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Former Vice President Kamala Harris’ future remains unclear months after her election loss to now-President Donald Trump.

As she grapples with navigating next steps, Harris has spoken with family and close friends, including the one other person who has been in her exact position: Hillary Clinton, New York Magazine reported. The two have reportedly spoken several times since Harris’ defeat.

Some have speculated that she will stage a gubernatorial run next year in California, as her close friend, Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom, is limited on terms and can’t run again. Others think she still has her eye on the Oval Office and will launch another bid for the presidency. Shortly after the election, Harris reportedly told advisors not to make any plans that would preclude her from seeking the presidency in 2028, according to New York Magazine.

The former vice president has not spoken directly about her future, but she has hinted that she’s not done with politics. Last week, just days before the end of her time as then-President Joe Biden’s VP, Harris addressed a room of staff as she participated in the decades-long tradition of signing her desk drawer. During her brief remarks, Harris said she would not ‘go quietly into the night,’ saying that ‘our work is not done.’

The comments she made to staff echoed a message from her concession speech in which she told supporters, ‘While I concede this election, I do not concede the fight that fueled this campaign.’

After her 2020 bid for the presidency failed, Harris was given a clear path forward as Biden’s pick to be his running mate. While Biden seemed to imply that he would be a one-term president, he announced his re-election campaign in April 2023.

However, after a disastrous debate that highlighted ongoing issues, Biden made the historic decision to drop out of the race in July 2024. This was just one week after a gunman nearly killed Trump during a rally in Pennsylvania.

Shortly after dropping out of the race, Biden endorsed his VP, moving her to the top of the ticket. Some believed this move could have hurt her prospects, as voters saw her nomination as a coronation, in stark contrast to the ‘save democracy’ message channeled by the Democrats.

Harris and Clinton have more than election losses in common. Both were backed by a long list of Hollywood A-listers, whose endorsements ultimately did not help. Not even Taylor Swift could make the ‘Harris Era’ happen.

‘The outcome of this election is not what we hoped, not what we fought for, not what we voted for,’ Harris said in her concession speech. ‘But hear when I say … the light of America’s promise will always burn bright as long as we never give up and as long as we keep fighting.’

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The House of Representatives has passed a bill that would penalize doctors who do not provide life-saving care to infants born alive after an abortion attempt.

All but one Democrat voted against the bill, which passed 217 to 204, with all Republicans in favor. One Democrat, Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-Texas, voted ‘present.’

The bill directs health care practitioners to operate with the ‘same degree of professional skill, care, and diligence’ for a baby born with a heartbeat after an abortion as during a normal birth. Doctors who run afoul of the rule would be fined or given up to five years behind bars.

House GOP leaders lauded the bill, with Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., telling Fox News Digital, ‘Requiring medical care for babies born alive after a failed abortion isn’t controversial, it’s common sense.’

‘The fact that Democrats would rather support infanticide than vote in favor of this bill shows how extreme and out-of-touch their party has become,’ Emmer said.

Democrats have argued that the bill is redundant, given existing laws against infanticide and murder, and could imperil the lives of women seeking late-term abortions due to medical emergencies while unfairly penalizing doctors.

‘No one goes through pregnancy and all that comes with it…and then after eight or nine months of that is like ‘nah, I don’t want to do this,’’ Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., said during debate on the bill, adding that late-term operations made up about 1% of abortions. ‘It is because of a serious fetal abnormality or the health of the mother.’

She said the bill was ‘not based on science or reality.’

Several Democrats who spoke out against the bill themselves went through emergency abortion procedures with a nonviable pregnancy.

Among them was Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez, D-N.M., who said the bill would allow women to ‘die on the operating table because doctors are scared of going to jail.’

Republicans, meanwhile, argued the bill would stop babies from being ‘left to die in a closet, alone and discarded like medical waste,’ as Rep. Michelle Fischbach, R-Minn., said during debate.

‘These precious babies, fellow Americans, deserve protection because they are alive,’ said Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas.

The vote comes after Democrats tanked the bill in the Senate earlier this week. The legislation failed to pass a procedural hurdle that needed 60 votes to allow for debate on its final passage.

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President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order to declassify files on the assassinations of former President John F. Kennedy, his brother Robert F. Kennedy and civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. 

Trump had promised to release the previously-classified documents during his 2024 campaign following decades of speculation and conspiracy theories about the killings. 

‘Everything will be revealed,’ Trump told reporters as he signed the order in the Oval Office of the White House.

During his first administration, Trump had promised to release all the files related to John F. Kennedy, but an undisclosed amount of material remains under wraps more than six decades after Kennedy was killed Nov. 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas. The primary suspect, Lee Harvey Oswald, was killed two days later by Jack Ruby. 

After appeals from the CIA and FBI, Trump blocked the release of hundreds of records. Trump said at the time the potential harm to U.S. national security, law enforcement or foreign affairs is ‘of such gravity that it outweighs the public interest in immediate disclosure.’

‘I have now determined that the continued redaction and withholding of information from records pertaining to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy is not consistent with the public interest and the release of these records is long overdue,’ Trump’s order states. ‘And although no Act of Congress directs the release of information pertaining to the assassinations of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I have determined that the release of all records in the Federal Government’s possession pertaining to each of those assassinations is also in the public interest.’

U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., praised the declassification of the JFK files. 

‘Our government, led by corrupt bureaucrats, has hidden this information from the American people for far too long. Americans deserve to know the truth, whether it makes the government look good or not,’ she said in a statement. ‘As part of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, I want to continue to deliver transparency to Americans. The truth belongs to the people, and we won’t rest until they have it.’

Trump’s promise to also release outstanding documents related to King and former U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy leaves questions as to how the president-elect will speed up the releases.

Robert F. Kennedy, then a Senator from New York, was on the presidential campaign trail as a Democratic candidate when he was fatally shot on June 5, 1968 by Sirhan Sirhan, a Palestinian Christian, at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles shortly after securing his party’s nomination.  

Under the Martin Luther King Jr. Records Collection Act, the remaining files pertaining to King are not due for release until 2027. King was fatally shot by James Earl Ray at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968.

The deaths of King and John F. Kennedy have spawned conspiracy theories over the years, many of which allege government involvement or cover-ups.  

Fox News Digital’s Stephen Sorace contributed to this report. 

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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he supports the delay of all of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees who do not have unanimous support in the Senate.

Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., filed cloture on John Ratcliffe’s nomination for CIA director, Kristi Noem’s nomination for Homeland Security secretary and Pete Hegseth’s nomination for defense secretary on Tuesday. But a last-minute objection from Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., held up a vote on Ratcliffe, triggering hours of debate that could delay confirmation votes on Trump’s national security nominees late into the week and possibly into the weekend.

‘I don’t think it’s too much to ask to make sure that we have a full, real debate that lasts two days on the Senate floor,’ Murphy said on the Senate floor, adding that Democrats have ‘serious concerns’ about Trump’s CIA pick. 

The Senate voted to confirm Ratcliffe, 74-25, on Thursday afternoon. 

Asked on Thursday if he supports slowing the confirmation process for Trump’s nominees down, Schumer indicated that he does.

‘Look, there are some nominees like [Secretary of State Marco] Rubio that got broad support, but a detailed discussion – I have some doubts about Mr. Ratcliffe, particularly when I asked him how he’d react if Tulsi Gabbard were put in charge of him in the DNI,’ Schumer said, referring to Trump’s pick to lead the Office of National Intelligence. 

‘For a day or two, or a few hours to examine these nominees who have such power thoroughly, absolutely,’ he added. ‘Our idea is to let the whole truth come out if they try to rush them through. We don’t want that to happen.’ 

Thune on Tuesday expressed frustration with Democrats over their delay tactics.

‘Do we want a vote on these folks on Tuesday or vote on them on Friday, Saturday and Sunday? Because that’s what we’re going to do. This can be easy or this can be hard,’ Thune said. ‘This is about America’s national security interests, and we’re stalling, so that’s not going to happen.’

Ratcliffe was approved by the Senate Intelligence Committee by a bipartisan vote of 14-3. Because of that, Thune said the vote to confirm him ‘shouldn’t be hard.’

‘Democrats and Republicans, in a very big bipartisan fashion, agree that he is very qualified for this job,’ Thune said, adding that he isn’t sure what stalling accomplishes.

Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Pritchett contributed to this report.

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A federal judge in Seattle on Thursday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order banning birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants, describing the action as ‘blatantly unconstitutional.’

The decision by U.S. District Judge John Coughenour, a Ronald Reagan appointee, comes in response to four U.S. states — Arizona, Illinois, Oregon and Washington — who sued to block Trump’s executive order, which was signed by Trump shortly after being sworn in as president. 

Coughenour said Thursday that the executive order banning birthright citizenship ‘boggles the mind,’ and told the court he could not remember in his more than 40 years on the bench seeing a case so ‘blatantly unconstitutional.’

The 14-day restraining order granted by Coughenour will apply to the entire U.S. 

The ruling is a blow to the new Trump administration, and comes as 22 U.S. states and immigrants rights groups have sued the Trump administration over the ban on birthright citizenship, arguing in court filings that the executive order is both unconstitutional and ‘unprecedented.’

Trump’s ban is slated to come into force Feb. 19, and would impact the hundreds of thousands of children born in the U.S. annually.

Trump’s order seeks to clarify the 14th Amendment, which states: ‘All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.’

It clarifies that those born to illegal immigrant parents, or those who were here legally but on temporary nonimmigrant visas, are not citizens by birthright.

The U.S. is one of roughly 30 countries where birthright citizenship is applied. 

States who have challenged the law have argued that the 14th Amendment does in fact guarantee citizenship to persons born on U.S. soil and naturalized in the U.S. 

 This is a breaking news story, more updates to come.

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In the last quarter of 2024, semiconductors have been walking a tightrope between tariff fears and supply chain uncertainties. Geopolitical tensions between the US and China cast a long shadow over the industry, holding our proxy, VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF (SMH), in a consolidated range from October 2024 through January.

However, with new policies and developments in Washington, the narrative has shifted, as evidenced by SMH’s upside breakout in this weekly chart.

FIGURE 1. WEEKLY CHART OF SMH. The new narratives in DC have injected a fresh dose of optimism into the semiconductor industry, causing SMH to break out of its 3-month range.

SMH broke above resistance at the $261 level and is on its way toward testing its all-time high of $281.82.

What changed the narrative?

Four factors have likely contributed to this renewed optimism in semiconductors:

Tariffs on China may not be as severe as initially expected.The $500 billion “Stargate” AI initiative has sent AI-related chipmakers higher.The new administration’s economic policies, including tax cuts, deregulation, and increased government spending, have sparked a broad market rally, benefiting tech.A renewed push for reshoring and domestic semiconductor manufacturing is seen to reduce risks, positioning US chipmakers for long-term growth.

With these factors in play, let’s examine three semiconductor stocks — Nvidia (NVDA), Taiwan Semiconductor Company (TSM), and Broadcom (AVGO) — all of which are positioned to benefit from these changes.

FIGURE 2. SIX-MONTH PERFCHARTS VIEW OF SMH, NVDA, TSM, AND AVGO.  Note AVGO’s jump in December.Chart source: StockChars.com. For educational purposes.

Using StockCharts’ PerfCharts charting tool, you can view a comparative performance of these stocks against our industry proxy SMH. All three stocks began outperforming their chip industry peers, but only AVGO made a notable jump in December.

So, let’s look at a daily chart of AVGO’s price action.

FIGURE 3. DAILY CHART OF AVGO. It’s a technically strong stock that may be due for a pullback.Chart source: StockChars.com. For educational purposes.

Strong financial performance and significant advancements in proprietary AI tech drove the company’s 40% jump in December.AVGO’s StockCharts Technical Rank (SCTR) score rose above the 90-line threshold, signaling bullishness across multiple indicators and timeframes.

Yet there are signs indicating near-term weakness.

The Money Flow Index (MFI) is declining as AVGO attempts to rally above its all-time high of $251; a bearish divergence suggesting the likelihood of a pullback.The Accumulation/Distribution Line (ADL) on the chart (pink line) has dropped below the price action, indicating a drop in money flow which can precede a price decline.

Nevertheless, AVGO remains a technically strong stock with a promising outlook in light of the current AI developments. If you’re considering a long position, use the Quadrant Lines to help decide your entry point. A pullback that holds within the top two quadrants signals strength and may present a solid buying opportunity. However, if AVGO falls below the middle line into the third quadrant, it could indicate weakness, warranting a reassessment of the stock’s momentum and overall bullish thesis.

Next, let’s shift over to a daily chart of TSM.

FIGURE 4. DAILY CHART OF TSM. It’s been smooth sailing, and if the advance continues, it’s crucial to find a near-term entry point.Chart source: StockChars.com. For educational purposes.

TSM is well-positioned to benefit from the developments and policy changes discussed earlier in this article. As the world’s largest semiconductor foundry, TSM plays a crucial role in AI chip manufacturing. Additionally, its expansion into the US includes new facilities in Arizona, which can help mitigate some supply-chain risks, though Taiwan remains its primary hub.

TSM has notched an all-time high.Its SCTR reading is just below the ultra-bullish 90 threshold.Its Relative Strength Index (RSI) reading suggests steady upward momentum with plenty more room to run (before entering overbought territory).

If you’re considering entering a long position in TSM, you might wait for a retracement to the middle Bollinger Band, as it recently closed above the upper band. According to John Bollinger, the indicator’s developer, the bands should contain 88–89% of price action, which makes a move outside the bands significant.

Last but not least, here’s a daily chart of Nvidia (NVDA), the world’s leading AI chipmaker.

FIGURE 5. DAILY CHART OF NVDA. Momentum and volume are dwindling as price looks to be trading rangebound.Chart source: StockChars.com. For educational purposes.

NVDA is arguably the most favored AI chip stock on Wall Street. Nevertheless, the Chaikin Money Flow (CMF) and RSI indicate that the stock’s volume and momentum appear subdued, suggesting the market may be waiting for a catalyst to drive the next move.

While NVDA’s attempt to break above its all-time high of $153 appears to be waning, keep a close eye on support at the $130 range. A close below this, should that happen, can lead to further downside. The next level of support below that line would be near $115.

At the Close

Add SMH, AVGO, TSM, and NVDA to your ChartLists and monitor the key levels closely. Stay updated on news and policy developments from the new administration, as these could impact the semiconductor industry. While market sentiment remains bullish, watch for key technical levels and potential catalysts that could drive further upside—or signal a shift in momentum.

Disclaimer: This blog is for educational purposes only and should not be construed as financial advice. The ideas and strategies should never be used without first assessing your own personal and financial situation, or without consulting a financial professional.

The California mom who pleaded guilty to running an organized retail crime ring that stole millions of dollars in beauty products from Ulta Beauty and Sephora to resell on Amazon will now have to pay those retailers back as part of her sentence.

Michelle Mack, who began her five-year prison sentence on Jan. 9 following her arrest outside of San Diego in December 2023, was ordered to pay $3 million in restitution to Ulta, Sephora and a number of other retailers after striking a plea deal with prosecutors last year. 

As part of the deal, Mack, 54, forfeited her 4,500-square-foot mansion in Bonsall, California, which was sold in December for $2.35 million, property records show. 

Any funds left from the sale, after bank debts were satisfied, will go toward restitution, while Mack and her husband Kenneth Mack, 60, will pay back the remainder “over time,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office said. 

It’s not clear if Mack had a mortgage on the property, but she originally purchased it for $2.29 million in 2021, according to property records.

It’s also not clear how the restitution will be divvied up among Mack’s victims. The crime ring she admitted to running primarily targeted Ulta stores, but it stole from other retailers, including Sephora.

When compared with the net income that retailers like Ulta bring in annually, the restitution is likely a drop in the bucket — but it would still be a small windfall. Ulta declined to comment on the restitution, including how it would use the funds or account for them in financial statements. The company did say it was proud to have partnered with law enforcement officials on the investigation and was grateful for their efforts. 

“This case demonstrates that through close partnerships between retailers, law enforcement and prosecutors, as well as legislative support, we can make a meaningful impact on organized retail crime and hold the criminals perpetuating this problem accountable,” Dan Petrousek, senior vice president of loss prevention at Ulta Beauty, said in a statement. 

Sephora didn’t return a request for comment. 

David Johnston, vice president of asset protection and retail operations at the National Retail Federation, said restitution is common for retailers, victimized by theft, but the amounts only recently started reaching the millions.

“The level of theft … has not been as substantial and as commonplace as we’ve seen over the last, you know, four years or so,” said Johnston. “This is going to be what we would expect to see when we start to get these organized retail crime groups through the judicial process. It is a substantial amount of loss, a complex organization, which involves a number of individuals, and then sentencing and restitution that meet the crime.” 

He cautioned that restitution rarely makes up for a retailers’ lost income in full, and it can take years for a defendant to pay back the fines entirely.

“Restitution is part of the judicial process, but it does not guarantee that the victim will receive all or any funds,” said Johnston. “It’s dependent upon the ability to obtain that restitution from the offender and the process in which that restitution is in fact paid and shared across multiple victims.” 

Last year, Bonta filed a slew of felony charges against Mack and her husband, alleging they ran what his office called a sprawling retail crime ring that led to an estimated $8 million in stolen beauty products, CNBC previously reported. The operation spanned at least a dozen states, CNBC reported.

Mack wasn’t accused of stealing the products herself. Instead, police said she recruited a crew of young women to take the items so she could resell the products on her Amazon storefront for a fraction of their retail price. 

The investigation, led by the California Highway Patrol, gained national attention and revealed the sophisticated nature behind some retail crime rings and how bad actors can use online marketplaces to sell stolen products. 

Last summer, Mack was sentenced to five years and four months in state prison, but was given a delayed sentence that began this month. Mack’s husband, Kenneth, was also sentenced in connection with the case, so the judge agreed to postpone her sentence so she could care for their children while Kenneth was incarcerated. 

Additional reporting by Scott Zamost and Courtney Reagan

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After fearing she might not be able to return this season, Mikaela Shiffrin is ready to race.

Shiffrin’s next victory will be the 100th of her career. She’s won seven times at Courchevel, including two wins in slalom.

Shiffrin made her announcement Thursday morning with a video of herself in the gym and back on snow. The last frame had ‘Courchevel 1/30 … See you soon.’

‘It’s been a little bit uncertain whether I could even return this season. But I’ve been able to get on snow, I’ve been able to train a little bit the last week or so,’ Shiffrin said in an interview on the TODAY show.

Shiffrin said she still isn’t 100% and will probably be dealing with the effects of the injury for the rest of the year. But she’s no longer in pain and was able to ‘ski with intensity’ during GS training on Monday. That gave her confidence to race again.

‘I was worried about how that would go because this crash happened during GS and the implications of getting back in a GS start, I wasn’t sure how that was going to feel. It felt pretty good,’ she said. ‘The next step is racing. That’s the next step of this recovery. So the recovery is not really over but I’m strong enough to get back in the start gate.’

After winning twice in her first three races this year, the expectation was that Shiffrin would get her 100th victory in Killington, one of her favorite venues and a two-hour drive from the Burke Mountain Academy that she attended as a teenager. All was going according to plan after the first run in the giant slalom, where she took a comfortable lead over Sara Hector of Sweden.

But less than 15 seconds from the finish line of the second run, Shiffrin lost an edge. She slammed into one gate and somersaulted into another before coming to a stop in the safety netting. She spent about 20 minutes on the hill before being taken down on a sled.

Shiffrin also said there was some concern she’d damaged her colon because the puncture occurred close to it and there were some air bubbles. But an examination after she returned home to Colorado showed it was fine.

‘We would have seen symptoms sooner but it’s just good to have that confirmation,’ she said.

Shiffrin had another surgery Dec. 12 to clean out the wound.

Shiffrin said at the time of the crash it would be ‘several weeks’ before she’d be back to racing. She missed the slalom in Killington the day after the crash, as well as the World Cup stop at Beaver Creek on Dec. 14-15, the first time the women raced the famed Birds of Prey course.

She’s missed six slalom and giant slalom World Cup races since the beginning of the year and is likely out of the running for the overall title this year. She’s currently 16th in the overall standings, and ninth in the slalom standings.

Still, just being able to race again is a win, though she tried to temper expectations.

‘I haven’t really skied for the last seven weeks,’ she said. ‘I’m coming back into competitions with the best athletes in the world, with the World Cup athletes, and trying to hold my own against that. They’ve been skiing and are in totally top form, and I’m coming back from ripping my oblique in half.’

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It has been more 22-years since an American man has won the Australian Open. American Ben Shelton is one step closer to ending that drought after advancing to the semifinals in Melbourne, but he will have to go through the defending Australian Open champion to do so.

No. 21 seed Shelton will face off against No. 1 seed Jannik Sinner in one of two men’s semifinals on Friday for a spot in the final. The winner will face either No. 2 seed Alexander Zverev or No. 7 seed Novak Djokovic in the final for the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup.

Shelton, the last American man remaining in the draw, is looking to win his first major and become the first Amerian man to win the Australian Open since Andre Agassi in 2003.

Meanwhile, Sinner is vying for his second consecutive Australian Open title and third major overall. Sinner came back from two sets down to defeat Daniil Medvedev in five sets to win the 2024 Australian Open. The world No. 1 also won the 2024 U.S. Open.

AUSTRALIAN OPEN BRACKET: Full schedule, results, TV times

Shelton, 22, said he’s expecting a ‘really tough matchup’ against Sinner. ‘Anytime you get to line up with the best in the world, it’s a great opportunity to improve your game and see where you are at,’ Shelton added.

Sinner, 23, was equally complimentary of his opponent, describing Shelton as ‘one of the best servers on tour.’

Here’s everything to know about the semifinal matchup:

When is Australian Open men’s semifinal?

The match featuring Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev is scheduled to start at 10:30 p.m. ET on Thursday (2:30 a.m. in Melbourne).

The matchup between Jannik Sinner and Ben Shelton is scheduled for Friday at 3:30 a.m. ET (7:30 p.m. in Melbourne).

How to watch Ben Shelton vs. Jannik Sinner

The men’s semifinal will be broadcast live on ESPN and also can be streamed live on ESPN+ or the ESPN app. You can also stream matches in Fubo, which is offering a free trial.

Watch the Australian Open with a Fubo subscription

Ben Shelton’s path to Australian Open semifinal

Tournament’s No. 21 seed

1st round: Defeated Brandon Nakashima 7-6 (7-3), 7-5, 7-5
2nd round: Defeated Pablo Carreno Busta 6-3, 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4
3rd round: Defeated (16) Lorenzo Musetti 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5)
4th round: Defeated Gael Monfils 7-6 (7-3), 6-7 (3-7), 7-6 (7-2), 1-0, Retired
Quarterfinals: Defeated Lorenzo Sonego 6-4, 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (7-4)

Jannik Sinner’s path to Australian Open semifinal

Tournament’s No. 1 seed

1st round: Defeated Nicolas Jarry 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-5), 6-1
2nd round: Defeated Tristan Schoolkate 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-3
3rd round: Defeated Marcos Giron 6-3, 6-4, 6-2
4th round: Defeated (13) Holger Rune 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
Quarterfinals: Defeated (8) Alex de Minaur 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 

Sinner vs. Shelton head to head

Sinner leads the head-to-head matchup against Shelton, 4-1. Shelton upset Sinner 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) in their first ever matchup at the Shanghai Masters in October 2023, but Sinner has defeated Shelton the last four times they have played.

Their most recent meeting was in the fourth round of the Shanghai Masters in October, with Sinner coming away with a  6-4, 7-6 (7-1) victory on the outdoor hard court on Shelton’s 22nd birthday.

What does Australian Open winner receive?

Both the men’s and women’s singles champions will earn the same amount of money for winning the Australian Open. The winner will take home $2.199 million ($3.5 million Australian dollars), with the runner-up pocketing $1.193 million ($1.9 million AUD).

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A survivor of the Nova music festival terrorist attack by Hamas Oct. 7, 2023, has channeled her therapeutic journey through music and on Thursday secured the slot to represent Israel at the Eurovision Song Contest in Basel, Switzerland.

Yuval Raphael, 24, reportedly began singing as a way to cope with the trauma she endured after she, four of her friends and roughly 40 others attempted to hide in a roadside bomb shelter near Kibbutz Re’im after they fled the festival by car after the attack. 

Raphael, who was forced to hide under the bodies of those killed in front of her for about eight hours before help arrived, has shared her story and described how Hamas terrorists repeatedly returned to the bomb shelter and opened fire on those hiding inside. 

Eventually, the terrorists began throwing grenades into the concrete shelter, a story similar to what dozens endured that day, including American-Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin.

‘Music is one of the strongest ingredients in my healing process,’ she said during the competition Thursday, The Times of Israel reported.

Despite having no previous experience as a singer, Raphael secured her top spot after singing ‘The Writings on the Wall’ followed by a rendition of ABBA’s ‘Dancing Queen’ dedicated to ‘all the angels’ killed in the October 2023 terrorist attack.  

Raphael had previously garnered international attention not with her powerhouse voice but by sharing her experience with the United Nations Human Rights Council in a move she said was not politically motivated but an attempt to bring attention to what innocent civilians endured that tragic day. 

‘I want to tell them the story of the country, of what I went through, of what others went through,’ she reportedly said ahead of the final. ‘I want to tell the story, but not from a place of seeking pity. I want it to be from a place of standing strong in the face of this and in the face of the boos I’m 100% sure will come from the crowd.’

Raphael’s comments were in reference to the pushback she and other Israelis have faced during the international competitions, including in 2024, following the terrorist attack and subsequent Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) operations in Gaza.

Israel has faced calls to be banned from the international competition, but the European Broadcasting Union has rejected the push, affirming that Eurovision is a non-political music event. The 2024 Israeli contestant, Eden Golan, faced anti-Israeli protests and had to be granted a Shin Bet security detail.

Golan was also required to change the name of her song, ‘October Rain,’ to ‘Hurricane’ because event officials believed it was too political, The Times of Israel reported.

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