Walsh won in 54.33 seconds at the Fort Lauderdale Open in Florida, where she set her previous world record of 54.60s.

American swimmer Gretchen Walsh has stormed to 54.33 seconds in the women’s 100-metre butterfly to lower her own world record for the fourth time at the Fort Lauderdale Open in Florida, the United States.

Walsh on Saturday sliced 27-hundredths of a second off the previous world record of 54.60 she set in the same pool at a Pro Swim event last May. She broke the record twice in one day at last year’s meeting and has now broken the record four times.

Winner of three world titles in Singapore last year, Walsh is now more than a second faster than the second-fastest woman in the history of the event, with Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom at her best of 55.48 seconds.

She was more than four seconds faster than world junior record holder Claire Curzan, who clocked 58.44 for silver, and fastest in the world this season by more than two seconds.

Walsh now owns more than a third of the sub-56-second swims in the event’s history.

The 23-year-old joked about making the world record an “annual thing” as she took to social media soon after her feat.

“Could not be more grateful for the WR, the crowd, and the pool,” she said in a post on Instagram.

France’s Olympic hero Leon Marchand captured two titles to take his tally for the week to four.

On Saturday, the four-time Olympic gold medallist won the 200 metres breaststroke in 2 minutes 9.04 seconds, his best time of the season, and followed up with a victory in the 200m individual medley in 1:57.28.

Hungary’s Hubert Kos, who trains with Marchand under former Michael Phelps mentor Bob Bowman in Texas, tied for second in the medley with Carson Foster, both touching in 1:57.95.

Marchand, gearing up for the European Championships starting in Paris on July 31, had used early meets this season to test himself in less familiar events.

But in Fort Lauderdale, the 23-year-old has opted for the same race programme that saw him win four gold medals at the 2024 Paris Games.

Katie Ledecky opened the day with an 8:12.66 in the women’s 800m freestyle to finish more than 30 seconds ahead of 8:40.80 by Katie Grimes.

Ledecky, the most decorated female swimmer in history with 14 Olympic medals, was just off her season’s best of 8:08.57 set in March.

Protesters have marched in South Korea’s capital, Seoul, to show solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza enduring ongoing genocidal violence by Israel. Demonstrators also gathered near the US embassy to condemn US support for Israel.

Naoya Inoue wins 116-112, 115-113, 116-112 in a fight billed as the biggest boxing match in ​Japanese history.

Japanese boxer ‌Naoya Inoue has retained his undisputed super ⁠bantamweight world ⁠title with a unanimous decision victory over compatriot Junto Nakatani after a gripping 12-round ⁠contest in Tokyo.

Inoue said he was “relieved” to beat Nakatani and stay unbeaten in front of 55,000 fans at a sold-out Tokyo Dome on Saturday.

The 33-year-old, famous as the Monster, extended his winning streak in world ⁠title bouts to 28 as judges scored the fight 116-112, 115-113 and 116-112 in his favour.

“It was different to the fights I’ve had before, with the pressure. So I’m relieved that I won,” Inoue said afterwards.

“I don’t know if tonight was a legendary night or not, but that’s coming soon.

“Tonight isn’t the end point of my boxing career, and there’s still time to create more legendary occasions.”

Both boxers entered the bout unbeaten at 32-0 in a ‌contest billed as the biggest boxing match in Japanese history after Nakatani moved up a division late last year.

Inoue charged early before Nakatani appeared to close the gap in the latter half of the fight as ⁠the pace intensified, but a ⁠clash of heads late in the 10th round opened a cut above the challenger’s eye and stalled his momentum.

“Today I executed ⁠the plan that I’d been saying before the fight, to stay ⁠focused on winning, to make ⁠sure I was the one who came out as the winner,” Inoue said.

“As you all know, Nakatani is a mentally strong ‌boxer. The fact that he is in the [top 10] pound-for-pound rankings makes this win worthwhile.”

The win ‌improved ‌Inoue’s overall record to 33 victories, with 27 knockouts (KOs).

Nakatani, who has held world titles in three different weight classes, was looking to catapult himself into the sport’s top echelons with a win.

Nicknamed “Big Bang”, the 28-year-old regularly features in The Ring magazine’s top 10 pound-for-pound rankings, which rate the world’s best boxers regardless of weight class.

He was fighting only his second bout at super bantamweight, and he used his longer reach to hold Inoue at bay early in the fight.

But he was powerless to prevent his opponent scoring with a series of pinpoint shots, before an accidental headbutt opened up a cut above his eye that troubled him late in the fight.

“I prepared for lots of different eventualities, so I wasn’t really surprised by the way he fought,” said Nakatani, who saw his record drop to 32-1, with 24 KOs.

“But he fought like a champion, and he’s a great boxer.”

The match was fought in an atmosphere of mutual respect, with both boxers exchanging smiles and fist bumps throughout.

Inoue was fighting at the Tokyo Dome for the second time, having beaten Mexico’s Luis Nery there in May 2024.

The area around the stadium was thronged with fans hours before the doors opened.

The atmosphere reached fever pitch when Inoue and Nakatani made their entrances for a landmark bout in Japanese boxing.

“The view I had from the ring was one that only I could savour, but it was thanks to the 55,000 people in the stadium that I was able to see it,” Inoue said.

“I will be back at the Tokyo Dome, so please let me savour this view again.”

Arrest of 39-year-old comes after Swiss company HiPP last month issued product recall over tainted baby food jars.

A man has been arrested in Austria over the discovery of rat poison in a popular brand of baby food, according to police.

The arrest comes after the Swiss company HiPP last month issued a partial recall of its products after authorities found rat poison and an unspecified “toxic additive” in jars of baby food sold in Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

HiPP, which bills itself as the world’s top organic baby food brand, said at the time that its products were not tainted during production and the recall had been prompted by a “criminal act” under investigation by the authorities.

The Sachseln-based brand later announced it had been contacted by an extortionist seeking to blackmail the company.

Police in Austria’s eastern state of Burgenland on Sunday confirmed they had arrested a 39-year-old suspect in the case.

“However, for tactical investigative reasons, we cannot provide any information about the further steps of the investigation,” Helmut Marban, a spokesperson for the Burgenland Provincial Police Directorate, told Al Jazeera.

After the discovery of the tainted baby food last month, authorities advised the public to avoid HiPP products featuring a white sticker with a red circle on the bottom of the jar, a damaged lid, a missing safety seal or a strange smell.

The Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety advised anyone experiencing symptoms of poisoning, including bleeding, extreme weakness or paleness, to consult a medical professional.

Rat poison interferes with the body’s use of vitamin K, and symptoms typically appear two to five days after ingestion, according to the Austrian food safety agency.