Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Tuesday unexpectedly skipped a business forum of the BRICS economic group in South Africa, sending his commerce minister instead to deliver a fiery speech in his name that decried US hegemony.

BTS star Jung Kook has announced his first full-length solo concert, ‘Golden Live on Stage’, at the Jangchung Arena in Seoul on Monday, November 20, 2023 to celebrate the release of his LP 'Golden'.

By Florence Tan SINGAPORE Oil futures nudged higher on Monday, extending gains on expectations of OPEC+ deepening supply

Negotiations to avert a catastrophic US debt default look set to go to the wire, with talks resuming Tuesday after President Joe Biden and the Republican speaker of the House failed to reach agreement...

Ben Lam became the latest player to see a yellow card upgraded to a red following a review from the TMO bunker during the Japan vs Samoa match at the Rugby World Cup. In the second half of the Pool D contest, Samoan winger Lam’s shoulder connected with the head of Japan back row Lappies Labuschagne while making a tackle, who went off for a HIA. Referee Jaco Peyper initially sent the flyer to the sin-bin but, using the bunker system, that was upgraded to a red card soon after, with the foul play review officer ruling that it was a shoulder direct to head with significant force and not enough mitigation to remain a yellow card. Lam’s dismissal was the seventh red card of the World Cup and is one of a number of disciplinary incidents which have shone a light on the consistency of officiating in this tournament. Arguably the most high-profile moment came on the opening weekend when an England player was shown a red card for the fourth time this year, as Tom Curry was sent off early in his side’s win over Argentina, following a head-on-head collision with Juan Cruz Mallia. However, apparent inconsistency among officials irked many, especially on social media, with other incidents of head contact across the opening weekend not being punished as severely. Later in that same match, Santiago Carreras only received a yellow card despite his leap in attempting to charge down a George Ford kick seeing his hip make contact with the England No 10’s head. During South Africa’s impressive 18-3 win over Scotland, Jesse Kriel’s tackle on Jack Dempsey in which his head clattered into that of his Scottish opponent wasn’t even reviewed by the TMO and wasn’t subsequently cited, while Chile captain Martin Sigren was only sin-binned despite a head-on-head collision while tackling a Japanese attacker. In the second round of action, New Zealand’s Ethan de Groot was sent off for his high hit during the clash with Namibia. But what are the laws around head contact and high tackles that referees are following and how do they decide on the punishment? Here’s everything you need to know: What are World Rugby’s laws on head contact? Head-on-head contact in the tackle comes under Law 9 of the Laws of Rugby Union, which covers foul play. Law 9.11 dictates “Players must not do anything that is reckless or dangerous to others, including leading with the elbow or forearm, or jumping into, or over, a tackler” and Law 9.13 goes on to say “A player must not tackle an opponent early, late or dangerously. Dangerous tackling includes, but is not limited to, tackling or attempting to tackle an opponent above the line of the shoulders even if the tackle starts below the line of the shoulders.” If a player breaks these laws and the act is deemed to be reckless or dangerous, then the referee is entitled to issue a yellow or red card. World Rugby also clarify the intent of the laws, stating in their guidelines that: “ Player welfare drives World Rugby’s decision making for zero tolerance of foul play, especially where head contact occurs. The focus must be on the actions of those involved, not the injury – the need for an HIA [a Head Injury Assessment] does not necessarily mean that there has been illegal head contact.” What are the punishments for head-on-head contact? Ok, this is where things get technical and debates start to occur. In March 2023, World Rugby issued their latest ‘head contact process law application guidelines’ to guide referees on whether foul play has occurred and how it should be punished. The referee has to go through a four-step process (detailed below) to determine the extent of the foul play and the sanction. The four steps are: Has head contact occurred? Was there any foul play? What was the degree of danger? Is there any mitigation? Step 1 (has head contact occurred?) is relatively straightforward, with head contact including the head and the face as well as the neck and throat area. If any head contact is made at all, we move on to Step 2. Step 2 (was there foul play?) is a touch more complex. The referees are told to consider whether the head contact was either intentional, reckless or avoidable – e.g. the defender is always upright. If it was, the tackler will be penalised and they move on to Step 3. However, if the head contact was deemed not to be foul play, the game continues. Step 3 (what was the degree of danger?) – judged from high to low – determines the initial punishment. A degree of high danger is judged on any of: direct contact rather than indirect, a high-force impact, a lack of control from the tackler, the incident occurring at high speed, the tackler leading with the head/shoulder/elbow/forearm or the tackle being reckless. If the referee judges there to be a high degree of danger, a red card will be shown. Meanwhile, low danger is judged as indirect contact, low force, low speed or no leading head/shoulder/forearm/swinging arm and a yellow card or even just a penalty to the opposition may be awarded. The final step, Step 4 (is there any mitigation?) determines whether the punishment can be reduced by one grade (i.e red card down to yellow card or yellow card down to just a penalty). Mitigation includes a sudden or significant drop in height or change in direction from ball carrier, a late change in dynamics due to another player in the contact area, a clear effort from the tackler to reduce their height or the tackler having no time to adjust. However, mitigation will never apply for intentional or always-illegal acts of foul play. What about the Foul Play Review Officer/Bunker review? Introduced for this World Cup was the Bunker review system. This allows the referee to issue a yellow card to a player, sending them to the sin-bin while play goes on, where a Foul Play Review Official (FPRO) will then take another look at the incident and determine if the yellow card should be upgraded to red, allowing the game to continue rather than a long stoppage to debate this. This is what happened to Curry against Argentina. The referee crosses their arms to indicate a Bunker review will take place. Once a player is in the sin-bin, the FPRO has up to eight minutes to review the decision and decide if it warrants upgrading to a red card. If not, the player will return to the field after their 10 minutes in the sin-bin has elapsed. Read More Steve Borthwick questions World Rugby’s silence on red card inconsistency Ethan De Groot red card: Why was All Blacks star sent off at Rugby World Cup? ‘Ruining this World Cup’: TV presenter slams ‘grotesque’ refereeing as Wales beat Fiji Japan v Samoa LIVE: Rugby World Cup 2023 latest updates Scotland make sweeping changes for must-win Romania clash Australia coach says Wallabies can’t handle pressure as Rugby World Cup exit looms

The Philadelphia 76ers have named Nick Nurse as their new head coach as the franchise chases their first NBA championship in 41 years

Drone strikes on Russian soil are only set to increase as Ukraine brings Moscow's invasion home, a senior Kyiv official has said. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky said that it has increased strikes on Russian-occupied areas and would also ramp up attacks within Russia itself. Kyiv does not generally directly claim attacks outside of Ukraine, with Mr Podolyak saying such strikes would be carried out by "agents" or "partisans". "As for Russia... there is an increasing number of attacks by unidentified drones launched from the territory of the Russian Federation, and the number of these attacks will increase," Mr Podolyak told Reuters. "This is the stage of the war when hostilities are gradually being transferred to the territory of the Russian Federation". Drone attacks on Russia have increased sharply recently, with the largest such strikes hitting six regions on one night this week. That assault included two Russian military transport planes being destroyed – and two more damaged – at an airbase in the city of Pskov. Ukraine's military intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, said that the drones were launched from inside Russia. However, in speaking to the War Zone website, Mr Budanov did not say whether the attack – about 400 miles (700 kilometres) from the Ukraine border – was carried out by Ukrainian or Russian operatives. "We are working from the territory of Russia," he said. President Zelensky had suggested earlier this week that a new long-range Ukrainian weapon had hit a target 700 kilometres away, without saying what the weapon was or where it struck. The drone strikes continued into Thursday, with attacks on three regions. Russia's Defence Ministry also claimed to have destroyed a total of 281 Ukrainian drones over the past week, including 29 over the western regions of Russia – indicating the scale of the role drones are now playing in the 18-month war. On the ground in Ukraine, where Kyiv is trying to break through Russian lines in a counteroffensive that started in June, The US said on Thursday that it has seen solid progress by Ukrainian forces in the southern Zaporizhzhia region in the last 72 hours. "We have noted over the last 72 hours or so some notable progress by Ukrainian armed forces ...in that southern line of advance coming out of the Zaporizhzhia area, and they have achieved some success against that second line of Russian defenses," White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said. "That is not to say... that they aren't mindful that they've still got some tough fighting ahead of them as they try to push further south" or that Russia could launch a counter effort, he added. Mr Podolyak said Kyiv's forces were continuing to advance and hoped that Western military aid would continue to come in the months ahead. He added that he believed allies, who have poured in billions of pounds of weaponry, understood that there could be no kind of "compromise" with Moscow. "At the moment, the partners understand that this war will no longer end in a compromise solution - that is, either we destroy Russia's capabilities by military means, and to do this we need the appropriate tools, or this war with such level of aggression will continue for some time." The Kremlin will not like the pressure Kyiv is exerting with its drones strikes. That may have been behind the state-run RIA news agency quoting the head of Russia's space agency Roscosmos as sayng that the country's Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missiles, which are capable of carrying ten or more nuclear warheads, had been put on combat duty. Mr Kirby said that the White House was not in a position to confirm the reports. In June, Vladimir Putin said that Sarmat missiles would be deployed for combat duty "soon". The Russian president has constantly sought to talk up the advanced nature of the missiles in recent years. Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report Read More The ‘Vampire’ rocket system helping Ukraine shoot down Russia’s kamikaze drones Ukraine-Russia – live: Putin puts ‘Satan II’ nuclear missile ‘on combat duty’ as Kyiv launches drone strikes Ukraine launches ‘massive’ drone strikes on six regions of Russia – destroying war planes The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary

A man in his 40s and woman 30s have been arrested and are currently in custody.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov 9, 2023--

The U.S. economy expanded at a 2.1% annual pace from April through June, showing continued resilience in the face of higher borrowing costs for consumers and businesses, the government said in a downgrade from its initial estimate

Wendy Williams reportedly 'has been smiling' ever since learning that her unfaithful ex-husband was dumped by Sharina Hudson

EL CALLAO, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela is known to have the world’s largest oil reserves, but its soil holds another valuable resource: gold.