Australia defeated the West Indies by 133 runs before tea on the fourth day of the second Test in Grenada on Sunday.
Set the daunting target of 277 in a low-scoring match on a two-paced pitch which made free strokeplay almost impossible, the home side side were bundled out for 143 off 34.3 overs for the visitors to take an unbeatable 2-0 lead and extend their 20-year hold on the Frank Worrell Trophy.
Australia now have the chance to complete a clean sweep of the three-match series when the final Test, a day/night fixture, gets underway next Saturday in Kingston, Jamaica.
Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon led the rout with three wickets each, the left-arm fast bowler lifting his overall Test tally to 394 to fuel the tantalising prospect of reaching the 400-wicket mark in his 100th Test in the series finale.
West Indies captain Roston Chase top scored with 34 while Shamar Joseph carved his way to 24 when the writing was already on the wall.
Joseph had taken two of the final three Australian second innings wickets to fall at the start of the day to finish with four for 66 as the visitors were dismissed for 243.
That haul included Alex Carey for 30 following his first innings effort of 63, important contributions lower down the order which earned him the man of the match award.
Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster and skipper Pat Cummins claimed a wicket each before lunch to have the West Indies reeling at 33 for four.
Chase and Shai Hope started the afternoon session positively but when Hope miscued an ambitious heave at Hazlewood to give the bowler a simple lobbed catch, the match was essentially over.
“We never really got those partnerships going with the new ball up front,” Chase observed.
“It was always a challenging task but you have to believe. They guys have to try and stay confident and keep believing in themselves.”
That quartet of early West Indian victims included Kraigg Brathwaite, the former captain enduring a miserable 100th Test as he was caught behind off Webster for just seven to follow on his first innings duck.
Before his demise he had seen the departure of opening partner John Campbell, trapped leg-before by the persistently accurate Hazlewood while Keacy Carty’s tortuous stay at the crease was ended via a catch to wicketkeeper Alex Carey off Starc.
Brathwaite was the third wicket to fall but he was to be joined in the dressing on the stroke of the lunch interval as Brandon King, dropped by Cameron Green at third slip off Cummins earlier, ran out of luck when he was comprehensively bowled to leave the West Indies innings in ruins.
Anne Hathaway is a master at her craft, but that doesn’t mean it always comes easy.
In an interview for the August issue of Vogue, Hathaway detailed the work that went into preparing for her starring role in the upcoming melodrama Mother Mary. In the David Lowery-directed film, Hathaway plays the titular pop star, who’s so famous she’s considered more of a deity than a human being. As Mother Mary spirals out, she flees and finds solace in an old friend, played by Michaela Coel.
Bringing Mother Mary to life was, according to Hathaway, “transformational.” The veteran actress admitted that taking on the role meant surrendering her ego.
“I had to submit to being a beginner,” she told Vogue. “The humility of that — showing up every day knowing you’re going to suck. And it has to be okay. You’re not ‘bad.’ You’re just a beginner. Getting to that mindset — I had to shed some things that were hard to shed. It was welcome. But it was hard, the way transformational experiences can be hard.”
After recognizing that she’d have to “become material [Lowery] could craft with,” as she told Vogue, Hathaway did exactly that. Mother Mary, she added, wasn’t a role she could just “perform.” To prepare for the movie, which wrapped filming in Cologne, Germany, in 2024, Hathaway endured nearly two years of daily dance classes, which at one point ran from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. The 42-year-old star also went through intensive voice lessons so she’d be able to belt out the Mother Mary songs written by Taylor Swift-approved producer Jack Antonoff and Brat superstar Charli XCX.
“You can’t tell me you’re angry; show me. Proprioception. That was the training, getting Annie out of her head,” Dani Vitale, the film’s choreographer, told Vogue of what she told Hathaway upon meeting her. “I remember that first day, being like, Oh no. Because she’s like a doll, you know? So pretty, so graceful. I thought, Oh God, I have to break this person.”
But continued dance training with Vitale helped Hathaway become more in tune with her own body. Hathaway, perhaps most notably, unlocked a crucial skill: The ability to breathe.
“I finally learned how to breathe,” Hathaway told Vogue. “My body was so locked up — I literally couldn’t take a deep breath. I’d been trying to open that space for years and I thought it was physically impossible. All my breath, it was stuck.”
Anne Hathaway in Les Misérables. (Universal Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection)
Hathaway has a history of throwing herself into her roles. For her 2022 Apple TV+ series WeCrashed, Hathaway went on a raw vegan diet to imitate the lifestyle of Rebekah Neumann, the wife of WeWork founder Adam Neumann, whom she played in the miniseries. The New York native, while preparing for the role of Fantine in 2012’s Les Misérables, lost 25 pounds in a matter of weeks. (She’s since called the weight loss taxing on her body and her brain.)
But working on Mother Mary feels like even more of a departure for Hathaway, who previously spoke about her fierce dedication.
“I’d rather not be unseated on the day [of filming] by my anxiety,” the actresstold Vanity Fair in 2024. “Part of the way I can tell myself that I am okay is by having such a complete level of preparation that if I get a critical voice in my head, you can quiet it down by saying that you did everything you could to prepare.”
Hathaway went into Mother Mary knowing that the project would be different from anything she’d ever done before — and she clearly rose to the occasion. While a release date for the film has yet to be set, it seems likely that fans will be in for a treat.
Since its launch, the Nintendo Switch 2 has been notoriously difficult to buy, with many retailers selling out of their allotted stock within minutes. Luckily, there’s good news: starting at 7PM Eastern today, Walmart Plus members will be able to purchase Nintendo’s latest handheld console — either the standalone Switch 2 and the Mario Kart World bundle — through its website. The restock is happening just before its Walmart Deals event begins on July 8th, which lasts through July 13th.
The standalone Switch 2 will go for $449 from Walmart. If you plan on picking up the excellent Mario KartWorld, then you might as well opt for the Mario Kart World bundle, which will also be available at Walmart for $499. The bundle includes everything that comes with the Nintendo Switch 2 — a dock, a pair of Joy-Con 2 controllers, etc. — as well as a download code for a digital copy of the new Mario Kart game (valued at $79.99). It will be available as a limited-time purchase through fall (or while supplies last).
In case you haven’t had a chance to read our review, know that the Switch 2 arrives with a number of welcome upgrades over its predecessor, with the most notable being its larger 7.9-inch LCD display. It also features an improved U-shaped kickstand, 256GB of internal storage, and a pair of magnetic Joy-Con 2 controllers, which offer mouse-like functionality in select games and a new “C” button that provides quick access to Nintendo’s in-game voice and text chat feature, GameChat. The redesigned dock, meanwhile, features a built-in ethernet port and two USB-A ports.
Cameron Norrie said he relishes playing Carlos Alcaraz in the Wimbledon quarter-finals on Tuesday and will continue to compete with the competitive energy that has driven his success, regardless of what other people think.
“I’m excited to play against him and I’m going to have to play my best level, and even better, to have a chance because he’s got such a diverse game,” Norrie said. “I’m going to have to be tough and bring more energy to have a chance.”
Norrie reached the quarter-finals by holding his nerve in a bruising five-set battle with the Chilean qualifier Nicolás Jarry on Sunday. Jarry complained afterwards to Norrie about his tendency to cheer loudly after most points. “He said I was a little bit vocal and I think: ‘That’s my energy,’” Norrie said.
The competitive drive and relentless positivity that the left‑hander displays have been key factors in his success over the years. Some players, however, are less enthused by opponents who cheer their unforced errors or after less important points. Asked last week about the impact of the crowd on their second-round match, Frances Tiafoe focused immediately on Norrie’s cheering: “He was super‑amped,” Tiafoe said. “He was saying ‘c’mon’ from the first game, which is definitely annoying, but that part bothered me more than the crowd.”
Norrie also tends to encourage himself in French and Spanish, which led to a tense moment with the Spaniard Roberto Carballés Baena in Metz last November after the British player recovered to seal a three-set win: “You say ‘vamos!’ all the time, looking right in my face,” Carballes Baena said. Norrie then offered a self-deprecating response: “A couple of ‘vamoses’ and you get pissed off?” he said. “I’m playing so bad, so I had to fire myself up.”
As he looked to his upcoming match against Alcaraz, Norrie, 29, took these criticisms in his stride: “[When] a couple of people have not been too happy with it, I think it’s been in a big match. I think they want to win the match as well, so it’s understandable to maybe take it personally. But for me, I’m just aiming it at my team and aiming it at some people and some friends in the crowd.
“I think [against Jarry] it was a match where there’s some moments with not a lot happening. I think some of the points are maybe not worthy of saying ‘vamos’ or saying ‘c’mon’ but it was a match that I really had to do that, because those points that don’t mean a lot, if you lose those ones, you can get broken, and the match can go away from you very quickly.”
Cameron Norrie plays a shot as he closes in on the epic, five-set victory over Nicolás Jarry on Sunday. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian
To his credit, Norrie keeps the same energy regardless of his opposition. After their match at the Italian Open in 2023, Novak Djokovic also took issue with Norrie’s frequent fist‑pumping. As he faces off against Alcaraz, the two-time defending champion and French Open champion who is on a 22‑match winning run, Norrie vowed that he will not shy away from the occasion.
“There’s a lot of big matches, and we’re playing and we’re competing for [our] livelihood out there. So I want to compete as hard as I can, and I’m not going to tank matches and roll over matches for someone else. I’m doing it for myself, I’m not doing it to make someone else feel bad, or not doing it for that. If they take it personally, it’s nothing to do with me.”
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Despite the gulf between their achievements, tennis is a game of match-ups and Norrie has at least caused Alcaraz trouble. The Spaniard has won four and lost two against Norrie but the Briton has won two of their past three meetings. At times, Norrie has been able to wear the world No 2 down with his shot tolerance and physicality, luring him into lengthy rallies and exposing Alcaraz’s lack of patience. The pair have a great relationship and train together frequently at tournaments.
“Facing Cam is always really, really difficult,” Alcaraz said. “We have really difficult battles. For me facing him is almost a nightmare, to be honest. Really tough from the baseline. I’m not surprised he’s in the quarter-final playing great tennis because I’ve seen him practising. When he lost at Queen’s [Club], he stayed for five days practising morning, afternoon and night. I saw him. So I’m not surprised at all seeing his level.”
Alcaraz, though, has improved dramatically since Norrie won their most recent meeting, in the 2023 Rio Open final. He presents a completely different challenge across best-of-five-sets at grand slams and the grass courts only accentuate his complete game. The Spaniard will enter Centre Court as the clear favourite in his pursuit of a third Wimbledon title .
Over the past decade, numerious herpes zoster cases were prevented with two doses of a U.S. FDA-approved vaccine that contains an adjuvant. According to new research, there may be an additional, measurable benefit from vaccination.
A Brief Communication published by NPJ Vaccines on June 25, 2025, reported a lower risk of dementia associated with AS01-adjuvanted vaccination against shingles.
In propensity-score matched cohort studies involving 436,788 individuals, both the AS01-adjuvanted shingles and respiratory syncytial virus vaccines, administered individually or in combination, were associated with a reduced risk of dementia at 18 months.
AS01 may protect against dementia through specific immunological pathways.
In particular, stimulation of toll-like receptor 4 with monophosphoryl lipid A (MPL; one of the components of the AS01 system) has been shown to improve Alzheimer’s disease pathology in mice.
In addition, the two main ingredients of AS01, MPL and QS-21 (a purified plant extract derived from Quillaja saponaria), act synergistically to activate macrophages and dendritic cells, triggering an age-independent cytokine cascade that culminates in the production of interferon gamma (IFN-γ).
IFN-γ might attenuate amyloid plaque deposition (as seen in mice) and is negatively correlated with cognitive decline in cognitively unimpaired older adults.
These neuroprotective mechanisms may reach their full potential at or below the dose of AS01 administered within a single vaccine, so that administering both the AS01 shingles and RSV vaccines does not provide any additional benefits.
This saturation effect could also explain why the level of protection against dementia appears similar between the AS01 shingles vaccine (which is given in two doses) and the AS01 RSV vaccine (administered as a single dose).
No difference was observed between the two AS01-adjuvanted vaccines, suggesting that the AS01 adjuvant itself plays a direct role in reducing the risk of dementia.
A previous study found similar cross-protection benefits.
In July 2024, a University of Oxford-led study concluded that receiving the recombinant Shingrix® vaccine was associated with a 17% increase in diagnosis-free time, translating into 164 additional days lived without a diagnosis of dementia in those subsequently affected.
As of July 7, 2025, shingles vaccination services are offered at most pharmacies in the United States.
BRICS slams Trump tariffs, condemns strikes on Iran – Daily Times
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Bones from 4,000-year-old human skeletons discovered in Chile contain evidence of a rare form of Hansen’s disease, also known as leprosy, ancient DNA reveals.
Whereas the more common form of leprosy known today is caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium leprae, these skeletons had evidence of a different, rarer form of the disease caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium lepromatosis. The findings, published June 30 in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, suggest that the two leprosy-causing bacteria evolved separately, on opposite sides of the globe, for thousands of years.
To make the discovery, the researchers reconstructed the genome of the M. lepromatosis from the remains of two adult males found at the neighboring archaeological sites of Cerrito and La Herradura in northern Chile.
“This reshapes our understanding of the disease’s history and raises new questions about how it arrived and spread in the Americas,” said Charlotte Avanzi, who studies the spread and genomics of leprosy at Colorado State University and was not involved with this study.
The origins of leprosy
Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease with a host of painful symptoms, including skin lesions and limb numbness. It can lead to specific, observable changes in bone, and these characteristic transformations have been found in skeletons in Europe, Asia and Oceania from as far back as 5,000 years ago, according to a statement from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.
The disease is usually caused by M. leprae, which has been widely studied. Archaeological analysis of bones from Europe point to Eurasia as the origin of the bacteria, likely emerging about 6,000 years ago during the Neolithic transition from foraging to farming.
Related: Disease-riddled skeletons suggest leprosy and smallpox ravaged medieval German village
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Until now, there was no documented evidence of these changes in bone from the Americas before the colonial period, which suggested that leprosy was introduced to the region during that time. This research is complicated by the onslaught of pathogens that came to the Americas during that era and the difficulty of determining a diagnosis from ancient DNA, according to the statement.
“Ancient DNA has become a great tool that allows us to dig deeper into diseases that have had a long history in the Americas,” Kirsten Bos, a molecular paleopathologist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and co-author of the study, said in the statement.
“We were initially suspicious”
The M. lepromatosis genome from the Chilean bones had “amazing preservation, which is uncommon in ancient DNA, especially from specimens of that age,” Lesley Sitter, a computational biologist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and co-author of the study, said in the statement.
After isolating the DNA of the pathogen, “we were initially suspicious, since leprosy is regarded as a colonial-era disease,” study co-author Darío Ramirez, a doctoral candidate of biological anthropology at the National University of Córdoba in Argentina, said in the statement. With further scrutiny, the team confirmed that they were indeed looking at evidence of leprosy caused by a type of bacteria that’s considered rare in the modern era.
This finding is significant, but not conclusive enough to determine if the disease originated in the Americas, Bos said. “So far the evidence points in the direction of an American origin, but we’ll need more genomes from other time periods and contexts to be sure.”
This work also helps to answer another major question: how did leprosy spread across such vast regions of the Americas? One idea is that the pathogen arose during an early peopling event in the Americas. Or, perhaps the pathogen was already in the Americas in an animal reservoir, and then it was contracted by people, the researchers wrote in the new study.
Scientists still don’t fully understand how the leprosy-causing bacteria spread, but their presence in such far corners of the world suggests there are environmental or animal factors responsible for transmission, Avanzi explained. “Identifying the origin and possible non-human reservoirs of M. lepromatosis is crucial for improving prevention and control strategies, both for human health and wildlife conservation,” she said.
This study complements findings by Avanzi and her team, which analyzed more recent remains from Canada and Argentina and also discovered evidence that M. lepromatosis was dispersed across the Americas before European colonialism.
New long-term data from the phase 3 REACH3 study (NCT03112603) demonstrate that ruxolitinib (Jakafi) provides sustained efficacy and a manageable safety profile over 3 years in patients with steroid-refractory/dependent chronic graft-vs-host-disease (SR/D-cGVHD). The findings underscore ruxolitinib’s role as an effective treatment option for this challenging patient population, confirming and extending the positive results of the primary 24-week analysis.
The study, which randomized 329 patients (165 to ruxolitinib, 164 to best available therapy [BAT]), showed a significantly longer median failure-free survival (FFS) with ruxolitinib at 38.4 months compared with 5.7 months for BAT (HR 0.36; 95% CI, 0.27-0.49).This sustained benefit was evident at 36 months, with a 56.5% probability of FFS for patients treated with ruxolitinib vs 18.2% for those on BAT. Similarly, the median duration of response (DOR) was not reached for ruxolitinib in contrast to 6.4 months for BAT, indicating a more durable response with the JAK inhibitor.At 36 months, 59.6% of ruxolitinib-treated patients maintained a response, compared with 26.7% in the BAT arm.
Further, study authors noted that, “…ruxolitinib provided clinical benefits whether given as a second- or third-line option, which is consistent with an analysis showing that response was not influenced by the timing of ruxolitinib initiation. However, ruxolitinib is recommended for second-line use for cGVHD.”
cGVHD is a severe complication of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, with corticosteroids serving as the cornerstone of first-line treatment. However, a significant proportion of patients develop steroid refractoriness or dependence, necessitating alternative therapeutic strategies.Ruxolitinib, a potent and selective inhibitor of JAK1 and JAK2, has emerged as a crucial second-line agent for cGVHD, gaining approval based on the initial positive outcomes of the REACH3 trial and subsequently being recommended in clinical guidelines.
The long-term follow-up of REACH3 aimed to evaluate the extended efficacy and safety of ruxolitinib and assess responses in patients who crossed over from BAT to ruxolitinib. The open-label, multicenter study allowed patients initially randomly assigned to BAT to cross over to ruxolitinib after week 24 if their condition warranted.
Overall survival (OS) was not reached in either arm, with no significant difference in the risk of death between the groups (HR, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.54-1.33). The study also reported low rates of nonrelapse mortality (NRM) and malignancy relapse/recurrence, with overlapping incidence curves between the 2 arms. Notably, corticosteroid doses declined over the study period in both groups, with 55.3% of the ruxolitinib arm and 36.4% of the BAT arm achieving complete taper-off of corticosteroids. The probability of maintaining a long-term response with ruxolitinib was observed irrespective of baseline organ involvement, including difficult-to-treat organs like the lung and liver.
An important aspect of the study was the crossover analysis, which included 70 patients who switched from BAT to ruxolitinib. In this cohort, the overall response rate (ORR) at week 24 of the crossover period was 50.0%, and the best overall response (BOR) was 81.4%. These response rates were consistent with those observed in the primary analysis of patients initially randomized to ruxolitinib, suggesting that ruxolitinib provides clinical benefits even when initiated as a later-line option. Furthermore, nearly three-quarters of these crossover patients maintained their response for more than 2 years.
Regarding safety, the long-term profile of ruxolitinib remained consistent with previous reports, with no new safety signals identified.The median duration of exposure was significantly longer for ruxolitinib (52.9 weeks) compared with BAT (24.1 weeks). After adjusting for exposure duration, the incidence rates of grade ≥3 adverse events (AEs) and serious AEs were lower in the ruxolitinib arm. Anemia was the most common AE and grade ≥3 AE associated with ruxolitinib, while pneumonia was the most frequent AE leading to discontinuation.
Infections were the most common AEs of special interest, though most were grade 2. The incidence of cytomegalovirus infection was similar across both arms. On-treatment deaths were primarily attributed to cGVHD in both groups. The AE profile in the crossover population mirrored that of the randomized ruxolitinib arm, further supporting its consistent and long-term safety.
REFERENCE:
Zeiser R, Russo D, Ram R, et al. Ruxolitinib in patients with corticosteroid-refractory or corticosteroid-dependent chronic graft-versus-host disease: 3-year final analysis of the phase III REACH3 study. J Clin Oncol. Published online June 25, 2025. doi:10.1200/JCO-24-02477
If the song is nominated for best original song in January, EJAE will become just the second songwriter of Korean descent to receive an Oscar nomination. Karen O, whose mother is Korean, was nominated at the 2013 ceremony for co-writing “The Moon Song” with Spike Jonze for his film Her. Karen O also performed the song at the ceremony, in tandem with Ezra Koenig.
EJAE performs “Golden” in KPop Demon Hunters as part of the fictional K-pop girl group Huntr/x. The group consists of Rumi, Mira and Zoey, whose singing voices are performed by EJAE, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami, respectively. The film was released on Netflix on June 20.
“Golden” will vault from No. 81 to No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 that will be posted tomorrow, which makes it the highest ranking of seven songs from the soundtrack. The song is also a global smash. It leaps from No. 52 to No. 2 on the Billboard Global 200 this week, and from No. 51 to No. 5 on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart.
“Golden” is vying to become the first song from an animated film to receive an Oscar nomination since “Dos Oruguitas” from Encanto, written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, which was nominated four years ago.
EJAE is a South Korean and American singer-songwriter and record producer known for her work with Red Velvet, aespa, LE SSERAFIM, NMIXX, TWICE, Kard and other South Korean artists.
Sonnenblick’s previous credits include co-writing the lyrics for the musical adaptation of The Devil Wears Prada.
The Oscar submission deadline in the best original song category is Wednesday, Oct. 15. Oscar shortlists in 10 categories, including best original song, will be announced on Tuesday, Dec. 16. Nominations will be announced on Thursday, Jan. 22. The 2026 Oscars will be presented on Sunday, March 2.
The six other songs from KPop Demon Hunters on this week’s Hot 100 are “Your Idol” (which vaults from No. 77 to No. 31) and five debuts: “How It’s Done” (No. 42), “Soda Pop” (No. 49), “What It Sounds Like” (No. 55), “Free” (No. 58) and “Takedown” (No. 64).
