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  • ‘Natural leaders’: Jake and Tom Trbojevic to serve as co-captains as Kieran Foran continues to make changes at Manly

    ‘Natural leaders’: Jake and Tom Trbojevic to serve as co-captains as Kieran Foran continues to make changes at Manly

    The Manly Sea Eagles, one of the National Rugby League’s most storied franchises, have announced a major off-field shakeup to their leadership group, with head coach Kieran Foran confirming that club fan favorite Jake Trbojevic will step into a permanent co-captaincy role alongside his younger brother Tom.

    Tom Trbojevic was named the club’s sole captain earlier this year, taking over from club legend Daly Cherry-Evans who departed for the Sydney Roosters at the end of the 2024 season. The star fullback has been sidelined in recent weeks with a hamstring injury, but is on track to make his return to the field next Thursday when Manly faces off against the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs.

    The 2025 NRL season got off to a disastrous start for Manly: the club dropped its first three consecutive matches, resulting in the immediate dismissal of former head coach Anthony Seibold. Foran, who originally joined the club’s staff as an assistant coach, stepped into the interim head coaching role and quickly turned the team’s on-field fortunes around. Impressed by his rapid turnaround of the squad, Manly’s front office signed Foran to a three-year permanent head coaching contract just weeks into his interim tenure.

    During Tom Trbojevic’s injury absence, Jake Trbojevic stepped up to lead the side with remarkable composure and results. That strong performance laid the groundwork for Foran’s decision to share the captaincy between the two brothers, a move that aligns with the team’s current chemistry.

    In addition to the co-captaincy appointment, powerful back-rower Haumole Olakau’atu has been named the club’s sole vice-captain. The appointment comes at a pivotal moment for Olakau’atu, who was recently dropped from the New South Wales Blues State of Origin side and will be eager to prove his selection worth against the Bulldogs next week.

    Speaking on the leadership changes, Foran emphasized that the move was a natural fit for the evolving squad. “Tom and Jake are the natural leaders of this group, and it makes sense to have them as co-captains,” Foran told reporters. “Jake has done an amazing job in Tom’s absence and we knew he would. He stepped up when the team needed him. That’s what leaders do. Haumole has also been wonderful this year, not only in his performances but also in the leadership he brings to the group.

    Right now, what’s best for the team is to have both Tom and Jake sharing the captaincy, supported by Haumole as vice-captain. It’s a pretty straightforward decision to be honest. We are lucky as a group to have two legends of the club leading the way.”

    For Jake Trbojevic, the new role caps off a positive stretch that has cleared up uncertainty around his future in the NRL. Earlier this year, widespread speculation suggested 2025 would be his final season in top-flight rugby league, but the forward has confirmed he will remain with Manly through the 2027 season. A long-time fan favorite and one-club man, Trbojevic said he was eager to take on the new responsibility.

    “I’ve just loved the past few months, and I’ll do whatever is best for the team,” he said. “If Foz (Foran) and Tom want this, then I’m all in. Leading this amazing group of players and playing for this great club is a privilege.”

  • ‘It’s a fit man’s game’: How Cameron Murray changed Origin as calls grow louder for him to start for the Blues

    ‘It’s a fit man’s game’: How Cameron Murray changed Origin as calls grow louder for him to start for the Blues

    Nearly a decade after he entered the National Rugby League, Cameron Murray has emerged as the public face of a sweeping transformation reshaping Australian rugby league’s most iconic competition, State of Origin. Once known as a proving ground for oversized power athletes, where 34 massive players from New South Wales and Queensland would trade brutal hits across 80 minutes of nonstop physical play, the elite representative series is now seeing a clear evolution: while team benches have grown in size, the average build of starting forwards has shrunk, with speed and endurance now prioritized over raw bulk.

    When Murray made his NRL debut in 2017, he lined up alongside the sport’s signature giants: the 100+ kilogram Burgess brothers and other heavy-boned forwards who dominated the era. Just 20 years earlier, the 2006 State of Origin series featured a roster of legendary heavyweights including Steve Price, Willie Mason, Petero Civoniceva and Brent Kite, all tipping the scales well above Murray’s current listed weight of 96 kilograms. Today, that 96kg frame fits perfectly into the new-look game shaped by rule changes designed to speed up rucks and open up play.

    Looking back on his career, Murray recalled early pressure to bulk up to match the sport’s old guard. “When I was coming in, it was the era of the Burgess boys, Ben Te’o, John Sutton and Dave Taylor — all big fellas,” Murray said. “In your mind, you’re like ‘I’ve got to put size on. I’ve got to make sure that I’m as big as these guys’. But as luck would have it, I came in at the right time. The fatigue and the speed of the game started going up, and it probably suited me a little better.”

    Murray credits incremental rule tweaks over the past decade with shifting the sport’s trajectory toward a faster style of play that caters to smaller, more agile forwards. “Some little tweaks in the rules over the years and then the way that the NRL are wanting the game to be played now, they kind of catered that to suit the rules,” he explained. “It’s the way that they want the game to go based on the speed of the game and bringing back the smaller guys. I think that’s suited me well, so I’m not complaining.”

    The impact of Murray’s unique skill set has not gone unnoticed among teammates and analysts. Former rugby league star Braith Anasta is among those calling for Murray to take the starting lock position for the NSW Blues, pushing current captain and long-time standout lock Isaah Yeo to shift to prop or move to the interchange bench. That arrangement already proved successful during the 2024 series, when Murray delivered a dominant performance wearing the number 13 jersey in games two and three.

    Data from Fox Sports Lab underscores how transformative Murray’s presence is for the Blues: the team holds an undefeated 3-0 record when Murray starts at lock. Across 16 total Origin appearances for NSW, the Blues have outscored opponents by 174 points when Murray is on the field, while posting a negative 48-point differential when he sits on the bench. That gap was on full display in 2024’s game one, where Queensland jumped out to an 18-0 lead before Murray entered the game off the bench.

    Even Yeo, who has been the Blues’ starting lock for six years, openly praised Murray’s game-changing ability. “He’s been outstanding for a long time, and we’ve definitely missed him in the Origin arena when he had the achilles (injury) last year and when he had a concussion in another game,” Yeo said. “He’s just one of those players who makes every team he’s in better, whether that’s at lock, coming off the bench or playing in the back row. He’s the ultimate professional. I thought what he and Victor Radley brought into the game off the bench was really important. They brought a point of difference for us.”

    NSW halfback Nathan Cleary, who plays alongside Yeo weekly at club level and teams up with Murray annually for Origin, highlighted the unique dynamic the two forwards create. “The world’s best playmaker loves working with two of the most effective link men in rugby league, with Murray providing a point of difference that Yeo can’t match. He just adds a different type of leg speed,” Cleary said. “I’ve seen Cam play in the centres before, and that speaks volumes to what he brings with his leg speed. He’s got great ball-playing ability as well, so I think the mix of him and ‘Yowie’ is so dynamic. It’s a pleasure to play alongside those two guys.”

    For Murray himself, the debate over whether he deserves a starting spot is irrelevant. His only goal is helping the Blues claim the State of Origin shield after an injury forced him to miss the entire 2023 series. “When I play Origin, I just try to be myself out there. I try to go out and play to my strengths and do what I know needs to be done to get the job done in Origin,” he said. “Origin’s all about effort and going out and doing your best for your teammate, and so that’s what I try to do. If I’m coming off the bench, then I try to bring energy. If I start, I try to start with a level head and I just go out there and try to be the best version of myself and play as best I can in a Blues jersey.”

  • Thai princess dies aged 47 after three years in hospital

    Thai princess dies aged 47 after three years in hospital

    Thailand’s royal household has confirmed the passing of Princess Bajrakitiyabha Mahidol, King Maha Vajiralongkorn’s eldest daughter, at the age of 47. The announcement, made Friday, comes more than three years after the princess was hospitalized for a sudden illness that would ultimately claim her life. She died peacefully on Thursday evening after her abdominal infection led to a steady and irreversible decline in health, the Bureau of the Royal Household said in an official statement.

    Following royal tradition, the princess will lie in state at Bangkok’s Grand Palace, and a state funeral will be held with the highest royal honors, the statement added. Popularly known to Thais as “Princess Bha,” Bajrakitiyabha was the only child from the king’s first marriage to Princess Soamsawali. She first fell ill in December 2021, and by May of this year, her condition had deteriorated to the point that she required continuous medical device support for her lung and kidney function alongside round-the-clock medication.

    A highly accomplished public figure beyond her royal status, Bajrakitiyabha built a diverse professional career as a trained prosecutor and diplomat. She pursued her education across three countries, earning a law degree from Cornell University in the United States after studying in Britain and her native Thailand, and went on to serve as Thailand’s ambassador to Austria. She also held multiple senior roles with the United Nations, and emerged as a prominent advocate for women’s rights, most notably pushing for improved living and working conditions for incarcerated women across the region. Speaking to students at her alma mater Cornell University during a 2012 visit, she described her multifaceted career as that of a “hybrid” professional, blending expertise in law, criminal justice and diplomacy.

    In a televised national address following the announcement, Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul paid tribute to the late princess, noting she was deeply loved, respected and admired by people across the kingdom. He praised her as kind, talented and of exemplary conduct, adding that she dedicated her entire life to advancing justice, equality, human dignity and rights across Thai society. Anutin called on all Thai citizens to join in national mourning and hold up the princess as an inspiration for public service to the nation and monarchy.

    Within Thailand’s hierarchical social structure, where the royal family occupies the highest position of public reverence, Bajrakitiyabha held significant ceremonial influence. She was widely known to be close to her father, and just one year before her hospitalization, she was appointed to a senior leadership position in the king’s personal bodyguard command. Even Pavin Chachavalpongpun, a prominent Thai scholar known for his public criticism of the monarchy, offered a warm reflection after her death, recalling meeting her in Singapore and describing her as someone who treated every civil servant with inherent kindness and respect.

    By Friday morning, crowds of mourners had already gathered outside Chulalongkorn Hospital, where the princess had received all her treatment since falling ill. Many held hand-signed portraits of the late princess, and dozens shared their grief with reporters. Sixty-six-year-old retiree Thanyaporn Arammekha, whose eyes were swollen from hours of crying, told reporters she had rushed to the hospital as soon as she heard the official announcement. “When I heard the announcement, I was very sad,” she said, noting that she had visited the hospital regularly throughout the princess’s treatment. She added that the Thai monarchy had long been a source of personal comfort for her after her parents’ divorce when she was a child, with former King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX) serving as a father figure.

    Another retired provincial official, 67-year-old Kanokpan Chantarapetch, struggled to speak through her tears as she paid her respects. “I can’t really speak. I’m overwhelmed,” she told AFP. “I have loved Princess Bha since she was very young, and as a former government worker, I understand how much the royal family has done for the country.”

    Bajrakitiyabha’s death marks the second major loss for the Thai royal family in less than six months, following the death of King Vajiralongkorn’s mother, former Queen Sirikit, in October at the age of 93. The 73-year-old king, who has seven children from four separate marriages, has not yet publicly named an heir to the throne. Current Thai succession laws prioritize male heirs for the throne. Thailand’s strict lese-majeste laws, which carry penalties of up to 15 years in prison per charge for any criticism of members of the royal family, continue to heavily regulate public discussion of the monarchy.

  • Yangon’s furtive party scene belies junta claims of normality

    Yangon’s furtive party scene belies junta claims of normality

    Five years after Myanmar’s military seized power in a 2021 coup, the ruling junta has pushed a carefully crafted narrative that the country has returned to stable, normal governance: it points to recently held elections, a newly installed civilian government, and the December lifting of Yangon’s restrictive 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. curfew as proof the nation is moving past its post-coup unrest. But the shadowy, high-adrenaline underground party scene thriving in the country’s largest city tells a far different story – one of widespread fear, unaddressed trauma, and a desperate search for escape amid a still-raging civil war.

    Inside a sprawling, warehouse-turned-nightclub in Yangon, bass-heavy music blares at 150 decibels – as loud as a jet engine during takeoff – while cutting laser lights slice through clouds of cigarette and vape smoke. When the final set ends around dawn, many partygoers don’t rush to head home. Instead, they doze off on leather sofas scattered around the venue, a habit formed after years of avoiding late-night travel through streets controlled by military checkpoints and armed factions. “That became a habit, they’re used to it,” explained a 29-year-old veteran of Yangon’s underground elite party scene, who, like all other interviewees for this report, requested full anonymity out of fear of reprisal from military authorities.

    For many of Myanmar’s young people, the desire to cut loose from daily stress collides with a persistent dread of moving through the streets after dark. Widespread arbitrary detention, forced conscription campaigns by both the military and opposing armed groups, and ongoing violence have left nearly half of all young people reporting they feel “unsafe” or “very unsafe” walking alone after sundown, according to a 2025 United Nations report – that’s more than double the rate recorded before the 2021 coup. By late evening, most public streets in Yangon are nearly empty, deserted save for stray dogs and occasional military patrols.

    Local performer Sae Sar, who performs under a stage name to protect his identity, said this tension between the urge to connect and the fear of danger defines Yangon’s modern nightlife. “I know my fans are tired all day,” the 24-year-old artist said. “If they keep all their feelings inside, it can cause many problems.”

    On weekends, the first stop for many night owls is Yangon’s iconic Chinatown, where neon signs line 19th Street and open-air beer bars spill out onto the sidewalk. This strip is the only major late-night public gathering spot in the city; as midnight approaches, every surrounding street has long emptied out. One local street vendor selling individual sachets of hangover cure says that six months after the curfew was lifted, the number of people out for the night has stayed roughly the same. “People just want to be happy, even though they are worried,” she explained. “They’re still going home early.” Lyrics from busking performers drift out onto the street, capturing the collective mood: “Life is short as a drying drop of water. Don’t be sad. Things will get better. Try just to be happy.”

    Once 19th Street winds down around midnight, the party moves underground to the Sanchaung neighborhood. Once a center of anti-coup protests after 2021, the area has emerged as a hub for underground nightlife after security forces crushed the public pro-democracy movement. Many of the young activists who led those early protests have since joined anti-military resistance factions fighting in the country’s ongoing civil war, which has killed more than 70,000 people, displaced 3.7 million more, and pushed half of Myanmar’s population into poverty. Even when strict full-night curfews were in place in the years immediately after the coup, young people still gathered secretly to party, one local DJ told AFP. He argued that military authorities often turned a blind eye to these gatherings, reasoning that young people focused on partying “won’t focus on the resistance.”

    Today, regular nightlife carries a distinctly different energy than it did before the coup, according to everyone interviewed for this report. The trade in illicit party narcotics has exploded in recent years: ketamine, ecstasy, and homemade “happy water” cocktails that mix unpredictable combinations of stimulants and sedatives are now widely available at underground events. “These days people judge whether a DJ is good or bad based entirely on how well the music complements their drug high,” the 31-year-old DJ said. “It is supply and demand.”

    The search for escape from daily stress and trauma only ends at dawn, when bleary-eyed partygoers stumble out into the early morning light to head home, carrying the collective weight of the coup’s ongoing impact with them – a lingering post-coup hangover that no night of partying can fully wash away.

  • Shakira and protests as World Cup kicks off in Mexico

    Shakira and protests as World Cup kicks off in Mexico

    As the 2026 FIFA World Cup kicked off its opening match Thursday in Mexico City, the day unfolded as a study of stark contrasts: a raucous, celebratory opening ceremony inside the iconic Estadio Azteca was overshadowed by violent clashes between protesters and security forces, and dangerous overcrowding at the city’s central official fan zone.

    A venue steeped in World Cup history, Estadio Azteca – recently renovated to modernize its century-old infrastructure – earned its place as the tournament’s curtain-raiser host, having hosted the sport’s biggest final in both 1970 and 1986. Thursday’s opening matchup between co-host nation Mexico and South Africa was preceded by a star-studded performance that had the 80,000-person crowd on their feet.

    Colombian pop icon Shakira, a longstanding fixture of World Cup opening ceremonies stretching back decades, shared the stage with Nigerian afrobeats superstar Burna Boy to deliver the tournament’s official anthem “Dai Dai”. Dancers swirled around a towering inflatable replica of the World Cup trophy while bursts of fireworks lit up the sky above the pitch, building energy to a fever pitch ahead of kickoff. For fans inside the stadium, the atmosphere delivered exactly the festive experience they had traveled for.

    “It’s already a party in Mexico,” 40-year-old supporter Ingrid Orozco told Agence France-Presse. Nineteen-year-old Gustavo Ramirez echoed the excitement, saying simply: “It’s amazing.” That celebration only grew after the final whistle, as Mexico secured a dominant 2-0 victory over South Africa, which finished the match down to nine players after two red cards.

    But just miles from the stadium’s celebrations, chaos erupted across the capital. At the Zocalo plaza official fan zone, thousands of fans converged to watch the match on a giant screen, only to face dangerous crushes at entry points. Metal barriers, installed days earlier to block protesting teacher groups from accessing the area, created bottlenecks that turned entry into a disorganized scramble.

    “Stop pushing and shoving, there are children here, you’re like animals!” one city official yelled through a megaphone while attempting to manage the crowd. Some frustrated fans threw water bottles and shouted insults at police, even as they chanted in support of the Mexican national team. After an hour of waiting to enter, many fans gave up entirely. “It took us an hour to get in, it was chaos, and getting out was even worse,” 49-year-old Victor Gomez told AFP, who left the venue with his partner before kickoff. “Inside, you can’t even walk, and you can’t see anything; we could only get access to the very last little screen over here.” Local officials quickly announced the fan zone had reached full capacity on social media and urged arriving fans to seek out alternate viewing locations. Originally scheduled to attend the Zocalo fan zone, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum instead watched the match at a local sports center amid ongoing unrest.

    The protests that prompted the security barriers began days earlier, when a group of teachers demanding higher wage increases organized demonstrations near high-profile World Cup locations. On Thursday, they were joined by relatives of missing Mexican citizens and student activist groups, who gathered outside Estadio Azteca ahead of the match. As kickoff approached, a subset of protesters pushed through perimeter barriers, leading to physical clashes with uniformed officers. Small groups of young demonstrators smashed car windows with baseball bats, prompting police to deploy tear gas and mounted units to disperse the crowd, which scattered across surrounding neighborhoods.

  • ‘We’re not’: Benji Marshall slams door shut on the Wests Tigers signing Israel Folau

    ‘We’re not’: Benji Marshall slams door shut on the Wests Tigers signing Israel Folau

    Just days after unsubstantiated reports linked 37-year-old veteran cross-code athlete Israel Folau to a potential National Rugby League (NRL) comeback with the Wests Tigers, head coach Benji Marshall has categorically ruled out any move to bring Folau to the club. The blunt rejection comes as Marshall prioritizes pulling his side out of a low point following a humiliating 68-0 defeat to premiership favorites Penrith last weekend.

    Folau, who last played an NRL match back in 2010, has built a nomadic career across multiple football codes since leaving the competition, with stints in Australian Rules Football, international rugby union, and most recently a season with the Super League’s Catalans Dragons. Marshall and Folau actually shared the field once before, lining up together for the NRL All Stars exhibition side in 2010, but that connection has not sparked any interest in a signing from the current Tigers head coach.

    Speaking to reporters on Friday, Marshall shut down all speculation immediately: “No, we’re not signing him. I don’t talk about recruitment publicly, but that’s the furthest thing from my mind right now. I’ve seen there have been a lot of reports out there, but I need to get my team back on track. I need to focus on what’s important right now, and that’s us getting the performance we need this weekend, so I’m not even going to go down that path.”

    Marshall’s full attention is fixed on damage control after the Tigers’ lopsided loss to Penrith, a defeat he described as being fueled by embarrassing “schoolboy errors” that left the entire squad ashamed of their on-field performance. Rather than brushing the defeat under the rug, Marshall said the club has worked through a full review of the match to encourage individual and collective accountability. “It was really important for us to go through that process so we didn’t just flush it under the carpet and pretend it never happened. And although it was tough, I think the value we’ll get out of that will hold us in good stead,” he explained.

    Despite the demoralizing loss, Marshall pushed back against outside narratives that the Tigers’ entire season is a write-off, noting that the club holds a 6-6 win-loss record halfway through the campaign. “It’s not all doom and gloom as it feels like it is externally,” Marshall said. His top priority right now is lifting the team’s mentality ahead of their upcoming clash against the Titans on Sunday, which will mark the club’s final match at the historic Leichhardt Oval before the venue closes for a major multi-year renovation that will keep the Tigers away through 2027.

    The Tigers will enter the match shorthanded, already missing key starting players Api Koroisau and Adam Doueihi. Much of the external criticism for the club’s recent uneven form has fallen on five-eighth Jarome Luai, who has come under intense scrutiny since announcing he will leave the Tigers to join the PNG Chiefs in 2028. Marshall defended Luai, rejecting the suggestion that his upcoming departure has become a disruptive distraction and pushing back on attempts to pin the team’s poor results solely on Luai.

    “I said this at the time (when he signed the deal) that it’ll become a distraction if you let it. If you don’t find the results, then they’ll find the excuses to make that a distraction. And we haven’t had the results, so people are always going to point to that, but it’s deeper than that,” Marshall said. “You don’t like making excuses, but we have a lot of our key players out, and what we haven’t done is adapt enough in those games to defend better. You can talk all you want about Jarome’s decision to go to PNG, but there are 16 other players or 18 other players in the squad that need to do their job as well.”

  • SpaceX IPO set for liftoff in record market debut

    SpaceX IPO set for liftoff in record market debut

    As the opening bell rings at New York’s Nasdaq exchange in Times Square on Friday, one of the most anticipated and largest initial public offerings in Wall Street history is set to get underway: Elon Musk’s SpaceX is making its public debut, a milestone that redefines the boundaries of private sector ambition and billionaire wealth.

    On Thursday, SpaceX filed documentation with U.S. market regulators confirming its pricing of more than 555 million shares at $135 apiece. The valuation lands just under $1.8 trillion, catapulting the aerospace and technology conglomerate into the top 10 of the largest publicly traded companies on Wall Street—surpassing the current market capitalizations of Tesla, Meta Platforms, and Walmart. The primary share offering alone is projected to raise more than $75 billion, smashing the previous IPO record set by Saudi Aramco’s $29.4 billion 2019 debut. If underwriters exercise options for an additional 83 million shares, total proceeds could climb above $86 billion, a figure unmatched in the history of public markets.

    Founded by Musk as a small rocket startup in 2002, SpaceX has expanded far beyond its original mission of interplanetary exploration. Today, it operates the world’s largest commercial satellite constellation through Starlink, functions as a primary launch provider for NASA and commercial missions, and has absorbed Musk’s artificial intelligence firm xAI—along with the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. Trading under the ticker symbol “SPCX”, SpaceX leads the wave of major AI-focused companies preparing to enter public markets, beating competitors OpenAI and Anthropic, both of which have only recently filed initial regulatory documentation for their own planned offerings.

    The record-breaking listing comes just over one year after Musk stepped back from his role in former President Donald Trump’s administration, where he led the controversial “DOGE” initiative aimed at slashing federal government spending while holding onto his CEO positions at both Tesla and SpaceX. In recent years, Musk has transformed from a broadly celebrated technology innovator into one of the world’s most polarizing public figures: his open support for Trump and right-wing populist movements across Europe, paired with a long history of incendiary statements on X, has drawn widespread criticism and public pushback.

    Even amid this controversy, investor enthusiasm for the IPO has been unprecedented. Bloomberg reports that the offering was more than four times oversubscribed, with strong demand from both institutional and retail investors—who have been allocated 20 percent of the available shares. The IPO is expected to create thousands of new millionaires and multiple new billionaires, as current and former employees, as well as early backers from the company’s 23-year history, prepare to cash out a portion of their long-held stakes. If the debut performs as expected, Musk will become the first person in recorded history to hold a net worth exceeding $1 trillion, a milestone that would push his fortune to nearly three times that of the world’s second-richest person, Google co-founder Larry Page. Entering Friday’s trading session, Musk’s current net worth already stands at $782 billion, per Forbes’ real-time billionaire rankings.

    Not all observers have welcomed the historic offering, however. Oxfam America senior director of economic justice Nabil Ahmed argued that a trillion-dollar fortune held by a single individual is incompatible with both an equitable economy and a functional healthy democracy. On the eve of the listing, activist protesters positioned a giant inflatable of Musk outside Nasdaq’s headquarters to draw attention to concerns that xAI’s Grok chatbot can be used to generate non-consensual deepfake sexual imagery.

    Wall Street analysts also remain divided over the sustainability of SpaceX’s near-$1.8 trillion valuation. The company’s ambitious growth projections rely on Musk delivering on a slate of science fiction-level promises that require unproven technology, including placing data centers in low-Earth orbit and establishing permanent human settlements on Mars. Much of the company’s long-term value is also tied to the massive expansion of Starlink satellite internet and the growth of xAI’s Grok chatbot, which has so far failed to gain significant market traction against competitors like OpenAI’s ChatGPT. While SpaceX grew rapidly to $18.7 billion in revenue in 2025, it also posted a net loss of $4.9 billion for the year, driven largely by massive capital spending to expand AI computing capacity. In its public filing, SpaceX projects it could eventually generate more than $28.5 trillion in cumulative revenue across its operating segments—a prediction that has left many market observers skeptical.

    As markets open on Friday, all eyes are on Wall Street’s reaction to the offering, which will set a precedent for the wave of big tech and AI IPOs expected to follow in the coming months.

  • Happy Birthday Mr. President: Trump to turn 80 with cage fight

    Happy Birthday Mr. President: Trump to turn 80 with cage fight

    As former President and current Republican front-runner Donald Trump approaches his 80th birthday, the most iconic lawn of the United States’ executive residence is being transformed into a gladiator-style fighting arena, marking an unprecedented break from White House tradition that has sparked fierce public debate.

    Constructed atop the historic South Lawn, where generations of past presidents have hosted diplomatic milestones and farewell addresses, a 600-ton steel lighting and structural installation nicknamed “The Claw” now towers 92 feet into the sky — taller than the White House building itself. This massive structure frames an 8-sided Octagon fighting cage for the “UFC Freedom 250” event, scheduled for Sunday, which will feature 14 of the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s top mixed martial artists. Around 4,000 spectators will fill the arena, with more than half of the spots reserved for U.S. military service members, while an additional 125,000 people are expected to watch the live broadcast on a giant screen at the nearby Ellipse public green space.

    For Trump, the event pulls double duty: it celebrates his 80th birthday and kicks off the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence. The former reality TV star and real estate tycoon, who has cultivated a brash, larger-than-life public persona over decades, has embraced the event’s macho energy. In an interview with the New York Post, he praised the sport’s athletes, saying, “They’re the roughest people you’ll ever meet. If you haven’t seen it much, you’re not going to believe it.”

    Trump has longstanding close ties to UFC leadership, having attended multiple previous events, and the sport’s largely young male fanbase has been a core pillar of his political support. Secretary of State Marco Rubio echoed Trump’s enthusiastic framing of the event, announcing a new partnership between the State Department and UFC to promote mixed martial arts globally. “That’s what Sunday is about, it’s a gift to the American people,” Rubio told reporters this week, projecting that up to a billion viewers worldwide would tune in. Trump also pushed back against criticism of the event’s costs, insisting that UFC is covering the full $60 million price tag, with no public funds being used.

    But the unprecedented decision to host a professional cage fighting event on the White House lawn has drawn sharp condemnation from critics, who call the move tone-deaf amid ongoing economic strain for ordinary Americans — a crisis worsened by the escalation of Trump’s ongoing military conflict in Iran that has driven global energy and living costs higher. Legal challenges have also been mounted: a lawsuit filed ahead of the event argues that using public land for the private event amounts to improper enrichment of Trump’s political allies, a claim the White House has formally rejected in court filings. Officials also clarified that unlike the Eiffel Tower, which was retained after the 1889 Paris World’s Fair after a suggestion from Trump that the arena could become a permanent fixture, “The Claw” will be fully dismantled immediately after the event concludes.

    Political analysts say the spectacle is entirely consistent with Trump’s unique approach to the presidency. “Donald Trump has built a public persona throughout his life by being the Donald Trump show,” Peter Loge, director of George Washington University’s School of Media, told AFP. “It’s loud, it’s glitzy, it’s glossy, that’s what this is.” Loge added that the event’s display of raw, masculine force during a period of war and domestic chaos is a deliberate message designed to resonate with Trump’s base. “It’s gladiators,” he explained. “In a time of chaos in the US, it is to say that the US is strength, it is force, and it is in control. There’s fireworks — and two guys beating each other up.”

    Regardless of where observers stand, the event will go down as a one-of-a-kind moment in the 200-year history of the White House, a far cry from the diplomatic negotiations and formal addresses that have defined the South Lawn’s past. It stands as a clear reflection of how Trump has redefined the norms of American political spectacle during his time in office.

  • Pope ends Spain visit with migrant meetings

    Pope ends Spain visit with migrant meetings

    Pope Leo XIV is wrapping up his official visit to Spain this Friday, centering the final day of his trip on the urgent humanitarian crisis facing irregular migrants crossing to Europe, with scheduled meetings with displaced people and an open-air mass on the Atlantic island of Tenerife. As the spiritual leader of 1.4 billion Catholics around the globe, his closing appearances reinforce a clear message: the world must step up support for vulnerable migrants and crack down on the ruthless human trafficking networks that profit from irregular migration, a topic that remains one of the most divisive issues in contemporary European political debate. Tenerife forms part of Spain’s Canary Islands archipelago, a primary Atlantic entry point for tens of thousands of people fleeing poverty, conflict and instability in Africa and the Middle East who seek new, better lives in the European Union. On Friday, the pope will first address hundreds of migrants staying at the Las Raices migrant facility, a converted former military barracks that previously drew widespread public criticism for severe overcrowding and poor living conditions. Following that meeting, he will lead a large open-air mass for tens of thousands of worshippers gathered in Santa Cruz de Tenerife’s main port. The final leg of the papal trip began Thursday, when the pope arrived on Gran Canaria, another major island in the archipelago, after completing earlier visits to the Spanish mainland cities of Madrid and Barcelona earlier in the week. During his first day in the Canaries, he delivered a sharp rebuke of global indifference to the migrant crisis, holding a solemn ceremony to cast a memorial wreath into the waters off Arguineguin port to honor the thousands of migrants who have lost their lives attempting to cross the sea to reach the islands. “Human dignity has no passport,” he stated from the dock, before blessing a weathered blue wooden cross crafted from the remnants of a migrant vessel that washed ashore after a crossing. “Monsters lurk in these seas… traffickers who enslave women and children, and those whose indifference allows the poor to be swallowed up by exploitation or forgetfulness,” he added. Data from the International Organization for Migration confirms that nearly 1,200 migrants lost their lives or went missing on the dangerous crossing from North Africa to the Canary Islands last year alone, cementing the route as one of the deadliest migration corridors on the planet. With European national governments tightening migration policies amid rising political pressure from far-right parties across the continent, the pope pushed back against hardened approaches: Europe “cannot claim to uphold human dignity while growing accustomed to the Mediterranean and the Atlantic becoming unmarked graves,” he argued. He further emphasized that the ongoing tragedy demands a moral reckoning not just for destination countries in Europe, but also for nations of origin and transit, where widespread poverty and unaddressed conflict leave people vulnerable to exploitation by trafficking gangs. For migrant communities on the Canary Islands, the papal visit carries enormous weight during what many describe as a defining moment for the crisis. “We really value this visit. It’s very important for us at such a critical moment,” Mohamed Amjahdi, a Moroccan migrant who arrived on the islands by boat at the age of 17, told Agence France-Presse on the ground in Arguineguin. After concluding his events in Tenerife, the pope will depart for Rome, where he is expected to hold a press conference with traveling journalists aboard his return flight. Pope Leo XIV has made reforming global approaches to migration a core priority of his papacy, using high-profile international visits to draw global attention to the human cost of restrictive immigration policies and systemic indifference to displaced populations.

  • Ex-Tottenham owner sells art collection in blockbuster auction

    Ex-Tottenham owner sells art collection in blockbuster auction

    One of the most valuable private art collections ever assembled in Europe, built over decades by former Tottenham Hotspur majority owner Joe Lewis, is set to hit the auction block this month at Sotheby’s London, with an opening total valuation of no less than £200 million ($267 million) that experts say could climb far higher on the night.

    The 89-year-old British billionaire, who holds an estimated net worth of £5.8 billion according to 2024’s The Sunday Times Rich List and transferred his controlling stake in the Premier League football club to a family trust back in 2022, has amassed a trove of 48 works spanning more than a century of modern and contemporary art from some of the most iconic names in global art history. The upcoming sale spans creations from early 20th century pioneers to boundary-pushing post-war British artists, with standout pieces carrying eight-figure valuations that draw collectors and enthusiasts from across the globe.

    Headlining the auction is Amedeo Modigliani’s *Nu assis au collier* (Seated Nude Wearing a Necklace), a work that sparked public scandal when it was first unveiled in 1917 Paris. The iconic nude painting carries an estimate of over £45 million, making it one of the most expensive lots in the entire collection. Other high-profile entries include a bronze dancer sculpture by Impressionist master Edgar Degas, valued between £18 million and £25 million, and Gustav Klimt’s 1902 *Portrait of Gertrud Loew*, a key work from the Vienna Secession movement projected to sell for £20 million to £30 million. Rounding out the star lots are Pablo Picasso’s 1938 *Buste de femme*, a portrait of the artist’s muse and collaborator Dora Maar valued at £12 million to £18 million, and Lucian Freud’s 1995-1996 *Sleeping by the Lion Carpet*, a nuanced nude depiction of the artist’s long-time muse Sue Tilley estimated to fetch between £25 million and £35 million. Sotheby’s Europe Chairman Oliver Barker calls the Freud work “arguably the greatest Lucian Freud painting ever to make its way to market.”

    The collection also includes additional entries from Vienna Secession pioneer Egon Schiele, surrealist icon René Magritte, and groundbreaking British post-war artist Francis Bacon, bringing together a diverse curation that reflects Lewis’s decades-long eye for transformative 20th century art. Barker emphasized that the scope of the Lewis Collection is unprecedented for a European auction: “There’s never ever been a collection of this magnitude that’s ever been offered for sale, actually, either in the UK or indeed in Europe.” He added that the £200 million pre-sale estimate is the highest ever attached to a private collection offered anywhere on the continent, and calls the valuation “very moderately estimated” with strong potential for final bids to far exceed projections.

    Members of the public can view all auction lots for free at Sotheby’s London location through June 23. The 25 most valuable works will be auctioned on the evening of June 24, with the remaining lots going under the hammer the following day. Barker frames the sale as a turning point for Lewis and his family, coming shortly after the billionaire received a presidential pardon from former U.S. President Donald Trump in 2024, months after he pleaded guilty to federal insider trading charges. Lewis’s daughter Vivienne Lewis remains an active collector focused on supporting emerging and avant-garde contemporary artists, Barker noted.

    The upcoming auction aligns with a resurgent global art market following a period of slowdown driven by economic uncertainty and a shortage of top-tier works for sale. Earlier this spring, blockbuster auctions in New York delivered record-breaking prices for iconic creations by Jackson Pollock, Constantin Brâncuși, and Mark Rothko, signaling renewed buyer enthusiasm for museum-quality masterpieces. Back in March, four works from Lewis’s collection by members of the London School of British art, including pieces by Freud and Bacon, sold for £35.8 million at Sotheby’s to a packed salesroom.
    “You know there’s been a great deal of wealth creation around the world at the moment and I think more of it has been driven to the art market,” Barker explained. “The market has been so starved of true masterpieces, and so the opportunity to acquire works of this calibre truly is a great opportunity.”

    If the Lewis Collection matches or exceeds its estimated value, it will come close to matching the 2009 European record for a private collection auction set by the estate of fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Bergé. That Christie’s auction carried an initial estimate of 200 to 300 million euros, and ultimately sold for 373.9 million euros, equal to roughly £333 million at the time.