SUNCHEON, South Korea--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct 10, 2023--

Millions of Chinese students sit for notoriously tough college entrance exams on Wednesday, the first since the country lifted zero-Covid rules that forced classes...

Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, is reported to have been killed in a plane crash northwest of Moscow - exactly two months after leading a short-lived and unsuccessful mutiny against president Vladimir Putin. The plane crash which happened near the village of Kuzhenkino, northwest of Moscow, during a flight from Moscow to St Petersburg on Wednesday evening. Western intelligence agencies believe that Putin may have had a hand in downing the aircraft. The Wagner Group has become best known for its involvement in Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, but the private army, which Prigozhin claimed had 25,000 soldiers at the beginning of the war, has been around since 2014 and has been involved in several other conflicts. Here, The Independent takes a look at Wagner’s involvement in other countries, when it got involved in Ukraine and the events surrounding Prigozhin’s failed mutiny back in June, which sent shockwaves through Russia. 2014 - Wager group is founded by Prigozhin Prigozhin, a wealthy businessman known as Putin’s chef because he provided catering services to the Kremlin, said he founded the group back in 2014 and it was involved in Russia’s invasion and annexation of the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine. Wagner forces have been involved in Syria’s civil war since 2015, supporting pro-government forces and oil fields. The group has had a growing presence in Africa in recent years and has been detected in Libya, Sudan, the Central African Republic and Mail. 28 March 2022 - mercenaries are deployed to Ukraine Britain’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) first reported that Wagner had been deployed in Ukraine on 28 March 2022, just a month into the Kremlin’s invasion – after Russian losses had already begun to hamper the pace of the initial assault. But some reports suggest they had been involved since the beginning of the invasion on 24 February. Military consultant Nicholas Drummond told The Independent: “Wagner was involved from the start but the group started to become a key player when the initial assault ran into difficulty. “By the end of March, it was very evident that the invasion had gone wrong. Putin used Prigozhin as a troubleshooter and Wagner was there to fill the gaps.” 14 April - Prigozhin calls for end to war Prigozhin urges Putin to end the war and to tell the Russian people that the country had achieved the aims of its “special military operation. He claimed that Russia had taken a “fat chunk” of Ukrainian territory, and that the most strategic route for its armed forces - who have suffered severe losses - would be to defend existing gains. His comments, which came in a rambling statement posted online, marked the first time a senior figure in the war publicly called for the Kremlin to stop the war. Over the next few months - and up until the weeks before his reported death - he would go on to repeatedly criticise the Kremlin’s strategy in the war and complain about the number of troops he was losing. 4 May - Prigozhin rages at top military brass Prigozhin launches blistering attack on Russia top military brass after suffering heavy losses on Bakhmut. In an expletive-ridden video, recorded in a field littered with corpses, blamed the Kremlin for the deaths. “These are Wagner lads who died today. The blood is still fresh,” he says, pointing to roughly three dozen bodies he says are Wagner fighters. “They came here as volunteers and are dying so you can sit like fat cats in your luxury offices.” 20 May - Wager claims it has taken Bakhmut Wagner claims that its forces have taken control of the city of Bakhmut after the longest and most grinding battle of the Russia-Ukraine war, but Ukrainian defense officials dismiss claims as false. In a video posted on Telegram, Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin said the city came under complete Russian control at about midday Saturday. He spoke flanked by about half a dozen fighters, with ruined buildings in the background and explosions heard in the distance. However, after the video appeared, Ukrainian deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said heavy fighting was continuing. 25 May - Wagner troops leave Bakhmut Russia’s Wagner mercenary group has started withdrawing its forces from the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut and transferring its positions there to regular Russian troops, its founder Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a video published on Thursday. "We are withdrawing the units from Bakhmut. From today at five in the morning, May 25 until June 1, most of the units will rebase to camps in the rear. We are handing our positions to the military," he said. 23/24June - Prigozhin leads rebellion against Kremlin Prigozhin leads rebellion against the Kremlin and demands the sacking of defence minister Sergei Shoigu, who he blames for Russia’s faltering campaign in Ukraine Thousands of Wagner fighters move rapidly from Russia’s south towards the capital in a "march for justice", reportedly making it to within 120 miles from the city before Priogozhin calls off their advance. 27 June - Belarus president claims he convinced Prigozhin to call off mutiny Alexander Lukashenko says that he convinced Prigozhin in an emotional, expletive-laden phone call to end the mutiny. Under a deal brokered by Lukashenko, an old friend, Prigozhin abandoned what a "march for justice" by thousands of his men on Moscow in exchange for safe passage to exile in Belarus. 6 July - Prigozhin ‘free’ man in St Petersburg Lukashenko says Prigozhin is in St Petersburg and a "free" man - despite staging rebellion weeks earlier. The Belarusian leader said then "maybe he went to Moscow, maybe somewhere else, but he is not on the territory of Belarus". 18 July - Prigozhin welcomes troops to Belarus Wagner chief appears in video allegedly showing him welcoming his troops to Belarus. 27 July - Images suggest Wagner chief attended meeting in St Petersburg Images posted online appear to show Prigozhin attending a meeting in St Petersburg, where Putin was also in attendance for the Russia-Africa summit. 22 August - Prigozhin posts final video before reported death In the video, Mr Prigozhin was seen toting an assault rifle and wearing military fatigues, with his comments suggesting the clip was shot in an unnamed African country. The Wagner boss said during the clip that he is recruiting “strongmen” and said the group will “fulfil the tasks that were set” by the Russian government. The video was shared on Telegram channels affiliated with the Wagner group, as Mr Prigozhin said the mercenary group was “making Russia even greater on all continents, and Africa even more free”. 23 August - Prigozhin reportedly killed in plane crash Prigozhin is presumed dead after being named among passengers on a private jet that crashed into a field near Moscow with no survivors. Kremlin stays silent on plane crash throughout the following day. Read More If the Wagner mercenary chief is dead, he got the death he deserved Minister warns against jumping to conclusions over Wagner chief’s reported death The downed Russian jet carried Wagner's hierarchy, from Prigozhin's No. 2 to his bodyguards The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary

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Apple is preparing a new update that will bring a host of new features to the iPhone. Some of the tools were announced in June, when Apple first showed off its major iOS 17 update, such as the long-awaited Journal app. That uses machine learning to understand what people have done in a day, and encourages them to write about their activities to remember them. Some are unexpected. That includes new updates to the iPhone 15 Pro’s action button: now, users can press the button to bring up a translate option, which shows a window and lets people speak text to have it appear in another language. The action button was introduced with the iPhone 15 Pro last month, as a replacement for the mute switch that can be mapped to any activity. Apple did not say then that it was planning to introduce new actions for that button. The new update also lets people add stickers as reactions on messages, collaborate on Apple Music playlists, redesigns the Apple TV app and some widgets, and more. iOS 17.2 was released as a developer beta update this week. It will likely make its way to everyone’s phones in November or December, though it will be possible to get it earlier by signing up to Apple’s public beta channel. Those on the public updates received their own update this week, in the form iOS 17.1. But the changes introduced with that update are more limited, such as new settings for the StandBy mode that shows when a phone is placed on its side and an AirDrop feature that lets transfers continue over the internet when devices are separated. Read More The Apple Watch feature everyone has been waiting for has finally arrived Apple’s plans for the future of AirPods might just have been revealed Apple TV+ and other subscriptions are about to get a lot more expensive

Here's more proof of how fast legal sports betting is spreading in the U.S. A company that most of the industry uses to verify that its customers are where they say they are reports a record number of transactions over the first weekend of the NFL season

Today's USMNT news includes AC Milan completing a deal with Chelsea for Christian Pulisic. Yunus Musah could be on his way to Fulham and Ricardo Pepi has joined PSV Eindhoven.USMNT news: Christian Pulisic to AC MilanChristian Pulisic moving to AC Milan from Chelsea has been in the works for...

What the papers say Manchester United are interested in Paris St Germain’s Marco Verratti to bolster the Devils’ midfield, the Mirror reports. Saudi Pro League team Al-Ahli are also reported to be interested in the 30-year-old alongside a number of European clubs. After losing their first two games of the Premier League season Everton are hoping they will land the signature of Scottish forward Che Adams. The 27-year-old could move to the club from Southampton for a fee worth around £15million, the Telegraph says. The Sun says Nottingham Forest are willing to pay the same amount for Brazilian Matheus Nascimento from Botafogo, but he may stay with the club with the goal to help them win the Brazilian Serie A. Social media round-up Players to watch Pablo Fornals: Sevilla are interested in signing the West Ham midfielder who is in the final year of his contract, according to Spanish outlet AS. Jeremy Doku: French outlet Foot Mercato says Rennes have rejected a bid from Manchester City for the 21-year-old.

Nottingham Forest will have designs on picking up all three points against struggling Brighton when the teams clash at the City Ground this afternoon. Steve Cooper wants his Forest side to close out matches with clinical performances when they’ve been on top as he looks to continue to distance his team from the bottom three. Forest slipped to defeat last time out against West Ham, thanks to a late goal from Tomas Soucek, and will want to rectify that today. After a wonderful start for Brighton where they won five of their first six games, Roberto de Zerbi’s men have not triumphed in the league since September. Four draws from their last five games is a frustrating return for the Seagulls who have their sights set on Europe. Follow the latest action from the Premier League below.

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President Joe Biden and alliance leaders enter the first day of the high-stakes NATO Summit Tuesday with a reinvigorated sense of unity after a major win on Monday evening when Turkey agreed to Sweden's bid to join the alliance.