India's 'Maharaja in Denims' stakes claim in AI film race

World Rugby chair Brett Robinson told AFP that the sport "can't sit still" if it wants to grow, including conquering the "challenge" that is the United States with the 2031 World Cup.

Rugby union's place in global sport's pecking order has come into sharp focus over issues such as financial sustainability, player welfare and threats to its popularity in traditional rugby heartlands.

All Blacks great Michael Jones told AFP last week that union is losing the battle for "hearts and minds" to rival code rugby league in New Zealand.

His comments came just before Auckland-based Moana Pasifika said that it would fold at the end of the season, becoming the second Super Rugby team to go under in three years because of financial problems.

In Wales, another traditional rugby country, the national team's fortunes have nose-dived and football has caught the public imagination instead.

"I think that rugby is broadly in really rude health," Robinson, an Australian former international, said in Hong Kong, where he was attending the city's sevens tournament.

He pointed to participation rates around the world, including two million women, saying that the sport is "truly international".

He added: "We have to protect our core (markets), but we can't sit still and believe that the game will thrive if we don't consider and continue to look at how we grow the game."

That means taking rugby to new frontiers, prime among them the United States.

Australia will host the men's Rugby World Cup next year and the women's event in 2029.

Then comes the United States, staging the men's showpiece in 2031 and the women's competition two years later.

The US will host the football World Cup this June-July, providing a taste of the kind of challenges that rugby chiefs could encounter, with ticket prices and transport costs making headlines for the wrong reasons.

- 'Challenging market' -

Serious doubts have surfaced over the health of rugby in the US, including the state of the men's national team and the professional Major League Rugby, down to six teams after four clubs quit the competition. 

Reports in British newspapers claimed that there were questions over how the US would deliver the World Cup on a commercial level. 

Robinson said that it was about "building momentum into '31".

"We have worked with the top unions around taking iconic events and matches over that period of time (to the US) to build connections to fans.

"And also we currently have 27 host cities that we're focused on that we'll probably whittle down to 12 to 14 that we will look to base the matches in."

The host cities will be announced after the 2027 World Cup.

As part of efforts to spark excitement towards 2031, South Africa and New Zealand will clash in Baltimore in September. Ireland faced the All Blacks in Chicago last year.

"We're working really hard to build a long-term play," Robinson said.

He added: "We aren't sitting still in terms of preparing and acknowledging that it's a challenging market.

"But equally as important will be what happens in '33 because women's rugby in North America is going from strength to strength."

Before that comes the World Cup in Robinson's native Australia next year, and he said that initial ticket sales "exceeded all expectations".

More than 750,000 tickets were snapped up for the largest edition of the World Cup, with 24 teams.

"So it's a really good signal about the World Cup," he said.

"We're really optimistic and excited," he added.

"Obviously there's some recent uncertainty that everyone's feeling through the Middle East (war), but we're still quite buoyant about the scale of what that event's going to look like."

pst/bc

"The Super Mario Galaxy Movie" -- based on Nintendo's popular video game franchise -- topped North America's box office for the third week in a row, industry estimates showed Sunday.

The animated sequel from Universal and Illumination Studios tracking the adventures of Mario, Luigi and friends in outer space raked in another $35 million, Exhibitor Relations reported.

That puts the worldwide box office total of the film -- which features the voices of Jack Black, Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy and Brie Larson -- at nearly $750 million. 

Holding its own in second place is another space adventure, Amazon MGM's smash hit "Project Hail Mary," which earned $20.4 million over the weekend in the United States and Canada.

The film, which stars Ryan Gosling as a teacher-turned-astronaut who awakes on a spaceship with a mission to save Earth from a dimming sun, has earned more than $570 million worldwide, and its run in movie theaters has been extended.

"'Super Mario' and 'Project Hail Mary' continue to drive the business in their third and fifth weekends -- they're carrying the box office," said analyst David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research.

Debuting in third place is "Lee Cronin's The Mummy," an original horror flick from Warner Bros, which earned $13.5 million. The film is not related to Universal's adventure films starring Brendan Fraser.

In the fourth spot at $4.8 million was "The Drama," A24's romantic comedy with a dark twist starring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson about a couple unraveling just before their wedding.

And finishing in fifth at $3.8 million was another rom com, Universal's "You, Me & Tuscany" starring actress-singer Halle Bailey and Rege-Jean Page of "Bridgerton" fame.

Rounding out the top 10:

"Hoppers" ($2.9 million)

"Normal" ($2.7 million)

"Busboys" ($1.6 million)

"Bhooth Bangla" (1 million)

"Exit 8" ($670,000)

bur-sst/dw

Tens of thousands of people gathered on Sunday for a giant open-air Mass by Pope Leo XIV near Angola's capital Luanda, where he delivered a message of hope to the resource-rich country marked by poverty and inequality.

The pope was due later in the town of Muxima south of Luanda, which has become one of southern Africa's most venerated pilgrimage sites.

Leo flew into Luanda on Saturday, the third leg of a whirlwind four-nation African tour on which he has condemned corruption and the plunder of the continent's resources -- and had a high-profile spat with US President Donald Trump.

Around 100,000 people attended the Mass at Kilamba, around 30 kilometres (19 miles) from the capital, authorities said. Many had slept on the ground overnight in T-shirts bearing the image of the American pope.

After pushing through the crowds in his popemobile, Leo encouraged Angolans "to look to the future with hope" in a "new beginning" for the nation still scarred by a 27-year civil war that ended in 2002.

It was possible "to build a country where old divisions are overcome forever, where hatred and violence disappear, where the wound of corruption is healed by a new culture of justice and sharing", Leo said.

On arriving on Saturday from Cameroon, Leo went straight into an event with Angolan President Joao Lourenco and other officials where he spoke out against the "suffering" caused by poverty and the rampant exploitation of natural resources -- continuing the assertive tone of his 11-day tour.

He urged the officials to "not be afraid of dissent", with critics accusing Lourenco's government of repressing rights activists.

- 'Call leaders to account' -

Angola is one of Africa's top oil producers and is rich in resources such as diamonds.

However, economic disparities are stark and around a third of the population of 36.6 million people live in poverty, according to the World Bank.

Patricio Musanga, 32, said he attended the Kilamba Mass looking for encouragement for young people in a country where the average age is just 23, with a lack of work making many seek better opportunities in Western countries.

"We are very rich in natural resources but... there is a glaring inequality between those who live well and the others," said Musanga.

"The pope must call our leaders to account... I believe that at least he will be listened to by the authorities," he said.

Father Pedro Chingandu, a Catholic priest who had come from the eastern province of Moxico, told AFP: "We need real democracy and the redistribution of wealth and justice."

- Not debating Trump -

At Muxima, hundreds of people spent the night in multicoloured tents ahead of Leo's arrival.

The town's celebrated 16th-century Mama Muxima shrine "is the soul and the heart of all Angolans," said Veronica Simao Teka, in her sixties.

Meraldo Amon Daniel, a 21-year-old nursing student, said she believed the pope's visit "can strengthen the faith, not only of the faithful, but also of the country's authorities." 

Angola's security forces are regularly accused of a heavy-handed response to dissent, including in July last year when around 30 people were killed in a crackdown on a three-day looting spree in Luanda and other centres.

Analysts said the unrest signalled dissatisfaction with Lourenco's socialist MPLA party, which has held power since independence in 1975.

Leo started his African tour in Algeria on Monday, then headed to Cameroon.

He told journalists on the flight to Angola he regretted that a war of words with Trump -- who labelled him "weak" after he called for an end to the Middle East war -- had overshadowed some of the trip.

It is "not in my interest at all" to debate the US leader, said the first American pontiff.

From Angola, Leo will travel to Equatorial Guinea, the final stop of an 18,000-kilometre journey across the continent.

fal-cmk-br/jxb

(The Center Square) - The U.S. Supreme Court will begin its final oral arguments sitting of the current term on Monday. The justices will hear several high profile arguments on various issues before the term ends in June.

On Wednesday, justices will hear arguments in Blanche v. Lau, a case to determine how immigrants are admitted into the United States. The case focuses on Muk Choi Lau, a Chinese national who became a lawful permanent resident in the United States in 2007. In 2012, Lau was convicted of trademark counterfeiting in New Jersey and fled the country.

However, once Lau returned, immigration officers admitted him under parole, a status that allowed him to be brought into the United States but not to remain permanently.

“It’s kind of a catch-all way that DHS officers can allow someone into the country,” said James Rogers, senior counsel at America First Legal.

Once Lau returned to the country on parole, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security began removal proceedings to take Lau out of the country. According to the Immigration and Nationality Act, an immigrant admitted on parole is required to prove that they are admissible into the United States.

“It’s a lot easier to remove an alien in that sort of situation,” Rogers said.

The justices will hear arguements over whether the government had to establish clear evidence when Lau returned to the United States that he had committed a crime or if his later conviction proved that point. The justices will also likely decide how much authority federal courts have when reviewing parole determinations.

Lawyers for Lau argued that the United States cannot use charges of a crime to make a determination on how an immigrant can enter the United States.

“No one thinks that a pending criminal charge is clear and convincing evidence that the defendant committed the charged crime,” lawyers for Lau wrote. “To the contrary, criminal charges are not evidence at all.”

Rogers said the court’s decisionmaking process in this case will be important because the Biden administration used parole to allow immigrants into the country. The Center for Immigration Studies estimated the Biden administration granted parole to 2.86 million foreign nationals.

“The parole statute is supposed to only allow a narrow exception where a DHS officer is allowed to admit aliens on a case-by-case basis if the DHS officer determines that there’s a significant humanitarian need or significant national benefit to letting the alien in,” Rogers said.

Rogers warned that the Supreme Court’s definition of federal review with parole designations could have a large impact on future administrations. He said Democrat administrations could allow large numbers of immigrants in on parole without needing to review the decision in court.

“This can make it significantly harder in the future to challenge left-wing administrations attempts to open the borders and use parole again to let in aliens because there would be no review of those decisions in court,” Rogers said.

Virgil van Dijk scored a last-gasp winner against Everton on Sunday as Liverpool strengthened their push for a Champions League spot next season ahead of a Premier League summit meeting between Manchester City and Arsenal.

On a pivotal day in the English top division, fourth-placed Aston Villa squandered a two-goal lead against Sunderland but scored in stoppage time to win 4-3.

At the other end of the table, Morgan Gibbs-White netted a hat-trick as struggling Nottingham Forest came from behind against Burnley to win 4-1 and heap the pressure on troubled Tottenham.

Just a few weeks ago the battle for the top five, which guarantees entry into the Champions League, looked as though it might be tight.

But fifth-placed Liverpool's 2-1 victory in their first match at Everton's new Hill Dickinson Stadium takes them seven points clear of stumbling Chelsea, in sixth spot.

Captain Van Dijk was the hero for Arne Slot's Liverpool, heading Dominik Szoboszlai's corner past a helpless Jordan Pickford in the 100th minute.

"Today was massive in the situation that we are, in hunt for the Champions League spots," Van Dijk told Sky Sports.

"That is definitely not Liverpool-worthy, in my opinion, but it is the reality and it was important we got the win. I'm glad we did.

"We've got five more games left (some) against teams that are also fighting for the Champions League spots. Every game is a big one."

Mohamed Salah had opened the scoring for last season's champions, slotting home in the first half following a superbly weighted pass from Cody Gakpo.

The goal came just two minutes after Iliman Ndiaye's effort at the other end was cancelled by VAR, with Jake O'Brien ruled offside.  

Salah, departing at the end of the season, has equalled Steven Gerrard's nine goals to become the joint top-scoring player in the Premier League fixture between the two Merseyside teams.

The goal took the wind out of the sails of David Moyes' team but they were level through Beto within 10 minutes of the restart.

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, on the left of Everton's attack, fired across goal for Beto to attack and he poked home ahead of an onrushing Giorgi Mamardashvili, who was immedaiately stretchered off, replaced by Freddie Woodman. 

The game looked destined to end as a draw but the officials signalled 11 added minutes but Van Dijk had the last laugh.

- Villa thriller -

Ollie Watkins scored twice for Villa, who moved level on 58 points with third-placed Manchester United, three clear of Liverpool.

England forward Watkins' early opener was cancelled out by Sunderland's Chris Rigg but Watkins restored Villa's lead in the 36th minute with his second headed goal of the game.

Morgan Rogers gave Villa breathing space with a third shortly after the restart but Unai Emery's team nearly threw it away as first Trai Hume and then Wilson Isidor scored within a minute for Sunderland.

But there was still time for Tammy Abraham to grab a dramatic late winner.

"What a position we are in, semi-final of European competition (Europa League) and pole position to qualify for top five," said captain John McGinn.

"We can go and achieve what not many Aston Villa players have done for a long time. We're keen to do that and we're driven, five big games left to try and get ourselves over the line."

Nottingham Forest, involved in a relegation scrap with West Ham and Tottenham, fell behind against Burnley but Gibbs-White put on a second-half masterclass to seal an ultimately comfortable win.

Forest are five points clear of 18th-placed Spurs, with Wolves and Burnley almost certainly doomed.

Tottenham could only manage a 2-2 draw at home to Brighton on Saturday to move a point behind West Ham, who travel to face Crystal Palace on Monday.

Manchester City host long-time leaders Arsenal at the Etihad in the late afternoon Sunday kick-off.

A win for Pep Guardiola's men plus victory against Burnley in midweek would take City top of the table.

jw/ea

(The Center Square) – Talks to strike a deal with Iran will reconvene this week ahead of Wednesday’s ceasefire expiration as President Donald Trump issued fresh threats Sunday on the Islamic Republic.

Trump says Iran violated the ceasefire agreement when it fired on cargo ships in the Strait of Hormuz Saturday, as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed it closed the vital waterway, a reversal of a Friday announcement that it had agreed to open the strait.

“Iran decided to fire bullets yesterday in the Strait of Hormuz — A Total Violation of our Ceasefire Agreement! Many of them were aimed at a French Ship, and a Freighter from the United Kingdom,” the president posted on Truth Social Sunday.

Following last weekend’s marathon talks between the U.S. and Iran in Pakistan that failed to secure a deal, Trump confirmed the U.S. will return to the negotiating table, saying his representatives will arrive Monday evening.

It has been reported that Vice President JD Vance will once again lead the delegation, along with Middle East Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

Ahead of the talks, the president is reissuing a dire warning to the Iranian regime, threatening to target its energy infrastructure and bridges.

“We’re offering a very fair and reasonable deal, and I hope they take it because, if they don’t, the United States is going to knock out every single power plant, and every single bridge in Iran,” Trump wrote. “They’ll come down fast, they’ll come down easy and, if they don’t take the deal, it will be my honor to do what has to be done, which should have been done to Iran, by other presidents, for the last 47 years. It’s time for the Iran killing machine to end.”

Second seed Ben Shelton won the ATP 500 clay-court tournament in Munich for the first time wth a 6–2, 7–5 victory over the Italian Flavio Cobolli who had such an impressive win over Alexander Zverev in the semis. 

One year after losing in the final to Zverev, world No. 6 Shelton claimed the fifth ATP title of his career and his second of the season after Dallas, on hard court. 

“I came out at a really high level and have done that before against him," said Shelton after the match. 

"The toughest thing is maintaining it as he raises his level. I managed to do that in the second set and played some great tennis. 

"I am happy with my performance this week. I got better and better as the week went on and I am happy with the work me and the team put in.”

Shelton, who won an ATP 250-level clay-court tournament clay in Houston in 2024, also became the first American man since Andre Agassi at the Rome Masters 1000 in 2002 to win a tournament on the surface at a higher level. 

“I have big ambitions for the clay courts,” Shelton added. “It is a surface I want to get better on each year. It is slowly becoming one of my favourite surfaces to play on.”

Shelton had a comfortable ride against opponents outside the world's top 30 until the final although world no. 16 Cobolli was unable to reproduce the performance which did for Zverev. 

The American cruised through the first set, breaking his opponent’s first two service games, even though Cobolli saved eight set points — six of them on his own serve — before finally yielding on the ninth. 

The second set was much more tightly contested as it went with serve up to 5–5. 

But a double fault from Cobolli handed Shelton a break at the perfect moment, and he made no mistake in closing it out after 1 hour 31 minutes.

lle/bsp/ea

Embattled UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer will face lawmakers in parliament on Monday as he tries to quell anger over an unrelenting scandal involving long-time Jeffrey Epstein associate Peter Mandelson.

Starmer, already widely unpopular amongst the British public and many Labour MPs, is struggling to put a lid on the controversy, which has dogged his premiership for months.

It flared again on Thursday when it was revealed that Mandelson was named as Britain's ambassador to the United States in late 2024 despite failing to pass security checks, sparking fresh calls for Starmer to quit.

The beleagured leader insisted Friday that he and other ministers were not told Mandelson had failed the vetting process, calling the omission "unforgivable".

He is to give further details in a statement to the House of Commons on Monday, before being quizzed by MPs.

Starmer has blamed foreign office officials for allowing the appointment against the advice of security officials. He sacked the department's top civil servant Olly Robins on Thursday.

Ex-civil servants have accused Starmer of scapegoating Robbins, who is to give his own account to a parliamentary committee on Tuesday, in what could be a crunch week for Starmer's almost two-year-old premiership.

Opposition leaders have called for Starmer to step down, with accusations ranging from incompetence to wilful misleading of parliamentarians and the public.

Starmer told parliament in February that "full due process" was followed when Mandelson was vetted and cleared for the key role.

Downing Street insists that remains true because government rules meant the foreign office had the power to overrule vetting concerns, unbeknownst to Starmer and his top team.

On Friday, Starmer's office took the unusual step of releasing a memo which insisted that he only found out about the vetting failure on Tuesday last week. 

Ministers have rallied around him over the weekend, with Technology Secretary Liz Kendall and deputy prime minister David Lammy insisting Starmer would not have appointed Mandelson had he known that he had not received the appropriate clearance.

"I think he is an honest man and a man of integrity who says it was a mistake to appoint him (Mandelson)," Kendall told Sky News.

- Police probe -

Kendall said Starmer should remain in his job because he had "made the right call" on big issues, such as building closer relations with the European Union and limiting Britain's involvement in the Iran war.

Polls suggest Starmer is one of Britain's most unpopular prime ministers ever, in part because of several policy mis-steps.

He has endured repeated questions about his judgement for selecting Mandelson whose friendship with Epstein was well known, and faced down calls from Labour's leader in Scotland to resign over the issue earlier this year.

Starmer sacked Mandelson in September 2025 after new details emerged about the depth of the ex-envoy's ties to Epstein, who died in prison in 2019 while facing sex-trafficking charges.

UK police are investigating allegations of misconduct in office by Mandelson when he was a Labour minister more than 15 years ago. He was arrested and released in February.

Mandelson, 72, has not been charged and denies criminal wrongdoing.

Starmer and his Labour party are bracing for a chastening set of local elections next month, including in the devolved Scottish and Welsh parliaments.

The results are likely to renew questions about Starmer's future, although there appears to be little appetite within Labour to a launch leadership challenge right now, with no obvious successor available and war raging in the Middle East.

pdh/tw 

Security in Pakistan's capital Islamabad was stepped up visibly on Sunday ahead of peace talks between the United States and Iran in the coming days.

President Donald Trump said US negotiators will be in Pakistan on Monday to resume talks on ending the war with Iran, little more than a week after face-to-face talks in Islamabad on April 11 ended without agreement.

"My Representatives are going to Islamabad, Pakistan — They will be there tomorrow evening, for Negotiations," he wrote on Truth Social.

Authorities earlier announced road closures and traffic restrictions across the city, as well as in neighbouring Rawalpindi.

AFP journalists saw armed guards and checkpoints near Islamabad's most secure hotels, including the Marriott and the Serena, where the last round of talks between US and Iranian delegations took place.

Most streets leading to the Serena Hotel were closed on Sunday, with barbed wire, barricades, heavy security and traffic diversions.

"Citizens are earnestly requested to cooperate with the security agencies," a city official posted on X.

bur-je/pbt

Turkey said on Sunday it remained "optimistic" that a two-week ceasefire between Iran and the United States that expires on Wednesday, would be extended, allowing more time for talks between the sides.

Pakistan is leading preparations for more high-level US-Iran peace talks after a first round ended without agreement last weekend, 

Turkey, alongside Egypt, has expressed strong support for the Pakistan-led initiative on prolonging negotiations and preventing a return to hostilities.

"No one wants to see a new war break out when the ceasefire expires next week. We hope ... the parties will extend the ceasefire," Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said at the closing of a three-day diplomacy forum in the southern Antalya province.

"I hope there'll be an extension. I am optimistic," he said.

Fidan said he spoke with Pakistani officials on Sunday but would not give a date when new talks could be held. 

"The continuation of negotiations is something the entire international community wants. There is significant pressure in this regard," he said. 

"Under this level of pressure, I believe the parties should not see any obstacle to extending the ceasefire in order to continue peace negotiations," added the minister. 

Fidan said unless the sides chose to pursue more confrontational measures, there was "a strong possibility that the ceasefire will be extended and negotiations will continue".

"Hopefully, a more positive scenario will emerge. With some luck, by that time, the key issues in the negotiations may already have been resolved," he added.

Despite the optimism and movement in negotiations, Iran said on Sunday a final peace deal was "far" off. 

"It is clear that the negotiations have reached a critical stage. Both sides are continuing the talks with a genuine sense of sincerity. They also have the will to keep the process going," Fidan said. 

Turkey's top diplomat also accused Israel of seeking to create a "fait accompli" in Lebanon, despite an agreed ceasefire, denouncing what he said "Israeli expansionism". 

"The ongoing Iran–United States negotiations seem to be overshadowing this situation (in Lebanon). Israel appears to be trying to take advantage of this distraction to create a fait accompli," Fidan also said.  

On Saturday, Fidan said Israel was attempting to occupy new territories using security concerns as a pretext.  

"We are talking about a fundamntalist government. We are talking abot a security problem that troubles the world," he said.

fo/tw