Myanmar leader commutes all death sentences

Myanmar's leader commuted all death sentences in a blanket order on Friday, one of his first official acts since the 2021 coup leader was installed as the country's civilian president.

The military junta led by Min Aung Hlaing snatched power in Myanmar in a February 2021 putsch and resumed executions after decades of not carrying them out, targeting dissidents opposed to his coup, rights group said.

By the following year, more than 130 people had been sentenced to death, according to the United Nations, however, definitive figures are hard to track in the country's opaque, closed-door court system.

After five years ruling as armed forces chief, Min Aung Hlaing was installed last Friday as president in a transition democracy watchdogs have described as a civilian rebranding of military rule.

The shift has been accompanied by rollbacks of some of the junta's post-coup crackdown measures -- steps the leadership tout as reconciliation, but which critics describe as cosmetic measures to aid the rebranding effort.

A communique on behalf of Min Aung Hlaing said "those serving death sentences shall have their sentences commuted to life imprisonment", without naming specific prisoners.

An amnesty in May 2023 lifted the death sentences of 38 individual prisoners, but was not a blanket measure.

Friday's act was announced as part of a broader amnesty to mark Myanmar's Thingyan new year, one of the country's many public holidays when forgiveness orders are regularly announced.

More than 4,300 prisoners were slated for release, according to a statement, alongside 179 foreign nationals, while all sentences under 40 years were slashed by one-sixth.

- Waiting relatives -

Outside the barbed-wire boundary of Yangon's Insein prison, gaggles of families waited in the sweltering heat to learn whether their imprisoned relatives would be among the pardoned.

"My brother has been imprisoned for a political case," said 38-year-old Aung Htet Naing. "I am hoping that he might be included in today's release."

"We cannot expect much because he wasn't included in previous pardons."

Less than 14 percent of those released in successive rounds of amnesties since the coup were political prisoners, think tank the Institute for Strategy and Policy Myanmar said late last year.

More than 30,000 people have been detained for political reasons since the coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.

Myanmar's most famous political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi remains detained incommunicado, serving a 27-year sentence which rights groups have denounced as politically motivated.

Min Aung Hlaing swept aside the Nobel Peace Prize laureate's massively popular government in 2021, making allegations it had taken power by means of massive voter fraud in polls the previous year.

Election monitors said there was no evidence of that and the military -- which has ruled Myanmar for most of its history -- wrestled back power as it grew anxious about its waning influence after her landslide victory.

The coup triggered an ongoing civil war, pitching pro-democracy guerrillas and long-active ethnic minority armies against the military.

A junta-organised election concluded in January, reversing the result of the 2020 poll by delivering a walkover win for pro-military parties.

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party was dissolved and barred from running, while protest or criticism of the poll was made a prisonable offence and voting did not take place in rebel-held areas.

Lawmakers installed in the election voted overwhelmingly for Min Aung Hlaing to serve as their president, and he was sworn into office to start his five-year term last week.

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Wrexham's fairytale rise since a takeover by Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney has not been limited to on-pitch success as a wave of new fans from around the globe has fuelled an economic boom in north Wales.

Just over five years ago, the Red Dragons languished in the fifth tier of English football before Reynolds and McElhenney's arrival in a city of under 150,000 people had a transformative effect for both the club and local businesses.

Wrexham are now battling for promotion to the Premier League after an unprecedented three consecutive promotions and also gave Chelsea a scare before losing in the FA Cup earlier this season.

A documentary series titled 'Welcome to Wrexham' has charted that rise and resulted in an influx of North American visitors that has doubled tourism income to £200 million ($271 million) a year.

"We are pretty much double and I think that's conservative, it could be even three times the size," said Sam Regan, owner of the Lemon Tree hotel and restaurant and chair of tourist body 'This is Wrecsam'.

"Year round now about 20 percent of my accommodation is filled with American and Canadian guests, but when the home games are on, pretty much 80 percent is international visitors."

Sitting next to the club's Racecourse Ground, the beer garden of The Turf pub was teeming with accents from Virginia to Vancouver on a glorious spring evening before the visit of Southampton.

Yet, there is little sign of resentment from those who long suffered watching Wrexham before "the Rob and Ryan effect" took hold.

"Every business around here now feels the buzz of Wrexham," says James Townshend, a 30-year-old sales trainer and lifelong local fan of the club. 

"Wrexham wouldn't be where they are now (without them), so we have to embrace and appreciate what these fans are bringing to the area."

Becki Hendricks is on her seventh trip to the area from Virgina. 

Having initially mistaken 'Welcome to Wrexham' as a "spoof", she and her husband are even considering moving across the Atlantic to settle in Wales.

"We started with the documentary, yes. My life-long friends are here now," said the 51-year-old programme analyst. "Wrexham is a part of our hearts and part of our souls now."

- 'We are known worldwide' -

A fourth promotion in as many years may prove a bridge too far this season. 

Phil Parkinson's men sit seventh in the Championship, one place outside the play-off spots with four games to go.

But work is well underway to ensure the club continues to grow in the pursuit of Premier League riches.

A state-of-the-art new 7,500 capacity stand is set for completion next year, taking the Racecourse up to 18,000 and providing the facilities to allow the return of Wales international games to Wrexham.

"This has had an impact that goes beyond just football. It has had an impact on the entire community," CEO Michael Williamson told AFP. 

"It has helped create jobs and opportunities within the community, but it's also more importantly just inspired people and reestablished hope."

That civic pride is felt most by those that lived through 15 years mired in the fifth-tier National League.

Journalist Richard Williams has covered the club for two decades.

"Just the fact that you go around the town and it used to be little kids in Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal shirts. Now it's Wrexham, Wrexham, Wrexham everywhere," said Williams.

"So, the vibe, the feel-good factor around the town, it's just absolutely phenomenal."

Reynolds and McElhenney have also sparked a trend for Stateside stars to invest in the unglamourous lower reaches of English football.

Rapper Snoop Dogg is a minority owner of Swansea, while NFL legend Tom Brady's Birmingham got the better of Wrexham last weekend.

The marrying of sporting and economic success achieved by Reynolds and McElhenney has "set the bar" for celebrity overseas investors, according to local councillor Nigel Williams.

"Before people knew Wrexham for problems like anti-social behaviour," added Regan. 

"Now we are known worldwide and people are proud to be from here."

kca/smg/ea

Just weeks after her husband won Belgium's national elections in 2024, Veerle Hegge found herself in hospital for an eating disorder that almost claimed her life.

Nearly two years later -- including six months of full-time treatment -- Prime Minister Bart De Wever's wife shared with AFP why she chose to take her anorexia struggle public in a book that delves deep into her personal life.

"Mental illness is still surrounded by taboo," the 53-year-old schoolteacher said in an interview at her home in the port city of Antwerp. "It's something people feel uneasy, awkward even, to talk about."

"It's so important to get care early on when you are sick," she says, to avoid "falling in deeper."

"But you can only do that with help from the people around you."

Hegge has been De Wever's partner for three decades, through his longtime tenure as mayor of Antwerp and since he became prime minister last year, raising four children now aged 18 to 24.

Entitled "The weight of silence", her book focuses largely on the months she spent in hospital treatment in 2024 -- the time she needed to get back on her feet from a near-fatal battle with anorexia.

A striking scene recounts her hour-long car journey to a clinic in eastern Belgium -- with De Wever in stony silence at the wheel -- after it became clear getting full-time specialist help had become a matter of "survival."

De Wever's Flemish conservatives had just won the national election, and he was tipped for prime minister.

His wife remembers thinking he must be "disappointed" in her -- but not daring to ask. At home, she says, everyone used to "tiptoe around" the matter of her illness.

She describes a "rushed" arrival at the clinic -- and the shock of finding herself alone, with a psychiatric patient tag around her wrist.

"Bart couldn't stay long -- he had to get back to work as always," she writes in the book's opening pages. "We hugged briefly, and agreed to call one another. That was all. And Bart left."

Hegge speaks candidly of her loneliness and guilt at being away from home -- after so many years keeping family life ticking over while De Wever pursued his career -- although soon enough she was able to leave the hospital at weekends.

Later in the book, she writes that her husband had seemed "helpless" faced with her ordeal, and thanks him for sticking by her side.

- Buried trauma -

Much of Hegge's story is devoted to her childhood -- where her earliest memories are dominated by a mother prey to bouts of deep depression, whose fits of anger she grew to fear and second-guess.

Home life was often marred by silence and simmering conflict -- but that was not the hardest part of growing up.

From the age of five or six, she reveals she was sexually abused by an older boy over a period of several years -- a trauma she now realises she repressed until just a few years ago.

"Accepting that truth opened the floodgates," she writes. "It had a huge impact on my body, my sense of internal balance."

"Eighteen months later I was admitted to intensive care for an advanced eating disorder," she says -- the first of two episodes that would culminate with her hospitalisation the year of the election.

Hosting AFP's team in her family living room, in a comfy pullover and sneakers, Hegge says she is doing better.

Since her book hit the shelves -- in French last month, after an initial release in Dutch last year -- she says she has received countless messages of support.

Among those reaching out are people battling eating disorders themselves, or supporting loved ones as they struggle, who thank her for tackling the painful topic head-on.

"Some of the people I see cling on to me, or start to cry," she told AFP. "There is so much pain and suffering."

mad/ec/del/yad/ane

An Australian court granted bail on Friday to former soldier Ben Roberts-Smith, charged with murdering unarmed prisoners captured in Afghanistan following a sweeping war crimes probe.

The towering soldier became a household name across Australia when he was awarded the Victoria Cross in 2011, a medal reserved for only the most courageous wartime exploits.

But a landmark military report in 2020 revealed grave allegations against Australian troops sent to fight Taliban forces, accusing elite units of torture, summary executions and "body count" competitions.

This month Roberts-Smith was charged with five counts of "war crime -- murder", with police alleging he was complicit in a string of unlawful killings between 2009 and 2012.

After ten days behind bars he was granted bail, with Judge Greg Grogin telling a Sydney court that the former soldier faced the prospect of "years and years" in jail before his case went to trial.

In court via video link, Roberts-Smith appeared impassive as he was shown on screen in a green prison track suit.

His lawyer Slade Howell argued it was unacceptable to keep the soldier behind bars as the case slowly wound through the courts.

"It will take many, many years and will have many twists and turns," he said.

The prosecution in turn argued the grave nature of the alleged crimes warranted strict bail conditions.

"The applicant is accused of either killing or directing his subordinates to kill unarmed detainees in the custody of Australian armed forces," prosecution lawyer Simon Buchen said.

Should Roberts-Smith be found guilty, he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

- From War hero to defendant -

The decorated soldier met Queen Elizabeth II, had his portrait hung at the Australian War Museum, and was even honoured as the nation's "father of the year".

But the war hero's reputation was called into question in 2018, when a series of news reports linked him to the alleged murder of unarmed Afghan prisoners by Australian troops.

The soldier had allegedly kicked an unarmed Afghan civilian off a cliff and ordered subordinates to shoot him, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

He was also said to have taken part in the machine-gunning of a man with a prosthetic limb which he later used as a drinking vessel with other soldiers.

Roberts-Smith has staunchly maintained his innocence throughout, launching legal action against the newspapers who aired the allegations.

But his efforts to sue The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald for slander would backfire, with a judge finding in 2023 many of the journalists' claims were "substantially true".

Such civil trials carry a lower burden of proof than the criminal proceedings Roberts-Smith now faces.

Australia deployed 39,000 troops to Afghanistan over two decades as part of US- and NATO-led operations against the Taliban and other militant groups.

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Disney showcased the first theatrical trailer of the new Marvel franchise film "Avengers: Doomsday" on Thursday during the closing day of CinemaCon in Las Vegas.

The clip -- played twice for the enthusiastic audience at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace -- offered the first look at Robert Downey Jr. as the villainous Doctor Doom.

It marks the actor's return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe since the death of Iron Man in 2019's "Avengers: Endgame."

The footage also teased several dramatic moments from the movie, including a fight between Gambit and Shang-Chi -- played by Channing Tatum and Simu Liu, respectively -- and Patrick Stewart reprising his role as X-Men's Professor Xavier, warning: "Something's coming, something we may not be able to deter."

At the very end of the trailer, Chris Evans returns as his character Steve Rogers, otherwise known as Captain America, appearing before a surprised-looking Thor (Chris Hemsworth) as the Norse god's Mjolnir hammer flies into Rogers' hands.

Both Evans and Downey Jr. were on the stage at CinemaCon to present the trailer alongside the film's directors, brothers Joe and Anthony Russo.

"I said I would only come back if there was a real reason," Evans told the crowd.

"And in Doomsday, there is a very real reason that these heroes need Steve Rogers."

"Avengers: Doomsday" follows the events of "Avengers: Endgame," bringing together a host of Marvel characters new and old, including the X-Men, previously excluded from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The movie will have its US premiere on December 18, the same day as Denis Villeneuve's "Dune: Part Three."

Theater owners hope the double-whammy will be a box office bonanza, ending the year on a high note amid declining revenues.

- Sequels on the way -

Marvel's presentation was the grande finale of Disney's CinemaCon showcase.

The annual convention allows movie studios to preview their upcoming slates to theater owners and the press.

Tom Hanks, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Queen Latifah were among the superstars to showcase footage from their upcoming Disney films.

Director Jon Favreau introduced the opening scene of his new movie, the latest Star Wars flick "The Mandalorian and Grogu," out next month.

Disney also played clips from the upcoming sequel films "The Devil Wears Prada 2" with Meryl Streep reprising her role as icy fashion magazine editor Miranda Priestly, and "Toy Story 5," the latest Pixar animated film with lifelike toys Woody and Buzz Lightyear coming together more than 30 years since the original released.

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Stock markets fell Friday as investors awaited news of an extension to the Iran-US ceasefire, while crude prices edged back down following the previous day's rally.

The losses follow a healthy, record-breaking week for equities fuelled by hopes the Middle East war, which is heading into a seventh week, could be close to an end after Donald Trump said negotiators were close to a deal.

But worries abound that a shaky truce agreed earlier this month -- and which ends next week -- could fall apart and spark a fresh market rout.

The US president on Thursday struck an optimistic tone, telling reporters that "it's looking very good that we're going to make a deal with Iran, and it's going to be a good deal", adding that talks between Washington and Tehran could resume this weekend.

He also claimed Iran had "agreed to give us back the nuclear dust", using his name for the country's enriched uranium stockpile, and the deal would include "free oil" as well as the opening of the Strait of Hormuz. 

"We had to make sure that Iran never gets a nuclear weapon," Trump said at the White House. "They've totally agreed to that. They've agreed to almost everything, so maybe if they can get to the table, there's a difference."

Iran has given no public indication it would surrender its stockpile.

However, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth took a tough line on the situation earlier in the day, telling a Pentagon news conference: "If Iran chooses poorly, then they will have a blockade and bombs dropping on infrastructure, power and energy."

Meanwhile, some Gulf Arab and European leaders fear a long-term agreement could take six months to achieve and called for the truce to cover such a time period, Bloomberg reported.

They wanted the Strait of Hormuz -- through which about a fifth of global oil and LNG passes -- opened immediately and have warned in private of a global food crisis if that is not achieved by next month, the report said. 

Stocks fell across the region, with Tokyo, which hit a record high Thursday, among the biggest losers, with Seoul, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore also well down. 

Taiwan's TAIEX fell. On Thursday it hit a market capitalisation of US$4.14 trillion to top the UK's market capitalisation and become the world's seventh biggest, according to Bloomberg data.

That came even after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq enjoyed record closes on Wall Street.

Analysts said traders were heading into the weekend to positioning for any surprise developments.

Oil prices dropped more than one percent, a day after sharp gains, though both main contracts remain just below $100 a barrel.

There was some support from a 10-day ceasefire agreed between Israel and Lebanon that took effect at 2100 GMT Thursday.

Tel Aviv has sent troops into its northern neighbour since militant group Hezbollah launched rocket attacks in support of Iran last month. 

Hezbollah has not officially said if it will recognise the ceasefire but one of its lawmakers told AFP on Thursday that the group would respect it if Israeli attacks on its militants stopped.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the 10-day ceasefire with Lebanon offered an opportunity for a "historic peace agreement", but insisted that the disarmament of militant group Hezbollah remained a precondition.

Trump said he will invite the countries' leaders to the White House.

"While investors remain buoyed by talks of an extension in the US-Iran ceasefire and an announced Israel-Lebanon 10 day ceasefire, risk sentiment remains fragile as an immediate deal remains unlikely given that the countries remain far apart on key issues," wrote National Australia Bank's Skye Masters.

Fiona Cincotta of City Index, said: "While risks remain -- particularly around disruptions to key shipping routes such as the Strait of Hormuz -- markets are increasingly pricing in a scenario where oil prices have peaked unless tensions re-escalate."

But she warned "the outlook remains fragile. A breakdown in diplomacy or renewed escalation could quickly reverse recent gains".

- Key figures around 0230 GMT -

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.0 percent at 58,930.87 (break)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.9 percent at 26,163.88

Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.3 percent at 4,042.62

West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 1.6 percent at $93.21 a barrel

Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 1.1 percent at $98.31 a barrel

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1776 from $1.1784 on Thursday

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3517 from $1.3529

Dollar/yen: UP at 159.36 yen from 159.14 yen

Euro/pound: UP at 87.12 pence from 87.09 pence

New York - Dow Jones: UP 0.2 percent at 48,578.72 (close)

London - FTSE 100: UP 0.3 percent at 10,589.99 (close)

dan/ane

Title-chasing Manchester City face leaders Arsenal in a seismic showdown at the top of the Premier League on Sunday.

Troubled Chelsea desperately need a win against Manchester United in the race for Champions League qualification, while Liverpool are also in search of a morale boost in the Merseyside derby. 

AFP Sport looks at three talking points ahead of the weekend's action:

Arsenal must improve in 'defining' moment

Declan Rice doesn't care what the critics say about Arsenal's untimely loss of form, but the midfielder is well aware they must improve to win their "title-defining" clash with Manchester City.

Mikel Arteta's side travel to the Etihad Stadium on Sunday nursing a a six-point lead over second-placed City as they target a first English title since 2004.

Arsenal have spluttered in recent weeks, losing the League Cup final against City, suffering a shock FA Cup quarter-final defeat against second tier Southampton and crashing to a damaging loss against Bournemouth in the top-flight.

Even Arsenal's progress to the Champions League semi-finals came with an asterisk after they laboured to a nervy goalless draw that secured a 1-0 aggregate victory against Sporting Lisbon on Wednesday.

The Gunners have won just one of their last five matches in all competitions, while City are approaching top gear, having beaten Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea in their last three games.

"There's no beating around the bush. We have to perform better than we did against Bournemouth and probably Sporting as well," Rice said.

"Recently, we have made too many errors. The Etihad is the ultimate test but it's why we play this game. So, bring it on. 

"It's beautiful. I can't wait. When you're a kid, you're watching the Premier League, you see these big matches, these title-defining moments and it comes down to if you're going to be ready and how much do you want it?"

Chelsea Man Utd

Rocked by a miserable run of just one win in their last seven league games, Chelsea are on the brink of falling out of the battle for Champions League places.

Liam Rosenior's sixth-placed side have no margin for error in Saturday's game against third-placed Manchester United at Stamford Bridge.

They are seven points behind United, who lost to Leeds in their last match, and four adrift of fifth-placed Liverpool with six games to play.

A defeat against United would put Chelsea's Champions League hopes in grave danger, increasing the pressure on boss Liam Rosenior after his team were booed off following last weekend's 3-0 loss to Manchester City.

Blues midfielder Andrey Santos insisted the players are determined to turn the tide.

"We understand the fans are frustrated," he said. "We are frustrated too. When you talk about Chelsea, you talk about winning games, which we're not doing. 

"It's a difficult moment but we have to work hard and keep going. Of course we believe we can finish in a Champions League place."

Wounded Liverpool face Everton test

Unceremoniously dumped out of the Champions League by Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday, Liverpool aim to make amends in their first appearance at Everton's Hill Dickinson Stadium on Sunday.

Arne Slot's side lost 4-0 on aggregate to PSG, turning the heat up on the Liverpool boss.

Slot suffered another blow this week when France striker Hugo Ekitike was ruled out for the rest of the season with an Achilles injury.

But Reds midfielder Ryan Gravenberch knows beating Everton in the first Merseyside derby at their plush new arena would lift Liverpool's anxious fans and, more importantly, strengthen their bid to qualify for the Champions League.

"We have to pick ourselves up as Sunday is waiting," he said.

"We just want to play in the Champions League next year. We have to give it our all."

Fixtures:

Saturday (1400 GMT unless stated)

Brentford v Fulham (1130), Leeds v Wolves, Newcastle v Bournemouth, Tottenham v Brighton (1630), Chelsea v Manchester United (1900)

Sunday (1300 GMT unless stated)

Aston Villa v Sunderland, Everton v Liverpool, Nottingham Forest v Burnley, Manchester City v Arsenal (1530)

Monday

Crystal Palace v West Ham (1900)

smg/dmc

The sound of tinkling bells drifts through an alley in central Seoul, an unmistakable sign that a shaman is near -- although in this case the mystic is a robot powered by artificial intelligence.

Many South Koreans still place great value in shamanic traditions, which purport to divine a person's future based on the day and time they were born.

Practitioners, known as "mudang", wear long, colourful robes and perform dances and chants to commune with the gods -- sometimes even walking on sharp blades to demonstrate their spiritual connection.

However, at Vinaida, a cultural products store in the capital, they are computer-generated avatars on screens.

Visitor Kim Da-ae, 36, called it a "unique experience".

A visit with a real shaman can feel "scary and burdensome", she told AFP.

"But I was just walking by and read this AI sign... So I walked in with a light heart."

Portraits of virtual shamans resembling characters from the popular animation "KPop Demon Hunters" greet passersby at Vinaida, which means "I pray earnestly" in Korean.

Inside a booth, Kim typed her name, gender and date of birth into a computer, before a shaman -- a suspended mask with the image of a human face projected onto it --  asked her to explain her concern through a headset.

The technology combines voice recognition with a generative AI chatbot so that the shaman and the customer can interact.

It then refers to a centuries-old belief system called "saju", or the "four pillars of destiny", to interpret their fate according to the year, month and day of their birth.

Customers then receive a plastic "talisman" bearing a digital QR code that they can scan with their phones to read their fortunes in detail.

Across the room, a bespectacled robot uses a camera and a mechanised arm to sketch and "read" a visitor's face, foretelling their prospects.

"A bright, well-balanced fortune. Resilient in the face of change, with auspicious relationships," an impressed Kim read from a printout.

"I felt a sense of similarity with my fate because it matched my own personality, like valuing relationships while also being practical," she said.

- Twist on tradition -

Fortune-telling is deeply embedded in South Korean life, with newspapers publishing daily horoscopes based on "saju" principles.

Recent cultural hits such as "KPop Demon Hunters" -- Netflix's most-watched film of all time -- have riffed on shamanic traditions.

Vinaida has attracted around 100 visitors a day since opening in February, according to manager Kim Hae-seol. Each service costs up to 8,000 won ($5.50).

"Customers have something tangible or meaningful to take away, which is probably why there aren't many who feel dissatisfied," Kim Hae-seol said.

"We thought it had the potential to succeed, so we seized on this concept."

Customers can talk to the virtual shamans in four languages -- Korean, English, Chinese and Japanese.

Singaporean tourist Amos Chun was trying his luck when AFP visited the shop on Wednesday.

The robot shaman told him to "avoid impulse spending" -- advice he took to heart.

"It's quite a good reading, coming from AI," Chun said, laughing.

"Because that's something that I do."

kjk/mjw/pbt

Mizzou’s Hannah Horton finished her season with a top 20 finish on uneven bars at the NCAA National Championships, earning 9.8875. Horton executed a sharp routine that included a Shaposh connected to a Pak Salto and a crisp double layout dismount.

Bars is an event that the Mizzou junior has continued to grow on after missing the bar lineup several during her freshman year.

“She’s coachable. She literally comes in every day, willing to do the work, willing to be open minded on whatever capacity I have for her that day,” Mizzou bars coach Whitney Snowden said.

“She wants to do the work. She knows that that wasn’t maybe her strongest event coming in, but she loves bars and she loves the challenge.”

Getting a spot at nationals on uneven bars surprised Horton, who was expecting to qualify on a different apparatus.

“The feeling of making nationals on bars was honestly so surreal because I wasn’t thinking of going on bars. If anything, it would’ve been for floor,” Horton said. “Being regional bar champ last year to making nationals on bars was a full-circle moment for me, because it shows how much my bars has improved over the years and also how consistent it’s gotten.”

In addition to qualifying for the national championships, she was named co-SEC Specialist of the Year for her consistency across vault, bars and floor.

“Hannah is very level headed. She doesn’t know how talented she is, and so it’s been really fun as her coach to watch her buy into the technical side,” Snowden said. “Not just rely on her natural gift of athleticism, but it’s really neat to see her use the keywords and the arm sets and the landing drills in between turns to really maximize her ability.”

How great does Snowden project Horton’s senior season to be? Off the charts.

“Hannah can do anything she puts her mind to,” Snowden said. “We’re on 10.0 watch on multiple events.”

A wolf that escaped from a South Korean zoo was recaptured on Friday, authorities said, after he caused a school closure, a huge nine-day search and a government gaffe over an AI-generated image.

The young male canine, named Neukgu, dug himself out of his enclosure in the central city of Daejeon on April 8 and had been on the run ever since.

Authorities deployed hundreds of officers, drones and thermal cameras to track down the elusive runaway, who kept slipping through the net despite several sightings.

He was finally caught in the early hours of Friday, with the Daejeon city government writing on X: "Welcome back, #Neukgu!"

Authorities finally caught up with the 30-kilogramme fugitive after receiving a tip about a sighting in a park in Daejeon, the Yonhap news agency reported, citing city officials.

Officials shot Neukgu with a tranquiliser dart and captured him alive, it said.

The city government posted a video of nighttime rescuers hauling a sleepy-looking Neukgu onto a sack and heaving him into a crate.

It posted photos on X of the shaggy returnee lying asleep on a veterinary bed with a muzzle over his snout.

"Veterinary examination results: Both pulse and body temperature are within normal range," the post added.

"We would like to thank everyone who offered their support to ensure Neukgu's safe and healthy return. We also apologise to the public for the anxiety and concern (this incident) has caused," the government said in a statement.

Neukgu, who was born in 2024, made his daring breakout by digging out of his enclosure and damaging a fence on his way to freedom.

His escape prompted a local elementary school to close over safety concerns, and the local government dispatched hundreds of firefighters, police officers and military troops in a bid to get him back.

Animal rights activists called for better animal protection measures after the wolf's return, noting a 2018 escape from the same facility in which a puma, Bborong, was reportedly shot dead.

"The fact that Neukgu has returned to his cage at the zoo does not signify a 'happy ending' to the incident," the Korean Animal Welfare Association said in a statement.

After his escape, an image purporting to show a light-brown wolf trotting through a Daejeon intersection was shared widely online.

The city government and several major media outlets widely shared the image, which turned out to have been generated by artificial intelligence.

An AFP analysis confirmed that the image was inauthentic. 

AFP had initially redistributed the image and later withdrew it.

mjw/cdl/tc