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Golf's biggest meltdowns

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Editor’s Note: This story was originally published in April 2023.

CNN  — 

Slumped on his club, head buried in his arm, Rory McIlroy looked on the verge of tears.

The then-21-year-old had just watched his ball sink into the waters of Rae’s Creek at Augusta National and with it, his dream of winning The Masters, a dream that had looked so tantalizingly close mere hours earlier.

As a four-time major winner and one of the most decorated names in the sport’s history, few players would turn down the chance to swap places with McIlroy heading into Augusta this week.

Yet on Sunday afternoon of April 10, 2011, not a golfer in the world would have wished to be in the Northern Irishman’s shoes.

Flying

A fresh-faced, mop-headed McIlroy had touched down in Georgia for the first major of the season with a reputation as the leading light of the next generation of stars.

An excellent 2010 had marked his best season since turning pro three years earlier, highlighted by a first PGA Tour win at the Quail Hollow Championship and a crucial contribution to Team Europe’s triumph at the Ryder Cup.

Yet despite a pair of impressive top-three finishes at the Open and PGA Championship respectively, a disappointing missed cut at The Masters – his first at a major – served as ominous foreshadowing.

McIlroy shot 74 and 77 to fall four strokes short of the cut line at seven-over par, a performance that concerned him enough to take a brief sabbatical from competition.

Harry How / Getty Images

But one year on in 2011, any lingering Masters demons looked to have been exorcised as McIlroy flew round the Augusta fairways.

Having opened with a bogey-free seven-under 65 – the first time he had ever shot in the 60s at the major – McIlroy pulled ahead from Spanish first round co-leader Alvaro Quirós with a second round 69.

It sent him into the weekend holding a two-shot cushion over Australia’s Jason Day, with Tiger Woods a further stroke behind and back in the hunt for a 15th major after a surging second round 66.

And yet the 21-year-old leader looked perfectly at ease with having a target on his back. Even after a tentative start to the third round, McIlroy rallied with three birdies across the closing six holes to stretch his lead to four strokes heading into Sunday.

Andrew Redington / Getty Images

The youngster was out on his own ahead of a bunched chasing pack comprising Day, Ángel Cabrera, K.J. Choi and Charl Schwartzel. After 54 holes, McIlroy had shot just three bogeys.

“It’s a great position to be in … I’m finally feeling comfortable on this golf course,” McIlroy told reporters.

“I’m not getting ahead of myself, I know how leads can dwindle away very quickly. I have to go out there, not take anything for granted and go out and play as hard as I’ve played the last three days. If I can do that, hopefully things will go my way.

“We’ll see what happens tomorrow because four shots on this golf course isn’t that much.”

Timothy A. Clary / AFP via Getty Images

Falling

The truth can hurt, and McIlroy was about to prove his assessment of Augusta to be true in the most excruciating way imaginable.

His fourth bogey of the week arrived immediately. Having admitted to expecting some nerves at the first tee, McIlroy sparked a booming opening drive down the fairway, only to miss his putt from five feet.

Three consecutive pars steadied the ship, but Schwartzel had the wind in his sails. A blistering birdie, par, eagle start had seen him draw level at the summit after his third hole.

A subsequent bogey from the South African slowed his charge, as McIlroy clung onto a one-shot lead at the turn from Schwartzel, Cabrera, Choi, and a rampaging Woods, who shot five birdies and an eagle across the front nine to send Augusta into a frenzy.

Despite his dwindling advantage and the raucous Tiger-mania din ahead of him, McIlroy had responded well to another bogey at the 5th hole, draining a brilliant 20-foot putt at the 7th to restore his lead.

The fist pump that followed marked the high-water point of McIlroy’s round, as a sliding start accelerated into full-blown free-fall at the par-four 10th hole.

His tee shot went careening into a tree, ricocheting to settle between the white cabins that separate the main course from the adjacent par-three course. It offered viewers a glimpse at a part of Augusta rarely seen on broadcast, followed by pictures of McIlroy anxiously peering out from behind a tree to track his follow-up shot.

Andrew Redington / Getty Images

Though his initial escape was successful, yet another collision with a tree and a two-putt on the green saw a stunned McIlroy eventually tap in for a triple bogey. Having led the field one hole and seven shots earlier, he arrived at the 11th tee in seventh.

By the time his tee drive at the 13th plopped into the creek, all thoughts of who might be the recipient of the green jacket had long-since switched away from the anguished youngster. It had taken him seven putts to navigate the previous two greens, as a bogey and a double bogey dropped him to five-under – the score he had held after just 11 holes of the tournament.

Mercifully, the last five holes passed without major incident. A missed putt for birdie from five feet at the final hole summed up McIlroy’s day, though he was given a rousing reception as he left the green.

video

Related video Sunday at the Masters

Mere minutes earlier, the same crowd had erupted as Schwartzel sunk his fourth consecutive birdie to seal his first major title. After starting the day four shots adrift of McIlroy, the South African finished 10 shots ahead of him, and two ahead of second-placed Australian duo Jason Day and Adam Scott.

McIlroy’s eight-over 80 marked the highest score of the round. Having headlined the leaderboard for most of the week, he finished tied-15th.

Vezi toate știrile de pe criza tulburătoare masters

Robyn Beck / AFP via Getty Images

Bounce-back

Tears would flow during a phone call with his parents the following morning, but at his press conference, McIlroy was upbeat.

“I’m very disappointed at the minute, and I’m sure I will be for the next few days, but I’ll get over it,” he said.

“I was leading this golf tournament with nine holes to go, and I just unraveled … It’s a Sunday at a major, what it can do.

“This is my first experience at it, and hopefully the next time I’m in this position I’ll be able to handle it a little better. I didn’t handle it particularly well today obviously, but it was a character-building day … I’ll come out stronger for it.”

Once again, McIlroy would be proven right.

Just eight weeks later in June, McIlroy rampaged to an eight-shot victory at the US Open. Records tumbled in his wake at Congressional, as he shot a tournament record 16-under 268 to become the youngest major winner since Tiger Woods at The Masters in 1997.

Jim Watson / AFP via Getty Images

The historic victory kickstarted a golden era for McIlroy. After coasting to another eight-shot win at the PGA Championship in 2012, McIlroy became only the third golfer since 1934 to win three majors by the age of 25 with triumph at the 2014 Open Championship.

Before the year was out, he would add his fourth major title with another PGA Championship win.

And much of it was owed to that fateful afternoon at Augusta. In an interview with the BBC in 2015, McIlroy dubbed it “the most important day” of his career.

“If I had not had the whole unravelling, if I had just made a couple of bogeys coming down the stretch and lost by one, I would not have learned as much.

“Luckily, it did not take me long to get into a position like that again when I was leading a major and I was able to get over the line quite comfortably. It was a huge learning curve for me and I needed it, and thankfully I have been able to move on to bigger and better things.

“Looking back on what happened in 2011, it doesn’t seem as bad when you have four majors on your mantelpiece.”

Tom Pennington / Getty Images

The missing piece

McIlroy’s contentment came with a caveat: it would be “unthinkable” if he did not win The Masters in his career.

Yet as he prepares for his 15th appearance at Augusta National this week, a green jacket remains an elusive missing item from his wardrobe.

Despite seven top-10 finishes in his past 10 Masters outings, the trophy remains the only thing separating McIlroy from joining the ranks of golf immortals to have completed golf’s career grand slam of all four majors in the modern era: Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, and Tiger Woods.

Mike Mulholland / Getty Images

A runner-up finish to Scottie Scheffler last year marked McIlroy’s best finish at Augusta, yet arguably 2011 remains the closest he has ever been to victory. A slow start in 2022 meant McIlroy had begun Sunday’s deciding round 10 shots adrift of the American, who teed off for his final hole with a five-shot lead despite McIlroy’s brilliant 64 finish.

video

Related video Rory McIlroy: I will win the Masters

At 33 years old, time is still on his side. Though 2022 extended his major drought to eight years, it featured arguably his best golf since that golden season in 2014.

And as McIlroy knows better than most, things can change quickly at Augusta National.

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Sursa: CNN

CNN  — 

It is one of China’s most popular shopping apps, selling clothing, groceries and just about everything else under the sun to more than 750 million users a month.

But according to cybersecurity researchers, it can also bypass users’ cell phone security to monitor activities on other apps, check notifications, read private messages and change settings.

And once installed, it’s tough to remove.

While many apps collect vast troves of user data, sometimes without explicit consent, experts say e-commerce giant Pinduoduo has taken violations of privacy and data security to the next level.

In a detailed investigation, CNN spoke to half a dozen cybersecurity teams from Asia, Europe and the United States — as well as multiple former and current Pinduoduo employees — after receiving a tipoff.

Multiple experts identified the presence of malware on the Pinduoduo app that exploited vulnerabilities in Android operating systems. Company insiders said the exploits were utilized to spy on users and competitors, allegedly to boost sales.

“We haven’t seen a mainstream app like this trying to escalate their privileges to gain access to things that they’re not supposed to gain access to,” said Mikko Hyppönen, chief research officer at WithSecure, a Finnish cybersecurity firm.

“This is highly unusual, and it is pretty damning for Pinduoduo.”

Vezi mai multe știri aici

This is highly unusual, and it is pretty damning for Pinduoduo.

Mikko Hyppönen, cybersecurity expert

Malware, short for malicious software, refers to any software developed to steal data or interfere with computer systems and mobile devices.

Evidence of sophisticated malware in the Pinduoduo app comes amid intense scrutiny of Chinese-developed apps like TikTok over concerns about data security.

Some American lawmakers are pushing for a national ban on the popular short-video app, whose CEO Shou Chew was grilled by Congress for five hours last week about its relations with the Chinese government.

The revelations are also likely to draw more attention to Pinduoduo’s international sister app, Temu, which is topping US

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Sursa: CNN

Ce am acoperit aici

• O suspectă a fost reținută în legătură cu o explozie care a ucis un important blogger militar rus într-o cafenea din Sankt Petersburg, duminică.
• Finlanda va deveni oficial membră a alianței militare NATO în cadrul unei ceremonii care va avea loc marți la Bruxelles. Finlanda a depus o cerere comună de aderare alături de Suedia, la scurt timp după invazia Rusiei în Ucraina.
• Polonia a livrat Ucrainei „mai multe” avioane de vânătoare MiG-29. Președintele ucrainean Volodimir Zelenski este așteptat să viziteze Polonia miercuri.
• Reporterul Wall Street Journal, reținut la Moscova sub acuzația de „spionaj”, a depus apel împotriva arestării sale, potrivit știrilor de stat rusești. SUA au cerut „eliberarea imediată” a jurnalistului.
• Pe teren, estul Ucrainei continuă să se confrunte cu atacuri rusești neîncetate, bombardamentele ucigând cel puțin șase persoane în orașul Kostiantynivka.

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Sursa: CNN

01:06 – Sursă: CNN Politics of the Day 19 videoclipuri 01:06 Se redă acum – Sursă: CNN 01:19 Se redă acum – Sursă: CNN 01:17 Se redă acum – Sursă: CNN 00:56 Se redă acum – Sursă: CNN 02:49 Se redă acum – Sursă: CNN De Samantha Lindell, CNN ” data-timestamp-html=” EDT, marți, 4 aprilie 2023 ” data-check-event-based-preview=”” data-is-vertical-video-embed=”false” data-network-id=”” data-publish-date=”2025-07-04T21:00:54.448Z” data-video-section=”sport” data-canonical-url=”https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/03/sport/video/mexican-boxer-detained-ice-sports-digvid” data-branding-key=”” data-video-slug=”mexican-boxer-detained-ice-sports-digvid” data-first-publish-slug=”mexican-boxer-detained-ice-sports-digvid” data-video-tags=”” data-breakpoints='{“video-resource–media-extra-large”: 660}’ data-display-video-cover=”true” data-details=””> 01:45 Se redă acum – Sursă: CNN 00:58 Se redă acum – Sursă: CNN 02:05 Se redă acum – Sursă: CNN 01:10 Se redă acum – Sursă: CNN 00:42 Se redă acum – Sursă: CNN 05:16 Se redă acum – Sursă: CNN 00:51 Se redă acum – Sursă: CNN 01:42 Se redă acum – Sursă: CNN 00:46 Se redă acum – Sursă: CNN ” data-timestamp-html=” EDT, marți, 4 aprilie, 2023 „data-check-event-based-preview=”” data-is-vertical-video-embed=”false” data-network-id=”” data-publish-date=”2025-06-27T14:37:16.024Z” data-video-section=”us” data-canonical-url=”https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/27/us/video/scotus-birthright-trump-digvid” data-branding-key=”” data-video-slug=”scotus-birthright-trump-digvid” data-first-publish-slug=”scotus-birthright-trump-digvid” data-video-tags=”” data-breakpoints='{“video-resource–media-extra-large”: 660}’ data-display-video-cover=”true” data-details=””> 02:24 Se redă acum – Sursă: CNN 00:43 Se redă acum – Sursă: CNN 02:14 Se redă acum – Sursă: CNN 03:18 Se redă acum – Sursă: CNN 07:37 Se redă acum – Sursă: CNN Vezi mai multe videoclipuri CNN

Fostul președinte Donald Trump a fost acuzat de 34 de infracțiuni într-un rechizitoriu publicat marți.

Citiți rechizitoriul și declarația faptelor aici.

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Sursa: CNN

Ce am acoperit aici

• Fostul președinte Donald Trump a sosit luni în New York, cu o zi înainte de momentul în care se așteaptă să se predea forțelor de ordine și să se confrunte cu peste 30 de acuzații penale într-un tribunal din Manhattan, în urma rechizitoriului istoric al marelui juriu de săptămâna trecută.
• Agențiile de știri nu vor avea voie să difuzeze punerea sub acuzare de marți, a decis un judecător luni seară.
• Echipa juridică a lui Trump a declarat că fostul președinte se va preda de bunăvoie și va încerca să conteste „fiecare problemă potențială” odată ce rechizitoriul va fi dezvăluit.
• Trump, care a promis că își va continua candidatura din 2024, este primul președinte actual sau fost din istoria SUA care s-a confruntat cu acuzații penale. Biroul procurorului districtual a investigat presupusul rol al lui Trump într-o schemă de plată a banilor pentru tăcere care a implicat-o pe vedeta de filme pentru adulți Stormy Daniels, care datează din alegerile prezidențiale din 2016.

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Sursa: CNN

Did US government cuts contribute to the Texas tragedy?

9 hours agoShareSaveBen Chu, Jake Horton, Kayla Epstein & Marco SilvaBBC VerifyShareSaveBBC

In the aftermath of the fatal Texas floods, some Democrats have warned about the "consequences" of the Trump administration's cuts to the federal government workforce, including meteorologists, with Senator Chris Murphy saying that: "Accurate weather forecasting helps avoid fatal disasters."

The suggestion is that the cuts may have impeded the ability of the National Weather Service (NWS) – the government agency which provides weather forecasts in the US – to adequately predict the floods and raise the alarm.

But the White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Monday: "These offices [of the NWS] were well staffed… so any claims to the contrary are completely false."

BBC Verify has examined the impact of cuts under President Trump in this area and while there has been a reduction in the workforce at the NWS, experts who we spoke to said the staffing on hand for the Texas floods appears to have been adequate.

What are the cuts?

The Trump administration has proposed a 25% cut to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) current annual budget of s efficiency drive since January.

The Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), previously run by Elon Musk, offered voluntary redundancies, known as buyouts, as well as early retirements to federal government workers. It also ended the contracts of most of those who were on probation.

As a result, about 200 people at the NWS took voluntary redundancy and 300 opted for early retirement, according to Tom Fahy, the director of the NWS union. A further 100 people were ultimately fired from the service, he said.

In total, the NWS lost 600 of its 4,200 staff, says Mr Fahy, causing several offices across the country to operate without the necessary staffing.

In April, the Associated Press news agency said it had seen data compiled by NWS employees showing half of its offices had a vacancy rate of 20% – double the rate a decade earlier.

Despite this, climate experts told BBC Verify that the NWS forecasts and flood warnings last week in Texas were as adequate as could be expected.

"The forecasts and warnings all played out in a normal manner. The challenge with this event was that it is very difficult to forecast this type of extreme, localised rainfall," says Avantika Gori, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Rice University in Texas.

And Andy Hazelton, a climate scientist who modelled hurricane paths for the NOAA until he was fired during the layoffs in February, says: "I don't think the staffing issues contributed directly to this event. They got the watches and the warnings out."

What about the impact on offices in Texas?

However, some experts have suggested that staffing cuts may have impeded the ability of local NWS offices in Texas to effectively co-ordinate with local emergency services.

"There is a real question as to whether the communication of weather information occurred in a way that was sub-optimal," says Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at University of California Los Angeles.

"The impact might have been partially averted if some of the people at the weather service responsible for making those communications were still employed – which they were not in some of these local offices," he adds.

The San Angelo and San Antonio offices, which cover the areas affected by the flooding, reportedly had some existing vacancies.

For example, the San Antonio office's website lists several positions as being vacant, including two meteorologists.

Getty ImagesRescue efforts are ongoing along the Guadalupe River in central Texas

The NSW union director told BBC Verify that the San Angelo office was missing a senior hydrologist, a scientist who specialises in flooding events.

The San Antonio office also lacked a "warning coordinating meteorologist", who coordinates communications between local forecasting offices and emergency management services in communities, Mr Fahy said.

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However, he noted that both offices had temporarily upped their staffing in anticipation of a dangerous weather event, which is typical in these circumstances.

"The NWS weather forecast offices in Austin/San Antonio and San Angelo, Texas had additional forecasters on duty during the catastrophic flooding event," NWS spokeswoman Erica Grow Cei said in a statement to BBC Verify. "All forecasts and warnings were issued in a timely manner," she added.

NWS meteorologist Jason Runyen, who covers the San Antonio area, also said in a statement that where the office would typically have two forecasters on duty during clear weather, they had "up to five on staff".

When asked on Sunday if government cuts had left key vacancies unfilled at the NWS, President Trump told reporters: "No, they didn't."

Were weather balloon launches reduced?

In a video shared thousands of times on social media, US meteorologist John Morales said: "There has been a 20% reduction in weather balloon releases, launches… What we're starting to see is that the quality of the forecasts is becoming degraded."

Some social media users have been pointing to Mr Morales' words as evidence that budget cuts have limited forecasters' ability to anticipate extreme weather events like the floods in Kerr County, Texas.

Weather balloons are an important tool used by meteorologists to collect weather data – from temperatures, to humidity, pressure, or wind speed – from the upper atmosphere.

In the US, NWS stations would typically launch them twice a day.

In a series of public statements released since February, the NWS confirmed that it either suspended or reduced weather balloon launches in at least 11 locations across the country, which it attributed to a lack of staffing at the local weather forecast offices.

However, there is no evidence to suggest that any of those changes directly affected weather balloon launches in the areas impacted by the floods in Texas.

Publicly available data shows that, in the lead-up to the floods, weather balloon launches were carried out as planned at Del Rio, the launch station nearest to the flood epicentre, collecting data that informed weather forecasts which experts say were as adequate as they could be.

What do you want BBC Verify to investigate?

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'Everyone knows somebody affected': The small towns in shock after mushroom murders

8 hours agoShareSaveKaty Watsonin Morwell, AustraliaShareSaveWatch: Australia’s mushroom murder case… in under two minutes

The winters in Victoria's Gippsland region are known for being chilly. Frost is a frequent visitor overnight, and the days are often overcast.

But in the small town of Korumburra – a part of Australia surrounded by low, rolling hills – it's not just the weather that's gloomy; the mood here is plainly subdued.

Korumburra is where all of Erin Patterson's victims made their home. Don and Gail Patterson, her in-laws, had lived there since 1984. They brought up their four children in the town of 5,000. Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson lived nearby – her husband Ian was the pastor at the local Baptist church.

The four were invited to Erin's house on 29 July 2023 for a family lunch that only Ian would survive, after a liver transplant and weeks in an induced coma.

And on Monday a jury rejected Erin's claim she accidentally served her guests toxic mushrooms, finding her guilty of three counts of murder and one of attempted murder.

Her 10-week trial caused a massive stir globally, but here in Korumburra they don't want to talk about it. They just want to return to their lives after what has been a difficult two years.

"It's not an easy thing to go through a grieving process… and it's particularly not easy when there's been so much attention," cattle farmer and councillor for the shire Nathan Hersey told the BBC.

"There's an opportunity now for a lot of people to be able to have some closure."

ReutersThe small town of Korumburra was home to all Patterson's victims

The locals are fiercely loyal – he's one of the few people who is willing to explain what this ordeal has meant for the many in the region.

"It's the sort of place that you can be embraced in very quickly and made to feel you are part of it," he explains.

And those who died clearly helped build that environment.

Pretty much everyone of a certain generation in town was taught by former school teacher Don Patterson: "You'll hear a lot of people talk very fondly of Don, about the impact he had on them.

"He was a great teacher and a really engaging person as well."

Australian woman guilty of murdering relatives with toxic mushroom meal

And Mr Hersey says he has heard many, many tales of Heather and Gail's generosity and kindness.

Pinned to the Korumburra Baptist Church noticeboard is a short statement paying tribute to the trio, who were "very special people who loved God and loved to bless others".

"We all greatly miss Heather, Don and Gail whether we were friends for a short time or over 20 years," it read.

It's not just Korumburra that's been changed by the tragedy though.

The family were well-known in the community

This part of rural Victoria is dotted with small towns and hamlets, which may at first appear quite isolated.

The reality is they are held together by close ties – ties which this case has rattled.

In nearby Outtrim, the residents of Neilson Street – an unassuming gravel road host to a handful of houses – have been left reeling by the prosecution claim their gardens may have produced the murder weapon.

It was one of two locations where death cap mushrooms were sighted and posted on iNaturalist, a citizen science website. Pointing to cell phone tracking data, the prosecution alleged that Erin Patterson went to both to forage for the lethal fungi.

"Everyone knows somebody who has been affected by this case," Ian Thoms tells the BBC from his small farm on Nielson Street.

Mushroom murders and cancer lie: Nine weeks of evidence that gripped a courtroom

He rattles off his list. His son is a police detective. His wife works with the daughter of the only survivor Ian. His neighbour is good friends with "Funky Tom", the renowned mushroom expert called upon by the prosecution – who coincidentally was also the person who had posted the sighting of the fungi here.

Down the road another 15 minutes is Leongatha, where Erin Patterson's home sits among other sprawling properties on an unpaved lane.

She bought a plot of land here with a generous inheritance from her mother and built the house assuming she would live here forever.

It has been sitting empty for about 18 months, a sign on the gate telling trespassers to keep out. A neighbour's sheep intermittently drop by to mow the grass.

Getty Images

This week, the livestock was gone, and a black tarpaulin had been erected around the carport and the entrance to her house.

There's a sense of intrigue among some of the neighbours, but there's also a lot of weariness. Every day there are gawkers driving down the lane to see the place where the tragic meal happened. One neighbour even reckons she saw a tour bus trundle past the house.

"When you live in a local town you know names – it's been interesting to follow," says Emma Buckland, who stops to talk to us in the main street.

"It's bizarre," says her mother Gabrielle Stefani. "Nothing like that has [ever] happened so it's almost hard to believe."

The conversation turns to mushroom foraging.

"We grew up on the farm. Even on the front lawn there's always mushrooms and you know which ones you can and can't eat," says Ms Buckland. "That's something you've grown up knowing."

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The town that's felt the impact of the case the most in recent months, though, is Morwell; the administrative capital of the City of Latrobe and where the trial has been heard.

Watch: CCTV and audio shown to court in mushroom trial

"We've seen Morwell, which is usually a pretty sleepy town, come to life," says local journalist Liam Durkin, sitting on a wall in front of Latrobe Valley courthouse.

He edits the weekly Latrobe Valley Express newspaper, whose offices are just around the corner.

"I never thought I'd be listening to fungi experts and the like for weeks on end but here we are," he says.

"I don't think there's ever been anything like this, and they may well never be in Morwell ever again."

While not remote by Australian standards, Morwell is still a two-hour drive from the country's second largest city, Melbourne. It feels far removed from the Victorian capital – and often forgotten.

Just a few months before that fateful lunch served up by Erin Patterson in July 2023, Morwell's paper mill – Australia's last manufacturer of white paper and the provider of many local jobs – shut down. Before that, many more people lost their jobs when a nearby power station closed down.

Older people here have struggled to find work; others have left to find more lucrative options in states like Queensland.

So locals say being thrust in the spotlight now is a bit bizarre.

Laura Heller says her town is used to crime – just not like this

In Jay Dees coffee shop, opposite the police station and the court, Laura Heller explains that she normally makes about 150 coffees a day. Recently it's almost double that.

"There's been a lot of mixed feelings about [the trial]," she says.

There's been a massive uptick for many businesses, but this case has also revived long-held division in the community when it comes to the police and justice systems, she explains.

"This town is affected by crime a lot, but it's a very different type of crime," Ms Heller says, mentioning drugs and youth offending as examples.

"Half the community don't really have much faith in the police force and our magistrates."

Back in Korumburra, what has been shaken is their faith in humanity. It feels like many people around the globe have lost sight of the fact that this headline-making, meme-generating crime left three people dead.

"Lives in our local community have changed forever," Mr Hersey says.

"But I would say for a lot of people, it's just become almost like pop culture."

Though the past two years has at times brought out the worst in the community, it's also shone a light on the best, he says.

"We want to be known as a community that has been strong and has supported one another… rather than a place that is known for what we now know was murder."

Additional reporting by Tiffanie Turnbull

Watch: Three things you need to know about the mushroom murder trial

Jury retires in mushroom murder trial in Australia

Australia

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How King Charles is helping to 'reinvigorate' the shaken UK-France friendship

8 hours agoShareSavePaul KirbyEurope digital editorShareSaveBBC

Few scenes convey British pomp and soft power more than the King and Queen in a carriage procession through the picturesque streets of Windsor. They are being joined on Tuesday by Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron for the first state visit by a French president since 2008, and the first by a European Union leader since Brexit.

The Prince and Princess of Wales will be there too – a Royal Salute will be fired and Macron will inspect a guard of honour. But at a time of jeopardy in Europe, this three-day visit to Windsor and London promises much more than ceremony.

There is a genuine hope that the coming days will make a difference to both countries.

Getty ImagesMacron and Starmer joined the German chancellor on a train ride to Kyiv recently, sending a powerful message of support for Ukraine at a time when US commitment appeared to be flagging

Macron will address MPs and peers at Westminster, and he and Brigitte will be treated to a state banquet back at Windsor. The trip will culminate with a UK-France summit, co-chaired by Sir Keir Starmer and Macron, during which the two governments hope to reach an agreement on the return of irregular migrants.

They will also host Ukraine's leader by video as they try to maintain arms supplies to his military.

But the wider question is how closely aligned they can really become, and whether they can put any lingering mistrust after Brexit behind them.

And, given that the trip will involve much pageantry – with the tour moving from the streets of Windsor, the quadrangle of the Castle and later to the Royal Gallery of the Palace of Westminster – how crucial is King Charles III's role in this diplomacy?

Resetting a 'unique partnership'

It was less than two months ago that the UK and EU agreed to "reset" relations in London. Ties with France in particular had warmed considerably, driven partly by personal understanding but also strategic necessity.

The two neighbours have much in common: they are both nuclear powers and members of the United Nations Security Council.

They are also both looking to update a 15-year-old defence pact known as the Lancaster House treaties, which established a 10,000-strong Combined Joint Expeditionary Force (CJEF), and they have recently been working on broadening it to include other Nato and European countries.

Getty ImagesMacron has seen much of Sir Keir lately at summits in London, Canada and The Hague – and Starmer has visited France five times since becoming PM

"It has always been a unique partnership," says former French ambassador to the UK Sylvie Bermann. "I think this partnership will be crucial in the future."

All of this is unlikely to escape the notice of US President Donald Trump, who is also promised a state visit, his second to the UK, probably in September.

King Charles is 'more than a figurehead'

King Charles, who is 76, has already navigated some complex royal diplomacy this year.

Macron was the first European leader to visit Trump in the White House in February, but it was Sir Keir who stole the show days later, handing him a personal invitation from the King.

Then, when Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky returned to Europe fresh from a bruising meeting with Trump at the White House in February, it was King Charles who welcomed him to Sandringham, and then met him again at Windsor in June.

He has spoken in the past of the heroism of Ukrainians in the face of "indescribable aggression".

Even before ascending the throne, King Charles amassed decades of experience in international affairs (he is also fluent in French). He was only 21 when he attended the funeral in 1970 of Charles de Gaulle, the wartime general who became the architect of France's current Fifth Republic.

He went on to become the longest-serving Prince of Wales in history, and now he is King he has weekly audiences with the prime minister. "The choreography is a strange dance, I suspect, between Number Ten and the Palace," says royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams.

"There's no doubt at all that Charles is considerably more than a figurehead."

Getty ImagesKing Charles at 21, attending the Mass for Charles de Gaulle in Paris

Windsor Castle, which dates back to the first Norman king, William the Conqueror, has hosted French presidents before. But there is a quiet significance in the appearance of the Prince and Princess of Wales in welcoming Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron, as Catherine recovers from treatment for cancer.

Between them, the King and Macron have played their part in resetting relations between the two neighbours, and by extension with the European Union too.

The King is a francophile, says Marc Roche, a columnist and royal commentator for French media: "He has always had a good relationship with France."

A year after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, it was France that King Charles and Queen Camilla chose for their first state visit in September 2023.

AFP via Getty ImagesQueen Camilla played table tennis at a sports centre in Paris with Brigitte Macron

Macron had reminded the world in 2022 that the late Queen had "climbed the stairs of the Élysée Palace" six times – more than any other foreign sovereign. His words were warmly received in the UK.

The King received a standing ovation after an address in French to the Senate, and the Queen played table tennis at a sports centre with Brigitte Macron. France's first lady has since visited her in London for a cross-Channel book award.

Gentle touches they may have been, but it followed a very rough period in Franco-British relations.

Brexit negotiations soured relations

The mood had soured during negotiations over Brexit, which the French president said was based on a lie.

Then four years ago, Australia pulled out of a deal to buy 12 French submarines and signed a defence pact with the UK and US instead. The French foreign minister called it a "stab in the back".

Boris Johnson, who was prime minister at the time, told the French they should "prenez un grip" and "donnez-moi un break".

Getty ImagesFrench-British relations soured during negotiations over Brexit, which Macron (pictured with Johnson in 2020) said was based on a lie

It had been Macron's idea for a European Political Community (EPC) in 2022 that brought the UK into a broad group of countries all seeking to respond to Russia's full-scale invasion.

In 2023 the then-Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, sought to turn the page on several years of frosty relations at a Franco-British summit in Paris.

British and French prime ministers have come and gone: the UK had three in 2022, and last year France had four. It was Sunak's team that organised last year's EPC summit at Blenheim, but it was Starmer as new prime minister who chaired it.

Sébastien Maillard, who helped advise the French presidency in setting up the EPC, said he believed "on both sides there is still a lack of trust… The memory of these difficult times has not vanished".

"Trust needs time to build and perhaps the Russian threat, support for Ukraine and how to handle Trump are three compelling reasons to rebuild that trust," says Maillard, who is now at the Chatham House think tank.

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Susi Dennison, of the European Council on Foreign Relations in Paris, agrees relations with France are not back to pre-Brexit levels, but suggests some things the UK and France are "bickering" about were being argued over even before the Brexit vote.

For Macron, this is a chance to not only improve the relationship but also to shine on the international stage when his popularity at home has sunk, Mr Roche believes. "It's a very important visit, especially the first day, because the French are fascinated by the Royal Family."

After eight years in power, Macron's second term still has almost two years to run, but he has paid the price politically for calling snap elections last year and losing his government's majority. His prime minister, François Bayrou, faces a monumental task in the coming months in steering next year's budget past France's left-wing and far-right parties.

As president, Macron's powers – his domaine réservé – cover foreign policy, defence and security, but traditionally France's prime minister does not travel with the head of state, so Macron comes to the UK with a team of ministers who will handle far more than international affairs.

The difficult question of migration

During the summit, the two teams will also work on nuclear energy, artificial intelligence and cultural ties. Differences still have to be sorted over "post-Brexit mobility" for students and other young people, and France is expected to push the Starmer government on that.

But most of the headlines on Thursday's UK-France summit will cover the two main issues: defence and migration.

Defending Ukraine will take pride of place. An Élysée Palace source said it would discuss "how to seriously maintain Ukraine's combat capability" and regenerate its military.

"On defence our relationship is closer than any other countries," says former ambassador Sylvie Bermann. "We have to prepare for the future… to strengthen the deterrence of Europe."

And if a ceasefire were agreed in Ukraine, the two countries could provide the backbone of the "reassurance force" being proposed by the "coalition of the willing". Sir Keir and Macron have played a prominent part in forming this coalition, but so too have the military chiefs of staff of both countries.

Migration is the stickiest problem the two countries face, however. How they deal with their differences on it – particularly on small boats – is crucial to their future relationship.

They are especially keen to sign an agreement on migrant returns and on French police stopping people boarding "taxi boats" to cross the Channel.

Getty ImagesBoth countries want to sign an agreement on migrant returns. More than 20,000 people have arrived in the UK in small boats in the first six months of 2025

France has long argued that the UK has to address the "pull factors" that drive people to want to risk their lives on the boats – the UK, for its part, already pays for many of the 1,200 French gendarmes to patrol France's long northern coastline to stop the smugglers' boats.

The countries are believed to have been working on the terms of a "one-in, one-out" agreement, so that for every small-boat arrival in the UK that France takes back, the UK would allow in one asylum seeker from France seeking family reunification.

Several countries on the southern coasts of Europe are unimpressed because it could mean France sending those asylum seekers handed back by the UK on to their country of entry into the EU, bordering the Mediterranean.

In the UK, the opposition Conservatives have branded the idea "pathetic", accusing the government of a "national record – for failure" on curbing small-boat crossings.

And yet every country in Europe is looking for a way to cut illegal border crossings. Meghan Benton, of the Migration Policy Institute, believes a Franco-British deal could work as a possible pilot for the rest of Europe: "What works for the Channel could also work for the Mediterranean."

Getty ImagesKing Charles previously called on France and the UK to find common ground "to reinvigorate our friendship"

Any agreement on this tricky issue could also signal a real, practical improvement in the countries' political relationship. France's right-wing Interior Minister, Bruno Retailleau, has already been working with Labour's Home Secretary Yvette Cooper to try to find a workable solution.

How far they get, and its wider impact on Europe, is still to be decided, but it does reflect a new willingness between the two neighbours to tackle the divisions between them.

Boris Johnson once accused France of wanting to punish the UK for Brexit. That difficult chapter appears to be over.

As Susi Dennison puts it: "There's a certain distance that will always be there, but things are operating quite well."

During King Charles' 2023 state visit to France he called on the two countries to find common ground, "to reinvigorate our friendship to ensure it is fit for the challenge of this, the 21st Century".

And so this visit will help show – both in the relationships between individuals and on concrete policy debates – whether his call has been answered.

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FranceKeir StarmerEmmanuel MacronKing Charles III

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Doctorul care luptă pentru sănătatea femeilor pe linia frontului din Ucraina

acum 7 oreDistribuieSalveazăKeiligh BakerBBC NewsDistribuieSalveazăSerhii BaksheievDr. Baksheiev a efectuat peste 1.000 de examene ginecologice în ambulanța sa mobilă din 2022

Într-un sat rural din apropierea liniei frontului ucrainean, un grup de femei stă la coadă în liniște în fața unei ambulanțe violet și alb, așteptând să fie consultate de un medic cu capul ras vopsit în albastru și galben, ca în drapelul ucrainean.

Pentru multe dintre ele, este prima dată când văd un medic de la începutul războiului, acum mai bine de trei ani.

De atunci În 2022, Dr. Serhii Baksheiev, în vârstă de 53 de ani, a efectuat peste 1.000 de examene ginecologice la femei din zonele de front și ocupate, în clinica sa mobilă dotată complet – numită „Naveta Feminină” și dotată cu un scaun de examinare roz aprins.

Serhii Baksheiev „Naveta Feminină” are un aparat cu ultrasunete și alte echipamente pentru efectuarea de intervenții chirurgicale minore.

„Aceasta este o misiune umanitară de voluntariat. Este pentru persoanele care au nevoie de ajutor, în locuri unde nu există medici sau spitale, și este absolut gratuită.” spune el.

Războiul cu Rusia a pus o presiune uriașă asupra sistemului de sănătate al Ucrainei, cu peste 1.940 de atacuri asupra unităților sanitare de la invazie, potrivit Organizației Mondiale a Sănătății (OMS) – ceea ce reprezintă cel mai mare număr din orice criză umanitară de până acum – și cu o creștere semnificativă a acestor atacuri din decembrie 2023.

Când a început războiul, Dr. Baksheiev, medic obstetrician și ginecolog, și-a petrecut inițial zilele într-un buncăr din Kiev, ajutând la nașteri în timp ce bombele cădeau deasupra.

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Ideea pentru o clinică pe drum i-a venit, spune el, după ce misiunile ulterioare de voluntariat medical pe linia frontului au dezvăluit lipsa facilităților, deoarece centrele medicale și spitalele fuseseră complet distruse.

“Am mers la Harkov și Cernihiv, care erau foarte avariate, iar cel mai dificil lucru a fost să nu putem oferi servicii ginecologice pentru că nu existau unelte și echipamente, pentru că totul era ruinat.” spune el.

Dr. Baksheiev și echipa sa ar trebui să folosească orice era disponibil ca masă de examinare, inclusiv canapele vechi, ceea ce înseamnă că ar trebui să îngenuncheze pe podea pentru a efectua examinări.

Astăzi, plimbându-se în jurul vehiculului electric, este clar că Dr. Baksheiev este incredibil de mândru de capacitățile sale: acesta a fost echipat cu tot ce ar putea avea nevoie el și echipa sa în aceste zone îndepărtate, inclusiv un aparat cu ultrasunete și echipamente medicale pentru efectuarea unor intervenții chirurgicale minore.

Serhii BaksheievÎnainte de clinica mobilă, Dr. Baksheiev trebuia să folosească orice era disponibil pentru a efectua examinări.

În timpul unei misiuni de două zile, echipa poate efectua până la 80 de colposcopii – unde examinează colul uterin și vulva pentru semne de cancer sau precancer. țesut.

Lucrarea este crucială pentru oamenii care locuiesc în aceste zone îndepărtate.

Vizitele sale în micile sate rurale ocupate de ruși sunt adesea efectuate în secret. El și echipa sa se furișează pentru o zi sau două pentru a efectua examinările și pleacă înainte de a fi detectați.

Cifrele furnizate de ministerul sănătății publice din Ucraina și văzute de BBC arată că ratele de detectare a cancerului ovarian și de col uterin au scăzut cu 17%, respectiv 10% din 2020.

Și când medici precum Dr. Baksheiev ajung în aceste zone pentru a efectua examinări, descoperă o incidență mai mare decât media a tumorilor maligne.

Vezi toate știrile de pe doctorul luptă sănătatea

Serhii BaksheievAnterior, echipa medicală a Dr. Baksheiev a trebuit să folosească spații alternative – cum ar fi această sală de operație.

În medie, până la 4% dintre femei sunt diagnosticate cu tumori maligne după ce au fost examinate, potrivit FRIDA Ucraina, organizația medicală voluntară a Dr. Baksheiev. pentru.

Dr. Ulana Supron a fost ministrul sănătății al Ucrainei din 2016 până în 2019. Ea spune că există o îngrijorare cu privire la „bomba cu ceas” a rezultatelor în materie de sănătate, pe măsură ce războiul se prelungește.

„În comunitatea sănătății publice, există cu siguranță multă îngrijorare cu privire la ceea ce se va întâmpla pe măsură ce războiul continuă”, spune ea.

„Nu numai în ceea ce privește sănătatea fizică, ci și sănătatea mintală – pentru că există un stres constant, o traumă psihologică constantă.”

Dr. Supron spune că guvernul a reușit să reconstruiască parțial sau integral nu mai puțin de 964 de unități medicale care au fost avariate de Rusia.

„Aceștia lucrează îndeaproape cu OMS și cu alte organizații internaționale pentru a încerca să elaboreze un plan privind modul în care putem reconstrui sistemul de sănătate care exista înainte de invazia Rusiei.” ea adaugă.

În ciuda faptului că a fost diagnosticat cu cancer în septembrie 2024, Dr. Baksheiev continuă să facă voluntariat și să ofere tratament femeilor din întreaga țară.

„Pe lângă examenul medical, îi asculți și pe ei, deoarece mulți pacienți au povești despre cum rușii le-au atacat satele”, spune el.

„Deci nu suntem doar medici, suntem terapeuții pentru acești pacienți.”

Război în UcrainaSănătatea femeilorUcraina

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Sursa: BBC News

Trump upbeat on Gaza ceasefire talks as he hosts Netanyahu

5 hours agoShareSaveYang TianBBC NewsShareSaveWatch: Moment Benjamin Netanyahu hands Donald Trump nomination for Nobel Peace Prize

US President Donald Trump has said he thinks talks to end the war in Gaza have been "going along very well", as he hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington DC.

Trump also expressed confidence that Hamas was willing to end the 21-month conflict. "They want to meet and they want to have that ceasefire," he said in unexpected remarks to reporters at the White House.

The meeting came after the latest rounds of indirect ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas in Qatar ended without a breakthrough, though negotiations were expected to continue this week.

In Monday's remarks, Trump was asked by a journalist what was preventing a peace deal in Gaza, and he said: "I don't think there is a hold-up. I think things are going along very well."

Both leaders were asked about potential plans to relocate Palestinians, with Trump saying he has co-operation from countries neighbouring Israel.

Netanyahu, meanwhile, said he was working with the US on finding countries that will "give Palestinians a better future".

"If people want to stay, they can stay, but if they want to leave, they should be able to leave," Netanyahu said.

The Palestinian presidency has previously rejected plans to relocate Palestinians, which it pointed out would violate international law.

Netanyahu also appeared to play down prospects of full Palestinian statehood, saying that Israel will "always" keep security control over the Gaza Strip.

"Now, people will say it's not a complete state, it's not a state. We don't care," Netanyahu said.

At the meeting, the Israeli PM also said he had nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, reportedly a long-held goal of the US president.

"He's forging peace as we speak, in one country, in one region after the other," Netanyahu said as he presented Trump with a letter he sent to the prize committee.

Reuters

Trump has previously said he would be "very firm" with the Israeli PM about ending the war and indicated that "we'll have a deal" this week.

The White House initially said it would not make the meeting between the two leaders open to media, with officials describing it as a private dinner during which Trump would prioritise the push for an end to the war and the return of all hostages.

Keeping the meeting closed to journalists would have been unusual for a president who likes to platform his positions with foreign leaders in front of the world's press.

The US-backed ceasefire proposal would reportedly see Hamas release 10 living hostages and the bodies of 18 dead hostages in five stages during a 60-day truce.

Israel would be required to release an unknown number of Palestinian prisoners and withdraw from parts of Gaza, where it now controls about two-thirds of the territory.

Obstacles to a deal remain significant.

The main outstanding issue relates to aid, as Hamas insists on ending the work of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, while the Israeli delegation refuses to discuss the issue, saying they are not authorised to discuss it.

During his visit, Netanyahu met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.

As Netanyahu's armoured limousine travelled to the White House, dozens of protesters gathered at security gates, waving Palestinian flags and shouting calls for the Israeli's PM's arrest.

Netanyahu, along with his former defence minister Yoav Gallant and a Hamas commander Mohammed Deif, were made subjects of an arrest warrant in November from the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.

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Netanyahu has rejected the allegations, calling the warrants antisemitic, while the Trump administration has imposed sanctions on four ICC judges for what it called "baseless actions targeting America or our close ally, Israel".

Getty ImagesProtesters wave Palestinian flags during Benjamin Netanyahu's visit with Donald Trump in Washington DC

The latest round of negotiations on the war in Gaza began on Sunday in Doha, with representatives seated in different rooms in the same building.

A second session was held on Monday and ended without a breakthrough, a Palestinian official familiar with the negotiations told AFP.

Witkoff was due to join the talks in Doha later this week in an effort to get a ceasefire over the line as the Gaza conflict nears its 22nd month.

Speaking to the BBC, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee declined to say whether Trump would give a written guarantee that a proposed 60-day ceasefire would be extended, so long as negotiations continue.

"I simply don't know," Huckabee said.

This is one of Hamas's key demands and a stumbling block in the current negotiations.

When asked whether he believes Trump can achieve a breakthrough with the Israeli leader, Huckabee said: "I'm not a prophet. I cannot predict the future, so I won't try to tell you what will happen."

Netanyahu is visiting the White House for the third time since Trump returned to power nearly six months ago.

But the leaders are meeting for the first time since the US joined Israeli attacks on Iranian nuclear sites and then brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Iran.

There is a strong sense that the recent 12-day war has created more favourable circumstances to end the Gaza war.

Witkoff said at Monday's dinner that a US meeting with Iran would take place in the next week or so. Trump also said he would like to lift sanctions on the Islamic Republic at some point.

The US president has expressed increasing concern over the conflict in Gaza in recent weeks and believes there is a "good chance" of reaching a ceasefire.

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said it was Trump's "utmost priority" to end the war in Gaza and that he wanted Hamas to agree to the 60-day deal "right now".

First round of Gaza ceasefire talks ends without breakthrough

Netanyahu visits US as Trump puts pressure to agree Gaza ceasefire deal

Israel-Gaza warIsraelHamasDonald TrumpBenjamin NetanyahuUnited States

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