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  • Judiciary wrap: South Sydney rocked by fresh blow as David Fifita cops two-match ban at the judiciary

    Judiciary wrap: South Sydney rocked by fresh blow as David Fifita cops two-match ban at the judiciary

    The South Sydney Rabbitohs’ bid to secure a spot in the NRL finals has been hit by a devastating triple setback, just days out from their critical round clash against the Melbourne Storm. The biggest blow came Tuesday night, when experienced starting forward David Fifita saw his appeal against a dangerous contact charge dismissed by the NRL judiciary, resulting in a two-match suspension that rules him out of Friday’s high-stakes game. The roster crisis deepens with two more key back-row forwards already sidelined by injury: Tallis Duncan is out with a hamstring strain, while captain Cameron Murray will miss the encounter with a calf injury. Young forward Thomas Fletcher is now the leading candidate to step into Fifita’s starting edge position, leaving the Rabbitohs severely depleted in one of their most impactful position groups.

    The charge against Fifita stems from an incident during the Rabbitohs’ recent clash with the Canberra Raiders, early in the second half. While tackling Raiders forward Hudson Young, Fifita made contact with the back of Young’s head with his foot. The contact was not penalized by on-field officials at the time, but the match review panel later issued a Grade 2 dangerous contact charge. Had Fifita accepted an early guilty plea, he would have received a one-match suspension. Instead, he entered a guilty plea but contested the grading, launching an appeal at Rugby League Central to reduce the charge’s severity.

    Fifita’s legal team, led by experienced sports defense counsel Nick Ghabar, argued that the incident was not a deliberate dangerous action. Ghabar told the judiciary panel, made up of former NRL players Tony Puletua and Paul Simpkins, that Young had pushed himself upward off the tackle, which exaggerated the extent of the contact. He emphasized there was no deliberate, separate kicking movement: Fifita had no planted foot to generate a conventional kicking action, no intentional movement to strike Young, and no follow-through after the contact, he claimed. Ghabar also noted that both the on-field referee and touch judge had an unobstructed view of the incident and chose not to issue a penalty, and drew a comparison to a 2024 Grade 1 charge involving St George Illawarra Dragons winger Tyrell Sloan, who kicked Sydney Roosters playmaker Sam Walker in the head during a match.

    NRL counsel Lachlan Gyles pushed back against the comparison, arguing that the 2024 incident was a fundamentally different scenario. Gyles noted that Sloan had been trapped in a tackle and was attempting to free himself to play the ball, a common in-game scenario that amounted to a lower level of carelessness. By contrast, Gyles argued, the momentum of the tackle involving Fifita and Young had already come to a complete stop before the contact occurred, eliminating any mitigating context. He told the panel the contact created an unreasonable risk of serious injury to Young, the level of Fifita’s carelessness was far higher than the 2024 case, and there were no mitigating factors to justify a lower grading. “It’s very hard to justify a movement that shows what you can see on that still. It has to be more than a low level of carelessness,” Gyles stated.

    After deliberation, the two-person panel unanimously rejected Fifita’s appeal to downgrade the charge, upholding the Grade 2 ruling that brings an automatic two-match suspension. The suspension comes at a critical time for the Rabbitohs, who are fighting to secure a top-eight finish and a spot in the 2024 NRL finals. With three of their top four back-row options all sidelined for Friday’s clash against a premiership-contending Storm side, coach Wayne Bennett — who appeared in support of Fifita at the judiciary hearing alongside South Sydney football manager Jason Clark — will now be forced to field a much-changed forward pack in one of the team’s most important matches of the regular season.

  • Why World Cup can be game-changer for ambitious MLS

    Why World Cup can be game-changer for ambitious MLS

    The 2026 FIFA World Cup has created an unprecedented wave of football enthusiasm across the United States, and Major League Soccer (MLS) is seizing this moment to turn a one-time tournament hype into long-term growth as it pushes to join the ranks of the world’s top elite football leagues. Leading the charge is global icon Lionel Messi, alongside other top stars like Son Heung-min and David Beckham, who are fronting a new national advertising campaign with the bold rallying cry: “Thanks world, We’ll take it from here.”

    The campaign targets the millions of new football fans who tuned into the 2026 World Cup, inviting them to follow the sport as MLS’s regular season resumes and even offering complimentary tickets to first-time attendees. For league executives, the World Cup’s massive domestic success has delivered a once-in-a-generation momentum that MLS is eager to capitalize on. “The World Cup has now exposed millions of people to Major League Soccer,” said Dan Courtemanche, MLS executive vice-president who joined the organization back in 1995, before the league even played its first match. “We’re going to continue to capitalise on that momentum.”

    This moment of opportunity is decades in the making. Ironically, MLS itself is a legacy of the 1994 World Cup, when FIFA required the U.S. to launch a top-tier professional football league as a condition of awarding the country hosting rights. When the league kicked off in 1996, it operated with just 10 teams and not a single purpose-built football stadium. Thirty years on, MLS has expanded to 30 clubs, nearly all of which play in their own football-specific venues.

    The 2026 World Cup defied all early skeptics to deliver record-breaking viewership and fan engagement across the U.S. Despite widespread predictions of empty stadiums due to sky-high ticket prices, every venue sold out and packed crowds turned out for matches. Even after the U.S. men’s national team was eliminated from the tournament, broadcast ratings remained at historic levels. The U.S.’s round of 16 defeat to Belgium became the most-watched single-network football match in U.S. history, drawing more than 33 million viewers on Fox. Meanwhile, England’s round of 16 win over Mexico drew a combined 45 million viewers across English-language Fox and Spanish-language Telemundo, making it the most-watched football match of any kind in U.S. history. While these numbers still fall short of the 127.7 million viewers that tuned into the 2025 Super Bowl, they put top World Cup matches on par with popular NFL regular season and playoff contests, marking a massive milestone for football in the U.S.

    For years, MLS has harbored ambitions to grow into a global elite league on par with Europe’s top competitions. Commissioner Don Garber noted at a recent future-focused league event that MLS has already achieved major commercial success. “I think we’re looked at as the top, one of the top leagues commercially,” Garber said. “We’ve cracked that code. Now we’ve got to crack the rest of it.”

    Already, the league is making major strides to shake off its outdated reputation as a retirement home for aging European superstars. A total of 45 MLS players featured at the 2026 World Cup, including two Argentine stars who started in the final: Messi and Rodrigo de Paul. Courtemanche pointed out that the narrative of MLS as a destination for post-peak legends is no longer accurate: the average age of new international signings to the league is now just 23.8 years old, with many young talents using MLS as a springboard to future moves to European leagues. To facilitate that player movement and align with global football calendars, MLS will shift to a summer-to-spring season structure starting in 2027, matching the schedule used across most of Europe. The league is also pouring investment into youth development, with every MLS club operating a full youth academy to nurture homegrown talent.

    During the World Cup, at a LA Galaxy-hosted public viewing party for the U.S. national team match against Bosnia-Herzegovina, dozens of young players ignored the big screen to compete in informal pickup matches on adjacent pitches, a testament to the growing grassroots interest in the sport. Eight-year-old Landon, named for U.S. football legend Landon Donovan, already dreams of playing professionally for LAFC one day, after attending MLS youth camps and playing on elite travel teams.

    Still, critics argue that MLS faces structural barriers to competing with Europe’s top leagues, most notably the pervasive “pay-to-play” culture in U.S. youth development. While top-tier MLS academies offer free training, similar to European clubs, young players typically need to pay thousands of dollars for private coaching and travel team participation to even get scouted by academy programs. League officials counter that the youth development system is constantly evolving, and all clubs offer need-based scholarships for talented low-income players. Garber emphasized that the league is committed to improving its youth pipelines to produce more talent for the U.S. men’s national team and strengthen the league long-term.

    Off the pitch, MLS has already become a wildly successful commercial enterprise, with celebrity ownership driving growing mainstream appeal. Messi is the league’s biggest current draw, but dozens of A-list entertainers and sports legends hold ownership stakes across MLS clubs, including Will Ferrell and Magic Johnson (LAFC), Reese Witherspoon (Nashville SC), and Matthew McConaughey (Austin FC). The financial growth of the league has been staggering: when Drew Carey became an original owner of the expansion Seattle Sounders in 2009, the club paid a $30 million expansion fee; today, the Sounders are valued at more than $900 million. David Beckham secured an option to buy an expansion franchise for just $25 million as part of his 2007 LA Galaxy contract; his Inter Miami CF, boosted by the signing of Messi, is now valued at more than $1 billion.

    Despite the current World Cup-fueled football frenzy across the U.S., skepticism remains that football will ever displace American football as the country’s top sport. Brian Udovich, whose 12-year-old son plays in an elite MLS youth league in Southern California, noted that many talented young players switch to American football as teenagers, drawn by the massive cultural hype and institutional support. Friday night high school American football games draw thousands of fans, feature marching bands and cheerleaders, and turn top players into local celebrities, while youth football matches are often low-key Saturday morning events attended only by family.

    But longtime American football insiders argue that the 2026 World Cup has permanently shifted football’s place in U.S. culture. New York Red Bulls coach Michael Bradley noted that for decades, the sport labored under an inferiority complex that it would never truly take root in the U.S. “We don’t have the long, storied football history that other countries do. I think for a long time that led to an inferiority complex that maybe football would never really survive in the United States,” Bradley told reporters. Today, that narrative has changed: “I think we can all unequivocally say in 2026, football is not going anywhere.”

  • Japan raises safety concern over Chinese destroyer’s live-fire drills

    Japan raises safety concern over Chinese destroyer’s live-fire drills

    TOKYO — Tensions have flared in the Pacific Ocean after Japanese officials confirmed Tuesday that Tokyo has formally conveyed diplomatic concern to Beijing over a Sunday live-fire exercise conducted by a Chinese navy guided-missile destroyer, held within a disputed maritime zone off a remote Japanese-controlled island.

    According to Japan’s Joint Staff, the drill involved a Chinese Luyang III-class guided-missile destroyer, carried out approximately 110 miles southwest of Okinotori, Japan’s southernmost island. The exercise took place within what Japan designates as its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) — a maritime area extending beyond national territorial waters where the country holds exclusive rights to natural resources. Hours before the live-fire activity, Japanese maritime forces detected the Chinese destroyer operating alongside two additional Chinese warships and one Russian frigate as part of a continuing joint Sino-Russian patrol in the region.

    Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara told reporters Tuesday that the Japanese government views the drills as a potential hazard to civilian and military maritime traffic passing through the area. Kihara added that Chinese vessels only issued a safety notification to nearby ships immediately before the live-fire exercise began, leaving little time for vessels to reroute or adjust their courses.

    “We will continue to watch China-Russia operations around Japan with concern, while doing utmost for the warning and surveillance of the Japanese airspace and territorial waters,” Kihara said in his official press briefing.

    The incident comes amid a steady rise in Japanese anxiety over expanding Sino-Russian military cooperation in the Indo-Pacific. Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi highlighted growing risks during a speech delivered in London on Monday, pointing to Sunday’s drill as clear evidence of deepening military ties between Beijing and Moscow. Koizumi also referenced other recent combined activities, including a Chinese submarine-launched ballistic missile test conducted earlier this month and no fewer than 10 joint bomber flights by Chinese and Russian air forces routed around Japanese territory over recent months.

    Tokyo’s concern has been mounting for years over China’s expanding military footprint in the Pacific. Last year marked a notable turning point, when Japanese defense forces detected two Chinese aircraft carriers conducting near-simultaneous operations off Iwo Jima, another southern Japanese island — the first time such large-scale deployments had been recorded so far from China’s mainland, and a move that reinforced Tokyo’s fears of Beijing’s growing strategic reach beyond its claimed borders.

    A key layer of dispute surrounds the geography of Okinotori itself. China does not recognize Japan’s EEZ claim around the outcrop, arguing that Okinotori qualifies as an uninhabitable atoll, not a full island, and therefore cannot support a claimed extended economic maritime zone under international law.

    Contradictions also remain over the location and purpose of the exercise. Last week, China announced it had concluded formal joint naval exercises with Russia on July 13, with participating vessels moving on to conduct joint patrols across the Pacific. China’s official Xinhua News Agency has stated that recent Chinese live-fire drills with Russia were held off the eastern Chinese port city of Qingdao, hundreds of miles away from the Okinotori area. Beijing has not yet issued an official response to Japan’s specific complaint about Sunday’s activity off the island.

    In comments posted online late last week ahead of the latest incident, Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson Jiang Bin defended Sino-Russian military cooperation as a legitimate contribution to regional and global security. “China-Russia military cooperation plays an important role in safeguarding the two nations’ sovereignty and security and upholding international and regional peace and stability,” Jiang said. He added that Beijing hopes other countries will “view China-Russia military cooperation objectively and rationally, and stop making groundless speculation and cease smearing and hyping.”

    Japanese defense officials confirmed that while the live-fire drill took place in the EEZ Japan claims, it did not violate existing international law. This marks the first time Tokyo has publicly confirmed detecting Chinese live-fire drills within its claimed EEZ. Prior to the off-island exercise, the four-vessel Sino-Russian combined fleet sailed south through the water gap between Japan’s main islands of Okinawa and Miyako, according to the Japanese Joint Staff.

  • Gunman sparks dramatic lockdown at Melbourne primary school

    Gunman sparks dramatic lockdown at Melbourne primary school

    A routine Tuesday school day at a Melbourne outer suburb primary school was interrupted by a sudden lockdown, triggered after an armed suspect fled the scene of a stolen vehicle crash just meters from the campus grounds on July 23. What unfolded as a morning community scare ended quickly thanks to a rapid police response, with the man taken into custody within 10 minutes of his escape attempt.

    The incident kicked off shortly after 9 a.m. along Coonans Road in Pascoe Vale South, when a stolen Volvo SUV veered off the road and crashed into a residential fence. The vehicle had been reported stolen from an address in North Melbourne a week prior, on July 16, and was fitted with fraudulent registration plates to avoid detection, according to Victoria Police.

    After the crash, the 29-year-old occupant of the car, who was alleged to be carrying a loaded firearm, fled the scene on foot. Alerts were immediately issued to local authorities, and officers descended on the area within minutes. In a swift operation that reassured local residents, the suspect was tracked down and arrested just blocks away on Parkstone Avenue, less than 10 minutes after he left the crash site. Responding officers also recovered the alleged firearm near the crash site shortly after the arrest.

    As the manhunt got underway, nearby Pascoe Vale South Primary School immediately implemented its emergency safety protocols. A Victoria Police spokesperson confirmed that the full lockdown was ordered strictly as a precautionary measure to protect hundreds of students and staff who had just arrived for classes. The lockdown remained in effect throughout the search operation, and was lifted once the suspect was confirmed to be in police custody. The 29-year-old suspect, who is a local resident of Pascoe Vale South, is now set to undergo formal questioning by investigators over the incident.

    Victoria Police have issued a public appeal for any witnesses or members of the community who have additional information about the stolen vehicle or the crash to come forward. Anyone with details can contact Crime Stoppers anonymously via the hotline 1800 333 000 or through the official Crime Stoppers website. No injuries to students, school staff or local residents were reported during the incident, and the school has since returned to normal operations.

  • Man stabs tourists near the Acropolis in Athens, Greece

    Man stabs tourists near the Acropolis in Athens, Greece

    Athens, Greece – Authorities have confirmed that a knife attack near the iconic Acropolis, Greece’s most visited cultural landmark, left two tourists wounded on Tuesday morning. The assault unfolded close to the main entrance of the Acropolis Museum, which sits at the base of the historic Acropolis hill, targeting a male and a female tourist who hold dual Greek-American citizenship.

    Local law enforcement reported that the female victim sustained minor cuts to her leg, while her male companion suffered more severe damage to his arm that required urgent hospital care. Emergency responders quickly transported both victims to a nearby medical facility for treatment, and the attacker was taken into custody at the scene within minutes of the incident.

    As of initial investigations, officials have not released confirmed details about the attacker’s identity or full background. However, preliminary assessments indicate the individual has been struggling with unaddressed mental health issues. Greece maintains a reputation as a relatively safe destination for both locals and international travelers, with violent random street attacks remaining uncommon across the country.

    The most recent high-profile violent incident in the capital prior to this attack dates back to April, when an 89-year-old man was arrested following a shooting that left four people injured at a central Athens social security office and adjacent courthouse. Investigators noted at the time that the attack was motivated by personal grievances over social security benefits.

    The Acropolis hill, home to the 2,500-year-old Parthenon temple and a collection of other ancient archaeological monuments, draws millions of international travelers to Athens every year. In 2023 alone, the site recorded approximately 4.6 million visitor arrivals, underscoring its status as a cornerstone of Greece’s tourism industry.

  • A baby trafficking ring has been convicted – but what now for the babies?

    A baby trafficking ring has been convicted – but what now for the babies?

    After a months-long judicial investigation into a notorious infant trafficking operation in Indonesia, a court has handed down guilty convictions for all 19 accused members of the criminal network. The ring, which authorities say trafficked at least 34 infants over several years, has been dismantled through coordinated law enforcement action, bringing a measure of accountability for the illegal scheme that shocked the nation.

    While the convictions mark a key milestone in holding perpetrators accountable for their crimes, a critical, unresolved question lingers in the aftermath of the ruling: what will become of the 34 babies who were rescued from the trafficking network? Court proceedings focused exclusively on building the case against the accused and securing convictions, with no discussion or decision issued on the long-term care, placement, and legal status of the rescued children.

    Child welfare advocates and local authorities have yet to outline a clear roadmap for the infants, many of whom have already spent months in temporary care facilities following the dismantling of the ring. The lack of a formal plan has raised concerns among experts about the long-term developmental and social outcomes for these children, who have already experienced trauma from being separated from their birth families and exploited by the criminal network. Stakeholders are now calling for urgent action from national child protection agencies to coordinate permanent, safe placement, whether through reunification with biological family members where possible or ethical, regulated adoption that prioritizes the children’s best interests.

  • ‘I’ll say the same thing’: Mitchell Moses shuts down questions about Jarome Luai as Eels fans get excited for 2027

    ‘I’ll say the same thing’: Mitchell Moses shuts down questions about Jarome Luai as Eels fans get excited for 2027

    As the Parramatta Eels prepare to take on the red-hot Penrith Panthers this Thursday, all eyes have been on veteran halfback Mitchell Moses for more than just his on-field performance. Last week, the NRL club made a high-profile announcement: star five-eighth Jarome Luai will join the Eels on a one-year deal in 2027, before moving to Papua New Guinea to take up a marquee spot with the newly established PNG Chiefs for their inaugural Super Rugby Pacific campaign. However, when reporters pressed Moses on Luai’s impending arrival during a Tuesday media briefing, the Eels skipper repeatedly shut down all inquiries, emphasizing his immediate focus rests solely on the upcoming match.

    Moses and Luai already share experience as halves partners for the New South Wales Blues in State of Origin, having lined up together for three matches with a solid 2-1 win record that includes a decisive victory in the 2024 Origin decider. Despite this existing on-field chemistry, Moses remained tight-lipped about what the pairing will look like at club level when Luai joins Parramatta. “It’s exciting for next year, but that’s next year. We’ve got a job to do this week,” Moses told reporters. “We haven’t been up to scratch lately, so we’ve got to be better against a Penrith side that’s in outstanding form right now.”

    Pressed on what Luai will bring to the Eels’ squad, Moses added: “He’s not here yet, so I’m not too sure about at clubland what he brings. It was good in the Origin arena, but we’ll have to worry about that next year. I’m not sure why we gelled so well there – you’re playing with quality players in that environment, you do your job, and everything else sorts itself out.” The Eels captain also refused to engage in playful speculation about which of the two star playmakers would take the leading “Batman” role and which would serve as the supporting “Robin” in their 2027 partnership.

    Moses also pushed back on suggestions that the Eels have become a temporary “halfway house” for playmakers, pointing to the club’s recent signing of Jonah Pezet, who will also spend one season at Parramatta before moving to the Brisbane Broncos. When reporters continued to press for more details on Luai’s signing and the upcoming partnership, Moses held firm to his focus on the immediate match. “That’s next year, we’ll worry about that next year. We’ve got a job to do this week, and all the Jarome stuff, that’ll be happening next year. You can start talking about that November 1, guys. You’re not going to get much more out of me here. If you want to go again, you can go again and ask again, and I’ll say the same thing.”

    Thursday’s match will mark Moses’ first game since the Blues’ shock Origin decider victory, and he will go head-to-head against his NSW Origin halves partner Nathan Cleary, who currently plays for Penrith. The two could reunite as teammates later this year for the Rugby League World Cup, and Moses was full of praise for Cleary, who silenced widespread critics with a standout performance in the 2024 Origin decider. “He’s probably the best player in the comp right around at the moment,” Moses said. “To go up against him will be special and a great test for us as a group. We’ve just got to put an 80-minute performance in. I don’t think we’ve really done that this year, and we’ll be looking to do that this week.”

    Moses also expressed his support for Cleary amid the pre-decider criticism. “I was rapt for him. He copped a lot of abuse, which was unwarranted, and he just put that to bed. I was really happy for him, he was outstanding in that game three.”

  • Teenage rider left laying on road after crash between e-scooter and car in Berala

    Teenage rider left laying on road after crash between e-scooter and car in Berala

    A shocking hit-and-run collision between a teen e-scooter rider and a passenger vehicle has left a Sydney family pleading for answers, two weeks after the incident left the teenager hospitalized and in severe pain. The crash unfolded at the busy intersection of Oxford Street and Mount Auburn Road in the Sydney suburb of Berala just before 5:20 p.m. on July 8, and the entire event was captured on nearby closed-circuit television footage.

    Surveillance footage shows the 16-year-old rider traveling south along Oxford Street before crossing into the intersection, where he collided with a white hatchback that was entering the junction from Mount Auburn Road. Immediately after the impact, the driver of the hatchback did not stop to provide assistance or exchange information, instead leaving the injured teenager crumpled and motionless on the asphalt.

    The crash left the teen with multiple serious injuries, including persistent chest and head pain that has left him unable to recover normally. Two weeks on from the incident, his mother — who has chosen to remain unnamed — has launched a public appeal to the driver responsible to turn themselves in to authorities, as New South Wales Police continue their ongoing investigation into the hit-and-run.

    In an interview with 7News, the mother described the moment she learned of the crash as “very, very scary”, and shared that her son has struggled to recover both physically and psychologically from the incident. “He’s not coping mentally, he’s not coping physically,” she said. “He’s in a lot of pain, spending the time he’s not in hospital or getting scans done on the bed.”

    In the immediate aftermath of the collision, the teenager’s family rushed him to hospital for emergency care, and did not contact police to report the incident until the following morning on July 9. Since then, the mother has launched her own desperate search for more details, door-knocking nearby homes to speak with residents who may have witnessed the crash, and turned over all existing CCTV footage of the incident to investigating officers.

    A NSW Police spokesperson confirmed that officers from the Auburn Police Area Command officially opened an investigation into the collision after receiving the formal report on July 9. “Police were told about 5:15 p.m. on Wednesday, July 8, a 16-year-old boy was riding an e-scooter southbound on Oxford Street, Berala, before he collided with a white hatchback near the intersection of Mount Auburn Road,” the spokesperson said in a statement. After the collision, NSW Ambulance paramedics responded to the scene to treat the injured teen before transporting him to Auburn Hospital for further care. Police confirmed the teenager’s injuries are not considered life-threatening.

  • Blacksmith to join Danish Viking anchor project

    Blacksmith to join Danish Viking anchor project

    For nearly 15 years, Rowan Taylor has honed his craft as a blacksmith based in Ellesmere, Shropshire, and this summer he is set to embark on what he describes as the professional opportunity of a lifetime. Taylor and two colleagues from the UK’s National School of Blacksmithing (NSB) have been invited to join an international experimental archaeology initiative in Aggersborg, Denmark, tasked with forging a fully functional, historically accurate 8th-century-style anchor for a reconstructed Viking longship named Huld.

    The project, led by world-renowned bloomery iron specialist Jens Olesen, was first conceptualized during informal discussions at the close of Denmark’s annual historic market season, when Olesen and organizers from the Aggersborg Viking Craft Meeting began brainstorming an ambitious large-scale forging project that would strictly adhere to authentic Viking-era materials and methods. Olesen, who had previously collaborated with Taylor on archaeological projects in Ireland, said he immediately thought of the British blacksmith when the anchor project moved forward. Taylor, who has spent years researching ancient Viking anchor design and forging techniques, admitted he jumped at the offer the second it was extended: “I nearly bit Jens’ hand off” to secure the role, he told the BBC.

    What sets this project apart from museum replicas is its uncompromising commitment to historical accuracy: rather than relying on modern steel or 19th-century Victorian wrought iron, the team will work exclusively with bloomery iron, the exact low-carbon ferrous material Viking smiths used to craft tools and hardware more than 1,200 years ago. When complete, the anchor will measure 70 centimeters tall and weigh approximately 10 kilograms, making it one of the largest single objects forged from bloomery iron produced since the early 1800s, according to Taylor.

    Beyond creating a decorative display piece, the team aims to produce a fully operational anchor that will be permanently installed on the Huld, a reconstructed Viking vessel that sails from Aggersborg. For Taylor, the project is a rare chance to test years of academic observations and archaeological research in a real-world setting, rather than leaving the findings locked in academic papers or displayed as static museum pieces. “Just having this anchor on a boat will allow us to test its capability… we can then compare whatever data comes out of that to the archaeological record and ongoing research,” he explained. He added that he hopes to confirm his theories about traditional Viking joinery techniques, proving they are not just historically plausible but structurally sound for everyday use.

    Taylor, who works as a course tutor at the NSB based at Holme Lacy College near Hereford, is bringing two additional members of the school’s team along for the project: fellow tutor Mischa Kunkel and technician Ernestas Jakubauskas. While the Aggersborg Anchor Project remains an independent initiative, Taylor credits the UK’s world-leading blacksmith training programs for giving his team the specialized skills needed to take on the unique challenge. “The UK probably has the best blacksmith training in the world,” he noted, explaining why he believes the international team reached out to UK craftspeople for the work.

    With preparations complete, Taylor said he has spent weeks counting down the days until he departs for Denmark, describing the assignment as a long-awaited “dream work trip” that aligns perfectly with his years of research into ancient Norse craft traditions. The finished anchor is expected to be installed on the Huld later this year, where it will contribute to ongoing global research into Viking maritime technology.

  • Asian shares mostly gain and South Korea and Japan recover some losses from AI stock sell-offs

    Asian shares mostly gain and South Korea and Japan recover some losses from AI stock sell-offs

    After a sharp sell-off of artificial intelligence-linked equities that dragged down major regional benchmarks in recent weeks, most Asian stock markets staged a notable rebound during Tuesday’s trading session, while U.S. futures ticked modestly upward and global crude prices edged lower amid ongoing Middle East geopolitical instability.

    South Korea’s benchmark Kospi index, which has a heavy concentration of AI and semiconductor manufacturing stocks, led the recovery with a 4.7% jump to close at 6,821.41. This strong gain came one day after the index dropped 4.5%, and reverses part of the broader 20% correction the Kospi has seen over the past month. Despite the recent pullback, the index has still delivered a total gain of more than 50% since the start of the year. The sell-off was driven by investor profit-taking, fueled by growing concerns that AI-focused investments may have formed a speculative bubble. Leading the upward move on Tuesday, Samsung Electronics surged 7.4%, while major memory chip producer SK Hynix climbed 6.4%.

    In Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 2.8% to reach 65,926.41, recovering a portion of last week’s losses after Japanese markets were closed for a public holiday on Monday. Chip-related stocks also led gains in Tokyo: memory manufacturer Kioxia Holdings jumped 15.9%, chip testing equipment maker Advantest rose 6.9%, OpenAI investor SoftBank Group added 6.1%, and chip equipment producer Tokyo Electron gained 1.3%. Further along the Asian tech supply chain, Taiwan’s Taiex index, which has also outperformed this year amid the global AI boom, climbed 3.6%, with leading advanced AI chip manufacturer TSMC advancing 2.8%.

    In other East Asian markets, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index edged less than 0.1% higher to 25,150.75, while mainland China’s Shanghai Composite Index added 0.6% to 3,819.66. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 notched a modest 0.1% gain to 8,798.00, while India’s Sensex ticked 0.1% lower in Tuesday trading.

    Global oil prices slipped lower in early Tuesday trading after rising in the prior session. International benchmark Brent crude fell 0.7% to $88.63 per barrel, dipping below the $90 threshold, while U.S. benchmark crude lost 0.3% to trade at $82.24 per barrel. Even with the drop, both benchmarks remain far above levels seen before the outbreak of regional conflict in late February, when Brent traded around $72 per barrel.

    Oil price movements come amid escalating and sustained geopolitical tension across the Middle East. Early Tuesday, Iran launched an attack on another commercial tanker transiting the Strait of Hormuz, the critical global chokepoint that carries roughly a fifth of the world’s daily oil and gas supplies. The U.S. has launched its 10th consecutive night of airstrikes targeting Iranian assets, and Iran has retaliated against U.S. allies across the region. In a tentative step toward diplomacy, Iran’s interior minister traveled to Pakistan, a key regional mediator, for talks aimed at de-escalation, though it remains unclear whether any negotiated breakthrough can be reached.

    “In the current environment, there is some hope that tensions between the U.S. and Iran can cool,” ING commodities strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey noted in a Tuesday market commentary. They added, “This will not be a straightforward process, however, as deep divisions still remain between the two sides.” The analysts also pointed to added supply risk from another ongoing conflict: a naval blockade imposed by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement on Saudi shipping has raised the threat of disruptions to global oil exports.

    On Wall Street, major U.S. benchmarks closed slightly lower in Monday’s session: the S&P 500 slipped 0.2% to 7,443.28, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.6% to 51,839.26, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dipped less than 0.1% to 25,508.07. Even with the overall minor dip for the benchmark indexes, many leading U.S. AI and chip stocks posted gains: Nvidia rose 0.2%, Micron Technology climbed 1.9%, Broadcom gained 2%, and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) added 1.6% following the announcement of an expanded AI partnership with Microsoft. In currency markets Tuesday, the U.S. dollar edged slightly lower to 162.48 Japanese yen, down from 162.50 yen on Monday, while the euro held steady at $1.1414.

    This report was contributed to by AP Business Writers Stan Choe and Matt Ott.