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In cities across the U.S., parades were canceled and events were delayed because of the heat. Meanwhile, emergency rooms saw a high number of people with heat-related illnesses.

(Image credit: Amid Farahi)

Мне посчастливилось начать проект с чистого листа: амбициозная задача, никакого легаси и свобода выбрать любой подход. Я решил довериться AI по-максимуму и код больше не трогал.

Сначала я не верил, что это выдержит реальный масштаб. Опыт подсказывал: чем больше проект, тем быстрее AI путается в контексте и упирается в лимиты. Но через 2,5 месяца мы вдвоём запустили гео-аналитическую платформу, которую в до-AI эпоху строили бы годами. Это поменяло моё представление о разработке.

Как это устроено и что нужно, чтобы повторить, — под катом.

Study of more than 2,000 men identifies epigenetic changes linked to exposure to common outdoor pollutants

Air pollution appears to alter how sperm genes function, one of the largest fertility studies of its kind has found.

Men exposed to common air pollutants while sperm were developing showed subtle DNA changes that affected whether genes were switched on or off, raising fresh concerns air pollution may harm male fertility.

Jake Richards announces measures to prevent abuse like that at Medomsley detention centre in County Durham

One of the UK’s most horrific and shocking child custody scandals was collectively ignored for decades because the victims were working-class boys from the north of England, a government minister has said.

The sentencing and youth justice minister, Jake Richards, has announced he is implementing a number of recommendations to prevent abuse such as that which took place between 1961 and 1987 at Medomsley detention centre in County Durham from ever happening again.

Scottish government to consider SNP national council motion for moratorium on all new datacentres

The Scottish government is about to consider a sweeping moratorium on building new datacentres, putting a key plank of the UK’s AI strategy at risk.

Last Sunday the Scottish National party (SNP)’s national council passed a motion to freeze all new datacentres in Scotland. That motion has been sent to the Scottish government to consider.

Report by HM inspector of prisons for England and Wales comes as spending on frontline education falls by up to 50%

“Brutal” cuts to prison education and training by Labour ministers are leading to an increase in drug use, self-harm and violence, a watchdog’s withering final annual report has said.

Charlie Taylor, who steps down as HM inspector of prisons for England and Wales in the autumn after six years, has also warned the authorities must keep a “close eye” on the impending release of thousands of prisoners later this year.

After a tumultuous weekend for World Cup fans, US striker Folarin Balogun will play in the game against Belgium on Monday night. Maybe that doesn’t sound at all surprising, perhaps because you only learned the name Folarin Balogun today, when you heard that President Donald Trump was involved in all of this in some capacity. Maybe you heard there was an unprecedented appeal. Perhaps you know it’s controversial but you don’t know why. 

Good news: You’ve come to the right place.

On Sunday, FIFA made the decision to reverse Balogun’s one-game red card suspension, which will allow him to play against Belgium on Monday night — the US’s most important match of the 2026 World Cup. 

That decision raises a slew of questions. Why is this red card such a big deal? What does it mean for the US? Who exactly got the call reversed? And, given FIFA’s long and well-established history of doing bad things, is this just a little bit of corruption or, like, capital “C” corruption? 

Here’s what you need to know about the most controversial call of the World Cup so far.

What happened to US striker Folarin Balogun’s red card?

Balogun was given a red card during the US’s round of 32 match against Bosnia-Herzegovina on July 1. Balogun and Bosnian defender Tarik Muharemović were going after the same ball in the second half (at roughly the 61-minute mark), and Balogun stepped on Muharemović’s ankle and the back of his leg during the play. Initially, no transgression was called, but after a brief video review, the referee sent Balogun off in the 64th minute citing a serious foul or dangerous play. Players that get red cards are immediately taken out of the game and are given an automatic one-game suspension. 

At the time, fans, some sports journalists, and Fox’s on-air commentators criticized the call because it appeared to be “incidental contact”; they believed that the video assistant referee (VAR) slow-motion review made the play look more serious than it was. Though he writhed on the field, seemingly in pain, Muharemović finished the game, which could imply it was not a serious foul or dangerous play. 

The unprecedented part of this saga is that on Sunday, FIFA announced that Balogun’s red card was suspended, which means his suspension for the Belgium round of 16 match on Monday night would be reversed and he would be allowed to play. FIFA cited Article 27 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code (FDC) — a measure that allows the organization to suspend the execution of a disciplinary sanction. 

According to the FDC:

1.The judicial body may decide to fully or partially suspend the implementation of a disciplinary measure.

2. By suspending the implementation of the sanction, the judicial body subjects the person sanctioned to a probationary period of one to four years.

ESPN reported that Balogun’s automatic DQ would be suspended for a probationary period of one year. 

Why is this such a big deal?

A player getting a red card wiped and being allowed to play in their next match is fairly unheard of in soccer, especially on a stage as grand as the World Cup, so this would be a big deal no matter what team was involved. But it’s getting even more attention because of the optics: Balogun is the US’s most threatening goal-scorer, the US appears to be fielding its best men’s team in recent history, and the US is hosting the World Cup this year. 

So, some fans were already suspicious of what was really behind the reversal. Then, in the wake of FIFA’s decision, President Donald Trump thanked FIFA on Truth Social on Sunday, and went on to claim at least partial credit for getting Balogun’s suspension nixed.

“All I did was ask for a review. I didn’t say, ‘you have to do this,’” Trump said during a White House media briefing on Monday. “[A referee] made a call that nobody could believe…he’s our best player, or one of our best players. And he gave him a red card. I didn’t know what that meant. I didn’t think it meant much. Then I started hearing, you can’t play in the next game.” 

After Trump tried to take credit for the reversal — essentially saying he pulled strings to help the US — it put the spotlight on FIFA president Gianni Infantino and people began wondering whether or not he took a call from the sitting US president and then changed course. While Infantino asserted FIFA’s independence, he said in a statement on Monday that he did take Trump’s call, and also that he regularly fields calls from all kinds of important people who wield all kinds of influence:

Yes, I regularly discuss matters related to the FIFA World Cup with the President of the United States, and on this matter, I did receive a call from President Donald Trump, just as I receive calls from heads of state, government officials, football stakeholders and business executives from around the world on many different issues.

Essentially, after the questionable red card, the US (aka the 2026 World Cup home team) benefited from a slew of extremely rare, unprecedented decisions which will allow its team to play at full strength when it, under normal circumstances, would not be allowed to. These decisions came after its sitting president, one of the most powerful men in the world, bragged about calling the FIFA chief, who not just confirmed the call, but also confirmed that he is regularly on calls with other world leaders and very rich people who, one might assume, aren’t just interested in having innocuous gabs. 

FIFA is pretty famously corrupt; how big of a deal is this red card thing?

When talking about FIFA, it’s not really a question of whether soccer’s governing body is or isn’t corrupt, but rather the severity of said corruption.

In 2015, the US Department of Justice indicted nine FIFA officials for racketeering, conspiracy, and bribery. The DOJ at the time noted that “defendants also include U.S. and South American sports marketing executives who are alleged to have systematically paid and agreed to pay well over $150 million in bribes and kickbacks to obtain lucrative media and marketing rights to international soccer tournaments.”

In 2022, when Qatar hosted the World Cup, FIFA was criticized for widespread human rights and labor violations. Watchdog and advocacy organizations like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International sounded the alarm that the government was taking advantage of and exploiting migrant workers under grueling conditions with little to no pay. FIFA, they say, reaped the benefits of this human cost. 

Through this lens, a decision about whether or not someone plays their next game is obviously way less serious than reports of slave labor. And given the 2015 indictment, and everything else we know about FIFA at this point, the existence of corruption and favoritism in FIFA’s system isn’t exactly groundbreaking. Balogun also might not even be the most controversial player still in the tournament — Morocco’s captain and star player Achraf Hakimi has been ordered to stand trial for rape charges. (Hakimi denies any wrongdoing.)

One could make the argument that no professional sport is immune from scandal, exploitation, and corruption: We’ve seen gold medal ice dancers with abuse allegations in the Olympics, NBA players allegedly betting on themselves, doping in tennis, and the way the NFL handles domestic abuse. Still, FIFA’s ability to stand out in this crowded field is remarkable, in the bleakest sense of the term.   

Now that Balogun’s red card has been essentially rescinded (at least for this game) and all eyes are on FIFA and the refs, a new can of corrupt worms appears to have been opened. On Monday, a member of the UK Parliament asked for the Balogun treatment be applied to UK player Jarell Quansah. Similarly, France has also asked for the same appeal with star player Michael Olise, who received a yellow card during its match with Paraguay on Saturday. 

FIFA has not ruled in either of those cases. Though, to be fair, Trump hasn’t said he’s put in any more calls either. 

Jack Gibson-Burrell, 22, was taken into custody for questioning after allegedly climbing and painting a giant cartoon bird on the bridge

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The man accused of painting the notorious Pam the Bird graffiti has been arrested after he allegedly climbed and vandalised a major bridge, sparking an hours-long police standoff and traffic chaos.

Nearly nine hours after causing a major police operation from the top of Melbourne’s Bolte Bridge, on which he allegedly painted a giant cartoon bird, Jack Gibson-Burrell peacefully surrendered just before midday on Tuesday.

Jack Gibson-Burrell, 22, was taken into custody for questioning after allegedly climbing and painting a giant cartoon bird on the bridge

• Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates

• Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast

The man accused of painting the notorious Pam the Bird graffiti has been arrested after he allegedly climbed and vandalised a major bridge, sparking an hours-long police standoff and traffic chaos.

Nearly nine hours after causing a major police operation from the top of Melbourne’s Bolte Bridge, on which he allegedly painted a giant cartoon bird, Jack Gibson-Burrell peacefully surrendered just before midday on Tuesday.