The World Cup has started surprisingly well, defying its negative build-up. England's arrival signals a potential 'vibe shift,' with the team's diverse squad reflecting the nation's complex history and global connections, challenging simplistic notions of national identity.
Francis Lui, the leading trainer at Sha Tin this season, is set to field a strong team at Saturday's meeting, including in-form Packing Angel and last-start winners Superb Spirit and Meaningful Dragon, as he aims to add to his 37 turf victories.
Mauricio Pochettino expresses trust in his US team's preparation for the World Cup, citing a strong team atmosphere and quiet confidence among players, despite past setbacks like losses to Belgium and Portugal.
Borussia Dusseldorf manager Andreas Preuss praises new signing Fan Zhendong as a sports inspiration and global brand, expecting significant impact on the team and club's global presence.
Manuel Neuer returns to training for Germany's World Cup squad, while the US men's national team faces immense pressure to perform at home. Italy's Flavio Cobolli advances in the French Open.
Alec Segaert won stage 12 of the Giro d'Italia with a late attack, while his teammate Afonso Eulálio extended his overall lead by taking bonus seconds at the intermediate sprint.
As soccer fans turn their attention to the future of the sport in the States, we revisit four oft-overlooked moments – and one famous kick – that shaped its pastThis was originally published in the newsletter The World Behind the Cup. Sign up for it here.The last time the US hosted the men’s World Cup in 1994, many Americans viewed soccer as a game they watched their kids play on Saturday mornings, not the world’s most beloved sport. Thirty-two years later, the sport has exploded in popularity and the USA have become a regular fixture at World Cups. But many people don’t realize the US’s World Cup history extends all the way back to the first tournament staged – when the US men had their best-ever finish, reaching the semi-finals.The tale of those connected with the US team is often bleak, but it’s also more deeply rooted and richer than is often appreciated. As US soccer fans turn their attention to the future of the sport, we revisit four often overlooked moments – and one widely celebrated kick – of the USA’s early World Cup history.This was originally published in the newsletter The World Behind the Cup. Sign up for it here. Continue reading...
With their last title a decade ago, young players moving on and coach churn, Middlesex are no longer even the most famous team that call Lord’s homeMiddlesex is unlike every other English county in at least one very important way. It doesn’t actually exist. It was abolished by the London Government Act of 1963, persisted, in dotage, as a postal subdivision, until Royal Mail put it to sleep in 1996. Today, you’ll find it on the tiles of Swiss Cottage Tube station – which are embossed with its badge of three seaxes – the pediment of the Sessions House in Clerkenwell, the mailing addresses of people who just won’t let go, the minutes of Spelthorne council, the titles of three hospitals, a university, assorted sports teams and tournaments, and the cricket club.Those who don’t know any better will tell you English cricket is a country pursuit. It’s not. Sport England’s latest data showed 250,000 Londoners played at least once last year. That’s around 20% of the adult playing population in England and Wales. Walk from Lord’s into the playing fields in Regent’s Park and you will find five, six, seven games going on all at once on the public pitches. Over the road at Fab’s Food & Wine they always have the Indian Premier League on in the afternoons, streaming on a mobile phone. The guy who runs it tells me he is a Royal Challengers Bengaluru fan; I ask if he knows which county plays at the ground around the corner. “No idea.” Continue reading...
Ayao Komatsu, Haas's 50-year-old Japanese team principal, has guided the American team to fourth place in the F1 championship after three races — the highest position ever held by a US team. A rebellious figure who left Japan at 14 to escape cultural conformity, Komatsu studied at Warwick and Loughborough, played rugby in Coventry, and became a devoted Coventry City fan. After a decade with Haas and two years as team principal, he has transformed the smallest team on the grid through a philosophy of empowering staff to take risks, notably trusting rookie Oliver Bearman despite criticism.
US President Donald Trump has ordered his negotiating team not to travel to Pakistan for talks aimed at ending the eight-week war with Iran, which has disrupted the global economy. Trump told his son-in-law Jared Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff to remain in the US, saying an 18-hour flight would be a waste of time until Tehran escalates its engagement. Vice-President J.D. Vance, who presided over the first round of talks earlier this month, remains on standby.
NASA's Artemis II mission successfully demonstrated laser communications from lunar orbit, with a low-cost terminal built by Observable Space and Quantum Opus and operated by the Australian National University achieving 260 megabits per second data transmission. The terminal cost under $5 million compared to traditional solutions costing tens of millions, proving high-throughput space-to-Earth links can be done affordably. The success opens possibilities for global networks of receiving terminals.
An internal Amazon document reveals the company's aggressive AI push is causing a surge of duplicate tools, orphaned data, and overlapping systems. The February document states AI is making Amazon's tool duplication problem worse—more duplication is created faster while less gets cleaned up. The core issue is that AI has lowered the barrier to building software, so engineers no longer check for existing solutions before creating new ones. Amazon's decentralized 'two-pizza team' model compounds the problem by making coordination difficult. The document also flags data issues where derived AI outputs persist after source data is restricted.
