PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 4, 2023--

President Joe Biden is in Japan for global diplomacy in a nation that has already tightened its economic and national security alliance with the U.S. He will meet privately with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida before joining the Group of Seven gathering of major industrialized nations

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Fifa have claimed a significant victory in their attempt to regulate the world’s top football agents, as the European Commission has backed the governing body’s move to bring in strict new rules including a cap on fees. Although it will be a hearing at the European Court of Justice that ultimately settles the issue, the Commission’s written submission to judges carry significant weight. It is seen by sources involved as a “huge development” and being hailed as a win for Fifa in what had been developing into a highly fractious conflict. Agents argue that the global body is attempting to unfairly affect their earning potential through a labour negotiation issue that actually has nothing to do with football, and goes against European Union antitrust laws. One strident position has been that setting a price cap would essentially represent a price-fixing cartel by the clubs, which top agents had been putting a lot of focus on. The European Commission have instead argued that a cap is entirely justified in order to protect players and contractual stability, as well as limiting conflicts of interest while protecting players who lack experience or information about the transfer system. An additional note was that agents’ fees are actually excessive and out of kilter with any normal fees for a service. The Commission’s observations also pointed to the “degree of discretion” which EU law generally affords sporting associations in order to fairly govern. Of the cap, it was stated “the defendant has plausibly pointed out that very high agency commissions, which are completely decoupled from the cost of the consideration, create a strong incentive to exert massive influence on players in particular in order to force an early transfer.” A further issue the new rules are set to tackle is on representing various parties on the same deal. The Commission has also backed restriction of this, arguing it “appears suitable” to mitigate against potential conflict of interest. A date for the hearing at the court in Luxembourg has not yet been set. Read More Fifa must secure Saudi promise over World Cup human rights, Amnesty warns Saudi Arabian World Cup in 2034 sparks ‘significant concern’ from major leagues Saudi Arabia set to host World Cup 2034 as Australia opts against bid

A former Austrian minister who announced recently that she was moving to Russia to lead a think tank, reportedly flew in her ponies to Moscow on a military plane. Karin Kneissl will move to St Petersburg to work at the Geopolitical Observatory for Russia’s Key Issues [GORKI], she told the Russian TASS news agency recently. Last week Ms Kneissl brought two of her ponies to St Petersburg on a military aircraft from the Russian air base at Hmeimim in Syria following a diversion from its intended mission of transporting troops. The Insider reported that Fighterbomber Z-channel confirmed that an Il-76 military transport aircraft was used to carry the animals. Ms Kneissl, 58, received a lot of notoriety for inviting Russian presidentVladimir Putin to her wedding in 2018. She co-founded the GORKI centre which she set up with St Petersburg University in June to “help define the policies for the Russian Federation” with a focus on the Near and Middle East. She said: “Since there is a lot of work and it requires a lot of attention, I can’t do it in passing, I decided to move to St Petersburg for this work.” It was reported that the Russian aircraft used to bring her two ponies belonged to the 224th flight detachment of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation which in May came under US and Ukrainian sanctions for transporting equipment and mercenaries of the Wagner Group. Ms Kneissl – who is a former foreign minister – relocated to France in September 2020 and took on the role of a guest columnist for Russia Today, an outlet often perceived as a propagandistic mouthpiece of the Kremlin. Her invitation to Mr Putin drew widespread criticism. It occurred just months after several EU countries, excluding Austria, had expelled numerous Russian diplomats in response to the nerve agent attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in Salisbury. On Wednesday, the former Austrian minister expressed shock over her move to Russia turning “political”. In a Telegram post, she said that she had moved her “books, clothes and ponies from Marseille to Beirut via DHL” in June 2022. Ms Kneissl had been living in Lebanon after leaving Austria in 2020 amidst a political scandal. However, Lebanon served as a temporary arrangement, she explained, and she would travel to Russia every six weeks for work. “Due to sanctions there are neither flights nor DHL [for her move to Russia],” she wrote. “I therefore had the option of accompanying a Russian transport flight from Syria to Russia, for which I am very grateful.” Ms Kneissl held the position of Austrian foreign affairs minister from 2017 to 2019. Meanwhile, the website of the Department of Veterinary Medicine of the Leningrad Region stated on 9 September that veterinarians carried out “all the necessary measures when importing animals into the territory of the Russian Federation”. “Specialists conducted a clinical examination of the ponies, took blood samples, and also quarantined them. Domestic horses are healthy”. Read More A flotilla of migrant boats from Tunisia overwhelms an Italian island and tests Meloni's policy Complex Napoleon: how Bonaparte’s unrivalled ambition built an empire and left a tangled legacy Weapons, spy satellites and nuclear ambitions: what we learned from Putin’s summit with Kim Jong-un in Russia 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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The wife of newsreader Huw Edwards has said he is “suffering from serious mental health issues” and is receiving “in-patient hospital care” as she named him as the BBC presenter facing allegations over payments for sexually explicit images. After intense speculation as to the identity of the BBC presenter at the centre of the allegations, Vicky Flind said in a statement that she was speaking out on her husband’s behalf after “what have been five extremely difficult days for our family”. Following the name reveal, the BBC and The Sun have both faced criticism for the handling of the events of the last few days, with colleagues and high-profile media personalities speaking out in support of Edwards on Wednesday night. The Metropolitan Police said no criminal offence had been committed by the presenter, adding: “There is no further police action. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter “As such, the Met has advised the BBC it can continue with its internal investigation.” The statement added: “We are aware of media reporting of further allegations against the same individual. “No specific details or information about these allegations have been passed to us and therefore there is no police action at this time.” Now that the speculation about who the previously unnamed presenter was you would hope that the public and social media especially would allow Edwards himself and his family to deal with what is sure to be a distressing situation privately. Sadly though we cannot say that this is the case. Much like the OceanGate submarine tragedy the internet has managed to find a dark sense of humour in another wise serious situation involving real people. Yet you've only got to spend a few moments on Twitter, which continues its downward trajectory under Elon Musk, to be confronted with jokes about Huw Edwards, which were even prevalent on the platform prior to him being named as the presenter in question. Given that Edwards is now receiving hospital care because of the serious mental fatigue the story has placed upon him you'd hope that some people could afford to show a slight bit of dignity and not make any jokes that may further impact his condition or the other people involved in this story. Also there are better things to make jokes about at this time so maybe rather than add to the stress instead take some time to read the many statements of support offered to Edwards from his colleagues and peers. It's very easy to engage with big topics like this on social media but at the end of the day numerous real people, some only by association, are involved in this and likely still processing what happend. Allow them to deal with this in peace and for the right course of action to be taken, instead of creating cheap puns just for a few likes. Additional reporting by PA. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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