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Wimbledon is guaranteed to be picture-perfect when it gets under way next week but the courts will never look the same again after the demise of line judges. For the first time in the tournament’s storied 148-year history, the men and women stationed at the back of the courts, calling “out” and “fault”, will be missing.  The Grand Slam announced in October that it was scrapping its smartly dressed officials in favour of electronic line-calling (ELC) from 2025, following the general trend in tennis. The Australian Open and the US Open have already gone down this route, leaving the French Open as the only one of the four Grand Slams still to use humans in the role.
Wimbledon is cherished for its traditions, from the white kit worn by players to the strawberries and cream served to fans and the sumptuous flowers that colour the grounds.

But the All England Club must balance that unique heritage with innovation.

Tournament director Jamie Baker emphasised the point in an interview with AFP this week.

“We are very much plugged into the wider tennis ecosystem, the wider tennis industry, on everything that we do,” said the former professional player

“There’s a significant points gap between us and them, but we don’t give up on anything and we’re not even at the halfway point yet.”

In last year’s race, Verstappen collided with Norris as they fought for the lead, gifting Russell his victory. 

That tangle, and his “stupid” crash into Piastri in Montreal, may hang heavily for Norris this weekend as he attempts to rebuild his title bid without further mishaps.

With Russell confident and Mercedes also boosted by rookie Kimi Antonelli’s maiden podium finish in Canada, a closely-fought contest is in prospect involving all the leading teams.

“We expect our rivals to be much more competitive in Austria,” said Mercedes team chief Toto Wolff. “The track should be a good test of our recent updates.”

Ferrari go into the weekend with less optimism.

“For us, the best thing is to take it race by race, try to maximise,” said Charles Leclerc. “It’s been a disappointing first part of the season, but we keep pushing. Let’s see where that takes us.”

Horner conceded that “our weakness at the moment is in the medium-speed type of corner… and in Austria, in the middle sector, there’s a bit of it there. We’ll see. If it’s hot, I expect McLaren to be stronger again.

“There’s a significant points gap between us and them, but we don’t give up on anything and we’re not even at the halfway point yet.”

In last year’s race, Verstappen collided with Norris as they fought for the lead, gifting Russell his victory. 

That tangle, and his “stupid” crash into Piastri in Montreal, may hang heavily for Norris this weekend as he attempts to rebuild his title bid without further mishaps.

With Russell confident and Mercedes also boosted by rookie Kimi Antonelli’s maiden podium finish in Canada, a closely-fought contest is in prospect involving all the leading teams.

“We expect our rivals to be much more competitive in Austria,” said Mercedes team chief Toto Wolff. “The track should be a good test of our recent updates.”

Ferrari go into the weekend with less optimism.

“For us, the best thing is to take it race by race, try to maximise,” said Charles Leclerc. “It’s been a disappointing first part of the season, but we keep pushing. Let’s see where that takes us.”

Max Verstappen leads Red Bull into their home Austrian Grand Prix this weekend hoping a major upgrades package can boost his title defence before it is too late.  The four-time world champion, who still needs to avoid any on-track problems that could lead to a mandatory race ban, has won four times at the high-speed Red Bull Ring circuit in the Styrian Alps and will be backed by his ‘orange army’ of fans.  But he knows that combination may not be enough.
McLaren’s championship-leading duo Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, who collided in Canada, are hoping to return to form after that rare off-day in a forecasted heatwave on a circuit expected to suit their car.

Last year’s winner George Russell of Mercedes, who took advantage of McLaren’s struggles in Montreal to win with aplomb ahead of Verstappen, will arrive with momentum and optimism, if wary of the heat.

“We are getting an update for Austria which will be refined for Silverstone,” Red Bull’s consultant Helmut Marko told Austria’s Kleine Zeitung.

“But if that doesn’t work then it will be difficult for the championship –- as if it is not difficult enough already.”

New Brazil coach Carlo Ancelotti considers Neymar “a very important player” and has urged the injury-prone star “to prepare well” for the 2026 World Cup. “He must prepare well and he has the time to do that,” the Italian said in an interview with the South American football federation on Thursday. “He’s a very important player for us regarding the World Cup,” Ancelotti added. Neymar, 33, extended his contract with Brazilian side Santos to the end of the year this week. Neymar’s career has been dogged by injury, and he has only played 12 matches in five months for Santos, scoring three goals.

Brazil’s top scorer with 79 goals was missing from Ancelotti’s first squad at the end of May.

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With Neymar absent five-time world champions Brazil qualified for next year’s World Cup with a 1-0 win over Paraguay this month

India’s pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah unarguably stands the tallest of all players in his category in modern cricket. Be it T20 cricket or Tests, Bumrah’s execution, precision, and tenacity make him a nightmare for every batter in the game. While there’s no denying that world-class tag that Bumrah has or the respect he gets around the world, former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin doesn’t think the seamer gets the same respect that Indian cricket fans honoured the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, and Rohit Sharma with.In a video on his YouTube channel, Ashwin was asked if Bumrah is a player every team in the world would want to have. Ashwin didn’t directly respond to the question but beautifully narrated how highly he rates the pacer.

“I have praised him a lot. But the word you said will not come out of my mouth. But the point is, he is fabulous. That’s all I want to leave. He was born in this world. All these things become a soap opera. I am not one of those drama artists. I don’t want to market anyone. But he is a fabulous cricketer,” Ashwin said.

Technology sometimes offers solutions to problems that we didn’t even realise existed – and once we’re aware of it, we sometimes cannot imagine being without the added convenience it offers. Technology can, therefore, make us look at even the small tasks of daily life differently. Take, for example, the action of chilling a soda bottle on hot days. Recently, a video showed how a machine turned a drink icy in what seemed to be a matter of seconds! The reel went viral, and the concept fascinated many people online.The post was shared by a travel vlogger (@jellevleeuwen). In the video, he points out what he calls an “ice machine” in a convenience store in Thailand. Various bottles of fizzy drinks are stocked inside its glass case. A special receptacle is attached to its door. The vlogger takes an already cold bottle and places it upside down (as indicated) in the machine. He holds it in place and presses a button. A light comes on to indicate the chilling process has begun. After a few moments, the vlogger says that the drink is getting colder and points to what looks to be the formation of ice inside the bottle. He removes it from the machine and gives it a tap with his hand. “This is a full chunk of ice right now,” he says. After he exits the store, he takes a sip of his drink and confirms that it is indeed “ice cold.

When I held my son Deepu for the first time, I believed our little family was finally complete. My husband Jagdeesh and I had gone against our families to be together. 

But today, that dream is slipping away.

He was born healthy—or so we thought. During routine checkups after his birth in December 2025, the doctors noticed high bilirubin levels. They said it would come down on its own. We believed them. We wanted to believe them. But a few weeks later, we noticed the whites of his eyes turning yellow. 

When we went back to the hospital, the test reports broke our world—our son was diagnosed with Biliary Atresia, a rare liver disorder.

We rushed to a hospital in Bangalore. The doctors there recommended a Kasai procedure. It was our only chance to delay a liver transplant. 

Two men watched as a third raped a 24-year-old Kolkata college student in a guardroom, after having bullied the guard into leaving, at the city’s South Calcutta Law College late Wednesday night, according to the details of a police complaint accessed by NDTV this evening.

In a complaint filed Thursday evening, the woman said three men – whom she only identified with the initials ‘J’, ‘M’, and ‘P’ – cornered her at 7.30 pm after a meeting of the ruling Trinamool Congress’ student wing. She said ‘M’ and ‘P’ locked her in a room with ‘J’, who tried to rape her.

“I fought back… I cried and asked him to let me go… I even touched his feet but he didn’t let me go…” she told the cops, “… he tried to force me with the intention of having sex. I kept pushing him back. I asked him to let me go. ‘I can’t do this, I have a boyfriend and I love him’, I said.”

Iran will never surrender to the US and any future aggression would come at a great cost, its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said today in his first remarks after the ceasefire between Iran and Israel. The ceasefire followed the US’ targeting of three nuclear sites in Iran and Tehran’s retaliatory strike at a US base in Qatar.

“The American president indicated in one of his statements that Iran must surrender. Surrender! It is no longer a question of enrichment, nor the nuclear industry, but of the surrender of Iran,” Khamenei said in a televised speech. “Such an event (surrender) will never happen. It will never happen.