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Iran are not in a position to participate in the 2026 World Cup, says the country's Minister of Sports and Youth Ahmad Donyamali. The team are scheduled to play three group matches in the tournament, which is being held in the United States, Canada and Mexico and gets under way on 11 June. Iran are due to face New Zealand and Belgium in Los Angeles on 15 and 21 June respectively, and Egypt in Seattle on 26 June. But their participation has been in doubt since the US and Israel launched strikes on the country, killing supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran responded by launching missiles and drones towards Israel and other nations which host US military bases. Earlier on Wednesday, Fifa president Gianni Infantino said US President Donald Trump had told him Iran are "welcome to compete"  at this summer's finals. But in an interview with the IRIB Sports Network on Tuesday, Donyamali said: "Given that this corrupt government has assassinated our lead...

FIFA has cut over $100 million from its operating budget for this summer’s World Cup in North America, with multiple departments at the organization’s U.S. headquarters in Miami asked to make “efficiencies”. In an interview with CNBC in February , FIFA president Gianni Infantino said FIFA is projecting revenues in excess of $11 billion from the World Cup, which will be held across the United States, Canada and Mexico in June and July. In FIFA’s 2024 annual report, it laid out a projected budget for the 2023-26 cycle, which forecast operational expenses of the World Cup at $1.12bn and an entire budget, including prize money and TV operations, of $3.756bn. The $1.12bn for operational expenses included $280m set aside for “technical services,” $159m on “event transport,” $145m on “safety and security,” and $79m on “guest management.” However, according to four different people, all of whom wished to remain anonymous as they were not authorized to speak publicly, FIFA’s sta...

The Trump administration said international travel program Global Entry would be restored on Wednesday morning, reopening a fast-track system that had been halted last month during an ongoing partial shutdown  of the Department of Homeland Security. “As DHS continually evaluates measures it can take amidst the Democrats’ continued shutdown of the department, DHS will be reactivating Global Entry on March 11th at 5:00 AM ET. We are working hard to alleviate the disruptions to travelers caused by the Democrats’ shutdown,” a DHS spokesperson told CNN in a statement. The move was presented as a step to mitigate airport disruptions with the funding standoff in its fourth week. On February 22, the department  announced that it would stop processing Global Entry travelers at participating airports after its funding lapsed on February 14, when lawmakers failed to reach agreement on a spending bill. At the time, then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said personnel wo...

LONDON, March 9 (Reuters) - Lawyers for Russian businessman Roman Abramovich warned the British government on ‌Monday that he would fight any attempt to seize the 2.5 billion pounds ($3.34 billion) from the sale of Chelsea soccer club,  saying the money belongs to him. The British government sanctioned Abramovich in a crackdown on ​Russian oligarchs following Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, triggering a rushed sale of ​the Premier League club in 2022. Almost four years later, the money remains ⁠frozen in a British bank account because of a dispute over how the money ​would be used. The British government warned Abramovich  last year he must release the cash, or ​he could be taken to court. Abramovich's lawyers at Kobre & Kim said the money from the sale remains "wholly owned" by their client and accused the government of "politically charged and highly publicised statements" on him. They said ​Abramovich remains fully committed to us...

US President Donald Trump has said Iran are "welcome" to take part in this summer's World Cup despite the countries being at war, according to Fifa president Gianni Infantino. Posting on Instagram, Infantino said he met with Trump on Tuesday to discuss preparations for the tournament, which is being hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico and gets under way on 11 June. Infantino said he and Trump "spoke about the current situation in Iran". Iran are scheduled to play three matches in the US, but their participation has been in doubt since the US and Israel launched strikes on the country this month, killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran responded by launching missiles and drones towards Israel and four Gulf Arab countries which host US military bases - Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. "During the discussions, President Trump reiterated that the Iranian team is, of course, welcome to compete in the tournament in the ...

President Donald Trump and his administration have so far offered mixed messages and contradictory explanations on the joint US-Israeli military campaign against Iran. And Monday - the 10th day of an operation that has rattled allies and shaken markets - typified this confusion around the war's timeline and ultimate goals. After a tumultuous morning during which US shares indices dropped and oil prices surged, the American president began speed-dialling reporters in an apparent effort to soothe nerves. His comments, however, were lacking in clarity even when he was pushed for more detail. "I have a plan for everything, OK?" he told a reporter from the New York Post when asked about spiking oil prices. "I have a plan for everything. You'll be very happy." To CBS News, he said the war "is very complete, pretty much". "We're very far ahead of schedule," he added. When asked whether the operation could therefore end soon, Trum...

A woman has been arrested and charged with attempted murder after allegedly firing a gun toward singer Rihanna’s home in Los Angeles on Sunday afternoon, police say. The Los Angeles Police Department told CNN that the shooting incident happened at 1:20 p.m. PT on Sunday. Between five and seven shots were fired, hitting the outside gate to the house but not the house itself, according to the LAPD There were no injuries, although there were people in the house at the time of the incident, police said. A woman in her 30s was “located and taken into custody without further incident,” police added. On Monday, a spokesperson for the LAPD said the suspect, Ivanna Lisette Ortiz, was charged with attempted murder. She is being held on a $10.2 million bail. CNN has reached out to representatives for Rihanna and her partner A$AP Rocky. The best-selling artist and entrepreneur had her third child   just last September, having revealed the pregnancy  at last Ma...

Tehran  – A top Iranian official has warned that the government is prepared for a long war with the US and signaled that it is willing to continue attacking Gulf countries in an effort to persuade them to convince President Donald Trump to step back from  the conflict. The warning came in an exclusive CNN interview in Tehran with Kamal Kharazi, foreign policy adviser to the office of the Supreme Leader, who ruled out diplomacy for now and said the war would only end through economic pain – signaling a hardening of the government’s stance on day 10 of the conflict.   “I don’t see any room for diplomacy anymore. Because Donald Trump had been deceiving others and not keeping with his promises, and we experienced this in two times of negotiations – that while we were engaged in negotiation, they struck us,” Kharazi told CNN on Monday. “There’s no room unless the economic pressure would be built up to the extent that other countries would intervene to guarantee (th...

Camila Cabello  is using her platform to raise awareness for her home country of Cuba .  In a Friday (Feb. 20) post on Instagram , the Fifth Harmony alum shared photos of herself as a young girl living in the Caribbean nation alongside present-day pictures of Cuban citizens protesting conditions under the current government. “There is so much going on here at home and so much I can say about the heartbreaking things the immigrant community is experiencing here in the US,” she wrote. “I also feel a personal responsibility to speak about what’s happening in Cuba, I still have family on the island that we speak to and send medicine, food and clothes to.” “It has been 67 years of a failing dictatorship and an oppressive regime,” Cabello continued. “The Cuban people are suffering in an echo chamber where no one can hear them because to speak is to risk your life. Many people are starving, looking for food in trash heaps, and the only way to survive is having relati...

President Donald Trump said Thursday on social media  he was firing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and would name Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin to replace her. Trump thanked Noem for her service, saying in his Truth Social post she “has had numerous and spectacular results (especially on the Border!)” and that she “will be moving to be Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas, our new Security Initiative in the Western Hemisphere.” He said Mullin would take over the position March 31. Trump loves watching Mullin on TV, aides said, which played a role in the president’s decision to tap him for the position. Trump has called Mullin following combative interviews to praise him and White House staffers have often dispatched the senator to do cable news hits around big moments for the administration. Noem thanked the president in a social media post shortly after the announcement. “The western hemisphere is absolutely critical for U.S. s...

SYDNEY, March 5 (Reuters) - Australia and Canada said on Thursday they had signed new agreements ‌on critical minerals as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney made a landmark address to the Australian parliament, a sign of the developing bond between the "middle powers". Carney is on a multi-leg trip across the Asia-Pacific region also taking in Japan and India. His ​stop in Australia included the first address to Australia's parliament by a Canadian leader since 2007. "In ​a world of great power rivalry, middle powers have a choice: compete for favour ⁠or combine for strength," he told lawmakers. Introducing Carney in parliament, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his address ​represented the closeness of the ties between the two nations. "Australia and Canada are middle powers in a world ​that is changing. We cannot change it back, but we can back ourselves, back our citizens, and back each other," he said. G7 ALLIANCE Albanes...

The US has asked Ukraine for help defending Gulf allies against Iranian drones, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky. He said Ukraine's partners had been reaching out and there had been "requests from the American side". Zelensky said he had given instructions "to provide the necessary means and ensure the presence of Ukrainian specialists who can guarantee the necessary security". Asked about the Ukrainian offer, US President Donald Trump said: "I'll take any assistance from any country." Earlier Zelensky had made clear Ukraine would help on condition that its own defence was not weakened and that there were diplomatic gains for Kyiv. He suggested, in particular, that Ukraine would be willing to swap its interceptor drones for more US Patriot air defences to protect against Russian ballistic missiles. The war in the Middle East has raised fears Ukraine could suffer if its allies are distracted by the conflict. There have also been...