Naomi Osaka has never shied away from making big decisions and public statements. The same tennis player who threatened to withdraw from the 2020 Cincinnati Open as a social justice protest also wore face masks adorned with names of Black Americans killed by police during her run to the US Open title.
Osaka may be an introvert but her actions have often spoken much louder than words. The world No 2 has recognised the power of her platform and is attempting to use it for good.
However, as she has discovered this week in Paris, being one of the world's most influential athletes brings with it added responsibility and increased scrutiny.
Osaka's decision on the eve of the French Open to shun her media obligations in an attempt to protect her mental health proved divisive.
Fellow players shared their sympathy with the four-time Grand Slam champion but conceded that press conferences, although often mundane and inconvenient, are part and parcel of the job. Critics suggested that Osaka would gain an unfair advantage. Organisers warned that sanctions would be imposed.
They followed through on that threat, fining Osaka $15,000 for missing her press conference following the first round and stated that she could face expulsion from the tournament if the boycott continued.
In the end, Osaka jumped before she was potentially pushed, announcing her withdrawal on Monday evening "so everyone can get back to focusing on the tennis".
As is so often the case with public sagas nowadays, the reaction has been extreme and divided. In one corner, Osaka is a self-entitled spoilt brat who knows full well the obligations tennis players have with the media during a tournament – why participate when she knew the consequences? Superstar athletes like her would be nowhere without the publicity created by the press!
In the other, she has displayed huge amounts of courage to discuss her vulnerabilities and deserves to be left alone. How dare anyone call into question the legitimacy of her mental health struggles? The media are just a pack of hounds looking to tear athletes down!
As is so often the case, the issue is more nuanced and complicated than that, but let's not let that get in the way of some classic public outrage.
Press conferences can be part of the job and extremely uncomfortable environments for some athletes. Osaka can, as she said herself, have great relationships with members of the media and get anxious when dealing with the press. People can be successful and wealthy and battle depression and mental illness.
This is a 23-year-old athlete who's endured a meteoric rise to superstardom and is now the highest-paid sportswoman in the world. The spotlight shines brighter on Osaka than it does on almost any other athlete, and it is a status she has made plainly clear she is uncomfortable with.
For someone who has "suffered long bouts of depression" and gets "huge waves of anxiety", the added exposure is going to take its toll, particularly during the intense weeks of a Grand Slam tournament.
Osaka, we should assume, believed she was making the right decision to boycott her media duties for "self-care" purposes, but ultimately the furore surrounding the whole ordeal has defeated the entire purpose.
Now Osaka finds herself exactly where she was trying to avoid being in the first place: at the centre of attention.
Perhaps it should all be put down to ill-judged good intentions; the actions of a young woman still adjusting to her extreme levels of fame and influence.
Osaka said in her statement that she would be taking time away from the court and hopes to work with tennis authorities on ways "we can make things better for players, the press and fans".
Shunning the media entirely is obviously not the answer and a better balance is perhaps needed to safeguard players' mental health while allowing the press to still ask the tough questions (tough questions being decidedly different to sexist questions and condescending questions).
Osaka's actions have once again spoken louder than words, although this time not quite with the desired result, despite her best intentions.
Farage on Muslim Brotherhood
Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
PROFILE
Name: Enhance Fitness
Year started: 2018
Based: UAE
Employees: 200
Amount raised: $3m
Investors: Global Ventures and angel investors
The Prison Letters of Nelson Mandela
Edited by Sahm Venter
Published by Liveright
Landfill in numbers
• Landfill gas is composed of 50 per cent methane
• Methane is 28 times more harmful than Co2 in terms of global warming
• 11 million total tonnes of waste are being generated annually in Abu Dhabi
• 18,000 tonnes per year of hazardous and medical waste is produced in Abu Dhabi emirate per year
• 20,000 litres of cooking oil produced in Abu Dhabi’s cafeterias and restaurants every day is thrown away
• 50 per cent of Abu Dhabi’s waste is from construction and demolition
Results
Ashraf Ghani 50.64 per cent
Abdullah Abdullah 39.52 per cent
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar 3.85 per cent
Rahmatullah Nabil 1.8 per cent
What drives subscription retailing?
Once the domain of newspaper home deliveries, subscription model retailing has combined with e-commerce to permeate myriad products and services.
The concept has grown tremendously around the world and is forecast to thrive further, according to UnivDatos Market Insights’ report on recent and predicted trends in the sector.
The global subscription e-commerce market was valued at $13.2 billion (Dh48.5bn) in 2018. It is forecast to touch $478.2bn in 2025, and include the entertainment, fitness, food, cosmetics, baby care and fashion sectors.
The report says subscription-based services currently constitute “a small trend within e-commerce”. The US hosts almost 70 per cent of recurring plan firms, including leaders Dollar Shave Club, Hello Fresh and Netflix. Walmart and Sephora are among longer established retailers entering the space.
UnivDatos cites younger and affluent urbanites as prime subscription targets, with women currently the largest share of end-users.
That’s expected to remain unchanged until 2025, when women will represent a $246.6bn market share, owing to increasing numbers of start-ups targeting women.
Personal care and beauty occupy the largest chunk of the worldwide subscription e-commerce market, with changing lifestyles, work schedules, customisation and convenience among the chief future drivers.
What is graphene?
Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged like honeycomb.
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were "playing about" with sticky tape and graphite - the material used as "lead" in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But as they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment had led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
At the time, many believed it was impossible for such thin crystalline materials to be stable. But examined under a microscope, the material remained stable, and when tested was found to have incredible properties.
It is many times times stronger than steel, yet incredibly lightweight and flexible. It is electrically and thermally conductive but also transparent. The world's first 2D material, it is one million times thinner than the diameter of a single human hair.
But the 'sticky tape' method would not work on an industrial scale. Since then, scientists have been working on manufacturing graphene, to make use of its incredible properties.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. Their discovery meant physicists could study a new class of two-dimensional materials with unique properties.
