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The Lead A weekly sports quiz covering various topics including the World Cup, Knicks, T20 World Cup, Giro d'Italia, and Serena Williams' tennis comeback. Sports Quiz Questions and Answers Hugo Broos played for Belgium in the 1986 World Cup. Three teams qualified for the World Cup without conceding a goal: Tunisia, Côte d'Ivoire. Dick Advocaat managed a team at USA 94 and is also managing a team at the tournament this year. Netherlands is competing in the Women's T20 World Cup for the first time. Joe Root will take over as captain for the next Test against New Zealand. Serena Williams made her comeback to tennis on a court named after Andy Murray. Mirra Andreeva and Alexander Zverev had never won grand slam titles before. George Russell won the other Formula One race this season. The 24 Hours of Le Mans circuit is 8.5 miles long. Demi Vollering is the second woman to win the three grand tours. The pope caused controversy by admitting he supports Real Madrid. The Brazil v United States women’s football match had eight red cards. Ja’Kobe Tharp broke the world record in the 110m hurdles. The New York Knicks last won the NBA championship when Richard Nixon was president. The Quiz Impact This quiz highlights interesting facts and recent events in the world of sports, covering various topics from football and cricket to tennis and athletics. The Future of Sports As sports continue to evolve, events like the World Cup, T20 World Cup, and grand tours will remain at the forefront, with athletes pushing boundaries and achieving new milestones.

Kentridge's Vision for L'Orfeo Glyndebourne's first production of Monteverdi's L'Orfeo, directed by William Kentridge, is a visually stunning and musically exhilarating performance. The production features a unique blend of live-action and animated elements, with a strong cast and orchestra. The Stage Design The set, designed by Sabine Theunissen, is rooted in an artist's studio and features a mix of three-dimensional and cartoonishly 2D elements. The video projections, designed by Janus Fouché, display Kentridge's animated charcoal drawings, annotated archive documents, and fragmentary phrases. The Musical Performance Under conductor Jonathan Cohen, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment delivers a hell-for-leather performance. The chorus provides a lusty, finely blended gaggle of nymphs, shepherds, and spirits. The Cast The cast features Krystian Adam as Orpheus, Hugo Herman-Wilson, and Xenia Puskarz Thomas as the Messenger. Francesca Aspromonte shines as Musica and Euridice. The Verdict The production is a must-see for opera enthusiasts, with its innovative staging, strong cast, and musical performance. It runs at Glyndebourne, Sussex until 25 July.

The Culinary Connection Today you're going to eat art, says Federico Valdez, a chef at the School of Mexican Cuisine with the word Queso (Cheese) tattooed on his forearm. Today, you're going to eat history. In a sun-filled dining room lined with Mexican flowers, books and artefacts, unfolds a three-course feast inspired by Frida Kahlo, her life, her art and her loves, including her first lesbian affair. The starter, inspired by her childhood fascination with revolution, is a lightly spiced Mexican take on pirozhki, the Russian favourite. The main dish – served with pulque, an agave-derived drink Kahlo loved – taps into her rebellious spirit. It's called Frida Against the World, a giant stuffed chilli that sits amid a nutty, beany sauce similar to the one eaten at Kahlo's wedding to Diego Rivera, then the most famous artist in the world, now much more in her shadow. When she found Rivera in bed with her sister, she said: 'I'm going to get all my furniture and leave. I hate you' "I wanted this to be hot and horny," says Valdez, explaining that halved figs were added to reference Kahlo's sexuality. "Her first love, with a female teacher, happened at a time when Mexico wasn't so open. I wanted to get in all that spicy gossip. I'm not a big fan of playing it safe." The Exhibition Preview I'm in Mexico City with a Tate delegation just as the huge jacaranda trees are blooming purple and violet across its parks and boulevards – to follow in Kahlo's footsteps ahead of Frida: The Making of an Icon, a show of more than 30 of her works at Tate Modern in London that seems destined to be a summer blockbuster, adding yet more fuel to Fridamania. One work, Self Portrait With Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird, was painted in 1940 after her painful divorce from Rivera. A spider monkey, similar to the one he gave her as a present, is pulling on her thorn necklace, drawing blood. The two soon remarried, Kahlo inscribing the clocks in their house with the years of their separation and reunion. "The exhibition is like a movie," says Tobias Ostrander, its curator. "Frida is the star but it's also about her life, her people, her impact." Charting Kahlo's rise from unknown painter to global phenomenon, the show will also examine merch (expect a Kahlo Barbie) and gauge her influence on later artists. On display, too, will be many of the artist's treasured possessions, including her brilliantly patterned tehuana dresses. Graciela Iturbide's ghostly photographs of her crutches, customised medical corsets and prosthetic leg will also feature. These were taken 50 years after Kahlo's death, when all her belongings were finally freed from the bathroom in which Rivera had ordered them to be locked away. The Casa Azul Experience This took place at Casa Azul, the house in Coyoacán (The Place of the Coyote Owners) where Kahlo was born and spent most of her 47 years. It's now a beautiful, beguiling museum with smooth exterior walls painted a gorgeous blue. These border shiny red concrete paths that thread through fountains and lush gardens bursting with palm, yucca, cactus and bougainvillaea. "We don't know exactly where the blue came from," says Perla Labarthe Álvarez, the museum director. "But in her diary, Frida expressed what the colour meant to her: purity, electricity and love. Because of her health – she had surgery all her life, more than 30 operations – she was at home a lot so it had to be a comfortable place where she could rest. Many of her still lifes were done in the garden. She called her home A Place Full of Places." It's a perfect description. For this is a breathtakingly evocative location, even leaving aside the fact that Trotsky lived here for two years with his wife, having a brief affair with Kahlo. The Artistic Legacy Tours begin in the living room, with its hefty pyramid-style fireplace designed by Rivera and, as an old photo shows, once flanked by two of his macabre Judas dolls, papier-mache devils that are stuffed with fireworks and set alight at festivals. Opposite is Kahlo's mesmerising portrait of her beloved photographer father, painted 15 years after he died, his eyes as captivating as hers. On the walls, photos and texts detail the polio Kahlo contracted at the age of six, leaving her with one shorter leg, and the trolley-bus crash at 18 that impaled her on an iron handrail and left her in pain for much of her life, as well as unable to have children. She could never paint this accident, even though what she did paint was often deeply painful and personal – and these works were largely created at Casa Azul, upstairs in her studio, where visitors can see the easel adapted to allow her to use brushes lying on her back or seated in her wheelchair.

The Lead: A New Vision for Venice TheatreWillem Dafoe's second year as artistic director of the Venice Theatre Biennale marks a significant departure from his inaugural program, embracing a broad, outward-looking vision that celebrates cultural fusion and gives voice to marginalized stories. The 54th edition, titled 'Alter Native,' presents a diverse lineup spanning from Europe to Indonesia and India, creating genuine encounters between theatrical traditions.The Event Details: A Curatorial TransformationWhere last year's program felt nostalgic and experimental, this year's biennale showcases Dafoe's evolved curatorial approach. The lineup features productions that blend theatrical traditions from across the globe, including Satoshi Miyagi's Mugen Noh Othello, which merges Japanese Noh theatre with Shakespeare, and Christos Stergioglou and Alex Drakos Ktistakis' Cries, combining physical theatre with musical storytelling.The theme 'Alter Native,' according to Dafoe, represents 'encounters between cultures – moments when what is familiar enters into dialogue with you and becomes a catalyst for transformation.' This approach is exemplified by the selection of Emma Dante, a Sicilian playwright known for featuring social outcasts, as this year's recipient of the Golden Lion for lifetime achievement.The Cultural Impact: Centering Marginalized VoicesA recurring theme throughout Dafoe's programming is the amplification of marginalized narratives and lesser-heard stories. This focus manifests most powerfully in Davide Iodice's Promemoria, which takes audiences inside San Giobbe, a care home for elderly people in Venice. The production features 21 residents with cognitive decline or Alzheimer's, alongside nine actors, creating a year-long project of extreme tenderness that celebrates humanity's resilience.Similarly, Stergioglou and Ktistakis' Cries distills the voices of migrants and those enslaved or displaced throughout history, presented through song at the open-air Teatro Verde venue. The production comes alive in its angriest song about migrants who reluctantly flee their homes, only to face hostility and prejudice in the west.The Artistic Innovation: Reimagining Theatrical TraditionsThe biennale showcases several productions that reimagine established theatrical forms. Miyagi's Mugen Noh Othello reconfigures Shakespeare's drama to center Desdemona, the murdered wife, employing the 13th-century ritual of Mugen-Noh theatre. Miyagi explains that the protagonist of Mugen-Noh is always a ghost stuck in a repeated story, and the dramatic ritual aims to release them from their purgatory through storytelling.Dorcy Rugamba's Letter to the Absent adapts his book Hewa Rwanda, dedicated to his family who died in the Rwandan genocide of 1994. Rugamba explains that 'the genocide kills people twice: first it kills in the body, but after that their existence itself can disappear in the way you tell their story.' His work seeks to give victims their full story, allowing them to become the main characters rather than mere sufferers defined by their deaths.The Future Outlook: Theatre as TransformationDafoe's biennale demonstrates how theatre can serve as a medium for cultural dialogue and personal transformation. By centering marginalized voices and blending theatrical traditions from across the globe, the productions create spaces where the dead can be reborn and where cultural encounters become catalysts for change.The success of this year's program suggests a future direction for international theatre festivals—one that prioritizes inclusivity, innovation, and the power of storytelling to bridge cultural divides and give voice to those often unheard in traditional theatrical spaces.

The Controversial Coal Terminal Plan The Trump administration's plan to build a coal export terminal in Oakland, California, has sparked intense opposition from local residents, lawmakers, and environmental activists. The project, which would receive $75m in funding, aims to establish a sprawling coal export terminal in the nearby port of Oakland. Resistance from Local Communities Residents of West Oakland, a neighborhood known for its rich history of Black activism, are strongly opposed to the project. They argue that the terminal would bring significant environmental and health risks, exacerbating existing pollution issues in the area. The West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project, a grassroots organization focused on environmental justice, has been actively campaigning against the project. Environmental Concerns and Health Risks The proposed coal terminal has raised concerns about air and water pollution, as well as the potential for coal dust to coat the neighborhood. Local organizers have cited fears that trains delivering shipments will release coal dust into the air, posing health risks to residents. The area is already burdened with pollution from nearby highways, ports, and industry. Legislative Opposition California lawmakers, including state assembly member Mia Bonta, have vowed to fight the project. Bonta introduced a bill that would require a full environmental impact report before local agencies approve facilities that will handle, store, or export coal. Other lawmakers, such as Congresswoman Lateefah Simon, have also expressed their opposition to the project. The Future of the Project The fate of the coal terminal project remains uncertain, with local organizers and lawmakers continuing to push back against the Trump administration's plans. The project's timeline is unclear, but residents and activists are gearing up for a prolonged fight.

The Tentative Deal United States President Donald Trump and Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said on Sunday that they had reached an initial deal to end the war and to resume traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. Trump said the deal allows for toll-free shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which has been largely closed since the US and Israel launched an assault on Iran on February 28. Key Terms of the Agreement The content of the agreement, which follows weeks of fraught negotiations and periodic threats from Trump of new hostilities unless Iran reaches a deal, remained unclear. Strait of Hormuz to reopen: Iran's semi-official Mehr news agency said the draft deal called for reopening the Strait of Hormuz within 30 days under Iranian arrangements. Frozen assets to be released: Iran's Mehr news agency reported that the US would release $12bn in frozen assets to Iran before the start of negotiations. Iran's enriched uranium: In an interview with The New York Times on Sunday, Trump said Washington was still negotiating whether Iran would suspend its enrichment for 20 years. Global Response Western leaders praise deal: UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was ready to aid the further technical talks between the US and Iran, adding that he hopes the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz will stabilise energy markets. French President Emmanuel Macron also praised the deal and said Paris would support the Lebanese government. European Union chief Antonio Costa welcomed a deal between the US and Iran to end the Middle East war, adding that the bloc was ready to contribute to a strategy for 'lasting peace'. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said it was a 'critical step' towards resolving the war in the Middle East. Economic Impact Oil prices drop: Oil prices slipped to their lowest since March on Monday, with global benchmark Brent crude futures falling $4.08, or 4.7 percent, to $83.25 a barrel by 04:15 GMT. Asian markets soar: Markets in Japan soared, more than 5 percent up; in South Korea, they were up 5.3 percent; in Taiwan, they were up 2.4 percent.

The Surge in Stock Markets Stock markets across the Asia Pacific have surged following the announcement of a framework to end the United States-Israel war on Iran. Japan's Nikkei 225 benchmark index soared 5.5 percent in morning trading on Monday, while South Korea's Kospi jumped as much as 5.7 percent. Taiwan's Taiex climbed as much as 2.7 percent, while the ASX200 in Australia rose about 1.5 percent. The Impact on Oil Prices Brent crude, the primary benchmark for global oil prices, fell about 4.5 percent to below $83.40 per barrel. The fall in oil prices will provide some relief for central banks around the world who were worried about the inflation outlook. The Details of the Agreement US President Donald Trump announced the completion of a “deal” with Iran in a social media post on Sunday, saying he had “authorised” the toll-free reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and the immediate removal of the US naval blockade of Iranian ports. Iran's Supreme National Security Council later confirmed that the sides had finalised the wording of a “memorandum of understanding”. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, whose government helped broker the deal, said an official signing ceremony would take place in Switzerland on Friday. The Challenges Ahead Despite the deal, it is expected to take months for global energy flows to fully return to normal, due to the logistical challenges of clearing the backlog of vessels in the Gulf and concerns about Iranian naval mines. Thousands of ships remained trapped in and around the waterway, and it could take “many months” for energy supplies to return to normal. The Future Outlook The agreement would pave the way for a return to normal shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, whose closure due to Iranian threats and attacks, as well as the US naval blockade, has roiled global energy markets for nearly four months. However, experts predict that it would take “over a year” for normality to return, and it is hard to be enthusiastic about the deal with so few details.

The AI ROI Conundrum Enterprises are still struggling to determine the return on investment (ROI) for their AI initiatives. This challenge was highlighted by the rapid adoption of AI usage earlier this year, which has since slowed down as companies face budget constraints and difficulties in measuring the effectiveness of their AI investments. The Hype and Reality of AI Adoption The trend of 'tokenmaxxing' was briefly popular in Silicon Valley, with CEOs pushing employees to maximize AI usage. However, this enthusiasm was short-lived, as companies like Uber reportedly exhausted their annual AI budgets in just a few months. Some organizations even cut back on their AI licenses, and Meta discontinued its internal leaderboard. Expert Insights from NEA's Tiffany Luck NEA partner Tiffany Luck, who has experience convincing companies of the potential of e-commerce, is now focused on AI, particularly in the consumer business. She believes AI can create 'magic moments' and joins Rebecca Bellan on TechCrunch's Equity podcast to discuss the future of personal agents, AI IPOs, and how startups are helping enterprises track AI ROI. The Role of Startups in AI ROI Tracking As enterprises struggle to measure the effectiveness of their AI investments, startups are stepping in to offer solutions. These startups aim to help companies track their return on AI spend, providing valuable insights and tools to optimize AI adoption. The Future of AI and Personal Agents Luck shares her thoughts on the future of AI, including the potential for personal agents and the impact of AI on the consumer business. Her insights provide valuable perspectives on the evolving AI landscape and the opportunities that lie ahead.

The Debutant Duo England's new-look team, with several debutants, kept New Zealand in check on the first day of the second Test match at the Oval. The team changes were triggered by the turmoil surrounding Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson's late-night incident at the Rex Rooms in Chelsea. England's Bold Selection England followed a Test win by picking three debutants - Jordan Cox, Sonny Baker, and James Rew - for the first time since 1958 against New Zealand at Old Trafford. The team also saw returns for Jofra Archer and Matthew Fisher, while Joe Root captained the side. Sonny Baker's Impact Sonny Baker, a 23-year-old fast bowler from Hampshire, made an immediate impact by picking up two crucial wickets as New Zealand reached 291 for seven by the close. He dismissed Rachin Ravindra and Daryl Mitchell, showcasing his slippery pace and enthusiasm. Jacob Bethell Shines Jacob Bethell, a left-arm tweaker, accounted for Tom Blundell and Nathan Smith in the final hour, providing a significant breakthrough for England. His wickets, along with Archer's fiery spell, restricted New Zealand's progress. The Road Ahead The second wicket produced one of two excellent catches by Bethell at gully, while Archer's comeback was impressive. England's team composition for the third Test at Trent Bridge next week remains uncertain, with several players vying for spots.