THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) – As the clock ticks down to the Netherlands’ opening World Cup match, soccer fans are gripped once more by orange fever.
GENEVA (AP) – The United Nations’ top human rights official called Wednesday for a “massive rethink” of immigration policies especially in the United States around the World Cup. Issues around “racial profiling, surveillance and immigration enforcement” were cited by U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk even before the 48-nation, 39-day tournament starts Thursday.
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) – Pope Leo XIV honored Barcelona’s most sacred and beautiful monuments Wednesday by first leading a noontime prayer at a mountain-top abbey, hours before he was due to give an evening Mass at the famed Sagrada Familia Basilica on the centenary of the death of its architect, Antoni Gaudí.
NEW YORK (AP) – When SpaceX makes its debut on the U.S. stock market, it wants smaller-pocketed, mom-and-pop investors to play a big role in what may be the biggest IPO ever. Elon Musk’s rocket company, formally known as Space Exploration Technologies Corp., is steering some of its initial public offering of stock directly to what are called “retail” investors.
HONG KONG (AP) – China’s passenger car exports jumped 73% year-on-year in May to around 809,000 vehicles, an industry group reported Wednesday, as higher gasoline and diesel prices due to the war in Iran raised interest in electric vehicles.
WASHINGTON (AP) – Rising gas prices pushed inflation to its highest level in three years last month, a headache for the Federal Reserve and a potential political challenge for the Trump administration as midterm elections near. Consumer prices rose 4.2% in May from a year earlier, the Labor Department said Wednesday, up from 3.8% in April and the third straight monthly increase.
President Donald Trump on Thursday said the U.S. would hit Iran “VERY HARD TONIGHT,” threatening in a social media post to “assume total control” of Iran’s oil and gas industries, including the key Kharg Island, in the “not too distant future.”
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday he has called off new military strikes on Iran, hours after threatening to escalate the war. The president said in a social media post that he made the move “based on the fact that discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran have been brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved.”
LONDON (AP) – U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey unexpectedly quit on Thursday, saying the government is unwilling to spend enough on the military at a time of “rising threats.” The resignation dealt another blow to embattled Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who is already facing demands from Labour colleagues to step down.
JERUSALEM (AP) - Iran launched missiles at Israel in the first such bombardment since a fragile ceasefire took effect in early April, raising the possibility of a return to heavy fighting and complicating mediation efforts to end the war.


































































































































