The “woosh” of a dildo flying past your face. Tribalistic chants. Men making bets on your bodily functions.

This isn’t a cult—this is a day in the life of a modern-day WNBA player.

That last indignity on the list? It’s a sports betting strategy that’s been getting increasing play over the course of this WNBA season, which is wrapping up as the Las Vegas Aces and Phoenix Mercury face off in the finals. Dozens of dedicated gamblers online are making bets on players’ potential performance based on their “predictions” (or, rather, assumptions) about their menstrual cycles. Some actually call it “blood money,” because … of course they do.

One prominent figure making and predicting these wagers, who goes by FadeMeBets online, has garnered thousands of likes and shares on Instagram for his menstrual cycle betting strategy. He claims he’s been correct on 11 out of 16 of his period-related predictions, with about 68.75 percent accuracy. “What’s kind of good, but also kind of bad, is it brings more people to watch the WNBA, but, on the downside of that, it’s usually just all gamblers,” says FadeMeBets, who declined to be named, citing privacy concerns.

This WNBA season has been a record-breaker—more fans in the stands, more eyes on the screen, more viral moments. The league announced that attendance passed a historic 2.5 million earlier this summer. Meanwhile, high-profile players like Angel Reese, Paige Bueckers, and Caitlin Clark have added a boost and become household names.

The newfound interest in the league has more men watching the sport than women, and the overwhelming rise of sports gambling means some of them are betting on the games—and the players’ periods—which experts warn isn’t just pseudoscientific, but sexist, too.

“Not every woman is the same. Yes, there’s the traditional 28-day cycle, but everyone’s is different, and it varies person to person, month by month,” says Amy West, a sports medicine physician. “Someone being able to predict that? Someone who’s not very close to the menstruating person? It’s actually kind of silly.”

Methods to the Madness

FadeMeBets admits that predicting WNBA player performance based on menstrual cycle assumptions is more art than science. His typical menstrual cycle prediction videos all start with the vaguely menacing phrase: “We’ve got a victim, boys.” (By this, he says the victim is the betting line—the odds set out by sportsbooks that determine a person’s payout—not the player herself.) He then shares predictions about whether a specific player is menstruating, ovulating, or in their late luteal phase, which occurs after ovulation and before the period comes. For instance, he said this summer of Clark: “She is on the end of her late luteal phase, meaning a decrease in cardio, decrease in strength, decrease in aerobic system, she’s going to be tired more often than in a normal game.”

FadeMeBets told viewers to “bet the under” on Clark that game, projecting that she’d score lower than the number predicted by oddsmakers on sports betting apps, and, in this case, Clark did.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has given Google strategic market status (SMS) for search and search advertising.

The regulator said that designating Google with SMS enables it to consider proportionate, targeted interventions to ensure that general search services are open to effective competition, and that consumers and businesses relying on Google can have confidence that they are treated fairly.

Before introducing such interventions, however, the CMA must carry out further public consultation on their terms and impact.

Google products covered by the SMS designation include Google Search, irrespective of how it is accessed, and all the information it returns, including through AI Overviews and AI Mode. “This ensures that our designation reflects the changing nature of Google’s search product. It also includes Google’s organic search,” said the CMA.

But although some people are using Google’s Gemini AI engine for internet searches, the CMA has not included Gemini as part of the SMS designation.

Will Hayter, executive director for digital markets at the CMA, said: “By promoting competition in digital markets like search and search advertising, we can unlock opportunities for businesses big and small to support innovation and growth, driving investment across the UK economy.

“We have found that Google maintains a strategic position in the search and search advertising sector, with more than 90% of searches in the UK taking place on its platform.

“Having taken into account the feedback received following our proposed decision, we have today designated Google’s search services with strategic market status.”

Numerous companies submitted comments to the CMA’s investigation earlier this year, which focused on whether Google should be designated SMS.

In its submission, browser developer Vivaldi discussed the significant support Mozilla Foundation, which operates the Firefox web browser, received from Google and the status of Google Search in the Firefox browser.

Vivaldi said: “We believe that Google and Microsoft’s search functionality should be available to any browser, and the revenue share should be the same percentage, whichever company uses their search. Neither search provider should be allowed to offer better terms to be default, nor dictate other terms, such as which other organisations a browser vendor partners with for search, or other revenue-generating deals.

“To create fair competition conducive to more innovation and higher consumer benefits, the playing field needs to be levelled for big and small companies. Otherwise, Microsoft and Google will maintain dominance across different market segments by refusing to share search revenue with smaller players.”

However, a comment submitted by airline IAG noted that while Google Flight Search (GFS) plays an important role in the market, IAG said it was not concerned about Google’s strategic market status in respect of its provision of general search and search advertising services. 

The CMA will need to balance the needs of e-commerce sites and those who are calling for Google to be forced to scrap the revenue-sharing deals it has with companies like Apple.

For instance, airline easyJet noted the changes made through the European Union’s Digital Market Authority had led to a significant shift in traffic from GFS to other vertical search services, such as online travel agencies and metasearch engines. “This shift has diluted easyJet’s direct web sales, impacting our ability to offer customers the best value and service,” it said.

Telco Orange has revealed the first landing on European soil of the Medusa undersea cable system, designed to transform infrastructure in the Mediterranean region.

Owned by African infrastructure and telecoms operator AFR-IX Telecom, the Medusa Submarine Cable System is 8,760km long, and will be the first and longest subsea cable to connect the main Mediterranean countries, providing access to telecommunications infrastructure and 16 landing points around the Mediterranean Sea.

The cable will have segments with up to 24 fibre pairs, with a capacity of 20Tbs per fibre pair. Its festoon architecture is said to offer a unique design.

Designed as an open-access system, Medusa will look to offer telecom providers across the region with access to advanced connectivity services, supporting the roll-out of 5G, the growth of cloud infrastructure, and the increasing bandwidth demands of artificial intelligence (AI) and future technologies.

Operationally, Medusa will have two main regions: Europe and North Africa. In Europe, it has local operational branches in Ireland, Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Greece and Cyprus. These branches hold licenses and permits. The Network Operations Centre is based in Europe. In North Africa, Medusa has agreements with local licensed operators for landing parties.

Medusa is seen as being crucial for developing the digital ecosystem of populations in North African countries, taking a significant step towards closing the digital divide between Europe and North Africa, connecting countries such as Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Algeria and Egypt with high-capacity fibre-optic links to six European Union (EU) member states: Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Greece and Cyprus.

The investment is expected to have a positive impact on the economy of these countries, which will lead to inclusive and sustainable economic growth. It is also backed financially by the EU.

With the arrival of the 1,050km-long submarine cable segment, Orange says it is reaffirming its commitment to international connectivity and digital dynamism in the Mediterranean through the continued development of its infrastructure in Marseille.

The cable is part of the ongoing development of submarine networks connecting both sides of the Mediterranean, from Marseille to Bizerte in Tunisia, meeting growing needs for bandwidth in the region.

With the fully redundant fibre optic infrastructure, Orange says it will provide its Marseille customers with simple, secure and direct access to all of the city’s datacentres, which are now interconnected and also have direct links to major European hubs such as Paris, London and Frankfurt, as well as the rest of the world. All aspects of the cable are fully managed by Orange, including from a technical, regulatory, security and environmental point of view.

The Marseille-Bizerte segment also benefits from co-financing by the EU through the Connecting Europe Facility. Three pairs of fibre belonging to Orange are supported in the framework of the European Global Gateway strategy, aimed at strengthening connections between Europe and Africa, supporting digital transition and reducing the digital divide.

The Medusa cable provider is Alcatel Submarine Networks. Elettra, a subsidiary of Orange and the project coordinator, managed the operation. Orange Marine’s cable ship, Sophie Germain, was tasked with the cable landing operations in Marseille. 

“We are proud to bring our leadership and expertise to the Medusa cable, hosted within our secure infrastructure in Marseille, with laying operations carried out by our cable ships, Teliri and Sophie Germain,” said Michael Trabbia, CEO of Orange Wholesale.

“Our infrastructure offers a key link in Mediterranean basin connectivity, ensuring digital resilience and supporting socio-economic development,” he added. “With this landing, Orange enhances Europe’s digital sovereignty and positions Marseille as a global digital hub, now hosting the arrival of 17 submarine cables connected worldwide.”