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Nomi Kaltmann supported her boyfriend Daniel’s campaign for federal parliament when he was 21. Watching the results roll in, she felt immense pride Find more stories from The moment I knew series Daniel and I went to the same high school in Melbourne. He was a year older than me, and we must have passed each other thousands of times, but I have no memory of ever talking to him. We knew of each other but we didn’t know each other’s names. We met properly for the first time at a pre-drinks when I was in my first year of university. He was holding a six-pack of beer and looked vaguely familiar. I introduced myself, he offered me one of his drinks and we got talking. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/IqButOm

Washington state officials swarmed to scene to find 70,000lbs of hives and bees abuzz in a sticky situation Officials near the US border were abuzz after being relentlessly attacked on Friday morning by a swarm of fugitives: honeybees had escaped after a truck carrying hives overturned near the Canadian border. About 250m honeybees flew free of the truck around 4am a few miles south of Canada. The truck that was transporting around 70,000lbs of hives and honeybees rolled over on a road in north-western Washington state . Local sheriff deputies and bee experts swarmed to the scene, where they removed the box hives to help recover and rescue as many bees as possible. The driver of the truck was not injured. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/gqBlpXe

Organizer points to president’s anti-diversity push as companies join Adidas and Clorox in withdrawing support In another blow to one of the largest celebrations of LGTBQ+ people in North America, Pride Toronto has unexpectedly lost two more major corporate sponsors, just weeks before the festival in a setback the festival’s organizer says is direct result of Donald Trump ’s campaign to eradicate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in the US. Google and Home Depot both announced their plans to abandon the festival in the form of one-line emails, said Kojo Modeste, the executive director of the Canadian event. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/EqGdlwD

Twenty-two plaintiffs between ages seven and 25 allege government is engaging in unlawful executive overreach Twenty-two young Americans have filed a new lawsuit against the Trump administration over its anti- environment executive orders. By intentionally boosting oil and gas production and stymying carbon-free energy, federal officials are violating their constitutional rights to life and liberty, alleges the lawsuit, filed on Thursday. The federal government is engaging in unlawful executive overreach by breaching congressional mandates to protect ecosystems and public health, argue the plaintiffs, who are between the ages of seven and 25 and hail from the heavily climate-impacted states of Montana, Hawaii, Oregon, California and Florida. They also say officials’ emissions-increasing and science-suppressing orders have violated the state-created danger doctrine, a legal principle meant to prevent government actors from inflicting injury upon their citizens. Continue reading... ...

Trump officials offer to move 300 birds to Mehmet Oz’s Florida ranch after Canada’s kill order over avian flu fears What is bird flu, and should you be worried about it? Senior officials in the Trump administration have intervened in attempt to save more than 300 ostriches on a farm in British Columbia which the Canadian government had ordered to be killed over fears the flock is infected with avian flu . Robert F Kennedy Jr , the US health secretary, and Mehmet Oz, a physician and former TV host appointed by Trump as the director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid , have offered to move the birds to Oz’s ranch in Florida – despite the kill order imposed by Canadian health authorities. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/9eijZ3K

Registrations for new vehicles in April drop to half 2024 figure despite a broader rise in battery electric cars Sales of new Tesla electric cars are sliding across Europe, data suggests, amid a political backlash against its billionaire chief executive, Elon Musk. The figures from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) showed registrations for new Teslas halved in April compared to the same month a year earlier, despite a broader rise in battery electric vehicles overall. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/9GxqAXn

French president denies quarrelling with Brigitte Macron after footage is seized on by Russia and far-right accounts Emmanuel Macron has denied he and his wife, Brigitte, had an altercation after a viral video promoted by Russian state media and French far-right accounts appeared to show her pushing him in the face as they prepared to get off a plane in Vietnam. The video, shot by an Associated Press camera operator, shows the French president appearing in the doorway of the plane at the start of a visit to Hanoi. His wife’s hand appears to shove him, causing him to step back before recovering and waving. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/PD4oMjX

St George’s Bristol The former church was an excellent setting for Robert Hollingworth and his group’s superb exploration of Benevoli’s baroque masses for multiple choirs I Fagiolini may be a small vocal ensemble, but their director Robert Hollingworth thinks big, always pushing boundaries in an imaginative way. Their 2023 recording of music by the 17th century Orazio Benevoli – a leading composer in Rome’s post-Palestrina era – was much admired and they’re now exploring more of Benevoli’s masses for multiple choirs. Bristol’s St George’s , whose gallery runs on three full sides of the former church, offered an excellent setting. In Benevoli’s Missa Angelus Domini for three choirs of four voices – a single voice to each part as was the usual practice – the complexity of the interweaving lines emerged with clarity, the singing gutsy rather than overly refined. Individual voices were free to come through the texture with colourful flourishes when appropriate, the primacy of the text...

It’s like Midsomer Murders with jokes, or Rosemary and Thyme – but good. This fun new murder mystery bounces along with verve. It’s a cut above By some curious dint of mathematics, one of life’s greatest pleasures is coming across something that is just a little bit better than it needs to be. It’s such rarity, such a treat – and to pessimists, such a shock to the system – that it becomes disproportionately, though still genuinely, delightful. Such a phenomenon is Death Valley, a new Sunday night comedy drama in which an amateur sleuth helps the police solve crimes in a bucolic village – usually English, this time Welsh – with an astronomically high murder rate and a suspect under every gooseberry bush and felt hat. So far, so Gently cum Midsomer cum Marple cum Agatha Raisin cum pull-up-a-chair-and-a-teacake-and-enjoy. Death Valley was on BBC One Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3fkZO7e

Marilyn’s Mater Paddle, now in its second year, held at Balcarrick beach to raise funds for women’s cancer care Almost 200 Marilyn Monroe lookalikes have made a splash by taking part in a themed charity swim at an Irish beach. Sporting retro swimsuits and blond wigs, swimmers dressed as the film star took the plunge at Balcarrick beach in Donabate, County Dublin, for Marilyn’s Mater Paddle. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/Aypi1CD

Six of Sunday’s 10 games potentially have something riding on them – testament to the English elite’s enduring rude health In a perfect world, what would the final day of the Premier League season look like? You’d have two sides going for the title – perhaps three or even four, all playing teams of similar standard and motivation. You’d have maybe six teams contesting the three relegation slots, possibly playing each other, and also a skirmish for European qualification. Ideally all 10 games would mean something and there should be times over the course of the afternoon when each side have the set of results they need to achieve their aims. And there should definitely be a moment when it becomes apparent that a harassed television presenter has forgotten or overlooked a goal so viewers can mutter furiously at the screen: “For heavens’ sake, that puts Brentford in ninth.” Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/oImrzAX

Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, evacuations in Ukraine, tornadoes in Missouri and the FA Cup final at Wembley: the past seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists Warning: this gallery contains images that some readers may find distressing Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/hAMweol

Legislation would dismantle regulations in farming, mining and energy, increasing risk of widespread destruction Environmental activists in Brazil have decried a dramatic rollback of environmental safeguards after the senate approved a bill that would dismantle licensing processes and increase the risk of widespread destruction. The upper house passed the so-called “devastation bill” with 54 votes to 13 late on Wednesday, paving the way for projects ranging from mining and infrastructure to energy and farming to receive regulatory approval with little to no environmental oversight. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/E2aNwi0

Cannes film festival Focusing on the rogue’s gallery of hypocrites and crooks surrounding him, Assange himself is in the background of a pretty definitive examination Julian Assange sits at the centre of this gripping account of the WikiLeaks founder’s rise, fall and protracted seven-year limbo inside the Ecuadorian embassy. Eugene Jarecki’s documentary takes its title from the price the incoming Ecuadorian government supposedly charged the Trump administration for helping furnish his extradition to the US, thereby reneging on a promise of political asylum. If The Six Billion Dollar Man doesn’t rebuild Assange, exactly, that’s because it’s more interested in comprehensively demolishing his enemies. Compared to the hypocrites, scoundrels and crooks who surround him, the man himself looks almost virtuous. Actually Assange is mostly a background presence here. He’s more talked about than talking up; a karmic victim of his own success. While even his supporters admit to his personal fai...

Homeland security agent Gerard Gannon testifies about federal raid on Miami Beach property in March last year The federal trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs entered its eighth day of testimony in New York on Wednesday, with a homeland security agent resuming testimony about the federal raid of Combs’s Miami property last year. Combs, 55, is facing charges of sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution. He was arrested in September and has pleaded not guilty. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/ezb84kJ

UK justice secretary says victims should have chance to give impact statements as new bill goes through parliament Defendants who refuse to appear in court for sentencing are giving a “final insult to victims and their families”, the justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, has said, as an impact statement from the mother of a murdered girl was read to MPs. During the second reading of the victims and courts bill, the Labour MP Anneliese Midgley read a statement on behalf of Cheryl Korbel, the mother of nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel, who was shot dead in her Liverpool home in 2022. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/diSlR6V

Report finds Nestlé used purification treatments that were unauthorised for natural mineral water France’s lucrative mineral water industry is under scrutiny after a report by the senate found the French government had covered up a scandal over illegal filtering treatments of premium brands. At the heart of the report, released on Monday, is France’s world-famous fizzy water, Perrier . Obtained from a source in southern France and traditionally served on ice with a slice of lemon, Perrier has long been long known as the “champagne of table waters”. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/bqEyxCv

Chris Murphy says Trump strategically visited Gulf states ‘willing to pay him off’ as backlash rises against luxury offer Donald Trump ’s acceptance of a $400m Boeing jet from Qatar is the “definition of corruption”, a leading Democrat said on Sunday, as several senior Republicans joined in a bipartisan fusillade of criticism and concern over the luxury gift. Chris Murphy, a Democratic senator for Connecticut , condemned the “ flying grift ” on NBC’s Meet the Press as he assailed the president’s trip to several Gulf states this week that included a stop in Qatar. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/UrbKOqG

Horden Methodist Church, County Durham Ensemble ’84 generate an exhilarating racket in this gutsy rendition of Brecht’s play about the thirty years’ war The noise is constant. It is in the eight marimbas lined up across the stage, which add a South African bounce to Bertolt Brecht’s 1939 epic of the thirty years’ war. It is in the operatic songs, all lush harmonies and pulsing percussion. And it is in the vocal effects of the large cast, adding birdsong or insect rhythms to the battlefields. Sometimes it is in the crackle of a plastic bottle to suggest fire, the shuddering boom of a drum to indicate an execution, or the grind of hands across metal for machine-gun fire. All of it is generated by the actors, much like the set, by the ensemble with Janet Brown and Eve Booth: a resourceful collection of corrugated iron, wooden pallets, old tyres and buckets. It gives Mark Dornford-May’s production an in-built theatricality: each performance created anew. Continue reading... from The ...

As a song contest on a space station descends into terror, Ncuti Gatwa gives his most disturbing performance yet – and the Doctor in rage mode is terrifying For an episode that started out like a joyfully camp romp into the world of Eurovision, Juno Dawson turned in a script that truly had ice in its heart, in just the way the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) told Kid (Freddie Fox) that the Time Lord now had ice in his hearts. Doctor Who stories often feature alien invasions, conquest, destruction and the desire for revenge, but they have seldom so bleakly painted the determination to carry out a mass casualty terrorism event. That in turn provoked one of the most extreme reactions we have ever seen from the lead character. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/E5mZ0uV

Former coaches and teammates reflect on the Leicester striker’s singular journey to the pinnacle of the game Where to start with the wiry teenager turned Premier League icon who once worked 12-hour shifts in a carbon-fibre factory? Perhaps at the beginning of an extraordinary career, his release by Sheffield Wednesday and those days earning £30 a game at Stocksbridge Park Steels hounding defenders in the Northern Premier League. For six months an electronic ankle tag – after he was convicted of assault – meant midweek matches were off-menu and games often saw him being subbed after an hour so he could jump over fences and into his parents’ car to beat his 6pm curfew. By then, his work was usually done. Word of mouth spread. He signed for Halifax for £15,000 in 2010, then Fleetwood a year later for 10 times that. Ten months on he joined Leicester in the Championship in a £1m deal, a non-league record. The story goes that he first appeared on Nigel Pearson’s radar while scoring 66 goal...

No 3 seed masters windy conditions to win 6-3, 7-6 Alcaraz will face Jannik Sinner or Tommy Paul in final Carlos Alcaraz will attempt to complete his set of clay-court Masters 1000 titles on Sunday after reaching the Italian Open final for the first time in his career with a demonstration of his improving discipline and consistency in windy conditions to defeat the home favourite and eighth seed Lorenzo Musetti 6-3, 7-6 (4). Alcaraz is the fourth active player to reach the finals of all clay-court Masters 1000 tournaments, after Novak Djokovic, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Stan Wawrinka. Alcaraz, the reigning Roland Garros and Monte Carlo champion alongside his two previous Madrid Open titles, will contest his 25th career ATP final in Rome. He will either renew his rivalry with Jannik Sinner, the No 1, or face the 11th seed Tommy Paul in the final. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/qdpNSvX

£20,000 award for writers aged 39 or under goes to story ‘tackling trauma and grief with bold and poetic moments of quirkiness and humour’ A novel about a Palestinian woman who participates in a pyramid scheme reselling Birkin bags has won this year’s Swansea University Dylan Thomas prize. Palestinian journalist Yasmin Zaher took home the £20,000 prize – awarded to writers aged 39 or under in honour of the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, who died at that age – for her debut novel The Coin. She was announced as the winner at a ceremony in Swansea, Thomas’s birthplace. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/EPXLear

Daré accepted the £10,000 prize for her latest novel, And So I Roar, the follow-up to her bestselling debut The Girl with the Louding Voice Nigerian writer Abi Daré has won the inaugural Climate fiction prize for her novel And So I Roar, the follow-up to her bestselling debut The Girl with the Louding Voice. Daré was announced as the winner of the £10,000 prize at a ceremony in London on Wednesday evening. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/iKZg0oq

The writer and director, whose credits also include Bonnie and Clyde, Superman and Places in the Heart, died at his New York City home Oscar-winning writer and director Robert Benton has died at the age of 92. He won his two Academy awards for divorce drama Kramer vs Kramer . His longtime assistant and manager confirmed his death to the New York Times . Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/vLR0WCg

A consortium would help Tehran deal with US objections and tie in Gulf states to its enrichment programme Iran has floated the idea of a consortium of Middle Eastern countries – including Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) – to enrich uranium, in a effort to overcome US objections to its continued enrichment programme. The proposal is seen as a way of locking Gulf states into supporting Iran’s position that it should be allowed to retain enrichment capabilities. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/13/iran-proposes-partnership-with-uae-and-saudi-arabia-to-enrich-uranium

Peers back amendment to data bill requiring AI companies to reveal which copyrighted material they have used The government has suffered another setback in the House of Lords over its plans to let artificial intelligence firms use copyright-protected work without permission . An amendment to the data bill requiring AI companies to reveal which copyrighted material is used in their models was backed by peers, despite government opposition. It is the second time parliament’s upper house has demanded tech companies make clear whether they have used copyright-protected content. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/dJ5g40M

Exeter 42-14 Northampton ‘We have a lot to work on,’ admits Chiefs director Sometimes there is just one acceptable outcome and, from Exeter’s perspective, this victory was the absolute minimum requirement. Had the Chiefs been beaten by what was almost Northampton’s third team, having folded embarrassingly at Gloucester last time out, the sound of teeth being gnashed would have been heard from Totnes to Tiverton. Not that Rob Baxter, now back in a more hands-on role following the removal of two of his senior coaches, sounded the least bit triumphal. He had been seeking a witheringly physical, no-nonsense response to the Kingsholm drubbing but made it crystal clear afterwards that standards had to rise significantly on and off the field if the Chiefs want to revisit the sunlit uplands of English club rugby. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/5DqnVKH

Alyssia Algeri and her new girlfriend knew they shared a love of music. But everything changed when Elissa started singing Adele’s One and Only In 2023 I made my regular queer pilgrimage from Melbourne to Sydney to strut the streets at Mardi Gras in flared pink pants. With my best friend in tow we moved through the masses of glittered faces. We stumbled on a house party – the balcony overflowing with people dancing. Partygoers littered the street below, praising the DJ as they hung from trees and danced on car roofs, waving their rainbow fans in sync with the music. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/Tqx5w1F

Murals of McTominay in Naples? Don’t rule that out with the volatile manager who never stays long despite serial success There’s always a Tottenham exception. Since leaving Siena in 2011, since he got his first break with a club that had a realistic chance of winning trophies, Antonio Conte has won league titles with Juventus, Chelsea and Inter. Going into Sunday’s matches, with three games remaining, his Napoli lead Inter by three points. In a decade and a half he has won a trophy with every club he has managed, apart from Tottenham. Maybe Tottenham simply aren’t a club that had a realistic chance of winning trophies. Certainly it’s not as familiar to them as it is to Juventus, Chelsea and Inter. Napoli were Serie A title winners the season before last . Conte led Tottenham for 17 months and although he has the fifth-best win record of any Spurs manager, although he took them to fourth in his first season, having replaced Nuno Espírito Santo in the November , and although they were ...

Ncuti Gatwa takes his Doctor to get a haircut in Lagos and encounters gods, myths … and a giant spider Set in Lagos, The Story and the Engine attempted to weave elements of western African folklore with wider myths and legends, alongside the mythology of Doctor Who itself. Like a lot of recent episodes, it was eager to play with the idea that the viewer is aware they are watching a story. At the Q&A after the London premiere of The Robot Revolution , Ncuti Gatwa said that this was the episode he was most looking forward to people watching this year, and he seemed to have had an absolute hoot on set. He clearly relished showing his Doctor feeling alive and accepted within a Black African community on Earth, but as events unfolded, he also got to flex flashes of anger alongside all the joy. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/d5rJ9oI

Actors contribute to the poet and singer’s anthology exploring ceremony, loss and worship Actors Channing Tatum and Pedro Pascal have written poems for a new anthology curated by Canadian musician and poet Mustafa that also includes contributions by the writers George Saunders, Max Porter and Hanif Abdurraqib. The book, titled Nour, explores themes of ceremony, loss and worship. “You told me God wasn’t real/ as we sat in the water in the dark that night/ I couldn’t see your eyes but I could feel the anger/ in the water”, opens Tatum’s poem, extracted below along with Pascal’s. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/pDfhq5A

Former SAS officer led a group of 70 who attempted to overthrow Equatorial Guinea’s president Simon Mann, an Eton and Sandhurst-educated ex-SAS officer, who led a botched coup involving Margaret Thatcher’s son to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea, has died aged 72. Mann led a group of 70 fellow mercenaries who were arrested in Zimbabwe in 2004 for attempting to topple Equatorial Guinea’s despotic president, Teodoro Obiang. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/LnFr0js

We’d like to hear your thoughts about the first clergyman from the US to lead the Roman Catholic church Robert Francis Prevost, from Chicago, has become the first American pope to lead the Roman Catholic church. The 69-year-old has taken the papal name Pope Leo XIV, a senior cardinal announced from the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica on Thursday evening. The announcement, which followed white smoke billowing from the chimney above the Sistine Chapel, prompted raucous celebration among the 50,000 pilgrims and tourists in St Peter’s Square. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/d1RJzX2

City official says it will not comply with request seeking to impose Donald Trump’s rollback of diversity measures A city official in Stockholm has said the municipality has no plans to comply after one of its offices received a letter seeking to impose Donald Trump’s rollback of diversity measures , in what is believed to be the first such missive sent to a foreign government. “It’s so bizarre,” said Jan Valeskog, Stockholm’s vice-mayor for planning. “It’s our political priorities that count, not the ones from this embassy or any other embassies.” Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/vKk1hyY

Cynthia Diekema and husband were paddling in mouth of river when startled animal thrashed and capsized canoe An alligator killed a Florida woman after tipping over a canoe she and her husband were paddling, in what investigators say appeared to be an accidental encounter. The attack happened on Tuesday afternoon near the mouth of Tiger Creek into Lake Kissimmee, south of Orlando, the Florida fish and wildlife conservation commission (FWC) said. It’s near the same location as a March alligator attack in which a woman was bitten on the elbow while kayaking. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/M0cwEHQ

Move sparks outrage in Iran as diplomats try to broker deal between Tehran and Washington over nuclear programme US politics live – latest updates Donald Trump plans to announce while on his trip to Saudi Arabia next week that the US will now refer to the Arabian Gulf or the Gulf of Arabia rather than the Persian Gulf. The move has prompted outrage from Iranian leaders, and last-minute efforts are being made to persuade Trump to pull back from offending Iran in the midst of vital talks on the future of the Iranian nuclear programme. “If Trump went ahead with the proposal he would manage to unite every Iranian, pro- or anti-regime, against him, and that is a near impossible achievement,” one diplomat said. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/TJVGSEc

Republican governor Spencer Cox signs law despite pleas of health experts, who warn that children will be most hurt Utah on Wednesday will become the first state in the US to ban fluoride in public drinking water. Dentists who treat children and low-income patients say they’re bracing for an increase in tooth decay among the state’s most vulnerable people. Utah’s Republican governor, Spencer Cox, signed the law against the recommendation of many dentists and national health experts who warned removing fluoride would harm tooth development, especially in young patients without regular access to dental care. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/lJ52cSk

Polish striker back from hamstring injury for second leg Inter have fitness doubts for Champions League tie Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski has been declared fit to return from a hamstring injury but is set to start on the bench in their Champions League semi-final second leg at Inter Milan on Tuesday, manager Hansi Flick confirmed. The 36-year-old Polish striker, who has scored 40 goals for Barcelona in all competitions this season, had been sidelined for his club’s last four games. After sustaining the injury during Barca’s 4-3 victory against Celta Vigo on 19 April , he missed their Copa del Rey final victory over rivals Real Madrid and the first leg of the Champions League semi against Inter . Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/xZq3Ofm

California-based shoe brand agrees to $9.42bn deal with investment firm as it grapples with impact of US tariffs Skechers has agreed to be taken private by 3G Capital for $9.42 bn (£7bn) in the footwear industry’s biggest buyout to date, exiting public markets after 26 years as the popular shoe brand grapples with the impact of steep US tariffs. Investment firm 3G Capital has offered $63 (£47) per Skechers share in cash, the footwear brand said on Monday. That represents a 28% premium to the stock’s Friday close, according to Reuters calculations. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/bHfBRKn

Cadillac counts down seconds to 2026 entry Get in touch! Email Beau with your thoughts In case you haven’t been following F1 this season, we have some surprising news. It’s competitive again. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/tG02Fd5

Death of Layton Carr, 14, has left community ‘heartbroken’ as police arrest more than a dozen children A 14-year-old boy whose body was found after a large fire in Gateshead was “valued and much loved”, his headteacher has said. Fourteen children have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter over the death of Layton Carr, from South Tyneside. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/Ds3lid7

World No 1 defeats American 6-3, 7-6 (3) in final Sabalenka has 4,000 point lead at top of rankings Aryna Sabalenka defeated Coco Gauff to win her third title of the season at the Madrid Open. The world No 1 won 17 points in a row early in the contest but had to save a set point in the second set on her way to a 6-3, 7-6 (3) victory at the Caja Mágica. It is a third title in the Spanish capital for Sabalenka, who lifted the trophy in 2021 and 2023 before losing to Iga Swiatek 12 months ago. The Belarusian now has a lead of more than 4,000 points over her stuttering rival in the rankings, although the result does mean Swiatek stays ahead of Gauff at No 2. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/9kcGfZv

State Man takes Champion Hurdle for third consecutive year ‘A tough place to be,’ says losing trainer Nicky Henderson State Man, who was denied a repeat success in the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham in March when he fell at the final flight, gained a measure of compensation here on Friday evening as he recorded a third successive win in Punchestown’s equivalent of the two-mile championship event. His task, though, was certainly made easier by a bitterly disappointing performance from Constitution Hill, the 2023 Champion Hurdle winner and odds-on favourite here, who beat only one of his five opponents home. The race was billed as a rematch of the last meeting between Constitution Hill, State Man and Golden Ace in the Champion Hurdle, which proved to be one of the most dramatic runnings of a championship event in living memory. Constitution Hill, unbeaten in 10 starts and odds-on there as well, fell midway through the race while State Man crashed out with the race at his mercy, lea...

Benjamin Netanyahu says strikes intended to deter Syria’s new leadership from any hostile move against the Druze Syria’s new rulers have angrily denounced raids launched by Israel’s air force against unidentified targets near the presidential palace in Damascus, warning of a “dangerous escalation”. Israeli officials said the attacks were intended to send a message to the Syrian government after days of bloody clashes near Damascus between pro-government militia forces and fighters from the Druze minority sect. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/I7MesYZ

This week Nottingham Forest readied themselves for the Champions League, Evangelos Marinakis relinquishing his controlling interest in the club to comply with Uefa’s ownership rules. Marinakis’s other club, Greek champions Olympiakos, have already qualified for the grandest stage in the club game but Forest’s bid to return to European competition will probably go to the wire. Will Forest, who remain sixth, look back on defeat at home to Brentford as a costly misstep when their season ends here against Chelsea, one of those teams vying for a top-five berth? Forest, who face Crystal Palace, Leicester and West Ham before that potential final-day showdown, never really got going on a disappointing evening. Goals from Kevin Schade and Yoane Wissa, a January target for Forest, condemned the hosts to successive league home defeats for the first time since the end of last season. Nuno Espírito Santo’s side have now lost four of their past five matches in all competitions, including Sunday’s ...

News comes as artists including Pulp, Paul Weller and Primal Scream defend Irish rap trio from criticism Dozens of artists – including Pulp, Paul Weller and Primal Scream – have come out in support of the band Kneecap, as counter-terrorism police said they were investigating videos of them allegedly calling for the deaths of MPs and shouting “up Hamas, up Hezbollah”. On Thursday, detectives said videos of the two incidents had been brought to their attention in late April, and had been referred for assessment by specialist counter-terrorism officers. They had “determined there are grounds for further investigation into potential offences linked to both videos”, officers said. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/FB9pLAE