Author: INDEPENDENT

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsUkraine is enlisting convicted prisoners in its army fighting the Russian invasion as the Volodymyr Zelensky regime struggles to replenish manpower on the frontline.Reeling under an intensifying Russian offensive, Kyiv is running out of manpower and material to continue waging the war after over two years and rotate out its exhausted and outnumbered frontline soldiers. To make up some of this shortfall, the Ukrainian parliament now passed a bill on Wednesday to raise several thousand…

Sign up to Miguel Delaney’s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight to your inbox for freeSign up to Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter West Ham announced they would not appeal against the record £5.5million fine imposed by the Premier League’s independent commission over the signings of Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano on this day in 2007.The top-flight side were hit with the massive penalty following a two-day hearing at the end of April 2007, eight months after they stunned the football world with the recruitment of the Argentinian duo.The commission concluded that Tevez and Mascherano were part-owned by Media Sports…

Tanks seen near Gaza border as Israel vows to press ahead with Rafah ground operationFor free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsUS president Joe Biden for the first time publicly vowed to withhold weapons from Israel if its forces make a ground offensive into Rafah in southern Gaza.“I made it clear that if they go into Rafah …, I’m not supplying the weapons,” Mr Biden, whose administration has repeatedly asked Israel for its plan to protect civilians in Rafah, said in an…

Sign up to Miguel Delaney’s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight to your inbox for freeSign up to Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter Thomas Tuchel claimed he received an apology from the assistant referee who raised his flag early and potentially denied Bayern Munich a late equaliser in their Champions League semi-final defeat to Real Madrid.Hosts Madrid pulled off a stunning late comeback at the Bernabeu as substitute Joselu came off the bench to turn the tie around in the final minutes, after Bayern had led thanks to a Alphonso Davies strike.But Bayern had the ball in the net again…

Tanks seen near Gaza border as Israel vows to press ahead with Rafah ground operationFor free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsThree-quarters of all child patients being seen in a designated “safe zone” in southern Gaza have blast injuries, a charity has reported, as they warned the situation would only grow “much worse” if Israel invades the nearby city of Rafah.Alexandra Saieh, head of humanitarian policy at Save The Children, which operates in the Gaza Strip, said the charity’s team had seen…

Sign up to Miguel Delaney’s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight to your inbox for freeSign up to Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter Harry Kane’s substitution from Bayern Munich’s Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid backfired spectacularly on Thomas Tuchel, who was accused of “arrogance” after withdrawing his top scorer in the late defeat at the Bernabeu.Tuchel said Kane “was having back problems” and had no choice but to remove the England captain. But the manager’s defensive changes were criticised by TNT Sport pundits Owen Hargreaves and Paul Scholes, with centre-back Kim Min-jae, who made an error in the first…

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inboxGet our free Inside Washington emailPresident Biden is certain Donald Trump will not accept the results of the 2024 presidential race if they mark a Biden re-election.“I promise you he won’t,” the president told CNN on Wednesday during a sit-down interview in the key battleground state of Wisconsin, arguing this stance would be “dangerous” for the country.“You can’t only love your country when you win,” President Biden added.The president also said that in his meetings with world leaders, heads of state privately express…

Sign up to Miguel Delaney’s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight to your inbox for freeSign up to Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter Jude Bellingham hailed Real Madrid’s never-say-die attitude and insisted he felt no nerves after a dream night where they produced a trademark late show to down Bayern Munich and reach another Champions League final.It could have been a different story at the Santiago Bernabeu where Madrid’s 13-month unbeaten home record was in serious danger after Alphonso Davies fired the visitors ahead in the 68th minute.Carlo Ancelotti remained composed and so did his team with substitute Joselu able…

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsSpirited Away simply shouldn’t work. At a time when hackneyed screen-to-stage cash-ins have become a ravaging blight on London’s theatre scene, along comes this: a doggedly faithful adaptation of one of the greatest and most adored animated films of all time. Hayao Miyazaki’s Oscar-winning 2001 fantasy is inimitable – a medium-defining and wholly idiosyncratic achievement only possible in the boundaryless canvas of animation. And yet, here it is on stage, reconfigured ambitiously into flesh and…

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inboxGet our free Inside Washington emailThe United States won’t supply Israel with offensive weapons for use in a ground offensive that endangers the Palestinian civilians who’ve taken shelter in the border city of Rafah, President Joe Biden has said.Mr Biden explained his position on Rafah in an interview with CNN anchor Erin Burnett during a visit to Wisconsin on Wednesday.But he insisted that he won’t stop the flow of defensive weapons like the interceptors used for Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system even if…