The US, South Korea, and Japan strongly condemned the supply of military equipment by North Korea to Russia and said these deliveries would significantly increase the human toll of Moscow’s war against Ukraine. The US and its Asian allies said in a joint statement they could now confirm that such weapons deliveries have taken place between the two countries which are isolated on the world stage. The condemnation came amid increasing speculation of an arms deal between Russia and North Korea following a number of high-profile visits between the diplomats and leaders of both the countries. “Such weapons deliveries, several of which we now confirm have been completed, will significantly increase the human toll of Russia’s war of aggression. “We will continue to work together with the international community to expose Russia’s attempts to acquire military equipment from (North Korea),” said the top diplomats of the three countries. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov denied the allegations that Russia was receiving munitions from North Korea, claiming instead that Washington has failed to prove the charge. Both countries have increasingly sought to rely on each other as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine approached its second winter. Seoul, Washington, and Tokyo said they were closely monitoring any materials that Russia provides to North Korea in support of Kim Jong-un’s military objectives. “We are deeply concerned about the potential for any transfer of nuclear- or ballistic missile-related technology to (North Korea),” the statement said. The joint condemnation signed by South Korean foreign minister Park Jin, US secretary of state Antony Blinken, and Japanese foreign minister Yoko Kamikawa also underscored that arms transfers to and from North Korea would violate UN Security Council resolutions, which Russia, a permanent Security Council member, previously voted for. Earlier this year, the North Korean leader had visited Russia and met Mr Putin in the most prominent sign that the countries were looking to prop up their regimes by supporting each other by sharing military hardware and technology. The talks reportedly focused on an arms deal in exchange for technological support to Pyongyang’s fledgling space programme. Just last week, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov also visited Pyongyang and met the North Korean leader. Both leaders praised the ties between their countries that they said had increased to a “new level”. Mr Lavrov said in a reception speech that Moscow “deeply” valued Pyongyang’s “unwavering and principled support” for Russia in the war. The meeting was seen as groundwork for a potential second summit between Mr Kim and Mr Putin after the Kremlin leader accepted the invitation to travel to North Korea at “a convenient time”. Analysts have said the two countries have been forced to turn to each other as they have been isolated on the world stage. North Korea’s supply of its arsenal holds importance for Moscow as it has been going through artillery shells, missiles and other munitions for its Ukraine invasion. This comes as Moscow’s domestic production has struggled to keep up with biting Western sanctions as Ukraine has unleashed a months-long counteroffensive that has been rolling on since June. Earlier this month, the White House claimed North Korea delivered more than 1,000 containers of military equipment and munitions to Russia. The White House released satellite images it said showed the containers were loaded onto a Russian-flagged ship before being moved via train to southwestern Russia. A US think-tank had last month shared satellite images showing continued activity around a North Korean port near Russia. It captured at least six trips by sea between North Korea’s port of Rajin and Russia’s Dunai port since late August. These shipments were possibly related to the transfer of North Korean munitions to Russia, the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies had said. Read More The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary 82-year-old man in South Korea chokes to death after eating ‘still wriggling’ octopus Suspected North Korean defectors found in small wooden boat near sea border Thousands of remote IT workers sent wages to North Korea, says FBI

Former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina on Monday pulled out of the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, days after

WASHINGTON A senior U.S. district judge nominated by Republican former President Ronald Reagan on Tuesday has been assigned

Frances Tiafoe claimed his first grass court title on Sunday, saving a match point to defeat Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff...

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 25, 2023--

The United States remain the team to beat ahead of the Women’s World Cup and the two-time defending champions remain number one in the Fifa rankings ahead of the tournament. The USA are looking to become the first country to win three World Cups in a row and have held top spot since 2017. But the tournament in Australia and New Zealand could bring a shake-up to the order. Europe is catching up and the likes of England, Germany, France and Spain will be coming for the USA’s crown. Zambia come into the World Cup as the lowest-ranked team at the tournament, which is hosting 32 teams for the first time. Fifa women’s world rankings (Teams in bold are competing at the World Cup) 1. United States 2. Germany 3. Sweden 4. England 5. France 6. Spain 7. Canada 8. Brazil 9. Netherlands 10. Australia (hosts) 11. Japan 12. Norway 13. Denmark 14. China 15. Iceland 16. Italy 17. Korea Republic 18. Austria 19. Belgium 20. Switzerland 21. Portugal 22. Republic of Ireland 23. Scotland 24. Russia 25. Colombia 26. New Zealand (hosts) 27. Czech Republic 28. Argentina 29. Finland 30. Wales 31. Poland 32. Vietnam 33. Ukraine 34. Serbia 35. Mexico 36. Costa Rica 37. Chinese Taipei 38. Romania 39. Slovenia 40. Nigeria 41. Chile 42. Hungary 43. Jamaica 44. Thailand 45. Northern Ireland 46. Philippines 47. Slovakia 48. Paraguay 49. Uzbekistan 50. Myanmar 51. Venezuela 52. Panama 53. Haiti 54. South Africa 55. Papua New Guinea 56. Cameroon 57. Belarus 58. Ghana 59. Croatia 60. India 61. Iran 62. Greece 63. Turkey 64. Uruguay 65. Bosnia and Herzegovina 66. Cote d’Ivoire 67. Ecuador 68. Israel 69. Fiji 70. Equatorial Guinea 71, Albania 72. Morocco 73. Jordan 74. Peru 75. Trinidad and Tobago 76. Tunisia 77. Zambia 78. Hong Kong 79. Azerbaijan 80. Algeria The full Fifa rankings can be found here Read More Women’s World Cup enters new era as stars and storylines take centre stage Who are the threats to the Lionesses at the Women’s World Cup? The inspiration behind Australia’s shot at home World Cup glory Today at the Women’s World Cup: Co-hosts play in opening games How to watch every Women’s World Cup match on TV FIFA Women’s World Cup fixtures and full schedule

Flag Football will finally be an Olympic sport in 2028. Let's build the Dream Team with current NFL players.

Philadelphia Union booked their place in the semi-finals of the MLS Cup Eastern Conference playoffs on Wednesday with a 1-0 victory...

It is only now, despite knowing for months, that those involved in the United Kingdom-Ireland Euro 2028 bid are excitedly talking about the reality of tournament football returning to these islands. There was a sense from inside the campaign of not wishing to tempt fate, given how previous bids have gone. That is despite the fact this has been a fait accompli for well over a year. And, even though this victory should be celebrated, it does provoke bigger questions over football politics, especially given the controversies over the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding processes and the reforms that followed them. Euro 2028 is one of potentially five consecutive European Championships and World Cups that will have had virtually no competition in the bidding processes. The 2028 bid has been won because Turkey finally withdrew. They were never likely to win due to their comparative lack of infrastructure, which is why they have joined up with Italy to bid for Euro 2032. That Mediterranean joint-bid is similarly the only candidate for 2032, after a prospective Russian campaign was ruled ineligible by Uefa due to the invasion of Ukraine. In echoes of the 2028 process, the Canada-Mexico-USA bid for the 2026 World Cup did face competition from Morocco, but the latter was seen as having no chance for the same reason as Turkey. The “United 2026” bid ended up getting more than twice as many votes as its African rival. That saw Morocco eventually join up with Spain-Portugal for 2030, in a move that was seen as “outmanoeuvring” the politically influential Saudi Arabian bid since it split the African vote. The Gulf kingdom was no longer confident of victory so didn’t want to go through defeat, withdrawing … temporarily. The only competitor at that point was the South American bid to celebrate the centenary of the inaugural Uruguay 1930 World Cup, which had an inspirationally romantic sway. They were instead co-opted into an unprecedented “global celebration” for 2030 by being allowed to host the first three games. Uruguay get the opening match as recognition of their status as 1930 host and champions Argentina get the second match as recognition of their performance as 1930 runners-up and major partner. Paraguay get the third match, doing very well out of being the base of the South American federation, Conmebol. While there is admittedly a similar romance to that solution, and it eliminates any politicking before such a symbolic tournament, it has one more questionable effect. Fifa’s continental rotation rules mean South America has given up the chance at 2034 – since no confederation can host competition fixtures in consecutive tournaments – for a mere three games. It’s quite the trade-off. As one involved figure said, “that’s football politics”. That only leaves countries from the Asian Football Confederation and Oceania Football Confederation eligible, and the former are already fully backing Saudi Arabia. Australia and New Zealand are, meanwhile, left scrambling to find at least three extra stadia that meet the 40,000 minimum capacity in time for the 31 October bid deadline. It already looks like the decision may well go to the member associations for mere ratification. That should pose much bigger questions for football governance since one of the crucial points after the farce of 2018-22 was to improve transparency. A key measure in this was supposed to be bringing the World Cup vote to the members. That may still happen by the letter of the rules, but the spirit of it all has felt somewhat different. If the post-2022 reforms were supposed to be about preventing backroom deals, what has happened here? “It’s clear it’s gone backwards in terms of democracy and bidding,” one centrally involved source said. Wider politics clearly plays an influential role here. After the game was split by the 2018 and 2022 votes, with the World Cup brought to effective autocracies, three successive tournaments are now going back to traditional Western European football powers. England is the biggest partner in 2028, enjoying its first full tournament since 1996. Spain is the biggest partner in 2030, enjoying its first full tournament since 1982. Italy is the biggest partner in 2032, set to enjoy its first full tournament since 1990. Bookending those three tournaments, then, are almost certain to be two of the true geopolitical powers. The USA is now seen by all of football as the priority market with the sport burgeoning there. Saudi Arabia has meanwhile targeted a huge expansion into the game as part of a wider political and economic project. The kingdom also enjoys an increasingly strong relationship with Fifa, and its investment funds were set to bankroll the original idea for the expanded Club World Cup. That plan has now settled into a 32-team event in 2025 in the USA, that Saudi Pro League clubs are targeting for a major statement as the next phase of their development. They want to help make it a competitor to the Champions League, increasing their own profile. The prize and participation money for that event have yet to be decided. There is obviously significant political intrigue to all of this, as well as a lot of accusations behind the scenes. Most of the major forces look to have got what they wanted without much pushback. Many sources talk of “horse trading” between the major nations. Others go so far as using words like “stitch-up”. Some smaller South American federations aren’t overly happy with the 2030 decision, especially with how having three automatic qualifiers – in the three host nations – immediately reduces the value of the highly lucrative qualification league, while denying the chance at a World Cup for 24 years. On the other side, some admit this situation may be better than random bids and huge amounts of money wasted on failed campaigns. A further importance to all of this is that, for all the power of the club game, the hosting of the World Cup is still seen as the most influential development in football. It usually dictates the game for a decade, if not longer. The latter could be seen in how USA 94 directly instigated huge American investment into football, as well as multiple ownerships that started with the Glazers. The decision to award 2022 to Qatar, then, was probably the most influential moment in modern football history. It directly caused regime change at Fifa and Uefa, changed the calendar, and was a factor in Qatar taking over Paris Saint-Germain and Saudi Arabia buying Newcastle United. It has undeniably played a part in Saudi Arabia seeking to host a World Cup, too. The regional rivalry means Mohammed Bin Salman wants his own tournament, before you get to the wider benefits. That speaks to the profound political power of the World Cup, as football increases its pervasiveness as the most popular cultural pursuit the planet has ever seen. It all comes as the tournament itself becomes so big that fewer and fewer countries can actually stage it. That has influenced these bidding processes too. So much of this serves as a metaphor for the game as a whole. And, at the end of it all, there is still pure beauty in how people get to watch these great magical events near them. All of Dublin, Glasgow, Cardiff will be thrilled. That, of course, is precisely why all of this has a power beyond emotion. Read More Saudi Arabia bid for 2034 World Cup strengthened after Australia and New Zealand hit hurdle Gareth Southgate questions ‘integrity’ of 2030 World Cup format 2030 World Cup will be hosted by six countries across three continents, Fifa announces Euro 2028: Will host nations get automatic qualification? Cardiff, Glasgow, Dublin... The Euro 2028 final should be staged anywhere but Wembley UK and Ireland name 10 venues for Euro 2028

The U.S. and its European allies are importing vast amounts of nuclear compounds and products from Russia, giving Moscow hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue as it wages war on Ukraine

Serbia’s president has demanded that a NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo take over for the national law enforcement agency in northern Kosovo

Ian Happ drove in four runs, Mike Tauchman and Cody Bellinger each drove in three and the Chicago Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds 15-7