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This may not catch on for other hitters who find themselves in difficult lefty-on-lefty situations.

Protestors shut down Sebonack Golf Club.

Wagner mercenaries are training Belarusian special forces just a few miles from the border with Nato-member Poland. Warsaw said that it was ready for “various scenarios as the situation develops” – having started moving around 1,000 of its own troops towards the border earlier this month. Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was shown in a video on Wednesday welcoming his fighters to Belarus, telling them they would take no further part in the Ukraine war for now but ordering them to gather their strength for Africa while they trained the Belarusian army. Mr Prigozhin, who agreed to move to Belarus as part of a deal to end a mutiny by his forces that rattled Russian President Vladimir Putin last month, said what is happening with Russian forces on the Ukraine frontline is a “disgrace” and that his group wants “no part of it”. Minsk posted pictures of masked Wagner instructors, their faces covered in accordance with the mercenary group's rules, training Belarusian soldiers with armoured vehicles and what appear to be drone controls. “The armed forces of Belarus continue joint training with the fighters of the Wagner PMC (Private Military Company),” the Belarusian Defence Ministry said. “During the week, special operations forces units together with representatives of the Company will work out combat training tasks at the Brest military range.” That range is just three miles (5km) east of the Polish border. According to claims in a post by a senior Wagner commander, known by his nom de guerre “Marx”, which was republished by Wagner's Telegram channel, up to 10,000 fighters “have gone, or will go” to Belarus. Although the accuracy of that statement is difficult to verify. Poland's Defence Ministry said the country's borders were secure. In response to Warsaw reinforcing its border, the Kremlin tried to paint it as an “aggressive” move – despite Moscow's invasion of Ukraine being the ultimate genesis of it. “Of course it is a cause for concern. The aggressiveness of Poland is a reality,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said. “Such a hostile attitude towards Belarus and the Russian Federation requires heightened attention [from our side].” As part of the deal that ended the 24-hour uprising by Wagner, which involved the groups forces marching towards Moscow – eventually stopping about 125 miles from the capital – mercenaries could move to Belarus in return for charges against them being dropped. Putin said the fighters could either leave for Belarus, come under the command of the defence ministry or go back to their families. The episode exposed cracks in the Russian leader's authority, almost 18 months into an invasion that the Kremlin originally assumed would only last weeks. While Mr Putin has tried to put on the air of everything is business as usual, rumblings of discontent in the Russian military over the situation in Ukraine have bubbled to the service in a way rarely seen in the tightly-controlled world of the Kremlin. The mutiny started after weeks of complaints from Prigozhin about the state of the war, although he has been careful to state that his ire is aimed at Russia's military top brass and the country's Defence Ministry, not Putin himself. He believed that his fighters were not being supported in the fierce fighting around the symbolic city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine. Wagner has lost 22,000 of its men in the Ukraine war while 40,000 have been wounded, according to the Wagner commander “Marx”. If accurate, those numbers give an insight into the extent of the losses both sides are suffering in the war. The commander said in his post that a total of 78,000 Wagner men had participated in what he cast as “the Ukrainian business trip”, 49,000 of them prisoners. Wagner helped Russia to illegally annex Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and have fought Isis in Syria and operated in the Central African Republic and Mali in recent years. “Up to 10,000 fighters have gone or will go to Belarus,” the commander said. “About 15,000 have gone on holiday.” The post contradicted remarks by a Russian who said that as many as 33,000 Wagner fighters had signed contracts with the Russian Defence Ministry. “If all the dead and those who went on holiday signed up then I suppose it is possible,” the commander Marx said. Reuters contributed to this report Read More The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary Organisation sewing reusable sanitary pads for refugees gets charity status Varadkar pledges unwavering solidarity with Ukraine on day-long visit to Kyiv Czech parliament approves treaty making it easier to deploy US troops on Czech territory

New York Democratic Congressman Pat Ryan on Thursday urged industry trade group USTelecom, Verizon and AT&T to remove toxic lead cables that the Wall Street Journal reported the network providers left in several locations across the United States, according to a letter shared with CNN ahead of its release.

The Braves have stunningly lost four straight games and five of their last six, but which players are most to blame for the recent decline in Atlanta?Just based on the standings, the Atlanta Braves aren't necessarily in trouble. They still hold the best record in MLB at 61-33 and are miles ...

By Uditha Jayasinghe COLOMBO Sri Lanka's parliament on Thursday approved a new law to improve the independence of

In the next three years, 1TW of solar power will be added to the global grid as competition

In 2016, Collin was sent to the Fairmont Behavioral Health Institute by his mother Kate to take care of his 'special needs'

In a sea of canned cocktails, Gay Water wants to stand out.

Startup chipmaker Cerebras Systems Inc. announced that it’s built the first of nine artificial intelligence supercomputers with money

The student who interrupted his girlfriend’s graduation ceremony in order to propose to her has come in for criticism online. On Tuesday (July 18), the University of Newcastle released footage of a young woman on the stage waiting to receive her degree. As she was about to have her moment in front of the gathered audience, her partner – who is also a student at the university – ran up to her from the crowd. To her great surprise, the young man then proceeded to pull a ring box from his pocket and drop to one knee, causing her to raise her hands to her face in shock. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Then, as the crowd realised what was going on, they broke into applause and the man waved and smiled towards them, before placing the ring on the woman’s finger. Since the video went viral and earned millions of views around the world, scores of social media users have criticised the young man and claimed that he shouldn’t have stolen his partner’s moment in the limelight. “If my partner proposed to me at my PhD graduation ceremony I would break up with them,” one wrote. One more said: “I actually hate that that guy proposed to his girlfriend at her graduation. Let her have her moment, guy. Ugh.” Another said: “It's very telling that he's presumably a fellow graduand, but he proposed during *her* graduation moment and not his own. His graduation is about just him and now her graduation is about him too. Urrghhh.” “Feel sorry for the woman who was proposed to at her graduation ceremony,” one commented, adding: “The double embarrassment of having her special moment usurped by her fiancé, and now thousands on social media calling him out and inevitably adding further tension to their engagement. I hope she’s ok…” “Man if someone proposed to me at my GRADUATION, I would drop kick them to the moon. That is MY moment, and I will NOT have MY work upstaged,” another added. Others, though, saw the whole thing as an overreaction. One wrote: “The level of posting about the graduation proposal is SO unhinged. thousands of people telling you online to dump your fiancé and ripping into one of the happiest days of your life is probably significantly more upsetting than getting proposed to on your graduation!” Another summed up the situation by saying: “I see there are over a thousand retweets, the vast majority of which are highly negative and abusive, of an innocuous tweet from a Uni about someone who proposed at graduation. So many very angry, unhappy and bitter people on this app that use it to feel better about themselves.” Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

“We’ve been fighting for this for so long,” Ali Riley said, smiling through the tears. The New Zealand captain had waited more than most, winless at her four previous World Cups, part of a run that stretched back even further than that. Without a victory in 15 attempts at the tournament, New Zealand entered their own World Cup with unwanted history hanging over them. Facing Norway in their opening match, that winless run was expected to continue. How Hannah Wilkinson’s goal changed that. In a stunning upset, New Zealand altered the narrative, providing the World Cup with its first shock that will ripple not just in Group A but throughout the tournament. With a victory in their most difficult game of the group stages, New Zealand can now set their sights higher and target a place in the knockouts. They will have momentum on their side when they face Switzerland and the Philippines. Such moments can change expectations, as well as perceptions. It had been noted before kick-off that while pre-tournament excitement and buzz was palpable in Australia, particularly in Sydney ahead of the Matildas’ opening game against Ireland, in New Zealand it was far more low-key. Compared to the neighbours, New Zealand hadn’t generated the same interest in terms of tickets sold across the country. A reason for that is because Australia can win the World Cup. As hosts, they are aware of the opportunity they have to change society, as shown by England’s historic win at the Euros last summer, and are inspired by the chance to provide the country its biggest sporting moment since Cathy Freeman and the 2000 Olympics. Having an international star like Sam Kerr creates hope that such an achievement can be possible. New Zealand aren’t there yet - but they will now believe they can make that change happen, as well. “We had a clear goal that we wanted to inspire young girls, young people in this country and around the world and I think we did that tonight,” the 35-year-old Riley said. A moment such as Wilkinson’s goal, which came after a fine breakaway and cross from the forward Jacqui Hand, can be the spark, and not just for them. There are eight teams who will be making their World Cup debuts over the next week, and with the same fundamentals of organisation and commitment that New Zealand showed in restraining Norway, they too will hope to close the gap to the established nations. New Zealand had the advantage of being a host country, even if preparations for their opening match would have been disrupted by the shocking news of a mass shooting in Auckland on the morning of the tournament. But in front of a sold-out crowd of over 42,000 at Eden Park, New Zealand lived up to the role of underdog hosts superbly. For a team who had gone 10 games without a win until beating Vietnam before the World Cup, they were motivated by the occasion and upset the odds. Norway had the star quality - in Ada Hegerberg, Caroline Graham Hansen, Guro Reiten and Frida Maanum - but New Zealand believed in the collective. Riley led the way as she marked Graham Hansen out of the game - there was only one moment midway through the first half where the Barcelona star found the space to burst away, but the defender tracked it, shutting down the cross. When Norway had other half-chances, New Zealand found the blocks they needed. It’s an upset that asks questions of Norway, of course, after their shambolic group-stage exit at the Euros last summer. Hege Riise was brought in to repair the damage, but Norway were still far too open and unorganised in defence, while lacking cohesion in attack. “There have been a lot of doubters because of the results we had, but we believed,” Riley said. Now others at the World Cup will feel that too. Read More Australia relief after Women’s World Cup opener reveals significance of Sam Kerr injury Women’s World Cup teams: Every squad and key players to watch What TV channel is the Women’s World Cup on? How to watch every match New Zealand squad stayed calm after hearing of Auckland shooting Australia relief after World Cup opener reveals significance of Sam Kerr injury Women’s World Cup teams: Every squad and key players to watch