World
Shane Lowry keeps calm and carries British Open lead at Troon
TROON, Scotland (AP) — Shane Lowry was a surprising model of calm amid all the calamity in the British Open on Friday.
Lowry was not immune from the endless punishment Royal Troon dished out on a day when Tiger Woods missed another cut, along with nine of the top 20 players in the world — including Rory McIlroy, Ludvig Aberg and Bryson DeChambeau.
He was close to losing his cool with a photographer who distracted him, a shot into the gorse bush, a beautiful provisional shot to the 11th green that didn’t count when his lost ball became found and a double bogey that wiped out his two-shot lead.
Lowry steadied himself with two birdies on the last three holes for a 2-under 69, leaving him in a familiar position as he chases that silver claret jug he first won at Royal Portrush five years ago. He had a two-shot lead over Justin Rose and Daniel Brown going into the weekend.
“I was in control of my ball, did all the right things for a lot of the round. Then when I got in a bit of trouble, I feel like I really finished the round well,” Lowry said. “I’m pretty happy with the day. To be leading this tournament after two days, it’s why you come here. It’s why we’re here.”
The shocker at Royal Troon — there were a lot of them Friday — was how many of the top players were leaving.
DeChambeau, the U.S Open champion with top 10s in all the majors this year, managed only one birdie in a round of 75. McIlroy would have needed anything under par, and those hopes ended with a triple bogey 8 on his fourth hole. He shot 75.
“I’d much rather have a disappointing Sunday than going home on Friday,” said McIlroy, who was coming off a late collapse that cost him the U.S. Open.
Woods had a 77 to miss the cut in his third straight major, this one by eight shots. His 36-hole score of 156 matched his highest as a pro.
Lowry was at 7-under 135, and only nine other players remained under par after two days of havoc-wreaking wind off the Irish Sea.
Brown, playing in his first major championship, held it together for a 72 that puts him in the final group on the weekend with Lowry. Rose wasn’t even sure he would be at Troon until he went through 36-hole qualifying at the start of the month. He went 29 holes before finally making a bogey, and then he finished strong for a 68.
Masters champion Scottie Scheffler found a pot bunker off the tee at the downwind 18th and made bogey, but otherwise was solid as ever for another 70. He was tied for fourth just five shots behind, along with Billy Horschel (68) and Dean Burmester (69).
“I know tomorrow is going to be a long day, but I’ve done it before,” Lowry said. “For me, it’s just about going out and playing my own game, shooting the best score I can. Try not to worry about what other people are doing and just trying to take care of your own personal stuff.”
It was best to keep blinders on at Royal Troon. There were some harrowing scenes.
Justin Thomas, who opened with a 68 to get himself in the mix, shot a 45 on the front nine and played his best golf from there to salvage a 78 and make sure he at least made the cut.
Robert MacIntyre had an even tougher start. Scotland’s biggest star after winning his national Open last week, MacIntyre was stuck in pot bunkers and high grass. He was 8 over for his round through four holes — four holes! — and then played 4 under the rest of the way for a remarkable 75 to make the cut.
The cut was at 6-over 148.
Aguri Iwasaki had them all beat. He took a 9 on consecutive holes and shot 52 on the back nine for a 91. One of those 9s was on the par-3 14th, where he took four shots out of two bunkers and once had to go backward toward the fairway.
McIlroy, who started with a 78, needed a good start and instead got a triple bogey. He barely moved the ball out of thick grass on the par-5 fourth. Once he got back to the fairway, he pulled another shot into the rough, chipped that into the bunker and ended the sad tale by missing a 4-foot putt.
“Once I made the 8 on the fourth hole that was it — 22 holes into the event and I’m thinking about where I’m going to go on vacation next week,” McIlroy said.
PGA champion Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay were in the group at 1-under 141.
Another shot back was Joaquin Niemann. He had another 71 despite taking a quintuple-bogey 8 on the par-3 eighth hole — the Postage Stamp — that measures a mere 123 yards. He was in three bunkers around the tiny green and three-putted when he finally got out of them. Niemann also made six birdies in a most remarkable round of level par.
So much chaos across the century-old links, and it looked for a brief moment like Lowry might take part. He was in the right rough, but he was distracted by a photographer and angry at himself for not backing off the shot that he tugged left toward a clump of gorse.
Figuring it would be lost in the prickly mess, Lowry hit a provisional for a lost ball onto the green, a terrific shot. One problem. Someone found the ball. It was no longer lost, so the provisional ball was not in play.
Lowry took a penalty drop from the bush, going back to find a place where he had a swing, put it short of the green, chipped on and salvaged a double bogey 6.
“To be honest, I was happy enough leaving there with a 6. It wasn’t a disaster. I was still leading the tournament,” Lowry said.
And now comes a big opportunity for Lowry to reclaim that claret jug. He’s not alone in the chase, especially with Troon’s ability to make anyone look silly. Scheffler has quietly avoided some of those moments.
“I’ve played two solid rounds and it put me five shots back, and I’ll continue to try to execute and just continue to try to hit good shots and hit good putts,” Scheffler said, making it all sound so simple on a day when nothing felt easy.
___
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
World
Netflix Unveils Turkish Slate, Headlined by Series Adaptation of Nobel Prize-Winning Author Orhan Pamuk’s ‘The Museum of Innocence’
Netflix has unveiled its Turkish production slate for 2026, which is headlined by a hotly anticipated series adaptation of Turkish Nobel Prize-winning author Orhan Pamuk acclaimed book “The Museum Of Innocence” and several other high-end shows with international reach.
The previously announced nine-episode “Museum of Innocence” series – that will drop on Netflix Feb. 13 – starts out in 1970’s Istanbul where a wealthy man named Kemal becomes romantically obsessed with his poor and distant young relative, a shopgirl named Füsun. Their romance unfolds over a decade against the backdrop of the changing city, after which he spends the rest of his life creating a museum in her memory that contains “his beloved’s earrings, her hair clips, and even her discarded cigarette butts,” as the synopsis puts it.
Directed by Zeynep Günay, “Museum of Innocence” is written by Ertan Kurtulan and produced by Turkish TV Powerhouse Ay Yapım known for International Emmy-winning series “Endless Love,” and also “Fatmagul,” “Ezel” and “Forbidden Love,” among other global hit series.
Other standout titles in Netflix’s new Turkish that have not been previously announced comprise:
— “Seni Tanıyorum,” a series written by Tuğba Doğan (“Hepimiz Birimiz Için”), directed by Mert Baykal (“Hot Skull”) and produced by Bonbon Studios. “After taking a break from painting following childbirth, Funda finds the nanny she has been searching for,” reads the synopsis. “But the mystery and unsettling nature of Nazlı begins to change the lives of Funda and her husband İlker forever. What starts as a simple encounter turns into a long-running game in which each of them is tested in their loyalty and desires.”
— “Sonra Gözler Görür,” a series penned by Ece Yörenç (“Fallen Leaves,” “Forbidden Love”), directed by Bertan Başaran (“Shahmaran”) and produced by Ay Yapim. “A quiet coastal town is shaken by the mysterious death of a young girl. When a renowned journalist returns to the place she grew up years later to investigate the case, her search uncovers not only a killer, but long-buried secrets and the truth about her own past,” the synopsis says.
New upcoming 2026 instalments of popular pre-existing Netflix Turkey originals shows include fresh seasons of “Ethos,” “Money Trap,” “Thank You, Next,” “Another Self” and Graveyard.”
World
Iran accused of sex assaults on teenage prisoners, while families charged to recover remains of loved ones
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Reports have emerged from eyewitnesses in Iran alleging sexual assaults on teenagers held in custody, as well as authorities forcing families of those protesters killed to pay as much as 10 billion rials to recover their bodies.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI-US) also told Fox News Digital Wednesday that the “barbarity continues” across the nation, with prison detainees allegedly being killed and their bodies burned.
The reports came as Iran’s government claimed it had successfully crushed weeks of unrest that swept the country.
Beginning Dec. 28, the protests erupted amid deep public anger over political repression, economic hardship and state violence before rapidly expanding nationwide.
LINDSEY GRAHAM SPEAKS AGAINST PENDING EXECUTION OF 26-YEAR-OLD IRANIAN PROTESTER: ‘THIS REGIME MUST FALL’
Iranian demonstrators gather in a street during a protest over the collapse of the currency’s value, in Tehran, Iran, on Jan. 8, 2026. (Stringer/WANA/Reuters)
“The sedition is over now,” Iran’s prosecutor general Mohammad Movahedi said, according to the judiciary’s Mizan News Agency.
“And we must be grateful, as always, to the people who extinguished this sedition by being in the field in a timely manner,” he added, according to the New York Times.
The regime’s claims emerged on day 25 of the protests with the number of confirmed fatalities reaching 4,902, and the number of deaths still under review standing at 9,387.
The total number of arrests has risen to 26,541, the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said.
IRAN STATE TV HACKED TO SHOW EXILED CROWN PRINCE PAHLAVI
Demonstrators burn a poster depicting Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a rally in support of anti-government protests in Iran, in Holon, Israel Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
The France-based Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) also said it received information indicating that some families were forced to pay sums of up to 10 billion rials to recover the bodies of their relatives.
In many cases, funeral ceremonies were held under heavy security control in the hometowns of those killed.
Some families were reportedly subjected to threats and pressure to falsely attribute responsibility for the killings to protesters.
KHRN further said that two protesters, including a 16-year-old, said they were sexually assaulted by Iranian security forces who detained them in Kermanshah, according to reports.
G7 THREATENS IRAN WITH NEW SANCTIONS OVER NATIONWIDE PROTEST CRACKDOWN KILLING THOUSANDS
Iranian security forces allegedly killed detainees and burned bodies during protests, with clashes continuing in Kermanshah, Rasht and Mashhad despite government claims. (NCRI)
Meanwhile, NCRI’s Ali Safavi said eyewitnesses reported that “several young women and men were forced to undress, so the military could see whether they had pellet wounds.”
“There has been barbarity with people who were detained. When they were killed, their bodies were burned,” he added.
Safavi also said clashes continued in multiple cities Tuesday night, including “Kermanshah where protesters and armed units of the IRGC fought in parts of the city.”
“There was the same in Rasht and Mashhad where the people and the regime will not return to the status quo even if the uprisings have slowed down. This is because of the blood of thousands of martyrs on their hands.”
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“The regime is still in power, and it won’t abandon brutal and bloody suppression so there is no pathway to a velvet revolution in Iran.”
“The shoes and sneakers seen left along the sidewalks remind us of the 30,000 MEK members and Iranian prisoners who were hanged during the 1988 massacre based on a fatwa by Khomeini,” Safavi added.
World
French firm Lactalis latest to recall baby formula amid contamination scare
French, Swiss food giants Danone and Nestle have also recalled infant formula batches in recent weeks over toxin fears.
Published On 22 Jan 2026
French dairy product giant Lactalis has announced a recall of batches of infant formula in France and more than a dozen other countries over worries batches have been contaminated by a toxin.
The announcement on Wednesday follows the recall of infant formula by Swiss dairy corporation Nestle in almost 60 countries since the beginning of the month.
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Lactalis “is proceeding with a voluntary recall of six batches of Picot infant milk, available in pharmacies and mass retail, due to the presence of cereulide in an ingredient supplied by a supplier”, the company said, referring to the toxin that can cause diarrhoea and vomiting.
“We are fully aware that this information may cause concern among parents of young children,” the company said.
Outside France, the recall affects Australia, Chile, China, Colombia, the Republic of the Congo, Ecuador, Spain, Madagascar, Mexico, Uzbekistan, Peru, Georgia, Greece, Kuwait, the Czech Republic and Taiwan, a spokesperson for the company told the AFP news agency.
The recall involves “a few batches” of formula in each of the countries, the spokesperson said.
The company said the French authorities had not signalled “any claim nor any report related to the consumption of these products”.
The infant formula industry has been rocked by recalls in recent weeks.
Authorities in Singapore on Saturday recalled Dumex baby formula, a brand owned by French food giant Danone, as well as batches of Nestle formula.
The Singapore Food Agency said it ordered the precautionary recall of a batch of Danone’s Thai-origin Dumex Dulac 1 and Nestle’s Swiss-origin NAN HA1 SupremePro after detecting cereulide.
Danone said the authorities blocked just “a few pallets” of Dumex, indicating they were not yet on the shelves of retail outlets.
Like Lactalis, Nestle has issued recalls since January due to the potential presence of cereulide, a bacterial substance that can cause sickness.
Nestle France said it was carrying out a “preventive and voluntary recall” of certain batches of its Guigoz and Nidal infant formulas after new investigations showed the potential presence of cereulide.
French health authorities said on Tuesday an investigation was under way after the death of a baby who had consumed milk from one of the batches recalled by Nestle, though no link has been established between its consumption and the death at this stage.
In 2018, Lactalis was at the centre of a salmonella outbreak and ensuing scandal after the company was accused of trying to cover up the extent of the outbreak, which led to the recall of 12 million tins of baby formula from more than 80 countries.
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