Pogacar wins joint-record third Tour of Flanders

Hungarian leader Viktor Orban's officially declared wealth is fairly modest: some savings and a jointly owned villa in Budapest.

But voters in what Transparency International deems the EU's most corrupt country believe otherwise.

And they may make Orban pay in a general election on April 12 that could spell an end to his 16-year rule.

The wealth amassed by Orban's inner circle is fuelling the increasingly palpable frustration of a population grappling with sluggish growth, high inflation and worsening public services.

"The government's communication machine worked well as long as our economic situation remained relatively good," Zoltan Ranschburg, a political analyst at the Republikon think tank, told AFP.

But it has not been good for years, he added.

"It's our money, not theirs. But they are spending it as if they were the sole owners," Gabor Szebenyi, an 81‑year‑old retired history teacher told AFP at an opposition rally.

He denounced what he called "feudalism" that has taken root in the Central European country of nearly 10 million people.

Independent lawmaker Akos Hadhazy, one of Hungary's leading anti‑corruption crusaders, said graft has drained the equivalent of 2.84 billion euros ($3.27 billion) from state coffers every year since 2016.

- 'The frontman' -

"These are not isolated cases -- this is simply the way the system is functioning," Hadhazy told AFP.

While Orban claims to live modestly, several members of his family have grown spectacularly rich since his return to power in 2010.

His father Gyozo Orban, who is 85, owns several building material companies as well as the historic Hatvanpuszta estate he had rebuilt into a luxurious manor worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Protected by high walls, the sprawling domain close to the premier's home village has two swimming pools and its own wildlife park, as well as extensive outbuildings, according to drone footage published by independent media.

"In reality, the father is merely Viktor Orban's frontman," Hadhazy said.

Orban's son-in-law Istvan Tiborcz has become one of Hungary's most influential entrepreneurs through public lighting contracts won by his former company Elios. The deals were partly financed by the EU -- until the EU anti-fraud office OLAF found serious irregularities.

Tiborcz has since switched to real estate and tourism.

Orban's childhood friend Lorinc Meszaros, a former plumber, has become Hungary's wealthiest man worth $4.8 billion according to Forbes magazine, with an empire of construction, energy, banking and media firms thriving on public contracts.

– Frozen EU funds –

"On paper there is competition (for public contracts), but in fact the winner is always known in advance," a construction contractor told AFP on condition of anonymity at a site near Budapest.

Working in the sector for three decades, the man said public tenders are often decided in advance.

"Those at the bottom of the chain do the work and get paid last -- sometimes months later," he said, adding he was ready to throw in the towel and sell his machinery.

"I'm so angry," he said, adding that while those in power lead "luxurious lives" and travel by private jets, small businesses "are struggling to survive".

The anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International has labelled Hungary as the EU's most corrupt country alongside Bulgaria in its Corruption Perceptions Index.

It highlighted systemic risks in public procurement and limited competition for the largest contracts which make up five percent of Hungary's GDP.

The government rejected the ranking and insists Hungarian procurement rules comply with EU standards.

But the EU has frozen 19 billion euros ($22 billion) in funds destined for Hungary over persistent concerns about corruption and respect for the rule of law.

Opposition leader Peter Magyar, Orban's top rival in the upcoming vote, has pledged to recover the funds if elected and to investigate how the current leaders and their families have grown so rich.

bur-oaa-frj/fg/ach 

For the first time in more than half a century, astronauts will fly around the Moon on Monday, marking the high point of the Artemis 2's lunar mission. 

Here's what you need to know about the event: 

- Live broadcast -

The flyby will last around seven hours, starting Monday around 2:45 p.m. eastern US time (1845 GMT) and ending around 9:20 p.m. (0120 GMT). 

NASA will broadcast the flyby live on its website, as well as on YouTube, Amazon and Netflix, with commentary from both the astronauts aboard the mission and experts at the Mission Control center in Houston, Texas. 

Given the lengthy distance -- further than any humans have ever traveled from Earth -- NASA has cautioned that the livestream video quality may be poor at times.

- Radio silence - 

There will be a period of around 40 minutes during the flyby where all communication with Artemis 2 will be cut off as the astronauts pass behind the Moon. 

"It'll be exciting, you know, in a slightly scary way, when they go behind the moon," Derek Buzasi, a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of Chicago, told AFP. 

The academic recalled during the Apollo missions to the Moon, "we all held our breaths a little bit."

- History-making milestones -

The Artemis 2 mission represents several first, as it will be the first time a woman, Christina Koch, a Black person, Victor Glover, and a non-American, Jeremy Hansen, will reach the Moon. 

Until now, only the Apollo-era astronauts, all of whom were white American men, reached the Moon, between 1968 and 1972. 

Shortly before the start of the flyby, the Artemis 2 crew will also reach the furthest distance humans have ever traveled from Earth. 

The spacecraft is expected to surpass the Apollo 13 distance record by 4,102 miles (6,600 kilometers) and will reach a maximum distance from the planet of 252,757 miles (406,772 kilometers).

- Moon the size of a basketball -

Apollo flights flew some 70 miles (110 kilometers) above the lunar surface, but the Artemis 2 crew will be over 4,000 miles (6,500 kilometers) away at their closest approach. 

The spaceship will actually swing around the Moon without entering its orbit by following a carefully planned trajectory. 

The distance from the Moon will allow astronauts on board to see the complete, circular surface of the Moon, including regions near both poles.  

The Moon will appear to the astronauts "about the size of a basketball held at arm's length," Noah Petro, head of NASA's planetary geology lab, told AFP.

- Far side of the Moon -

The flyby will see the Artemis 2 crew pass behind the far side of the Moon, which is not visible to Earth. 

The astronauts of the Apollo mission also flew behind the Moon, but they were too close to witness it in entirety. 

The Artemis 2 crew will therefore be able to see regions of the Moon that had previously only been captured by robotic imagers. 

The four astronauts have gone through years of training to observe and describe the geological formations they observe as accurately as possible. 

NASA scientists hope the observations recorded by the crew will provide information about the composition of the Moon and its history, as well as the wider solar system by extension.

- Solar eclipse -

Toward the end of the flyby, the astronauts will experience a rare phenomenon: a solar eclipse. 

For about 53 minutes, their spacecraft will perfectly align with the Moon and the Sun, causing the star to disappear from view. 

The astronauts will then have the chance to study the solar corona, the outermost layer of the Sun's atmosphere, which will become visible as a sort of glowing halo. 

They will also be on the lookout for possible flashes of light caused by meteorites crashing into the surface of the Moon.

- 'Earthrise' redux -

The Artemis 2 astronauts will also see the Earth disappear and reappear behind the Moon. 

Their position will potentially allow them to recreate the famous "Earthrise" photograph from the Apollo 8 mission in 1968.

The iconic photograph taken by astronaut William Anders captured the bright blue Earth against the vast darkness of space, with the Moon's cratered surface in the foreground. 

cha/jgc/gw

The Masters green jacket, the symbol of supremacy at Augusta National, is among the most coveted items of clothing in sport -- and one of the hardest to obtain.

Rory McIlroy became the most recent recipient of the iconic blazer last year when he ended a 10-year major drought with a career-defining victory at Augusta National in a sudden-death playoff.

Unless he successfully defends his title, McIlroy will return next Sunday to take part in one of golf's most closely observed rituals: helping slip the jacket onto the shoulders of the new champion. 

For McIlroy, the past year has underscored both the rarity of the garment and the responsibility that comes with it.

"The overwhelming feeling of having this jacket for a year is just how honored and grateful I am I was able to do it, and how grateful I am I've had so much great support along the way," McIlroy said.

"As time goes on, it becomes normal and it has been normal for me to go into my closet and see the green jacket hanging there. Hopefully it's not the last time I get to bring (it) off property."

McIlroy has worn the green jacket to India and Australia as well as his homeland of Northern Ireland among other global stops.

Only the reigning champion is allowed to take his green jacket off the club property, and then only until he returns to defend it the following year.

An exception to the rule was Gary Player, who took his first jacket home to South Africa but didn't bring it back.

Player recalled telling then-Masters chairman Clifford Roberts, "Why don't you come and fetch it? He did see the funny side of it. He said to me, 'Don't ever wear it in public.'"

Tom Watson won in 1977 and was presented an oversized 44 long-sized jacket.

"It came down below my fingertips," Watson said. "Did I care? Not in the least. I'd wear a tent, as long as it's the green jacket."

Players are asked their jacket sizes each year now when they register at Augusta National.

Jack Nicklaus wore a loaned 46 long after the first of his record six Masters wins, then a right-sized loaner for his other triumphs.

He told then-chairman Jack Stevens in 1998 that he didn't have his own jacket and soon received a note saying, "You will go to the pro shop and you will be fit for your green jacket."

Billy Casper, the 1970 Masters winner, and Gay Brewer, the 1967 champion, were both buried wearing their green jackets.

Sam Snead, the 1949 winner, was the first champion to receive a green jacket and one was then presented to all prior winners retroactively.

When Nicklaus won the Masters for the second year in a row, he put the green jacket on himself.

When Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods won back-to-back Masters titles, the current Masters chairman helped the winner into his jacket.

By 1937, Augusta National club members wore the green jackets so patrons with questions knew who could help them.

According to the Masters website, the jacket is a classic three-button, notch lapel design with a single vent in the color Masters Green. The cloth is a tropical wool, and they are manufactured in the United States.

Each jacket features gold buttons embossed with the Augusta National logo and an embroidered patch with the club logo on the left breast pocket.

American Zach Johnson, the 2007 winner, called donning the green jacket "the highest privilege in golf" and wore his at the Empire State Building, using a garbage bag to cover it.

"We don't have a garment bag," wife Kim Johnson said. "We didn't plan on winning the Masters."

- Hugging the jacket -

Canada's Mike Weir, the 2003 champion, and 2022 champion Scottie Scheffler wore green jackets to throw out the first pitch at Major League Baseball games for the Toronto Blue Jays and Texas Rangers, respectively.

Tiger Woods clung to his green jacket after winning the first of his five Masters titles in 1997 at age 21.

"I fell asleep fully clothed and hugging the green jacket like a blanket," Woods said.

Japan's Hideki Matsuyama carried his through the Atlanta airport and said he never dry cleaned it after his 2021 triumph.

"I just was so worried that something might happen to it," Matsuyama said. "I didn't want to let it out of my sight."

js/rcw/bb

Wearing white uniforms, their heads shaved, rows of bewildered-looking men are beamed by video link from prisons across El Salvador into a courtroom conducting a mass trial of alleged gang members.

Four years after President Nayib Bukele declared war against gangs in the Central American nation, the fates of thousands of prisoners are being decided en masse with the single swing of a judge's gavel.

Williams Diaz, a 35-year-old air conditioning technician, is one of more than 91,000 people rounded up under a state of emergency -- in place since 2022 -- who will be judged with scores of others in a faceless court by an anonymous judge.

He was arrested by soldiers over three years ago while on his way to work and taken to Bukele's showpiece Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), a brutal prison where over 10,000 suspected gang members are crammed into overcrowded cells.

His mother Gladis Villatoro fears that her Williams, the father of a six-year-old boy, will be tainted when he goes on trial for alleged membership of one of the gangs that terrorized El Salvador before Bukele's crackdown.

"If they convict one, they convict the whole lot...the innocent will pay for the guilty," Villatoro, who sells tortillas for a living, said at her modest home 20 kilometers (12 miles) east of the capital San Salvador.

A short drive away, Reynaldo Santos, a soft-spoken 58-year-old baker, fears his son Jonathan could also be sent to prison for years without getting a chance to defend himself.

- 'Like Russian roulette' -

Jonathan, a 24-year-old factory worker, was arrested at home while playing the wildly popular video game Fortnite, which police said denoted a penchant for gang activities.

He was released pending trial, but he could be rearrested at any time.

"It's like Russian roulette, it's a nightmare," his father said.

Bukele's mass incarceration policy has seen around 1.4 percent of El Salvador's population locked up without due process, creating a logistical headache for the country's courts.

In an attempt to clear the backlog, the Attorney General's Office vowed to accelerate the mass trials begun in 2024, cloaked in secrecy, by finalizing 3,000 indictments in the first three months of 2026.

Human rights groups have expressed outrage over the trials, arguing that collective justice violates the defendants' rights to a fair trial.

Vice President Felix Ulloa has touted the approach as "innovative."

But the stakes for the accused, mostly from low-income families, couldn't be higher.

Last week, El Salvador's Legislative Assembly increased the maximum sentence for "terrorists" -- which the government labels gang members -- from 60 years to life imprisonment, including for minors.

Ulloa said sentences would vary, according to the defendant's rank within an alleged gang cell. 

Criminal lawyer Roxana Cardona warned that the trials would turn El Salvador's prisons into "human pits."

AFP has reached out to the prosecutor's office and Salvadoran government for comment on the trials, but has yet to receive a response. 

- Conviction conveyor belt -

Information about the trials is difficult to access. 

The cases are kept under seal, meaning the details are not available to the public. 

Prosecutors have grouped the detainees by alleged gang cell, according to their purported areas of operation.

Jonathan and around 80 other prisoners are accused of being part of Mara Salvatrucha, one of Central America's most feared crime syndicates.

Williams meanwhile is accused of being a member of the rival Barrio 18 gang. 

According to documents seen by AFP, neither have any prior convictions. 

"There is a presumption of guilt, not innocence," a lawyer defending 45 prisoners, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, told AFP.

The mass trials were made possible by reforms to El Salvador's law on organized crime, which banished the individualization of criminal responsibility and eliminated the preliminary court hearings used to determine whether there is enough evidence to bring a case to trial.

The resulting proceedings "are a mere formality...a massive conviction factory," said one lawyer who represented a produce vendor sentenced in February to 30 years in prison, alongside 163 others.

Before each trial, an imprisoned gang member, his face concealed, testifies about the accused in order -- and receives a reduced sentence in return, several defense lawyers said.

The lawyers added that informants often fail to provide any evidence of their claims -- but their testimony guarantees a conviction regardless.

In some cases, the defense attorneys are not summoned to the mass hearings or made aware of the charges against their clients.

The produce vendor's lawyer saw him for barely a minute before the trial. 

"I only managed to ask him how he was and tell him, 'Your family loves you and knows you're innocent,'" the lawyer recalled.

- Swamped public defenders -

Bukele, a staunch ally of US President Donald Trump, has become a folk hero at home and across much of Latin America for dramatically curbing gang violence.

He has shrugged off criticism from legal experts who say his crackdown may have led to crimes against humanity, arguing that the ends justified the means.

New York-based watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW) has documented arrests in El Salvador based on anonymous phone calls, neighborhood disputes, or over-zealous police officers aiming to meet arrest quotas, for which they receive bonuses. 

For Juan Pappier, HRW's deputy director for the Americas, the ensuing trials "lack the basic guarantees of due process, which increases the risk of convicting innocent people." 

Villatoro and Santos have gone into debt to pay for private legal aid for their children rather than rely on court-appointed attorneys, who are swamped with cases.

Villatoro's anguish has grown since she learned that her son is in kidney failure. 

"It's been a year since then, and I don't know how he is," she said, whispering so her 6-year-old grandson would not hear.

She recalled Bukele's ominous prediction that suspects who enter his flagship Terrorism Confinement Center will "never" leave, but is still praying for "a miracle."

Santos said Jonathan, who suffers from anxiety and depression, merely wanted a chance to prove his innocence. 

"We want this nightmare to end," he said.

mis/axm/lbc/cb/jgc

World champion Tadej Pogacar won a record-equalling third Tour of Flanders on Sunday after dropping his main rival Mathieu van der Poel with 18km to ride.

Van der Poel was himself aiming for a new record fourth victory in the second Monument of the season, but instead, Pogacar made it two from two in the prestigious one-day classics having won Milan-San Remo last month.

Four-time Tour de France winner Pogacar, 27, now has 12 Monument victories, putting him clear in second on the all-time list behind only the great Eddy Merckx with 19.

He has raced three times this year, winning all three and if he wins Paris-Roubaix next weekend, he will join an elite band as just the fourth man to win all five Monuments after Merckx and fellow Belgians Rik Van Looy and Roger De Vlaeminck.

"It was a really crazy race today, I don't know what to say: super-hard from I don't know which kilometre," Pogacar told Belgian TV.

"I don't race too much, so when I race there is pressure to win.

"So far everything went perfect for me, so I can be more than happy.

"Coming next week to Roubaix, I can go motivated, but I try to enjoy the cobbles."

On his Roubaix debut last year, he finished second to Van der Poel, who won for the third year in a row.

Double Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel, on his Flanders debut, held on for an impressive third place ahead of fellow Belgian Wout van Aert after 278km and more than six hours riding around Flanders, over punchy climbs and numerous cobbled sections.

- Pogacar a cut above -

In what was billed as a battle between four of the biggest stars in cycling, Pogacar once again proved he is a cut above the others, although Van der Poel -- one of the greatest cobbled classics specialists of all time -- pushed him all the way.

Pogacar had dropped all his rivals bar Van der Poel and Evenepoel with an acceleration on the second of three ascents up the Oude Kwaremont climb with 57km to race.

Evenepoel was left behind on the very next climb, the Paterberg, and although he kept within a handful of seconds at first, he would gradually drift backwards, finishing more than a minute after Pogacar.

Pogacar and Van der Poel rode together for the better part of 40km, before the Slovenian put in his race-winning move on the final ride up the Oude Kwaremont.

He crested that with a six-second advantage, but Dutchman Van der Poel's resistance was broken and he would only lose more time before the finish.

A 13-man break, including Mongolian Sainbayaryn Jambaljamts, escaped in the first 40km and built up a maximum lead of about five-and-a-half minutes, thanks in part to the peloton being held up at a level crossing.

That lead stayed fairly stable for more than 100km before the peloton upped its pace.

With just over 100km left, Pogacar's teammates put the hammer down on the Molenberg climb and caused a split that saw a group of about 15 riders containing the favourites form a chase group.

The favourites caught the breakaway group with just under 80km left to ride, by which time their lead over the peloton had risen over one minute.

From then on, it was a question of whether anyone would be able to stay with Pogacar over the remaining climbs to the finish -- and no one could.

In the women's race, European champion Demi Vollering made an identical move to Pogacar, dropping her rivals and cresting the Oude Kwaremont with a 19-second lead over Pauline Ferrand-Prevot and Puck Pieterse.

The Dutch rider would not be caught, coming home at the end of the 164km race with a 45-second gap to Ferrand-Prevot, who easily pipped Pietrse in the sprint for second.

It was the 2023 Tour de France Femmes winner's third Monument victory having won Liege-Bastogne-Liege twice.

Record three-time winner Lotte Kopecky had to settle for fourth.

bc/jc/pb

Leeds reached the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time in 39 years as they survived a dramatic penalty shoot-out after squandering a two-goal lead in a thrilling clash with West Ham on Sunday.

Daniel Farke's side were moments away from victory at the London Stadium after Ao Tanaka's first-half goal and Dominic Calvert-Lewin's second-half penalty put them in control.

But West Ham staged a stoppage-time rally as Mateus Fernandes reduced the deficit before Axel Disasi's equaliser forced extra time.

With the score still level at 2-2 after the additional period, Leeds keeper Lucas Perri emerged as their shoot-out hero.

Joel Piroe missed Leeds' first penalty but Calvert-Lewin, Brenden Aaronson, Wilfried Gnonto and Pascal Struijk all converted their kicks.

Perri saved Jarrod Bowen's opening effort for West Ham and also denied Pablo as Leeds won 4-2 on penalties.

It was their second shoot-out victory in the competition this season following their fourth-round success at Birmingham.

Leeds will face Chelsea in the semi-finals at Wembley later in April.

"We always do it the tough way, never the easy way. We could have made our lives easier," Farke said. 

"We had a late sucker punch when the whole stadium was buzzing. To keep the nerves and win the penalty shoot-out shows great mentality and character. 

"A chapter of Leeds history. It will be a big night for us at Wembley. It's a great step for this club and a great reward for everyone."

The Yorkshire club are in the semi-finals for the first time since 1987, when they lost to eventual winners Coventry at Hillsborough.

Leeds have lost on their past three trips to Wembley, in the 2024 Championship play-off final, the 2008 League One play-off final and the 1996 League Cup final.

FA Cup winners for the only time in 1972, Leeds' last victory at Wembley was a 4-3 success against Liverpool in the 1992 Charity Shield.

Their win over West Ham was a welcome lift in the midst of a Premier League relegation battle for both clubs.

Third-bottom West Ham are one point behind fourth-bottom Tottenham with seven games left.

Leeds, four points above the Hammers, face a return trip to West Ham for a potentially decisive clash on the last day of the season.

- Penalty drama -

West Ham boss Nuno Espirito Santo made five changes as he prioritised Friday's vital showdown with bottom-of-the-table Wolves.

Leeds grabbed the opener in the 26th minute thanks to an eye-catching effort from Japan midfielder Tanaka, who cleverly twisted to find space inside the penalty area for a shot that deflected off Disasi and bounced in off the crossbar.

Leeds struck again in the 75th minute after Max Kilman chopped down Aaronson in the area, with referee Craig Pawson changing his decision to a penalty after consulting the pitch-side monitor.

Calvert-Lewin confidently stroked his spot-kick past Alphonse Areola before sprinting to celebrate with 9,000 raucous Leeds supporters crammed behind the goal.

Leeds lost focus in the closing stages, allowing West Ham to stage their remarkable comeback.

Fernandes tapped in the rebound after Bowen hit the post in the third minute of stoppage time.

Stunned by the decision to play 11 minutes of additional time, Leeds were unable to hold their nerve.

Three minutes after Fernandes' goal, Adama Traore whipped an inswinging cross into the six-yard box and former Chelsea defender Disasi volleyed home with his outstretched foot.

Thousands of West Ham fans had already left before Disasi's equaliser and hundreds flooded back in after the goal, although some found the gates shut, leaving them stuck outside for the rest of the match.

With Areola forced off injured late in extra time, West Ham had to give a debut to reserve keeper Finlay Herrick.

The 20-year-old, who was on loan at non-league side Boreham Wood earlier this season, saved Piroe's penalty.

But there was no fairytale ending for Herrick as Leeds celebrated a semi-final berth almost four decades in the making.

smg/mw

Israeli strikes in Lebanon on Sunday killed at least 15 people, a day after Israel threatened to hit Lebanon's main border crossing with Syria, forcing it to close.

Israel has launched airstrikes across Lebanon as well as a ground invasion in the south since March 2, when armed group Hezbollah entered the Middle East war on the side of its backer Iran.

Israeli military chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir visited troops in southern Lebanon on Sunday and pledged to intensify strikes against Hezbollah.

One of Israel's strikes in Beirut Sunday killed at least five people and wounded 52 in the Jnah neighbourhood, the Lebanese health ministry said.

A strike targeting an apartment building in Ain Saadeh town east of Beirut killed three people and injured three others, while a strike in the southern town of Kfar Hatta, far from the border with Israel, killed seven people including a four-year-old girl, the ministry said.

Hezbollah on Sunday claimed to have fired a cruise missile at an Israeli warship off the coast, but the Israeli military told AFP it was "not aware" of such an incident.

Israeli attacks on Lebanon since the start of the war have killed more than 1,400 people, including 126 children, and displaced over a million, according to Lebanese authorities.

- Panic attacks -

The strike in Beirut's Jnah neighbourhood landed about 100 metres away from the Rafik Hariri University Hospital, the largest public medical facility in Lebanon, a medical source told AFP.

Zakaria Tawbeh, deputy head of the hospital, said they received "four killed, three Sudanese and a 15-year old girl, and 31 wounded".

"Lots of glass was broken, and some of our patients had panic attacks."

After the first attack, 53-year-old Jnah resident Nancy Hassan thought she was safe at home.

"Shortly after, the planes were flying overhead, and we heard a huge bang, then stones rained down on us," she told AFP.

Hassan lost her daughter in an Israeli strike on the same area during the 2024 war between Hezbollah and Israel.

"My daughter was killed, she was 23 years old. Today, her friends were killed. Every time, they bomb us in the neighbourhood without warning," she added.

Israel also launched several strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut, an area now largely evacuated but where Hezbollah holds sway.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon warned that attacks by Israel and Hezbollah near its positions "could potentially draw return fire".

- Vital crossing -

On Saturday, Israel had said it would target the Masnaa border crossing between Lebanon and Syria, the main gateway between the two countries.

"Due to Hezbollah's use of the Masnaa crossing for military purposes and smuggling of combat equipment, the (Israeli army) intends to carry out strikes on the crossing in the near future," said the military's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee, urging people to leave the area.

The border post was quickly evacuated on the Lebanese side.

In Syria, borders and customs public relations director Mazen Aloush insisted the crossing was exclusively used by civilians but said it would close temporarily due to the threats.

Masnaa is a vital trade route for both countries and a key gateway to the rest of the region for Lebanese people.

Military expert Hassan Jouni told AFP that Israel's threat to strike the crossing "is not based on sound security considerations but rather aims to pressure the Lebanese government... to disarm Hezbollah".

At another border crossing further north known as Qaa, an AFP correspondent on Sunday saw a long line of cars and vans waiting to enter Syria as people sought an alternative route.

As Israeli troops push into border areas in southern Lebanon, destroying villages, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun reiterated his call for talks with Israel, saying he wanted to spare his country's south from destruction on the scale seen in the Palestinian territory of Gaza.

"Why don't we negotiate... until we can at least save the homes that have not yet been destroyed?" he said in a televised address.

bur-pdw/ksb

JJ Spaun bagged a sensational eagle on the penultimate hole to warm up for the Masters with a a dramatic one-shot victory at the PGA Tour's Valero Texas Open on Sunday.

Spaun carded a five-under-par closing 67 at the TPC San Antonio Oaks Course to finish the tournament with a 17-under aggregate 271.

That was enough to vault the 2025 US Open champion, who had started the final round tied for fourth, to the top of the leaderboard ahead of England's Matt Wallace, Scotland's Robert MacIntyre and Michael Kim, who finished on 16 under.

The signature moment for Spaun came on the par-four 306-yard 17th, when his tee shot landed on the green and rolled to within 10 feet of the flag.

He duly made the putt for eagle to move to five under for the day, and then held his nerve to make a crucial up-and-down par on the par-five 18th.

The victory couldn't have been better timed for Spaun, who won his first PGA Tour victory at San Antonio in 2022, but who has endured a rough start to 2026.

"This game is so crazy," Spaun said afterwards. "I haven't been feeling at the form that I wanted to be based off of last season. Just trying to take each day as it comes and accepting what I have. 

"Just means a lot to come back and win here at a place that's been so good to me." 

Spaun had missed the cut in four of his seven outings so far this season, with his highest finish before this week a tie for 24th place at The Players Championship last month.

But now the 35-year-old will head to Augusta for next week's Masters in fine fettle as he hunts a second major championship.

Spaun said adopting a more relaxed approach had been behind this week's improved form.

"I put a lot of pressure on myself this year to start the year, and a lot of expectations," he said. 

"It's the complete opposite of the mantra I had all year last year that really helped me, so I tried to get back to that.

"Went into the last few weeks starting at The Players just trying to be freed up and put less pressure on myself."

rcw/bb

Jaylen Brown scored 26 points and Jayson Tatum added 23 as the Boston Celtics beat the Toronto Raptors 115-101 on Sunday.

Tatum added 13 rebounds, seven assists and three steals for the Celtics, who notched their third straight win to tighten their grip on second place in the NBA Eastern Conference.

After hot starts in their past two victories, the Celtics looked sluggish in the early going.

They were bedeviled by 18 turnovers, leading to 24 Raptors points, and connected on just eight of their 28 three-point attempts.

Up 80-77 going into the fourth quarter, the Celtics were buoyed by 11 points from Payton Pritchard in the final frame, pushing their lead to as many as 18.

Ja'Kobe Walter scored 16 points and RJ Barrett and Brandon Ingram added 15 points each for the Raptors, who are seventh in the East but neck and neck with Philadelphia in the fight for sixth and a chance to escape the play-in tournament.

Later Sunday LeBron James leads a depleted Lakers team against the Mavericks in Dallas.

The Lakers, clinging to third place in the Western Conference, have confirmed they will be without NBA leading scorer Luka Doncic and offensive sparkplug Austin Reaves for at least the last five games of the regular season.

Doncic suffered a hamstring strain in a loss to Oklahoma City Thursday and Reaves has an oblique muscle injury.

The fourth-placed Denver Nuggets are hot on the Lakers' heels with the Houston Rockets just two games behind them in fifth place.

Golden State superstar Stephen Curry is expected to return from a 27-game injury absence when the Warriors host the Rockets.

Curry, who last played on January 30, was diagnosed with a bone bruise and patella-femoral pain syndrome in his right knee.

The 38-year-old said this week that he'd been frustrated at the slow pace of recovery from an injury he expected to sideline him "a week, 10 days max".

"The patience then was tough just because it's one of those injuries you really have to let rest," he said.

Curry said there is "nothing structurally wrong" with his knee but acknowledged he's dealing with "a new normal" in terms of managing the issue.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr said Curry will be on a minutes restriction as the team, currently 10th in the West, builds toward the play-in tournament.

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American fourth seed Tommy Paul saved three match points before scoring a battling three-set victory over unseeded Argentine Roman Burruchaga to win the ATP Houston US Men's Clay Court Championship on Sunday.

Paul, 28, held his nerve in a nail-biting third set to dig out a 6-1, 3-6, 7-5 triumph in 2hr 40min to claim the fifth ATP title of his career.

The American had looked to be heading for defeat after the 77th-ranked Burruchaga engineered a trio of match points while leading 5-3 on Paul's serve in the decisive third set.

But Paul showed tremendous resilience to put out that fire and hold, and then broke Burruchaga in the next game to square the match at 5-5.

Buoyed by that narrow escape, Paul then held to love to go 6-5 up, and suddenly the pressure was all on the 24-year-old from Buenos Aires, playing in his first ATP final.

Burruchaga, the son of 1986 World Cup-winning footballer Jorge Burruchaga, appeared equal to the challenge after going 40-0 up.

Yet once again Paul dug deep and clawed his way back to deuce.

The American moved to match point when Burruchaga drilled a backhand wide down the line, and then clinched victory when the South American yanked a wild forehand long on the next point.

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