Global Pulse

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  • Watch rescuers save missing dog from San Francisco Bay

    Watch rescuers save missing dog from San Francisco Bay

    A tense and heart-stopping incident unfolded on the waters of San Francisco Bay recently, when a team of rescuers launched a rapid mission to recover a missing canine that had ended up stranded in the chilly open water.

    Eyewitness footage captured the urgent pace of the operation, as the rescue team powered their small boats across the bay’s surface, closing the distance between them and the struggling animal. When they reached the dog, one rescuer executed a daring one-handed reach over the side of their vessel, successfully snatching the shaken pup from the water before it could face further peril.

    The incident has drawn wide attention online, with members of the public praising the rescuers’ fast action and steady nerve that gave the missing dog a second chance at life. Local authorities have not yet released further details on how the dog came to be in the bay, or whether it has been reunited with its owners as of the latest updates.

  • US actions harm global efforts to prevent and treat HIV in dozens of countries, new report says

    US actions harm global efforts to prevent and treat HIV in dozens of countries, new report says

    A new independent report released Tuesday has exposed severe, far-reaching damage to the world’s largest global HIV relief initiative, tracing the harm directly to administrative disruptions carried out under the Trump administration that have forced clinic closures, mass staff layoffs, and widespread cuts to life-saving care across dozens of low- and middle-income countries.

    Launched in 2003, the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, better known as PEPFAR, is widely recognized as one of the most successful global public health initiatives in modern history, credited with saving at least 26 million lives from HIV/AIDS since its creation. But the report from amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, details how the program was systematically undermined last year through the Trump administration’s restructuring of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and cuts to thousands of global health grant awards.

    Elise Lankiewicz, policy associate at amfAR and lead contributor to the report, noted that service disruptions touched nearly every corner of the global PEPFAR network, with the most vulnerable groups – including young women, AIDS orphans, and children living with or exposed to HIV – bearing the brunt of the cuts.

    To compile their findings, research teams reached out to hundreds of local and international organizations that deliver frontline HIV services with PEPFAR funding. Between November 2024 and April 2025, 166 organizations across 46 countries completed the researchers’ electronic survey, sharing detailed data on funding flows, staffing levels, and service availability. The research team acknowledges methodological limitations: the survey did not reach all PEPFAR-funded groups, and organizations that experienced the most severe disruption or those that retained full U.S. funding may have been less likely to respond, creating potential for bias in estimates of overall harm. Even so, study authors emphasize the findings offer an unprecedented, clear look into the widespread operational struggles that many PEPFAR partner groups faced over the past year.

    Key takeaways from the survey paint a stark picture of systemic breakdown. More than 75% of responding organizations reported at least one grant award was terminated or experienced significant payment delays in 2024. These funding cuts directly led to the permanent closure of more than 1,700 clinics, community drop-in centers, and other HIV service delivery sites, and the elimination of more than 16,000 full-time frontline staff positions. Even though federal guidance officially required core services including HIV treatment, diagnostic testing, and prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) to remain operational, a majority of partner organizations still reported disruptive interruptions to these critical services.

    Cuts were disproportionately concentrated on services for the populations that are most disproportionately impacted by HIV globally. A majority of organizations that previously provided targeted care for sex workers, men who have sex with men, transgender people, and people who inject drugs reported permanently ending at least one service for these groups. Notably, even some organizations that did not lose funding reported cutting services for these key populations to align with revised U.S. policy priorities under the Trump administration.

    HIV prevention programming saw the steepest reductions: many organizations halted free condom distribution programs and stopped providing pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), the daily preventive medication that eliminates the risk of sexually transmitted HIV. Official PEPFAR expenditure data confirms the scale of this cut: total global prevention spending dropped 51% between fiscal years 2024 and 2025. The report also found that local, community-based organizations were far more likely to face grant terminations and forced site closures than large international non-governmental organizations, creating cascading instability across interconnected national HIV care systems.

    The report’s authors conclude that the cumulative effect of these disruptions has led to widespread degradation of the global HIV care infrastructure built up over more than two decades of PEPFAR investment, with the deepest harm falling on the communities and local partners that are most critical to ending the global epidemic. While the study does not break out data by individual country, amfAR officials confirmed that a majority of survey responses came from organizations based in sub-Saharan Africa, the region that bears more than two-thirds of the global HIV burden.

    The Trump administration has pushed back against these findings, releasing its own quarterly PEPFAR data covering July to September 2025 that presents a far more positive outlook. Administration officials noted that PEPFAR-supported programs provided continuous antiretroviral treatment to 20.6 million people across more than 50 countries, a figure they described as stable compared to the same quarter in 2024. They also highlighted an increase in PrEP access for pregnant and breastfeeding women, rising from 43,000 in 2024 to 103,000 in 2025.

    But independent analysis of full-year PEPFAR data by amfAR researchers and experts from the International AIDS Society contradicts the administration’s rosy assessment, confirming substantial service disruptions across all program areas. Separate independent research, published in the journal Nature Health in June 2025, echoes the amfAR report’s conclusions. That study, which analyzed full global PEPFAR treatment data, found that nearly two million fewer people living with HIV were accessing PEPFAR-supported antiretroviral treatment in fiscal year 2025 compared to 2024 – a roughly 10% year-over-year decline.

    Ramona Godbole, an author of the Nature Health study who was not involved in the new amfAR report, noted that the sharp drop in treatment access raises urgent questions about the long-term stability of the PEPFAR program. “That does raise really important questions about program stability,” Godbole said.

    To reverse the damage documented in the report, amfAR has put forward a series of policy recommendations. The organization calls on the U.S. government and PEPFAR leadership to immediately reinstate full funding and support for all HIV services, not just core treatment programming. It also urges other national governments to increase domestic investment in HIV care and expand partnerships with grassroots non-governmental organizations, including groups led by members of vulnerable key populations.

    Even with immediate new funding, however, amfAR’s research and policy director Jennifer Sherwood warned that rebuilding the broken care system will take significant time, and every day of delay brings avoidable harm. “Even if money is put back into the system, it will take time to get the services up and running and regain the trust of communities,” Sherwood explained. “And unfortunately, with HIV and infectious disease, each day is deadly. Each day that we don’t have those systems in place, you see new infections.”

    This reporting from The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives financial support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; the AP retains full editorial control over all content.

  • Australia striker McNamara joins Everton

    Australia striker McNamara joins Everton

    In a high-profile summer transfer move that has caught the attention of women’s football across the globe, Everton Women have secured the signing of prolific Australian striker Holly McNamara on a free transfer. The 23-year-old forward joins the Women’s Super League side after her contract with hometown club Melbourne City reached its expiration.

    McNamara brings an impressive goal-scoring track record to Merseyside, having claimed the A-League Women Golden Boot award twice in her young domestic career. The young forward first rose to prominence in 2022 when she was named the A-League Women Young Player of the Year, and most recently she played a key role in helping the Australian national team reach the final of the 2026 Women’s Asian Cup. To date, she has earned 20 senior caps for her country.

    Everton confirmed that the club fended off stiff competition to complete the signing, beating interest from what the club described as “a wide range of top clubs across Europe and the United States” to land the in-demand striker. McNamara is the fourth new addition to Everton’s senior squad this summer transfer window, following the earlier arrivals of Noemie Mouchon, Hannah Cain and Zara Kramzar, marking a clear statement of the club’s ambitions for the upcoming WSL campaign.

    Speaking after completing her move to Goodison Park, the Australian expressed her excitement at the new chapter of her career. “It is unreal to be here. Goodison Park is such a special stadium. I am very lucky to be here,” McNamara said.

    She went on to explain what drew her to the historic English club, saying: “Everton have such a rich history and that drew me to the club. It is a good club that has great ambitions and a great project for the next few years. A big thing was also the chance to play in the best league in the world. It is so competitive and any team can beat anyone. I can’t wait to try to do everything for this club in order to win and to do as well as we can.”

    The new signing will take on the iconic number nine shirt for Everton as she prepares to make her debut in the Women’s Super League, one of the most competitive top-flight women’s football competitions on the planet.

  • Watch: US police officer pulls man from burning car

    Watch: US police officer pulls man from burning car

    Dramatic footage captured by both a police officer’s body-worn camera and a patrol car dashcam documents a harrowing last-second rescue that unfolded on a road in Texas, where a law enforcement officer pulled a trapped motorist out of his vehicle just moments before it was completely consumed by fire.

    The incident, which unfolded in the south-central US state, showcases the quick thinking and courage of the responding officer, who did not hesitate to approach the already-smoldering vehicle to extract the driver before the blaze could spread. The overlapping angles from the two camera systems provide a complete, unfiltered view of the emergency response: from the officer’s arrival on scene to the urgent efforts to free the driver, followed immediately by the car bursting into full flames seconds after the rescue was completed.

    Local audiences have seen the raw footage released by law enforcement agencies, highlighting the split-second decisions that police officers often face when responding to life-threatening roadside emergencies. While further details about the cause of the vehicle fire and the driver’s condition have not been fully released in the initial reporting, the footage stands as a clear record of an act of quick bravery that saved a man’s life.

  • Dozens hurt in Bologna protests after man dies while being restrained by police

    Dozens hurt in Bologna protests after man dies while being restrained by police

    The death of Abderrahim Fakir, a Moroccan-born long-term Italian resident, while in police restraint in the northern Italian city of Bologna has triggered large-scale public protests and reopened heated national debates over police use of force, racial justice, and law enforcement accountability. The incident began on a Sunday morning, when a neighbor in the working-class Pilastro neighborhood called police to report that Fakir was acting erratically and kicking local garage doors. When officers arrived at the scene, they first attempted to de-escalate the situation before deploying pepper spray to subdue him.

    Circulated widely across Italian media, a graphic video of the encounter captures the moments after Fakir was forced to the ground. The footage shows two uniformed police officers pinning Fakir to the pavement while he lies face down, repeatedly crying out for the officers to stop holding him. A third civilian bystander assisted officers by holding down Fakir’s legs, as emergency medical personnel stood by nearby. Roughly two minutes into the recording, Fakir ceases all movement. After binding his wrists and ankles, one officer noticed Fakir was unresponsive and slapped him twice on the cheek in an attempt to rouse him. By the time ambulance workers stepped in to assess him, Fakir was already fully unconscious and could not be revived.

    In the wake of his death, Bologna prosecutors have opened a formal manslaughter investigation targeting both the responding police officers and the medical personnel present at the scene. Multiple eyewitnesses have told local media that while Fakir was clearly experiencing mental distress at the time of the encounter, he never threatened any bystanders and was completely unarmed. For Fakir’s family, the incident has been an unfathomable loss, and they are demanding full accountability for his death. “You can’t die like this,” his sister Khadija Fakir told reporters. “They killed him mercilessly, and I want the truth.” Speaking at a public demonstration Monday evening, his niece Yossra Fakir pushed back against efforts to reduce her uncle to a headline. “He wasn’t a number, he wasn’t a news line… he was loved,” she said. “He deserved to be helped and heard, and he deserved dignity.”

    Bologna’s mayor Matteo Lepore joined widespread public outrage, noting that anyone who viewed the restraint video would be deeply shocked by what they saw. He organized a mass peaceful demonstration in central Bologna on Monday night to call for transparency, and invited members of Fakir’s family to speak alongside him on stage. The demonstration drew thousands of attendees who marched peacefully demanding justice for Abderrahim Fakir, but the event fractured late in the night when a group of roughly 100 protesters split off from the main crowd. Clashes broke out between this splinter faction and police, and two vehicles were set on fire before order was restored. Official reports confirm that 64 police officers were injured during the overnight unrest.

    In the aftermath of the protests and violence, Italian political leaders have offered starkly different responses. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, head of the current right-wing government, emphasized that a full investigation into the circumstances of Fakir’s death was mandatory to uncover the full truth, but added that “nothing can justify violence against law enforcement.” She condemned the splinter group’s actions, saying “Those who chose to use this incident as a pretext to set the city ablaze, attack officers, and sow violence… were not seeking the truth: they were seeking confrontation.”

    Domenico Pianese, secretary-general of Italy’s national police union, also criticized Lepore’s decision to call for a public demonstration the day after Fakir’s death, arguing that the timing opened the door for anti-police and pseudo-anarchist groups to exploit the tragedy for their own political gain. Defending the responding officers’ actions, Pianese claimed that the intervention shown in the video was carried out correctly. He argued that the fact officers needed to use pepper spray and request civilian assistance to restrain Fakir proved that the level of force used was not excessive, adding that officers had immediately turned over all body camera footage to prosecuting authorities as soon as the incident concluded.

    Opposition political figures have pushed back against the government’s rhetoric and its show of solidarity with police, echoing public calls for full accountability. Ilaria Cucchi, a senator with the opposition Greens and Left Alliance whose own brother Stefano died in Italian police custody in 2009 — a case that became a national scandal — criticized the government’s positioning. Many protest signs carried at the Bologna demonstration explicitly referenced Stefano Cucchi’s case, linking Fakir’s death to a long history of controversial deaths in police custody in Italy. Center-left Democratic Party lawmaker Francesco Boccia also hit out at the government, accusing it of adopting heavy-handed U.S.-style immigration enforcement tactics that have led to unnecessary deaths.

    Fakir, who was in his 50s, had been part of a Moroccan family that settled in Italy more than 30 years ago, and lived near Bologna for decades where he operated a small local logistics and delivery business. His immigration lawyer Barbara Spinelli remembered him as a kind, hardworking person, and wrote on social media: “[Fakir] was a hardworker, he was kind… Ask yourselves why he died in the hands of those who had an institutional duty to protect his life.” As the manslaughter investigation moves forward, Italy remains deeply divided over the incident and what it says about systemic issues in national law enforcement.

  • Row escalates in Ukraine over army chief’s future

    Row escalates in Ukraine over army chief’s future

    Kyiv, Ukraine — Just one week after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s decision to dismiss popular Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov sparked a domestic political crisis, the country has been thrown into further upheaval, as swirling rumours surrounding the future of Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrsky have dominated public discourse and protesters issued an ultimatum for dramatic leadership changes by the end of this week.

    Organisers of daily demonstrations backing the ousted defence minister have issued a clear, hardline threat: unless Syrsky is removed from his post and Fedorov is reinstated as Defence Minister by Friday, July 24, they will launch an open-ended, nationwide protest that will span every major Ukrainian city. No demonstrations are scheduled ahead of the deadline, leaving the nation on edge as it waits for a resolution to the growing internal rift. Dmytro Koziatynsky, an army veteran representing the protest organisers, outlined the demand in a public post on social media, amplifying pressure on Zelensky’s administration amid already tense public discourse.

    Over the weekend, Kyiv was abuzz with unconfirmed reports of closed-door meetings between Zelensky, senior cabinet ministers and top military generals, as the president works through potential adjustments to Ukraine’s defence leadership structure. Amid the flood of speculative reports, Ukraine’s General Staff was forced to publicly issue a denial, pushing back against claims that Syrsky was either on the brink of dismissal or had already been removed from his command. Additional unconfirmed reporting has also suggested that Fedorov has rejected a proposed offer to return to government in a different cabinet role.

    In a public appeal to the nation on Tuesday, Kyrylo Budanov, head of the presidential office, urged Ukrainians to set aside their anger and remain calm. “The situation surrounding the latest internal changes has caused strong emotions,” Budanov acknowledged in a social media statement, speaking as angry chants from protesters in Kyiv’s Ivana Franka Square — located just steps from the presidential palace — could be heard echoing through the city centre. “I understand people who express their position… The position of society has been heard.”

    Budanov, a former head of Ukrainian military intelligence, also warned demonstrators against turning public anger inward, noting that Russia is closely watching every internal Ukrainian division and waiting for the country to fracture from within. “The enemy is closely monitoring our every internal dispute and is waiting for us to start fighting among ourselves,” he said. “The work is underway. There will be results.”

    After days of remaining out of the public eye amid growing criticism, 60-year-old Syrsky broke his silence on Monday, publishing a lengthy op-ed in the Ukrainian outlet Militarny to defend his professional record and push back against claims of a bitter public rift with the 35-year-old Fedorov. Contradicting Zelensky’s recent claim that the two men could not even bear to share a room for official meetings, Syrsky said he was caught off guard by reports of a personal conflict. “I perceived our relationship as a working one,” he wrote. “If I offended anyone, Mykhailo Albertovych [Fedorov], I’m sorry.”

    The commander-in-chief pushed back against the simple, slogan-driven demands carried on protest signs across Kyiv, arguing that the complex issues of military contracting, weapons procurement and troop mobilization are far more nuanced than the public discourse suggests. “Decisions on which people’s lives depend are not made with slogans,” he said. “Real work, not the public drama surrounding it, wins the war.” In a thinly veiled rebuke of Fedorov’s high-profile public briefings, Syrsky added: “Presentations should not turn into self-representations. Behind each slide there should be a document, a budget and a procedure. Otherwise, instead of a decision the army gets disappointment.”

    Despite Syrsky’s defense, public opinion in Ukraine has largely aligned with Fedorov, particularly among younger Ukrainians, who broadly view the former defence minister as the driving force behind military innovation that has improved Ukraine’s ability to repel Russia’s larger invading force. Many critics also frame Syrsky as a representative of outdated, Soviet-era military doctrine that is ill-suited to the modern, drone-centric battlefield that defines the current war.

    “Right now, the war is changing, so we need new ideas and a new structure,” Tetiana Makarenko, a 44-year-old law firm employee, told reporters at a weekend protest. “It’s often said that a small Soviet army can’t defeat a big Soviet army. It’s time to change the mindset and start the new type of war.” During Fedorov’s six-month tenure leading the defence ministry, Ukraine has notched a series of significant military gains, a run of success that many Ukrainians have credited to his leadership. “We had this feeling because we saw the changing situation,” Makarenko said. “We had the feeling that we can do this.”

    Syrsky also pushed back against claims that he has resisted embracing modern drone technology, noting he oversaw the creation of a separate branch of the Ukrainian military dedicated to unmanned systems. Even so, he argued that shifting an entire million-strong military to prioritize drones exclusively cannot be accomplished in just two months, and that traditional military capabilities remain critical to Ukraine’s war effort. “I cannot transform a million-strong army to drones in two months and say: now we fight like this,” he explained. “I am not at war with the defence ministry, I am at war with Russia,” he added.

    As Syrsky defends his position, speculation is growing about potential candidates to replace him if Zelensky opts for a shake-up. All of the leading names are younger generation officers with distinguished combat records: Mykhailo Drapaty, commander of the Joint Forces; Andriy Bileksky, commander of the Third Army Corps; Oleh Apostol, commander of the Airborne Assault Forces; and Ihor Obolensky, commander of the National Guard Corps. The youngest contender, 35-year-old Brigadier General Denys Prokopenko, commander of the National Guard, gained international fame for leading the Azov Regiment’s legendary defense of Mariupol during the 2022 Russian siege. Prokopenko was held as a Russian prisoner of war after the city fell, but returned to Ukraine in a July 2023 prisoner exchange and resumed his command despite Russian objections. While Prokopenko remains politically controversial due to longstanding allegations of far-right ties to the Azov Regiment, he retains strong popular support among many Ukrainians for his combat leadership.

    Zelensky has confirmed that he is still finalizing plans for adjustments to Ukraine’s defence leadership, thanking all parties for their “openness, honesty and substantive contributions” to the discussions. With Russia expected to launch a new campaign of strikes against Ukraine’s critical energy infrastructure ahead of the autumn cold, Zelensky has stressed that Ukraine must be fully prepared and as strong as possible when August begins.

    For now, the daily protests have paused ahead of the July 24 deadline, leaving the nation holding its breath as Zelensky weighs what many see as a fateful set of decisions that could shape the trajectory of Ukraine’s war effort against Russia.

  • Shock and anger after top Ghanaian politician sentenced to 20 years for illegal mining

    Shock and anger after top Ghanaian politician sentenced to 20 years for illegal mining

    A high-stakes legal ruling in Ghana has plunged the country’s political landscape into turmoil, after a top regional leader from the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) was handed a 20-year hard labor prison sentence and a $10,000 fine on illegal mining charges. Bernard Antwi Boasiako, widely known by his political nickname “Chairman Wontumi” and the NPP’s chairman for the crucial Ashanti Region, made history on Monday as the first senior Ghanaian politician convicted of illicit mining offenses since the national government launched a widespread crackdown on the practice, locally called “galamsey”, back in 2017.

    Witnesses in the Accra courtroom reported that Boasiako, who has consistently maintained his innocence against all charges, appeared visibly stunned when the judge read out the verdict. Court documents show he was found guilty on two counts: assigning official mineral rights without government authorization, and facilitating an unlicensed mining operation through his private firm, Akonta Mining. Prosecutors detailed that Boasiako permitted two private individuals, Henry Okum and Michael Gyedu Ayisi, to carry out extraction activities on Akonta Mining’s concession without securing the required approval from Ghana’s Minister of Lands and Natural Resources.

    The conviction has drawn an immediate and furious response from NPP leadership, who have denounced the ruling as a politically motivated attack aimed at intimidating opposition figures. NPP General Secretary Justin Kodua Frimpong told reporters shortly after the verdict that the national campaign against illegal mining loses all credibility when it exclusively targets political opponents, particularly in cases where he claims evidence of wrongdoing does not hold up. Frimpong further alleged that the presiding judge ignored clear, exculpatory evidence that would have cleared Boasiako of all charges. The opposition party has already begun legal proceedings to appeal the conviction, Frimpong confirmed.

    Ghana holds the title of Africa’s top gold producer, but the widespread proliferation of unregulated illegal mining has caused severe, lasting damage to the country’s ecosystems: vast swathes of protected forest have been cleared, and major waterways have been contaminated with toxic mercury used in small-scale gold extraction, posing major risks to both public health and agricultural production. Successive Ghanaian governments have attempted to crack down on galamsey, even deploying military forces to shut down illegal operations, but these efforts have so far failed to curb the practice’s growth.

    While the ruling has sparked political outrage, environmental and human rights advocates have welcomed Boasiako’s conviction as a landmark step toward holding powerful figures accountable for environmental destruction. Adib Saani, executive director of the Jatikay Centre for Human Security and Peace Building, noted that the conviction sends an unmistakeable message: accountability is non-negotiable if Ghana is to protect its irreplaceable natural resources, from old-growth forests to critical river systems. Saani added that the ruling should act as a strong deterrent to other politicians and business leaders who secretly finance illegal mining operations across the country.

  • LIV Golf suffers setback with Asian Tour joining new alliance with European and PGA tours

    LIV Golf suffers setback with Asian Tour joining new alliance with European and PGA tours

    The landscape of global professional golf shifted dramatically on Tuesday, as the PGA Tour, DP World Tour (the commercial brand of the European Tour) and Asian Tour unveiled a new multi-year strategic alliance that immediately casts fresh uncertainty over the future of Saudi-backed rival LIV Golf. The partnership, which took effect immediately and runs through 2029, marks a significant realignment of the sport’s governing structure, and directly disrupts the business ties the Asian Tour has maintained with LIV since the breakaway league launched in 2022.

    Under the terms of the new alliance, the PGA Tour and DP World Tour will work alongside the Asian Tour to expand commercial opportunities and playing pathways for golfers across the region. A core component of the deal restores the co-sanctioning relationship between the European circuit and Asian Tour that was halted in 2022 – the partnership will see at least two co-hosted events held annually over the next three years, with additional provisions being finalized to grant Asian Tour players access to DP World Tour and Challenge Tour competitions, and create a clear progression route for top Asian players to compete on global elite circuits. This three-tour partnership also builds on the existing alliance between the PGA Tour and DP World Tour, which has been in negotiation for a renewed long-term deal, and follows the PGA Tour’s recent expanded involvement with the Australian Open as the sport moves to elevate leading national open championships.

    Industry observers have widely framed the announcement as a major setback for LIV Golf, which poured $300 million into the Asian Tour in 2021 to launch its International Series – a slate of events offering purses up to $2 million that have been dominated by LIV contracted players including Peter Uihlein, Carlos Ortiz and David Puig. The new alliance pulls the Asian Tour back into the fold of the established global golf structure, ending the independent partnership that LIV has relied on to expand its footprint in Asia.

    Tuesday’s news is just the latest in a string of challenges for the breakaway league. Just one day prior, reports emerged that Canadian tech firm Mobii Systems Group has filed a $925,100 breach of contract lawsuit against LIV at the U.S. District Court in Miami. The company, which provided LIV’s signature “Any Shot, Any Time” broadcast technology, alleges the league has failed to pay outstanding service fees, and is also seeking $209,531 in lost revenue for the remaining six events on LIV’s 2026 schedule. Court documents include a May 25 email from LIV Golf Senior Vice President of Technology Nick Connor, which confirmed the league would discontinue use of Mobii’s technology after the May 31 South Korea event, as it undertakes a broad review of its operating model amid financial uncertainty.

    That financial uncertainty stems from a recent announcement from the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, LIV’s primary financial backer, which confirmed it will end funding for the league after the 2026 season. LIV CEO Scott O’Neil has since been engaged in an ongoing search for new external investors to keep the league operational through 2027 and beyond.

    Leaders of the three allied tours have framed the new partnership as a unifying step for the future of global professional golf. Cho Minn Thant, Commissioner and CEO of the Asian Tour, emphasized the benefits of the alignment for the region’s golf ecosystem. “We feel the time is now right to collaborate with the DP World Tour and PGA Tour to enhance the Asian Tour for our members, fans and partners,” he said. “Bringing the three tours together under one partnership will increase the bandwidth of the professional game in Asia. Not only will co-sanctioning events see our members competing regularly on the global stage, but we are excited to welcome players from the other Tours to our pinnacle events.”

    Christian Hardy, Senior Vice President of International for the PGA Tour, echoed that sentiment, noting the alliance represents a shared commitment to growing the sport. “Through our strategic alliance with the DP World Tour, we have worked to build a more connected global golf ecosystem, and we are excited to welcome the Asian Tour into that effort,” Hardy said. “Together, we are creating new opportunities for players, enhancing key national opens around the world and continuing to evolve and strengthen pathways to identify and develop the next generation of elite talent.”

  • Traffic officers arrested for allegedly seeking bribe from Nigeria’s anti-corruption boss

    Traffic officers arrested for allegedly seeking bribe from Nigeria’s anti-corruption boss

    In a striking case of accidental overreach that has shone a harsh spotlight on systemic police corruption in Nigeria, four local police officers are now facing internal disciplinary action after targeting the wrong victim for an illegal extortion racket: the leader of one of the West African nation’s leading anti-graft watchdogs.

    Musa Aliyu, who heads Nigeria’s Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), has publicly alleged that the officers stopped his vehicle on a busy road in the country’s capital Abuja this past Saturday, before coercing him into withdrawing 53,000 naira — equivalent to roughly £45 or $38 — from an adjacent ATM. The confrontation unfolded after the officers abandoned their official assigned posts to set up an unauthorised roadblock for the purpose of extracting illegal payments from passing motorists, according to Nigeria’s Police Commissioner Ahmed Sanusi.

    The disciplinary process now underway could result in the immediate dismissal of all four officers from the national police force. While cases of illegal police extortion are widely reported across Nigeria, few ever result in formal prosecution or public disciplinary action, making this incident an unusual deviation from the norm.

    Aliyu’s official report of the encounter to police leadership prompted what Sanusi described as an intelligence-led operation that quickly led to the arrest of the alleged ringleader, followed by the apprehension of the three other involved officers. In a detailed recounting of the incident to BBC Hausa, Aliyu walked through the step-by-step encounter that unfolded after the officers flagged him down.

    “When I stopped, a policeman came to my car door. I wound down the window, and he told me to open my car, so I did,” Aliyu told the outlet. After the officer entered the vehicle, he demanded Aliyu’s driver’s license, then claimed the anti-corruption chief had violated local traffic rules and threatened to take him to court. When Aliyu agreed to go to court, the officer pivoted to extortion, claiming a court fine would cost 52,000 naira and suggesting Aliyu would prefer to pay a bribe to avoid wasting his time as a senior public figure.

    Aliyu initially offered to transfer the funds to the officer’s personal bank account, a proposal the officer rejected out of fear the transaction would leave a traceable financial record. The anti-corruption chief was then forced to accompany the officer to a nearby cash machine to withdraw the full sum in cash.

    Nigeria’s national police leadership has issued a harsh condemnation of the officers’ alleged conduct, issuing a clear warning that systemic abuses of power will no longer be tolerated within the force. “You have to choose: either a policeman or a thief,” Sanusi said in a statement following the arrests. “You cannot be both. If you fail to choose, your actions will determine where you belong.”

    This report includes additional contributions from journalist Badariyya Kalarawi.

  • GB’s Richardson unfazed by any Australia animosity

    GB’s Richardson unfazed by any Australia animosity

    As the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow approach, track cycling star Matt Richardson is ready to set aside the public uproar that followed his high-profile switch of national allegiances from Australia to Great Britain, and focus on defending the two gold medals he won while competing for Australia four years ago.

    Born in Maidstone, Kent, Richardson moved to Australia with his family at age 9 and held dual Australian-British citizenship for decades. His career-altering decision to change his cycling registration to Great Britain came just days after he claimed two silver medals and one bronze for Australia at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. The Australian cycling federation responded with a permanent ban barring Richardson from ever rejoining the national team, a move that sparked widespread debate across the global cycling community.

    Now, 27-year-old Richardson says he has intentionally tuned out the criticism surrounding his switch and moved forward with his career. “I tried to block out all the negativity, and all the noise,” he told BBC Radio Kent in an exclusive interview. “I experienced the way they decided to handle it at the time, and moved on as quickly as I could. Ultimately, it has zero effect on me. If, for some reason, the British public didn’t take it well, that wouldn’t have been very good, but it wasn’t the case.”

    Since joining Team GB, Richardson’s on-track results have strongly validated his career choice, with a string of landmark performances that have cemented his status as one of the world’s top track sprinters. He followed his Paris Olympic success with two silver medals in the individual sprint and team sprint events at the 2025 UCI Track Cycling World Championships, before going on to claim both the European sprint and keirin titles later that year. Most notably, Richardson made history by breaking the men’s flying 200m time trial world record twice, becoming the first sprinter ever to clock a time under the nine-second barrier.

    Richardson attributes his rapid recent improvement to the enhanced support, resources and training infrastructure available through British Cycling. “No expense is spared when it comes to trying to achieve success, and it really feels like that,” he explained. “We fly with more bikes, and more equipment – anything we need to perform at our absolute best at a given race. I remember doing World Cups for Australia, and I would only fly over with my race bike. I fly to races now with about four or five bikes. I’ve got spares, I’ve got bikes for team sprint, I’ve got bikes for sprint, I’ve got a road bike, I’ve got a bike that I just warm up on for activations. Those things really make a difference, when a final comes down to a thousandth of a second.”

    Heading into the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, Richardson is not daunted by the target on his back as defending champion in both the individual and team sprint events, nor by the fact that he will now compete against his former Australian teammates. Instead, he channels that extra pressure into motivation. “I use it as fuel,” he said. “I always find motivation in something, whether it’s trying to hunt someone down, trying to be better than someone or trying to stay better than other people.”

    The only major uncertainty hanging over Richardson’s Commonwealth Games campaign is his tight competition schedule, which requires him to travel directly to Glasgow from a race event in Japan. This leaves his participation in the full slate of events he planned to enter in question. “It’s nip-and-tuck on which events I can actually make,” Richardson admitted. “If I was to race in the team sprint, I will fly in on the day and literally go straight to the velodrome and race. Whether or not that’s the best thing to be doing physically, I’m undecided yet, but there is theoretically time for me to race everything. My plan currently is to race in the team sprint, keirin and the sprint. The kilo is undecided. If I do race everything, the goal is to win everything.”