North Korea has agreed to let drug-testing officials back into the country, the Olympic Council of Asia said Sunday, a move it hopes will temper a row over its flag...

On a recent episode of 'IMPAULSIVE', Logan Paul spoke about winning the WWE United States Championship

LONDON Sri Lanka and Argentina remain very vulnerable amid a worsening in global financial conditions while China has

A gloating Donald Trump has unexpectedly reignited his feud with soccer star Megan Rapinoe after the US Women’s National Team (USWNT) crashed out of the Women’s World Cup with a shock defeat by Sweden. The reigning champions had not been at their best throughout the tournament in Australia and New Zealand, only narrowly escaping their group before losing 5-4 on penalties in a hard-fought battle against the Swedes on Sunday. Rapinoe, a late substitute, was one of three players to miss a crucial spotkick. The outcome was doubly cruel for the veteran winger as it came in what proved to be her final appearance for the USWNT, her glittering career on the world stage ending in bitter disappointment. The 38-year-old, a prominent LGBT+ rights activist and campaigner for equal pay in the women’s game, had previously announced her plan to retire at the end of the domestic season, where she plays for OL Reign in Seattle, Washington. Her misfortune was met with utter glee by the twice-impeached, thrice-indicted Mr Trump, who took a timeout from his myriad of legal problems to troll the team on Truth Social, suggesting their disappointing World Cup run was symptomatic of a broader national decline under President Joe Biden. “The ‘shocking and totally unexpected’ loss by the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team to Sweden is fully emblematic of what is happening to the our [sic] once great Nation under Crooked Joe Biden,” Trump posted on Sunday evening. “Many of our players were openly hostile to America - No other country behaved in such a manner, or even close. WOKE EQUALS FAILURE. Nice shot Megan, the USA is going to Hell!!! MAGA.” Here’s a timeline of the war of the words between the Republican lawmaker and the soccer star: May 2019 Rapinoe first came to Trump’s attention just prior to the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France when she described herself in an interview with Yahoo! as a “walking protest against the Trump administration [because of] everything I stand for”. She continued: “I feel like it’s kind of defiance in and of itself to just be who I am and wear the jersey, and represent it. Because I’m as talented as I am, I get to be here, you don’t get to tell me if I can be here or not. “So it’s kind of a good ‘f*** you’ to any sort of inequality or bad sentiments that the [Trump] administration might have towards people who don’t look exactly like him. Which, God help us if we all looked like him. Scary. Really scary. Ahh, disturbing.” June 2019 What really piqued the then-president’s animosity towards the soccer star was a video interview Rapinoe gave to Eight by Eight magazine where she said she was “not going to the f***ing White House” in the event that the USWNT secured the World Cup win – an expression of the Californian’s deep-rooted disdain for the divisive policies of the Republican then occupying the Oval Office. The interview was recorded that January but resurfaced in June 2019, when the tournament was in full swing. “Thanks, but no thanks. I’m not going to the f***ing White House,” she said. “No. I’m not going to the White House, I don’t think we’ll be invited, I doubt it.” She also advised her teammates to “think hard” before accepting any honours from Mr Trump’s administration. The president – who had already expressed disapproval for her pointed silence during the national anthem before games – was left fuming by the clip. He fired back against Rapinoe on Twitter, writing: “I am a big fan of the American Team, and Women’s Soccer, but Megan should WIN first before she TALKS! Finish the job! “Megan should never disrespect our Country, the White House, or our Flag, especially since so much has been done for her & the team. Be proud of the Flag that you wear.” Rapinoe said at a subsequent press conference that she stood by her comments “with the exception of the expletive… My mom would be very upset about that”. July 2019 When the USWNT did indeed win the cup with a 2-0 victory over the Netherlands – with Rapinoe herself scoring from the penalty spot and being named player of the match – the soccer star stood by her word. She did pay a visit to Washington – but only as a guest of progressive Democratic lawmakers Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ayanna Pressley, a calculated snub to the blustering commander-in-chief. In the immediate aftermath, she told Time magazine that she believed Mr Trump was secretly a fan of hers. “You know he was watching that game. You know he had his McDonald’s lined up. And he was probably like, ‘You know what, I love that.’ I always felt Trump loved me,” she said. Rapinoe also addressed him directly during an interview with CNN, telling him: “Your message is excluding people. You’re excluding me, you’re excluding people that look like me, you’re excluding people of colour, you’re excluding Americans that maybe support you. “You’re harking back to an era that was not great for everyone. It might have been great for a few people, and maybe America is great for a few people right now, but it’s not great for enough Americans in this world. “You have an incredible responsibility as the chief of this country to take care of every single person, and you need to do better for everyone.” She also joked about the prospect of running for the top job herself, commenting: “It’s an absolute honour to lead this team out on the field. There’s no other place I would rather be. Even in a presidential race. I’m busy, I’m sorry.” August 2019 Later reflecting on the spat with Mr Trump and the vicious comments she and her loved ones had been subjected to as a result, she told The Guardian: “It’s ridiculous and absurd. People were like: ‘That was so intense!’ And I’m like: ‘Honestly, he’s a f***ing joke, so it wasn’t intense, because this is ridiculous.’” Speaking for herself and her twin sister Rachel, also a former professional footballer, Rapinoe added: “I wouldn’t say that we’re anti-authority, but when there’s a person who is abusing their power or manipulating people, whether it’s a teacher when I was younger or Donald Trump now, there’s nothing that fires me up and grinds my gears more. I was just like: ‘No. That’s not happening.’” Intriguingly, she also said of her own father during that interview: “I think my dad voted for Trump and I’ll say: ‘I don’t get it. How are you simultaneously as proud as punch of me, and watching Fox News all the time [who are doing] takedowns of your daughter?’” Aftermath (2020-23) Since those glory days, Megan Rapinoe has continued to use her celebrity to campaign for social justice issues, endorsing Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren for president in December 2019 and hosting a panel event at the 2020 Democratic National Convention in support of frontline healthcare workers at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. Following her snub of the Trump administration, Rapinoe did finally come to the White House at the invitation of President Biden in March 2021 to speak about wage equality. In July 2022, she was then awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Mr Biden – marking the highest possible civilian honour. Mr Trump, meanwhile, has spent the same period camped out at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, plotting his political return, deriding his enemies online and wrangling lawyers as the state and federal investigations into his past continue. August 2023 On 6 August 2023, the USWNT crashed out of the World Cup following a disappointing penalty shootout. While Rapinoe sobbed on pitch, Mr Trump took to Truth Social to gloat about the loss. “Nice shot Megan, the USA is going to Hell!!!” he cruelly jabbed. Read More Trump has meltdown attacking Biden, Megan Rapinoe and ‘wokeness’ for US Women’s World Cup loss – latest news Trump goes on unhinged Truth Social rant blaming Biden and ‘wokeness’ for USWNT’s World Cup loss From Megan Rapinoe’s miss to VAR drama: How the USA and Sweden’s penalty shoot-out unfolded Ofcom investigates GB News programmes over due impartiality rules Trump lawyer says his legal team is bracing for imminent Georgia indictment Trump insists he isn’t a ‘scared puppy’ in defiant attack on Nancy Pelosi

Sophomore guard Tyrese Proctor scored a career-high 22 and No. 9 Duke had several big second-half runs to bury La Salle in a 95-66 win Tuesday night

WASHINGTON U.S. President Joe Biden plans to announce on Wednesday that his administration has approved an additional $9

The newfound presence of Wagner mercenaries in Belarus, exiled from Russia after their mutinous march on Moscow, has fuelled fresh anxieties in Ukraine and on Nato’s eastern flank. Belarus’s neighbours have moved to a heightened state of alert since dictator Alexander Lukashenko appeared to broker a last-minute deal with the Kremlin to defuse the shortlived mutiny on 23 June and host Wagner troops on Belarusian soil. During a recent meeting at the strategically important Suwalki Gap, a sparsely populated land corridor near their countries’ borders with Belarus and Russia’s enclave of Kaliningrad, Lithuania’s president Gitanas Nauseda warned that north of 4,000 mercenaries were believed to be in Belarus, while Poland’s premier Mateusz Morawiecki branded them “extremely dangerous”. Poland is sending 10,000 troops to its eastern border, and this week held its largest military parade in decades, as it warned that Wagner mercenaries had moved towards Grodno and set up camp in the Brest region, some six miles from Poland’s border. A group associated with Ukraine’s military has also warned that the construction of a “tent city” capable of housing 1,000 mercenaries some 15 miles from its border could be used to simulate a threat there, in a bid to detract from Kyiv’s efforts to make painstaking gains along the heavily mined frontline of Russia’s invasion in the south, and defend a push by Moscow’s forces near Kupiansk in the north. The true extent to which Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin’s guns for hire are now operating in Belarus – and their aims there – remains hard to determine. “We are dealing with layer upon layer of disinformation,” said Keir Giles, a senior consulting fellow at Chatham House. “Not only the repeated information campaign trying to convince Ukraine that there is a renewed threat from the north, but also confusion over exactly what Wagner is doing, who they are reporting to, who they are following orders from, and where they might be.” These factors make it hard to distinguish how much of the threat is “manufactured” to pile pressure on Belarus’s neighbours, Mr Giles said, adding: “The simple answer is that we don’t know. We should watch what is actually being done rather than what is being said.” However, Mark Galeotti, director of the Mayak Intelligence consultancy, said he believed Ukraine’s military was not “in the slightest bit worried” about the threat of Wagner attempting to cross its northern border. Speaking of claims the mercenaries could try to cross into Poland or Ukraine, he said: “In some ways, Wagner is a victim of its brand name, and people are suggesting it’s going to do all types of crazy things that are totally beyond their capabilities, but also which frankly no one would even try.” Wagner has “lost all of its heavy equipment”, he added, with Russia’s defence ministry making “damn sure” to reclaim tanks and artillery handed to the mercenaries while in Ukraine, meaning “we’re talking about a bunch of guys with Kalashnikovs, rather than a sort of fully coherent mechanised force”. Citing reports that funding disputes have already seen some mercenaries bussed back to Russia, Mr Galeotti said Ukraine has “ample forces to stop 2,000 guys with guns wandering over” a border “carefully watched” due to its proximity to Kyiv, most likely including by Nato. While he believes Wagner would not pose much of a direct threat even if better equipped, Nick Reynolds, the Royal United Services Institute’s research fellow for land warfare, said the possibility of disruption “can’t be discounted”. Read more: Wagner tracker: Charting Yevgeny Prigozhin’s mercenary group through the Ukraine war Wagner’s presence – along with that of Belarusian and Russian forces – means Ukraine does have to devote some troops to guard the border, which already comes under “a lot of artillery and drone strikes”, albeit not as heavily as troops along frontlines in the Donbas and further south, he said. While Poland’s concerns have been stoked by Mr Lukashenko’s jibes that the country should thank him for constraining Wagner mercenaries he claimed wish to “[smash] up Rzeszow and Warsaw”, the Belarusian leader vowed in February that Minsk would only enter the war if attacked by Ukraine – despite reports of pressure from Vladimir Putin to do so. Mr Reynolds said he did not foresee any real threat from Belarus this year due to the weakness of Minsk’s military and Russia’s presence there being “just not strong enough to credibly pose a threat of opening a second front” – although Moscow’s mobilisation efforts mean “that might change in time”. “Something I’d watch much more closely in the short-term is Wagner’s international footprint,” he said, adding that the group’s compromised position within Russia itself could see it lean more heavily on its activities in Africa and the Middle East, which are of “enormous value diplomatically” to the Kremlin. Mr Giles also warned that “forces taking orders from Russia or Belarus do not need to be large or well-equipped to cause disruption”. He pointed to the “migrant dumping campaign” initiated by Belarus in 2021, with its Baltic neighbours in Warsaw, Vilnius and Riga once again accusing Minsk in recent days of sending asylum-seekers en masse to the border to in a bid to pile pressure on them. And he highlighted the power of Wagner “as an information weapon”, whether to distract Ukraine or “throw some kind of provocation with Poland to try to back the fiction that Lukashenko presents to his people of Poland being an aggressive and threatening neighbour.” Dr Marina Miron, of King’s College London’s war studies department, agreed that an attempted incursion doesn’t make “any kind of sense” logistically, saying: “I think it’s more of a kind of psychological operation than anything else. At least for now.” While the risk is currently low, “at some point, they will be returning to Ukraine”, said Dr Miron. “That’s when there will be a definite threat.” Read More Wagner mercenaries issue a chilling message on Poland’s doorstep: ‘We are here’ Ukraine’s intelligence service claims responsibility for Crimean Bridge drone attack Lithuania to temporarily close two checkpoints with Belarus amid tensions on border Wagner tracker: Charting Yevgeny Prigozhin’s mercenary group through the Ukraine war

Chris Kreider scored power-play and short-handed goals, Igor Shesterkin stopped 23 shots for his 100th career victory and the New York Rangers beat the Buffalo Sabres 5-1 in their season opener Thursday night

Canada’s government says it has reached a deal with Google for the company to contribute $100 million Canadian dollars annually to the country’s news industry

SACRAMENTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct 9, 2023--

For decades heavy industry around Dunkirk in northern France has belched out millions of tonnes...

Angelina Jolie has admitted that she’s still trying to figure out what her style is, as she opened up about wanting to look “soft” after being “hurt” in the past. The actor, 48, spoke candidly about her fashion sense during a recent interview with Vogue to discuss her new brand, Atelier Jolie. She began by describing how she believes people perceive her based on the clothes she wears. “Sometimes the way you dress says: ‘Don’t mess with me - I’ve got my armour on,’” she said. “But I want a woman to feel safe enough that she can be soft.” The Maleficent star revealed that when she was faced with a difficult time in her life, she was ultimately encouraged to choose clothes that made her look “soft”. “After I went through something where I was hurt, I had a therapist ask if I would try wearing a flowing garment,” she said. “Sounds silly, but I assumed that pants and boots projected a ‘tougher’ look, a stronger me. But was I strong enough to be soft?” While Jolie confessed that she didn’t feel too strong at time, she acknowledged that she’s still figuring out what her style is - despite being hurt in the past. “I felt vulnerable. Now I wonder if I don’t know what my style is because I’m still understanding who I am at 48. I guess I’m in transition as a person,” she added. The Salt star seemingly alluded to some of the personal challenges she faced over the years, including her split from ex-husband Brad Pitt in 2016. “I feel a bit down these days. I don’t feel like I’ve been myself for a decade, in a way, which I don’t want to get into,” she said. Jolie added that she’s in a place in her film career where she’s “only taking jobs that didn’t require long shoots” after spending the last seven years doing “a lot of healing”. She also noted that while she’s “still finding [her] footing”, her work with her fashion brand has offered her a new perspective. “I think part of this has also been therapeutic for me - to work in a creative space with people you trust and to rediscover yourself,” the actor explained. “I’m hoping to change many aspects of my life. And this is the forward-facing one.” In May, Jolie took to Instagram to announce the launch of Atelier Jolie, which she described as “a collective where everyone can create”. “Atelier Jolie is a place for creative people to collaborate with a skilled and diverse family of expert tailors, pattern makers and artisans from around the world,” she wrote in the caption. “It stems from my appreciation and deep respect for the many tailors and makers I’ve worked with over the years, a desire to make use of the high-quality vintage material and deadstock fabric already available, and also to be part of a movement to cultivate more self-expression.” During her interview with Vogue, the Mr & Mrs Smith star spoke candidly about her new career in the fashion industry, noting that her brand is “not really about fashion”. “I don’t want to be a big fashion designer,” Jolie said. “I want to build a house for other people to become that.” Read More Angelina Jolie says her children ‘saved’ her as she opens up about ‘healing’ after Brad Pitt divorce Salma Hayek reveals what she loves most about her friendship with Angelina Jolie Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie ‘set to try and resolve’ longrunning vineyard dispute Angelina Jolie says her children ‘saved’ her as she opens up about Brad Pitt divorce Salma Hayek reveals what she loves most about her friendship with Angelina Jolie Sarah Jessica Parker’s custom 2014 Met Gala dress goes up for auction