Serena withdraws from French Open quarters
Paris, June 4: American tennis great Serena Williams pulled out of her French Open Round-of-16 clash on Monday due to injury, sending Russian Maria Sharapova into the quarter-finals.
Williams, a 23-time Grand Slam champion, said at a press conference that the muscle pain began during her straight-set win over Germany's Julia Goerges in the previous round and that she was planning to undergo a MRI scan on Tuesday," reports Efe.
"I've unfortunately been having some issues with my pectoral muscle," Williams said. "Right now I can't actually serve, so it's kind of hard to play when I can't physically serve."
"It's very difficult because I love playing Maria (Sharapova). It's a match I always get up for. It's extremely disappointing but I made a promise to myself that if I'm not at least 50 percent, I shouldn't play," she added.
The French Open was only the third tournament appearance for Williams, 36, since claiming the 2017 Australian Open title, as she had been on maternity leave for the birth of her daughter in Sept.
"I'm beyond disappointed. I gave up so much from time with my daughter and time with my family, all for this moment. So it's really difficult to be in this situation," she admitted.
Williams said she had unsuccessfully tried different solutions during her women's doubles third round defeat on Sunday, when she and her elder sister Venus 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-0 lost to Spain's Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez and Slovenia's Andreja Klepac.
Next up for Sharapova, a two-time French Open champion, is either Spain's Garbiñe Muguruza, the third seed, or Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine.
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Who is Iran's first vice president, Mohammad Mokhber, appointed acting president after crash?
Dubai (AP/PTI): Iran's first Vice President Mohammad Mokhber was appointed as acting president of the Islamic Republic on Monday after the death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash in the country's northwest.
Raisi's death under the constitution thrust Mokhber into public view. He is expected to serve as caretaker president for some 50 days before mandatory presidential elections in Iran.
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made the announcement of Mokhber's appointment in a condolence message he shared for Raisi's death in the crash Sunday. The helicopter was found Monday in northwestern Iran.
Despite his low-key public profile, Mokhber has held prominent positions with in the country's power structure, particularly in its bonyads, or charitable foundations.
Mokhber oversaw a bonyad known in English as the Execution of Imam Khomeini's Order, or EIKO, referring to the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
The US Treasury said the organisation oversaw billions of dollars in assets as “a business juggernaut under the direct supervision of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei that has a stake in nearly every sector of the Iranian economy, including energy, telecommunications, and financial services”.
“EIKO has systematically violated the rights of dissidents by confiscating land and property from opponents of the regime, including political opponents, religious minorities, and exiled Iranians,” the Treasury said in 2021 in sanctioning Mokhber. The European Union also had sanctioned Mokhber for a time with others over concerns then about Iran's nuclear programme.
As the head of EIKO, Mokhber oversaw an effort to make a COVID-19 vaccine during the height of the pandemic, pledging to make tens of millions of doses.
Mokhber previously worked in banking and telecommunications. He also worked at the Mostazafan Foundation, another bonyad that's a major conglomerate that manages the country's mega-projects and businesses. While there, he found himself entangled in a bitter legal dispute between mobile phone service providers Turkcell and South Africa's MTN over potentially entering the Iranian market.
Iranian media reports suggest Mokhber, who holds a doctorate in international law, was crucial in Iranian efforts to bypass Western sanctions on its oil industry.
Mokhber has been a member of Iran's Expediency Council since 2022, which advises the supreme leader, as well as settles disputes between parliament and the Guardian Council, Iran's constitutional watchdog that also oversees the country's elections.
Mokhber was born Sept 1, 1955, in Dezful in Iran's southwestern Khuzestan province to a clerical family. He served as an officer in the Revolutionary Guard's medical corps during the 1980s Iran-Iraq war, according to the pressure group United Against Nuclear Iran.
“Mokhber used the vast wealth accumulated by EIKO — at the expense of the Iranian people—to reward regime insiders like himself,” UANI said. “Managing the patronage network endeared him to the supreme leader, but at a cost.”
