edge

Real Madrid see off improved Juventus in UCL win, while Liverpool come back in Frankfurt and Victor Osimhen stars again.

Jude Bellingham scored his first goal since June as Real Madrid saw off a spirited performance by Juventus to win 1-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu and maintain their 100 percent record in this season’s Champions League.

The goal on Wednesday was created by Vinicius Jr, who in the 58th minute took on three Juventus players and made space to shoot. His attempt rebounded off the post for Bellingham to slot home his first goal of the season since returning from shoulder surgery.

Recommended Stories

list of 4 itemsend of list

Juve are winless since September 13 and have gone seven consecutive matches without a victory in all competitions. They have secured just two points from three Champions League games, while Madrid have nine points.

The Italians did, however, draw a number of fine saves from Real keeper Thibaut Courtois as they defied the record Champions League winners for nearly an hour.

The Belgium international stopper remained pivotal even in the dying moments as Juve applied the pressure in search of an equaliser, with Filip Kostic’s long-range strike needing to be pummelled away.

Liverpool come from a goal down in Frankfurt

Liverpool emphatically rebounded from a miserable run as it won 5-1 at Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League on Wednesday.

There were also comfortable wins for Chelsea and Bayern Munich.

Liverpool travelled to Germany on a four-game losing streak that included Sunday’s home defeat to Manchester United in the Premier League. Among its recent setbacks was also a loss at Galatasaray in its second league-phase match.

Rasmus Kristensen gave the home side the lead in the 26th minute, but Liverpool levelled nine minutes later through former Frankfurt player Hugo Ekitike, who outsprinted three of his former teammates before firing a low effort under Michael Zetterer.

Ekitike didn’t celebrate but raised his hands in an apologetic gesture.

Virgil Van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate headed in corners within five minutes of each other to give Liverpool a comfortable halftime lead.

Florian Wirtz provided his first Champions League assist in the 66th, setting up Cody Gakpo for a tap-in, and he did it again four minutes later for a low drive from Dominik Szoboszlai from 30 meters out.

Chelsea beat Ajax 5-1, while Bayern topped Club Brugge 4-0.

Nigeria’s Osimhen shines again for Galatasaray

Victor Osimhen continued his impressive scoring record in Europe to help Galatasaray to a 3-1 win over Bodo/Glimt.

Osimhen netted two first-half goals to extend his scoring streak in continental competition to seven outings – with nine goals in that period – stretching back to Galatasaray’s Europa League campaign last term.

The Nigerian forward came close to a hat-trick on several occasions, notably in the 60th minute when his attempt was parried by Nikita Haikin, but Yunus Akgun tucked away the rebound for Galatasaray’s third.

Substitute Andreas Helmersen grabbed a consolation for Bodø/Glimt shortly after coming off the bench.

Substitute Roberto Navarro had an immediate – and stunning – impact as he helped Athletic Bilbao to its first points in this season’s Champions League, with a 3-1 comeback victory over Qarabag.

Navarro was brought on in the 65th minute, with the score 1-1, and gave the hosts the lead five minutes later with a delightful curled finish into the far corner.

Qarabag, which was surprisingly perfect going into the encounter, had taken the lead after just 49 seconds through Leandro Andrade.

But Gorka Guruzeta levelled shortly before halftime and also gave his team a two-goal cushion with full-time looming.

A VAST “mini-city” of 5,500 homes, schools and green space is set to rise on the edge of Birmingham.

Council chiefs gave given the go-ahead for the first stage of works.

7

7

7

The Langley development, near Walmley in Sutton Coldfield, will eventually see around 5,500 homes.

There will also be schools, community facilities and green spaces, built across a huge swathe of land.

Described by developers as an “unparalleled opportunity to establish a new sustainable community”, the scheme promises to transform the area.

Ahead of the latest council planning meeting, permission was sought to begin “strategic infrastructure” works on the site.

These include demolishing Langley Park House, creating open space and play areas, carrying out major earthworks, and building new highway, cycle and pedestrian networks.

But concerns were raised over how future residents will travel.

Conservative councillor Gareth Moore argued that Labour’s transport policy risks being “outdated” and could turn the new neighbourhood into a “heavy car-use area.”

“Despite the best will in the world, the council is not going to change that,” he said.

“I’m really concerned that long-term this is going to build up problems because we’re going to try and discourage people from owning cars.

“We’re going to try and encourage everyone to walk, cycle and get the bus – but they’re not.

“They’re going to own cars and they’ll be parked all over the place. Yes, in 50 years’ time that might be different but the important thing is the here and now.”

A council report defended the plans, pointing to an “extensive network” of new walking and cycling routes across the site.

This is including segregated cycle paths, bus-only connections and a traffic-free bridge linking eastwards over the A38.

It said: “The intention is to not give equal priority to all modes through the road space allocation, instead encouraging sustainable travel which adheres to the objectives of the Birmingham Transport Plan.”

7

7

7

Officials have previously stressed that prioritising active travel and public transport will help cut road danger, connect communities and tackle the climate emergency.

According to the scheme’s official website, the new development will also bring schools, leisure facilities and large areas of “well-connected green spaces.”

“We are committed to working with the local community to deliver a beautifully designed scheme that puts placemaking at its heart and provides long-term benefits for both new and existing residents,” it said.

With the application now approved, work can begin on laying the groundwork for one of the biggest housing projects Birmingham has ever seen.

This follows after reports of a huge new town with up to 25,000 homes is set to be built in the UK, as part of a government scheme.

The ambitious plans are set to ease Britain’s housing crisis, and the project is expected to create 30,000 jobs.

The Brabazon development, in South Gloucestershire, is set to become a “thriving new town, designed around people, nature and opportunity: the best place in the UK to live, work and play”, according to YTL, the group facilitating its construction.

Proposals for the project include 6,500 homes (which could rise to 25,000), and student accommodation big enough to house 2,000 people.

The new town will also have a 20,000 capacity arena, three new schools and community facilities, and is predicted to add £5 billion to the GVA.

A new train station, Metrobus links, cycle routes and walking paths will ensure the town is well connected to Bristol and over 3.6 million square feet of commercial space will house shops, businesses and offices.

Brabazon will also have an abundance of parks and green spaces, including a 15 acre park and lake, which will be the largest in the South West for 50 years.

The government has thrown its backing behind the development, as part of a £48 billion scheme to build 12 new homes across the nation.

Work has already begun on Brabazon, with 500 homes completed, and £400 million invested by YTL.

7

ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER

(15) 162mins

★★★★★

WHAT time is it? It is a question Leonardo DiCaprio’s stressed-out fugitive Bob Ferguson is asked over and over again in this black comedy.

Wearing a dressing gown and bad shades, Bob doesn’t have the answer because he’s too stoned to remember the code he was given by a left-wing terror group called the French 75.

But I can tell you that the time is absolutely right for One Battle After Another.

This is a political satire that skewers both the extreme right and the extreme left at a moment when both sides are to the fore in the real world in the United States.

The time is also well overdue for this piece of cinematic dynamite that will have you on the edge of your seat — from laughter or the high-octane action.

Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, it is a work of genius that fuses the best elements of his films There Will Be Blood and Boogie Nights.

It begins 16 years ago with Bob helping to free refugees at a US border crossing.

During the raid his girlfriend, the wonderfully named Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor), orders Sean Penn’s military officer ­Steven J Lockjaw to “get up” his private parts.

The French 75’s increasingly reckless terrorism ends in a thrilling chase and Bob needing to go into hiding with the baby daughter he shares with Perfidia.

Most of the story is set in the current time, with Lockjaw coming after Bob and his daughter Willa.

As things get wilder, the audience is introduced to a bunch of incredible characters, including members of the white supremecist Christmas Adventurers Club, gun-toting nuns and Benecio Del Toro’s always-cool martial arts instructor Sergio.

The serene Del Toro is a perfect comic foil for the frantic DiCaprio who spends a lot of time running around shouting “f, f, f***.”

In one of the standout screwball moments, Sergio keeps repeating “four” as Bob is reluctant to jump out of his moving car like “Tom Cruise”. It is just one of many quotable lines.

But the most memorable scene brings the movie’s various plots to a perfect, heart-racing conclusion.

All of the cast are outstanding, with DiCaprio and newcomer Chase Infiniti as Willa most likely to be nominated for awards.

If there is any justice this film will get one Oscar after another.

GRANT ROLLINGS

3

THE STRANGERS: CHAPTER 2

(15) 96mins

★★☆☆☆

3

DIRRECTED by Renny Harlin, this second instalment in the Strangers trilogy is a bafflingly incoherent mess.

It picks up right after the events of Chapter 1, but instead of expanding on Bryan Bertino’s original 2008 home-invasion nightmare, it devolves into a clumsy blend of ­borrowed horror tropes held together by a barely coherent backstory.

Chapter 2 follows the survivor, Maya (Madelaine Petsch), as she is relentlessly pursued by masked killers in a sleepy American town.

Despite her injuries, Maya must find the strength to stay alive and tell the tale.

Petsch is committed to the physical demands of the role, fighting a CGI boar in a bafflingly out-of-place sequence.

However, the film’s drawn-out and repetitive cat-and-mouse chases become truly unbearable.

Narratively, the film is all over the place lurching from home-invasion suspense to slasher to survival horror.

The only thing that prevents it becoming a total farce is Harlin’s occasional use of a few inspired jump scares.

As a middle chapter, this feels like a placeholder for the next film.

LINDA MARRIC

DEAD OF WINTER

(15) 98mins

★★★☆☆

3

IF you were casting for a Ramboesque heroine, Emma Thompson would not be the first name to spring to mind.

But in this rescue of a kidnap victim from a remote cabin thriller, it is the Love Actually actress displaying ingenious ways to survive.

Set in northern Minnesota in the US, Thompson’s Barb heads out in a snow storm to a lake that had a sentimental value to her recently deceased husband.

There she comes across a man who has tied up a young woman in his cellar.

Unable to go to get help, Barb vows to save the girl herself.

But the man is not her main concern, because it is a gun-toting woman played by Judy Greer who is the one with the least to lose by fighting to the bitter end.

Thompson is remarkably good when Barb is stitching up a bullet wound in her arm with fishing wire, and the attention to detail in the sets also impresses.

But choosing her isn’t enough to make this last- person-standing drama feel particularly original.

Like the tracks that Barb leaves in the snow, you know where most of the plot turns lead.

GRANT ROLLINGS

Syria’s al-Sharaa voices hope for deal, warns of regional risks due to Israeli attempts to fragment country.

Israel is close to striking a “de-escalation” agreement with Syria, after the latter’s President signalled that his country was “scared” of the former’s relentless attacks since the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad’s rule last year.

United States Special Envoy for Syria Tom Barrack said on Tuesday that the agreement would see Israel stopping its attacks on its neighbour, while Syria will agree to not move any machinery or heavy equipment near the Israeli border.

Recommended Stories

list of 3 itemsend of list

Barrack said that both sides were negotiating “in good faith” on the agreement, which had been slated for completion this week, but had been slowed down by the Rosh Hashana holiday – the Jewish New Year – this week. The agreement would serve as first step towards an eventual security deal, he said.

Speaking shortly before Barrack, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, whose forces toppled longtime autocrat ruler al-Assad back in December, voiced hope for a security deal, pointing out that his country had not created problems with Israel.

“We are scared of Israel, not the other way around,” he told an event of the Middle East Institute in New York.

“There are multiple risks with Israel stalling on the negotiations and insisting on violating our airspace and incursions into our territory,” he said.

“Jordan is under pressure, and any talk of partitioning Syria will hurt Iraq, will hurt Turkiye. That will take us all back to square one,” he added.

Al-Sharaa will be the first Syria leader to address the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Wednesday in six decades.

Risks of fragmentation

Israel and Syria have been Middle East adversaries for decades, the enmity between the pair heightening during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and Israel’s occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights.

Since Assad’s ouster, Israel has hobbled Syria’s attempts to get back on a stable footing, trashing a 1974 ceasefire agreement between the two states, striking Syrian military assets and sending troops to within 20 km (12 miles) of Damascus.

Al-Sharaa said last week that Israel had carried out more than 1,000 strikes on Syria and conducted more than 400 ground incursions.

Israel has alternately claimed that its strikes on Syria are aimed at preventing terrorism or protecting the country’s Druze minority, notably in the southern area of Suwayda where sectarian violence erupted in June. But Israel has brazenly bombed central Damascus as well.

Critics charge that Israel is seeking to fragment the country in a bid to keep it weak and exert its own dominance over the region.

Speaking on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly on Monday, al-Sharaa renewed his call to the US to formally lift sanctions imposed on his country to enable it to rebuild and held talks this week with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Israel has been lobbying US lawmakers and policymakers at the State Department for months to keep sanctions in place.

In a historical twist of fate for the ages, al-Sharaa sat down for interview this week, whilst in New York for the UNGA, with former US General David Petraeus, who once arrested the then rebel righter and led American forces during the invasion of Iraq, later becoming the director of the CIA.

The TWZ Newsletter

Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy.

Fighters from three nations responded to an intrusion of Estonian airspace by three Russian MiG-31 Foxhound interceptors on Friday. The NATO jets were scrambled under the alliance’s new Operation Eastern Sentry, created to protect Eastern Europe. That effort was stood up after Polish and Dutch fighters downed Russian drones that had intruded into Poland last week.

Italian Air Force F-35 stealth fighters responded to the incident, according to NATO. They are part of the alliance’s Baltic Air Policing mission. In addition, Sweden and Finland also scrambled fighters.

Sweden said it scrambled its JAS 39 fighters to intercept and monitor the Foxhounds over the Black Sea.

Following a violation of Estonian air space, Swedish JAS 39 fighters intercepted and monitored three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets over the Baltic Sea today. Sweden is always ready to ensure the safety, security and integrity of our airspace together with our allies.#WeAreNATO pic.twitter.com/gpTbmngiKc

— Försvarsmakten (@Forsvarsmakten) September 19, 2025

After the incursion, Lithuania’s defense minister made a veiled suggestion that NATO shoot down intruding Russian aircraft.

“Three Russian fighter jets over Tallinn is one more hard proof that #EasternSentry is long due,” Dovilė Šakalienė stated on X. “NATO’s border in the North East is being tested for a reason. We need to mean business. PS. Türkiye set an example 10 years ago. Some food for thought.”

Šakalienė was referring to an incident in 2015 when Turkish F-16s downed a Russian Su-24 over the Turkey-Syria border area.

Three russian fighter jets over Tallinn is one more hard proof that #EasternSentry is long due.

NATOs border in the North East is being tested for a reason.

We need to mean business.

PS. Türkiye set an example 10 years ago.
Some food for thought.

— Dovilė Šakalienė (@DSakaliene) September 19, 2025

“Earlier today, Russian jets violated Estonian airspace,” the alliance stated on X. “NATO responded immediately and intercepted the Russian aircraft. This is yet another example of reckless Russian behaviour and NATO’s ability to respond.”

Earlier today, Russian jets violated Estonian airspace. NATO responded immediately and intercepted the Russian aircraft. This is yet another example of reckless Russian behaviour and NATO’s ability to respond.

— NATO Spokesperson (@NATOpress) September 19, 2025

The Foxhounds entered Estonian airspace in the area of Vaindloo Island, located in the Gulf of Finland in the Baltic Sea, the Estonian military said.

The island is located about 15 miles north of the Estonian mainland and about 60 miles west of Russia. The Russian aircraft did not have flight plans and their transponders were turned off, the Estonian military noted. In addition, the Foxhounds were not in two-way radio communication with Estonian air traffic services.

“This is an unprecedented and brazen intrusion — clear proof of Russia’s growing aggression,” Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna stated on X. “Such actions cannot be tolerated and must be met with swift political and economic pressure.”

Today @MFAestonia summoned Russia’s chargé d’affaires over another violation of Estonia’s airspace, when three Russian MiG-31s entered our airspace over the Gulf of Finland for 12 minutes.

This is an unprecedented and brazen intrusion — clear proof of Russia’s growing…

— Margus Tsahkna (@Tsahkna) September 19, 2025

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said he spoke with Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal about the incident.

I’ve just spoken with the Estonian PM @KristenMichalPM about the Russian air space violation today. NATO’s response under Eastern Sentry was quick and decisive.

— Mark Rutte (@SecGenNATO) September 19, 2025

The European Union condemned the incursion.

“Today’s violation of Estonia’s airspace by Russian military aircraft is an extremely dangerous provocation,” Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s top diplomat, exclaimed on X. “This marks the third such violation of EU airspace in days and further escalates tensions in the region. The EU stands in full solidarity with Estonia.”

Kallas added that she is “in close contact with the Estonian government. We will continue to support our member states in strengthening their defences with European resources. Putin is testing the West’s resolve. We must not show weakness.”

Today’s violation of Estonia’s airspace by Russian military aircraft is an extremely dangerous provocation.

This marks the third such violation of EU airspace in days and further escalates tensions in the region.

The EU stands in full solidarity with Estonia (1/2)

— Kaja Kallas (@kajakallas) September 19, 2025

Estonia is considering invoking Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which forms the legal basis for NATO, Fox reported. Article 4 states that “the Parties [to the alliance] will consult together whenever, in the opinion of any of them, the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any of the Parties is threatened.”

Poland invoked Article 4 after the Russian drone incursion.

It is not completely unheard of for Russian aircraft to breach NATO airspace. However, this incident raises additional concerns amid the ongoing war in Ukraine and what happened in Poland and Romania last week.

About 19 Russian drones entered Polish and Romanian airspace last week, officials said. As we stated in our initial report on the drone flights, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that at least three to four drones were shot down by Polish and Dutch fighters. Another three to four appeared to have crashed in Polish territory.

The previously mentioned Eastern Sentry was designed to initially deploy a mixed force of fighter jets and an air defense frigate. Eventually, however, the plan is to expand it to cover the region between the Arctic and the Black Sea, providing a bulwark against potential Russian drones and missiles. You can read more about that in our initial story about Eastern Sentry here.

“Eastern Sentry and this new approach will deliver even more focused and flexible deterrence and defense where and when needed to protect our people and deter against further reckless and dangerous acts like what occurred last week, Supreme Allied Command Europe, Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, explained on Sept. 12.

It is unclear what Russia’s intent was for this flight. Officials in Moscow have yet to comment. After the drone incursions into Poland, officials there said Russia was testing NATO’s resolve.

Regardless of why the Foxhounds were over Estonia, their presence added to a growing tension in Eastern Europe.

Contact the author: [email protected]

Google parent Alphabet (GOOG 0.27%) (GOOGL 0.22%) faced a frightening challenge after its search engine business was declared an illegal monopoly last August. Since then, investor concern over the potential consequences dampened Alphabet stock’s performance.

That changed on Sept. 2, when a federal judge finally delivered the legal penalties, and they largely favored Alphabet. The news sent the company’s stock to a record high.

Even so, Alphabet didn’t escape unscathed. While the penalties pose no immediate threat, over the long run, the possibility exists for damage to its critical artificial intelligence (AI) business. Digging into the court ruling’s implications can reveal if the tech titan’s AI aspirations face long-term risk.

How the court’s decision affects Alphabet’s AI ambitions

The Sept. 2 legal ruling bars Alphabet from signing exclusive contracts with partners such as Apple. Deals are still allowed, as long as exclusivity isn’t a component, so no immediate revenue impact is involved here.

But another legal stipulation mandates sharing some of Google’s search data with competitors. This is where AI comes in.

Artificial intelligence relies on massive troves of data to perform tasks accurately. The court’s decision arms Alphabet’s rivals with ammunition to improve their AI models.

That competition includes Microsoft, which battles Alphabet on several fronts, including search, digital advertising, cloud computing, and of course, AI. The court’s requirement would deliver Google’s data insights to Microsoft’s Bing search engine, and feed across all the areas where the two corporations compete. But where it can really provide value is in AI.

Microsoft incorporates AI models developed by ChatGPT creator OpenAI into its offerings, since it has a stake in the company. ChatGPT’s introduction of generative AI to the world is one of the key drivers that kicked off the current artificial intelligence frenzy. Adding Google data to the mix could strengthen both Microsoft and OpenAI’s tech.

In fact, the judge who delivered the Sept. 2 ruling, Amit Mehta, noted, “The emergence of GenAI changed the course of this case.”

Is Alphabet’s AI position at risk?

Alphabet has the option to appeal the court’s penalties, but even if it doesn’t, the tech conglomerate’s impressive use of AI to date could be enough to prevent erosion of its businesses.

For instance, new AI features introduced to its Google search engine boosted usage. This enabled Google search revenue to hit $54.2 billion in the second quarter, up 12% from 2024’s $48.5 billion.

Alphabet’s AI advancements helped Google maintain a search market share of 90% in August, compared to next-closest competitor Bing’s 4%. Even if Google’s data helps Bing gain share, the gap between the rivals is so huge, Bing is unlikely to make a meaningful dent in Google’s lead anytime soon.

AI contributed to growth in Alphabet’s cloud computing segment, Google Cloud, as well. The division is bringing AI-powered shopping capabilities to PayPal. Such customer adoption of AI drove Google Cloud’s Q2 sales to $13.6 billion, a whopping 32% year-over-year increase.

Should cloud competitors improve their AI with Google data, the difference would have to be significant to get Alphabet’s customers to switch. Google Cloud integrations aren’t easily unfurled, leading to high switching costs.

Beyond search and cloud computing, Alphabet has injected AI into YouTube, its Waymo robotaxi service, Gmail, and more.

Alphabet isn’t out of the woods yet

Overall, Alphabet dodged a bullet in the Google search antitrust case. The legal penalties could have been as far-ranging as a forced divestiture of its popular Chrome browser and Android mobile operating system.

Considering these worst-case scenarios, Alphabet got off pretty light, and the ruling’s impact to its business over the long term looks minimal. The conglomerate’s widespread use of AI across its operations gives it a solid lead against competitors who may benefit from access to Google data.

But the legal dangers aren’t over yet. Earlier this year, Alphabet lost a separate antitrust case directed against its advertising empire. The penalties in that case are yet to be determined. However, Google was slapped with a $3.5 billion antitrust fine by the European Union on Sept. 5 for violating rules designed to protect a competitive advertising marketplace.

Compared to the Google search case, this separate antitrust lawsuit poses a lower risk. That’s because it involves advertising tech related to the company’s Google network, which produced $7.35 billion in Q2 sales, a drop from the $7.44 billion generated in the previous year. By comparison, Google search accounted for $54.2 billion of Alphabet’s $96.4 billion in Q2 revenue.

So while Alphabet isn’t out of legal trouble yet, the biggest long-term risk to its business is behind it, as long as the conglomerate can continue pushing AI innovation across its operations.

Robert Izquierdo has positions in Alphabet, Apple, Microsoft, and PayPal. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Apple, Microsoft, and PayPal. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft, long January 2027 $42.50 calls on PayPal, short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft, and short September 2025 $77.50 calls on PayPal. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Trump’s tariffs are forcing Cambodia Inc. to rethink its business model. But change needs to happen fast.

Cambodia’s economy is under pressure as the second half of 2025 gets underway. In April, the Southeast Asian nation faced the highest tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on any country as part of its April 2, “Liberation Day” announcement: a hefty and somewhat shocking 49%. Subsequent negotiation whittled the figure down to 19%, a rate shared with Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) peers, including Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand. Yet, this slimmed-down number still casts a shadow.

Some $9.9 billion of goods manufactured in Cambodia were shipped to the US last year, according to the government’s General Department of Customs and Excise, accounting for 37% of the nation’s total exports and an 11% year-on-year boost. The lion’s share were textiles, garments, and footwear, which form the backbone of Cambodia’s export-driven economy. The surge continued in the first five months of this year, as $4.3 billion reached stateside for a 27% year-on-year boost, once again making the US Cambodia’s biggest trading partner.

But with the new tariff regime, Cambodia’s concentration risk with the US appears unsustainable and as a result, a major rethink of Cambodia Inc.’s business model is under way. Businesses must find alternative engines of growth as the nation seeks to recalibrate its supply chain, improve access to capital, and consolidate its banking sector.

“The push to reduce concentration risk predated the tariff episode,” says Kosalthanan Neth, research fellow at the China-ASEAN Studies Center (CASC) in Phnom Penh. “Diversification is a core focus of the government’s Pentagonal Strategy Phase I, spanning FDI, exports, and overall economic resilience.”

Up to now, Cambodia has thrived on low-skilled manufacturing, primarily garment factories “using a cut-make-trim model,” notes Anthony Galliano, director of OBOR Management and group CEO of Phnom Penh-based Cambodian Investment Management Holding. “Workers assemble imported materials into finished clothing products. Most of the imported materials are sourced from China, reworked in Cambodia, and exported to the US and EU.”

Now, Cambodia must upscale its manufacturing, Galliano says, which means tackling high electricity costs, a lack of mid- to high-skilled labor, limited transport and logistics networks, a modest domestic market, and limited technology transfer. “The garment sector is a sunset industry, and unless there is a shift to mid- to high-end manufacturing, Cambodia will compete with the likes of Bangladesh, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, and African countries.”

Will Tariffs Spur Reform?

Some observers suggest the new US tariff regime will help facilitate needed reform.

“We think the revised ‘reciprocal’ tariff rate of 19% provides Cambodia with a competitive edge,” says Caroline Wong senior country risk analyst at BMI, a division of Fitch Ratings, in London.“Given that the 19% rate applies to semi-finished and finished goods, we think this will prompt Cambodian firms to move up their value chains and potentially transit from basic assembly to value-added manufacturing.” 

Mixed Growth Forecasts 

The ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO) estimated in a May report that Cambodia’s GDP growth in 2025 will fall to 4.9% from last year’s 6% due to tariff-induced pressure. The World Bank is more pessimistic, estimating growth will fall to just 4%.

Still, it’s not all gloom. AMRO opined that Cambodia’s economy remains “resilient” and that growth can be preserved by a “coordinated and multifaceted policy” involving targeted fiscal support, market and industry diversification rooted in structural reforms and supported by financial risk mitigation via macroprudential policy, deposit insurance, and emergency liquidity assistance.

Perhaps indicating the future direction of travel for Cambodia Inc’s business model, some 56% of total registered FDI capital entering the country in the first quarter was from China, totaling $2.5 billion.

VITAL STATISTICS
Location: Southeast Asia
Neighbors:  Laos, Thailand, Vietnam
Capital city: Phnom Penh
Population: 17.64 million (2024)
Official language(s): Khmer
GDP per capital: $2,628 (2024)
GDP growth: 6% (2024)
Inflation: 1.7%
Currency: Riel
Credit Rating: B2 (Moody’s)
Investment promotion agency: Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC)
Investment incentives available: Tax holidays, capital goods duty exemptions, real estate tax exemptions
Corruption Perceptions Index rank: (2024) 158th of 180 countries – where 180th is the most corrupt.
Political risk: C2 (2024)
Security risk: Level 2

PROS
Young demographic
Economic restructuring underway

CONS
New, high US tariffs
Rising NPLs

Sources: World Bank, Trading Economics, CDC, Transparency International, Allianz, US Department of State

China will remain Cambodia’s dominant source for FDI,  according to Dave Chia, economist at Moody’s Analytics in Singapore. “Their longstanding diplomatic relationship, coupled with the Belt and Road Initiative and the 15-country Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, will underpin Chinese investment flows.”

The bulk of FDI projects was in manufacturing, infrastructure construction, real estate, and agriculture. Aside from China, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Canada, and the UK have also have provided signficiant FDI.

“While China remains Cambodia’s largest foreign investor, accounting for 65.5% of 2024’s total net FDI inflows, there is room for other players to increase their presence,” says BMI’s Wong. “This includes South Korea, whose investment into Cambodia has grown steadily not least because of the Cambodia-Korea Free Trade Agreement (CKFTA), which has recently come into effect. But the establishment of a new FDI advisory center in Seoul to promote investment in ASEAN will probably pave the way for increased FDI into Cambodia.”

The CKFTA came into force in December 2022 and reduces tariffs on South Korean-Cambodian trade close to zero percent.

Cambodia received $5.8 billion in fixed-asset investment in the first half of this year, a 77% year-on-year increase, with 373 investment projects approved that are forecast to create 255,000 jobs, according to data from the Council for the Development of Cambodia: a stunning 94% increase over projects approved in the same period in 2024.

Tension With Thailand

A potential sticking point is tension with Thailand, which erupted in late May, prompting a border closure as the militaries of each side traded accusations of aggression. President Trump intervened in late July and facilitated a de-escalation. Prolonged tension has the potential to disrupt trade between the two countries, however, diminish tourism, and crimp overseas worker remittances from Thailand, which were worth $1 billion from 1.2 million Cambodians working in the neighboring country.

The settlement, notes Galliano,  offered an opportunity for Prime Minister Hun Manet to establish a relationship with Trump. “The prime minister is frequently on the road touting the benefits of investing in Cambodia and is the nation’s ultimate champion. The efforts are slowly paying off. However, the new money is in cloud, data centers, high-tech manufacturing, digital infrastructure, and software and IT services—areas where Cambodia is underdeveloped and unlikely to benefit.”

A Financial Sector Overhaul

Meanwhile, Cambodia is taking steps to revamp its financial services sector, which a handful of banks dominate, and bring its capital markets up to global standards.

“Cambodia’s financial services sector is entering a transformative phase,” says Torsten Kleine Buening, chief risk officer at ABA Bank in Phnom Penh, “with digital innovation emerging as a key driver of growth, inclusion, and competitiveness. The primary opportunity lies in expanding financial inclusion through intuitive, accessible digital platforms, helping bridge the gap for underserved populations, especially in rural areas.”

But Cambodia’s banking and financial services sector is struggling with elevated levels of non-performing loans (NPLs) and sluggish credit demand, he notes. Regulatory forbearance on loan restructuring has been in place since August 2024, allowing banks to restructure loans twice without changing their classification or making capital provisions against them, potentially concealing a hornets’ nest of distress that could activate when forbearance ends in December.

“Strengthened credit risk management to address NPLs and improve asset quality is required as part of targeted reform,” Kleine Buening argues. “But looking ahead, the medium- to long-term outlook remains broadly positive, supported by Cambodia’s strong demographic profile, ongoing economic development, and increasing demand for financial services.”

If the capital required to unlock this potential is to be accessed and deployed optimally, however, Cambodia’s equity and debt markets must be developed.

“Developing capital markets to diversify funding sources and reduce reliance on traditional lending is required if Cambodia’s financial sector is to evolve into a more robust, inclusive, and innovation-driven pillar of the national economy,” says Galliano.

Cambodia’s capital markets—particularly its debt markets—are profoundly underdeveloped, lacking a government bond yield curve: the crucial input for appropriately pricing offerings from corporate and other bond issuers. But change is on the way, laid out with apparent urgency in their 10-Year Securities Development Master Plan that the country’s securities regulators unveiled in mid-July.

“Fortunately, the government recognizes the critical importance of the capital markets to the economy,” says Galliano. “I am strongly confident in the regulator’s competency and capabilities to develop the capital markets and believe this will be a catalyst for the financial future of the country.”

More Information on Cambodia

Check our Economic Country Report

Click Here

PITTSBURGH — It was not quite a benching. But it served as a reminder nonetheless.

Last year, in many ways, Teoscar Hernández was the heart and soul of the Dodgers. Not their best player. Nor their biggest star. But someone who provided effervescent vibes in the clubhouse, veteran leadership in the dugout and clutch hits in several of the season’s biggest moments at the plate.

“Teo is a guy that we counted on a lot last year,” manager Dave Roberts said. “He’s a guy that I really admire, because he can balance the fun part of baseball but also have that edge.”

This year, however, frustration has doused much of the fun. Struggles have dulled his usual edge.

Between injuries, slumps, defensive miscues and mechanical swing flaws, Hernández has endured one of his worst career seasons. He is batting just .247, his lowest since 2019. He has a .734 OPS, the lowest of his career and just a smidge above league-average. His limited range in right field has led to a flurry of dropped balls and some of the poorest defensive metrics of any big leaguer at the position. And going back to the last week of June, no other Dodger player (not even Michael Conforto) has been worth fewer wins above replacement than Hernández’s negative-0.5 mark, according to Fangraphs.

“For me, not being the same as last year is a little frustrating,” Hernández said. “I don’t want to be like that. I want to be better than last year. But it’s baseball. It’s life. You just have to keep working, keep trusting in yourself and the things that you can do to help the team.”

Last weekend, however, Roberts had a different idea. In the midst of Hernández’s latest cold spell, the outfielder was unexpectedly benched for Sunday’s series finale against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

“He’s an every-day guy,” Roberts said that day. “But I do think that where we’re at, you’ve got to perform, too, to warrant being out there every single day.”

The move wasn’t punitive, with Roberts also accounting for Monday’s off day in hopes “a two-day reset could help” the two-time All-Star.

But still, with the stretch run of the season nearing, the manager was dropping a hint to his star slugger as well.

“I think we’ve lost a little bit of that edge over the last couple months,” Roberts said Tuesday of Hernández, having had “numerous conversations” to communicate the same message with him personally.

“For me, I want to see that edge, that fight, that fire, and I’ll bet on any result. I just want to see that. We’re past the mechanical part of [his struggles with his swing]. Let’s just get into the fight. I’ve seen it. And I believe that’s what’s to come in the next month and beyond.”

This is not the position the Dodgers expected to be in when they re-signed Hernández to a three-year, $66 million contract this offseason — a move Roberts described as a “no-brainer” at the time after pushing for the front office to bring the free-agent back to Los Angeles.

He trusted Hernández’s bat, which mashed 33 home runs and 99 RBIs in his debut Dodgers season in 2024. He appreciated Hernández’s heartbeat, and how he delivered one of the season’s biggest swings in the fifth inning of Game 5 of the World Series.

In bringing Hernández back, the Dodgers hoped that his mere presence would elevate the rest of the roster for this year’s championship defense.

“He knows his value for our ballclub,” Roberts said. “He knows my expectations of him individually.”

Only, to this point, Hernández has struggled to replicate that same intangible magic.

After a blistering start to the season (.315 average, nine home runs, and an MLB-most 34 RBIs through his first 33 games), the outfielder suffered a groin/adductor strain while stretching for a line drive in Miami, landing him on the injured list for two weeks. When he returned, he looked far from 100%, struggling to rediscover his swing or cover much ground in right. Before long, a slump took hold. And as it stretched on through the summer — compounded by foot contusion on a foul ball he suffered in July — frustration began to mount.

“It’s tough when you feel good and then something happens and you have to miss … whatever the amount of games might be,” Hernández said. “It was one of those for me this year. I got injured, then I came back. I fouled it off my foot and then missed games [again].”

He later added: “For me, being hurt is more frustrating than having a bad year. I’d rather be on the field having a bad year, than not being on the field and just fighting back and forth.”

Staying on the field, of course, hasn’t alleviated Hernández’s problems. After the All-Star break, he said his body finally started feeling better. On Tuesday, he proclaimed his groin and foot to be back to full health.

And yet, over his previous eight games, he had batted only three-for-27 leading up to Sunday’s removal from the lineup. Worse than that, he had fallen back into a habit of chasing too much, leading to non-competitive at-bats at a time Roberts had been trying to emphasize the opposite.

“[I want to see] Teo getting back to having that edge,” Roberts reiterated.

In Hernández’s return to the lineup Tuesday, some positive signs finally presented themselves. He fought off a pair of two-strike pitches before lining a second-inning single. He did the same thing in the third inning to drive in a run. Defensively, there was another awkward moment, when Hernández failed to make a sliding catch on a shallow fly ball down the right-field line in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ four-run first inning. But even on that play, Roberts argued postgame, Hernández got a good jump and covered a lot of ground — breaking into the kind of hard-charging sprint that hadn’t always been there earlier this season.

“If I see a good jump getting off the ball, good effort, I’ve got no problem with it,” Roberts said.

Really, that’s all Roberts is hoping for from Hernández moving forward now.

To have the kind of consistent intensity level that has wavered at times this season. To rekindle that balance of having fun and playing with an edge down the stretch run of the season.

“We’re going to see that,” Roberts said. “I have no doubt.”

“You just leave everything on the field,” Hernández echoed. “I’m going to keep working, keep doing my routine, keep doing the stuff that I normally do to get back on track. And hopefully I get the results that I want to help the team.”

WASHINGTON — Public schools reopened Monday in the nation’s tense capital with parents on edge over the presence in their midst of thousands of National Guard troops — some now armed — and large scatterings of federal law enforcement officers carrying out President Trump’s orders to make the District of Columbia a safer place.

Even as Trump started talking about other cities and again touted a drop in crime that he attributed to his extraordinary effort to take over policing in Washington, D.C., the district’s mayor was lamenting the effect of Trump’s actions on children.

“Parents are anxious. We’ve heard from a lot of them,” Mayor Muriel Bowser said at a news conference, noting that some might keep their children out of school because of immigration concerns.

“Any attempt to target children is heartless, is mean, is uncalled for and it only hurts us,” she said. “I would just call for everybody to leave our kids alone.”

Rumors of police activity abound

As schools opened across the capital city, parental social media groups and listservs were buzzing with reports and rumors of checkpoints and arrests.

The week began with some patrolling National Guard units now carrying firearms. The change stemmed from a directive issued late last week by his Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Armed National Guard troops from Ohio, South Carolina and Tennessee were seen around the city Monday. But not every patrol appears to be carrying weapons. An Associated Press photographer said the roughly 30 troops he saw on the National Mall on Monday morning were unarmed.

Armed Guard members in Washington will be operating under long-standing rules for the use of military force inside the U.S., the military task force overseeing all the troops deployed to D.C. said Monday. Those rules, broadly, say that while troops can use force, they should do so only “in response to an imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm” and “only as a last resort.”

The task force has directed questions on why the change was necessary to Hegseth’s office. Those officials have declined to answer those questions. Speaking in the Oval Office on Monday, Hegseth said that it was common sense to arm them because it meant they were “capable of defending themselves and others.”

Among their duties is picking up trash, the task force said, though it’s unclear how much time they will spend doing that.

Bowser reiterated her opposition to the National Guard’s presence. “I don’t believe that troops should be policing American cities,” she said.

Trump is considering expanding the deployments to other Democratic-led cities, including Baltimore, Chicago and New York, saying the situations in those cities require federal action. In Washington, his administration says more than 1,000 people have been arrested since Aug. 7, including 86 on Sunday.

“We took hundreds of guns away from young kids, who were throwing them around like it was candy. We apprehended scores of illegal aliens. We seized dozens of illegal firearms. There have been zero murders,” Trump said Monday.

Some other cities bristle at the possibility of military on the streets

The possibility of the military patrolling streets of Chicago, the nation’s third-largest city, prompted immediate backlash, confusion and a trail of sarcastic social media posts.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, a first-term Democrat, has called it unconstitutional and threatened legal action. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker deemed it a distraction and unnecessary as crime rates in Chicago are down, as they are nationwide.

Pritzker, often mentioned as a presidential contender, posted an Instagram video Monday of his 6 a.m. walk along a Lake Michigan path filled with runners and walkers.

“I don’t know who in Washington thinks that Chicago is some sort of hellhole, but you may need to look inward,” he said, mocking Trump’s term describing Washington.

Others raised questions about where patrols might go and what role they might play. By square mileage, Chicago is more than three times the size of Washington, and neighborhoods with historically high crime are spread far apart.

Former Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy, who also worked for the New York Police Department, wondered what the National Guard would do in terms of fighting street violence. He said if there was clear communication, they could help with certain tasks, like perimeter patrol in high-crime neighborhoods, but only as part of a wider plan and in partnership with police.

National Guard troops were used in Chicago to help with the Democratic National Convention last summer and during the 2012 NATO Summit.

Overall, violent crime in Chicago dropped significantly in the first half of 2025, representing the steepest decline in over a decade, according to police data. Shootings and homicides were down more than 30% in the first half of the year compared with the same time last year, and total violent crime dropped by over 22%.

Still, some neighborhoods, including Austin on the city’s West Side, where the Rev. Ira Acree is a pastor, experience persistent high crime.

Acree said he’s received numerous calls from congregants upset about the possible deployment. He said if Trump was serious about crime prevention, he would boost funding for anti-violence initiatives.

“This is a joke,” Acree said. “This move is not about reducing violence. This is reckless leadership and political grandstanding. It’s no secret that our city is on the president’s hit list.”

In June, roughly 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines were sent to Los Angeles to deal with protests over the administration’s immigration crackdown. California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, and other local elected officials objected.

Sherman, Khalil and Tareen write for the Associated Press. Tareen reported from Chicago. AP writers Konstantin Toropin and Will Weissert contributed to this report.

Northern Superchargers thrashed London Spirit by eight wickets, moving above their opponents into second in The Hundred table.

Spirit put in a dismal performance with the bat, struggling to 90-8 at Lord’s.

The Australian pair of Phoebe Litchfield, who hit an unbeaten 55, and Annabel Sutherland, who made 29 not out, put on an unbroken partnership of 76 to seal victory for the Superchargers with 34 balls to spare.

The home side floundered after choosing to bat, slipping to 9-2 in the powerplay with top-order batters Kira Chathli and Cordelia Griffith dismissed for a duck and one respectively.

Spirit can usually rely on the big-hitting Grace Harris to drag them out of trouble, but Nicola Carey had her caught at long-on for just seven, then saw Dani Gibson taken at point from her following delivery.

They continued to steadily lose wickets until Issy Wong and captain Charlie Dean offered a degree of stability, putting on a partnership of 31 for the seventh wicket, but it came from 33 deliveries, with the pair unable to significantly up the tempo.

Sutherland dismissed Dean caught behind in the final set of five deliveries, and had Glenn caught in the covers from the next ball, as Spirit limped to a sub-par total.

Superchargers’ top-order also wobbled, with Alice Davidson-Richards and Davina Perrin both dismissed by Bex Tyson for a golden duck and four respectively.

However, those early wickets brought star batters Phoebe Litchfield and Sutherland to the crease, and the Australian pair made light work of reaching their target.

Litchfield took more of the strike, hitting her second half-century in three matches, and it was the 22-year-old who hit Eva Gray for four to bring the match to an early conclusion.

The result sees Spirit slip to fourth in the standings, behind Superchargers and Manchester Originals on net run-rate.

US officials are ‘optimistic’ that an agreement could be imminent.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said that negotiations between the European Union and the United States over a long-running trade dispute are making progress.

Speaking in Berlin on Wednesday ahead of a dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron, Merz said, “We have been hearing in the last few minutes that there could possibly be decisions,” referring to ongoing talks aimed at avoiding steep tariffs on European goods.

The United States has threatened to impose a 30 percent tariff on EU exports if no agreement is reached by August 1.

But hopes for a breakthrough rose this week after reports that both sides are close to a deal that would set a 15 percent tariff rate on EU goods – a compromise similar to a recent agreement between the US and Japan.

Macron said that European leaders and the European Commission had been in “constant contact” to coordinate their response to the US pressure.

He added: “We want the lowest possible tariffs, but also to be respected as the partners that we are.”

US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent echoed the optimism, telling Bloomberg Television that the talks were “going better than they had been”, and that progress was being made.

Further discussions between EU Commissioner for Trade Maros Sefcovic and US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick also took place on Wednesday, while officials from the European Commission briefed EU member states following the latest round of discussions.

Diplomats say the recent deal between Washington and Tokyo has increased pressure on Brussels to accept a compromise, even if reluctantly.

“The Japan agreement made clear the terms of the shakedown,” an EU diplomat told the Financial Times. “Most member states are holding their noses and could take this deal.”

If finalised, the EU-US deal could include some exemptions, such as for aircraft, medical devices and alcoholic beverages, according to the newspaper.

However, the European Commission, which leads trade policy for the EU, has already prepared a plan to hit back with more than $100bn in tariffs if talks collapse.

It comes as EU exporters have already been facing a 10 percent tariff on goods sent to the US since April, on top of pre-existing levies.

Getty Images

Getty Images

For much of the first 30-plus years of its existence, hardcore music was, for the most part, predictable. While there were outliers such as Bad Brains and Orange 9mm, many acts never veeredfar from the sound set in place by bands like Minor Threat in the early 1980s. Subgenres like metalcore (and other styles of music with “core” added) blossomed into their own scenes and sounds, but the central tenets of hardcore remained fairly constant — often with hordes of angry fans deriding anything that stepped too far in one way or another.

But over the last five to 10 years, the latest generation of musicians from punk rock’s slightly more aggressive cousin has expanded into new sonic territory. Bands like Baltimore’s Turnstile, Kentucky’s Knocked Loose and Santa Cruz’s Scowl have pushed the genre in new directions — gaining acclaim and popularity outside the hardcore scene, sometimes at the expense of its die-hard fans.

“It’s very awesome to be a part of that wave,” Knocked Loose vocalist Bryan Garris says. “I think there are a lot of bands that are bringing in new things and opening a lot of doors for everybody else. It’s like the generic saying, ‘A rising tide raises all ships.’ I truly believe there’s room for everybody to win, so it feels really good that all these brand-new opportunities are opening for everyone. You see younger hardcore bands really going for it right off the bat, and we’re very fortunate to be a part of the era that’s taking it to new heights.”

That’s why it’s only fitting for Knocked Loose to be headlining this weekend’s Sound and Fury Festival, bringing two full days of the best modern hardcore to Exposition Park. Since its inception in 2006, Sound and Fury quickly established itself as the event for hardcore and hardcore-adjacent music (from the heavier side of emo bands like Anxious to more extreme, metal-leaning acts) first in Los Angeles and then across the country. Just as the festival’s lineup and footprint has expanded both in size and musical variety over the years, Knocked Loose has seen its own popularity skyrocket as the band has continued to push the boundaries of what hardcore could be.

“From a sonic perspective, all these bands bringing in new influences to hardcore was pretty polarizing at first,” Garris says. “You had all these bands that toured and participated in the hardcore world but didn’t sound like a traditional hardcore band — and people really made that extremely controversial for an annoying amount of time. Once that barrier was broken, it allowed for so many unique artists and bands to bring new things to the table. Bills and touring packages became more diverse, and I think the coolest thing is when you put a tour package together that makes sense on paper but sonically makes no sense at all. It keeps things interesting and doesn’t create such a monotonous atmosphere at a show.”

For Knocked Loose, one of the biggest steps outside of “traditional hardcore” it could possibly take was collaborating with pop-turned-metal artist Poppy on last year’s “Suffocate” — a gamble that paid off handsomely, introducing the band to a whole new audience and earning the group its highest-charting single and a Grammy nomination for metal performance. It’s a track that Garris still considers “definitely one of [his] favorite songs” while also allowing the band to get “weirder” and experiment in ways it might not normally consider.

While the band is already considering how it can continue to push the envelope even further without losing what makes Knocked Loose work at its core, the group is mindful of its history in the hardcore scene both as fans and artists. No scene is quicker to disown an act for its commercial success, and Garris (along with guitarists Isaac Hale and Nicko Calderon, bassist Kevin Otten and drummer Kevin Kaine) is fully aware of the line the band walks.

“We’ve never been writing a song and felt like we had to check in with how [hardcore fans] would feel about it, but when it comes to how we present the band, that’s where we keep hardcore in mind,” Garris says. “That’s where we come from and what we’re used to. Even though we know the band is obviously not going to be playing crazy small DIY, no-barricade hardcore shows anymore, it allowed us to create an experience on a much bigger stage. Then we do things like play Sound and Fury or put hardcore bands that we like on our bills because we still feel very passionately about these things. We’re very fortunate to be able to play these massive shows and have conversations about [pyrotechnics] and lights, but we’re still hardcore fans and that’s never changed.”

With acts like Knocked Loose, Scowl and England’s Basement on the bill this year, Sound and Fury continues to show why it’s arguably America’s preeminent hardcore festival, bringing together dozens of rising bands with just enough nostalgia acts (such as this year’s Forced Order reunion and Poison the Well) to remind the younger generations of those who came before. It’s a lineup you won’t see anywhere else, with a DIY hardcore vibe that fit just as well when hardcore fans and artists Sean Riley, Robert Shedd and Todd Jones held their initial event at the Alpine in Ventura 19 years ago.

“There are a lot of festivals in the mainstream rock atmosphere where the lineups are essentially the same,” Garris says. “For example, two years ago or so, every major rock fest in America was headlined by Metallica. That’s no diss at all, but Sound and Fury is such a different thing and the lineups feel so organic and exciting. They’re very good about scratching an itch that you didn’t know you had.”

“I think [hardcore fans] are seeking more context than what they’re getting from the mainstream — and since most of the people here arrive through that filter, it makes for a very open and welcoming space,” Riley adds. “So whether it’s being straightedge and eschewing drugs and alcohol, or whether you are someone who likes wearing corpse paint in public, or you’re a person who likes to dance at shows, this is a place you can come and be yourself without judgment. Combine that with hardcore shows being, in my opinion, the rawest form of live-music experiences you can find, it’s a freeing experience.”

Although Riley is the only one of the three original founders still working on Sound and Fury — currently teamed with Martin Stewart and Madison Woodward — he’s made sure to keep it as true to the hardcore ethos as possible year after year. Despite numerous venue changes and growth that many corporate festivals could only wish to have, Sound and Fury today is as instrumental to and beloved by the hardcore scene in Los Angeles and beyond as it’s ever been. It’s found a way to speak to multiple generations of hardcore kids (and adults), and now some of its biggest fans are the ones onstage.

“[Sound and Fury] has never been our ‘day job,’ but more of something we do in our off time that can hopefully inspire people — knowing how empowering and meaningful this DIY world has been for us and our lives outside of this music scene,” Riley says. “We’ve seen attendees start bands that play the fest, put out zines that they sell at the fest, start businesses or become food vendors that operate at the fest, and even people who now help us run the fest and have actual ownership stakes in the festival. Seeing it grow year after year in a very organic way really validates our approach and hopefully means it’s serving its purpose.”

“When we were preparing our year, [Sound and Fury] was one of my most anticipated shows of the year because I am such a fan of the festival,” Garris adds. “I’ve gotten to watch the festival grow from a fan’s perspective, and I remember going to the fest when it was like 1,000 people total. To see what it is now is amazing. It’s setting the bar for hardcore every single year and taking it to new places, because it was never supposed to be that big. The people that put it together care so much to protect the festival and to scale it to these unimaginable places — all while keeping it feeling DIY and like a hardcore festival. We’re just so excited to be a part of it.”

Or, as Scowl vocalist Kat Moss put it, “I would argue Sound and Fury is the best hardcore festival ever.”

Inter Milan have come from behind to beat Urawa Red Diamonds and knock the Japanese side out of the Club World Cup, while Borussia Dortmund held off Mamelodi Sundowns to win a seven-goal thriller in hot conditions.

Fluminense rallied in the second half to beat Ulsan 4-2 and knock out the South Korean side, while Monterrey and River Plate played out an entertaining goalless draw as the tournament entered its second week on Saturday.

At Lumen Field in Seattle, Ryoma Watanabe got an early opening goal for Urawa Reds, who were backed by a noisy contingent of their supporters.

But captain Lautaro Martinez – who got Inter’s equaliser in their 1-1 draw with Monterrey of Mexico in their opening game – repeated the trick to level matters with a clever overhead kick 12 minutes from time.

Valentin Carboni was then the unlikely hero as he grabbed the winner two minutes into injury time.

The result left some Urawa fans in tears and Inter level on four points with River Plate with the two teams meeting next.

River Plate were let down by their finishing in a scrappy, foul-ridden encounter with Mexico’s Monterrey, who sit on two points.

Esteban Andrada, Monterrey’s Argentinian keeper, made a series of saves while River’s forwards were unable to put away the few chances that came their way.

Monterrey could still make it into the last 16 if they beat Urawa and River, or Inter win their game.

Dortmund break South African hearts in Cincinnati ‘sauna’

Earlier, Jobe Bellingham got his first goal for Dortmund as his new club overcame stifling heat in Cincinnati to beat Sundowns 4-3 and move to four points from two matches in Group F.

The South African champions had taken a surprise early lead through a fine solo goal from Lucas Ribeiro.

However, Sundowns goalkeeper Ronwen Williams handed Dortmund their equaliser on a plate, passing the ball straight to Felix Nmecha, who stroked home.

Serhou Guirassy gave Dortmund the lead with his 35th goal since the beginning of the season.

English midfielder Bellingham, who this month followed older brother Jude’s footsteps in joining the German side from Sunderland, started for the first time for Dortmund and made it 3-1 just before the break.

Khuliso Mudau’s own goal made it 4-1 before the hour mark, but Sundowns salvaged some pride by reducing the deficit through Iqraam Rayners and Lebo Mothiba.

“I’m sweating like I’ve just come out of a sauna,” said Dortmund coach Niko Kovac when asked about the conditions in a game which started at midday local time.

“It was tough going for both teams, but the opposition are used to it. We certainly didn’t give our best performance, but that wasn’t possible today.”

Sundowns will still go into their final game in Group F with a chance of qualifying for the last 16.

“The boys made a wonderful performance… it was a hell of a match. I’m not happy but very proud,” said their Portuguese coach Miguel Cardoso.

South Korea’s Ulsan gave Fluminense a real scare in their Group F clash at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, leading 2-1 until the 66th minute before the Brazilians ran out 4-2 winners, eliminating the K-League champions in the process.

Colombian striker Jhon Arias put Fluminense ahead with a 27th-minute free-kick, but goals from Lee Jin-hyun and Um Won-sang gave Ulsan the advantage at the break.

Nonata levelled for the Brazilians in the 66th minute before Juan Freytes put Fluminense ahead in the 83rd minute, slotting home after a scramble in the box.

Keno added a fourth in stoppage time to leave Fluminense on top of the group, level on 4 points with Borussia Dortmund ahead of their final game against South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns in Miami on Wednesday.

A win or draw for the Rio club in their final group game will ensure their passage into the last 16.

They played a soccer game at SoFi Stadium on Saturday.

Not that many people really cared.

Mexico won, beating the Dominican Republic 3-2 in the first game of the monthlong CONCACAF Gold Cup. Yet even the team’s biggest fans found it hard to celebrate given what was going on just a dozen miles away, where hundreds of people protested in front of police, national guard troops and U.S. Marines during the eighth day of protests over federal immigration raids aimed at the Latino community.

“When the Mexican team plays, it’s a celebration, right? But no, it wasn’t,” said El Coronel, the nom de guerre of the leader of Pancho Villa’s Army, the Mexican national team’s largest supporter group in the U.S. — a group started by Sergio Tristan, a Texas attorney and national guard colonel who spent 30 months on the front lines in Iraq as a U.S. Army infantryman.

They couldn’t celebrate because many in Southern California’s Latino community — citizens and immigrants, documented and not — were being targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. So they stayed away from Saturday’s game, believing it would be a target-rich environment for ICE.

In response, Pancho Villa’s Army confined its band to their barracks and canceled its traditionally joyful pregame tailgate party Saturday. Cielto Lindo and Patrones de México, the national team’s two other major supporters’ group in the U.S., did the same.

“We don’t feel right celebrating with music and food [when] our brothers and sisters and cousins and mothers are all suffering from what’s happening,” said El Coronel, who attended the game as a civilian, wearing a blue hoodie rather than a national team jersey. “While others are suffering, it just doesn’t seem right.”

Last week the Department of Homeland Security announced on social media that federal agents would provide security for the FIFA Club World Cup, which also kicked off Saturday in South Florida, raising concerns that fans attending soccer matches could be targeted in immigration sweeps. The security presence at SoFi Stadium was normal, however, visibly limited to uniformed police officers and the ubiquitous yellow-clad workers from Contemporary Services Corp., a private company.

“Everything,” El Coronel said, heaving a sigh of relief “is calm.”

But fears over what could happen left most of SoFi’s top deck empty and the lower bowl just half filled. Mexico’s last three games at SoFi drew an average attendance of more than 64,000; Saturday’s drew an often-subdued crowd announced at 54,309.

Carmen Garcia of El Monte came, but reluctantly. She bought a $350 VIP ticket a month ago but had second thoughts once the ICE raids began.

“I tried to get a refund,” she said in Spanish. “They said no. So we are here, but we are not happy.”

One of those who didn’t enter was Daniel Fuentes of Los Angeles, who instead gathered with a group of anti-ICE protesters across the street from the stadium a couple of hours before the game.

“I am a soccer fan but today we are not for soccer,” he said in Spanish. “It is not fair what Donald Trump is doing, lifting up our working people saying they are criminals and it is not so.

“They are raging against us Latinos, saying we are the worst.”

The Mexican soccer federation generates about a third of its annual income in the U.S. through matchday income, TV rights and sponsorship deals driven by the large Mexican and Mexican-American fan base in the country. The team’s U.S. tour ahead of the 2022 World Cup, for example, reportedly generated $31 million.

But while those fans have long backed the team, given the chance to return the favor, the team decided to stay silent. The media were told coach Javier Aguirre — the Mexican-born son of Spanish immigrants — and his players would only answer questions about soccer.

Mexico, the reigning Gold Cup champion, started slowly in opening its defense of its title in the biennial 16-team tournament. The Dominican Republic, ranked 139th in the world and playing in the confederation championship for the first time, frustrated ‘El Tri’ for most of the first half before an Edson Alvarez header put Mexico ahead to stay a minute before the intermission.

Raúl Jiménez brought the crowd out of its stupor less than two minutes into the second half, chasing a through ball from Santiago Giménez into the penalty area, then finishing with his right foot from the edge of the six-yard box to double the lead.

Peter González halved the deficit for the Dominican Republic in the 51st minute before Mexico’s César Montes and the Dominican’s Edison Azcona traded scores 14 minutes apart.

Montes’ goal came first, on a header that ricocheted off a couple of players before one-hopping its way just inside the left goalpost in the 53rd minute.

Azcona answered with a right-footed shot from the left wing that bounced off a pair of Mexican defenders and over goalkeeper Luis Malagon.

The teams move on to Arlington, Texas, for their second group-play games Wednesday, with Mexico facing Suriname and the Dominican Republic playing Costa Rica. The U.S. opened its Gold Cup schedule Sunday in San José against Trinidad and Tobago.

Staff writer Eduard Cauich contributed to this story.

Robert Barajas Jr. wakes up every morning at 2 a.m. to start making birria horneada — “ovened,” he says. “We used to make it in the ground, now we use conventional ovens in order to have that crispy taste.” It is never simmered, adds Barajas. His father started the business several years ago, serving birria de chivo much the way the family has been making it for three generations in Tecalitlán, Jalisco. Birrieria Barajas opened first as a puesto on Compton Boulevard and then launched a truck across the street, parked in front of Eddie’s Liquor every day but Monday, beginning at 6:30 a.m.

“When we started we wouldn’t even sell half a goat,” Barajas says. “By word of mouth and faith we started to get going week by week. There are a lot of people that make birria. But it has to be goat, and it’s supposed to have your special mole, a kind of rub, your own recipe. Maybe that’s why we have good clientele, because we make the rub, everything, every day.”

The most popular order is the plato birria de chivo con pistola, a bowl of the spicy, fall-off-the-bone goat meat bathed in consomé that comes with a shank and tortillas, onions, cilantro, radishes, chiles and lime wedges for composing your own tacos. Of course there are regular tacos, and there are tacos dorados, folded and fried, with cheese if you want quesabirria. Every order comes with a complimentary small fried bean taco, and the beans are a recipe from Barajas’ grandmother, who died earlier this year. “My grandmother told my dad to ‘give customers a nice gesture,’” Barajas says. And once a month Barajas Sr. still prepares montalayo, a fried ball of goat stomach with sausage-like tripe stuffing; order it chopped into a taco.

Hailing from some of today’s funniest TV series, six actors gathered recently for an uninhibited conversation about what it takes to make people laugh at The Envelope’s Emmy Roundtable for comedy actors.

In Netflix’s “Running Point,” Kate Hudson plays Isla, a woman who becomes pro basketball’s first girl boss when she takes over the family franchise. In ABC’s “Abbott Elementary,” Lisa Ann Walter portrays Melissa Schemmenti, a tough grade school teacher in Philly’s underfunded public education system. With Hulu’s “Mid-Century Modern,” Nathan Lane takes on the role of Bunny, an aging gay man who brings together a chosen family when he invites two friends to reside in his Palm Springs home. “Hacks” co-creator Paul W. Downs does double duty as Jimmy, the manager to legendary comedian Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) in the Max series. Bridget Everett, creator of HBO’s “Somebody Somewhere,” plays Sam, a cabaret singer who moves back to her family’s sleepy Kansas town to take care of her dying sister. And David Alan Grier stars as Dr. Ron, a devoted physician and cranky veteran who’s seen it all in the overrun ER of a small-town hospital in NBC’s “St. Denis Medical.”

The talented group spoke with The Times about their respective shows, typecasting and the risks one takes to make great comedy. Read on for excerpts from our discussion — and watch video of the roundtable above.

The best comedy pushes boundaries, which means it can also skirt the edge of offensive. How do you know if you’ve gone too far, or haven’t pushed it enough?

Downs: In the “Hacks” pilot, Jean Smart’s character, Deborah Vance, says there is no line. I think there’s nothing off limits, because it’s really about execution and thoughtfulness. The thing that makes edgy comedy not funny is when it causes harm, when it’s something that’s punching down, when it’s not something that can bring people together. That, to me, isn’t worth it. But there’s nothing that’s too taboo, because that’s what comedy is for. It’s to examine things, explore things, get close to the edge.

Everett: I think that comedy is about making people feel good. I want to make people feel joy. So as long as I’m not hurting anybody’s feelings, I think everything’s on the table.

Grier: I don’t think you know the edge and that’s why it’s dangerous. I’ve done things where I thought, “This is too much,” and things where I thought, “We didn’t go far enough.” So you have to play that game. My intention is never to anger and offend, but you do have to put yourself in that position and take a chance, especially with comedy. You can prescreen it, but who are you prescreening it to? Sixty-year-old white women? High school kids? You have to take a chance.

Hudson: I’m not a stand-up [comedian], so it’s fun to watch people walk that line. It’s exciting. What are they going to say? Is it going to be offensive? Is it not? Is it going to be brilliant? That’s part of what’s fun about being an audience of adult comedy. But I don’t like mean comedy. It’s really hard for me to see. I’ve been asked to do roasts a million times, and I just can’t do it. It just doesn’t move me in any way.

Lane: I was asked. This was the biggest mistake of my life. … A Friars [Club] Roast that was going to happen. [Jerry Lewis] was going to be roasted. And Richard Belzer said to me, “Oh, Nathan, would you be a part of it? Would you do it? It would mean a lot to Jerry.” And I’m like, “Oh, yeah, sure. I’ll do the roast.” And then I’m suddenly there and I’m sitting next to Paul Shaffer and Jeff Ross, who apologized in advance for what he might say. And I realized then that, “Oh, you’re not getting up and just roasting this person. You’re attacked. You’re on the dais.” So I thought, “Oh, what have I gotten into?” And I had asked them, “Please let me go first.” And I had worked out jokes. I had a couple of writers help me, and there was an initial joke, which was, “The only reason I agreed to do this was because I thought by the time it happened, Jerry would be dead.”

Walter: I’m on a show that’s got a lot of kids, and families can watch it together, which was [creator] Quinta Brunson’s intention. But there are things that the kids won’t get and that adults get. Melissa Schemmenti gets bleeped out regularly because she curses. She’s South Philly! As a comic, I only am interested in edge, that’s where I want to live … It’s easier to make a point and get ears when you’re making people laugh. And we do that on the show quite frequently. They’ll do a storyline about the school-to-prison pipeline, but it’s not ham-fisted, it’s not preachy. It’s edgy and it’s all within jokes. Anytime you’re making people laugh, I think you can say whatever you want.

What’s the strangest or most difficult skill you’ve had to learn for a role?

Hudson: In “Almost Famous,” [director] Cameron [Crowe] wanted me to learn how to roll cigarettes fast with one hand. And so I was learning how to roll, and I got really good at it really fast. And then when we were doing camera tests, I was doing it and I was smoking. And he was like, “No.” And I was like, “What? I just spent months trying to learn how to do that!” Then I started rolling my own cigarettes and got into a really bad habit and then spent years trying to quit.

Downs: On “Broad City,” I had to learn and do parkour. It’s high skill level and high risk. You know, when you jump off buildings and roll around … [leap] off chairs and over fire hydrants. I did it, but not a lot of it ended up onscreen. Just the most comedic moments. I jumped between buildings and they didn’t even put it in!

Lane: When I did “Only Murders in the Building,” they said, “So you have a deaf son and you’re going to have scenes with him in ASL [American Sign Language].” It was challenging. I had a coach and I would work with him. And the wonderful young actor, James Caverly, who is Deaf … he was very supportive. If I had to become fluent, it would’ve taken six months to a year to do it well. But I had an advantage; they said, “Oh, your character is embarrassed by having a deaf son, so he didn’t learn it until later in life. So he’s not that good at it.” But it was a great thing to learn. I loved it.

Grier: I did an episode of a sitcom in which it was assumed, unbeknownst to me, that I was very proficient playing an upright bass. This is not true. I played cello as a child. I had to play this upright bass and as a jazz musician. It was horrible. Your fingers swell and blister and bleed. Of course, I went along with it because that’s what we’re all supposed to do. But by Day 4, my fingers were in great pain. I never mastered it. But I did want to ask them, “Who told you I could play?”

Everett: I did a little trapeze work, but since the knee thing, I can’t anymore … [Laughs]

Lane: This was the independent film about the Wallendas, right?

Everett: The truth is I’ve never had to do anything. Really. I had to rollerblade once in a Moby video, but that doesn’t seem like it’s going to stack up against all this, so maybe we should just move on to the next person. I would do trapeze, though. I’ll do anything. Well, not anything. Can we just edit this part out in post?

Hudson: I’m in love with you.

Walter: In a movie I did where I started out as the nosy neighbor, I found out that I was going to be a cougar assassin and I had to stunt drive a Mustang and shoot a Glock. It was a surprise. Literally. When I got to set, I saw my wardrobe and went, “I think I’m playing a different character than what I auditioned for.” … They put the car on a chain and I got T-boned. I was terrified, but then I was like, “Let’s go again!” That was the most dangerous thing until I had to do a South Philly accent as Melissa, and do it good enough so that South Philly wouldn’t kill me. That was probably more dangerous.

Let’s talk about typecasting. What are the types of roles that frequently come to you, where you’re like “Oh, my God, not again!”

Lane: Oh, not another mysterious drifter.

Hudson: Rom-coms. If I can’t get a job doing anything else, I can get a job doing a romantic comedy. When you have major success in something, you realize the business is just so excited [that] they want you in them all the time. It really has nothing to do with anything other than that. It’s something that I’m very grateful for, but you’re constantly having to fight to do different things. I’d be bored if I was constantly doing the same thing over and over again. But it’s just how the business works. Once you’re in that machine, they just want to keep going until they go to somebody else.

Walter: I can’t tell you how bored I am with being the gorgeous object of men’s desire. I named my first production company Fat Funny Friend … But as a mother of four in Los Angeles, I didn’t really have the luxury of saying, “I want to branch out.” But I did say, “Can I play someone smart?” My father was a NASA physicist. My mother was brilliant. I was over doing things I could do in my sleep, always getting the part of the woman who sticks her head out of the trailer door and goes, “I didn’t kill him, but I ain’t sorry he’s dead!” … It’s like, “Can I play someone who has a college education?” And I did, finally, but it took Quinta to do it.

Grier: I’ve found that the older I’ve gotten, the roles I’m offered have broadened. And I’ve played a variety of really challenging great roles because I’m old now. That’s been a real joy because I didn’t really expect that. I just thought I’d be retired. I did. So it’s been awesome.

Lane: There was an article written about me, it was sort of a career-assessment article. It was a very nice piece, but it referred to me as the greatest stage entertainer of the last decade. And as flattering as it was, I can find a dark cloud in any silver lining. I felt, “Oh, that’s how they see me?” As an “entertainer” because of musicals and things [I did] like “The Birdcage” or “The Lion King.” I’d been an actor for 35 years and I thought, “I have more to offer.” So I wound up doing “The Iceman Cometh” in Chicago … and that would change everything. It was the beginning of a process where I lucked out and got some serious roles in television, and that led to other things. But it was a concerted effort over a period of 10, 15 years, and difficult because everybody wants to put you in a box.

Is it difficult in the industry to make the move between drama and comedy?

Walter: It’s a lifelong consternation to me that there is an idea that if you are known comedically, that’s what you do. We are quite capable of playing all of the things.

Grier: I remember seeing Jackie Gleason in “The Hustler.” I loved it. He was so great. Robin Williams also did serious. I think it’s actually harder when you see serious actors try to be comedians.

Downs: One of the things about making “Hacks” is we wanted to do something that was mixed tone, that it was funny and comedic but also let actors like myself, like Jean, all of these people, have moments. Because to us, the most funny things are right next to the most tragic things.

Hudson: And usually the most classic. When you think about the movies that people know generation after generation, they’re usually the ones that walk the line. And they’re the ones that you just want to go back and watch over and over and over again.

Everett: I haven’t had a lot of experience with being typecast because I’ve been in the clubs for a long time doing cabaret. But on my show, Tim Bagley, who plays Brad … he’s been doing the same characters for I don’t know for how long. So we wrote this part for him, and one of the most rewarding things for me on this show was sitting behind the monitor and watching him get to have the moment he deserved … It’s one of the greatest gifts to me as a creator to have been part of that. It’s a whole thing in my show. We’re all getting this break together. We’ve all struggled to pay our rent well into our 40s. I waited tables into my 40s, but you don’t give up because you love doing it.

I’m sure many of you are recognized in public, but what about being mistaken for somebody else who’s famous?

Grier: I went to a performance of a David Mamet show on Broadway. I went backstage, and this particular day, it was when Broadway was raising money to benefit AIDS. There was a Midwestern couple there with their young son and they saw me, and the house manager said, “This couple, they’re going to give us an extra $1,000 if you take a picture with them. Would you mind?” I’m like, “Yeah, cool.” So I’m posing and the dad goes, “It is our honor to take a picture with you, Mr. LeVar Burton.” Now in that moment, I thought if I say no, people will die. So I looked at them and I went, “You liked me in ‘Roots?’” He said, “We loved you.” Click, we took the picture. I’m not going to be like, “How dare you?!”

Walter: Peg Bundy I got a couple of times. But as soon as I open my mouth, they know who I am. I can hide my hair, but as soon as I talk, I’m made.

Hudson: I’ve had a lot of Drew Barrymore. And then every other Kate. Kate Winslet, Katie Holmes … I’ve gotten all of them.

Walter: Do you correct them?

Hudson: Never. I just say yes and sign it “Cate Blanchett.”

I’d love to know who everybody’s comedic inspiration was growing up.

Walter: My dad used to let me stay up and watch “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” and “Laugh-In.” I got to see Ruth Buzzi, rest in peace, and Goldie Hawn and Lily Tomlin. Jo Anne Worley. All these funny women. That’s what made me think, “You can get a job doing this, the thing that I get in trouble for at school?!”

Grier: My comedy hero was Richard Pryor. I was this Black little boy in Detroit, and George Jessel would come on “The Mike Douglas Show” and he might as well have been speaking Russian. I’m like, “How can this be comedy?” Then I saw Richard Pryor, and he was the first comic who I just went, “Well, this guy’s hilarious.”

Downs: I remember one of the first comedies that my dad showed me was “Young Frankenstein.” I remember Teri Garr, Cloris Leachman and Madeline Kahn. All of these women. I was always like, “They’re the funniest ones.”

Hudson: My era growing up was Steve Martin, Martin Short, Albert Brooks, Mel Brooks. But women were, for me, the classics. Lucille Ball.

Walter: There was a time when I was growing up where women really dominated comedy. They were your mom [nods at Hudson, Hawn’s daughter], Whoopi [Goldberg], Bette Midler. The biggest stars of the biggest comedies were women, and then that all went away for a really long time. I think it found its way back with Judd Apatow and then he made “Bridesmaids.”

Hudson: I tried really hard to make edgy comedy and studios wouldn’t do it. They wouldn’t. It took Judd to convince the studio system that women are ready. That we can handle rated-R. In the ’70s and ’80s, there was a ton of rated-R comedy with women. But for some reason, it just all of a sudden became like, “Oh, there’s only 1½ demographics for women in comedy.” I always felt like it was an uphill battle trying to get them made. Then I remember when Jenji [Kohan] came in with “Orange Is the New Black.” That was really awesome.

Lane: Above all, it was always Jackie Gleason for me. He was such an influence. He was hilarious, and of course, very broadly funny, but then there was something so sad. It was such pathos with him. … He was this wonderful, serious actor, as well as being Ralph Kramden.

Everett: There’s nobody that taught me more about how to be funny than my mom. She just had this way of being that I have used in my live shows. It’s led to where I am now. She used to wet her pants [laughing] so she had to put towels down on all the chairs in the house. She just didn’t care. That shows you to not care, to go out there. I live in fear, but not when I feel like she’s with me.

Grier: That’s the edge. You’re either going to weep or you’re going to [laugh] until you urinate.

One fateful October decision to trim two convoluted sentences from a “60 Minutes” interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris has snowballed into a full-blown corporate crisis for CBS’ parent company, Paramount Global, and its controlling shareholder, Shari Redstone.

President Trump’s $20-billion lawsuit — claiming “60 Minutes” producers deceptively manipulated the Harris interview to make her look smarter — has festered, clouding the future of Paramount and the company’s hoped-for $8-billion sale to David Ellison’s Skydance Media.

The dispute over the edits has sparked massive unrest within the company, prompted high-level departures and triggered a Federal Communications Commission examination of alleged news bias. The FCC’s review of the Skydance deal has become bogged down, according to people familiar with the matter who weren’t authorized to comment.

The agency, chaired by a Trump appointee, must approve the transfer of CBS television station licenses to the Ellison family for the deal to advance.

A lawsuit resolution, through court-ordered mediation, remains out of reach. And last week, three Democratic U.S. senators raised the stakes by suggesting, in a letter to Redstone, that a Trump settlement could be considered an illegal payoff.

Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) warned in their letter that any payment to Trump to gain favorable treatment by the FCC could violate federal anti-bribery laws. Paramount’s dealings with Trump “raises serious concerns of corruption and improper conduct,” the senators wrote.

“Under the federal bribery statute, it is illegal to corruptly give anything of value to public officials to influence an official act,” the senators said.

Redstone is desperate for the Paramount-Skydance deal to go through.

Her family’s holding company is cratering under a mountain of debt. Paramount’s sale to the Ellison family would provide the clan $2.4 billion for their preferred shares — proceeds that would allow the Redstones to pay their nearly $600 million in debt — and remain billionaires.

Paramount, Skydance and a spokesperson for Redstone declined to comment.

While recusing herself from granular and final decision-making, Redstone has made it clear that she wants Paramount to settle with Trump, rather than wage an ongoing beef with the sitting president, according to people familiar with the matter but not authorized to discuss internal deliberations.

Figuring a way out of the dispute has divided the company, according to insiders.

For CBS News professionals, apologizing to Trump over routine edits of a lengthy interview is a red line. Tensions have spilled into public view.

Redstone has been cast as the villain. The Drudge Report, created by journalist Matt Drudge, who got his start at CBS in Los Angeles, last month published a photo of 71-year-old heiress, identifying her in all caps as “The woman who destroyed CBS News.”

Two top CBS News executives have resigned. Both refused to apologize to Trump as part of any settlement, the knowledgeable sources said.

Most CBS journalists and 1st Amendment experts see Trump’s lawsuit a shakedown, one seemingly designed to exploit Paramount’s vulnerability because it needs the government’s approval for the Skydance deal.

“Settling such a case for anything of substance would thus compromise 1st Amendment principles today and the broad notion of freedom of the press in the future,” prominent press freedom lawyer Floyd Abrams said.

Paramount has stressed that it sees the Trump lawsuit and the FCC review of the Skydance deal as separate. “We will abide by the legal process to defend our case,” a Paramount spokesperson said.

But “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley connected the two for viewers during an extraordinary April broadcast, in which he rebuked Paramount management on air at the end of the program. That, according to sources, angered some of Paramount’s leaders.

While “60 Minutes” has received additional corporate oversight, some insiders pointed to Pelley’s acknowledgment that “none of our stories have been blocked.”

All the high-level scrutiny has put Paramount and Redstone in a box, and the Skydance deal looks less certain than it did months ago.

“Who’s going to sign that settlement, knowing that you could be accused of paying a bribe?” asked one person close to Paramount.

Paramount Global’s path to peril began long before the infamous “60 Minutes” edits. The company was diminished by management turmoil and years of cost-cutting, which would eventually force Redstone to find a buyer for one of Hollywood’s most storied studios.

Should New York-based Paramount, which also owns Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon and the famed Melrose Avenue movie studio, fail to complete its sale to Skydance by its October deadline, the deal could collapse.

Paramount then would owe $400 million to Skydance as a breakup fee, putting the company in further dire financial straits. Skydance and its investor RedBird Capital Partners have agreed, once they take over, to inject $1.5 billion into Paramount, helping it pay down some debt.

Redstone would also be on the hook to repay her financiers. Two years ago, a Chicago banker rescued the Redstone family investment firm, National Amusements Inc., with a $125-million equity investment.

The family’s finances were strained after Paramount cut its dividend to shareholders that spring during the Hollywood writers’ strike. The family’s dire financial situation was a leading impetus for Paramount’s sale.

If the deal fell through, Redstone would also have to repay a $186-million loan from tech mogul Larry Ellison. The billionaire Oracle co-founder and father of David Ellison extended the loan so National Amusements could make a looming debt payment.

National Amusements holds 77% of Paramount’s controlling shares, giving the Redstone family enormous sway over Paramount management.

Critics privately note Redstone’s role in setting up the company for the current drama. It took nearly a year for Redstone and Paramount’s special board committee to negotiate a deal with Skydance. The independent directors spent months searching for an alternate buyer, adding to the delays that now haunt both sides.

Had the parties reached agreement sooner, the companies could have asked the FCC for approval earlier last year during the less hostile Biden administration.

Instead, weeks were spent haggling over various demands, including having Skydance indemnify Redstone and her family against shareholder lawsuits. In the end, the Ellisons also agreed to help Redstone pay for her New York apartment and private jet after the deal closes, according to the knowledgeable people.

Paramount petitioned the FCC for review in September.

By that time, political environment was caustic for mainstream media companies. Conservatives were upset over ABC News’ handling of the Sept. 10 debate between Trump and Harris after ABC anchors fact-checked Trump in real time, including pushing back on his false claim that Haitian immigrants in Ohio were eating pets.

Trump reportedly backed out of a “60 Minutes” appearance — long a traditional stop for presidential candidates — because CBS intended to fact-check his remarks. Conservatives viewed such formats as a double standard and as an example of how news bias has seeped into major networks’ coverage of Republicans.

“This was an issue we were already sensitive to and focused on,” said Daniel Suhr, president of the conservative Center for American Rights legal group, which filed an FCC complaint against Walt Disney Co.’s ABC after the debate.

At CBS, another firestorm had engulfed the newsroom.

Redstone, who had previously urged news executives to bring more balance to CBS’ coverage, was livid after managers scolded “CBS Mornings” co-host Tony Dokoupil for his sharp questioning of author Ta-Nehisi Coates about Israel during an interview segment. Coates’ book, “The Message,” compared Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to the Jim Crow South in the U.S.

Redstone, who is Jewish and has focused her philanthropy on battling antisemitism in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, publicly rebuked CBS News managers for their treatment of Dokoupil.

The controversial exchange in the Harris “60 Minutes” interview also happened to concern Israel.

“60 Minutes” correspondent Bill Whitaker suggested to Harris that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was not listening to the Biden administration.

Harris gave a long-winded three-sentence response.

CBS broadcast the convoluted first sentence on its Sunday public affairs show, “Face the Nation,” on Oct. 6. The following night — the anniversary of the Hamas attacks — “60 Minutes” aired only her most forceful and succinct third sentence: “We are not going to stop pursuing what is necessary for the United States to be clear about where we stand on the need for this war to end.”

Conservatives zeroed in.

“CBS created this mess for itself. … The conservative ecosystem was outraged when they saw the two different clips because it vindicated everything,” Suhr said. “Folks had always believed the media was selectively manipulating interviews like that.”

Journalists routinely cut extraneous words to provide clear and compact soundbites for audiences. CBS released a statement saying that it had not doctored the interview. Rather, news producers said they trimmed Harris’ response to cover more ground during the broadcast.

Internally, CBS debated whether to release the full transcript to quell the furor — but it stopped short at first. Some people close to the company have been particularly critical of CBS for not immediately releasing the unedited video.

Trump sued in late October for $10 billion. After he returned to the White House, he doubled his demand to $20 billion.

One of Trump-appointed FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s first moves was to revive a separate news distortion complaint against “60 Minutes,” which Suhr had filed shortly after the broadcast. The matter had been dismissed by the previous Biden-appointed chair.

CBS and the FCC released the Harris footage in February.

By that time, the controversy had consumed the company.

Last month, Bill Owens, the executive producer of “60 Minutes” stepped down, citing a loss of editorial independence.

“60 Minutes” continued with Trump-critical stories — to the chagrin of people who want the Skydance deal to close.

Less than two weeks after CBS Chief Executive George Cheeks pledged support for his team, Wendy McMahon, the head of CBS News, was forced to go.

“It’s become clear that the company and I do not agree on the path forward,” McMahon told her staff in a note last week.

Insiders note other McMahon decisions, including the introduction of a new “CBS Evening News” format, which has led to plummeting ratings, as factors in her fall. McMahon could not be reached for comment.

Redstone and others hope the mediation with Trump’s attorneys will produce a truce.

But several questions remain: What will it take for Paramount to appease the president? And could the company’s leaders be prosecuted if they pay the president a multimillion-dollar settlement?

In “normal times,” officials might be alarmed by a president’s demand for a big check, said Michael C. Dorf, a Cornell Law School professor.

“These are not normal times, however, so the president will likely be able to get away with soliciting a bribe from Paramount, just as he is getting away with extortion of law firms and universities,” Dorf said.

Staff writer Stephen Battaglio contributed to this report.

South Sudan relies on oil for more than 90 percent of its government revenues, and the country depends entirely on Sudan to export the precious resource.

But this month, Sudan’s army-backed government said it was preparing to shut down the facilities that its southern neighbour uses to export its oil, according to an official government letter seen by Al Jazeera.

That decision could collapse South Sudan’s economy and drag it directly into Sudan’s intractable civil war between the army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), experts warned.

The announcement was made on May 9 after the RSF launched suicide drones for six consecutive days at Port Sudan, the army’s wartime capital on the strategic Red Sea coast.

The strikes destroyed a fuel depot and damaged electricity grids, shattering the sense of security in the city, which lies far from the country’s front lines.

Sudan’s army claims the damage now hampers it from exporting South Sudan’s oil.

“The announcement read like a desperate plea [to South Sudan] for help to stop these [RSF] attacks,” said Alan Boswell, an expert on the Horn of Africa with the International Crisis Group.

“But I think doing so overestimates the leverage that South Sudan has … over the RSF,” he added.

Predatory economics

Since South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011, the former has relied on the latter to export its oil via Port Sudan.

In return, Sudan has collected fees from Juba as part of their 2005 peace agreement, which ended the 22-year north-south civil war and ultimately led to the secession of South Sudan from Sudan.

When Sudan erupted into another civil war between the army and RSF in 2023, the former continued collecting the fees from Juba.

“[Sudan and South Sudan] are tied at the hip financially due to the oil export infrastructure,” Boswell told Al Jazeera.

Local media have recently reported that high-level officials from South Sudan and Sudan are engaged in talks to avert a shutdown of oil exports.

Al Jazeera sent written questions to Port Sudan’s energy and petroleum minister, Mohieddein Naiem Mohamed, asking if the army is negotiating higher rent fees from South Sudan before resuming oil exports, which some experts suspected to be a likely scenario.

Naiem Mohamed did not respond before publication.

According to the International Crisis Group, Juba also pays off the RSF to not damage oil pipelines that run through territory under its control.

In addition, South Sudan has allowed the RSF to operate in villages along the Sudan-South Sudan border.

The RSF has increased its presence along the sprawling, porous border after forming a strategic alliance with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement – North (SPLM-N) in February.

The SPLM-N fought alongside secessionist forces against Sudan’s army. It controls swaths of territory in Sudan’s South Kordofan and Blue Nile regions and has historically close ties with Juba.

South Sudan’s relationship with the SPLM-N and RSF has increasingly frustrated Sudan’s army, said Edmund Yakani, a South Sudanese civil society leader and commentator.

“[Sudan’s army] is suspicious that Juba is helping RSF in its military capability and political space to manoeuvre its struggle against Sudan’s army,” Yakani told Al Jazeera.

House of cards

According to a report by the International Crisis Group from 2021, about 60 percent of South Sudan’s oil profits go to the multinational companies producing the oil.

The report explained that most of the remaining 40 percent goes to paying off outstanding loans and to South Sudan’s ruling elites in the bloated security sector and bureaucracy.

South Sudan’s president, Salva Kiir, will likely not be able to keep his patronage network together without a quick resumption in oil revenue.

His fragile government – a coalition of longtime loyalists and coopted opponents – could collapse like a house of cards, experts warned.

Al Jazeera emailed written questions to South Sudan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation to ask if the country has any contingency plan in case oil exports stop indefinitely. The ministry did not respond before publication.

Experts warned that South Sudan has no alternative to oil.

Security personnel and civil servants are already owed months of back pay, and they may turn against Kiir – and each other – if they have no incentive to uphold the fragile peace agreement that ended South Sudan’s own five-year civil war in 2018.

“Kiir is on extremely fragile footing, and there is no backup plan for when the oil runs out,” said Matthew Benson, a scholar on Sudan and South Sudan at the London School of Economics.

A halt in oil revenue would also drive up inflation, exacerbating the daily struggles of millions of civilians.

The World Food Programme estimated that about 60 percent of the population is experiencing acute food shortages while the World Bank found that nearly 80 percent live below the poverty line.

The hardship and pervasive corruption have given way to a predatory economy in which armed groups erect checkpoints to shake down civilians for bribes and taxes.

Civilians will likely be unable to cough up any more money if the oil revenue dries up.

“I’m not sure people can be squeezed more than they already are,” Benson said.

Proxy war?

Some commentators and activists also fear that Sudan’s army is deliberately turning off the oil to force South Sudan to cut off all contact with the RSF and SPLM-N.

This speculation is fuelling some resentment among civilians in South Sudan, according to Yakani.

Meanwhile, some supporters of Sudan’s army argued that South Sudan should not benefit from oil as long as it provides any degree of support to the RSF, which they view as a militia waging a rebellion against the state.

Both the RSF and army have recruited South Sudanese mercenaries to fight on their behalf, Al Jazeera previously reported.

“What Port Sudan [the army] wants is for Juba to absolutely distance itself from aiding the RSF in any way, and that is the complication that the government of [Kiir] is in now,” Yakani told Al Jazeera.

“The majority of citizens of South Sudan – including myself – believe that South Sudan is becoming a land of proxy wars for Sudan’s warring parties and their [regional] allies,” he added.

Sudan’s army also believes that South Sudan’s government is relying increasingly on the RSF’s regional backers to buttress its own security.

Sudan’s army leaders were particularly spooked when Uganda, which it views as supporting the RSF, deployed troops to prop up Kiir in March, according to Boswell.

In addition, Sudan’s army has repeatedly accused the United Arab Emirates of arming the RSF.

The UAE has repeatedly denied these allegations, which United Nations experts and Amnesty International have also made.

“The UAE has already made absolutely clear that it is not providing any support or supplies to either of two belligerent warring parties in Sudan,” the UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs previously told Al Jazeera in an email.

Despite tensions between Sudan’s army and the UAE, analysts said Juba may request a large loan from the UAE to keep its patronage intact if Sudan’s army does not promptly resume oil exports.

“[Sudan’s army] has been worrying and watching closely over whether the UAE might loan South Sudan a significant amount of money,” Boswell said.

“I think a massive UAE loan to South Sudan would be … a red line for Sudan’s army”, he added.