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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favorite tales on this weekly e-newsletter.

Australian athletes achieved a file gold medal haul on the Paris Olympics however their success has been overshadowed by the exploits of an unsuccessful breakdancer. 

Rachael “Raygun” Gunn, a college lecturer from Sydney, represented Australia within the breaking competitors in Paris with a routine that included mimicking a hopping kangaroo and imitating a sprinkler however did not earn any votes from the judges.

So nice was the mockery on social media and the backlash in Australia that some questioned her choice for the game, which featured for the primary time on the Olympics.

Megan Davis, a high-profile Australian educational and sports activities administrator, instructed on social media that the street-dancing professor’s poor efficiency was a part of Gunn’s educational examine. A petition questioning her choice, which additionally criticised Australia’s Paris Olympics chief Anna Meares, gathered greater than 50,000 signatures.

The Australian Olympic Committee described the claims as “vexatious, deceptive and bullying”. It stated Gunn was chosen after successful an Oceania occasion in 2023 that was carried out below the Olympic qualification system with 9 unbiased worldwide judges presiding over the competition. Breakers from Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Papua New Guinea competed.

“The petition has stirred up public hatred with none factual foundation. It’s appalling. No athlete who has represented their nation on the Olympic Video games ought to be handled on this means,” stated Matt Carroll, chief government of the AOC, which flagged the petition for misinformation in regards to the choice course of. It was eliminated on Friday. 

Gunn denied that her routine was a mockery of the game. “I did take it very significantly,” she stated in an Instagram video on Thursday, including that the torrent of on-line abuse had been “fairly devastating”.

The arguments over “Raygun” come as Australia has invested closely in rising sports activities.

Australia received 18 gold medals in Paris, a file quantity that positioned it fourth within the desk behind the US, China and Japan. The nation’s haul of 53 medals was its second-best tally, after its efficiency at its dwelling Video games in 2000.

Australian athletes received medals in Paris for swimming and crusing, sports activities through which the nation has historically carried out effectively. Nevertheless it additionally received gold medals for lately launched sports activities, together with BMX bike driving and skateboarding.

“By way of the economics of sport, this has paid off,” stated Tim Harcourt, chief economist on the Centre for Sport, Enterprise and Society on the College of Know-how Sydney, pointing to the funding in sporting amenities within the nation and the success of its athletes in Paris.

Anthony Albanese, Australia’s prime minister, praised Gunn this week for “having a go”, which he stated was within the spirit each of Australian tradition and Olympic sport.

Meares, a former gold medal-winning bicycle owner, described on-line assaults on Gunn as misogynistic and an echo of the discrimination feminine athletes used to face. She advised reporters that it had taken “nice braveness” from Gunn to take part in a sport that had lately been dominated by males.

Christopher Luxon, New Zealand’s prime minister, described Gunn as “superior” throughout a speech on the Lowy Institute in Sydney on Thursday.

“When you consider New Zealand and Australia’s contributions, you had the long-lasting [wildlife conservationist] Steve Irwin, we had the nice Kiwi suffragist Kate Sheppard and now you could have gifted the world Raygun,” he stated throughout a dialog centred on worldwide relations.

As an in a single day sensation, Gunn, a lecturer in cultural research at Macquarie College whose PhD was entitled “Deterritorialising Gender in Sydney’s Breakdancing Scene”, would most likely have a profitable profession consequently, Harcourt stated.

“Her lectures will probably be packed. She’s now the best-known professor of cultural research on the earth,” he stated. 

He in contrast her to Steven Bradbury who received Australia’s first gold medal on the Winter Olympics in 2002 when all his opponents within the velocity skating ultimate crashed in entrance of him.

“I grew up with Reaganomics however that is new. That is Raygunomics,” Harcourt stated.

Epic Video games at present formally launched a rival app retailer for iOS within the European Union, marking the primary time Apple’s personal App Retailer has needed to face a severe rival. The Epic Video games Retailer will initially supply Epic’s video games, together with Fortnite, for customers to obtain onto their iPhones, with plans to start out onboarding third-party builders’ video games starting in December.

The launch, essentially the most dramatic final result of a sequence of latest EU tech guidelines handed during the last 12 months, imports the long-standing rivalry between Epic and Apple onto European soil. Epic says its app retailer will take a most 12 p.c fee on gross sales, undercutting Apple’s App Retailer, the place charges can attain as much as 30 p.c. The Epic Video games Retailer, says Max von Thun, Europe director on the Open Markets Institute, has “an excellent probability at taking a chunky chew out of Apple’s extremely profitable app retailer enterprise.”

Chatting with reporters on Wednesday, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney hailed the arrival of the Epic Video games Retailer to iOS as a strategy to repair the “largely damaged” cellular gaming business. “Competitors wouldn’t crush Apple’s App Retailer,” he stated. “It could power Apple to compete with higher costs and with higher options and higher promotions and higher advertising and marketing offers and fewer promoting.”

Epic is making use of a brand new EU regulation generally known as the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which forces tech giants to make modifications to present rivals extra entry to their carefully guarded communities of customers. In Apple’s case, meaning the corporate has to permit various app shops onto European units.

“The European instance exhibits that this sort of regulation can have tooth and may succeed,” Sweeney stated, including that this generally is a template for different regulators. Apple has modified its enterprise phrases for European builders 4 instances this 12 months because it makes an attempt to dodge EU fines for failing to adjust to the DMA—penalties that would quantity to as much as 10 p.c of Apple’s international income—whereas implying that various app shops are a safety catastrophe ready to occur.

To others, the arrival of the Epic Video games Retailer on iOS is an indication that the EU can power tech giants to alter. “The choice app retailer may grow to be essentially the most seen means for exhibiting how competitors can work,” Andreas Schwab, a member of the European Parliament who helped draft the DMA, tells WIRED. Various app shops show “the DMA can stimulate competitors and thereby deliver down costs for customers,” Schwab provides.

The Epic improvement is a blow to Apple’s hegemony in iOS apps. Sixteen years in the past, the corporate launched its App Retailer market, described by WIRED on the time as a “defining second within the historical past of private computing.” Apple grew that enterprise to generate $1.1 trillion in gross sales in 2022; it’s now one of many firm’s essential drivers of income.

But through the years, the builders making iOS apps slowly began to show towards the corporate. First, builders grated towards the fee—30 p.c at its peak—that Apple took from some in-app funds. There have been the privateness modifications—particularly the “Ask App Not To Observe” possibility, which reduce into apps’ promoting income, translating to an estimated $12 billion hit to Fb alone. Lastly, there have been the foundations about what builders may and couldn’t undergo the app retailer. App updates that included hyperlinks to the corporate’s web site, for instance, weren’t allowed.

Respectful disagreement is why we now have a fantasy soccer sport, and it is a massive supply of summer season debate. Right now’s project is to determine some gamers the market appears to be in sharp battle with and provide the instruments to make your personal choice.

It is irrespective of if you happen to agree or disagree with my conclusions; you are the GM of your roster and you already know your league finest.

Take heed to everybody you respect, however definitely make your personal ultimate choices.

I do not know any pundits who’re down on Richardson, however some analysts are taking Richardson to the moon in the summertime draft season. Esteemed colleague Dalton Del Don ranks Richardson as his No. 1 quarterback, and Lawrence Jackson of NBC/Rotoworld, one other author I respect, just lately took Richardson first general in an trade Superflex draft.

I notice Richardson hyperlinks with head coach Shane Steichen, some of the admired play-callers round. I additionally notice Richardson did some enjoyable stuff final 12 months earlier than getting harm. However we’re additionally speaking a couple of participant with 4 video games of NFL expertise, on the heels of a quick and erratic Florida profession that included a mere 393 move makes an attempt.

Pianow Verdict: I am most likely near trade consensus on Richardson, however I will not be a kind of who draft Richardson at his ceiling. If you wish to goal a younger dual-threat quarterback with an thrilling ceiling, why not wait a couple of rounds and choose Jayden Daniels as an alternative?

Lawrence was seen as a franchise savior all by his Clemson days, but it surely’s been a checkered NFL profession so far. His rookie 12 months was principally tanked by the overmatched City Meyer teaching employees. Lawrence took a step ahead within the subsequent two seasons — charting as QB7 and QB12 — however he is now not the shiny new toy at quarterback and the draft market is not impressed nowadays. Lawrence is at present QB16 in Yahoo ADP.

Pianow Verdict: I believe the timing is correct for Lawrence to have a breakout 12 months, and even when he merely produces like he has the final two seasons, he seems to be like a powerful candidate to beat his ADP. He is quietly develop into a proactive and resourceful runner, and the addition of Brian Thomas Jr. seems to be like an ideal match for this passing sport.

As foolish because it sounds, Lawrence is now a boring-value veteran getting into his age-25 season.

Gibbs made loads of splashy performs as a rookie, scoring 11 instances and averaging 5.2 yards per carry behind Detroit’s excellent offensive line. Gibbs was additionally busy as a receiver (52 catches), although he averaged an atypical 4.5 yards per goal. Together with his status on the rise, he is carrying a 13.2 ADP in Yahoo drafts.

Pianow Verdict: That is one other case the place I believe most analysts just like the participant, however I am reluctant to pay the inflated draft worth. David Montgomery had the identical workload as Gibbs final 12 months (another contact, name it a wash) and figures to carry extra goal-line fairness when the Lions method the scoring space. It is not that Gibbs will not do loads of thrilling issues, however for the place he is being drafted, I might like a heavier shot at quantity. And if you would like a splashy younger participant who may be capped with quantity, why not goal De’Von Achane as an alternative, who lasts a couple of spherical longer?

Heavy receiving quantity propped up Kamara final 12 months, as he secured 75 passes and charted RB11 in half-point PPR leagues. That mentioned, there was leakage from the effectivity facet — Kamara did not have a single run over 20 yards and his per-touch stats and effectivity metrics had been notably lagging. The Saints do not steer simple touchdowns to Kamara, as he is spiked a modest 10 instances in his final 28 video games.

Pianow Verdict: The Saints are projected to have an terrible offensive line and Kamara is headed into his age-29 season; if you mix that with the effectivity hissing out of the balloon, he turns into somebody I might desire to not draft.

If Kamara goes to satisfy his market expectations, he must get a slew of low cost dump-off passes once more. That is doable, particularly when you think about the atypical New Orleans depth behind him. However you already know the rule of thumb — higher to be a 12 months early than a 12 months late. Operating again getting older curves have to be taken severely.

I higher not trip in New Orleans this fall; the nice folks of Bourbon Avenue may dump whiskey on my head (hey, do not threaten me with a superb time). Olave’s first go-round with Derek Carr wasn’t a variety of enjoyable, as his per-opportunity manufacturing dipped and he scored a piddly 5 touchdowns over 16 video games and 138 targets. The one different receivers to fetch 135 targets or extra and endure an identical landing drought had been Garrett Wilson (168 seems to be, three touchdowns) and Michael Pittman (156 targets, 4 touchdowns). Issues are wanting up for Wilson and Pittman, as they will be working with Aaron Rodgers and (a full season of) Anthony Richardson this 12 months. Olave, sadly, is caught with Carr.

Pianow Verdict: I believe Olave is an excellent soccer participant, however after I draft a receiver within the second spherical, I have to be assured in his environment and offensive infrastructure. Perhaps new OC Klint Kubiak can freshen the New Orleans play-calling, however with Carr nonetheless the quarterback, everyone seems to be coping with a capped upside.

Pitts got here into the NFL with glittering credentials, the primary tight finish in league historical past to be drafted with a top-four choice. His first season had loads of yardage however only one landing; since then he is had bother producing wherever on the sphere, sliding again to the TE33 (in 10 video games) and TE13. I’m certain some managers in your league have sworn off Pitts for good, burned badly from the final two disappointing seasons.

Pianow Verdict: Pitts would not flip 24 till October, so his story is much from written. And I’ve no drawback blaming his final two irritating seasons on awful quarterback play and the curious play-calling of departed head coach Arthur Smith. With new quarterback Kirk Cousins and new OC Zac Robinson, Pitts stays a good finish I am completely satisfied to focus on.

I cannot imagine each scout was improper once they praised Pitts to the moon three years in the past.

US online game and software program developer Epic Video games has in the present day (16 August) launched a brand new cell app retailer that may rival Apple’s hegemonic App Retailer.

The Epic Video games Retailer is on the market for obtain on iPhone within the EU and on Android gadgets worldwide. Its launch follows a prolonged authorized spat between Epic and Apple that in the end noticed the latter pressured to permit using app shops aside from its personal on its gadgets.

Epic will initially distribute its personal video games through its retailer however says it’s “working to allow all builders to launch their video games and apps by the Epic Video games Retailer sooner or later.”

The return of Fortnite

The launch additionally signifies that iOS customers can now entry the vastly common online game Fortnite for the primary time in 4 years.

Apple eliminated Fortnite from its App Retailer in 2020 following a dispute with Epic, which objected to having to pay such a big lower of its revenues raised by the shop to Apple and had tried to avoid App Retailer guidelines by providing paid-for in-game content material outdoors of Apple’s ecosystem.

The developer had an identical grievance with Google in relation to its Play Retailer, and it went on to sue each, in the end forcing the choice for Apple to have to permit using different app shops.

Among the many different video games to be initially provided on the Epic Video games Retailer will likely be Fall Guys and Rocket League Sideswipe.

Difficult Apple’s market dominance

Epic has been capable of start to problem Apple’s market dominance because of the EU’s Digital Markets Act, which means that, for the primary time, EU customers can have a substitute for Apple’s App Retailer.

“We’re grateful to the European Fee for making it potential to launch the Epic Video games Retailer and supply our video games to iOS customers within the European Union,” stated Tim Sweeney CEO and founding father of Epic.

GlobalData principal analyst Laura Petrone commented to Verdict: “Plainly the tide is popping towards Apple and Google’s monopoly in app shops in Europe and the US.”

“Not solely is Epic Video games returning to iOS in Europe and Android worldwide, however it is usually accessible on various app shops because of enforcement of the Digital Markets Act.”

Zeroing in on the regulatory panorama, Petrone added: “Epic Video games additionally managed to persuade judges within the US that Google engaged in anticompetitive practices. Google’s defeat in final 12 months’s lawsuit towards Epic Video games dealt a critical blow to Google and its enterprise mannequin in apps. Apple has been charged for a similar practices by the European Fee below the Digital Markets Act and is in negotiation with Brussels to appropriate these practices.”

Whereas there’s progress inside the EU, the regulatory panorama in the remainder of the world nonetheless permits Apple to dam iOS customers from accessing Fortnite and Epic Video games Retailer.

Regardless of that, Petrone asserted that: “The legitimacy of app retailer guidelines on Android and iOS has been considerably weakened.”

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Fortnite is again on cell phones for the primary time in 4 years, after bitter authorized rows received the sport taken off each Android and Apple app shops. 

Now, developer Epic Video games has launched its personal app retailer, making it one of many first third-party shops obtainable on iOS – though UK iPhone customers must wait till subsequent yr to play.

Android customers can get flossing right away, however they’re going to must obtain the brand new Epic Video games Retailer, which additionally accommodates Fall Guys and Rocket League.

The shop’s launch marks the most recent chapter in a long-running battle royale between Epic and the tech giants.

Epic claimed, in plenty of courtroom instances, that each Google and Apple operated anti-competitively.

Fortnite was taken off each shops in 2020 when Epic stopped paying fee for its downloads.

It misplaced a courtroom case in opposition to Apple the place it argued third-party app shops must be allowed on iPhones and different units.

In March, nevertheless, a brand new EU legislation got here into drive which meant that Apple needed to enable different shops for EU units.

Epic Video games desires to deliver the Fortnite app again to UK iPhones in late 2025, based on stories in The Guardian.

A number of steps, complicated machine settings, and scare screens

In a weblog put up asserting the launch, Epic once more criticised Apple and Google over their “anti-competitive” method to app shops.

The corporate additionally accused them of constructing it tougher for customers to entry different app retailer platforms.

“For now, the method of putting in the Epic Video games Retailer on iOS and Android is prolonged as a result of Apple and Google introducing deliberately poor-quality set up experiences laden by a number of steps, complicated machine settings, and scare screens,” mentioned Epic Video games within the weblog put up.

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“We’re persevering with to battle in courts and work with regulators across the globe to eradicate the anti-competitive phrases that Apple and Google impose on builders and customers, so we are able to construct a greater retailer for everybody.”

Google declined to touch upon the launch.

In a press release, Apple mentioned the brand new EU legal guidelines “required us to allow new capabilities for builders within the EU, and we have now labored to make them as straightforward as potential for customers whereas additionally attempting to guard their privateness and safety”.

Tottenham have accomplished the signing of the French winger Wilson Odobert from Burnley on a contract till 2029.

Odobert made 32 appearances and scored 4 objectives for Burnley final season after a transfer from Troyes, however was unable to maintain them within the Premier League. His spectacular performances had seen him linked with a transfer to Ipswich, however Spurs have swooped to signal him for a payment reported by French media to be €37m (£31.5m).

The highly-rated 19-year-old, who scored in Burnley’s Championship victory at Luton on Monday, will put on the No 28 shirt at Spurs. He joins Dominic Solanke, Archie Grey and Lucas Bergvall because the membership’s fourth main summer season arrival and can add depth to Ange Postecoglou’s assault with a Europa League marketing campaign to return this season.

England midfielder Kalvin Phillips has joined Ipswich City on a season-long mortgage from Manchester Metropolis, whereas the promoted facet have additionally secured Blackburn attacker Sammie Szmodics for a reported £9m payment.

Phillips, who has 31 England caps and spent the second half of final season with West Ham, might make his debut in Saturday’s Premier League conflict with Liverpool.

“It is a day I’ve been ready a variety of weeks for now and I’m very completely satisfied to be right here,” Phillips informed the membership web site. “I wish to play as many video games as doable, take pleasure in enjoying soccer once more and assist the staff win as many video games as doable.”

The Ipswich supervisor, Kieran McKenna, stated: “Kalvin has a lot to supply us by way of his qualities each on and off the ball, and he’s a very humble and likeable character. He has been a key member of a promoted staff within the Premier League earlier than, and naturally made an enormous impression for Leeds United throughout that interval.”

Szmodics has signed a four-year contract, after scoring 33 objectives in all competitions for Rovers final season. “It’s each boy’s dream to play within the Premier League and I’ve at all times stated to my pals, household and brokers that I’ll get to the highest sooner or later,” he stated.

“There’s nothing extra I would like than to attain at Portman Highway for Ipswich City,” stated the 28-year-old, who started his profession at hometown membership Colchester earlier than becoming a member of Bristol Metropolis after which Peterborough United. “I’m over the moon to be right here and searching ahead to the season forward.”

Southampton have bolstered their attacking ranks with the signing of Aston Villa striker Cameron Archer for £15m. Archer, 22, made 29 league appearances for Sheffield United final season, scoring 4 objectives, however returned to Villa Park after the Blades have been relegated from the highest flight.

“I simply wish to maintain scoring objectives and enhance myself as a participant, and I don’t suppose there’s a greater place to do this than with Southampton,” Archer informed Saints’ official web site. “I really feel match and prepared, raring to go and get out on the pitch.”

Diego Moreira has left Chelsea to affix accomplice membership Strasbourg on a everlasting foundation. The winger joined the Blues in July 2023 on a free switch from Benfica, however solely featured for the primary staff as soon as, in a Carabao Cup tie in opposition to AFC Wimbledon. After a mortgage spell at Lyon, Moreira scored 5 objectives in 9 video games for Chelsea’ Below-21 facet.

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When will Fortnite be obtainable on UK iPhones?

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It begins in an especially Mission: Inconceivable mould: like the unique 1996 movie of that collection, we start in a European metropolis the place a daring espionage mission goes horribly incorrect and the nice guys get picked off like flies. Led by Halle Berry’s Roxanne and J.Ok. Simmons’ Tom, these good guys are members of the Union, a secret company (“Half the intelligence group don’t know we exist,” claims Roxanne) whose precise mission and function is fuzzy. For a secret company, they certain do shoot quite a lot of weapons, loudly. However this isn’t a movie to get slowed down in particulars.

Then we change to New Jersey. We all know this, as a result of there’s copious quantities of Bruce Springsteen on the soundtrack and Lorraine Bracco has simply appeared. It’s right here we meet Mark Wahlberg’s Mikey, a salt-of-the-earth building employee who enjoys a couple of chilly ones along with his buddies and recreating the ‘Lunch Atop A Skyscraper’ photograph in his spare time.

He’s additionally, it seems, Roxanne’s outdated high-school sweetheart, which is reasonably helpful. As a result of this movie occurs to observe what is called Armageddon Logic: reasonably than get an knowledgeable to do your extremely essential high-risk job, why not rent an unqualified schlub from the College Of Life? It’s by no means satisfactorily defined why Mikey can be recruited for the Union. The reason given — that they “want a no person” so the unhealthy guys can’t monitor him — stops making sense virtually instantly. However, y’know, particulars.

So Mikey heads to London, and his mission — to trace down some type of intelligence MacGuffin, it’s probably not essential — begins. Filmed on location within the UK capital however in some way wanting prefer it was shot in a green-screen studio, our secret brokers determine to maintain a low profile by hanging out within the metropolis’s greatest vacationer spots (Covent Backyard, Piccadilly Circus, Tower Bridge, the Royal Albert Corridor). There are some unintentionally amusing moments for British viewers, together with a deliciously American pronunciation of “Southwark”, and one other cheering Fiona Bruce cameo (with this and David Fincher’s The Killer, the BBC newsreader is turning into an unexpectedly prolific action-movie star).

And so it goes, by means of the motions, following more-or-less precisely the perilous action-comedy path you may count on. As with most of those kinds of movies it feels reasonably designed to be watched within the background, with little consideration for many who would wish to watch one thing within the foreground. There does, admittedly, appear to be a great stage of sensible stunts right here; and there’s a first rate sufficient chemistry between Berry and Wahlberg, who’re fairly seasoned at this type of factor by now. It’s refreshing, too, to replicate that two individuals of their fifties can lead an motion movie so capably. It’s only a disgrace that the top result’s merely, at finest, high quality.