UR MAG

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP) — Defending Indian Wells champion Mirra Andreeva smashed her racket several times during a 4-6, 6-7(5), 6-3 loss to unseeded Katerina Siniakova in the tournament's third round on Monday night, then left the court exchanging words with the crowd.

Andreeva threw her racket after losing the second set tiebreaker before smashing it, resulting in a code violation.

She threw her racket again following match point and then, after shaking hands at the net with Siniakova, left the court gesturing and shouting at the crowd.

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"I'm not really proud of how I managed it. I'm not really proud of how I handled it in the end," Andreeva said in a news conference, according to The Athletic."Those are the things that I really need to work on soon. I don't know. Not in the future but whenever I get the chance."

AP tennis:https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

By Praveen Menon and Katharine Jackson

Australia's Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke grants five women from the Iranian women's soccer team humanitarian visas

SYDNEY/WASHINGTON, March 10 (Reuters) - Australia on Tuesday granted humanitarian visas to five Iranian women soccer players after they sought asylum, fearing persecution on their return home for their refusal to sing the national anthem at an Asia Cup match.

"Australians have been moved by the plight of these brave women," Australian ‌Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told a news conference in Canberra on Tuesday, a day after police had helped extract the women from their Iranian government handlers.

"They're safe here, and they ‌should feel at home here."

U.S. President Donald Trump praised Albanese for allowing the women to stay, saying on social media the U.S. was ready to take the players if Australia did not.

Australian officials identified the players as Zahra Sarbali Alishah, Mona ​Hamoudi, Zahra Ghanbari, Fatemeh Pasandideh and Atefeh Ramezanizadeh. They were staying at an undisclosed location under police protection, officials said.

Albanese said help was also available to the other players currently in Australia with the Iranian national team, but it was up to them to accept.

Television footage showed several other Iranian players leaving their hotel in the northeastern city of Gold Coast on a bus on Tuesday afternoon. It was not clear which players were on the bus or where they were going.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke posted pictures on his X account showing him posing with the five players after granting their visas.

He said the government ‌had been in secret talks with the players for days but ⁠acknowledged fleeing was a difficult decision for them.

"Even though the offer continues to be there for other members of the team, it is quite possible and indeed likely that not every woman in the team will make a decision to take up the opportunity that Australia would offer to them," he said.

"VERY ⁠GOOD JOB"

Trump initially posted on social media that Australia was "making a terrible humanitarian mistake" by allowing the team to be sent back home, apparently unaware that Australia had been in secret talks with the women for several days.

Trump said members of the team would "likely be killed" if forced to return to Iran. "The U.S. will take them if you won't," he added.

In a later post Trump said he had spoken to Albanese and that the ​Australian ​leader was "doing a very good job having to do with this rather delicate situation".

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Albanese said Trump rang him just ​before 2 a.m. (1500 GMT Monday).

"I was able to convey to him the action ‌that we'd undertaken over the previous 48 hours, and that five of the team had asked for assistance and had received it and were safely located," Albanese said.

The Iranian team's campaign in the Australian-hosted Asian Cup tournament started just as the U.S. and Israel launched air strikes on Iran, killing the Islamic Republic's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. They were eliminated from the tournament on Sunday after losing 2-0 to the Philippines.

"WARTIME TRAITORS"

Soccer fans and governing agencies started expressing concerns about the welfare of the team after they were labelled "wartime traitors" on state television for refusing to sing their national anthem before their first match against South Korea.

The players' decision to stand in silence was labelled by a commentator on Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting as the "pinnacle of dishonour".

The Iranian team sang their anthem and saluted before ‌their second match against Australia, sparking fears among human rights campaigners that the women had been coerced by ​government minders.

Iranian media quoted Farideh Shojaei, vice president for women's affairs at the Iranian Football Federation, as saying the team ​had left the hotel through the back door with the police.

"We have contacted the embassy, ​the football federation, the foreign ministry and anywhere possible to see what will happen," she said. "We have even spoken with the families of these five players."

Global ‌players' union FIFPRO said they remained concerned about the safety and wellbeing of ​the other players and their families in Iran.

"The focus ​needs to remain on ensuring that all of the players have agency and are aware of their rights," Beau Busch, FIFPRO Asia/Oceania President told Reuters in a statement.

Iranian media said other team members were still in Australia and quoted Shojaei as saying the squad had planned to return to Iran via Dubai, but the United Arab Emirates had not allowed ​them to do so.

It said efforts were now expected to be made ‌for the team to return via Malaysia and Turkey.

Australia granted emergency humanitarian visas to over 20 members of the Afghanistan women's cricket team after the Taliban returned to ​power in 2021 and banned women's sport.

(Reporting by Katharine Jackson, Renju Jose and Praveen Menon; Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom in Washington and Parisa Hafezi in Dubai; Writing ​by Michelle Nichols and David Brunnstrom; Editing by Ed Osmond, Ken Ferris, Shri Navaratnam and Stephen Coates)

SALLA, Finland (AP) — Traditional reindeer racing that has been delighting spectators for decades in Finland brought hundreds of fans to the Salla Reindeer Cup in the frigid town of Salla on Saturday and Sunday.

Finland Reindeer Racing

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This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.

March 10 (Reuters) - JetBlue Airways has requested ‌for a ground ‌stop at all destinations, ​the U.S Federal Aviation Administration said in an advisory ‌on Tuesday.

The ⁠ground stop was issued at ⁠the request of the airline, the ​FAA notice ​said, ​without adding ‌further details. JetBlue did not immediately respond to request for comment.

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A ground stop ‌is an ​air traffic ​control ​measure that ‌temporarily halts flights usually ​due ​to safety, weather or operational issues.

(Reporting ​by ‌Gursimran Kaur in ​Bengaluru; Editing by ​Himani Sarkar)

MILAN (AP) — The Rev. Paolo Venturelli never gets too close when he visitsLeonardo da Vinci's"The Last Supper." The Dominican friar prefers to stand away fromthe wallwhere it was painted, on the opposite side of the room once used by members of his order for meals.

Italy Milan Last Supper Friars

"From there, the painting looks as though it were painted in the middle of the refectory," said Venturelli of the masterpiece depicting the Gospel story of Jesus' final meal with his apostles. "It unleashes all kinds of human and spiritualreactions."

He lives in Santa Maria delle Grazie, a convent andbasilicainMilanwhereLeonardoworked in the 1490s at the request of Ludovico Sforza, then ruler of the city.

"The Last Supper," which illustrates the biblical account of Jesus announcing that one of his apostles will betray him, is located in the convent's original refectory. Such rooms still serve as dining spaces where monastic communities gather for food, prayer and reading. Yet at Santa Maria delle Grazie it is no longer part of the friars' daily life.

After the Napoleonic suppression of religious houses in the 18th century, the refectory passed into state hands. Today it is known as the Cenacolo Vinciano and is managed by Italy's Regional Directorate of Museums of Lombardy.

"We don't go often because we have to ask permission to enter," said Venturelli, who can stay inside for only 15 minutes like any other visitor because of preservation rules.

"It no longer belongs to us."

Living beside "The Last Supper"

A dozen priests and nine novices make up Santa Maria delle Grazie's current Dominican community. Dressed in the iconic white robes associated with their order — or brown hooded capes in winter — friars are regularly seen walking inside the basilica.

Not all tourists visiting the Cenacolo make a stop at its adjacent church. But among those who do, some look at Venturelli and the other friars with curiosity.

"We just came from the cloister and saw one of the friars taking care of the garden," said Maria Teresa Bruzzi, who traveled from Genoa with her husband in mid-February.

"We came to see Leonardo's Last Supper but we also wanted to see the church because it's quite special," she added. "This is a Renaissance church that combines two styles and was very important for the Sforza family."

According to Venturelli, visitors to the sanctuary are often blown away by its architecture. "When they visit the chapel of Our Lady of the Grazie, they can see that the beauty around them was built to give glory to the one who is beautiful in and of himself — God," he said.

Tickets for the Cenacolo are often sold out and the museum is closed on Mondays, preventing last-minute visitors to Milan from seeing the painting. The basilica, in contrast, opens daily and welcomes those wishing to attend Mass or go to confession.

"Confessions are very much sought after and we maintain this service for the citizens of Milan but also for all visitors," said the Rev. Llewellyn Muscat, prior of the Dominican community at Santa Maria delle Grazie.

Venturelli offers confessions to Italian-language speakers. Muscat can support those speaking English, Italian and Maltese, his mother tongue. And while other friars offer their services in French and German, the prior said they all make an effort to understand everyone.

"We cannot hold back the graces that the Lord gives to each one of us," Muscat said.

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A life of study and prayer

Dominicans arrived at Santa Maria delle Grazie as the complex was being built in the 15th century. However, the order had established an earlier presence in Milan.

Those first friars' devotion to St. Catherine of Siena is still visible in the basilica. Frescoes depict her alongside St. Catherine of Alexandria, associated with the Dominican tradition of study and considered the patron saint of philosophers.

That intellectual legacy is also evident inside the convent itself. A few steps away from the steady flow of tourists, dozens of shelves filled with books stand in the halls.

"Reading is part of our identity," Muscat said.

Neither he nor his fellow friars follow a strict daily schedule. But study, prayer and their ministry shape their routine.

Priests like him celebrate Mass on a regular basis and assist nearby parishes when clergy are needed. Others oversee the novitiate program, teach at local Catholic institutions, or collaborate with Santa Maria delle Grazie's cultural center, which organizes conferences and events.

"We try to offer the spiritual push that people need," Muscat said.

A bond beyond art

The fact that Leonardo was commissioned to paint "The Last Supper" inside a Dominican convent was no accident. Venturelli said most of his order's refectories have this scene depicted on their walls. And according to Muscat, it echoes Dominican principles.

"For us, it does not awaken an emotion about something that belongs to the past," he said. "It is like a continuation in which we eat together with Jesus and his apostles, as though his words are also spoken to us."

Muscat, like any other visitor who stands in front of Leonardo's mural, feels deeply moved by it.

In his case, however, it is not only the art but also a shared history that strikes a deeper chord. The painting, like the convent that houses it, has endured centuries of upheaval and has required collective efforts to survive.

"'The Last Supper' is a call to my personal conscience and a call to the conscience of the order," Muscat said. "Because here in the Grazie there are no individuals, but a community that works and welcomes."

The order's current refectory is housed away from tourists, deep inside the labyrinth-like convent where the friars find the quiet needed for reflection and prayer. It is a modest, wide room, with several square tables instead of a long one, like the table depicted in "The Last Supper."

It's nice, Muscat said. But who knows, he added, maybe one day the old refectory will belong to them again.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP'scollaborationwith The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.