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Two U.S. soldiers and an interpreter killed in attack in Syria, Pentagon says

admin - Latest News - December 13, 2025
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Two U.S. Army soldiers and a civilian U.S. interpreter were killed Saturday in an attack in Palmyra, Syria, the Pentagon said.



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Dec. 13, 2025, 6:54 AM ESTBy Doha MadaniWith women’s soccer on track to become one of the world’s top five sports, U.S. Soccer is committing a $30 million donation from billionaire Michele Kang to researching some of the major issues facing female athletes. The national federation announced earlier this month the launch of the Kang Institute, a platform focused on addressing disparities that “has left generations of female soccer players training under models built for male physiology.” It’s an underfunded area of research that leaves women in sport more susceptible to different injuries as well as keeping young girls from pursuing the sport, Georgie Brunvels, female health and research innovation lead with U.S. Soccer, told NBC News. “Football is a global game,” Brunvels said. “By people seeing what is happening in football —or soccer — I think it will trickle on a global level to making people stand up and pay attention and listen.” Kang’s donation will advance work that was already taking place at the Soccer Forward Foundation, which focused on community-level work aimed on inclusion and expanding access to the sport. It will take on three forms: dedicated research, a creation of best practices based on that research, and education from the youth level all the way to the national team. And that may not just be in the United States. There are already discussions on initiatives to make it more accessible globally before the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil and when the U.S. hosts the tournament in 2031. “The [Women’s National Team] is an absolute icon and pioneer and leader in the space of soccer,” Soccer Forward Foundation Executive Director Lex Chalat said. “And we want to support other countries in developing their best practices and developing and understanding how to raise the bar in their country as well.” The institute’s first study will focus on the needs of players by targeting research around injury prevention, mental health, workload management, menstrual health, and the transition from youth to elite competition. Kang Institute aiming to lower injury rate for female athletesInjury prevention and recovery is an area that’s been a hot topic in women’s soccer, as research shows female players are two to eight times more likely to tear their ACLs than men. These are devastating injuries that can require surgery and nearly a year of recovery time. USWNT defender Tierna Davidson tore her ACL in March during a National Women’s Soccer League game and missed the rest of the season. It was her second ACL tear in three years. A number of factors have been correlated to the issue including the difference in women having looser knee ligament, their menstrual cycle, and wearing cleats designed around men’s physiology. “We don’t have access to big data pools to really understand more,” Brunvels said. “Someone tears their ACL and the moment that happens, someone will say, ‘Were you on your period?’ It’s like the no-brainer question, but no one’s pulling that data together.” But while these knee injuries often get the most coverage, and now investment, they are just one of the many injuries female athletes suffer at a higher rate than men, according to Brunvels. Concussions and ankle injuries are prevalent, too, she said.Brunvels also cited pregnancy, another physical condition that poses challenges for women, as an underfunded area of research. USWNT stars Sophia Wilson and Mallory Swanson, two thirds of the “Triple Espresso” goal-scoring sensation during the gold-medal winning run at the Olympics, both gave birth this year. “We’ve got seven players within our Women’s National Team ecosystem who are either pregnant or returning to play postpartum,” Brunvels said. “That’s an injury. It’s a planned injury we don’t talk about that doesn’t get enough air time.” More from SportsThe medical professionals guiding your fantasy football teamsNASCAR settles federal antitrust case filed by 2 of its teams, one owned by NBA great Michael JordanNotre Dame calls relationship with ACC ‘strained’ after College Football Playoff snubMental health a major concern in women’s sportsMental health is another area being targeted by the Kang Institute in its first study. Chalat says it’s an “absolute priority” for the federation, especially when it comes to the next generation of female athletes.“There are two kinds of major research projects … (the first is a) foundational research piece connecting health and performance,” Chalat said. “The other project is really focusing on girls soccer dropout rates, particularly at that middle school age.” Girls from City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks, and Football for Her attend the U.S. Soccer / Soccer Forward Community Spotlight on April 03, in Wilmington, Calif.Joe Scarnici / Getty Images for USSFAccording to a study by the Aspen Institute, one in three girls participates in a sport from age 6-12, but nearly one in two quit during puberty. Chalat says the Soccer Forward Foundation’s work has shown that girls drop out because they feel like they don’t belong or have negative experiences with their coaches. “We know that a lot of young people’s first point of contact around sharing that they feel that they might have a mental health issue and not even know it is their coach,” Chalat said. “And as a result, we’re working across the board on a variety of issues that focuses on mental health — one of them being really focused on coaching, education and coaching in communities.” Research has suggested that 60% of female athletes have experienced some form of body shaming and are two times more likely to experience depressive symptoms and eating disorders when compared to their male counterparts.Angel City FC forward Sydney Leroux, who has had more than 70 appearances with the national team, posted on Instagram last month that she’d been diagnosed with anorexia. The revelation came more than eight months after she announced she was taking a break from her NWSL team to focus on her mental health. Leroux said it’s not a coping skill but an important issue that she wanted to open a discussion on. “I have been living with that for as long as I could remember,” Leroux told followers. “I didn’t think it was a problem. I just thought that that was the way my body reacted to the pressure I put on it, or being anxious or not being able to do it all.” For Brunvels, allowing girls and women to understand their bodies better creates empowerment through the arc of their lives both on and off the pitch. But they have to be “supported and trained as females, not as small males.” “They can understand more about their bodies, what they can do to help themselves,” Brunvels said. “And as a part of that, we want to keep girls in sport for longer. We want to keep girls in soccer.” Doha MadaniDoha Madani is a senior breaking news reporter for NBC News. Pronouns: she/her.
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Dec. 3, 2025, 4:42 PM ESTBy Kayla SteinbergIf you order products from abroad this holiday season, you could end up with an unwanted surprise: a pricey tariff bill.This is the first holiday shopping season since the Trump administration made a major change to customs rules, extending tariffs and customs fees to low-value packages that had long been exempt.Since the new policies went into effect in late August, shoppers have reported being hit with surprise tariff charges on everything from rugs and computers to vitamins — sometimes costing hundreds of dollars.Now, as the busiest shopping season of the year gets underway, the stakes are high for both consumers and retailers. The National Retail Federation estimates that U.S. holiday sales will top $1 trillion for the first time this season, and Adobe Analytics expects shoppers will spend a record $253.4 billion online this holiday season. Shoppers who buy gifts from overseas should be prepared to pay tariffs before they can put their presents under the tree. And those who dispute an unexpected tariff bill should be ready for a potentially monthslong back-and-forth with major shippers — while late fees pile up.The $657 tariff billBonnie Hardy-Compagno thought she’d be paying a standard 15% import duty from Europe when she ordered $431 worth of skincare products in late August that were shipped from Belgium.Instead, when her package arrived via UPS in September, she was told that she owed customs charges and fees that were more than the items were worth.“I was very shocked when it showed up and the delivery driver was like, ‘This is going to be $657 to collect your package,’” said Hardy-Compagno. Hardy-Compagno refused her package of skincare products and reached out to UPS for clarification.The end of the “de minimis” tariff exemption for small packages has inundated shippers like UPS with customs paperwork for shipments that didn’t used to require it. Michael Nagle / Bloomberg via Getty Images fileAccording to forms and emails she received from UPS, the shipping company said the face creams and serums she ordered had triggered a 200% tariff because they contained aluminum that was either from Russia or from an unknown country, as well as a separate 50% steel tariff.“It is chaos trying to get it resolved,” she said. “I’ve been calling at least once a week for two months. I have been emailing.”“They finally sent me a form to fill out about quantities of aluminum in the product, which I have no idea,” she continued. “If you go look at the product to pull up ingredients, it’s just the ingredients that’s in the skincare product.”Last month, UPS sent her another invoice for a $65 late fee. She said the company had also sent the bill to collections.“At this point, I’m like, ‘It would have been cheaper for me to fly to Paris,’” Hardy-Compagno said.Ripple effects around the world For nearly a century, low-value packages have been allowed to enter the United States duty-free, under what’s known as the “de minimis” exemption. Since 2016, that threshold value has been $800.But this summer, President Donald Trump ended the exemption, saying it had been used to bring illegal drugs, including fentanyl, into the United States. Starting Aug. 29, low-value packages shipped to individuals have been subject to the same tariffs and fees as large commercial shipping imports. The change is part of a bigger push by the Trump administration to reshape global trade with a constantly shifting mix of blanket tariff rates on U.S. trade partners and separate tariffs on specific products and materials. The president has said his tariff-based economic policy will boost domestic manufacturing and improve the U.S. economy in the long run. But in the meantime, American businesses and consumers are paying a price.Many U.S. retailers have decided to raise their prices to account for these higher import costs. Some international businesses have stopped shipping to the United States altogether, saying it’s not financially feasible to pay big tariffs in order to ship small items. And several major companies — including Costco, cosmetics giant Revlon and eyeglasses maker EssilorLuxottica — have sued the Trump administration over the tariffs.Chaos at customsThe new requirements for smaller packages have caught consumers in a customs nightmare.Thousands of packages every week are getting stuck in customs limbo at global shipping hubs across the country. UPS, the world’s largest courier, has told some customers that it has been “disposing of” their packages.Packages that do make it through customs clearance and to customers can still arrive with the hefty tariff price tags. And shipping companies typically tack on additional processing fees, too.A UPS worker delivers packages in New York City on Dec. 1.Bess Adler / Bloomberg via Getty ImagesThe factors influencing a shipment’s eventual tariff charges include “where it comes from, what it’s made out of, and what the finished product is classified as,” said John Pickel, vice president of supply chain policy at the National Foreign Trade Council.But these questions are more complicated than they sound.In a statement to NBC News, UPS said, in part: “UPS’s brokers are highly trained and use sophisticated technology to ensure accuracy in calculating the appropriate duty and fees due. If you feel there is an error in the calculation of the duty and taxes assessed to your U.S. import shipment, you can contact the UPS Billing group by using the number listed on your UPS billing invoice or contact the UPS Post Entry Department.”“Our agents are working hard to address every customer’s inquiry as recent tariff policy changes have led to a significant rise in the number of brokerage-related inquiries,” UPS added.How to avoid surprise tariffsRetail experts advise anyone planning to order products from abroad this holiday season to be careful.“If you are ordering overseas, the first thing that I would do is search for that item elsewhere to see if they have a U.S. warehouse, another retailer,” said Trae Bodge, a shopping expert at truetrae.com. “It makes me very nervous to be ordering overseas right now, because it’s kind of all up in the air,” she said. “But if you must have that item and it’s only available overseas, read the fine print, especially at checkout.”Consumers should be on the lookout for labels indicating “delivery duty paid,” or DDP. This typically means shipping costs have been included in the final price of the item. Bodge also recommended searching for any mention on retailers’ websites of tariffs, taxes, shipping fees or other charges.Shoppers can also check to see if the websites list where items are shipping from and reach out to retailers directly for any clarification or additional details.Kayla SteinbergKayla Steinberg is a producer at NBC News covering business and the economy.Vicky Nguyen and Isa Morales contributed.
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