Finance

The Oklahoma City Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander learned a lesson to open the National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals.

“You can’t just throw the first punch,” Gilgeous-Alexander said after Game 2 of the NBA Finals against the visiting Indiana Pacers on Sunday night. “You’ve got to throw all the punches all night.”

Gilgeous-Alexander and the rest of the Thunder threw plenty of haymakers, helping their side to a 123-107 victory to even the series 1-1 going into Wednesday’s Game 3 in Indianapolis.

That was a departure from Game 1 last Thursday, when the Thunder led by 15 in the fourth quarter before Indiana came back to win the game 111-110 on a basket in the final second.

Gilgeous-Alexander led the way on Sunday for Oklahoma City, scoring 34 with eight assists, five rebounds and four steals, and went 11-of-12 on free throws.

There were plenty of areas of improvement from Game 1 for Thunder coach Mark Daigneault to point out after the victory.

Oklahoma City had more success turning Indiana’s turnovers into points at the other end, got better production from Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams, had nearly double the assists after posting a season-low 13 in Game 1, and got an offensive spark off the bench from Alex Caruso and Aaron Wiggins.

Daigneault said none of those alone was the difference-maker, but all came together for a much better result for his team.

“I think we were just a little bit better in a lot of areas,” Daigneault said.

The biggest stretch of the game came in the second quarter, when the Thunder ripped off a 19-2 run fuelled by their defence and Gilgeous-Alexander’s finishes on the other end.

To that point, Oklahoma City’s defence had not forced many turnovers, and it had not taken advantage of the few it had caused.

But during that big run, Gilgeous-Alexander scored seven of Oklahoma City’s last nine points – all off Pacers’ turnovers.

Indiana quickly answered with a 10-0 run to make it 52-39, but never got closer than that 13-point deficit.

The Thunder outscored the Pacers 26-12 in the paint in the first half and, for the series, now lead 88-68 in that category.

“They’re the best team in the league at keeping the ball out of there,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “It’s a tough task.”

In Game 1, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren combined to shoot just 8-of-28 from the floor, with Holmgren going just 2-for-9 with six points.

Holmgren looked much more settled early on in Game 2, hitting five consecutive shots after missing his first of the game.

While Williams was not overly efficient, scoring 19 points on 5-of-14 shooting, he did go 8-for-9 at the free throw line and added five assists.

Holmgren finished with 15 points, while Caruso added 20 and Wiggins 18 off the bench.

Tyrese Haliburton, the star of Game 1 after hitting the winning shot in the final second, led the Pacers with 17 points, though 12 of those came in the final quarter with the game fairly well in hand for Oklahoma City.

Over the first two games of the series, Haliburton is a combined 3-for-9 with nine points before half-time.

“I have to figure out how to be better at the beginning of games,” Haliburton said. “Kudos to them; they are a great defensive team.”

A big part of the Thunder’s defensive success against Haliburton has been thanks to Luguentz Dort. He has spent plenty of time guarding Haliburton but was on the opposite side of the floor for Haliburton’s Game 1 winner.

Dort finished with just three points, though Caruso gave him plenty of credit for the victory.

“He knows the role he needs to play for us to win the series and pick up that trophy at the end,” Caruso said.

Myles Turner added 16 for Indiana, while Pascal Siakam scored 15 points on 3-of-11 shooting.

For the past three decades, Vipan Kumar has been importing Himalayan pink salt from Pakistan to sell in India.

The 50-year-old trader who is based in Amritsar in Punjab, the spiritual hub of Sikhs in India, told Al Jazeera that the recent blanket ban on trade between the two countries following the massacre of 26 people, mostly Indian tourists, at Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir in April has brought that trade to a screeching halt after New Delhi banned imports of all Pakistani goods, including those routed through third countries.

Kumar says he typically sold 2,000 to 2,500 tonnes of pink salt a quarter. “The profit margin is very thin, but still the business is feasible because of the bulk sales. But the ban has completely halted the pink salt business. We don’t know when the situation would turn normal,” he told Al Jazeera.

The Himalayan Pink Salt has a pinkish tint due to a trace of minerals, including iron, and is used in cooking, decorative lamps and spa treatments. Hindus also prefer to use this salt during their religious fasts as it is a non-marine salt.

Mined in Pakistan

The Himalayan pink salt is mined at the Khewra Salt Mine in the Punjab province of Pakistan, the second largest salt mine in the world after Sifto Salt Mine in Ontario, Canada, and located about 250 kilometres (155 miles) from the city of Lahore, which also at times lends its name to the pink salt – Lahori namak, which is Hindi for salt.

The salt mine contains about 82 million metric tonnes of salt, and 0.36 million metric tonnes is extracted every year. About 70 percent of the salt is used for industrial purposes, and the rest for edible use.

“The mine is very scenic and attracts several thousand tourists every year,” Fahad Ali, a journalist who lives close to the mine, told Al Jazeera.

It has approximately 30 salt processing units where the huge rock salt boulders are hand-mined and loaded on trucks before being dispatched, he said.

The salt is exported in a raw form to India, where importers process, grind and pack it for sale.

Prices swell

India mostly depends on Pakistan for this pink salt.

But after the Pahalgam massacre, India announced an end to all trade with Pakistan, which reciprocated the ban. The halt in trade was one of a series of diplomatic and economic tit-for-tat measures the neighbours took against each other before engaging in an intense four-day exchange of missiles and drones that took them to the cusp of a full-fledged war. On May 10, they stepped back from the brink, agreeing to a truce. However, the trade ban remains in place.

Salt traders in India told Al Jazeera that the current pause in imports has started to hamper their business as prices are starting to rise.

“It has been barely over a month since the announcement of the ban, and prices have already gone up,” said Gurveen Singh, an Amritsar-based trader, who blamed traders with existing stocks for selling them at higher prices.

“The salt which was sold in the retail market for 45 rupees to 50 rupees per kilogramme [$0.53-$0.58] before the ban is now being sold for at least 60 rupees per kilogramme [$0.70],” Singh said.

In some places, the price is even higher. In Kolkata this week, pink salt was being sold in markets for between 70 rupees and 80 rupees per kilogramme [$0.82-$0.93].

“We have no idea when the situation would return to normal. There would be complete crisis once the stocks get exhausted,” he said.

The rates, however, go up even more on the other side of India in the east due to the transportation cost incurred to send the salt from Amritsar.

Traders in Kolkata told Al Jazeera that the prices of the salt have gone up by 15-20 percent in the city, but that has not hampered demand as yet.

“The Himalayan rock salt remains in huge demand across the year, especially during festivals when people remain on fast and prefer the pink salt over the marine salt that is produced in India,” said Sanjay Agarwal, a manager in a private firm that deals in pink salt.

Dinobondhu Mukherjee, a salt trader in Kolkata, said that the government should look for an alternative country to procure this salt. “The relations between the two countries are usually strained, and that affects the trade. Our government should look for alternative countries to procure the salt so that the supply chain is never disrupted,” Mukherjee told Al Jazeera.

Pakistani exporters, however, said that the Indian ban would have a “positive impact” on their trade. Indian traders, they said, brand their salt as their own to sell in the international market at higher prices.

“The recent ban would help us to expand further as it would wipe off the competition from India,” Faizan Panjwani, chief operating officer of Karachi-based RM Salt, told Al Jazeera.

“Undoubtedly, India is a big market and has a lot of potential, but we want to send the salt by doing value addition and not in raw form. Our salt is already in huge demand globally,” he said.

Trade decline

Trade between the two countries has been decreasing since the 2019 attack on security forces in Pulwama in Indian-administered Kashmir in which 40 security personnel were killed. In response, India revoked the non-discriminatory market status – better known as Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status – that it had granted to Pakistan. It also imposed heavy tariffs of 200 percent on imports from Pakistan.

According to India’s Ministry of Commerce, the country’s exports to Pakistan from April 2024 to January 2025 stood at $447.7m, while Pakistan’s exports to India during the same period were a paltry $420,000.

In 2024, India imported about 642 metric tonnes of pink salt, which was far lower than the 74,457 metric tonnes imported in 2018 – largely as a result of the high tariffs.

Prior to the latest ban, India’s major exports to Pakistan included cotton, organic chemicals, spices, food products, pharmaceuticals, plastic articles, and dairy products. India normally imports copper articles, raw cotton, fruits, salt, minerals and some speciality chemicals from Pakistan.

“The implementation of the heavy duty had raised the import price of the salt from 3.50 rupees [$0.041] per kilogramme to 24.50 rupees [$0.29] per kilogramme in 2019, even though the salt was being routed from the third country like Dubai,” trader Kumar told Al Jazeera.

“Still, it had not impacted our business as the demand was too high, and buyers were ready to pay the price. But the government, this time, has also prohibited the entry of Pakistani goods from any third country, which has brought the supply to a complete standstill,” he said.

One unusual industry that is being hurt by the ban – lamps made from the Himalayan pink rock salt that are used as decorative lights and even tout unproven claims of being air purifiers.

“We have to look for an alternative country if the supply of rock salt doesn’t come from Pakistan,” said Global Aroma founder Deep, who uses a single name. “The prices of the lamps had already increased after the imposition of a 200 percent tariff in 2019, and the procurement from any other country will lead to further escalation of cost.”

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports one dead and two others wounded in the Israeli attack on a vehicle.

The Israeli army has again bombed Syria, claiming it killed a Hamas member during an air strike in the south of the country, in the latest in its series of attacks on Syria in the wake of former President Bashar al-Assad’s ouster last December.

In a statement on Telegram on Sunday morning, the Israeli army said it had struck the alleged Hamas member in the Mazraat Beit Jin area.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that one person was killed and two others were wounded in the Israeli attack targeting a vehicle in the town near the United Nations-patrolled buffer zone.

Hamas has not yet commented on the death of the alleged member.

The observatory says Israel has carried out 61 attacks – 51 by air and 10 by ground – in Syria so far this year.

Two rockets launched from Syria targeted Israel earlier this week, a first since the fall of al-Assad.

Two groups claimed responsibility for the attack.

The first group, named the “Martyr Mohammed Deif Brigades”, is a little-known group named after the Hamas military commander who was killed last year. A second little-known group, the “Islamic Resistance Front in Syria”, called for action against Israel from southern Syria a few months ago.

Israel struck southern Syria shortly afterwards, with Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz saying that he was holding Syria “directly responsible”.

Syria’s Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani condemned Israel’s attacks and called them “coordinated provocations aimed at undermining Syria’s progress and stability”.

“These actions create an opening for outlawed groups to exploit the resulting chaos,” he said, adding, “Syria has made its intentions clear: we are not seeking war, but rather reconstruction”.

Syria and Israel had recently engaged in indirect talks to ease tensions, a significant development in relations between states that have been on opposite sides of conflicts in the Middle East for decades.

But Israel has relentlessly waged a campaign of aerial bombardment that has destroyed much of Syria’s military infrastructure. It has occupied the Syrian Golan Heights since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and taken more territory in the aftermath of al-Assad’s removal, citing lingering concerns over the country’s new government led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who it dismisses as a “jihadist.”

Syria’s new government has taken several major steps towards international acceptance after the United States and European Union lifted sanctions on the country last month, giving a nation devastated by nearly 14 years of civil war a lifeline to recovery.

Intelligence Minister Khatib says Tehran having ‘thousands of documents’ will be an understatement.

Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib has said sensitive Israeli documents related to its nuclear facilities, its relationship with the United States, Europe and other countries, as well as its defensive capabilities, will be unveiled soon.

Khatib told state TV on Sunday that the documents obtained by Tehran were a “treasure trove” capable of strengthening the nation’s offensive posture, but he did not provide any immediate evidence.

The Israeli government, which has never revealed details about its nuclear arsenal, said to comprise substantial atomic weapons, making it the only country in the Middle East with nuclear bombs, has not yet commented on the report of the leaked documents.

However, there have been arrests of Israelis allegedly spying for Tehran amid its war in Gaza. It was not clear if the materials were connected to a reported hacking of an Israeli nuclear research centre last year.

“The transfer of this treasure trove was time-consuming and required security measures. Naturally, the transfer methods will remain confidential, but the documents should be unveiled soon,” Khatib said.

He described the volume, saying, “Talking of thousands of documents would be an understatement.”

“The sheer volume of the materials and the need to securely transfer the entire shipment into the country necessitated a period of media silence,” state broadcaster IRIB reported, citing sources, and adding that the documents had reached “secure locations”.

Nuclear capabilities and negotiations

The latest development comes as part of a broader campaign of covert operations that Iran and Israel have waged against each other for years.

While Tehran has accused Israel of assassinating its nuclear scientists, Israel has blamed Iran for supporting armed groups across the region that target its interests.

Iran and Israel exchanged limited strikes in April 2024 after Iran retaliated for Israel’s bombing of its embassy in Syria’s Damascus, but a war was avoided. The US recently told Israel to stand down on any plans to attack Iranian nuclear sites as negotiations between Washington and Tehran are ongoing.

There is also a sharp focus on Iran’s nuclear programme following a report last week by the United Nations nuclear watchdog that said Tehran had carried out secret nuclear activities. Iran will likely face censure this week from the Board of Governors at the International Atomic Energy Agency over these questions about its programme.

While Iran has denied wanting to create or have nuclear weapons, it has insisted that it intends to develop nuclear technology for peaceful, civilian purposes.

That is a key sticking point in the concurrent Iran-US indirect talks, several rounds of which have been held in Oman and Italy about a possible nuclear deal aimed at resolving a decades-long dispute over its nuclear ambitions.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that the current US proposal to abandon Iran’s uranium enrichment programme was “100 percent against our interests”.

“The rude and arrogant leaders of America repeatedly demand that we should not have a nuclear programme. Who are you to decide whether Iran should have enrichment?” he said, without mentioning stopping the ongoing talks.

Iran’s parliament speaker said on Sunday that the latest US proposal for a nuclear deal does not include the lifting of sanctions, state media reported, suggesting negotiations may have hit an impasse.

United States President Donald Trump has ordered the deployment of 2,000 members of the National Guard to Los Angeles County to quell protests against coordinated immigration raids, bypassing the authority of the governor of California.

The extraordinary development came on Saturday, the second day of protests, amid clashes between law enforcement officers and demonstrators in the city.

The Los Angeles Police Department said Saturday’s demonstrations were peaceful and that “the day concluded without incident”. But in the two cities south of Los Angeles, Compton and Paramount, street battles broke out between protesters and police who used tear gas and flashbangs to disperse the crowds.

Local authorities did not request federal assistance. On the contrary, California Governor Gavin Newsom called Trump’s decision to call in National Guard troops “purposefully inflammatory”.

He accused the Trump administration of ordering the deployment “not because there is a shortage of law enforcement, but because they want a spectacle”.

How did it start?

It all started on Friday, when law enforcement officials in full riot gear descended on Los Angeles, rounding up day labourers at a building supply shop.

The raids, part of a military-style operation, signalled a step up in the Trump administration’s use of force in its crackdown against undocumented immigrants. The arrests were carried out without judicial warrants, according to multiple legal observers and the American Civil Liberties Union.

The Department of Homeland Security said more than 100 undocumented immigrants have been arrested in two days of raids across southern California.

After word spread through southern Los Angeles of immigration agents arresting people, residents came out to show their outrage, and a police crackdown followed.

What is the National Guard?

It is made up of part-time soldiers who can be used at the state and federal levels. Under the authority of state governors, National Guard troops can be deployed to respond to emergencies, such as the COVID pandemic, hurricanes and other natural disasters. It can also be used to tackle social unrest when local police are overwhelmed.

During times of war or national emergencies, the federal government can order a deployment for military service – that is, when the National Guard is federalised and serves under the control of the president.

Can the president deploy the National Guard in a state?

The president can federalise, or take control of, the National Guard in very specific cases.

The main legal mechanism that a president can use to send military forces is the Insurrection Act to suppress insurrections, rebellions, and civil disorder within the country. If certain conditions are met, the president can send in the National Guard, bypassing the authority of the governor, though that is rare and politically sensitive.

Following the breakout of protests in Los Angeles, Trump did not invoke the Insurrection Act, but rather a specific provision of the US Code on Armed Services. It says National Guard troops can be placed under federal command when “there is a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority” of the US.

But the law also says “orders for these purposes shall be issued through the governors” of the states, making it not clear whether Trump had the legal authority to bypass Newsom.

Trump’s directive ordering the deployment of troops said “protests or acts of violence” directly inhibiting the execution of the laws would “constitute a form of rebellion” against the government.

According to Robert Patillo, a civil and human rights lawyer, Trump’s order will likely face legal challenges.

“Normally, federal troops are going to be used inside states at the invitation of the governor of that state,” he told Al Jazeera, citing the 1992 riots in Los Angeles, which were put down by federal troops invited by Pete Wilson, then-governor of California.

“But if the governor, such as Gavin Newsom, has not asked for federal troops to come in, and these troops are coming in against his will, then there will be challenges … and this will have to go to the Supreme Court in order to determine who has a legal right to deploy those troops,” Patillo said.

Is it the first time Trump has activated the National Guard?

In 2020, Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act to respond to the protests that followed the killing by a Minneapolis police officer of George Floyd. Then-Secretary of Defense Mark Esper pushed back, saying active-duty troops in a law enforcement role should be used “only in the most urgent and dire of situations”.

Finally, Trump did not invoke the Insurrection Act and asked governors of several states to deploy their National Guard troops to Washington, DC. Those who refused to send them were allowed to do so.

But this time around, Trump has already signalled his unwillingness to hold back on calling in troops. When on the campaign trail in 2023, Trump told supporters in Iowa that he would not be waiting for a governor to be asked to send in troops as during his first term.

“The next time, I’m not waiting,” he said.

A new-look FIFA Club World Cup, featuring 32 teams, kicks off in the United States on June 14 and runs through to the final on July 13.

In advance of the tournament, Al Jazeera takes a look at the top five talking points:

1. Cramped schedule raises concerns over player welfare

FIFA’s decision to expand the Club World Cup from a six- or eight-team tournament to a supersized 32-team edition has been criticised by FIFPRO, the global football players’ union, and the World Leagues Forum (WLF).

Legitimate questions have been raised about the extra workload on players due to the increased number of matches, and the corresponding reduction in rest and recovery time for players in a shortened off season.

“The FIFA Council’s decision to schedule the first edition of the 32-team FIFA Club World Cup between 15 June and 13 July 2025 without implementing further player workload safeguards demonstrates a lack of consideration for the mental and physical health of participating players, as well as a disregard for their personal and family lives,” FIFPRO said in a statement in December.

A report released by FIFPRO and Football Benchmark in April found that several Club World Cup-bound players are among the most overworked for the 2024-25 season.

The report’s findings estimated that Real Madrid’s Federico Valverde, who made 43 back-to-back appearances up until April 1 with fewer than five days of recovery time before these matches, could potentially reach 65 back-to-back appearances for club and country by the end of the season, racking up close to 7,000 minutes and 78 games.

The WLF, an organisation representing 44 major professional leagues that is chaired by Premier League chief Richard Masters, said the organisation was unhappy that it had been overlooked in FIFA’s decision-making process.

According to the Reuters news agency, Masters accused FIFA of prioritising its own commercial interests, adding that the June-July schedule would affect player availability for national leagues at the start of the season in August.

2. Will the matches be competitive?

While the expansion of the Club World Cup to 32 sides allows more teams a chance at testing themselves against some of the biggest names in global club football, it also raises questions about the competitiveness of the tournament.

With every group having at least two clubs from Europe or South America, teams from the other continental confederations, such as Asia or Africa, could find themselves having very little chance of glory against the heavyweights of the game.

For example, in Group G, Moroccan side Wydad AC and UAE Pro League Al Ain are pitted against Manchester City and Juventus, who have been supremely successful on the domestic and continental stage.

Teams from the European confederation (UEFA) have historically dominated the Club World Cup, winning 16 of the 20 editions played to date. The remaining four have all been won by clubs from the South American confederation (CONMEBOL).

So, history suggests that the presence of European or South American sides could lead to lopsided matchups in this year’s edition.

3. Where are the superstars and superteams?

While Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe will play at the tournament, fans will be denied an opportunity to watch many of the elite performers from the 2024-25 season, such as Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah, the Premier League’s Golden Boot winner, or teenage prodigy Lamine Yamal, who won three trophies this year with Barcelona.

Salah created history as the first player in Premier League history to finish a season with the most goals and assists as well as win the Player of the Season award. But one of the most in-form forwards in the world will not be among the players in the US as Liverpool could not qualify for the tournament, with Manchester City and Chelsea earning spots from the English quota.

Further confusing the selection of teams was FIFA’s abrupt decision to give the host nation a spot and award it to Inter Miami, underlining the opaque nature of the qualifying criteria for the tournament which won’t feature Liverpool, Barcelona or Napoli, who have all just been crowned champions in three of the most prestigious leagues in Europe.

Inter Miami gained entry by topping Major League Soccer’s regular season standings, despite losing in the first round of the playoffs – a decision critics say shows FIFA’s desperation to have Inter’s Argentina great Messi at their inaugural showpiece.

Apart from the winners of each confederation’s premier club competitions, teams qualified according to a ranking based on their performances over a four-year period. Barcelona, the current La Liga champions, missed out on a spot due to the four-year club coefficient rankings and two-team restrictions, as their archrivals Real Madrid qualified for the Club World Cup alongside Atletico Madrid.

The Catalan giants, fielding some of the most exhilarating footballers on the planet, such as 17-year-old wonderkid Yamal or the goal-scoring genius of Raphinha, are a huge omission from the club-based tournament.

Prodigious talents like Romelu Lukaku and Scott McTominay, who ushered Napoli’s stunning 2024-25 Serie A title charge in Italy, will also not play.

4. Introduction of a special transfer window

In the build-up to the tournament, FIFA announced the creation of a special transfer window, allowing participating clubs to make last-minute transfers before their teams board the flight to the US.

FIFA has said signings can be made from June 1 to June 10 as well as June 27 to July 3, explaining that the objective of the latter window is to encourage clubs and players whose contracts are expiring “to find an appropriate solution to facilitate the players’ participation”.

The introduction of this transfer window is unique as signings usually either take place in the close season or the middle of the season, known as the summer and winter windows for European clubs.

FIFA’s move has led to speculation that Cristiano Ronaldo could be one of those players to put pen to paper during the window on a short-term deal for one of the participating clubs. Spanish newspaper Marca reported in late May that a club in Brazil had submitted an offer to sign Ronaldo. Botafogo – one of four Brazilian clubs competing at the tournament – have been linked with the veteran forward.

Ronaldo, 40, has hinted he could leave Al Nassr after declaring that a “chapter is over” hours after the Saudi Pro League finished. Al Nassr have not qualified for the Club World Cup, unlike fellow Saudi side Al Hilal, and FIFA President Gianni Infantino recently said “there are discussions” over Ronaldo playing at the Club World Cup.

The Portugal star confirmed on Saturday that he had received “quite a few” offers from participating clubs to play for them at the tournament, but had decided against accepting any.

Should a Ronaldo transfer ultimately occur, the Club World Cup could see Messi and Ronaldo face-off in the US market, greatly boosting media interest, ticket sales, TV viewership figures, and enhancing the overall appeal of the tournament. The duo, who are arguably the greatest players of their generation, last played in the same competition at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

A club which has already benefitted from this special transfer window is Real Madrid, which was able to reach an agreement with Liverpool to sign defender Trent Alexander-Arnold early and make him available for the tournament.

The right back was scheduled to join the Spanish giants on a six-year deal as a free agent after his Liverpool contract expired on June 30, but according to The Athletic, Real paid Liverpool 10 million euros ($11.4m) to fast-track the process and get him on board for the Club World Cup.

5. Dress rehearsal for next year’s FIFA World Cup

Fans in the US will get a glimpse of what the 2026 FIFA World Cup on home soil will look like when they attend the Club World Cup matches this year.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be co-hosted by the US alongside Canada and Mexico, running for more than a month with 100+ matches.

Among the 12 stadiums that will host the new-look Club World Cup, some have also been chosen as venues for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will have 48 participants for the first time.

MetLife Stadium, an 82,500-seater in New Jersey, will host the semifinals and the final of the Club World Cup as well as the final of next year’s prestigious World Cup.

Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field, Seattle’s Lumen Field and Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium are the other venues which will be involved in both tournaments.

The venues, though, might not be filled to their full capacity as organisers have struggled to sell tickets, with club fan tickets, general public tickets, and hospitality sections all still up for sale on the official FIFA site, nearly two weeks out from the start of the event.

Prince, also known by his recording name Dellyswagz, heard about the choir through a friend who was a member when he first moved to Venice in 2017. He was a singer in Nigeria, and his friend told him it was a good community, that they could help him get settled. When he first arrived, they gave him clothes, helped him find work and provided him with legal assistance to begin the process of getting a visa.

He is now 38, soft-spoken, but when he sings, he sways with feeling, and belting the lyrics, his voice strains and nearly breaks. He dresses in blue-tinted sunglasses, a black leather newsboy cap and a full denim outfit. “Like a king,” he says, smiling.

Shortly after he was born, his parents split up, and his primary caregiver was his mother’s father, who he was very close to. When his grandfather died in 2011, Prince no longer had ties to the Lagos suburb where he grew up and in 2015 decided to cross the Sahara and the Mediterranean in search of a better life.

“Growing up a boy, your mom have to really pray a lot for you,” he explains. “Either you become a thug or a mafia.”

He lives in a shared apartment in Padua, 40km (25 miles) outside Venice, where he moved after losing his job in a factory and being evicted because he didn’t have his papers yet. His bedroom doubles as his recording studio, where on a cluttered desk with a large monitor, he is recording and producing Afrobeats songs for his first album.

In Nigeria, he was a professional dance teacher, by most accounts successful, yet he felt there was no future there. Friends and family had already left, including his father, who lived in the United Kingdom, yet he didn’t consider leaving until his uncle, who was living in Austria, called and suggested he make the trip with his uncle’s wife and three cousins. Prince gave away his speakers, clothes and sneakers to his students. Along with his family, he saved up thousands of dollars. He brought nothing with him and told his parents he’d already made up his mind.

“The journey was deadly,” he says with a serious expression. “My story comes with a lot of pain and loss.”

The first three weeks were spent on a large open-backed truck packed with dozens of people. They drove across the Sahara and slept on the sand each night. Some had to drink their own urine, he recounts, because they hadn’t brought enough water, and along the way, he saw bodies left in the sand. “I can’t count how many we buried,” he says without emotion, referring to the people who died on the journey. “We used sand to cover them up. There’s no details of a name or family to call.”

From Libya, he and his family members tried to cross the Mediterranean by boat eight times. The entire journey to Italy took him two years. Once, they were kidnapped by pirates when they were on a boat and released two months later after paying a ransom. Another time, he was held in a Libyan prison for four months. At one point, they ran out of money, and he worked as a security guard for seven months in a compound holding refugees and migrants.

Then, in October 2016, he and his family members tried to cross the Mediterranean again. They crowded onto a wooden boat with more than 200 passengers on board. In the middle of the night, water began to enter the boat, and it started to sink. As it capsized, people fell into the water. Prince jumped in to save his cousins. The sea was freezing, and everyone was shouting and screaming around him, and he remembers the dark water lit by stars. By the time he located his 14-year-old cousin Sandra, it was too late. She had drowned because she didn’t know how to swim.

He held her lifeless body floating on his chest with a life vest propped behind his neck for what he estimates was 25 hours before he and other survivors, including the rest of his family, were rescued by fishermen and brought back to Libya.

“I didn’t even know I was rescued because I was so tired,” he says. “My eyes were just seeing white. I wasn’t seeing any more because of the sea, the salt. I was so tired.” Prince and his family were never able to bury Sandra because he says her body was stolen by people smugglers.

In Libya, a fisherman from The Gambia taught him how to use a compass, and on his final voyage, he was the navigator, telling the boat captain in which direction to steer. Their boat was intercepted by a rescue boat off the coast of Lampedusa. “The journey is not something I would wish upon my worst enemy,” he says, shaking his head. The rest of his family, who had gone ahead separately, went to different parts of Italy and Austria.

Prince tried to live with his sister-in-law in Austria, but when the authorities threatened to deport him, he was brought back to Italy, where his asylum case was pending. His flight landed him in Venice. He doesn’t know why.

Life in Italy has been hard, he says. His father had warned him about living as an immigrant, telling him before he left, “It’s better to be a free man in your own country than a slave abroad.” Prince is starting to agree with him. When he was evicted from his apartment, he was homeless for seven months, sleeping on friends’ couches and in a garage.

For him, there’s nothing special to Venice. “All I do is go to work and come home, go to work, come home,” he says. If he could do it all again, he says, he would have stayed in Nigeria.

These days, he has a new job, but it is an exhausting night shift with a long commute that cuts into the time he has to make music. To save money, he has learned to subsist on one meal a day and has stopped painting, another favourite hobby. The choir is the only time he enjoys himself. “When I’m singing with them, I’m always smiling,” he says, “because that’s the only time I can be myself.”

Federal agents have fired flashbangs and tear gas towards crowds angered by the arrests of dozens of migrants in Los Angeles, United States, a city with a large Latino population.

The Department for Homeland Security said Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in Los Angeles this week had led to the arrest of “118 aliens, including five gang members”.

The standoff came on Saturday in the suburb of Paramount, where demonstrators gathered outside a reported federal facility, which the local mayor said was being used as a staging post by agents.

On Friday, masked and armed immigration agents carried out high-profile workplace raids across different parts of Los Angeles, drawing angry crowds and causing hours-long standoffs.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass acknowledged that some residents were “feeling fear” following the federal actions.

“Everyone has the right to peacefully protest, but let me be clear: violence and destruction are unacceptable, and those responsible will be held accountable,” she said on X.

FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said multiple arrests had been made after Friday’s clashes.

“You bring chaos, and we’ll bring handcuffs. Law and order will prevail,” he said on X.

The White House has taken a firm stance against the protests, with deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller describing them as “an insurrection against the laws and sovereignty of the United States”.

Italians are voting in referendums on easing citizenship rules and strengthening labour protections amid concerns that low turnout may deem the poll invalid.

Voting began on Sunday and will continue through Monday.

The citizenship question on the ballot paper asks Italians if they back reducing the period of residence required to apply for Italian citizenship by naturalisation to five years.

A resident from a non-European Union country, without marriage or blood ties to Italy, must currently live in the country for 10 years before they can apply for citizenship, a process that can then take years.

Supporters say the reform could affect about 2.5 million foreign nationals living in the country and would bring Italy’s citizenship law in line with many other European nations, including Germany and France.

The measures were proposed by Italy’s main union and left-wing opposition parties.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has said she would show up at the polls but not cast a ballot. The left has criticised the action as antidemocratic, since it would not help reach the necessary turnout threshold of 50 percent plus one of eligible voters to make the vote valid.

Meloni, whose far-right Brothers of Italy party has prioritised cutting undocumented immigration even while increasing the number of work visas for migrants, is strongly against it.

She said on Thursday that the current system “is an excellent law, among the most open, in the sense that we have for years been among the European nations that grant the highest number of citizenships each year”.

More than 213,500 people acquired Italian citizenship in 2023, double the number in 2020 and one-fifth of the EU total, according to statistics.

More than 90 percent were from outside the EU, mostly from Albania and Morocco, as well as Argentina and Brazil – two countries with large Italian immigrant communities.

Even if the proposed reform passes, it will not affect the migration law many consider the most unfair – that children born in Italy to foreign parents cannot request nationality until they reach 18.

Italian singer Ghali, who was born in Milan to Tunisian parents and has been an outspoken advocate for changing the law for children, urged his fans to back the proposal as a step in the right direction.

“I was born here, I always lived here, but I only received citizenship at the age of 18,” Ghali said on Instagram. “With a ‘Yes’ we ask that five years of life here are enough, not 10, to be part of this country”.

Michelle Ngonmo, a cultural entrepreneur and advocate for diversity in the fashion industry, also urged a “yes” vote.

“This referendum is really about dignity and the right to belong, which is key for many people who were born here and spent most of their adult life contributing to Italian society. For them, a lack of citizenship is like an invisible wall,” said Ngonmo, who has lived most of her life in Italy after moving as a child from Cameroon.

“You are good enough to work and pay taxes, but not to be fully recognised as Italian. This becomes a handicap for young generations, particularly in the creative field, creating frustration, exclusion and a big waste of potential,” she told the Associated Press news agency.

The other four measures on the ballot deal with the labour law, including better protections against dismissal, higher severance payments, the conversion of fixed-term contracts into permanent ones and liability in cases of workplace accidents.

Opinion polls published in mid-May showed that only 46 percent of Italians were aware of the issues driving the referendums. Turnout projections were even weaker, at about 35 percent of more than 51 million voters, well below the required quorum.

Many of the 78 referendums held in Italy in the past have failed due to low turnout.

Polling stations opened on Sunday at 7am local time (05:00 GMT), with results expected after polls close on Monday at 3pm (13:00 GMT).

The senator’s wife says he ‘is fighting for his life’ after being shot at a campaign event in Bogota.

Colombian Senator Miguel Uribe, a possible candidate in the country’s presidential election next year, has been shot and wounded in the country’s capital, Bogota, according to authorities.

The 39-year-old senator, who was shot on Saturday during a campaign event as part of his run for the presidency in 2026, is now “fighting for his life”, his wife, Maria Claudia Tarazona, said on X.

Uribe is a member of the opposition conservative Democratic Center party, founded by former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.

The two men are not related.

The Democratic Center party released a statement calling the shooting “an unacceptable act of violence”.

It said the senator was hosting a campaign event in a public park in the Fontibon neighbourhood in the capital when “armed subjects” shot him from behind.

It described the attack as serious, but did not disclose further details on Uribe’s condition.

A medical report from the Santa Fe Foundation hospital said the senator was admitted in critical condition and is undergoing a “neurosurgical and peripheral vascular procedure”.

Videos on social media showed a man, identified as Uribe, being tended to after the shooting. He appeared to be bleeding from his head.

Colombia’s Attorney General’s Office, which is investigating the shooting, said the senator received two gunshot wounds in the attack, which wounded two others. The statement from the office said a 15-year-old boy was arrested at the scene with a firearm.

The government said it is offering some $730,000 as a reward for information in the case.

Colombia’s presidency issued a statement saying the government “categorically and forcefully” rejected the violent attack, and called for a thorough investigation into the events that took place.

Leftist President Gustavo Petro sympathised with the senator’s family in a message on X, and said: “Respect life, that’s the red line… My solidarity with the Uribe family and the Turbay family. I don’t know how to ease their pain.”

In a speech on Saturday night, Petro said that the investigation would focus on finding who had ordered the attack.

“For now, there is nothing more than hypotheses,” Petro said, adding that failures in security protocols would also be looked into.

United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement that the US “condemns in the strongest possible terms the attempted assassination” of Uribe, blaming Petro’s “inflammatory rhetoric” for the violence.

Reactions poured in from around Latin America. Chilean President Gabriel Boric said that “there is no room or justification for violence in a democracy”. And Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa said, “We condemn all forms of violence and intolerance.”

Both presidents offered solidarity to the senator’s family.

In Colombia, former President Uribe said that “they attacked the hope of the country, a great husband, father, son, brother, a great colleague”.

Uribe, who is not yet an official presidential candidate for his party, is from a prominent family in Colombia.

His father was a businessman and union leader. His mother, journalist Diana Turbay, was kidnapped in 1990 by an armed group under the command of the late cartel leader Pablo Escobar.

She was killed during a rescue operation in 1991.

Colombia has for decades been embroiled in a conflict between leftist rebels, criminal groups descended from right-wing paramilitaries, and the government.

DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,

White House says the US president is deploying 2,000 guardsmen to address ‘lawlessness’ as protests against immigration raids continue.

United States President Donald Trump is deploying 2,000 National Guard troops to the city of Los Angeles, where a continued immigration crackdown has led to protests and clashes between authorities and demonstrators.

The White House said in a statement on Saturday that Trump was deploying the Guardsmen to “address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester” in California.

California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, objected to the move and said in a post on X that the move from the Republican president was “purposefully inflammatory and will only escalate tensions”.

More soon…

Israeli raids across Gaza have killed at least 75 Palestinians, with rescuers scrambling to find dozens of bodies under the rubble after the bombing of a residential building in Gaza City described by the enclave’s civil defence as a “full-fledged massacre”.

Palestinian Civil Defence spokesperson Mahmoud Basel told Al Jazeera that the military gave “no warning, no alert” before Saturday’s strike on the house in the Sabra neighbourhood of Gaza City that left at least 16 people dead, including women and children.

“This is truly a full-fledged massacre … a building full of civilians,” said Basel, who added that approximately 85 people were believed to be trapped under the rubble.

“We woke up to the strikes, destruction, yelling, rocks hitting us,” said Hamed Keheel, a displaced Palestinian at the site, noting that the attack had taken place on the second day of the Eid al-Adha festival.

“This is the occupation,” he said. “Instead of waking up to cheer our children and dress them up to enjoy Eid, we wake up to carry women and children’s bodies from under rubble.”

Local resident Hassan Alkhor told Al Jazeera that the building belonged to the Abu Sharia family. “May God hold the Israeli forces and [Israeli Prime Minister] Netanyahu accountable,” he said.

The Israeli military said afterwards that it had killed Asaad Abu Sharia, the leader of the Mujahideen Brigades, who it claimed had participated in the October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel in 2023, according to a report in the Times of Israel published Saturday.

Hamas confirmed the killing in a statement shared on Telegram, saying that Abu Sharia’s brother, Ahmed Abu Sharia, had also been assassinated in the attack, which it said was “part of a series of brutal massacres against civilians”.

‘A handful of rice for our starving children’

Also on Saturday, Israeli forces killed at least eight Palestinians waiting near an aid distribution site run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) in southern Gaza’s Rafah, the latest in a series of deadly incidents around the group’s operations that have killed 118 people and left others missing in less than two weeks.

Gaza resident Samir Abu Hadid told the AFP news agency that thousands of people had gathered at the al-Alam roundabout near the aid site.

“As soon as some people tried to advance towards the aid centre, the Israeli [forces] opened fire from armoured vehicles stationed near the centre, firing into the air and then at civilians,” Abu Hadid said.

One woman told Al Jazeera her husband had been killed in the attack after going to the aid point to get “a handful of rice for our starving children”.

“He said he felt he was walking towards death, I begged him not to leave. He insisted to find anything to feed our children,” she said.

The GHF, a shadowy United States-backed private group engaged by Israel to distribute aid under the protection of its troops and security contractors, began operations in late May, replacing existing networks run by the United Nations and charities that have worked for decades.

Critics say the group does not abide by humanitarian principles of neutrality, claiming that its operations weaponise aid, serving Israel’s stated aims of ethnically cleansing large swaths of Gaza and controlling the entire enclave.

GHF said on Saturday that it was unable to distribute any humanitarian relief because Hamas issued “direct threats” against its operations. “These threats made it impossible to proceed today without putting innocent lives at risk,” it said in a statement. Hamas told the Reuters news agency that it had no knowledge of these “alleged threats”.

The United Nations, which has refused to cooperate with the GHF, has warned that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade, with the rate of young children suffering from acute malnutrition nearly tripling.

‘Lost future generation’

As Israel continued its attacks amid the looming famine, it emerged that health authorities had recorded more than 300 miscarriages over an 80-day period in the enclave.

Expectant mothers face an increased risk of miscarriage and premature births, with basic medical supplies such as iron supplements and prenatal vitamins impossible to obtain.

Brenda Kelly, a consultant obstetrician at Oxford University Hospital, told Al Jazeera that Gaza was “losing a future generation of children”, alluding to a “staggering rise” in stillbirths, miscarriages and pre-term births.

“What we’re seeing now is the direct fallout of Israel’s weaponising of hunger in Gaza – impacting babies’ growth and growth restriction is one of the leading causes of miscarriages and stillbirth,” she said.

Severe malnutrition among pregnant women is compounded by severe stress and psychological trauma, as well as repeated displacement and a lack of safe shelter, she said.

Those babies that do survive face heightened health risks. “We know that famine experienced in-utero has lifelong consequences for children who then go into adulthood with much higher risks of cardiovascular disease and diabetes, as well as mental health disorders,” she said.

Defending champions Spain face 2019 winners, and Iberian rivals, Portugal in Sunday’s Nations League final in Munich.

Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo acknowledged that he was “another generation” to Spain starlet Lamine Yamal but said Sunday’s Nations League final was more than just a battle between the duo.

The final in Munich has been framed as a showdown between veteran Ronaldo, 40, one of the game’s biggest names, and 17-year-old Yamal, the most exciting young talent in world football.

Ronaldo scored the winner to send Portugal past Germany into the final, and Yamal was named man-of-the-match after bagging a brace in Spain’s wild 5-4 semifinal win over France.

Ronaldo, however, said the focus on the two individuals was overblown, calling Spain “maybe the best national team in the world”.

“There are different generations, one is coming in and another is exiting the stage. If you want to see me as another generation, then that’s OK.

“When you talk about a clash between Cristiano and someone else, that’s not how it works. The media always try to hype things up, which is a normal thing, but it’s one team versus another team.”

“You’ve been talking about Lamine a lot and you’re right to do so because he’s very good,” Ronaldo told journalists, adding, “but I’d like to talk about the team.

“They’ve got Nico Williams, great midfielders like Pedri and their coach [Luis] de la Fuente is very good, very strong, very disciplined.”

Portugal last beat their Iberian neighbours in a competitive fixture 21 years ago, in a match which Ronaldo started.

Like Yamal, Ronaldo burst onto the scene at a young age.

Aged just 18, Ronaldo impressed so much for boyhood side Sporting in a 3-1 win over Manchester United in a friendly in Lisbon that the English club decided to buy him, bringing him to Old Trafford less than a week later.

Like a young Ronaldo, Yamal has consistently impressed since bursting onto the scene, winning a league and cup double with Barcelona this season after lifting the Euro 2024 title in Germany last year.

The Portuguese veteran asked the media to allow the teenager to grow and improve without pressure, reminding them the Spanish star “with funny hair” was just “three years older than my son”.

“The kid has been doing very well, but what I ask is for you to let him grow, not put him under pressure. For the good of football, we need to let him grow in his own way and enjoy the talent he has.”

Spain coach Luis de la Fuente said Yamal was “only 17, but very mature for his age. Well-prepared, intelligent – he lives life as if it’s all normal, and that’s what we want for him”.

De la Fuente said the national side were “trying to walk alongside [Yamal] in his education,” but added “you’d be surprised, shocked, how calm he is.

“He’s special. For some people, this would be a situation of maximum stress. But for him, he’s relaxed, he’s in control – he masters the situation.”

The coach also took time to praise Ronaldo, calling him “a legend in football and an example of the values I like: effort, work rate, sacrifice, getting better every day and never letting your guard down.

“Portugal are led by a footballer who will go down in history with an indelible legacy.”

Both Spain and Portugal have already won the Nations League. Spain are the current champions from their win in 2023, while Portugal won the inaugural tournament back in 2019.

Spain have won 16 and drawn two of their past 18 fixtures – and have not lost a competitive match since March 2023.

Spain forward Mikel Oyarzabal told reporters his side “do not think we are better than anyone,” but “we trust ourselves 100 percent and know we can compete in every game.

“We’ve shown that over the years. Our level is very high.”

It’s over: US president no desire to make up with Musk, who dredged up allegations of links to sex offender Epstein.

United States President Donald Trump has warned billionaire former ally Elon Musk against funding Democratic candidates in the country’s 2026 midterm elections as the pair’s volcanic break-up continued to play out on the world stage.

“He’ll have to pay very serious consequences if he does that,” Trump told US network NBC News in an interview published Saturday, without spelling out what the repercussions might be for the tech mogul, whose businesses benefit from lucrative US federal contracts.

Trump aides, various Republicans, and key wealthy donors to the GOP  have urged the two to temper the bitter feud and make peace, fearing irreparable political and economic fallout.

But, asked whether he thought his relationship with the Tesla and SpaceX CEO was over, Trump said, “I would assume so, yeah”.

The interview featured Trump’s most extensive comments yet on the spectacular bust-up that saw Musk criticising his signature tax and spending bill as an “abomination”, tensions escalating after he went on to highlight one-time links between the president and the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

By Saturday morning, Musk had deleted his “big bomb” allegation that Trump featured in unreleased government files on former associates of Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019 while facing sex trafficking charges.

“That is the real reason they have not been made public,” he said in Thursday’s post on X.

The Trump administration has acknowledged it is reviewing tens of thousands of documents, videos, and investigative material that his “MAGA” movement says will unmask public figures complicit in Epstein’s crimes.

Trump was named in a trove of deposition and statements linked to Epstein that were unsealed by a New York judge in early 2024. The president has not been accused of any wrongdoing, but he had a long and well-publicised friendship with Epstein.

Trump has denied spending time on Little Saint James, the private redoubt in the US Virgin Islands where prosecutors alleged Epstein trafficked underage girls for sex.

Just last week, Trump had given Musk a glowing send-off as he left his cost-cutting role at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Vice President JD Vance said Musk was making a “huge mistake” going after Trump, though he also tried to downplay his attacks as the frustrations of an “emotional guy”.

“I hope that eventually Elon comes back into the fold. Maybe that’s not possible now because he’s gone so nuclear,” he said in the interview with comedian Theo Von, released Friday.

Trump also told NBC that it was the Department of Justice, rather than he, that had decided to return Salvadoran immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the US, where he faces charges of transporting undocumented migrants inside the country.

Trump added that he had not spoken to El Salvador President Nayib Bukele about Abrego Garcia’s return.

The big break-up: The president of the United States, Donald Trump, has parted ways with the richest man in the world, billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk.

Once their friendship reaped rewards for both: Musk donated around hundreds of millions of dollars to Trump’s re-election campaign and the president created a role for Musk in his government.

But political, or fiscal, differences soured the relationship, and what was once a mutually beneficial alliance deteriorated into an exchange of insults on social media.

So, did Elon Musk’s position undermine US democracy?

And do Donald Trump’s friendships and interests influence US policy?

Presenter: Elizabeth Puranam

Guests:

Niall Stanage – Political analyst and White House columnist for The Hill newspaper

Dan Ives – Technology analyst and managing director of Wedbush Securities

Faiz Siddiqui – Author of, Hubris Maximus: The Shattering of Elon Musk

Coco Gauff of the United States wins her second Grand Slam title beating Aryana Sabalenka of Belarus at the French Open.

Coco Gauff has won the French Open for the first time by defeating top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-4 in the final.

The second-ranked Gauff came out on top of Saturday’s contest that was full of tension and momentum swings to claim her second major trophy after the 2023 US Open, where she also came from a set down to beat Sabalenka in the final.

It was the first number one vs number two final in Paris since 2013, when Serena Williams defeated Maria Sharapova, and just the second in the last 30 years.

After Sabalenka sent a backhand wide on Gauff’s second match point, the 21-year-old American fell onto her back, covering her face with both hands before resting her forehand on the clay. After greeting Sabalenka at the net, she hugged film director Spike Lee and celebrated with her entourage, three years after she lost her first final at Roland-Garros.

Sabalenka started the deciding set strongly, sticking to her high-risk approach to hold her first service game.

Gauff responded by raising her level, winning a superb rally in the third game that drew loud cheers and applause from the crowd. After an intense exchange of drop shots, Gauff hit a lob that Sabalenka chased down before attempting a shot between her legs — only for Gauff to intercept it at the net and finish with a winner.

Gauff was consistent from the baseline and earned a break point, which she converted when Sabalenka double-faulted, giving her a 2-1 lead. Sabalenka turned towards her box and shouted in frustration, but then regained her composure, breaking back to level the match at 3-3.

She was broken again at love, however, and Gauff then held serve twice to claim the title after a match that lasted 2 hours, 38 minutes.

Al-Nassr and Portugal forward Cristiano Ronaldo said he has no plans to play at Club World Cup, starting June 14 in the United States.

Cristiano Ronaldo says he’s almost certain he will not be playing at the Club World Cup, dealing a blow to FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s hopes of having one of football’s biggest attractions at the tournament.

The Portugal star confirmed on Saturday that he received “quite a few” offers from participating clubs to play for them at the tournament starting June 14, but had decided against accepting any of them.

“Some things make sense to talk about, other things don’t, and, as a person says, you can’t take part in everything,” Ronaldo said.

“You have to think about the short, medium and long term. It’s a decision practically made on my part not to go to the Club World Cup, but I’ve had quite a few invitations to go.”

Ronaldo was speaking in Munich a day before Portugal’s UEFA Nations League final against Spain.

The 40-year-old scored his 137th international goal in a 2-1 semifinal victory against Germany on Wednesday to book Portugal’s spot in the final.

“This is irrelevant right now,” Ronaldo said when first asked about the FIFA Club World Cup. “It makes no sense to talk about anything other than the national team.”

Throughout the various ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas, western news outlets have repeatedly blamed their failure on Hamas. This week, we hear a perspective that rarely features in the coverage – the group’s own – on the negotiations and the media narratives that surround them.

Contributors:
Tahani Mustafa – Senior Palestine Analyst, International Crisis Group
Basem Naim – Politburo member, Hamas
Julie Norman – Associate Professor, University College London
Abdaljawad Omar – Lecturer, Birzeit University

On our radar:

Ukrainian drone strikes on multiple Russian airfields have further escalated the conflict, as peace talks come up short. Tariq Nafi reports on the messaging on the airwaves both sides of the border.

Is logging off the cure for ‘brain rot’?

After decades of increased connectivity, screen time and addictive algorithms, more and more young people are logging off.

The Listening Post’s Ryan Kohls looks at the community-based movements reevaluating their relationships with digital technology.

Featuring:
Monique Golay – Barcelona Chapter Leader, Offline Club
Hussein Kesvani – Technology and culture journalist
Adele Walton – Author, Logging Off

Since the mid-1960s, Israel has received significant military and diplomatic support from successive administrations in the United States. But never has it enjoyed such unconditional support as it has in the past eight years – under the first and second administrations of President Donald Trump and the administration of President Joe Biden. As a result, Israel has started openly pursuing its greatest Zionist dream: expanding state borders to achieve Greater Israel and accelerating the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people from their homeland.

Although the Israeli state may appear more powerful than ever and overly confident that it will achieve regional dominance, its current position paradoxically reflects a strategic failure.

The reality is that after nearly eight decades of existence, Israel has failed to achieve legitimacy in the eyes of the region’s peoples and lasting security for itself. Its present resurgence will secure neither. And that is because its foreign, domestic and military policies are based on a settler-colonial logic which makes them untenable in the long run.

Settler-colonial mentality

Since its founding in 1948, Israel has sought to convince the world and its Jewish citizens that it was created “on a land without a people”. While this narrative has successfully caught on – particularly among the younger generations of Israelis – the forefathers of the Israeli state openly spoke about “colonisation” and settling a land with a hostile native population.

Theodor Herzl, considered the father of modern Zionism, planned to reach out to well-known British colonialist Cecil Rhodes, who led the British colonisation of Southern Africa, for advice on and approval of his plan to colonise Palestine.

Vladimir Jabotinsky, a revisionist Zionist who founded the far-right Zionist group Betar in Latvia, strategised in his writings on ways to address native resistance. In his 1923 essay The Iron Wall, he wrote:

“Every native population in the world resists colonists as long as it has the slightest hope of being able to rid itself of the danger of being colonised. That is what the Arabs in Palestine are doing.”

This settler-colonial mentality played a central role in shaping the domestic, foreign and military policies of the newly founded Israel. Today, almost 80 years after the creation of the Israeli state, expansionism and aggressive military posturing continue to define the Israeli regional strategy.

Despite official rhetoric about seeking peace and normalisation of relations in the region, the Israeli aspiration to achieve a Greater Israel – one that includes not only occupied Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, but also parts of modern-day Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan – persists.

That has been apparent in public discourse and government actions. Settler activists have openly talked about an Israel stretching from the Nile to the Euphrates river. Government advisers have penned articles about “reconquering Sinai”, “dismembering Egypt” and precipitating the “dissolution of Jordan”. Prime ministers have stood in front of the United Nations General Assembly, holding maps of Greater Israel.

The idea of Greater Israel has been widely accepted across the Zionist political spectrum, both on the right and on the left. The primary differences have been in how and when to advance this vision, and whether it requires the expulsion of Palestinians or their segregation.

Expansionist policies have been applied under all Israeli governments – from those led by left-wing Mapai Labor to those led by right-wing Likud. Since the 1949 armistice, Israel has occupied the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, Sinai (twice), southern Lebanon (twice) and now most recently, more parts of southern Syria.

Meanwhile, its colonisation of the occupied Palestinian territories has proceeded at an accelerated pace. The number of Jewish colonial settlers in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, was approximately 250,000 in 1993; by October 7, 2023, this number had risen to 503,732 in the West Bank and 233,600 in East Jerusalem.

Settlements in Gaza were dismantled in 2005, but plans are being made for recolonisation, as the current Israeli government eyes the full ethnic cleansing of the strip.

Today, there is no major political force in Israel that looks beyond the direct application of naked military power to maintain and protect colonisation activities. This mindset is not limited to politicians but is also a widespread conviction among the Israeli public.

A June 2024 survey found that 70 percent of Jewish Israelis think settlements either help national security or do not interfere with it; a March 2025 poll showed that 82 percent of Jewish Israelis support the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza.

No genuine peace camp

The settler-colonial mindset at the core of the Israeli state has precluded the emergence of a genuine drive for peace. As a result, successive Israeli governments have continued to pursue war, colonisation and expansion, even when seemingly embracing peace talks.

In the 1990s, Israel had the opportunity to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict by withdrawing from the territories occupied in 1967 and accepting the creation of an independent Palestinian state. Instead, it used the negotiations as a smokescreen to advance settler-colonial policies.

Even leaders like Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was hailed as a peacemaker and assassinated for it by a Jewish extremist, did not really envision Israelis and Palestinians living side by side. Under his government and during the peace negotiations, the expansion of Jewish settlements continued at a steady pace, while plans for a segregation wall on occupied Palestinian land were pushed forward.

Meanwhile, Rabin and other Israeli leaders involved in the peace negotiations focused primarily on normalising Israel’s existence as it was, without addressing the root causes of the conflict. They sought to pacify Palestinian resistance, rather than establish durable peace.

The absence of a peace camp is not only at the leadership level but also at the societal one. While the Israeli society has active movements for social causes, settlers’ coalitions, and now a movement pushing for continuing the prisoner exchanges with Hamas, it lacks a genuine grassroots peace movement that recognises Palestinian rights.

This is in sharp contrast to other settler-colonial societies, in which there was a push from within to end colonialism. During the French colonisation of Algeria, for example, an anti-colonial movement within France openly supported the Algerian armed resistance. During the apartheid era in South Africa, white activists joined the anti-apartheid struggle and helped sway domestic attitudes.

In Israel, Jewish supporters of Palestinian rights are so few that they are easily ostracised and marginalised, facing death threats and often feeling compelled to leave the country.

The absence of a genuine peace camp reflects the inherent flaw of settler-colonial Israel. It has no coherent political strategy to address broader issues, such as coexistence in the region, which requires acknowledging the interests of others, especially the national rights of the Palestinian people. This makes the settler colony incapable of peace.

Overreliance on Western support

Historically, settler-colonies have always had to rely on outside support to sustain themselves. Israel is no different. For decades, it has enjoyed far-reaching support from Western Europe and the United States, which have provided it with a significant strategic edge.

But this Israeli reliance on Western backing also poses a long-term strategic threat. It makes the country dependent and unable to function like a normal sovereign nation.

Other countries in the region will continue to exist even if they lose support from their Western allies, with only their regimes potentially changing. But that is not the case for Israel.

This unlimited and extravagant support for Israel, aimed at maintaining its dominance as the primary regional power, is likely to backfire.

The growing imbalance of power is generating pressure not only on antagonist countries like Iran, but on other regional players such as Turkiye, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. They increasingly feel that the Western push to defend Israeli interests is infringing on their own.

This situation is likely to push them to increasingly seek alliances beyond the Western bloc to counterbalance this influence. China offers a viable alternative, as it is not a strategic ally of Israel.

A gradual opening to China can shift the political dynamics of the region in the coming years, beyond the capacity of Israel and its allies to control them. That will certainly undermine the Israeli plans to establish regional hegemony.

But Israel faces not only the risk that Western dominance could be challenged from the East, but also that Western societies could pressure their governments to stop backing it.

The Israeli genocidal policies, especially since October 7, 2023, have spurred a profound shift in public opinion across the world, including in Europe and North America.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, its prime minister has an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court and Israeli soldiers are facing charges in many countries around the world.

As a result, the Israeli state has notably lost support among those on the left and centre of the political spectrum in the West.

While it still manages to maintain backing in high-level European and American political and military circles, this support is becoming increasingly unreliable in the long term. This uncertainty is further aggravated by the rise of isolationism on the right in the US. If these trends continue, Israel may eventually run out of dependable supporters in the West and lose its financial and military advantage.

The limits of the Israeli settler-colonial state strategy are increasingly becoming clear. The continued use of settler-colonial policies, characterised by excessive violence, along with the pursuit of regional hegemony, is pushing Israel into an untenable position.

The Israeli leadership may be living in a fantasy world, thinking it can pull off a “New World” model on Palestine and exterminate its population to fully colonise it; or to declare itself officially an apartheid state, seeking to make Palestinian subjugation legal.

But in the historical and geopolitical context of the Middle East, neither of these fantasies is viable. Global pressure is coming to bear. The expulsion of the people of Gaza has been outright rejected.

The Palestinian people, like any other nation that has survived brutal colonisation, will not leave their country and disappear, nor will they accept life under a colonial apartheid regime.

Israeli leaders may do well to start imagining the very real possibility of sharing land and accepting equal rights, and start preparing the Israeli society for it.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

Defence Minister Phumtham Wechayachai says Thailand reinforces military presence in response to Cambodia move.

Thailand has reinforced its military presence along a disputed border with Cambodia following an increase in troops on the other side, the Thai defence minister has said.

Tensions between the two Southeast Asian countries have been rising since a Cambodian soldier was killed on May 28 in a brief skirmish in an undemarcated border area.

Since the incident, the two governments have been exchanging carefully worded statements committing to dialogue.

Thailand’s Defence Minister Phumtham Wechayachai, who also serves as deputy prime minister, said on Saturday that Cambodia had rejected proposals in bilateral talks held on Thursday that could have led to a de-escalation.

“Furthermore, there has been a reinforcement of military presence, which has exacerbated tensions along the border,” Phumtham said in a statement.

“Consequently, the Royal Thai Government has deemed it necessary to implement additional measures and to reinforce our military posture accordingly.”

He did not provide further details on the extent of reinforcements by either side.

There was no immediate comment from Cambodia.

In a separate statement on Saturday, the Thai army said Cambodian civilians had also repeatedly made incursions into Thailand’s territory.

“These provocations, and the buildup of military forces, indicate a clear intent to use force,” the Thai army said, adding it would take control of all Thai checkpoints along the Cambodia border.

Thailand and Cambodia have for more than a century contested sovereignty at various undemarcated points along their 817km (508-mile) land border.

Tension escalated in 2008 over an 11th-century Hindu temple, leading to skirmishes over several years and at least a dozen deaths, including during a weeklong exchange of artillery fire in 2011.

On Monday, Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Manet said the government would file a complaint with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over the border dispute.

“Cambodia hopes that the Thai side will agree with Cambodia to jointly bring these issues to the International Court of Justice… to prevent armed confrontation again over border uncertainty,” Hun Manet said during a meeting between MPs and senators.

Thailand has not recognised the ICJ’s jurisdiction since 1960 and has instead called for bilateral talks.

Efforts have been made by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who is the current chair of the Southeast Asian ASEAN bloc, and China to reduce tensions, but the border remains disputed.

A meeting of the Cambodia-Thailand Joint Boundary Commission – which addresses border demarcation issues – is scheduled for June 14.