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Vozinha’s world cup heroics earn him a sea slug named in his honour

Vozinha sea slug named after him

Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha has picked up an unexpected honour after his run at the World Cup, with scientists naming a newly identified sea slug species after him.

The Cape Verde islanders pushed Argentina to extra time before falling 3-2, a result that capped a tournament run few had predicted for the small West African nation. Before that exit, Vozinha kept a clean sheet in a goalless draw against European champions Spain, a result that gave Cape Verde its first-ever point at a World Cup.

That performance changed his profile almost overnight. His Instagram following jumped from 50,000 to 17.4 million, a number that puts him ahead of NFL veteran Tom Brady in social media reach.

A New Species Named In His Honour

Biologist Jesus Ortea, a professor emeritus at the University of Oviedo, found the small red mollusc in the Caribbean and gave it the name Aldisa vozinha, tying it directly to the 40-year-old goalkeeper.

In his published report on the discovery, Ortea wrote that he wanted to mark Vozinha’s role at the tournament. He also pointed out a detail that made the choice feel deliberate rather than arbitrary: the slug’s red colouring mirrors the nickname of Spain’s national team, La Roja, the side against whom Vozinha delivered his best-remembered display.

“The red colour of the dedicated species is a reminder of his feat,” Ortea wrote.

A Scientist With A Football Habit

This isn’t the first time Ortea has mixed marine biology with football. At 75, he has built a pattern of naming new species after players who catch his attention during major tournaments.

He previously named a species discovered in Costa Rica after Keylor Navas, the goalkeeper who played for Costa Rica at several World Cups and spent time at Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and Nottingham Forest.

Ortea also named a separate creature after Quini, the former Sporting Gijon striker, picking a species whose colours matched the club’s kit.

His connection to Cape Verde goes beyond this latest naming. Ortea received the country’s Medal of Merit in 2023 for his research in the waters surrounding the island nation, work that had already put him in contact with Cape Verdean officials before Vozinha’s World Cup run began.

A Breakthrough Run For Cape Verde

Cape Verde’s World Cup campaign stood out as one of the tournament’s more unexpected stories. A nation of roughly 500,000 people reached a stage most had not anticipated, and Vozinha’s saves against Spain became the moment that defined the run for many watching outside the country.

The draw with Spain secured a point that Cape Verde had never managed at a World Cup before that match. Reaching the knockout stage and taking Argentina to extra time added to a run that turned Vozinha into one of the tournament’s more recognisable figures, despite representing one of its smaller footballing nations.

His social media numbers reflect how quickly that recognition spread. Going from 50,000 followers to 17.4 million in the span of a single tournament put him among the most-followed athletes to emerge from this World Cup, regardless of how his side’s run ultimately ended.

Science Meets Sport

Ortea’s naming choices follow a consistent logic. Rather than picking names at random, he has tied each species to a detail about the player or club being honoured, whether through colour, geography, or timing. The Vozinha naming continues that approach, linking a mollusc found in the Caribbean to a goalkeeper who plays his football thousands of miles away in Africa and Europe.

Species names given in honour of public figures are not unusual in taxonomy, but Ortea’s specific focus on footballers gives his research a public profile that pure marine biology often doesn’t attract. Each naming tends to draw attention back to his broader work cataloguing new mollusc species, work that includes his research around Cape Verde’s coastline.

For Cape Verde, the timing adds another layer of recognition to a tournament that already delivered milestones the country had not reached before. Vozinha’s clean sheet against Spain and the near-miss against Argentina will likely remain the sporting highlights of the run, but the naming of Aldisa vozinha gives the goalkeeper a mark tied to the tournament that will outlast this particular World Cup cycle.

Ortea’s report on the discovery did not indicate whether he plans to name further species after players from this tournament, though his history suggests Vozinha may not be the last footballer to receive this kind of tribute.

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George Mensah

George Mensah is a Senior Political & Conflict Correspondent at ClicxPost, covering global politics, international conflict, and economic developments. With five years of experience in breaking news and geopolitical reporting, he delivers fast, accurate analysis on major world events.

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Vozinha sea slug named after him

Vozinha’s world cup heroics earn him a sea slug named in his honour

July 11, 2026 No Comments

Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha has picked up an unexpected honour after his run at the World Cup, with scientists naming a newly identified sea slug species after him.

The Cape Verde islanders pushed Argentina to extra time before falling 3-2, a result that capped a tournament run few had predicted for the small West African nation. Before that exit, Vozinha kept a clean sheet in a goalless draw against European champions Spain, a result that gave Cape Verde its first-ever point at a World Cup.

That performance changed his profile almost overnight. His Instagram following jumped from 50,000 to 17.4 million, a number that puts him ahead of NFL veteran Tom Brady in social media reach.

A New Species Named In His Honour

Biologist Jesus Ortea, a professor emeritus at the University of Oviedo, found the small red mollusc in the Caribbean and gave it the name Aldisa vozinha, tying it directly to the 40-year-old goalkeeper.

In his published report on the discovery, Ortea wrote that he wanted to mark Vozinha’s role at the tournament. He also pointed out a detail that made the choice feel deliberate rather than arbitrary: the slug’s red colouring mirrors the nickname of Spain’s national team, La Roja, the side against whom Vozinha delivered his best-remembered display.

“The red colour of the dedicated species is a reminder of his feat,” Ortea wrote.

A Scientist With A Football Habit

This isn’t the first time Ortea has mixed marine biology with football. At 75, he has built a pattern of naming new species after players who catch his attention during major tournaments.

He previously named a species discovered in Costa Rica after Keylor Navas, the goalkeeper who played for Costa Rica at several World Cups and spent time at Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and Nottingham Forest.

Ortea also named a separate creature after Quini, the former Sporting Gijon striker, picking a species whose colours matched the club’s kit.

His connection to Cape Verde goes beyond this latest naming. Ortea received the country’s Medal of Merit in 2023 for his research in the waters surrounding the island nation, work that had already put him in contact with Cape Verdean officials before Vozinha’s World Cup run began.

A Breakthrough Run For Cape Verde

Cape Verde’s World Cup campaign stood out as one of the tournament’s more unexpected stories. A nation of roughly 500,000 people reached a stage most had not anticipated, and Vozinha’s saves against Spain became the moment that defined the run for many watching outside the country.

The draw with Spain secured a point that Cape Verde had never managed at a World Cup before that match. Reaching the knockout stage and taking Argentina to extra time added to a run that turned Vozinha into one of the tournament’s more recognisable figures, despite representing one of its smaller footballing nations.

His social media numbers reflect how quickly that recognition spread. Going from 50,000 followers to 17.4 million in the span of a single tournament put him among the most-followed athletes to emerge from this World Cup, regardless of how his side’s run ultimately ended.

Science Meets Sport

Ortea’s naming choices follow a consistent logic. Rather than picking names at random, he has tied each species to a detail about the player or club being honoured, whether through colour, geography, or timing. The Vozinha naming continues that approach, linking a mollusc found in the Caribbean to a goalkeeper who plays his football thousands of miles away in Africa and Europe.

Species names given in honour of public figures are not unusual in taxonomy, but Ortea’s specific focus on footballers gives his research a public profile that pure marine biology often doesn’t attract. Each naming tends to draw attention back to his broader work cataloguing new mollusc species, work that includes his research around Cape Verde’s coastline.

For Cape Verde, the timing adds another layer of recognition to a tournament that already delivered milestones the country had not reached before. Vozinha’s clean sheet against Spain and the near-miss against Argentina will likely remain the sporting highlights of the run, but the naming of Aldisa vozinha gives the goalkeeper a mark tied to the tournament that will outlast this particular World Cup cycle.

Ortea’s report on the discovery did not indicate whether he plans to name further species after players from this tournament, though his history suggests Vozinha may not be the last footballer to receive this kind of tribute.

Trump Iran assassination plot

Trump Says He Has Left Instructions Should Iran Assassinate Him

July 11, 2026 No Comments

President Donald Trump said he has left instructions for a massive military response against Iran if Tehran manages to kill him, a warning he delivered while dismissing a recent report about a fresh assassination plot tied to the country.

Trump spoke to the New York Post on Friday and said Iran has wanted him dead for years and would face retaliation on a scale it has not seen before if any plot against him ever worked. He pushed back on the idea that Israel had uncovered a new plan targeting him, even as he stood by his longstanding claim that Iran’s intent toward him has never wavered.

“No, no. Israel came up with nothing. No, no,” Trump said. “I’ve been No. 1 [on Iran’s kill list] for a long time, and it’s the way life is, you know.”

He then added, “I hope you’ll miss me.”

CNN later reported that intelligence Israel passed to the United States did not describe a formal assassination plot. Instead, the intelligence contained unspecified information suggesting that Ahmad Vahidi, a commander in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, wanted Trump dead, according to the New York Post’s account of the CNN report.

Trump’s comments landed as tensions between Washington and Tehran escalated sharply. He recently walked away from a ceasefire with Iran and an early-stage memorandum of understanding after Iran allegedly struck three ships in the Strait of Hormuz earlier in the week. The United States responded by revoking a sanctions waiver tied to Iranian oil and launching close to 200 strikes across Iran over a two-day span.

Iran has said publicly that it wants revenge against Trump since 2020, when he ordered the strike that killed Qasem Soleimani, a senior Iranian military commander. Multiple attempts to assassinate Trump have been stopped since he survived a shooting at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July 2024, the New York Post reported.

Anti-Trump sentiment in Iran has grown more intense in recent days. Demonstrators at memorial gatherings have carried banners calling for his death, according to the New York Post. Iranian media cited by the newspaper quoted a eulogist at one gathering asking, “Why shouldn’t we kill the one who killed my imam and my leader? Trump’s killing is our duty. Why is the most despicable man in the world still alive?”

Trump made similar comments in 2025, when he said he had given orders to destroy Iran if he were assassinated. The New York Post noted that his latest remarks carried more force than before, coming as threats against him have picked up again.

Trump repeated his claim about being Iran’s top target while speaking at the NATO summit in Ankara earlier in the week. He also took aim at the country’s leadership during those remarks.

“They had leaders, they’re gone. Then they had another set of leaders, they’re gone. Now they have another set of leaders, they may be gone, who knows?” Trump said. “And you know what? I may be gone too. Because I’m their No. 1 target, it’s out all over the place. Because they’re scum.”

He continued, “That’s the way they act and that’s the way they’ve done it for 47 years.”

Trump switched aircraft on his way back from Ankara this week. The White House described the switch as a security precaution taken after Trump publicly said Iran continued to pursue his assassination.

The exchange in Ankara came against a backdrop of a military campaign that has expanded quickly since the Strait of Hormuz incident. The nearly 200 strikes carried out over two days marked a sharp jump in the scale of US action against Iran, following the collapse of the ceasefire and the memorandum both sides had been working toward before the attack on the three ships. US officials have said Washington wants Iran to commit to ending its attacks in the strait, a waterway that carries a large share of the world’s seaborne oil traffic and has repeatedly been a flashpoint between the two countries.

Trump’s account of what Israeli intelligence showed differs from the version CNN reported. Where Trump described the reports of a plot as unfounded, CNN’s sourcing pointed to intelligence about a specific IRGC commander’s alleged wish to see him killed, without describing that intelligence as evidence of an organized plan. The distinction matters for how the threat is being assessed inside the US government, even as Trump’s public message stayed focused on the broader, years-long pattern he says Iran has followed.

That pattern, as Trump described it in Ankara, includes a succession of Iranian leaders he said have been removed one after another, a reference to the toll Israeli and US strikes have taken on the country’s senior military and political figures during the recent conflict. His comment that he “may be gone too” was delivered in the same breath as his claim to be Iran’s top target, a claim he has repeated regularly since ordering the Soleimani strike in January 2020.

That strike, carried out by a US drone near Baghdad’s airport, killed the commander of Iran’s Quds Force and prompted Iran’s government to vow retaliation against Trump personally. Tehran has repeated that vow at intervals in the years since, and Trump has cited it as the basis for his security posture whenever the subject comes up.

The Butler, Pennsylvania, rally shooting in July 2024 added a separate layer to the security discussion around Trump, one not directly tied to Iran. The New York Post’s report treated the plots allegedly linked to Iran as a distinct thread from that shooting, describing both as part of a broader run of threats against Trump that have been disrupted since he returned to the campaign trail and then to office.

Trump’s remark to the Post, “I hope you’ll miss me,” came across as characteristically informal for a statement about his own possible assassination, a tone he has used before when discussing threats against him. He paired that remark with the more pointed warning about the scale of retaliation Iran would face, without detailing what form a military response would take beyond calling it massive and unprecedented.

The White House has not released additional detail on what instructions Trump says he has left or with whom. The New York Post’s report did not specify which officials or agencies had been briefed on the plan, and the newspaper’s account relied on Trump’s own description of the arrangement rather than confirmation from a second source inside the administration.

Iran’s government has not issued a direct response to Trump’s latest comments as of the New York Post’s report. The eulogist’s remarks at the memorial gathering, relayed through Iranian media, reflected sentiment among some demonstrators rather than an official statement from Tehran.

The standoff over the Strait of Hormuz remains unresolved. US officials have continued to press Iran to commit to halting attacks in the waterway, even as the two countries’ broader diplomatic track, including the ceasefire and memorandum Trump abandoned, remains stalled. Trump’s comments in Ankara and to the New York Post suggest he intends to keep linking that unresolved military standoff to his own personal safety in public remarks going forward.

Ro Khanna West Bank settlers

Ro khanna says he was detained by armed Israeli settlers during West Bank trip weighing 2028 run

July 11, 2026 No Comments

U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna said he was detained by Israeli settlers carrying U.S.-made rifles during a West Bank visit this week, an encounter he described as an unfiltered look at the human cost of Israeli occupation as he weighs a run for president in 2028.

Speaking with Reuters on Thursday in a Palestinian village, Khanna said his group’s van was surrounded a day earlier by settlers carrying M4 rifles while touring a part of the southern West Bank where residents face frequent attacks from settlers.

“We were at a village that Israeli settlers had destroyed, they had destroyed the school, they had destroyed that village, and we were just looking at it,” said Khanna, a progressive Democrat from California in the U.S. House of Representatives.

“And these hoodlums come in with machine guns – M4, an American-made machine gun – and they detain us. They block off the road. And then they call the IDF and the IDF is on their side, not on the side of the Americans,” Khanna said, referring to the Israeli military.

Cameron Kasky, an aide to Khanna who was part of the group, said they were held for more than an hour and appealed to the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem for help. Officers who appeared to be police eventually stepped in and the group was released, Kasky said.

The Israeli military said troops and police intervened after receiving a report that settlers had blocked vehicles near Khirbet Zanuta, a small Palestinian hamlet whose residents were forcibly displaced by settler raids following the Hamas attacks on Israel in 2023. “Upon their arrival, the troops dispersed the Israeli civilians and allowed the vehicles to continue on their way,” the military said. Israel’s police did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem.

Democrats split over Israel’s conduct

Khanna is the second Democrat weighing a presidential bid to visit the region this week. Rahm Emanuel, who served as chief of staff under President Barack Obama, said in Tel Aviv on Wednesday that Israeli policies toward Palestinians were wearing down American support for the U.S.-Israeli alliance.

Asked whether he plans to run for president, Khanna said he’s strongly considering it and feels more resolved to do so after this trip.

Israel’s treatment of Palestinians has become a dividing line inside the Democratic Party heading into November’s midterm elections, and it has already cost some incumbent lawmakers their seats in primaries, where left-wing challengers accused them of backing Israel’s right-wing government. Israel’s favorability rating among Democrats dropped from 59% in 2018 to 22% in May, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling.

Israel has long drawn support from both parties in Washington, but a growing number of congressional Democrats are now pushing to cut off military aid to the country. That aid totals $3.8 billion a year and includes funding for weaponry such as M4 rifles and missile interceptors, the latter of which Israel used during its recent war with Iran.

Khanna calls party leadership out of touch

Standing above a valley dotted with settler outposts on the edge of Turmus Ayya, a village home to thousands of Palestinian Americans holding dual citizenship, Khanna said he believes his party’s leadership is out of touch with how much of a moral test the situation in Palestine, Gaza and Israel has become.

He said he deliberately planned a trip focused only on the West Bank, with Palestinians leading the programming, to get an unfiltered view of territory Israel has occupied since capturing it in the 1967 Middle East war.

“If you’re unwilling to speak up for Palestinian human rights, if you’re unwilling to speak up against the genocide in Gaza, the apartheid in the West Bank, then you are morally compromised,” Khanna said.

Israel denies it has carried out genocide in Gaza or that it operates an apartheid system in the West Bank, which is home to roughly 3 million Palestinians and about 500,000 Jewish settlers.

Most countries and the United Nations consider Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, pointing to the Fourth Geneva Convention’s ban on moving civilian populations into occupied territory. Israel disputes that view, arguing the West Bank is disputed land where Jewish communities have existed for thousands of years. Palestinians see the West Bank, along with Gaza and East Jerusalem, as part of a future Palestinian state.

Support for Israel remains strong among Republicans, though some figures within Trump’s political coalition have also called for scaling back aid.

Harry Kane Trump golf

Harry Kane confirms ‘surreal’ golf round with Trump ahead of England’s world cup clash with Norway

July 11, 2026 No Comments

England captain Harry Kane confirmed Friday that he once played golf with U.S. President Donald Trump, calling the round “surreal” and giving Trump credit for his game.

Trump told reporters earlier this week that he had played golf with Kane, describing the England striker as a great player and a solid golfer.

Speaking on the eve of England’s World Cup quarter-final against Norway, Kane confirmed the round happened in Palm Beach, Florida, about 18 months ago.

“I played all right, to be honest,” Kane told reporters in Miami. “He invited me to play when I was down in Palm Beach. So yeah, when the president invites you somewhere…”

“It was a pretty surreal experience just to meet him and obviously play golf with him. His golf is pretty good, to be honest,” Kane added. “I hope I can play as well as him when I’m his age. So yeah, unique experience and I was just grateful he invited me down to play.”

Trump had praised the Bayern Munich forward on his Truth Social platform after England’s 3-2 win over Mexico in the last 16, writing that Kane is a great player.

The next day, Trump revealed the two had golfed together, calling Kane a good golfer whom he likes a lot.

Kane’s comments came at a press conference dominated by talk of Saturday’s quarter-final against Norway in Miami, a match built around a showdown between Kane and Norway’s Erling Haaland, two of the tournament’s most productive strikers. Kane has scored six goals through five games this World Cup, one behind Haaland’s seven and two shy of the tournament lead held jointly by Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi. His tally already places him alongside Gary Lineker as one of only three England players to reach six goals in a single major tournament, matching a mark Kane himself set at the 2018 World Cup.

Kane has also become England’s all-time leading World Cup scorer, and a Saturday appearance would tie him with Wayne Rooney as the country’s most-capped outfield player.

Haaland’s run has been just as striking. Playing in his first World Cup, the Manchester City forward has found the net in each of Norway’s four matches so far, a streak that helped carry the country to its first World Cup quarter-final since returning to the tournament after a 28-year absence. His double against Brazil in the round of 16 eliminated the five-time champions and turned Norway into one of the tournament’s biggest surprises.

Kane described Haaland as “a machine” in his pre-match press conference, while drawing a distinction between their games. He said the two strikers operate in almost different positions on the field despite sharing the same role, and pointed to England’s collective effort rather than individual scoring as the source of the team’s results. He singled out contributions from teammates in defense and midfield during the win over Mexico, saying the team has what he called “hero moments” spread across the pitch rather than relying solely on goals from its forwards.

Norway coach Stale Solbakken said Friday that the matchup would likely decide the game, framing it as a contest between two sides built around their respective number nines. England reached the quarter-finals after topping Group L, beating Croatia and Panama and drawing with Ghana, before needing a second-half comeback against the Democratic Republic of the Congo and then holding off co-hosts Mexico in a chaotic 3-2 win at Azteca Stadium. Norway finished second in Group I, then needed a late goal to beat Ivory Coast before stunning Brazil by the same scoreline in the last 16.

England will be without defender Jarell Quansah, who is serving a two-match suspension after a red card against Mexico, and enters the match with lingering fitness questions surrounding Marc Guehi and Reece James. Jordan Henderson is out for the rest of the tournament with a broken wrist. Norway has reported no injury concerns heading into the match.

Saturday’s winner will advance to face either Argentina or Switzerland in the semifinals.

Kane’s relationship with Trump adds an unusual subplot to a tournament that has already drawn its share of political attention in the United States, where World Cup matches are being played across several cities this summer. Kane, who has spent his club career at Tottenham Hotspur and now Bayern Munich, said the invitation to play golf came directly from Trump during a personal visit to Florida rather than through any official channel, and described it as a one-off experience rather than part of any ongoing relationship. He did not offer further detail on how the round came about or whether the two have stayed in touch since.

For now, Kane’s focus remains on ending what has been a 60-year wait for England to win a major men’s tournament. He has said his priority this summer is the trophy itself rather than the Golden Boot, even as his goal tally keeps him in contention for both.

Lionel Messi World Cup 2026

Scaloni says Messi’s age has not slowed him down: ‘as long as he wants to, he will be the best’

July 11, 2026 No Comments

Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said Friday that he isn’t surprised by Lionel Messi’s physical condition at 39, and he repeated his belief that the captain will remain the best player in the world for as long as he wants to keep playing.

Messi has driven Argentina’s run through this World Cup, scoring eight goals to match France’s Kylian Mbappe atop the tournament’s scoring chart, and sparking a 3-2 comeback win over Egypt in the round of 16.

Against Egypt, Messi, who is playing in a record sixth World Cup, scored once and set up Cristian Romero’s goal after Argentina fell behind 2-0 with 11 minutes left. The Inter Miami forward, who turned 39 last month, entered the tournament facing questions about his fitness following a recent muscle strain.

“Leo runs more or less the same in every match,” Scaloni said. “Physically, it’s true that he has done preparation work with his fitness coach and it has paid off, but in terms of numbers I don’t know if he has changed that much.”

“What is clear is that he’s giving everything he has. When he gives everything he has and senses that he can create danger, he is a machine,” the coach added.

Scaloni said people expecting Messi’s age to slow him down simply don’t know him well enough.

“It doesn’t surprise me,” he said. “Maybe people who don’t know him expected that at 39 he wouldn’t be at this level, but I don’t know how many times I’ve said it: as long as he wants to, he will be the best. I think that, and not because I’m his coach.”

Argentina faces Switzerland in the quarter-finals Saturday in Kansas City. Scaloni had praise for the opponent, which reached the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time in 72 years after beating Colombia on penalties following a scoreless draw.

“There are no easy rivals, we all know that,” Scaloni said. “They are a very good team. They compete with the best national teams and always come through. They may win or lose, but they always compete. They have World Cup tradition, experienced players and are physically strong.”

Spain vs Belgium World Cup

Merino’s late strike sends Spain past injury-hit Belgium into world cup semi-final vs France

July 11, 2026 No Comments

Substitute Mikel Merino struck late for Spain on Friday after Belgium goalkeeper Senne Lammens lost his grip on the ball, sealing a 2-1 win over an injury-depleted opponent and booking a World Cup semi-final date with France.

The two sides were tied 1-1 at halftime, and Spain finally broke through when Lammens, who had replaced the injured Thibaut Courtois earlier in the second half, fumbled Pau Cubarsi’s low shot. The ball dropped in front of him, giving Merino just enough space to fire it in as the largely pro-Spain crowd roared on a scorching afternoon at Los Angeles Stadium.

“There are no such things as coincidences,” Merino said. He also scored a late winner off the bench in Spain’s 1-0 round-of-16 win over Portugal. “If you go into a match well-prepared, things tend to happen again.”

Spain last reached the World Cup semi-finals in 2010, the year they won the tournament.

“We are two matches away from winning the World Cup and that is what we are going after,” Merino added.

European champions Spain will meet tournament favorites France in Dallas on Tuesday for a place in the final.

“We’re going to work hard to try and beat France,” Spain coach Luis de la Fuente said. “They’ll be just as worried as we are.”

Spain came out swinging

Spain pressed early against Belgium, and Fabian Ruiz put them ahead in the 30th minute. He pounced after Courtois made a diving save, then squeezed a shot between defender Timothy Castagne’s legs and into the net.

Ruiz’s goal justified De la Fuente’s decision to start the Paris St Germain midfielder over Pedri, who entered the match in Ruiz’s place early in the second half.

Belgium answered 11 minutes later. Charles De Ketelaere timed his run well and headed home Castagne’s cross past goalkeeper Unai Simon, the first goal Spain had conceded in the tournament. The equalizer gave Belgium fresh momentum, and both teams battled through the heat to halftime.

Spain looked sharper after the break. The team controlled possession and probed Belgium’s defense, with 18-year-old Lamine Yamal a constant threat down the flank. Spain outshot Belgium 17-5 across the match, and the second goal arrived through Merino, who scored just two minutes after entering in the 86th.

Merino is now the first player in World Cup history to score the winning goal in two separate knockout matches as a substitute.

Belgium, led by veterans Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku, pushed for a second equalizer and created a few promising chances but couldn’t find a way past Spain’s defense.

Belgium’s injury toll

Belgium entered the match already shorthanded. Captain Youri Tielemans was pulled from the starting lineup shortly before kickoff after getting hurt in the warmup, with Hans Vanaken taking his spot. Midfielder Amadou Onana was also out, having torn his ACL during Belgium’s round-of-16 win over the United States.

The biggest blow came from Courtois. The 34-year-old Real Madrid keeper, regarded as one of the best in the world, made four strong saves before telling the bench he felt muscle pain in his leg while taking long kicks in the second half. He was in tears leaving the field after coach Rudi Garcia opted to substitute him.

“I wanted to continue but, yeah, the coach wanted someone 100%, so okay, that’s his decision… and that’s not a problem,” Courtois said.

That substitution turned out to matter. Courtois could only watch from the sideline as Lammens failed to handle a routine save, opening the door for Merino’s winner.

“Senne, obviously, I gave him a big hug,” Courtois said. “Not much more I can do at the moment. I know, for goalkeepers, this is a shit feeling, and he’s a great goalkeeper, and he will only get stronger from this.”

The 70,492 fans at Los Angeles Stadium included musicians Courtney Love and Noel Gallagher, actor Brad Pitt, and Spanish actors Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem.

Friday’s quarter-final was the eighth and final World Cup match held at the $5 billion venue, known as SoFi Stadium outside the tournament and home to the NFL’s Rams and Chargers.

Iran US assassination threat

Iran’s top diplomat heads to oman for hormuz talks as Trump declares ceasefire over

July 11, 2026 No Comments

Iran’s top diplomat landed in Oman on Saturday to hash out terms for keeping ships moving safely through the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iranian state media, as Washington pushes for a public promise of open, secure passage through the waterway.

President Donald Trump said Friday that the U.S. and Iran would keep talking even after a rough week of renewed hostilities, but he also declared the ceasefire between the two countries finished. No new attacks surfaced Friday or in the early hours of Saturday.

Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported that Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi touched down in Oman on Saturday. Oman has been working to broker an end to a war that has rattled security across the Gulf and driven up prices worldwide since the U.S. and Israel struck Iran on February 28.

CBS News and its UK partner, the BBC, both reported that U.S. Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner were set to lead Saturday’s talks with Araqchi. Reuters could not immediately confirm those reports, and neither outlet specified whether the talks would happen in Oman or over video link. Iran’s Fars news agency later quoted a source saying no negotiations would happen until the U.S. backed off its current position.

Iran says U.S. broke the interim deal

Araqchi accused Washington of violating the ceasefire terms after the U.S. pulled the license that had allowed sales of Iranian crude on Tuesday, a move that came after commercial vessels were hit. “There can only be mutual compliance,” he wrote on X.

Three Qatari and Saudi commercial tankers were struck earlier in the week. The U.S. answered by hitting Iranian sites, and Iran fired back at U.S. military positions in Gulf states. Iran has not claimed the ship attacks, but analysts say Tehran has used similar strikes before to gain ground at the negotiating table.

Senior U.S. officials told reporters Friday that Iran had told American counterparts the shipping attacks came from an “errant part of their system,” language that seemed designed to lower the temperature. Still, the flareup raised fresh doubts about whether last month’s interim agreement can hold, and it pushed oil prices up at a moment that carries real political weight for Trump heading into November’s congressional elections.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran has asked us to continue ‘talks.’ We have agreed to do so, but the United States has stated to them, in no uncertain terms, that the Cease Fire is OVER!” Trump wrote Friday on Truth Social.

Iran pushed back on that framing. State television reported that Tehran never asked to negotiate directly with Washington but agreed to host a Qatari mediator instead. A person with knowledge of the matter told Reuters that Qatari negotiators met with Iranian officials Friday to work on de-escalation and discuss the strait specifically.

Trump also said he had ordered the U.S. military to stand ready to strike Iran if Tehran carries out, or tries to carry out, an assassination attempt against him. “1000 Missiles are Locked and Loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran, with thousands of more to immediately follow, should the Iranian Government act on its threat, pronounced in many corners of the Globe, to assassinate, or attempt to assassinate, the sitting President of the United States of America, in this case, ME!” he wrote.

The Wall Street Journal and other U.S. outlets reported this week that Israel passed intelligence to Washington indicating Iran had recently put together a plan to kill Trump. Iran had not responded to Trump’s latest comments as of Saturday.

At the funeral for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Thursday, a massive crowd filled a courtyard, and some mourners carried banners reading “We Will Kill Trump.” Khamenei died in an airstrike on the war’s opening day.

U.S. officials call recent talks productive

Washington wants Iran to publicly commit to ending attacks on ships in the strait and to keep every lane open with no tolls charged, senior U.S. officials told reporters Friday. Before the war, the waterway carried roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil supply. During the fighting, Tehran has largely controlled the strait, which has left the standoff with the world’s most powerful military stuck in a stalemate.

At least 17 people died in U.S. strikes on six Iranian cities Wednesday and Thursday, according to the head of the public relations and information center at Iran’s Health Ministry, who also said 115 people were wounded.

Despite the casualties and the renewed strikes, U.S. officials described the conversations between the two countries in recent days as productive. Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson said, through state media, that any breach of commitments by Washington would draw “reciprocal action.”

Last month’s interim deal was supposed to set up an eventual end to a war now in its fifth month. The conflict has killed thousands of people, cut into energy supplies worldwide and stirred worry about a broader global economic slowdown. The renewed fighting in the Gulf has added to the strain on U.S. consumers. Crude oil prices had been falling steadily for weeks before posting their sharpest weekly increase in eight weeks.

Spain deadliest wildfire deaths

Spain’s deadliest wildfire in decades kills 11, leaves 19 missing near Almería

July 10, 2026 No Comments

A fast-moving wildfire near Los Gallardos, in the southern Spanish province of Almería, has killed 11 people, injured eight and left 19 others missing, in what officials are calling the region’s worst blaze in more than two decades.

Around 150 firefighters worked through the early hours of Friday, July 10, to contain the fire, according to local newspaper El País. The blaze broke out Thursday in a hamlet near the Sierra de los Filabres mountains, in a semi-arid stretch of Andalusia, and spread with unusual speed through wooded terrain toward the nearby village of Bédar.

Temperatures in the region have topped 100 degrees Fahrenheit, according to Spain’s State Meteorological Agency, known as AEMET. The agency issued a high-danger heat warning for parts of Almería on Thursday, with some areas reaching 105.8 degrees. The fire is unfolding during one of the most severe stretches of heat Europe has seen in years. More than 40 people died in France alone over a few days last month, and Western Europe just recorded its hottest June on record, according to the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, which also found it was the second-warmest June ever recorded globally.

Victims caught fleeing by car and on foot

Antonio Sanz Cabello, Andalusia’s health and emergencies minister, described the fire as “truly tragic” during a Friday morning briefing and confirmed the 11 deaths occurred “across two separate situations.”

In one incident, four people believed to be British nationals died inside a vehicle after taking a route that diverged from the official evacuation path, Sanz Cabello said. In the second, seven people died after apparently abandoning their cars and attempting to escape on foot. Officials are still working to determine exactly what happened in that case. Local reports indicate some of those victims may have tried to flee along a dry riverbed that turned into what Sanz described as a death trap.

“All indications suggest the deceased were mostly or entirely foreign nationals, though this cannot be confirmed until formal identification is established,” Sanz Cabello said, according to a translation from Spanish. Four additional people sustained less serious injuries.

Emergency response mobilized across Andalusia

Sanz Cabello said Andalusia had activated its INFOCA wildfire protection plan, bringing in law enforcement, local councils and Spain’s Military Emergencies Unit to support firefighters on the ground. Roughly 220 soldiers from that unit have joined the roughly 150 firefighters already deployed.

He said the fire had moved with extreme speed through an area where many residents live, forcing evacuations of numerous homes while other residents were placed under shelter-in-place orders. About 1,000 residents and visitors have been moved out of threatened areas since the fire began, and 122 people, most from Bédar, have been relocated to a local theater and a sports center, Sanz Cabello said.

Regional president Juanma Moreno confirmed on Cadena Sur radio that 19 people remain missing and said he was concerned the death toll could still rise. Moreno also addressed the disaster in a public statement, calling it a tragedy and offering condolences to the families of those who died and support to the affected municipalities.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez expressed condolences as well, writing on social media that he felt profound sadness over the fire’s consequences for the province of Almería.

A cause still under investigation

Authorities have not officially confirmed what sparked the blaze, but the mayor of nearby Antas, Pedro Ridao, said it is believed a power cable came loose and fell onto dry scrubland, igniting the fire before it spread rapidly into surrounding woodland. Emergency calls reporting the fire’s outbreak pointed to the same cause, though a formal investigation is still underway.

More than 3,150 hectares of forest and agricultural land have burned so far. Ground crews have faced steep terrain, narrow access roads and unsafe conditions in parts of the affected area, forcing heavier reliance on aircraft and helicopters for water drops. Shifting winds have complicated containment efforts, requiring firefighters to continually adjust their approach as the fire’s direction changes.

A summer already marked by extreme heat

The wildfire adds to a summer already defined by dangerous heat across Spain and much of Western Europe. Spain logged more than 1,000 excess deaths linked to extreme temperatures in June alone, and the country recorded some of its hottest June days on record on June 23 and 24, with many locations topping 104 degrees, according to AEMET. Parts of Western Europe are now facing their third heatwave in six weeks.

Europe remains the world’s fastest-warming continent, with temperatures rising roughly twice as fast as the global average since the 1980s, according to Copernicus. Globally, 2025 ranked as the third-hottest year on record, a trend scientists say has intensified the frequency and severity of wildfires across the Mediterranean region in recent summers.

Almería province, a popular summer destination for both domestic and international travelers, has seen its tourism sector directly affected by the disaster. Hotels, holiday villas and rural rental properties in the area have been evacuated alongside residential communities, and consular assistance has been activated to help foreign visitors who left behind belongings and documents while fleeing the flames. Almería Airport remains operational, though wildfire activity has affected regional aviation coordination due to the ongoing helicopter water-bombing operations nearby.

Sudan civil war peace proposal

Sudan’s army demands full RSF withdrawal as condition for U.S. peace plan

July 10, 2026 No Comments

Sudan’s military has told Washington it will only fully embrace a U.S. peace proposal if the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces agree to pull out of every city they have seized since the war began, according to documents reviewed by Reuters and confirmed by senior Sudanese officials. The condition marks the latest sticking point in years of failed attempts to end a civil war that has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions more.

The documents show the U.S. proposal, put forward last month, called for both sides to accept an immediate 90-day humanitarian truce. That pause would create room to negotiate a permanent ceasefire and begin a transition toward a civilian-led government and elections.

The plan also outlined a United Nations-led mechanism to oversee limited RSF withdrawals, starting with North Darfur, where RSF fighters recently seized the city of al-Fashir in an assault marked by widespread violence, and North Kordofan, which the RSF has targeted with an ongoing drone campaign.

Sudan’s army-backed government accepted most of the U.S. plan but rejected the idea of a partial pullback. The documents show Sudanese officials insisted the agreement must require the RSF to withdraw “from all the cities it has occupied since May 11, 2023,” the date fighting broke out between the two forces. That demand for a complete withdrawal has derailed previous rounds of negotiation, and its return here signals the same obstacle remains unresolved.

Neither the U.S. State Department nor Sudan’s Foreign Ministry responded to requests for comment.

A broader plan for disarmament and civilian rule

Beyond the truce and withdrawal terms, the U.S. proposal calls for merging Sudan’s fighting forces into a single national army, paired with a formal disarmament, demobilization and reintegration process for former combatants. It also lays out a civilian-led political transition that would exclude both the Muslim Brotherhood and militia groups accused of committing atrocities during the war.

The diplomatic picture around the proposal has been muddled. U.S. Senior Adviser for Arab and African Affairs Massad Boulos initially told the UN Security Council that Sudan had rejected the plan. Days later, Boulos posted on social media that he was pleased to learn Sudanese army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan had, in his words, “apparently accepted — rather than rejected” the proposal. The shift left the actual state of negotiations unclear even as both sides continued discussing terms.

A senior RSF official told Reuters the paramilitary group had received the proposal, welcomed it and submitted a written response, though the official did not disclose what that response contained. The RSF has a history of publicly welcoming peace offers while continuing military operations on the ground, a pattern that has fed skepticism about how seriously either side is committed to a full stop in fighting.

Fighting continues in Kordofan

Even as the diplomatic exchanges play out, the RSF is running a drone-driven offensive in the Kordofan region, the area separating Darfur from the eastern half of Sudan that remains under army control. The continued military pressure there complicates any near-term truce, since the region sits at the boundary between territory each side is fighting to hold or retake.

The RSF’s position in Darfur has grown more entrenched since it captured al-Fashir. UN experts have accused the group of committing genocide in the region, an area roughly the size of France where the RSF now exercises control and has begun setting up its own parallel governing structures separate from the internationally recognized government in Port Sudan. The RSF denies deliberately targeting civilians.

A war rooted in a failed integration plan

The conflict began in April 2023 after negotiations broke down between the army and the RSF over how to merge the paramilitary force into the national military as part of a planned transition to civilian democratic rule. What started as a power struggle between Burhan and RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known widely as Hemedti, escalated into a nationwide war that has since drawn in various militias and regional actors.

The war has produced one of the world’s largest displacement crises, pushing millions of Sudanese from their homes, both within the country and across borders into neighboring states such as Chad, Egypt and South Sudan. Estimates of the death toll vary widely depending on the source, with figures reaching into the hundreds of thousands when accounting for deaths from violence, disease and starvation tied to the collapse of health and food systems in affected regions.

Washington has led multiple prior mediation efforts aimed at ending the fighting, including earlier rounds of talks that produced short-lived truces before collapsing amid renewed offensives from one side or the other. The repeated failure of these efforts has left both Sudanese civilians and international observers wary of how durable any new agreement might prove, particularly given that the core disagreement over troop withdrawals from occupied territory remains as unresolved now as it was earlier in the conflict.

Whether the latest proposal fares differently may hinge on details neither side has made public: how the UN would enforce phased or full RSF withdrawals from cities like al-Fashir, and what guarantees either side would accept that the other will not use a truce period to regroup and resume fighting once the 90 days expire. For now, both the army and the RSF have signaled openness to negotiation while continuing to jockey for position on the ground, a dynamic that has defined much of the war’s diplomatic history since it began three years ago.

Senegal Constitutional Court ruling

Senegal’s top court strikes down constitutional reform that curbed presidential power

July 10, 2026 No Comments

Senegal’s newly created Constitutional Court struck down a constitutional amendment on Thursday that would have shifted significant authority away from the presidency, delivering a setback to the parliamentary majority behind the change and deepening a political rift at the top of the West African country’s government.

The court ruled that the amendment, adopted by the National Assembly on June 29, violated the constitution. Lawmakers had passed the measure by an overwhelming majority, but President Bassirou Diomaye Faye asked the court to examine the procedures used to pass it, a review that ultimately found grounds to invalidate the reform.

A break between former allies

The amendment was the product of a rupture between Faye and Ousmane Sonko, once his closest political partner and the man who helped bring him to power. Faye removed Sonko as prime minister in May, and Sonko was quickly elected speaker of the National Assembly, a body Sonko’s Pastef party controls with a commanding majority of 130 out of 165 seats.

From his new post, Sonko pushed the constitutional changes through parliament. The reform would have expanded the powers of the National Assembly and the office of prime minister while narrowing those of the presidency. It also included a provision barring a sitting president from simultaneously leading a political party, a restriction that would have directly affected Faye, who said last week he intends to form his own party.

Opponents of the amendment, including figures within Faye’s own presidential coalition, characterized it as retaliation by Sonko following his dismissal. Aminata Toure, a leader within the presidential coalition, said at a briefing that parliament was being used to weaken the president. Critics outside government made similar arguments, framing the push as an attempt by Sonko to consolidate influence through the legislature after losing his position in the executive branch.

The measure also proposed replacing Senegal’s Constitutional Council with a new, larger Constitutional Court made up of nine members instead of seven, along with new limits on the president’s ability to dissolve the National Assembly and new restrictions on executive decisions made in the period between a presidential election and the official announcement of results.

Protests and a promised referendum

The amendment’s passage in late June triggered street demonstrations in Dakar. Opponents gathered outside the National Assembly building chanting slogans in defense of the existing constitution, and police used tear gas to disperse the crowd. Inside the chamber, opposition lawmakers boycotted the vote, and the session grew heated enough that security personnel removed at least one lawmaker by force.

Faye initially responded by declining to sign the bill outright and instead announcing plans for a national referendum, saying voters themselves should decide on changes that would reshape the balance of power between the presidency and parliament. His government did not set a date for that vote before the Constitutional Court intervened.

Justice Minister Moussa Sarr had told parliament ahead of the amendment’s passage that the president wanted the text put directly to the public rather than settled through the legislature alone. Pastef defended the reform as a rebalancing of power among Senegal’s executive, legislative and judicial branches, arguing the country’s presidential system had concentrated too much authority in one office.

A widening political rift

Thursday’s ruling represents a win for Faye in his escalating standoff with Sonko, though the two men led the coalition that won Senegal’s 2024 presidential election together and built their political movement on a shared platform. Their split has played out largely through institutions, with Sonko using his position atop the legislature to advance changes that would constrain the presidency he no longer occupies.

Sonko responded to the court’s decision on the social media platform X, saying he respected the ruling. The measured response suggests Pastef may pursue other paths to revive elements of the reform rather than directly challenge the court, though the party retains its large legislative majority and the ability to bring similar measures back for another vote.

The Constitutional Court said Faye had specifically asked it to examine the procedures lawmakers followed in passing the amendment, a review aimed at identifying violations serious enough to invalidate the entire text. That procedural focus, rather than a ruling on the substance of shifting power from the presidency to parliament, leaves open the possibility that a revised version of the reform could return through proper channels.

Complications for an ongoing debt crisis

The power struggle between Faye and Sonko carries consequences beyond domestic politics. Senegal has spent the past two years working to resolve a financial crisis that emerged after the government disclosed in 2024 that previous administrations had misreported the country’s debt levels, an admission that shook investor confidence and complicated the country’s relationships with international lenders.

Faye and Sonko came to power promising greater transparency in how the country manages its finances, and the debt disclosure became an early test of that pledge. A protracted rift between the president and the parliamentary leader who commands a supermajority in the Assembly threatens to slow the coordinated response Senegal needs to rebuild trust with creditors and stabilize its finances.

With the Constitutional Court’s ruling now in place, attention shifts to whether Sonko and Pastef attempt to bring a revised amendment back to parliament, and whether Faye proceeds with plans to launch his own political party now that the provision barring him from doing so has been struck down. Neither side has signaled a retreat from the broader fight over how power should be distributed among Senegal’s presidency, parliament and courts.

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