Damian Lillard’s position has not and will not change: The seven-time All-Star wants to be traded to the Miami Heat

The Senate passed a resolution Wednesday to stop a Biden administration immigration rule that eliminates potential hurdles for immigrants using some public benefits and trying to obtain legal status, known as "public charge."

The Pentagon says cluster munitions provided by the United States have now arrived in Ukraine

Kostas Tsimikas explains why Liverpool's pre-season has been 'very tough' on the players.

Arnaut Danjuma’s second-half goal earned Everton a 2-2 draw at Sheffield United as both sides registered their first point of the Premier League season. Cameron Archer’s first strike for the club and a Jordan Pickford own goal saw the Blades’ overturn Abdoulaye Doucoure’s early opener to lead 2-1 at half-time. But Danjuma, a summer signing from Villarreal, levelled after the break and that is how it ended at Bramall Lane, thanks mainly to Pickford’s miraculous double save at the death, twice denying Oli McBurnie. Having both lost their first three games of the campaign, this already had a big-game feel to it and while both sides will be pleased to be up and running, they might also see it as a missed opportunity to get their first win of the campaign. Despite those early struggles, it was an entertaining match with chances at both ends. John Egan put a free header straight at Everton goalkeeper Pickford before James Tarkowski produced a fine block to deny Archer. The Toffees also looked a threat, with Beto’s shot from the edge of the area deflected just wide. And it was from the resulting corner that they went ahead in the 14th minute, finally breaking their duck for the season. Tarkowski climbed highest from the corner and the ball fell to Doucoure, whose first shot was parried by Wes Foderingham, but the midfielder was on hand to tap home the rebound from close range. Everton had an excellent opportunity to immediately double their advantage as they had a four-on-two counter-attack, but Danjuma chose not to pass and his shot was blocked. The Blades responded well and Pickford produced an excellent save to stop Gus Hamer’s low effort from sneaking in at the near post. A deserved leveller came just after the half-hour as Archer scored his first goal for the club. Hamer’s cross found McBurnie, who teed his strike partner up to arrow a shot into the corner from 12 yards. They completed the turnaround deep into first-half injury time as Archer was again involved, with his 20-yard shot crashing off the post and on to Pickford’s back and into the net. Everton’s response after the break was very good and they levelled 10 minutes after the restart. The Toffees worked the ball down the right and Nathan Patterson sent in a devilish cross which Danjuma tapped in at the far post. Again United came back and mounted a concerted spell of pressure as they searched to regain their lead. Yasser Larouci skied a good chance at the back post before Luke Thomas fired an effort straight at Pickford’s body, with Hamer seeing the rebound blocked. The Blades almost stole it at the death, but McBurnie’s free header was tipped onto the underside of crossbar by Pickford, with the goalkeeper then reacting to turn the striker’s second effort onto the post. Read More Beto and Arnaut Danjuma spare Everton’s blushes in late cup win at Doncaster Matt Doherty at the double as Wolves east past Blackpool Everton sign £25m striker Beto after goalless start to season Football transfer news: Spurs midfielder a surprise target for Man Utd Matheus Nunes stops training with Wolves in bid to force Man City move Trent Alexander-Arnold hails Liverpool win for the ages at Newcastle

NASHVILLE, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 31, 2023--

Watching imagery from a drone camera overhead, Ukrainian battalion commander Oleg Shiryaev warned his men in nearby trenches that Russian forces were advancing across a field toward a patch of trees outside the city of Bakhmut. The leader of the 228th Battalion of the 127th Kharkiv Territorial Defense Brigade then ordered a mortar team to get ready. A target was locked. A mortar tube popped out a loud orange blast, and an explosion cut a new crater in an already pockmarked hillside. “We are moving forward,” Shiryaev said after at least one drone image showed a Russian fighter struck down. “We fight for every tree, every trench, every dugout." Russian forces declared victory in the eastern city last month after the longest, deadliest battle since their full-scale invasion of Ukraine began 15 months ago. But Ukrainian defenders like Shiryaev aren't retreating. Instead, they are keeping up the pressure and continuing the fight from positions on the western fringes of Bakhmut. The pushback gives commanders in Moscow another thing to think about ahead of a much-anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive that appears to be taking shape. Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said Russia sought to create the impression of calm around Bakhmut, but in fact, artillery shelling still goes on at levels similar to those at the height of the battle to take the city. The fight, she said, is evolving into a new phase. “The battle for the Bakhmut area hasn't stopped; it is ongoing, just taking different forms,” said Maliar, dressed in her characteristic fatigues in an interview from a military media center in Kyiv. Russian forces are now trying — but failing — to oust Ukrainian fighters from the “dominant heights” overlooking Bakhmut. “We are holding them very firmly,” she said. From the Kremlin's perspective, the area around Bakhmut is just part of the more than 1,000-kilometer (621-mile) front line that the Russian military must hold. That task could be made more difficult by the withdrawal of the mercenaries from private military contractor Wagner Group who helped take control of the city. They will be replaced with Russian soldiers. For Ukrainian forces, recent work has been opportunistic — trying to wrest small gains from the enemy and taking strategic positions, notably from two flanks on the northwest and southwest, where the Ukrainian 3rd Separate Assault Brigade has been active, officials said. Russia had envisioned the capture of Bakhmut as partial fulfillment of its ambition to seize control of the eastern Donbas region, Ukraine’s industrial heartland. Now, its forces have been compelled to regroup, rotate fighters and rearm just to hold the city. Wagner’s owner announced a pullout after acknowledging the loss of more than 20,000 of his men. Maliar described the nine-month struggle against Wagner forces in nearly existential terms: “If they had not been destroyed during the defense of Bakhmut, one can imagine that all these tens of thousands would have advanced deeper into Ukrainian territory.” The fate of Bakhmut, which lays largely in ruins, has been overshadowed in recent days by near-nightly attacks on Kyiv, a series of unclaimed drone strikes near Moscow and the growing anticipation that Ukraine's government will try to regain ground. But the battle for the city could still have a lingering impact. Moscow has made the most of its capture, epitomized by triumphalism in Russian media. Any slippage of Russia’s grip would be a political embarrassment for President Vladimir Putin. Michael Kofman of the Center for Naval Analyses, a U.S. research group, noted in a podcast this week that the victory brings new challenges in holding Bakhmut. With Wagner fighters withdrawing, Russian forces are “going to be increasingly fixed to Bakhmut ... and will find it difficult to defend,” Kofman told “War on the Rocks" in an interview posted Tuesday. “And so they may not hold on to Bakhmut, and the whole thing may have ended up being for nothing for them down the line,” he added. A Western official who spoke on condition of anonymity said Russian airborne forces are heavily involved in replacing the departing Wagner troops — a step that is "likely to antagonize” the airborne leadership, who see the duty as a further erosion of their “previously elite status" in the military. Ukrainian forces have clawed back slivers of territory on the flanks — a few hundred meters (yards) per day — to solidify defensive lines and seek opportunities to retake some urban parts of the city, said one Ukrainian analyst. “The goal in Bakhmut is not Bakhmut itself, which has been turned into ruins,” military analyst Roman Svitan said by phone. The goal for the Ukrainians is to hold on to the western heights and maintain a defensive arc outside the city. More broadly, Ukraine wants to weigh down Russian forces and capture the initiative ahead of the counteroffensive — part of what military analysts call “shaping operations” to set the terms of the battle environment and put an enemy in a defensive, reactive posture. Serhiy Cherevatyi, a spokesman for Ukrainian forces in the east, said the strategic goal in the Bakhmut area was “to restrain the enemy and destroy as much personnel and equipment as possible” while preventing a Russian breakthrough or outflanking maneuver. Analyst Mathieu Boulègue questioned whether Bakhmut would hold lessons or importance for the war ahead. Military superiority matters, he said, but so does “information superiority” — the ability “to create subterfuge, to create obfuscation of your force, to be able to move in the shadows." Boulègue, a consulting fellow with the Russia and Eurasia program at the Chatham House think tank in London, said those tactics “could determine which side gains an advantage that catches the other side by surprise, and turns the tide of the war.” Keaten reported from Kyiv, Ukraine. Associated Press writers Hanna Arhirova and Illia Novikov in Kyiv, Yuras Karmanau in Tallinn, Estonia, and Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report. Read More Russia-Ukraine war – latest: ‘Mutinies likely’ in Putin’s military as Zelensky prepares counteroffensive Protesters back on the streets of Belgrade as president ignores calls to stand down Turkey's Erdogan set to take oath for 3rd term in office, announce new Cabinet lineup Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide

The Russian media watchdog has blacklisted at least five media outlets affiliated with Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and blocked their websites in Russia

Argentina came within a whisker of another big upset by forcing South Africa to cling on for a 22-21 victory to end the Rugby Championship

Ukraine has launched a fresh missile attack on a military airfield in Crimea’s Sevastopol, officials said. Sevastopol, an vulnerable Russian target in Crimea where Moscow parks its Black Sea Fleet, has come under repeated targeting in recent months as Ukraine looks to destroy Vladimir Putin’s logistics and infrastructure on the peninsula that Russia had illegally annexed in 2014. Russian air defence units downed a missile near the Belbek military airfield in the late hours on Monday, Russian-backed governor Mikhail Razvozhayev said on his official Telegram channel early Tuesday. Sevastopol remained under an air raid alert starting around 11.30pm on Monday, as per Mr Razvozhayev’s Telegram message. It continued for an hour, covering midnight, as Russian air defence systems were activated. Traffic on the main bridge connecting the Russian mainland with the Crimean peninsula was also impacted during the attack, but was restored shortly after. The raid alert was subsequently lifted around 12.30am, said the Russian-installed governor. This comes just three days after one Ukrainian missile struck the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea navy in Sevastopol on 22 September. While Ukraine never directly takes responsibility for attacks on Crimea and other Russian targets, it has expressed satisfaction at the strikes. On Friday, it also indirectly showed the massive attack on Black Sea navy headquarters in its video of Ukrainian attacks on Russian positions. Mr Putin’s commander of his Black Sea Fleet has been killed in a missile strike in annexed Crimea, according to Ukraine. Admiral Viktor Sokolov was among 34 officers who died when British-made Storm Shadow missiles hit the Russian Navy headquarters in Sevastopol during the devastating attack. The death of Sokolov – said to have been handpicked by Mr Putin for the job last year – was announced by the Ukrainian Special Operations Forces in a social media update on Monday. Moscow has not yet responded to the claim. The Russian defence ministry initially said the strike had killed one service member, but later issued a statement that he was missing. On Monday, Ukrainian Special Operations Forces said Sokolov was among the 34 killed during the missile strike. They also claimed 105 other occupiers were injured. Read More Ukraine-Russia war – live: Putin’s Black Sea fleet commander ‘killed in attack on Crimea navy HQ’ Ex-Ukraine president derides ‘crazy’ figure at centre of GOP’s Biden allegations in Fox News interview Putin’s Black Sea fleet commander ‘killed in navy attack’ as Ukraine breakthrough triggers ‘panic’ How Ukraine’s forces have surged back against Russia Russia unleashes hypersonic missiles on Odesa port in overnight attack

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President Tsai Ing-wen’s government moved to strengthen Taiwan’s equality laws after a series of sexual harassment scandals rocked