Aaron Rodgers provided fans with an update following his season-ending Achilles injury just four snaps into his New York Jets debut, indicating that his surgery was successful.

The 39-year-old was sacked by Buffalo Bills edge rusher Leonard Floyd and suffered a complete tear of his left Achilles tendon in the Monday Night Football matchup – much to NFL fans’ disappointment.

“Surgery went great yesterday. Thank you for all the love and prayers and support,” Rodgers shared via an Instagram story on Thursday.

Rodgers also thanked Dr. Neal ElAttrache and his staff for “starting [him] on the road to recovery.”

This will come as positive news for Jets fans who will be hoping Rodgers can make a speedy recovery ahead of next year’s NFL season.

After suffering the devastating blow, Rodgers’ mindset has been praised by those in the Jets franchise who believe he will be back next year.

When asked if Rodgers will be making a return to football, Jets offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett was resolute.

“Oh, yeah,” Hackett told reporters. “Whenever Aaron has his mind set on something, good luck for anybody that wants to change his mind.”

The sentiment was echoed by Jets head coach Robert Saleh.

“I’d be shocked if this is the way he’s going to go out,” Saleh said during Wednesday’s media availability. “He’s working through a whole lot of headspace things that he needs to deal with, and that will be the last thing I talk to him about.”

It’s not just the coaching staff in New York who have high hopes for Rodgers’ recovery; his Jets teammates have also spoken highly of the four-time MVP.

“I know he’s in surgery here soon and he’s going to attack this rehab and I think he’ll probably heal faster than anyone has ever seen someone come back from Achilles,” Jets center Connor McGovern added on Wednesday.

The onus will now be placed on 24-year-old Zach Wilson to carry the New York Jets’ quarterback load.

Wilson has come under criticism in the past for poor performances while donning a Jets jersey, but he says he is “absolutely” a better player for being around Rodgers.

“I feel like I’ve been trying to copy every little thing he’s doing, from his footwork to the coaching tips he has given us,” Wilson said. “He’s done an amazing job, more than we could ask for as quarterbacks.”

The Jets face the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday in Texas with a chance to kickstart their season with a 2-0 record.

D’Andre Swift put in a dominant performance as the Philadelphia Eagles punished an error-prone Minnesota Vikings on Thursday in 34-28 win.

In his first home game since joining the Eagles, the Philadelphia native ran for a career-high 175 rushing yards and a touchdown as the team’s rushing attack routinely dissected the Vikings defense.

Swift, who arrived from the Detroit Lions in the offseason, became the first Eagle with 175 yards and a touchdown on the ground since LeSean McCoy in 2013, per NFL Research.

“He just showed vision, explosiveness,” said Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni. “I thought the offensive line did a phenomenal job of pushing them off the ball. So, I was really pleased he protected the ball.

“That was a lot of touches, too. Not only pleased with how he saw it and how he hit it, but also thought he protected the ball. Especially, when they are coming after it in situations at the end of the game like that.”

It was another less-than-convincing performance from last year’s Super Bowl runners-up, with some moments of sloppiness creeping into an offense that was so dynamic in 2022, despite beginning its season with two wins.

However, between Swift and quarterback Jalen Hurts, the Eagles were able to find enough explosive plays to keep Minnesota at bay.

Hurts looked towards his wide receiver DeVonta Smith when he needed a big play, connecting with the third-year pass catcher on two 50-plus passes. It was a 63-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter that gave Philadelphia a 27-7 lead.

Costly Minnesota errors prevented a serious comeback, with the Vikings losing four fumbles and Philadelphia’s dominant defensive line making Kirk Cousins’ life difficult. The Vikings’ quarterback was hit 10 times, including two sacks.

The Vikings have lost their opening two games of the season and the team’s head coach Kevin O’Connell bemoaned the sloppy errors.

“You lose the turnover battle 4-1 … 7-1 in turnovers lost in two games, and we’ve lost by a combined nine points to two playoff teams from a year ago,” O’Connell said.

“So clearly, I’ve gotta coach it better from a standpoint of something we talk about every single day – ball security is a major, major focus in our football philosophy, but clearly I need to do a better job.

“And our staff, we need to go back and continue to find ways to re-emphasize how important it is when you have the football in your hands playing for the Minnesota Vikings.

“Because like I said, we’re really not giving ourselves clean opportunities to win these games, the way we’ve started.”

A silver lining

Amid the gloom, there was a moment to celebrate for the Vikings with their superstar wide receiver Justin Jefferson reaching a historic NFL milestone.

Jefferson became the fastest player to reach 5,000 career receiving yards in 52 games, surpassing the previous record set by Odell Beckham Jr. which was 54 games.

The 24-year-old finished the defeat against Eagles with 159 receiving yards, after racking up 150 yards in the Week 1 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

In his first three seasons in the NFL, Jefferson has surpassed 1,400 receiving yards in each of them, finishing with a mammoth 1,809 yards last year.

Hurricane Lee is expected to lash parts of coastal New England and Atlantic Canada on Friday with heavy rain and strong winds that could lead to flooding in some areas and knock out power across communities.

Inland areas of New England are not expected to see significant storm impacts as Lee’s core is on track to continue churning off the US East Coast.

Still, the massive storm could drench portions of eastern New England into portions of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia with up to 4 inches of rain beginning Friday night into Saturday. Lee’s mammoth size will allow its strong winds to knock down power lines and possibly cause some flooding.

The Canadian Hurricane Center issued a tropical storm warning for New Brunswick from the US-Canada border to Fort Lawrence, including Grand Manan Island, the National Hurricane Center said late Thursday. Another tropical storm warning is also in effect for the coast of Nova Scotia from Fort Lawrence to Point Tupper.

Tropical storm conditions – winds of at least 39 mph – are expected to start in southern New England on Friday afternoon, the hurricane center said.

By early Friday morning, beach conditions continued to deteriorate as dangerous rip currents and surf were ongoing along much of the East Coast, the hurricane center said.

As Lee approached the New England coast, Maine Gov. Janet Mills declared an emergency Thursday, requesting federal aid in preparation for the storm.

The center of Lee, a Category 1 hurricane, was about 215 miles northwest of Bermuda as of early Friday, carrying maximum sustained winds of 85 mph, the hurricane center said at 5 a.m. ET.

Lee whipped strong winds and tropical storm conditions in Bermuda throughout Thursday, triggering power outages on the island. Those weather conditions are expected to continue through Friday morning, and an island-wide tropical storm warning is in effect as the hurricane treks west of Bermuda.

Meanwhile in the US, a combination of hurricane and tropical storm alerts are in effect for many New England coastal communities in anticipation of Lee’s potential impacts Friday and through the weekend.

A tropical storm warning issued along New England’s coast was extended northward to the US and Canada border, the hurricane center said Thursday.

Another tropical storm warning in effect for the coast of Massachusetts was also extended westward to Westport, the agency added. Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket are included in the warning area.

Additionally, a hurricane watch is in effect for Petit Manan Point, Maine, to the Canadian border.

Forecasters expect Lee to weaken as it nears land. But because it’s already a massive storm in size, its strong winds have the bandwidth to batter coastal New England and Canada’s Atlantic provinces.

Hurricane-force winds extended up to 105 miles from its center and tropical storm-force winds stretched for up to 320 miles, the hurricane center said early Friday.

On Saturday, hurricane-strength winds (at least 74 mph) are possible from the northern coast of Maine into portions of the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. But tropical storm-force wind gusts are possible across a much larger area of New England and Atlantic Canada.

Provincial and wildlife parks in Nova Scotia will close Friday as Lee inches closer to the area.

“Safety is our priority as we prepare for storm conditions forecast for the weekend,” said Tory Rushton, provincial minister of natural resources and renewables. “We are closing our parks for the storm and will reopen when it is safe.”

Lee is expected to dump its heaviest rain load over Maine on Saturday. Neighboring states including New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Rhode Island could also see rainfall from Lee.

Over the weekend, communities from Rhode Island to northern Maine may see 1 to 2 inches of rain. Another 2 to 4 inches of rainfall may impact the Massachusetts Cape and much of Maine. Recurrent downpours could boost rainfall totals to 6 inches.

Lewis Hamilton has described comments made by Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko about Mexican driver Sergio Pérez as “completely unacceptable.”

After this month’s Italian Grand Prix, Marko attributed Pérez’s form to his ethnicity, telling ServusTV: “We know that he has problems in qualifying, he has fluctuations in form, he is South American and he is just not as completely focused in his head as Max [Verstappen] is or as Sebastian [Vettel],” according to Reuters.

The 80-year-old Austrian later apologized for his remarks, and Pérez, speaking ahead of this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix, said that he had also received a personal apology.

“It’s completely unacceptable what he said,” Mercedes driver Hamilton, who has long spoken out against racial discrimination in Formula One, told Sky Sports when asked about Marko’s comments.

“Whilst we say there’s no room for any type of discrimination within this sport … to have leaders and people in his position making comments like this is not good for us moving forwards.

“I think it just highlights firstly the work that still needs to be done. There are a lot of people in the background that really are trying to combat these sorts of things but it’s hard to manoeuvre when you have people that are at the top that have those sorts of mindsets that just stop us from progressing.”

In a public apology issued via ServusTV, Marko said that he wants “to make it absolutely clear that I do not believe that we can generalise about the people from any country, any race, any ethnicity.”

He added: “I was trying to make a point that Checo has fluctuated in his performance this year, but it was wrong to attribute this to his cultural heritage.”

Pérez, currently second behind teammate Verstappen in this season’s driver standings, said that receiving a personal apology from Marko was “more important than anything else.”

He told reporters: “I know him and I know that he doesn’t mean it that way as well, and that to me is what matters. When you have a personal relationship with someone, I think it’s a feeling you’re going to have.”

Verstappen is aiming to win a record-extending 11th consecutive race in Singapore on Sunday, though he said this week that he doesn’t think Red Bull is as competitive on street circuits compared to other tracks.

“The street circuits are a little bit tougher for our car,” he said. “I still think that we can do a good job but it will be very tight.”

Qualifying gets underway at 9 p.m. local time (9 a.m. Eastern Time) on Saturday and the race itself begins at 8 p.m. local time (8 a.m. ET) on Sunday.

Officers from London’s Metropolitan Police have found and arrested Daniel Khalife, the force announced Saturday, marking the end of a three-day manhunt for the terror suspect who escaped from prison on Wednesday.

Khalife was caught by a counter-terrorism officer who pulled the fugitive from a bicycle in the Chiswick area of west London, where search efforts were refocused earlier in the day, the force said.

Its counter-terrorism chief Commander Dominic Murphy said the former soldier was held on suspicion of being unlawfully at large and being an escaped prisoner, PA Media reported.

“He was actually arrested by a plain clothes officer … and he was riding a pedal cycle, so a pushbike, at the time, was pulled off that pushbike by that officer and arrested at that location,” Murphy told reporters.

“Upon being detained by the officer he was fully co-operative and handcuffed and arrested.”

The 21-year-old terror suspect’s escape from Wandsworth Prison on Wednesday sparked a sprawling search that delayed flights and led to heightened checks at British ports.

He was in prison awaiting trial on terror charges over allegedly planting fake bombs at a military base, PA reported. He denied the three charges against him, the news agency said.

Khalife escaped the prison by strapping himself to the underside of a delivery van while dressed as a chef. By the time police tracked down the truck, two miles east of the prison, Khalife was gone and all that remained of his escape was the strapping officers discovered under the van.

The incident prompted criticism of the prison service and the government, and has led to the launch of an independent investigation.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak thanked police and the British public after Khalife was captured.

“I’m very pleased with the news and my thanks to the police officers for all of their fantastic work over the past couple of days, but also to the public who came forward with an enormous number of leads to help the police in their inquiries,” he told reporters outside the G20 summit in New Delhi.

Sunak said the government would continue its ongoing inquiry into how Khalife managed to escape. “But this is obviously very welcome news,” he said of the arrest. 

A spacecraft left behind by US astronauts on the lunar surface could be causing small tremors known as moonquakes, according to a new study.

Researchers revealed the previously unknown form of seismic activity on the moon for the first time through an analysis of Apollo-era data using modern algorithms.

Massive temperature swings that occur on the moon can cause human-made structures to expand and contract in a way that produces these vibrations, the report suggests. The lunar surface is an extreme environment, oscillating between minus 208 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 133 degrees Celsius) in the dark and 250 degrees Fahrenheit (121 degrees Celsius) in direct sun, according to a news release about the study.

In fact, the entire surface of the moon expands and contracts in the cold and heat, noted the study published September 5 in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets. Yet scientists were able to use a form of artificial intelligence to gain such an intimate understanding of the Apollo-era data that they could pinpoint gentle tremors that emitted from an Apollo 17 lunar lander module sitting a few hundred yards away from instruments recording the moonquakes, according to a synopsis of the study by researchers from institutions including the California Institute of Technology and NASA. (NASA provided funding for the study.)

The analysis offers new insights into how the moon responds to its surroundings and what can affect its seismic activities. The rumbles were not dangerous and likely would be imperceptible to humans standing on the moon’s surface.

Understanding moonquakes could be essential to future exploration, experts said, should NASA and its partners build a permanent outpost on the moon’s surface — a goal of Artemis, the agency’s lunar exploration program.

“How strong do we need to build our structures, and what other hazards do we need to mitigate for?” Dr. Angela Marusiak, an assistant research professor at the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, said of the questions that this type of data analysis can help answer. Marusiak was not directly involved in the study, though she did have contact with the authors as a fellow expert in lunar seismology.

Mining for moonquakes

Marusiak noted that every Apollo mission carried instruments for detecting moonquakes. But the Apollo 17 mission, launched in 1972, was noteworthy because it left behind an array of seismometers capable of detecting thermal moonquakes — or the tremors induced by the drastic heating and cooling of the lunar surface.

“Thousands of these signals were recorded during an 8-month span from 1976 to 1977 on four seismometers deployed during the Apollo 17 Lunar Seismic Profiling Experiment, but the poor quality of data makes analysis difficult,” the researchers wrote. “We developed algorithms to accurately determine the arrival timing of the waves, measure the strength of the seismic signal, and find the direction of the moonquake source.”

Scientists revisited the data for the first time in decades. The fresh analysis allowed the research team to conclude that a certain type of moonquake — called an impulsive thermal moonquake — did not come from natural sources but rather from the nearby spacecraft heating and cooling.

“Every lunar morning when the sun hits the lander, it starts popping off,” said study coauthor Allen Husker, a research professor of geophysics at Caltech, in a statement. “Every five to six minutes (there was) another one, over a period of five to seven Earth hours. They were incredibly regular and repeating.”

These tremors differed from another type of moonquake, called emergent thermal moonquakes, that are likely caused by the ground’s natural reaction to sunlight exposure, according to the study.

Other seismic activity

The researchers said they are hopeful that future lunar missions will offer an even more holistic picture of the phenomena.

Apart from thermal quakes, the moon has also been known to have deep and shallow tremors as well as activity believed to be caused by meteorite strikes.

It’s important to note a key difference between the moon and Earth: On the lunar surface, there are no shifting tectonic plates that might cause catastrophic events. But the moon has an active interior life, and — like Earth — certain types of seismic events can occur at any time or location on the lunar surface, Marusiak said.

Marusiak was keen about India’s lunar lander mission, Chandrayaan-3, which included a seismometer. Already, the Indian Space Research Organization has confirmed that the instrument was able to detect a moonquake. (ISRO researchers have not yet released extensive data on the recording or proposed a suggested cause of the event.)

The Chandrayaan-3 instrument, which recorded activity near the lunar south pole for the first time, was put to sleep in early September. Researchers will attempt to awaken the spacecraft for further data collection on September 22, when the Chandrayaan landing site reenters sunlight.

“I’m hoping that with the Artemis program, seismometers will continue to be included because they are really vital for understanding what goes on, not just at the very surface, but even deeper down into the regolith (soil),” Marusiak said.

But scientists are enthusiastic that poring through Apollo-era data with modern technology can yield fascinating new results.

“It’s important to know as much as we can from the existing data so we can design experiments and missions to answer the right questions,” Husker said. “The Moon is the only planetary body other than the Earth to have had more than one seismometer on it at a time. It gives us the only opportunity to thoroughly study another body.”

A rare meeting between Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un at a space launch center in the Russian Far East earlier this week has triggered alarm from countries from South Korea and Japan to Ukraine, the United States and its partners in Europe.

But China, the biggest economic lifeline for both Moscow and Pyongyang whose border lies less than 200 miles (321 kilometers) from where the two leaders met, may have a different view.

Rather than look to oppose or limit cooperation between Russia and North Korea, Beijing may see more benefits than risks for itself in this emerging axis, analysts say – particularly in regard to its great power rivalry with the US.

And while it’s unclear exactly how much insight Chinese officials have into negotiations between North Korea and Russia, analysts say the meeting itself may not have gone forward with some level of consideration of China’s ties to the two.

“(Given) the importance of the support that China provides to both, China is of course looming in the background,” said Alexander Korolev, a senior lecturer in Politics and International Relations at the University of New South Wales in Australia.

“China is too important for both North Korea and Russia, so for them it would be foolish to do something behind China’s back that it wouldn’t like,” he said. “The China factor is there.”

‘Between the two countries’

Neither North Korea or Russia has released details of any agreements reached during the more than five hours Putin and Kim spent together during a tour of the Vostochny Cosmodrome, closed-door talks, and a lavish state dinner – where both leaders toasted to their countries’ growing friendship.

But observers say it’s clear what each is looking for from the other.

Moscow is desperate for fresh supplies of ammunition and shells to feed what’s become a war of attrition in Ukraine – and Pyongyang is believed to be sitting on a stockpile. Pyongyang, after years of sanctions over its nuclear weapon and missiles program, is in need of everything from energy to food to military technology – all of which Russia has.

To be sure, North Korea potentially pumping munitions into Russia could raise awkward optics for China, which accounts for the vast majority of North Korea’s trade and remains Russia’s most powerful diplomatic partner after its Ukraine invasion.

The international community has long looked to Beijing to exert pressure over its government to follow the rules.

And in recent months Beijing has been at pains to frame itself as a proponent of peace in the conflict in Ukraine – part of a bid to win back lost goodwill in Europe, which has recoiled over Beijing’s decision to continue to strengthen its ties with Russia despite its war.

Beijing has already signaled what its official response to any military cooperation between the two would be, with its Foreign Ministry this week repeatedly telling reporters that Wednesday’s meeting was “between the two countries” – implying it’s not China’s business.

But while China itself has appeared careful to avoid any large-scale military support of Russia, analysts say it may see potential support from North Korea as a boost to its own geopolitical calculus, where Russia remains a crucial partner amid rising tensions with the West.

“(If) North Korea is really prepared to provide ammunition to Russia, it would be good for the Chinese expectation that Russia doesn’t experience a major military defeat in the battlefield in Ukraine,” said Li Mingjiang, an associate professor of international relations at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University.

“In that respect, it’s good for China’s geopolitical interests … in terms of China and Russia on the one hand and Western countries on the other,” he said.

Balance of power

China, which supported communist North Korea in the Korean War some 70 years ago, has maintained a complicated relationship with its rogue neighbor.

Like Russia, it has backed past United Nations sanctions against North Korea’s weapons programs – though it’s also been accused of practicing an arbitrary implementation of these controls and in recent years has blocked efforts to strengthen sanctions and led efforts to ease them.

Now, as China feels constrained by what it sees as an increasingly hostile US and its allies, it may welcome a stronger coordination with both Russia and North Korea as counterweights, analysts say.

In that vein, a shift in the relationship between Russia and North Korea which sees Moscow lending support to Pyongyang could also take pressure off China – and strengthen its position in the region.

“China would support a more capable North Korea in many respects – economically, militarily – and a North Korea that continues to serve as a troublemaker for the US,” said Li.

One reason? “When you have a more assertive North Korea it will lead to some sort of incentive for the US and South Korea to seek China’s cooperation in terms of dealing with North Korea,” he said.

Meanwhile, mutual support between the two sanctions-hit neighbors could mitigate international pressure on China over its strong ties to both.

“Since China is not the sole supporter of either, it reduces China’s isolation for its support of both,” Yun Sun, director of the China Program at the Stimson Center think tank in Washington, who said that while their tightening of ties is not without drawbacks for Beijing, its leaders would still likely see this as a “net gain.”

Even a transfer of military technology from Russia to North Korea, which may be concerning to China given its interests in regional stability, may have a silver lining, according to Sun.

China has a stake in avoiding seeing tensions between North Korea and US-allied South Korea escalate into conflict, which could spark to an influx of refugees across its own borders — as well as American military response.

“Such a (military technology) transfer will be destabilizing for the region, but China will turn the table and blame the US and its allies for pushing both Russia and North Korea in a corner. This reinforces China’s opposition to the ‘Asian NATO’ it sees US as orchestrating,” she said.

But despite the potential gains, experts also say China is not immune to the risks that can come from a stronger Russia or a stronger North Korea.

“Beijing has a large stake in global trade,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.

“(It) can ill afford collateral damage from destabilizing pariah state behavior, such as the invasion of Ukraine and habitually threatening the use of nuclear weapons,” he said.

Ukraine has identified the ships hit in its attack against a Russian naval base in occupied Crimea, claiming the vessels are beyond repair.

The attack early Wednesday morning in Sevastopol, the largest city in Crimea, marks Ukraine’s most ambitious strike on the port since the war began and comes as Kyiv steps up missile and drone strikes on the peninsula.

On Wednesday, Andrii Yusov, a representative of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine, said the landing ship Minsk and the submarine Rostov-on-Don had been destroyed in the attack. Both had been undergoing repairs at the time.

Speaking to Ukrainian media, Yusov called the destruction of the landing ship an “irreparable loss” to the Russian sea fleet, because, as he claimed, Russians do not produce such ships any longer. He added that the Defense Intelligence doesn’t want to get into the details of what weapon was used to hit the shipyard, but that the demilitarization of occupied Ukrainian territories is underway.

In recent weeks Ukraine has focused its efforts on Crimea, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014, and is a strategically vital logistics hub for Russia’s war effort due to its location on the Black Sea.

A day after the Sevastopol attack, Ukraine carried out another operation, attacking two ships in the early hours of Thursday morning. The ships were of the Project 22160 type in the southwestern part of the Black Sea, said a statement from Ukraine’s General Staff.

The Defense Intelligence arm released video of the incident, showing what appears to be a Russian patrol ship coming under attack from naval drones. The night vision footage appears to have been recorded from one of the drones as it moves towards the patrol ship, which appears to open fire as the attack vessels close in.

The General Staff said later Thursday that the strikes had caused “some damage.”

Russia’s Defense Ministry also acknowledged that one of its ships, “Sergei Kotov,” had come under attack overnight. “In the course of repelling the attack, five enemy unmanned boats were destroyed by [the ship’s] fire,” a ministry statement said, though it did not make reference to any attack on a second patrol ship.

Also on Thursday, Ukrainian forces in the Crimean city Yevpatoria destroyed a Russian air defense complex in an overnight attack using cruise missiles and drones. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the operation “a triumph” in his nightly address, adding: “It is a very significant achievement, well done!”

The shift in focus to Crimea also came after Russia allowed the Black Sea Grain Initiative to lapse in July. The agreement, brokered by Turkey and the United Nations in July 2022, allowed the export of Ukrainian grain – until the deal expired, with Moscow declining to renew the pact.

Russia’s Black Sea Fleet has since resumed its blockade of Ukraine’s ports, preventing vital grain exports and threatening global food security.

There are also other restrictions at play within Europe; in May, the European Commission banned imports of Ukrainian agricultural products to Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia until June 5, a measure aimed to ease logistical bottlenecks and protect local farmers from being undercut in price by cheaper Ukrainian grain.

In June, the European Union decided to gradually reduce precautions for the import of Ukrainian products until September 15 – this Friday. On Thursday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said he expects the European Commission to “keep its word” and lift all restrictions on Ukrainian grain exports by Friday, saying it would not be “acceptable” to continue the ban.

The NBA Board of Governors approved a new “Player Participation Policy” (PPP) on Wednesday in order to combat the rise of ‘load management’ and ensure that basketball’s biggest names are on the court throughout the season.

The new rules, which have replaced the Player Resting Policy (PRP) introduced in 2017, are “intended to promote player participation in the NBA’s full 82-game regular season” and prevent teams from resting more than one “star” player on any given night, often referred to as load management.

The PPP defines a star player as any individual who has been named to the All-NBA or All-Star teams in any of the previous three seasons. This means that the Boston Celtics, for example, are required to make at least one of their elite duo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown available for every game across the regular season, providing neither are injured.

Forty-nine players are defined as stars by these new provisions across 26 different teams. However, only the 15 teams with multiple star players will be affected by this rule in particular.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver addressed the new regulations at a press conference on Wednesday.

“This is ultimately about the fans, and that we’ve taken this [load management] too far,” Silver said. “This is an acknowledgment that it has gotten away from us a bit.

“That doesn’t mean we’re turning the clock back, that players are expected to play through injuries or that players never need rest. But there’s a statement of a principle in this league that, if you’re a healthy player, you’re going to play.”

The PPP, which is solely focused on star players, does not stop here, however. It also dictates that uninjured, eligible players are required to suit up for nationally televised games, as well as the entirety of the new in-season tournament which will begin in early November.

It also prevents the “shutdown” of star players towards the end of the season. Across previous years, teams have kept their best players out of action for the final stretch of the regular season and have been accused of tanking – or deliberately not trying their best to win games – in an attempt to maximize the chances of getting a higher pick in the NBA Draft.

Examples from last season include the Washington Wizards shutting down Bradley Beal, who was suffering with “knee soreness” according to the team, for their final 10 games, while the Portland Trail Blazers filed Damian Lillard’s 11-game absence under “right calf soreness.” Under the new regulations, both teams would have been investigated and potentially fined by the league.

Teams must also “maintain a balance between the number of one-game absences for a star player in road games and the number of one-game absences for a star player in home games, with a preference under the Policy for such absences to occur in home games.”

Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors all played in a home loss against the Indiana Pacers last season, before all being rested for a trip to Salt Lake City to take on the Utah Jazz two days later. Again, this would constitute grounds for an investigation by the NBA under the 2023/24 guidelines.

The final element of the PPP is retained from the PRP – healthy players that are sitting out games due to rest are expected to be present at games and visible to fans.

Silver emphasized the need for participation across the whole year and stated that the regulations are a “changed approach to reinforcing the notion that we’re an 82-game league.”

Teams will be fined $100,000 if they are found to have violated any of these rules. A second violation would bring about a $250,000 fine and a third would be $1.25 million.
Any further violations would result in a team being fined $1 million more than its prior punishment.

Aside from injuries and personal reasons, exceptions to the regulations will be based on a player’s age, career minutes logged and injury history and must be submitted to the NBA a week in advance. LeBron James falls into all three of these categories (which are: 35 years old on opening night, 1,000 regular season games played and 34,000 minutes logged) and is therefore eligible for rest on occasion.

Opening night of the NBA’s 78th regular season will tip off on Tuesday, October 24.

Players competing in the top-tier of women’s football in Spain – Liga F – have called their strike off after reaching a minimum pay agreement, players’ union FUTPRO announced on Thursday.

The dispute between the five unions representing the players – including many of Spain’s World Cup-winning squad – and Liga F primarily came about because of a disagreement in the minimum salary for players and the wage gap which exists.

The players initially asked for a minimum salary of €23,000 (about $24,600) to be introduced for the upcoming season, rising to €25,000 (about $26,750) for next season.

The unions originally called for two weeks of strike action encompassing the first two matchdays of the new Liga F soccer season, but have now agreed to return following one week of strikes.

“The agreements consist of a minimum salary of €21,000 (about $22,544) for the 2023/24 season, €22,500 (about $24,153) for 2024/25 and €23,500 (about $25,223 for 2025/26,” FUTPRO said in a statement.

“These amounts could reach €23,000 (about $24,689) for the 2023/24 season, €25,000 (about $26,834) for 2024/25 and €28,000 (about $30,054) for 2025/26, based on the profits obtained for commercial activities and other commercial sources of income proposed by the unions, like matches played for a national team by first division players.”

‘They do not want equal payment’

“If we need to understand and compare this minimum salary, we need to also compare the incomes and when it comes to men’s football in La Liga, it’s [two billion] euros per year, only in TV rights, against six million euros that we have in Liga F.

He added: “It’s absolutely impossible to sustain this equal payment if the incomes are not equal. This is a thing that players understand, absolutely.

“They do not want equal payment. What they want is equal opportunities of growth. And I think this is no issue with the players in Spain. Trust me.”

His comments mirror those made by Keka Vega, the women’s football coordinator of the Spanish Footballers’ Association (AFE) union, who said, per Reuters: “First of all, it was the women players who said that they were not looking for equal pay.

“The difference, as you have rightly said, is huge […] what we have to work on as trade unions and the women soccer players, what they are demanding, is to reduce this pay gap.”

When asked how long he thinks it will take until pay parity is reached, Malabia said it was difficult to predict while the difference in league revenues remains so large.

“I believe women’s football is on the right track. I believe the value of women’s football is so high,” he added.

“We believe all of the scenarios of stability, of the World Cup, of being the world champions and of the big talent of our players and clubs, hopefully within the next year, we will experience a big growth.”

According to FUTPRO, the minimum pay agreement is the first step in a more comprehensive collective bargaining agreement and work was needed to “advance on very important points like maternity, harassment protocols, compensation lists and others which we consider equally as important for the correct development of the activity of our footballers.”

The deal comes against the backdrop of Spain’s Women’s World Cup success and the fallout of the unwanted kiss from Luis Rubiales, the former president of the country’s soccer federation, to La Roja star Jennifer Hermoso.

Ex-Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) president Rubiales is set to testify in Spain’s National Court on Friday after being summoned by the presiding judge to aid in the court’s investigation into potential charges of sexual assault and coercion against him.

Rubiales resigned from his position on Sunday following weeks of pressure from all spheres of Spanish society.

The 2023/24 Liga F season gets underway on Friday with Valencia hosting Real Madrid.