First came a visceral roar. Then a tender hug.

Novak Djokovic’s emotions poured out after securing an Australian Open quarter-final victory over Carlos Alcaraz that made a mockery of predictions, logic and expectation.

Exuding joy and relief, Djokovic turned straight to his coach Andy Murray and buried his head in the Briton’s chest.

The celebration between the rivals-turned-colleagues came following the biggest success of Murray’s shock first coaching job.

“It was kind of a gesture of appreciation and respect for him for the fact that he’s out there and he doesn’t need to be,” said 37-year-old Djokovic, who was born a week after Murray in May 1987.

“He accepted to work with me. He’s giving all his support to me, to the whole team, and trying to make it work.”

When 24-time major champion Djokovic announced in November he was employing the recently retired Murray as his new coach, it felt like a prank.

But there is nothing more serious for both men than winning tennis matches.

Murray has regularly cut a tense figure during Djokovic’s run at Melbourne Park, appearing deep in thought about how he can help the seventh seed land a record 25th Grand Slam title.

His relief at the Serb edging past Alcaraz, 21, showed with a heavy exhale of breath.

Then came the moment when Djokovic, who had battled through an upper left leg injury to beat Spanish third seed Alcaraz, trudged over to hug his fist-pumping coach.

“This was a huge win for all of us – including Andy and myself for the relationship,” added Djokovic.

“That’s why I went to him because I felt very grateful that he’s there.”

After seeing his playing career decimated by a hip injury, three-time major champion Murray finally decided to call it quits last year following the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

The morning after the final match of his career, the Scot seemed genuine when he said he had no firm idea of what he wanted to do next.

But Murray revealed he had the unexpected conversation with Djokovic during a phone call in his car – shortly after telling a golfing partner he had no desire to move into coaching yet.

It was a “unique opportunity” which Murray could not turn down.

Before Djokovic’s quarter-final on Tuesday, Murray told BBC Sport he was enjoying the experience of what is initially a trial run in Melbourne.

“I feel more and more connected with Andy every day,” said Djokovic.

“We face challenges every single day. People don’t see that.

“We try to make the most out of every day and grow together.

“He’s been as committed to my career and this tournament as he can be.”

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Until Monday, even some of Donald Trump’s team did not seem to believe he would release all of those arrested after riots at the US Capitol on 6 January 2021.

“If you committed violence on that day, obviously you shouldn’t be pardoned,” Vice-President JD Vance said a little over a week ago.

A few days later, testifying in front of Congress, Trump’s nominee for Attorney General Pam Bondi agreed with a Democratic senator who asked her to condemn the violence of that day.

“I do not agree with violence against any police officer,” she said, adding that she was willing to look individually at each of the more than 1,500 riot-linked cases.

Trump, however, took a far more sweeping approach to the cases on his first day in office.

He issued a handful of commutations and a blanket pardon that effectively freed all the rioters and erased the work of the largest criminal investigation in US history.

His executive order on Monday gave the rioters and their supporters nearly everything they had been pleading for, short of monetary compensation from the government which some prisoner groups have demanded.

In a news conference on Tuesday at the White House, Trump said: “These people have already served years in prison, and they’ve served them viciously.

“It’s a disgusting prison. It’s been horrible. It’s inhumane. It’s been a terrible, terrible thing.”

There were celebratory scenes outside the Washington DC jail where a number of those arrested over the riot have been held, as well as on social media accounts run by the defendants and their supporters.

The mother of Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, who was released on Tuesday, has posted regular updates about her son.

“Our president gave my son and all the J6ers their lives back!” Zuny Tarrio wrote after learning he would walk free from his 22-year sentence. “They can live again! Breathe fresh air again! Feel the sunshine again!”

One of those released from the Washington DC jail on Tuesday was Rachel Powell, a Pennsylvania woman who was sentenced to more than four years in prison after smashing a window at the Capitol with an ice axe.

Speaking outside the jail, she told the BBC she would now be home in time for her son’s birthday and praised Trump for keeping his promise. “He’s a bigger blessing to me than I could ever imagine,” she said.

Some observers, including policy experts and lawyers representing rioters, were taken aback by the scale of the president’s order.

“The overall consensus was that we would see a differentiation between those who committed violent acts and those who did not,” said Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen, a progressive not-for-profit group that opposed the pardons.

“Donald Trump ran for office on law and order, so it’s shocking and upsetting to see him taking action to pardon violent criminals,” she said.

Fourteen people convicted of some of the most serious crimes had their sentences commuted – meaning their offences will remain on the record, but they will still be released from prison.

The justice department, in its last update, said 1,583 people had been arrested or convicted of riot-related crimes.

More than 600 were charged with assaulting, resisting or obstructing police, including around 175 charged with using a weapon or causing serious injury to an officer.

Most of those convicted have served their sentences or did not receive a jail term at all, but around 250 who are still in prison have started to be released.

And it appears any further investigations – the FBI was still looking for at least 13 suspects and fugitives – will be halted.

Underlining the sweeping finality of his move, Trump named Ed Martin as acting US attorney for Washington DC – the prosecutorial role that has been chiefly responsible for pursuing riot cases.

Martin organised a pro-Trump rally the day before the riot and has been a staunch critic of the entire investigation.

On the campaign trail, Trump made various statements about the rioters, at times promising blanket pardons but occasionally indicating he might be inclined to keep some of them behind bars.

Supporters of the rioters cheered his blanket pardon on Monday, and have long described the sentences handed out to people they call “J6 hostages” and “political prisoners” as being politically motivated and harsh.

Norm Pattis, a lawyer who defended some of the prisoners, told BBC Newshour that “the notion that somehow this event threatens the republic is overdone”, adding that Confederate rebels were pardoned after the Civil War.

“If we could come together as a country after such a violent act, and after people openly took arms and killed one another… why were we still prosecuting people for criminal trespass four years later after an afternoon’s riot?” he said.

Polls, however, suggest a blanket pardon including for violent convicts is unpopular. A recent Associated Press survey indicated only two in 10 Americans approve of pardoning most of those involved.

Winston Pingeon, a Capitol Police officer who was punched and pepper sprayed that day, told Newshour the pardons were a “slap in the face”.

“It’s really an unprecedented thing to know that these violent felons who were convicted by a jury of their peers for crimes that were largely broadcast for all the country and the world to see are going to walk free,” he said.

In his executive order, Trump explained why he chose to commute the 14 convicts rather than offer them full pardons. The list includes members of the far-right Proud Boys and Oath Keepers militia. Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes was on the list, and was released in the early hours of Tuesday, his lawyer said.

Rhodes, a former US Army paratrooper and Yale-educated lawyer, led the Oath Keepers to Washington in the days before a riot. The group stashed guns in a hotel room across the Potomac River in Virginia, according to trial evidence. Rhodes did not enter the Capitol but directed his members from outside, and was sentenced in 2023 to 18 years in prison.

Rhodes’s lawyer, James Lee Bright, told the BBC that even those close to the cases were surprised by the broad nature of the clemency action and the speed of prisoner releases.

“Despite our relationships with people who are close to the president, they were extremely tight-lipped” before the executive order, Bright said.

Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys, received a full pardon, although five other members of his group were on the commutation list. Tarrio was not in the crowd that day, having been banned from the city. Instead, he communicated with fellow Proud Boys from a hotel in nearby Baltimore.

After Rhodes’s arrest the Oath Keepers mostly ceased operations, while the Proud Boys focused on local protests, particularly against transgender activists and drag story hours. The latter group was also racked with infighting between established members and splinter groups pushing explicitly white nationalist ideas.

Wendy Via, CEO and co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, said newly released militia members may try to continue their activities, putting far-right groups that largely dissipated back into the spotlight.

On Monday dozens of Proud Boys were seen marching around Washington to celebrate the inauguration.

“Do the Proud Boys start trying to centralise the organisation again, like it was in 2021? That’s going to be a big question,” Ms Via said.

“The fallout from these pardons is that Trump has sent a message that violence is a viable tool for change, as long as it’s on his side,” she added.

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Some youth believed to be members of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Ho Central constituency went on the rampage on Tuesday evening and almost set ablaze the party office.

The irate youth were reported to be protesting a purported ministerial appointment snub by President Mahama. They had envisaged a ministerial appointment from the constituency – which gave the NDC the second highest votes in the Volta Region in the 2024 general elections.

They broke into the constituency office at Ho Housing, brought out some logistics including documents and furniture and lit them. Tires were burnt on the main road.

The swift intervention of the Ghana Fire Service prevented the fire from spreading to nearby shops.

The perpetrators sensing danger, fled the office where some residents had gathered to witness the incident.

A member of the Ho Central constituency NDC, Theophilus Adzanku expressed dismay at the incident and described the act as “immature and undemocratic.” He indicated that the party had no foreknowledge about the incident and the identity of the perpetrators.

He said that while rounding up the vetting process of MMDCEs at the Residency, they received news of some youth breaking into the office, “ransacked the entire place and set some items on fire.”

He said that the act was unjust and uncalled for since the “President has made a lot of appointments from the region which we are happy about”.

Theophilus said the irate youth acted in bad faith and should have consulted the leadership of the party before taking a decision which could tarnish the image of the party.

“We know Ho Central, per our work we have done in this election, the President will never forget us in this appointment issue. So we don’t understand why our youth should take the law into their own hands. In fact, we are very disappointed in them”, he said.

He stressed the party together with the security services would launch a full-scale investigation into the incident and bring the culprits to book.

He called for calm and cooperation on the issues of appointments to avert such “needless” attacks on party office.

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Declaring drug cartels as ‘foreign terrorist organisations’

Pulling out of Paris climate accord

Ending birthright citizenship

Withdrawing from World Health Organization (WHO)

Renaming Gulf of Mexico

The US recognises two sexes, male and female