Brighton have decided on Lille star Carlos Baleba as their Moises Caicedo replacement ahead of the Ecuadorian's £115m move to Chelsea.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says Ukrainians are “making progress, making advances,” with their counteroffensive against Russian forces

Clashes are continuing for a third day in Lebanon’s Ein el Helweh Palestinian camp between members of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah group and Islamist factions in the camp

HONG KONG (Reuters) -China Evergrande Group's latest trouble in firming up a long-pending debt restructuring plan led to a sell-off

The Bank of England is the last of the big central banks to meet before the summer break

Lucy Staniforth has been added to England’s standby list in place of Jess Park ahead of the Women’s World Cup. The Aston Villa midfielder will travel to St George’s Park on Tuesday to join up with the squad after Park returned to Manchester City for rehabilitation on a shoulder injury. Staniforth joins Maya Le Tissier on standby, with the pair due to remain with the group until their opening match of the tournament against Haiti in Brisbane on July 22. The Lionesses face Portugal in a friendly at a sold-out Stadium MK on Saturday before flying to Australia on Wednesday, July 5. There is concern for Alex Greenwood after she went down with an apparent injury during training at St George’s Park. The Manchester City defender was able to walk off the pitch and had an ice pack applied before heading inside for treatment. Sarina Wiegman’s squad play Haiti, Denmark and China in their group phase fixtures, though as one of the tournament favourites and European Championships winners, they will hope to go the distance this summer. Read More England ‘resilience’ can help Lionesses overcome injuries at Women’s World Cup UEFA to close contract loophole allowing clubs to spread cost of transfers Tottenham standing firm on Harry Kane amid interest from Bayern Munich

TikTok sensation Alix Earle appeared to have taken her rumored romance with NFL player Braxton Berrios to the next level by sporting his jersey

A panel of judges has voted to render far-right former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro ineligible to run for office again after concluding that he abused his power and cast unfounded doubts on the country’s electronic voting system

There is suddenly a little bit of tension about one of the most ambitious plans in football. High-placed sources say this week brings a lot of discussion between Saudi Arabian representatives and those of top players in order to try and convince them to join the planet’s most disruptive competition. Some involved see it as a key period for the Saudi Pro League in terms of keeping the momentum going by getting truly big players. Interest in Neymar and David De Gea is now well known, but representatives are also looking at Riyad Mahrez and Bernardo Silva, and there are offers for a series of Chelsea players. Among them are N’Golo Kante, Edouard Mendy, Romelu Lukaku, Kalidou Koulibaly, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Hakim Ziyech. It would represent quite the analgesic for what had been a real headache at Stamford Bridge. Throughout the last few months, the major question at Stamford Bridge, beyond the manager, was who was going to buy the players they needed to sell to trim the squad and meet Financial Fair Play requirements. Everyone “knew they were coming”, to use the industry phrase. Clubs were going to go in low and well under the asking price, as Manchester United have attempted with Mason Mount. Now, a solution has suddenly presented itself. Chelsea could clear a lot of players for big money, allowing Mauricio Pochettino a much cleaner slate to start working with. It has raised a lot of chatter within the game as well as outside. Football officials have privately pointed to the strong relationship between Chelsea majority owners Clearlake and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund [PIF], who have billions of pounds worth of assets managed by the American firm. Many within the game are now asking about Saudi influence on Chelsea but it has long been stressed there was no involvement in Clearlake’s 2022 purchase, and consequently no concern about potential conflicts of interest given the ownership of Newcastle United. The Owners and Directors test would also require that any influence be declared. It is being insisted now at Stamford Bridge that the only discussions taking place are “transactional conversations about players they’re interested in”. Chelsea and the Premier League have been approached for comment. The London club look to have just benefitted from good timing, although the biggest question now is how many players will actually be convinced to move, and “what actually gets done”. Lukaku is already reluctant. Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva would be unlikely to even consider a proposal if it arrives. The very fact such discussions are being had does raise two wider issues for the game. One, in the abstract, is the growing influence of private equity in football. Part of the reason such questions are being asked is that it’s unclear what money funds private equity in such takeovers. The Premier League, for example, doesn’t have to know. There are an increasing number of people in football who see private equity’s influence - going right up to possible deals with Serie A and La Liga - as just as problematic as state ownership, especially with how the potential is there for the two to overlap. There is then the big story of the summer, which revolves around one of the most ambitious and biggest of those states. Offers from the Saudi Pro League are expected to escalate in the next few weeks, as this is viewed as a key stage of the project. Bringing Ruben Neves from Wolves was a coup but they want bigger than that. It is also why there was some disappointment about the “complacency” of Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin about the extent the Saudi Pro League’s growth could distort the game. The Slovenian official gave an interview in the Netherlands on the eve of the Nations League final, in which he said the European game should not be concerned about any player exodus. “No, no, no… I think that it's mainly a mistake for Saudi Arabian football. Why is that a problem for them? Because they should invest in academies, they should bring coaches, and they should develop their own players." “The system of buying the players that almost ended their career is not the system that develops football. It was a similar mistake in China when they all brought players who are at the end of their career.” “Tell me one player who is top, top age and who starts his career and went to play in Saudi Arabia? But it's not about money only. Players want to win top competitions. And top competition is in Europe.” That question is something currently being tested, but a growing view is that Ceferin is wrong to make the comparison to China. Saudi Arabia has a much more developed football culture, with a good level of quality, and part of this project is improving that. There is then the wider issue of the football authorities' general lack of regulation and foresight on the influence of states and private equity groups. The next few days will nevertheless tell a lot, but this is really about the next few years. Read More First golf, now football? Saudi Arabia’s grand plan and the 72 hours that changed everything Sportswashing is about to change football beyond anything you can imagine The year that sportswashing won: A season that changed football forever Saudi Arabia can help Chelsea solve headache — but talks raise issues Carabao Cup 2023/24 fixture dates and schedule revealed Chelsea fixtures released for Premier League 2023/24 season

Following a Gulf of Mexico plane crash on Sunday, a Florida man, Pilot Adam Joseph Barney, was rescued and survived with minor injuries

'The Crowded Room' Episode 2 explores the budding friendship between Danny and Ariana and reveals the dark side of Ariana’s life

JERUSALEM The Israeli military accused Iran on Monday of having ordered attacks by Hezbollah at the Lebanon-Israel border