Stay Ahead. Always.
New York (AP) US prosecutors have charged four Belarusian government officials with aircraft piracy for diverting a Ryanair flight last year to arrest an opposition journalist, using a ruse that there was a bomb threat. The charges in Manhattan federal court were announced by federal […]
Nation
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the Constitutional validity of 27 per cent reservation for OBCs in All India Quota seats for admission in post-graduate and undergraduate medical courses in government-run medical colleges. It said the “reservation is not at odds with merit” […]
Main Nation
NEW DELHI: IAS and IPS officers, belonging to AGMUT cadre, and serving in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh will henceforth be considered as “hard areas” postings. According to an official communication, a decision has been taken by the central government in this effect and the […]
Nation
Thank you for voting. Hmm. Something went wrong. We will take a look as soon as we can. Email Comic Share on Facebook Tweet Share on LinkedIn Comments 0 Buy
Equity benchmark Sensex slumped nearly 700 points in opening trade on Friday, tracking intense selling pressure across the counters amid a negative trend in global markets and sustained foreign fund outflow. The BSE gauge was trading 690.51 points or 1.16 per cent lower at 58,774.11 […]
Enset is a staple in Ethiopia, where around 20 million people rely on it for food, but elsewhere it has not been cultivated, although wild relatives – which are not considered edible – grow as far south as South Africa, suggesting the plant can tolerate […]
Highlights Navya Naveli Nanda shared a happy photo with her girlfriends In the photo, she can be seen dressed in a white knotted shirt Shweta Bachchan has written the best compliment for her daughter New Delhi: Navya Naveli Nanda has her own fanbase on social […]
Tehran, Iran – Prior to his departure for Moscow this week, Ebrahim Raisi expressed hope that the visit, the first by an Iranian president in almost five years, would lead to a “turning point” in his country’s relations with Russia. In the Russian capital, both […]
11:31 PM ET Following Memphis‘ third straight loss, a 70-62 home defeat to SMU on Thursday night, coach Penny Hardaway sounded off during his postgame news conference, telling the assembled media to “stop asking me stupid f—ing questions.” Hardaway was asked by one reporter if […]
11:31 PM ET Following Memphis‘ third straight loss, a 70-62 home defeat to SMU on Thursday night, coach Penny Hardaway sounded off during his postgame news conference, telling the assembled media to “stop asking me stupid f—ing questions.” Hardaway was asked by one reporter if […]
Sports
5:56 PM ET LONDON — Befitting of a competition in which success is often defined by it, squad depth mattered most in the end. The debate over postponements and player availability overshadowed the preamble to both legs of this Carabao Cup semifinal, but ultimately, Liverpool’s […]
Football Sports
Enset is a staple in Ethiopia, where around 20 million people rely on it for food, but elsewhere it has not been cultivated, although wild relatives – which are not considered edible – grow as far south as South Africa, suggesting the plant can tolerate […]
Science
VOLCANOLOGY Eruption in Tonga is biggest in 30 years As officials assessed the extent of death and damage caused by last week’s rapid, violent volcanic eruption in Tonga, scientists began to piece together the global impact of the rare event. The explosion at Hunga Tonga-Hunga […]
Science
“Of course I prefer flying and visiting exotic destinations, and earning a decent salary,” says the 32-year-old. “But when confronted with the climate and ecological emergency, how could I possibly prioritise my needs, when we need to think collectively about how to tackle the biggest […]
Science
In 2019, Kate Folladori spent a month sitting in a hospital room hoping she’d have a seizure. Since her diagnosis with epilepsy nearly 20 years earlier, a series of medications had failed to bring relief. Now, a team at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center had […]
Science
He calculated that together the seven companies – Southern Water, South West Water, Thames Water, United Utilities, Wessex Water, Yorkshire Water and Welsh Water – discharged untreated sewage from 59 treatment works that treat 4.5 million people’s wastewater.
Science
For years, entomologists have worried about what appears to be a global decline in insect populations. But data on insect trends can be hard to come by. Scientists have studied relatively few of the some 900,000 living insect species they have named so far, and […]
Science
Tehran, Iran – Prior to his departure for Moscow this week, Ebrahim Raisi expressed hope that the visit, the first by an Iranian president in almost five years, would lead to a “turning point” in his country’s relations with Russia. In the Russian capital, both […]
Top Stories World
Tehran, Iran – Prior to his departure for Moscow this week, Ebrahim Raisi expressed hope that the visit, the first by an Iranian president in almost five years, would lead to a “turning point” in his country’s relations with Russia.
In the Russian capital, both Raisi and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, supported improving bilateral ties during a three-hour meeting on Wednesday in which they also discussed regional and international issues.
For their part, Iran’s petroleum and economy ministers who accompanied Raisi said their talks with their counterparts exceeded expectations. Without disclosing many details, the ministers said agreements were made in trade, energy, transportation and banking sectors and promised that the results would be felt in the foreseeable future.
Following the two-day visit, analysts said Iran and Russia were on track to improve their bilateral ties across the board – but the scale and timing were complicated by a number of factors.
As in previous years, comprehensive United States sanctions on Iran are sure to complicate any commitments, for as long as they persist.
Meanwhile, the record figure of Iran-Russia bilateral trade that exceeded $3.5bn in 2021, according to Iran’s ambassador in Moscow, still falls far short compared with the levels reached between Russia and several other regional actors.
“The visit seems more ceremonial than a substantive turning point in bilateral relations,” Nicole Grajewski, a research fellow with the International Security Program at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, told Al Jazeera.
For one, she said, a new and improved 20-year cooperation agreement between Iran and Russia has yet to be finalised, and Raisi only handed over Iran’s proposed draft during his trip.
“That being said, Russia-Iran relations are significantly stronger today than they were the last time an Iranian president visited Russia in 2017 under [Hassan] Rouhani,” Grajewski added, referring to Raisi’s predecessor, whose term ended in August 2021.
The fate of the ongoing intensive talks in Vienna aimed at restoring Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers will still play a major role in the future of Iran’s ties with Russia.
Russia, a signatory, has been actively trying to facilitate the revival of the landmark accord that the US unilaterally abandoned in 2018, and has been a mediating force between Iran, the European signatories and the US.
“It is very important for me to know your opinion on the JCPOA,” Putin told Raisi on Wednesday, referring to the deal by its formal name, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
All sides have attested that some real progress has been achieved in recent weeks in the Austrian capital, but resolving outstanding political issues appears to hinge on concessions by both Iran and the US.
“The Iranian nuclear issue has historically affected Russia-Iran relations but it has been variable in its impact across certain issues,” the Belfer Center’s Grajewski said.
“The Vienna talks are a central aspect of the Russia-Iran relationship today. Moscow has historically adopted a constructive position on Iran’s nuclear programme even during low points of US-Russia relations after Ukraine.”
However, Grajewski pointed out that if the talks fail because Iran refuses to tone down some of its demands, different aspects of the two countries’ relations could be affected.
For instance, the two have been discussing the possibility of Iran purchasing advanced arms – especially the top of the line S-400 air defence systems and Su-35 fighter jets.
Such a prospect is made possible by the lifting of a United Nations embargo on conventional arms sales to Iran in 2020 as a result of the nuclear deal, something Russia supported.
At the moment, Iran may not have the funds to pay for such a major deal as tens of billions of dollars of its money are frozen abroad and its revenues have been slashed due to US sanctions.
Moreover, the Iranian establishment may not be eager to face potential local criticism of an arms deal when its population is under the enormous strain of rampant inflation amid an ailing economy.
According to Samuel Ramani, associate fellow at the Royal United Service Institute, Russia may not be eager to sell the arms to Iran at the moment either.
“Russia’s overall policy in the Middle East is to be friends with all, allies of none, enemies of none, so selling arms to Iran might disrupt its efforts to balance closer ties with Israel and the UAE, in particular, as tensions are heightened between these countries and Tehran right now and Saudi Arabia,” he told Al Jazeera.
But that does not mean Iran and Russia are disinterested in boosting military cooperation, as the two held a joint trilateral naval drill with China in an area north of the Indian Ocean on Friday.
Observers say Iran and Russia have shared interests across the region that will be maintained or improved regardless of others factors, such as the Vienna talks – something that was also apparent in the two presidents’ meeting.
Both Raisi and Putin praised “successful” joint efforts in Syria, where the two countries support President Bashar al-Assad in the country’s 10-year war. They agreed that “combating terrorism” in Syria is a shared goal.
Iran and Russia have a shared concern about the fate of Taliban-controlled Afghanistan after the chaotic US exit in August. Both have been active in organising talks to find solutions on a number of issues.
Along with China, Iran and Russia have repeatedly denounced US “unilateralism”. And Moscow and Beijing recently supported Tehran’s successful bid to become a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
Putin on Wednesday also expressed his support for Iran to gain a larger foothold in the Eurasian Economic Union, and said both sides are working to create a free-trade zone.
Lastly, Russia has been vocal about its interests in being increasingly engaged in mediating efforts on Persian Gulf and regional security.
On Friday, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Russia wants to organise a conference to resolve regional issues through dialogue.
Lavrov described it as “a conference that would bring Iranians and Arabs together where Iran would not be the subject of discussion and where each side would lay their concerns on the table” and would address issues with Yemen, Syria and Iraq as well.
Syndicated from Al Jazeera
The resulting tour was punishing. Meat Loaf ended up with exhaustion and his career stalled. Worse still, contractual problems meant he received no royalties from Bat Out Of Hell for years, eventually declaring bankruptcy. In one interview, he confessed he was so angered by the […]
World
The resulting tour was punishing. Meat Loaf ended up with exhaustion and his career stalled. Worse still, contractual problems meant he received no royalties from Bat Out Of Hell for years, eventually declaring bankruptcy. In one interview, he confessed he was so angered by the situation that he would pull copies of the CD off record store shelves and smash them under his feet to make sure no-one else got paid, either.
The government is facing mounting pressure over several events that are alleged to have been held during lockdowns. Here is what we know about them and the restrictions in place at the time: 10 May 2020 Boris Johnson announced a plan to take the “first […]
Top StoriesThe government is facing mounting pressure over several events that are alleged to have been held during lockdowns. Here is what we know about them and the restrictions in place at the time:
10 May 2020
Boris Johnson announced a plan to take the “first careful steps” out of the lockdown that began in March 2020. But he said people should continue to “obey the rules on social distancing and to enforce those rules we will increase the fines for the small minority who break them”.
Legal restrictions at the time said you could not leave your house without a reasonable excuse and government guidance was that you could meet one person outside of your household in an outdoor setting while exercising.
15 May 2020
A photo from May 2020 showed the prime minister and his staff with bottles of wine and a cheeseboard in the Downing Street garden. When asked about it, Boris Johnson said, “those people were at work talking about work”.
20 May 2020
About 100 people were invited by email to “socially distanced drinks in the No 10 garden” on behalf of the prime minister’s principal private secretary, Martin Reynolds.
Witnesses told the BBC the PM and his wife were among about 30 people who attended.
Boris Johnson has confirmed he attended the event, saying he was there for 25 minutes and “believed implicitly that this was a work event”.
17 July 2020
Boris Johnson announced plans for a “significant return to normality” in England by Christmas “through targeted, local action” instead of national lockdowns.
But he added that the timetable relied on “every one of us staying alert and acting responsibly”.
5 November 2020
With cases of coronavirus rising again, the prime minister told people in England that “we are once again asking you to stay at home” as a new national lockdown began.
He said people should only leave their homes “for work if you can’t work from home, for education, and for essential activities and emergencies”. Indoor gatherings with other households were banned, unless they were for work purposes.
13 November 2020
Sources told the BBC that Downing Street staff members attended a gathering with Carrie Johnson in the flat where she and the prime minister live. A spokesman for Mrs Johnson denies the party took place.
27 November 2020
A leaving event was held for No 10 aide, Cleo Watson, where people were drinking, and Mr Johnson made a speech, according to sources.
2 December 2020
The second national lockdown ended after four weeks but Boris Johnson replaced those restrictions with “tough tiers to keep this virus down”.
London was placed in tier two, which banned two or more people from different households from meeting indoors, unless “reasonably necessary” for work purposes.
10 December 2020
The Department for Education has confirmed it had an office gathering to thank staff for their work during the pandemic. It says drinks and snacks were brought by those who attended and no outside guests or support staff were invited.
14 December 2020
The Conservative Party has admitted that an “unauthorised gathering” took place at its HQ in Westminster. It was held by the team of the party’s London-mayoral candidate, Shaun Bailey, who has since stepped down as chair of the London Assembly police and crime committee. The Metropolitan Police is to speak to two people who attended the party.
15 December 2020
Multiple sources have told the BBC there was a Christmas quiz for No 10 staff last year. A photo – published by the Sunday Mirror – showed Boris Johnson taking part and sitting between two colleagues in No 10. Mr Johnson has denied any wrongdoing.
16 December 2020
London moved into the highest tier of restrictions and Matt Hancock, who was health secretary at the time, said it was important “everyone is cautious” ahead of the festive period.
The Department for Transport apologised after confirming reports of a party in its offices that day, calling it “inappropriate” and an “error of judgment” by staff.
17 December 2020
A leaving party was held at the Cabinet Office for the outgoing head of the civil service Covid taskforce – the team responsible for drawing up coronavirus restrictions.
Kate Josephs, now chief executive of Sheffield City Council, apologised for the event, saying she was “truly sorry that I did this and for the anger that people will feel as a result”.
18 December 2020
Downing Street originally denied a report by the Daily Mirror that a party took place in Downing Street.
However, a video obtained by ITV News showed the prime minister’s then-press secretary Allegra Stratton, joking about reports of an event, saying: “This fictional party was a business meeting and it was not socially distanced.”
12 April 2021
Lockdown restrictions were eased in England, with pubs and restaurants allowed to reopen with outdoor service only.
However, working from home continued to be recommended and socialising indoors with people from other households was not allowed. Meeting others outdoors was limited to groups of six people or two households.
16 April 2021
Two parties were held by Downing Street staff at No 10, the night before Prince Philip’s funeral.
One of the events was a leaving party for the PM’s then director of communications James Slack, who has apologised for the event and acknowledged it “should not have happened at the time that it did”.
Boris Johnson was not at either party.
9:54 PM ET D’Arcy MaineESPN.com American Jessica Pegula advanced to the fourth round of the Australian Open for the second consecutive year with a 7-6 (3), 6-2 victory over Nuria Parrizas Diaz on Thursday. The tournament’s No. 21 seed recorded seven aces and 20 winners […]
Main Sports
American Jessica Pegula advanced to the fourth round of the Australian Open for the second consecutive year with a 7-6 (3), 6-2 victory over Nuria Parrizas Diaz on Thursday.
The tournament’s No. 21 seed recorded seven aces and 20 winners in the 91-minute clash. She’ll next face fifth-seeded Maria Sakkari, who cruised past Veronika Kudermetova with 6-4, 6-1 victory.
After the victory, Pegula wrote on the on-court camera in celebration: “Bills you’re next.”
Pegula’s parents, Kim and Terry, own the Buffalo Bills and the team is slated to play the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday with a spot in the AFC Championship Game on the line.
Pegula, 27, tweeted about wearing Bills’ colors during her time in Melbourne earlier in the week.
“Coincidence I’m in Bills colors?” she wrote.
Coincidence I’m in Bills colors? Round 3 here in Aus 👏🏼 pic.twitter.com/uBH1AJI21X
— Jessie Pegula (@JLPegula) January 19, 2022
Pegula recorded her best career major result at the 2021 Australian Open with a run to the quarterfinals before losing to eventual finalist and fellow American Jennifer Brady.
Two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka joined Pegula in the fourth round for the first time since 2016 after overpowering 15th-seeded Elina Svitolina 6-0, 6-2.
The 24th-seeded Azarenka won the title at Melbourne Park in 2012 and 2013, and she also has been the runner-up at the US Open three times, most recently in 2020. Since a quarterfinal run in Australia in 2016, Azarenka lost first-round matches last year and in 2019 and missed the hard-court tournament in 2017, 2018 and 2020.
“I always feel privileged that I’m able to have him here,” said Azarenka, who was accompanied by her 5-year-old son when talking to reporters after the match. “These kind of moments are really priceless for me. To be able for me to share that with my son is pretty incredible.”
Azarenka will next face French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova, who rallied from a set and a break down against No. 26-seeded Jelena Ostapenko to win 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.
In other results on Day 5, eighth-seeded Paula Badosa had a 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 win over Marta Kostyuk to move into a fourth-round match against American Madison Keys, who held off Wang Qiang 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (2).
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
11:31 PM ET Following Memphis‘ third straight loss, a 70-62 home defeat to SMU on Thursday night, coach Penny Hardaway sounded off during his postgame news conference, telling the assembled media to “stop asking me stupid f—ing questions.” Hardaway was asked by one reporter if […]
Sports
Following Memphis‘ third straight loss, a 70-62 home defeat to SMU on Thursday night, coach Penny Hardaway sounded off during his postgame news conference, telling the assembled media to “stop asking me stupid f—ing questions.”
Hardaway was asked by one reporter if he had lost faith he could get the job done at Memphis and whether he was embarrassed by the team’s performance.
“I think the one thing I can say to this media because this media gets kinda f—ed up sometimes when it comes to me. We don’t have our full roster. Y’all know we don’t have our full roster. Stop asking me stupid f—ing questions about if I feel like I can do something,” Hardaway said in response.
“If I had my roster like they did, then I feel like I can do whatever I want to do. I’m coaching really hard, my boys are playing really hard, I’m not embarrassed about nothing. We have four freshmen starting, y’all need to act like it. Act like we got 17- and 18- and 19-year-olds out here trying to learn how to play against 22-, 23- and 24-year-old guys. Come on, man. Stop disrespecting me, bro. Like, don’t do that. I work too f—ing hard. I work way too hard for that. Y’all write all these bulls— articles about me and all I do is work. We got young kids on the floor. They got young kids on the floor.”
Memphis, which opened the season ranked No. 12 in the AP poll, dropped to 9-8 overall and 3-4 in the American Athletic Conference. The Tigers have lost eight of their last 12 games since opening the season with five straight wins.
Entering the season, it looked as if Hardaway had built a roster that was ready to make a deep run in the NCAA tournament. The Tigers returned three starters from a team that won the NIT, added a couple of impact transfers and then went out and landed top-five recruits Emoni Bates and Jalen Duren in August.
But Bates has struggled, Duren has been inconsistent and the pieces have not fit as expected in the preseason. There have also been COVID issues and injuries in the last several weeks; DeAndre Williams missed his fourth straight game Thursday, while Landers Nolley was out for a second consecutive game.
Against SMU, Memphis started three freshmen, a sophomore transfer and returning junior Lester Quinones. The Mustangs started five seniors.
“It is what it is, man. I don’t like to get out of character. We’re hurt, man,” Hardaway said. “Our roster is depleted right now of guys that can definitely make a difference and help the young guys get through this. Right now they’re having to learn on the fly. It’s hard.”
Last season, Memphis started 6-5 before winning nine of its next 10 games to get into the NCAA tournament bubble picture (it eventually missed out, instead winning the NIT title). The Tigers still have 11 games left in the regular season, but they’re running out of time to turn things around.
“We gotta be tougher as a group. We gotta stop feeling sorry for ourselves when things aren’t going right and just keep fighting,” Hardaway said. “Right now we’re not fighting. This isn’t a Memphis team. We’re not fighting hard enough for the entire game.”
Intel has revealed its plans to build a massive semiconductor facility in Ohio to Time — one that company CEO Pat Gelsinger is expecting to become “the largest silicon manufacturing location on the planet.” The company is earmarking $20 billion to build the site on […]
Main TechnologyIntel has revealed its plans to build a massive semiconductor facility in Ohio to Time — one that company CEO Pat Gelsinger is expecting to become “the largest silicon manufacturing location on the planet.” The company is earmarking $20 billion to build the site on a 1,000-acre land in New Albany, located on the outskirts of Columbus, Ohio. Intel’s initial plans include building two semiconductor fabrication plants (or fabs) on the property that would employ 3,000 people. Construction on the site is scheduled to begin this year, and Intel expects the fabs to be operational by 2025.
A Bloomberg report back in late 2021 claimed that the White House “strongly discouraged” Intel from ramping up chip production in China. The administration has been pushing for companies to manufacture chips in the US in order to address the ongoing global shortage. In turn, companies have been lobbying the president to fund semiconductor research and manufacturing. It’s worth noting, though, that since building new plants takes years, projects like this won’t be able to help address supply chain shortages anytime soon.
Intel said it looked at 38 different sites in the US for the facility but ultimately chose Ohio, because of all the space it could use. The company doesn’t want to build in places where it could displace residents, since that’s what ultimately killed Amazon’s plans to build a second headquarters in NYC. When the fabs are done, Intel will use them to manufacture both its own chips and chips for clients under the Intel Foundry Services. The company announced its foundry services when it revealed that it’s building two factories in Arizona, which will also cost Intel $20 billion, back in March 2021.
According to Gelsinger, the chipmaker has the option to expand the Ohio site to 2,000 acres and to build as many as eight fabs in the future. “We helped to establish the Silicon Valley,” the CEO told Time. “Now we’re going to do the Silicon Heartland.”
All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Highlights Navya Naveli Nanda shared a happy photo with her girlfriends In the photo, she can be seen dressed in a white knotted shirt Shweta Bachchan has written the best compliment for her daughter New Delhi: Navya Naveli Nanda has her own fanbase on social […]
Entertainment Movies
New Delhi:
Navya Naveli Nanda has her own fanbase on social media. From talking about her projects to sharing throwback photos with her family members, Navya has shared some unmissable posts on social media platforms. She also loved to spend time with her friends and recently, she shared a photo with her girlfriends. In the photo, Navya is posing with three of her girlfriends. She is dressed in a white knotted shirt, blue denim and completed the look with hoops. She left her hair open and smiled for the camera. Navya Naveli also shared a similar photo on her Instagram Stories with a yellow heart emoji.
Sharing the photo, Navya Naveli Nanda wrote, “This is us!!!” followed by a star emoji. Navya Naveli’s mother Shweta Bachchan Nanda left a sweet compliment for her daughter and her friends in the comment section. Shweta wrote, “Best,” followed by an array of black heart emojis. Naina Bachchan called them “Fab 4.”
Check out Navya Naveli Nanda’s latest photo with her friends:
Navya Naveli Nanda is also friends with Shah Rukh Khan’s daughter Suhana Khan, Sanjay Kapoor’s daughter Shanaya Kapoor, and actress Ananya Panday. Oftentimes, they share photos from their night outs and parties and they go viral on the web.
Looking at Navya Naveli Nanda’s social media game, many thought that she will also join the showbiz world. But, she has different plans. Navya Naveli Nanda graduated from New York’s Fordham University in 2020. Post which, she co-founded Aara Health and also started her NGO project with the name Project Naveli.
Just like her father, Nikhil Nanda, Navya Naveli wants to be in the field of business.
Following discussions in Berlin with British, French and German officials on Thursday, Mr Blinken said that allowing a Russian incursion into Ukraine would “drag us all back to a much more dangerous and unstable time, when this continent, and this city, were divided in two… […]
Top Stories
Following discussions in Berlin with British, French and German officials on Thursday, Mr Blinken said that allowing a Russian incursion into Ukraine would “drag us all back to a much more dangerous and unstable time, when this continent, and this city, were divided in two… with the threat of all-out war hanging over everyone’s heads”.
Enset is a staple in Ethiopia, where around 20 million people rely on it for food, but elsewhere it has not been cultivated, although wild relatives – which are not considered edible – grow as far south as South Africa, suggesting the plant can tolerate […]
Science
Enset is a staple in Ethiopia, where around 20 million people rely on it for food, but elsewhere it has not been cultivated, although wild relatives – which are not considered edible – grow as far south as South Africa, suggesting the plant can tolerate a much wider range.
1:20 AM ET Associated Press SYDNEY — Swimming Australia on Friday released the findings of a report into alleged misogyny in the sport, saying the “open and frank” feedback from female participants was “difficult to read.” The report was commissioned last June after Olympic silver […]
Sports
SYDNEY — Swimming Australia on Friday released the findings of a report into alleged misogyny in the sport, saying the “open and frank” feedback from female participants was “difficult to read.”
The report was commissioned last June after Olympic silver medalist Maddie Groves alleged there was a misogynistic culture in swimming and then withdrew from the national trials for the Tokyo Olympics. At the time, Groves said she wanted to deliver a “lesson to all misogynistic perverts in sport and their bootlickers.”
An independent panel established to investigate the treatment of women and girls in swimming gathered information from than 150 participants, including current and former athletes, coaches, parents and administrators.
Among 46 recommendations, the report calls for the establishment of a group to promote gender equality within swimming “to address areas such as leadership opportunities for women as coaches, officials, administrators and executives.”
It recommends quotas to ensure the representation of women at the advanced and performance coaching level and calls on Swimming Australia to “never again select an all-male team” to manage national and international competitions.
The report recommends no less than two women when four or more coaches are selected, and at least one woman where there are three or fewer coaches.
The report also addressed Swimming Australia’s complaints system, calling for a character test in the selection criteria for coaches and support staff.
It demands that language used in coaching resources be “respectful towards women” in terms of describing athletes and physiques, and an end to the use of so-called skinfold tests “as a measure of body composition at any stage of a swimmer’s career.”
If the reports’ recommendations are adopted, coaches will have to undertake specific education on “female-specific health concerns.”
In a statement accompanying the release of the report, Swimming Australia apologized “unreservedly” to any athletes adversely impacted and said it is “committed to change to ensure these negative experiences are not repeated.”
Swimming Australia president Kieran Perkins said the the board acknowledged the ultimate collective responsibility and commitment in addressing the recommendations.
“The feedback was open and frank and there were experiences recounted that were difficult to read,” the statement said. “Broadly, the review found that Swimming Australia must address the coaching gender imbalance, coaching culture, education and accreditation, governance structures and the complaints process.”
