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  • Israel kills chief of Hamas armed wing in Gaza strike

    Israel kills chief of Hamas armed wing in Gaza strike

    In a targeted strike that has further escalated tensions amid a fragile current ceasefire, Israel announced Wednesday that it has killed Mohammed Odeh, the newly appointed leader of Hamas’s Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian militant group. Odeh’s assassination marks the fourth time Israel has eliminated the top commander of the Brigades since the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023, underscoring Israel’s sustained campaign to decapitate Hamas’s leadership structure.

    Odeh was appointed to the role just weeks earlier, following the Israeli killing of his predecessor Ezzedine al-Haddad on May 15. The confirmation of his death came in a joint statement from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Shin Bet domestic security agency, which noted Odeh was killed in a strike on Tuesday. Hamas later publicly confirmed Odeh’s death, referring to him as a martyred leader of the Palestinian resistance in a defiant statement that condemned the attack as a “cowardly assassination.”

    The strike did not end with Odeh: the entire family was killed in the attack, including his wife and three children — two adult sons and a minor daughter. The assassination took place during Eid al-Adha, one of the most important religious holidays in the Muslim calendar. Bassem Abu Odeh, a cousin of the deceased leader, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that Odeh and his family had been making preparations to celebrate the holiday when Israeli missiles struck their location. “They were ready to welcome Eid, but instead the criminal Zionists welcomed and targeted them with missiles,” he said.

    On Wednesday, hundreds of mourners gathered in Gaza City for Odeh’s funeral. An AFP journalist on the ground reported that an AK-47 rifle was placed atop Odeh’s casket as the procession carried his body to a local mosque for traditional funerary prayers before burial.

    Prior to taking command of the Brigades, Odeh served for years as the head of Hamas’s intelligence division and was one of the highest-ranking remaining Hamas leaders still operating in the Gaza Strip. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz reacted to the killing with characteristic belligerence, writing on social media platform X that Odeh had been “sent to meet his associates in the depths of hell.”

    The strike on Odeh came hours before the IDF announced another targeted operation in northern Gaza Wednesday evening, saying it had hit two senior Hamas operatives, identified by Israeli media as a brigade commander and his deputy. Local rescue officials from Gaza’s Hamas-run civil defence agency reported that the central Gaza City strike left 10 people dead and multiple others wounded, with a medical source confirming five children were among the fatalities.

    Odeh’s assassination is the latest in a years-long, systematic Israeli campaign to eliminate top Hamas figures across the region, launched in response to Hamas’s October 7, 2023 cross-border attack that triggered the current war. Israel has already killed a long list of senior Hamas leadership in recent months: former political chief Ismail Haniyeh, Yahya Sinwar — widely labeled the mastermind of the October 7 attack — longtime armed wing commander Mohammed Deif, and Mohammed Sinwar, who succeeded his brother Yahya as Hamas’s Gaza leader, have all been killed in Israeli strikes.

    In his social media statement, Katz reaffirmed Israel’s commitment to eliminating all Hamas leaders responsible for the October 7 attack. “We committed ourselves to eliminating everyone who led the October 7 massacre, and that is what we will do: they are all marked for death, wherever they may be,” he wrote. IDF Arabic spokeswoman Lieutenant Colonel Ella Waweya echoed that messaging, joking that the position of Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades commander “has become the shortest-lived job in Gaza.” She added, “The question is no longer who’s next — but how long they have left.”

    Katz also reiterated Israel’s core war goal of dismantling Hamas’s rule over Gaza, and alluded to a controversial Israeli plan to push for the forced displacement of Gaza’s civilian population. “The plan for voluntary migration from Gaza will also be implemented — everything will be done at the right time and in the right way,” he said. The displacement proposal is heavily backed by far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, and gained brief support from former U.S. President Donald Trump before he walked back the position. The United Nations’ top human rights official, High Commissioner Volker Turk, condemned such plans in February, denouncing proposals “aimed at making a permanent demographic change in Gaza.”

    Hezbollah, the Lebanese armed group and key Hamas ally, released a statement of condolence following Odeh’s killing, dismissing Israeli efforts to break Palestinian resistance through leadership decapitation. “All Israeli attempts to undermine this resistance by targeting its leadership and fighters will end in failure,” the group said.

    Despite a formal ceasefire that has been in place since October 10, daily violent incidents continue to rock the Gaza Strip, with both sides repeatedly accusing one another of truce violations. Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, whose casualty figures are deemed reliable by the United Nations, reports that more than 900 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli military action since the ceasefire went into effect. Israel currently maintains full military control over roughly 60 percent of the Gaza Strip, including all border entry and exit points, while the vast majority of Gaza’s civilian population is confined to a narrow coastal strip.

  • Trump appears to threaten to ‘blow up’ ally Oman

    Trump appears to threaten to ‘blow up’ ally Oman

    In a stunning verbal outburst that has sent shockwaves through diplomatic circles, former US President Donald Trump issued what appears to be an explicit military threat against Oman, a long-standing key American ally in the volatile Middle East, over ongoing negotiations to reopen the strategically critical Strait of Hormuz. The remarks, delivered during a White House cabinet meeting Wednesday, have already reignited questions about the 79-year-old leader’s inconsistent rhetoric and frequent verbal missteps amid rising tensions in the Gulf region.

    When pressed by reporters on whether he would accept a short-term agreement that would let Iran and Oman jointly manage access to the key waterway, Trump delivered a blunt and aggressive response. “No, the strait is going to be open to everybody,” he stated firmly. “It’s international waters and Oman will behave just like everybody else or we’ll have to blow them up. They understand that, they’ll be fine.”

    Immediately following the comments, reporters from Agence France-Presse reached out to the White House to ask whether Trump had misspoken, with widespread speculation that he may have intended to target Iran rather than Oman — a close security partner that has repeatedly attempted to mediate ongoing Middle East conflicts and has even faced direct attacks from Tehran in recent months. To date, the White House has not issued any correction, clarification, or walkback of the president’s remarks. The US State Department even went a step further, publishing an unedited video clip and full transcript of Trump’s comments about Oman to its official channels, with no note indicating a verbal error.

    This latest verbal gaffe fits a broader pattern of mixed-up names and locations for the president. Earlier this term, Trump confused Iran and Venezuela, incorrectly claiming that the South American nation — whose leader Nicolas Maduro was toppled by US military intervention in January — “no longer has a navy, no longer has an air force.” This aggressive phrasing of destroying a target’s military capabilities is one Trump has repeatedly deployed when referring to Iran, which was jointly attacked by US and Israeli forces on February 28.

    The current standoff centers on the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that normally carries roughly one-fifth of the world’s daily oil trade. In recent weeks, Iran has pushed to establish a new status quo at the strait, proposing a plan to charge transit tolls on passing commercial vessels and split the generated revenue with Oman. Negotiations to end the ongoing Middle East war and reopen the strait to full unimpeded transit have stalled once again, a development that has deepened Trump’s public frustration — just days after he confidently claimed a final deal was within reach.

    Diplomatic observers have noted that the uncorrected threat against Oman marks an unprecedented break with longstanding US diplomatic norms, raising concerns about the stability of American alliances in a region already roiled by months of open conflict.

  • AI chiefs walk back job apocalypse warnings

    AI chiefs walk back job apocalypse warnings

    In a sharp reversal of earlier doomsday predictions, the most high-profile leaders of the global artificial intelligence industry are walking back their dire claims that the technology would trigger widespread mass job elimination. The shift in rhetoric comes as the sector faces rising public backlash over fears of workplace disruption, particularly in the United States where polling shows growing public unease about AI-driven change.

    Two of the biggest names in AI – Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman – have both publicly acknowledged that earlier catastrophic warnings were overstated, and in some cases, intentionally misleading. Both executives have previously stoked widespread public anxiety about AI’s potential to upend the global workforce.

    Speaking with Channel News Asia on Monday, Huang directly criticized fellow tech chief executives who have publicly pinned recent corporate layoffs on AI adoption. “The narrative that connects AI to job loss, for many of the CEOs that are doing it — it is just too lazy,” Huang said. He pushed back on the timeline that links AI to recent layoffs, noting “AI has just arrived. How is it possible they’re already losing jobs?”

    Huang has long maintained that AI will create as many roles as it eliminates, and argued that recent waves of corporate downsizing have no connection to AI integration. “How is it possible that AI became productive and useful only six months ago, and they were somehow laying people off two years ago because of AI? It doesn’t make any sense,” he said. “It was just a way for them to sound smart, and I really hate that. I think we’re scaring people and that’s irresponsible.”

    Recent high-profile corporate announcements have stoked public fears, however. Last week, British multinational bank Standard Chartered revealed plans to cut thousands of roles by 2030, framing the restructuring as a direct result of AI replacing workers across a range of administrative positions. Last month, Snapchat parent company Snap cut 1,000 jobs, justifying the layoffs by noting AI is boosting operational efficiency as the company works toward consistent profitability.

    For his part, Altman issued a public mea culpa for his own earlier overblown predictions during an appearance at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s Accelerate AI Conference in Sydney this week. Speaking Tuesday, he confirmed that rapid AI advancement would not bring about the “jobs apocalypse that some of the companies in our space advocate or talk about” – a category that includes his own past commentary.

    “I thought there would have been more impact on entry-level white-collar jobs being eliminated by now than has actually happened,” Altman told the conference, according to reporting from *The Australian*. “I think I understand more about why that wasn’t done — obviously gratefully — but that is an area where my intuitions were just off.”

    Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, another longstanding AI doomer who has faced criticism from industry peers for his catastrophic predictions, has also softened his tone in recent comments. Amodei now argues that even if 90 percent of global jobs are eventually automated, the remaining 10 percent of roles held by human workers would see massive productivity gains that offset losses. Huang publicly disagreed with nearly all of Amodei’s past claims just one year ago.

    The rhetorical shift from top AI leaders comes at a key moment for the industry: both OpenAI and Anthropic are reportedly preparing for high-profile initial public offerings (IPOs), which will require widespread support from global investors to succeed. Earlier doom-laden statements have already become a liability for the sector, as polling shows significant public discontent over the projected workplace disruption that industry and political leaders have repeatedly warned about.

    Mainstream economic institutions back up the new, more measured claims from AI leaders. The European Central Bank, the most recent major economic body to weigh in, confirmed earlier this year that AI has only had a minimal impact on overall employment levels to date.

  • Live snakes, dead bears and brain worms: RFK Jr’s wild animal antics

    Live snakes, dead bears and brain worms: RFK Jr’s wild animal antics

    A newly viral video showing U.S. Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr. grabbing two writhing black snakes with his bare hands has reignited public discussion of the controversial cabinet member’s long track record of unusual, often bizarre encounters with wild animals.

    Kennedy, who has long drawn backlash for his fringe, conspiracy-tinged views on public health issues including false claims that childhood vaccines are linked to autism and unsubstantiated warnings that fluoride added to public drinking water causes harm, has built a public reputation as an eccentric figure through his many offbeat animal-related antics.

    The most recent incident, shared by Kennedy himself on the social platform X on Tuesday, shows the health secretary dressed in a formal dress shirt and tie, pulling two black racers from the corner of an outdoor patio by their tails and holding the squirming reptiles up for the camera with a smile. At one point in the footage, one of the snakes bites Kennedy, as an off-camera voice—identified in Kennedy’s caption as his wife, actress Cheryl Hines—pleads, “Bobby, Bobby, please.” Kennedy noted in his post that the snakes were removed from the patio of Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which falls under the Department of Health and Human Services that Kennedy leads.

    The National Park Service confirms that black racers are non-venomous and pose no threat to humans if left undisturbed. But snake conservation experts have issued a sharp warning against copying Kennedy’s behavior, noting that untamed snakes will often bite when handled, and misidentification of venomous vs. non-venomous species can lead to life-threatening injury.

    “What I don’t want is people copying him,” Cameron Young of the Center for Snake Conservation told Agence France-Presse. “If a kid picks up a venomous snake because RFK did, then the kid may receive a medically significant bite.”

    This viral snake video is far from the first of Kennedy’s unusual animal adventures to make headlines. In 2024, Kennedy himself admitted in a video that a decade prior, he dragged a dead bear cub killed by a car upstate New York to Central Park in Manhattan, propping it next to a bicycle to stage the appearance that the animal had died in a cycling accident. The bizarre incident baffled New York City law enforcement for years, until Kennedy confessed to the prank.

    Other stories shared by Kennedy and his family add to the eccentric image. According to an account from his daughter, Kennedy once used a chainsaw to sever the head of a dead whale that washed up on the coast of Massachusetts, then strapped the massive body part to the roof of the family minivan to transport it home for study of its skull. In an upcoming 2026 biography, Kennedy also recalled cutting the genitalia off a road-killed raccoon to preserve the specimen for later study.

    In one notable incident that carried actual health risks, The New York Times once reported that a physician discovered a dead parasitic brain worm in Kennedy’s brain after he sought treatment for persistent memory loss. Kennedy has stated he made a full recovery with no long-term health effects from the infection.

    Unlike many public figures who would face embarrassment over such a collection of unusual stories, Kennedy has never expressed shame or regret over his actions. Washington Post columnist Monica Hesse summed up public reaction to his unusual connection to wildlife in a sharp quip: “He has a relationship with animals that most of us only dream of. Nightmares are also dreams.”

  • WHO warns of ‘catastrophic collision’ of Ebola and war in DR Congo

    WHO warns of ‘catastrophic collision’ of Ebola and war in DR Congo

    The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a stark public warning this Wednesday, highlighting how persistent armed conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is severely undermining global and local efforts to curb a fast-growing, deadly Ebola outbreak. As the crisis intensifies, neighboring Uganda has moved swiftly to close its entire border with the DRC in a bid to stop cross-border transmission.

    Since the outbreak was officially declared in mid-May, WHO data has documented more than 1,000 combined confirmed and suspected Ebola cases across the country, with 10 confirmed deaths and 223 additional deaths linked to suspected infections. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus emphasized that decades of persistent insecurity in eastern DRC, a region roiled by ongoing clashes between dozens of armed groups, has created an almost insurmountable barrier to effective outbreak containment.

    In a post on the social platform X, Tedros spelled out the severity of the unfolding crisis: “Eastern DRC now faces a catastrophic collision of disease and conflict with the Ebola outbreak in Ituri province outpacing the response.” This current outbreak, the 17th recorded Ebola event in DRC’s history, is driven by the Bundibugyo strain of the virus – a variant for which no targeted vaccine or specific treatment currently exists.

    Ituri province, the rural region where the virus was first detected, has operated with almost no functional state services for more than 30 years, leaving local health systems drastically underprepared to respond. On a visit to Rwampara, one of the outbreak’s current epicenters, an AFP reporting team witnessed a symptomatic Ebola patient carried to the local hospital on the back of a motorbike, squeezed between the driver and her own sister, as no emergency ambulances are available in the area.

    Local health worker Dieudonne Sezabo confirmed to reporters that with no formal medical transport infrastructure in place, “people make do with motorbikes.” After the patient, who presented with classic Ebola symptoms including high fever and nose bleeding linked to the virus’s characteristic hemorrhagic fever, was checked in, Sezabo urgently sprayed chlorine to decontaminate the bike and driver. The driver, who only wore a basic surgical mask with no other protective gear against the virus, which spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids, faced unprotected exposure during the trip. While the hospital has managed to set up a basic temporary isolation ward, it is still waiting for critical medical and protective equipment to arrive.

    Uganda, which shares a long border with eastern DRC, has already recorded one confirmed Ebola death and six additional confirmed cases, prompting the government to announce an immediate full border closure. In addition to the border shutdown, Uganda is imposing a mandatory 21-day quarantine for any individual crossing into the country from DRC, to be overseen by the national Ministry of Health and local district surveillance teams.

    While WHO officials have reported that the current case fatality rate sits below 25 percent – a far lower figure than many recent Ebola outbreaks in the region – public health experts warn the virus was likely spreading undetected for weeks or months before the outbreak was declared, meaning the true scale of the crisis remains unknown.

    Tedros detailed how ongoing fighting is worsening the public health emergency at every turn, explaining that “clashes are driving mass displacement, pushing exposed contacts into overcrowded camps and severing critical containment corridors.” He added that frontline health workers are putting their lives at grave risk every day to respond, but repeated attacks on already fragile health facilities have made tracking infected cases and monitoring their close contacts nearly impossible.

    “We cannot build community trust or isolate the sick while bombs are falling,” Tedros said, issuing an urgent appeal for “all warring parties to agree to an immediate ceasefire to contain this outbreak.”

    International responses are beginning to take shape beyond the region: The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that the United States is moving forward with plans to establish a dedicated quarantine facility in neighboring Kenya, primarily to accommodate U.S. citizens who need to evacuate the DRC quickly and complete a required monitoring period. Kenyan health authorities have already screened more than 55,000 travelers crossing into the country from Uganda, and as of the latest update, no confirmed Ebola cases have been detected within Kenya’s borders.

  • ‘I don’t buy into the narrative at all’: Nathan Cleary shuts down Origin concerns with stunning second-half performance

    ‘I don’t buy into the narrative at all’: Nathan Cleary shuts down Origin concerns with stunning second-half performance

    For years, a persistent cloud has hung over Nathan Cleary’s elite rugby league career: while he is widely regarded as one of the greatest club players of his generation, critics have argued he has failed to consistently deliver when the brightest lights are on the biggest representative stages, most notably the State of Origin. On Wednesday night at Sydney’s Accor Stadium, the Penrith Panthers halfback erased every last doubt in sensational fashion, producing a masterclass that delivered a stunning comeback victory for the New South Wales Blues and will leave Queensland Maroons and Brisbane Broncos supporters reliving the heartbreak for months to come.

    Queensland got off to a blistering start, racing out to a commanding 20-0 lead that left the home crowd stunned into silence. The momentum shifted dramatically, however, after Queensland star Kalyn Ponga was sent from the field for a high tackle. Wet, slippery conditions did nothing to slow the Blues’ fightback, sparked by the electric form of NSW’s halves combination. When the final siren sounded, the hosts had pulled off one of the most remarkable turnarounds in recent Origin history, snatching a 22-20 win.

    While rookie five-eighth Ethan Strange turned heads with a standout performance that included one scored try and another disallowed for obstruction, it was Cleary who claimed the prestigious man of the match award, pulling every playmaking trick from his playbook to turn the tide of the match. The four-time NRL premiership winner set up the Blues’ first try with a perfectly weighted grubber kick, nailed a clutch 40/20 to gain critical field position, crossed for a try of his own to cut Queensland’s lead to just four points, and then put up a perfectly placed bomb that set up captain James Tedesco’s match-winning final try.

    The performance echoed Cleary’s iconic role in Penrith Panthers’ record-breaking 2023 NRL Grand Final comeback victory – a win that also played out at Accor Stadium, against the Brisbane Broncos, at the same end of the ground. That parallel has not been lost on fans or teammates, who have long pushed back against the narrative that Cleary’s playing style is ill-suited to the bruising, high-intensity nature of State of Origin football. Compounding the magnitude of Cleary’s performance was the added pressure he faced: regular halves partner Mitch Moses was ruled out of the series opener just days before kickoff with a hamstring injury, forcing Cleary to take on all playmaking responsibility, a challenge he met by landing 21 of the Blues’ 25 total kicks throughout the match.

    Blues skipper and Cleary’s Panthers club teammate Isaah Yeo said he never bought into the critics’ narrative. “The 40/20 was massive for us while we were chasing points, he comes up with a try there, and had just a calm head. He attacked the game. I feel like he’s done that in so many big games before so it feels like it’s not new for me,” Yeo told reporters after the match. “I love to see him own those moments, and I thought he was outstanding tonight when we needed him most. He stepped up and provided for us, so super stoked for him. I don’t agree with some of the stuff that gets said, and there’s no bigger fan than me.”

    Blues coach Laurie Daley also hit back at the criticism of Cleary, saying his performance was no surprise to those who have worked with him closely. “Not that I wanted to see it (him take full control), but I just get disappointed with the narrative that is driven,” Daley said. “He’s a champion, he’s still got a lot of footy left to play, and it was reminiscent of the grand final. He was phenomenal for us.”

    Dale faces a selection headache ahead of the second game of the series, scheduled for next month in Melbourne. Moses is expected to be fit enough to return to the starting side, but Strange’s exceptional performance after being elevated from the bench for game one makes a strong case for the rookie to retain his spot. “The guys that played tonight were exceptional,” Daley said. “You know what Origin’s like, you just never know who’s available so you’ve just got to make sure you’ve got the right people and they’re playing well. I think Mitch is a big part of our team. It’s not a bad hammy so we expect him to play. If he plays then he’ll be a part of the squad for sure.”

  • ‘Let his team down’: Kalyn Ponga escapes suspension for send off tackle that has ruled Tolu Koula out of Manly’s next game

    ‘Let his team down’: Kalyn Ponga escapes suspension for send off tackle that has ruled Tolu Koula out of Manly’s next game

    Rugby league’s community has erupted in debate after a divisive judiciary decision cleared Queensland Maroons star Kalyn Ponga to play just days after his sending off in a dramatic opening match of the 2026 State of Origin series, where NSW Blues capitalized on their numerical advantage to steal a last-minute victory in Sydney.

    The incident unfolded with 23 minutes remaining in the fixture, when referee Ashley Klein issued a red card to Ponga for a grade two shoulder charge on NSW rookie Tolu Koula. The hit left Koula unable to complete his mandatory head injury assessment, forcing the young speedster from the field. Ponga’s dismissal marked the first Origin send-off since Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii’s ejection two years prior for a similar high tackle.

    What has made the ruling so contentious is a little-noticed 2022 amendment to the NRL’s judiciary code that changes how penalties are applied in representative matches. While a grade two charge would typically result in a two-match ban for NRL club games, the rule revision means Ponga only faces a financial penalty: with an early guilty plea, he will forfeit just 23 percent of his match fee for the Origin encounter, and remains eligible to play for both his club Newcastle Knights and the Maroons in upcoming fixtures. He is now cleared to take the field for Newcastle this Saturday against the Parramatta Eels.

    Queensland coach Billy Slater voiced no opposition to the outcome, noting Ponga feels remorseful over the play but emphasizing the split-second nature of the tackle under wet match conditions. “He obviously feels he’s let his team down, but those things happen in games. They happen really quick. I’ve played that position, I know how hard it is and spur of the moment. It was wet out there, things happen,” Slater said, adding he remained proud of his side’s effort after playing with 12 men for nearly a full half. “I’m heartbroken for them, with the effort that they put in. They played with so much heart in that last 23 minutes… I’m super proud of our footy team.” The cleared availability of Ponga also removes any pressure on Queensland to recall star fullback Reece Walsh for the next fixture.

    Reactions from the NSW camp were mixed. Blues captain Isaah Yeo defended the referee’s decision to send Ponga off, even amid reports that Bunker review official Chris Butler questioned whether a red card was warranted. “Your bias says that I think it’s a send-off. I’ve been on that side of it as well before, it was a couple of years ago here as well,” Yeo said. Blues head coach Laurie Daley declined to comment publicly on the tackle itself.

    For Koula, the outcome is far less favorable. The Manly Sea Eagles speedster confirmed he is still recovering from the head knock and will miss his club’s upcoming match against the Cronulla Sharks this Friday. Recounting the incident, Koula said the collision happened in the first open space he found all game. “It all just happened so fast. There wasn’t much pain. It was just probably shock. I was out for a little bit, but once I got all my senses back, I was fine,” he said.

    The result of the match saw NSW take full advantage of their extra man, with captain James Tedesco crossing for a match-winning try in the final two minutes to secure game one for the Blues. The controversial ruling has now cast a long shadow over the series, with fans and analysts continuing to debate whether the 2022 rule change has created an uneven playing field for representative football.

  • Swiatek, Svitolina cruise into French Open third round

    Swiatek, Svitolina cruise into French Open third round

    On a blistering hot Wednesday at Roland Garros, two of the women’s draw’s top contenders delivered dominant performances to punch their tickets to the 2025 French Open third round, with all eyes turning next to Novak Djokovic’s highly anticipated second-round clash against a French wildcard.

    Four-time tournament champion Iga Swiatek, the third seed from Poland, overcame a fecy challenge from rising Czech teenager Sara Bejlek to seal a 6-2, 6-3 victory on Court Philippe Chatrier, extending her unbroken streak of reaching at least the second week at the clay-court Grand Slam. Playing her first major tournament since pairing up with Francisco Roig, the long-time former coach of 14-time Roland Garros champion Rafael Nadal, Swiatek has entered the tournament as one of the favorites to claim a seventh Grand Slam singles title, after a strong run to the Italian Open semi-finals earlier this month. She is now eyeing a return to the trophy she last lifted in 2024, but her next match could bring her toughest test yet: she will face the winner of the match between 2017 champion Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia and Polish compatriot Magda Linette, and Ostapenko holds a perfect 6-0 head-to-head record over Swiatek.

    Speaking after her 93-minute victory in soaring Paris temperatures, Swiatek noted the unusual early-tournament heat, saying, “Usually the weather is quite different here, but it doesn’t matter. It’s going to change, I feel, in the second part of the tournament. So I guess this tournament is really about whoever will cope with both of these conditions will win.”

    Joining Swiatek in the third round is Ukrainian seventh seed Elina Svitolina, who continued her red-hot form following her Italian Open title earlier this month with a 6-0, 6-4 win over world No. 126 Kaitlin Quevedo. Svitolina, who upset Swiatek on her way to lifting the Rome trophy — her first WTA 1000 title in eight years — endured a dramatic first-round scare earlier in the week, squeezing past Hungary’s Anna Bondar in a deciding-set tiebreaker just hours before watching her husband Gael Monfils play the final match of his Roland Garros career. On Wednesday, however, she was in complete control from the opening game, wrapping up the win after breaking Quevedo in the ninth game of the second set. Svitolina, who reached the Australian Open semi-finals earlier this year, will next face 31-year-old German Tamara Korpatsch, who booked her first ever Grand Slam third-round spot after defeating China’s 32nd seed Wang Xinyu.

    Other women’s singles results on Wednesday saw former Olympic gold medalist Belinda Bencic breeze into the round of 32 for the third time in her career, dropping just four games in a 6-4, 6-0 win over American Caty McNally.

    All attention now shifts to Djokovic’s afternoon centre court clash against 74th-ranked French wildcard Valentin Royer. The 39-year-old Serbian, who is chasing a historic 25th Grand Slam singles title, was forced to come from a set down to defeat another French young gun, Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, in his opening round on Sunday night. This time, he will face Royer in the hottest part of the day, and Djokovic acknowledged ahead of the match that facing a home competitor on centre court brings added pressure. “Obviously playing a French player, centre court, Roland Garros, is never so easy, you know. Obviously the crowd gets into it, and then you feel the pressure even more,” he said after his opening win.

    In other men’s draw action on Wednesday, Russian 13th seed Karen Khachanov outlasted Marco Trungelliti in a four-set grueller, sealing a 7-6(7/5), 5-7, 6-1, 7-6(7/4) victory to advance. He will face Dutch lucky loser Jesper de Jong, who followed up his opening-round upset of Stan Wawrinka with a win over Federico Cina, for a spot in the round of 16 on Friday.

    Two-time French Open finalist Casper Ruud, who described himself as “like a zombie” after his five-set opening-round marathon played out in the scorching sun, will return to court later Wednesday against Serbian Hamad Medjedovic, with the Norwegian desperate for a far shorter outing to conserve energy amid continuing high temperatures. Other top names set for second-round action on Wednesday include Kazakh world No. 2 Elena Rybakina, who is chasing her second Grand Slam title of the season, as she faces Ukrainian Yuliia Starodubtseva on Court Suzanne Lenglen. A crop of exciting teenage prospects, including Mirra Andreeva, Rafael Jodar and Joao Fonseca, will also play their second-round matches later in the day.

  • Trump hails Paxton win in Texas Senate runoff

    Trump hails Paxton win in Texas Senate runoff

    In a defining shakeup of Texas Republican politics, scandal-plagued Attorney General Ken Paxton secured a lopsided victory over four-term incumbent Senator John Cornyn in this week’s Senate primary runoff, a win that former President Donald Trump quickly celebrated as a major validation of his enduring influence over the GOP.

    Official vote tallies show Paxton claimed more than 63% of the vote, flipping a long-held Republican Senate seat away from the party’s establishment wing and handing Trump one of his most high-profile wins of the 2024 primary season. Paxton will now face Democratic state representative James Talarico in the November general election.

    Cornyn, a well-connected institutional conservative who has represented Texas in the Senate since 2002 and previously served as Republican whip, entered the race as the clear favorite of the party’s Washington and donor establishment. But Trump’s late-game endorsement reshaped the contest overnight, turning Paxton from an underdog into a dominant frontrunner. Cornyn becomes the latest incumbent Republican to fall after falling out of alignment with Trump, joining a growing list of ousted lawmakers on the former president’s primary-season revenge tour.

    On his Truth Social platform Wednesday morning, Trump congratulated Paxton on what he called a “tremendous win,” predicting Paxton would become “a fantastic, common sense Senator, one who is respected by all.” Turning his attention to the general election, Trump launched a blistering attack on Talarico, calling him “may be the worst TEXAS candidate I have ever seen” over his liberal policy positions, and pledged to hold “nice, big, beautiful rallies” to support Paxton in the coming months.

    At his victory party on Tuesday night, Paxton made clear who he credited for his upset win, emphasizing that Trump stood by him when elite Washington Republicans pushed for his abandonment. “When everyone in Washington told him to abandon me and abandon the people of Texas, he didn’t listen,” Paxton said, calling Trump’s endorsement “the most powerful force in politics.”

    Paxton’s political career has been marred by years of legal, ethical, and personal controversy: he was impeached by the Republican-controlled Texas House in 2023 over allegations of bribery and public misconduct, and ultimately acquitted by the Texas Senate, while he has also navigated a high-profile messy divorce. Paxton has repeatedly framed all allegations against him as politically motivated smears.

    The result of the Texas runoff lays bare a growing, intractable divide for the Republican Party heading into the 2024 general election: while Trump’s endorsement can all but guarantee victory in Republican primaries, his preference for hardline, pro-MAGA candidates has left many party strategists concerned that those nominees will struggle to win in the general election, even in solidly red states.

    Texas has not voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since 1976, and Trump carried the state by nearly 14 points in 2024, meaning Republicans start the general election as clear favorites. But national Democrats see Paxton’s nomination as a unique opportunity. They view Paxton’s long history of scandal as a vulnerability that could help them pull off a historic statewide upset, and Talarico has already raised massive campaign funds for his bid. Talarico has centered his campaign on arguing that both Paxton and the traditional Republican establishment represent a broken political system rigged in favor of wealthy special interests.

    For Senate Republican leadership, Paxton’s victory has deepened existing anxiety. Many top Senate GOP officials had privately pushed Trump to back Cornyn, and now fear the party will be forced to divert millions of dollars in campaign funds to defend a seat that was expected to be easily held. Senate Majority Leader John Thune warned last week that Trump’s pattern of challenging sitting Republican incumbents could have long-term consequences, noting that these interventions could make advancing the party’s shared agenda “more complicated.”

    That tension has already spilled over into Capitol Hill, where a growing number of Senate Republicans have broken with Trump in recent weeks over issues including Iran war powers and his proposed White House ballroom renovation project.

    For Trump, however, the Texas win is just the latest milestone in his primary-season campaign to purge the GOP of any lawmakers who have crossed him. Prior to Cornyn’s defeat, Trump’s endorsements helped oust Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy, who voted to impeach Trump after the 2021 Capitol riot, Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie, who supported releasing the full Epstein files, and multiple Indiana state lawmakers who resisted his demands for congressional redistricting.

    In his concession speech Tuesday night, Cornyn struck a measured tone, quoting 2 Timothy 4:7: “I fought the good fight, I finished the race, and I’ve kept the faith.” Shortly after, Talarico, his general election opponent, posted a message on X thanking Cornyn for his decades of public service. “We don’t agree on everything, but we both still believe in public service,” Talarico wrote. “To Senator Cornyn’s supporters: you have a place in our campaign.”

  • Housing Minister Clare O’Neil to announce $40m for prefab ‘kit’ homes

    Housing Minister Clare O’Neil to announce $40m for prefab ‘kit’ homes

    Australia’s Albanese government is stepping up its response to the national housing crisis with a fresh $39.3 million investment in cutting-edge construction innovation, launching the new initiative just weeks after triggering intense political debate with a controversial overhaul of property investor tax rules. Housing Minister Clare O’Neil is set to unveil the funding package during a high-profile address to Canberra’s National Press Club on Thursday, marking a strategic shift in the government’s ongoing campaign to expand housing supply and ease affordability pressures that have gripped communities across the country.

    Until this announcement, the federal government’s response to the housing shortage has centered on traditional supply-boosting measures, including expanding access to skilled trades to speed up project completion. But with construction costs continuing to climb steadily, the new funding will be directed toward scaling up an innovative open-source ‘kit of parts’ housing system developed by Australia’s Building 4.0 Cooperative Research Centre.

    The allocated funding will enable state and territory governments to trial the new construction model through targeted, locally tailored housing projects that align with regional needs and geographic conditions. Eligible activities under the program include pilot project development, custom design work, technical support for construction teams, worker training, and expansion of domestic supply chains to support widespread adoption of the model.

    ‘If we want housing to be more affordable, we need to find smarter ways to build more homes,’ O’Neil said in prepared comments ahead of the announcement. ‘Today’s announcement is about backing new building methods that can speed up construction and lower costs.’

    Unlike proprietary modular construction systems owned exclusively by single companies, the open-source kit of parts model relies on standardized, pre-manufactured building components produced off-site that are assembled on location. All components are built to shared, universal standards, allowing multiple different manufacturers to produce compatible parts that work seamlessly together. The government estimates this approach will cut down on project delays, reduce construction waste, and drive down overall building costs.

    ‘Most homes use the same basic components – walls, windows, roofs, bathrooms, kitchens,’ O’Neil explained. ‘So instead of designing everything from scratch every single time, we can standardise some parts of the process and make construction more efficient. That means building homes faster, reducing waste, lowering costs, and getting more people into homes sooner. When parts are designed to work together efficiently, you can build things faster, cheaper and more reliably.’

    Professor Mathew Aitchison, chief executive officer of Building 4.0 CRC, welcomed the investment, noting his organization was eager to partner with federal, state and local governments as well as private industry to roll out the new system nationwide. ‘This is about improving the system that delivers housing, making it more efficient, more consistent and better able to scale over time,’ Aitchison said.

    The new construction investment comes amid a rapidly escalating political battle over federal housing policy, sparked earlier this month when the Albanese government backtracked on a pre-election promise to roll out major changes to capital gains tax (CGT) and negative gearing for property investors. The reforms are designed to address systemic housing inequality by cooling investor demand for existing housing stock, but they have drawn fierce criticism from opposition parties and industry groups.

    As part of its broader National Housing Accord, the government has committed to delivering 1.2 million new homes across Australia by mid-2029, including thousands of new affordable and social housing units funded through the Housing Australia Future Fund. To date, however, the government has fallen well short of its interim construction targets, creating a key political vulnerability ahead of future elections.

    For its part, the opposition Liberal-National Coalition has put forward its own housing policy platform, promising to tie annual migration intake levels to annual housing completion rates and cut bureaucratic red tape that slows down new construction projects. The Coalition is also adjusting its policy approach to counter rising electoral competition from right-wing populist party One Nation, which has centered its recent campaigning on housing affordability and migration levels.