Victor Wembanyama, the top prospect in the 2023 NBA Draft, showed how minuscule a baseball looks in his hand when throwing out the first pitch for the New York Yankees.Last week, the 2022-23 NBA season officially reached its end with the Denver Nuggets winning the Larry O'Brien Trophy. This...

The Biden administration has suspended most non-humanitarian aid to Gabon after a military takeover in the country last month that was at least the second this year in an African nation

Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton unleashed criticisms on his predecessor Nathaniel Hackett and his new team, the New York Jets, in an interview

PHUKET, Thailand--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 7, 2023--

With private equity firms sniffing around college football and basketball opportunities, what does the potential influx of for-profit entities mean for college athletics?

England defender Lucy Bronze said the Lionesses are feeling “empowered” ahead of their World Cup opener after releasing a statement addressing the players’ ongoing row with the Football Association (FA) over bonus payments and other commercial concerns. In a message from the team posted on social media by captain Millie Bright, the Lionesses said they were “disappointed that a resolution has still not been achieved” but would “pause discussions, with full intentions of revisiting them following the tournament”, which begins for England on Saturday against Haiti in Brisbane. Bronze, speaking at England’s team hotel on Wednesday, was adamant that the decision to go public about the situation was motivated not just by personal financial benefits but wider principles, and maintained she is “one hundred per cent confident that we will not be distracted by this”. Bronze said: “I think the players are feeling very empowered. I think it’s the first time as a player group we’ve actually ever sent the message out ourselves, that we’ve collectively done together and set our sights on. So I think in that respect it’s been a very empowered player group last night and this morning and these past few weeks. “I feel like we felt it was important that we sent the message out, because there has been some talks (and) we want to show that we’re focused for the World Cup, that is our main focus. “It’s super sad that we have these issues. I think that again, this was something that we spoke about as an England group. We’re not only doing this for ourselves, we’re doing it so that we can set a standard.” The Lionesses join players from teams including France, Spain, Jamaica, Nigeria, Canada and co-hosts Australia who have in recent months expressed concerns over issues ranging from pay to personnel in their own federations and beyond. Bronze continued: “It’s unfortunate that it has come before the World Cup, but at the same time, it’s because the World Cup gives us the big stage. It’s when people want to listen to us, it’s when things really matter. “And that’s why so many teams now are coming out and speaking about it, because it’s the only moment that they get the stage or the opportunity to speak out, which is unfortunate.” For the first time in a Women’s World Cup, players will be guaranteed performance-related remuneration directly from FIFA, with amounts increasing the deeper teams go in the tournament. In addition, the Lionesses were also understood to be frustrated by a lack of clarity over what their cut from any commercial deals done by the FA linked to the team will be, as well as the restrictions around their personal sponsorships. The PA news agency has contacted the FA for comment. Bronze said the Lionesses benefit from a generally amiable relationship with the FA that leaves the squad feeling optimistic that they can reach an agreement without taking more dramatic steps, like threatening to boycott their Nations League fixtures, set to follow the World Cup in September. She said: “I don’t think we made any threats as players, I think we’re quite well spoken. And we know how to kind of stand our ground – I can’t say the conversations ever got to be that heated.” At the same time, Bronze suggested she and her team-mates deserved more, particularly after their victory at last summer’s Euros led to a paradigm shift for women and girls’ football in England, from a 173 per cent uptick in Women’s Super League attendance to a surge in participation at the grassroots level. She added: “There’s constantly another level and another step you can take. Whether that’s commercially – or on or off the pitch. Whether that’s performance-based, it’s being rewarded for the things you have done. “We are the European Champions. We have changed the game massively in England, so we want everything to fall in line. If we are going to do well on the pitch, then you would expect things to follow.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Schedule announced for 2025 British and Irish Lions tour of Australia Day one of fourth Ashes Test: England won’t hold back in bid to level series Gerwyn Price and Michael Smith crash out of World Matchplay

Hours after he was criminally charged in a federal courtroom in Miami, Donald Trump returned to his New Jersey club to deliver a barrage of false statements and declare his innocence in front of a throng of supporters. The former president, who has routinely used his platforms to project allegations he faces toward his political enemies, lambasted the federal case against him as “the most evil and heinous abuse of power” under President Joe Biden, who Mr Trump falsely suggested was responsible for charging him. “This day will go down in infamy and Joe Biden will forever be remembered as not only the most corrupt president in the history of our country but perhaps, even more importantly, the president who together with a band of his closest thugs, misfits and Marxists tried to destroy American democracy,” Mr Trump said from his golf club in Bedminster on 13 June. Mr Trump – who is formally charged with illegally retaining highly sensitive national defence documents and conspiring to obstruct government efforts to retrieve them for months after he was no longer president – has admitted that he possessed the documents he is accused of withholding, while falsely characterising the laws that govern them by stating that “whatever documents the president decides to take with him, he has the right to do so.” He falsely characterised the classified documents in his possession as his “own presidential papers” and his “own documents”. Dismissing the decades-long prison sentence he could face if convicted, he falsely said that ”just about every other president” also removed papers from the White House in the same manner. A former president accused of hoarding hundreds of classified documents, disclosing them to others and storing them haphazardly was out of the courthouse and visiting a restaurant in Miami within two hours of his arrival before he boarded a private plane to one of his many resorts and cast himself as the most persecuted man alive. After his arrival at his golf club’s outdoor stage, he absorbed the crowd’s applause while a sound system blasted Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA”. Moments later, the crowd sang him “happy birthday.” His 30-minute remarks relied on a familiar tactic: denying wrongdoing, claiming that federal authorities are selectively prosecuting, then blaming his rivals – including Mr Biden and Bill and Hillary Clinton – for allegedly doing the same or worse. Mr Trump defended his actions under the Presidential Records Act, which the National Archives and Records Administration clarified last week “requires that all records” from presidents and vice presidents be turned over to the agency at the end of their administration, and that an outgoing president is required to separate personal documents from such records before leaving office. He closed his remarks by repeating a familiar refrain, arguing that his own criminal cases are evidence of a Democratic conspiracy against his supporters. “They want to silence me because I will never let them silence you,” he said. “I am the only one that can save this nation.” Mr Trump allegedly broke the law dozens of times by withholding top-secret documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate months after he left the White House in January 2021, then lied to a grand jury and federal agencies trying to recover them them – accusations detailed in a sweeping indictment following a special counsel investigation under the US Department of Justice. Last week, a grand jury in Florida voted to recommend charges against the former president, who now faces years in prison if convicted. He has pleaded not guilty. He has repeatedly rejected any charges and investigations against him in several jurisdictions as political “witch hunts,” pointing to the Democratic majorities in New York City – where was found liable for sexual abuse, hit with a $250m lawsuit from the state attorney general, and criminally charged with more than 30 counts of falsifying business records – and Atlanta, where his efforts to subvert the outcome of the 2020 presidential election are expected to result in state charges this summer. The historic charges against the former president raise the prospect of a potential presidential candidate facing at least two criminal cases in state and federal courts. His arraignment in federal court comes roughly three months after prosecutors in Manhattan criminally charged the former president with 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection with so-called hush money payments he reportedly arranged to suppress stories about his alleged affairs. He similarly returned to his Mar-a-Lago property hours after his Manhattan criminal court appearance. In his remarks from his estate that night, he lambasted New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg and the judge overseeing the case, as well as the judge’s family members, and continued his narrative of political persecution. In his remarks from New Jersey, he also took aim at Jack Smith, the independent special counsel appointed by US Attorney General Merrick Garland to head up investigations into the former president. “He looks like a thug,” he said of Mr Smith, who was in federal court with Mr Trump hours earlier. “He's a raging and uncontrolled Trump hater, as is his wife, who also happened to be the producer of that Michelle Obama puff piece.” (Mr Smith’s wife, Katy Chevigny, is a documentary filmmaker who produced 2020’s Becoming.) The New York and Florida cases are separate from the Justice Department probe into Mr Trump’s role in the events surrounding January 6 and a Georgia prosecutor’s investigation into his attempts to subvert the outcome of the 2020 election in that state, among many of the mounting legal challenges facing the former president as he seeks the 2024 Republican nomination for another shot at the White House. Mr Trump remains the frontrunner for the GOP nomination, and he has insisted that he will remain in the race regardless of any outcome in the cases against him. He has relied on the investigations and indictments to raise money for his campaign, which netted millions of dollars in the days after charges were announced in his New York case. But the timeframe for the federal investigation – and, potentially, other pending cases that could result in criminal charges this year – could complicate his campaign ambitions. A first debate among Republican candidates is set for 23 August. A trial for the New York attorney general lawsuit targeting Mr Trump, his adult children and his business is slated to begin in October. And he is scheduled to return to Manhattan Criminal Court on 25 March – days after voting begins in primary states. Read More Trump indictment – live: Trump denounces ‘evil and heinous’ arraignment in address to fans at golf club How Trump’s second indictment unfolded: A timeline of the investigation into Mar-a-Lago documents

Michael, 6, and Oliver, 2, were diagnosed with Type 2 Batten disease, in April and May

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The United States and Qatar have reached a "quiet understanding" not to allow Iran to access any of the $6 billion in Iranian funds that were transferred to Qatari accounts last month as part of a deal to free Americans detained in Iran for the time being, following Hamas' bloody attack on Israel on Saturday, Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo told House Democrats Thursday, according to a source in the room.

Formula One drivers will have to change tires at least every 18 laps in the Qatar Grand Prix

Pristina-born British pop star Rita Ora arrived in Kosovo on Sunday to celebrate her birthday, paying respect to her homeland from where the...