The State

World Cup referees have been called out for showing major, laughable bias toward Lionel Messi and against the U.S. U.S. men's soccer star Folarin Balogun was kicked out of Wednesday night's Round of 32 game against Bosnia. He was hit with a red card for landing his foot in the back of a Bosnia player's leg. The play went to VAR and a red card was awarded. This means that Balogun has been kicked out of Wednesday night's game. If the USMNT were to advance, Balogun would miss the Round of 16 game, too.

The New York Liberty won their second WNBA Commissioner's Cup title on Tuesday, and City Mayor Zohran Mamdani celebrated with the team. For the second time in June, the City of New York has captured another basketball title through the Liberty's 93-85 Commissioner's Cup championship win over the Las Vegas Aces at Barclays Center. This comes weeks after the New York Knicks won the NBA title for the first time since 1973. New York City Mayor Mamdani was hyped over the Liberty's championship win.

Apple Inc. is in negotiations to purchase chips from two Chinese semiconductor makers on a Pentagon blacklist to help reduce the impact of a global memory shortage that's forced the company to raise prices across its product line. The iPhone maker is seeking to buy memory components from ChangXin Memory Technologies Inc. and Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. for use in devices sold in China, according to people familiar with the matter.

Illinois House Speaker Emanuel "Chris" Welch on Wednesday called on a Democratic lawmaker from Plainfield accused of improper conduct to resign from the General Assembly after an internal investigation revealed what Welch said were "clear patterns" of behavior that are "outrageous, unethical, and unbecoming of a member of the Illinois House of Representatives." Welch also said that if state Rep.

Oracle shares closed lower for a seventh straight session on Tuesday, slipping 0.82% to $146.55, according to a Seeking Alpha report. The stock has now fallen more than 55% from its 52 week high near $346, according to Seeking Alpha market data. What makes this stretch different is not the price action itself. It is what showed up in Oracle's own paperwork days earlier.

When Ten Years After arrived at Max Yasgur's 600-acre dairy farm in Bethel, New York, they were a hardworking British blues-rock band still building their audience. After an electrifying 11 minutes in front of 500,000 fans, they left as legends. 🎬 SIGN UP for Parade's Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox 🎬 "Before Woodstock, we were playing to three-to-four thousand a night," keyboardist Chick Churchill recalled, via Classic Rock.

Firefall's biggest hit didn't arrive with blazing guitars or arena-sized bravado. Instead, it won over listeners with warmth, sincerity and an unforgettable melody. Released in 1977, "Just Remember I Love You" became the Colorado band's commercial breakthrough, spending 21 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 and peaking at No. 11. The heartfelt ballad also climbed to No. 2 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart, helping establish Firefall as one of the leading soft rock acts of the decade.

BEIJING - Oil prices dropped in early trade on Thursday after Qatar said Iran and the U.S. had made "positive progress" in indirect talks that concluded on Wednesday, focused on the Strait of Hormuz, which handled one-fifth of global oil supply before the war. Brent futures were down 73 cents, or 1.02%, to $70.84 a barrel by 0102 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 83 cents, or 1.21%, to $67.75 a barrel.

USC made major headlines this offseason with the hiring of former longtime TCU head coach Gary Patterson to replace D'Anton Lynn as their defensive coordinator. Patterson brought along with him longtime assistant Paul Gonzales to be the safeties coach and one of his former All-American safeties, Sam Carter, to be the nickels coach. Trojans coach Lincoln Riley also made a big move when he hired linebackers coach/special teams coordinator Mike Ekeler.

LANSING, Mich. - Michigan lawmakers failed Wednesday to meet their self-imposed deadline for approving a new budget, but their work on a funding plan for schools, universities and state government was expected to continue Thursday. Under a state law designed to help school districts with fiscal years that begin on July 1, the Legislature is supposed to sign off on a state budget on or before July 1 each year.