Sixers' Embiid to have surgery for appendicitis - team

Australia will boost spending on drones by up to Au$5 billion ($3.6 billion) in response to shifts in warfare seen in the Middle East, Defence Minister Richard Marles said Tuesday.

Australia's vast coastline and small population have spurred a focus on developing large autonomous submarines and fighter jets, dubbed the Ghost Shark and Ghost Bat.

The use of cheaper drones mass produced by Iran in the Middle East and Ukraine conflicts has prompted the decision to also boost spending on smaller drones and counter-drone systems, Marles said in an ABC radio interview.

"We look at what's happening in the Middle East right now -- you need counter-drone technology as well," he said.

Australia will spend Au$12 billion to Au$15 billion over the next decade on autonomous capabilities, Marles said ahead of an update to the national defence strategy to be released Thursday.

"Clearly, autonomous systems now are really central to how contest happens, how war happens," he said.

Australia needed the full spectrum of drone capabilities for its defence because of its geography, Marles said.

"What you get at the smaller end is mass -- you know, lots of units -- and that's what we are seeing play out in Ukraine," he added.

Wary of China's navy build-up, US ally Australia has reshaped its defence force in recent years to focus on its missile strike capability and deterring an adversary from its northern approaches.

Its AUKUS defence partnership with the United States and Britain aims to transfer nuclear-powered submarine technology to Australia next decade.

Germany said last month it is considering Boeing's Australian-developed Ghost Bat, designed to fly alongside a fighter jet and return to base, as it modernises its air force.

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The Geneva watch fair opens on Tuesday and will be taken as a barometer of how the Middle East war is affecting the luxury goods sector.

The Watches and Wonders salon -- the industry's biggest annual event -- sees 65 major watch brands, including Rolex, Patek Philippe, Cartier and Bulgari, display their latest creations until April 20.

Despite uncertainties surrounding travel from the Middle East and Asia, organisers are expecting around 60,000 visitors during the week, compared to 55,000 last year.

"The war is going to be a big talking point," said Jon Cox, an industry analyst with Kepler Cheuvreux financial services.

Before the conflict erupted on February 28 with the first US and Israeli strikes on Iran, Cox was forecasting a rebound in Swiss watch exports in 2026, expecting "mid-single-digit growth" of around five percent, he told AFP.

But the uncertainties triggered by the conflict are now likely to leave the Swiss watch industry facing "weak growth" in exports, he said.

Jean-Philippe Bertschy, an analyst at Swiss investment managers Vontobel, was forecasting four-percent growth at the start of the year, but is now leaning "more towards stagnation", adding that he would revise his estimates for 2026 after gauging the mood at Watches and Wonders.

The Middle East accounts for just under 10 percent of the watch market.

That "is not insignificant", Bertschy told AFP, especially since the region has witnessed "strong growth in recent years", with particular enthusiasm for complex watches at the top end of the industry.

But the war's impact on consumer spending and tourism remains unclear.

It is "extremely difficult" to make forecasts in the current climate, Bertschy said, adding that the watch fair was a way to "take the temperature" of the sector.

- Attracting younger buyers -

With the demise of the Baselworld salon following the Covid-19 pandemic, Watches and Wonders in Geneva has established itself as the pinnacle showcase for watchmaking in Switzerland.

Within less than five years, the number of exhibitors has almost doubled, organisers said, with the 2026 edition welcoming 11 new brands, including Audemars Piguet, one of the most sought-after among collectors. 

Once reserved exclusively for industry professionals, the Geneva salon has gradually opened its doors to the public, turning into a platform for showcasing watchmaking expertise.

While the first four days are for the industry only, the weekend and Monday are open to the public, with organisers seeking to seduce a new generation of younger buyers.

Organisers noted that a quarter of tickets last year were sold to under-25s.

Watchmaking is Switzerland's third-largest export sector, after pharmaceuticals and industry.

In 2025, the sector's workforce in Switzerland shrank for the first time since the Covid crisis, falling by 1.3 percent to 64,807 people, according to the Swiss Watch Industry Employers' Association.

The sector had suffered a blow during the pandemic, but bounced back quickly afterwards, breaking records for three consecutive years thanks to so-called "revenge purchases", with some consumers using the savings made during lockdowns to stock up on luxury watches.

But with a drop in demand in China, followed by the US tariffs blitz, the last two years have been tough for the sector.

Swiss watch exports first fell by 2.8 percent in 2024 and then by 1.7 percent in 2025, to 25.6 billion Swiss francs ($32.5 billion).

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From his small shop in Beirut, facing a building destroyed by an Israeli airstrike, Qassem Saad said he was exhausted by repeated Israeli wars on Lebanon, and hoped negotiations could end decades of suffering.

"We know that Israel will remain an enemy to us, but we are tired," 49-year-old Saad, who suffered a minor injury in the strike, told AFP.

A meeting is scheduled to be held Tuesday in Washington between the Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors there to discuss the possibility of direct negotiations between the two countries, which have technically been at war for decades.

Lebanese authorities have stressed that Beirut first wants to secure a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, but Israel has dismissed that prospect for the time being, insisting on the Iran-backed group's disarmament and saying it prefers instead to focus on formal peace talks with Lebanon itself. 

"What matters to us is to reach a stage where we can raise our children and live in peace. If there is a comprehensive solution for peace, we are for it, on the condition that no one encroaches on the other," Saad said.

"If Israel withdraws from all of the south... hands over our prisoners, gives us our rights and guarantees no more attacks... I am certainly in favour of the negotiations."

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem, for his part, has already rejected the talks out of hand, demanding the meeting be cancelled and vowing to fight "until our last breath".

- 'We want rest' -

In the working-class Corniche al-Mazraa neighbourhood, one of several Beirut districts Israel bombed Wednesday in a nationwide wave of strikes that killed more than 350 people, residents like Saad are trying to gather what they can from the rubble of their homes and businesses.

Kamal Ayad, 49, paused to rest under a building where he was working to repair the damage as people cleared away debris.

"We are in favour of (negotiations) if they serve Lebanon's interest, if they will resolve matters, end the war, and let us live in peace," he said.

"We want peace... and we hope Iran won't obstruct it," he added. "We are extremely tired... We have lived through many wars and we want rest." 

Lebanon is launching talks with Israel days after the United States and Iran failed to reach an agreement to end the broader Middle East war. The two sides have declared a two-week truce that Iran and mediator Pakistan insist includes Lebanon, but which Israel and Washington have said does not.

Beirut says 2,089 people have been killed, including 166 children and 88 healthcare workers, since the war spread to Lebanon on March 2.

Mohammad Al-Khatib, 57, owns an electronics company next to the site of the airstrike in Corniche al-Mazraa, where the smell of smoke still dominated and buildings were blackened with soot. He said he did not believe Israel would honour any agreement.

"You don't hold negotiations under bombardment, shelling and humiliation. Where is the justice?" he told AFP.

"They (the Israelis) have never stuck to peace in their lives. Their ambition is expansion and control over Lebanon... throughout its history Israel hasn't been credible." 

- 'Internal wars' -

For many Lebanese, negotiations with Israel -- officially classed as an enemy state -- have long been taboo, but Tuesday's meeting is not the first attempt. 

In December, Lebanese and Israeli civilian representatives held their first direct talks in decades, as part of a mechanism to monitor a 2024 ceasefire that sought to end an earlier round of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. 

After Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon, the two countries held negotiations that resulted in an agreement to end the war between them, but it was subsequently annulled.

"There has to be a solution between the US and Iran" -- the main backers of Israel and Hezbollah, respectively -- "otherwise negotiations are useless," said Joe Ghafari, 61, in Beirut's Ashrafiyeh district.

"The decision isn't in our hands. If it were, I would support negotiations." 

Ghafari said he feared renewed internal conflict in a country that went through a bloody civil war between 1975 and 1990.

Hezbollah supporters marched on Saturday to voice their disapproval of the negotiations, before the party and its ally the Amal Movement urged their partisans to refrain from demonstrating in the name of civil peace.

"How can we make peace with Israel if part (of the population) doesn't want it?" Ghafari asked.

"If these negotiations advance while the other side does not want them, there will of course be internal conflict.

"And Lebanon cannot bear internal wars."

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Diego Maradona would be happy, his fans say. 

The childhood home of the late Argentine football legend has been transformed into a soup kitchen for people squeezed by President Javier Milei's austerity policies.

The needy can also ask for clothing at 523 Amazor street in the Buenos Aires suburb of Fiorito, where the player dubbed Argentina's "Golden Boy" grew up in grinding poverty.

In this neighborhood of around 50,000 people living in modest brick homes, dozens of murals depict key moments in the career of the illustrious number 10, who died in 2020 at the age of 60.

On Tuesday, a new trial for criminal negligence will begin of the seven-strong medical team that was caring for Maradona in his final days, as he was recovering from brain surgery.

In Fiorito, neighbors come and go to "Diego's house," as they call it, lugging containers which volunteers fill with chicken stew or other meals cooked in giant cauldrons in the yard.

Cumbia music -- Maradona's favorite genre -- blares from speakers.

If he were alive "Diego would say there is a lot of hunger and we have to help, because the need is so great," Diego Gavilan, one of the kitchen's beneficiaries, told AFP. 

- 'Can't make ends meet' -

Gavilan collects cardboard and scrap metal for a living but it no longer puts food on the table.

He started coming to the soup kitchen after Milei was elected in December 2023 and embarked on a radical free-market agenda of deregulation and steep cuts to public spending.

"You can’t make ends meet," Gavilan said.

Although statistics show a decrease in poverty under Milei, mainly due to a sharp drop in inflation, family finances are in crisis, according to Central Bank reports. 

A surge in imports and a collapse in consumption have resulted in the closure of over 20,000 businesses, according to official reports. 

Gavilan said he was glad to accept help from Maradona's old home.

"He suffered so much hunger here as a child. For the people of the neighborhood to receive a plate of food is special," he said.

- Full stomachs -

There are no tables or chairs for diners at this establishment.

The food prepared by volunteers over open fires in the yard is handed out in bags to people queueing at the door.

Maradona often spoke of his humble beginnings in a community that lacked running water and paved streets.

Sixty-six years after his birth, hardship is etched in the faces of those queueing for food.

"People are going hungry," Maria Torres, one of the center's cooks, told AFP, adding she was convinced Maradona would be very happy at the sight of his old home being used for a charitable cause.

Father Leonardo Torres is one of the driving forces behind the soup kitchen.

He recalls Maradona recounting how his mother, Dalma "Tota" Franco, would go without food so he could eat his fill.

"Diego said that his mother would pretend her stomach hurt so he could eat," he said.

"We want many 'Totas' and many 'Diegos' to leave here with a full stomach," he added.

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A new trial over the death of Argentine football legend Diego Maradona begins Tuesday a year after a scandal involving a judge caused the first trial to collapse.

Maradona, considered one of the world's greatest players ever, died in November 2020 at the age of 60 while recovering from brain surgery at a private residence.

He died of heart failure and acute pulmonary edema -- a condition where fluid accumulates in the lungs -- two weeks after going under the knife.

His seven-person medical team were indicted over the conditions of his convalescence in the northern Buenos Aires suburb of Tigre, described by prosecutors as grossly negligent.

But two and a half months into their trial, after hours of sometimes tearful testimony from witnesses, including Maradona's children, the proceedings came to a halt.

The trial was annulled in May 2025 after it emerged that one of the judges overseeing the trial was involved in a documentary about the case, potentially breaking ethics rules.

The judge, Julieta Makintach, was later impeached.

The new trial, which will hear from some 120 witnesses, will again seek to determine if Maradona's medical team is responsible for his death.

Seven health care professionals —- doctors, psychologists, and nurses -- who were treating him at the time of his death are accused of homicide with possible intent -- pursuing a course of action despite knowing it could lead to death.

They risk prison terms of between eight and 25 years if convicted.

The defense maintains the larger-than-life Maradona, who battled cocaine and alcohol addictions, died of natural causes. 

"If there's one thing that has been ruled out, it's a malicious criminal plan to kill Maradona. Anyone who continues to maintain that is cruel to the family and the accused," Vadim Mischanchuk, lawyer for psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, told Radio Con Vos on Sunday. 

News of the death of the 1986 World Cup champion brought hundreds of thousands of Argentines onto the streets in mourning in the midst of the Covid pandemic.

The trial is expected to last until July. 

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Iran slammed a US blockade around its ports on Monday as a "grave violation" of its sovereignty, as Washington and Tehran's belligerent rhetoric rattled a fragile truce.

"The imposition of a maritime blockade constitutes a grave violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Islamic Republic of Iran," Iran's ambassador to the United Nations Amir Saeid Iravani wrote to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, in a letter seen by AFP.

The "unlawful" blockade also "constitutes a serious violation of the fundamental principles of the international law of the sea," Iravani added.

US President Donald Trump ordered a blockade of ships entering or leaving Iranian ports and coastal areas in the Gulf Sunday, following the failure of peace talks over the weekend, warning that any Iranian attack boats that challenged the blockade would be destroyed.

The blockade came into force at 1400 GMT Monday, despite the United States and Iran agreeing to a two-week ceasefire days earlier, with mediator Pakistan and Gulf state Qatar continuing calls for it to be respected as diplomatic efforts continue.

Guterres on Monday called on "all parties" to respect freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, after Iran and subsequently the United States blocked passage through the critical waterway.

The strait, through which a fifth of global oil and gas flows, has become a key flashpoint as the US and Iran attempt to gain leverage over each other during ceasefire negotiations.

Iravani said the "unlawful" blockade "poses a grave threat to international peace and security and obviously exacerbates the risk of escalation in an already highly volatile region."

In a second letter, the UN envoy called on Middle Eastern countries hosting US military bases to "cease their internationally wrongful acts."

Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan should pay "compensation for all material and moral damage sustained," he said.

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On Andy Corriher's farm in North Carolina, planting and preparations are underway for his corn and soybean crops -- but fertilizer costs have surged on war in the Middle East, and orders he placed weeks ago have yet to arrive.

The 47-year-old is among US farmers facing a double whammy of soaring fertilizer and diesel prices after US-Israeli strikes on Iran triggered Tehran's blockage of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway for such shipments.

"This time of year is when the majority of fertilizer is put out in this country," Corriher told AFP.

"We got hit at the worst possible time, because we're trying to buy fertilizer when it skyrockets and when the supply also gets cut."

The cost hikes strike at a major support base for President Donald Trump, who won 78 percent of the 2024 vote in farming-dependent counties, said news service Investigate Midwest.

Trump blamed "price gouging from the fertilizer monopoly" on Saturday, vowing: "American Farmers, we have your back!"

But spring planting is already ongoing, with Corriher loading bags of dry fertilizer onto a tractor, hauling them to his fields.

"I've ordered several loads of liquid nitrogen a few weeks ago, and they're still saying they're not sure when it'll be delivered," Corriher said.

Since the war, Corriher estimates that the nitrogen fertilizer he uses rose by at least 40 percent in price.

The cost of urea -- a common nitrogen-based fertilizer -- had jumped by around 50 percent at the port of New Orleans.

Corriher has reduced usage by a third, a decision he worries might hurt his yields.

- 'Gut shot' -

Russell Hedrick, who farms up to 1,000 acres including corn and soybeans around Hickory, North Carolina, said around 75 percent of his fertilizer purchases were made after prices rocketed.

Like himself, many US farmers lack storage to stock up far ahead of planting, the 40-year-old told AFP, after blending fertilizers and nutrients to be sprayed on his fields.

He has cut fertilizer use to the "bare minimum," with an option to add more later.

Even before the war, rising costs meant "farmers have essentially become like Breaking Bad chemists with fertilizer, to get the most out of it," he said.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said 80 percent of American farmers had bought fertilizer for the spring planting season before the conflict. But that's cold comfort to those who lacked funds and capacity to do so.

Those remarks were "a gut shot," said Marshville-based farmer Derrick Austin.

Austin, 55, called his supplier upon learning of the strait's blockage, knowing that costs would jump.

"Thankfully, he let me buy three loads of nitrogen at the old price per ton so I could at least fertilize my wheat crop," he said. "It was devastating."

Fertilizer supply has diminished before, like in 2021 when China restricted phosphate exports to prioritize domestic needs.

Usually, farmers can see that coming, Hedrick said.

"This year, we just kind of got blindsided."

- 'Collateral damage' -

Corriher said he has been a supporter of Trump, but added of the war: "It didn't seem like we had really thought out all the consequences to the American people."

"I feel like these things were kind of overlooked as part of collateral damage," he said.

The surge in gas and diesel prices have hit farmers and other American households: "Everybody seems to be suffering."

Asked if the war has changed perceptions of Trump, Austin said: "I'm starting to question some of his reasoning."

But to him, the Trump administration "still beats some of the alternatives."

Hedrick said he has voted for Trump thrice: "He's human like the rest of us. I think he makes good calls, I think he makes mistakes."

He said if the conflict's resolution brings "long-term peace" and a reopened Strait of Hormuz, "that's all I can hope for."

The US agriculture economy has "been in a recession for the last couple of years," said Iowa State University professor Chad Hart.

Net farm income has declined while business costs remain high.

Although margins are squeezed this year, the hit may be less than anticipated as many farmers managed to apply fertilizer last fall or earlier this spring.

But the 2027 crop would be "a big concern" if fighting persists, Hart said.

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Once upon a time in the golden days of Hollywood, the movies were bigger, the stars brighter and the celluloid they were filmed on was, well, explosive.

Which is why the US Library of Congress maintains a special, fireproof vault in Virginia, near Washington, DC.

There, the highly combustible nitrate film used from the dawn of cinema in the 1890s until the early 1950s has a permanent home, rarely accessed by the public but toured by AFP.

Lost movies on the volatile but durable medium are still being discovered and preserved in the facility. And thanks to digitization, the lost treasures can also be safely viewed for the first time in decades.

Some 145,000 film reels are stored in strictly fireproof conditions in a vast, chilly vault at the library’s National Audio-Visual Conservation Center in Culpeper, Virginia.

It is crammed with cinematic treasures that rekindle warm memories of an era when movies ruled.

The vault's leader, George Willeman, reeled off the names of classics with negatives there: "Casablanca," Frank Capra-directed films like "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," and the grand-daddy of all action movies, "The Great Train Robbery" from 1903.

Down a spartan corridor so long it seemed to recede into the distance, he unlocked a series of cell-like steel doors.

Inside each of the 124 cells -- there's one dedicated just to the Disney archive -- were floor-to-ceiling cubby holes.

Each one held film canisters containing negatives and prints, all arranged meticulously: packed tight to prevent canisters from opening, but far enough apart to prevent any fire from spreading.

Since being set up in 2007 in a former US Federal Reserve building in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the vault has maintained a perfect no-fire record.

- Film nerds' delight -

Nitrate film is just part of the center's collection of more than six million items of moving images and recorded sound. They also have supporting scripts, posters and photos.

Willeman, who sports a button badge with the invocation to "Experience Nitrate," said the Library of Congress began preserving the medium when in the 1960s, "it was discovered that so much film was being lost" due to fires and defunct companies throwing negatives away.

With the American Film Institute, the library began collecting and copying nitrate film, including the holdings of big Hollywood studios – RKO, Warner Brothers, Universal, Columbia and Walt Disney.

They also tapped the personal collections of film icons like movie impresario and silent era star Mary Pickford and motion pictures inventor Thomas Edison, whose early studio produced hundreds of films.

"We're 50 some years in, and it (the collection) just keeps growing," Willeman said.

With the arrival of digital media, the mission has expanded beyond preservation for purists and cinema historians -- who say movies just look better on nitrate footage -- to putting old films online.

"Now we can make them available for everybody, which to me, being the film nerd I've been since, like, third grade, is just amazing."

Nitrate film made by early artisans often preserves better than the later safety film, said Courtney Holschuh, nitrate archive technician.

At a workstation with no light bulbs or exposed batteries -- either of which could ignite dust or gas from vintage film -- Holschuh recounted how last September she carefully peeled apart a cache of 10 vintage reels donated by a retired schoolteacher.

There were 42 different titles on the reels -- only 26 of which have been identified. They included a lost film, "Gugusse and the Automaton," by French cinema pioneer Georges Melies.

"So much of our early film history is still out there for us to see and to experience," Willeman said.

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The retrial of disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein on a rape charge on which a jury was previously deadlocked begins Tuesday, although he will remain imprisoned for other offenses regardless of the verdict.

Weinstein is accused of the third-degree rape of Jessica Mann, who starred in the 2015 romantic commedy "This Isn't Funny."

The judge declared a mistrial last June after the jury foreperson refused to return to deliberate the case amid a jury-room feud.

Weinstein will now face a retrial on that count in the Manhattan court.

Weinstein's spokesman Juda Engelmayer told AFP: "He is hopeful and expects a fair process where the facts will vindicate him."

Weinstein, 74, and wheelchair-bound by ill-health, is already serving a 16-year prison term in a California case for the rape of a European actress more than a decade ago. He is appealing that conviction with a hearing scheduled for April 23.

The Oscar-winning Weinstein has faced a litany of prosecutions since allegations against him exploded into public in 2017 -- helping to spur the "MeToo" movement.

The jury in June's proceedings convicted Weinstein of sexual assault against movie producer Miriam Haley. He is appealing that conviction. He was acquitted of sexual assault against Polish-born actress, Kaja Sokola.

Haley testified in Weinstein's original 2020 conviction, which resulted in a 23-year prison term, which was thrown out in 2024 after an appeals court found irregularities in the way witnesses were presented.

- 'Threatened and derided' -

Weinstein has hired a new legal team, including Jacob Kaplan as well as Marc Agnifilo who represents high profile figures including rapper Sean "Diddy" Combs.

Weinstein has claimed to be under threat at the notorious Rikers Island jail complex in the Bronx where he is being held, leaving him in solitary confinement for the most part.

"I'm constantly threatened and derided. I wouldn't last long out there," he told the Hollywood Reporter at the start of the year.

He claimed to have been punched "hard in the face" while waiting to make a telephone call in the prison.

"I fell on the floor, bleeding everywhere. I was hurt really badly," he told the Reporter.

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Mikel Arteta has warned Arsenal that fatigue is no excuse for their damaging stumble as he urged his side to hit back by finishing off Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League quarter-final second leg.

Chasing a second successive appearance in the semi-finals of Europe's elite club competition, Arsenal host Sporting on Wednesday with a 1-0 lead from last week's first-leg win in Lisbon.

But the Gunners go into the second leg in the midst of a bout of soul searching after losing three of their last four games in all competitions.

Arsenal's untimely dip cost them two chances for silverware as Manchester City won 2-0 in the League Cup final and second tier Southampton knocked them out of the FA Cup quarter-finals.

As if that wasn't frustrating enough for Arteta, Saturday's shock 2-1 home defeat against Bournemouth has endangered Arsenal's hopes of winning the Premier League for the first time in 22 years.

Arsenal are just six points ahead of second-placed City, who have a game in hand and host Arteta's team in a seismic showdown on Sunday.

The importance of this weekend's clash at the Etihad Stadium leaves Arteta with a selection dilemma for the Sporting game.

Does the Arsenal manager field his strongest line-up to ensure they get back on track by dispatching the Portuguese champions.

Or will he rest key players to keep them fresh for the trip to City in the hope Arsenal's strength in depth is enough to cope with Sporting.

The fixture will be the north London club's 54th so far this season, a gruelling schedule that could be taking its toll.

Arsenal have battled injuries all season and many of Arteta's players looked exhausted against Bournemouth with Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka and Jurrien Timber all sidelined.

- 'Enjoy the opportunity' -

But asked if tiredness was a factor in their recent defeats, Arteta said: "I don't want to pull on those excuses because we've been playing so many games, every three days, and we're going to have to continue to do that.

"That's the context and that's the scenario, and we have to embrace it and especially enjoy the opportunity.

"That's one of the things that I didn't see from the team, that level of enjoyment in certain moments and the fight that we have to have to really change the course of the game when it gets difficult.

"We're going to have different contexts from here to June, and we need to be able to adapt and resolve all of them, if we want to achieve what we want to achieve."

Viktor Gyokeres was one of the few Arsenal stars to finish the Bournemouth defeat with any credit.

The Sweden striker scored a first-half penalty to take his goal tally for the season to 18 as he shows signs of a life after a slow start to his first campaign with the Gunners.

However, Gyokeres was largely subdued on his return to his former club Sporting in the first-leg.

Arteta must find a way to ensure his physical presence and predatory finishing are influential ingredients in Arsenal's bid to win the Champions League for the first time.

"We have a lot of important games ahead, and we need to embrace it and to enjoy playing those games," Gyokeres said.

"It's a great game to have in a few days, so we just need to recover now, leave this behind and make a very good performance on Wednesday."

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