England captain Harry Kane has labelled Erling Haaland “a machine” but said he and Norway’s “beast” of a number nine are completely different players as they prepare to face off in the World Cup quarterfinal.
“I think we’re completely different players. I know we’re both strikers, but we’re in almost two different positions,” Kane told his pre-match news conference on Friday.
Haaland has struck seven times in his first four matches ever at a major tournament, including a devastating double to eliminate Brazil, and his goals have carried Norway into the last eight for the first time.
Kane is only one goal behind the Manchester City striker for the tournament and has taken his overall World Cup record to 14 goals.
“Erling is incredible. His goalscoring record, physically, he’s a machine, he’s a beast. His finishing is at the highest level, and his goalscoring record speaks for itself.
“I see myself as a different player, although I score the same goals. I like to maybe touch the ball a little bit more, be involved with the play a little bit more, but also can play as maybe the out-and-out number nine.
“I don’t think it’s one to compare ourselves. I respect him a lot as a player and as a professional. Obviously, I’m hoping he has a quiet day tomorrow, but I think his overall performance is very good. He’s a fantastic player.”
Kane and Haaland will face off in Miami on Saturday [AFP]
‘Amazing World Cup for strikers’
Despite their phenomenal goalscoring record, Haaland and Kane trail Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe, who have both netted eight times in the 2026 tournament, in the battle for the Golden Boot.
Kane won the prize for the World Cup’s top goalscorer in 2018, but England fell short of glory as they exited in the semifinals to Croatia.
Ending a 60-year wait for England to win a major tournament remains Kane’s primary aim, but he is hoping to score the goals to carry the Three Lions to glory.
“I think it’s been an amazing World Cup on that front in terms of all the top strikers, all the top goalscorers scoring goals and affecting games. It’s not always the case at these major tournaments,” added the Bayern Munich striker.
“It’s a great competition. It puts me in a mindset to be at my very best level as much as possible.
“My main goal is to win the World Cup more than another Golden Boot, but I also know I’m a goalscorer, I’m the number nine, so if I’m scoring goals, it’s obviously going to help the team.”
Kane issued a rallying cry for a huge final effort to get over the line in what could be three games in eight days to make history.
“Ultimately, until we win that trophy, there’s always going to be that talk around England and the team, but we’re in a good position. We’re in a place that we wanted to be six weeks ago when we met up for prep camp,” he added.
“Now we’re in the final eight days of the final push. We’re going to need everyone to be at the highest level to achieve our dreams.”
Vikings ready for one more historic game
Meanwhile, Norway coach Stale Solbakken said the showdown between Haaland and Kane will go a long way in deciding the match.
“I think it’s Norway versus England, but I don’t think it is a secret that Kane is the match winner number one for England and Haaland is the match winner number one for us,” Solbakken said at his pre-match news conference in Miami.
Norway are in their first major tournament of any kind for 26 years and have exceeded expectations, most notably in their stunning 2-1 win against Brazil thanks to Haaland’s late double in the last 16.
“Every game has been the most important [in history] for Norwegian football, especially in the knockout rounds, so this is the third time it is the most important game,” added Solbakken.
“I think England has more pressure than us, but we also put pressure on our performance. When the game has started, I don’t think the players think so much about the pressure when it’s 11 versus 11.”
Norway’s progress has caught the imagination at home and across the Atlantic in the United States.
Their fans’ Viking row celebration has become one of the iconic images of the tournament, while Haaland’s status as a global star has soared thanks to his goalscoring prowess on the pitch and jovial personality off it.
“I think the whole of Norway is looking forward to tomorrow. We’ve had some great nights in this World Cup before, and it brings the country together,” said Solbakken.
“Maybe this will never come back to Norway because I think we will qualify more. Every time 1783744646 we have a possibility to go through to a European Championship or a World Cup. But now it’s 26 years since we had it last time.”
Spanish star has scored just one goal in the World Cup, where he’s been sharing celebrations with his little brother.
Published On 11 Jul 202611 Jul 2026
Despite not scoring a goal in Spain’s quarterfinal win over Belgium, Lamine Yamal was named the player of the match for his contributions and capped off the win by sharing a touching moment with his little brother during the post-match celebrations in Los Angeles.
Yamal, who has not scored since Spain’s group-stage win over Saudi Arabia on June 21, said after the match on Friday that nobody will care about his lack of goals if Spain win the World Cup.
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At a tournament where stars like Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland and Harry Kane have been prolific, 18-year-old Yamal has just one goal to date, in a routine 4-0 group drubbing of Saudi Arabia. He failed to find the net once again as Spain booked their place in the World Cup semifinals for the second time.
“Obviously I want to score, but I don’t go onto the pitch thinking about that. I do it thinking about helping the team,” said Yamal.
“If we win the World Cup, no one will remember whether I scored goals … The important thing is winning,” said the Barcelona star, after the victory in Los Angeles set up a semifinal clash with France.
“I know I can contribute even if I don’t score. I know my movements draw in many opponents, so I do everything I can to help the team,” he said.
Despite the lack of goals, Yamal has performed consistently for La Roja and has also broken records along the way.
On Friday, he made his sixth FIFA World Cup appearance, the outright most by a player aged 18 or younger in the competition.
Breakout star
Two years ago, then aged 16, Yamal was the breakout star of the Spanish team that won the European Championships in Germany.
“There’s an idea that I should be scoring more, like at the Euros, but we won the Euros with me scoring just one goal. And I have one goal here too, so I’m relaxed about it,” he said, with a smile.
But Spain will be hoping Yamal, who turns 19 the day before the semifinal, can bag further goals if his side is to see off the free-scoring tournament favourites France.
“There are two possibilities – either they reach three consecutive World Cup finals, or we beat them three times in a row. We’ll see what happens,” said Yamal.
“We aren’t afraid at all.”
Yamal shares endearing moment with brother Keyne
Amid Spain’s post-match celebrations, Yamal and his half-brother Keyne were caught in a sweet moment when the younger sibling was shown on the big screen.
The three-year-old was screaming and stuck his tongue out when the camera panned on him. Keyne then blew a kiss at his brother, making the teen Spanish star laugh and wave at him.
Keyne, who often accompanies Yamal to award shows and other public events, has been a fan favourite for the crowds at the World Cup.
He has been picked up by the cameras on multiple occasions, drawing a chuckle from his older brother and cheers from the crowd around him.
Kenye, younger brother of Yamal, is seen on the screen at the quarterfinal in Los Angeles [David Ramos/Getty Images via AFP]
Edward Pinto, co-director of the American Enterprise Institute Housing Center argues that the new US housing bill is unlikely to significantly ease the country’s housing crisis. He says it’s too limited to address the core issues – like restrictive local zoning. For the full segment, watch Al Jazeera’s ‘This is America’.
The dismissals leave the federal election body vacant as Trump presses for broader changes to US voting rules.
Published On 10 Jul 202610 Jul 2026
President Donald Trump has removed the last remaining members of an independent federal commission that helps support United States elections, leaving the bipartisan body with no sitting commissioners.
The White House confirmed the news on Friday, with only months to spare before November’s midterm elections.
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“The President, and head of the Executive Branch, reserves the right to remove individuals that may not be totally aligned with the important task of securing America’s elections,” the White House said in a statement.
It added that the administration had been “working across all agencies and local partners to safeguard elections from fraud and abuse” in the run-up to the midterms.
The decision concerns the Election Assistance Commission (ECA), an independence office created by Congress in 2002 to support state and local election officials. Among its duties are creating non-binding election guidelines, certifying voting systems and maintaining the national mail voter registration form.
Four commissioners typically helm the agency. But on Thursday, the two Democratic appointees — Thomas Hicks and Benjamin Hovland — were fired by email, according to the news agency Reuters.
The lone remaining Republican, Christy McCormick, resigned. A fourth commissioner, Republican appointee Donald Palmer, had already left in April.
The commission is required by law to be made up evenly of Democrats and Republicans, and it was put in place to help after the disputed 2000 presidential election.
Trump’s decision to fire the remaining commissioners has further raised concerns that he may seek to intervene in the upcoming midterm elections, which will decide control of Congress for the rest of his term.
Under the US Constitution, election administration is the responsibility of the state, not the federal government.
The Election Assistance Commission had previously declined to implement part of Trump’s March 2025 executive order that called upon it to require proof of citizenship on the national mail voter registration form.
A federal judge later blocked that part of that executive order, ruling the president had exceeded his authority. Trump has appealed the ruling.
Voters are already required to affirm their citizenship before voting, as non-citizen voting is illegal in the US. Instances of non-citizen voting are rare.
The firings are the latest in a broader effort by the president to reshape how elections are conducted.
The Trump administration has pushed to tighten vote-by-mail rules and threatened to withhold some federal funding from states that refuse to adopt new election requirements. Many of those efforts have been challenged in court.
Earlier this week, the administration also sent out letters warning election officials that they could face prosecution if they fail to remove noncitizens from voter rolls.
Trump has defended the actions as necessary to protect election integrity. He has repeatedly claimed that his loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 election was the result of fraud, a claim not backed by evidence.
The latest firings come after the US Supreme Court last month expanded the president’s power to fire members of independent agencies, even without cause.
The court ruled six to three in Trump’s favour, arguing that “neither Congress nor the courts may saddle” the president with executive-branch leaders he does not approve of.
The president is allowed by law to appoint replacements to the commission. It is not yet clear whether Trump plans to nominate replacements or leave the seats vacant.
France faced Morocco in a rematch of the 2022 World Cup semi-final. Al Jazeera’s Samantha Johnson was in Boston to soak up the atmosphere, speak to fans from both sides, and see whether Morocco would finally get their revenge.
The housing legislation will become US law at midnight with or without President Donald Trump’s signature.
Published On 10 Jul 202610 Jul 2026
United States President Donald Trump says he will not sign a bipartisan housing affordability bill in protest at the Senate not passing the controversial SAVE America Act voting legislation.
In a post on Truth Social on Friday, Trump said he would not support signing the unrelated housing bill, which would speed up environmental reviews for construction projects, expedite development, and limit the number of single-family homes institutional investors can buy.
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The bill will become law with or without the president’s signature. Once a bill reaches the president’s desk, the officeholder has 10 days to either sign it into law or veto the legislation. If he does neither, it becomes law at midnight.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said the president is unlikely to issue a last-minute veto.
The housing legislation, known as the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, which Trump called a “yawn” on June 29, was a rare moment of bipartisan agreement in a starkly divided US Congress. It passed the Senate by a vote of 85-5 and the House by a vote of 358-2.
The provisions included in the legislation are popular. A Bipartisan Policy Center poll suggested that 70 percent of Americans support banning institutional investors that own more than 350 homes from buying additional single-family homes.
The legislation would also establish incentive programmes for communities to build more housing and encourage the development of modular homes. It also includes provisions that would make it easier for communities to convert underutilised land into residential housing.
Housing remains a major pressure on Americans, with 79 percent saying the cost of housing is either “an extremely important” or “very important” issue, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.
The US median home price hit a record $440,600 in June, while mortgage rates remain elevated. The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate is currently at 6.49 percent.
Voting act pressures
Trump cancelled the original signing ceremony for the housing legislation on June 24 in an effort to pressure Republicans to pass the SAVE America Act. Among its provisions, the bill would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and create a national voter database using state records.
It would also impose new limitations on mail-in voting, even though roughly one-quarter of Republicans voted by mail in the 2024 presidential election, according to an MIT survey.
A version of the voting legislation passed the House but failed to clear the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster threshold.
Under current election law, states administer elections, not the federal government.
The White House did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.
Ninety-six games in the books, just eight more matches to come. FIFA World Cup 2026 has lived up to its billing as the biggest of all time, and may yet end up in the conversation as the best tournament, too.
We’re down to the final eight nations with hopes of winning the trophy – four of them for the first time – while the other four are aiming to write a new glorious chapter in their football history.
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But now the last 16 and the first rest day of the competition are out of the way, who has the best chance of being crowned champions in New York/New Jersey on July 19?
Al Jazeera ranks the contenders for the title:
Switzerland’s Johan Manzambi has been one of the breakout start of World Cup 2026 [Alex Grimm/Getty Images via AFP]
8. Switzerland
It feels like a place in the last eight for the first time in 72 years is already a win for the Swiss, and don’t expect them to make further history.
Murat Yakin’s men benefitted from a kind draw which pitted them against the cohosts Canada, Bosnia and Qatar, and they only managed to ensure top-spot in that group by withstanding late pressure from the Maple Leafs after being held to a 1-1 draw by Qatar in their opening match.
They overcame Algeria without too much alarm in the last 32 but needed penalties to eliminate an off-form Colombia in the last round, with the Swiss failing to register a shot on target after the 32nd minute of normal time.
The potential loss of speedy 20-year-old Johan Manzambi, one of the tournament’s breakout stars, to a knee injury in training will diminish their hopes against Argentina, and even if they did manage to shock the world and send Messi and co home early, the chances are they would struggle in a semifinal against either England or Norway, let alone a final against France or Spain.
Star Morocco midfielder Brahim Diaz (#10) will clash with Real Madrid teammate Kylian Mbappe of France in the quarterfinal [Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP]
7. Morocco
When Morocco flew out of the blocks in the opening 45 minutes of their Group C game with Brazil, the world thought this was a new and improved version of the Atlas Lions which had made a shock run to the last-four in Qatar, however they failed to put that game to bed, despite their dominance.
A 1-0 win over Scotland followed in their second match before twice having to come from behind to see-off Haiti in the final gropup match day.
They then played the Netherlands in the last 32, and although they recovered from falling behind in the final 20 minutes to force extra-time with a goal in stoppage-time, they needed penalties to progress from another game they might well have won.
In the last 16, the played their best match of the tournament against Canada. The North African side was clinical, scoring three second-half goals to set up a France quarterfinal meeting.
They will need all that and more to avoid a one-sided defeat against France, who knocked them out in the last-four in 2022.
While only a handful of the XI beaten four years ago are likely to feature, the loss of leading scorer Ismael Saibari will also not help their cause against a nation where six of their squad were born. Indeed teenage midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi captained the French under-21 side in a European Championship qualifier just 101 days before he is set to face Les Bleus in Boston, but switched allegiance on the eve of the tournament.
If Morocco are able to rediscover their form and spring an almighty surprise to see-off their old foes then all bets are off. They already know what it takes to beat Spain or Belgium, they did so in Qatar, while a potential final would not only make history as the first African and Arab country to take part in the showpiece, it might provide the wave of momentum which takes them all the way to the trophy itself.
Youri Tielemans (#8) and Belgium have been one of the surprise teams of the tournament but will face a huge test against unbeaten Spain in the quarterfinal [Alex Grimm/Getty Images via AFP]
6. Belgium
Belgium would have been at the No 8 ranking a few days ago but they had a reshuffle against the US and looked far better than they did in any of the group stage games or the first 75-minutes or so against Senegal in the Round of 32.
Inspired by the attacking play of Leandro Trossard, coach Rudi Garcia might have stumbled across a formula which works, leaving Kevin De Bruyne on the sidelines for the first time in 38 Belgium games and having Jeremy Doku and Romelo Lukaku as other potential game-changers off the bench.
The Red Devils certainly began slowly and only a 5-1 thumping of New Zealand in their final group game saw them through as group winners on goals scored, after failing to beat Egypt or Iran.
They made even harder work against Senegal, who should have been out of sight long before the comeback, when Lukaku and Youri Tielemans capitalised on some slack defending to score in the final four minutes of normal time before the latter dispatched a penalty five minutes from the end of extra-time to complete the unlikely turnaround.
It feels like the end of the road, and an era, for Belgium’s ageing golden generation, and if they did somehow get past Spain, then France would surely represent an insurmountable hurdle in the last four anyway.
Norway’s star forward Erling Haaland is equal-second in the Golden Boot race heading into the quarterfinal tie against England [AFP]
5. Norway
We’re officially in uncharted territory for these dark horses. They came into the tournament never having won a knockout match at the World Cup – now they are eyeing a third straight.
Ruthlessly efficient is one way to describe Norway’s passage to the last eight. They arrived at their first World Cup in 28 years with a plan, and they have they stuck to it.
After an opening group game victory against Iraq, the pivotal match of their summer was always likely to be the second group game against Senegal. They won it 3-2. It ensured their passage to the knockout stages as runners-up and allowed Stale Solbakken to rest 10 players for the group finale against France.
Much was made of the decision not to try and match-up to Les Bleus for a potential top-spot in Group I, but despite the 4-1 defeat, it still looks like a great call.
Norway left it late before seeing-off Ivory Coast in the round of 32. Against Brazil in the last 16, they also left it late but finished strong with two goals in the final 11 minutes from Erling Haaland.
The 25-year-old has scored seven goals from just 18 shots across four games in this tournament, though the game management of midfielder Martin Odegaard, particularly against Brazil, has gone under the radar. The Arsenal player has three assists already, the same as left-sided super-sub Andreas Schjelderup, while corner taker Patrick Berg has two more.
Quarterfinal opponents England will have to figure out a way to deal with crosses into the middle better than they have done in their previous games and their management of Odegaard, and their own fitness levels, could be key to determining which European nation goes through to the semifinals to face, in all likelihood, Argentina.
However for all their attacking efficiency, Norway have kept one clean sheet in their past dozen matches and, were it not for the heroics of keeper Orjan Nyland, they might already be on their way home.
Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham will fancy their chances against defenders Kristoffer Ajer and Torbjorn Heggem and we could be in for another ding-dong battle with goals galore in sapping conditions, rather than any cagey defensive battles.
Lionel Messi and Argentina needed to rally to defeat Egypt in the round of 16 [Paul Childs/Reuters]
4. Argentina
Algeria, Austria, Jordan, Cape Verde, Egypt, Switzerland. It’s not a bad run for a defending champion, is it?
However it has been far from plain sailing for the Albiceleste, who have had to lean heavily on the 39-year-old legs and ageless football brain of Lionel Messi just to make it to the quarterfinals.
Messi leads the Golden Boot race with eight goals – though it should be double figures already with two penalty misses to his name.
Staring at the end of his World Cup career and trailing Egypt 2-0 with 11 minutes remaining, Messi put the nation on his back and registered his first assist of the tournament as Cristian Romero halved the deficit before thumping the equaliser himself four minutes later before the turnaround was completed in controversial fashion in stoppage-time.
The outpouring of emotion from Messi at fulltime showed just how close the two-time winners came to being eliminated, and expect them to try and learn their lesson against Switzerland, who possess less of the counterattacking threat than either of the African teams, especially if Johan Manzambi is ruled-out by the knee injury sustained in training.
Expect a potential semifinal with England to be a massive occasion – it’s a rivalry which runs deep, on and off the pitch. While this Argentina side boast extraordinary experience and clearly demonstrated their hunger, their starting XI against Egypt was the second oldest they have ever fielded in a World Cup, and they continue to look suspect at the back, something that Harry Kane, or even potentially Haaland – should Norway get through – would be sure to test.
If it is to be a rematch against France in the final – as many predicted before and during the competition – then we can look forward to another extraordinary climax, with Les Bleus set on revenge for their penalty shootout heartache in Qatar after a pulsating 3-3 draw.
Who knows what mastery Messi is capable of summoning on any given day, but this France team is older, wiser and extra-motivated to land their third title, and it would take something extraordinary to stop them.
England will rely heavily on stars Jude Bellingham, left, and Harry Kane, to take them to the semifinal [Yuri Cortez/AFP]
3. England
The Three Lions were seeded fourth in this tournament and, as a result, a run to the semifinals should be the minimum expectation for Thomas Tuchel’s men. It also comes with the added bonus of avoiding France or Spain until the final.
England capped off an up and down World Cup in the round of 16, recording one of their most memorable wins of all-time to overcome Mexico in the cauldron of the Azteca, playing out 58 minutes with 10 men and holding on for a 3-2 victory.
Norway will be a very different proposition in the sweltering conditions of Miami, and England have the most potential injury disruption of any side, with fitness issues over the likes of key players Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka and Reece James while stars Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham know a booking in the quarterfinal would rule them out of any potential semifinal.
If they can keep Haaland quiet and prevent Odegaard from dictating the play, they will fancy their chances of reaching the last four for the fourth time.
If they do, and with Kane and Bellingham available, don’t discount them winning it to reach their first World Cup final since 1966.
Switzerland would hold little fear for the now tournament-savvy Three Lions in a potential semifinal, while an ageing Argentina side have been caused issues by the width, trickery and counter attacking threat of both Cape Verde and Egypt in the past two rounds, opening the door of opportunity for the likes of Saka, Anthony Gordon and Marcus Rashford to exploit, should England make it to the last four.
France or Spain in the final might be a different matter, however.
Les Bleus knocked England out in the quarterfinal in Qatar after an epic encounter while Spain bested them in the dramatic Euro 2024 final.
There would be the motivation of revenge, of course, but France’s front four would likely cause England’s makeshift back-line plenty of issues. The Spain game would likely be more equal, though reliant on England to win the midfield battle and for whoever plays full-back to try to keep Lamine Yamal quiet.
Mikel Oyarzabal, left, is Spain’s leading goal scorer at World Cup 2026 [Etienne Laurent/AFP]
2. Spain
It’s not how you start it’s how you finish. Spain did not begin well, having to settle for a goalless draw with Cape Verde – although hindsight makes that result look a lot more respectable.
They made light work of Saudi Arabia in the group stage and then Austria in the round of 32, although they had to grind out victories over Uruguay in their group finale and then Portugal in the last 16 courtesy of a stoppage-time winner.
Their hopes are built on their defence and they have not conceded a goal in the tournament. Spain have six straight World Cup clean sheets dating back to Qatar 2022, the longest streak in history – and they have allowed just five shots on target across their opening five matches.
At the other end, Mikel Oyarzabal has bagged four goals but he’s missed a few chances to truly cement himself in the Golden Boot race and while their defence and midfield look solid enough, the X-factor Lamine Yamal has been visible in flashes only.
The European Champions should have enough to see-off Belgium in the quarters, despite the Red Devils’ improved showing against the USA, but a semifinal against, in all likelihood, France, will be a different matter.
While teenage defender Pau Cubarsi looks at home on the biggest stage of all, he’s yet to face the kind of test that Kylian Mbappe, Michael Olise and Ousmane Dembele will pose, while either Desire Doue or Bradley Barcola would cause problems for Spain’s right-back, whether Luis de la Fuente opts for Pedro Porro or Marcos Llorente.
If they make the final, Spain will be favourites to win it, but ‘if’ remains the biggest two-letter word in all of sports.
France’s Ousmane Dembele, right, celebrates with Kylian Mbappe and other teammates after scoring his side’s third goal during the World Cup Group I soccer match between Norway and France [Martin Meissner/AP]
1. France
France are the class of the field with a fearsome foursome in attack and a defence which, although it hasn’t really been tested yet, has only allowed two goals in five matches.
The most uncomfortable France have looked in any game was the opening half of their opening game against Senegal, when Mbappe looked off the pace and Senegal were guilty of missing good chances.
In every match since, it has been largely plain sailing: seeing off Iraq and Norway’s B-team to top the group, then sweeping Sweden aside and keeping their composure to see-off Paraguay in a feisty round of 16 encounter.
Morocco will be a big step-up, but with Mbappe eyeing both the Golden Boot and all-time World Cup scoring record, and Olise, Dembele, Doue and Barcola all providing a threat across the pitch, they will fancy their chances of extending their unbeaten record against the Atlas Lions to seven matches and will hope Olise avoids another caution which would rule him out of the semifinal after a booking against Paraguay.
Spain, and in particular their defence, would pose a different challenge, but one which Didier Deschamps’ men would back themselves to overcome, while a potential grudge match against Argentina or England in the final would provide the greatest stage of all for some of the greatest players of all to shine.
Don’t be surprised if the all-time World Cup scoring record is broken in the showpiece, a fitting finale to a summer for the ages.
In a draft regulation obtained by Euronews and due to be presented in September, the European Commission plans to tighten access to the EU market by allowing public authorities to exclude foreign companies that present risks of interference from public procurement.
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The draft proposal comes amid heightened geopolitical tensions, with concerns over data leaks from sensitive public services to Beijing and Washington and as well as the weaponisation of the EU’s dependence on rare earths and technology products from China.
The draft document proposes that “public buyers shall take appropriate measures, where relevant at any stage of the procurement procedure, from planning and market consultation to contract award and execution, to ensure the protection of the security and public safety interests of the Union.”
The document adds that risks to security or public safety in a public contract may arise from firms whose “ownership, control, or financing structure” bears “risks of undue interference or influence over it,” as well as companies whose “exposure to third-country legislation […] may compel disclosure of sensitive information or interference with contract performance.”
Finally, public buyers would be allowed to introduce a European preference in public procurement, although the draft regulation would not make it compulsory.
Such provisions could confirm the EU’s protectionist shift towards a “Made in Europe” strategy, which the EU executive already proposed last March for strategic sectors such as clean technologies, the automotive industry and energy-intensive industries.
The risks of foreign interference and data transfer have become more acute in recent years, with the US and China both adopting legislation allowing them to request that companies under their jurisdiction transfer data stored in the EU.
Some European governments are already taking steps to mitigate these risks. In April, the French government ended its contract with Microsoft to protect French health data, and in June, it replaced US tech company Palantir with French company ChapsVision for the processing of sensitive information held by the the country’s domestic intelligence service, the Directorate General for Internal Security.
Over the last few years, several EU countries, including Germany, France, Italy and Denmark, have also cancelled or denied public contracts to the Chinese telecoms giant Huawei over security concerns.
The draft regulation also seeks to protect “critical infrastructure, critical supply chains, critical technologies or essential services, resilience against physical, cyber, or hybrid threats, and prevention and protection against risks of their disruption including due to harmful strategic dependencies on third-country suppliers.”
Last year, China cut off the EU from exports of rare earth minerals, which are essential for green technologies and the defence sector. It also stopped the Dutch-based Nexperia, owned by China’s Wingtech, from importing Chinese chips essential to the EU’s car industry.
The US military says it has struck 90 targets across Iran, hitting ports and infrastructure along the Strait of Hormuz. Iran says at least 14 people have been killed in two nights of attacks, and that it has responded with drone strikes on US-linked sites in the Gulf region.
The United States and Iran have traded attacks for a second day, straining their fragile ceasefire further after US President Donald Trump said the truce was “over”.
The US military said late on Wednesday that the attacks were aimed at Iran’s “ability to threaten the freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz”.
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The US struck approximately 90 military targets, including missile and drone storage as well as logistics sites along Iran’s coastline, said the Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees US military operations in the Middle East.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump called the US attacks “retribution for yesterday’s bombing of ships by Iran. If it happens again, it will get much worse!”
The latest attacks come a day after the US said it hit more than 80 targets in Iran in response to Iranian attacks on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Thursday it carried out attacks on “key infrastructure and facilities” at bases used by the US military in Arifjan and Ali Al Salem in Kuwait, and Juffair and Sheikh Isa in Bahrain in response to the latest US bombardment.
The Iranian army later said its forces targeted a Patriot missile system in Kuwait, a satellite antenna in Qatar and US military fuel depots in Bahrain.
Kuwait’s Ministry of Defence said it was intercepting missiles and drones, while Qatar issued an “elevated security threat” alert.
The renewed fighting threatens to undermine a memorandum of understanding (MoU) the two sides agreed last month to extend an April ceasefire and gradually reopen the Strait of Hormuz to shipping.
The attacks come a day after Trump said the ceasefire with Iran was “over” and criticised the Iranian leadership. However, he left the door open to more talks and suggested that any strikes would end quickly.
Speaking to reporters on board Air Force One as he travelled back to the US after attending the NATO summit in Turkiye, Trump said the Iranian side had “called a little while ago” and that they wanted “to make a deal so badly”.
US attacks across Iran
US strikes hit a railway bridge in Iran’s northeast, according to several official media, and the news agency IRNA reported strikes on a military base in coastal Bushehr, which hosts the nation’s only civilian nuclear power plant.
The Iranian railway (IRIR) said the train service on the Tehran-Mashhad line had been temporarily suspended as a result.
It said technical teams were on site to repair the damaged section so that the rail service could resume as soon as possible, adding that buses had been arranged to transport affected passengers.
Warplanes hovered over Iran’s Kish Island, and explosions rocked the port cities of Bandar Abbas, Konarak and Chabahar, part of which lost electricity, IRNA reported.
At least three people were killed in an attack on the outskirts of Ahvaz, capital of the southwestern province of Khuzestan, IRNA reported, citing the deputy governor of the region.
At least one firefighter was killed in an attack on an airport facility in Iranshahr, IRNA reported.
Iran’s Health Ministry said at least 14 people were killed and 78 others injured over the past two days.
Calls for diplomacy
In mid-June, the US and Iran signed an MoU to extend their ceasefire. It also led to the lifting of the US naval blockade of Iran and the gradual reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
The MoU came following mediation by Pakistan and Qatar, which served as a launch point for 60 days of talks on more intractable issues, including the future of Iran’s nuclear programme, the administration of the Strait of Hormuz and access to billions of dollars in frozen Iranian funds.
Since US-Israeli strikes triggered war in February, Tehran has effectively blocked the strait, threatening to hit vessels that deviate from its authorised route.
Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera’s Resul Serdar Atas said the US and Iran are “stuck in an equation – almost a deadlock” over the Strait of Hormuz.
“For the Americans, they say that Iran will not have control over the Strait of Hormuz. For the Iranians, control of the strait is indispensable.”
He said Iran sees control over the strait as the “ultimate deterrent, and if it gives that up, then it loses its negotiating position” with the US.
The US hopes that by targeting infrastructure that affects Iran’s ability to control the strait, including maritime traffic control centres, it will be forced to “return to the MoU”, Scott Uehlinger, a former senior CIA officer, told Al Jazeera.
United Nations chief Antonio Guterres called “on all parties to exercise maximum restraint”, as did Pakistan.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani told Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in a phone call on Thursday that Iran and the US should commit to diplomacy.
Sheikh Mohammed, who is also the foreign minister, said Washington and Tehran should implement the MoU to end the war.
Iran said the two officials had spoken over the phone and “underscored the importance of using diplomatic means to resolve regional issues”.
Trump’s name was removed from the centre’s facade and signage last month, after a judge ordered its removal.
Published On 9 Jul 20269 Jul 2026
A US appeals court has ruled that President Donald Trump’s name must remain off the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, while the organisation appeals an earlier ruling that found a name change illegal.
Trump’s name was removed from the centre’s facade and signage last month after US District Judge Christopher Cooper ordered the removal and blocked Trump’s plans to close the centre for renovations. An appeal against this ruling was struck down by a three-judge panel on Wednesday.
The conspicuous addition, and ensuing legal battle, became symbolic of Trump’s broader push to imprint his legacy – and, in this case, his actual name – on the nation’s capital in his final term.
The decision by the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied the Trump administration’s request to pause the lower court order in a lawsuit brought by Democratic Representative Joyce Beatty, a Kennedy Center board member.
“Today’s ruling again affirms that this administration’s efforts to rename the Kennedy Center were unlawful,” Beatty said in a statement.
“His name no longer desecrates this sacred memorial, which belongs to the American people.”
The panel of judges wrote on Wednesday that the board of trustees’ request “failed to show how they will be irreparably injured” if Trump’s name remains off the building through the appeal process.
The board had argued that the removal “threatens to impede” fundraising efforts, but the judges found that claim came without the support of “specific facts or evidence”.
The Kennedy Center did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment from the Associated Press news agency.
When Trump first took office in 2025, he replaced the Kennedy Center’s board of trustees, who then named him chairman. His name was quickly added to the building, but a federal judge then ruled that the name change was illegal, prompting the ensuing legal battle.
The order comes three years after a jury found out Trump has sexually abused and defamed the writer.
Published On 8 Jul 20268 Jul 2026
A federal judge has ruled that writer E Jean Carroll can collect the more than $5.8m that US President Donald Trump was ordered to pay after a jury found he sexually abused and defamed her, clearing the way for the money to be released after the US Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal.
Judge Lewis A Kaplan ruled on Wednesday that Carroll can be paid the original $5m award granted to her by the jury, along with interest that has accrued since the verdict in 2023. Carroll’s lawyers had asked for the funds to be released after the Supreme Court refused on June 29 to hear Trump’s appeal.
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“This is the end of the line,” Carroll’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan wrote in a court filing, adding, “It is time for him to pay Carroll.”
Less than an hour after the judge issued the order, Trump appealed it.
“The American People stand with President Trump as they demand an immediate end to all of the Witch Hunts, including the Democrat-funded travesty of the Carroll Hoaxes,” a spokesperson for Trump’s lawyers said in a statement.
Carroll first accused Trump in 2019, writing in a memoir that he had sexually assaulted her in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan in 1996. Trump denied the allegation, saying he had never met Carroll, accusing her of lying to sell books and for political reasons, and calling the claim a “hoax.”
Carroll sued him for defamation over those comments later that year, accusing him of damaging her reputation by suggesting she had lied for personal gain. She filed a second lawsuit in 2022, accusing Trump of battery/sexual abuse and defamation over another denial he posted on Truth Social in 2022, again calling the allegation a hoax.
In 2023, a jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll and for defaming her through his 2022 statements. It did not determine that Trump was liable for rape.
A second jury awarded her $83.3m in 2024 for the defamatory statements Trump made in 2019 when he was president, after she first went public with the allegation.
Trump has continued to fight both verdicts.
After the Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal, He called the lawsuit “a Fake Case” and pledged to continue fighting what he described as a “Weaponisation and Lawfare Case.”
On Wednesday, Trump’s lawyers filed a petition asking the Supreme Court to reconsider its decision not to hear the appeal. They argued that Trump would suffer “irreparable harm” if the money is paid out, because Carroll has said she intends to donate it, which would make it difficult to recover the funds if the verdict is later overturned.
Trump is also still appealing the $83.3m judgment, arguing his 2019 comments were made while he was president and are therefore protected by presidential immunity. The Department of Justice has also launched a criminal investigation into Carroll over whether she committed perjury during her testimony.
On Tuesday, two tankers were attacked as they transited the Strait of Hormuz via a passage in Omani waters. Gulf countries responded by sharply condemning the attacks and blaming Iran. The United States then launched attacks on Iranian territory, to which Tehran responded by striking Bahrain and Kuwait. US President Donald Trump has now said the memorandum of understanding (MoU) that Iran and the US signed is void.
This latest escalation illustrates how the Strait of Hormuz has become the central issue in the US-Israel war with Iran that began on February 28. Disagreements over the strait’s future have proven to be the hardest to resolve in the US-Iranian negotiations, as questions about Iran’s nuclear programme have been put to the side.
The disruption of traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has an immediate and costly price tag attached, for Iran, for its Gulf neighbours, and for a global economy that has spent four and a half months absorbing the largest oil supply shock in the history of the modern market.
Iran’s leverage is also its liability
For Tehran, the strait is its strongest card – one that is also incredibly costly. Since the war began, Iranian forces have mined the strait, attacked vessels and cut traffic through the passage by roughly 95 percent. This has led to what the International Energy Agency’s Fatih Birol has called “the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market”.
That leverage is real: about a fifth of the world’s oil and a fifth of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) normally move through Hormuz, and no amount of Gulf pipeline capacity can fully replace it.
But Iran has effectively been strangling its own lifeline along with everyone else’s. Iranian crude, once sold for $3 a barrel less than international benchmarks, is now selling at a 20 percent discount. The country’s oil exports collapsed by more than 90 percent in May as US naval enforcement squeezed its shadow fleet.
Even before the war, the World Bank projected that Iran’s economy would contract in 2026. The impact of the collapse of oil sales will be far-reaching because of the closure.
A 60-day US Treasury waiver issued on June 22, permitting Iran to sell oil at full market rates through August 21, but has now been renounced following the attacks on Tuesday.
This is the economic backdrop to Iran’s insistence on asserting joint authority over the strait and floating a system of transit fees or “service charges” for passing ships. Washington has made clear that Iran cannot charge tolls in international waters governed by the right of transit passage under the Law of the Sea.
For Tehran, the dispute is not really about toll revenue, which would be rather modest when compared to its oil income; it is about establishing precedent and sovereignty over a chokepoint that is its only real point of leverage once sanctions relief and frozen-asset release are negotiated.
The latter is itself contested: Iran wants half of an estimated $25bn in frozen assets released immediately, while the US has resisted. A separate $300bn reconstruction fund floated in the MoU has already become a political flashpoint in Washington.
The Gulf is paying for a crisis it didn’t start
For the Gulf states, the Strait of Hormuz crisis has meant improvising around geography. Saudi Arabia has redirected crude through its roughly 1,200km (746-mile) East-West pipeline to the Red Sea port of Yanbu, and the UAE has leaned on the Habshan-to-Fujairah line to the Gulf of Oman.
Together, though, these pipelines carry a fraction of what Hormuz once did, at best 7 million barrels a day of design capacity for the Saudi line and under 1.8 million for the Emirati one, against roughly 20 million barrels a day that transited the strait before the war.
Both alternatives have themselves come under attack: Iranian strikes cut the East-West pipeline’s throughput by an estimated 700,000 barrels a day in April, and drone attacks disrupted loading at Fujairah. Seaborne crude exports from Gulf states excluding Iran fell by roughly half between February and March.
Qatar, host to the talks between Iran and the US, has its own acute stake: its entire LNG export industry depends on the Strait of Hormuz, and it has been pushing the hardest for a settlement.
Oman, drawn into Iran’s sovereignty claim as co-owner of the strait’s territorial waters, is caught between commercial interest in a resolution and a legal position, as a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) that publicly rejects Iranian tolls. Iraq, highly dependent on its Gulf terminals, has quietly explored an export route north through Turkiye.
None of these workarounds are cheap, and all of them are political as well as commercial, tying Gulf capitals’ economic fortunes to a settlement between the US and Iran.
The rest of the world: Insurance bills and inflation
Beyond the region, the crisis has been transmitted mainly through two channels: price and insurance. Higher oil prices are passed on to various consumer goods down supply chains and suppress growth. According to estimates, the global economy can slow down to 2.8 percent in 2026 from 3.4 percent last year due to the closure of the strait.
Insurance for Hormuz transit, which cost roughly 0.25 percent of a vessel’s value before the war, has spiked as high as 8 percent, turning a single large tanker’s coverage into a $3m-to-$8m expense. Shipping lines including CMA CGM and Hapag-Lloyd have layered on conflict surcharges of $1,500 to $2,000 per twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU). Washington’s own International Development Finance Corporation has had to step in as, in effect, an insurer of last resort, offering up to $40bn in reinsurance capacity to keep vessels moving.
China has absorbed the largest share of this pain: It takes close to 40 percent of its crude imports through the Strait of Hormuz and buys more than 80 percent of Iran’s oil exports outright, making it simultaneously Tehran’s most important customer and one of the war’s most exposed bystanders. Japan, which sources 70 percent of its Middle Eastern crude via the strait, has already tapped strategic reserves.
For import-dependent economies across Asia and Europe, the strait’s fate is not an abstraction of Middle East diplomacy; it shows up directly in fuel, freight and fertiliser prices.
Oil and gas dominate the headlines, but roughly 30 percent of the world’s seaborne fertiliser trade also passes through Hormuz.
The World Bank’s fertiliser price index has risen more than 12 percent in the first quarter of 2026 and has since climbed to its highest level since October 2022, driven largely by the closure. The Food and Agriculture Organization has warned that the resulting scarcity of urea and other nitrogen products will show up as lower yields through the 2026–2027 growing season, hitting import-dependent and already food-insecure countries in Africa and Asia the hardest.
Unlike an oil-price spike, which mainly stings at the pump, a fertiliser shortfall reaches into next year’s harvest, meaning an unresolved Hormuz standoff carries a slower-moving but longer tail of economic damage than crude prices alone suggest.
That is the arithmetic weighing on both sides. A deal that reopens the Strait of Hormuz without resolving who controls it risks recreating the same instability that shut it in the first place; one that concedes Iranian toll authority risks a precedent Washington and shipping nations will not accept. Until that circle is squared, the global economy is left pricing in a chokepoint that neither side can fully afford to keep closed, nor fully agree how to reopen.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial policy.
US President Donald Trump says the US will ‘probably’ carry out another round of strikes on Iran on Wednesday night, following overnight strikes he said were launched in response to Iranian attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
Messi is the top goal scorer after tallying his eighth against Egypt, with Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe next best.
Published On 8 Jul 20268 Jul 2026
Argentina superstar Lionel Messi has, once again, taken the lead in the race for the World Cup’s Golden Boot award after scoring his eighth goal in his country’s thrilling 3-2 win over Egypt in the round of 16 on Tuesday.
Messi’s goal brought Argentina back on level terms after they were 2-0 down in the match in Atlanta, and also helped him break away from the rest of the pack.
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For three days, French talisman Kylian Mbappe and Argentinian great Lionel Messi rubbed shoulders as the joint leaders – with seven goals apiece – in the race to be the tournament’s top goal scorer, but Haaland’s double in Norway’s round of 16 win against Brazil put him level with both on Sunday.
When the World Cup’s knockout stage began, Messi became the first to reach seven goals when Argentina beat Cape Verde on Friday, and Mbappe matched him a day later as France beat Paraguay.
England’s Harry Kane took his tally to six goals after scoring in England’s thrilling 3-2 win over Mexico late on Sunday.
Spain’s Mikel Oyarzabal and Mbappe’s teammate Ousmane Dembele are hot on their heels with four goals each.
Here’s everything you need to know about FIFA’s Golden Boot award:
Messi shoots at goal during the Argentina-Egypt last-16 tie at Atlanta Stadium [Nathan Ray Seebeck/Imagn Images via Reuters]
What’s the FIFA Golden Boot award and how is it decided?
FIFA’s Golden Boot is awarded to the player with the most goals at the end of the tournament.
If two players are tied on the same number of goals at the end of the tournament, then the player with the most assists will win the award.
If those tiebreakers cannot split two players, then the Golden Boot is handed to the player who achieved their goals and assists in the least number of minutes.
Erling Haaland celebrates after the match as Norway qualify for the round of 16 [Issei Kato/Reuters]
Which players are the top goal scorers at World Cup 2026?
Lionel Messi (Argentina) – 8 goals, 1 assist
Kylian Mbappe (France) – 7 goals, 2 assists
Erling Haaland (Norway) – 7 goals, 0 assists
Harry Kane (England) – 6 goals, 1 assist
Ousmane Dembele (France) – 4 goals, 2 assists
Mikel Oyarzabal (Spain) – 4 goals, 1 assist
How many Golden Boot awards have current World Cup players won?
Mbappe, Kane and James Rodriguez are all looking to bag the top goal-scorer prize for a second time.
England’s Kane won the award in 2018 in Russia, while Colombia’s Rodriguez was the top scorer in 2014 in Brazil.
Egypt head coach Hossam Hassan has called for players and reporters at the World Cup to speak out about the killing of children in Gaza and Palestine. Hassan made the comments after his team’s controversial 3-2 defeat to Argentina in the last 16.
