As the planet’s hottest month on record comes to a close, 70 million people are under heat alerts in the US, where areas in the southern plains and Southeast could see record-setting highs of 115 degrees or more.

While the Northeast and mid-Atlantic will get some relief Sunday, heat advisories and excessive heat warnings are widespread across more than 10 states, from Texas to Florida, according to the National Weather Service. The weather service warned heat indexes, which factor in humidity, could soar above 105 to 115 degrees across the southern Plains to the lower Mississippi Valley and the Southeast.

“Record hot highs and warm minimum temperatures are widely possible in these regions next week,” the prediction center added.

The Southwest gets some reprieve from the record-setting heat as high temperatures, though still extremely hot, return to more normal values for this time of year.

Phoenix topped 110 degrees for the 30th day in a row on Saturday, hitting a high of 115 degrees. It is a record-setting 17 days of 115 degree-plus temperatures for Phoenix this year, surpassing the previous record of 14 days set in 2020, according to the weather service. The streak will likely end Monday, when temperatures are expected to fall below the 110-degree mark after rain showers move through the area.

Even some cactuses couldn’t take the heat in Phoenix, where the plants were seen collapsing and dehydrated animals were rushed to a rehabilitation center.

The recent heat wave proved deadly in some areas.

A 53-year-old woman in Illinois died Thursday in her apartment, where she didn’t have air conditioning because her power had been disconnected, according to the Peoria County coroner’s office. In Texas, a 66-year-old woman died early Tuesday from the extreme heat after being taken to a hospital from her apartment in North Richland Hills, police said.

Heat-related hospitalizations are also up. In Arizona, doctors are seeing an increase of patients with burns just from falling on the hot ground.

Scientists said July will be the planet’s hottest month on record and human-induced climate change is the main factor leading to the high temperatures.

To prevent heat-related illness, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises finding cool, indoor areas to stay, drinking plenty of fluids and regularly checking on vulnerable people, like young children and the elderly.

The Israeli parliament on Monday passed a law stripping the Supreme Court of its power to block government decisions, the first part of a planned judicial overhaul that has sharply divided Israeli society and drawn fierce criticism from the White House.

The controversial bill passed by a vote of 64-0 in the Knesset. All members of the governing coalition voted in favor the bill, while all opposition lawmakers walked out of the chamber as the vote was taking place.

Huge crowds of angry protesters gathered outside, attempting to block access to the building. They were met with barbed wire and water cannons and at least 19 were arrested, according to Israel Police.

Thousands of military reservists – including more than 1,100 Air Force officers – said even before the bill passed that they would refuse to volunteer for duty if it did.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said he would file a petition with the Supreme Court on Tuesday to block the law and has urged the military reservists not to refuse to serve until the court delivers its ruling.

The so-called reasonableness law takes away the Supreme Court’s power to block government decisions by declaring them unreasonable. Its passing could trigger a constitutional crisis – if the court declares the law itself is unreasonable.

The Movement for Quality Government, an Israeli NGO, filed a petition with the Supreme Court immediately after the vote took place, asking the court to declare the law illegal on the grounds that it changes the basic structure of Israeli democracy, and requesting that it block its implementation until the court has ruled on it.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who left hospital on Monday morning after having been fitted with a pacemaker, pushed the bill through despite Israel’s most important ally, the United States, issuing increasingly forceful warnings not to do so.

He later said the passage of the law was a necessary “democratic move” and he was “fulfilling the will of the voter” during an address to the nation. He also urged reservists to not refuse to serve. “The call for refusal harms the security of all citizens of the country,” he said.

In a highly unusual step, the US President Joe Biden weighed in on the policy and warned that rushing the changes through without a broad consensus amounts to an erosion of democratic institutions and could undermine US-Israel relations.

Biden raised concerns directly with Netanyahu during a phone call last week and then called New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman to the Oval Office to make clear his stance on the judicial overhaul.

Speaking after the Knesset passed the bill on Monday, the White House said it was “unfortunate that the vote today took place with the slimmest possible majority.”

The Israeli stock market dropped after the vote, its main index, the TA-35, trading more than 2% lower. The Israeli Shekel was also weaker against the dollar, dropping just under 1%.

No sign of protests stopping

The fierce debate over the planned judicial overhaul has turned into a battle over the soul of the Israeli state. It has pitted a coalition of right-wing and religious groups against the secular, liberal parts of Israeli society and sparked the longest and largest protests in the country’s 75-year history.

The fight is happening against the backdrop of some of the worst violence in many years. The number of Palestinians, militants and civilians, killed in the occupied West Bank by Israeli forces is at its highest in nearly two decades. The same is true of Israelis and foreigners – most of them civilians – killed in Palestinian attacks.

Israel, which has no written constitution and no upper chamber of the parliament, has had a relatively powerful Supreme Court, which supporters of the changes argue is problematic. At the same time, the Supreme Court is the only check on the power of the Knesset and the government, since the executive and legislative branches are always controlled by the same governing coalition.

Netanyahu and his allies call the measures “reforms” and say they are required to rebalance powers between the courts, lawmakers and the government. Other parts of the planned overhaul which are yet to be voted on by the Knesset would give Netanyahu’s coalition more control over the appointment of judges, and would remove independent legal advisers from government ministries.

Opponents of the plan call it a “coup” and say it threatens to turn Israel into a dictatorship by removing the most significant checks on government actions.

Netanyahu was forced to pause the legislative process earlier this year, but resumed it earlier this month. He has argued that the Supreme Court has become an insular, elitist group that does not represent the Israeli people.

But critics say Netanyahu is pushing the overhaul forward in part to protect himself from his own corruption trial, where he faces charges of fraud, bribery and breach of trust. He denies any wrongdoing.

Another bill, already voted through in March, makes it more difficult for a sitting prime minister to be declared unfit for office, restricting the reasons to physical or mental incapacity and requiring either the prime minister themselves, or two-thirds of the cabinet, to vote for such a declaration.

Despite his victory on Monday, Netanyahu is likely to face more pressure over the reforms.

The mass protests that have engulfed Israel since the reforms were first announced in January and are unlikely to stop now. After hearing the law has passed, protesters outside the Knesset began marching around, chanting “We will not give up. We will not give up until it’s better here.”

The Israel Bar Association is already preparing a legal challenge to the bill, the lawyers’ group said Sunday. The Bar is also warning it will shut down “as an act of protest against the anti-democratic legislative process,” the statement said. That means the Bar Association would not provide professional services to its members, not that lawyers would go on strike.

The Israel Medical Association said it would go on strike on Tuesday in response to the law passing, its chairman Zion Hagi announced Monday.” The strike will not affect Jerusalem in light of the protests taking place there, the IMA said, and activities such as dialysis and cancer treatments will continue during the strike.

The law “will have serious consequences for the health system, patients and doctors,” the IMA added.

Israel’s umbrella labor union, the Histadrut, warned moments after the government passed the reasonableness bill that if the government continued to legislate unilaterally, there would be serious consequences.

The law still needs to be rubber stamped by Israel’s President Isaac Herzog, a formality under Israel’s political system.

The head of Russia’s space agency has extended an offer to Moscow’s partners in the BRICS group – Brazil, India, China and South Africa – to participate in the construction of a joint module for its planned orbital space station, state media reported Monday.

Construction of the planned space station follows Moscow’s decision last year to end its decades-long partnership with NASA and withdraw from the aging International Space Station – one of the last remaining channels of cooperation between Russia and the United States.

The first stage of the planned space station, known as the Russian Orbital System (ROS), is expected to be launched in 2027, with another four modules dispatched to orbit between 2028 and 2030, the program’s leading designer Vladimir Kozhevnikov told Russian state media in February.

The offer to broaden cooperation on the project to include BRICs partner nations was made by Yuri Borisov, the director-general of Russia’s space agency Roscosmos, during a meeting Monday in Hermanus, South Africa.

“I would like to propose that our partners in BRICS consider the opportunity to take part in this project and create a full-fledged module through joint efforts,” state media quoted Borisov as telling the meeting.

The spacy agency chief was also reported as saying he had offered African nations an opportunity to create their own modules, and that Russia was “open for cooperation” with other countries.

The ROS is expected to initially include two astronauts, meaning that each crew member will have more duties and wider responsibility than on the ISS, Russian state media reported earlier this year, citing Roscosmos.

Russian authorities hope their new planned orbital station will help develop technologies for future space flights, including those to the moon and Mars.

Russia, under the Soviet Union, operated several independent space stations, including the world’s first, Salyut 1, which ended tragically in 1971 with the death of its first three crew members on their return voyage to Earth.

A series of subsequent Salyut stations were launched in the 1970s and early 1980s. They were later replaced by Mir, which remained in low Earth orbit for more than 14 years, during which time it successfully hosted dozens of astronauts from multiple countries, including the US before its eventual retirement in 2001.

The International Space Station, which has been continuously occupied for more than 22 years, was originally a collaboration between the US, Russia, Japan, Canada and the European Space Agency. NASA said last year it intended to keep operating the space station until the end of 2030, after which it would be de-orbited and crashed into a remote part of the Pacific Ocean.

China, whose astronauts have long been excluded from the ISS, completed its own permanently crewed space station last year, with the first three astronauts docking in November.

The station is only the second operational orbital outpost alongside the ISS. And while not as large as the ISS, the Chinese space station is similar in module design and can accommodate up to six astronauts.

Earlier this month Chinese officials unveiled new details about their plans for a manned lunar mission, as China attempts to become only the second nation to put citizens on the moon.

Meanwhile, India is bidding to become only the fourth country after the US, Russia and China to execute a controlled landing on the moon with the successful launch earlier this month of its Chandrayaan-3 mission. The craft is expected to land on the moon on August 23.

Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov says that Ukraine will continue carrying out attacks on Russian-occupied Crimea and the Kerch Bridge that connects it to the Russian mainland, while also admitting that Ukraine’s plan for its sluggish counteroffensive is behind schedule.

As Russia has pummeled the southern port city of Odesa and the surrounding region over the past week, Ukraine has continued to carry out strikes inside Crimea. On Tuesday, Ukrainian drones hit an ammunition depot, just a week after seaborne drones struck the Kerch bridge.

Asked if Ukraine’s goal is to permanently disable the bridge, Reznikov responded: “It’s normal tactics to ruin the logistic lines of your enemy to stop the options to get more ammunition, to get more fuel, to get more food, etcetera. That’s why we will use these tactics against them.”

Reznikov also accused Russia of operating as “a terrorist state.”

The fifth night of Russian strikes in Odesa badly damaged more than two dozen landmarks in the historic city center. Drones meanwhile pounded the region’s port infrastructure, targeting crucial grain stocks days.

The barrage comes after Moscow withdrew from a crucial grain deal that allowed for the safe export of Ukrainian wheat to international markets, exacerbating a global food crisis.

Senior Russian officials have said the spike in attacks is a response to a deadly explosion on the strategic Kerch bridge in Russian-occupied Crimea earlier this month.

“(Russia) tried to explain that it’s a response for some explosions in their territories, but they are fighting with the civilians,” Reznikov said. “That’s why I call them looters, rapists and murderers.”

Asked if Ukraine plans to ramp up attacks against Russian ships in the Black Sea in retaliation, he said, “We have capacity. We have weapons as we did with the cruiser Moskva and if they threaten us in the Black Sea, we’ll have to respond.”

The pride of Russia’s fleet, guided-missile cruiser Moskva, sank in the Black Sea in April, in an attack claimed by Ukrainian officials.

Counteroffensive is ‘going to plan’

Ukrainian air defense forces have struggled to counter Russia’s renewed attacks on Odesa in recent weeks, as Kyiv attempts to break Moscow’s tight defenses in the southeastern regions.

But Ukraine’s grueling counteroffensive has not resulted in any significant breakthroughs, despite Western allies donating billions of dollars worth of aid to bolster Kyiv’s military might and putting hundreds of soldiers through training.

Reznikov however insisted the operation is “going to plan,” saying: “Our generals, our commanders, they see the real situation on the battlefield. And again, I have to repeat the main value for us is life of for our soldiers.”

But asked if the plan is behind schedule, he acknowledged that it is.

If Ukrainian forces can successfully puncture Moscow’s sizeable defense lines along Ukraine Sea of Azov coastline that links Crimea to Donbas, Reznikov said it would be “a good result” for Kyiv.

“We have to do it thinking about the lives of our soldiers instead of Russians. They’re using the soldiers as cannon fodder.

“It’s a war and I think that we will show to the world again that we will win this war,” he said, referring to Ukraine taking back territory in the Kherson and Kharkiv regions.

Reznikov said that F-16 training for Ukrainian pilots will begin in August, adding that if Kyiv had the fighter jets now they would “certainly” have helped make more progress in the counteroffensive.

Reznikov also said he would share a report with the United States about the use of controversial US-supplied cluster munitions in Ukraine this week, “probably Monday or Tuesday.”

Highly destructive cluster munitions are outlawed by the UK, France, Germany and other key US allies, but the US and Ukraine are not signatories to the ban, nor is Russia.

‘We will win this war’

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has shifted the security landscape in Europe, triggering Western allies to rethink their national security strategy and reigniting calls from Kyiv to join NATO.

The NATO summit in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius in July kicked off with heightened pleas from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to invite Ukraine into the bloc, despite resistance from allies amid Kyiv’s war with Russia.

“”After the victory, after then, it will be in the interest of NATO because we became a real eastern shield of NATO or eastern shield of Europe,” he said.

Ukraine has gained “real combat experience – how to deter Russians, to defeat them, to beat them with using NATO standard weaponry,” he added.

He predicted that Ukraine’s membership bid will be accepted in July 2024, when the NATO summit is scheduled to take place in Washington to mark the 75th anniversary of the alliance.

Asked if he thought the war would be over by next summer, he quickly answered, “Yes. We will win this war.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that war is “gradually returning” to Russia hours after the Kremlin accused Kyiv of targeting Moscow with drones, the latest in a series of attacks.

The Russian Defense Ministry said three drones were intercepted Sunday but a business and shopping development in the west of the capital was hit. The fifth and sixth floor of a 50-story building were damaged, and no casualties were reported, state news agency TASS reported.

Videos showed debris as well as emergency services at the scene.

“Ukraine is getting stronger, and the war is gradually returning to Russia’s territory, to its symbolic centers and military bases,” Zelensky said in his daily address. “This is an inevitable, natural, and absolutely fair.”

A spokesman for Ukraine’s Air Force said the latest drone attacks on Moscow were aimed at impacting Russians who, since the Kremlin invaded Ukraine in February 2022, felt the war was distant.

“There’s always something flying in Russia, as well as in Moscow. Now the war is affecting those who were not concerned,” the spokesman, Yurii Ihnat, said on Ukrainian television.

“No matter how the Russian authorities would like to turn a blind eye on this by saying they have intercepted everything … something does hit.”

Ukraine’s military has increasingly been deploying unmanned aerial vehicles for more than just reconnaissance.

Ukrainian Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, whose Digital Transformation Ministry oversees the country’s “Army of Drones” procurement plan, had said there would be more drone strikes to come as Kyiv ramps up a summer counteroffensive aimed at pushing Russian troops out of Ukrainian territory.

Moscow was targeted earlier this week. Ukraine claimed responsibility for a strike on Monday that hit two non-residential buildings, including one near the Ministry of Defense headquarter. Russia called that incident a “terrorist attack,” although the Kremlin’s military actions in Ukraine have regularly caused civilian casualties.

A Russian missile attack in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy late on Saturday killed at least two people civilian and injured another 20, while a rocket strike on Zaporizhzhia left another two people dead.

Both areas had been subject to lengthy bombardments over the weekend. Ukrainian authorities in Sumy said there had been 25 instances of shelling in a single day, while a military leader in Zaporizhzhia said Russian forces had carried out 77 attacks on 20 settlements across the Zaporizhzhia, hitting 31 residential buildings and other pieces of infrastructure.

Though the strikes in Moscow did not reportedly cause any injuries or fatalities, they have unsettled residents of the Russian capital.

One witness to Sunday’s attack explained how the incident upended some planned down time.

“My friends and I rented an apartment to come here and unwind, and at some point, we heard an explosion – it was like a wave, everyone jumped,” she told Reuters. “There was a lot of smoke, and you couldn’t see anything. From above, you could see fire.”

Ukrainian drones also targeted the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula on Sunday.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said it intercepted 25 unmanned aerial vehicles over the territory, which Moscow illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014, shooting down 16 of them with air defense systems.

On Friday Russia said it shot down a Ukrainian missile over the southern Russian city of Taganrog. Ukraine did not comment on the attack, an apparent rare case of Ukraine using missiles inside Russian territory.

Women’s World Cup 2023: Live scores, fixtures, results, tables and top scorers

Morocco earned a surprise victory over South Korea on Sunday to secure the country’s first win at a Women’s World Cup in a match where Nouhaila Benzina also made history.

Striker Ibtissam Jraidi scored the only goal of the match in a 1-0 victory as Morocco became the third debutants to win a game at this tournament.

It was a match filled with significant landmarks.

Defender Benzina started for Morocco to become the first player to wear a hijab at a senior-level Women’s World Cup. Benzina, making her first appearance at the tournament, almost capped an impressive performance with a goal, but volleyed over the crossbar.

Jraidi’s sixth-minute header was also Morocco’s first ever goal in the tournament.

“We are just so pleased our efforts have paid off. This victory is for Morocco and Arabs, it’s the fruit of our hard work,” Jraidi told reporters, per Reuters.

Morocco suffered a heavy 6-0 loss to Germany in its opening game, but was much improved in Adelaide.

Ranked 55 places below South Korea in the world rankings, it was a surprise when the debutants took the early lead but Morocco held on for a memorable win. Teenager Casey Phair had a chance to level for South Korea from close range late on but shot wide.

Despite two defeats in two games, South Korea has yet to be eliminated as Germany suffered a shock 2-1 loss to Colombia in Group H’s later match. South Korea will play Germany on August 3 in their final group stage match.

Sometimes, the more you want something, the harder it becomes to obtain. French golfer Céline Boutier knows that as well as anyone.

The 29-year-old has risen to become one of the best players on the LPGA Tour since turning pro in 2016, propelled by a string of top-10 performances in major championships. The world No. 15 has finished at least seventh in all but one of the game’s flagship events.

All except the one she wants to impress at most of all – The Evian Championship.

Tied-29th marks Boutier’s best outing in six appearances at her home major, hosted at Evian Resort Golf Club in Evian-les-Bains, a five-and-a-half-hour drive from her home in Montrouge in the Parisian suburbs.

On Thursday, the tournament will tee off for its 10th year as a major championship. Boutier will be one of four French players among the star-studded 132-player field, and the quartet can count on heavy home support from behind the ropes.

“Being on home soil definitely hasn’t been easy for me to handle myself and my emotions … it’s the only tournament that I get to play at home and I feel like there’s definitely a lot more attention.”

Complicating matters further is the course itself. Nestled at the bottom of the Swiss Alps with views overlooking Lake Geneva, flat areas are few and far between at hilly Evian. An emphasis on long game does not play to the strengths of Boutier, who was ranked 104th in LPGA Tour driving distance on the eve of the tournament.

But as a three-time major winner on the LPGA Tour, Boutier knows she is capable of challenging on any terrain, and those victories could well hold the key to breaking her home hoodoo.

“I’m definitely trying to see the course from a different lens and just try to take it like a regular tournament,” Boutier said.

“Just doing all the preparation and the work ahead of time so you feel prepared and a little bit more confident going into the tournament, then just focus on each shot at a time.”

Olympics calling

But no matter how much home support Boutier receives at the Evian Championship, it is unlikely to rival anything she will likely ever experience when the Olympics arrives in Paris next year.

Staged at Golf National, 41 kilometres southwest of Paris in the city of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, it’s a venue with serious pedigree, having hosted the 2018 Ryder Cup.

Boutier is trying not to think ahead, but it’s a losing battle when – naturally – people keep asking her about it.

“I am fortunate enough to know the course, so I’m definitely trying to picture some of the holes and stuff like that,” Boutier said.

“It’s going to be unbelievable. I’m so looking forward to the experience and being able to share it with not only the French athletes, but also with my family and my friends being there.

“I think it’s going to definitely be a special week and I’ll probably remember it forever.”

Before then though is the small matter of another international competition: The Solheim Cup.

The 18th edition of the biennial team competition touches down at Finca Cortesin in Andalusia, Spain in September.

As the fourth highest ranked European on the LPGA Tour, Boutier is in strong contention to make her third appearance in the blue and yellow uniform. Her Solheim Cup résumé will only help her chances; two appearances, two wins for Team Europe, and a 78% win rate in her matches.

“I just really enjoy playing as a team,” Boutier said.

“You get to share the emotions … it’s really nice to be able to rely on someone else and being able to share the highs and lows.”

At a tournament famed for its atmosphere, Boutier is expecting the crowd to crank up the sound as Europe chases a famous three-peat.

“I feel like the Spanish crowd is always very passionate, so I will be expecting a lot of noise,” she said.

“But I think it’s going to be fun and hopefully we can ride the wave and get the cup back again.”

Tucked at the bottom of the Alps, Évian-les-Bains was a picture of calm on Saturday afternoon as drizzles of rain cast light ripples across nearby Lake Geneva.

Yet beneath the surface, the charming spa town is crackling with excitement. If France’s Celine Boutier can achieve her dream on Sunday, that electricity will spread across the country.

The 29-year-old took a step closer to her first major title with another imperious showing at The Evian Championship on Saturday, shooting four-under 67 to take a three-shot cushion into Sunday’s final round.

It’s the type of performance that’s been a long time coming for the world No. 15. Despite top-10 finishes in every other major, tied-29th marks Boutier’s best career outing in six appearances at the tournament she wants to impress at more than any other.

That sense of yearning has festered even longer for the nation as a whole. Even including the 19 years prior to the Evian Championship becoming a major in 2013, no Frenchwoman has ever won – let alone finished runner-up – at the tournament.

When asked what the impact of a French winner would be, championship director Jacques Bungert said “it wouldn’t change anything from us.”

“Of course we would be happy for it and that’s great,” Bungert told reporters Wednesday. “What is important to understand is that we have two major Grand Slams in France, Roland Garros and the Evian Championship. It’s the same impact.

“If a French tennis woman won Roland Garros, it’s fantastic, just like Yannick Noah 30 years ago. It changes a little bit the sports here and the crowd and the audience in France behind it.”

Tournament president Frank Riboud added: “The real question for me is one day if we have a player from Morocco or Tunisia winning the Evian Championship, what will be the impact? It’s much more open because you open a new country for the game of golf.”

Allez

Even so, all week the small spa town – with a population of less than 15,000 – has buzzed with the growing hope of a historic home winner.

Large crowds had already trailed Boutier during her first round, where she opened with a 66 to move within two of the lead, and grew in number on Friday to watch her shoot 69 to edge to the front of the field.

It was a testament to the levels of support that her number of followers grew further still on Saturday, when tee times were moved forward due to the forecasts of stormy weather later in the day.

Even as dark clouds rolled in across the lake and rain started to fall, the crowds remained, coos of “allez” soundtracking Boutier’s third-round charge. Four birdies before the turn extended her lead, a bogey at the 12th the sole blemish on her scorecard amid tricky closing conditions.

“It’s been really amazing to be able to see and hear the support from the fans,” Boutier told reporters.

“I feel like it’s been very enjoyable for me. I am just trying to take it one shot at a time.”

Chasers

Best placed to spoil the party is Japan’s Nasa Hataoka, who – three shots behind in solo second – has enjoyed impressive support of her own in her pursuit of a first major title.

Hataoka has been the best performer of 10 Japanese players at the tournament, with the country’s national flag dotting the crowds at Evian Resort Golf Club.

Her own reflection that she was “dialed in” during the front nine was something of an understatement – the 24-year-old shot four birdies in a row on course to arrive at the turn five-under par.

The six-time LPGA Tour winner could not maintain the pace as conditions worsened though, carding no further birdies and two bogeys to drop to 68 for the round.

Trailing Hataoka by a stroke are a pair of two-time major winners, Australia’s Minjee Lee and Canada’s defending champion Brooke Henderson, who shot 66 and 67 respectively.

One to watch Sunday is Nelly Korda, who motors into the final round at a furious pace after shooting a bogey-free third round 64, the joint-best score of the week.

It marked the lowest round of the American’s season, and puts her within range of a second career major in joint-third alongside Japan’s Yuka Saso.

“It was super nice to see all the hard work kind of pay off today,” Korda told reporters.

“Obviously still have 18 more holes, anything can happen, but I made a push today on moving day, which I’m really happy about.”

Korda and Saso will be the third-last pairing to tee off for Sunday’s final round at 12:05 p.m. local time (6:05 a.m. ET), followed by Lee and Henderson at 12:15 p.m, then Boutier and Hataoka at 12:25 p.m.

Colombia produced one of the most dramatic Women’s World Cup upsets, scoring in the last minute to beat two-time world champion Germany 2-1 on Sunday.

The South American side looked to have been denied a famous win after Alexandra Popp equalized for Germany from the penalty spot in the 89th minute, canceling out 18-year-old sensation Linda Caicedo’s wonderful opener at the start of the second half.

But, in the dying seconds, Manuela Vanegas scored with a brilliant header from a corner to spark frenzied celebrations inside the Sydney Football Stadium.

With one round of fixtures left, Colombia is top of Group H with Germany in second, ahead of Morocco on goal difference.

More to follow.