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A group of 19 UN experts has denounced Israel's attack on Lebanon, which occurred a day after the US and Iran agreed on a ceasefire, as illegal and a blatant violation of the UN Charter. The experts are calling on UN member states to halt all arms transfers to Israel while there is credible evidence of serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.The condemnation comes as Israel continues to pound areas of southern Lebanon, resulting in at least 16 deaths, including four paramedics, according to Lebanese state media. The experts also expressed concern over the forced displacement of over 1.2 million people and the targeted destruction of homes, particularly in predominantly Shia areas of the south, which they described as a form of collective punishment that points to ethnic cleansing.The UN experts emphasized that Israel's actions constitute crimes against humanity and urged Israel to cease all military operations in Lebanon. The situation has been a point of tension in US-Iran negotiations, with Tehran pushing for Lebanon to be included in the ongoing ceasefire. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated that Israel will continue to target Hezbollah wherever required, despite diplomatic efforts towards a ceasefire.

The Portland Trail Blazers have ended a four-year playoff drought with a thrilling 114-110 victory over the Phoenix Suns in an NBA play-in game. Deni Avdija led the charge with a career-high 41 points, including the decisive three-point play with 16.1 seconds remaining to cap a remarkable comeback from an 11-point fourth-quarter deficit.The Trail Blazers will now face the No. 2 seed San Antonio Spurs in a best-of-seven Western Conference playoff series starting on Sunday. Meanwhile, the Suns will have another chance to secure a playoff spot on Friday against the winner of the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers play-in game.Avdija's impressive performance included 12 assists and seven rebounds, while Jrue Holiday added 21 points and Jerami Grant contributed 16 points, including crucial three-pointers down the stretch. For the Suns, Jalen Green scored 35 points, Devin Booker had 22 points, and Dillon Brooks added 20 points.In another play-in game, the Charlotte Hornets edged the Miami Heat 127-126 in overtime, with LaMelo Ball hitting a go-ahead layup with 4.7 seconds left and Miles Bridges blocking Davion Mitchell's shot at the buzzer.

Tehran has issued an uncompromising demand for $270 billion in reparations for the devastation wrought by United States and Israeli strikes since the war began on 28 February. The figure, disclosed by government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani in an interview with Russia’s RIA Novosti, aggregates both direct and indirect losses across a wide range of sectors. Iran’s UN envoy asserted that five regional states must contribute to the compensation, alleging that their territories served as launchpads for attacks on Iranian soil. In parallel, Tehran floated a Strait of Hormuz protocol that would levy a tax on vessels transiting the strategic waterway, earmarking the proceeds for reconstruction. The war has battered Iran’s critical infrastructure: oil and gas complexes, petrochemical plants, steel and aluminium factories, as well as military installations have been repeatedly struck. Damage extends to bridges, ports, railways, universities, research centres, power stations and desalination plants, while countless hospitals, schools and civilian homes have been either damaged or razed. In the aviation sector, Maghsoud Asadi Samani, secretary of the Association of Iranian Airlines, reported that 60 civilian aircraft have been rendered inoperable, with 20 completely destroyed. Iran now operates roughly 160 passenger planes, many of which are decades old and suffer from parts shortages due to stringent US sanctions. The airline industry estimates losses exceeding 300 trillion rials (≈ $190 million) over just 40 days of conflict, compounded by the loss of anticipated revenue from the Nowruz holiday period. Despite the extensive damage, Iranian officials have signalled no willingness to make major concessions in forthcoming negotiations with Washington, including on nuclear enrichment. Hard‑line parliament spokesman Ebrahim Rezaei warned that extending the recent two‑week ceasefire would merely allow the US and Israel to replenish their arsenals, urging the United States to either recognise Iran’s rights—particularly over the Strait of Hormuz—or return to hostilities. Financially, Iran allocated close to $8 billion to its military in 2024, according to SIPRI, and has pledged to triple that budget following previous missile exchanges with Israel. Yet the economy remains strained by years of sanctions, mismanagement and corruption. Compounding the economic strain, the government‑imposed near‑total internet shutdown—affecting over 90 million users—has been estimated to cost the nation up to $80 million per day. Afshin Kolahi of the Iran Chamber of Commerce warned that the blackout equates to losing the output of four B1‑class bridges and two medium‑capacity power plants each day. While a limited “Internet Pro” service is being offered to select users, the majority of the population remains confined to a state‑controlled intranet, prompting widespread calls for internet freedom. These intertwined military, economic and digital pressures underscore the high stakes of the anticipated US‑Iran talks, with Tehran demanding acknowledgment of its losses and a pathway to rebuild a war‑torn nation.

"The failure is big," Liverpool midfielder Ryan Gravenberch declared after the Champions League loss to Paris Saint-Germain. The defeat not only eliminates Liverpool from Europe but also seals a season that will finish trophyless. Manager Arne Slot has repeatedly insisted that the future looks very bright for Anfield, yet the club’s reality is starkly different. A business model built on lucrative broadcasting and commercial revenues now faces a potential top‑five miss, a scenario that would be financially and reputationally humiliating for a side that spent nearly £450 million on its squad last summer. Slot’s request for three seasons to steer Liverpool’s transition is under intense scrutiny. In the past 16 days Liverpool have played five matches: three defeats, two aggregate exits totalling 8‑0, and a solitary league win sparked by 17‑year‑old Rio Ngumoha. The pattern underscores a season riddled with setbacks. Sporting director Richard Hughes observed that despite a respectable xG of 1.94 against PSG, Liverpool’s performance fell short, a symptom of deeper issues. The situation worsened when forward Hugo Ekitiké collapsed with a suspected Achilles injury in the 27th minute, likely ruling him out for the remainder of the campaign. His absence further hampers the newly assembled £320 million front line of Alexander Isak, Hugo Ekitiké and Florian Wirtz, who have barely featured together. Slot’s tactical gamble of starting Isak after a four‑month hiatus and deploying a back five at the Parc des Princes backfired. Isak managed only five touches before being substituted at halftime, illustrating that a Champions League quarter‑final is not the venue for experimentation. After the second leg, Slot attempted to inject optimism, stating, "The good thing is Alex is back" and reiterating that the club can compete with Europe’s champions on home soil. Critics argue this positivity is misplaced, especially as Liverpool scrambles through the run‑in with key players missing. With six league games remaining, a fit Isak could be the difference between securing Champions League qualification and enduring further humiliation. Both Isak and Wirtz must begin to justify their hefty transfer fees, despite recent injury concerns and underwhelming output. In a candid interview with Ziggo Sport, Gravenberch summed up the mood: "No, actually not. It’s disappointing. We have to pick ourselves up as Sunday is waiting. We still have six matches in the league and we just want to play in the Champions League next year as well." He added that the season feels plagued by setbacks—late goals conceded and missed chances—making this a tough, failure‑laden campaign from which the squad must learn.

Just a decade ago, cord‑cutters imagined a utopia where any game could be streamed on any device for a single, affordable price. Today, that vision has morphed into a bewildering web of platforms, blackouts and fees that strain even the most devoted fans. Major League Baseball illustrates the chaos. The Yankees’ local market now requires fans to juggle seven different providers, from traditional broadcasters to Apple TV and niche apps. A season‑long Gotham Sports App pass costs $119.99, while Amazon’s Prime Video charges $14.99 per month (or $139 annually) for exclusive rights to 21 Wednesday games. Netflix, at $19.99 per month, aired the opening‑night matchup between the Yankees and Giants. Adding these together, a die‑hard fan could face a bill of roughly $800 to watch every Yankees game this year, according to a calculation by The Athletic. Even Apple’s own streaming chief, Eddy Cue, admitted the market has regressed: “You used to buy one subscription, your cable subscription, and you got pretty much everything they had. Now, there’s so many different subscriptions, so I think that needs to be fixed.” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred proposes centralising local rights by 2028, hoping to curb the splintered landscape. Yet legacy broadcasters and tech giants continue to chase lucrative deals. The NBA’s recent 11‑year, $76 billion media contract with Disney/ESPN, Amazon and NBC underscores how high the stakes have become. Rights fees are increasingly volatile. ESPN reportedly paid $550 million annually for Sunday Night Baseball, only to see MLB strike a $10 million per‑year deal with Roku for the same slot. Netflix is said to spend $50 million per season for three years to air marquee events such as Opening Night and the Home Run Derby. The NFL, the most valuable league, embraces fragmentation as a revenue strategy, distributing games across CBS, Fox, NBC, ESPN/ABC, Prime Video, the NFL Network, YouTube and Netflix. By packaging boutique game bundles for streamers, the league extracts “significantly more money” beyond its core media rights. Beyond cost, the viewer experience is eroding. In‑game advertising now blankets pitches and ice rinks, while “hydration breaks” at the World Cup will feature mandatory ad slots. Streamers counter with ad‑free premium tiers, but those come at a premium comparable to airline baggage fees. Financial pressures are evident. Peacock added 44 million paying subscribers in Q4 2025, yet reported a staggering $552 million loss, largely due to expensive NBA and NFL rights. Dazn, another global sports streamer, has accumulated billions in operating losses since launch. Industry analysts warn that over‑commercialisation could alienate casual viewers, especially younger audiences with shrinking attention spans who prefer short‑form clips on platforms like TikTok. As Anthony Palomba of the University of Virginia notes, “The prospect of watching a three‑hour game versus getting bite‑sized highlights on TikTok is difficult.” Data‑driven, AI‑powered programmatic ads promise higher monetisation, turning moments—like Steph Curry’s game‑winning three‑pointer—into instant shopping opportunities. Amazon, for example, leverages its ecosystem to track the full consumer journey from view to purchase. One potential remedy is a consolidated “one‑stop‑shop” that bundles multiple sports feeds, aiming to reverse the so‑called “enshittification” of streaming services—a term coined by Cory Doctorow to describe platforms that sacrifice quality for profit. While nostalgia for the era of a single cable package persists, experts caution against romanticising the past. As former NBA commentator Jon Lewis observes, “The old days were complicated in their own ways; today’s challenge is to balance revenue with a sustainable, fan‑friendly experience.”

The biggest public backer of World Liberty Financial, the crypto venture co‑founded by the Trump family, has publicly accused the firm of embedding a covert "backdoor blacklisting" feature that allows it to freeze token holdings at will. On Sunday, blockchain entrepreneur Justin Sun posted on X, alleging that World Liberty’s smart contracts for the WLFI token contain a tool that can unilaterally freeze, restrict, or confiscate any user’s assets without cause or recourse. Sun did not provide evidence, but said his own wallet was locked in September, making him the "first and single largest victim" of the alleged mechanism. World Liberty responded on X, stating, "We have the contracts. We have the evidence. We have the truth. See you in court, pal," and directed observers to its own posts for clarification. The company’s official risk disclosures do note that it may block or freeze addresses deemed linked to illegal activity or terms violations – a practice also employed by other crypto issuers such as Tether. Sun, who invested tens of millions of dollars in WLFI and later increased his stake to at least $75 million according to his 2025 posts, has not shared the purported blockchain records that supposedly show his wallet being blacklisted by a single administrative account. World Liberty, launched in 2024, claimed it would empower small investors through a decentralized‑finance app that has yet to launch. Reuters analysis indicated the venture generated **more than $460 million** for the Trump family in the first half of 2025. In March, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission settled a 2023 lawsuit against Sun for $10 million, alleging fraud and the sale of unregistered crypto securities. Sun made no admission of wrongdoing. The dispute highlights the murky regulatory environment for crypto in the United States, where the SEC has limited jurisdiction and has declined to comment on the legality of token‑freezing practices.

Sir Keir Starmer cannot be blamed for the economic consequences of a war he did not start, but he needs to have a plan in place for a severe and prolonged crisis. The public needs to see that the government is proactive and prepared to address the challenges ahead.

The Leeds Song Festival, a top-tier celebration of the vocal arts, continues to push the envelope with its innovative performances. Director Joseph Middleton's determination to think outside the box while honoring the festival's roots in traditional recitals is evident in two vastly different concerts.The first, 'Haiku', premiered last year in Minnesota and features eight poems taken from a collection of haiku written by Japanese Americans interned during World War II. Baritone Roderick Williams and pianist Iain Burnside brought these distilled musical morsels to life, exploring themes of exile, detention, and deportation.Williams, a master storyteller, breathed life into the songs with his warm vocal embrace and expressive physicality, bringing pain and pathos, wit and wisdom to a kaleidoscopic array of songs. Burnside was his equal, providing a generous and supportive piano accompaniment.The program included highlights such as Gerald Finzi's setting of Thomas Hardy, 'Waiting Both', and Joan Trimble's 'My Grief on the Sea', a delicate Irish love song. The evening ended with Maria Grever's rumba-inflected 'What a Diff'rence a Day Made', a perfect laid-back note.The second concert, 'Dunwich', a festival commission, stretched the idea of a traditional recital to the limit. This haunting soundscape combined field recordings made at the site of Dunwich's last remaining gravestone with Martin Iddon's shape-shifting writing for piano. The piece featured slyly sinister accounts of local ghost stories, delivered by speaker Gillian Jane Lees, and eerie black-and-white videos by Adam York Gregory.

The V&A; East museum in east London has finally opened its doors, offering a diverse and rich collection that celebrates art, design, and culture from around the world. Outside the museum, a five-meter-tall sculpture by Thomas J Price stands as a generic representation of east London youth, sparking concerns about the homogenization of individuality.Upon entering the museum, visitors are greeted with a delightful gallery showcasing items from the new museum's collection. A constructivist rug by Eileen Gray complements Derek Jarman's punk set designs and costumes by Vivienne Westwood and Rei Kawakubo. Althea McNish's glorious printed fabrics take center stage, demonstrating how a designer working within mass production infrastructures can have a profound influence on post-war Britain's look.The museum's collection explores themes of colonial expansion, imperial violence, and the integration of art into everyday life. A display on William Morris's connection to nearby Walthamstow highlights the importance of pegging objects to their place of production. A sinuous wooden armchair by Alvar Aalto and a talismanic shirt inscribed with the Qur'an showcase how everyday items can be invested with restorative properties.The museum's curatorial strategy encourages visitors to choose their own route and make their own connections. The inaugural temporary exhibition, 'The Music Is Black: A British Story', uses headphones with a sensor to guide visitors through a labyrinth of videos, costumes, sculptures, and photographs chronicling Black British music.