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The Star
07-07-2025
- Sport
- The Star
Soccer-Football returns to war-torn Sudan as elite clubs go back home
(Reuters) -League football has returned to war-torn Sudan for the first time in more than two years with a one-month competition being organised for eight clubs to determine the country's champions. Sudan has been in the grip of conflict between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces since April 2023, with more than 150,000 people killed and about 12 million uprooted, creating the largest displacement crisis in the world. Among them have been the country's biggest clubs Al Hilal and Al Merrikh, who between them have won all but four of the championships since the league was created in 1965. Last season, the pair were invited to play in the league in Mauritania, on the other side of the continent, where they could remain active and moved their club structures to the West African country, where Al Hilal emerged as champions. But they are both back in Sudan to take part in a tournament to decide which clubs will compete in continental club competition for the 2025/26 season. Al Hilal were quarter-finalists in this year's African Champions League despite having to host their home games on neutral territory. They were also weekend winners against Al Merghani Kassala in the first round of the Sudanese Elite Championship, which is being played at Ad-Damer, some 430km from the capital Khartoum, which has been badly damaged by the civil war. Matches in the tournament are also being hosted in Atbara, which is 320km north of Khartoum. There will be seven rounds of fixtures, and Al Merrikh also got off to a winning start over the weekend by beating Ahly Madani 1-0. Their derby against Al Hilal is set for the last day of competition on 22 July. The other clubs competing are Zamalek, Umm Rawaba, Al Amal Atbara, Hay Al Wadi Nyala and Merrikh Al Abyad, who will all each play each other once. Sudan's national team, who will compete in the Africa Cup of Nations finals in Morocco at the end of the year and are also chasing a first-ever World Cup appearance next year, have not played a home match since March 2023. (Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Ken Ferris)
NZ Herald
07-07-2025
- Business
- NZ Herald
Kiwi crime-fighting software firm Auror gets big tick from UK Govt, medtech Formus Labs nears commercial launch in the US
Cooper said she wanted more UK retailers to use Auror's software, which aims to make it easier for retailers to report offences to police, including photos, and snippets of video taken on their cameras. The Home Secretary is urging police to make greater use of facial recognition technology and is behind the bill, currently winding its way through the UK Parliament. The controversial bill makes it an offence to conceal your identity from CCTV under certain circumstances (including protests), introduces the new offence of assaulting a retail worker and makes theft from a shop trial-able, regardless of the value of the goods (from a £200 [$450] threshold today). Stores including M&S, Morrisons, Boots, Tesco, Primark, and Greggs are submitting CCTV, photos and personal data on all their repeat shoplifters to Auror's platform, which is shared with police. Cooper endorsed the Kiwi software after receiving a briefing from Boots, according to the UK's Telegraph. Auror executives Mark Gleeson and Paul Fagg were invited to 10 Downing St last month - UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer's residence - for what the Herald understands was a meeting with officials. Photo / LinkedIn Additionally, two Auror executives were recently invited to 10 Downing Street: UK and Europe vice president Mark Gleeson (a former tactical commander with the Royal Air Force) and UK director of law enforcement and partnerships Paul Fagg (who began his career as a police constable for London's Metro Police and rose to become a police inspector with the National Business Crime Centre before joining Auror last year). Fagg said his firm's crime intelligence platform enabled retailers to record everything that happens in their stores to tackle the 'huge under-reporting issue'. 'Police have access to Auror so that incidents they did not see before are now visible for them,' he said, adding that this enabled police and retailers to identify prolific offenders with CCTV and photographic evidence. Auror uses templates to speed up and standardise retail crime reporting. The shared data enables all the stores and police to 'join the dots' to identify prolific offenders, gather evidence for prosecutions and provide security staff on the shop doors with photo watchlists to bar entry, Fagg said. Auror says its system is used by 98% of retailers in NZ and 75% in Australia. In November last year, the Kiwi firm raised $82m at a $500m valuation, with the funds earmarked, in part, for a push to further expand in the US. Phil Thomson hadn't worked in retail or software before cofounding Auror. He worked for a big law firm, specialising in intellectual property and privacy issues. The raise was led by two new investors: Axon Enterprise (formerly Taser International) and W23, a venture fund backed by five retailers including Tesco and Woolworths. Nasdaq-listed Axon – which has a US$70 billion ($115b) market cap – invented the Taser in the 1970s. In the 2000s it expanded into bodycams, then computer-aided dispatch software and a cloud-based digital evidence platform. The firm was already an Auror technology partner. Going harder with Taser maker in the US On June 4, Axon and Auror announced a new Retail Crime Hub, which they billed as 'unlocking a more efficient way for North American law enforcement agencies to collaborate with retailers and stop crime in our communities'. Auror already had a substantial beachhead in the US through anchor customer Walmart, founder Phil Thomson said. Thomson says the issue goes well beyond shoplifting: "Retail crime isn't victimless - it's violence, it's assault, and it's organised". The new Retail Crime Hub should help it extend its reach. Thomson said a key issue was that while NZ has a single law enforcement authority (the police) dealing with retail crime, in the US it varied not just by state but by locality with some 18,000 agencies at the country level. Auror is pitched as a conduit to link them together for intel on retail crimes that fly well under the radar of national enforcement agencies. The privacy debate The fast-growing Auror has drawn a degree of privacy flak on both sides of the Tasman with a system that uses digital images which can misidentify people. But the firm has kept its nose clean with our Privacy Commissioner. Thomson emphasises that Auror doesn't operate any security cameras and does not offer live facial recognition. Privacy Commissioner Michael Webster recently gave facial recognition trials by our two major supermarket chains his cautious tick of approval. And Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says the option of having a centralised system of facial recognition is something he expects officials to consider. 'We [Auror] acknowledge the calls from groups like Retail NZ, the UK Home Secretary, and NZ Government, for the use of technology such as facial recognition technology [FRT] in the retail sector,' Thomson told Tech Insider earlier today. 'We support the responsible use of FRT by retailers to protect workers, shoppers and communities from violence and harm.' Thomson knows the legal and philosophical ins-and-outs (he's a former intellectual property lawyer with Simpson Grierson and an ex-board member of the public-interest focused NZ Council of Legal Education). But he says his support for FRT is based on what's happening every day in the real world. 'With retail violence continuing to rise, it's a no-brainer for retailers to explore how this technology [FRT] can be responsibly used in their stores. It's already used in everyday environments such as airports, hotels and casinos,' he says. 'Due to the increase in violence and crime in stores, in my view, it's now not a matter of 'if' or 'when' - it's about 'how' this can be deployed in the best way possible, protecting communities while also protecting privacy. 'Retail crime isn't victimless - it's violence, it's assault, and it's organised. We know one in 10 events involve violence or use of a weapon. Ten % of top repeat offenders are responsible for more than 60% of the crime in Kiwi stores. Furthermore, repeat offenders are up to four times more likely to be violent.' Hip to be AI: Formus Labs poised for US commercial launch Formus Labs' AI-powered, 3D planning software for joint replacement surgeries. Photo / Supplied Auckland-based med-tech Formus Labs will commercially launch in the key US market in a couple of months, founder and chief executive Dr Ju Zhang says. The launch follows the start-up gaining US Food and Drug Administration approval in December for its AI-powered, 3D software for planning orthopaedic surgeries - specifically hip replacements, with its FDA green light. Formus is lining up deals with the likes of hospital chains and insurance firms. Zhang says his firm has pilots already under way with several 'tier one' and 'tier two' players - with revenue above US$1 billion ($1.65b) or in the hundreds of millions, respectively. Formus Labs founder Dr Ju Zhang. Photo/Supplied The start-up already has a close relationship with one of the biggest names in the field - Indiana-based Zimmer Biomet, which invested US$5m ($8.25m) in the Kiwi firm in early 2022 (the round was also supported by existing local investors including Icehouse Ventures, Pacific Channel, Punakaiki Fund and Global From Day 1). Zhang says with major commercial revenue just months away, there are no plans for another sizeable raise, though it's possible Formus will stage a small round for bridging. The FDA approval was a breakthrough moment as many regulators around the world take their lead from the US agency, Zhang says. Japan - a major market for partner Zimmer - will be next cab-off-the-rank for the multi-Hi-Tech Awards winner. Members of the Formus Labs team, still based in NZ as the firm pushes into the US and Japan. Australia is also a major market. Zhang says Formus consults closely with several orthopaedic surgeons in NZ but commercial maths means the primary focus has been across the Tasman and in North America. Regardless, he and his crew of 16 staff are based in Auckland, which he anticipated will remain the hub of the firm's R&D. There's a lot that's high-tech about joint replacement surgery these days. But there's also a lot of drilling, scraping, sawing and hammering. 'In some ways, it's a lot like carpentry,' Zhang says. Formus Lab's software helps a surgeon more quickly and accurately prepare, and pick the right size joint replacement from what can run into hundreds of options. Currently one in 10 operations have to be redone and five out of 10 have some degree of post-op complication. Medtech on the rise At a HealthTech Week event in Auckland last week, the audience heard that New Zealand's MedTech sector currently generates around $2.6b in annual revenue and is projected to reach $3.8b by 2028, a compound annual growth rate of 7.8% since 2018, according to Technology Investment Network, TIN200 stats. 'It's still dominated by the big fish; the likes of F&P Healthcare,' Callaghan Innovation HealthTech head Andrew Clews told Tech Insider. 'But there is a second tier of companies coming through now that we're supporting.' Clews says venture capital money is coming on board and the number of start-ups is increasing - thanks in part to a tight-knit ecosystem. Formus Labs is one of several medtechs spun out of Auckland University's Bioengineering Institute, for example, he said. Others include Kitea Health, the maker of a world-first wireless implant for measuring brain pressure, Toku Eyes and Alimetry. The event was arranged by Te Tītoki Mataora, funded by Auckland University and MBIE and Callaghan Innovation's HealthTech Activator. Both programmes offer various forms of support for medtech start-ups, although Callaghan Innovation is being disestablished. With most staff already laid off, the HealthTech Activator has funding to last through until a new advanced research agency is created around this time next year. Chris Keall is an Auckland-based member of the Herald's business team. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is the technology editor and a senior business writer.
Hindustan Times
20-06-2025
- Sport
- Hindustan Times
Soccer-Mamelodi Sundowns hope for upset in key clash against Borussia Dortmund
By Mark Gleeson HT Image CINCINNATI, OH, June 20 (Reuters) - South African club Mamelodi Sundowns are hoping a perfect storm on Saturday hands them a chance of success against heavily fancied Bundesliga giants Borussia Dortmund when the two meet at the Club World Cup. Sundowns, who were runners-up in the African Champions League earlier this month, sit on top of Group F after beating South Korean side Ulsan HD 1-0 in their opening game but expect to be on the back foot for Saturday's clash at the TQL Stadium. For coach Miguel Cardoso, however, an upset result is possible even if the odds are slim. 'Upsets can happen when the mental conviction of the team is strong and their emotional connection is so strong that magic can happen,' he told a press conference on Friday. 'And that's what I will try to create as an ambiance in the team; ambition, conviction, determination and the right emotion to play such a game and produce a good result.' But Cardoso expects that his side, who enjoyed the lion's share of possession in a dominant performance in their opening game, will not see much of the ball. 'We're going to play against a team that is very aggressive. It's a team that scores 40% of their goals from counter pressings.' It will be an unusual situation for Sundowns, who dominate their domestic competition with a possession-heavy approach and are also a strong force in African continental competition. 'We won't be used to not having the ball much and obviously that will require us to be resilient and keep organised, even when you are just waiting for the moment to get the ball again,' Cardoso added. Sundowns are the only African side with a win at the tournament. 'We are very proud of that. What has happened now is that we have opened up a chance for ourselves and turned dreams into objectives," said Cardoso. 'But we know what we have ahead and it won't be easy.' Sundowns' last group game will be against Brazilian side Fluminense next Wednesday. (Editing by Pritha Sarkar)
Hindustan Times
19-06-2025
- Climate
- Hindustan Times
Soccer-Club World Cup match resumes after storm threat interruption
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J., (Reuters) -The Club World Cup clash between Al Ahly of Egypt and Brazil's Palmeiras resumed after a 50-minute halt at the MetLife Stadium on Thursday because of a severe weather threat, the second time a match has been interrupted during the tournament. Referee Anthony Taylor told the teams to leave the pitch immediately after Palmeiras had taken a 2-0 lead in the 60th minute of their Group A clash after advice from a pitchside official at the 82,500-capacity stadium which will host next year's World Cup final. Repeated announcements over the stadium public address system told the public to leave their seats and take shelter inside the stadium concourse because of the threat of 'severe weather', although fans were slow to move out. Police had to persuade some spectators to move. There was no visible weather threat above the stadium, save for a batch of dark clouds in the distance on a hot and sunny day. After 30 minutes, an announcement said 'the situation has now been resolved and it is all clear and safe to return to your seats'. The game then restarted after the teams were allowed to warm up briefly. The weather forecast for the New York area on Thursday had predicted afternoon showers, but only after the completion of the match, which kicked off at midday local time. A heat wave is forecast across the eastern United States and expected to bring severe storms and several days of record high temperatures at the start of the weekend and into next week. The start of the Group F match in Orlando on Tuesday between South Africa's Mamelodi Sundowns and Ulsan of South Korea was delayed by 65 minutes because of the threat of lightning. Potentially dangerous weather conditions are closely monitored during sports events in the U.S. and interruptions and postponements are not uncommon. (Writing by Mark Gleeson; editing by Toby Davis and Pritha Sarkar)
The Star
19-06-2025
- Climate
- The Star
Soccer-Club World Cup clash halted because of storm threat
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J., (Reuters) -The Club World Cup clash between Al Ahly of Egypt and Brazil's Palmeiras was halted after an hour's play at the MetLife Stadium on Thursday because of an expected storm, the second time a match has been interrupted in the tournament due to the weather. Referee Anthony Taylor told the teams to leave the pitch immediately after Palmeiras had taken a 2-0 lead in their Group A clash after advice from a pitchside official. Repeated announcements over the stadium public address system told the public to leave their seats and take shelter inside the stadium concourse because of the threat of 'severe weather' although fans were slow to move out. The start of the Group F match in Orlando on Tuesday between South Africa's Mamelodi Sundowns and Ulsan of South Korea was delayed by 65 minutes because of the threat of lightning. (Writing by Mark Gleeson; Editing by Toby Davis)
