Berlusconi’s latest stay at the San Raffaele hospital comes ahead of a big meeting of his party planned for Saturday.

The 86-year-old leader of the Forza Italia party was released from his last stint in hospital on May 19 after a 45 day stay for a lung infection.

In a statement on Friday, the hospital said Berlusconi was there for “scheduled examinations related to his known hematological pathology.”

Berlusconi has previously been diagnosed with leukemia and was hospitalized in April with breathing problems.

The hospital has previously said the politician’s cancer is not acute and that he has carried the disease “for some time.”

The hospital said Friday the present checkup “meets clinical criteria of normal practice in medicine and is not related to any criticality or alarm.”

A controversial media tycoon, Berlusconi has served three stints as Italy’s prime minister, most recently between 2008 and 2011, before being banned from politics for six years following a conviction for tax fraud.

He made a return to frontline politics in 2022 when he won a seat in Italy’s Senate, representing the northern municipality of Monza.

In 2021 he was hospitalized for treatment for the symptoms of long Covid-19, according to the press office of his Forza Italia party.

He also spent time in the hospital the previous year after contracting the coronavirus, and has had a number of other health concerns, including a 2016 heart surgery to replace an aortic valve.

Monica Puig won more than 300 matches during her tennis career and the feeling afterwards was often the same: relief, excitement, and satisfaction that the weeks and months of sacrifice and preparation had paid off.

Today, exactly a year after shoulder issues forced her to retire aged 28, Puig is still able to revisit some of those winning emotions without picking up a tennis racket or stepping foot on a court.

She’s turned to running marathons – first in New York City, then in Boston and London on back-to-back weekends earlier this year and is already halfway towards her goal of completing all six of the world’s marathon majors by the end of 2024.

“I’ve just felt in awe of what I’ve been doing because I could easily just be sitting on the couch crying and feeling sorry for myself. But I tried to channel all of that energy that I have towards whatever I had been feeling about my career into something more productive.”

Completing a marathon, Puig says, feels “very similar and very different” to winning a tennis match. With tennis, the stakes felt higher when rankings points, global recognition, and prize money were on the line.

But the sense of personal satisfaction she gets from running has endured, helping to ease the lingering pain of her retirement from tennis.

“It’s more about showing myself that I didn’t let myself fall into this big black hole of depression and sadness when I had to finish my career so early,” Puig adds.

“I was able to pick myself back up and find something else that motivates me to get out of bed every day, that motivates me to continue to be strong, fit, and have fun at the same time.”

Puig reached a career-high ranking of No. 27 in the world and won one WTA Tour title in 2014. Her crowning moment arrived two years later when she won Olympic gold in Rio – Puerto Rico’s first-ever gold medal at the Games.

As a tennis player, Puig always saw running as a form of punishment – never enjoyment. It became a means to clear her head when she was rehabbing from injuries and, over time, she started to increase the distance of her runs – three miles became five, five became eight, then eight became half and full marathons.

Now, Puig has also set her sights on competing in triathlons, as well as running the remaining marathon majors in Chicago, Berlin, and Tokyo. Her first half Ironman – a 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike, and 13.1-mile run – is in Augusta, Georgia, in September, and she plans to race another back home in Puerto Rico next year.

An amateur runner and triathlete, it’s a sharp transition from her life as one of the best tennis players in the world, though Puig thinks her experience of the latter has benefited the former.

“You are competing against yourself,” she says of all three disciplines, “you are your biggest enemy or supporter out there. What you think can either push you or it can limit you.

“In tennis, I’m not going to say my mental fortitude was my strength because a lot of the time I didn’t know how to deal with negative thoughts, but I feel like everybody matures at their own time mentally.

“Doing the marathons and triathlon has really helped my mentality to grow and to develop this can-do attitude towards everything that I do. It’s also thanks to tennis that I have a certain discipline … All of that discipline has really helped me to stay in shape and stay true to my goals.”

Elbow surgery in 2019 followed by three shoulder surgeries in three years ultimately signaled the end to Puig’s tennis career. She played her first match since 2020 at the Madrid Open last year, but the shoulder problems persisted.

There were times, Puig says, that she couldn’t sleep on the affected side, such was the pain in her shoulder. Moreover, the mental toll of constant rehab and almost four years away from regularly competing on the tour was starting to mount.

“It felt like I was pushing a stone up a mountain and the stone kept squashing me as I kept getting further and further,” says Puig.

“I obviously believed that I could come back, I believed in myself enough. Last year, I had full intention of playing again competitively.

“But when I saw my surgeon after the last time I was on the court, he said, ‘Look, I have to be honest with you, your shoulder – it’s not doing well. And we can’t just keep opening up your shoulder to fix it every single time it goes wrong.”

Not ready to walk away from tennis entirely, Puig still hopes to play exhibition matches in the future. She returned to the practice court recently and had to temper expectations from fans, who interpreted footage posted on social media as the start of a competitive comeback.

But Puig has remained involved with the sport as a broadcaster, enabling her to engage with the game in a different way compared to her playing days.

“When I commentate or I’m watching matches, I’ve noticed that my understanding of the game has gotten a lot better,” she says. “I feel like I’m smarter and I can see things, I can notice things. I study the game a lot better than when I was playing.

“My understanding for tennis has grown and I wish that I was still playing so I could implement some of the things that I see and have that knowledge translate onto what I do on the court.”

Puig adds that she still misses tennis, particularly when she watches her contemporaries thrive at grand slams.

With her shoulder never going to be as it was prior to the surgeries, she’s come to accept her body’s limitations and is honing her swimming technique to withstand the rigors of Ironman-distance triathlons.

“I’ve learned to handle my shoulder in a different way and knowing that, if there is pain, then it’s okay to stop, it’s okay to take a break, it’s okay to say that you’re not feeling 100%,” says Puig.

“Usually, when I was trying to come back last year, I would play through pain and that wasn’t necessarily something that felt very good. It was very challenging and involved a lot of tears.”

What she has instead developed over the past year is “a new life” and “a new way of doing things.”

“I want to continue to do this for my whole life; I see people well into their fifties, sixties, still doing triathlon and doing Ironman,” says Puig.

“That’s something that I want to continue to do … I don’t know how far I’ll get or anything like that, but the sky’s the limit.”

Floyd Mayweather’s exhibition fight against ​​John Gotti III ended in a mass brawl on Sunday after the referee called an early end to the bout.

Mayweather has been fighting exhibitions since retiring from professional boxing in 2017 with an unbeaten 50-0 record and was facing Gotti III, grandson of infamous crime boss John Gotti, in Sunrise, Florida.

From the outset, the pair were trash-talking inside the ring. Mayweather outclassed and teased his opponent, and Gotti III subsequently resorted to rough tactics, such as clinching and headlocks.

After warning both fighters for using abusive language, referee Kenny Bayliss stopped the fight in the sixth round. But Gotti III, who turned professional last year, ignored his disqualification and continued to attempt to throw punches at Mayweather.

His reaction sparked a mass brawl with people from both teams jumping into the ring.

As Gotti III was pinned into his corner by dozens of people, a smiling Mayweather was seen watching the incident while bouncing on the opposite top rope.

Videos show the fighting continuing backstage at the FLA Live Arena between both entourages.

“That’s why they pay the big bucks, because I put on a show,” Mayweather said in a YouTube video posted after the fight.

On his Instagram story, Gotti III said Mayweather was his “enemy for life,” adding that Mayweather “never put me down or stopped me.”

“It was a DQ for no reason,” Gotti III added.

According to BBC reporting, police cleared the venue and threatened charges against fans who did not leave immediately.

The trainer of two horses that died at Belmont Park – home of the Belmont Stakes – said he has been left “heartbroken” and “devastated” by the news.

In the first race at Belmont Park on Sunday, Mashnee Girl fell near the quarter pole, according to industry-owned database Equibase, before being euthanized on the track.

It follows the death of Excursionniste on Saturday, in the 13th and final race of the day, which took place after the prestigious Belmont Stakes – a race won by Arcangelo.

The horse suffered an injury leaving the backstretch, was pulled up, and euthanized on the grass track, according to Equibase.

“Thank God that both riders were not injured. I spoke to both of them and they both told me how well the horses were travelling under them, before taking a tragic bad step.”

At Belmont Park, New York, four horses died while racing or training in the period from May 13 to Saturday’s Belmont Stakes.

The news comes in the wake of a series of unexpected deaths at prestigious racetracks that have shaken the world of horse racing.

The owner of Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby, announced last week that it would suspend racing operations to conduct a “top-to-bottom” review of all safety and surface protocols following the deaths of 12 horses at the racetrack.

The racetrack said it was “troubled” by the deaths. There is no clear cause linking the deaths, according to Churchill Downs.

The New York Racing Association (NYRA) said earlier this month that each incident would be “closely reviewed and analyzed” to ensure the organization is “providing the safest possible environment for racing and training.”

In the wake of the most recent deaths, Kathy Guillermo, senior vice president of PETA, said in a statement on the animal rights organization’s website: “Two dead Thoroughbreds in two days with the same trainer on the same track means one thing: Belmont Park is failing to protect horses.

“Like Churchill Downs, Belmont must suspend racing immediately to avoid the same bloodbath. Anything less makes Belmont complicit in the fatalities.”

In his statement, Henning said he “desperately” wanted answers regarding the death of his horses but trusted that organiser NYRA was doing its due diligence and examining the course “to ensure maximum safety going forward.”

“We all adore our horses and will continue to insure that our horses are loved and cared for. Thank you to my owners for their unwavering confidence and support,” he said.

“Thank you to all that have reached out to us, to give their support, in this unimaginable bad time. We will continue to grieve and pray over the loss of these two beautiful horses.”

The Denver Nuggets won their first NBA championship Monday night, downing the Miami Heat 94-89 at Ball Arena in Denver to take Game 5 of the NBA Finals.

Two-time MVP Nikola Jokić led the way for the Nuggets with a game-high 28 points and 16 rebounds.

“It was an amazing effort by the team,” he told ABC after the game. “It was an ugly game. We couldn’t make shots but at the end, we figured out how to defend.”

The Serbian big man was voted Most Valuable Player of the NBA Finals, and is the first center to win the award named after the late Bill Russell since Shaquille O’Neal of the Lakers in 2002.

Hours after the game, at least nine people were injured in a mass shooting in downtown Denver, where crowds had gathered to celebrate the city’s first NBA championship.

‘We love him’

Meanwhile, following the Game 5 victory, Nuggets coach Michael Malone hailed Jokić, who is rapidly establishing himself as one of basketball’s best ever centers, as “a great person.”

“He’s a great husband, father and son and brother,” Malone told reporters. “And on the basketball court he has proven time and time again that he’s the best player in the NBA. He’s our MVP, we love him and we’re thankful that he’s wearing a Nuggets’ uniform.”

The 28-year-old Jokić posted 10 total triple-doubles to pass Wilt Chamberlain (seven) for most all-time in a single playoff run. He also finished the postseason as the first player in NBA history to lead all players in points, rebounds, and assists in a single postseason, according to ESPN Stats & Info.

Denver’s Michael Porter Jr. had 16 points and 13 boards and Jamal Murray chipped in 14 points.

“All the hard work, all the sacrifice, all the dedication, all culminated with us winning a championship,” Malone told ABC. “But I got news for everybody out there: We’re not satisfied with one. We want more. We want more.”

Jimmy Butler had 21 points and Bam Adebayo had 20 to lead Miami, which as an eight-seed had surprised the NBA by advancing to the Finals.

Denver struggled from the free throw and 3-point lines but led by as many as seven points in the fourth quarter. But the Heat went on a 13-5 run and led by one point, 89-88, with 1:58 left in the contest.

Denver scored the game’s final six points with Bruce Brown knocking in a putback layup with 91 seconds left, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Brown hitting free throws as the final minute played out. Miami couldn’t connect as Heat players tried several 3-pointers.

“There’s no regrets on our end. There’s just sometimes where you get beat, you know, and Denver was the better basketball team in this series,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “I would say that it will probably rank as our hardest, competitive, most active defensive game of the season, and it still fell short.”

The Nuggets were victorious despite being 5-for-28 on 3’s – they missed 20 of their first 22 attempts – and 13-23 at the free throw line.

The Nuggets, who played in the American Basketball Association for nine seasons beginning in 1967, joined the NBA before the 1976-1977 season.

The city will hold a parade and celebration for the Nuggets on Thursday.

Before this season, the team’s 47th in the NBA, Denver had advanced to the conference finals four times in franchise history (1978, 1985, 2009, 2020), losing to the Los Angeles Lakers on each occasion.

This season the Nuggets swept the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals.

Friends Rowan Joss and Katie Myles’ recent trip to South Korea included beaches, bus stops, and buildings – anywhere with a link to BTS, the K-pop megastars who are celebrating 10 years of their journey to becoming the biggest boy band in the world.

The university students traveled thousands of miles from Scotland to Seoul to bathe in the aura of the seven-member band, and they’re not the only ones – thousands of fans are flocking to the city to join the festivities while millions more are celebrating online.

“It’s emotional, you’re happy, but it’s very much like ‘Oh, my God, this is real?’” said Joss, 23, after visiting HYBE, the high-rise management agency tower, home to the group’s recording studios.

For fans like Joss and Myles, 20, this week has a special resonance.

It marks 10 years since BTS was first unveiled as a band, and started their ascent to become a truly international phenomenon, racking up more than 20 Guinness World Records, netting several global awards, championing Asian representation in the global music industry and paving the way for other K-pop acts to follow in their footsteps.

When the band released their debut music video “No More Dream” in June 2013, they were underdogs from a struggling music label in a competitive K-pop industry dominated by much larger labels.

The group, comprised of Kim Tae-hyung (better known as V), Jung Ho-seok (J-Hope), Kim Nam-joon (RM), Kim Seok-jin (Jin), Park Ji-min (Jimin), Jeon Jung-kook (Jungkook), and Min Yoon-gi (Suga), initially presented themselves as rebellious “bad boys,” sporting gold chains and heavy black eyeliner.

Multiple K-pop artists had tried to break into international markets before; a year earlier, Psy’s hit “Gangnam Style” became the first to hit one billion views on YouTube.

But it was BTS who truly broke into the global mainstream – and stayed there.

Over the years, their style evolved from angsty hip hop beats, exploring a host of other music genres as their lyrics shifted from youth rebellion towards introspection and self-love – which many BTS fans – known as the “ARMY” (Adorable Representative MC for Youth) – say is what resonates with them the most.

CedarBough Saeji, assistant professor of Korean and East Asian Studies at Pusan National University, said BTS’s ability to grow comfortable with vulnerability in front of their fans, mostly through live-streamed behind-the-scenes content, makes their followers feel like they are going through life with the band.

“What many members of ARMY have responded to the most is a feeling that they are seeing the authentic heart of these seven remarkable young men,” Saeji said.

A walk with the K-pop stars

The rise of South Korean cultural exports since the 1990s, dubbed the Hallyu Wave, has exploded in the last decade, with major breakout bands like BTS and Blackpink – who made history headlining Coachella last year – playing a major role.

Korean content exports, which includes K-pop, dramas, films, beauty products and the study of the Korean language worldwide, reached an all-time high of $12.4 billion in 2021, according to a government study from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

BTS is currently on a temporary hiatus, with two of its members doing their mandatory military service, but that hasn’t stopped local authorities and tour operations from treating the anniversary as a festival of national pride.

Parts of Seoul have been lit up in purple, the official color of BTS, including the Namsan Tower, the 123-story Lotte World Tower and several Han River bridges. South Korea’s postal service even released special commemorative stamps, and Seoul’s city government created an official map highlighting 13 landmarks where BTS made a mark.

Wherever BTS left a trail, whether it’s a music video location or the stars’ hometown, dozens of guided tours and itineraries have popped up for fans to walk in the footsteps of the group.

If it wasn’t for BTS, Lisa Trinh, 33, and Diana Phung, 44, said they wouldn’t have spent the past seven months planning their trip to South Korea from California, coincidentally timing it with the boy band’s anniversary.

“We want to just, you know, eat the food that they eat – and they must have really good taste – and just be in places where they’ve been… Just to breathe the same air that they breathe,” Trinh said.

They joined a BTS Beach Tour in Gangwon province with operator Startrip, where the shoreline has become known for the album photos of “Butter” – the English-language summer pop song by BTS that was nominated for a Grammy last year.

Trinh said they’ll be spending seven days in Seoul and two nights in Busan, the latter being the hometown of members Jimin and Jungkook.

Since it’s impossible for BTS to meet each fan in person, fans feel a sense of connection by going to places the group has done shoots or something meaningful with when they visit Korea, said Hwang Young-in, CEO and co-founder of Startrip.

In Busan, Gamcheon Culture Village has been a tourist destination for its colorful village houses for years but a mural of Jimin and Jungkook took its popularity to new heights, and if gets too crowded there, fans can enjoy a coffee at Cafe Magnate, which is owned by Jimin’s dad.

Some package tours also take fans to the Gyeongbok Palace in Seoul, where BTS performed live for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon during the coronavirus pandemic.

Restaurants like Yoojung Sikdang, where BTS spent their pre-debut years stopping in for hearty meals, are now plastered with posters and notes from fans who want a taste of the band’s life before they reached stardom.

The ARMY base

It’s difficult to overstate how international BTS have become.

Guinness World Records lists a number of firsts, becoming at various times in their career the most streamed band on Spotify, the most followed on Instagram, the most viewers for a music video premiere on YouTube and the most tickets sold for a livestream concert.

BTS officially became bigger than Justin Bieber when the power of the septet’s fandom submitted more than 300 million votes in the fan-voted Top Social Artist in 2017, beating other musical juggernauts that included Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande and Shawn Mendes in that category.

Their 2020 all-English track “Dynamite” made BTS the first South Korean act to top the Billboard Hot 100.

For many ARMY members, it’s not just new songs that keep fans engaged. There is a decade of behind the scenes content online, with band members exchanging banter during rehearsals and sharing deep conversations as they devour Korean barbecue.

“The biggest draw and the reason why people are so attached to the group and continue to show their support, even though they’re not currently active as a full seven-member group at the moment, is because they have succeeded in creating such strong parasocial bonds through their social media presence and the distribution of behind the scenes content, where fans get an opportunity to interact with the idols,” said Michelle Cho, a professor of East Asian Studies at University of Toronto.

The group has also set the precedent for what K-pop can achieve in the global music scene as it gained attention from viewers who resonate with their struggles with racial discrimination.

“Being in America and not seeing that much of Asian representation, when I saw that seven Asian guys were trending … that totally like piqued my interest immediately. And just to see how far they’ve come. It’s been a joy to watch and amazing and I’m just so happy to be along for the ride,” BTS fan Phung said.

Having recently become the world’s most populous nation, India has sparked much speculation about whether it will continue to surpass China in other arenas.

All eyes now are on the South Asian superpower’s growing influence on the global stage. And the tourism industry is no exception.

By 2024, Indians are expected to spend more than $42 billion per year on outbound travel, according to recent reports.

India is experiencing what Omri Morgenshtern, CEO of travel and bookings website Agoda, calls a tourism “boom,” and is currently “the biggest growing outbound destination.”

While the total number of travelers coming from some other countries is higher, no nation’s tourism sector is growing as fast as India’s, he adds.

It isn’t just about the number of people traveling, either. The country is continuing to pour billions of dollars into growing its aviation industry and cementing its status as a travel hub.

A series of bold investments

Experts say much of India’s outbound growth trajectory is being driven by improvements in infrastructure and an expansion in its aviation sector.

The Indian government announced this year it plans to spend 980 billion rupees ($11.9 billion) by 2025 on constructing and modernizing airports within the country, Reuters reported.

Among these is the Noida International Airport, in the city of Jewar in Uttar Pradesh state. Currently due to open in 2024, according to the Times of India, it’s poised to be Asia’s largest airport and will enhance connectivity to and from the wider Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) and Western Uttar Pradesh.

Gary Bowerman, founder of Check-in Asia, a tourism-focused research and marketing company, says “the work that (India’s) been doing within the country is now starting to bear fruit. It’s got more airports, it’s got more terminals, it’s got more infrastructure than it had a decade ago.”

Since 2017, at least 73 airports have been operationalized under India’s regional connectivity scheme. Meanwhile, Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport cracked the top 10 list of the world’s busiest international airports for the first time ever this year, with 59.5 million passengers passing through its gates in 2022. (It should be noted China was still largely closed off to the world due to the pandemic until early 2023.)

Morgenshtern says the rise in outbound tourism from India is the result of investment not just by the government but by private airlines as well.

Some airlines are feeling the consequences of those bold moves, such as India’s Go First, a low-budget airline that declared bankruptcy in May.

Bowerman believes that low-cost carriers like Go First have been “vital for growth” in India’s “very price-sensitive market.”

“But the margins have been very low and competition fierce, and this has resulted in some high-profile low-cost or economy carriers failing, which shakes consumer confidence and impacts the overall market balance,” he adds.

Despite the struggles, other airlines are continuing to offer lower-cost options. Air India, for example, is fully owned by Indian conglomerate Tata Sons. As part of its efforts to expand its offerings, the company announced earlier this year it will be operating flights under both the Air India brand and Air India Express, having previously merged the latter with Tata’s other low-cost airline, AirAsia India.

Bowerman says this single-brand, low-cost carrier indicates that Air India “clearly sees the LCC (low-cost carrier) segment as an integral part of its own growth strategy and of the continued expansion of India’s aviation market.”

With the mergers and consolidation of airlines under the Tata umbrella, Air India is now the country’s second-largest domestic airline and its biggest international carrier, according to a release from Tata.

The airline has made other moves to facilitate increased Indian travel. In February, Air India purchased nearly 500 new planes, the most ever bought in one order by a single airline. Over the past two years, the airline has also increased frequencies on existing routes and added several new ones to key destinations in Europe and the US.

Air India isn’t the only airline stepping up its game. In early June, low-cost carrier Indigo announced the addition of 174 new weekly flights and six new destinations across Africa and Asia.

To meet increasing air travel demand, India has also expanded its airplane leasing program for both domestic and international routes, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia told the CAPA India Aviation Summit in March.

To draw more Indian travelers, Morgenshtern suggests countries now need to ease visa restrictions and increase the number of flights from India.

“When those two things happen,” he says, “then the magic happens on a growing market like India.”

Who stands to benefit

Based on data collected by Agoda, Indians are now traveling to a more diverse range of countries.

“If you look at a place like Europe, you see more of them going to France or Switzerland,” says Morgenshtern. “Those are two countries that weren’t in the top 10 destinations for Indians before the pandemic.”

In 2019, the three most popular destinations for Indians were Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.

When it comes to Southeast Asia, the top countries frequented by Indians now are roughly the same as they were five years ago, but the number of travelers has increased.

“We see a lot more Indians traveling to Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia. They all got Indian travelers before but not to the extent that we see them here,” Morgenshtern said.

Indian travel to Vietnam, for example, is expected to increase by at least 1,000% from pre-pandemic levels, according to Morgenshtern.

Southeast Asia in general is clearly a top destination for Indian travelers.

“Countries like Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, they’re all out benchmarking the crazy growth that we see anywhere happening with Indians,” Morgenshtern says.

In contrast, based on Agoda’s data, not as many Indians are traveling to Japan, Korea or Taiwan, which the CEO suggests is in part because of their distance from India – but could also reflect a lack of awareness.

“When we talk with tourism authorities, they recognize India as a growing power and they all have something in their plans,” Morgenshtern says. But when it comes to promoting the destinations to Indian customers, they are “just starting now.”

India vs. China

While China’s outbound travel market has skyrocketed over the last two decades, India’s boom has come a bit later, which Bowerman says is due in part to how different their aviation sectors are.

In India, the aviation industry today predominantly consists of private airlines, which often compete with each other.

On the other hand, China has three main airline groups developed and consolidated by the government, each of which operates in specific regions: Air China is based in Beijing, China Eastern is based in Shanghai and China Southern is based in Guangzhou.

As a result, Bowerman says, “the Chinese state government was really able to control the volume and the frequency of routes, particularly into Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia, because it had these three groups that don’t compete with each other.”

According to Bowerman, it’s harder for destinations to develop more flights in India because they have to deal with multiple airlines.

“This,” Bowerman says, “is a key factor that slowed down the growth of India over the past decade” when it comes to outbound travel.

Before the pandemic, China was the largest source market for tourists in Southeast Asia. In 2019, Southeast Asian countries received 32.3 million visitors from China, but just 5.3 million from India.

“There’s a lot of catchup to do,” Bowerman says. But there’s still good news for India.

“There is a move now amongst tourism boards in Southeast Asia to diversify their market mix so they’re not simply reliant on China,” he adds.

However, if India does hope to overtake China when it comes to outbound tourism, Bowerman believes it may take “possibly two decades.”

“You can’t catch up that gap in a short period of time,” he says.

Four young children have been found alive after more than a month wandering the Amazon where they survived like “children of the jungle,” according to Colombian President Gustavo Petro.

“Their learning from indigenous families and their learning of living in the jungle has saved them,” Petro told reporters on Friday, after announcing on Twitter that they had been found 40 days after they went missing following a plane crash that killed their mother.

Petro said the children were all together when they were found, adding they had demonstrated an example of “total survival that will be remembered in history.”

“They are children of the jungle and now they are children of Colombia,” he added.

“They were very weak, we could find them by listening to the cries of the youngest one, but they were really tired, they were no longer on the move, like in the first few weeks,” Acosta said.

Revealing their discovery earlier in the day, the Colombian president had tweeted an image that seems to show search crews treating the children in a forest clearing, along with the words: “A joy for the whole country!”

Their grandmother, María Fátima Valencia, said she was “going to hug all of them” and “thank everyone” as soon as they were reunited in their home city of Villavicencio, where they live.

“I’m going to encourage them, I’m going to push them forward, I need them here,” she said.

The children, who appear gaunt in the photos, were evaluated by doctors before being flown out by the Colombian Air Force on an air ambulance to the Military Transport Air Command in Bogota, the capital, early Saturday morning.

Four medics, including a pediatrician and a neonatologist, provided treatment on board the plane, according to the air force.

The air ambulance landed at the Military Transport Air Command in Bogota Saturday morning, data from Fightradar24 showed.

“We hope that tomorrow they will be treated at the military hospital,” Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez said earlier Friday night, while praising the Colombian military and indigenous communities for helping find them.

Petro said the children were weak, needed food and would have their mental status assessed. “Let the doctors make their assessment and we will know,” he added.

Stranded after plane crash

Lesly Jacobombaire Mucutuy, aged 13, Soleiny Jacobombaire Mucutuy, 9, Tien Ranoque Mucutuy, 4, and infant Cristin Ranoque Mucutuy were stranded in the jungle on May 1, the only survivors of a deadly plane crash.

Their mother, Magdalena Mucutuy Valencia, was killed in the crash along with two other adult passengers: pilot Hernando Murcia Morales and Yarupari indigenous leader Herman Mendoza Hernández.

The children’s subsequent disappearance into the deep forest galvanized a massive military-led search operation involving over a hundred Colombian special forces troops and over 70 indigenous scouts combing the area.

For weeks, the search turned up only tantalizing clues, including footprints, a dirty diaper and a bottle. Family members said the oldest child had some experience in the forest, but hopes waned as the weeks went on.

At some point during their ordeal, they’d had to defend themselves from a dog, Petro said.

He called the children’s survival a “gift to life” and an indication that they were “cared for by the jungle.”

The children were eventually discovered in an area clear of trees, which scouts were not able to search until Friday, Acosta said.

“The place we found them is about three hours from the site of the crash, walking through the jungle. It’s a very short distance, but in the jungle terrain it takes a long time to move around,” he added.

The Colombian president said he had spoken with the grandfather of the children who said that their survival was in the hands of the jungle which ultimately chose to return them.

The grandfather, Fidencio Valencia, said he and his wife had endured many sleepless nights worrying about the children.

“For us this situation was like being in the dark, we walked for the sake of walking. Living for the sake of living because the hope of finding them kept us alive. When we found the children we felt joy, we don’t know what to do, but we are grateful to God,” he said.

The children’s other grandfather, Narcizo Mucutuy, said he wants his grandchildren to be brought back home soon.

“I beg the president of Colombia to bring our grandchildren to Villavicencio, here where the grandparents are, where their uncles and aunts are, and then take them to Bogota,” he said.

‘The miracle came’

Acosta credited the “extra effort” of search and rescue teams and local authorities to find the children in a statement on Friday.

“They all added a little effort so that this Operation Hope could be successful, and we can hope the kids will emerge alive and stronger than before. We have been hoping together with the strength of our ancestors, and our strength prevailed,” he said.

When they received news that the children were found, “we were very happy, emotional,” Acosta said.

“A lot of people shed a tear or two, but it was a very powerful moment with lots of strength and lots of gratitude for the moment,” he added.

“We never stopped looking for them until the miracle came,” the Colombian Defense Ministry tweeted.

During a press conference Friday evening, Petro said he hoped to speak with the children on Saturday.

“The most important thing now is what the doctors say, they have been lost for 40 days, their health condition must have been stressed. We need to check their mental state too,” he said.

Petro, who was previously forced to backtrack after mistakenly tweeting that they had been found last month, described the children’s 40-day saga as “a remarkable testament of survival.”

As he watched Casper Ruud’s forehand loop into the tram lines, Novak Djokovic dropped to the red Parisian clay, arms and legs splayed out and wide, and started to realize what he had just achieved.

This was the moment he won grand slam number 23, surpassing Rafael Nadal at the top of the men’s all-time list. In a golden era for the sport – stretching back to Roger Federer’s first grand slam title 20 years ago – Djokovic has now eclipsed those two rivals to become the greatest male player in history.

His straight-sets victory against Ruud on Sunday was Djokovic’s third title at the French Open, making him the first man to win each grand slam at least three times. It also saw him move to the top of the world rankings for the 388th week in his career, far ahead of Federer’s 310.

“I don’t want to say that I am the greatest, because I feel, I’ve said it before – it’s disrespectful towards all the great champions in different eras of our sport,” Djokovic told reporters after the final. “I leave those kinds of discussions of who is the greatest to someone else.”

The Serbian lost just two sets at Roland Garros over the past fortnight, though his superiority in the tournament was even more extraordinary considering his challenging build-up.

Clay has never been Djokovic’s favorite surface, and in the weeks before the French Open he failed to get beyond the quarterfinals of three tune-up events while also struggled with an elbow injury.

But with history on the line, that all changed when he arrived in Paris.

“He has this software in his head that he can switch when a grand slam comes,” Djokovic’s coach, Goran Ivanišević, told reporters on Sunday. “A grand slam is a different sport compared to other tournaments.”

It was perhaps fitting that Djokovic had legendary quarterback Tom Brady – considered by many to be the greatest NFL player of all time – in his box for his final against Ruud.

Like Brady – and like Federer and Nadal – Djokovic has shown that he can win titles at what would traditionally be perceived as an advanced age for an athlete. The 36-year-old admitted that his body is “responding differently” to the rigors of top-level tennis compared to five or 10 years ago, but his mind and his desire are still willing.

“If I’m winning slams, why even think about ending a career that already has been going on for 20 years?” said Djokovic.

“I still feel motivated, I still feel inspired to play the best tennis at these tournaments the most – grand slams. Those are the ones that count, I guess, the most in the history of our sport. I look forward already to Wimbledon.”

Indeed, Djokovic added that Wimbledon will be his only grass-court tournament over the coming weeks. There, he will attempt to defend his title and take another step towards completing the calendar grand slam of winning all four majors in the same year.

The last male player to achieve such a feat was Rod Laver in 1969, though Djokovic came within one match of doing so in 2021.

Whether it’s this year, next year, or beyond, it’s hard not to see the world No. 1 adding to his 23 grand slam titles, particularly while he remains free of major injuries.

“He’s unbelievable,” said Ivanisevic, “and he’s still moving like a cat on the court … He’s going to find, again, some kind of motivation to win 24, maybe 25. Who knows where the end is?”

On the court, Djokovic’s accuracy, endurance, and extraordinary flexibility are all cornerstones of his game, enabling him to shift between defense and attack.

“Either he plays ridiculous defense or he plays beautiful winners,” said Ruud, who hasn’t taken a set off Djokovic in five matches.

“He just doesn’t do any mistakes. He either lets you go for too much or he plays a beautiful winner … He just locks in and you have to play either ridiculously well to win the points, or he steps up with a winner himself.”

Andy Roddick put it another way.

“First he takes your legs, then he takes your soul,” the former world No. 1 famously remarked about Djokovic’s game during the 2021 US Open.

No stranger to controversy, Djokovic said after his second-round match at the French Open that he is driven by the drama that has tended to follow him at grand slams.

He was referring to a political message he made about Kosovo at the start of the tournament, while also appearing to allude to the past two Australian Opens: in January, he had to explain how his father didn’t intend to support “any kind of war initiatives” having been filmed with a group of Russian supporters at Melbourne Park, and last year he was deported from Australia having arrived unvaccinated against Covid-19.

Then in 2020, he was defaulted from the US Open after striking a line judge with a ball.

But Djokovic has been all-conquering on the court in the face of these controversies, unflinching in his pursuit of tennis history. On top of his 23 grand slam titles, he has also won every Masters 1000 tournament and the World Tour Finals at least twice.

It seems a matter of when, rather than if, the most successful player in the history of men’s tennis adds to his record-breaking haul of grand slam titles.

Ferrari may have had very little to cheer about in Formula One in recent years, but the Italian manufacturer made a triumphant return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans after a 50-year absence.

One of the most prestigious motor races in the world – and one part of motorsports’ ‘Triple Crown’ along with the Monaco Grand Prix and Indianapolis 500 – Le Mans is won by the team that covers the most distance in 24 hours.

Ferrari entered this race – the 100th anniversary of the event – in the new Hyperclass category, the top class with the fastest cars in the 2023 edition. This year’s top speed was an eye-watering 347.8 kilometers (216 miles) an hour set by Ferrari’s Antonio Fuocco.

The trio of former F1 driver Antonio Giovinazzi, Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado eventually ran out comfortable winners, covering 4,659.40 kilometers (2,895 miles) to usurp a Toyota Gazoo team that entered as the overwhelming favorite on a five-year winning streak.

Victory was Ferrari’s 10th top level win at Le Mans and its first since 1965.

“For me and Alessandro it’s an even more special feeling,” Giovinazzi said, according to F1.

“We first drove this car last July, so to have achieved this result, pole and victory, after just under a year, is undoubtedly fantastic.

“It was by no means a given that we’d make it, but the entire team and my team mates did a great job, and here we are today.

“Thanks to Ferrari, who made all this happen. We are back to winning ways after 50 years, and we should be very proud.”

Ferrari’s F1 driver Charles Leclerc was watching on from the team’s garage and admitted he would one day like to compete at Le Mans.

“I mean, why not? Why not? I would love to, it’s an incredible event,” he told Eurosport.

“For sure, one day in my life I want to tick that box. When will it be, I don’t know. Again, I’m just extremely proud of what Ferrari has done today.”

Elsewhere, Hollywood star Michael Fassbender crashed out of the race during his stint behind the wheel of a Porsche 911 while racing for Germany’s Proton Competition.

Fassbender made his Le Mans debut last year, crashing out twice during the race but eventually finishing a very respectable 51st out of 62 with Proton.

“We are gutted!” the Proton team tweeted. “Car #911 is no longer running the Le Mans 24 race.

“Few minutes before the end of his stint #MichaelFassbender lost control of the car and went into the barrier with no chances to repair the damage.

“Le Mans was no[t] kind to us this year!”