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  • A history of Philadelphia and the Union at the World Cup

    A history of Philadelphia and the Union at the World Cup

    Some people might be surprised to realize that the United States has been part of the World Cup tournament since the very first edition in 1930 — and Philadelphia has been a part of that as well. The Philadelphia area has contributed players, coaches and administrators to the United States men’s national team for all that time.

    Here’s a look at the World Cups the U.S. men’s team has participated in, the pepople in them with Philadelphia connections, and the Union connections to soccer’s biggest stage over the team’s history.

    Uruguay, 1930

    Players: A Penn graduate who played soccer and football and ran track in his time there, James Gentle signed as a striker with the Philadelphia Field Club and later coached at Haverford School.

    Born in Scotland, Bart McGhee moved to Philadelphia as a child and played for numerous area teams. Against Belgium, McGhee scored the first-ever U.S. World Cup goal (the second overall World Cup goal) en route to a 3-0 win.

    Jimmy Douglas, the USA’s goalkeeper, is credited with the first-ever World Cup shutout. He also played briefly for Philadelphia Field Club in his pro career.

    The debut tournament of the World Cup was where the U.S. had its best-ever finish, reaching the semifinals. Host Uruguay won the tournament.

    Philadelphia’s many ties to the 2022 World Cup

    Italy, 1934

    Players: Bill Fiedler was born, raised, and played his entire pro career in Philadelphia for the Philadelphia German-Americans and the Philadelphia Passon. He didn’t enter the one game the U.S. team played in the 1934 tournament.

    Neither did Al Harker, who also had a long career for the Philadelphia German-Americans, playing for them for well over a decade.

    Peter Pietras was born in Trento and played for five years with the Philadelphia German-Americans. He played in the game against Italy.

    German-born Herman Rapp, appropriately enough, also played for the Philadelphia German-Americans when he went to Italy as part of the World Cup team, but he saw no action in the one game.

    Francis “Hun” Ryan, born and raised in Philly, was the first World Cup player to have played for the still-active Lighthouse Boys Club team. He also played for the Philadelphia German-Americans and in the match against Italy.

    Administration: Elmer Schroeder, who was the first American-born director of the U.S. Soccer organization, was previously the director at Lighthouse, starting at the age of 19.

    David Gould, appointed as team manager by Schroeder, played for years in the area and also coached Penn soccer for 27 years.

    The 1934 tournament was entirely single-elimination. The U.S. lost its one game to Italy, 7-1, which still remains a record for both countries at the World Cup, since that is the most goals Italy has ever scored in the competition. The score also remains the most goals the U.S. has ever conceded at the World Cup. Italy, the host country, went on to win the tournament.

    Walter Bahr is one of seven National Soccer Hall of Famers who started at the Lighthouse in Kensington.

    Brazil, 1950

    Players: Walter Bahr was born, lived, and played professionally in the area with the Philadelphia Nationals. Bahr captained the team in all three group games the Americans played at the World Cup, including the stunning 1-0 upset of England. He provided the assist on the winning goal.

    Sixty years later, he bridged the generations when he stood on the sideline with then-U.S. Vice President Joe Biden at the first home game in Union history.

    Ed McIlvenny, who briefly played for Wrexham in Wales (now owned partly by Philly’s own Rob McElhenney), was a Scot who immigrated to the Philadelphia area. He became a teammate of Bahr’s on the Philadelphia Nationals and won a league title before returning to Britain for a short stint with Manchester United.

    Administration: William Jeffrey was the manager of the U.S. team. Another native Scot, he coached Penn State for 26 seasons.

    The United States lost their group games against Spain, 3-1, and Chile, 5-2, and did not advance to the knockout stage. The champion was Uruguay, which claimed its second title.

    Walter Bahr reflects on the legendary 1950 upset of England
    Walter Bahr at his home in Boalsburg, Pa., in 2006. Bahr kept lots of memorabilia from his days as a U.S. national team player.

    Italy, 1990

    Players: Peter Vermes, who grew up in Delran, played college soccer at Rutgers. He went on to earn 66 caps with the U.S. men’s national team and played in every group game at the World Cup.

    The U.S. lost to Czechoslovakia, 5-1, Italy, 1-0, and Austria, 2-1. The champion that year was West Germany.

    United States, 1994

    Players: While the Dutch American former midfielder Earnie Stewart was raised abroad, his connection to Philadelphia was established when he arrived to take on his first stateside job in 2015 as sporting director of the Union. Now Stewart serves as sporting director of the United States Soccer Federation.

    In 1994, Stewart helped the American team advance from group play. He scored a goal in the team’s 2-1 win over Colombia, and played in the other group games, a 1-1 draw with Switzerland and a 1-0 loss to Romania.

    The U.S. was eliminated in a 1-0 loss in the next round against Brazil, the eventual champion.

    USSF sporting director Earnie Stewart previously held a similar role with the Union.

    France, 1998

    Players: Stewart also took part in this World Cup, where the U.S. lost to Germany, 2-0, Iran, 2-1 and Yugoslavia, 1-0. Host country France claimed the title for the first time.

    A future Union player was in this tournament, 12 years before the Union launched and a decade before Philadelphia even was announced as a future expansion market. (In fact, it was just the third year of MLS’s existence.) Goalkeeper Faryd Mondragón started all three of Colombia’s group games in net.

    Faryd Mondragón stands second from left in the back row of Colombia’s team photo before its 1998 World Cup game against Romiania.

    South Korea/Japan 2002

    Players: Stewart again participated, playing in every game of the tournament for the U.S. and helping the team to its greatest tournament success since 1930. The Americans advanced out of the group stage after defeating Portugal, 3-2, losing to Poland, 3-0, and drawing with South Korea, 1-1.

    The United States then advanced to the knockout rounds and defeated Mexico, 2-0. In the quarterfinals, the Americans played a tough match against Germany, but were eliminated, 1-0.

    A future Union player was one of the stars of Brazil’s championship squad. Kléberson had two assists in the tournament, including on the goal in the final that sealed a 2-0 win and the Seleçao’s record fifth title.

    Kléberson (left) in action during the 2002 World Cup final.

    Germany, 2006

    Players: Chris Albright, born and raised in Philadelphia, also played professionally for the Union and served on the team’s technical staff. He did not play in the tournament.

    Bobby Convey, born and raised in Philadelphia, a former Penn Charter student, did play in all three group games, a 3-0 loss to the Czech Republic, a 1-1 draw with Italy, and a 2-1 loss to Ghana. Convey’s free kick helped create the own goal against Italy for the draw.

    Middletown native Ben Olsen, who played for FC Delco, a local soccer powerhouse, played as a substitute against Ghana after Claudio Reyna was injured.

    Future Union player Oguchi Onyewu started all three games of the tournament. The centerback signed with the club in 2017, his final professional season before retirement.

    The Americans failed to advance. Italy won the tournament.

    Philly native Bobby Convey played multiple games in the 2006 World Cup for the United States.

    South Africa, 2010

    Players: Maurice Edu, who would go on to become one of the premier signings for the Union in 2015, played in the two games of the group stage following the 1-1 draw with England. He volleyed in a shot against Slovenia in the 2-2 draw that would have been the winning goal if it had not been waved off for a foul. He also played in the 1-0 win over Algeria.

    Onyewu played in the first two games of the tournament.

    A pair of future Union players featured for other countries: Tranquillo Barnetta for Switzerland and Kléberson for Brazil.

    The United States advanced to the knockout stage but lost there to Ghana, 2-1, in added extra time.

    Spain won its first title at this World Cup.

    Oguchi Onyewu (left) in action at the 2010 World Cup.

    Brazil, 2014

    Players: Alejandro Bedoya, the Union’s longtime captain, played in all four U.S. games at the tournament. The Americans defeated Ghana, 2-1, drew Portugal, 2-2, and lost to Germany, 1-0. That was good enough to advance to the round of 16, where the U.S. lost in added extra time to Belgium.

    Union centerback Carlos Valdés played for Colombia, though at the time he was on a string of loans away from the team. He’d asked for them because the Cafeteros’ coach at the time, José Pékerman, didn’t rate MLS. So Valdés tried to get elsewhere to make an impression (and he wasn’t alone).

    Mondragón was also on Colombia’s squad, two years after his roller-coaster tenure in Chester ended.

    Haris Medunjanin played for Bosnia, memorably getting Lionel Messi’s jersey after facing Argentina in the group stage. And David Myrie, who was on the Union’s inaugural season squad in 2010 (but didn’t last long), was on Costa Rica’s team.

    Germany won the tournament, claiming its fourth title.

    Alejandro Bedoya (left) in action for the U.S. during the round of 16 battle with Belgium.

    Russia, 2018

    Players: The U.S. infamously failed to qualify, which obviously put a big dent in things. But a former Union player and a future Union player took part for other countries. Gabriel Gómez played for Panama six years after his one season in Chester, and Marco Fabián played for Mexico eight months before he joined the club.

    Broadcasting: Philly fans also heard a familiar voice on Fox’s TV coverage. This was the 13th World Cup of longtime Union play-by-play voice JP Dellacamera’s Hall of Fame career, including the eighth men’s tournament.

    France won the title, led by Kylian Mbappé’s emergence as the sport’s new superstar.

    JP Dellacamera (right) with his broadcast partner at the 2018 World Cup, former U.S. goalkeeper Tony Meola.

    Qatar, 2022

    Players: Olivier Mbaizo became the first active Union player to make a World Cup roster, with Cameroon. He never got on the field, though if the Indomitable Lions had advanced from the group stage he’d likely have played in the round of 16 due to a teammate’s suspension.

    Union alum Brenden Aaronson made his first U.S. World Cup team, two years after moving to Europe. The Medford native was at England’s Leeds United then, his second club after initially going from Chester to Austria’s Red Bull Salzburg for $6 million. The later move to Leeds commanded a $30 million transfer fee, and the Union banked $5 million of it in a sell-on fee.

    Hershey’s Christian Pulisic was also on the U.S. squad, scoring the winning goal against Iran and finally fulfilling his promise as a superstar. The Americans advanced to the round of 16, then lost to the Netherlands.

    Steven Vitória played for Canada seven years after his one season in Chester.

    Administration: This was Stewart’s World Cup as U.S. Soccer’s sporting director.

    A coach: Ventnor City native and Ursinus grad B.J. Callaghan was one of U.S. manager Gregg Berhalter’s top assistants.

    A referee: Though Kathryn Nesbitt wasn’t born in Philadelphia, the assistant ref had lived in the city since 2019 when she was appointed to her first World Cup.

    Broadcasting: Dellacamera was in Fox’s booth again, while former Union captain Maurice Edu and Delran’s Carli Lloyd joined the network as analysts. Fox reporter Tom Rinaldi spent part of his college years at Penn, and was another familiar voice from plenty of trips to Philly for other sports.

    Argentina won the tournament, finally giving Lionel Messi the biggest trophy and crowning him as men’s soccer’s greatest player of all time.

    Olivier Mbaizo (left) on Cameroon’s bench at the 2022 World Cup.

    USA/Canada/Mexico, 2026

    Players: The Union’s Danley Jean Jacques and Olwethu Makhanya made the rosters of Haiti and South Africa, respectively. Jean Jacques was a stalwart of Les Grenadiers, and had the bonus of Haiti getting a group stage game in Philadelphia against Brazil. That was one of six tournament games in the city, as the men’s World Cup finally came here for the first time.

    Makhanya’s inclusion, meanwhile, was surprising at the time.

    Haiti’s squad also included Penn alum Duke Lacroix, who made the big stage over a decade after his college years with the Quakers.

    Four Union alums made the U.S. squad: Aaronson, Wayne’s Matt Freese, Media’s Auston Trusty, and Bear, Del.’s Mark McKenzie. It was the most players from the Philadelphia region on a U.S. team since 1934. (Pulisic could count as an honorary fifth.)

    Brenden Aaronson (center) made his second straight World Cup team in 2026.

    Former Union midfielder Jamiro Monteiro made Cape Verde’s squad for its first ever World Cup. So did Philadelphia native CJ dos Santos, who had played for U.S. youth teams but switched to the nation of his father’s roots. He was in the Union academy for a while before leaving to Portugese club Benfica, then returning to MLS in 2022 with Inter Miami. In 2024, he moved to San Diego FC, and that was his club at the time of the World Cup.

    A referee: Nesbitt was selected to her second straight men’s World Cup on the sidelines. Since 2022, she had been selected for the 2023 women’s tournament, and was part of the first American refereeing team to officiate a women’s World Cup final. (It hadn’t happened before because of how many times the U.S. made the final.)

    Broadcasting: Dellacamera, Lloyd and Edu were back with Fox, this time joined by Philadelphia resident and former Independence and U.S. women’s team player Lori Lindsey. She and Dellacamera called some games together, including Ivory Coast vs. Ecuador.

    Kathryn Nesbitt at the 2023 World Cup. The 2026 tournament was her third between men and women combined.
  • A Havertown native is giving historic $112.6 million to Drexel, months after his record gift to St. Joe’s Prep

    A Havertown native is giving historic $112.6 million to Drexel, months after his record gift to St. Joe’s Prep

    Drexel University has received a $112.6 million gift — the largest in its history by more than double — to establish its new college of engineering and computing, renovate space in two buildings to foster programs within it, and provide more scholarships.

    The gift comes from the Howley Foundation, a Cleveland-based philanthropic group whose mission, according to its website, is “to create social and economic mobility and improve lives” through “quality educational opportunities.”

    The foundation is headed by billionaire W. Nicholas “Nick” Howley, a 1975 Drexel graduate, his wife, Lorie, and their daughter Meg Howley, a 2010 Drexel graduate. Nick Howley, who got his degree in mechanical engineering, is the cofounder and board chairman of TransDigm Group Inc., a Cleveland-based aerospace parts manufacturer.

    St. Joseph’s Prep will receive $74 million — the biggest gift ever given to a U.S. Catholic high school

    The same foundation in April gave a $74 million gift to St. Joseph’s Preparatory School, also Howley’s alma mater, which school officials believe was the biggest donation ever given to a U.S. Catholic high school.

    W. Nicholas “Nick” Howley and his wife Lorie have given $112.6 million to Drexel University through their foundation.Courtesy of Drexel University

    The new school, which will be Drexel’s largest, will be named for the Howley family. It will be made up of the School of Engineering, School of Computer and Information Sciences, and School of Biomedical Engineering and Science, which merged earlier this year as part of a consolidation and academic overhaul.

    Drexel University is consolidating schools and asking several deans to step down

    Drexel made the announcement Thursday morning, with commencement scheduled for later in the day at the West Philadelphia university. It was the first major gift to come to the university under president Antonio Merlo, who took over last July.

    Drexel’s previous largest gift, $50 million, came from Thomas R. Kline in 2014 to name its law school.

    “This investment is a powerful affirmation of Drexel’s strength and leadership in fields where innovation and impact are deeply intertwined,” Merlo said in a news release. “It will not only bring excitement and a new look to our campus, but it will also provide generations of students with access to state-of-the-art facilities, as well as set them on course for a transformational educational experience at Drexel.”

    Drexel’s new president must tackle a deficit and declining enrollment. He sees it as a ‘moment of reinvention.’

    The gift also comes as the university has been aiming to reduce a deficit, making some operational changes, and considering changing its relationship with the Academy of Natural Sciences. The school said in April it would end the year with a $20 million deficit. Drexel is projected to continue to run deficits through fiscal year 2028, according to a report from Moody’s, which downgraded the school’s rating earlier this year. And last fall, Drexel experienced a 19% drop in the size of its freshman class.

    But Merlo in a message to campus last week said the university has seen a 16% increase in students indicating they will attend next fall. And the university is preparing to launch its “renewed curriculum” and change to semester calendar.

    A rendering the exterior of the Howley Family Immersive Learning Center at Drexel UniversityCourtesy of Drexel University

    “I am filled with optimism about what lies ahead for our students and our institution,” Merlo wrote.

    About $76 million of the Howleys’ gift will fund programs and scholarships for talented students from certain schools, primarily in Philadelphia and Cleveland, who enroll at Drexel, regardless of their financial circumstances.

    Roughy $36 million will fund about 55,000 square feet of classroom, lab, and other learning spaces in Drexel buildings along Market Street and JFK Boulevard. That includes more than 45,000 square feet in Drexel’s 3101 Market St. facility that will become the Howley Family Immersive Learning Center and include a robotics facility, a flight simulator, a jet engine lab, a soil and concrete analysis lab, and wet labs for chemical engineering, materials science, and cell and gene therapy education.

    The remaining 10,000 square feet will become the Walter N. Howley Jr. Innovation garage, named after Nick Howley’s father, who got his bachelor’s degree in commerce and engineering from Drexel in 1951. The space at 32nd and Market Streets will feature work in bays by engineering and computing student organizations, the school said. Students, the university said, will be able to build race cars, electric vehicles, and scale airplanes, as well as rockets, steel bridges, and concrete canoes to enter in national competitions.

    Construction will begin on both spaces in spring 2027, the school said.

    “I am proud to support Drexel’s mission as a global leader in experiential education,” Howley said in a news release. “The university’s model provides a true return on investment for all students who earn a Drexel degree and I believe it is the best way to encourage upward social and economic mobility.

    “The combination of its academic rigor and co-op program make Drexel’s a unique educational experience that goes farther than any other university in propelling its graduates toward their career objectives.”

    In addition to his role at TransDigm Group Inc., Howley, who grew up in Havertown and now lives in Ohio, is a founder and cochair of Perimeter Solutions, which provides industrial products and services in areas including firefighting materials, lubricant additives, electronic components, and medical devices. Howley, who also has an MBA from Harvard Business School and is a member of Drexel’s board of trustees, previously donated $15 million to Drexel for scholarships.

    Lorie Howley, who got her degrees in ornamental horticulture and communication arts from Cornell University, worked as an educator at Longwood Gardens for 15 years. She is cofounder of the Howley Foundation and is on its board of directors.

    The Howleys’ daughter Meg, who got a master’s degree in psychology from Drexel, is executive director for the foundation’s Philadelphia operations. She got her undergraduate degree in psychology from Hobart and William Smith Colleges, and a master’s in school psychology and educational specialist certification from Rowan University.

    Part of the gift will be used to create an endowment for the new college to help it attract students and faculty. The college will enroll about 5,000 students in more than 60 undergraduate and graduate degree programs, including its new undergraduate degree in artificial intelligence and machine learning.

  • Iran war is the worst hit to the global economy since COVID, World Bank says

    Iran war is the worst hit to the global economy since COVID, World Bank says

    The global economy — tested by years of war, pandemic, and trade tension — is beginning to fray, as fallout from the U.S.-led war on Iran dents prospects for growth, the World Bank said in a new forecast.

    World output this year is expected to grow at an annual rate of just 2.5%, down from 2.9% in each of the past two years, and the slowest pace since the onset of the COVID pandemic in 2020, the bank’s top economists said.

    Soaring costs for oil, gas, fertilizers, and industrial chemicals caused by the prolonged near closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which the bank calls “the biggest supply shock in 50 years,” is straining developing and advanced economies alike.

    “The global economy is not falling off of a cliff, but it has downshifted sharply, and many developing economies are entering this shock with thinner buffers and fewer shock absorbers,” said Ayhan Kose, the World Bank’s deputy chief economist.

    The new forecast is gloomier than the bank’s January outlook, which saw the global economy largely weathering an era of trade uncertainty arising from President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

    Bank specialists cut their January forecasts for two-thirds of the world’s nations, with Turkey, Bangladesh, and South Africa suffering notable downward revisions.

    Nations adjoining the Persian Gulf war zone are expected to be hit hardest: Kuwait, Iraq, and Qatar will see “near zero” growth in 2026, Kose said. The United Arab Emirates is projected to grow at a 2.4% rate this year, less than half the pace the bank expected before the war.

    The 2020s appear almost certain to become a “lost decade” for dozens of developing nations that have made no progress closing the income gap with the advanced economies, the bank’s Global Economic Prospects report said.

    The United States — fueled by mammoth investments in artificial intelligence — remains a relative bright spot, expected to grow at a 2.2% annual rate, up slightly from last year’s pace, and much faster than Europe and Japan. U.S. investments in AI-related infrastructure exceed such spending by all other nations combined, the bank said.

    China is set to grow at a 4.2% rate, down from 5% last year and 0.2 percentage points below the bank’s January outlook.

    The war-related shock is occurring against a downbeat long-run backdrop. Global growth has softened steadily since the early 21st century, sapped by the impact of aging populations, declining private investment, trade tensions, and rising public debt, said Indermit Gill, the bank’s chief economist.

    “The world economy is a lot less resilient today,” Gill said.

    The bank’s new forecast assumes that Middle East energy and commodities trade will return to normal by the end of July and that Brent crude, the global benchmark, will average $94 per barrel this year.

    But with the U.S. and Iran continuing to trade blows, despite a nominal ceasefire, bank officials noted the risk of further economic erosion.

    If the war continues beyond July, oil prices will average $115 a barrel for the year, driving global growth to an anemic 2.1% rate, the bank said.

    An energy shock that drives down stock and bond prices would take an even larger toll on the global economy. Growth in that case would struggle to reach a 1.3% rate.

    Public debt burdens are another worry. With annual budgets already deep in the red, the U.S. and other major nations would have limited ability to increase public spending in response to an economic crisis, as they did during the pandemic and the 2008 financial crisis, the bank warned.

    For now, the global lending body is making available at least $50 billion in financing to buttress social programs in developing nations hurt by the slowdown. If the crisis persists, the bank said, it is prepared to roughly double that figure over a 15-month period.

    “Our job is to help countries steady the ship, keep reforms moving, and emerge stronger on the other side,” said Ajay Banga, the bank’s president.

  • Bennett L. Aaron, longtime attorney and honorary trustee of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, has died at 92

    Bennett L. Aaron, longtime attorney and honorary trustee of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, has died at 92

    Bennett L. Aaron, 92, of Bryn Mawr, longtime Philadelphia attorney, honorary trustee of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, former president of the Federation of Jewish Agencies of Greater Philadelphia, board member for the Jewish Agency for Israel, onetime chair of the United Israel Appeal, mentor, volunteer, and world traveler, died Monday, June 1, of age-associated decline at Beaumont at Bryn Mawr retirement community.

    Born in Brooklyn, Mr. Aaron earned his law degree at Columbia Law School in New York in 1957, moved to Philadelphia, and spent the next six decades, until his semi-retirement in 2019, focusing on estate planning, gift taxation, probate, and trust law at Cohen, Shapiro, Polisher, Shiekman & Cohen and, later, Pepper Hamilton law firms.

    His clients included principals at Pocono Raceway and the Rite Aid Corp., and colleagues praised his ability to engage through both professional and personal connections. “He understood that estate planning was not merely about documents and tax strategy,” his family said in a tribute, “but about values, legacy, and protecting treasured family succession plans.”

    His son Steve said: “He was a superior listener and problem solver. That was his superpower.”

    Mr. Aaron (right) listens to Yitzhak Rabin, former primer minister of Israel.Courtesy of the family

    Mr. Aaron was friendly and energetic, his family said, and he excelled at collaborating through phone conversations and face-to-face encounters. He rarely micromanaged big contracts, colleagues said, but was available if something extra was needed.

    He mentored young lawyers and talked frequently with former Gov. Ed Rendell, former Sens. Arlen Specter and Bob Casey, and other government officials. Colleagues called him “a tremendous community leader and visionary” and “the smartest, warmest, most terrific guy” in online tributes.

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    One colleague said: “It was easy to see the positive impact he had on those around him.”

    The son of a New York rabbi, Mr. Aaron was a prolific fundraiser and the local public face of Jewish philanthropy for decades. He served as president of the Federation of Jewish Agencies of Greater Philadelphia from 1983 to 1987, as chair of the United Israel Appeal for the United Jewish Appeal, as chief volunteer officer for the Jewish Federations of North America, and in other roles.

    Mr. Aaron and his wife, Carol (left), met Margaret Thatcher, former prime minister of the United Kingdom, on their travels.Courtesy of the family

    He was adept at balancing assets and liabilities for the nonprofit agencies. He oversaw record-breaking fundraising campaigns in Philadelphia and helped other leaders determine the direction of international Jewish philanthropy.

    His 10-hour fundraising phone-athon at the Civic Center in 1986 drew more than 2,400 volunteer callers and raised a then-record $2.4 million in pledges to the United Jewish Appeal. “We have no trouble getting more than enough volunteers for this,” Mr. Aaron told The Inquirer. “People look forward to coming here all year. There’s camaraderie and plenty of fun.”

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    Colleagues at the Jewish Agency for Israel called him “an inspiration to many” and “a true mensch whose character, integrity, and warmth will be greatly missed.”

    Mr. Aaron traveled to Israel often and met with former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, former U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and other leaders. “He worked tirelessly to foster understanding and solidarity between his Philadelphia community and Israel,” his family said. “He leaves behind a legacy of integrity, service, and enduring impact on the city he came to cherish and the causes that defined his life.”

    Mr. Aaron and his wife, Carol, married in 1955.Courtesy of the family

    Bennett Louis Aaron was born Oct. 2, 1933. He and his older brother, Joseph, shared a tiny bedroom, played stickball after school, and cheered for the old Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team.

    He graduated from high school at 16 and earned a bachelor’s degree at Columbia University in 1954 and a master’s degree in taxation at New York University School of Law in 1966.

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    He met Carol Perlmann in 1953 at the Pennsylvania summer camp his parents owned, and they married in 1955. They lived in Merion and Bala Cynwyd before moving to Beaumont, and reared daughters Marjorie and Roberta, and sons Morrie and Steve. His daughter Roberta died in 2003.

    Mr. Aaron was an avid tennis player. He had season tickets to Eagles games and traveled with his wife to four Olympic Games.

    Mr. Aaron (right) was close with his sons Morrie (left) and Steve.Courtesy of the family

    He cherished his family, everyone said, and he and his wife toured the world together. He was dapper and debonair. He liked to explore downtown city streets between meetings and answer the phone with “Hello there.”

    “He set the standard for hard work and integrity,” his son Morrie said, “always coupled with kindness, compassion, and generosity.”

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    “He was the definition of a gentle man,” his son Steve said. His family said: “His was a life lived fully, purposefully, and with a really, really big heart.”

    In addition to his wife, children, and brother, Mr. Aaron is survived by eight grandchildren and other relatives.

    Mr. Aaron “was the definition of a gentle man,” his son Steve said.Courtesy of the family

    Services were held earlier.

    Donations in his name may be made to Penn State Hillel, 180 S. Garner St., State College, Pa. 16801; and the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, 2 Commerce Square, 2001 Market St., Suite 2300, Philadelphia, Pa. 19103.

  • Philly feds charge two with running a cryptocurrency money laundering scheme that tried to conceal nearly $400 million

    Two men living in the Republic of Georgia have been charged by federal authorities in Philadelphia with running an international money laundering scheme that tried to use cryptocurrency exchanges to mask the source of nearly $400 million, prosecutors said Thursday — including at least $20 million that came directly from accounts associated with illicit actors on the dark web.

    Igorevich Tkachuk, 37, of Ukraine, and Alexander Vladimirovich Ledenev, 25, of Russia, were arrested Wednesday in Georgia, where both live in the coastal city of Batumi, according to U.S. Attorney David Metcalf. Prosecutors will seek to extradite them to Philadelphia to face money laundering charges.

    Metcalf said the two men were part of an organization that dubbed itself “AudiA6.” The group had two primary functions, prosecutors said: managing a cybercrime forum known as Dark2Web, where users could strike deals to commit crimes against targets for money, and running a cryptocurrency-based money laundering service, through which users could have their virtual currency “mixed” into different streams that would make the origins harder for authorities to trace.

    Prosecutors said Dark2Web was an online forum that allowed users to discuss deals about committing crimes.Court filings, U.S. Attorney's Office

    Over the last five years, prosecutors said in a criminal complaint, AudiA6 received $389 million from customers to launder, which the group would “mix” in exchange for a commission fee.

    About $20 million of those deposits came from accounts prosecutors said were known for committing illicit activity, including groups that perpetuated ransomware attacks or people who were known to have received stolen funds online. Millions more appeared tied to similarly suspicious groups through indirect transactions, they said.

    Over the course of the scheme, prosecutors said, AudiA6 received at least $10 million in profit. The group would often charge higher commission fees for smaller transactions.

    According to the complaint, federal authorities conducted six undercover transactions with AudiA6 between December 2022 and May 2026. In each, the document said, agents said in messages — typically in Russian — that they wanted to exchange “dirty” digital currency, such as Bitcoin, and AudiA6 took the funds, “mixed” them, and returned the washed proceeds, minus a commission.

    In one case this April, an agent in Philadelphia sent a message to the AudiA6 exchange saying: “is [Bitcoin] from scam OK? Stolen bitcoin…”

    According to the complaint, the person running the exchange replied: “don’t care.”

    AudiA6 then mixed about $5,000, the complaint said, keeping a fee of about $300.

    A few weeks later, the document said, an agent in Philadelphia reached out to the exchange again and asked about laundering proceeds from selling cocaine online.

    “Is it ok or are the risks too high?” the agent asked, according to the complaint.

    “Everything like that needs to go through a mixer,” the operator wrote back, before laundering about $5,100 worth of bitcoin and keeping $400 as a fee.

    Despite AudiA6’s promises to customers that the mixed transactions would make funds untraceable, investigators said, the group “was not actually sending and receiving from distinct, unconnected sources.”

    “Instead,” they said, “transactions could be directly traced through exchange records.”

    Neither Tkachuk nor Ledenev had attorneys listed in court records Thursday.

    Each could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted, prosecutors said.

  • El Niño has formed officially, and it likely will be one of the strongest on record

    El Niño has formed officially, and it likely will be one of the strongest on record

    El Niño has formed officially and it is likely to become one of the strongest on record, with potentially profound impacts on the hurricane season and the U.S. winter, government meteorologists announced Thursday.

    As it matures during the summer and fall, it is likely to hold down the numbers of Atlantic tropical storms. And while it is impossible to predict what it might mean for winter around here, some of Philly’s strangest winters have coincided with El Niño.

    Scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration see a 63% likelihood that this El Niño will qualify as “very strong” and rank among the elite of the last 75 years.

    El Niños occur every two to seven years as part of a natural process as east-to-west trade winds that push water into the western Pacific slacken and massive amounts of warm water move eastward.

    In the key El Niño region of the central Pacific, sea-surface temperatures over a 2.4 million-square-mile area become anomalously warm. In this instance, NOAA says, the temperatures may end up being 3.5 degrees Fahrenheit higher than normal.

    All that warm water interacts with the overlying atmosphere to disrupt weather-bearing winds worldwide.

    The naming has been attributed to Peruvian fishers who lamented the effects of the warmth on the anchovy catch. They called it a Spanish term for the Christ child, since this tended to happen around Christmastime.

    El Niño and the hurricane season

    El Niño’s impacts can be enormously disruptive, but it’s possible that residents of the Caribbean, Atlantic, and Gulf coasts will catch a break.

    The phenomenon can have a dampening effect on hurricanes.

    One well-documented effect of the warming is that it generates powerful upper-air winds from the west that can have shearing effects on incipient tropical storms in the Atlantic, thousands of miles away.

    On Wednesday, Philip Klotzbach, a researcher at Colorado State University, which developed the prototype for those seasonal hurricane outlooks, reduced the storm numbers in his forecast and is now calling for only five hurricanes. The average is seven.

    Some of the quietest Atlantic hurricane seasons on record have occurred during strong El Niño years.

    El Niño and the Philadelphia winter

    Strangeness is no stranger to Philadelphia winters, but strong El Niños have coincided with extremes of snow — in both directions.

    In 1972-73, for example, no measurable snow fell in Philadelphia, and only 0.8 inches accumulated in the 1997-98 winter. Philly was hit with a 21.3-inch blizzard in February 1983 and a 2-footer in January 2016, both during high-end El Niño years.

    Unfortunately, in the short term, El Niño isn’t going to be doing anything about this heat and humidity.

  • FIFA’s yearslong effort to woo Trump culminates with the World Cup

    FIFA’s yearslong effort to woo Trump culminates with the World Cup

    For the past year, FIFA, the governing body of international soccer, has leased an office on the 17th floor of New York’s Trump Tower that has sat all but empty. The rent goes to President Trump’s family business, but soccer officials say the space sits largely idle.

    Paying rent to the Trumps was the choice of Gianni Infantino, FIFA’s president, who has made being close to Trump a top priority. He has lavished the president with praise, trophies and a medal. He has made pilgrimages to Mar-a-Lago, the Trump National Doral golf club and even the “Melania” documentary premiere.

    Infantino has publicly boosted the president through impeachments and plummeting poll numbers.

    It was all in service, Infantino’s supporters say, of ensuring that the World Cup, which begins this week, goes off without a hitch. Trump could disrupt the games in any number of ways. Infantino, allies say, is handling a volatile president who responds to praise and gifts.

    “He’s straightforward in terms of what you need to do to manage the relationship,” said Majed Al Sahib, a soccer official from Saudi Arabia who said that Infantino was being pragmatic.

    President Trump and Gianni Infantino at the White House in 2025 with a trophy intended for the winner of the Club World Cup competition. Trump kept it, and FIFA commissioned another.Haiyun Jiang / The New York Times

    FIFA officials are clear about what they want from the World Cup. They want a higher profile in the United States and more growth in the world’s biggest consumer market. They also want to shed the reputation for corruption and cartoonish excess that led to Justice Department prosecutions.

    Infantino failed to woo the Biden administration, former government officials said. But he found a receptive ear in Trump, who calls him “the king of soccer.” A decade ago, soccer executives were terrified to travel to the United States, fearing they’d be arrested. Now, Infantino is an Oval Office regular.

    Infantino presided over the previous two World Cups, in Russia and Qatar, and drew criticism for cozying up to autocrats in both countries. His amity with Trump has him once again defending his way of operating in what is supposed to be a politically neutral position.

    “I think it is absolutely crucial for the success of a World Cup to have a close relationship with the president, with the government,” Infantino said last year. “I have a lot of friends.”

    This World Cup will be a test of whether that friendship pays off.

    Infantino and President Trump onstage during the Club World Cup final in New Jersey last year.Haiyun Jiang / The New York Times

    A top FIFA official says he believes there is an unofficial understanding that the authorities will not conduct immigration enforcement outside of stadiums. (A FIFA spokesman denied any deal and said enforcement was up to the government. The Department of Homeland Security did not address the question.)

    The Justice Department also recently dismissed long-running criminal charges as part of its FIFA investigation. Prosecutors said the case “doesn’t fit within the administration’s priorities.”

    And Trump seemed to defer to Infantino this spring on allowing Iranian players to come to the United States. “If Gianni said it,” the president said, “I’m OK.”

    Still, Trump undercut Infantino recently by criticizing the high cost of tickets. And whatever reassurances may have been made on immigration, support staff for Iran’s national team was denied visas, along with a Somali referee.

    Infantino’s coziness with the president also appears to be influencing FIFA in Trump-like ways that could outlast the tournament.

    FIFA is exploring hotel deals that would license its name just as the Trump family has long done, according to three people familiar with the discussions. He has also expressed interest in launching a FIFA cryptocurrency, just as the Trumps have done.

    A FIFA spokesman said the organization was paying “market rent” in Trump Tower and that the office would be used during the World Cup.

    Inside FIFA, many officials privately question whether this has all been in service of Infantino himself. He has accompanied Trump on state visits, sat center stage at the inauguration and has attended diplomatic events.

    What does any of that, his critics ask, have to do with soccer?

    Infantino declined to be interviewed. His yearslong campaign to curry favor with Trump, and the hand-wringing it has prompted, was described in dozens of interviews with FIFA insiders and others close to the two men. Some spoke on condition of anonymity to describe private conversations.

    “Infantino thinks he’s the leader in the relationship,” said Sepp Blatter, the former FIFA president whose ouster at the height of the corruption scandal paved the way for Infantino’s ascension. “But nobody can lead Trump.”

    Infantino meets with Trump for the first time in the Oval Office and jokes about penalty cards.Doug Mills / The New York Times

    The first meeting

    The men first met in the Oval Office in the summer of 2018. The United States had just won the right, along with Canada and Mexico, to host the World Cup, and the mood was celebratory.

    “You’re pretty famous, right?” Trump asked. “Pretty important and pretty famous.”

    “Yeah,” Infantino replied. “It looks like it.”

    Infantino, a lawyer and the son of an Italian immigrant who worked on Switzerland’s railways, had secured the FIFA presidency the same year that Trump was elected.

    In that first White House meeting, he presented the president with a Trump jersey and a set of penalty cards that the men joked could be used on the news media.

    “You are part of the FIFA team now,” Infantino said.

    It was a remarkable turnabout. Three years earlier, the Justice Department had unveiled an indictment detailing corruption in world soccer. Major brands did not renew their sponsorship deals, and the organization suffered financial losses.

    But if Infantino was eager to welcome the president onto FIFA’s team, he quickly found himself on the Trump Team — a pretty important, pretty famous endorser of a president in the middle of an impeachment inquiry.

    “Gianni, we’re going to have to extend my second term,” Trump said on the South Lawn in September 2019, as Infantino smiled beside him.

    Months later, as lawmakers debated charges of obstruction and abuse of power against Trump, Infantino praised him before business leaders in Davos, Switzerland.

    “You might wonder why the president of FIFA is introducing the president of the United States of America,” Infantino said. He joked that it had been suggested that the two of them might be the most important people in attendance.

    Soon, Infantino was back at the White House, this time as an unusual guest for the signing of the Abraham Accords, which established diplomatic ties between Israel and some Arab nations. He also arranged a “courtesy visit” with the attorney general, who was overseeing the FIFA cases.

    “I am fully convinced,” Infantino said after that meeting, “that the credibility and reputation of FIFA is being restored at the highest level.”

    Then came the 2020 election, and Infantino’s fortunes changed.

    President Trump and Infantino attended the World Cup draw at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts last December. FIFA had planned to have the event in Las Vegas but moved it to Washington.Tierney L. Cross / The New York Times

    A chilly reception, and then a thaw

    President Joseph R. Biden Jr. proved to be less welcoming to FIFA than his predecessor. There were no Oval Office greetings.

    Administration officials said they had been wary of getting too close to a scandal-tainted organization. They saw no benefit in putting the president alongside Infantino.

    “There was definitely a hands-off, keep-them-at-a-distance approach at the White House,” said Caitlin Durkovich, a former National Security Council official who helped oversee World Cup planning. She said FIFA repeatedly tried to arrange meetings with top officials.

    In interviews, FIFA officials said that Infantino had been trying to raise FIFA’s profile. More practically, they said, he wanted people, when they Googled “FIFA,” to find anything but stories about bribery and kickbacks.

    But even an attempt to meet formally with Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar fell flat, according to three people familiar with FIFA’s efforts to arrange a meeting. Infantino’s few interactions with American officials were mostly perfunctory and private, like a half-hour meeting with the national security adviser to address security and visa wait times.

    So when Trump won re-election in 2024, there was an opportunity to build on Infantino’s foundation. And Trump seemed eager to pick up where they had left off.

    Days before Trump’s second inauguration, the men convened at Mar-a-Lago, the president’s private club in South Florida, and flashed thumbs-up signs for a photo that Infantino posted to Instagram.

    Trump thanked him by name at a victory rally. And Infantino had an elevated seat behind Trump at the inauguration.

    Infantino eagerly promoted all of it, sounding at times like Trump’s campaign partner. “Together we will make not only America great again, but also the entire world,” he said.

    Infantino, it seemed, had achieved everything he wanted: accolades, endorsements and a World Cup task force, proposed by Infantino himself, that gave FIFA a formal place among Trump’s inner circle.

    But soon it was clear that such closeness had drawbacks.

    ‘Private political interests’

    When the world’s top soccer officials gathered in Paraguay for their annual meeting in May 2025, Infantino was on the other side of the globe, tagging along on Trump’s state visit to Persian Gulf countries.

    The trip had little to do with soccer, and when he finally arrived at the FIFA meeting, he was several hours late. European soccer officials walked out, protesting his prioritization of “private political interests.”

    “I felt that I needed to be there to represent football and all of you,” Infantino told them.

    It was then that behind-the-scenes grumbles exploded into view. FIFA is an unusual amalgam of 211 countries and territories, each with its own politics. Infantino’s closeness to Trump had impressed some constituencies and alienated others.

    “It’s a matter of priorities, and at that moment Trump was the priority for Infantino,” said David Goldblatt, author of “The Ball Is Round: A Global History of Football.”

    But Infantino was undeterred.

    One of his signature innovations was a 32-team tournament for the world’s best professional teams: the Club World Cup. But when he plugged the event from the Oval Office, he suddenly credited Trump as a co-creator. (After Trump kept the original Tiffany & Company trophy, FIFA presented the winners with another.)

    Then, on the eve of the tournament, U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced that agents would be “suited and booted ready to provide security for the first round of games.”

    Tournament officials panicked, terrified that immigration agents would arrest fans, according to three people who participated in planning discussions. Such a spectacle could deter attendance at the 2026 World Cup and potentially lead to a global backlash against FIFA.

    By then, Infantino was living in Miami, in the president’s orbit. His advisers strategized about asking Trump for a moratorium on immigration actions, both during the club matches and the World Cup.

    While no one close to either man has indicated what, exactly, they discussed privately, FIFA officials said that Infantino pressed the immigration matter. Whether for that reason or not, the government’s social media post was removed and ICE raids never materialized.

    Soccer officials said they believed there was a similar understanding for the World Cup. But, as is often the case with Trump, nobody can say for sure.

    The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement, did not acknowledge any such agreement.

    “U.S. Customs and Border Protection, in coordination with D.H.S. and other agencies, is dedicated to ensuring the safety and success of the FIFA World Cup,” a D.H.S. spokesperson said.

    By some measures, the club tournament represented a win for Infantino’s strategy. He got an Oval Office platform, Ivanka Trump participated in the draw, immigration agents stayed away, and Trump attended the final match.

    But it was also a reminder that when there is a limelight, Trump often seizes it for himself.

    Appearing onstage after the final whistle, Trump lingered longer than planned, upending meticulous choreography, confusing the winning team and standing squarely before the cameras during the trophy presentation. FIFA and Secret Service officials were alarmed, and fireworks were delayed because of the president’s presence.

    It went viral, with Trump basking in FIFA’s moment.

    The FIFA Peace Prize awarded to President Trump. The trophy, co-produced by a FIFA employee’s father, was spontaneously sourced from miscellany in FIFA’s possession.Tierney L. Cross / The New York Times

    The FIFA Peace Prize

    Oval Office visits are now routine for Infantino.

    “Always happy to be here, at home, if I can say that,” he said last year.

    “You are home,” Trump replied.

    When Trump assembled dignitaries and business titans for a state dinner for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, Infantino was there.

    “I think we should all support what he’s doing,” Infantino said at a business conference in Miami. “Because I think it’s looking pretty good.”

    Infantino has sought to capitalize on access to Trump allies. Under his watch, FIFA discussed with former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin an investment in a streaming service, according to a senior FIFA official. Nothing materialized, only because the venture was put on hold, according to a person who was part of the talks.

    More recently, FIFA has explored hotel licensing deals with a prominent South Florida developer who is poised to develop the waterfront opposite Mar-a-Lago.

    Infantino also lobbied for Trump to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, which the president has craved. When the award went to the Venezuelan politician María Corina Machado, Infantino had an idea.

    Three weeks after the Nobel announcement, senior FIFA officials were told that Infantino wanted to announce a peace prize of his own. How long, they asked, did they have to work out the details — the criteria, for example, or the makeup of the nomination committee? Those questions went unanswered.

    Some of the most senior officials were told straightaway whom the first honoree would be, according to a person with direct knowledge of the plans, who learned about the prize and its recipient on the same day.

    FIFA did not have time to consider what its prize would look like. But luckily, the father of an employee was a sculptor, and FIFA had in its collection of miscellany a miniature version of one of his pieces, according to two soccer officials. The trophy was in hand.

    The FIFA Peace Prize was announced Nov. 5, with the award to be bestowed at the World Cup tournament draw a month later.

    FIFA had planned to have that event in Las Vegas. But Paolo Zampolli, a longtime Trump ally serving as a presidential envoy, encouraged Infantino to reconsider.

    “To move the president of the United States is a big process,” he recalled saying. Last-minute events might prevent a trip to Las Vegas, he said, but a local venue would better assure his attendance. “You know how important FIFA is for us,” Zampolli added. (FIFA said Zampolli had no influence over the choice.)

    Infantino moved the event to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, teasing that the site might be called the Trump-Kennedy Center. Trump attended and, to nobody’s surprise, was the first recipient of the FIFA Peace Prize. He received a certificate, a medal and the repurposed trophy.

    Trump called it “truly one of the great honors of my life.”

    The award angered many soccer officials, who said that it had embarrassed FIFA and cast the organization as partisan.

    Lise Klaveness, the president of Norway’s soccer federation and a human rights lawyer, said the prize breached FIFA’s rules on political neutrality. She announced that Norway would back an ethics complaint against Infantino.

    Ms. Klaveness said in an interview that she recognized that FIFA needed “friendly relations” with the governments hosting World Cup games. But she said there needed to be “checks and balances,” to keep FIFA from being used for political purposes.

    Infantino, though, has worn his friendship with the president on his sleeve. And his head. At one public meeting, world leaders and delegates were given red “USA” baseball caps. Infantino happily donned his, emblazoned with the numbers 45-47, signifying the Trump presidencies.

    This winter, as Infantino marked a decade in the job, he celebrated with a party at a Four Seasons hotel in Miami. Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, attended.

    The celebration carried into spring, when Infantino announced at a soccer meeting in Vancouver that he would run for a third term. He argued that the organization had repaired its reputation and played a slide show that included Trump.

    “We have definitely come a long way these last 10 years,” he told soccer officials. FIFA, he said, was now “sitting at the top tables, in every aspect.”

    This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

  • The war in Ukraine has now gone on longer than World War I

    The war in Ukraine has now gone on longer than World War I

    The war in Ukraine has often been compared to World War I for its brutal infantry assaults and heavy casualties. Yet the idea that it could, by any measure, surpass a conflict so long and bloody that French soldiers hoped it would be “the last of the last” once seemed unthinkable.

    That is just what happened on Thursday. The war in Ukraine — which reached 1,569 days, or more than four years and three months — has now outlasted World War I.

    When President Vladimir Putin of Russia sent his troops into Ukraine in February 2022, he believed the country would fall within days. After Ukraine pushed the Russians back and the conflict settled into a war of attrition, even many of those fighting could not imagine it would last this long.

    “I thought maybe two or three years, and then politicians will find some kind of consensus,” said a Ukrainian soldier who, for security reasons, gave only his call sign, France, a nod to his time in the French Foreign Legion.

    But the war has raged on, and, with peace talks stalled, it shows no sign of ending soon. Polls suggest that about half of Ukrainians believe it will not end before next year, which would push it closer to another threshold: the duration of World War II, which lasted six years. And there are many Ukrainians who would argue that the current war really began in 2014 when Russian troops seized Crimea.

    Historians caution that drawing parallels with the two world wars has limits. The global scale of those conflicts, involving many theaters and armies, makes comparisons about casualties and firepower difficult. Ukraine did not exist as a country during World War I.

    Still, the war in Ukraine, like World War I, is likely to rank among the most consequential conflicts in modern European history, said Yaroslav Hrytsak, a Ukrainian historian. Both wars transformed Europe’s geopolitics by reshaping military alliances and driving a defense buildup not seen in decades.

    Military analysts also note that both conflicts reshaped the nature of warfare through the introduction of new technologies — planes and tanks a century ago; drones across the air, sea and land today. In both cases, the advances made war only more brutal for humans.

    “In many respects, this war in Ukraine is the one that most closely resembles World War I,” said Michel Goya, a former French colonel and a military historian.

    The comparison begins with the opening phase of both wars. In 1914, the Germans launched a rapid offensive toward Paris in the hope of securing a swift victory. Russian forces had the same objective when they raced toward Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, in 2022. In both cases, the attackers came close to their target but were ultimately driven back.

    Eventually, both wars settled into mostly static fighting along a largely frozen front. When soldiers on the Ukrainian battlefield hunkered down in trenches and bunkers in late 2022, historians described it as a return to World War I-style trench warfare.

    Scenes from the trenches of eastern Ukraine closely echoed those in northern France a century earlier. Ukrainian and Russian troops were often separated by just a few hundred yards, sometimes close enough to see one another. Assaults began with artillery barrages to pin down the opponent, followed by the storming of enemy trenches by infantry squads.

    “In general, when the front freezes, you’re back to World War I,” Goya said.

    In both wars, he added, it was the intensity of firepower, mainly artillery, that forced armies to turn to trenches. “You bury yourself to protect yourself,” he said.

    That calculus later changed in Ukraine with the introduction of a new class of weapon: drones. Networks of open trenches were rendered unsafe as drones monitored the battlefield around the clock and struck with greater precision than artillery shells.

    Now, Ukrainian soldiers say, survival depends on going smaller and deeper. Instead of sprawling trench systems, troops shelter in dugouts housing no more than a handful of soldiers. Such bunkers are small enough to be difficult to spot from the sky and deep enough to withstand strikes. A soldier operating on his own will often dig a position barely larger than a foxhole.

    In a recent interview near Ukraine’s southern front, a Ukrainian commander, who also only gave his call sign, Sour, for security reasons, recalled how his troops had to storm a well-fortified Russian dugout four times before forcing the soldier inside to surrender. The dugout had right-angled corners reinforced with metal sheets designed to absorb an explosive shock wave, he said.

    The commander, who leads the 5th Center of the International Legion, part of Ukraine’s military intelligence forces, said he took the captured Russian soldier to his unit’s training ground and asked him to dig a similar position so he could study how it was built.

    “In this environment, the people who dig survive longer and stay safer,” France, the Ukrainian soldier, said.

    As drones have come to dominate the battlefield, World War I-style opposing trench networks, separated by a narrow buffer zone, have given way to a miles-wide contested combat area scattered with dugouts. In this “kill zone,” any movement is quickly targeted by drones.

    Large-scale troop assaults of the kind seen a century ago have become all but impossible under the constant gaze of drones. Such assaults have been replaced with attacks by just one or two soldiers.

    Tanks, first introduced in 1916, were still a feared weapon in the first years of the war in Ukraine. They are rarely used now because their size makes them easy targets for drones, though some tanks have been retrofitted with protective metal cages that turn them into “Mad Max”-style vehicles.

    While the battlefield today bears less and less resemblance to that of a century ago, the scale of the destruction looks remarkably similar.

    In Ukrainian command posts near the front, live footage from reconnaissance drones shows scenes reminiscent of World War I battlefields: splintered trees, ruined houses, and fields pockmarked by shell craters.

    Casualties are difficult to compare, given the difference in scale between the two wars. A century ago, millions of soldiers were sent into battle across multiple fronts in Europe. Today, the forces involved number in the hundreds of thousands. Roughly 9 million to 11 million soldiers died in World War I, compared with about half a million in Ukraine so far.

    Still, military analysts and officials, including Adm. Pierre Vandier, who holds the post of Supreme Allied Commander Transformation in NATO, say drones have made the Ukrainian battlefield lethal at levels comparable to World War I. Vandier made the comparison after a study trip to Ukraine this spring.

    A mother cries at the coffin of her son Oleh Borovyk, a Ukrainian serviceman who was killed in fighting with Russian forces near Pokrovsk, during his funeral ceremony in Boiarka, Ukraine, on Dec. 3, 2025. Evgeniy Maloletka

    So grinding is the fighting in Ukraine that Russian advances have at times been slower than those in some of World War I’s most deadlocked battles.

    Russia’s offensive on Pokrovsk, an eastern Ukrainian city it recently fully captured, progressed at an average pace of about 75 yards per day, slower than in the bloody Battle of the Somme during World War I, according to an analysis by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank.

    The question now is whether either side can break the deadlock.

    In World War I, the Allies prevailed by combining economic pressure on Germany through a tight naval blockade with military pressure through relentless offensives.

    Ukraine’s strategy to end the war carries some echoes of that approach.

    Drone strikes on Russia’s oil assets, the backbone of its economy, are designed to curb Moscow’s ability to finance its war effort. Kyiv lacks the manpower to replicate the offensives of World War I, but it has flooded the battlefield with small attack drones in the hope of inflicting unsustainable losses on the Russian army.

    “This is World War I, but with drones,” Hrytsak, the historian, said.

    A Ukrainian soldier is seen through the door of a destroyed church in Kostiantynivka, Ukraine, on Jan. 8.Tyler Hicks

    This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

  • Oceans are warming, but scientists are concerned about this cold blob

    As the planet warms, it’s becoming increasingly rare to see cooler than average conditions across vast stretches of the ocean, particularly as an expected super El Niño scorches parts of the Pacific.

    But right now, an expansive area of well below-average ocean temperatures exists in the North Atlantic, to the east of Newfoundland. There, unusually cool waters have lingered for the last year.

    This patch of cool water is occurring in one of the few areas where the ocean hasn’t warmed in recent decades — and where scientists are closely monitoring for changes in the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC).

    The AMOC, which extends deep into the Atlantic Ocean, is a vital current that carries heat northward from the tropics toward the pole and plays a critical role in the climate around Greenland, Iceland and northern Europe. If the cold blob persists for years, it could eventually cool the climate in these places — and signal this key current is weakening. Should it collapse, a massive cooling could occur in the Northern Hemisphere, while it warms in the south; sea levels could rise in some areas and seasons could flip in others.

    As this conveyer belt of warm, salty water reaches the North Atlantic, it loses heat to the cold air above, becoming denser and sinking into the deep ocean. But as ice in the Arctic melts, introducing more freshwater into the sea, it becomes harder for the water to sink, potentially slowing down the current.

    Scientists have been monitoring the current’s behavior in the Irminger Sea, south of Greenland, where the U.S. National Science Foundation recently announced that it is dismantling its ocean monitoring equipment.

    In Iceland, a collapse of the AMOC is considered a national security risk, since it would send winter temperatures plunging to minus-50 degrees Fahrenheit.

    Recently published research from a team led by Stefan Rahmstorf of the Potsdam Institute concluded that “the strong evidence for a weakening AMOC is a serious concern for society and policy” and that it requires “urgent attention.” However, other research published last year found no evidence of long-term weakening, but that it was still expected to slow some in the future.

    There’s high confidence that the AMOC is weakening according to the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The IPCC has indicated, with medium confidence, that it will not abruptly collapse before 2100.

    But what about the recent cold blob? Does it offer a sign of AMOC’s eventual collapse or can it be explained by a combination of forces?

    Over the last week, the current cold blob has trended on social media, raising fresh concerns about the status of AMOC.

    While stormy and windy weather in the North Atlantic have enhanced the cold blob this year, those factors don’t immediately describe why it has remained there for a year straight.

    Other natural climate patterns, such as the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO), have affected the ocean’s conveyer belt. When the AMO is in its positive phase, waters warm in the North Atlantic. The opposite is generally true when it’s in its negative phase.

    From mid-2023 to mid-2025, when the AMO was predominantly in its positive phase, the cold blob disappeared for extended periods. But when it became negative in mid-2026, the cold blob returned.

    Based on this, a mix of climate forces — including human-driven warming as well as natural variability — appear to be contributing to the current conditions. And climate models predict that the cold blob could linger for the rest of the year — and possibly expand and become more frigid.

    What the current cold blob means for the future state of AMOC is uncertain, but models stop short of signaling widespread cooling across western Europe, Iceland or Greenland — the doomsday scenario that has so far been the stuff of movies.

  • Trump sees 22 medical specialists, appearing to set new bar for presidents

    For George H.W. Bush’s first medical checkup as president in 1989, he was seen by five specialists, the White House said at the time. His son George W. Bush was seen by 12 in his first presidential checkup, White House officials said a dozen years later.

    President Donald Trump appears to have set a new bar: 22 medical specialists assessed him as part of his latest checkup, according to a medical report recently released by the White House.

    That figure is nearly double the number of specialists who assessed Trump for his past medical checkups as president, according to a review of publicly available statements by Trump’s doctors.

    The figure also represents the most medical specialists to assess a president for a single visit, based on a review of public statements and records, prompting questions from outside physicians who said they were already skeptical of the White House’s disclosures around the nearly 80-year-old Trump’s health.

    “It is an extraordinary number,” said Jonathan Reiner, a longtime cardiologist for former vice president Dick Cheney. “What specialties do they represent? Why so many?”

    White House officials said that the number was commensurate with the need to perform a “complete and preventive evaluation” of the president. Sean Barbabella, the president’s physician, said the assessment found that Trump was in “excellent health.”

    “The involvement of multiple specialists reflects a comprehensive, multidisciplinary evaluation consistent with best practices for executive-level medical care,” the White House said in a statement.

    A White House official said that physicians affiliated with Harvard University, Duke University and other prominent institutions helped perform the evaluation. The official also said that some generalist physicians were included in the administration’s count of 22 specialists.

    “We have nothing to hide,” the official said.

    The White House has often declined to answer specific questions about Trump’s medical assessments, such as what prompted the president to undergo a second physical exam at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center last year. Presidents usually make one annual trip unless they have an urgent condition. Nearly three months after the visit, and after initially telling reporters that he had undergone an MRI exam, Trump and the White House clarified that the president had received a CT scan as part of his assessment.

    Trump’s medical reports also no longer include a common hair-loss prevention drug that his physicians said he routinely used during his first term in office. White House officials have declined to comment on Trump’s past use of the drug, finasteride, and whether he had stopped taking it.

    The scrutiny of Trump’s health comes amid broader questions about the fitness of the current president and his predecessor, Joe Biden, to serve as commander in chief. Biden, who was 82 when he left office, and Trump, who turns 80 on June 14, are the two oldest men to serve as president.

    Karine Jean-Pierre, who served as Biden’s press secretary, said at a February 2024 press briefing that a team of “20 doctors” participated in Biden’s medical evaluation at Walter Reed that year.

    Past administrations have often elected not to disclose the specific number of specialists who consult on the president’s medical evaluations, which are traditionally performed at Walter Reed.

    Presidents are not required to disclose their health records, although lawmakers in both parties have called for more checks on chief executives, such as creating an independent commission that could assess the president’s health.

    But publicly available records and statements indicate that the number of specialists reviewing presidential health appears to have ballooned.

    The five specialists involved in President George H.W. Bush’s checkup in May 1989 included an ophthalmologist, a urologist, a dermatologist and two allergists — White House officials said at the time. The 65-year-old Bush then saw eight specialists the following year, including a radiologist, cardiologist, and rheumatologist, the White House said.

    His son, President George W. Bush, saw 12 specialists for his 2001 checkup, White House officials said then.

    As questions swirled about Trump’s fitness during his first year in office, Ronny Jackson, who served as Trump’s physician during his first term and is now a Republican member of Congress from Texas, arranged 13 specialists to see the president, he wrote in his memoir.

    “I didn’t do this physical by myself; I was assisted by an entire committee of top-of-the-line specialty doctors at Walter Reed, including ones who specialized in dermatology, orthopedics, gastroenterology, ophthalmology, urology, pulmonary medicine, otolaryngology, and cardiology,” Jackson wrote in his book, Holding the Line.

    “The cardiologist did his heart exam. The pulmonologist did his lung exam and pulmonary function testing, the dermatologist did his skin exam, and so on.”

    Trump saw 11 specialists for his 2019 checkup and 14 specialists for his checkup last year, according to past medical reports released by the White House.