The world turns upside down during Sam Kerr’s trademark goalscoring celebration. She wheels away from the goal, cartwheels across the pitch and completes it with a backflip, soaking in the rapturous applause of the crowd.

And when a photo of a backflipping Kerr was projected onto the famous sails of the Sydney Opera House to mark successful Australia’s bid for this year’s Women’s World Cup, it confirmed that women’s soccer Down Under has been turned upside down too.

Twenty years previously, the Matildas were so underfunded that they posed for and sold a nude calendar to raise money to help the team prepare for a home Olympics in Sydney.

It was a Disney documentary that detailed their build-up up to this year’s tournament, offering glimpses into the players’ lives outside football: Ellie Carpenter’s rehabilitation after she suffered an ACL injury, the sacrifices Kerr makes being in a long-distance relationship with her partner, as well as Katrina Gorry’s return to the field while juggling motherhood.

As one of the co-hosts, this year’s Women’s World Cup was supposed to be the culmination of all this change; a celebration of Australia’s most beloved team. But it hasn’t quite worked out like that.

Captain, talisman and star striker Kerr suffered a calf injury before the team’s first game, ruling her out for the first two group matches. A shaky 1-0 win against Ireland kicked off the Matildas’ tournament before disaster struck once more and they succumbed to a shock 3-2 defeat against Nigeria.

Now the Matildas teeter on the edge of a premature group stage exit at their own World Cup, requiring a win against Canada on Monday – on paper their toughest opponent in the group – to progress to the knockout stages.

“If it’s not a win, then it’s a disaster really for a host nation that’s had so much put into it and with so much expectation,” Reid says.

‘A love of the game’

The Matildas were not always so well-known in Australia and played without the pressure that now circles around the upcoming game against Canada.

Sonia Gegenhuber, who won 75 caps for the Matildas from 1989-99, remembers working various casual jobs to financially support her playing career.

Since then, the Matildas’ profile has grown exponentially in Australia, partly because of a move to the more difficult Asian Federation, the 2000 Sydney Olympics – which led to more funding – and the rise of social media, allowing the team to “engage directly with fans and build that audience themselves,” Crawford says.

The infamous nude calendar was instrumental in the Matildas’ rise too. “Everybody wanted to get a copy of the calendar,” Reid says. “The Matildas brand, which was one of the purposes of doing the calendar, was out there.”

Most importantly, the Matildas are now relatively well-funded after going on strike over equal pay following the 2015 Women’s World Cup, in which they became the first Australian team to win a World Cup knockout match when they defeated Brazil 1-0 in the last 16, and agreeing a historic pay deal in 2019 which sees them take an equal share of all commercial revenues.

That 2015 run marked the Matildas’ best World Cup performance to date, after appearing in every edition since 1995.

But it has been a rocky few years for the Matildas.

After losing in the round of 16 at the 2019 World Cup, Tony Gustavsson – who won two World Cups with the US Women’s National Team (USWNT) as its primary assistant coach – was appointed in January 2021 to make the necessary changes and harness the talent of Australia’s “Golden Generation,” as this team is often dubbed.

Gustavsson’s self-proclaimed strategy of exposing the Matildas to the world’s best teams on a regular basis had seen them slip down the world rankings, from seventh in December 2020 to their most recent low of 13th in October 2022.

Flashes of the team’s unpredictable brilliance have appeared, disappeared and reappeared; its spirit embodied by its motto “Never Say Die.” A series of disappointing defeats in 2021 was followed by a fourth place at the Tokyo Olympics, after a thrilling bronze medal match in which the Matildas almost toppled reigning world champion the USWNT.

A shock defeat to South Korea in the quarterfinals of the Women’s Asian Cup – a tournament the Matildas were widely expected to win – followed before an understrength squad suffered a 7-0 defeat against Spain – the team’s heaviest loss in 25 years.

Recently, however, the Matildas have offered glimpses of their status as an emerging force on the world stage. Even with a squad decimated by injury, they defeated England 2-0 on home soil in April, ending the Lionesses’ 30-match unbeaten run and capping a year in which they have also defeated Sweden and Spain, two teams ranked above them.

Such heights seemed an age away following the potentially catastrophic loss to Nigeria as the players wandered around the pitch afterwards, shaking their opponents hands as if in a bad dream, their eyes blank and stunned.

“I think there’s an expectation, even if it’s a subconscious one, that as the host nation you’re going to have a fairytale finish,” Crawford said. “So it’s been a bit tricky to first have the talismanic Sam Kerr injured and to struggle to make it out of the group. This is not how we pictured our tournament at all.”

Almost as soon as the match had finished, attention turned to how the Matildas could turn their fortunes around before facing Canada.

“I think that might be one of the most important questions for me as a leader right now,” Gustavsson told reporters after the match.

“Physical recovery is one thing, but the mental recovery as well to bounce back [is important]. But the one thing we know with this team, and we saw it the last 10 to 12 minutes of this game, is that never say die attitude when we’re up against the wall.”

Kerr will “be available” for the decisive match against Canada in a boost for the Matildas, though she told reporters on Saturday that “how we decide to use that is not to be given to the opposition.”

‘An amazing atmosphere’

Australia is not traditionally a soccer-loving country. Rugby league, Aussie Rules and cricket hold sway Down Under. But sport, any kind of sport, is deeply ingrained into Australian culture, woven into its very soul like a crest on a jersey, and the public has embraced the rise of the Matildas, voting them the country’s most beloved national team in 2019.

FIFA moved the Matildas’ opening game against Ireland to Stadium Australia in Sydney, with its capacity of 83,000, such has been the demand for tickets. The assembled 75,784 fans represented a record crowd for a women’s soccer match in the country and the highest attendance at a Women’s World Cup for 24 years, according to FIFA.

More than 1.5million tickets have been sold so far for the 64 matches, FIFA said last week.

Card says it fell to fan groups to “make do and actually do a lot of the work” at previous tournaments to conjure up the party spirit that defines World Cups.

But for the first time, there will be official fan zones in all the host cities this year, which Card hopes will emulate the atmosphere that gripped Australia last year when its men’s team reached the last 16 of Qatar 2022.

Even the Sydney Harbour Bridge played host to festivities earlier this month.

“They’ve chosen really good locations,” Simon Reus, another member of MatildasActive, added. “The majority of the fan fests are right in the heart of the city so it’s going to create an even more amazing atmosphere because travelling fans from our experience tend to stay in the center of cities.”

Even games without Australia on the field have drawn huge crowds – almost 50,000 fans watched France stun Brazil 2-1 with a late winner on Saturday.

Sports stores in Australia are “packed with (Matildas) merchandise,” Crawford said, “and things like the Haiti scarves were selling out at the game.

“It’s definitely transcended the traditional women’s community and so that’s really exciting.”

Australia has played its part in making this the biggest Women’s World Cup in history. It remains to be seen whether the rest of the tournament will carry on without the host nation’s beloved team.

Crunch time at the 2023 Women’s World Cup is well and truly upon us.

The outcome of Group B and C will be decided on Monday. Two of the tournament’s most impressive sides – Japan and Spain – will vie against each other for top spot knowing they are both into the next round. In Group C’s other game, Costa Rica and Zambia play looking for their first points and goals.

And then later in the day, Group B’s qualification comes down to the wire, with Australia needing to beat Canada to progress and Nigeria needing at least a draw to reach the last 16.

How to watch

In the US, games will be aired on FOX Sports, while Telemundo will provide Spanish-language coverage.

Seven Network and Optus Sport are broadcasting matches in Australia and the BBC and ITV have the rights in the United Kingdom.

A full breakdown of media rights holders in each country is available on the FIFA website.

Costa Rica vs. Zambia and Japan vs. Spain start at 3 a.m. ET (8 a.m. BST), while Canada vs. Australia and the Republic of Ireland vs. Nigeria both kick off at 6 a.m. ET (11 a.m. BST).

Group B

Monday’s standout game comes from Melbourne as Australia play Olympic champion Canada.

Canada, after a win and a draw in its opening two games, sits level atop Group B with Nigeria, while Australia lies just a point behind after a disappointing loss in its last game against the Super Falcons.

Canada knows that a draw or victory will see it progress to the round of 16, while if Australia win, it will qualify for the next stage, regardless of the result in the other group game between the Republic of Ireland and Nigeria.

Australia could be bolstered by the return of captain and star player Sam Kerr who missed the Matildas’ opening two games of the tournament because of injury.

Kerr declared herself fit for Monday’s crunch tie but remained coy over how head coach Tony Gustavsson might choose to use her, off the bench or from the start.

For Canada, avoiding defeat will be the aim of the game. Canada’s own star striker, Christine Sinclair, is still attempting to etch her name into the history books.

A goal for the 40-year-old at this year’s tournament would see her become the first player, either male or female, to score at six World Cups.

In Brisbane, Group B leader Nigeria will be playing the Republic of Ireland.

Nigeria knows a draw will see it through to the knockout stage. Debutant Ireland has already been eliminated.

Group C

There are far fewer permutations heading into the final round of fixtures in Group C.

In Wellington, Spain and Japan will face off having both won its two group games so far, impressing many with their performances.

Spain – having already achieved its best tally in the group stage of a World Cup – knows a draw or win will see it top the group for the first time in its history.

Japan, on the other hand, is behind the Spanish on goal difference, so if it wants to face the runner-up in Group A rather than the first-placed team, it has to beat Spain.

That won’t be an easy task, with Spain the top scorers at the competition so far.

Group C’s other game will see two winless teams, Costa Rica and Zambia, go head-to-head in what will be a first senior competitive meeting between the two nations.

Although a dead rubber in terms of qualification, they have plenty of pride to play for with a first-ever World Cup win a possibility for both.

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.”