apology

Seoul has urged the North to remove any other mines planted on the southern side of the military demarcation line.

South Korea is weighing measures to force an apology from North Korea over a recent landmine blast that wounded three soldiers in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between the two countries, a Defence Ministry spokesperson has said.

A joint South Korean-United Nations investigation concluded on Monday that two landmines that exploded last month in the DMZ were planted by North Korean forces about a year ago, prompting Seoul to demand an official apology.

“We are not ruling out any options or prejudging anything when it comes to additional measures,” Defence Ministry spokeswoman Chung Bin-na told reporters on Tuesday when asked if steps were being planned to force an apology from Pyongyang.

Chung did not offer specifics about what actions might be employed.

Seoul has also called on nuclear-armed North Korea to remove any other mines planted on the southern side of the military demarcation line (MDL) that runs through the DMZ, the heavily fortified frontier that has divided the Korean Peninsula since the 1953 Armistice Agreement.

Pyongyang has denied responsibility for the September 21 blast, with Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korea’s leader, slamming the call for an apology as “despicable”.

Chung said Seoul is calling on ⁠Pyongyang to come ⁠to the table to ⁠discuss a misalignment of the MDL. Differing views of the border line are one factor contributing to tension in the area, she said.

The comments come a day after South Korea’s military carried out a mine-clearing operation south of the MDL. It pledged to continue with clearing operations in the area if Pyongyang fails to remove the remaining explosives. The United States-led UN Command (UNC) confirmed the mine placement violated the 1953 agreement.

Defence Minister Kang Shin-chul told the Yonhap news agency on Tuesday that the military’s “decisive” response was “unprecedented in history”.

“All responsibility lies with North Korea,” Kang told reporters, adding that armed forces would “respond decisively” to any actions threatening national security.

The escalation comes as Pyongyang rejected diplomatic overtures from Seoul. Unification Minister Chung Dong-young proposed on October 2 that both sides jointly resurvey the MDL, noting that only about 200 of 1,292 original boundary markers remain intact and that Seoul and the UNC differ on roughly 60 percent of border coordinates.

Kim Yo Jong rejected the proposal as a “wild dream”, declaring Pyongyang would define its sovereign boundary “by the use of force, not by means of negotiation”.

MIS-TEEQ’S Sabrina Washington has made a huge U-turn as she AXES her own solo tour and issues a grovelling apology to fans after sparking mass confusion.

The singer has cancelled her upcoming tour just mere days after seemingly parting ways from the hit band and announcing her solo career plans.

Just days after Mis-teeq’s sold-out 25th anniversary reunion concert in London, Sabrina declared that there would be no further Mis-Teeq dates or new music – which left fans completely baffled.

But now she has sensationally backtracked on all of that.

In a statement shared on social media, Sabrina said: “I have been paying close attention to what people have been saying, reading the comments and trying to understand what you genuinely want to see from me.

“And one thing has come through very clearly: there is a strong desire to see the three of us perform Mis-Teeq’s greatest hits together again.”

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She went on: “Ultimately, I don’t want to push ahead with a solo tour when I know there is such a strong feeling among fans about seeing Mis-Teeq together again.

“So, with a heavy heart, I have decided that the right thing for me is to cancel the tour.”

Sabrina added: “This is not a decision I have taken lightly. But for me, the fans have to come first.”

She noted that although she is cancelling the tour, she is not putting her own music to one side.

“I have been working on new solo material,” she revealed in the statement.

She then addressed her comments about going solo and Mis-teeq having no new plans in the pipeline.

“I now understand that my plans may not have been fully communicated to Alesha and Su-Elise before the announcement.

“Looking back, I could have shared more detail with management and spoken to the girls directly beforehand, and for that I am sorry.”

Sabrina added: “I have never closed the door on Mis-Teeq. I said on GMB, and I want to say again: I would never say no to another Mis-Teeq show.

“If the right opportunity came along and the three of us all wanted to do it, I would absolutely be open to that.”

Fans were quick to brand her “courageous” and “brave” for speaking out, though some were annoyed as they had already booked tickets to her now-axed solo tour.

The Sun exclusively revealed last week that the Scandalous hitmakers would be going their separate ways following their recent sold-out reunion gig.

Sabrina, Alesha Dixon, 47, and Su-Elise Nash, 45, brought the house down as they took to the stage to mark 25 years since their debut album Lickin’ on Both Sides.

But soon after the performance, Sabrina revealed she planned to go solo.

Speaking exclusively to The Sun last month, she said: “We have had such a massive year together and I’m really proud of what we achieved. 

“We got to come back 25 years later, perform together again and finish with a sold-out Wembley show.

“It was a really special way to celebrate everything the three of us created together.

“But there aren’t any further Mis-Teeq dates or new music planned and we’ve all gone back to doing our own things now.

“For me, though, I wasn’t ready for the celebration to end there.”

South Korea calls for a formal apology from North Korea over the DMZ explosion that injured three soldiers.

South Korea’s military has demanded an apology from North Korea over landmine explosions earlier this month in the border zone between the two countries that wounded three soldiers.

Three South Korean soldiers were injured in two explosions on September 21 near the military demarcation line in the western section of the Demilitarized Zone, a heavily fortified border buffer zone between the Koreas that is commonly known as the DMZ.

Kang Hyunwoo, the South Korean joint chiefs of staff’s director of operations, said the military “strongly urges” North Korea to apologise for the blasts and take “responsible measures” to prevent a recurrence.

“This is a clear violation of the Armistice Agreement and undermines the spirit of existing inter-Korean agreements; it must be stopped immediately,” he said on Wednesday, adding “we strongly urge an apology and responsible measures”.

Defence Minister Kang Shin-chul said South Korea would consider unspecified “corresponding measures” if a complete investigation confirms the North was responsible.

Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said the South Korean assessment is a “conspiratorial farce” and accused Seoul of making groundless claims to create a pretext for provocation against Pyongyang.

She also criticised the South for broadcasting warnings and firing warning shots at North Korean troops conducting front-line fortification work, adding “our soldiers have never crossed the border”.

“If the [South Korean] military gangsters fire at our soldiers carrying on the permanent project for the southern border, not warning shots, our border units will take immediate and merciless retaliatory action,” she said.

The United Nations Command said on Wednesday it had “identified an active Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea’s) anti-personnel mine on the ROK side of the Military Demarcation Line”, in a joint investigation with Seoul’s military.

“Based on the findings of the investigation, UNC determined that an Armistice Agreement violation occurred,” it added.

The UN Command is a US-led multinational military force charged with overseeing the armistice agreement that halted fighting in the Korean War and administers the southern side of the DMZ.

A new age of Clippers basketball started on Monday.

It’s about moving on, or attempting to, after the franchise endured a nightmare offseason.

“My entire summer’s been basketball,” guard Darius Garland nonchalantly said during media day at Intuit Dome. “My main thing is to come in here and win games. So, that’s my main focus.”

The Clippers’ offseason was engulfed by the NBA’s salary-cap circumvention investigation into the team’s endorsement deals with Kawhi Leonard. The NBA fined the Clippers $30 million, stripped them of five first-round picks, dealt suspensions to owner Steve Ballmer and president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank — and the Clippers ultimately traded Leonard, who was fined merely $700,000, back to Toronto.

Garland represented his teammates in prioritizing hoops.

But for Trent Redden, the Clippers’ interim president of basketball operations, things weren’t that simple. The admittedly nervous executive started Monday’s news conferences by apologizing to the Clippers’ faithful for the aftermath of the Leonard situation.

“Our fans deserve to hear from us before this, and for that we’re sorry,” Redden said. “We’ve been listening to the thoughts, the concerns, and feeling the emotions of our fan base. They mean everything to us. … We hope to fulfill our promises to them, to build their trust and move forward through this time.

“This franchise often has done its best work with its back against the wall … We hope to represent our fans the same way we always have in dark times, by coming out fighting.”

Fighting is all the new-look Clippers can do as they enter the 2026-27 season.

Leonard is back north of the border. Other stars, such as Paul George, James Harden and the recently retired Russell Westbrook, are distant memories in L.A. For the first time in years, the Clippers aren’t entering a season with championship aspirations.

“It’s been difficult,” said Ty Lue, who enters his seventh season as the Clippers’ coach. “But I give our players a lot of credit … the leadership is great [and] the morale is great, even in these tough situations. That’s good to see, when you have your players coming in every day, giving everything they have; a lot of teams don’t have that.”

The Clippers’ league-record streak of 15 consecutive winning seasons is in jeopardy. Nonetheless, the team will still feature plenty of intrigue roster-wise, with a mix of youngsters “doing TikToks” and “old heads” trying to keep up, as Garland described it.

“I think we can surprise a lot of people,” he said.

Garland himself, 26, enters his first full season in L.A. as the team’s go-to scorer. A two-time All-Star, he’s primed to lead a promising backcourt alongside 19-year-old rookie Keaton Wagler, the Clippers’ No. 5 pick in the 2026 draft.

Wagler is one of the team’s promising young players, alongside fellow rookie Baba Miller, Kobe Sanders and the rehabbing Jordan Miller and Yanic Konan Niederhauser.

“I’m just going to do my best to stay mentally focused,” Wagler said when asked about the pressure of being the team’s first top-five pick since Blake Griffin in 2009. “Not worry about all the outside noise.”

The Clippers return key role players like Derrick Jones Jr., Kris Dunn, Bradley Beal and Brook Lopez, and sport new ones like Max Strus and Gradey Dick via trades.

However, the team’s ceiling will rest on the influence of new forwards Brandon Ingram and Rui Hachimura. Hachimura is coming off a strong playoff run and four-year stint with the Lakers.

“One thing about here … everybody talks about how they take really good care of their players,” Hachimura said of signing a two-year, $28-million contract with the Clippers this offseason.

Ingram, the centerpiece of the Leonard trade, is a solid three-level scorer and will shoulder much of the offensive load alongside Garland — when healthy.

Redden shockingly shared that Ingram is recovering from a partially torn Achilles tendon in addition to heel surgery.

“I had been dealing with some pain throughout the year with the Raptors, especially coming down crunch time with the Raptors,” Ingram said. “I didn’t quite know what it was. Near the end of the season, we figured out what it was, and surgery was the best thing to do.”

The 29-year-old Ingram, though, should make a full recovery and claims his best days are still ahead of him.

He feels the same way about his new Clippers team.

“I know [there are] little to no expectations for us this year,” Ingram said. “We have enough in the building to compete. This is what we love to do. So, we’ll go out and compete every single night, learn, go on to the next game and get better and better.”

Texas quarterback Arch Manning has apologized for his public reaction to a video that was altered by AI to show Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian slapping ESPN reporter Holly Rowe and knocking her to the ground.

Talking to reporters on Monday, Manning brought up the video, then laughed about it and called it “a good one” and “hilarious.”

The next day, the grandson of Archie Manning and nephew of Peyton and Eli Manning posted an apology on his Instagram Story.

“In my press conference yesterday, I made an insensitive comment about an AI video,” Manning wrote. “There is nothing funny about it. It’s easy to say I didn’t mean it, but I know my words and actions were hurtful to a lot of people. I do not take that lightly and am deeply sorry for that.

“I specifically want to apologize to Holly Rowe for what she has personally had to deal with because of my comments. I have a ton of respect for her and appreciate her showing me grace in this moment. I need to do better and will be more thoughtful going forward.”

Rowe posted Manning’s apology on X and indicated she’s not holding a grudge.

“Thank you Arch. I appreciate our conversation about this — which will remain private,” Rowe wrote. “Apology accepted. We move forward with respect and kindness for one another.”

On Saturday, Manning rallied the then-No. 4 Longhorns from a 20-point deficit in the fourth quarter to defeat top-ranked Ohio State 24-23. In the real video of Rowe attempting to interview Sarkisian, the coach yelled a few Texas cheers before rushing away from the veteran sideline reporter to join his team’s celebration.