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England outclassed host Australia 3-1 on Wednesday to advance to the Women’s World Cup Final for the first time.
Ella Toone, Lauren Hemp and Alessia Russo scored for England in the semifinal in Sydney, Australia.
England will return to the pitch at Stadium Australia to face fellow first-time finalist Spain in Sunday’s championship match.
After Toone put England on the board with a shot into the top-right corner in the 36th minute, Matildas star Sam Kerr leveled the score on a stunning 25-yard strike in the 63rd minute.
The euphoria among the crowd of 75,784 was short-lived, as Hemp found the net eight minutes later and Russo delivered the dagger in the 86th minute.
England had fallen in the semifinals in each of the two previous World Cups.
“This is the one thing I’ve always wanted, to make finals at a World Cup, and after two times of getting huge disappointment, honestly I can’t believe it,” England defender Lucy Bronze said. “We all dreamed of being in the final and all our family and friends who booked to stay here until the final because they all believed in us.
“At the same time, it’s been amazing to play against Australia in Australia. What a fantastic tournament they had as well.”
England finished with a 15-12 edge in shots, including a 5-4 lead in shots on goal. Mary Earps made three saves for England and Mackenzie Arnold had two for the Aussies.
“Spain is going to be even tougher. Every single game that we’ve come into this tournament has been of the highest level, so we have to be ready, but we’ve been dreaming since we were little girls, so we’re excited,” England’s Russo said.
North Korea has publicly confirmed for the first time it has custody of U.S. soldier Travis King, who ran into the North’s side of the Joint Security Area on the DMZ nearly a month ago, becoming the first known tourist to do so.
Pyongyang is investigating the Army private second class for his “illegal intrusion” into North Korea, KCNA said Wednesday, adding King “confessed” to being motivated by “inhumane maltreatment and racial discrimination within the U.S. Army.”
It said the 23-year-old expressed a desire to seek refuge in North Korea or a third country, saying he was “disillusioned” over inequality in American society.
King was facing pending administrative separation from the Army when he returned to his base in Fort Bliss, Texas, after spending time in a South Korean jail on assault charges.
The calvary scout was due to board a flight back to the U.S. on July 17, but somehow made it onto a civilian tour of the border complex one day later.
King was taken by North Korean soldiers on duty at the Joint Security Area, KCNA said, when the plain-clothed soldier “deliberately intruded into the area of the DPRK side between the room for the DPRK-U.S. military contacts and the rest room of security officers along the Military Demarcation Line.”
DPRK is an acronym for North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
The Military Demarcation Line is the official border separating the two Koreas, put in place by an armistice that paused the 1950-1953 Korean War, which remains without a formal end and peace treaty.
Eyewitnesses who were part of the same tour group last month said King was laughing when he darted over the marked border, a low row of concrete blocks, with some thinking the bizarre act was a joke or an attempt to shoot a social media video.
The U.S. Department of Defense and State Department both said they cannot verify the statements attributed to King put forth by North Korea. They reiterated that the priority remained bringing King home, and that they were using all available channels toward that outcome.
King’s official status with the U.S. military remains AWOL (absent without leave), which automatically switches to “deserter” once a full month has passed.
Previous considerations of assigning him POW (prisoner of war) status to facilitate bringing him home appear unlikely, given that he ran across the border on his own volition.
King’s family continues to appeal for his humane treatment. His mother asked North Korea for a phone call from her son, said a statement delivered by a family spokesperson on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Over the decades, there have been six active duty U.S. soldiers who defected to North Korea prior to King. Only one made it out: Sgt. Charles Robert Jenkins called the decision “the biggest mistake I ever made,” after being released in 2004, some 39 years after his crossing.
Timed talk
North Korea chose to break its silence on King amid weeks of prodding from the U.S., about two days before the United Nations Security Council is set to openly deliberate the state’s human rights record for the first time since 2017.
Last week, U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who presides over the Security Council this month, announced the revived meeting set for Thursday, noting the Kim Jong Un government’s human rights abuses and violations have “facilitate[d] the advancement of its unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles program.”
North Korea views criticism of its human rights as “a grave challenge to [its] dignity and sovereignty,” as declared by its vice foreign minister for international organizations, Kim Son Gyong, on Tuesday in defiance of the planned U.N. discussions.
The North Korean statement also precedes President Joe Biden’s hosting of his Japanese and South Korean counterparts at Camp David. Their first standalone trilateral summit, previewed as historic by U.S. officials, is expected to announce newly strengthened military and economic cooperation in the face of evolving North Korea threats and Chinese ambitions in the region.
Celebrity WEB Update— Premier Jewelry designer and manufacturer fashion house ParisJewelry.com has started manufacturing a new custom line of celebrity jewelry designs with 30% Off and Free Shipping. Replenish Your Body- Refilter Your Health with OrganicGreek.com Vitamin Bottles, Vitamins and Herbs. Become a WebFans Creator and Influencer.
The state of Illinois has made history by passing legislation requiring compensation for child influencers in recognition of the particular difficulties and hazards connected with these individuals. This action aims to safeguard the rights and interests of young content creators while maintaining a focus on their welfare.
The Coogan Act of California, which was created in 1939 to protect the profits of child performers, served as the model for the new law that will go into effect in Illinois next July. The national Fair Labor Standards Act does not address youngsters who perform online, and neither do any of these statutes.
The law now requires that content producers in Illinois set aside a percentage of any profits from recordings that contain the “likeness, name, or photograph of the minor” in a trust so that they can access it once they reach adulthood. The amount of income allotted depends on how frequently that minor appears in the content, including in narratives that don’t necessarily display their appearance.
https://organicgreek.com
Public Act 103-0556 of Illinois states the following.
All vloggers whose content features a minor under the age of 16 engaged in the work of vlogging shall maintain the following records and shall provide them to the minor on an ongoing basis:
(1) The name and documentary proof of the age of the minor engaged in the work of vlogging;
(2) The number of vlogs that generated compensation as described in subsection (a) during the reporting period;
(3) The total number of minutes of the vlogs that the vlogger received compensation for during the reporting period;
(4) The total number of minutes each minor was featured in vlogs during the reporting period;
(5) The total compensation generated from vlogs featuring a minor during the reporting period;
(6) The amount deposited into the trust account for the benefit of the minor engaged in the working of vlogging, as required by Section 12.6.
If a vlogger whose vlog content features minors under the age of sixteen engaged in the work of vlogging fails to maintain the records as provided in subsection (c), the minor may commence a civil action to enforce the provisions of this Section.
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In response to Nallamothu’s letter, Illinois Gov. J. B. Pritzker on Friday signed a bill amending the state’s Child Labor Law that will give teenagers over the age of 18 the ability to sue their parents if they appear in monetized social media videos and are not compensated, much like the rights enjoyed by child actors. Source: Ilga.gov
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If anyone’s looking to redeem themselves at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, it’s Scottie Scheffler.
Scheffler missed the cut at the event last year, following up a first-round 68 with a 1-over 71. The sour result came just one year after he had his best finish at St. Jude, a 9-under 271 to place 14th.
But this year, Scheffler has momentum on his side as he heads to TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tenn.
Scheffler has been on fire for nearly three months now, securing top-10 finishes in seven of his last eight tournaments dating back to May 14 at the AT&T Byron Nelson, where he began his impressive run with a T5. In 2022, Scheffler finished in the top 10 just twice in the nine events leading up to the St. Jude Championship. He also missed the cut twice during that stretch.
Scheffler will also be entering this week well-rested, as he hasn’t teed off since July 23 at The Open Championship.
“I’m sure hoping it’s going to help my game,” Scheffler said of the time off. “This is a course that I really enjoy playing. I haven’t had as much success at this place as I have at some other courses on Tour. I don’t know why that is, but I’m definitely hoping to change that going into this week.”
With how 2022 played out in mind, Scheffler will be taking a bit of a different approach during this year’s playoffs as he tries to keep an eye toward the BMW Championship at Olympia Fields Country Club (Aug. 17-20) and the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club (Aug. 24-27).
“I’m treating this year more as trying to build up for East Lake,” Scheffler said. “I feel like if I go out and have a great week at East Lake with the position I’m in now in the FedExCup, I can’t fall too far away from the lead.
“I am kind of trying to build my way into that tournament and make sure I’m rested just because it’s the playoffs. The fields are really good. You don’t want to be tired going into the weekend at East Lake just because those are going to be the two most important — the four most important days of the playoffs.”
Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy ended up prevailing in the playoffs in 2022, edging Scheffler and South Korea’s Sungjae Im by one stroke. Scheffler is determined to make sure he doesn’t find himself in that position again this year.
“It’s really fun for us as players to have such great competition, and I think what I learned last year at East Lake was I learned, yeah, it is hard to play with a lead. It’s something that I’ve had success with, and I failed at it once,” Scheffler said. “It’s definitely frustrating when you fail, but I felt like I learned a lot about myself, and it’s definitely not an experience I hope to have again in the future.”
Australian Cam Davis checked off one box last week and is looking for an even bigger tally this week — a trip to the Tour Championship at East Lake.
With his T6 finish last week in Memphis, Tenn., Davis was one of two golfers to move from outside of the top 50 in the FedEx Cup standings to qualify for this week’s BMW Championship outside Chicago.
Now the 28-year-old has his eyes on a bigger prize — a trip to Atlanta.
“Up until this week, my big goal was just trying to get in the top 50, so now another opportunity for the Tour Championship,” Davis told reporters at Olympia Fields Country Club, site of the second playoff stop. “We’ve got to kind of turn that around a little bit and focus ahead. I would absolutely love to play East Lake. I haven’t been there before, obviously.
“Would be a great way to cap off a great run to finish the year, which has been really up-and-down.
“Finishing this way and potentially getting the furthest up the list that I’ve ever been is a pretty nice feeling and nice turnaround.”
Davis posted a clean round on Sunday, shooting 67 at the FedEx St. Jude Championship to earn his tie for sixth.
But on Wednesday, Davis said he battled through some “really low points” and had to pull himself “out of some pretty deep holes this year.”
“I was unwell for a couple of months it felt like, and I tried to play through sort of low energy and lack of focus and that led to like five or six missed cuts in a row, which is a really great way to start the year, no confidence whatsoever,” Davis said. “This year a lot of the time was kind of spent stressing about whether or not I was going to make it to the playoffs or keep my card or how was it going to be at the end of the season.”
Davis said he didn’t “actively go searching” for where he stood in the rankings over the course of the season.
“I feel like it’s an extra element that up until the end of the year, I feel like it hurts more than helps knowing,” he said. “I feel like anything extra on top of just the things you can control and the things you’re trying to do week in and week out to play well is just not really needed as something to clutter up the mind.
“Obviously it’s extremely important to be in the right position on that list, but in terms of thinking about it from day one each season, for me, I don’t feel like it helps.”
Davis begins his quest for Atlanta at 11:43 a.m. local time on Thursday.
Jon Rahm, Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy remain Nos. 1-3 in the FedEx Cup standings, and they’re widely considered the three best players on the PGA Tour. But no golfer has been in hotter form than Lucas Glover.
The 43-year-old finds himself in the spotlight after winning back-to-back weeks to leap to the No. 4 spot in the FedEx Cup playoffs, which resume Thursday at the BMW Championship in the Chicago suburb of Olympia Fields, Ill.
“Obviously a pretty fun couple of weeks, not to put it too lightly,” Glover said Tuesday. “Been a bit of a whirlwind, as well.”
After outlasting a star-studded field at the FedEx St. Jude Championship and beating Patrick Cantlay in a playoff Sunday, Glover was able to catch his breath Monday while heavy rain at Olympia Fields Country Club kept players from seeing much of the golf course.
Glover’s claim to fame was winning the 2009 U.S. Open, but for the better part of the past 10 years he battled the yips with his putter. He’s fared much better in 2023 and won the Wyndham Championship two weeks ago to make the playoff field at the last possible moment.
Glover has a tall task ahead of him to keep his winning streak going. The last player to win three weeks in a row on the PGA Tour was Tiger Woods in 2006.
“I think it’s just kind of the story of being stubborn the right way and persevering,” Glover said. “… Gotten a lot of encouragement from the fans the last couple weeks and then the last couple days here. If it gives one person hope, then it makes me happy, too.”
When Olympia Fields last hosted the BMW Championship in 2020, Rahm won a playoff against Dustin Johnson in stunning fashion. The Spaniard hit a 66 1/2-foot birdie putt that took a 90-degree right turn down a slope and tracked straight into the cup.
Rahm and Johnson shot 4-under 276 that week amid difficult scoring conditions.
“It’s a great layout, a great test, especially last time getting to see it basically as a U.S. Open setup, right,” Rahm said this week. “We don’t usually get at this time of year events where 4 under goes into a playoff. That was unbelievable to see.
“It’s going to be a little bit different because we’re not going to get that. It’s been wet and rainy, so we’ll see how it plays. It’s going to play a lot longer, let me tell you.”
The top 30 in FedEx Cup points after this tournament will advance to the season-ending Tour Championship.
Jordan Spieth (No. 27), Sungjae Im of South Korea (No. 28) and Sam Burns (No. 30) are among the notable players teetering on the edge of the top 30. The first man out as of now is Sahith Theegala, while Englishmen Justin Rose (No. 32) and Matt Fitzpatrick (No. 40) and Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama (No. 47) also have work to do to advance.
One subplot for the Americans in the field is the Ryder Cup. The BMW is the final chance for American players to earn qualifying points toward one of the six automatic berths onto the U.S. roster; Zach Johnson will then make six captain’s picks to round out the team.
Scheffler and Wyndham Clark have already locked up two of the automatic spots.
“I think about the Ryder Cup every second I’m awake, basically,” said Keegan Bradley, who enters the week No. 11 in the U.S. standings. “My biggest thing right now is trying not to think about it while I’m playing because it’s important to me.”
Just as everyone expected, the star of the show at this year’s FedEx Cup playoffs is not Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm or Scottie Scheffler, but Lucas Glover.
The 43-year-old’s claim to fame before this month was his major victory at the 2009 U.S. Open. On paper he looked like a one-hit wonder, but he’s changed that perception this summer with terrific golf, culminating in two straight wins.
The first, at the Wyndham Championship, got Glover into the FedEx Cup playoffs at the last minute. The next, at last week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship, has rocketed him into the discussion of who will win the coveted FedEx Cup.
The top 50 players in the FedEx Cup standings after last week’s playoff opener qualified for the BMW. After this week’s tournament in the Chicago suburbs, the top 30 players in points will make it to the season-ending Tour Championship.
Our golf experts break down the BMW Championship, which begins Thursday at Olympia Fields Country Club, and provide their favorite prop picks along with best bets to win this week.
BMW CHAMPIONSHIP
Location: Olympia Fields, Ill.
Course: Olympia Fields Country Club (Par 70, 7,366 yards)
Purse: $20M (Winner: $3.6M)
Defending Champion: Patrick Cantlay
FedEx Cup leader: Jon Rahm
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Thursday-Friday, 2-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Saturday, 1-3 p.m. (GC), 3-6 p.m. (CBS); Sunday, 12-2 p.m. (GC), 2-6 p.m. (CBS)
Streaming (ESPN+): Thursday-Sunday, 9:15 a.m.-6 p.m.
PROP PICKS
–Tyrrell Hatton to finish Top 10 (+180 at DraftKings): Olympia Fields is a long par-70 where players are already saying they’ll need to stay in the fairway to have a chance. Hatton is one of those players who’s both long enough and accurate enough with his driver, leading to a No. 11 ranking this season in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee. He’s had four top-10s since May, and though he’s coming off a pedestrian week at the St. Jude, Hatton is in the right form to improve on his respectable T16 finish at this course in 2020.
–Jordan Spieth and Hideki Matsuyama both Top 20 (+175 at BetMGM): Here are two guys who know how to get results when the pressure is on. And the pressure is on: Spieth is precariously on the bubble at No. 27 in the FedEx Cup standings, and Matsuyama is way back at No. 47, needing a three-way tie for fourth or better to qualify for the Tour Championship. Both players had promising showings last week, and Matsuyama can rely on the course knowledge he gained during his T3 finish at Olympia Fields in 2020.
–Emiliano Grillo to beat Sepp Straka in first-round 2-ball (+100 at BetMGM): Time to fade Straka after his stellar run from the John Deere (win) to The Open (T2). He finished 63rd of 70 last week and may struggle with the length of this course. Meanwhile, Grillo keeps showing up on the first pages of leaderboards this year and is in better form than his counterpart (three straight top-20s, including two top-10s).
2023 Prop Picks Record: 37-49-2
BEST BETS
–McIlroy (+700 at BetMGM) used a final-round 65 last week to finish tied for third, one off the pace of Glover and Cantlay. That extended his streak of eight top-10 finishes, starting way back at the PGA Championship.
–Scheffler (+700) is the co-favorite with McIlroy despite the end of his own streak of dominance. He had finished in the top 12 of 18 straight official events, and seven straight in the top five, before tying for 23rd at The Open Championship and tying for 31st last week.
–Rahm (+1000) not only won the last time the tour came to Olympia Fields, he had a bogey-free, 6-under 64 in the final round. He tied for 37th last week but has a win and two second-place finishes since April.
–Cantlay (+1000) will be a popular pick to three-peat at the BMW after his narrow miss at the St. Jude. Three of his past four wins on tour have come at playoff events.
–Viktor Hovland (+1600) hasn’t cracked the top 10 of an event since winning the Memorial Tournament in June, but he tied for 13th last week after finishing with rounds of 64, 65 and 69.
–Tommy Fleetwood (+2200) has never won on North American soil, but starting with his sudden-death playoff loss at the Canadian Open, he has five top-10s and four top-six finishes in six starts, including T3 last week.
–Glover (+3300) has a tall task ahead of him to keep his winning streak going. The last player to win three straight weeks on the PGA Tour was Tiger Woods back in 2006.
–Tony Finau (+4000) may be coming off a 64th-place finish at the St. Jude, but the last time the BMW was played at Olympia Fields he placed fifth. He’s won a playoff event once before, the 2021 Northern Trust.
NOTES
–Glover’s second win in as many weeks catapulted him to fourth in the standings, behind only Rahm, Scheffler and McIlroy. Cantlay, who fell to Glover in a playoff, moved up to fifth.
–Cantlay is the two-time defending champion of the BMW, albeit at two different courses: Caves Valley in 2021 and Wilmington Country Club in 2022.
–The BMW returns to Olympia Fields for the first time since 2020, when Rahm drained a 65-foot putt to beat Dustin Johnson in a playoff. Johnson had made a 45-footer to force the playoff.
–Sam Burns enters the week in the No. 30 spot, while Sahith Theegala is first man out at No. 31. Notable names around the bubble include Hatton (No. 26), Spieth (No. 27), Sungjae Im (No. 28) and Justin Rose (No. 32). Matt Fitzpatrick (No. 40) and Matsuyama (No. 47) will need strong finishes to jump into the top 30.
Quarterback Dru Brown appears in line to make his second career CFL start on Friday as the Winnipeg Blue Bombers visit the Calgary Stampeders.
Brown relieved Zach Collaros (neck) and completed 17 of 24 passes for 307 yards and four touchdowns to help Winnipeg (7-2) overcome a 22-point deficit in a 38-29 victory over the winless Edmonton Elks on Aug. 10.
Collaros, the two-time reigning CFL Most Outstanding Player, did not practice Monday and Tuesday due to the injury. Blue Bombers coach Mike O’Shea, however, did little to shed light on the situation when addressing Collaros’ condition.
“It’s for the player’s benefit,” O’Shea said. “There’s no benefit in me talking about that. I want to give the player as much hope as possible, too. For me to stand up here and say a player will not be playing, it’s a letdown. They hold out so much hope.
“Every day, when they show up for treatment, they’re looking for a positive response … and it just fuels them further. Why dash their hopes?”
Brown’s performance landed him the top quarterback grade in the CFL’s weekly honor roll, while teammate Brady Oliveira was selected as the top running back after rushing 14 times for 110 yards.
The high-octane Blue Bombers have sandwiched victories over the Elks around a 50-14 shellacking of the B.C. Lions on Aug. 3 to move into a tie atop the West Division.
The Stampeders (3-6) enter Friday’s clash on the heels of a demoralizing 37-9 loss to the Lions last week.
Jake Maier completed 17 of 31 passes for just 131 yards while the team was penalized 11 times for 130 yards.
“We’re in this together, you can’t point the finger at one individual thing or person or aspect in why we’re here as a team, you have to stay together and I’m really grateful that we are together,” Maier said, per the Calgary Sun. “I’ve been part of some losing teams before where that’s not the case.
“It’s very easy to point the finger when things aren’t going well and play the blame game. I don’t get that sense at all. Even though we are where we are with our record, the character of the group is great.”
Dedrick Mills rushed for 97 yards and a touchdown in the Stampeders’ 24-11 loss to the Blue Bombers on July 7.
It’s hard to tell where the Edmonton Elks have been worse this year — on the field or off it.
The CFL’s only winless team at 0-9, Edmonton has lost a professional sports record 22 straight home games, dating to 2019, and just canned its president on Tuesday.
With that as their backdrop, the Elks try to give their suffering fan base some good news on Thursday night when they travel to Hamilton for a matchup with the Tiger-Cats.
Edmonton looked like it might end its winless year and its home losing streak when it raced out to a 22-0 second-quarter lead on Aug. 10 against West co-leader Winnipeg. But the Blue Bombers rallied and eventually captured a 38-29 decision.
The fallout happened in the front office when the team fired president Victor Cui, ostensibly over low attendance. The team claims to average around 23,000 per game but local reports indicate actual attendance isn’t close to that figure.
As for the product on the field, quarterback Tre Ford showed promise in his first start of the year, throwing for 189 yards, rushing for 50 and accounting for two scores.
“We’ve played sporadic good football against a very good football team,” Elks coach Chris Jones said of the latest defeat.
Meanwhile, Hamilton (3-5) is unlikely to have much sympathy for Edmonton and its litany of woes. The Tiger-Cats are coming off a 27-14 home loss to Montreal on Aug. 5, when they led 14-3 early in the third quarter before a second-half collapse.
“We gave up too many explosions on defense,” Hamilton coach Orlondo Steinauer said. “We took penalties at inopportune times and that doesn’t bode well for winning. Any time you’re not playing well enough, you’re always going to take a deep dive, see where we’re at … and where we’re at is not good enough.”
The Tiger-Cats’ quarterback room has been decimated by injuries. Starter Bo Levi Mitchell and backup Matthew Shiltz are on the injured list, leaving Taylor Powell to do the job. He threw for 202 yards against Montreal but tossed a pair of costly picks in the second half.
Hamilton took a 37-29 win at Edmonton last month in the teams’ first meeting of 2023.
JD.com (NASDAQ:JD) announced Q2 results that exceeded Street predictions. However, despite this positive performance, the company’s shares experienced a decline of more than 5% intra-day today.
During the second quarter, JD.com achieved a net revenue of 287.93 billion yuan, showcasing a growth of 7.6% in comparison to the corresponding period of the previous year. This performance surpassed the Street estimate of 279.92 billion yuan.
The adjusted earnings per American depositary receipt (ADR) for JD.com were recorded at 5.39 yuan, marking an increase from the previous year’s 4.06 yuan. This figure also surpassed the Street estimate of 4.92.
Furthermore, the adjusted operating margin demonstrated an improvement, rising to 3% from the previous year’s 2.1%. This nearly met the projected margin of 3.1%.
