Mexican BTS fans go wild as concerts grow near

Arsenal reached the Champions League final for the first time in 20 years as Bukayo Saka sealed a 1-0 win against Atletico Madrid on Tuesday.

Mikel Arteta's side settled the semi-final second leg with Saka's strike late in the first half at an ecstatic Emirates Stadium.

The Gunners, who drew 1-1 in the first leg in Madrid last week, held firm after Saka's goal to go through 2-1 on aggregate.

Arsenal will face Paris Saint-Germain or Bayern Munich in the final in Budapest on May 30.

Holders PSG, who beat Arsenal in the semi-finals last year, have a 5-4 lead ahead of the second leg in Munich on Wednesday.

It was a cathartic night for Arsenal, who are back in the Champions League final for the first time since losing 2-1 to Barcelona in their only previous appearance in the showpiece in 2006.

Arsenal have never won the Champions League, with their two major European trophies coming in the 1994 Cup Winners' Cup and the 1970 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.

Their last continental final ended in a 4-1 defeat against Chelsea in the 2019 Europa League.

It is shaping up to be Arsenal's greatest ever season as they chase a Premier League and Champions League double.

Even Arsene Wenger's 'Invincibles' -- who won the club's last English title in an unbeaten top-flight campaign in 2004 -- might have to bow to the current generation if they finish the job.

Fittingly, it was Saka -- the homegrown symbol of the Arteta era -- who proved Arsenal's match-winner.

Now just four games from immortality, Premier League leaders Arsenal were given a huge boost in the title race when second-placed Manchester City drew at Everton on Monday.

The Gunners will be crowned champions if they win their last three games against West Ham, Burnley and Crystal Palace.

Once the title is decided, Arsenal will head to Hungary with a maiden Champions League crown in their sights.

Arsenal endured jibes about their perceived lack of mental strength after a run of four defeats in six games in all competitions sparked painful memories of previous failures to end their six-year wait for silverware.

But the 'nearly-men' and 'serial choker' labels applied only weeks ago are on the verge of being banished forever.

- Jubilant Arteta -

Thousands of Arsenal supporters massed outside the stadium before kick-off to greet their team with flares and flags, a vociferous display of affection underlining Arsenal's desperation to make history.

It was the kind of evening in north London, when nothing was beyond the realm of possibility as Arsenal moved closer to casting off the shackles of two decades of underachievement.

After some tense performances during the Premier League run-in, Saturday's 3-0 rout of Fulham had showed Arsenal at their flowing best in a riposte to the critics who claim they only win ugly.

This was a more prosaic display but no-one with an affinity to Arsenal was bothered in the slightest.

Arsenal were nearly caught on the counter in a frenetic start when Julian Alvarez shot just wide before Giuliano Simeone's close-range effort deflected past the post.

But Arsenal recovered from those anxious moments to deliver a dominant spell that brought their 44th minute goal.

Viktor Gyokeres' clever run unhinged the Atletico defence and his cross reached Leandro Trossard inside the area.

Trossard wriggled into just enough space for a low drive that Jan Oblak weakly pushed out to Saka, who reacted quicker than his flat-footed markers to slot home from four yards.

Arteta jubilantly punched the air as all around him the Emirates erupted into a roiling red sea of celebration.

Atletico tried to ruin the party in the second half, but Gabriel Magalhaes made a last-ditch tackle on Simeone to avert a certain goal before David Raya repelled Antoine Griezmann's blast.

Arteta recently revealed he visualised Arsenal conquering the Champions League even in the difficult early days of his reign.

The Spaniard now is just one win away from seeing that daydream become a glorious reality.

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Costa Rica's incoming right-wing leader Laura Fernandez on Tuesday gave her mentor, outgoing president Rodrigo Chaves, who is dogged by corruption allegations, a top position in her cabinet.

Fernandez, Chaves' political heir, appointed him minister of the presidency -- a role akin to that of chief of staff but within the cabinet.

It puts Chaves in charge of the Intelligence and Security Directorate (DIS), which in the past has been accused by opponents of alleged political espionage -- a charge the government denies.

The position allows Chaves to retain immunity from prosecution. 

Last year, he survived two attempts by Congress to strip him of his immunity so that he could be prosecuted for alleged corruption.

Government critics say that Fernandez, who will officially take over from Chaves on Friday, will be merely a vehicle for his agenda.

She has promised to continue his policy of taking in people of different nationalities who have been deported from the United States.

Fernandez, a political scientist, won February's presidential election by a landslide, after promising to crack down on rising violence linked to the cocaine trade.

Chaves was barred from seeking a second consecutive term. 

Under Chaves, the Central American nation joined US President Donald Trump's "Shield of the Americas" alliance, which aims to combat drug trafficking in Latin America.

Chaves has had strained ties with local media, whom he accuses of defaming him.

On Saturday, the country's largest daily newspaper La Nacion, a critic of the Chaves administration, said the United States had revoked the visas of several of its executives.

The newspaper said its executives had received "no official explanation" for the "unprecedented" move.

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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the eve of a Vatican visit on Tuesday played down President Donald Trump's criticism of Pope Leo XIV, who stood firm in calling for the promotion of peace.

Rubio, a devout Catholic, will meet Thursday at the Vatican with the first American-born pope, who has angered Trump by calling for an end to war in the Middle East and speaking out on defending migrants.

"It's a trip we had planned from before, and obviously we had some stuff that happened," Rubio told reporters at the White House when asked about Trump's criticism.

"There's a lot to talk about with the Vatican."

Rubio listed as an example an issue that generally unites the Trump administration and the Vatican -- religious freedom.

Trump, in an extraordinary attack on the leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics, last month took to social media to call the pope "WEAK on crime, and terrible for foreign policy."

The remark came after Leo called for peace in the Middle East war launched by Israel and the United States and said that Trump's genocidal call to destroy Iranian civilization forever was "unacceptable."

Trump again criticized the pope in an interview late Monday with conservative host Hugh Hewitt, alleging that Leo believes it is "OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon."

"I think he's endangering a lot of Catholics and a lot of people," Trump said.

"But I guess if it's up to the Pope, he thinks it's just fine for Iran to have a nuclear weapon."

Asked about Trump's latest comments, the pope told reporters Tuesday: "The Church's mission is to preach the Gospel and to preach peace."

"If anyone wishes to criticize me for proclaiming the Gospel, let them do so truthfully," he said.

"The Church has spoken out against all nuclear weapons for years, so there is no doubt about that, and I simply hope to be heard for the sake of the value of God's word."

Even before the clash, polls conducted in March and April showed growing disapproval of Trump among American Catholics, a warning sign after he won a majority of Catholic voters in the 2024 election.

Cuba is another likely topic of discussion in Rubio's talks at the Vatican.

The Holy See has long played an active role in diplomacy on Cuba, where Rubio -- a Cuban-American -- has been leading the Trump administration's efforts to pressure the communist state.

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LIV Golf sees hope in finding new financial sponsors to carry the series beyond this season, when its vast Saudi funding will end, even though chief executive officer Scott O'Neil was short on details in comments Tuesday.

Speaking ahead of this week's LIV Golf Virginia event at Trump National Washington, O'Neil said he has spoken with potential investors as he works on a business plan he can pitch to players and sponsors alike.

"I definitely will not be talking through specifics of the plan,' O'Neil said. "But it's a playbook that won't surprise too many people once you see it.

"It's for next year that we're going to be making some pretty significant, substantive changes."

The days of players golfing less and making more money than PGA Tour talent figure to be at an end since the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF) has said it will pull the plug on backing LIV once the season concludes in August.

O'Neil believes that even with changes, LIV players will want to remain with the series.

"Do I believe that when we have a business plan and we raise money, that this is the place the players will choose? I do," he said.

"I have a lot of confidence this is a place players want to be."

O'Neil said he was "very confident" of support from new sponsors.

"I had about a dozen inbound calls this weekend from potential investors," O'Neil said. "It was a split between private equity, family office, and then your traditional high net worth guys who invest in sports and sports teams. So that has been really positive."

He has also spoken with broadcast and marketing partners about staying with LIV, saying, "We have a good sense at this point. We know where we're going."

O'Neil wants to keep a 14-week season but have other tours allow LIV players into events to produce showdowns with all the world's top talent.

"If you want to see the best players in the world playing together more often, no problem, let's do it on the other 38 weeks," he said.

The PGA Tour has banned LIV players from its events, opening a brief return path that allowed Brooks Koepka back this year.

- 'Urgency here' -

O'Neil had no timetable for when LIV might have a plan to offer players and investors.

"I won't speak to specific timing other than to say that you'll find urgency here," he said.

When it came to return value on investment, O'Neil pointed to LIV teams, some of which have changed in recent months to reflect more national lineups.

"If you're looking for direction, we believe teams will have extraordinary value," he said. "Once we set the business in the right direction with the right trajectory, with the right revenue base and cost base, these teams will have extraordinary value."

O'Neil said players have offered to make visits to private equity firms in hopes of deals to sustain LIV, which has made a splash with events in such places as Adelaide.

"To see the impact it's having in markets like Australia, where we had 115,000 people, and South Africa we had 100,000 people and the UK, where we had 60,000 people last year... You start to feel that movement that the teams are catching on.

"I'm feeling good. I'm feeling an appropriate amount of pressure. I'm feeling inspired and I feel like we have a clear path to a win."

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Dancers bounced to the sound of BTS on an avenue in Mexico City, clapping and screaming at a pep rally kicking off a string of concerts by the South Korean superstars. 

And K-pop fervor in Mexico is not limited to fans like these young people. Many parents approve of all this passion for the group, which returned to the world spotlight in March following an almost four-year pause so its members could carry out their obligatory military service. 

BTS will perform shows in the Mexican capital on May 7, 9, and 10 -- and the more than 135,000 tickets on sale were snapped up in a matter of minutes. President Claudia Sheinbaum even tried in vain to arrange more concerts. 

Jude Pelaez was among the dancers who showed up Monday on Paseo de la Reforma, a major thoroughfare in Mexico's capital, for a BTS promotional event to get fans ready for the concerts.

Some kids danced while others put on temporary tattoos, as a poster with black-and-white photos of the seven group members rose up between two street posts. 

"Like everyone here, I'm so happy," Pelaez told AFP. "We do these types of events to emotionally and psychologically prepare ourselves, and to prepare the energy and vibe of the place."

"That makes Mexico different," he said. 

- 'Let's live life' -

Mare Sousa, 16, said BTS mania is a phenomenon in which "everyone is free to be who they are." 

She takes classes in a school called K-pop Dance with around 30 colleagues, most of them women. 

The students rehearse their choreography before a mirror even before class starts, and many of them use rest breaks to ask friends for help to correct their steps. 

"Take it easy, breathe," 22-year-old teacher Ginna Montoya said. 

K-pop fever in Mexico goes beyond dance. Some groups meet in cafes with BTS posters to eat noodles. Other fans take language classes in the South Korean cultural center. 

Lucio Campos decided to learn it when his adolescent daughter asked to go to South Korea for her 15th birthday. 

"BTS was born with the idea of transmitting healthy questions for young people," Campos said. "Their war cry is 'let's live life, let's live it healthily, let's live well,' and obviously this fascinates me."

Campos said the music contrasts with what he called the sexuality of reggaeton or 'narcocorridos,' a popular subgenre in Mexico that celebrates drug trafficking. 

In a room with band photos, Lucio pointed his finger and names the group members. His daughter Ana corrected him. "This is Jin," she said. 

"BTS taught me to love myself," Ana said as she went through the pages of an album with photos of the band members and motivational phrases on the back. 

- Sheinbaum's letter -

Sheinbaum intervened to help thousands of frustrated fans who were stuck without tickets for the concerts, events that South Korea says have improved its global image.

The South Korean government has cited a study carried out in 26 countries that it says showed a favorable opinion of the Asian nation among 82% of those surveyed. 

Sheinbaum asked her foreign minister to write an unusual missive urging South Korean President Lee Jae Myung to see if the K-pop stars could do more concerts in Mexico. 

Sheinbaum said her counterpart was "very open" to the request and assured her he had passed the request to BTS's production company. But no new dates were announced.

On the scalping site StubHub, tickets for the BTS shows in Mexico are going for as much as $13,000. 

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For nearly a month, a Croatian company has been rolling out what it says is Europe's first robotaxi service on the streets of Zagreb, with AFP among the first journalists to try it on Tuesday.

Backed by Uber and powered by Chinese self-driving firm Pony.ai, Croatia's Verne has operated 10 automated vehicles for a select number of customers in the city since April 8.

Despite similar services being available in China and the United States for years, multiple companies are still competing to bring autonomous taxi services to European roads.

Verne's service is intended to be fully autonomous, with a human "operator" temporarily behind the wheel during the current phased rollout, in case intervention is needed.

- Smooth operator -

During AFP's ride with the service, which the company says is used by 300 people, the operator -- a Verne employee named Deni Link -- never had to step in.

The mostly smooth ride was only interrupted when an oncoming vehicle veered into the wrong lane, forcing the car to stop suddenly.

"Sorry, we had to brake," a calm woman's voice told AFP and the other passengers.

Despite the often chaotic Croatian traffic and complicated intersections, Verne's head of country operations, Filip Cindric, said most rides are completed "without any intervention".

According to Cindric, who accompanied AFP during the ride, 90 percent of riders gave the service four or five stars, with no reported collisions over tens of thousands of kilometres.

- Gradual expansion -

Although the service was first announced in early April, sightings of the vehicles on Zagreb streets have been rare.

For now, the vehicles operate in the city centre, parts of the south, and around the airport, Verne CEO Marko Pejkovic told AFP.

"Expansion is gradual, with each new zone introduced only after detailed validation and once the system is proven reliable in real-world conditions," Pejkovic said in a statement.

According to the company, interest in the automated service, which costs 1.99 euros ($2.32) per ride, has been strong, with around 4,000 people currently on the waiting list.

Pejkovic said the low price was aimed at enticing users and encouraging feedback, with prices expected to rise as the service grows.

- More cities to come -

Ordered through Verne's app like any rideshare service, the automated vehicles are equipped with multiple cameras, lidar lasers and radars to help navigate the streets.

Verne, founded in 2019, said discussions were under way in 11 cities across the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the Middle East.

In Zagreb, it aims to transition to fully driverless operations by the end of the year, subject to regulatory approvals.

With 30 additional cities now being considered, Cindric said he was proud that Zagreb was the first to make it happen.

"If it were that easy, it would already exist in London or some other major European city," he said.

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US actor John Malkovich, who has Croatian ancestry, was granted Croatian citizenship on Tuesday in a special ceremony.

"The world-renowned actor, who has left a mark on cinema with numerous roles, has taken on a new role and become a Croatian citizen," Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic said in a post on X.

The 72-year-old Hollywood star was also welcomed by Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic.

"John's long career and his art success is a great inspiration for younger generations and we are glad he is proudly cultivating his Croatian roots," Plenkovic said.

Malkovic's great-grandmother and great-grandfather emigrated from Ozalj, in central Croatia, to the United States.

He has stayed in the Balkan country on several occasions, both privately and as a guest performing in theatre productions.

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Six-time major winner Phil Mickelson has withdrawn from next week's PGA Championship at Aronimink, citing a personal health matter within his family, the tournament announced on Tuesday.

The 55-year-old left-hander will be replaced in the field by fellow American Max Homa, who had been the first alternate in line for the year's second major tournament.

Mickelson also missed last month's Masters over a personal family health matter. He also had missed the first two events of the LIV Golf season.

Mickelson won the Masters in 2004, 2006 and 2010 as well as capturing the 2013 British Open and taking the PGA Championship in 2005 and 2021, becoming the oldest men's major winner at age 50 when he took the title at Kiawah Island five years ago.

He has been unable to win the US Open to complete a career Grand Slam, finishing as runner-up in the event a record six times, most recently in 2013.

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JJ Bush, a freshman linebacker on the Mizzou football team, was arrested on a pair of charges on Monday, as first reported by Calum McAndrew of the Columbia Daily Tribune. He has been indefinitely suspended from the team, head coach Eli Drinkwitz told the Tribune in a statement Tuesday.

“We are disappointed in JJ’s actions,” Drinkwitz said in the statement.

Bush was charged with a Class B misdemeanor of careless and imprudent driving and a Class D felony charge of aggravated fleeing a stop or detention of a motor vehicle.

The arresting officer observed Bush traveling, “approximately 80 mph” at 10 p.m. Monday while driving on East Broadway, according to the incident’s probable-cause statement.

The officer later said in the statement he activated his emergency lights and sirens and followed Bush for, “approximately 24 seconds." It also stated that Bush told the officer he was traveling between 80 and 90 mph and that he did not realize he was being stopped until checking his speed.

Bush was bonded before the case was filed for $5,000 for the two charges. The Class D felony charge of aggravated fleeing a stop or detention of a motor vehicle in Missouri is punishable by up to seven years in prison or one year in county jail along with a fine ranging up to $10,000. The punishment carries no eligibility for probation, parole, or conditional release until the defendant has served one year of the sentence minimum.

Bush was a four-star linebacker prospect in the class of 2026 from Theodore High School in Alabama. He committed to Mizzou in October after de-committing from Arkansas in September. Bush is listed at 6-foot-1 and 210 pounds.

Jon Rahm, thrilled at a new deal allowing him to play on the DP World Tour, said Tuesday he expects LIV Golf players must make concessions to save the series.

The 31-year-old Spaniard, a former world number one, spoke ahead of this week's LIV Golf Virginia event at Trump National Washington.

Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), which had promised long-term support for the series, says it will pull funding after this 2026 campaign concludes.

While LIV Golf chief executive officer Scott O'Neil seeks new backers, two-time defending LIV season champion Rahm says players will likely face compromises if the series is to continue.

"It's a team effort. It's not about one person agreeing or not. We all, as captains and team owners and players involved in the league, need to in essence have a large majority to agree on for it to work," Rahm said.

"I do believe that for the business plan to change, whatever they're coming up with, there will need to be some concessions on our part."

Several big names jumped to LIV Golf from the PGA Tour, which banned those players from its events. Some players have made the move back, such as five-time major winner Brooks Koepka, but a return path for others remains uncertain.

Rahm, for his part, said he likes where he is at with LIV.

"We want to be here. It has been a lot of fun. I want to keep competing. I want to keep sharing some time with them," Rahm said.

"But only time will tell. Scott and his team have a lot of hard work to do, but obviously they're experienced in the area, and that's why they've been chosen to take this role."

Rahm, the 2021 US Open and 2023 Masters champion, jumped in 2024 and won the past two season crowns.

This year, in his final tuneup for next week's PGA Championship, Rahm has won LIV titles at Hong Kong in March and Mexico City in April.

Rahm ended a long-running issue on Tuesday as the DP World Tour announced they reached a deal with Rahm allowing him to play on the European circuit this year while paying all outstanding fines since his 2024 jump to LIV.

"There's no longer a standoff. We were able to reach an agreement," Rahm said. "There was some concessions on both sides. I offered some, they extended an olive branch. That will not be a stress anymore."

Rahm will no longer have to worry about his place on the Europe side for the 2027 Ryder Cup at Adare Manor in Ireland or future stops.

"The Ryder Cup is still really far away, but I'm happy that hopefully I won't have to think about any worries or any predicaments (ahead of) Adare Manor then or hopefully ever," Rahm said.

"I want to support the DP World Tour. There's a lot of events I want to play."

- 'Don't see many ways out' -

When it comes to getting out of his LIV contract, Rahm said he isn't worrying about that for now.

"I have several years on my contract left and I'm pretty sure they did a pretty good job when they drafted that," Rahm said.

"I don't see many ways out, and as of right now, I'm not really thinking about it since we still have a season to play and majors to compete for."

Rahm said players had been told there would be funding for many years from PIF so learning last month of the Saudi's financial pullback was a shock.

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