Semi-final poised at 7-7 after attritional 14th frame
Shaun Murphy and John Higgins deadlocked at 8-8
Wu Yize and Mark Allen’s semi-final is poised at seven frames all after their afternoon session ended with the longest frame in World Snooker Championship history, clocking in at just over 100 minutes.
Allen began the afternoon trailing 6-2 overnight to an opponent high on confidence and belief, but fought back in style, winning five frames in a row to edge 7-6 ahead.
Continue reading...Leo, who has criticized Trump’s hardline immigration policy, selected Evelio Menjivar-Ayala as state’s new bishop
Pope Leo XIV has appointed a man who had once entered the United States as an undocumented immigrant, hidden in the trunk of a car, as the new bishop of West Virginia.
The pope approved the resignation of Bishop Mark E Brennan of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia, and selected Bishop Evelio Menjivar-Ayala, 55, of Washington to take his place, reported OSV News.
Continue reading...The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has also rewritten rules on international film eligibility
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced a number of major changes for the Oscars on Friday, including a new policy allowing multiple nominations for a single actor in one category, as well as barring acting and writing awards for work done by AI.
According to new statutes decreed by the group’s board of governors, only performances “demonstrably performed” by humans with their consent will be eligible for acting Oscars, while only human-authored screenplays can be up for any writing awards.
Continue reading...State’s governor has ordered congressional primary halted until state can redraw districts and dilute Black vote
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a suit on behalf of Louisiana voting rights groups on Friday, asking a state court to block the state’s governor, Jeff Landry, and secretary of state, Nancy Landry, from suspending congressional elections.
Landry suspended the state’s congressional primary election on Thursday – even after early voting had begun – to enact new districts for the 2026 election. The move came after the supreme court’s 6-3 decision in the Louisiana v Callais case on Wednesday, which invalidated swaths of the Voting Rights Act and declared that a Louisiana congressional district with a majority-nonwhite voting population violated equal protection provisions of the US constitution.
Continue reading...European nations wanted more merit-based prize money
High costs of travel and hotels will exceed Fifa payouts
A number of leading European countries still expect to lose money at the World Cup despite Fifa increasing the prize and participation fund by $112m (ÂŁ82m) this week.
The main host federation, US Soccer, is also understood to be forecasting an operational loss on the tournament, although that will be more than offset by a projected $100m windfall from a revenue-sharing agreement from ticket sales with Fifa that will also benefit the two other co-hosts, Canada and Mexico.
Continue reading...Am…am I “alternatively influential”? Defined roughly as “public thinkers and tastemakers who have real clout in their own demesnes despite only modest internet followings”.
