Hull KR full-back Coote won three consecutive Super League titles with St Helens between 2019 and 2021 before joining the Robins ahead of the 2022 campaign; the former Scotland and Great Britain international suffered his fifth concussion in two years at Magic Weekend
Last Updated: 22/06/23 1:38pm
Lachlan Coote has been forced to retire with immediate effect
Lachlan Coote has retired with immediate effect on medical advice following a series of concussions over the past two seasons.
Hull Kingston Rovers full-back Coote won three consecutive Betfred Super League titles with St Helens between 2019 and 2021 before joining the Robins ahead of the 2022 campaign.
The 33-year-old’s professional career also included international recognition with Scotland and Great Britain, in addition to spells with Penrith Panthers and North Queensland Cowboys.
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“After suffering another concussion at Magic round, my fifth concussion in less than two years, I knew I was going to be faced with some tough conversations,” Coote told Hull KR’s website.
“With all the support from my coach Willie Peters, [Hull KR CEO] Paul Lakin, [Hull KR owner] Neil Hudgell and the medical team at Hull KR, I have made a very difficult decision to retire immediately.
“Rugby league has always come first before anything, now I think it’s time to put my health, my future, my family first.
“I’m still finding it hard to come to terms with this decision and it has been a very emotional few days, knowing that I will not get to play alongside my team-mates again and finish off what we started.”
Hull KR head coach Willie Peters paid tribute to Lachlan Coote
Australia-born Coote made 27 appearances for Rovers, who sit seventh in the Super League after 15 games.
He scored 161 points for the club, surpassing 1,000 career points during that time.
“On behalf of everyone at Hull KR, we’d like to congratulate Lachlan on a wonderful 15-year career,” Hull KR head coach Peters said. “Lachlan is a proven winner and will no doubt continue that into his retirement.
“It’s a sad situation for Lachlan having to retire halfway through the season. However, his health and family come first and the decision is the right one for him and his family.”
During a trip to Ghana, Tanzania, and Zambia last month, Vice President Kamala Harris announced more than $1 billion in public and private investments to close Africa’s digital divide–with a particular focus on expanding access to girls and women. That might seem like a niche goal. In fact, it will not only expand opportunity for millions, but also have far-reaching ripple effects on health, growth, stability, and resilience across a region of increasing strategic importance.
Improving women’s access to digital technologies and skills is crucial to ensure they can fully participate in and contribute to today’s economy. Yet, only one in three African women uses the internet today, compared to almost half of men. Women on the continent are also 30% less likely than men to own a smartphone.
This lack of access hinders women’s entrepreneurship and deprives society of their talents and innovations.
The internet, for instance, was crucial in helping Fafape Ama Etsa Foe establish E90 Ghana, a sustainable farm in Accra that uses sawdust to grow mushrooms. Sawdust, a byproduct of the woodworking industry, is typically burned, which pollutes the air and can lead to health problems, including cancer. E90 Ghana uses it to produce healthy and nutritious food instead, simultaneously improving the environment and increasing the local food system’s resilience to climate change.
Ms. Foe, who is locally known as the “Mushroom Queen” and recently met with Vice President Harris to discuss the economic importance of empowering women, told me the internet helped her research mushroom farming techniques, challenges, and opportunities. Today, it also allows her to reach more clients and keep costs down. “I am connected with all my regular clients on WhatsApp and Telegram, where I take their orders and supply them smoothly without delay,” she says. “These digital tools helped me to prevent postharvest losses, which used to account for as high as 25% of annual revenue.”
Ms. Foe believes improving digital connectivity will foster entrepreneurship among women on the continent by expanding access to information and financing opportunities: “Bridging the digital gender gap will help women, especially to market their products and also come out with new innovative products.”
It will also benefit their families, communities, and society at large. Indeed, investments in internet infrastructure grow the economy as a whole. The World Bank estimates that expanding broadband penetration by 10% in low- and middle-income economies yields a 1.4% increase in real per capita GDP. And according to the U.N. Women’s Gender Snapshot 2022 report, women’s exclusion from the digital economy has cost low- and middle-income countries $1 trillion in GDP over the previous decade already–and the cost could grow to $1.5 trillion by 2025 if nothing is done to close the gap.
Whispa Health is another example of a company founded by a woman that would not be possible without reliable internet access. It is a Nigeria-based app that gives users – mostly women and younger people – access to information about their sexual and reproductive health as well as a platform to book appointments with health care providers and buy contraceptives, STI tests, and other health products.
Morenike Fajemisin, co-founder and CEO, told me she wanted to help young women take care of their health so they could stay in school and achieve their dreams. “As long as that woman or young person has access to a smartphone, she has a way to connect with Whispa Health through our app or any of our social media channels,” she said. “Thanks to the internet, she is a few clicks away from finding the shame-free and confidential health care that she needs.”
We need more women entrepreneurs like Ms. Foe and Ms. Fajemisin to tackle some of the biggest challenges we are facing today, including climate change, pandemic surveillance, and democratic backsliding. Closing the digital gender divide in Africa is a crucial first step. It will open the innovation economy to millions of women and girls on the continent. It will give them–and through them, their children and communities–access to knowledge and quality education as well as health care, which in turn will further boost economic development, help build more resilient communities, and strengthen democracies.
The ripple effects will be wide. As Ms. Fajemisin told me, “When girls hear about successful women who come from similar backgrounds or nationalities, they realize that such success is possible for them too.” (Or, as civil rights activist Marian Wright Edelman put it, “You can’t be what you don’t see.”)
More business and philanthropic leaders should answer Vice President Harris’ call to action and join in the effort to promote gender equality and digital access in Africa. We will all benefit.
Michelle A. Williams is the Dean of Faculty at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune.
London Irish have until 4pm on Tuesday June 6 either to complete a proposed takeover by an American consortium or for owner Mick Crossan to commit to club for entirety of the 2023-24 campaign; London Irish were hit with winding-up petition by HMRC on Friday
By PA Media
Last Updated: 05/06/23 5:43pm
London Irish are expected to be suspended from the Premiership on Tuesday
London Irish are expected to be suspended from the Gallagher Premiership on Tuesday when the deadline to prove they have the finances needed to operate next season expires.
Irish have until 4pm on Tuesday either to complete a proposed takeover by an American consortium or for owner Mick Crossan to commit to the club for the entirety of the 2023-24 campaign.
As of Monday, the buyout was no closer to being finalised with key documentation including proof of funds yet to be supplied to the Rugby Football Union, while Crossan is intent on severing ties.
Only 50 per cent of the staff payroll for May was paid and the outstanding wages must also be settled if Irish are to take their place in next season’s Premiership.
It was Crossan’s failure to pay the salaries in full last week that persuaded the RFU to extend the deadline by six days in the hope that staff and players would get the money owed to them.
Irish’s outlook deteriorated further on Friday when they were issued with a winding-up petition by HM Revenue and Customs over an unpaid tax bill.
Petitions have been filed against London Irish Holdings Limited and London Irish Rugby Football Ground Limited.
The demise of the Exiles, who finished the Premiership in fifth place, would conclude the darkest season in the history of the English club game after Wasps and Worcester folded because of their own financial difficulties.
Wasps have been demoted to the foot of the rugby pyramid after their new owners failed to secure the funding needed to relaunch in the Championship, while Worcester have gone quiet on their plan of rebuilding from the fifth tier.
Irish have debts in the region of £30m and do not own their own stadium, instead playing at Brentford’s Gtech Community Stadium after a 20-year spell at Reading’s Madejski Stadium.
Bill Sweeney and Simon Massie-Taylor, chief executives of the RFU and Premiership Rugby respectively, were accused by MPs of presiding over a “failure on an epic scale” following the collapse of Wasps and Worcester, but Irish have been given every opportunity to secure their future.
The governing bodies have been forced to weigh the desire to see the Exiles survive with the need to put plans in place for next season, with the reduction of clubs from 13 to 10 requiring a different league structure.
If a third club is lost, the bleak financial climate of the Premiership in the post-Covid era will be highlighted once again with teams able to operate through the funding of benefactors.
Prince Harry’s highly anticipated showdown against the publisher of the Daily Mirror kicked off Monday without him present in court — and the judge was not happy.
Harry’s lawyer said the Duke of Sussex would be unavailable to testify following opening statements because he’d taken a flight from Los Angeles after the birthday of his 2-year-old daughter, Lilibet, on Sunday.
“I’m a little surprised,” Justice Timothy Fancourt said, noting he had directed Harry to be in court for the first day of his case.
Mirror Group Newspaper’s lawyer, Andrew Green, said he was “deeply troubled” by Harry’s absence on the trial’s opening day. They accused Harry of “wasting time” in the court case, as reported by the BBC.
Green added that it was “absolutely extraordinary” Harry was “not available for day one of his own trial.”
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The case against Mirror Group is the first of the prince’s several lawsuits against the media to go to trial, and one of three alleging tabloid publishers unlawfully snooped on him in their cutthroat competition for scoops on the royal family.
Harry’s lawyer, David Sherborne, said phone hacking and forms of unlawful information gathering were carried out on such a widespread scale, it was implausible the publisher’s newspapers used a private investigator to dig up dirt on the prince only once, which is what they have admitted.
“The ends justify the means for the defendant,” Sherborne said.
Stories about Harry were big sellers for the newspapers, and some 2,500 articles had covered all facets of his life – from his illnesses at school to ups and downs with girlfriends, Sherborne said.
“There was no time in his life when he was safe from these activities,” Sherborne said. “Nothing was sacrosanct or out of bounds.”
Mirror Group has said it used documents, public statements and sources to legally report on the prince.
But Sherborne said it was not hard to infer that Mirror journalists used the same techniques on Harry — eavesdropping on voicemails and hiring private eyes to snoop — as they did on others.
Harry had been scheduled to testify Tuesday, but his lawyer was told last week the duke should attend Monday’s proceedings in London’s High Court in case the opening statements concluded before the end of the day.
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When he enters the witness box, Harry, 38, will be the first member of the British royal family in more than a century to testify in court. He is expected to describe his anguish and anger over being hounded by the media throughout his life, and its impact on those around him.
He has blamed paparazzi for causing the car crash that killed his mother, Princess Diana, and said harassment and intrusion by the U.K. press, including allegedly racist articles, led him and his wife, Meghan, to flee to the U.S. in 2020 and leave royal life behind.
The articles at issue in the trial date back to his 12th birthday, in 1996, when the Mirror reported Harry was feeling “badly” about the divorce of his mother and father, now King Charles III.
Harry said in court documents that ongoing tabloid reports made him wonder whom he could trust as he feared friends and associates were betraying him by leaking information to the newspapers. His circle of friends grew smaller, and he suffered “huge bouts of depression and paranoia.” Relationships fell apart as the women in his life – and even their family members – were “dragged into the chaos.”
He says he later discovered that the source wasn’t disloyal friends but aggressive journalists and the private investigators they hired to eavesdrop on voicemails and track him to locations as remote as Argentina and an island off Mozambique.
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Mirror Group Newspapers said it didn’t hack Harry’s phone and its articles were based on legitimate reporting techniques. The publisher admitted and apologized for hiring a private eye to dig up dirt on one of Harry’s nights out at a bar, but the resulting 2004 article headlined “Sex on the beach with Harry” is not among the 33 in question at trial.
Phone hacking that involved guessing or obtaining security codes to listen in on celebrities’ cell phone voice messages was widespread at British tabloids in the early years of this century. It became an existential crisis for the industry after the revelation in 2011 that the News of the World had hacked the phone of a slain 13-year-old girl.
Owner Rupert Murdoch shut down the paper and several of his executives faced criminal trials.
Mirror Group has paid more than 100 million pounds ($125 million) to settle hundreds of unlawful information-gathering claims, and printed an apology to phone hacking victims in 2015. But it denies executives – including Piers Morgan, who was editor of the Daily Mirror editor between 1995 and 2004 — knew about hacking.
Harry’s fury at the U.K. press — and sometimes at his own royal relatives for what he sees as their collusion with the media — runs through his memoir, Spare, and interviews conducted by Oprah Winfrey and others. His claims will face a tough audience in court when he is cross-examined by Mirror Group’s lawyer.
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Key takeaways from Prince Harry’s explosive memoir ‘Spare’
The opening statements mark the second phase of a trial in which Harry and three others have accused the Mirror of phone hacking and unlawful information gathering.
In the first part, Sherborne, who represents Harry and the other claimants, including two actors from the soap opera Coronation Street, said the unlawful acts were “widespread and habitual” at the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People, and carried out on “an industrial scale.”
Two judges — including Fancourt — are in the process of deciding whether Harry’s two other phone hacking cases will proceed to trial.
Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers, publisher of The Sun, and Associated Newspapers Ltd., which owns the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, have argued the cases should be thrown out because Harry failed to file the lawsuits within a six-year deadline of discovering the alleged wrongdoing.
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Harry’s lawyer has argued that he and other claimants should be granted an exception to the time limit, because the publishers lied and deceived to hide the illegal actions.
Tommy Makinson played a starring role in St Helens’ win over Wakefield
We round up all the key quotes from the Betfred Super League head coaches on Day 2 of Magic Weekend, which saw wins for Leigh Leopards, St Helens and Hull FC…
Contrasting emotions for Applegarth and Lam
Mark Applegarth is still confident he is the right man to lead Wakefield Trinity whichever division they are in next year after they fell to another defeat, this time going down 30-4 at the hands of Leigh Leopards.
The loss was Wakefield’s 14th defeat of the Super League season, and they are now six points behind 11th-placed Castleford Tigers after their neighbours defeated Leeds Rhinos in the last game of Day 1 in Newcastle on Saturday.
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Highlights from the Magic Weekend Super League clash between Wakefield Trinity and Leigh Leopards.
Highlights from the Magic Weekend Super League clash between Wakefield Trinity and Leigh Leopards.
Trinity were beaten despite Leigh having to play a significant part of the match with 12 men following Ben Reynolds’ first-half red card and while Applegarth admitted his frustration at his side’s failure to get off the mark so far in 2023, he still thinks he is the one to oversee their rebuild whether they survive in Super League or end up being relegated to the Betfred Championship.
“I do,” Applegarth said. “It’s a horrible experience to go through, but you’ve got to front it up head on and make sure you’re doing everything you can.
“I feel like I’m doing everything I can, whether that’s making sure we’re as best prepared, looking at our opposition and where we feel there are going to be some weaknesses.
“This week, for example, I think we’ve had really good prep, we’ve just not served up the quality on the Sunday and that’s the part I’m looking at now.
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Ben Reynolds was sent off for Leigh Leopards after punching Wakefield’s David Fifita.
Ben Reynolds was sent off for Leigh Leopards after punching Wakefield’s David Fifita.
“Is it a tactical error? Is it some messages I’m giving or the quality of what we’re trying to do? That’s the frustrating part about it.”
Leigh, in contrast, have now won seven games in a row in all competitions and even found themselves with 11 players on the pitch at one point after Tom Nisbet was sin-binned. Head coach Adrian Lam was therefore naturally delighted with the character shown by the team.
“Down to 11 men with the last 10 minutes before half-time where we defended our line, I thought that was a really special moment for us as a club,” Lam, who was named Super League coach of the month for May, said.
“In hindsight, looking back now, you can’t train those moments and it’s about having trust in each other, I thought the way we scrambled in that period was unbelievable, so I’m really proud of them for that.”
Wellens heaps praise on record-breaker Makinson
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Highlights from the Magic Weekend Super League clash between St Helens and Huddersfield Giants.
Highlights from the Magic Weekend Super League clash between St Helens and Huddersfield Giants.
Four tries and seven goals from Tommy Makinson saw the St Helens winger rack up a Magic Weekend record of 28 individual points as his side trounced Huddersfield Giants 48-6 in Newcastle.
The England international’s haul helped make it back-to-back wins for the reigning Super League champions and lifted them into the play-off places on points difference from Hull Kingston Rovers.
Saints head coach Paul Wellens was quick to sing the praises of Makinson for his efforts, although typically as a coach he focused on his defensive contributions as well as his attacking ones.
“I’m delighted with Tommy,” Wellens said. “Whilst he has not been playing poorly, what I really liked today was it will be about him scoring four tries, but I loved his strong defensive work and making strong decisions.
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St Helens’ Tommy Makinson believes that their comprehensive victory against Huddersfield Giants can help them turn the season round after they moved into the top six.
St Helens’ Tommy Makinson believes that their comprehensive victory against Huddersfield Giants can help them turn the season round after they moved into the top six.
“When Tommy gets that side of his game right, as well as the finishing which undoubtedly he’s wonderful at, you’ve got the complete winger and that’s why he’s up there as one of the best wingers in the world.”
It was a frustrating afternoon for Wellens’ opposite number Ian Watson though as the defeat left Huddersfield six points off the play-offs and the Giants boss had a stark warning for the players he believes are under-performing.
“It was nowhere near the level of performance we need to be,” Watson said. “Some individuals are way of the mark at the moment and it’s up to them to get better or for us to make a choice on whether to replace them going forward.
“You don’t want to have to drop players or take them out, you want them to do their job, but sometimes players go through a bit of a dip and it’s a cut-throat business. You have to be that way and make those calls on people.”
How Hull FC turned defence into attack
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Highlights from the Magic Weekend Super League clash between Hull FC and Warrington Wolves.
Highlights from the Magic Weekend Super League clash between Hull FC and Warrington Wolves.
Things are looking up for Hull FC, who have now won four of their last five Super League matches after defeating Warrington Wolves 30-18 in the final game of this year’s Magic Weekend.
A hat-trick from second row Josh Griffin after the break helped them fight back from being 12-0 down early on and having to defend their own line for large parts of the first half.
Black and Whites head coach Tony Smith felt it was those defensive efforts which helped set them up for the second-half fightback which moved them to within four points of the play-off places.
“Sometimes defending your own line can take the petrol out of you for the rest of the game but it did quite the opposite,” Smith said.
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Josh Griffin completed his hat-trick for Hull FC against Warrington after a wonderful team move from within their own half.
Josh Griffin completed his hat-trick for Hull FC against Warrington after a wonderful team move from within their own half.
“It energised us actually and we were all ready to go in the second half. I thought Josh turned back the clock with having to use his speed to score tries. It was terrific and I was pleased for him.”
Warrington had led through tries from Connor Wrench and George Williams, with Wrench’s second temporarily putting them back in front during the second half.
They were unable to close the game out though and Wolves head coach Daryl Powell lamented not taking the opportunity to return to the top of the Super League table.
“The way we started the first half was class, but the start of the second half was non-existent really,” Powell said.
“We’ve lost a bit of confidence at the moment and we’re working hard to get it back. We feel like when we fix up one part of our game another part is not quite there, and there’s a bit to do defensively.”
JEDDAH — The Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority (ZATCA) has thwarted two attempts two smuggle 1,029 kilograms of marijuana.
The authority said that the marijuana was found hidden in incoming consignments through both of the customs of King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah and King Fahad International Airport in Dammam.
ZATCA has indicated that this amount of narcotic marijuana was found during the detection and inspection process on a number of parcels coming to Saudi Arabia via express transport.
It has noted that the methods of reporting all attempts to smuggle contraband are through its official channels, from inside Saudi Arabia: 1910 — from outside the Kingdom: +966114208417 — or via its email: 1910@zatca.gov.sa
In October 2019, just a few months before a novel coronavirus sparked a deadly pandemic, a group of government officials, business leaders, and academics convened in New York City to role-play a scenario in which a novel coronavirus sparked a deadly pandemic. Their imagined virus leaped from livestock to farmers in Brazil, then spread to Portugal, the United States, and China. Soon, it was everywhere. Eighteen months later, 65 million people were dead.
This simulation, known as Event 201, was one of dozens of so-called pandemic war games run in the two decades leading up to the outbreak of COVID-19. In mid-2020, as the world came to terms with its new pandemic reality, media outlets published a flood of articles about these simulations. Some highlighted their prescience, others their blind spots. But the real-world crisis that occasioned this review was only a few months old. Whatever hindsight it provided wasn’t yet in focus, because many of the greatest challenges of the pandemic—new variants, vaccine hesitancy, the hyper-politicization of public health—were still to come.
Almost three years later, we know that the war-gamers whiffed on many of these longer-term outcomes. Pre-pandemic role-plays successfully predicted early events like the overwhelming of the nation’s hospitals, ineffective travel bans, and a lack of coordination across levels of government. But they underestimated the significance of masking policies, the speed at which vaccines would be developed, and the politicized backlash to those interventions. They also failed to account for cascading viral evolution, and did not grasp how long such a crisis could last. “The scenario ends at the 18-month point,” the makers of Event 201 wrote. “The pandemic is beginning to slow due to the decreasing number of susceptible people. The pandemic will continue at some rate until there is an effective vaccine or until 80–90% of the global population has been exposed.” If only.
War-gamers are trying to learn from their mistakes. Long before any public-health authority had declared the acute phase of the pandemic over, officials were already playing out fresh scenarios that better fit the facts. At the Munich Security Conference in February 2022, for example, the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security helped run an exercise focused on rapid development and equitable distribution of vaccines for an imagined future virus, Tom Inglesby, the center’s director, told me. Later that year, at an annual meeting convened in Brussels by the WHO and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the same group ran a simulation in which current and former foreign ministers had to grapple with the threats of misinformation and resistance to non-pharmaceutical interventions. Unlike pre-pandemic war games, this one also took into account governments’ attitudes toward expert public-health advice.
Accounting for the specific facts of the coronavirus pandemic could make future war games more realistic, experts told me, but it won’t ensure that they have substantive value. These exercises are not meant to predict what will happen in the next pandemic, so much as to prepare for what might happen. Bringing games into alignment with recent experience matters only insofar as it conduces to the latter.
War-gamers often draw a distinction between tabletop exercises and functional exercises. In the former, participants sit around discussing what they would do in a given scenario; in the latter, participants actually do it. They might transport stockpiled resources, distribute personal protective equipment, or care for pretend patients at a hospital. The Pentagon moves real forces around the world as part of its simulations. This real-world practice is sorely needed for pandemic scenarios, too, says Jennifer Nuzzo, the director of Brown University’s Pandemic Center. “When I look back at COVID, many of the failings stemmed from the fact that we didn’t functionally exercise enough of the capacities that we supposedly had.”
Pandemic exercises could also be made more challenging, Inglesby said. Too many are set up to prevent participants from feeling demoralized, he said, as opposed to “exercising to the point of failure.” This principle can be taken too far, though, Nuzzo told me. If the exercise is too intense, people get overwhelmed and disengage. Real pandemics, of course, are highly overwhelming, but if you’re trying to train someone to bench-press their weight, you can’t just drop a 200-pound barbell on their chest and shout “Go!” They have to build up strength over time.
Coming through an actual pandemic is a form of training, too, but that experience doesn’t make war games useless. In fact, they may be more important now than ever, experts told me. Before COVID, pandemic role-plays were meant in part to raise awareness—to show participants and the public alike that a pandemic could really happen. Now, obviously, few people need to be persuaded of the risk. Post-COVID, the exercises serve a very different function: They remind us that the next pandemic might look nothing like the one we’ve just experienced. It could have a far higher case-fatality rate. It could disproportionately sicken children rather than the elderly. Its symptoms could be neurological instead of respiratory. “Just having lived through COVID doesn’t prepare us for all future events,” Inglesby said. Experience is an infinitesimal sliver of possibility.
We try, through war games, to internalize this. It is not always easy. Event 201 notwithstanding, pandemic simulations have traditionally focused too much on influenza and not enough on other pathogens, perhaps because of how many outbreaks the former has caused in the past. It would be just as wrong to focus only on coronaviruses now, and leave influenza behind. At the simulation in Brussels, Eric Toner, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, told me, some participants struggled not to default to recent memory: “They kept coming back to, ‘Well, in COVID we did this,’ or ‘In COVID we did that.’” It’s a delicate balance to strike: to learn from experience without being constrained by it.
This weekend’s Eurovision Song Contest will have Ukrainian flags, Ukrainian musicians and Ukrainian fans – but not the country’s wartime leader.
Organizers say they rejected a request from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to make a video address to the final of the pan-continental music competition on Saturday. He was expected to urge the world to continue its support for Ukraine’s fight to repel Russian invasion.
The European Broadcasting Union, a grouping of national public broadcasters that runs Eurovision, said that letting Zelenskyy participate would breach “the nonpolitical nature of the event.”
Zelenskyy’s request “to address the audience at the Eurovision Song Contest, whilst made with laudable intentions, regrettably cannot be granted by the European Broadcasting Union management as it would be against the rules of the event,” the organization said.
Zelenskyy spokesman Sergii Nykyforov denied that the president had asked to speak to the event, which will be watched by an estimated 160 million people.
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“The Office of the President of Ukraine did not address the organizers of the Eurovision Song Contest to offer (Zelenskyy’s) online performance during the finals or at any other stage of the contest,” he said on Facebook.
Canadian remix: Popular ‘Eurovision Song Contest’ headed to Canada
In the 15 months since Russia invaded, Zelenskyy has addressed dozens of global gatherings to promote his country’s cause. He has spoken to legislatures around the world by video _ and a few times in person _ and appealed to crowds at the Glastonbury music festival, the Grammy Awards and the Berlin Film Festival.
But he reportedly was denied permission to speak at the Academy Awards in March, and Ukraine says that FIFA, international soccer’s governing body, also refused Zelenskyy’s request to send a video message to the World Cup in November 2022.
Founded in 1956 to help heal a continent shattered by war, Eurovision strives to keep pop and politics separate. Overtly political lyrics, signs and symbols are banned.
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But politics can’t be shut out entirely. Russia was banned from the contest after it invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Belarus had been kicked out the previous year over its government’s clampdown on dissent.
Zelenskyy compares modern Russia to Nazi Germany, says ‘evil has returned’
Last year’s contest was won by Ukraine, and the U.K. has stepped in to host on its behalf.
Acts from 26 countries will compete in Saturday’s live final at the Liverpool Arena, which will be co-hosted by Ukrainian singer Julia Sanina. It will feature a performance by last year’s Eurovision winner, Kalush Orchestra, and other Ukrainian performers, and images of Ukraine will be shown before each act performs.
“We believe that this is the best way to reflect and celebrate Ukraine’s Eurovision Song Contest win and show we are united by music during these hard times,” the broadcasting union said.
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Tens of thousands of music fans from across Europe have flocked to Liverpool, which won a competition among U.K. cities to host the contest. The birthplace of The Beatles has thrown itself into the party spirit, with pubs and venues across the city holding Eurovision parties and a multinational fan zone featuring performances by Eurovision stars past and present.
Organizers say they have taken steps to ensure the phone and online voting isn’t disrupted by cyberattacks, working with the U.K. National Cyber Security Centre to bolster the event’s defenses.
Martin Green, the BBC’s managing director of the event, said that preparations were “in a really good place,” though he wouldn’t give details of security arrangements.
Lachlan Coote will hang up his boots at the end of the Super League season
Hull KR full-back Lachlan Coote will retire at the end of the Super League season after a 15-year career that also saw him play in the NRL.
Coote won three Super League Grand Finals during his time with St Helens from 2019 to 2021 as well as an NRL Grand Final while with the North Queensland Cowboys.
“I’m happy to announce that I will be retiring at the end of the 2023 season, it has been a very tough decision to make but I know it’s the right one for me and my family,” said Coote.
“Over the past 15 years, I have met so many great people and I’ve learnt so many valuable lessons within the sport. I’ll always be grateful for what rugby league has given me, thank you to everyone that has been a part of my career.”
Henry Arundell was part of the London Irish team which helped them finish their campaign on a high
A round-up of Saturday’s Gallagher Premiership action as London Irish finished a difficult week on a high.
London Irish 17-14 Exeter Chiefs
Two tries from Juan Martin Gonzalez ensured London Irish finished a difficult week on a high as they saw off Exeter Chiefs 17-14 at the Gtech Stadium.
The build-up to the game had been far from ideal for Irish, whose players were paid late as the club’s proposed takeover continues to drag on.
In a game that swung one way then the other, Tom Hendrickson looked like he had earned Chiefs the victory, only for Gonzalez to turn it around for the Exiles to secure a fifth-placed finish, their best return in 14 years since they reached the Premiership final.
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Declan Kidney paid tribute to his side, ranking the emotion of this week up there with anything he has experienced in the game.
He said: “For the year’s work, I’m delighted for everybody in the organisation. The players have been brilliant, when you think that is only our second game in six weeks.
“The fact we have finished up with the best of the rest, for some it might not mean much but for us, given where we’ve come from, we’re absolutely delighted with it.
“There were many, many challenges, like every club in this league, that we have had to overcome. Some of them have been more recent and how the boys did that, how the coaches, strength and conditioners, everyone stayed on track. These lads were always going to play.
“These lads have gone from Championship to 10th, to ninth, to eighth and now to fifth.
“We’re planning for a rich future with the age of the lads out on the pitch, that is what we are building it on. There is a rich future for this club on the pitch and I’m sure the people off the pitch will do the business and see it through.”
Bristol 36-21 Gloucester
Bristol missed out on a Heineken Champions Cup spot for next season despite a hard-fought 36-21 win over local rivals Gloucester as they were pipped by Bath on points’ difference.
The bonus-point victory was not enough for Bears to stay in eighth place in the final table as Bath’s winning margin over Saracens proved crucial.
Semi Radradra scored two tries on his farewell appearance for Bristol while Sia Naulago, Magnus Bradbury and Harry Thacker were also on the try-scoring sheet, with AJ MacGinty adding four conversions and a penalty.
Ollie Thorley and Jonny May scored Gloucester’s tries and there was also a penalty try award, with Adam Hastings and Billy Twelvetrees each adding a conversion.
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Bath 61-29 Saracens
Bath ran in nine tries in a 61-29 win over a game Saracens second string to snatch the last Heineken Champions Cup spot next season from local rivals Bristol.
Hooker Tom Dunn scored a hat-trick as Johann van Graan’s resurgent side notched a fourth successive Gallagher Premiership victory, a run that has propelled the club from the bottom of the table to that all-important eighth qualifying place.
The Rec broke into wild celebration as news came through from Ashton Gate that Bristol’s winning margin against Gloucester had not been enough.
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Leicester 17-20 Harlequins
Chris Ashton’s decorated career ended with a red card as Leicester were defeated 20-17 by Harlequins.
The former England winger, who is retiring at the end of the campaign, was dismissed towards the end of the first half for a dangerous high tackle on opposite number Cadan Murley.
Despite the loss, Leicester’s semi-final at Sale next week was confirmed, while Quins wideman Murley will end as the top-flight’s leading scorer with 15 tries.
Sale Sharks 54-12 Newcastle Falcons
Sam James scored twice as Sale Sharks warmed up for the play-offs by dispatching Newcastle Falcons 54-12.
The hosts went behind early but responded comprehensively, running in eight tries at the AJ Bell Stadium, which will play host to Sharks’ semi-final clash with Leicester Tigers next Sunday.
Newcastle arrived knowing they would prop up the table regardless of the outcome but made the stronger start, and crossed for the afternoon’s opening score when Pedro Rubiolo crashed over following neat footwork from Elliott Obatoyinbo.
King Charles is now officially crowned. London’s coronation, the first in 70 years, saw Charles and his wife, Camilla, take hold of the royal sceptres and crown.
The Royal Family was out in spades, excluding Prince Harry’s wife, Meghan Markle, who did not take part. King Charles and Camilla both donned capes and purple crowns (Charles’ had over 400 jewels) as the ceremony took place in Westminster Abbey.
Britain’s King Charles III and Queen Camilla wave to the crowds from the balcony of Buckingham Palace after their coronation ceremony, in London, Saturday, May 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek).
King Charles III wearing the St Edward’s Crown during the coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey, in London, Saturday May 6, 2023. (Andrew Matthews/Pool via AP).
King Charles III wearing the St Edward’s Crown and Queen Camilla wearing the Queen Mary’s Crown sit during the coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey, in London, Saturday May 6, 2023. (Andrew Matthews/Pool via AP).
Royal dignitaries and heads of state were in attendance, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Gov. Gen. Mary Simon, as well as celebrities such as Katy Perry.
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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Sophie Trudeau arrive at Westminster Abbey prior to the coronation ceremony of Britain’s King Charles III in London Saturday, May 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung).
Prince Harry leaves Westminster Abbey after the Coronation of King Charles III in London, Saturday, May 6 2023. King Charles III and Queen Camilla, members of the Royal family and VIP’s gathered at Westminster Abbey for the Coronation service. (Dan Charity/pool photo via AP).
Katy Perry leaves Westminster Abbey after the coronation of King Charles III in London, Saturday, May 6, 2023. (Gareth Cattermole/Pool Photo via AP).
After Charles was crowned, the royal procession continued in a parade to Buckingham Palace, complete with golden carriages. A delegation of five Royal Canadian Mounted Police members joined in the parade.
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The carriage carrying King Charles lll and Queen Camilla proceeds during the Royal Procession following the King’s Coronation, in London on Saturday, May 6, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette.
Coldstream Guards stand to attention along The Mall ahead of the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla in London, Saturday, May 6, 2023. (Richard Heathcote, Pool via AP).
Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers ride in front of King Charles lll and Queen Camilla’s carriage during the Royal Procession following the King’s Coronation, in London on Saturday, May 6, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette.
Once at Buckingham Palace, King Charles and Queen Camilla waved from the balcony as helicopters and Red Arrows jets flew overhead, the latter pouring out the colours white, blue and red.
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The Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team otherwise known as The Red Arrows fly over Buckingham Palace during the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla in London, Saturday, May 6, 2023. (Richard Heathcote, Pool via AP).
Britain’s King Charles III receives a royal salute from members of the military in the gardens of Buckingham Place, following the coronation of King Charles III and Camilla, the Queen Consort, in London, Saturday, May 6, 2023. (Andrew Milligan/Pool via AP).
The coronation was only the second to be televised, after Queen Elizabeth II’s in 1953. Queen Elizabeth died Sept. 8, 2022, bringing the 74-year-old Charles to the throne.
King Charles III is the 40th sovereign to be crowned in Westminster Abbey and the oldest. Elizabeth held the longest reign in British history, lasting 70 years. Prince William is next in line for the throne and at the current age of 40, may not have to wait as long as Charles given his father’s age.
Prince William’s children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, ages nine, eight and five, respectively, were along for the ride Saturday. Louis was caught on camera taking a big yawn, adding to a string of antics from the children over the years and ceremonies.
The Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla in Westminster Abbey. Photograph by Richard Pohle.
(left to right) the Duke of Edinburgh, the Earl of Wessex, Lady Louise Windsor, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence ,the Duchess of Edinburgh, the Princess Royal, Princess Charlotte, the Princess of Wales, Prince Louis, the Prince of Wales on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, London, to view a flypast by aircraft. (Photo by Owen Humphreys/PA Images via Getty Images).
Britain’s Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis leave Westminster Abbey after the coronation of King Charles III in London, Saturday, May 6, 2023. (Gareth Cattermole/Pool Photo via AP).
LONDON, ENGLAND – MAY 06: Prince Louis of Wales smiles through the window as he travels with his family back to Buckingham Palace from Westminster Abbey on May 6, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Adrian Dennis – WPA Pool/Getty Images).
Not all were in favour of the monarchy continuing, though.
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Protesters also showed up to the coronation holding “Not my King” signs.
The leader of anti-monarchy group Republic was reportedly arrested by London police, along with five others.
TOPSHOT – A coach carrying Britain’s Prince William, Catherine, Princess of Wales and their children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis rides past anti-monarchy protesters following the coronation ceremony for Britain’s King Charles III and Queen Camilla.
LONDON, ENGLAND – MAY 06: Police officers take away protesters near to the ‘King’s Procession’, a journey of two kilometres from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey on May 6, 2023, in London, England.
Photo by Justin Tallis – WPA Pool/Getty Images
Nevertheless and despite drizzly weather, crowds still showed up complete with umbrellas for the historic event.
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Royal fans watch the Britain’s King Charles III coronation ceremony on a screen in Hyde park, in London, Saturday, May 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti).
British police arrested multiple people amid the coronation of King Charles III on Saturday, with anti-monarchy group Republic saying their head Graham Smith was among those detained.
Republic tweeted that Graham Smith was arrested along with five other members of their team and hundreds of placards were seized. It comes as London’s Metropolitan Police also confirmed the arrests of at least seven people, but did not give any names.
This morning, @GrahamSmith_ and 5 members of our team were arrested. Hundreds of placards were seized. Is this democracy? #NotMyKing#Coronation
“Is this democracy?” the tweet from Republic read.
Protesters could be seen Saturday morning carrying signs reading, “Not my King.”
Republic calls for the end of the monarchy.
Protesters hold placards ahead of the coronation of Britain’s King Charles III in London Saturday, May 6, 2023. Saturday, May 6, 2023. (Piroschka van de Wouw/Pool via AP).
London’s Metropolitan Police tweeted that a “significant police operation is under way in central London” around 8:30 a.m. local time.
“We have made a number of arrests in the area of Carlton House Terrace. The individuals have been held on suspicion of breaching the peace,” the police tweeted.
They then detailed that earlier in the day, four others were arrested in the area of St. Martin’s Lane and held on suspicion of conspiracy to cause public nuisance. Police said they seized “lock-on devices,” which can be used by protesters to lock themselves to public fixtures.
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Three others were arrested in the area of Wellington Arch, according to police, and held on “suspicion of possessing articles to cause criminal damage.”
Earlier today we arrested four people in the area of St Martin’s Lane.
They were held on suspicion of conspiracy to cause public nuisance.
In total, British police said they had arrested 52 people during the coronation for a range of offences, including breach of peace and conspiracy to cause a public nuisance. All those who had been detained remain in custody, London police said in a statement.
The arrests come after the Canadian government earlier in the week warned Canadians to exercise a “high degree of caution in the United Kingdom due to the threat of terrorism.”
“Previous incidents have resulted in casualties. They include random violent incidents in public areas, such as knife and vehicle attacks as well as explosions,” officials said in a May 2 travel advisory.
“These incidents have occurred mainly in the London area but have also happened elsewhere. Further attacks in the United Kingdom are likely.”
Police officers take away a protester close to the ‘King’s Procession’, a journey of two kilometres from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey in central London on May 6, 2023. (Photo by LOIC VENANCE / AFP) (Photo by LOIC VENANCE/AFP via Getty Images).
Police arrest an anti-monarchy demonstrators ahead of the procession of Britain’s King Charles III to Westminster Abbey for his coronation in London Saturday, May 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Scott Garfitt).
In 2019, a man previously convicted of terrorism offences stabbed two people to death and injured three others before being shot dead by police on London Bridge. In 2017, 30 people were injured after a homemade explosive device was partially detonated inside a crowded subway station.
Most recently, British police arrested a man Tuesday and blew up a suspicious bag outside Buckingham Palace.
Metropolitan Police said officers arrested a man in the evening after he approached the palace gates and asked to speak to a soldier. When he was refused, he began to throw shotgun cartridges into the palace grounds, the force said.
The man was searched and a lock knife was found, police said. He was arrested on suspicion of possession of a knife and ammunition, and the man’s backpack was blown up in a controlled explosion after the suspect told officers to handle it with care.
Coronation of King Charles III: A new King is crowned in Westminster Abbey
More than 9,000 officers are on coronation day duty in London as foreign dignitaries and heads of state, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, are in town visiting for the rare event.
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U.K. Security Minister Tom Tugendhat told Times Radio Wednesday that their presence makes the coronation “a very complex policing operation, a very complex intelligence operation.”
“The police are, to put it mildly, all over it, and our intelligence and other security forces are extremely aware of the challenges that we face and ready to deal with them — as the police did quite brilliantly yesterday,” he said.
“This is an enormously important moment for the country.”
— with files from Aaron D’Andrea and The Associated Press.
Emergency responses—being, well, emergency responses—aren’t designed to last forever, and this morning, the World Health Organization declared the one that’s been in place for the COVID-19 pandemic since January 2020 officially done. “This virus is here to stay. It is still killing, and it’s still changing,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the WHO, said at a press conference; although the coronavirus will continue to pose a threat, the time had simply come, he and his colleagues said, for countries to move away from treating it as a global crisis.
And, really, they already have: The United States, for instance, ended its national emergency last month and will sunset its public-health emergency next week; countries around the world have long since shelved testing programs, lifted lockdowns, dispensed with masking mandates, and even stopped recommending frequent COVID shots to healthy people in certain age groups. In some ways, the WHO was already a straggler. Had it waited much longer, the power of its designation of COVID as a “public health emergency of international concern,” or PHEIC, “would have been undermined,” says Salim Abdool Karim, the director of the Centre for the AIDS Program of Research in South Africa.
There’s no disputing that the virus’s threat has ebbed since the pandemic’s worst days. By and large, “we are in our recovery phase now”—not perfectly stabilized, but no longer in chaotic flux, says René Najera, the director of public health at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. Still, ending the emergency doesn’t mean that the world has fully addressed the problems that made this an emergency. Global vaccine distribution remains wildly inequitable, leaving many people susceptible to the virus’s worst effects; deaths are still concentrated among those most vulnerable; the virus’s evolutionary and transmission patterns are far from predictable or seasonal. Now, ending the emergency is less an epidemiological decision than a political one: Our tolerance for these dangers has grown to the extent that most people are doing their best to look away from the remaining risk, and will continue to until the virus forces us to turn back.
The end to the PHEIC, to be clear, isn’t a declaration that COVID is over—or even that the pandemic is. Both a PHEIC and a pandemic tend to involve the rapid and international spread of a dangerous disease, and the two typically do go hand in hand. But no set-in-stone rules delineate when either starts or ends. Plenty of diseases have met pandemic criteria—noted by many epidemiologists as an epidemic that’s rapidly spread to several continents—without ever being granted a PHEIC, as is the case with HIV. And several PHEICs, including two of the Ebola outbreaks of the past decade and the Zika epidemic that began in 2015, did not consistently earn the pan- prefix among experts. With COVID, the WHO called a PHEIC more than a month before it publicly labeled the outbreak a pandemic on March 11. Now the organization has bookended its declaration with a similar mismatch: one crisis designation on and the other off. That once again leaves the world in a bizarre risk limbo, with the threat everywhere but our concern for it on the wane.
For other diseases with pandemic potential, understanding the start and end of crisis has been simpler. After a new strain of H1N1 influenza sparked a global outbreak in 2009, disrupting the disease’s normal seasonal ebb and flow, scientists simply waited until the virus’s annual transmission patterns went back to their pre-outbreak baseline, then declared that particular pandemic done. But “we don’t really have a baseline” to return to for SARS-CoV-2, says Sam Scarpino, an infectious-disease modeler at Northeastern University. This has left officials floundering for an end-of-pandemic threshold to meet. Once, envisioning that coda seemed more possible: In February 2021, when the COVID shots were still new, Alexis Madrigal wrote in The Atlantic that, in the U.S. at least, pandemic restrictions might end once the country reached some relatively high rate of vaccination, or drove daily deaths below 100—approximating the low-ish end of the flu’s annual toll.
Those criteria aren’t perfect. Given how the virus has evolved, even, say, an 85 percent vaccination rate probably wouldn’t have squelched the virus in a way public-health experts were envisioning in 2021 (and wouldn’t have absolved us of booster maintenance). And even if the death toll slipped below 100 deaths a day, the virus’s chronic effects would still pose an immense threat. But thresholds such as those, flawed though they were, were never even set. “I’m not sure we ever set any goals at all” to designate when we’d have the virus beat, Céline Gounder, an infectious-disease physician at NYU and an editor-at-large for public health at KFF Health News, told me. And if they had been, we probably still would not have met them: Two years out, we certainly have not.
Instead, efforts to mitigate the virus have only gotten laxer. Most individuals are no longer masking, testing, or staying up to date on their shots; on community scales, the public goods that once seemed essential—ventilation, sick leave, equitable access to insurance and health care—have already faded from most discourse. That COVID has been more muted in recent months feels “more like luck” than a product of concerted muffling from us, Scarpino told me. Should another SARS-CoV-2 variant sweep the world or develop resistance to Paxlovid, “we don’t have much in the way of a plan,” he said.
If and when the virus troubles us again, our lack of preparedness will be a reflection of America’s classically reactive approach to public health. Even amid a years-long emergency declaration that spanned national and international scales, we squandered the opportunity “to make the system more resilient to the next crisis,” Gounder said. There is little foresight for what might come next. And individuals are still largely being asked to fend for themselves—which means that as this emergency declaration ends, we are setting ourselves up for another to inevitably come, and hit us just as hard.
As the final roadblocks to declaring normalcy disappear, we’re unlikely to patch those gaps. The PHEIC, at this point, was more symbolic than practical—but that didn’t make it inconsequential. Experts worry that its end will sap what remaining incentive there was for some countries to sustain a COVID-focused response—one that would, say, keep vaccines, treatments, and tests in the hands of those who need them most. “Public interest is very binary—it’s either an emergency or it’s not,” says Saskia Popescu, an infection-prevention expert at George Mason University. With the PHEIC now gone, the world has officially toggled itself to “not.” But there’s no going back to 2019. Between that and the height of the pandemic is middle-ground maintenance, a level of concern and response that the world has still not managed to properly calibrate.
Hull Kingston Rovers kept the Huddersfield Giants scoreless as Salford Red Devils, Leigh Leopards and Warrington Wolves also secured wins in Round 11 of the Super League season on Friday evening as they saw off Leeds Rhinos, Castleford Tigers and Wakefield Trinity respectively
Last Updated: 05/05/23 10:26pm
Hull KR kept the Huddersfield Giants scoreless as they continued their brilliant run
A round-up of the rest of Friday night’s Super League Round 11 action after Catalans Dragons defeated St Helens in the Sky Live game.
Hull Kingston Rovers 28-0 Huddersfield Giants
Hull KR put in a polished performance to beat Huddersfield 28-0 and show why they are viewed by many as genuine contenders for the Super League title.
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Two first-half tries from Ryan Hall, added to by two in the second half from James Batchelor and a single score by Tom Opacic, saw Rovers home.
Rowan Milnes deputised ably at scrum-half for the injured Jordan Abdull as Willie Peters’ side ground out a win which owed a lot to some fine tackling at both ends of the pitch.
The only down side for the Robins was an upper-leg injury to full-back Lachlan Coote early in the game.
Huddersfield never really got into the contest as they tried to over complicate things on a wet night in east Hull.
Leeds Rhinos 12-22 Salford Red Devils
Salford surged to their fourth straight win in the Betfred Super League League with a thoroughly-deserved 22-12 victory over Leeds at Headingley.
Marc Sneyd kicked 10 of the visitors’ points, including two penalties, as indiscipline once again cost the Rhinos dear in what proved another frustrating evening for the hosts.
From the moment Rhys Williams pounced to put his side ahead in the right corner halfway through the first period, Paul Rowley’s Salford held the upper hand and only a late effort from James Bentley roused the Rhinos for what would prove a fruitless assault in the last 10 minutes.
Leeds coach Rohan Smith had handed teenager Jack Sinfield a rare slot at scrum-half in place of the injured Aidan Sezer in a bid to rid his side of their frustrating inconsistency so far in this campaign.
Leigh Leopards 30-6 Castleford Tigers
Leigh produced a dominant second-half performance to stun Castleford 30-6 and record three successive Super League wins for the first time.
The Leigh Leopards secured another big win as they found their attacking prowess in the second 40
Kai O’Donnell, Ava Seumanufagai, Ricky Leutele and Matty Davis all scored tries, which were converted by Ben Reynolds, as the Leopards powered home after the sides were tied at 6-6 at half-time.
Leigh had trailed to an early Joe Westerman try, converted by Gareth Widdop, but responded with a converted Reynolds try in the 19th minute and never looked back as they beat Castleford for the first time since 1987.
During four spells in Super League, Leigh have never managed to achieve better than back-to-back wins but they continued their impressive start to 2023 with a sixth victory of the campaign.
The win also ensured Leigh equalled their best points total as a Super League team with only 11 rounds of the season played.
But for Castleford and their coach Andy Last, it means they remain second from bottom after a desperately disappointing start to the campaign.
Warrington Wolves 32-18 Wakefield Trinity
Bottom-club Wakefield were left to rue the second-half dismissal of prop Kevin Proctor as Warrington returned to the top of Betfred Super League with a 32-18 victory over Trinity at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.
Warrington Wolves fought back in the second half to keep Wakefield Trinity searching for their first win of the season
The scores were locked at 12-12 in an even contest when Proctor was shown the red card by referee Marcus Griffiths 13 minutes into the second half for a high tackle on Warrington full-back Josh Thewlis.
The Wolves made their extra man tell as Matty Ashton claimed two tries and George Williams also touched down as Warrington returned to winning ways after successive defeats to Wigan and St Helens.
Thewlis had claimed two first-half tries for Daryl Powell’s side, while Stefan Ratchford kicked six goals.
It was a brave effort from Wakefield who claimed tries through Morgan Smith, Kelepi Tanginoa and Matty Ashurst and three goals from Will Dagger, but they remain rooted to the foot of the table still searching for their first points of the campaign.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be in attendance along with other leaders from the Commonwealth nations.
While the main ceremony and procession are scheduled for Saturday at Westminster Abbey, Canada is also preparing to mark the occasion with a number of events planned over the weekend in Ottawa.
Here is a look at the entertainment for the coronation weekend.
On Sunday, a special coronation concert will be held at Windsor Castle.
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The concert is open to the public and will be broadcast on BBC starting at 8 p.m. BST (3 p.m. ET).
New rendered images have been released ahead of the star-studded concert on Sunday 7 May, produced by BBC Studios. Windsor Castle will host the spectacular live concert, with over 100 countries watching from around the world. pic.twitter.com/7Y75WWWeEx
While the palace has not released an official list of artists, several big names have confirmed they will be performing. Among them is American singer Lionel Richie, who met Charles during a garden party at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters there, Richie said performing at the coronation concert will be a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
“Pinch me somebody,” he said. “I’m so excited, I’m a kid at Christmas time.”
Britain’s King Charles III, left, reacts with U.S. singer Lionel Richie and Lisa Parigi, during a garden party at Buckingham Palace, London, Wednesday, May 3, 2023, in celebration of the coronation on May 6.
(Yui Mok/Pool via AP)
The concert will also feature British boy band Take That which is making a comeback.
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Members of the band – Gary Barlow, Mark Owen and Howard Donald told the BBC: “This will be our first live show since the Odyssey Tour, four years ago in 2019, and what a stage to come back on! A huge live band and orchestra, a choir, military drummers, the backdrop of Windsor Castle and the celebration of a new King. We can’t wait.”
Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli will also take the stage on Sunday, performing a duet alongside Welsh singer Sir Bryan Terfel.
U.S. pop artist Katy Perry is on the lineup reported on last month by the BBC. She is an ambassador of the British Asian Trust which was founded by Charles in 2020.
On Saturday at 10 am E.T. an hour-long event will take place at 144 Wellington Street in Ottawa.
“The celebratory event will bring together artists and speakers who reflect the values that Canada and His Majesty share, such as protecting the environment, service to others, and celebrating our country’s diversity,” says a statement from Canadian Heritage.
Algonquin group Eagle River Singers, slam poet Sabrina Benaim, singer–songwriter Florence K, the Ottawa Regional Youth Choir and traditional music group Inn Echo will be among the performers.
On Saturday and Sunday, Canadians will be able to visit the residence of the Governor General as well as the Rideau Hall grounds, where they can view a recording of the coronation ceremony.
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The Peace Tower and other federal buildings will be lit up in emerald green throughout the weekend.
Canada Post will unveil new stamps featuring the King.
Debates about the colour of Cleopatra’s skin have been reactivated, and this time it’s Egypt attempting to take Netflix to task.
The country has accused the streaming giant of misrepresenting history by casting a mixed-race woman to play the titular character in their upcoming show Queen Cleopatra.
Netflix released a trailer for the four-part docudrama last week, which stars Adele James as Cleopatra.
This week, the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities weighed in on the ongoing controversy, posting a lengthy statement to Facebook.
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The statement, credited to the country’s Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Archeology, said that many experts in Egypt agree that “Queen Cleopatra was light-skinned and (had) Hellenic features.”
It also argues that the documentary nature of the series, which is produced by Jada Pinkett-Smith, “requires those in charge of its production to investigate accuracy and rely on historical and scientific facts.”
The ministry points to coins and statues from the time, arguing that they show a light-skinned woman, in keeping with Cleopatra’s Macedonian Greek ancestry.
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For Mostafa Waziri, head of the Supreme Antiquities Council, depicting the Cleopatra as Black is nothing less than “a falsification of Egyptian history.”
He added that his complaint is “far from any ethnic racism, stressing full respect for African civilizations and for our brothers in the African continent that brings us all together.”
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Cleopatra was born in the Egyptian city of Alexandria in 69 BCE and was the last queen of a Greek-speaking dynasty founded by Alexander the Great’s Macedonian general Ptolemy.
Her ethnicity has been hotly debated, but historians have been unable to pin down the identity of Cleopatra’s mother. It’s possible, historians say, that Cleopatra’s mother may have been an indigenous Egyptian or from somewhere else in Africa.
In February, Neflix companion website Tudum reported that the choice to cast James was “a nod to the centuries-long conversation about the ruler’s race.”
Egypt’s foremost archaeologist Zahi Hawass, however, says there’s nothing to debate.
“I’m not anti-Black at all but I found it my duty as a rich man to state the facts and declare that Cleopatra was not brown. Cleopatra was not Black,” he wrote on Facebook.
Egyptian lawyer Mahmoud Al-Semary is so riled up by Netflix’s depiction that he has filed a case with the public prosecutor to shut down Netflix in Egypt.
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The Egypt Independent reports that Al-Semary’s case demands that legal action be taken against those responsible for making the documentary and accused them of “forgery.”
“In order to preserve the Egyptian national and cultural identity among Egyptians all over the world there must be pride in the makings of such work,” he wrote.
Series director Tina Gharavi defended the casting choice in a first-person essay for Variety published last week.
“Doing the research, I realized what a political act it would be to see Cleopatra portrayed by a Black actress. For me, the idea that people had gotten it so incredibly wrong before — historically, from Theda Bara to Monica Bellucci, and recently, with Angelina Jolie and Gal Gadot in the running to play her — meant we had to get it even more right. The hunt was on to find the right performer to bring Cleopatra into the 21st century,” she wrote.
“Why shouldn’t Cleopatra be a melanated sister? And why do some people need Cleopatra to be white? Her proximity to whiteness seems to give her value, and for some Egyptians it seems to really matter.”
In the essay, Gharavi details a “huge online hate campaign” that has been targeted at her since she signed on to the project.
“Egyptians accused me of ‘blackwashing’ and ‘stealing’ their history. Some threatened to ruin my career — which I wanted to tell them was laughable. I was ruining it very well for myself, thank you very much!”
However, she admits that “we don’t know for sure” whether Cleopatra was Black.
“But we can be certain she wasn’t white like Elizabeth Taylor,” she concludes, adding that there needs to be more conversations around internalized white supremacy.
Marlie Packer and Hannah Botterman both went off with injuries against Ireland but have made the starting line-up; Helena Rowland will make her first start of the campaign; England face France on Saturday at Twickenham, with kick-off at 1pm
Last Updated: 26/04/23 2:00pm
Marlie Packer has overcome an injury scare to be available for the France match
Simon Middleton has named his final Red Roses squad to take on France in the Women’s Six Nations 2023 decider, Marlie Packer and Hannah Botterman coming through injury scares to start.
Captain Packer and loose-head prop Botterman both limped off during England’s 48-0 win over Ireland but have been cleared to start and head up an experienced pack.
Sarah Bern also returns to the starting line-up at tight-head prop, with Lark Davies at hooker to make up the front row.
The rest of the pack then remains unchanged with Zoe Aldcroft, Sarah Beckett, Sadia Kabeya, and Alex Matthews completing the forwards.
A big change comes in the backs as Lagi Tuima drops out of outside centre for Helena Rowland, who will make her first start of this year’s campaign alongside Tatyana Heard at inside centre.
Helena Rowland will make her first start of the tournament as she comes in at outside centre
The only other change in the backs comes as Lucy Packer returns at scrum-half, Natasha Hunt dropping to the bench after starting against Ireland, with Holly Aitchison continuing at fly-half.
Claudia MacDonald and Abbie Dow then continue on the wings, with Ellie Kildunne at full-back.
The replacements have also received a boost as Poppy Cleall makes her return from injury.
Ahead of his final match in charge of England, Middleton expressed how excited he is for the “landmark” match at Twickenham
“We’re really excited and looking forward to Saturday’s match against France in what will be another landmark moment in the women’s game,” said Middleton.
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England women’s rugby union head coach Simon Middleton explains why he has made the decision to step down from his role saying it was for the ‘good of the programme’
England women’s rugby union head coach Simon Middleton explains why he has made the decision to step down from his role saying it was for the ‘good of the programme’
“We’ve had some entertaining and tight battles with France over a long period of time and this one will be no different.
“Both teams have had strong Six Nations campaigns off the back of presenting different game plans from what we have seen before.
“France will also be relishing the challenge and David Ortiz, Gaelle Mignot and their team will have prepared their players well.
“I think it’s only fitting at this point to also recognise and pay tribute to Jessy Tremouliere, one of the greats of the game, as she calls time on her international playing career. She will be missed, for sure.
“Notwithstanding, the players we knew at the start to be unavailable for the tournament, this is the first week in the competition we can say we have a near-full squad to select from.
Poppy Cleall will be a big return on the bench for England on her return from injury
“Credit must go to our medical and strength and conditioning teams who have worked tirelessly with our players to ensure their availability. At the same time, the return of some of our more established players means that others will inevitably miss out.
“Whilst I know they will be bitterly disappointed in missing the game, they should take immense pride in their performances throughout the Six Nations in terms of both playing and helping to prepare the side. Once again, this has been a tremendous squad effort and typifies everything good about the Red Roses.
“Playing in front of a record crowd is a huge marker of where the game is at. It’s huge testament to the hard work of many people at the RFU and it bodes extremely well building up to the 2025 World Cup.”
Both England and France enter the clash unbeaten and will play in front of a record crowd for a women’s game at Twickenham, with over 53,000 tickets already sold.
Salford to become first wholly community-owned rugby league club in northern hemisphere; move designed to “give every member a voice” and help club achieve Category A status ahead of proposed restructure; any club with Category A status set to be guaranteed Super League place
Last Updated: 24/04/23 5:05pm
Salford Red Devils will become the first wholly community-owned rugby league club in the northern hemisphere
Salford Red Devils will become the first wholly community-owned rugby league club in the northern hemisphere in a move they hope will help them secure Category A status amid the sport’s proposed restructure.
The ‘Reimagining Rugby League Consultation Project’ will see clubs graded on both on and off-field performance, including finances, fanbase size, ticket sales and social-media following.
Any club that achieves Category A is set to be guaranteed a Super League place from 2025 and be exempt from relegation for as long as they hold that status.
The proposals, brought forward by media company IMG, were voted in by the Rugby League Council last week, with the majority of Super League and Championship clubs supporting the overhaul.
Fandom (5 points) – clubs’ fanbases would be assessed in areas such as match attendance, TV viewership, social-media following and website visits
On-field performance (5 points) – clubs would be ranked on league position in the last three seasons with bonus points for winning the league and cup competitions
Finance (4.5 points) – clubs would be rewarded for profitability, financial stability and a diversification of revenue streams
Stadium (3 points) – each club’s stadium and facilities would need to reach minimum standards and
Community (2.5 points) – combines each club’s fanbase potential with a rating for their Foundation – the charitable bodies linked to clubs which drive much of their community and participation activity
The ‘Community’ pillar will now account for 2.5 points instead of the initially proposed two following a tweak of the proposals, with clubs awarded points for the positive impact they have in communities.
The pillar will combine each club’s fanbase potential with a rating for their Foundation – the charitable bodies linked to clubs which drive much of their community and participation activity.
Salford managing director Paul King said: “This year we’re celebrating 150 years of a club at the heart of its community. Now we’re growing that community, as well as placing it at the heart of the club.
“The game has changed. IMG are in the business and with that comes a forward-thinking approach to how we move forward.
“For years, whenever we’ve been close to something, we have had to sell our best players. This year we opted to change that.
Salford are offering individuals the chance purchase a share in the club’s holding company
“Now by doing this, it allows to maintain a competitive playing squad and gives us a real chance to win the biggest prizes in the game.
“We have a fundamental belief that sport belongs to the people – not a sole person – and by doing this we’re creating the opportunity for likeminded individuals to join us and do something really special.”
‘Reds Rise Together’ will allow individuals to purchase a share in Salford’s holding company entitling them to vote and stand for election to the board.
Salford say they want to “give every member a voice” while maintaining a competitive playing squad and growing commercially in order to fulfil IMG criteria.
Tony Award-winning comedian Barry Humphries, internationally renowned for his garish stage persona Dame Edna Everage, a condescending and imperfectly-veiled snob whose evolving character has delighted audiences over seven decades, has died. He was 89.
His death was confirmed Saturday by the Sydney hospital where he spent several days with complications following hip surgery.
Humphries had lived in London for decades and returned to native Australia in December for Christmas.
He told The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper last month that his physiotherapy had been “agony” following his fall and hip replacement.
“It was the most ridiculous thing, like all domestic incidents are. I was reaching for a book, my foot got caught on a rug or something, and down I went,” Humphries said of his fall.
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Humphries has remained an active entertainer, touring Britain last year with his one-man show “The Man Behind the Mask.”
The character of Dame Edna began as a dowdy Mrs. Norm Everage, who first took to the stage in Humphries’ hometown of Melbourne in the mid-1950s. She reflected a postwar suburban inertia and cultural blandness that Humphries found stifling.
Edna is one of Humphries’ several enduring characters. The next most famous is Sir Les Patterson, an ever-drunk, disheveled and lecherous Australian cultural attache.
Patterson reflected a perception of Australia as a Western cultural wasteland that drove Humphries along with many leading Australian intellectuals to London.
Humphries, a law school dropout, found major success as an actor, writer and entertainer in Britain in the 1970s, but the United States was an ambition that he found stubbornly elusive.
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A high point in the United States was a Tony Award in 2000 for his Broadway show “Dame Edna: The Royal Tour.”
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese paid tribute to the celebrated comedian.
“For 89 years, Barry Humphries entertained us through a galaxy of personas, from Dame Edna to Sandy Stone,” Albanese tweeted, referring to the elderly Stone, one of Humphries most enduring characters. “But the brightest star in that galaxy was always Barry. A great wit, satirist, writer and an absolute one-of-kind, he was both gifted and a gift.”
British comedian Ricky Gervais tweeted: “Farewell, Barry Humphries, you comedy genius.”
Piers Morgan, British television personality, also paid tribute. “One of the funniest people I’ve ever met,” Morgan tweeted.
George Williams takes over from Sam Tomkins as the new England captain ahead of their clash against France later this month; watch England’s men and women against France live on Sky Sports on April 29
Last Updated: 18/04/23 6:31pm
George Williams has been named the new England captain
Warrington half-back George Williams has been appointed England captain.
The 28-year-old succeeds former Wigan team-mate Sam Tomkins, who will retire at the end of the season.
Williams, who has 15 international caps, made a try-scoring debut in an 84-4 victory over France in 2015 and appeared at the 2017 and 2021 Rugby League World Cups.
He will lead his country against France at his home ground of Halliwell Jones Stadium on Saturday, April 29.
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Jamie Jones-Buchanan and Barrie McDermott discuss Shaun Wane’s contract extension to lead England into the 2025 World Cup
Jamie Jones-Buchanan and Barrie McDermott discuss Shaun Wane’s contract extension to lead England into the 2025 World Cup
“It is a huge honour to be named as England captain,” Williams said in a statement.
“Playing for England has always been the pinnacle for me but being named as captain is the cherry on top.
“I got the opportunity to lead the team out in the World Cup against Greece and it was one of the proudest moments of my life. I had to hold back tears as we walked out on to the field.
“The World Cup ended in disappointment for us but it’s all about bouncing back from that now and building towards 2025 with what is a really exciting and vibrant squad.”
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Sky Sports’ Jon Wilkin has his say on the news that Shaun Wane will remain as England head coach and believes the team played well at the World Cup apart from their semi-final defeat to Samoa
Sky Sports’ Jon Wilkin has his say on the news that Shaun Wane will remain as England head coach and believes the team played well at the World Cup apart from their semi-final defeat to Samoa
Williams currently leads the way in the 2023 Steve Prescott Man of Steel rankings, with his Warrington side two points clear at the top of the Betfred Super League.
England head coach Shaun Wane said: “I’ve seen George develop from being a youngster to the player he is today, and I believe he is the right man to lead the England team.
“With a lot of new faces in the squad, George’s role will be crucial within the camp as he has been that youngster bursting on to the international scene and is now an experienced and consistent performer at the top level.”
