Israel’s Netanyahu Is Rushed to Hospital for Dehydration

JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday declared that he feels “very good” after he was rushed to the hospital for what doctors said likely was dehydration.

Netanyahu’s office said he was hospitalized after feeling mild dizziness. It said that he had spent the previous day in the heat at the Sea of Galilee, a popular vacation spot in northern Israel, and that after a series of tests, the initial assessment was that the veteran Israeli leader was dehydrated.

Later on Saturday, a smiling Netanyahu issued a video statement from the hospital, saying that he had been out in the sun on Friday without wearing a hat and without water. “Not a good idea,” he said.
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“Thank God, I feel very good,” he added, thanking the medical team at Israel’s Sheba Hospital and thanking the public for messages of support.

He said he had “one request” — that people drink water and act safely in the scorching summer heat.

Israel is in the midst of a summer heat wave, with temperatures in the mid-30s Celsius (mid-90s Fahrenheit).

Netanyahu is Israel’s longest serving leader. He has served multiple terms stretching over 15 years in office. His current far-right government, a collection of religious and ultranationalist parties, took office last December.

Netanyahu is said to be in generally good health, though he was briefly hospitalized last October after feeling unwell during prayers on Yom Kippur, a day when observant Jews fast.

The Israeli leader faces pressure on multiple fronts.

He is on trial for multiple corruption charges in a case that has bitterly divided the nation. His government’s hard-line policies toward Palestinians have drawn international criticism and antagonized relations with the United States, Israel’s closest and most important ally.

At home, tens of thousands of Israelis have held weekly demonstrations against Netanyahu’s government to protest his plan to overhaul the country’s judiciary.

Netanyahu’s allies say the plan is needed to rein in the power of unelected judges. But his opponents say the plan will destroy the country’s fragile system of checks and balances and concentrate power in the hands of Netanyahu and his allies.

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid issued a statement wishing Netanyahu a “full recovery and good health.”

“Feel better,” Lapid said on Twitter.

 

source https://time.com/6295002/israels-netanyahu-is-rushed-to-hospital-for-dehydration/

What Happened the Last Time SAG and the WGA Went on Strike Together

The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) officially announced a strike on Thursday following the expiration of their contracts with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). Hours later, members of SAG-AFTRA, Hollywood’s largest union for performers and other media professionals, joined in striking with Writers Guild of America (WGA) workers in the two unions’ first joint walkout against the studios since 1960.

“It came with great sadness that we came to this crossroads. But we had no choice. We are the victims here,” SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher said during the guild’s Thursday press conference. “We are being victimized by a very greedy entity. I am shocked by the way the people that we have been in business with are treating us. I cannot believe it, quite frankly. How far apart we are on so many things. How they plead poverty, that they’re losing money left and right while giving hundreds and millions of dollars to their CEOs. It is disgusting. Shame on them. They stand on the wrong side of history at this very moment.”
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The WGA, SAG-AFTRA’s sister union, has been on strike since May 2 after failing to reach an agreement with AMPTP over their working conditions, compensation structure, and threats to their jobs including AI. Now, with SAG-AFTRA joining WGA members on the picket lines, the simultaneous strikes are expected to halt the majority of Hollywood’s film and TV production.

The start of SAG-AFTRA’s strike marks the first time in 63 years that Hollywood writers and actors are striking at the same time. Here’s what happened the last time SAG and the WGA went on strike together.

Mario Tama—Getty ImagesA portrait of former SAG-AFTRA President Ronald Reagan hangs in SAG-AFTRA headquarters after a press conference announcing their strike against Hollywood studios on July 13, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.

What happened when the WGA and SAG went on strike in 1960?

On January 16, 1960, the WGA began striking against the Alliance of Television Film Producers (ATFP) with demands for better compensation. Writers wanted studios to pay into the WGA health and pension funds as well as increase wages and residuals related to their work being shown on television or via television reruns.

A few months later, SAG—still decades away from their 2012 merger with AFTRA—began its own strike on March 7, 1960, in a fight over residuals from films sold to TV networks, resulting in the industry’s first double strike.

SAG’s strike ended on April 18, 1960, when the guild agreed to forego residual payments on films made prior to 1960 in exchange for receiving residuals on all films made from 1960 on as well as a one-time payment of $2.25 million from producers to form a SAG pension and health plan.

The writers strike, on the other hand, continued until June 12, 1960, when the WGA agreed to a groundbreaking new deal. Gains for the guild included the first residuals for theatrical motion pictures (payments of 1.2% of the license fee when features were licensed to television), an independent pension fund and industry health insurance plan, and 4% residuals for both domestic and foreign television reruns, according to the WGA website.

Who was involved in the 1960 strike SAG and WGA strike?

During the 1960 strikes, future U.S. President Ronald Reagan held the position of SAG president and led negotiations with the Hollywood studios.

SAG’s strike halted production on eight feature films, including Elizabeth Taylor’s Butterfield 8, Gina Lollobrigida’s Go Naked in the World, Jack Lemmon’s The Wackiest Ship in the Army, and Marilyn Monroe’s Let’s Make Love. The stars behind these films—and more, including Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire—all participated in the work stoppage.

source https://time.com/6294777/sag-wga-strike-1960/

Biden Plan Cuts Student Loan Payments for Millions to $0. Here’s What Could Happen Next

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration calls it a “student loan safety net.” Opponents call it a backdoor attempt to make college free. And it could be the next battleground in the legal fight over student loan relief.

Starting this summer, millions of Americans with student loans will be able to enroll in a new repayment plan that offers some of the most lenient terms ever. Interest won’t pile up as long as borrowers make regular payments. Millions of people will have monthly payments reduced to $0. And in as little as 10 years, any remaining debt will be canceled.

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It’s known as the SAVE Plan, and although it was announced last year, it has mostly been overshadowed by President Joe Biden’s proposal for mass student loan cancellation. But now, after the Supreme Court struck down Biden’s forgiveness plan, the repayment option is taking center stage.

Since the ruling Biden has proposed an alternate approach to cancel debt and also shifted attention to the lesser-known initiative, calling it “the most affordable repayment plan ever.” The typical borrower who enrolls in the plan will save $1,000 a month, he said.

Republicans have fought against the plan, saying it oversteps the president’s authority. Sen. Bill Cassidy, the ranking Republican on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, called it “deeply unfair” to the 87% of Americans who don’t have student loans.

The Congressional Budget Office previously estimated over the next decade the plan would cost $230 billion, which would be even higher now that the forgiveness plan has been struck down. Estimates from researchers at the University of Pennsylvania put the cost at up to $361 billion.

Emboldened by the Supreme Court’s decision on cancellation, some opponents say it’s a matter of time before the repayment plan also faces a legal challenge.

Here’s what to know about the SAVE Plan:

What is an income-driven repayment plan?

The U.S. Education Department offers several plans for repaying federal student loans. Under the standard plan, borrowers are charged a fixed monthly amount that ensures all their debt will be repaid after 10 years. But if borrowers have difficulty paying that amount, they can enroll in one of four plans that offer lower monthly payments based on income and family size. Those are known as income-driven repayment plans.

Income-driven options have been offered for years and generally cap monthly payments at 10% of a borrower’s discretionary income. If a borrower’s earnings are low enough, their bill is reduced to $0. And after 20 or 25 years, any remaining debt gets erased.

How is Biden’s plan different?

As part of his debt relief plan announced last year, Biden said his Education Department would create a new income-driven repayment plan that lowers payments even further. It became known as the SAVE Plan, and it’s generally intended to replace existing income-driven plans.

Borrowers will be able to apply later this summer, but some of the changes will be phased in over time.

Right away, more people will be eligible for $0 payments. The new plan won’t require borrowers to make payments if they earn less than 225% of the federal poverty line — $32,800 a year for a single person. The cutoff for current plans, by contrast, is 150% of the poverty line, or $22,000 a year for a single person.

Another immediate change aims to prevent interest from snowballing.

As long as borrowers make their monthly payments, their overall balance won’t increase. Once they cover their adjusted monthly payment — even if it’s $0 — any remaining interest will be waived.

Other major changes will take effect in July 2024.

Most notably, payments on undergraduate loans will be capped at 5% of discretionary income, down from 10% now. Those with graduate and undergraduate loans will pay between 5% and 10%, depending on their original loan balance. For millions of Americans, monthly payments could be reduced by half.

Next July will also bring a quicker road to loan forgiveness. Starting then, borrowers with initial balances of $12,000 or less will get the remainder of their loans canceled after 10 years of payments. For each $1,000 borrowed beyond that, the cancellation will come after an additional year of payments.

For example, a borrower with an original balance of $14,000 would get all remaining debt cleared after 12 years. Payments made before 2024 will count toward forgiveness.

How do I apply?

The Education Department says it will notify borrowers when the new application process launches this summer. Those enrolled in an existing plan known as REPAYE will automatically be moved into the SAVE plan. Borrowers will also be able to sign up by contacting their loan servicers directly.

It will be available to all borrowers in the Direct Loan Program who are in good standing on their loans.

What about borrowers who missed out on earlier programs?

The administration announced last year it would make fixes to correct mistakes in tracking payments that qualify toward forgiveness under income-driven repayment plans. As a result, the education department said Friday, it will wipe out $39 billion in debt held by more than 800,000 borrowers

Officials said eligible borrowers will be informed starting Friday that they qualify for forgiveness without further action on their part.

“For far too long, borrowers fell through the cracks of a broken system that failed to keep accurate track of their progress towards forgiveness,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said.

What are the pros and cons?

Supporters say Biden’s plan will simplify repayment options and offer relief to millions of borrowers. The Biden administration has argued that ballooning student debt puts college out of reach for too many Americans and holds borrowers back financially.

Opponents call it an unfair perk for those who don’t need it, saying it passes a heavy cost onto taxpayers who already repaid student loans or didn’t go to college. Some worry that it will give colleges incentive to raise tuition prices higher since they know many students will get their loans canceled later.

Voices across the political spectrum have said it amounts to a form of free college. Biden campaigned on a promise to make community college free, but it failed to gain support from Congress. Critics say the new plan is an attempt to do something similar without Congress’ approval.

Is it legal?

That depends on who you ask, but the question hasn’t been taken up by a federal court.

Instead of creating a new payment plan from scratch, the Biden administration proposed changes to an existing plan. It cemented those changes by going through a negotiated rulemaking process that allows the Education Department to develop federal regulations without Congress.

It’s a process that’s commonly used by administrations from both political parties. But critics question whether the new plan goes further than the law allows.

More than 60 Republicans lawmakers urged Cardona to withdraw the plan in February, calling it “reckless, fiscally irresponsible, and blatantly illegal.”

Supporters argue that the Obama administration similarly used its authority to create a repayment plan that was more generous than any others at the time.

The Biden administration formally finalized the rule this month. Conservatives believe it’s vulnerable to a legal challenge, and some say it’s just a matter of finding a plaintiff with the legal right — or standing — to sue.

source https://time.com/6294901/biden-plans-studen-loan-cut-millions/

The 10 Cult Classics That Shaped Theater Camp

In Warwick, New York, on the New Jersey border, there sits a now-defunct Jewish summer camp, Kurtz Camp. When the cast and crew of Theater Camp—an ensemble mockumentary out on Friday—arrived to film there, it felt like a ghost town, dotted with half-empty Gatorade bottles. Over the course of just 19 days of shooting, Molly Gordon, Ben Platt, Noah Galvin, Ayo Edebiri, Patti Harrison, and a host of child actors brought it back to life. (The production funded improvements to the camp to later reopen it for Warwick residents.)
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The rest of the cast, which includes Jimmy Tatro, Nathan Lee Graham, Caroline Sidney Aaron, Amy Sedaris, and Owen Thiele, got comfortable with each other quickly to improvise most of the dialogue. “We didn’t have time to not be” comfortable, says Gordon, who co-wrote, co-directed, and starred in the film. “That’s what theater does, right? You all become this little family.”

Theater Camp takes place at AdirondACTS, a beloved camp in upstate New York that’s teetering, unbeknownst to its teachers and campers, on the cusp of financial ruin after its founder (Amy Sedaris) falls into a coma. Gordon and Platt star as Rebecca-Diane and Amos, two zany, brilliant theater teachers who make AdirondACTS go round. Galvin plays Glenn, the camp’s overworked stage manager who harbors a secret knack for the spotlight. (Platt and Galvin are both well-known in the theater world for each playing the titular role of Dear Evan Hansen; they are also engaged.)

Gordon—who recently played Claire on The Bear—wrote the film with Platt, Galvin, and Nick Lieberman. She also directed the film with Lieberman in their directorial debut. The movie originates in a short film made three years ago, also by the four friends, who have known each other since they were teenagers through theater and musical workshops.

Courtesy of Searchlight PicturesAmos (Ben Platt) and Rebecca-Diane (Molly Gordon) are worried about the state of the musical they’re writing, “Joan, Still,” about the camp’s founder, Joan, who is in a coma.

Theater Camp premiered in January at Sundance to two standing ovations. Before the film festival, Gordon and Lieberman spent all day, every day in a Brooklyn closet, trying to edit roughly 16 hours of footage into a 90-minute movie. They had approached the project as a documentary, laying out the plot points, but improvising from there—which left them with plenty to work with.

“We were really excited to try to make something that was earnest, and then also really specific to this world,” Lieberman says. “And that felt hopefully to people like, ‘Oh yeah, even if I didn’t go to theater camp, this must be what it is like.’”

The influences of documentaries and cult films, camp-related and otherwise, reverberate throughout Theater Camp. When I saw it, 2003’s Camp immediately sprang to mind. A friend saw In the Bleak Midwinter (1995) in it, and my coworkers saw the fingerprints of Wet Hot American Summer (2001) and Christopher Guest’s mockumentaries. I talked to Gordon and Lieberman (from a Manhattan hotel the day after the New York premiere) about which movies influenced them—and what they might recommend after watching Theater Camp. Here are their picks through the ages.

Original Cast Album: Company (1970)

In terms of influences and inspirations, the directors leaned heavily into documentaries. In 1970, filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker observed the marathon recording session for the original cast album of Stephen Sondheim’s Company. The resulting documentary opens a view into a part of the “theater world that not every theater representation has, of people in a room, sweaty, intensely arguing with each other, in this ‘70s cool way,” Lieberman says. “Definitely, vibe-wise, that was a huge inspiration.”

Small Change (1976)

Much of the charm of Theater Camp hinges on the work and creativity of its child actors, for whom the directors have the utmost respect. François Truffaut’s French film Small Change (L’Argent de poche) follows the minutiae of the lives of a group of children in Thiers, France in the summer of 1976. “He just treats kids so beautifully and legitimately,” Lieberman says, “and takes them really seriously in a way that we love.”

Everything by Christopher Guest

The screenwriter, composer, musician, director, actor, and comedian Christopher Guest is an unparalleled force in Hollywood. Best known for having written, directed, and starred in a series of mockumentaries—This Is Spinal Tap (which he did not direct), Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, For Your Consideration, and Mascots—his name is synonymous with the filmmaking style. “Christopher Guest is everything to us and we wouldn’t even dare to put our film in the same sentence,” says Gordon. “But we were 100% inspired by him writing specifically for his friends and all getting to kind of play with each other.”

The War Room (1993)

The heavy documentary influence wasn’t limited to mockumentaries—or theater-related fare, for that matter. Gordon and Lieberman both love The War Room, a 1993 documentary about Bill Clinton’s first presidential campaign. “We’ve always dreamed of making a comedy that used the kind of vérité style of that documentary and the visual style of it and the nostalgic, 16-millimeter grain,” Gordon says.

The Parent Trap (1998)

Of course, the Theater Camp tincture also has a healthy dose of summer camp influences—a uniquely nostalgic, American genre. In The Parent Trap, Lindsay Lohan stars in her breakthrough role as two 11-year-old twins: British Annie James and American Hallie Parker. Annie and Hallie were raised on opposite sides of the Atlantic—the former by their mother and the latter by their father—with no knowledge of one other’s existence. The twins are accidentally reunited at summer camp, where they scheme to “trap” their parents back together.

Wet Hot American Summer (2001)

In keeping with the summer camp theme, Wet Hot American Summer is an iconic piece of the genre, and has picked up a cult following since its release in 2001. An ensemble comedy like Theater Camp, it features Molly Shannon, Paul Rudd, Christopher Meloni, Elizabeth Banks, Ken Marino, Bradley Cooper (in his film debut), and Amy Poehler. On the last day of Camp Firewood in 1981, counselors scheme to hook up with each other before they leave. Two overzealous drama teachers, Ben (Bradley Cooper) and Susie (Amy Poehler), try to cobble together Camp Firewood’s greatest talent show yet.

Stagedoor (2006)

In one of few documentaries ever made specifically about theater camp, director Alexandra Shiva chronicles the stresses and successes of five teenage campers, Maddy, Nicole, Randi, Robert, and Taylor. Stagedoor was inspired by Robert Downey Jr., Jennifer Jason Leigh, Natalie Portman, Bryce Dallas Howard, Zach Braff, and Mandy Moore—all of whom attended the Stagedoor Manor theater camp in the Catskills. (As did Gordon and Lieberman.)

Stagedoor swings between comic and compassionate, illustrating just how extreme the experience can be. “A lot of people that see the movie who went to theater camp or were in drama programs are like, ‘Oh my God, my teacher was crazier than this,’” Gordon says. “We could have even made them more kooky, but we wanted to strike a balance.”

Jesus Camp (2006)

Jesus Camp—a documentary about a charismatic Christian summer camp in North Dakota—feels like perhaps the polar opposite of Theater Camp, but the creators drew fresh inspiration from a drastically different camp experience. “There’s this blackout scene in that movie, and all the kids are playing with flashlights,” Gordon says. “And we have a blackout scene that becomes very silly in ours.” The Kids on Fire School of Ministry camp taught children to “take back America for Christ” and was later closed over controversy sparked by the film.

Rachel Getting Married (2008)

Rachel Getting Married may be billed as a drama, but it feels at times like a dark comedy. This movie, alongside Computer Chess, combined elements of comedy with the documentary aesthetic that the directors were looking for. “I remember a dark day right before we submitted to Sundance where we were like, ‘Is our camerawork too shaky?’” Gordon says. “And then we watched Rachel Getting Married and we were like, ‘I think we’re OK.’” Rachel Getting Married follows Kym (Anne Hathaway), an addict currently in rehab, through the emotional minefield of her sister Rachel’s wedding. (Hathaway received her first Oscar nomination for the role.)

Computer Chess (2013)

Computer Chess and Rachel Getting Married were “the movies that we really looked to see the confluence of some of the things that we wanted to function” in Theater Camp, according to Lieberman. The independent dramedy is set in 1980 at an unequivocally nerdy computer chess competition in a California hotel. In black and white and shot on analog video cameras, Computer Chess excels at capturing a snapshot of a moment in time, which Theater Camp’s directors aspired to do.

source https://time.com/6294820/theater-camp-influences/

Extra Time: The Unsung Talent of the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team

This story first appeared in Extra Time, our pop-up newsletter about the 2023 Women’s World Cup. Get it in your inbox by subscribing here.

A few weeks back I flew out to Southern California for USWNT media day, held at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson. During the last two World Cups, played in Canada and France, respectively, New York City hosted media day before the send-off game in New Jersey. This time, however, the pre-World Cup training camp and send-off affair relocated to the West Coast, a few hours closer to Australia and New Zealand, where the tournament will take place.
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Media day gives reporters a chance to spend some time with USWNT players in the lead-up to the World Cup. Lindsey Horan, Alex Morgan, and Megan Rapinoe held a joint press conference. U.S. Soccer officials then rotated in the rest of the players, four at a time, for 25-minute roundtable discussions with journalists. During some sessions, I hopped around from player to player, listening for interesting nuggets and insights, lobbing a question or two. For others, I set up shop at one player’s table, for a little more depth. When Trinity Rodman speaks, for example, you listen.

(We’ll roll out a Rodman feature next week.)

These sessions helped inform one of our TIME pieces published this week, an introduction to the 14 World Cup rookies on the U.S roster. While reading up on the players during the cross-country flight to media day—and in hearing them answer questions—a certain group stood out to me: the old-time first-timers, players in their 30s who have been putting in the work for a while now but have never before made it to the tournament.

Veteran stars like Morgan and Rapinoe have secured their legacies. Young phenoms like Rodman and Sophia Smith and Alyssa Thompson all possess tantalizing superstar potential. These big names will likely attract a bunch of the World Cup attention, for good reason. But here’s to three first-time World Cup players – Sofia Huerta, Kristie Mewis, and Lynn Williams – who like so many Americans, have had to wait their turn. They’ve faced rejection but still persevered. They’ve overcome injuries or mental setbacks or other disappointments. They show that work and experience still count for so much. They’re the mid-career professionals finally receiving that promotion that eluded them seasons after season. Now it’s their time. Some words on each:

Sofia Huerta: She grew up in Idaho, far from the elite youth leagues of, say, California. Still, she earned a soccer scholarship to Santa Clara University, and since her father immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico, she played some games for the Mexican national team. Despite that positive experience, and even though the U.S. wasn’t really considering her for a position, she declined to pursue further opportunities in Mexico in order to chase her USWNT dreams.

Huerta, 30, finally received a U.S. call-up in 2017, but the USWNT coaching staff encouraged her to switch to positions, from forward to defense, on her club team so she could gain more experience playing there. Such a switch would offer a clearer path to making the 2019 World Cup team. She was traded from Chicago to Houston in 2018, under the impression she’d play outside back with the Dash. She never did. She was left off the 2019 World Cup roster.

She fell into a funk before deciding to take control of her own narrative. She played in Australia’s W-League (now known as the A-League) during two NWSL offseasons, insisting that it be written into her contracts that the team allow her to play defense. Houston traded her to OL Reign in Seattle, where she’s played outside back the past three seasons and was a finalist for defender of the year in 2022.

Kristie Mewis: From 2013 to 2017, Mewis was traded five times in the NWSL, bouncing from FC Kansas City to the Boston Breakers to the Washington Spirit to the Chicago Red Stars then finally the Houston Dash. She had fallen off the national-team radar after making 15 appearances in 2013 and 2014. Then she tore her ACL during a game in May 2018.

The injury, however, wound up being a “blessing in disguise,” she told Goal.com in 2020. “I had to look within myself and decide where I was going with my career,” Mewis said. “Am I going to continue being average or am I going to try to push for my dreams … I feel like it just woke me up a little bit.”

After rehab and a strong 2019 season, she received her first national-team call-up in five years. She made the Tokyo Olympics along with her younger sister, Sam, a 2019 World Cup champion. Now she’s reached her first World Cup, at 32, though Sam won’t be there, as she’s still recovering from a knee injury.

Lynn Williams: Williams, the NJ/NY Gotham FC forward, thought she was good enough to make the 2019 World Cup team. Instead, she watched on television as her friends took home the title in France. She did make the Tokyo Olympic team—as an alternate. “Like, thanks for wanting me but not wanting me,” says Williams, 30. The International Olympic Committee, however, expanded rosters before the Games, in case players had to miss time because of COVID-19. Williams made the trip, scored a goal, and notched an assist in a surprise quarterfinal start against the Netherlands. But there were no fans there to cheer her on. No family. “It wasn’t necessarily the Olympics of my dreams,” she says.

Crowds in Australia and New Zealand, on the other hand, will roar. Patience may pay off, for Williams and her fellow veteran rooks.

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Africa’s upstarts

Seven nations will be making their women’s World Cup debut: Haiti, Morocco, Panama, Portugal, the Republic of Ireland, Vietnam, and Zambia. The Zambian team, the Copper Queens (amazing name), is ranked 77th in the world, and the Queens just stunned No. 2 Germany, 3-2, on German soil, in a July 7 pre-World Cup friendly. Both sides suited up the key players who will see action at the World Cup; Zambia led 2-0 going into injury time before Germany scored a pair of quick goals to salvage, it seemed, a draw. But Zambia took advantage of a poor Germany throw-in to find star Barbra Banda streaking down the field; she scored in the 112th minute, her second goal of the game, to seal the win.

Banda, who plays professionally in China, could not play in last year’s African Cup of Nations due to elevated testosterone levels. But FIFA has cleared her to play in this World Cup. Six Zambian players compete for the Red Arrows, a club team in that country sponsored by the Zambian air force. Three suit up for the Green Buffaloes, the army squad. In Group C, the Copper Queens will face Japan on July 22 at 3 a.m. E.T. Games against Spain (July 26, 3:30 a.m. E.T) and Costa Rica (July 31, 3:00 a.m. E.T.) will follow.

Recent news, however, threatens an otherwise feel-good, surprise World Cup story. Starting goalkeeper Hazel Nali will miss the World Cup due to an ACL injury. Knee injuries will keep several key players from around the world out of the competition. (We’ll have a piece on this sad phenomenon next week.)

More seriously, the Guardian reported on July 8 that Zambian coach Bruce Mwape has been investigated over allegations of sexual misconduct. Mwape has denied wrongdoing.

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Recommended reading

Five other countries dealing with controversies ahead of the World Cup. (TIME).

World Cup ticket sales are lagging in New Zealand. One sponsor is offering 20,000 freebies. (Reuters).

One observer’s World Cup uniform rankings. (The Athletic). Close your eyes if you don’t want a spoiler … the United States, New Zealand, and Italy got the highest marks, while Denmark and France scored the worst. Rubbish. Take it from this fashionista: Ireland’s kits are the best, Germany’s the worst. Case closed.)

Every World Cup player: by country, by position, and club team info. (Olympics.com)

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Broken records

According to the Action Network, a sports betting and media company, a few notable—and random—World Cup records may be set or extended in the coming weeks.

• South Korea’s Casey Phair will probably become the youngest player to ever appear in a women’s World Cup. Ifeanyi Chiejine of Nigeria was 16 years and 35 days old when she appeared against South Korea in 1999; Phair turned 16 on June 27 and she will be 16 years and 27 days on July 25, when South Korea faces Morocco.The U.S.-born teen has a Korean mother and an American father. She’s also the first player of mixed heritage to represent South Korea at a men’s or women’s World Cup.
• Onome Ebi of Nigeria and Christine Sinclair of Canada are tied for a record that speaks to both their lasting greatness, and their relative lack of team success at World Cups: they each have lost 10 World Cup matches. (Nigeria’s Florence Omagbemi is the third member of the 10-loss club, but she’s not playing this year.) Ebi, 40, is making her sixth World Cup appearance: Nigeria, which reached the Round of 16 four years ago, will compete in a “Group of Death,” Group B, against Sinclair and Olympic champion Canada, World Cup co-host Australia, and Ireland. Sinclair, also 40 and making her sixth World Cup appearance, has scored more international goals than anyone in history. One of these players may take the loss lead, at least temporarily, on July 20, when Canada and Nigeria face off at 10:30 p.m. E.T. in their World Cup opener.
• No winner of the Golden Ball, awarded to the best player at a World Cup, has gone on to win a World Cup title as a coach. Hege Riise, of Norway, could become the first: she won the Golden Ball in 1995 for the champion Gresshoppene (Grasshoppers, another awesome nickname), and is leading her team, ranked No. 12 in the world, in Group A play against co-host New Zealand, Switzerland, and the Philippines.
• For some reason, no country is more likely to draw than China. China has played in more tie games (7) than any other team in women’s World Cup history. Denmark, England, and Haiti will all try to score more goals than China, not the same number, in Group D.

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Parting thought

On July 21 in Portland, Ore, the Sports Bra—a women’s sports-themed establishment that opened in 2022—and the Portland Community Football Club are hosting a USA-Vietnam viewing party in Pioneer Courthouse Square. Bend It Like Beckham is screening at 2 p.m. local time, and the 6 p.m. kickoff follows. Food and drinks, including selections from Vietnamese women-owned businesses, will be available. If you can’t make the long, pricey trip to Australia and New Zealand—it’s really far, and really expensive—but are looking for a fun watch experience in the United States, seems you can do worse than making a less long, and less pricey, trip to Portland.

source https://time.com/6294811/unsung-players-us-women-soccer-team-extra-time/

Biden and Democrats Raised More Than $72 Million for 2024 Campaign

(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden and the Democratic National Committee raised more than $72 million for his reelection in the 10 weeks since he announced his 2024 candidacy, his campaign announced Friday.

That is all the money raised between April 25, when Biden made his announcement, and the end of June, and includes donations to his campaign and to a network of joint fundraising arrangements with the national and state parties. By comparison, President Barack Obama raised $85.6 million during the April-to-June quarter in 2011 when he launched his campaign for a second term, though he announced his candidacy three weeks earlier that April than did Biden.

Biden, who has cleared the field of any serious rivals for for the Democratic nomination, has nevertheless been confronting persistent concerns from within the party about voter enthusiasm for an 80-year-old candidate.

The campaign did not detail the sum raised directly by Biden’s campaign. That figure is set to be reported Saturday to the Federal Election Commission.

“While Republicans are burning through resources in a divisive primary focused on who can take the most extreme MAGA positions, we are significantly outraising every single one of them -– because our team’s strength is our grassroots supporters,” Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez in a statement.

The campaign said the total came from nearly 400,000 donors, and that 97% of donations were under $200 and more than 30% of donors had not given to Biden in 2020.

source https://time.com/6294776/biden-democrats-72-million-campaign/

Extreme Heat Is Hitting Companies Where It Hurts

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It’s hot out there and getting hotter. The last few weeks have brought some of the highest temperatures on record at great cost to human health and wellbeing. For a moment, the office air conditioning can feel like a refuge from the extremes outside, but it may be time for businesses to start feeling the heat.

At the heart of the issue is what climate experts call “physical risk.” This term is somewhat self explanatory. The physical effects of climate change pose a physical risk to businesses’ assets and operations—think of hurricanes, wildfires, and flooding, to name a few. These extreme weather events are financially material, and hurt the bottom line. A 2021 report from Impax Asset Management Group found that two-thirds of large companies globally have at least one asset highly exposed to the physical risk of climate change; it’s likely the share of at-risk companies has grown since then.
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Read more: Human Adaptation to Heat Can’t Keep Up With Human-Caused Climate Change

“This is actually going to touch every sector,” Brian Deese, recently President Biden’s top economic advisor, told me in 2020 when he was the global head of sustainable investing at Blackrock. “Those risks, while they do accelerate out into the future, are more pressing on the market today than most market participants understand.”

Phenomena like fires and floods may be the most obvious example of physical risk, but heat falls into the same bucket. Indeed, a 2021 Moody’s report identified heat stress as one of two physical risks that affect almost every sector. In agriculture, heat can kill crops. That harms retailers, too, who are dependent on crops in their supply chain. For the travel industry, extreme heat can shift consumer demand—making some destinations desirable and others anathema. Across many sectors, heat stress makes it more difficult—and at times impossible—for employees to work outside.

A quick look at financial disclosures shows many big companies are already noting heat as a material financial risk to their operations. Walmart, for example, says the company is vulnerable to rising costs of cooling its massive facilities; Disney says excessive heat may affect demand for its tourism products.

Read more: Why Extreme Heat Is So Bad for the Human Body

And, if the direct impact on individual businesses weren’t enough, there’s also a macro effect to consider: a significant body of research now shows that extreme heat is a drag on the global economy. A study published in the journal Science Advances found that human-caused extreme heat cost the global economy as much as $29 trillion between 1992 and 2013. A different study from the Climate Impact Lab found that higher temperatures could reduce the average income globally by nearly a quarter by 2100 compared to a no-climate-change scenario.

Where does this all leave companies? Those with adequate resources are building programs to address heat risk. Walmart, for example, is assessing its supply chain to ensure it can bounce back from extreme weather—including heat stress—as part of a comprehensive climate program.

Beyond the week-to-week, month-to-month impact of heat, it’s also important to consider the role businesses can play in avoiding the worst possible heat. By cutting their own carbon emissions—and pushing a bigger societal shift toward a low-carbon economy—companies not only protect their own growth prospects but also the wellbeing of all of society.

source https://time.com/6294411/extreme-heat-impacting-companies-economy/