SAN FRANCISCO & NEW YORK & TEL AVIV, Israel--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 15, 2023--

Herm Edwards returned to ESPN in November after multiple years away coaching college football at Arizona State. So if he missed a thing or two that happened in

Chinese stocks and the yuan rose sharply after Beijing signaled fresh support for the struggling economy, including further

The Walt Disney Company has pulled the plug on a $1bn office complex in Orlando, following a warning from Disney leadership that billions of dollars in projects were on the line after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis escalated his feud with the company. The development scheduled for construction in the Orlando area was set to bring 2,000 jobs to the region, with 1,000 employees expected to be relocated from southern California. In an email to employees on 18 May, Disney’s theme park and consumer products chair Josh D’Amaro pointed to “changing business conditions” for the cancellation of the 60-acre Lake Nona Town Center project, according to The New York Times, which first reported the move. “I remain optimistic about the direction of our Walt Disney World business,” he added, noting that the company has still planned $17bn in projects over the next decade its Disney World campus. “I hope we’re able to,” he said. For years, Florida legislators and the governor’s office enjoyed a close relationship with the state’s largest taxpayers, among the state’s largest employers, which has wielded enormous political influence while bringing in billions of dollars to the state each year. Now, the company and DeSantis allies are suing one another, following a year-long feud over opposition to what opponents have called Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law that boiled over into political and legal battles that could shape the company’s business in the state. Moments after board appointed by Mr DeSantis voted to strip the company’s control of its Florida park, Disney filed a federal lawsuit against the governor and state officials alleging a “targeted campaign of government retaliation” for “expressing a political viewpoint.” The lawsuit follows the governor’s state takeover of the Reedy Creek Improvement District, now the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, made up of conservative activists and DeSantis loyalists, a move that followed Florida Republicans’ punitive measures against the company after its public opposition to the “Don’t Say Gay” law. Days later, the board voted to sue Disney in state court. In March, Disney slammed the governor’s “anti-business” approach to the company, which Mr DeSantis has accused of advancing a “woke agenda” while his administration targets LGBT+ people and their families with sweeping laws to control public school education, healthcare access and speech. The governor dissolved a decades-old municipal district that allowed Disney to control its own land use, zoning rules and public services, without putting a tax burden on Florida residents. In effect, Disney taxed itself to foot the district’s bill for its municipal needs. “Does the state want us to invest more, employ more people, and pay more taxes, or not?” Disney CEO Bob Iger said on a conference call with analysts last week. A statement from Disney said the company has decided to pull out of the new campus construction “given the considerable changes that have occurred since the announcement of this project, including new leadership and changing business conditions.” The “Parental Rights in Education Act” – what opponents have called “Don’t Say Gay” – prohibits instruction of “sexual orientation or gender identity” from kindergarten through the third grade and any such discussion “that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students” in other grades. The governor recently expanded the law to explicitly extend such restrictions to all grades. Critics have warned that the broadly written law threatens to freeze classroom speech involving LGBT+ people and issues, from civil rights history lessons to discussion of LGBT+ students, school staff and their families. Following passage of the Florida law, lawmakers across the US and in Congress have introduced similar legislation, including more than two dozen measures in current legislative sessions. Read More DeSantis v Disney: Why Florida’s governor is at war with the Mouse ‘We will not be erased’: Critics slam Ron DeSantis for unprecedented bills attacking LGBTQ+ people Penguin Random House sues Florida school district over ‘unconstitutional’ book bans Florida teacher under investigation for showing Disney movie with LGBT+ character speaks out

The latest transfer news around MLS as the window begins to heat up.

David Beckham has revealed he still cannot forgive himself for the abuse his family suffered amid the fallout from his red card at the 1998 World Cup, which left him a “mess”. A new Netflix documentary series titled ‘Beckham’ is set for release on Wednesday, looking back on the former Manchester United and Real Madrid midfielder’s career as well as his marriage to Spice Girls singer and fashion designer Victoria. In episode two, titled ‘Seeing Red’, Beckham, now 48, reflected on the “stupid mistake” which changed his life after he was sent off for kicking the back of Diego Simeone’s leg during the last-16 clash against Argentina in Saint-Etienne. England went on to lose after a penalty shootout and Beckham found himself centre of a backlash – including a pub hanging up an effigy of the midfielder, who received a hostile reception from rival fans around the country when he returned to action for United the following season. In the documentary, Victoria Beckham said the continued abuse left her husband “absolutely clinically depressed” as the then 23-year-old tried to deal with the fallout alongside becoming a father for the first time in March 1999. Beckham admitted the saga “took a toll on me that I never knew myself”. He said: “I wish there was a pill you could take which could erase certain memories. I made a stupid mistake. It changed my life. “We were in America (on holiday after the World Cup), just about to have our first baby, and I thought, ‘we will be fine. In a day or two people will have forgotten’.” Beckham added: “I don’t think I have ever talked about it, just because I can’t. I find it hard to talk through what I went through because it was so extreme. “Wherever I went, I got abused every single day – to walk down the street and to see people look at you in a certain way, spit at you, abuse you, come up to your face and say some of the things they said, that is difficult. “I wasn’t eating, I wasn’t sleeping. I was a mess. I didn’t know what to do.” When I have gone through difficult moments, I was able to block it out, but inside it killed me David Beckham Beckham added: “It brought a lot of attention that I would never wish on anyone, let alone my parents, and I can’t forgive myself for that. “That is the tough part of what happened, because I was the one that made the mistake. “It is only now that I am 47 years old, it is now that I beat myself up about it (still). “When I have gone through difficult moments, I was able to block it out, but inside it killed me.” Beckham spoke of the support he received from then Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and the club as he looked to focus on his football. “That was the only thing I could control – once I was on the pitch, then I felt safe,” Beckham said. “Anytime I was kicked during that season, it was like the (opposition team) had got two goals.” Beckham added: “As horrible as it was to look up to Victoria in the stand (getting that abuse), it was the one thing which spurred me on.” The Netflix documentary also charts Beckham’s triumphant end to the 1998-99 season, which culminated with United having won the Premier League, FA Cup and a memorable Champions League final against Bayern Munich in Barcelona. With Paul Scholes and Roy Keane suspended, Beckham played an integral role in United’s comeback win, which was secured by two goals in stoppage time. Reflecting on the match, Ferguson said: “With David, that night there was something inside him saying, ‘I am not going to let this happen’. It was a personal thing that he had in him, that stubbornness and determination.” Beckham’s former United and England team-mate Gary Neville was an executive producer of the Netflix documentary. Neville recalled the way he and Beckham were “absolutely destroying teams” down the right flank for United. “He was with his crossing. I was supporting him in a way which was to be fair, I would say I was a side dish really. Not the beef. I was the mustard on the side,” Neville said. “I was subservient because I needed David to go and do something magical. He was practicing free-kicks and I was practicing throw-ins.” Neville added: “It was telepathic on the pitch. Off the pitch as well, I knew where he was in his mind – it was not enough for him, he wanted to be more than a football player.”

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has started Spain’s six-month presidency of the European Union with a lightning visit to Kyiv to underline the bloc’s support of Ukraine in the face of the invasion by Russia

The head of the Belarusian Red Cross has sparked an international outcry with his announcement that the organization is involved in the relocation of Ukrainian children from Russian-occupied areas to Belarus, a stark admission that potentially could make the group complicit in what Ukraine says is a war crime.

A top candidate for president in Taiwan says he still strongly dislikes the party he’s teaming up with,

Megan Thee Stallion was spotted getting cozy with Belgian football star Romelu Lukaku at a wedding

By Ted Hesson WASHINGTON The attack by Hamas on Israel will inspire the most significant terror threat to

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ruled out a ceasefire in Gaza on Thursday, saying the military was performing "exceptionally well," but insisted Israel does not...