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Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh – The sound of children at play echoes through the verdant lanes of one of the dozens of refugee camps on the outskirts of Cox’s Bazar, a densely populated coastal town in southeast Bangladesh.

Just for a moment, the sounds manage to soften the harsh living conditions faced by the more than one million people who live here in the world’s largest refugee camp.

Described as the most persecuted people on the planet, the Rohingya Muslim refugees in Bangladesh may now be one of the most forgotten populations in the world, eight years after being ethnically cleansed from their homes in neighbouring Myanmar by a predominantely Buddhist military regime.

“Cox’s Bazar is ground zero for the impact of budget cuts on people in desperate need,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said during a visit to the sprawling camps in May.

The UN chief’s visit followed United States President Donald Trump’s gutting of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which has stalled several key projects in the camps, and the United Kingdom announcing cuts to foreign aid in order to increase defence spending.

Healthcare in the camps has suffered as the severe blows to foreign aid bite.

‘They call me “langhra” (lame)’

Seated outside his makeshift bamboo hut, Jahid Alam told Al Jazeera how, before being forced to become a refugee, he had worked as a farmer and also fished for a living in the Napura region of his native Myanmar. It was back then, in 2016, that he first noticed his leg swell up for no apparent reason.

“I was farming and suddenly felt this intense urge to itch my left leg,” Alam said. “My leg soon turned red and began swelling up. I rushed home and tried to put some ice on it. But it didn’t help.”

A local doctor prescribed an ointment, but the itch continued, and so did the swelling.

He soon found it difficult to stand or walk and could no longer work, becoming dependent on his family members.

A year later, when Myanmar’s military began burning Rohingya homes in his village and torturing the women, he decided to send his family to Bangladesh.

Alam stayed behind to look after the cows on his land. But the military soon threatened him into leaving too and joining his family in neighbouring Bangladesh.

The 53-year-old has been treated by Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, in the Kutupalong region of Cox’s Bazar since arriving, but amputation of his leg seems likely. While some doctors have said he has Elephantiasis – an infection that causes enlargement and swelling of limbs – a final diagnosis is yet to be made.

Along with the disease, Alam has to also deal with stigma due to his disability.

“They call me ‘langhra’(lame) when they see I can’t walk properly,” he said.

But, he adds: “If God has given me this disease and disability, he also gave me the opportunity to come to this camp and try to recover. In the near future I know I can start a new and better life.”

‘The word “Amma” gives me hope’

Seated in a dimly lit room in a small hut about a 10-minute walk from Alam’s shelter, Jahena Begum hopes aid organisations will continue supporting the camps and particularly people with disabilities.

Her daughter Sumaiya Akter, 23, and sons, Harez, 19, and Ayas, 21, are blind and have a cognitive disability that prevents them from speaking clearly. They are largely unaware of their surroundings.

“Their vision slowly began fading as they became teenagers,” Begum says.

“It was very difficult to watch, and healthcare facilities in Myanmar could not help,” said the 50-year-old mother as she patted her daughter’s leg.

The young girl giggled, unaware of what was going on around her.

Begum’s family arrived in Cox’s Bazar about nine months ago after the military in Myanmar burned their house down.

“We made it to the camps with the help of relatives. But life has been very hard for me,” said Begum, telling how she had single-handedly brought up her children since her husband’s death eight years ago.

Doctors from MSF have given her children spectacles and have begun running scans to understand the root cause of their disability.

“Right now, they express everything by making sounds. But the one word they speak, which is ‘Amma’, meaning mother, shows me that they at least recognise me,” Begum said.

“The word ‘Amma’ gives me hope and strength to continue trying to treat them. I want a better future for my children.”

‘The pain isn’t just physical – it’s emotional’

Clad in a blue and pink striped collared shirt and a striped brown longyi – the cloth woven around the waist and worn by men and women in Myanmar – Anowar Shah told of fleeing Myanmar to save his life, on top of losing a limb to a mine blast.

Shah said he was collecting firewood in his hometown Labada Prian Chey in Myanmar when his leg was blown off by the landmine last year.

Myanmar is among the world’s deadliest countries for landmine and unexploded ordnance casualties, according to a 2024 UN report, with more than 1,000 victims recorded in 2023 alone – a number that surpassed all other nations.

“Those were the longest, most painful days of my life,” said the 25-year-old Shah, who now needs crutches to get around.

“Losing my leg shattered everything. I went from being someone who provided and protected, to someone who depends on others just to get through the day. I can’t move freely, can’t work, can’t even perform simple tasks alone,” he said.

“I feel like I’ve become a burden to the people I love. The pain isn’t just physical – it’s emotional, it’s deep. I keep asking myself, ‘Why did this happen to me?’”

More than 30 refugees in the camps in Bangladesh have lost limbs in landmine explosions, leaving them disabled and dependent on others.

All parties to the armed conflict in Myanmar have used landmines in some capacity, said John Quinley, director of rights organisation Fortify Rights, in Myanmar.

“We know the Myanmar junta has used landmines over many years to bolster their bases. They also lay them in civilian areas around villages and towns that they have occupied and fled,” he told Al Jazeera.

Abdul Hashim, 25, who resides in Camp 21 in Cox’s Bazar, described how stepping on a landmine in February 2024 “drastically altered his life”.

“I have become dependent on others for even the simplest daily tasks. Once an active contributor to my family, I now feel like a burden,” he said.

Since arriving in the camp, Hashim has been in a rehabilitation programme at the Turkish Field Hospital where he receives medication and physical rehabilitation that involves balance exercises, stump care, and hygiene education.

He has also been assessed for a prosthetic limb which currently costs about 50,000 Bangladeshi Taka ($412). The cost for such limbs is borne by Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

“Despite the trauma and hardship, I hold onto some hope. I dream of receiving a prosthetic leg soon, which would allow me to regain some independence and find work to support my family,” Hashim said.

So far, a total of 14 prosthetic limbs have been distributed and fitted for camp inhabitants by the aid group Humanity & Inclusion, who have expertise in producing the limbs in orthotic workshops outside the refugee camps.

Both Hashim and Shah are a part of the organisation’s rehabilitation programme, which has been providing gait training to help them adapt to the future, regular use of prosthetic limbs.

Tough decisions for aid workers

Seeking to ensure refugees in the camps are well supported and can live better lives after fleeing persecution, aid workers are currently having to make tough decisions due to foreign aid cuts.

“We are having to decide between feeding people and providing education and healthcare due to aid cuts,” a Bangladeshi healthcare worker who requested anonymity, for fear his comment could jeopardise future aid from the US, told Al Jazeera. 

Quinley of Fortify Rights pointed out that while there are huge funding gaps because of the aid cuts, the Rohingya refugee response should not fall on any one government and should be a collective regional responsibility.

“There needs to be a regional response, particularly for countries in Southeast Asia, to give funding,” he said.

“Countries connected to the OIC (Organisation of Islamic Cooperation) in the Middle East could also give a lot more meaningful support,” he said.

He also recommended working with local humanitarian partners, “whether it’s Bangladeshi nationals or whether it’s Rohingya refugee groups themselves” since they know how to help their communities the best.

“Their ability to access people that need support is at the forefront, and they should be supported from governments worldwide,” he said.

For the estimated one million refugees in Cox’s Bazar, urgent support is needed at this time, when funds grow ever scarce.

According to a Joint Response Plan drawn up for the Rohingya, in 2024, just 30 percent of funding was received of a total $852.4m that was needed by the refugees.

As of May 2025, against an overall appeal for $934.5m for the refugees, just 15 percent received funding.

Cutting the aid budgets for the camps is a “short-sighted policy”, said Blandine Bouniol, deputy director of advocacy at Humanity & Inclusion humanitarian group.

It will, Bouniol said, “have a devastating impact on people”.

AS Andrew Drury made his way through a Syrian camp looking for notorious ISIS bride Shamima Begum, his mind began to race.

Although the intrepid filmmaker had been in far more perilous situations – his nerves started to get the better of him.

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But when he was introduced to Begum – who left the UK aged 15 to join ISIS a decade ago in 2015 – he was taken aback.

“She was very shaky, very nervous, very shut, emotional, tearful,” Andrew told The Sun.

Father-of-four Andrew met Begum, who grew up in East London, for the first of six times at the Al-Roj camp in Syria in June 2021 while filming for a documentary, Danger Zone.

He initially felt sorry for Begum, then 21, and became a close confidant of the Jihadi bride – even securing a Bafta-nominated live interview with her for Good Morning Britain.

In less than two years his view of Begum – accused of serving in the feared IS “morality police” and helping make suicide vests – completely changed, however.

He saw a colder side when she talked about how the death of her three children no longer upset her and even expressed support of Manchester Arena bomber Salman Abedi.

Extreme adventurer Andrew, who has made treacherous journeys to North Korea and Iraq, said at first Begum was a “thin, ill-looking, sad character” who was “very apologetic”.

“We took a long walk around the camp, She started to relax, and she said she used to take this regular walk right around the perimeter of the camp to clear her head,” he said.

“After the interview finished, we walked back to the room. Normally she’d go off to a tent, but she wanted to come back to the room to get a cold drink.

“Then I didn’t want to insult her at that point, I wanted to say goodbye – I thought I’d never see her again.

“I said, ‘Can I shake your hand?’ and she asked for a hug.

“So she gave me a hug and started to cry.”

Andrew, from Surrey, said he felt they had formed a connection and believed she regretted turning her back on Western society to join the murderous death cult.

“At that point I kind of believed that she was sincere,” he said.

I actually don’t think the death of her children actually bothered her in the slightest. She was not at all affected by it

Andrew Drury

“I kind of felt sorry for her. I thought at that point she’d been radicalised online, sent out as a prescribed bridge to somebody.

“She said she’d made a real bad mistake and really regretted what she’d done.

“She owned up to being this person that everybody hates in the UK.

“And I felt sorry for her, I’ve got young daughters, not a lot of difference in age, so I thought people do make mistakes, and I should give her a chance.”

Andrew – whose book Trip Hazard details his experience in dangerous areas – returned to the camp months later after GMB asked for his help to get an interview with Begum.

The author, who has exchanged hundreds of messages with Begum, said he noticed a “subtle change” in the former Brit.

Begum, who was stripped of her British citizenship in 2019, appeared to have undergone a more “Western” makeover – ditching her hijab and abaya.

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“She had changed as a character,” Andrew said.

“She was more short. She wasn’t this nervous-cry sort of character.

“She looked assured, and she didn’t seem such a waif character, and she seemed to be in control of herself and her emotions.”

Andrew told how Begum spent the night before the live interview “rehearsing” with three of her friends In the camp, which is controlled by armed guards.

He added: “Her friends said they’d had their music playing and they were tutoring Shamima what to say.

“They seemed pretty together about what she should say, and they were schooling her.”

Begum married an IS fighter soon after arriving in Syria and went on to have three children, none of whom survived.

Andrew – who said he had formed a “bond” with Begum – told how after the interview, Shamima opened her purse and showed him photos of her children.

The tragic loss of his own brother Robert as a child made him sympathise with Shamima’s plight.

“One of them was a scene where the child must have been eight, nine months old, had chocolate around his face,” he recalled.

“I said, ‘What’s that?’ and she said, ‘Oh we used to like baking cakes’.

“And it actually makes me quite sad. It was really quite sad knowing the child had died.

“She made it sound like an honour that she had shared these pictures with me, which I guess it probably was, because she hadn’t shared them before she said.”

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But it was Begum’s attitude after Andrew returned to the UK that shocked him – and began to shatter their relationship.

“I said to her, ‘Those pictures you showed me really upset me, I hope you’re okay’,” he said.

“She messaged back and said, ‘Oh, they don’t bother me anymore. That doesn’t make me sad’.

“I thought, was that because she’s been traumatised so badly?

“But I think she is that hard. I think she’s calculated.

“I actually don’t think the death of her children actually bothered her in the slightest. She was not at all affected by it.”

After meeting Andrew a couple of times, Begum started asking him to bring stuff into the camp for her – including clothes.

The dad said he felt “at a crossroads” about whether to take what she wanted.

“I felt bad and guilty that I’d be taking somebody that carried out what could have been some atrocities, clothes,” he said.

“But then, probably on the soft side of me, and the fact is, she was a young girl, so I was playing with these emotions, but I took her the clothes from Primark.

“We had a bundle of stuff, we took some toys for the children because it’s not their fault.”

But then Begum’s requests started turning into demands, Andrew said.

“The messages continued,” he added.

Camps breeding next ISIS generation

Exclusive by Henry Holloway, Deputy Foreign Editor and Alan Duncan

A CHILD no older than eight draws his hand across his neck in a chilling throat-slitting gesture – the message is clear, “You are not welcome here”.

Other kids hurl stones, shout and scream – while one exasperated camp official shows us CCTV of two youngsters hurling a firebomb.

Welcome to camps al-Hol and al-Roj in northern Syria – the fates of which remain uncertain after the fall of tyrant Bashar al-Assad.

It is warned these stark detention centres are now the breeding ground for the next generation of the bloodthirsty cult.

And much of this new wave of radicalisation is feared to be coming from the mothers inside the camps.

Senior camp official Rashid Omer said: “The reality is – they are not changing. This is not a normal camp – this a bomb.”

He went on: “They are saying it was ISIS who ‘liberated’ Damascus – and soon they will be coming here.”

“And then they want to spread to Europe, to Africa, and then to everywhere.”

The two sprawling sites hold a total of nearly 60,000 including ISIS fighters, families and children.

At least 6,000 Westerners are still held among them – including infamous jihadi bride Shamima Begum, the 25-year-old from London.

READ MORE HERE

“This time they became slightly more angry, slightly more direct.”

Before he planned to return to Syria again, Begum told him she wanted two books – Guantanamo Bay Diaries and Sea Prayer – which is inspired by the Syrian refugee crisis.

Andrew said she was also being schooled by her lawyer about her media presence.

He added: “What she declared by then is that she was hostage in a prison camp – where they were legally held.

“That’s how she started to see herself. All apologies had gone.

“She’d done a documentary with the BBC and was on the front of The Times magazine.

“She’d become a celebrity and was loving all the attention. She’d read all the newspaper articles.”

Andrew – who returned to the camp with a friend and no crew – took some clothes for Begum with him.

I could see things in her I didn’t like. I didn’t trust her. Her behaviour was poor. She was angry and aggressive

Andrew Drury

But it was his decision not to take the books she had demanded that revealed her true colours.

“I did go back again, but my feelings were already changing towards her,” Andrew said.

“It was a little boy’s birthday, and I felt so sorry for him.

“He wanted a Superman outfit, so I would have gone just for that, because I spend a lot of time in refugee camps. It’s not fair for these kids.

“I didn’t take the books Shamima wanted because I didn’t want to. I didn’t want her to have that opportunity to what I saw as studying how to be a victim.

“She opened the clothes, said she didn’t like them. I mean, this is a girl in a prison camp.

“She said, ‘I didn’t really care about the clothes, it was the books I wanted’. So she became quite aggressive in her nature.”

Who is Shamima Begum?

ISIS bride Shamima Begum, who was born in Britain, was stripped of her British citizenship on February 20, 2019.

Begum’s attitude then worsened when Andrew became interested in another girl’s story.

It was one of the final nails in the coffin in the bond Andrew believed they had initially formed.

“Shamima had a tantrum that the attention had been taken away from her,” he said.

“She was like a child that was pretending they were ill.

“So during this period of time I was beginning to feel like the connection was gone.

“It was broken, and I was beginning not to like her.

“I could see things in her I didn’t like. I didn’t trust her. Her behaviour was poor. She was angry and aggressive.

“I had found out from other girls what she was accused of, and they told me the same thing that I had heard before, like sewing suicide vests

“Things were ringing in my head like she said early on that the Manchester bombing was legitimate because of what happened in Iraq and Syria.

“So I didn’t trust her.”

Andrew’s last contact with Begum was around two years ago in a fiery text exchange.

She accused Andrew of “selling her out”, to which he shot back: “You’ve sold your country out.”

Begum last year lost her final appeal challenging the removal of her British citizenship.

She can now no longer fight to overturn the revocation of her citizenship within the UK legal system.

Andrew said: “I think she’s a danger for what she stood for, and I don’t think she could ever come back.

“I think she needs to go on trial in Syria for the crimes she committed against the Syrian people.”

The Rukban displacement camp, which opened and was cut off in the height of the civil war in 2014, housed thousands of people.

The notorious Rukban displacement camp in the Syrian desert, a dark emblem of the country’s civil war, has closed, with the last remaining families returning to their hometowns.

Syrian Information Minister Hamza al-Mustafa said on Saturday on X that with the dismantlement of the camp, “a tragic and sorrowful chapter of displacement stories created by the bygone regime’s war machine comes to a close”.

“Rukban was not just a camp, it was the triangle of death that bore witness to the cruelty of siege and starvation, where the regime left people to face their painful fate in the barren desert,” he added.

The camp, established in 2014 at the height of the country’s ruinous civil war, was built in a deconfliction zone controlled by the United States-led coalition forces fighting against ISIL (ISIS).

The camp was used to house those fleeing ISIL fighters and bombardment by the then-government of President Bashar al-Assad, seeking refuge and hoping to eventually cross the border into Jordan.

But al-Assad’s regime rarely allowed aid to enter the camp as neighbouring countries also blocked access to the area, rendering Rukban isolated for years under a punishing siege.

About 8,000 people lived in the camp, staying in mud-brick houses with food and basic goods smuggled in at high prices.

But after al-Assad was toppled following a lightning offensive led by the current president of Syria’s interim government, Ahmed al-Sharaa, in December, families began leaving the camp and returning home.

Al-Sharaa has promised to unite Syria following the fall of al-Assad and rebuild the country at home and rejoin the international fold abroad.

Last month, al-Sharaa met with world leaders, including United States President Donald Trump, who announced that sanctions on Syria would be removed in a decision that would allow the country a “chance at greatness”. The European Union followed suit and also lifted sanctions. Both moves have given Syria a critical lifeline to economic recovery after nearly 14 years of war and economic devastation.

‘A castle in my eyes’

Yasmine al-Salah, who returned to her home after nine years of displacement in the Rukban camp and marked the Muslim celebration of Eid al-Adha, told The Associated Press news agency on Friday that her feelings are a “happiness that cannot be described”.

“Even though our house is destroyed, and we have no money, and we are hungry, and we have debts, and my husband is old and can’t work, and I have kids – still, it’s a castle in my eyes,” al-Salah said.

Her home in the town of al-Qaryatan in the eastern part of the Homs province was damaged during the war.

Syrian Minister for Emergency Situations and Disasters Raed al-Saleh said on X said the camp’s closure marks “the end of one of the harshest humanitarian tragedies faced by our displaced people”.

“We hope this step marks the beginning of a path that ends the suffering of the remaining camps and returns their residents to their homes with dignity and safety,” he added.

According to the International Organization for Migration, 1.87 million Syrians have returned to their homes since al-Assad’s fall.

Statement from Biden’s office comes after US President Donald Trump expressed doubt over timing of diagnosis.

Former United States President Joe Biden was not diagnosed with prostate cancer before last week, and received his “last known” blood test for the disease more than a decade ago, his office has said.

The Biden camp’s statement on Tuesday came as critics, including current President Donald Trump, stoked scepticism over the timing of the diagnosis, which has reanimated questions about whether the former president misled the public about his health while in office.

“President Biden’s last known PSA was in 2014,” Biden’s office said in the brief statement, referring to the prostate-specific antigen test used to detect prostate cancer.

“Prior to Friday, President Biden had never been diagnosed with prostate cancer.”

On Monday, Trump said he was “surprised” that the public had not been notified about Biden’s diagnosis “a long time ago”.

“Why did it take so long? This takes a long time. It can take years to get this level of danger,” Trump told reporters at the White House, referring to the advanced nature of Biden’s cancer.

“Somebody is not telling the facts, and that’s a big problem,” Trump said.

Biden’s office said on Sunday that the former president had, two days earlier, been diagnosed with prostate cancer that had spread to his bones.

Biden’s office said his cancer had score of 9 under the Gleason classification system, which grades prostate cancer from 6 to 10, indicating it is among the most aggressive kinds.

While some doctors have expressed doubt that Biden, 82, was not diagnosed earlier given his access to the best medical care, others have noted that screening is generally not recommended for men of his age and that some cancers do not show up in tests.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other medical bodies do not recommend regular screening for prostate cancer for men over 70 due to the quality of life issues that can result from unnecessary treatment.

“It is entirely reasonable, albeit sad, that even a person of President Biden’s position may present with a new diagnosis of prostate cancer that is metastatic at his age,” Adam Weiner, an urologic surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, told Al Jazeera.

“Since President Biden is now 82, it is entirely possible he was screened for prostate cancer up to the recommended age and his newly diagnosed prostate cancer first occurred sometime since then,” Weiner said.

Nick James, an expert in prostate cancer at The Institute of Cancer Research in London, said the Biden camp’s account of the diagnosis was “plausible even if a bit unusual”, as certain cancers with a low PSA production can be missed in blood tests.

“It’s one of the drawbacks of PSA testing is that it can miss such tumours. Likewise, prostate MRI, the other test he might have had, also has a false negative rate,” James told Al Jazeera.

Biden’s age and health were major concerns for voters during his presidency and re-election campaign, which the former president abandoned following a disastrous debate performance against Trump in June.

Critics have accused Biden and his team of covering up the extent of his mental and physical decline while in office.

On Tuesday, CNN anchor Jake Tapper and Axios correspondent Alex Thompson released a new book, Original Sin, detailing the Biden camp’s alleged efforts to conceal his deterioration.

The book includes numerous accounts of Biden’s alleged decline, including an incident in which the then-president was said to have not been able to recognise Hollywood actor George Clooney at a 2024 fundraiser.

Exeter and England wing Immanuel Feyi-Waboso’s prospects of playing Test rugby this summer increased after the 22-year-old was selected for a two-day England training camp this week.

Feyi-Waboso has not played since dislocating his shoulder in December, with his comeback delayed by a setback suffered at an England camp in February.

Gloucester centre Seb Atkinson, Leicester back row Emeke Ilione and Sale midfielder Rekeiti Ma’asi-White are also included in a 33-strong group that does not include either British and Irish Lions, or players from Northampton and Bath, who are preparing for European finals this weekend.

Gloucester’s 20-year-old prop Afolabi Fasogbon, who was ruled out of Six Nations contention with an ankle injury, is named, along with the likes of Jamie George, George Ford and Ben Curry, who missed out on Lions selection earlier this month.

In 2017, England toured Argentina in the same summer that the Lions were taking on New Zealand.

A teenage Tom Curry and Sam Underhill made their Test debuts against the Pumas and a little more than two years later were key parts of a Rugby World Cup semi-final win over New Zealand.

Head coach Steve Borthwick expects similar to happen again this year with 13 of his players selected for the Lions tour of Australia.

“There is no doubt players will emerge this summer and will be part of the Rugby World Cup 2027 squad that wouldn’t have been if we had to pick it today,” he told 5 Live Sport.

“I have no doubt. It is the same thing that happened in 2017 – players grab the opportunity.

“I told them today that opportunity rises and change happens – the players that get the chance have to grab hold of it with both hands.”

Naomi Girma was called up to the women’s national soccer team Tuesday for the first time this year, joining 23 others for friendlies with China and Jamaica.

Girma, who was named to FIFA’s global Best XI last year, has been sidelined with calf injuries but recently returned to fitness, going 90 minutes in two of Chelsea’s last three games in the Women’s Super League. Her last appearance for the U.S. came in the gold medal final of the Paris Olympics in August.

Sisters Alyssa and Gisele Thompson, who started their second senior national team match together last month, were also called up but this time with Gisele, a defender, making the roster as a winger. Alyssa has four goals and two assists this season for Angel City, for whom her sister also plays.

“Everyone always earns their call-ups but there are some much-deserved call-ups in this camp for players who have shown consistency in league play,” USWNT coach Emma Hayes said in a statement. “We have two different types of opponents ahead of us so we’ll have to be creative in breaking down those teams in different ways.”

In addition to Girma, seven other players from the Olympic championship team were called up. But Hayes also summoned three uncapped players in Orlando Pride defender Kerry Abello, Kansas City Current midfielder Lo’eau LaBonta and Seattle Reign goalkeeper Claudia Dickey. Canyon Country teenager Olivia Moultrie, who hasn’t played for the U.S. since Hayes took over last May, is also on the roster.

“This camp and the following camp are going to be two amazing opportunities to develop squad depth,” Hayes said.

Still missing from the team are forwards Sophia Wilson (née Smith), Trinity Rodman and Mallory Swanson. Smith and Swanson are on maternity leave while Rodman is injured. The trio combined for 10 of the 12 U.S. goals in last summer’s Olympics.

The U.S. will play China at Allianz Field in St. Paul, Minn., on May 31 and Jamaica on June 3 at Energizer Park in St. Louis. Here’s the roster:

Goalkeepers: Claudia Dickey (Seattle Reign FC), Mandy McGlynn (Utah Royals), Phallon Tullis-Joyce (Manchester United).

Defenders: Kerry Abello (Orlando Pride), Crystal Dunn (Paris Saint-Germain), Emily Fox (Arsenal FC), Naomi Girma (Chelsea FC), Tara McKeown (Washington Spirit), Avery Patterson (Houston Dash), Emily Sams (Orlando Pride), Emily Sonnett (Gotham FC).

Midfielders: Sam Coffey (Portland Thorns FC), Lindsey Heaps (OL Lyonnes), Claire Hutton (Kansas City Current), Lo’eau LaBonta (Kansas City Current), Olivia Moultrie (Portland Thorns FC), Lily Yohannes (Ajax).

Forwards: Lynn Biyendolo (Seattle Reign FC), Michelle Cooper (Kansas City Current), Catarina Macario (Chelsea FC), Emma Sears (Racing Louisville), Ally Sentnor (Utah Royals), Alyssa Thompson (Angel City FC), Gisele Thompson (Angel City FC).

The highly coveted High Sierra Camps in Yosemite National Park that have been closed since 2018 will remain closed this summer because potable water and toilets won’t be available, according to park officials.

“This decision was made in collaboration with the National Park Service [NPS], which manages the utilities necessary to run the camps,” according to the park’s website. “Impacted guests have been contacted and can book alternate accommodations within the park and will be offered priority booking for next year’s lottery.”

Every year, more than 13,000 people stay at the Yosemite camps — five separate locations that offer various glamping amenities such as high-end meals and access to running water. Waste is recycled and composted and guests have access to either flush or solar-powered composting toilets, according to the park. Showers are available at May Lake and Sunrise Camps, depending on water availability.

The cabins fully reopened for the last time in 2018 and opened on a limited basis during the summer of 2024. Only three of the camps welcomed guests and the camp’s 56 tent cabins have mostly stayed closed due to COVID restrictions and extreme weather.

The Yosemite camps are spaced 6 to 10 miles apart along a loop trail and are open seasonally from June to September. Dates are heavily dependent on weather. Park visitors can book both guided and unguided trips between the cabins. Guided trips are either five or seven days and include a guide and all three meals at each camp. Unguided trips are self-guided and include two meals, with sack lunches available for an additional fee.

Visitors can enter a lottery for the 2026 season, which will open Nov. 1 and close Nov. 30 at the end of the day. Winners are notified by email.