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Arsenal survives tense Sporting stalemate to reach Champions League semis

Arsenal reached the Champions League semifinals after riding their luck in a nervous goalless draw against Sporting Lisbon that clinched a 1-0 aggregate victory on Wednesday.

Mikel Arteta’s team were well below their best in the quarterfinal second leg at the Emirates Stadium. But they held onto their slender first-leg advantage as Sporting failed to make them pay for the latest in a growing list of angst-ridden performances.

The Gunners will face Atletico Madrid for a place in the final after the Spanish club went through 3-2 on aggregate against Barcelona on Tuesday.

Arsenal crushed Atletico 4-0 in the group stage at the Emirates in October, but they will have to improve significantly to reach the final for the first time since 2006.

Arsenal have reached the Champions semifinals in two consecutive seasons for the first time in their history. Yet after losing three of their last five games in all competitions and winning just once, they remain a puzzling side in the midst an untimely stumble.

Arteta had challenged Arsenal to play with “pure fire” and “zero fear” in an unusually passionate press conference on Tuesday. The response was hardly emphatic as Arsenal quickly retreated into their shell in another display lacking cohesion and quality in the final third.

Arsenal haven’t lifted the Premier League since 2004 and have never won the Champions League. The Premier League leaders are on course to achieve both targets, but the flaws in Arteta’s side have become increasingly clear in recent weeks.

Losing the League Cup final against Manchester City and the FA Cup quarterfinal against second-tier Southampton was bad enough. But a shock 2-1 home defeat against Bournemouth in the Premier League on Saturday left Arteta facing pointed questions about Arsenal’s character that remain unanswered.

Arsenal are just six points ahead of second-placed City, who have a game in hand and host the Gunners in a seismic showdown on Sunday.

The north Londoners have finished Premier League runners-up for the past three seasons — twice blowing substantial leads to City in 2023 and 2024 — and the nerves are mounting.

Responding to Arteta’s call for a fiery performance, Arsenal pressed furiously in the opening 10 minutes but couldn’t make the breakthrough.

Once that initial assault petered out, Arsenal wobbled at the back and William Saliba’s wayward pass led to Francisco Trincao curling wide from the edge of the area.

Former Sporting striker Viktor Gyokeres has endured an erratic debut season with Arsenal and once again he struggled to make an impact.

Gyokeres had only one serious sight of goal after a burst into the Sporting six-yard box, but he didn’t get his shot off in time and Goncalo Inacio’s tackle snuffed out the danger.

Without the injured Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard, Arsenal were too often slow and unambitious in attack.

They grew increasingly edgy in a first half played out to a soundtrack of anxious groans from their frustrated fans.

Gunners ‘keeper David Raya nearly gifted Sporting a goal with a woeful pass that was intercepted by Trincao, whose miscued attempt to find Luis Suarez in the penalty area let Arsenal off the hook.

Geny Catamo was inches away from punishing Arsenal’s lethargy when he volleyed against the far post from an acute angle just before half-time.

Eberechi Eze’s drive whistled narrowly wide after the interval, before Gabriel Martinelli blasted just over and Noni Madueke shot into the side-netting.

Arteta responded by sending on Kai Havertz for Gyokeres, while Max Dowman replaced the injured Madueke.

Sporting appealed in vain for a penalty after Cristhian Mosquera’s slight push on Maxi Araujo. Arsenal were creaking but they held firm as Arteta breathed a sigh of relief.

In Munich, late strikes from Luis Diaz and Michael Olise sealed a dramatic 4–3 win for Bayern Munich over Real Madrid on Wednesday, clinching a 6–4 aggregate victory and setting up a semifinal with holders Paris Saint-Germain.

The tie was level at the break in the second leg after a scintillating opening half, with record 15-time European champions Real going ahead three times on the night.

Bayern won 2-1 last week in the Spanish capital, but Arda Guler pounced on a loose Manuel Neuer pass to put the visitors ahead after just 34 seconds at the Allianz Arena. He scored again from a free-kick after Aleksandar Pavlovic equalised.

Harry Kane put Bayern back ahead in the tie only for Kylian Mbappe to restore parity overall when he put Madrid 3-2 up before half-time.

Eduardo Camavinga was sent off for a second yellow card with four minutes left and Bayern pushed forward, Diaz blasting into the corner from outside the box after a crucial deflection.

With Real pressing for an equaliser, Olise curled in a magnificent shot to rubberstamp Bayern’s ticket to the last four and keep alive their quest for a seventh European crown. They will head to Luis Enrique’s PSG at the end of the month.

Tempers boiled over after the final whistle with Guler picking up a straight red for confronting the referee.

“We got off to a bad start, and then conceded again through a free-kick and a counter. The first half was hectic,” Joshua Kimmich told DAZN.

“The second half was calmer, we had more control – and then managed to win it in the end. It wasn’t our best performance, but we’ll take the win.

“The two best teams in Europe will face each other. We had many top level games against Paris in recent years. I’m looking forward to it.”

The defeat for Real effectively ended their season as they look set to finish without a major trophy for the second year running. Barcelona hold a nine-point lead in La Liga and Real suffered a shock last-16 exit in the Copa del Rey.

“I feel for them (the players), for the effort they made. It hurts,” coach Alvaro Arbeloa told Movistar. “I’m very proud. We’re going back to Madrid after giving it our all.”

For the first time in Real’s long Champions League history, their starting XI did not contain a single Spanish player. Jude Bellingham, who impressed off the bench in the first leg, was one of four changes to the line-up made by Arbeloa.

Neuer, widely lauded after a vintage performance in Madrid, gifted Real an opener. The Bayern goalkeeper miscued a pass directly to Guler, who floated a first-touch shot into the unguarded goal in the first minute.

Bayern looked stunned but struck back almost immediately when Pavlovic headed in a Kimmich corner after Real goalkeeper Andriy Lunin failed to read the flight of the ball.

The match had barely time to settle before Real were ahead once more thanks to a Guler goal, with Neuer again not at his best.

The Turkey international whipped a free-kick into the top corner which Neuer got a hand to but was unable to keep out.

The match continued to swing back and forth before the break, as Kane struck first before Mbappe responded by getting himself on the scoresheet.

Kane slotted clinically into the bottom corner in the 38th minute to again haul Bayern level on the night — and ahead in the tie — before Mbappe ran onto a Vinicius Junior pass and slotted home to level the tie 4-4 on aggregate.

With Real regularly cutting into Bayern’s high line, coach Vincent Kompany responded by introducing the pace of Alphonso Davies at the interval.

Both sides traded chances in the second half, with Olise particularly dangerous, forcing a fingertip save from Lunin with 20 minutes left.

Camavinga came on midway through the half but picked up two yellow cards in quick succession to leave his team a man down in the closing stages.

It proved a turning point as Bayern struck three minutes later when Diaz’s effort took a touch off Eder Militao and flashed beyond Lunin.

Olise made certain of Bayern’s progress deep into stoppage time as the German giants took down Real in a knockout clash for the first time since 2012. (JapanToday)

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Lionel Messi accused of breaching $7 million contract by sitting out a Florida soccer friendly

Lionel Messi is being sued by a Miami-based event promoter who says the soccer icon violated terms of a $7 million contract by missing an exhibition match last year.

Vid Music Group filed the lawsuit for fraud and breach of contract against Messi and the Argentine Football Association in Miami-Dade circuit court last month, according to court records.

Messi and the AFA didn’t immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

Considered one of the greatest soccer players ever, Messi appears with both his Major League Soccer club Inter Miami and Argentina’s national team, and fans routinely pay much higher prices for the chance to see him play.

According to the lawsuit, Vid signed a deal with the AFA last summer for exclusive rights to organize and promote Argentina’s friendlies last October against Venezuela and Puerto Rico in exchange for ticket, broadcast and sponsorship revenue. Vid claims that Messi was supposed to play for at least 30 minutes in each match, unless he was injured.

The 38-year-old Messi watched Argentina’s 1-0 win against Venezuela on Oct. 10 from a suite at South Florida’s Hard Rock Stadium, according to the lawsuit.

The next day, Messi scored two goals in Inter Miami’s 4-0 MLS win over Atlanta. That match was important to Inter Miami, since it gave them home-field advantage for Round 1 of the playoffs.

Then, on Oct. 14, Messi played in Argentina’s 6-0 win over Puerto Rico. That game was originally supposed to take place in Chicago, but low ticket sales in the city where Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were making more than 1,000 arrests led organizers to move the game to Florida. AFA blamed the immigration crackdowns when the smaller venue in Fort Lauderdale didn’t sell out, even after ticket prices were reduced to $25 each.

Vid hasn’t specified damages they’re seeking in the lawsuit, but they claim they lost millions between Messi failing to appear in one game and low ticket sales at the other. (JapanToday)

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Trump turns on Meloni; says he is ‘shocked’ by Italian leader


Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni lacks courage and has let Washington down, U.S. President Donald Trump told an Italian newspaper on Tuesday, delivering a ‌blunt public rebuke to one of his closest European allies.

Meloni had been a vociferous supporter of Trump, but she distanced herself from him after he went to war with Iran in February, and on Monday she openly criticized ‌him for lashing out at Pope Leo, saying his verbal assault ⁠was “unacceptable”.

Trump responded in an interview with Corriere della Sera, saying Meloni was “very ⁠different from what I ⁠thought” and denouncing her for refusing to help re-open the Strait of Hormuz, which has ‌been blocked by Iran.

“I’m shocked by her. I thought she had courage. I was wrong,” he was ⁠quoted as saying in the Italian-language article.

The White ⁠House declined to comment on the reported quotes. Meloni’s office also declined to comment, but politicians of all stripes rallied to her defence, including Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, head of the coalition Forza Italia party.

“We are, and will remain, sincere supporters of Western ⁠unity and steadfast allies of the United States, but that unity is built on loyalty, ⁠respect and mutual frankness,” he said, applauding Meloni ‌for denouncing Trump’s attack on the pope.

“On Pope Leo XIV, she said exactly what all of us Italian citizens think,” he added in a statement on X.

Trump’s criticism marked a dramatic change in tone toward Meloni, the only European leader to attend ‌his inauguration in 2025 and whom he had hailed as “a great leader” just one month ago.

On Tuesday he accused her of failing to back U.S. efforts to tackle Iran’s nuclear program and guarantee energy flows through the Gulf, saying she wanted America “to do the job for her.”

Asked about her condemnation of his comments on Pope Leo, he said: “She is the one who is unacceptable, because she does not care whether Iran has a nuclear weapon and would blow Italy up ​in two minutes if it had the chance.”

The reprimand capped a tumultuous month for Meloni, who lost a crunch referendum on judicial reform in March and then saw her ‌political ally Viktor Orban ousted from power in Hungary.

The U.S.-Israeli war in the Gulf threatens to upend the economy with surging energy costs and is hugely unpopular with Italians, putting Meloni on a collision course with Trump.

Seeking to distance ‌herself from the conflict, she refused to let U.S. fighters use an air base in Sicily ⁠for combat operations in Iran last ⁠month and on Tuesday, she suspended a military ​cooperation pact with Israel.

Trump said the surge in energy prices should have encouraged Italy, ⁠which is heavily dependent on ‌oil and gas imports, to help re-open the Strait of Hormuz.

“They pay ​the highest energy costs in the world and are not even ready to fight for the Strait of Hormuz… They depend on Donald Trump to keep it open,” Trump said. (JapanToday)

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Dembele sends PSG past Liverpool into Champions League semis

Ousmane Dembele’s double guided Paris Saint-Germain into the Champions League semifinals as a 2-0 win over Liverpool at Anfield on Tuesday completed a 4-0 aggregate win for the holders.

To compound the English champions’ woes, Hugo Ekitike suffered a serious-looking injury that could end his season and hinder Liverpool’s chances of being back among Europe’s elite next season.

Arne Slot’s men sit fifth in the Premier League and will end the campaign trophyless after being kept at arm’s reach by a PSG side that did not need to be at their brilliant best to reach a third consecutive semifinal.

Defeat means there will be no glorious goodbye for Mohamed Salah after nine memorable years on Merseyside.

Slot showed little sentiment as he dropped the Egyptian to the bench on his final Champions League appearance in red.

Alexander Isak was preferred up front as the most expensive player in Premier League history started for the first time since breaking his leg in December.

However, Salah was forced into action after just half an hour as Ekitike suffered a nasty-looking injury that could ruin his World Cup hopes with France. The former PSG striker crumpled in a heap holding his lower right leg with a suspected ruptured Achilles.

Salah nearly made an immediate impact as from his cross Matvey Safonov made a fine save from Milos Kerkez before Marquinhos produced a remarkable block to deny Virgil van Dijk the opening goal.

PSG had plenty of chances to have put the tie to bed in the Parc des Princes last week and were profligate once more in the first half.

Giorgi Mamardashvili scrambled back towards his line to punch away Dembele’s attempted chip before the Ballon d’Or winner blazed over from close range with just the Georgian to beat.

Slot admitted before kick-off that Isak could only last for 45 minutes due to a lack of match practice and the Swede made way for Cody Gakpo at half-time in a further blow to Liverpool’s firepower up front.

Kerkez had the best chance to set up a grandstand finale when he sliced wide another inviting Salah delivery.

Liverpool thought they had been gifted a lifeline when Alexis Mac Allister was awarded a very generous penalty for minimal contact by Willian Pacho, but VAR intervened to instruct referee Maurizio Mariani to reverse his original decision.

But as Liverpool poured forward in desperation, they became a sitting duck for the rapid PSG counter-attack.

Dembele finally killed the tie off 18 minutes from time when he cut onto his left foot and curled into the bottom corner from outside the box.

The French international then inflicted the final blow with a cool finish from Bradley Barcola’s cross in stoppage time.

PSG will face a tougher test against the in-form Bayern Munich or 15-time winners Real Madrid in the last four.

But after ending the Qatari-backed French champions’ long wait to conquer Europe last season, Luis Enrique’s men remain on course to become the only side other than Madrid to retain the competition in the Champions League era. (JapanToday)

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Man City closes in on Arsenal in Premier League title race with 3-0 win over Chelsea

Manchester City issued a huge statement of intent in the race for the Premier League title with a 3-0 win at Chelsea on Sunday.

Pep Guardiola’s team moved to within six points of leader Arsenal ahead of next weekend’s top of the table clash between the two teams. City also has a game in hand.

Nico O’Reilly, Marc Guehi and Jeremy Doku all scored in a blistering second-half performance at Stamford Bridge as City took full advantage of Arsenal’s shock defeat to Bournemouth on Saturday.

“We know that we still have everything in our hands,” Doku said.

Tottenham’s survival fight took another blow after a 1-0 loss to Sunderland left it rooted in the relegation zone.

In coach Roberto De Zerbi’s first game in charge, Spurs fell to a 16th league loss of the season. Its 14-game winless run in the league dates back to Jan. 1.

Nordi Mukiele’s deflected shot sealed the game at the Stadium of Light and plunged Tottenham’s campaign deeper into crisis.

Tottenham is two points adrift of safety with six games to go. Its plight wasn’t helped by relegation-fighting Nottingham Forest drawing 1-1 with Aston Villa.

Crystal Palace came back from 1-0 down to beat Newcastle 2-1 at Selhurst Park.

While Arsenal’s form has hit a slump at the worst possible time, City made it three statement wins in a row after rolling over Chelsea.

Victory followed triumph against Arsenal in the English League Cup final and the 4-0 rout of Liverpool in the FA Cup last week.

While those three results all came in different competitions, City’s charge has an ominous feel about it after twice chasing down Arsenal’s lead to win the title in 2023 and ’24.

Second-placed City has the chance to cut the gap at the top to three points with victory against Arsenal at the Etihad. Guardiola called for respect for Arsenal when looking ahead to that title showdown.

“They have been the best team in this country, in Europe, so far. Beating Arsenal once is so difficult, imagine beating them twice in a few weeks,” Guardiola said. “I would like to say to my fans — respect Arsenal a lot, they are an extraordinary team. Come to join us from minute one because the players will do the maximum.”

Rayan Cherki was the inspiration at Stamford Bridge — setting up goals for O’Reilly six minutes after halftime and Guehi in the 57th.

Doku rounded off the win in the 68th.

The result didn’t help Chelsea’s bid to qualify for the Champions League, leaving it four points behind fifth-placed Liverpool.

Liam Rosenior’s team has won just one of its last seven league games.

Now on its third coach of the season, it’s more than three months since its last league win and just one point from a possible 24. This was a seventh defeat in eight games.

If the hope was that De Zerbi would provide an immediate bounce in form after replacing Igor Tudor, it didn’t come in a typically toothless display at Sunderland.

While the new coach could point to bad luck, given the nature of Mukiele’s 61st-minute winner, which took a wicked deflection off Micky van de Ven, his team rarely looked like finding a way back into the match — even during 11 minutes of added time at the end.

An injury to Cristian Romero made a bad day worse for Spurs, which next faces Brighton, one of De Zerbi’s former clubs.

Forest moved three points clear of Spurs after a draw at the City Ground. Neco Williams’ long-range shot leveled the game after a Murillo own-goal gave Villa the lead. (JapanToday)

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Sinner beats Alcaraz to win Monte Carlo Masters

Jannik Sinner beat Carlos Alcaraz in straight sets to win the Monte Carlo Masters for the first time on Sunday and reclaim the world number one ranking from his Spanish rival.

Sinner downed Alcaraz 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 to capture his third ATP 1000 title of the year after completing the “Sunshine Double” last month with victories in Indian Wells and Miami.

The 24-year-old Sinner joins Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal as only the third player to win four successive ATP 1000 titles. He also triumphed in Paris at the end of last season.

“We came here trying to get as many matches as possible, getting good feedback before other big tournaments coming up. Today was a high level from both of us,” Sinner said. “It was a bit windy, a bit breezy. Different conditions from what the tournament has brought. The result is amazing.

“Getting back to No. 1 means a lot for me… I am very happy to win a big title on this surface, I haven’t done it before.”

It was the first meeting between Sinner and Alcaraz since the Italian prevailed at the ATP Finals in November. Sinner, who is now 7-10 in his career against Alcaraz, will return to the top of the rankings on Monday.

He has won his last 17 matches and becomes the first man since Djokovic in 2015 to win the first three ATP 1000 titles of the season.

“It is impressive what you are achieving right now,” Alcaraz said to Sinner during the trophy ceremony. “Just one man had won the ‘Sunshine Double’ and Monte Carlo and you are the second.”

Alcaraz had won his past 17 matches on clay, dating back to last season when he lifted titles in Rome and at Roland Garros.

He admitted Sinner performed better when it mattered most on Sunday.

“I would say that the important moments, the important points, I didn’t play well. I think I had so much opportunities in the match that I didn’t take,” said Alcaraz.

Alcaraz jumped out to a 2-0 lead when Sinner pushed a forehand long in blustery conditions, but the Italian broke back in the following game as he gradually found his rhythm.

The Spaniard fought off a break point in the fifth game and three more at 4-4, but Sinner’s greater consistency paid off in the tie-break, which he secured when Alcaraz hit a double fault down set point.

Alcaraz won a sensational rally to break Sinner’s serve early in the second set, but the second seed continued to pile pressure on his opponent and rallied from 3-1 down, taking the last five games to clinch the biggest clay-court title of his career.

“It was an incredible week,” said Sinner, pleased with the smooth transition he made from hard courts.

“I am surprised in a very good way. I guess I still need a little bit of time to realise what happened.”

Sinner has hinted he might skip the Madrid Open, where he has no points to defend after missing last year’s tournament while serving a three-month doping ban, to focus on his main goal of winning the French Open.

He held three championship points in an epic 2025 Roland Garros final but was unable to convert as Alcaraz mounted a miraculous comeback – though Sinner looks primed for another title challenge.

“I think he’s reaching a level on clay that is going to be really dangerous for everybody,” said Alcaraz.

Alcaraz will head to Barcelona next week and intends to play a full clay season, health permitting, after injury forced him out of Madrid 12 months ago.

“I hear my body much better than last year, for sure,” said Alcaraz. “If my body stays healthy, I’m going to do whatever it takes to be healthy and take care of my body. If I don’t have any problems, I will play everything on clay.” (JapanToday)

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McIlroy makes major warning after Masters triumph

Rory McIlroy joined more elite company Sunday at the Masters when he pulled away with a pair of birdies around Amen Corner and, as usual, saved a little drama for the end before taking his place in Augusta National history as only the fourth back-to-back champion.

In a final round where three players had a two-shot lead, McIlroy seized control for good with a bold shot over Rae’s Creek to 7 feet for birdie on the par-3 12th. Then he blistered a 350-yard drive on the par-5 13th that set up another birdie to move three shots ahead.

There were a few dicey moments, including a shot over the par-3 16th green that required him to use the slope to get in close for par, and a wild drive on the 18th that wound up closer to the 10th fairway. He tapped in for bogey and a 1-under 71 for a one-shot victory over Scottie Scheffler.

A year ago, his playoff victory over Justin Rose made McIlroy only the sixth player with the career Grand Slam. With another green jacket, McIlroy joined Tiger Woods, Nick Faldo and Jack Nicklaus as the only repeat winners of the Masters.

“A few guys made a run, but nothing like Justin last year with that 66,” McIlroy said. “Some good play by me and fortunately some guys didn’t come after me this year.”

McIlroy stood tall when he tapped in the final putt to finish at 12-under 276. There was no relief like last year of going 17 years trying to win the Masters. This was pure joy.

It was more heartache for Rose, and frustration for the others who had a chance.

Rose had a two-shot lead that evaporated around Amen Corner with two bogeys and a three-putt par. He couldn’t make up enough ground the rest of the way and had to settle for a third close call at the Masters.

Cameron Young lost his two-shot lead much earlier with a long three-putt bogey on the par-3 sixth and taking bogey on the next hole when he hit wedge from the fairway into a bunker. One shot behind going to the back nine, Young closed with nine straight pars.

As for Scheffler, the world’s No. 1 player was in position to shatter the Masters record with the largest 36-hole comeback in history. He was 12 behind going into the weekend. He was two shots behind as he approached the turn. But he ran off 11 straight pars — that wasn’t going to cut it during a final round with accessible pins to create excitement.

Scheffler had to settle for his third runner-up finish in the majors to go along with four titles. His 65-68 weekend made him the first player since 1942 to go bogey-free on the weekend at Augusta.

“I put up a good fight in order to give myself a chance,” Scheffler said.

Rose, at age 45 trying to become the second-oldest Masters champion behind Jack Nicklaus (46) in 1986, made it feel as though this was going to be his time. He made a most improbable birdie with a shot out of the trees to a foot on the seventh. That was the start of three straight birdies to close out the front nine and give him the lead.

But his approach to the 11th was well to the right and he failed to save par. His tee shot on the 12th was long, and his delicate chip didn’t reach the green, leading to another bogey. And then his 30-foot eagle putt on the par-5 13th ran 8 feet by the hole and he missed the birdie putt.

“Chance that got away,” Rose said. “I was by no means free and clear and was nowhere kind of close to having the job done, but I was right in position. … I was really in control. And the mentality was to run through the finish line, not just try and get it done.

“I was playing great, but just momentum shifted for me around the Amen Corner.”

At the end it was a now familiar champion, McIlroy, once tormented by his chase for the green jacket and now a two-time winner whose love for the Masters only deepens.

He was so ecstatic a year ago that he asked the media when it was over, “What are we going to talk about next year?” Now the topic is easy. No one has ever won three in a row. (JapanToday)

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Hungarian Prime Minister Orban concedes defeat after 16 years in power

Hungarian voters on Sunday ousted long-serving Prime Minister Viktor Orban after 16 years in power, rejecting the authoritarian policies and global far-right movement that he embodied in favor of a pro-European challenger in a bombshell election result with global repercussions.

Election victor Péter Magyar, a former Orbán loyalist who campaigned against corruption and on everyday issues like health care and public transport, has pledged to rebuild Hungary’s relationships with the European Union and NATO — ties that frayed under Orban. European leaders quickly congratulated Magyar.

It’s not yet clear whether Magyar’s Tisza party will have the two-thirds majority in parliament to govern without a coalition. With 77% of the vote counted, it had more than 53% support to 38% for Orban’s governing Fidesz party.

It’s a stunning blow for Orban, a close ally of both U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Orban conceded defeat after what he called a ″painful″ election result.

“I congratulated the victorious party,″ Orban told followers. “We are going to serve the Hungarian nation and our homeland from opposition,″ he said.

‘’Thank you, Hungary!” Magyar posted on X, as thousands of his supporters thronged the banks of the Danube in Budapest, chanting “We got it! We did it!”

Orban, the EU’s longest-serving leader and one of its biggest antagonists, who has traveled a long road from his early days as a liberal, anti-Soviet firebrand to the Russia-friendly nationalist admired today by the global far-right.

Turnout by 6:30 p.m. was over 77%, according to the National Election Office, a record number in any election in Hungary’s post-Communist history.

The parties of both Orban and Magyar said they had received reports of electoral violations, suggesting some results could be disputed by both sides.

“I’m asking our supporters and all Hungarians: Let’s stay peaceful, cheerful, and if the results confirm our expectations, let’s throw a big, Hungarian carnival,” Magyar said.

Mark Radnai, Tisza’s vice president, also called for reconciliation after a tense campaign. “We can’t be each other’s enemies. Reach out, hug your neighbors, your relatives. It’s the day of reunification.”

The EU will be waiting to see what Magyar does about Ukraine. Orban repeatedly frustrated EU efforts to support Ukraine in its war against Russia’s full-scale invasion, while cultivating close ties to Putin and refusing to end Hungary’s dependence on Russian energy imports.

Recent revelations have shown a top member of Orban’s government frequently shared the contents of EU discussions with Moscow, raising accusations that Hungary was acting on Russia’s behalf within the bloc.

Orban occupied an outsized role in far-right populist politics worldwide.

Members of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement are among those who see Orban’s government and his Fidesz political party as shining examples of conservative, anti-globalist politics in action, while he is reviled by advocates of liberal democracy and the rule of law.

Casting his ballot in Budapest, Marcell Mehringer, 21, said he was voting “primarily so that Hungary will finally be a so-called European country, and so that young people, and really everyone, will do their fundamental civic duty to unite this nation a bit and to break down these boundaries borne of hatred.”

During his 16 years as prime minister, Orban launched harsh crackdowns on minority rights and media freedoms, subverted many of Hungary’s institutions and been accused of siphoning large sums of money into the coffers of his allied business elite, an allegation he denies.

He also heavily strained Hungary’s relationship with the EU. Although Hungary is one of the smaller EU countries, with a population of 9.5 million, Orban has repeatedly used his veto to block decisions that require unanimity.

Most recently, he blocked a 90-billion euro ($104 billion) EU loan to Ukraine, prompting his partners to accuse him of hijacking the critical aid.

Magyar, 45, rapidly rose to become Orban’s most serious challenger.

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Italian PM condemns ally Trump over ‘unacceptable’ Pope criticism

Donald Trump’s remarks about Pope Leo XIV were “unacceptable”, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has said.

The US president accused the pontiff of being “WEAK on Crime and terrible for Foreign Policy” in a long Truth Social post, later telling reporters he was “not a big fan”.

“The Pope is the head of the Catholic Church, and it is right and normal for him to call for peace and to condemn every form of war,” Meloni said in a statement.

Meloni, who is a Catholic and heads a right-wing coalition government, is a close ally of Trump and had so far been reluctant to condemn the US president’s harsh criticism of Pope Leo.

Italian opposition parties have criticised Meloni for failing to speak out promptly.

Her coalition partner Matteo Salvini, the leader of the populist League party, said that “attacking the Pope… doesn’t seem like a useful or intelligent thing to do.”

After Trump’s remarks, the Pope told reporters en route to Algeria that he did not want to get into a debate with Trump but would continue to promote peace.

Pope Leo has said he has “no fear” of the Trump administration and will continue to speak out against war after the US president launched an unusual and scathing attack over his stance on the Iran conflict.

He has been a staunch critic of the Iran war, calling Trump’s threat to destroy Iranian civilisation “unacceptable” and calling for him to find an “off-ramp” to end the conflict.

On Monday, Trump doubled down on his criticism, saying he would not apologise to the “very weak” Pope.

In general, it is rare for a Pope to directly address statements by world leaders.

There are more than 70 million Catholics in the US, about 20% of the population. They include Trump’s Vice-President JD Vance.

Trump’s comments came as the pontiff embarked on an 11-day trip to Africa, his second major foreign trip since being elected last year.

The US president wrote in Sunday’s post that the Pope “should get his act together” and said he was “weak on nuclear weapons”, apparently referring to Tehran’s attempts to become a nuclear power, cited as one of the reasons for the US and Israel going to war with Iran.

He also suggested that the pontiff was elected “because he was American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J Trump”.

“If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican.”

Asked by reporters to explain the post, he later said: “I don’t think he’s doing a very good job, he likes crime, I guess.”

Trump added: “He’s a very liberal person, and he’s a man who doesn’t believe in stopping crime, he’s a man who doesn’t believe we should be toying with a country that wants a nuclear weapon so they can blow up the world.”

In response, the Pope told reporters on board his plane to Algiers that he did not see his role as that of a politician but as one of spreading the message of peace.

“I have no fear of the Trump administration, or speaking out loudly of the message of the gospel, which is what I believe I am here to do, what the Church is here to do,” he told reporters.

“I don’t want to get into a debate with [Trump],” he added. (BBC)

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Splashdown of Artemis II concludes 10-day moon mission

The Artemis II capsule and its four-member crew streaked through Earth’s atmosphere and safely splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on Friday after nearly 10 days in space, capping the first voyage by humans to the moon in over half a century.

NASA’s gumdrop-shaped Orion capsule, dubbed Integrity, ‌parachuted gently into calm seas off the southern California coast shortly after 5 p.m. PT, concluding a mission that took the astronauts deeper into space than anyone had flown before.

The Artemis II flight, traveling a total of 694,392 miles (1,117,515 km) across two Earth orbits and a climactic lunar flyby some 252,000 miles away, was the debut crewed test flight in a series of Artemis missions that aim to return astronauts to the ‌lunar surface starting in 2028.

The splashdown, about two hours before sunset, was carried by live video feed in a NASA webcast. “A ⁠perfect bull’s eye splashdown for Integrity and its four astronauts,” NASA commentator Rob Navias said moments after the landing.

Recovery teams were standing by ⁠to secure the floating capsule and retrieve ⁠the crew – U.S. astronauts Reid Wiseman, 50, Victor Glover, 49, and Christina Koch, 47, along with Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, 50.

“We got a great view of the moon out window ‌2 – looks a little smaller than yesterday,” Wiseman, mission commander, radioed to mission control in Houston minutes before the crew dove into Earth’s atmosphere.

“Guess we’ll have to go back,” mission control ⁠replied.

The crew’s homecoming cleared a critical final hurdle for the Lockheed Martin-built Orion spacecraft, proving it would ⁠withstand the extreme forces of re-entry from a lunar-return trajectory.

It followed a white-knuckle, 13-minute fiery plunge through Earth’s atmosphere, generating frictional heat that sent temperatures on the capsule’s exterior soaring to some 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,760 degrees Celsius).

At the peak of re-entry stress, as expected, intense heat and air compression formed a red-hot sheath of ionized gas, or plasma, that engulfed the capsule, cutting off radio communications with the crew for several minutes.

The tension broke as contact was re-established and two sets ⁠of parachutes were seen billowing from the nose of the free-falling capsule, slowing its descent to about 15 mph (25 kph) before Orion gently hit the water.

It was expected to take ⁠NASA and U.S. Navy teams about an hour to secure the floating ‌capsule, assist the four astronauts out of the vehicle, hoist them into helicopters hovering overhead and fly them to a nearby Navy ship, the USS John P. Murtha, to undergo an initial medical checkup.

The crew was expected to spend the night aboard the vessel and be flown on Saturday to Houston, where they would be reunited with family.