July 15, 2026

FIFA’s decision to appoint American referee Ismail Elfath for Argentina’s World Cup semifinal against England has added another controversy to a tournament already facing growing complaints over officiating decisions involving the defending champions. The reason is an unusual Lionel Messi statistic. Messi’s teams have won all five previous matches in which Elfath has been involved

England and Argentina’s FIFA World Cup semifinal in Atlanta has been classified as the tournament’s highest-risk fixture, prompting heightened security measures involving the FBI, FIFA and local law enforcement. Officials met ahead of the match to assess potential threats, while Atlanta police increased their presence around the stadium, team hotels and entertainment districts. Reports say

A revised US sanctions bill has lowered the maximum proposed tariff on major buyers of Russian oil and natural gas from 500% to 100%, significantly reducing the scale of a trade threat that could directly affect India and China. The bipartisan legislation is designed to increase economic pressure on Moscow by targeting countries that continue

Spain have reached their first FIFA World Cup final in 16 years after beating France 2-0 in Dallas, delivering one of their most controlled performances of the tournament against its most prolific attack. Mikel Oyarzabal opened the scoring from the penalty spot after Lucas Digne caught Lamine Yamal while attempting to clear the ball. Pedro