For some girls in Sri Lanka's hill country, getting a period means having to skip classes unless their families can find money for sanitary pads.

Colombo

A youth football symposium in Auckland has focused on the challenges that menstruation presents for girls and young women in sport. Fourteen-year-old player Jada Scanlon and coach Taylor Pickering-Parker, who are both part of Maori Football Aotearoa, discussed the difficulties athletes can face due to periods and the limited education surrounding the topic. They noted that issues such as low energy, cramps, and discomfort can interfere with training and games, and that conversations about menstruation are often misunderstood or dismissed.

The symposium, titled Hine O Te Kora or Women of Learning Youth Symposium, attracted hundreds of participants and aimed to break the silence around menstruation while promoting environmental awareness. Speakers addressed not only the impact of periods on sporting participation but also the environmental burden posed by disposable menstrual products. Claire Morgan, a presenter at the event, highlighted that the average person who menstruates in New Zealand uses about 14,000 period products in their lifetime, most of which end up in landfills for centuries.

Organisers hope that, alongside the Women's World Cup, such initiatives will help to normalise discussions around menstruation and encourage more girls to remain active in sport. Participants expressed the belief that empowering young female athletes and addressing menstrual stigma can leave a lasting positive legacy in women's sport.



Sri Lanka: How period poverty keeps girls out of school

Some girls just want to play football, but even today they face higher barriers to participating in sport than boys. Fourteen-year-old player Jada Scanlon and her coach Taylor Pickering-Parker have both experienced difficulties in the game due to menstruation and the lack of education many people receive on the subject. As an athlete myself, you can turn up to trainings and games with low energy or low motivation due to periods. The conversation is kind of something that's misunderstood, you know, missing training because of your energy levels or the cramps. Talking to your coach about, I can't make training because I feel this way, it was almost judged in a way like, oh, it can't be that bad, come on. Taylor and Jada are both part of Maori Football Aotearoa, a club for people with Maori heritage. They say while it's a taboo subject nowadays, traditionally Maori people took a spiritual approach to the menstrual cycle. Me personally as a Maori wahine or woman, it is something that isn't very talked about or it was said as something that is not very, like, important. So like, we used, women used their cycles to connect back to their land or use them in time to take care for themselves. It wasn't something that was brought to me by my family members, it wasn't something that I learned in school around the Maori worldview of menstruation. And learning that it's such a spiritual element and it connects us back to our ancestors and how they treated women in that time. But local organizers are using the Women's World Cup to try and break the silence around periods and educate young people here in host city Auckland. Jada and Taylor were among hundreds of people who attended the Hine O Te Kora, or Women of Learning Youth Symposium. The event featured tournament mascot Te Zuni and was aimed at opening up the conversation as well as issues surrounding menstruation like protecting the environment. Claire Morgan was among the speakers at the symposium. Her company aims to reduce period waste through creating and distributing reusable products. The average menstruating woman in New Zealand will use about 14,000 period products and they all end up in landfill and if they're non-biodegradable they'll sit there for the next 500 to 800 years, so that's a lot of waste. The World Cup has already given women's football a huge boost in New Zealand and through events like the Youth Symposium, the tournament could leave an even more positive impact on girls' sport here. I think it's critical that we empower young girls that want to be athletes because you don't want, you know, anxiety around a period to put them off playing sport. It's hard enough I think to keep women in sport at the best of times and anything we can do to encourage women to stay in sport is a huge legacy that we can leave. A legacy that will hopefully help people like Jada and Taylor keep playing football for many years to come.

Russia pummeled Kyiv with the largest drone attack of the war, injuring at least 23 people and damaging buildings across the capital only hours after U.S. President Donald Trump spoke with Russia's Vladimir Putin, officials said.

Kyiv

Ukraine Invasion

Russia hits Kyiv with largest drone attack after Trump-Putin call

U.S. President Donald Trump marked the passage of the new spending bill, which includes changes to food assistance, student loan programs, and clean energy credits. Robert Costa joins "CBS Mornings" to break down what's in the legislation.

Washington

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Jerusalem

More than 80 people killed in Gaza in one day

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv will do "anything" to advance EU accession talks. Zelenskyy spoke alongside Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, President of the European Council António Costa and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.

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President Donald Trump said Washington will start sending letters to countries on Friday specifying what tariff rates they will face on imports to the United States, a clear shift from earlier pledges to strike scores of individual deals.

Global Tariffs

Trump: Letters telling countries their tariff rate going out Friday

Indonesian rescuers on Thursday (July 3) temporarily halted a search for 30 people still missing after a ferry carrying 65 people sank near the island of Bali with the loss of six lives, the national search and rescue agency said.

Gilimanuk

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After marathon debate sessions in the Senate and House, President Donald Trump’s budget bill passed in the House. Republicans secured the biggest win of Trump’s presidency.

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Ochopee

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Tecoluca

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Manhattan

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Madrid

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The Pentagon said that U.S. strikes 10 days ago had degraded Iran's nuclear program by up to two years, suggesting the U.S. military operation likely achieved its goals despite a far more cautious initial assessment that leaked to the public.

Tehran

Iran Strikes

Iran nuclear program degraded by up to two years: Pentagon

Days before his 90th birthday, the Dalai Lama announced the Gaden Phodrang Trust, a non-profit he founded, will have the sole authority to recognize his future reincarnation, but China insists it will choose the successor of the Tibetan spiritual leader.

Lhasa

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New York

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Bryan Kohberger changed his plea to guilty Wednesday for the 2022 murders of four University of Idaho students. CBS News national correspondent Carter Evans has more on the case.

Boise

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Madison

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Everglades

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Moscow

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Thailand's Constitutional Court on Tuesday suspended Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra from duty pending a case seeking her dismissal, adding to mounting pressure on a government fighting for survival on multiple fronts.

Bangkok

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Israeli strikes killed at least 60 people across Gaza on June 30 in some of the heaviest attacks in weeks as Israeli officials were due in Washington for a new ceasefire push by U.S. President Donald Trump.