Thousands of protesters gathered in India’s northeastern Manipur state to mark three years since ethnic violence erupted in May 2023 between the majority Meitei and minority Kuki-Zo communities. The conflict, driven by disputes over land and political power has killed nearly 260 people and displaced around 60,000.
Published On 3 May 20263 May 2026
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Every Kentucky Derby evokes emotion in the winning horse’s team, but the 1990 race brought it to a level even beyond a Hallmark movie.
Trainer Carl Nafzger famously described Unbridled’s stretch run to 92-year-old owner Frances Genter, whose eyesight was failing.
“He’s taking the lead. He’s on the lead, Mrs. Genter. He’s on the lead. He’s gonna win. He’s gonna win. … He’s the winner. He’s the winner, Mrs. Genter. … You won it. You won the Kentucky Derby. Oh, Mrs. Genter, I love you.”
As Al Michaels said on ABC, “You couldn’t get it to look that way in a movie if you did 50 takes.”
Kentucky Derby entrant So Happy works out at Churchill Downs on Monday in Louisville, Ky.
(Charlie Riedel / Associated Press)
Some 36 years later, Mrs. Genter could have company Saturday if So Happy wins the 152nd Derby at Churchill Downs.
The Santa Anita Derby champion is trained by Mark Glatt, a genial but quiet native of Washington state who in February endured tragedy: the heart failure and sudden death of his wife of 25 years, Dena. She was 57, four years older than her husband, with whom she had three children.
Glatt, who wears a bracelet containing some of Dena’s ashes “so she’ll always be with me,” unsurprisingly was emotional after the Santa Anita Derby last month. It was the first victory by the colt since his wife’s death, and it also meant the Monrovia resident would have a horse in the Kentucky Derby for the first time.
“It’s pretty hard to describe,” he said then. “We have had an overwhelming amount of support, and it’s helped us get through this very, very tough time. She got that horse there today.”
For the most part since, including during an interview Thursday morning at his barn at Churchill Downs, he politely has declined to discuss his wife, saying he just doesn’t feel comfortable. But he has opened up a bit on rare occasions.
“I absolutely think she’s above and pushing us through this and hopefully enjoying the ride along with us,” Glatt told reporters this week. “She would be happy for me and all the hard work. She’d be happy for all of the connections. I think she’d be very proud of an accomplishment like this.
“We’re still together, even if it’s just in spirit.”
Hans Maron, one of So Happy’s co-owners along with his wife, Ana, and Robbie Norman, paused to gather himself Thursday when asked how much Dena Glatt would have enjoyed being at the Derby for the first time.
So Happy runs on the track during Kentucky Derby training Thursday at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.
(Andy Lyons / Getty Images)
“She is here,” Maron said.
Asked if he has allowed himself to dream about what it would be like if So Happy won, Maron said, “I’m not arrogant, but I envision it. I mean, I believe. I’m not a homer but I’m a believer. I really think he’s gonna take us there. I think he’s the right horse at the right time.”
Early wagering seems to indicate the public believes So Happy is a major contender. He was co-sixth choice on the morning line at 15-1 — a surprising number, given his speed figures for the Santa Anita victory were comparable to almost anything his competitors have posted this spring — but as of Friday evening, he was the 6-1 co-second choice along with Commandment and Further Ado, just behind Renegade at 5-1.
It’s hard to find a trainer who isn’t happy with their horse at this point, and Glatt is no different: “Nothing’s told me that he’s not sitting on a really good race,” the trainer said.
Those who doubt So Happy point to his breeding: His sire, Runhappy, was a champion sprinter not known for producing horses who can run more than a mile. But Runhappy’s sire, Super Saver, won the 2010 Derby, and So Happy’s grandsire on his mother’s side is Blame, who captured the Breeders’ Cup Classic later that year at Churchill Downs.
“If you watch him train,” Maron said, “he’s long and he covers a lot of ground. He’s just a really smart horse, actually. That’s the biggest thing. He uses his energy when it’s needed.”
Maron, a co-founder of Fairlife Milk (which was sold to Coca-Cola), said he has been a racing fan since he was 14 but never dreamed of owning a horse, let alone being in the Derby. The Marons, who live in Arizona, have been with Glatt for about five years, and they were close friends with the trainer and his wife. Glatt has credited the couple with supporting him emotionally the last few months.
They’ll all be together Saturday for the race that elicits emotion like no other. Even So Happy’s jockey, 60-year-old Mike Smith, who has more Derby experience than any other rider, including two wins, struggled to explain what a victory would mean.
“I wish I had some words to tell you what it would mean, but those are just things that you’d have to just feel and see to really understand it,” said Smith, who would be the oldest jockey to win the Derby (Bill Shoemaker was 54 in 1986).
Glatt paused a long time before saying he has not allowed himself to think about what it would be like to win.
“That’ll all hit if … you know, I don’t want to get ahead of myself,” Glatt said. “I’m sure that would all hit me if we would be so fortunate.”
Right to Party was withdrawn Friday morning with what state veterinarians said was lameness in his right front leg, moving Robusta into the field and giving trainer Doug O’Neill two (long shot) chances for his third Derby win. O’Neill, who also has Pavlovian as a starter, named Cristian Torres to ride Robusta because Emisael Jaramillo had commitments at Santa Anita.
The last rainfall here was Wednesday and there is none in the forecast for Saturday. It’s not warm, though: The high temperature the last couple of days barely touched 60, and the post-time forecast calls for 55 degrees with fairly light winds.
Wu Yize and Mark Allen produced a session of spellbinding snooker and finished locked at 11-11 to perfectly set up the final session of their World Championship semi-final at the Crucible Theatre.
Resuming at 7-7 on Saturday, the third session of the match was a complete contrast to their epic slugfest on Friday, that produced the longest frame ever played at the famous venue.
China’s Wu set the tone, opening with a sublime 142 and also constructing breaks of 76 and 121 to lead 10-8 at the mid-session interval.
However, Allen, who is attempting to become the first player from Northern Ireland to reach the final since Dennis Taylor in 1985, showed he had also thrown off the shackles of negativity.
The 40-year-old enjoyed a run of 56, and well-crafted breaks of 85 and 99 enabled him to draw level at 10-10.
Wu, 22, who defeated Lei Peifan, Mark Selby and Hossein Vafaei to reach the last four, responded with his third century of the day.
But as the tension increased, in what felt like an important concluding frame to the session, Wu was unable to capitalise after getting the first opportunity.
That allowed Allen, who could become the oldest first-time winner at the Crucible, to make a couple of useful contributions and ensure there was nothing to divide the pair.
They return to play the final session of their best-of-33 encounter at 19:00 BST on Saturday, with a possible 11 frames still to get through, as they attempt to set up a title match against John Higgins or Shaun Murphy.
Mark Allen’s bid to become the oldest first-time world champion in the modern era gathered momentum as he reached the semi-finals with a 13-11 victory over Barry Hawkins at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.
The 40-year-old Northern Irishman is aiming to complete snooker’s Triple Crown having previously triumphed in the UK Championship and Masters.
However, snooker’s biggest prize has so far eluded him in 19 previous attempts with his win over Hawkins earning him a place in the last four for only the third time.
Having resumed at 8-8, Allen took the opening two frames of Wednesday morning’s session only to be pegged back by the 2013 finalist, who knocked in breaks of 70 and 83 in response.
The players traded frames before Allen constructed his third century of a high-quality affair to move 12-11 ahead.
In a dramatic final frame Allen took control with a break of 59 and sealed his passage to the single-table stage after the Englishman underhit an attempted snooker on the pink just seconds after fluking a red to give himself the chance to force a decider.
Allen will now face either Wu Yize or Hossein Vafaei in a best-of-33 encounter that begins on Thursday at 19:00 BST.
Should Allen win the world title he will become the oldest first-time winner in the modern era, eclipsing Stuart Bingham, who claimed the world title in 2015, aged 38 years and 343 days.
More to follow
LONDON — The fabled two-hour barrier for a marathon has been broken, officially, in an once-inconceivable achievement in sports.
Not by one runner, but two.
In a race for the ages, Sabastian Sawe of Kenya won the London Marathon in 1 hour, 59 minutes and 30 seconds on Sunday, shattering the previous men’s world record by an astonishing 65 seconds.
“What comes today is not for me alone,” the 29-year-old Sawe said, “but for all of us today in London.”
Just 11 seconds further back was Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha, who — running in his first-ever marathon — also covered the 26.2-mile (42.2-kilometer) course in under 2 hours.
Completing the podium was Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo, who broke the previous world-record time — set by Kenya’s Kelvin Kiptum in Chicago in 2023 — by seven seconds, finishing in 2:00:28.
In an exhilarating sight, Sawe ran quicker as the marathon went on, covering the second half of the race in 59 minutes and 1 second. He pulled clear with Kejelcha after 30 kilometers and then made his solo break in the final two kilometers, sprinting along the finish on The Mall to loud cheers.
Sabastian Sawe of Team Kenya runs ahead of Yomif Kejelcha of Team Ethiopia during the London Marathon on Sunday in London.
(Warren Little / Getty Images)
Sawe, who retained his title in London, said it was a “day to remember for me” and thanked the huge crowds who lined the streets of the British capital to witness what might be regarded as a feat marking the peak of human physical achievement.
“I think they help a lot,” he said, “because if it was not for them you don’t feel like you are so loved … with them calling, you feel so happy and strong.”
Breaking two hours in a marathon has been a long time coming — and has been done before.
However, when Eliud Kipchoge — the Kenyan long-distance great — achieved the feat in Vienna in 2019, it was in a specially tailored race called the “1.59 Challenge” that was arranged by British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe in favorable conditions, on a 6-mile (9.6-kilometer) circuit, and using rotating pacemakers.
That meant it wasn’t classed as an official race setting, so Kipchoge’s time of 1:59:40 didn’t go in the record book.
In any case, Sawe surpassed that time by 10 seconds on a mostly flat course across London in dry, sunny conditions.
Sabastian Sawe, of Kenya, smiles and holds up his adidas shoe with his world-record marathon time written on it Sunday in London.
(Alex Davidson / Getty Images)
“The goalposts have literally just moved for marathon running,” Paula Radcliffe, a former winner of the London Marathon, said during commentary of the race for the BBC.
At the turn of the century, the world’s best time for the men’s marathon was 2:05:42, set by Khalid Khannouchi in Chicago in 1999.
Khannouchi broke his own record by four seconds in 2002 — the last time the fastest men’s marathon was run in London — and it has been whittled down gradually over the last 24 years by a succession of Kenyan and Ethiopian runners, including Haile Gebrselassie, Wilson Kipsang, Kipchoge and most recently Kiptum.
A record was also set in the women’s race, with Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa pulling away with about 500 meters remaining to win in 2:15:41 and defend the title in the fastest-ever time in a women’s-only marathon.
However, it was 16 seconds slower than the course record set by Radcliffe in 2003 when it was a mixed race.
Tigst Assefa celebrates as she crosses the finish line during the London Marathon women’s race in a record time Sunday.
(Ian Walton / Associated Press)
Kenya’s Hellen Obiri was 12 seconds back in second place in a personal-best time on her London debut and compatriot Joyciline Jepkosgei was third, a further two seconds adrift. It was the first time three women have run under 2 hours, 16 minutes in a marathon.
“I screamed when I finished because I knew I was breaking the world record,” Assefa said.
“I felt much healthier today and have worked really hard on my speed and all my training has paid off.”
In the wheelchair races, there was a Swiss double with Marcel Hug powering to a sixth straight men’s title — and eighth in total — and Catherine Debrunner beating Tatyana McFadden in a close finish to defend the title.
April 19 (UPI) — Citing steep tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Sunday his country’s historically close trade and economic ties to the United States have become a “weakness.”
In a video statement posted to YouTube, the Canadian leader asserted the United States has “fundamentally changed its approach to trade, raising its tariffs to levels last seen during the Great Depression.”
This has meant that “many of our former strengths, based on our close ties to America, have become our weaknesses — weaknesses that we must correct.”
Carney’s comments as Trump’s trade war with Canada has disrupted decades of cross border cooperation, triggered in part by a broad 10% tariff slapped by Washington onto all goods not excluded under the Canada-US-Mexico free trade agreement known as CUSMA.
Significantly higher U.S. levies have also been imposed on key strategic sectors, including a 50% tariff on Canadian products that are almost entirely made of steel, aluminum or copper, and a 25% tariff on products that are “largely” made of those metals.
Many types of Canadian heavy equipment also face a 15% tariff upon entry into the United States.
Ottawa says the effect of these measures has been profound, “displacing workers, disrupting supply chains, forcing companies to rethink where they source their materials and products, and causing uncertainty that is curbing investment.”
Although Canada still has the best deal of any U.S. trading partner in an era when Trump has used the threat of tariffs and against both allies and adversaries for strategic and political ends, “we cannot rely on our most important trade relationship as we once did. We must build our strength at home,” Carney said.
“Workers in our industries most affected by U.S. tariffs in autos and steel and lumber are under threat,” he added. “Businesses are holding back investments restrained by the pall of uncertainty that’s hanging over all of us.”
Triggered by the U.S. trade actions and Trump’s oft-repeated desire to annex Canada as the “51st state,” Carney’s Liberal Party government in January made a milestone deal with China to lower some of the tariffs imposed by one another on some of their trade goods.
Under that pact, China lowered its tariffs on Canadian agricultural products, while Canada slashed its tariffs on up to 49,000 electric vehicles that are made in China.
The deal was denounced by Trump, who threatened to impose a 100% tariff on all Canadian goods sent to the United States in response.
“China will eat Canada alive, completely devour it, including the destruction of their businesses, social fabric and general way of life,” the U.S. president asserted.
But Carney on Sunday again defended his expansion of trade away from the United States, saying, “We will attract new investment so we can build more for ourselves, striking new partnerships abroad so we can sell into new markets.
“It’s about taking back control of our security, our borders and our future.”
Williams’ cautiousness about going under the knife suggests he still has ambitions to continue on the baize for years to come – and who can blame him.
Last October, at the age of 50 years and 206 days, he beat the mark set back in 1982 by fellow Welshman Ray Reardon to become the oldest winner of a ranking event when he triumphed in the Xi’an Grand Prix.
Even now, having turned 51 last month, he is ranked sixth in the world going into the World Championship this weekend..
“When I was 45 I said I’d like to see where I am in the rankings when I’m 50,” Williams recalled.
“I’m not retiring, I made that decision years ago. Let’s see where I am in the rankings at 55, that’ll be interesting.”
He may have ruled out retirement but is not feeling quite so confident about his chances at the Crucible this year.
“I’m still fighting. I’m still trying and that’s all I can say,” he said.
“I try my best in every tournament and if you win, great, if you lose, that’s not the end of the world.
“I’ve been doing this since I was an eight-year-old kid. My father was going down the mines for 30 years, my grandfather for 50 years.
“I’m just travelling around the world playing the stupid game of snooker, getting paid well for it and enjoying it. You can’t put too much pressure on yourself.”