Netflix’s latest worldwide wager is a menu of programming designed to feed the building fútbol frenzy that will explode in mid-June, when the FIFA World Cup begins. They might even win some Stateside converts ahead of the platform’s presentation of the CONCACAF Gold Cup and Nations League finals in 2027 and 2029.
“We say our goal is to entertain the world; in order to [do that], we need to entertain every single country” where Netflix has a presence, says Francisco Ramos, the streamer’s vice president of original content, Latin America. “Our superpower is that we’re so deeply rooted into local storytelling, then that becomes global.
“Netflix is uniquely qualified at building global audiences” for international sports content, he says. “We are very conscious and deliberate about it.”
Not that original sports content is anything new for the streamer; its first-ever original international series, “Club de Cuervos,” was a Mexican dramedy about a soccer club. But this salvo is precision-guided to hit as about 5 billion viewers get hyped for the global tournament.
“Four years ago, during the World Cup, we launched [an Argentine] documentary called ‘Sean eternos: Campeones de América’ [‘Captains of the World’], and it was massive, and then Argentina ended up winning a few months later,” says Ramos. “Right now, as the World Cup arrives, it’s very passionate.”
It’s not just Latin America that’s being targeted with new programming: There’s a trio of documentaries about Jamie Vardy, Liverpool’s 2005 Champions League-winning team and footballer-turned-actor Vinnie Jones under the “Untold UK” banner; “Poldi,” on German superstar Lukas Podolski; and “The Bus: A French Football Mutiny,” about the national team’s rocky 2010 World Cup journey.
A scene from “USA ’94: Brazil’s Return to Glory.”
(Netflix)
The World Cup-contending squad
For fans, the slate offers documentaries on landmark moments in Cup history (“USA ’94: Brazil’s Return to Glory”), superstar players (“Emi Martínez: The Kid Who Stops Time” and “James”) and even up-and-comers in a prestigious amateur tournament in Brazil (“The Root of the Game”).
But for the uninitiated, apart from the streamer’s FIFA soccer simulation game coming this summer, the gateway drug may be “Ronaldinho: The One and Only.” The doc spotlights one of the most improvisational and dynamic players ever, soccer’s Magic Johnson. The legendary attacking midfielder was a wizard on the pitch and a charisma machine off it.
“Ronaldinho retired from soccer [in 2018], and he’s still in the mainstream. He has 80 million followers on Instagram,” says Luis Ara, director of “Ronaldinho” and “USA ‘94.” “You have [superstars Lionel] Messi and Neymar [da Silva Santos Júnior] talking about him like he’s God.
“He was always so cool … for him, it was not only about winning a game; it was also about entertaining the people.”
Scripted offerings include the feature “Mexico ’86,” starring a wildly hustling Diego Luna. It’s a nasty comedy about the wheeling and dealing (and outright bribery) that landed Mexico the right to host its second World Cup. Non-soccer fans might enjoy the snarky dialogue and bare-knuckled machinations — it plays like a Spanish-language, soccer-themed “Succession” or “Marty Supreme.”
“Brazil ’70: The Third Star” is a miniseries about that country’s campaign to win a third World Cup, led by a name even non-fans know: Pelé. Rodrigo Santoro stars as Coach João Saldanha.
“Brazil was in the midst of the dictatorship; they had to somehow generate some sort of national pride,” says Ramos. “The only thing that unites Brazilians 100% is their team. It becomes this compelling thing about how society is so intertwined with sports, and how sports are so intertwined with politics in Latin America.”
Soccer superstar Ronaldinho Gaúcho is interviewed in the new Netflix documentary “Ronaldinho.”
(Netflix)
Is converting new American fans a realistic goal?
When soccer is the No. 1 sport in so many nations, why isn’t it bigger here?
It might have to do with the U.S. not having been a major player on the world stage, at least on the men’s side. The men’s team’s highest World Cup finish in the modern era is the quarterfinals in 2002, while U.S. women’s teams have won a record four World Cups. But the men have qualified for the tournament this year — which will be played partially in the States — and analysts say the team has improved, though they’re no one’s favorites to win it all.
Ramos says if American audiences stop seeing it as a competition between football and fútbol, they might come to appreciate soccer’s nuances.
“Take a look at the last 20 minutes of the World Cup four years ago, between France and Argentina. It’s the most extraordinary, beautiful art of people moving, and moving in extraordinary coordination. It’s like, the most-watched online thing ever.”
Beyond Netflix’s big bet on the World Cup slate, it’s not hard to get Ramos and Ara to make further wagers on this year’s tournament.
“Four teams have huge chances to win: Spain, France, Argentina and Brazil,” says Ara. “My heart is with Uruguay, but I don’t know if we’re gonna have a chance. Because of my bond with Brazil nowadays, I wish they could win again. A player once said to me, ‘Brazil is the second national team for any fútbol supporter.’ ”
“Oh my God, I will get in trouble,” says Ramos. “I’m Mexican, and it takes place in Mexico [and the U.S. and Canada], but … I’m gonna go with Argentina. My No. 2 would be Brazil.”
Livingston striker Tete Yengi and former Italy Under-21 winger Cristian Volpato have been named in Australia’s 26-man squad for the World Cup despite the uncapped duo being late additions to Tony Popovic’s pre-tournament training squad.
But 41-times capped Hibernian forward Martin Boyle is one of those who misses out.
Yengi had been loaned out by Livingston to Japanese club Machida Zelvia in January despite his parent club struggling to avoid relegation from the Scottish Premiership.
But the 25-year-old caught Popovic’s eye after scoring six goals in 22 appearances as his new side finished third in Japan’s East Region – and reached the final of the Asian Champions League.
Former Brighton & Hove Albion goalkeeper Mat Ryan, now of Levante, and Melbourne City striker Mathew Leckie are poised to equal the national record by being selected for a fourth World Cup.
Former Dundee United left-back Aziz Behich, now of Melbourne, and former Hull City midfielder Jackson Irvine, now at St Pauli are on track to feature at their third.
Meanwhile, Heart of Midlothian midfielder Cammy Devlin and Aberdeen-born Leicester City centre-half Harry Souttar, whose brother John is in the Scotland squad, are among those chosen for their second.
Also included are Swansea City centre-half Cameron Burgess, Watford winger Nestory Irankunda, Norwich City striker Mohamed Toure
Popovic said: “Some difficult decisions had to be made – that’s the nature of major tournaments.
“But it’s also a credit to all the players involved over the past few weeks who worked extremely hard during an extended and challenging pre-camp.”
Former Hearts defender Kye Rowles, now with DC United, had also been added late to the training squad but did not make the final selection.
Australia face Switzerland in their final pre-tournament friendly on Saturday before opening their finals campaign against Turkey on 14 June.
A military vehicle patrols on the road in Yangon, Myanmar, in February 2022. An accidental explosion in a rebel-held part of the country on Sunday killed 55 people and injured many more, rebel leaders said. File photo by Stringer/EPA-EFE
May 31 (UPI) — Fifty-five people were killed, including six children, in an accidental detonation of mining explosives in a rebel-held area of Myanmar, the armed group said Sunday.
The Palaung Self Liberation Front/Ta’ang National Liberation Army, also known as the PSLF/TNLA, said in a statement that many others were also hurt in the blast, which happened Sunday afternoon local time in northern Shan State.
Rescuers told the Shwe Phee Myay News Agency the entire village of Kaung Tat in Namkham Township had been virtually destroyed and that “dozens” had been injured in the disaster.
Local officials have sent out an urgent call for blood donations as emergency workers tried to free victims trapped in rubble.
The PSLF/TNLA confirmed that many homes in the village were damaged when soft gunpowder stored for mining operations accidentally exploded at around 12:30 p.m.
The fatalities included 25 females and 30 males, they said, adding that the cause of the explosion will be investigated in detail.
Authorities, they said, “will take action in accordance with the law.”
The Ta’ang National Liberation Army is one of the main ethnic rebel groups in Myanmar fighting for independence from the central government, which along with its ally the Palaung Self Liberation Front comprise a front of resistance to the country’s military government.
Collina asked for protocol to be updated so the VAR could step in if a foul occurred before the ball was in play.
There have been several examples, such as a goal scored by England in their 1-1 draw against Uruguay at Wembley in March.
Cole Palmer delivered a corner into the area, but before the ball was kicked Adam Wharton blocked the run of Jose Maria Gimenez.
That allowed the ball to run through to Harvey Barnes, who saw his effort saved by Fernando Muslera, and Ben White tapped in from close range.
VAR protocol did not previously allow a review for a foul before a corner has been taken, but the Italian asked Ifab for permission to change this.
The Ifab has now accepted the request, and says that any foul before the ball is in play that has a direct impact can be reviewed.
This will apply to a goal, penalty kick or disciplinary sanction which happens on a corner or free-kick
The measure will be applied for the World Cup and reassessed after the tournament.
It means that for the England goal, the VAR would be able to suggest a retake of the corner because of the foul by Wharton on Gimenez.
“We think this is very unfair, that the goal is given when the defender is prevented from being able to defend,” Collina said.
“A clear, illegal block made by an attacker. The only objective was to prevent the defender from being able to defend on his opponent.
“We are very confident to receive a clarification from the Ifab before the World Cup, saying that the VAR can intervene just before the ball is in play. We are convinced that nobody can object.”
This will only apply to attacking fouls, and not to defensive fouls for holding or pulling.
Collina also explained the new rule for players who cover their mouth with a hand, arm or shirt in confrontation with an opponent.
This will now be a red card after the controversial incident involving Benfica winger Gianluca Prestianni and Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr in a Champions League game in February.
“If the conversation is friendly, they can continue to do it without any problem,” Collina said.
“When the conversation is confrontational, covering the mouth means that you are doing something very wrong, potentially, and the sanction is the red card.”
Collina also said his referees would be ready to monitor grappling inside the area, with officials provided with data on the tactical approach of teams.
Brooke Mayo was just 4 when she started playing soccer. She was about 4½ when she started fantasizing about participating in the World Cup.
“I just fell in love with the game,” she said. “Like any soccer player, you dream about the World Cup, you know?”
That dream came true three years ago, though not quite in the way Mayo had imagined. Although she took part in four matches at the 2023 Women’s World Cup, she did so as an assistant referee, not a player, running up and down the field with a flag in her hand, not a ball at her feet.
Yet Mayo made history just the same, joining Tori Penso and Kathryn Nesbitt as the first American officials to work a World Cup final as a trio. More importantly, they performed so well they have been invited to officiate in the men’s World Cup this summer, where they will make more history as just the second all-female crew to work a game in the men’s tournament.
And while Mayo appreciates the barrier breaking, for the three women it’s just another day at the office.
“For us, it’s just business as usual,” she said. “I think there’s still a lot of places in the world that need to see this and that’s why it’s still important. But our colleagues are used to seeing women around.”
Mark Geiger, a two-time World Cup referee who is now general manager of the Professional Referee Organization (PRO), which manages officials for MLS, agrees. After decades of seeing U.S. and Canadian referees given little respect by FIFA — nor by international soccer in general — Geiger says the biggest takeaway from this summer’s tournament isn’t the gender of the domestic officials selected, but rather the number, 11, making it the largest contingent to work a World Cup.
In addition to Mayo, Penso and Nesbitt, the list includes Ismail Elfath, Armando Villarreal, Kyle Atkins, Corey Parker and Drew Fischer, who took part in the 2022 men’s tournament. Nesbitt, Elfath, Parker and Atkins all worked the final of that World Cup four years ago, Elfath as the fourth official, Nesbitt as the reserve assistant referee and Parker and Atkins as video assistant referees.
With Mayo’s team working the 2023 women’s final — alongside Villarreal, who was in the video booth — seven MLS officials have worked the last two World Cup finals and at least one PRO official has been assigned to 19 of the 32 knockout games in the most recent men’s and women’s tournaments.
No other league or country in the world is even close to that.
“Over the past few years I think we’ve shown that the quality of football and the quality of the officiating in the United States and Canada is at a really high level,” said Geiger, who made history of his own in 2014 when he became the first American center referee to work a Round-of-16 match in the men’s World Cup.
“We are in the normal conversation of knockout-stage games, we’re in the normal conversation for Tori to do the final. It’s not out of the realm of possibility.”
Another thing that makes this World Cup special for the PRO officials is that with the U.S., Mexico and Canada sharing host duties, the tournament will be played at home. The only other time the men’s World Cup was played in the U.S., in 1994, Arturo Angeles, a Mexican-born naturalized citizen, was the only American referee selected and he supervised just one group-play game.
“Any World Cup game anywhere is going to be special on some level,” said Fischer, a 45-year-old Canadian who has been a FIFA referee for 11 years. “It’s definitely a special feeling when you get to play host. It’s a little bit of welcoming the world into your backyard.
“There’s a certain hometown pride. So I’m definitely looking forward to that aspect of it.”
Joe Dickerson, U.S. Soccer’s reigning male referee of the year, received the FIFA international badge he needed to work major competitions just three years ago. Yet he will be a replay official in this World Cup, the first one he was eligible to work.
“This kind of happened so fast in the last couple of years,” said Dickerson, who became a professional referee in 2013, then began targeting the World Cup when it was awarded to the U.S., Mexico and Canada in 2018. “To work the biggest sporting event in the world in front of friends and family is really cool. And being a part of the celebration of culture happening in your own country and, as much as we can, celebrate our own culture, is really cool.”
It also makes things much easier on family and friends. When Mayo officiated her first group-stage game in the 2023 tournament in New Zealand, her wife, Falon Catalano, flew in for the match.
Referee Brooke Mayo looks on during a CONCACAF Nations League third place match between Jamaica and Panama in March 2024.
(Julio Cortez / Associated Press)
“I told her like hey, it’s our first World Cup. So she came to that and then went home,” said Mayo, 37, who wasn’t sure she’d get another game.
When she was assigned the England-Australia semifinal in Sydney, she called Catalano back.
“I said ‘this might be the biggest appointment in my entire career, in Australia in front of 75,000 fans. You’ve got to come to this,’” she pleaded.
So Catalano came then went before Mayo found out she would be doing the final. That led to another call. “I said, ‘well, you’ve gotta come back.’”
An exhausted and broke Catalano said no to the expense and fatigue of another 38-hour round trip, but after a group of MLS officials passed the hat to buy the ticket, Catalano surprised Mayo by making the match after all.
Making it to the semifinals — much less the final — was far from guaranteed since the World Cup is a meritocracy for officials as well as for the players. In fact, it’s harder to make the final as an official: There will be 170 officials from 50 countries taking part in this summer’s tournament as opposed to 1,248 players — or one referee for every 13 players.
“A lot of people underestimate how difficult it is for us to get there,” said Dickerson.
Referees are graded after every game and those who don’t measure up in their first match don’t work another one. Those who excel, however, continue to advance — as Mayo did in 2023.
“Just like teams try to kind of hit their stride in a tournament setting, that was similar with us. We just went in there focused on only one game in front of us,” she Mayo, who got her FIFA badge in 2018. “Our goal was to earn another game after that, do everything we can to clean up our communication. We’re like micro-managing ‘how could we have done this better?’
“You are just operating in sync. You’re spending every minute together. You’re together at breakfast. You’re together at training. You’re together at lunch. You’re traveling together. By the end, if they even sigh on the field, I know what that means.”
Mayo, like most officials, came to the game as a player — one good enough to play four years at Tennessee Tech. As a teenager she was moonlighting as a referee, raising enough money to fund a trip to South Africa to watch the 2010 World Cup as a fan.
“But I didn’t take reffing seriously,” she said. “Once I finished playing, I missed that competitive edge. When I realized I could do it in reffing, I was like, ‘Oh, this scratches that itch that I miss.”
Taking part in a World Cup remained a dream, however, and she got to scratch that itch three years ago. Now she’s working the tournament at home, where her family, who live in Colorado, will be just a few hours away should there be any frantic last-minute flights to catch.
Having already worked one World Cup final, anything short of the final this summer could feel like a failure.
“It’s a lot of skill, but it’s also a lot of luck. You have to be in the right place at the right time,” Mayo said. “There’s not that much that separates people at the top.
“We’re up against amazing referees. We’re going to fight for every game, one game at a time, knock it out of the park and hope for the best.”
Paris Saint-Germain fans react in Parc des Princes stadium after the team defeated Arsenal in Paris on Saturday. Photo by Valentina Camu/EPA
May 31 (UPI) — Police in France arrested hundreds of people late Saturday after celebrations for the Paris Saint-Germain soccer team turned violent, local authorities said.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said the riots injured 57 police officers in Paris and other cities across the country, The Guardian reported. Some of the soccer fans also set fires, vandalized businesses and attempted to storm a Paris police station.
Police arrested 780 people and deployed tear gas to break up the riots, Politico reported.
“Most of the celebrations took place peacefully, Nuñez said, adding that most of the violent clashes took place near the Parc des Princes stadium where fans had gathered to watch the match between Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal for the Champions League title.
French leaders took to social media to criticize the rioters and call for peace.
“Only in France does a football club’s victory spark riots,” far-right leader Marine Le Pen wrote in a post on X. “Only in France does everyone feel compelled to lock themselves in their homes on the evening of a victory to avoid being confronted with violence.”
Valérie Pécresse, the head of the Île-de-France region, said those involved in the riots should be punished.
“The brainless thugs who think they can smash everything are tarnishing the image of Paris and France!” Pécresse said in a post on X. “We must be able to celebrate on victory nights peacefully in Paris and the Île-de-France Region!”
There are some big names that will be on show at London Stadium for Soccer Aid including some famous celebrities and plenty of former international footballers.
England squad in full: Robbie Williams (Manager), Wayne Rooney, Jermain Defoe, Jill Scott, Tom Hiddleston, Danny Dyer, Paddy McGuinness, Olly Murs, Joe Marler (GK), Theo Walcott, Toni Duggan, Steph Houghton, Jordan North, Angry Ginge, GK Barry, Jack Wilshere, Joe Hart, Sam Thompson, Chloe Burrows, Jack Whitehall and Owen Cooper.
World XI squad in full: Usain Bolt (Manager), Edwin van der Sar, Michael Essien, Jordi Alba, Leonardo Bonucci, Dimitar Berbatov, Nemanja Matic, Maisie Adam, Big Zuu, Nabhaan Rizwan, Nitro, Ali Krieger, Jen Beattie, Nicky Byrne, Dermot Kennedy, Chris O’Dowd, Richard Gadd, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Tobi Brown and Behzinga.
Tom Hiddleston and Olly Murs will be playing for England XI at Soccer Aid For UNICEF 2026(Image: (Photo by Jo Hale/Getty Images))
England head coach Thomas Tuchel advised his World Cup players to go on holiday in United States time zones before the tournament, to help the acclimatisation process.
A total of 21 of England’s 26-man squad will arrive in Florida on Monday for their pre-tournament camp, where they will also face New Zealand and Costa Rica in warm-up matches on 6 and 10 June.
Many players are understood to have spent the off-season in the United States or Caribbean at the behest of the England boss.
The weather is sure to play a major factor in the tournament, with studies indicating that nearly a quarter of all World Cup games are likely to be played in temperatures higher than 26C.
Adapting to the US time zones will also be a factor, with England’s tournament training base in Kansas City, Missouri, six hours behind UK time, which is the same as Dallas, where Tuchel’s men face Croatia in their opening group game on 17 June.
The remaining Group L matches against Ghana and Panama, which will be played in Boston and New Jersey respectively, will be played in a time zone five hours behind the UK.
To ensure England can hit the ground running, Tuchel requested players travelled west for their post-season break before joining up with the squad.
Arsenal quartet Declan Rice, Noni Madueke, Eberechi Eze and Bukayo Saka, and Crystal Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson – who were all involved in European finals this week – will join the rest of the squad at a later date.
Mexico approved a constitutional reform that adds foreign intervention or interference in electoral processes as a new ground for annulling elections. File Photo by Sashenka Gutierrez/EPA
May 29 (UPI) — Mexico’s Congress approved a constitutional reform that adds foreign intervention or interference in electoral processes as a new ground for annulling elections.
The measure, promoted by the ruling party, the National Regeneration Movement, or Morena, has sparked debate over national sovereignty, electoral security and the limits of legal interpretation in future elections.
The reform amends Article 41 of the Constitution to establish that an election may be annulled when acts of foreign intervention or interference that influence electoral results are proven.
The initiative was initially approved by the Chamber of Deputies and later received Senate approval. It must now be ratified by at least 17 state legislatures before it can take effect.
The proposal was introduced by Ricardo Monreal, Morena’s coordinator in the Chamber of Deputies, who argued that Mexican law had until now lacked a specific sanction for cases of foreign interference in elections.
“Currently there is no sanction for anyone who seeks to invade our country or interfere in electoral processes,” Monreal said during the legislative debate, according to El Universal.
The lawmaker said the annulment could only be applied when there is “full and conclusive evidence” that foreign governments or external agents intervened in an election.
The Chamber of Deputies approved the reform with 307 votes in favor, 128 against and one abstention.
The ruling coalition argues that the measure seeks to strengthen national sovereignty against possible attempts at external influence, including irregular financing, disinformation campaigns, digital operations or political pressure originating abroad.
President Claudia Sheinbaum publicly backed the initiative and said there is a “real risk” of foreign intervention in future Mexican electoral processes.
Several local media outlets reported that the government has linked the reform to an international environment marked by growing geopolitical disputes, digital influence campaigns and external pressure on Latin American governments.
However, opposition parties questioned both the substance of the reform and the speed with which it advanced through Congress.
Rubén Moreira, parliamentary leader of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, warned that the initiative was introduced only days before it was debated and argued that there was not enough time to thoroughly analyze the legal implications of concepts such as “interference” or “foreign intervention,” according to reports by El País.
Lawmakers from the National Action Party and the Citizens’ Movement party also warned of the risk that the new provision could be used discretionarily to challenge election results under broad interpretations of what constitutes foreign influence.
During the legislative debate, Morena rejected those accusations and said the reform is not intended to censor news media, social media platforms or individual expressions.
Monreal said that a news article, an interview or a social media post would not, by themselves, be sufficient grounds to justify the annulment of an election.
He also said secondary legislation will be needed to precisely define the legal circumstances under which foreign intervention occurred and which authorities will be empowered to determine it.
The debate comes amid growing political tensions between Mexico and United States over issues related to drug trafficking, border security and regional cooperation.
It also coincides with a broader debate across Latin America over the influence of foreign governments, transnational digital campaigns and mechanisms to protect electoral sovereignty.
Iranian Ambassador to South Korea Saeed Koozechi (L) speaks to reporters as he exits the foreign ministry building in Seoul, South Korea, 27 May 2026. The ministry summoned Koozechi to lodge a protest over a 04 May attack on the HMM Namu, a South Korean-operated vessel, in the Strait of Hormuz. The ministry said Iranian-developed anti-ship missiles were likely used in the attack earlier this month. Photo by YONHAP / EPA
May 29 (Asia Today) — South Korean defense experts said the government should take a tougher position toward Iran after investigators concluded that an Iranian-developed anti-ship missile was likely used in an attack on the HMM Namu.
Experts said Thursday that Seoul needs a firm diplomatic response to the results of the government investigation into the unidentified aerial objects that struck the HMM-operated vessel.
The government said Wednesday that the objects were highly likely to have been Noor-series anti-ship missiles developed by Iran. Technical analysis found the engine resembled an Iranian-made turbojet engine, and some components carried markings believed to be from an Iranian manufacturer.
South Korean officials said the evidence points toward Iran but stopped short of making a final judgment on who carried out the attack or whether it was intentional. The government summoned Saeed Koozechi, Iran’s ambassador to South Korea, but Koozechi denied that Iran was involved.
“If it was actually confirmed to be an Iranian missile, it should be viewed as an act by the Iranian government,” said Kwon Yong-soo, professor emeritus at Korea National Defense University. “The missile’s maximum range is short, and because of the flame at launch, it would have been visible where it came from.”
Kwon said the government should be able to explain whether the missile was fired from land, a ship or a fast boat.
“If it was not Iran’s act, Iran itself should present evidence,” he said.
Yang Uk, a research fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, said the evidence points to an Iranian-made anti-ship missile.
“Even if Iran denies it, that denial is not persuasive,” Yang said. “Anti-ship missiles are weapons that only states, governments and militaries can operate.”
Yang said Iran may have provided missiles to an armed group, such as the Houthi rebels, but the distance would have been too far for such a launch.
“If the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fired it and the Iranian government pretends not to know, that would prove Iran’s own command and control is inadequate,” he said.
Some experts said the South Korean government’s response has been too weak, even though it summoned Koozechi immediately after announcing the investigation results.
A Foreign Ministry official said summoning Iran’s ambassador was a serious diplomatic measure.
“Summoning the Iranian ambassador to South Korea is by no means meaningless,” the official said. “The measure itself shows our firm position.”
The official said Seoul had sent investigation teams twice, collected debris, reached its conclusion through analysis by expert agencies, publicly announced the findings and explained them to the other country.
“That itself is a serious diplomatic step,” the official said.
Yang said some may argue South Korea does not need to create unnecessary conflict with Iran. But he said Seoul should at least secure something from the Iranian government if it takes that position.
“Given that the evidence points to Iran, we should at least apply pressure to ensure our ships are allowed to return safely,” Yang said. “If we do not even do that, then we are refusing to do what a state should do.”
The ATLAS prototype robot by Boston Dynamics walks on stage during a press conference at the 2026 International CES, at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada on Monday, January 5, 2026. File. Photo by James Atoa/UPI | License Photo
May 29 (Asia Today) — Hyundai Motor Group released a new campaign linking advanced robotics and soccer, highlighting its physical artificial intelligence technology ahead of the World Cup.
Hyundai Motor Group said Friday it released its “School of Football” campaign video, which shows Atlas, a humanoid robot developed by Boston Dynamics, learning and improving through soccer movements.
The campaign is part of Hyundai Motor’s World Cup campaign, “Next Starts Now,” which is rooted in the company’s vision of “Progress for Humanity.”
The video series consists of five parts, including a launch film featuring Atlas and training scenes showing the robot practicing various soccer movements.
The launch film follows Atlas as it becomes interested in soccer after observing the emotions, energy and dynamic movements of players.
The training videos show Atlas gradually learning basic soccer skills such as footwork, passing and shooting, as well as more advanced techniques including crossed-leg shots and crosses.
Hyundai Motor said it plans to release a making-of film June 4 featuring interviews with Boston Dynamics officials who led Atlas’ training during preparations for the campaign.
“The campaign is meaningful because it presents the future of robotics through soccer in an engaging and human-centered way as part of Hyundai Motor’s World Cup campaign,” said Jee Sung-won, executive vice president and head of Hyundai Motor’s brand marketing division. “We plan to continue creating diverse brand experiences using mobility and robotics.”
South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo (R) shakes hand with his US counterpart, Allison Hooker, at the foreign ministry in Seoul, South Korea. Photo by YONHAP / EPA
May 29 (Asia Today) — South Korea and the United States will hold their first meeting in Seoul next week to discuss security issues agreed to at last year’s bilateral summit, including South Korea’s acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said Friday the two sides will hold a launch meeting June 2-3 in Seoul for follow-up consultations on the security provisions of the joint fact sheet issued after the summit.
The meeting will come eight months after the two leaders announced agreements in the security section of the joint fact sheet in October.
The two sides are expected to discuss specific measures related to South Korea’s construction of nuclear-powered submarines, as well as expanded authority over uranium enrichment and spent nuclear fuel reprocessing.
With U.S. midterm elections scheduled for November, negotiations in individual areas are expected to gain momentum.
South Korea will send an interagency delegation led by First Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo. Officials from the presidential National Security Office, Foreign Ministry, Defense Ministry, Ministry of Climate and Energy, Ministry of Science and ICT, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources and Nuclear Safety and Security Commission will also attend.
The U.S. delegation will be led by Allison Hooker, under secretary of state for political affairs. Officials from the White House National Security Council, State Department, Energy Department and War Department are expected to travel to Seoul for the talks.
Kim Tae-nyeon (L), a lawmaker of the ruling Democratic Party, shakes hands with SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, who also heads the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, at the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, 28 April 2026. The meeting takes place during a seminar on South Korea’s growth strategies amid intensifying US-China artificial intelligence technology rivalry, organized by a union of South Korean and Chinese lawmakers. Photo by YONHAP / EPA
May 29 (Asia Today) — SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won said generalist talent will become more important in the artificial intelligence era as workers need to develop abilities that remain uniquely human.
Chey, who also serves as chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said South Korea should accelerate the expansion of AI infrastructure based on speed, scale and safety.
SK Group said Friday that Chey appeared Thursday on KBS1’s “Documentary Insight – Talent War 2: Chey Tae-won’s Answer,” where he discussed what people should learn and what abilities they should develop as AI advances faster than humans.
“I wanted to share the perspective I have gained by speaking directly with many people in the AI industry and working with them in business,” Chey said.
Chey said the world is now moving through the era of “reasoning AI,” in which AI responds to human questions, and will enter the era of “agentic AI,” in which AI can make decisions and act on its own.
“In this period, the gap in ability between people who actively use AI and those who do not could become much wider than it is now,” Chey said. “The same polarization could deepen among individuals, companies and countries depending on how quickly and effectively they use AI.”
Over the longer term, however, Chey said the rise of artificial general intelligence could narrow gaps in knowledge and productivity among people.
He said that if two people now have ability levels of 10 and 100, their gap is 10 times. But in an AGI era, if everyone receives a baseline AI-powered ability of 1,000, those levels could become 1,010 and 1,100, sharply reducing the relative gap.
“In the future, what matters more than what job a person has will be how that person can use and connect humans and AI together,” Chey said.
He said generalists who can move across different fields and design new systems and societies where humans and AI coexist will become more important than specialists who deeply understand only one field.
Chey also said AI could perform a large share of work tasks, making it possible for people to take on multiple roles and jobs at the same time. He said the conventional “9 to 6” work structure and fixed ideas about occupations could gradually change.
Chey presented four core “muscles” that individuals should build in the AI era: a thinking muscle to ask fundamental questions, an adaptation muscle to respond to rapid change, an empathy muscle that reflects uniquely human compassion and “body skills” that create value through physical activity such as music, art and sports.
“The ability to quickly acquire knowledge and do well on tests will be replaced in large part by AI,” Chey said. “It is important to build the areas that only humans can do.”
Chey also presented a national strategy, saying South Korea needs “3S” — speed, scale and safety — to become a competitive “AI nation.”
He said South Korea should speed up technological development, expand large-scale AI infrastructure and investment and build an institutional foundation that allows citizens to use AI safely.
“AI talent does not simply mean engineering talent,” Chey said. “Education and social systems must also change quickly so future generations can naturally use AI and coexist with it.”
“Pressure,” the new World War II movie from director Anthony Maras and writer David Haig, is a hyperfocused look at the days leading up to D-day with a special focus on the weather. It’s a one-setting thriller that unspools in the pressure-cooker environment of General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s war room at an English country estate. The movie works backward from a famous 1961 Eisenhower quip to JFK that attributed his success in Normandy, France, to the Allies having “better meteorologists than the Germans.”
If you’re skeptical about how exciting a movie about the weather on D-day might be, “Pressure” takes that as a creative challenge, an argumentative stance from which to start. For the next hour and 40 minutes, Maras and co-writer Haig, who also wrote the 2014 play from which the film is adapted, explain to us exactly how important the meteorologists of D-day were, beginning with the disastrous D-day rehearsal Exercise Tiger.
With the weather app at our fingertips these days, it can be hard to imagine just how difficult it was to forecast the weather in the 1940s, especially in Northern Europe. That was the predicament facing Eisenhower (Brendan Fraser) just 72 hours before the planned D-day launch of June 5, 1944. But we know that D-day happened on June 6, so the arrival at that date is part of the film’s narrative intrigue.
After a devastating glimpse of Exercise Tiger, red blood mixing with blue ocean waves and white sandy beaches, we’re quickly introduced to our protagonist, Group Capt. Chief Meteorologist James Stagg (Andrew Scott), in his cozy home with his pregnant wife before he’s swept into critical war planning.
He’s stern, terse and no-nonsense. Stagg is the kind of person who wants to be correct more than he wants to be liked and he insists on a careful collection of live data, using weather balloons, phone calls and mathematical charting. His foil is Col. Irving Krick (Chris Messina), a charming American meteorologist and Eisenhower’s chosen weather guru, a yes man who relies on selective historical data and a persuasive speaker whose approach rankles the fastidious Stagg. Eisenhower instructs the two men to come to an agreement and “Pressure” follows the ups and downs of their working relationship over the course of several days.
The movie becomes a two-hander between Scott’s Stagg and Fraser’s Eisenhower, the former convinced that a storm on June 5 will make conditions less than ideal, the latter raging at the uncertainty while simultaneously attempting to placate a phalanx of military personnel. The troops are requisitioned, the destroyers in place, the full moon just right, the secrecy of the invasion delicate. Fraser’s explosive performance underlines the immensity of the stakes, balancing every precarious element of this enormous mission.
Maras, who is known for another terrific one-setting thriller based on a true story, 2018’s “Hotel Mumbai,” both directs and edits and his films are put together like precision clockwork: propulsive and relentless, the pace italicized by Volker Bertelmann’s scores. “Pressure” is skillfully directed, sweeping us into this world with a kind of addictive immediacy, and is also beautifully lensed by cinematographer Jamie Ramsay. Maras and Ramsay make the wise choice to shoot the film with richly saturated color instead of the usual grayish, desaturated look often assigned to period pieces set in this era. It’s not gritty and harsh, but rather stunning and lovely — an eerie contrast to the terror and bloodshed of the day itself.
While Fraser delivers an external performance as the tough American general, Scott offers a restrained, mostly tamped-down depiction of the repressed and methodical Stagg. But when he finally bursts with a cathartic eleventh-hour speech about the inaccuracy of Krick’s historical forecast, Eisenhower listens. Scott, as seen in “All of Us Strangers” and “Blue Moon,” is so good at this kind of acting, processing every emotion internally but allowing just enough to show to let the audience into his character’s emotional state. It’s wildly compelling to watch.
In a quiet conversation with Eisenhower’s close confidant and aide, Kay Summersby (Kerry Condon), she jokes that weathermen are boring. Stagg reminds her that the weather itself isn’t. Weather feeds us, it can destroy us — it rules our existence, he says. “People ask, ‘When will the wind stop blowing?’ No one ever asks, ‘Why does the wind blow? What is the wind?,’ ” revealing himself as a sort of philosophical poet of the weather. His forecast was the crucial edge in D-day and the volatility of the weather is increasingly relevant in our lives, especially with our changing climate.
Boring? Never. Thrilling and history-making? Indeed.
Katie Walsh is a Tribune News Service film critic.
‘Pressure’
Rated: PG-13, for war violence, bloody images, some strong language, and smoking
Kim Hyun-tae, executive director of product planning and strategy for LG Energy Solution’s energy storage system business division, speaks Friday at the second Asia Today Environment Forum at The Plaza Seoul. Photo by Asia Today
May 29 (Asia Today) — LG Energy Solution sees the electric vehicle slowdown as an opportunity to expand its energy storage system business as artificial intelligence data centers drive surging electricity demand, a company executive said Friday.
Kim Hyun-tae, executive director of product planning and strategy for LG Energy Solution’s energy storage system business division, said the EV “chasm” has created risks but also opened a path for the company to shift more aggressively into ESS.
“In the carbon-neutral era, we must move beyond simply increasing renewable energy and improve both grid stability and energy efficiency,” Kim said.
Kim made the remarks at the second Asia Today Environment Forum held at The Plaza Seoul, where he gave a presentation titled “LG Energy Solution’s vision for power grid stabilization and decarbonization.”
He outlined LG Energy Solution’s strategy for shifting toward ESS and responding to electricity infrastructure needs in the AI era.
Kim said South Korea’s battery industry had built large-scale production bases in the United States, viewing it as a core automotive market. But the market contracted after the second Trump administration took office and reduced electric vehicle subsidies while changing related policies.
“We secured new business plans by proactively converting U.S. plants from EV-centered production to ESS production,” Kim said.
LG Energy Solution produces ESS products in South Korea, Europe and the United States, Kim said. Its ESS production capacity in North America is now about 50 gigawatt-hours, and the company plans to expand that to more than 80 gigawatt-hours by next year.
“The United States has the highest ESS demand after China,” Kim said. “An ESS boom is taking place in the United States because investment subsidies of at least 30% and as much as 60% are provided when ESS and renewable energy facilities are built.”
Kim said the spread of AI data centers is also driving ESS demand.
“AI data centers are called a hippopotamus that eats water and electricity because they consume enormous amounts of power,” Kim said. “Nvidia’s next-generation Rubin graphics processing unit is expected to consume about four times more power than the Blackwell chip currently being sold, so securing stable power is essential.”
Kim said global Big Tech companies are focused on “time to power,” or how quickly new power capacity can be secured.
“Because connecting to existing power grids takes a long time, demand is growing for quickly building onsite and off-grid power sources that combine solar power, ESS and small gas turbines,” he said.
Kim also proposed an ESS-based distributed power grid model as an alternative to delays in building new transmission networks.
“Large-scale electricity demand sites are increasing, such as the Yongin semiconductor cluster, but building new transmission networks or high-voltage direct current systems usually takes six to seven years,” Kim said.
“For example, a realistic alternative could be storing electricity generated from renewable energy in the Honam region in ESS and then using existing transmission networks to distribute it to demand centers,” he said.
In the medium and long term, Kim said sodium-ion batteries, sometimes called “salt batteries,” could become a game changer in the ESS market.
“When renewable energy’s share expands to about 50%, large-scale ESS will be needed to offset intermittency, but costs are currently high,” Kim said. “LG Energy Solution plans to test sodium-ion batteries that can replace lithium in the United States in 2027 and pursue large-scale commercialization in 2029.”
Kim also said the global ESS market is being reshaped around domestic protectionism.
“The United States is encouraging the use of U.S.-made products through subsidy policies based on the Inflation Reduction Act, and Europe is also pursuing the introduction of the Industrial Accelerator Act, which is being called a European version of the IRA,” Kim said. “In a blocked supply chain environment, policy consideration is also needed to protect domestic industries and strengthen supply chain competitiveness.”
Kim said LG Energy Solution is building a decarbonization system that includes its supply chain and recycling operations as it works toward achieving RE100 by 2030 and carbon neutrality across its value chain by 2050.
An exterior view of the Samsung Electronics headquarters in Seoul, South Korea. File. Photo by YONHAP / EPA
May 29 (Asia Today) — Samsung Electronics said Friday it shipped samples of its seventh-generation high-bandwidth memory chip, HBM4E, for the first time, demonstrating its competitiveness in advanced semiconductor technology.
The shipment came three months after Samsung began mass shipments of HBM4 in February, raising expectations that the company could expand its share of the HBM market.
Samsung said it supplied 12-layer HBM4E samples to global customers. The company did not identify the customers, but industry officials said the samples were likely supplied to Nvidia, a major buyer of AI chips.
Samsung said the HBM4E shipment goes beyond an expansion of its product lineup and could strengthen the company’s supply capacity and technological edge in the global AI infrastructure market, which is expected to grow rapidly for years.
Samsung said HBM4E operates at 14 gigabits per second to 16 gigabits per second per pin, more than 20% faster than the previous generation. It provides bandwidth of 3.6 terabytes per second in a single stack, improving computing speed for large language models and next-generation AI systems.
The 12-layer HBM4E offers 48 gigabytes of capacity, more than 30% higher than the previous generation. Samsung said it plans to expand the lineup to 32 gigabytes, or eight layers, and 64 gigabytes, or 16 layers, to meet different customer service environments.
The new HBM4E uses Samsung’s 1c DRAM, a sixth-generation 10-nanometer-class DRAM process, and its own 4-nanometer foundry logic die. Samsung said the combination improves process stability, yield and mass production capability.
The company also said low-power design and packaging optimization improved energy efficiency by 16% and thermal resistance characteristics by more than 14% compared with the previous generation.
Samsung’s position in the HBM market is expected to strengthen because the company appears to have moved ahead of competitors in shipping samples. Earlier sample shipments could help Samsung secure customer volume in the next-generation AI memory market.
Samsung ranked second in the global HBM market with a 22% share in the fourth quarter of last year, behind SK hynix, which held 57%, according to Counterpoint Research. Samsung’s share was down sharply from 40% a year earlier, but analysts say its HBM4 mass shipment this year could help it recover.
Global customers have given positive reviews of Samsung’s HBM4 in speed, power efficiency and overall performance, industry officials said. Samsung’s HBM4 received the highest rating in a system-in-package test in December after demonstrating an industry-leading speed of 11.7 gigabits per second.
Analysts say HBM4E could move into mass production quickly because Samsung is already mass-producing HBM4 using the same combination of 1c DRAM and a 4-nanometer base die.
Market watchers also remain optimistic about Samsung’s HBM business.
“The memory market in 2027 is expected to face a deeper supply shortage, and price increases are also likely to gain momentum,” said Kim Dong-won, an analyst at KB Securities. “HBM prices are expected to rise more than 50% from a year earlier as negotiations reflect the narrowing margin gap with general-purpose DRAM.”
Hwang Sang-joon, executive vice president and head of memory development at Samsung Electronics, said the company completed the HBM4E sample supply without disruption after successfully starting HBM4 mass shipments.
“This has clearly imprinted Samsung Electronics’ unmatched technology leadership in the market,” Hwang said. “We will continue to strongly lead growth in the global AI memory market based on overwhelming technology leadership and preemptive investment in production infrastructure.”
Iran is ready to reassure the international community that it is not pursuing nuclear weapons or instability in the region, President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Sunday, Anadolu reports.
“Prior to the martyrdom of Ayatollah (Ali) Khamenei, Iran’s late Leader, we declared — and we reiterate now — that we are ready to assure the world we do not seek nuclear weapons,” Pezeshkian said in remarks carried by state-run news agency IRNA.
“It is rather Tel Aviv that is driving regional instability,” he said, accusing Israel of pursuing a vision of “Greater Israel.”
Iranian negotiators will never compromise on the country’s “honor and dignity,” added Pezeshkian.
His remarks came a day after US President Donald Trump on Saturday said an agreement with Iran to end the war was “largely negotiated” and awaited finalization.
Regional tensions have escalated since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran in February. Tehran retaliated with strikes targeting Israel as well as US allies in the Gulf, along with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
A ceasefire took effect on April 8 through Pakistani mediation and was later extended by Trump indefinitely.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned citizens of his country that Russia is planning an attack, based on their intelligence reports, and to hunker down on Friday night. File Photo by Aaron Schwartz/UPI | License Photo
May 29 (UPI) —Ukraine on Friday evening said that it expects Russia to launch ‘big attacks’ against it sometime on Friday or Saturday, and warned its citizens to take cover.
Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelynsky told CBS News on Friday evening that it expects Russia to launch new attacks at the country in the next 24 to 48 hours, and advised his citizens to take cover.
“Our people have to be very, very careful, cautious and children – they have to use bomb shelters,” he told the news organization.
“Today, at night or tomorrow night, high percent – of course, nobody knows 100% – but there is high percent,” he said.
Russia on Friday evening already launched missiles toward Ukraine, with explosions reported in Kyiv and nearby regions, among other parts of the country, The Kyiv Post reported.
“We have intel that Russia is preparing a new massive attack,” Zelensky said in the post.
“Please pay attention to air raid alerts and stay safe,” he said.
The warnings follow an alleged drone hitting the roof of an apartment building in Romania, which was reportedly aimed at nearby location in Ukraine, which is neighbors the country.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and President Donald Trump participate in a Cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House on Wednesday. Photo by Samuel Corum/UPI | License Photo
Election-related information is displayed on an electronic board at the National Election Commission’s situation room in Gwacheon, south of Seoul, South Korea, 26 May 2026, eight days ahead of the 03 June local elections. Photo by YONHAP / EPA
May 29 (Asia Today) — Leaders of South Korea’s rival political parties urged voters to cast ballots Friday, the first day of early voting for the June 3 local elections, but their strategies showed different approaches.
Chung Chung-rae, leader of the Democratic Party, and Han Byung-do, the party’s floor leader, both voted on the first day of early voting. People Power Party leader Chang Dong-hyeok and floor leader Song Eon-seok divided their roles, with Chang choosing to vote on Election Day and Song planning to vote early.
Chung began his schedule Friday by casting an early ballot at the Seongsan 2-dong Community Service Center in Mapo District, Seoul. After voting, he attended a meeting of the party’s central election committee in Seoul and urged voters to participate.
“Voting is stronger than bullets,” Chung said. “Power does not come from the barrel of a gun. It comes from the polling place.”
Han also visited an early voting station before heading to campaign events in Namwon, North Jeolla Province.
“Early voting will be held for two days starting today,” Han said. “Please exercise your precious vote for the future of South Korea.”
The major opposition People Power Party took a different approach. Chang plans to vote on Election Day, while Song is scheduled to cast an early ballot Saturday.
The move is seen as a strategy to appeal both to the party’s hard-line conservative base and more moderate conservative voters. Chang and Song have also divided campaign duties during the election period, focusing on separate schedules.
Chang campaigned Friday in Sejong and western Gyeonggi Province.
“The atmosphere is changing as we lead this election, but if we lose by even one vote, there is no future for South Korea,” Chang said. “Everything depends on your one vote. Please do not leave yourself with regret by failing to go to the polling place.”
Song said he plans to vote early Saturday in Gimcheon, North Gyeongsang Province, his electoral district.
At a news conference at the National Assembly earlier Friday, Song acknowledged that some political figures have argued against early voting.
“It is true that there are some movements in political circles saying people should not vote early, but I will not say that is our party,” Song said. “There is a big difference between holding voting over three days and holding it for only one day.”
“In reality, the number of votes cast during the two days of early voting and on Election Day is close to half and half,” he said. “I think voters should vote over the three days, including early voting, according to their circumstances and schedules.”
Park Sung-hoon, chief spokesperson for the People Power Party, said both early voting and Election Day voting are important exercises of political rights.
“To strategically encourage both early voting and Election Day voting, we decided that the floor leader would vote early and the party leader would participate in Election Day voting, taking his schedule into account,” Park said.
The success of D-day, a pivotal moment in World War II, partially hinged on the weather forecast. The Allied invasion of Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944, was planned for months as the American and British forces held practice operations in England.
Enormous efforts were made to mislead the Germans about what was coming. The operation was originally scheduled for June 5 but the day before, James Stagg, a meteorologist and group captain in the Royal Air Force, advised the American commander, Dwight D. Eisenhower, to wait for better conditions.
This lesser-known decision is the premise of “Pressure,” a new movie from filmmaker Anthony Maras. It’s an adaptation of David Haig’s play of the same name, in which the playwright himself portrayed Stagg. Haig, who co-wrote the “Pressure” screenplay with Maras, compares it to “The Imitation Game.”
“Some of these heroes who affect history from the sidelines just stay in the sidelines until somebody does research, discovers them lurking and finds they are so quietly heroic that it’s irresistible as a story,” Haig says, speaking via Zoom from London.
Haig began writing a version of the script shortly after the play debuted at the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh in May 2014. It moved to the West End in 2018, and opened in North America at Toronto’s Royal Alexandra Theatre in 2023. Maras came onboard after making his 2018 film “Hotel Mumbai,” also based on a true story.
“When I first read the play and the script, I was bowled over by how, with this one decision, so many lives were changed,” Maras says, on a video call from Los Angeles. “Not just the lives of the men on the beach but throughout the Allied world. When you think of a war story, you think of men and now women on the field, but there is so much more to it behind the scenes.”
The film expands Haig’s play and includes additional characters and sequences, including the actual D-day invasion. It stars Andrew Scott as Stagg, Brendan Fraser as Eisenhower, Kerry Condon as Eisenhower’s secretary Kay Summersby, Chris Messina as U.S. Air Force meteorologist Irving P. Krick and Damian Lewis as senior British army officer Bernard Montgomery.
Both Haig and Maras strove to be as historically accurate as possible, even including archival footage from the war. “It is inevitably heightened, as any stage play or film is,” Haig says. “But it is very true.”
“It is absolutely as true as we could get it within the confines of a two-hour runtime,” Maras adds. “We took great lengths to try and be as accurate to the history but also to the deeper story as possible.”
Here’s what is true and what is dramatized in “Pressure.”
The importance of the weather
Brendan Fraser, left, and Andrew Scott in the movie “Pressure.”
(Alex Bailey / Focus Features / StudioCanal)
D-day, secretly known as Operation Overlord, was timed based on several factors, including the weather, the tides and the moonlight. Because the assault was multipronged, with Allied forces coming by sea, land and air, they required good visibility at night and a high tide to ensure less distances between the boats and the defending Germans.
“There were hundreds of meters between low tide and high tide,” Maras says. “So depending on where the boats landed, you either had 50 meters until you made it to the dunes and then the bunkers, or you had to make it 300 meters if it was low tide.”
A clear forecast with low winds and no rain was essential.
“The landing craft were antiquated and flat-bottomed,” Haig says, “and if they had gone on May 5 with the storms that Stagg anticipated coming in with the jet stream, those landing craft would have capsized. The war wouldn’t have been lost, although we do posit that it might have been in the film. In reality, failure would have elongated [the war] and caused countless extra deaths.”
To shoot “Pressure,” the filmmakers used real charts and meteorological instruments. The production design team re-created the famous D-day map from the Allied headquarters in Southwark House. The real one was made in two pieces by separate manufacturers to ensure secrecy.
“When you see that map, it’s a little bit mismatched and our team re-created that,” Maras says. “We got the paper they used to draw the maps from the same mill they used for those maps 80 years ago. A lot of effort was put into the minutiae that adds to the accuracy.”
Exercise Tiger
The film opens with a depiction of an Allied training operation called Exercise Tiger, which took place over several months on England’s Slapton Sands. Because many of the soldiers were young and untested, the Allied leaders wanted to prepare them for the sights and sounds of battle.
“They did a whole series of exercises to try and get together a full-scale dress rehearsal of what D-day would be,” Maras says.
These rehearsals, still widely unknown and spanning from late 1943 through April 1944, involved dangerous friendly fire and suffered from serious coordination errors, resulting in the real-life deaths of at least 700 American and British soldiers.
“That was an absolute disaster and yet we remember D-day as one of the great military triumphs in history,” Haig says.
Maras wanted the film to begin with this moment to emphasize the headspace of the Allied leaders.
“How do you establish what the true consequences of failure are for a story like this?” Maras says. “When we’re in the war room with all of those commanders and officers, they know what the implications of their words mean because they’ve seen it. They’ve lived it. The image of the blood in the water and the young men in that water was to tattoo in the audience’s brain that if these commanders mess up, this could happen again.”
Eisenhower, in particular, felt the magnitude of D-day. “He wrote two letters on the eve of D-day: what happens in success and what happens in failure,” Maras says. “He was sleeping two hours a night. He was a nervous wreck.”
Stagg vs. Krick
In the film, Scott’s Stagg arrives at Southwark House from Dunstable four days before D-day is planned. He is confronted by the American meteorologist Krick, who disagrees with him about the potentially disastrous forecast. Krick believes sun and calm seas are on the horizon thanks to historical analogue charts, but Stagg, using more comprehensive prediction methods, thinks a major storm is coming.
“In actuality, Stagg came onboard in about November 1943 and got to Southwark House a few months earlier,” Maras says. “His transfer came a few months earlier, not a few days earlier. The contours of the relationships between Stagg and Krick and the others are accurate, but they took place in a more compressed timeline.”
Both Stagg and Krick have recounted their version of events in various books, both claiming they were right about the weather. Although Haig and Maras imagine their dialogue and how these conflicts may have played out, the conflicts were real.
“They both adhered to their own meteorological vision,” Haig says, explaining the differences in prediction models from continent to continent. “In the United States, Krick’s system of weather forecasting was viable. If you come to the U.K., you can’t rely on the weather for more than five minutes, so that method doesn’t apply.”
Adds Maras, “They thought, ‘The weather is going to be good. We should hold our nerve and go.’ There was a rhetorically violent disagreement between him and the others.”
In the film, Krick claims that he has never inaccurately predicted the weather ahead of a battle, using his successes in North Africa as evidence. This was technically true.
“He was very good at his job within the context of certain geographical landscapes,” Haig says. “He didn’t make a mistake in North Africa. When Eisenhower challenges Stagg, he says, ‘This man never got it wrong.’ And he didn’t. In the whole of the North African campaign, Krick was spot on.”
After Stagg convinces the leaders to postpone D-day, he is vindicated by a deluge of rain that arrives while everyone is attending church at Southwark House on June 5. There was a church on site, although this moment in the film was dramatized.
“Whether it began raining precisely at that moment I have my doubts,” Haig says. “But it has the framework of truth.”
Ike and Kay
Andrew Scott and Kerry Condon in the movie “Pressure.”
(Alex Bailey / Focus Features / StudioCanal)
Kay Summersby had been an ambulance driver during the Blitz. The film hints at a less-than-professional relationship between Eisenhower and his personal secretary. She was certainly with Eisenhower at Southwark House, although there is less evidence that she had any kind of association with Stagg.
“The biggest fictional thing I did with both the play and the film was to join the third point of the triangle so you’ve got Stagg, Eisenhower and Kay,” Haig says. “The link between Stagg and Kay historically would be tenuous.”
There are differing opinions about Eisenhower and Kay’s relationship. “We know that they were extremely close and they shared a trustful bond,” Maras says. “There are many photos of them together. She was definitely a big force in Ike’s life at that time, and we wanted to pay respect to that.”
“Whatever one’s interpretation of the relationships that she inhabits within the story, her influence was substantial,” Haig adds.
After seeing Peter Jackson’s 2018 World War I documentary “They Shall Not Grow Old,” Maras had the idea to use colorized archival footage in “Pressure.”
“In the D-day sequence at the end, there are various real-life shots of the soldiers landing on the beaches,” Maras says. “We were able to cut between the archival [material] and our footage to increase the scope. And it wasn’t just to get the scale. Yes, we have shots of massive flotillas and ships and trucks, but sometimes it was just for a glance of a soldier where you can see death in his eyes.”
The team ultimately acquired more than 50 hours of archival footage. They hired research editors to go through it and, after a few days, Maras asked if any of the editors could recommend additional crew to help.
Then a man named James Stagg showed up to work. “Stagg’s grandson, 80 years later, walked into our offices and helped edit the archival movie footage that we put in his grandfather’s film,” Maras says.
Stagg’s wife
Andrew Scott in the movie “Pressure.”
(Alex Bailey / Focus Features / StudioCanal)
The play doesn’t include scenes with Stagg’s wife, Elizabeth, but Haig purposefully bookends the film with the couple together. “When he arrives at Southwark House as a terse, brusque, tricky man, you’ve already experienced his level of affection with his wife and that’s really important contextually,” Haig says. “You’re waiting for the end when he goes back to see her and the baby.”
At the time when Stagg went to Southwark House, his wife was pregnant. Stagg was not allowed to make phone calls to her because of the secrecy surrounding D-day. In reality, the hospital where she gave birth was not bombed, as it is in the movie.
“The bombing of the hospital was more reflective of the times that Stagg and his wife had gone through in the lead up to D-day,” Maras says. “That element is to encapsulate that Stagg was fearing for his wife. As he walks down this corridor, he is faced with: Is she alive? Is she dead?”
Truth to power
Ultimately, Stagg tells a room full of military leaders that they have to pause on D-day because of the weather — a truthful inclusion. It was important to Maras to emphasize how he stood up to power.
“Here’s a protagonist who’s not afraid to speak his mind and has the courage to get up in front of a room full of the most powerful military on Earth at that point and tell them something they don’t want to hear,” Maras says.
“When Eisenhower was passing on the baton of leadership at the inauguration for JFK, JFK asked, ‘What gave you the edge on D-day?’ Eisenhower said, ‘We had better meteorologists than the Germans.’ He had the wisdom to trust in the experts. It’s worth heeding that lesson from history.”
