Vlatko Andonovski has stepped down from his position as head coach of the US Women’s National Team (USWNT), the US Soccer Federation announced Thursday.

The federation said in a press release that US Soccer and Andonovski mutually agreed to part ways.

“All of us at US Soccer thank Vlatko for his dedication to our Women’s National Team over the past four years,” US Soccer sporting director Matt Crocker said in the press release.

“Vlatko worked tirelessly for this team and has been a strong and positive leader for our women’s program. We’re grateful for everything he has contributed to US Soccer and know he has a bright future in the sport.”

The US lost to Sweden in a dramatic penalty shootout in the Women’s World Cup round-of-16 earlier this month, ending the dream of an unprecedented three-peat. The four-time World Cup winner failed to reach at least the semifinals of the tournament for the first time in its history.

“It’s been the honor of my life to coach the talented, hard-working players of the USWNT for the past four years,” Andonovski said in the US Soccer announcement.

“I’m very optimistic for the future of this program, especially considering all the young players that got opportunities over the past few years who will no doubt be leaders and impact players moving forward.

“While we are all disappointed by the outcome at this year’s World Cup, I am immensely proud of the progress this team has made, the support they’ve shown for each other, and the inspiration they’ve provided for players around the world.

“I will be forever thankful to the US Soccer Federation for giving me the chance to coach this remarkable team.”

Andonovski was named the ninth coach in the team’s history in October 2019. He set the US women’s record for best start in history after winning his first 11 games at the helm. He managed the team during its run to a bronze medal in the Tokyo Olympics.

“We want to extend our deepest gratitude to Vlatko for his dedication to the Women’s National Team,” US Soccer President Cindy Parlow Cone said in the press release. “We know he will continue to contribute the growth of the women’s game in the United States and wish him well in his future endeavors.”

Crocker, who will lead the search for the next US women’s head coach, has named Twila Kilgore as interim head coach. Kilgore has served as an assistant coach for the US squad for the past year and a half.

World Aquatics, swimming’s governing body, has created an open category for transgender athletes at a World Cup event in Berlin.

The new category will be open for “all sex and gender identities” and will include 50m and 100m races across all strokes.“

“This pioneering pilot project highlights the organisation’s unwavering commitment to inclusivity,” a statement from World Aquatics read.

It added: “Detailed entry requirements and entry times and process information will be available soon.“

“For this inaugural event, the emphasis is on gaining further experience for future development and celebrating diversity.”

Last year, World Aquatics – formerly known as FINA – voted to restrict transgender athletes from competing in elite women’s aquatics competitions.

The gender inclusion policy – which went into effect on June 20, 2022 – dictated that male-to-female transgender athletes would only be eligible to compete in the women’s categories if they transition before the age of 12 or before they reach stage two on the puberty Tanner Scale.

The policy also says athletes who have previously used testosterone as part of female-to-male gender-affirming hormone treatment would only be eligible to compete in women’s competitions if the testosterone was used for less than a year in total, the treatment didn’t take place during puberty and testosterone levels in serum were back to pre-treatment levels.

At the time, the governing body promised to establish a new working group in order to develop open category events for athletes that do not meet the criteria for men’s or women’s categories.

World Aquatics oversees aquatic competitions in swimming, water polo, diving, artistic swimming, open water swimming and high diving.

The World Cup event in Berlin, Germany, will run from October 6 to 8 later this year.

Kai Morgenroth, vice-president of the German swimming federation – which is hosting the event – said his organization. was thrilled to be part of the inaugural initiative.

“We’re proud to host an event where swimmers can compete without barriers,” he said in a statement.

“Berlin is Germany’s hub for diversity and inclusion and therefore the perfect location for such a progressive project.”

‘Dismayed’

It added: “As a society, we decided long ago that ‘separate but equal’ is dangerous and damaging. This policy does nothing to provide the kind of protections to women athletes that they have been calling for for decades — an end to sexual harassment and abuse, parity in pay and leadership, equal opportunities, and a lack of resources for women athletes.

“Instead, this only increases hostile gender norms and invasive testing that hurt all women athletes.”

The debate on transgender women in swimming, which led to the new gender inclusion policy and open category, came under a spotlight when University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, who started on the school’s men’s swimming team in 2017, eventually joined the UPenn women’s team in 2020.

At the time of her transition in 2019, the NCAA required that transgender athletes have one year of hormone replacement therapy to be cleared to compete.

In February 2022, 16 members of the University of Pennsylvania’s swim team sent a letter to the university and the Ivy League asking them to not challenge the NCAA’s new transgender athlete participation policies that would prevent Thomas and other transgender athletes to compete.

In the letter, they argued Thomas had an “unfair advantage,” and said they supported her gender transition out of the pool but not necessarily in it.

Despite the backlash, Penn Athletics and the Ivy League maintained their support for the transgender swimmer, and over 300 current and former swimmers signed their names to an open letter defending her ability to compete.

As a swimmer on the women’s team, Thomas became the first transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I title after winning the women’s 500-yard freestyle event in March 2022.

Advocates of banning transgender women from women’s sport have argued that transgender women have a physical advantage over cisgender women in sports.

But the mainstream science does not support that conclusion. A 2017 report in the journal Sports Medicine that reviewed several related studies found “no direct or consistent research” on trans people having an athletic advantage over their cisgender peers, and critics say the bans add to the discrimination trans people face.

The International Chess Federation – also known as FIDE – says players who have transitioned from male to female have “no right to participate” in women’s events until the federation conducts “further analysis” and renders a final decision.

In a meeting earlier this month, FIDE’s council approved the updated policy which will come into effect on August 21.

The policy says that once a player informs FIDE they are changing their gender from male to female, they will be banned from competing in official women’s events.

Players then have to provide what FIDE describes as “sufficient proof or a gender change that complies with their national laws and regulations.”

At that point, according to the updated policy, FIDE will carry out analysis and make a decision on the player’s participation “at the earliest possible time, but not longer than within 2 (two) years period.”

However, the updated policy says: “There are no restrictions to play in the open section for a person who has changed [their] gender.”

The vast majority of chess tournaments are considered open categories with a select few – including the Women’s World Chess Championship – dedicated to just women.

The new regulations also state that if a player holds a women’s title, but changes their gender to male, their women’s title will be “abolished.”

However, if the gender change is from male to female, all previous titles will remain “eligible.”

It is unclear how the new policy will impact transgender women currently playing in FIDE tournaments, given the new rules focus on people who transition in the future.

“The absence of such regulations caused ambiguity and therefore an established order was needed to provide the right of the transgender players being properly represented on the official register of FIDE,” the statement said.

In its handbook, FIDE also added that while it won’t discuss a player’s gender change publicly, it holds the right to “inform the organizers and other relevant parties on the gender change.”

“FIDE recognizes that this is an evolving issue for chess and that besides technical regulations on transgender regulations further policy may need to be evolved in the future in line with research evidence,” the governing body wrote in its handbook.

Criticism of the changes

The National Center for Transgender Equality, an advocacy group based in the US, criticized the decision.

“Really? Chess? This is so insulting to cis women, to trans women, and to the game itself,” it wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“It assumes that cis women couldn’t be competitive against cis men – and relies on ignorant anti-trans ideas.”

The group was responding to a post from FIDE master Yosha Iglesias, who is a trans woman and who has questioned the new regulations.

“So FIDE just published (yesterday) a list of anti-trans regulations, like it was ‘the biggest threat of women in chess’. Can someone tell me what qualifies as an official FIDE event? Will I be allowed to play the French Championship in 3 days? The European Club Cup in September?” Iglesias wrote on X on Tuesday.

FIDE’s decision comes as multiple sports governing bodies have introduced policies to address trans athletes in recent years.

World Aquatics, for example, has recently launched a new open category which will welcome “swimmers of all sex and gender identities.”

The launch comes after World Aquatics – formerly known as FINA – voted to restrict most transgender athletes from competing in elite women’s aquatics competitions last year.

Earlier this year, World Athletics (WA) prohibited athletes who have gone through what WA called “male puberty” from participating in female world rankings competitions. WA said the exclusion would apply to “male-to-female transgender athletes.”

Advocates of banning transgender women from women’s sport have argued that transgender women have a physical advantage over cisgender women in sports.

But the mainstream science does not support that conclusion. A 2017 report in the journal Sports Medicine that reviewed several related studies found “no direct or consistent research” on trans people having an athletic advantage over their cisgender peers, and critics say the bans add to the discrimination trans people face.

Cincinnati Bengals running back Joe Mixon was found not guilty Thursday on an aggravated menacing charge, according to a spokesperson with the Hamilton County Clerk of Courts and court records.

The alleged incident happened one day before the Bengals defeated the Buffalo Bills 27-10 in Orchard Park, New York. The Bengals made it to the AFC Championship game the next week, losing to the eventual Super Bowl champions Kansas City Chiefs 23-20.

The Cincinnati Bengals released a statement Thursday saying they were “pleased that this matter is now behind everyone.”

“Since he joined the organization in 2017, Joe Mixon has been a valuable part of the Cincinnati Bengals,” the team said. “The organization is pleased that this matter is now behind everyone, and we look forward to an exciting season with Joe being an important part of the football team.”

“Knowing the facts, knowing Joe as a person and having tremendous faith in the legal systems ability to get to the truth we had no doubt of the eventual outcome,” he said. “This vindicates joe as a person and that is what’s most important.”

Mixon has had legal trouble before. While at the University of Oklahoma, he was suspended for one season after taking an Alford plea – when a defendant doesn’t admit guilt but acknowledges the prosecution has enough evidence for a conviction – in a 2014 case in which he was accused of punching a woman.

Mixon received a one-year deferred sentence, according to KFOR-TV, meaning he didn’t serve any time. He also was sentenced to 100 hours of community service, ordered to undergo counseling and faced roughly $1,200 in fines.

Hurricane Hilary is rapidly intensifying in the Pacific Ocean southwest of Mexico on Thursday and is on track to deliver potentially significant rain and flooding to parts of the Southwest as a weaker system starting this weekend.

Hilary is forecast to grow into a major hurricane later today and could reach Category 4 hurricane strength with winds of at least 130 mph, forecasters at the National Hurricane Center warned.

The hurricane was about 500 miles south-southeast of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, Thursday afternoon, whipping up maximum sustained winds of 105 mph.

There remains a wide range of outcomes for the heaviest rain and strongest winds in the US as the storm moves north over the next couple of days along Mexico’s Baja Peninsula. Small deviations in the hurricane’s track could change the forecast for the most intense rain and wind.

Hilary’s rainfall could arrive as early as Saturday in parts of the Southwest, with the worst of its impacts set to arrive in California early Monday.

Shifts in the forecast track will also affect which areas of northwestern Mexico will face the worst of Hilary’s winds, which will be strong enough to snap trees, down power lines and cause significant damage to property closest to the storm’s center.

Mudslides and flash flooding are possible from a general 3 to 6 inches of rain across Mexico’s Baja Peninsula from Thursday to early Monday, with greater amounts possible in the higher terrain.

Significant flood potential

Hilary is expected to weaken significantly before it reaches Southern California and parts of the Southwest, but there’s an increasing chance of significant impacts to these areas in the form of heavy rain and flooding.

Southern California could receive some of Hilary’s heaviest rainfall. Widespread rainfall amounts of 2 to 4 inches may fall there and in southern Nevada from Saturday through Monday. The heaviest rainfall is expected mainly Sunday and Monday. Locally higher amounts up to 6 inches are possible in areas impacted by the heaviest deluges.

Rainfall amounts of 1 to 2 inches are possible for parts of Arizona, Central California and northern Nevada.

Multiple days of heavy rainfall will give the ground little opportunity to absorb moisture and can progressively worsen the flood threat.

Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California at Los Angeles, said Wednesday that “multiple years’ worth of precipitation” could potentially fall in some of California’s driest areas.

One of those places is Death Valley, California, the hottest place on Earth. Death Valley typically receives about 2 inches of rain across an entire year, according to NWS data. Moisture from Hilary could unleash enough rain to give Death Valley at least a year’s worth of rainfall in a single day.

Rainfall this exceptional proved destructive in Death Valley last year. Around 1,000 people became stranded in Death Valley National Park last August when 1.46 inches of rain fell in 24 hours and unleashed flash flooding that washed away roads and entombed cars in floodwater-swept debris.

Dramatic weather changes for suffering Southwest

Despite the flooding danger, the rainfall would help combat drought and recharge groundwater across parched portions of the Southwest. Drought conditions expanded in New Mexico and remained steady in California and Arizona this week, the US Drought Monitor reported Thursday.

The seasonal monsoon that supplies the region with a large percentage of its yearly rainfall has been missing for much of the summer, and cities like Phoenix are still waiting for measurable rainfall.

The combination of rainfall and increased cloud cover across the Southwest is expected to bring a significant cooldown over the weekend. Temperatures that have been in the upper 90s to 110s could drop by as much as 20 degrees.

Phoenix may not reach a high temperature in the triple digits over the weekend for the first time since the middle of June.

Hilary may accomplish rare feat

Hilary is more likely to make landfall in Mexico and cross into California. But if the storm makes landfall in California as a tropical storm, it would be the first to do so in nearly 84 years, and only the third tropical storm or stronger to do so on record, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The most recent was an unnamed tropical storm in 1939, NOAA records show.

Before that, the San Diego Hurricane made landfall in October 1858 — California’s only hurricane landfall on record, research shows.

1997’s Nora was the last and only other tropical storm to maintain its status after crossing into California.

The current forecast also calls for Hilary to maintain its tropical status as it heads into Nevada, something that has never happened on record.

When a hurricane undergoes rapid intensification, its maximum sustained winds increase by at least 35 mph in 24 hours or less – driving up the danger the storm could pose to life and property.

“Rapid intensification is associated with a sharp increase in intensity in a short amount of time, and consequently, the threat posed by the storm significantly increases,” said Phil Klotzbach, a research scientist in the Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University.

Most major hurricanes – Category 3 or higher – undergo rapid intensification at some point, a 2022 study shows. Of 104 such storms in the North Atlantic since 1990, 88% fit the bill, said Klotzbach, a study coauthor.

More and more hurricanes over the period underwent extreme rapid intensification, with at least a 57-mph increase in maximum sustained winds over 24 hours, the study found. While the uptick “may be simply due to better observations, we think that most of the trend is actually real,” Klotzbach said, noting wind speed forecasting has improved in recent years.

Because heat helps fuel storms, higher sea surface temperatures and high ocean heat content play huge roles in rapid intensification. So as the climate crisis forces up ocean temperatures, rapid intensification becomes more likely, pushing storms to explode at a rapid pace into deadly hurricanes, scientists say.

Scientists are confident hurricanes are on track to get increasingly stronger with rising mean global temperatures, meaning more rapid intensification – along with increased rainfall – the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report from 2022 shows.

Major hurricanes that sustained rapid intensification

Hurricane Ian in 2022 went from having roughly 115-mph to 160-mph maximum sustained winds in 24 hours, leading to higher storm surge and more damage. It weakened slightly before making landfall as a monster storm, devastating Florida’s coast.

Hurricane Ida in 2021 went through a remarkable 65-mph jump in maximum sustained winds in just 24 hours before hitting Louisiana as a Category 4 hurricane. It tied the record with Laura in 2020 as the strongest hurricane to make landfall in the state.

Hurricane Dorian in 2019 was the second-strongest Atlantic hurricane of modern times and reached the highest category on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. It underwent rapid intensification twice before becoming the strongest hurricane ever to make landfall in the Bahamas, where it lingered for days and left catastrophic damage.

Three Palestinians have been killed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) at the Jenin Camp in the occupied West Bank, the IDF announced on Sunday.

The IDF said that they had thwarted a “terrorist cell” in the camp. According to the IDF, three individuals who were part of the cell were killed during the operation.

The IDF released a statement detailing the incident, stating that the head of the cell, Naif Abu Tsuik, along with two other members, were killed. An M-16 rifle was also found in the vehicle used by the cell.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health has not yet issued a statement regarding the deaths. Eyewitnesses reported that the vehicle, with the bodies inside, was taken by Israeli soldiers.

Hamas spokesman, Hazem Qassem, condemned the incident, calling it a “new crime” committed by the “Zionist enemy.”

He stated that the occupation will not escape the consequences of its actions and that the Palestinian people would continue their resistance.

This weekend, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said a Palestinian man was shot and killed by Israeli settlers in the village of Burqa, near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

The incident drew US condemnation and two Israelis were arrested – it is rare for Israeli settlers to be arrested for attacks on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank

On Saturday night, an Israeli patrolman was shot and killed in Tel Aviv by a Palestinian gunman who was also shot and killed, Israeli authorities said.

Jenin has long been a flashpoint – last month saw Israeli forces carry out their largest-scale military operation there in decades.

The unrest left at least 12 Palestinians dead and caused widespread destruction to the city’s refugee camp.

Neymar Jr. became the latest in a long line of players to make a move to the Middle East when he joined Saudi Pro League club Al Hilal from French giant Paris Saint-Germain, but the Brazilian superstar credits one of his rivals for starting the country’s soccer boom.

“I believe Cristiano Ronaldo started all of this and everybody called him ‘crazy,’ and this and that. Today, you see the league grow more and more,” the former PSG forward told Al Hilal’s social channels.

Ronaldo signed a two-and-a-half year contract reported to be worth more than 200 million euros ($220.16 million) with Al-Nassr in December 2022 after leaving Manchester United.

Since then, Karim Benzema, N’Golo Kanté, Kalidou Koulibaly, Edouard Mendy, Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mané and Marcelo Brozović have been among the star names to move to the Saudi Pro League.

Neymar says that he wants to follow in Ronaldo’s footsteps and help develop the league even further.

“I am driven by challenges,” said Neymar after making the move. “Obviously, when you face a challenge like this it boosts your self-esteem. I am there to help the league grow more and more.

“They are already changing a lot; they have made a lot of signings. Yes, surely the league will be very competitive especially after the signings made in this summer transfer window.”

The Brazilian forward spent six years with PSG, winning 13 major trophies along the way. However, the prestigious prize of winning the Champions League eluded the 31-year-old in the French capital.

Neymar played in a star-studded front three alongside Kylian Mbappé and Lionel Messi while in the City of Light. Unfortunately for soccer fans, the trio never reached the heights spectators were expecting and have since gone their separate ways with Mbappé the lone survivor in Paris – though his future is far from certain with the French club.

Neymar will now star for Al Hilal alongside the likes of Sergej Milinković-Savić, Rúben Neves and Malcom who have also made summer moves to the club.

The head coach of the US women’s national soccer team, Vlatko Andonovski, has resigned from his position after the US made an early exit from the Women’s World Cup, unnamed sources tell ESPN and The Athletic.

The US lost to Sweden in a dramatic penalty shootout in the round-of-16 earlier this month, ending the dreams of an unprecedented three-peat. The four-time Women’s World Cup winner failed to reach at least the semifinals of the tournament for the first time in its history.

The 46-year-old coach said after the match, “We showed everything we could to win the game and, unfortunately, soccer can be cruel sometimes.”

Andonovski was named the ninth coach in team history in October 2019 and set the US women’s record for best start in history after winning his first 11 games at the helm. He managed the team during its run to a bronze medal in the Tokyo Olympics.

Australia may have had its dream of Women’s World Cup glory end on Wednesday following a 3-1 defeat to England, but that did not stop captain Sam Kerr from calling for more soccer funding in the country as it looks to take advantage of the boom in interest in the sport following the tournament.

“The comparison to other sports isn’t really good enough, and hopefully, this tournament kind of changes that because that’s the legacy you leave – not what you do on the pitch.

“The legacy is what you do off the pitch. And hopefully, I mean, it’s hard to talk about now, but hopefully, this is the start of something new,” Kerr added, according to Seven.

The Australian women’s team made national history at the tournament, becoming the first team – men’s or women’s – to reach a soccer World Cup semifinal.

The impact of the Matildas’ run is evidenced by the record-breaking viewing figures shared by the Seven Network who broadcasted the co-host’s games in Australia. Seven said the semifinal’s audience reached 11.15 million in Australia, with a national average audience of 7.13 million.

Those figures make the game the most watched TV program since the inception of OzTAM, Australia’s audience measurement system, Seven added.

According to Seven, the network’s coverage of the Women’s World Cup as a whole had reached 14.04 million viewers on broadcast alone, as well as a further 3.4 million via its streaming platform, 7plus.

Kerr’s vice-captain Steph Catley furthered the striker’s calls for better financial support of the sport. “When you look at football in general in Australia, football is very much not funded the way it should be,” she said after the match, Seven reported.

“There’s no argument now that people aren’t interested; people are interested. The numbers are there. Kids are playing. People want to be watching the sport.

“So yeah, hopefully, this has just been enough to prove that and to create the argument and to improve facilities, improve standards for women in football, football in general,” Catley added.

Australia manager Tony Gustavsson agreed with his players’ pleas for improved funding.

“This is not the end of something, this needs to be the start of something, and with that comes money as well,” Gustavsson told reporters.

Sarina Wiegman, the Dutch manager of England’s Lionesses, was also asked how Australia could take advantage of the team’s successful World Cup run.

“Now is where (Australia) has to take the next step,” Wiegman said. “What does this bring? I don’t have all the context, but how can Australia grow the game for little kids? (For) boys and girls, especially girls from six to adult players?

“How can they support that and get better situations and better facilities for everyone? And the professional game, of course. This gives a boost and gets people interested in supporting the women’s game.”