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USC coaches like recruitng former high school quarterbacks because they boast deeper understanding of how plays develop.

Fitzgerald, who is in his first season at USC, leads the nation in interceptions with three so far this season.

Bishop Fitzgerald stood inside the 5-yard line at Ross-Ade Stadium, watching the eyes of Purdue quarterback Ryan Browne, waiting for the right moment to pounce. It was a critical third down Saturday, midway through the fourth quarter,

during Big Ten road games.

Fortunately, Fitzgerald knew exactly where the play was headed. The USC senior safety recognized it from film clips he studied of Purdue’s red zone offense. He knew not to bite on the play action fake and that the receiver would, in a matter of seconds, cut across the center of the field on his route.

He also knew to be patient, to lure the quarterback into a false sense of security. So when Browne finally did fire his third-down pass over the middle, Fitzgerald was there at just the right moment to snag his second interception of the game.

“I fell back on my training,” Fitzgerald said of the pick, “and I made the play that came to me.”

Arguably no defensive back in college football has made as many plays through three games as Fitzgerald, who leads the nation with three interceptions during that span. Coaches have raved about his instincts and marveled at how quickly he has picked up USC’s defensive scheme.

His high school coach says that’s a testament to his training. Just maybe not the training you’d expect.

“He could have been a college quarterback — and a good one,” says Tony Keiling, Sr., who coached Fitzgerald as a quarterback in youth football and at Gar-Field High School in Woodbridge, Va.

“He could make every throw. He could understand defenses. He could roll out and run. He was dynamic.”

USC defensive back Bishop Fitzgerald carries the ball after intercepting a Missouri State pass intended for Dash Luke at the Coliseum on Aug. 30.

(Luke Hales / Getty Images)

Past experience as a passer isn’t entirely unique on USC’s roster. In fact, it’s become a coveted trait in recent years for coach Lincoln Riley.

“It’s something we’ve always paid attention to,” Riley said. “That’s kind of a feather in anyone’s cap that they’ve been able to run an offense, execute plays, understand and communicate to all 11. You know they’ve had to have some understanding of all 22 and what’s going on on the field to be able to play quarterback, no matter what offense you’re in. So it’s typically a good omen.”

DeCarlos Nicholson, who starts alongside Fitzgerald in USC’s secondary, was a Mississippi state champion quarterback in high school and for one season at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College before flipping to the defensive backfield. On the other side of the ball, freshman running back Harry Dalton III boasts the most career yards (11,282) and touchdowns (160) of any quarterback to ever come out of Richmond, Virginia.

Fitzgerald may not have been as prolific as that pair. But Keiling, who coached him at quarterback since youth football, is still convinced that Fitzgerald could have continued at the position, if not for the unfortunate timing of the pandemic.

When Fitzgerald took over as Gar-Field’s quarterback as a sophomore, the team was coming off an 0-10 season. By his senior year, Fitzgerald led the Indians to a district title, the school’s first since 1994. He played almost every snap in the process, starting both under center and at safety.

But it was his play at quarterback that willed Gar-Field past Freedom High to win the district in 2021. In a 14-9 win, Fitzgerald threw a go-ahead, 97-yard touchdown pass down the seam from the shadow of his own end zone and also ran for an electrifying 39-yard score to knock off Freedom, a team Gar-Field hadn’t beaten in almost a decade.

Fitzgerald was named district offensive player of the year soon after that performance. In any normal year, that would’ve led to attention on the recruiting trail. But because of the pandemic, high school football in Virginia hadn’t started until February and most colleges had already finalized their recruiting classes.

“It was all just bad timing,” Keiling said.

Fitzgerald was dynamic with the ball in his hands. He could throw across his body on a bootleg. But realistically, at 5-foot-10, Fitzgerald didn’t have ideal size for the position at the college level. Even he figured his future was at safety, where at least his instincts as a quarterback could still be put to use.

So he spent the next two seasons at Coffeyville Community College in Kansas focusing on the finer points of the safety position. It took him a while, he said, to feel comfortable.

“It was a whole switch of mentality and culture and footwork,” Fitzgerald said. “JUCO is … a dog-eat-dog world. So I think that kind of heightened everything and the sense or urgency to learn it.”

North Carolina State’s Bishop Fitzgerald breaks up a pass intended for North Carolina’s Jordan Shipp on Nov. 30, 2024, in Chapel Hill, N.C.

(Grant Halverson / Getty Images)

Fitzgerald had seven takeaways in his sophomore campaign at Coffeyville, then added five more over two seasons at North Carolina State.

At USC, Fitzgerald has had to learn a scheme under defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn that’s entirely different than the one he knew at NC State. But so far, it hasn’t seemed like much of a learning curve.

Fitzgerald credits Lynn for his quick acclimation, while Riley has likened the safety’s offseason arrival to adding “a veteran in the NFL” to the secondary. Through three games at USC, Fitzgerald has been the highest-graded safety in college football, according to Pro Football Focus.

“He has a feel for the game,” safety Christian Pierce said. “He’s always at the right place, right time.”

Finally, it seems the timing is right for Fitzgerald, too. Though his next step from here is still uncertain. Keiling said it’s not clear, with the legal turmoil around junior college eligibility, whether Fitzgerald could get a waiver for another season at USC after this one.

But considering how quickly he’s progressed at the position, there’s no telling how fast Fitzgerald’s NFL stock will rise.

“To be doing something completely different your entire career and come and learn this in one offseason is hard,” Lynn said.

“He’s done an outstanding job.”

China’s top diplomat tells Brazil’s FM Mauro Vieira that Beijing-Brazil ties are at their ‘best in history’.

China is willing to strengthen coordination with Brazil to “resist unilateralism and bullying”, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has told his Brazilian counterpart Mauro Vieira.

Wang made the pledge to Vieira in a phone call, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Friday, as the government of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva considers retaliatory trade measures against the United States over President Donald Trump’s imposition of 50 percent tariffs on a range of Brazilian goods.

During the phone call, Wang told Vieira that the China-Brazil relationship “is at its best in history”, China’s state-run Global Times reported, quoting Wang.

Noting that the current international situation “is undergoing complex changes”, Wang also pledged China’s willingness to join hands with the BRICS trading block, to protect “the legitimate rights and interests” of developing countries.

BRICS, which includes emerging economies such as Brazil, is a China-led political and economic grouping that is seen as a counter to the Western-led APEC and G7 groups.

Beijing’s offer comes amid indications that Brazil is considering a coordinated response with China and India against punitive US trade measures.

According to Global Times, Wang also recalled Chinese President Xi Jinping and Brazilian President Lula’s phone call two weeks ago in which the two leaders “forged solid mutual trust and friendship” in the building of a China-Brazil community “with a shared future”.

In May, Lula also travelled to China for a five-day state visit.

Beijing has worked in recent years to court Latin America as a way of countering Washington, which is historically the most influential major power in the South American region.

But China has surpassed the US as Brazil’s largest trading partner, and two-thirds of Latin American countries have also signed up to Xi’s Belt and Road infrastructure drive.

Brazil exports large quantities of soya beans to China, which, as the world’s largest consumer of the ingredient, relies heavily on imports for its supply.

Relations between the US and Brazil have been icy since Trump imposed a 50 percent tariff on Brazilian coffee and other goods, which took effect on August 6.

While Trump’s trade war has chiefly targeted countries that run a large trade surplus with the US, Brazil imports from the US far outweigh its exports, and Washington had a trade surplus of $28.6bn in goods and services with Brazil in 2024.

Trump has explained his economic hostility towards Brazil in terms of retribution for a so-called domestic legal “witch-hunt” against Brazil’s former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, who is on trial for coup plotting.

Trump has called for charges against Bolsonaro – who he considers an ally – to be dropped and has imposed sanctions on Brazil’s Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes for overseeing the case against the former leader.

In recent days, Brazil has also complained after the US revoked the visa of Justice Minister Ricardo Lewandowski.

The association also claims the governance of snooker “should factor in more of the views of the players”.

It has vowed to foster a “collaborative relationship” with the sport’s authorities, including the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), the existing WPBSA Players’ Board, and World Snooker Tour “to enhance the sport’s future, while safeguarding player welfare and commercial interests”.

The PSPA says it has established a players board comprising of Judd Trump, Kyren Wilson, Mark Selby, Barry Hawkins, Shaun Murphy, Ali Carter, Gary Wilson, Stuart Bingham, Jack Lisowski, Stephen Maguire, Mark Allen, Ryan Day and Joe Perry. Another player – Matthew Selt – has been appointed a director, alongside lawyers Ben Rees and Mark Kenkre.

The association also claims that seven-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan has agreed to become a member, along with Chinese stars Ding Junhui and Xiao Guodong.

“I’ve had lots of discussions with Ronnie” said Higgins. “He’s really excited about it, so it’s full steam ahead.”

The fact so many of the top players are behind the new body suggests some feel they do not have enough say in the running of the World Snooker Tour (WST), particularly the commercial side.

During the 2024 World Championship, the headlines at the Crucible were dominated by talk of a potential breakaway tour. This came after the game’s top players were approached to play in lucrative events in China and North America as part of a potential breakaway circuit.

Professional players sign a contract which does not allow them to compete in any outside events while WST tournaments are being played, unless they are events sanctioned by the WST, although players have recently negotiated more flexibility.

However, the WST has been increasing the amount of prize money in the game, and is preparing to stage the sport’s “fourth major” in Saudi Arabia with a prize pot of more than £2m. The second Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters will take place later this week in Jeddah.

The WPBSA’s own players’ body was formed in 2020, and the governing body says it has “a specific mandate to act in the collective best interest of members in relation to welfare and issues affecting the professional game.”

It says that it “acts as a channel for member concerns and provides a platform whereby issues surrounding their wellbeing can be raised at the highest levels by the WPBSA Players Board.”

The PSPA says it has been formed with expert guidance from leading sports law professionals, and that its key objectives include legal and commercial support to protect players’ rights in sponsorship, broadcasting, and contractual matters.

Indonesia is apparently seeking a secure position in an unstable world situation. It fosters cooperation through partnerships for this purpose. In this situation, Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto has recently engaged in dialogue and cooperation with world powers. Last weekend, on 6-7 July 2025, Prabowo went to the summit in the BRICS meeting. They discussed economic orientation and a few of the members’ common interests. They called an emerging power against the old power that had ruled the world for decades. Indonesia seems to join the cooperation to get a huge benefit since it is the largest economy in the world, namely China, Russia, and India. As the 10th member of BRICS, Indonesia clearly focuses on economic development through cooperation among countries.

This is not just stopping there. Just a week later, on Sunday, 13 July 2025, Prabowo met and discussed in front of journalists cooperation between Indonesia and the EU in developing Indonesia’s economy. Not only for the economy but also for geopolitical reasons. Indonesia’s effort to make agreements, dialogue, and meetings with actors who highlight global issues recently seems to secure its position.

“We found out that Indonesia’s motto is ‘unity and diversity’; one of our core sentences in the European Union is ‘united in diversity.’” Ursula von der Leyen said they share common sense.

In the EU-Indonesia joint presser to officially announce their strategic partnership in an uncertain economy and a confusing world. The partnership between them is not only for their economic interest but also as a depiction of what countries should do amid the instability and confusing situation.

Europe favors this cooperation first to strengthen the supply chain of critical raw materials, which Indonesia has abundant resources for. Europe is also seeking power for the clean and digital transition. Moreover, Europe would like to set a goal on geopolitics and security, particularly in ASEAN. Indonesia clearly says that the European Union is a significant partner for Indonesia’s economy and geopolitical stability in the global situation right now.

“Partnership between Europe and Indonesia, also being a large part of ASEAN, I think will be a very important contribution to economic and geopolitical stability in the world. We consider Europe to be very important for us. That’s why we would like to see more European presence and more European participation in our economy,” said Prabowo Subianto.

Future action of this agreement EU-Indonesia, it potentially massive investment in mining since the EU mentions critical raw materials in Indonesia. Indonesia will please welcome the EU to invest in this sector to leverage economic development. Despite this future prediction, Indonesian societies will have easier access to Europe as Ursula von der Leyen said,

“I’m pleased to announce that the European Commission has adopted a decision on a visa cascade. It means that from now on, Indonesian nationals visiting the European Union for a second time will be eligible for a multi-entry Schengen visa. This will make it easier to visit, but also to invest, to study, and to connect.”

Both of them have a beneficial partnership with a long-term goal. It seems Indonesia does not want to lose its investor and 5th market for commodities. Also, Europe does not want to lose its core country to secure its position in Southeast Asia and its supply chain of raw materials, obviously for its goal of energy transition. To secure a position in an uncertain world is one of the most important things for the EU to maintain its leadership, especially in the energy transition.

To conclude, Indonesia’s action in making cooperation with the EU one of its strategies in this uncertain world. We can see that prior to this agreement, Indonesia had met the BRICS countries in a summit with the same purpose of economic development. This action is a reflection of Indonesia’s principle of action in foreign policy, called “bebas-aktif.” Bebas means “free” in English, which is the right of Indonesia to act however they want without relying on one side; aktif means “active.” Is Indonesia actively promoting peace throughout the world? We can see Indonesia’s effort, which is one reflection of this principle.