Crunch fixture taps into a complicated underlying political history, with 150,000 North Koreans living in Japan

A place at the next football World Cup is not all that is at stake when Japan and North Korea meet on Thursday for the first of two qualifying matches, in a resumption of one of the fiercest rivalries in international football.

Despite the huge gap between the countries’ economies and the profiles of their domestic leagues, few expect the match at Tokyo’s national stadium to be a walkover for the Japanese, who are 18th in the Fifa rankings, 96 places above their opponents.

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Delivery of Russian-made Aurus could be in violation of UN sanctions against North Korea

The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, has received a car from Vladimir Putin as a gift “for his personal use”, official media reported, in what could be a violation of UN ban that Moscow had agreed to adopt against Pyongyang.

The two countries have forged closer ties since Kim and Putin met in September and pledged to promote exchanges in all areas as their international isolation deepened over Russia’s war in Ukraine and North Korea’s nuclear weapons development.

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As a distracted world looks elsewhere, US and China have a common interest in halting Asia’s accelerating nuclear arms race

For western liberals and progressive champions of open, democratic government, a clutch of recalcitrant regimes around the world seems firmly stuck on what Barack Obama once called “the wrong side of history ”. Iran’s misogynistic theocrats and Myanmar’s genocidal generals are among the worst offenders.

Then there’s Vladimir Putin’s Russia, harking back to largely illusory former glories. Belarus, Syria, Nicaragua, Cambodia and Eritrea meet the regressive criteria, too. What all these regimes have in common is denial of the basic human right to self-determination – the individual’s right to have a say in how society is ordered.

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Why did the North expel Pvt. Travis T. King, rather than use him for its own purposes? Analysts say he was probably considered more of a burden than an asset.

Pvt. Travis T. King dashed across the inter-Korean Demilitarized Zone in July. North Korea expelled him after finding him guilty of “illegally intruding” into its territory.

Jens Stoltenberg says ‘we must prepare ourselves for a long war’; Kyiv says drones and missiles were used to target Odesa in early morning strikes

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Jens Stoltenberg has warned there will be no swift end to the Ukraine war, in an interview published Sunday, as Kyiv pushes on with its counteroffensive against Russia, Agence France-Presse reports.

“Most wars last longer than expected when they first begin,” Stoltenberg said in an interview with Germany’s Funke media group.

The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, inspected Russian nuclear-capable strategic bombers and hypersonic “Kinzhal” missiles on Saturday, accompanied by Russia’s defence minister, Sergei Shoigu in Knevichi, about 30 miles (50km) from the far eastern Russian city of Vladivostok. Shoigu saluted Kim and they discussed practical issues in stepping up military cooperation.

North Korea may be able to boost Russia’s supply of artillery munitions for the war in Ukraine , but that is not likely to make a big difference, the top American military officer said as he arrived in Norway for Nato meetings. The head of the US military, Gen Mark Milley, said the recent meeting in Russia between Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin will probably lead North Korea to provide Soviet-era 152mm artillery rounds to Moscow. But he said it was not yet clear how many or how soon, AP reported.

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Moscow’s defence minister shows North Korean leader weapons including hypersonic missiles at airfield near Vladivostok

The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, inspected Russian nuclear-capable strategic bombers, hypersonic missiles and warships on Saturday, accompanied by Vladimir Putin’s defence minister.

Sergei Shoigu greeted Kim at Russia’s Knevichi airfield, about 50km (30 miles) from the Pacific port city of Vladivostok. The North Korean leader then inspected a guard of honour.

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Volodymyr Zelenskiy to meet Joe Biden next week at White House; Cuba envoy ‘has nothing against’ Cubans who legally fight for Russia

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Cuba is not against the legal participation of its citizens in Russia’s war in Ukraine , the Russian state-run RIA news agency reported on Thursday, citing the Cuban envoy to Moscow. Last week, Cuban authorities said they had arrested 17 people over a human trafficking ring that allegedly had lured young Cuban men to serve in the Russian military. The Cuban ambassador to Moscow, Julio Antonio Garmendia Pena said: “We have nothing against Cubans who just want to sign a contract and legally take part with the Russian army in this operation. But we are against illegality and these operations that have nothing to do with the legal field,” RIA quoted the ambassador as saying.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy is expected to meet Joe Biden in Washington next week . His visit comes as Congress is debating providing as much as $21bn in military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine as it fights the Russian invasion. Zelenskiy is expected to be in the US to attend the United Nations general assembly.

Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un gifted each other rifles when they met in far eastern Russia , the Kremlin said on Thursday, and confirmed the isolated Russian leader would visit North Korea though no further details have been revealed. The Russian president, who has sought to strengthen alliances with other hardline leaders, met Kim on Wednesday amid speculation they would agree on an arms deal to bolster Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Britain’s most senior military officer, Sir Tony Radakin, said that Ukraine “continues to hold the initiative, it is pushing Russia back ” in a short assessment of the current state of the fighting.

Russia said it is expelling two US diplomats accused of working with a Russian national who is accused of collaborating with a foreign state . The US said the move was unprovoked and wholly without merit. Separately, Slovakia has expelled a diplomat based in Russia’s embassy, the Slovak foreign ministry said on its website on Thursday. The ministry said: “The reason is his activities, which were in direct violation of the Vienna convention on diplomatic relations.”

South Korea has expressed “deep concern and regret” over a meeting between the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, and the Russian president, Vladimir Putin , which apparently focused on expanding military cooperation.

Alexander Lukashenko left Belarus on Thursday for an official visit to Russia , according to his press service. Talks with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, are scheduled for Friday.

Satellite images appear to show the dismantling of a Wagner militia base south-east of the Belarus capital, Minsk. The images of activity in recent weeks showed tents being taken down at the Tsel military base in Mogilev region, and may indicate the winding down of the Russian mercenary company’s presence in the country after a brief mutiny inside Russia.

Bulgaria decided on Thursday not to extend a ban on Ukrainian grain imports in five eastern EU nations that is set to expire this week , AFP reported. Ukraine’s foreign ministry reportedly said that any decision by European states to extend import restrictions on Ukrainian food from 15 September would be illegal and harm common economic interests.

Ukraine’s military said on Thursday it had damaged two Russian patrol ships in the Black Sea in a morning attack . Ukraine also claimed to have destroyed a Russian air defence system near the town of Yevpatoriya in occupied Crimea in a drone and missile attack which was conducted by the Security Service of Ukraine and the navy on Thursday morning.

A six-year-old boy was reportedly killed and other people injured by Russian shelling in the village of Novodmytrivka, which is located in Kherson region.

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