meanwhile, diplomatic efforts to broker a long-term settlement remain underway. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun reaffirmed his stance Monday that Lebanon will proceed with talks with Israel, and added that his demand for a full Israeli withdrawal from all southern Lebanese territory is “non-negotiable.” Lebanon and Israel, which have never maintained formal diplomatic relations, are set to hold a new round of negotiations in Washington on June 2 and 3, preceded by a meeting of top military officials from both sides at the Pentagon on May 29. On Sunday evening, Hezbollah’s deputy leader Naim Qassem reiterated the movement’s firm opposition to direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel, and repeated its refusal to disarm, sticking to longstanding positions that have complicated diplomatic progress. The unfolding escalation has also raised new uncertainty for ongoing talks between the U.S. and Iran, which are currently working to finalize a broader agreement to end all hostilities across the Middle East, including on the Lebanese frontier.