Washington, DC – The Pentagon has announced that United States military strikes against Iran set back the country’s nuclear programme by one to two years, an assessment that follows President Donald Trump’s claims that the programme was “obliterated”.
Defense Department spokesperson Sean Parnell said on Wednesday that the three Iranian nuclear facilities targeted by Washington were destroyed, echoing the president’s remarks. He praised the strikes as a “bold operation”.
“We have degraded their programme by one to two years at least,” Parnell told reporters. “Intel assessments inside the department assess that. ”
Since the US sent a group of B-2 stealth bombers to Iran on June 21, Trump has consistently lashed out at any suggestions that the attacks did not wreck the country’s nuclear facilities.
He has maintained that Iran’s nuclear programme has been “obliterated like nobody’s ever seen before”.
An initial US intelligence assessment, leaked to several media outlets last month, said the strikes failed to destroy key components of Iran’s nuclear programme and only delayed its work by months.
For its part, Tehran has been coy about providing details about the state of its nuclear sites.
Some Iranian officials have said that the facilities sustained significant damage from US and Israeli attacks. But Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said last week that Trump had “exaggerated” the impact of the strikes.
There has been no independent assessment of the aftermath of the US attacks, which came as part of a 12-day war between Israel and Iran. Visual analyses via satellite images cannot fully capture the scope of the damage at the underground sites, especially the country’s largest enrichment facility, Fordow.
Another persistent mystery is the location and state of the stockpiles containing Iran’s highly enriched uranium.
Iran’s nuclear agency and regulators in neighbouring states have said they did not detect a spike in radioactivity after the bombings, as might be expected from such strikes.
But Rafael Grossi, the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), did not rule out that the containers holding the uranium may have been damaged in the attacks.
“We don’t know where this material could be or if part of it could have been under the attack during those 12 days,” Grossi told CBS News last week.
“So some could have been destroyed as part of the attack, but some could have been moved. ”
Satellite images showed trucks moving out of Fordow before the US strikes.
Grossi also said that Iran could be enriching uranium again in a “matter of months”. Enrichment is the process of enhancing the purity of radioactive uranium atoms to produce nuclear fuel.
The facilities targeted in the US strikes had been under constant IAEA surveillance. But now, Iran’s nuclear programme is in the dark, away from the scrutiny of international inspectors.
After the war, the Iranian parliament passed a law suspending cooperation with the IAEA, citing the agency’s failure to condemn the US and Israeli attacks on the country’s nuclear facilities.
The Geneva Conventions prohibit attacks on “installations containing dangerous forces, namely dams, dykes and nuclear electrical generating stations”.
Before the war started on June 13, Tehran claimed to have obtained Israeli documents that show that the IAEA was passing off information to Israel about Iran’s nuclear programme – allegations that the agency denied.
Earlier on Wednesday, the US State Department called on Iran to allow the IAEA access to its nuclear programme.
“It is … unacceptable that Iran chose to suspend cooperation with the IAEA at a time when it has a window of opportunity to reverse course and choose a path of peace and prosperity,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said in a statement.
Israel launched a massive attack against Iran on June 13 without direct provocation, claiming that it was preemptively targeting Iran’s push towards a nuclear weapon.
Tehran denies seeking a nuclear bomb. Israel, meanwhile, is widely believed to have an undeclared nuclear arsenal.
Israeli air strikes during the conflict killed hundreds of Iranian civilians, including nuclear scientists and their family members, as well as top military officials.
Iran responded with barrages of missiles that left widespread destruction and killed 29 people in Israel.
Ten days into the war, the US joined the Israeli campaign and bombed Iran’s nuclear facilities. Tehran, in turn, launched a missile strike against a US air base in Qatar, an attack that resulted in no casualties.
Hours later, Trump announced a ceasefire between Israel and Iran. Officials in both countries have described the outcome of the war as a “historic victory”.
The trial of music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs has culminated in a verdict, after more than seven weeks of intense media scrutiny and testimony about drug-fuelled celebrity sex parties.
But beneath the salacious details, advocates say there are critical takeaways about how sexual violence is understood – and sometimes tolerated – within the criminal justice system.
On Wednesday, a federal jury in the United States delivered a split decision.
It found Combs guilty of transporting individuals to engage in prostitution, but not guilty of the weightier question of whether he engaged in sex trafficking or racketeering for flying girlfriends and sex workers to the parties he organised.
Prosecutors had described Combs’s activity as a “criminal enterprise” in which he leveraged money, power and physical violence to force former girlfriends into abusive circumstances.
The split ruling has, in turn, divided opinion about what the case means for the beleaguered #MeToo movement, which emerged in the early 2010s to bring accountability to cases of sexual violence.
For Emma Katz, a domestic abuse expert, the jury’s decision indicates there are still yawning gaps in public understanding about sexual violence. That understanding, she maintains, is necessary to assess the behaviours that accompany long-term abuse and coercion, particularly between intimate partners.
“I think a ruling like this would be a good news kind of day for perpetrators,” she told Al Jazeera. “The jury seems to have concluded you can be a victim, a survivor, whose boss beats you in hotel corridors and has control over your life, but that you’re not being coerced by him. ”
“So much of what perpetrators do that enables them to get away with their abuse – and what makes their abuse so horrific and so sustained – has not been acknowledged and has disappeared from the picture in this verdict,” she added.
A ‘botched’ decision
How the jury arrived at its decision remains unknown.
But prosecutors had been tasked with proving beyond a reasonable doubt that Combs used “force, fraud, or coercion” to compel his girlfriends into commercial sex acts.
The case was centred largely on the testimony of two women: singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura Fine and a woman identified only by the pseudonym “Jane”. Both were identified as former girlfriends of Combs.
The prosecution argued that Combs had used his financial influence, violence and threats of blackmail to coerce Ventura and the other woman to perform sex acts during parties known as “freak-offs”.
The evidence included surveillance video from March 2016 of Combs beating Ventura in a hotel hallway and then dragging her away. Ventura herself gave harrowing testimony at the trial, saying she felt “trapped” in a cycle of abuse.
She explained that cycle involved regular threats and violence, including Combs “stomping” her on the face in a 2009 incident.
But the defence’s arguments throughout the proceedings appear to have swayed the jury, according to Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor.
The defence blatantly admitted that Combs was abusive towards Ventura, as the surveillance footage had shown. But Combs’s lawyers maintained there was no evidence he coerced Ventura into committing sexual acts against her will.
The Los Angeles Times even quoted defence lawyer Teny Geragos as saying, “Domestic violence is not sex trafficking. ”
“The big question in the case is: If you’re sexually abused or assaulted, why did you stay with your abuser for more than a decade? ” Rahmani said. “I understand the psychology of abuse, but jurors don’t necessarily buy it”.
Rahmani broadly assessed that prosecutors “botched” the sex-trafficking portion of the case.
That included how prosecutors approached a series of messages from Ventura that indicated affection for Combs and active participation in sexual situations, which Rahmani noted were not revealed until cross-examination by the defence.
According to experts like Katz, such behaviour can be common in abusive relationships, in which an abuser expects a “performance of happiness” to avoid physical, financial or psychological repercussions.
“It would never surprise me to see a victim survivor sending loving texts and enthusiastic texts to somebody who they said was abusing them, because that’s all part and parcel of domestic abuse,” Katz said.
‘Stain on criminal justice’
From Katz’s perspective, the verdict underscores the reality of what has happened since the #MeToo movement emerged.
While #MeToo helped workplace harassment become more widely understood, the general public still struggles with the complexities of intimate partner violence.
“I think that the public has shown more willingness to consider how somebody might be harmed by an acquaintance, a work colleague, somebody who’s hiring them for a job,” Katz said.
By contrast, intimate partner abuse consistently raises victim-blaming questions like: Why did someone remain with an abusive partner?
“There’s still a lot of stigma around when you chose this person,” Katz explained. The thought process, she added, is often: “It can’t have been that bad if you stayed in the relationship. ”
But domestic violence experts point to complicating, often unseen factors. Abuse can have psychological consequences, and abusers often attempt to wield power over their victims.
Children, housing and financial circumstances can also prevent survivors from leaving and seeking help. People experiencing such abuse might also fear an escalation of the violence – or retaliation against loved ones – should they leave.
Experts, however, say it can be hard to illustrate those fears in court. Still, on Wednesday, Ventura’s lawyer, Douglas Wigdor, struck a positive tone about the outcome of the Combs trial.
In a statement, he said Ventura’s legal team was “pleased” with the verdict and that her testimony helped to assure that Combs has “finally been held responsible for two federal crimes”.
“He still faces substantial jail time,” Wigdor noted. The prostitution transportation charges each carry a maximum of 10 years.
Several advocacy groups also praised Ventura and others for coming forward with their experiences.
The verdict “shows that even when power tries to silence truth, survivors push it into the light,” Lift Our Voices, a workplace advocacy group, wrote on the social media platform X. “The #MeToo movement hasn’t waned, it’s grown stronger. ”
Fatima Goss Graves, head of the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC), echoed that Ventura’s and Jane’s testimonies were accomplishments in and of themselves.
“Coming forward and seeking accountability took extraordinary bravery and no jury can take that away,” she said.
Others were less optimistic about the jury’s split verdict. Arisha Hatch, interim executive director of UltraViolet, a gender-justice advocacy organisation, called the verdict a “decisive moment for our justice system” – and not in a good way.
Bangkok, Thailand – Even at the Nana intersection, a pulsating mecca of this megacity’s seamy nightlife scene, the Wonderland cannabis shop is hard to miss.
Its sprawling, ruby-pink signboard screams across the busy crossroads, broadcasting the wares inside with the help of neon lights twisted into luminescent marijuana leaves.
It is Saturday afternoon, and business should be good. But it is not.
Just days earlier, Thailand’s government imposed new rules sharply curbing the sale of cannabis, only three years after decriminalising the plant with much fanfare and unleashing a billion-dollar business in the process.
All sales of cannabis buds must now be accompanied by a doctor’s prescription – a stipulation aimed at choking off the recreational market, the mainstay of most of the thousands of dispensaries that now dot the country.
Public Health Minister Somsak Thepsuthin has also announced his intention to place the plant back on the country’s controlled narcotics list within 45 days, putting it in the company of cocaine, heroin and meth.
Nanuephat Kittichaibawan, an assistant manager at Wonderland, said his shop used to serve 10 or more customers an hour most afternoons.
Now, even with an in-house doctor to write prescriptions on the spot, “it is just one or two”, he told Al Jazeera.
“It is more complicated than it used to be, and for some people it will be too much,” he added.
Like many in the business, he worries the new rules may even force him to shut down, putting him out of work.
“If we follow the rules, we could [have to] close,” he said. “I do worry about that. A lot of people have this as their main job, and they need it to survive. ”
A bar displays a sign prohibiting marijuana smoking in Bangkok, Thailand, on June 27, 2025 [Zsombor Peter/Al Jazeera]
Faris Pitsuwan, who owns five dispensaries on some of Thailand’s most popular tourist islands, including Ko Phi Phi Don and Phuket, is worried, too.
“Yesterday, I could not sell anything,” he told Al Jazeera. “I hope my business will survive, but too soon to say. ”
While announcing the policy U-turn last week, Somsak said the new rules would help contain Thailand’s cannabis industry to the medical market, as intended when a previous administration, and a different health minister, decriminalised the plant in 2022.
“The policy must return to its original goal of controlling cannabis for medical use only,” government spokesman Jirayu Houngsub said.
Since a new administration took over in 2023, the government has blamed decriminalisation for a wave of problems, including a spike in overdoses among children and adolescents and increased smuggling to countries where cannabis is still illegal.
A survey by the government’s National Institute of Development Administration last year found that three in four Thais strongly or moderately agreed with putting cannabis back on the narcotics list.
Smith Srisont, president of Thailand’s Association of Forensic Physicians, has been urging the government to relist cannabis from the beginning, mostly because of the health risks.
Smith notes that more than one study has found a fivefold to sixfold spike in cannabis-related health problems among children and adolescents since legalisation.
Although shops have been forbidden from selling to anyone below the age of 20, Smith says it has been too hard to enforce because the job falls mostly on health officers, rather than police, and Thailand does not have enough.
“So, they can’t … look at every shop,” he told Al Jazeera, but “if cannabis is [treated more] like methamphetamine … it will be … better because the police can [then get] involved” right away.
Many farmers and shop owners, though, say the blowback from legalising cannabis has been exaggerated, and scapegoated by the leading Pheu Thai Party to punish the Bhumjaithai Party, which abandoned the ruling coalition two weeks ago over Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra’s alleged bungling of a border dispute with Cambodia.
Somsak has denied the claim.
Bhumjaithai had led the push to decriminalise cannabis and was tussling with Pheu Thai for control of the powerful Ministry of the Interior in the weeks leading up to its split from the coalition.
A woman walks past the Chopaka dispensary in Bangkok, Thailand, in June 2022 [Zsombor Peter/Al Jazeera]
“As soon as one party steps down from the coalition, this happens. The timing just could not be any more perfect,” Chokwan Chopaka, who opened a dispensary along Bangkok’s bustling Sukhumvit Boulevard soon after Thailand legalised cannabis, told Al Jazeera.
“I understand that cannabis does create issues,” she said, “[but] I feel that those issues could have been at least mitigated if the government were actually enforcing the rules that [did] exist in the first place. ”
Chokwan said she had to shutter her shop a few months ago because she could no longer both follow those rules and compete with other dispensaries in the neighbourhood that were getting away with breaking them.
She expects that most dispensaries will end up closing if the new rules are enforced diligently, many of them before recouping the investments they made to get up and running.
“A lot of people are very stressed out. We’re talking about people that are borrowing money into this. This is their last breath, their last lot of savings, because our economy hasn’t been well,” Chokwan said.
The Thai government said in May that the national economy may grow by as little as 1. 3 percent this year, dragged down in part by slumping tourist arrivals.
The government has blamed the freewheeling cannabis scene of the past three years for putting some tourists off Thailand – another reason, it argues, to tighten the reins.
Shah, on his second trip to Thailand from India in the past year, said the new rules could do more harm than good by pushing tourists like him and his friend away.
“One of the reasons that we do come here is so that we can smoke good weed,” Shah, who asked to be referred to by his last name only, told Al Jazeera.
Having landed in Bangkok only hours earlier, Shah and his friend were leaving a Nana neighbourhood dispensary with their purchase.
A self-avowed recreational user, Shah said the shop wrote him a prescription with few questions and no fuss.
But if the government does get serious about enforcing the new rules, he added, “maybe I’ll think twice next time and go somewhere else. ”
An employee at the Four Twenty dispensary prepares a marijuana cigarette for a customer in Bangkok, Thailand, in July 2022 [Zsombor Peter/Al Jazeera]
Cannabis farmers are fretting about the new rules, too.
To keep selling their buds to local shops, every farm will soon need a Good Agriculture and Collection Practice (GACP) certificate from the government.
It certifies that the farm has met certain quality control standards.
Chokwan, who also leads the Writing Thailand’s Cannabis Future Network, a cannabis advocacy group, said only about 100 cannabis farms across the country currently have GACP certification.
Getting farms ready and tested can be expensive, she said, while forcing it on all farmers will weed out thousands of “little guys”, leaving the largest farms and the corporations backing them to dominate the market.
Coming in at less than 300 square metres (360 square yards), under banks of LED lights inside an unassuming beige building on the outskirts of Bangkok, the Thai Kush cannabis farm easily qualifies as one of the little guys.
Owner Vara Thongsiri said the farm has been supplying shops across the country since 2022. His main gripe with the new rules is how suddenly they came down.
“When you announce it and your announcement is effective immediately, how does a farm adapt that quickly? It is impossible. They didn’t even give us a chance,” he told Al Jazeera.
Vara said he would apply for the certificate nonetheless and was confident the quality of his buds would help his farm survive even in a smaller, medical-cannabis-only marketplace, depending on how long the application takes.
“My farm is a working farm. We harvest every month … If the process takes three months to six months, how am I going to last if I can’t sell the product I have? ” he said.
“Because a farm can’t last if it can’t sell. ”
Chokwan Chopaka, in glasses, hands out cannabis buds at a protest, urging the government not to re-criminalise cannabis in Bangkok, Thailand, in November 2022 [Zsombor Peter/Al Jazeera]
Rattapon Sanrak, a cannabis farmer and shop owner, is crunching the numbers on the new regulations as well.
His small farm in the country’s fertile northeast supplies his two Highland Cafe dispensaries in Bangkok, including one in the heart of the city’s Khao San quarter, a warren of bars, clubs and budget accommodations catering to backpackers.
“I could stay open, but as [per] my calculation, it may not [be] worth the business. It’s not feasible any more due to the regulations, the rental and other costs,” he told Al Jazeera.
“It’s not worth the money to invest. ”
Rattapon and others believe the government could have avoided the latest policy whiplash by passing a comprehensive cannabis control bill either before decriminalisation or soon after.
Like others critical of the government’s approach, he blames political brinkmanship between Bhumjaithai and Pheu Thai for failing to do so.
Proponents of such a bill say it could have set different rules for farms based on their size, helping smaller growers stay in business, and better regulations to help head off the problems the government is complaining about now.
Although a bill has been drafted, Somsak has said he has no intention of pushing it forward, insisting that placing the plant back on the narcotics list was the best way to control it.
The Writing Thailand’s Cannabis Future Network plans to hold a protest in front of the Ministry of Public Health on Monday in hopes of changing the minister’s mind.
Rattapon said he and hundreds of other farmers and shop owners also plan on filing a class action lawsuit against the government over the new rules.
Medical cannabis products are displayed at the Bangkok Integrative Medicine Clinic in Bangkok, Thailand, in July 2022 [Zsombor Peter/Al Jazeera]
In the meantime, Rattapon and others warn, the government’s attempt at confining cannabis to the medical market will not simply make the recreational supply chain vanish.
Rattapon said many producers, having poured in millions of dollars and put thousands of people to work, will go underground, where they will be even harder to control.
“Imagine you have a company, you hire 10 people, you invest 2 million baht [$61,630] for that, you’re operating your business, and then one day they say that you cannot sell it any more. And in the pipeline, you have 100 kilograms coming. What would you do? ” he said.
“They will go underground. ”
Faris, the dispensary owner, agreed.
He said many of the shops and farms that rely on the recreational market will close under the new rules.
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Ellie Thomason
BBC Sport at St Jakob-Park
“This is once in a lifetime, it will never come back. “
Switzerland head coach Pia Sundhage had been unequivocal in her pre-match news conference as she urged her players to “embrace the pressure” of their opening game as Euro 2025 hosts.
Yet when it came to it, the Swiss did not get the win they so badly craved in Basel as their first major women’s tournament on home soil began with a 2-1 defeat by Norway.
The highly experienced Sundhage knows all about leading a host nation on a big stage, having taken charge of Sweden on home soil at Euro 2013, something she described as “one of my best years”.
This time her Switzerland team threw away a 1-0 lead and fell to defeat in cruel fashion, with defender Julia Stierli’s unfortunate own goal settling the match.
Ada Hegerberg had cancelled out Nadine Riesen’s opener barely four minutes before Stierli steered a low cross into her own net.
It made the Swiss the first Women’s Euros hosts to lose their opening match, but hope still remains that they will reach the knockout stage.
This tournament was not kickstarted with pre-match pyrotechnics or anything flashy. Instead the opening ceremony in Basel was playful and entertaining as performers danced with silver tubes before a giant Women’s Euros trophy was formed in the centre circle, surrounded by flags of all the 16 countries competing in Switzerland.
Sundhage’s players seemed to take the burden of expectation in their stride early on, playing on the front foot. They dominated two-time European champions Norway in the first half at a sold-out St Jakob-Park, but they could not see the job through.
Assessing whether her players embraced the pressure, Sundhage said: “Oh yeah. I have never seen that kind of locker room previously and at the hotel before we left.
“Step by step, the best part is it’s different players that use their voice. We were prepared. I talked to them after the game and it’s so important to use your language and your body language and words as well after defeat because we still have a chance to play the quarter-final. “
That is the message now – Sundhage wants her side to make the most of their remaining Group A games against Iceland and Finland.
“We start with Iceland and if we play a good game then we put ourselves in a good spot,” she said.
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The Swiss people played their part on day one of the tournament, and the overwhelming feeling around Basel on the opening day of Euro 2025 was pride.
Thousand of fans turned out to march to the stadium together, walking 45 minutes from the city centre in sweltering heat.
Temperatures may have been high, but so was the Swiss spirit.
There were men and women, boys and girls, almost all wearing red shirts and embracing the excitement of hosting the prestigious tournament.
Supporters sang, chanted and rang cow bells all the way. Locals hung out of their balconies to join in the celebrations and there was a real feel-good factor.
Sundhage’s appointment in 2024 brought huge excitement, with the former Sweden and Brazil boss one of the most respected and experienced figures in the women’s game.
She went into Wednesday’s games with a modest seven wins in 18 games as Switzerland boss, but there was still plenty of goodwill towards her and the team from fans.
Some fans spoke of how hosting Euro 2025 felt like a “new era” for women’s football in Switzerland, while others said the nation just wanted to get behind their team to push them over the line, rather then criticise tactics and performances.
The party atmosphere continued into the ground, with Swiss fans loving every minute of their moment on the big stage.
‘Euros can be great moment to kickstart change’
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An official attendance of 34,063 was announced on Wednesday – a big step for women’s football in Switzerland.
They were selected to host Euro 2025 in a bidding process which saw them beat Poland, France and a joint bid from Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway.
Uefa’s head of women’s football Nadine Kessler said Switzerland were the underdogs in the bidding process and challenged them to “make something out of it”.
Switzerland want to replicate England’s success as hosts three years ago and hope Euro 2025 can be a springboard to help grow their domestic women’s game.
The Swiss Women’s Super League is not yet professional. Attendances have risen in the build-up to Euro 2025 and Young Boys set an attendance record of 10,647 in March, but last season’s average attendance across the league was just 569.
With issues surrounding infrastructure, accessibility and pay, there is the sense that Euro 2025 could be the turning point that Swiss women’s football needs.
“Right now, women’s football isn’t in a great place in Switzerland,” journalist Helene Altgelt told the BBC.
“The league is severely underfunded, most teams aren’t professional, many teams aren’t playing in a real stadium so there is no actual stands. This is unacceptable for women’s football in 2025.
“The federation has realised this and now the Euros can be a great moment to kickstart that change and ensure women’s football is going to be professional and more girls can live their dream of actually living by playing football and not having three side hustles or studying. “
The Swiss Football Association has implemented an ambitious legacy programme that hopes to double the number of girls and women playing football in Switzerland from 40,000 to 80,000. It also hopes to double the number of coaches and increase attendances in the league by 2027.
As Sundhage said, this moment will never come back, but the signs are positive that women’s football can grow significantly in Switzerland.
Pete Doherty has teased there are plans in place for The Libertines to release new music after their successful performance at Glastonbury at the weekend
Pete Doherty opened up on the potential of new music(Image: Europa Press via Getty Images)
Fans of the Libertines rejoice – the band is ready to make new music. The news comes just weeks after the heartbreak of Babyshambles star Patrick Walden’s death.
The tragic news saw Libertines frontman and former Babyshambles bandmate Pete Doherty pay tribute. Pete had previously created Babyshambles when he was driven out of The Libertines due to his drug habit.
But now, after returning to the Libertines, Pete and fellow band mate, Carl Barat, have teased they ready to share new tunes with the world. Despite releasing new music as a solo act earlier this year, Doherty admitted there could be original Libertines songs thrown out there too after a successful Glastonbury.
The Libertines tried to share a message at the end of their set(Image: WireImage)
When Speaking to NME, Pete was asked about any future tunes, and he admitted: “We did have quite a strong idea”.
When he was then probed on any plans to release new music soon, in his unique way, he joked: “I just released an album [‘Felt Better Alive‘] a month and a half ago, man! What do you want? Blood? ”
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He went on: “Anyway, I have to say all in all, it’s a game of two halves. At the end of the day, you’re either chuffed as a lad or sick as a parrot. “
And he added his delight at one moment in Glastonbury. “Did you see that fan with The Simpsons flag? ,” he said.
“It had Carl and me really fat with a ‘tasch playing the guitar. The f***? Happy days, man. ” He then joked that he would always be ready for an appearance in the iconic cartoon.
During their sat on the Pyramid Stage on Saturday, the band tried to start a ‘Free Palestine’ chant during their performance. However, they failed as the microphone wasn’t on.
Pete teased new music(Image: PA)
The band was met with a huge crowd on the day as they performed a number of their biggest hits, including Can’t Stand Me Now and Don’t Look Back into the Sun. But as they waved goodbye to the vast crowd, Gary Powell decided to stay on and hold up a Palestine flag that was on stage during their performance.
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And as he attempted to get a chant going, his efforts were foiled as the microphone was off, which meant Gary’s chant wasn’t heard by fans. A source told the Mirror at the time: “The camera was zoomed in on his mouth so everyone could clearly see he was mouthing the phrase ‘free free Palestine’ but the mic was muted.
“Those at the front tried to get the chant going on his behalf, but it fizzled out, and he gave up and left the stage. Fans leaving debated if it was intentional as he picked up and waved the flag before heading to the mic. “
There is something about Wimbledon which really makes Emma Raducanu tick.
Coming into her home Grand Slam, the British number one tried to temper expectations after a difficult grass-court swing.
The belief is already back.
Raducanu outclassed 2023 champion Marketa Vondrousova on Wednesday, moving into the last 32 for the third time in her four SW19 appearances.
The assured performance set her up nicely for a shot at world number one Aryna Sabalenka in a blockbuster third-round clash on Friday.
“I think that was one of the best matches I’ve played in a long time, which I’m very proud of,” said the 22-year-old, who is ranked 40th in the world.
Before the tournament started, Raducanu said she did not “truthfully expect much” from herself over the next fortnight.
After losing in Eastbourne last week to Australian teenager Maya Joint, Raducanu admitted she needed to get her “head in the game” for the start of Wimbledon.
She explained she had received some “pretty bad” personal news which she wished to keep private and, on the tennis side of her life, has been coping with ongoing back spasms since the off season.
But the 2021 US Open champion came through her opening match – a tricky occasion against British teenager Mimi Xu – without a major scare and upped her level again in a dominant victory over Vondrousova.
“That’s quite a statement that Emma has put out,” said former British number one Annabel Croft, who was analysing the match for BBC Radio 5 Live.
“I don’t think she could be hitting the ball any better, I really don’t. She was absolutely middling it.
“I would think that would be quite worrying for Sabalenka actually because she’ll be facing Raducanu at her best.
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The weapons she is looking to develop
What helps Raducanu flourish at Wimbledon is, of course, having a game which allows her to thrive on the grass.
Her athleticism and fluid movement on the quicker surface is a key strength, allowing her to get into position to inject the extra aggression she is trying to find in her shots.
Along with her serve, the forehand is a weapon which she has been particularly looking to further develop with coach Mark Petchey.
Wimbledon’s shot quality analysis – which measures the success of a player’s key shots on a scale of one to 10 based on speed, spin, depth and impact – rated her forehand at 8. 2.
That is well above the average of 7. 0 in the women’s draw.
“I think what’s going to be the real difference for me to get up to the top [of the rankings] is going to be the aggressive side,” said Raducanu.
Home is where the heart is
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Since bringing Petchey back into her team, Raducanu has cut a much more relaxed figure and it is allowing her to play with greater freedom.
Having a tight-knit and trusted group around her is a key factor in the progress she made this season.
Raducanu has had a tumultuous time since her stunning US Open victory, but she has regained her place in the world’s top 40 after a productive few months.
Feeling “at home” at Wimbledon and being able to hang out with friends, who she was seen taking selfies with on the All England Club balcony after beating Vondrousova, is helping her mood.
“It’s so rad. I have all of my friends here in one place. They’ve been my rock through everything,” added Raducanu, who has reached the fourth round in 2021 and 2024.
“I had the same sort of routine last year. I just really cherish these moments because we know how hard it is week to week playing on the tour.
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