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大洋洲

  • ‘Possibilities are endless’: History against Storm, but two crazy turnarounds gives Melbourne hope of a shock finals push

    ‘Possibilities are endless’: History against Storm, but two crazy turnarounds gives Melbourne hope of a shock finals push

    After one of the rockiest starts to a season in the franchise’s modern history, the Melbourne Storm is steadily climbing back into NRL finals contention, putting every other top-eight side on high alert. Once written off by league analysts and fans following a catastrophic seven-match losing skid that left many questioning whether the Storm’s 20-year dynastic run had finally come to a close, the club has turned a corner in recent weeks, and its veteran core says nothing is off the table.

    The Storm currently sit six points adrift of the eighth and final finals spot, having already conceded more points through 13 rounds than many full previous campaigns. A humiliating 50-10 round five defeat to reigning premiers Penrith Panthers seemed to seal their fate – no first-grade side in Australian rugby league history has ever conceded 50 points in a single game and gone on to win the premiership that season. Compounding the Storm’s early struggles were key injuries to star playmakers Eli Katoa and Xavier Coates, plus widespread growing pains adapting to the NRL’s new rule changes, which left the usually consistent side uncharacteristically disorganized on both sides of the ball.

    But the tide has turned dramatically for Craig Bellamy’s side: the Storm have notched three wins from their past four outings, and face a make-or-break home clash this Friday against the Newcastle Knights. A victory this weekend would catapult them right back into the top-eight conversation, coming just ahead of their first bye of the 2024 season. Veteran prop Josh King, the club’s long-time locker room voice, says the squad retains unshakable belief that a deep run is still within reach.

    “I have so much belief in this team, and the possibilities are endless,” King said. “The season isn’t written off by any means. The ladder is quite tight, and you don’t really see it settle into place until after the Origin period. Some teams have already had two byes, but we haven’t had a bye yet, so we’ll certainly keep on fighting each week.”

    Rather than fixating on the distant goal of qualifying for September football, King says the club has refocused on the core fundamentals that made them the most dominant force in the NRL over the past two decades. He pointed to the club’s round nine loss to the Dolphins as the unheralded turning point of the season – even in defeat, the Storm rediscovered the aggressive, clinical style of play that defined their premiership runs.

    “I think at the moment for us, it’s about each week at a time and really making sure we’re building on our performances and every week we can be proud of our performance,” King explained. “I reckon it’s not that we’re trying any harder, or that we’ve explored completely new things – but rugby league has so many moving parts, and you often shift your focus to the wrong areas. After the Dolphins game, we started putting our focus back into some areas that we dominated last year that we’d slipped on without even noticing. Even though we lost that game, it was one of our best performances of the year. We went back to the drawing board, dusted off the systems that worked for us before, and we’ve been a really competitive side ever since.”

    Emerging talent is also carrying the Storm through their resurgence: five-eighth Cameron Munster has steadily returned to his elite best form, while young homegrown winger Sua Fa’alogo has emerged as a offensive weapon, turning in a best-on-ground performance in last week’s win over the Sydney Roosters.

    Winger Will Warbrick echoed King’s confidence, noting that while the seven-game losing streak was uncharted territory for a club accustomed to consistent top-four finishes, the squad refused to panic. He pointed to precedent of other great NRL sides clawing their way out of slow starts to make deep September runs: the Panthers stumbled to a 3-7 record in 2023 before nearly reaching the grand final, while the 1999 Brisbane Broncos won just one of their first 10 matches before recovering to sneak into the top eight and win the premiership.

    “Yeah, we lost seven in a row, but the biggest thing for us was trying to not panic and have doubt and to then maintain belief in the playing group with the way we wanted to play,” Warbrick said. “There are a few things we’ve needed to tweak and improve on, but I think as long as everyone is on the same page with what we’re trying to do, the belief is still strong. One win sometimes helps with building that confidence back up and getting us back on track. The destination’s not the worry. It’s probably more what works for us this week to help us win and just being able to do that and back that up.”

    With momentum building and key players returning to form, the once-left-for-dead Storm are now just one big win away from putting genuine pressure on the sides clinging to the top eight, and are on track to pull off one of the most remarkable mid-season turnarounds in modern NRL history.

  • Sabalenka overpowers Osaka to reach French Open quarter-finals

    Sabalenka overpowers Osaka to reach French Open quarter-finals

    On Monday night at Roland Garros, top-ranked women’s singles star Aryna Sabalenka delivered a powerhouse performance to defeat four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka in straight sets, securing her spot in the 2024 French Open quarter-finals and extending an extraordinary streak of deep major tournament runs. The world number one’s 7-5, 6-3 victory not only marked her fourth consecutive quarter-final appearance at the clay-court major, but also her 14th straight advancement to the last eight of any Grand Slam — a feat no other remaining singles player at this year’s tournament can match. In fact, Sabalenka now stands as the only former Grand Slam champion left in both the men’s and women’s singles draws, after a wave of unexpected upsets swept through the early rounds.

    Sabalenka’s aggressive game was on full display throughout the clash, firing 39 winners and 12 aces past a resilient Osaka who pushed her to tight service games on multiple occasions. The opening set set the tone for the tight contest: the two power hitters traded breaks in the early going before Sabalenka leveled at 2-2 with a hold that included three aces, the third coming on a powerful second serve. The set remained on serve until the 11th game, when Sabalenka broke through with a blistering backhand winner that earned her two break points, converting on the first after Osaka found the net. She closed out the set with a ruthless love hold to take the lead.

    In the second set, Osaka fought hard to stay in the match, saving a break point in a marathon sixth game to hold a 3-2 lead. But Sabalenka, who had dropped only six points across her previous seven service games, responded with a clever drop shot to hold serve in a grueling game that proved pivotal. In the very next game, a brilliant low volley at the net broke Osaka’s serve, shifting all momentum to the top seed. Two games later, an Osaka double fault set up match point, and Sabalenka sealed the win with a blistering return.

    The Monday night clash carried extra significance beyond tournament advancement: it was the first women’s match scheduled for the French Open’s prime-time night session since 2023, ending a streak of 32 consecutive men’s night matches that drew widespread criticism from players and fans over unequal treatment. Both Sabalenka and Osaka embraced the moment, with Sabalenka — who has previously spoken out in favor of equal scheduling for women — saying she hopes the match opens the door for more women’s night sessions in future tournaments. “I hope that this is the beginning, today’s match. It’s like we open up that door for woman night sessions,” she said after the win.

    For Sabalenka, the victory keeps alive her bid for a maiden French Open title, a chance to avenge her painful 2023 final defeat to Coco Gauff. She will next face Russian rising star Diana Shnaider for a spot in the semi-finals. Reflecting on the wave of upsets that cleared her path to this point, Sabalenka said she has remained focused on her own game regardless of results elsewhere. “I was able to kind of separate myself from what’s going on this year at the Roland Garros,” she said. “I have been around. Anything can happen. That’s tennis. My mindset, it’s basically that I’m ready to do whatever it takes to get this beautiful trophy.”

    For Osaka, the result marks the best deep run of her career at the French Open, ending her tournament in the round of 16. The 28-year-old Japanese star, who once again competed in her iconic sequined gold dress she has compared to the Eiffel Tower at night, showed a new sense of perspective post-match, noting how her approach to the sport has matured. “If I lost this match when I was younger, I’d shut myself in my room or whatever,” she said. “But now I feel like obviously I love tennis, and I’m trying my best to do everything to be the best player I can. But… it’s kind of like a clock in/clock out type of thing. I’m excited to go home and see my daughter.” She added that she found playing the historic night match a fun experience, calling it “really cool” to share the spotlight with Sabalenka.

  • Trump admin agrees to temporarily freeze ‘slush fund’ for allies

    Trump admin agrees to temporarily freeze ‘slush fund’ for allies

    The controversial $1.8 billion fund dubbed a ‘slush fund’ for political allies by opponents will be temporarily halted, after the Trump administration’s Department of Justice confirmed it will comply with a federal court order blocking the initiative’s implementation. The freeze, which precedes a June 12 court hearing on the proposal, comes amid widespread reporting that the embattled fund may be scrapped entirely amid mounting pushback from across the political spectrum.

    The so-called Anti-Weaponization Fund was born from a civil settlement between the Trump administration and the Internal Revenue Service, stemming from a lawsuit Trump filed after his personal tax returns were leaked by a former government contractor. The administration frames the fund as a mechanism to compensate individuals who it claims were unfairly targeted by politicized law enforcement and government overreach, a practice the president has labeled ‘weaponization’ and ‘lawfare.’ According to official statements from the Justice Department, the fund is open to qualifying people from all political affiliations, regardless of party or ideological alignment.

    Critics, however, have painted a far different picture of the initiative. They argue the fund lacks clear statutory authority, has minimal independent public oversight, and stands to act as a pot of taxpayer money to reward Trump’s political loyalists. Among the groups that opponents fear could benefit from the fund are hundreds of people convicted of crimes connected to the January 6, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol, an insurrection carried out by supporters attempting to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss to Joe Biden. Shortly after returning to office at the start of his second term, Trump issued pardons to more than 1,500 people convicted in connection with the Capitol attack.

    The legal challenge that prompted the current freeze was brought by a coalition of plaintiffs, who argued the fund is an unlawful collusive arrangement that lacks congressional approval, any grounding in U.S. law, and meaningful accountability mechanisms. Multiple other legal challenges are already pending against the initiative, including cases filed by law enforcement officers who battled January 6 rioters and nonpartisan government oversight organizations.

    The proposal has even proven politically toxic within Trump’s own Republican Party. Senate Republican leadership recently delayed a critical spending bill for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Border Patrol, in large part due to widespread Republican concerns that the legislation could inadvertently open the door for taxpayer dollars from the fund to go to January 6 defendants.

    Last week, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema issued an order barring the administration from taking any further steps to launch or operate the fund ahead of the June 12 hearing. In a post to the social platform X shared Monday, the Justice Department acknowledged it strongly disagrees with Brinkema’s ruling, but confirmed it would respect the court’s order and implement the temporary freeze.

    Multiple U.S. media outlets including Axios have cited anonymous administration sources reporting that the Trump administration is preparing to abandon the fund entirely, with one source telling Axios the initiative is ‘dead for now.’ When approached for comment by Agence France-Presse on reports of the fund’s cancellation, the White House declined to issue a new statement and instead directed reporters to the Justice Department’s existing post on X.

  • Pro-Trump lawyer, leftist senator launch Colombia runoff campaigns

    Pro-Trump lawyer, leftist senator launch Colombia runoff campaigns

    As Colombia enters the final stretch of its 2024 presidential race, the country’s two remaining candidates have launched their runoff campaigns this week, with bitter personal exchanges highlighting the deep ideological divide splitting the South American nation ahead of the June 21 vote. In an upset outcome that defied pre-election polling, hard-right pro-Trump lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella secured a narrow two-point lead in Sunday’s first round, capturing 43 percent of the vote against leftist senator Iván Cepeda’s 41 percent, with the vote unfolding against a resurgent wave of drug-fueled guerrilla violence across rural regions.

    The self-styled “Tiger,” a millionaire outsider who has positioned himself as a disrupter of traditional Colombian political norms, has campaigned on a hardline security platform echoing the tough-on-crime agenda that has lifted right-wing candidates to power across Latin America in recent years. De la Espriella has vowed to abandon ongoing peace negotiations with cocaine-trafficking rebel groups, instead promising full-scale military force to crush the insurgency. To tackle rising crime, he has pledged an aggressive “shock plan” that includes immediate airstrikes on narco-terrorist training camps and the construction of 10 maximum-security mega-prisons modeled after El Salvador’s controversial Terrorism Confinement Center, where he says inmates will be held under harsh conditions relying only on “bread and water” for sustenance.

    His rival Cepeda, a close ally of current polarized leftist President Gustavo Petro and the son of a leftist leader assassinated by right-wing paramilitaries, took a different tack in the first round. The 63-year-old senator, who helped broker the landmark 2016 peace accord with the FARC guerrilla movement, has made continuing dialogue with active armed groups and expanding progressive social programs to reduce systemic inequality the core of his campaign. He has pledged to build on Petro’s legacy, including increasing the national minimum wage, boosting public education funding, and redistributing unused land to low-income rural communities.

    The depth of Colombia’s political rift has even seeped into national symbols, just days ahead of the start of the 2024 World Cup. Cepeda has accused de la Espriella of “stealing” Colombia’s iconic yellow national football jersey to brand his right-wing campaign, a tactic that mirrors former Brazilian far-right President Jair Bolsonaro’s co-opting of Brazil’s national jersey as a political symbol. For his part, de la Espriella hit back, accusing Cepeda and Petro of attempting to “steal democracy” by questioning the integrity of Sunday’s first round results, drawing a comparison between the leftist camp and ousted Venezuelan authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro.

    The biggest upset of the first round was the poor performance of establishment conservative candidate Paloma Valencia, who was endorsed by influential former President Álvaro Uribe but finished third with only 7 percent of the vote. After her elimination, Valencia threw her support behind de la Espriella, warning against what she frames as Cepeda’s “neocommunist” agenda. Political analysts note that de la Espriella’s first round success stems directly from his ability to tap into widespread anti-Petro sentiment and mobilize radical right-wing voters across the country.

    While Cepeda faces an uphill battle to overcome his two-point first round deficit, analysts say an upset victory is not out of the question. “He has roughly the same level of support in polling that Petro held four years ago when he won the presidency, so it’s still a competitive race,” explained Yann Basset, a political science professor at Bogotá’s Universidad del Rosario.

    One major unanswered question hanging over the runoff is how the country’s large centrist voting bloc will break. Failed centrist vice-presidential candidate Juan Daniel Oviedo, who was eliminated in the first round, has lamented that Colombia is now “caught between populist extremes” and declined to endorse either of the two remaining candidates.

    Colombia has made significant political and social progress in the decade since the 2016 FARC peace accord, but large swathes of rural territory remain under the control of armed factions fighting for control of cocaine trafficking routes, illegal gold mining operations, and extortion rings. The entire election campaign has already been marred by political violence, including car bomb attacks, drone strikes, the assassination of a leading first-round presidential candidate, and the killings of dozens of local political officials across the country.

    For many ordinary Colombians, the polarized race has forced a stark choice between two competing visions for the country’s future. “Right now we are at radical extremes: one side wants peace, the other wants war,” said Gloria Terranova, a 59-year-old coffee plantation worker who said she still holds out hope for a Cepeda victory in the runoff. Other voters have echoed the sense of deep national division. “The country is quite divided… the feeling is that in the second round things will remain the same,” said Camilo Martinez, a 25-year-old designer based in the Caribbean coastal city of Barranquilla.

  • AI giant Anthropic confidentially files for IPO

    AI giant Anthropic confidentially files for IPO

    The fast-growing artificial intelligence sector just marked another major milestone Monday, when Anthropic—the developer of the popular Claude chatbot—announced it has confidentially filed for an initial public offering with U.S. regulators. The move comes as generative AI firms across Silicon Valley race to secure massive capital to support the breakneck expansion of an industry that continues to reshape global technology.

    A confidential initial filing allows a company to share its offering documentation with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for preliminary review, keeping sensitive financial performance and internal business data private until much later in the IPO process. In an official statement, Anthropic confirmed the filing and noted that the option to go public will become available once the SEC completes its review. The company added that the timeline, number of shares to be offered, and per-share price range will remain undetermined for now, with the final offering ultimately contingent on prevailing market conditions and other unforeseen factors.

    The IPO announcement comes only days after Anthropic closed a massive new private funding round that raised $65 billion in fresh capital and pushed the company’s valuation to $965 billion. The figure puts the OpenAI rival just shy of the historic $1 trillion valuation threshold, cementing its status as one of the most valuable and influential players in the global generative AI landscape. Unlike many competitors that prioritize consumer-facing tools, Anthropic has built its market reputation by focusing on delivering enterprise-grade generative AI solutions to business clients, a strategy that has driven steady commercial growth. Currently, Anthropic’s valuation already outpaces that of OpenAI, which carried an $80 billion valuation in a March 2024 funding round and is also preparing its own imminent IPO filing.

    Founded in 2021 by former OpenAI executives Dario Amodei, Daniela Amodei and a team of fellow industry veterans, Anthropic has carved out a distinct niche in the crowded AI race by positioning itself as a safety-first alternative to leading platforms. The company’s Claude large language model ecosystem, which includes the widely used Claude Code developer coding assistant, has helped push Anthropic’s projected annual revenue to $4.7 billion, a rapid climb for a company less than four years old.

    Despite its strong commercial momentum, Anthropic has faced significant growing pains alongside its success. A global shortage of advanced AI chips and server infrastructure has left the company struggling to meet soaring market demand for its products, with a number of users recently voicing complaints that their usage quotas are exhausted far too quickly, forcing them to pay steep premium fees to continue accessing services.

    To address its pressing computing capacity gap, Anthropic has struck a series of major supply deals in recent months, securing multiple gigawatts of additional computing power from industry leaders including Amazon, Google and Broadcom. Most notably, the company signed a surprise partnership last month with billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, who is currently locked in a high-profile legal battle with OpenAI and its founding leadership. Under the agreement, Musk will lease Anthropic access to his underutilized Colossus data centers, located in Memphis, Tennessee at the facility built for his xAI AI lab—creator of the Grok chatbot—for $1.25 billion per year.

    Both Anthropic and OpenAI’s upcoming public offerings are set to follow SpaceX, another Musk-led company that absorbed xAI earlier this year, to public markets. SpaceX’s IPO is on track to begin trading as soon as June 12, with the company targeting a roughly $175 billion valuation in what will become the largest IPO in global history if it proceeds as planned.

    Beyond infrastructure challenges, Anthropic is also navigating an ongoing legal conflict with the U.S. Department of Defense. The Pentagon recently designated Anthropic a supply chain risk after the company refused to grant the U.S. military unrestricted access to its core AI models. Anthropic has pushed back against the designation, calling it unconstitutional retaliation for the firm’s decision.

  • Serena Williams to return to tennis at Queen’s Club

    Serena Williams to return to tennis at Queen’s Club

    One of the most decorated athletes in tennis history, Serena Williams, has sent shockwaves through the global tennis community with a long-awaited announcement: she is stepping back into competitive tennis nearly three years after her last professional outing, making her return at the Queen’s Club HSBC Championships later this month in women’s doubles competition. The 44-year-old American icon, who holds 23 Grand Slam singles titles – just one shy of the all-time record held jointly by Margaret Court and Novak Djokovic – has not competed at the top level since her third-round exit at the 2022 US Open, when she signaled she was “evolving away” from the sport rather than formally retiring.

    Williams first teased the news to her millions of fans on social media, posting a clip of herself training on a court with the playful caption “Guess everybody heard the news,” as her phone buzzed nonstop with incoming messages in the background. The 7-time Wimbledon champion followed up with a confirming post, quipping that “Good news travels fast.” In an official statement released through tournament organizers, Williams called Queen’s Club the ideal venue to open this new chapter of her career. “Grass has given me some of the most meaningful moments of my career, and I’m excited to be back competing on one of the sport’s most iconic stages,” she said. The women’s draw of the historic London tournament gets underway on June 8, with Williams granted a wildcard entry into the doubles draw, where she is widely reported to partner 17-year-old rising Canadian star Victoria Mboko.

    Speculation around a potential Williams comeback has been building for months. The first clue emerged back in December, when public records revealed Williams had rejoined the global tennis anti-doping program – a mandatory requirement for any player seeking to return to elite tour competition. Williams initially denied plans for a competitive return, but persistent rumors kept the story alive throughout the first half of 2024. Even men’s tennis great Novak Djokovic tipped off the public about a possible comeback back in March, and the announcement has dominated conversations among players competing at this year’s ongoing French Open in Paris.

    Current and emerging stars of the sport have overwhelmingly welcomed the news of Williams’ return. Former world No. 1 Naomi Osaka, who defeated Williams in the controversial 2018 US Open final to claim her first Grand Slam title, said she is already looking forward to watching the comeback run. “I think it’s good for me. I’ll be very entertained,” Osaka told reporters. American rising star Coco Gauff, who bowed out of the French Open in the third round on Saturday, added that she would jump at the chance to face Williams for the first time in her career, calling the legend an inspiration to a generation of young players.

    WTA Tournament Director and former British tennis pro Laura Robson expressed overwhelming excitement about the landmark comeback, saying “Serena Williams is one of the greatest athletes the world has ever seen, and we’re delighted that she will be making her return to tennis at the LTA’s HSBC Championships.” Robson noted that women’s tennis only returned to Queen’s Club last year after a long absence, making Williams’ participation a historic milestone for the event: “Women’s tennis made a historic return to the Queen’s Club last year and now we have an icon of the game stepping back on to court.”

    Over the course of her legendary career, Williams spent a combined 319 weeks atop the WTA singles world rankings and claimed 73 tour-level singles titles. She also won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles alongside her older sister and long-time doubles partner Venus Williams, who returned to competitive tennis last year after a 16-month break. When Venus announced her own comeback 12 months ago, she said the only thing that could make her return better would be Serena joining her back on tour. That wish is now set to come true at Queen’s Club later this month.

  • Sabalenka to face Osaka, Cobolli into French Open quarters

    Sabalenka to face Osaka, Cobolli into French Open quarters

    The 2025 French Open is set for one of its most anticipated matches in recent years, as two of women’s tennis biggest superstars, Aryna Sabalenka and Naomi Osaka, will face off in the tournament’s first women’s prime-time night match in three years on Monday. The blockbuster round of 16 clash comes as two unexpected underdogs, Italy’s Flavio Cobolli and Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya, have already secured their places in the event’s quarter-finals after dramatic four-set and three-set wins respectively.

    World number one Sabalenka enters the match still chasing her first ever Roland Garros title, still stinging from her heartbreaking three-set defeat to defending champion Coco Gauff in last year’s final. For Osaka, the match marks a career milestone: this is the first time the four-time Grand Slam champion has advanced to the second week of the clay-court major, and the Japanese star has looked far more comfortable on Paris’ red dirt than ever before during her comeback run.

    Monday’s meeting will only be the fourth time the two stars have faced off, and remarkably, every one of their prior matches has come in the round of 16 of elite-level events. Osaka won their first encounter on her way to lifting the 2018 US Open trophy, and the pair did not meet again until this year. Sabalenka has taken both of their 2025 clashes so far: a straight-sets win at Indian Wells, followed by a come-from-behind victory after dropping the opening set at the Madrid Open. The winner of Monday’s match will go on to face either former Australian Open champion Madison Keys or Russia’s rising star Diana Shnaider in the quarter-finals.

    Sabalenka struck a warm tone when speaking about Osaka, who stepped away from the tour in 2023 to welcome her first child. “It’s nice to see her,” Sabalenka told reporters. “She’s a great player, great person. I feel like I really enjoy our battles. It’s high-level matches, and I really enjoy when somebody pushes me to the limit.”

    After returning to the tour, Osaka struggled to recapture her top form initially, but worked her way back to the US Open semi-finals in 2024, her first deep Grand Slam run since she won her second Australian Open title in 2021. Heading into Paris, she set a new goal of proving her ability on slower surface. “I really wanted to make it a goal to do really well on clay and grass,” she said, noting she has never advanced past the third round at Wimbledon. Off the court, Osaka has turned heads in Paris with her eye-catching sequined gold dress, which she has compared to the glowing Eiffel Tower at night, though she hinted she may change her outfit for the prime-time night match.

    The decision to place the clash in the coveted night slot comes after years of criticism of Roland Garros organizers for sidelining women’s matches for prime-time programming. This will mark the first time a women’s match has been scheduled for the primetime night slot since Sabalenka faced Sloane Stephens in the 2024 round of 16. Tournament director Amelie Mauresmo defended the scheduling choice to reporters, saying “I think it was pretty obvious this should be the night’s match.”

    In earlier fourth-round action on Sunday, Kalinskaya pulled off a stunning comeback over 28th seed Anastasia Potapova of Austria, ending Potapova’s run after she had upset defending champion Gauff in the prior round. Potapova twice held a chance to close out the match serving, but could not hold on, falling 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (10/7). Kalinskaya will next face either the last remaining home hope Diane Parry or Polish qualifier Maja Chwalinska for a place in the semi-finals.

    On the men’s side, Italian 10th seed Cobolli overcame a dramatic late collapse to book his spot in the quarter-finals, beating American qualifier Zachary Svajda 6-2, 6-3, 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/5) on Court Philippe Chatrier. Cobolli held a comfortable 5-1 lead in the fourth set, but suffered a massive nervous wobble that forced the match to a deciding tie-break. He ultimately held on to reach his second ever Grand Slam quarter-final, following his run at Wimbledon last year.

    “The match is never done and today I almost shit in my pants,” a candid Cobolli told reporters after the match. “I’m happy but I’m still nervous.”

    The 24-year-old Italian will next face either fourth-seeded Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime or Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo for a place in the semi-finals. Auger-Aliassime is now the highest-ranked player remaining in the top half of the men’s draw after world number one Jannik Sinner was upset earlier in the tournament, and Ben Shelton suffered an early exit. The Canadian will aim to reach his first ever French Open quarter-final when he faces Tabilo, who is playing in the round of 16 of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career.

    The remaining fourth-round matches on the men’s side include a clash between former Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini, who is targeting his first Grand Slam quarter-final since 2022, and Sinner’s conqueror Juan Manuel Cerundolo on Court Suzanne Lenglen. Last year’s quarter-finalist Frances Tiafoe will take on another rising Italian star, Matteo Arnaldi, for a place in the final eight.

  • Australia to send more players to England’s PWR

    Australia to send more players to England’s PWR

    As Australia prepares to host the 2029 Women’s Rugby World Cup, national governing body Rugby Australia has launched a strategic partnership with England’s top-flight Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR), sending elite domestic players to compete in the highly competitive European league to sharpen their competitive edge ahead of the home tournament.

    The initiative marks a deliberate push to lift the Wallaroos, Australia’s senior women’s national side, up the global rankings. Currently sitting ninth in the world ratings, Australia exited the 2025 Rugby World Cup at the quarter-final stage following a lopsided 46-5 defeat to Canada, who went on to reach the tournament final. With 2029’s edition set to be played on Australian soil, Rugby Australia has framed access to PWR’s high-standard competition as a critical stepping stone to reaching its goal of competing deep into the 2029 knockout rounds.

    Tabua Tuinakauvadra, the 23-year-old reigning Wallaroos Player of the Year currently plying her trade with Australia’s ACT Brumbies, is the first player to move under the new partnership. She will join English side Leicester Tigers on a contract that runs through to the end of April 2027, with a pre-agreed arrangement for her to return to Australia annually to compete in the Pacific Four Series international window and the domestic Super Rugby Women competition. Under current PWR scheduling rules, this structure means Australian players will not be available for the closing round of the PWR season or any play-off matches unless the league revises its format in coming years.

    Peter Horne, Rugby Australia’s high performance director, emphasized that the partnership addresses a core development need for the national program. “With a home Rugby World Cup on the horizon, Rugby Australia is committed to exposing the Wallaroos to world-class competition wherever possible,” Horne said. “Gaining consistent match experience in a competition like the PWR will be invaluable for the players’ long-term growth.” Horne’s sentiment has been echoed by several other top rugby nations, which have already established similar pathways for their players to access PWR competition. Wales, Scotland, Canada, and the United States have all moved to send their top international talent to England’s top league in recent years.

    Australia is far from the only nation capitalizing on PWR’s high competitive standard. Following the 2025 Rugby World Cup hosted by England, a large contingent of top players from two-time world champions New Zealand secured PWR contracts after facing limited consistent playing opportunities in their home domestic setup. Ruahei Demant, captain of the world-famous Black Ferns, enjoyed a short-term spell with Bristol Bears Women this season and has already publicly signaled her intention to return to the league in future campaigns.

    The growing influx of elite international talent to the PWR does, however, bring fresh scrutiny to the league’s founding purpose. Initially designed as a development pathway to nurture emerging domestic talent for the England national side, the growing number of overseas recruits has reignited questions around the existing rules requiring PWR sides to field a minimum number of England-qualified players in matchday squads, with observers debating how to balance the benefits of top-tier competition against opportunities for homegrown English prospects.

  • Israel orders strikes on Beirut ahead of UN meeting

    Israel orders strikes on Beirut ahead of UN meeting

    In a sharp escalation of its two-decade deepest incursion into Lebanon, Israel announced plans Monday to launch new airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold that has largely avoided heavy bombardment since April. The announcement comes just hours before an emergency UN Security Council meeting convened to address Israel’s expanding military operations, and as global powers scramble to prevent a full-scale regional conflict.

    In a joint statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz, the Israeli leadership ordered the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to target militant positions in Beirut’s densely populated Dahiyeh district. The order frames the operation as a response to repeated ceasefire violations by the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, which has launched daily attacks on Israeli territory since a fragile truce took effect in mid-April. “In light of the repeated violations of the ceasefire in Lebanon by the terrorist organisation Hezbollah and the attacks on our cities and citizens, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz have instructed the IDF to strike terror targets in the Dahiyeh district of Beirut,” the statement read.

    Katz doubled down on the threat in a separate remarks, warning that “there will be no calm in Beirut” if Hezbollah continues its offensive operations. He also formally outlined Israel’s new strategic goal: establishing a military-controlled security zone stretching to the Litani River in southern Lebanon, cleared of all weapons and militant presence. The announcement comes one day after Israeli troops seized the iconic Beaufort Castle (Qalaat al-Chakif), a strategic high point overlooking all of southern Lebanon that served as an Israeli military base during its 22-year occupation of the region ending in 2000. Netanyahu described the capture of the castle as a “dramatic shift” in Israel’s current policy in Lebanon.

    The current cycle of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah erupted on March 2, when Hezbollah launched a massive rocket barrage into Israel in retaliation for the US-Israeli killing of Iran’s supreme military leader. A truce brokered to halt hostilities went into effect on April 17, but the agreement has never been fully respected, with both sides trading daily accusations of breaches that justify renewed attacks.

    By Monday morning, panic had already spread across Beirut’s southern suburbs, with dozens of civilian families fleeing the area ahead of expected strikes. An AFP correspondent on the ground reported seeing families with young children packing only a few bags onto motor scooters to evacuate, while others loaded cars full of belongings to leave the area. “That feeling did not last long… Our fears intensified this morning after I received a series of messages about orders to bomb the southern suburbs, which caused widespread panic, and we immediately left the area,” 24-year-old resident Hadi told AFP by phone. Since April 8, when widespread Israeli strikes across Lebanon killed hundreds of people in minutes, Dahiyeh has only been targeted twice.

    Along with the planned strikes on Beirut, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported Monday that the IDF had issued new evacuation orders for nine towns and villages in Lebanon’s Sidon and Jezzine districts, located far from the Israel-Lebanon border. Hezbollah responded to the escalation by claiming responsibility for a missile attack on Tiberias, a city roughly 19 miles inside Israeli territory, and confirmed it had engaged Israeli ground forces operating inside southern Lebanon.

    The escalating violence has drawn immediate condemnation and urgent diplomatic action. France, which requested the emergency UN Security Council meeting scheduled for later Monday, has already spoken out against the escalation. French President Emmanuel Macron said Sunday that “nothing justifies the major escalation under way in south Lebanon”, while the European Union has called on Israel to immediately “stop its military escalation”.

    Diplomatic efforts to de-escalate are already underway, with the United States brokering a new round of security talks between Israeli and Lebanese military delegations. A fourth round of negotiations is set to open Tuesday, following an initial working meeting in Washington last Friday. A senior anonymous US official told AFP Sunday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio has spoken with both Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Netanyahu to lay out a US-backed de-escalation framework: Hezbollah must cease all attacks on Israel first, in exchange for Israel backing away from its planned strikes on Beirut. The official added that Rubio has emphasized Hezbollah must take the first step to end hostilities.

    For Iran, which is currently engaged in stalled negotiations with the United States to end their wider ongoing conflict, a ceasefire in Lebanon remains a non-negotiable condition for any final agreement. Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei reaffirmed this position during a weekly press briefing Monday, stating that “a ceasefire in Lebanon is an essential condition for any deal aimed at ending the war” with the US. Lebanese President Aoun has labeled Israel’s expanding operation as “a vicious and reprehensible Israeli aggression”.

    Official casualty figures underscore the heavy human cost of the three-month conflict: Lebanon’s health ministry reports that more than 3,412 Lebanese people have been killed in Israeli attacks since March 2. Over the same period, 26 people have been killed in Israel – 25 soldiers and one civilian contractor.

  • Russia fired record 8,150 drones at Ukraine in May: AFP analysis

    Russia fired record 8,150 drones at Ukraine in May: AFP analysis

    A new analysis conducted by Agence France-Presse (AFP) using official data from Ukraine’s Air Force has revealed that Russia unleashed a historic barrage of long-range drones on Ukrainian territory in May, hitting a new all-time high for monthly drone strikes amid ongoing escalation of the full-scale invasion.

    Compiled from daily operational reports released by Ukraine’s military air branch, the data puts the total number of Russian long-range drones launched in May at 8,150. That marks a 24% increase compared to the total drone count recorded in April, confirming a sharp ramping up of Moscow’s long-range air campaign. In addition to the unprecedented drone volume, Russia also fired 211 missiles across Ukraine last month—one of the highest monthly missile totals registered since the start of the full-scale invasion.

    The escalation of air attacks came shortly after a brief three-day humanitarian truce in April that had briefly raised global hopes for expanded diplomatic negotiations to end the conflict. Those hopes quickly faded, however, as both Kyiv and Moscow traded accusations of truce violations, before both sides resumed and intensified long-range strikes against each other’s territory.

    One of the deadliest single attacks of the month targeted Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, when a Russian missile struck a residential apartment block, leaving the building partially destroyed and killing 24 people alongside multiple injuries. May also saw Moscow deploy its Oreshnik, a nuclear-capable ballistic missile, for only the third time since the full-scale invasion began in 2022.

    Ukraine has built an extensive, multi-layered air defense network across its territory over the course of the war, and official data shows the system successfully intercepted roughly 91% of all incoming Russian drones and missiles launched in May. The high interception rate underscores Ukraine’s progress in developing countermeasures to defeat Russian long-range drone attacks, but military officials warn the country remains critically dependent on military support from Western allies to counter Russian missile strikes.

    Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly sounded the alarm over dwindling stockpiles of ammunition for anti-missile systems, including the U.S.-supplied Patriot air defense systems that form a core part of Kyiv’s frontline air defense. Kyiv has made urgent appeals to Washington for additional ammunition supplies to replenish these shrinking stocks, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky directly raising the issue with U.S. President Donald Trump during talks last month.

    The shortfall in air defense ammunition has been worsened by parallel demands from the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, where U.S. allies have expended massive volumes of air defense munitions to protect strategic sites across the Persian Gulf. Diplomatic efforts to resolve the Ukraine conflict have stalled in recent months, as Moscow and Kyiv remain irreconcilable over Russia’s demands to annex large swathes of Ukrainian territory. Trump, who reclaimed the White House in 2024 on a campaign promise to end the Ukraine war quickly, has seen his peace efforts stall amid continued disagreement between the two warring sides. More recently, diplomatic progress has been further derailed as Washington shifted its full foreign policy attention to the U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran that began on February 28.