{"id":288760,"date":"2026-07-07T01:16:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T01:16:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/288760\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T01:16:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T01:16:16","slug":"trump-fuels-a-furious-world-cup-debate-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/288760\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Fuels a Furious World Cup Debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tonight\u2019s match between the United States and Belgium might very well be the biggest game in American men\u2019s soccer history<\/a>. Never before has the U.S. team won so many World Cup games and inspired such national glee around the sport. But the game, which begins at 8 p.m. Eastern, has become the subject of an international controversy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The reason: Folarin Balogun, the top U.S. scorer, is now eligible to play after soccer\u2019s governing body, FIFA, lifted a suspension he received for getting a red card during the last U.S. game. That extremely unusual move was quickly met with outrage in Europe and shock across the world (one American player said he initially thought it was A.I.). But debate reached a boil after President Trump\u2019s personal intervention became known.<\/p>\n

Trump confirmed today that he had called FIFA\u2019s leader to ask for a review<\/a>, motivated in part by his belief that the referee who penalized Balogun was \u201csuspect.\u201d The president said he previously \u201cdidn\u2019t know what the hell a red card was.\u201d But then he found out: \u201cI said, \u2018You got to be kidding,\u2019\u201d the president added. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t a foul.\u201d<\/p>\n

Belgium challenged the decision, but FIFA denied their appeal.<\/p>\n

The debate over the decision is sure to continue, especially if the U.S. team wins. For many American fans<\/a>, the outcome corrects what they saw as an unjust suspension. For others, Trump\u2019s effort to exert his influence is no less unfair.<\/p>\n

Platner will take time to \u2018reflect\u2019 after sexual assault accusation<\/p>\n

Graham Platner, the Democratic Senate nominee from Maine, said today that he was \u201ctaking the time to reflect on the best path forward\u201d after a report that a woman had accused him of sexual assault<\/a>. He called the allegation \u201cfalse,\u201d but said he was \u201cmindful of the political reality it will inflict.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was not immediately clear whether Platner intended to continue his campaign to unseat Senator Susan Collins, a Maine Republican \u2014 a crucial contest in the battle to control the Senate. Democrats have until July 13 to replace him on the ticket, if he withdraws.<\/p>\n

Some Democrats, including Donna Brazile, a former chair of the party\u2019s national committee, have already said today that Platner should step away.<\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s capital comes under attack ahead of NATO summit<\/p>\n

Russian forces fired nearly two dozen ballistic missiles<\/a> at Ukraine this morning as part of their second major attack on Kyiv in recent days. The Ukrainian Air Force said it had shot down none of the ballistic missiles, in another sign that the country is short on American-made Patriot interceptors, despite clever adaptations<\/a> to use them efficiently.<\/p>\n

The attacks came on the eve of a NATO meeting in Ankara, Turkey, where discussions are expected to focus in part on the alliance\u2019s response to the war. The summit is likely to highlight Turkey\u2019s increasing value<\/a> in the eyes of NATO allies, overshadowing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan\u2019s crackdown on critics<\/a>, who include a comedian who joked about him.<\/p>\n

American A.I. makers complain about Chinese copycats<\/p>\n

One of the most prominent American A.I. companies, Anthropic, sent a letter to Congress last month accusing its Chinese competitors of unfairly copying its technology. Other U.S. labs have argued that China\u2019s A.I. tools would be much further behind theirs if not for a technique called distillation.<\/p>\n

Our tech reporter Cade Metz explains how distillation works, why it\u2019s a hot topic<\/a> and what, if anything, can be done to stop it.<\/p>\n

For more: Philosophy degrees \u2014 once considered a ticket to underemployment \u2014 have become attractive to A.I. companies<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Madonna revisits her roots in a new album<\/p>\n

Madonna has tried for years to get a movie made about her early years, when she moved to New York from Michigan to try to make it as a dancer. In the meantime, she\u2019s revisited those experiences, and the wounds and successes since, on her new studio album \u201cConfessions II.\u201d<\/p>\n

In it, Madonna teams up again with Stuart Price \u2014 the British producer and her primary collaborator on the album\u2019s spiritual predecessor \u201cConfessions on a Dance Floor\u201d \u2014 and takes a tour through various dance music subgenres. Read our review<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What turns a scent into a sensation?<\/p>\n

Bath & Body Works hit the jackpot when it released Japanese Cherry Blossom in 2006. The fragrance, which smells of pear and basmati rice, has alone generated $1.5 billion in sales, making it the company\u2019s top-selling scent. Now, as revenues have slipped, Bath & Body Works is spending millions of dollars in search of its next hit.<\/p>\n

My colleague Farah Stockman visited the company\u2019s factory<\/a> in \u201cBeauty Park\u201d \u2014 its tightly integrated hub of suppliers in Ohio \u2014 and talked to Mary Testa-Gough, its chief \u201cnose,\u201d about the process.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s like a sauna, but the opposite<\/p>\n

My colleague Guy Trebay, a culture reporter, recently introduced me to the world of snow rooms \u2014 the cavelike spaces that offer a wintry sanctuary all year long. In some, white flakes descend gently from the ceiling to create the feeling of being inside a snow globe.<\/p>\n

The frosty rooms have become a choice amenity for the ultrarich. One of India\u2019s wealthiest men has one installed in his palatial Mumbai skyscraper. And Bill Gates once paid a reported $5 million per week to charter a yacht with a snow room. See inside a few of them<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Have a tranquil evening.<\/p>\n

Thanks for reading. I\u2019ll be back tomorrow \u2014 Matthew<\/p>\n

Philip Pacheco was our photo editor.<\/p>\n

We welcome your feedback. Reach us at evening@nytimes.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tonight\u2019s match between the United States and Belgium might very well be the biggest game in American men\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":288669,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[75,84,83,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-288760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/288669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}