Spain beat France 2-0 with controlled display to book final against Argentina or England

ARLINGTON, United States 

Spain snuffed out France’s dream of a third World Cup triumph, taming their galaxy of forwards to win 2-0 and progress to a final against England or Argentina.

Didier Deschamps’s men were hot favourites for the trophy after a string of breathtaking displays in the United States, but they met their match against the slick European champions at the semifinal stage on Tuesday.

Mikel Oyarzabal opened the scoring for the 2010 winners with an emphatic penalty in the first half in Arlington, Texas, and Pedro Porro doubled their lead in the second half.

Shell-shocked France could not find a way back into the match despite their wealth of attacking riches.

The game at Dallas Stadium caught fire midway through the first half when Salvadoran referee Ivan Barton pointed to the penalty spot after a reckless challenge by France left-back Lucas Digne on Spain winger Lamine Yamal.

Oyarzabal hammered the ball past France goalkeeper Mike Maignan for his fifth goal of the World Cup to leave France trailing for the first time in the tournament.

Spain went agonisingly close to extending their lead after some dazzling one-touch football, but Dayot Upamecano’s challenge denied Fabian Ruiz.

France finished the half without a single shot on target and just two attempts overall.

Deschamps threw on Desire Doue for Bradley Barcola in the 57th minute in a bid to supercharge his attack, but a minute later, they were 2-0 down after a stunning team goal for Luis de la Fuente’s men.

Defender Porro delivered a sharp pass to the feet of Dani Olmo on the edge of the box and collected the return ball before coolly slotting past Maignan.

Deschamps threw on Theo Hernandez and Rayan Cherki after the second hydration break in a desperate bid to get back into the match.

But France could not find a way back into the game against solid opponents who refused to yield.

Spain have conceded just once in the entire tournament, combining defensive steel with the trickery of winger Yamal in attack.

They are now just 90 minutes away from winning the first-ever 48-team World Cup as they seek to match the achievement of Vicente del Bosque’s team 16 years ago.

The defeat in Texas is a bitter blow for a French team that has enthralled fans at the World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the United States.

France had reached the past two World Cup finals, winning in 2018 in Russia, and losing on penalties to Lionel Messi’s Argentina four years ago in Qatar in an epic final despite a hat-trick from Mbappe.

Real Madrid forward Mbappe was just one cog in a star-studded attack that also included Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembele and the elegant Michael Olise.

Defeat leaves just the third-place playoff for France coach Didier Deschamps, who is stepping down after the tournament following 14 years in charge.

Meanwhile, Porro told Television Espanola that the victory was a “dream come true”.

“This is all down to the team; I can’t take credit. I just congratulate everyone, as they played great games,” he said.

"We knew that to get close to the final we needed to have the ball. We knew that to counter their strengths was key. And we did that. So we’re really happy.”

EAST AFRICA NEWSPAPERS 15/7/2026

 

Trump scraps threat of 20% fee on Hormuz cargo as US prepares to resume blockade of Iran ports

WASHINGTON, United States 

United States President, Donald Trump has reversed his threat of a 20% fee on all Strait of Hormuz cargo shipping, as the US battles to break Iran's hold on the waterway.

He said the toll would be replaced by trade and investment deals with Gulf states, just hours before the US resumes a blockade of Iranian ports.

It follows renewed strikes between the US and Iran, which triggered a sharp rise in oil prices as tanker traffic through the Strait has virtually stalled.

The US earlier said it had carried out a third night of attacks to degrade Iran's ability to hit the shipping in the area, and on Tuesday Iran's state media reported blasts in multiple cities, including Bushehr - home to a nuclear power plant.

Tehran said it had targeted US military facilities in Bahrain and Jordan after earlier hitting two United Arab Emirates tankers.

The ongoing strikes have underscored the strategic importance of the Strait. Iran accuses the US of interfering in its management of Hormuz – but controlling it means Tehran can also threaten the global economy.

Trump on Monday declared that the US was now the "guardian" of the Strait of Hormuz, and vowed to impose a 20% charge on all cargo shipped through the waterway to pay for protecting it.

Raising the stakes further, Trump said the US would also reimpose its naval blockade on Iran, in a bid to further squeeze the country's struggling economy.

US Central Command (Centcom) on Monday said that the US naval blockade on Iranian ports would be in effect from 16:00 Eastern Time (20:00 GMT/21:00 BST) on Tuesday.

But in his latest post on Truth Social, Trump wrote: "I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States.

"Those Investments will be MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future." The US president provided no further details.

He also said that the Strait "is open to ALL Ship traffic except for Iran" and that "oil is flowing like never before, thanks to the awesome Power of the United States Military".

Speaking later after talks in Washington with the new Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, Mr Trump said: "I don't like the concept of a fee, but at the same time, it's not fair that we're protecting this Strait for the entire world."

He said he had changed his initial fee plan after receiving numerous calls from Gulf leaders.

Meanwhile, shipping data shows traffic through the Strait has slowed to a two-months low. The benchmark Brent Crude oil price has also risen sharply.

Iran effectively shut down the waterway - through which some 25% of the world's oil and 20% of global liquefied natural gas previously passed - after the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on 28 February.

In a separate development on Tuesday, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that his country's retaliation against Iran would be "much more powerful" if it is attacked first.

"I will say it to the leaders of Iran: Do not count on things remaining quiet if you attack us," he said in a video published on his social media.

EAST AFRICA NEWSPAPERS 14/7/2026

 

RSF chief Mohamed Hamdan Daglo sentenced to death in absentia

PORT SUDAN, Sudan 

A court in Sudan's army-controlled city of Port Sudan on Sunday sentenced paramilitary leader Mohamed Hamdan Daglo and 15 others to death in absentia over charges of killing a regional governor and war crimes in Darfur, state media reported.

The ruling, issued by a judiciary functioning under the army, is the first against the leadership of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since war broke out between the paramilitary group and the Sudanese army in April 2023.

The court convicted Daglo and the other defendants of war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and attacks on civilians and public facilities, state news agency SUNA reported. 

Those sentenced include Daglo's brother and deputy, Abdelrahim Hamdan Daglo, as well as several RSF officers and tribal leaders from Arab communities in West Darfur.

The case centres on the killing of West Darfur governor Khamis Abbakar in June 2023, shortly after RSF forces seized El-Geneina, the state capital. 

Abbakar was killed hours after accusing the RSF and allied militias of carrying out attacks against civilians. UN experts determined that between 10,000 and 15,000 people, mostly from the Massalit ethnic group, were killed in El-Geneina during the violence.

The RSF has repeatedly denied allegations of genocide and other war crimes. 

The court said it would refer the case to the Supreme Court for review and seek the arrest and extradition of those convicted through Interpol and other international channels.

Sudanese army leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Daglo had jointly led the 2021 coup that derailed Sudan's transition to civilian rule, before falling out over plans to integrate the RSF into the regular army, a dispute that eventually led to war.

Now in its fourth year, the conflict between the army and the RSF has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced more than 11 million and triggered what the United Nations describes as the world's largest displacement and hunger crises.

Iran says will stop complying with deal if US does not honor commitments

MANAMA/TEHRAN, Iran

Iran on Monday said it would no longer abide by the memorandum of understanding signed with the United States if Washington failed to uphold its commitments to end the war.

“Each time that the other party has failed to meet its obligations, we did not uphold ours … We will continue to act in this manner,” foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told a press conference in Tehran, following the latest bout of hostilities between the foes.

Baqaei said Tehran was continuing talks with mediators from Qatar, Pakistan and Oman in an effort to prevent any further escalation in its war with the United States.

“The role of the mediators is to continue their efforts to prevent an escalation of tensions,” Baqaei said.

But Iran's Mehr news agency said explosions had been heard around Iran’s Bandar Abbas and Qeshm Island early Monday afternoon.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had struck US military targets and bases in Jordan, Bahrain and Kuwait, state media reported on Monday.

The official news agency IRNA cited several statements released by the Guards saying they had attacked Prince Hassan Air Base in Jordan, a US military drone command center in Bahrain and air bases including Ali Al-Salem in Kuwait.

Radar systems in Oman were also destroyed in the latest retaliatory attacks.

Iranian missiles entered the country’s airspace, the Jordanian army said Monday, with four rockets fired from Iranian territory intercepted and shot down. No injuries or material damage has been reported.

Any attempt to undermine the country's sovereignty will be met with a firm response, the Jordanian army said.

Kuwait’s armed forces said they were responding to “hostile aerial targets” on Monday.

“The Armed Forces are currently intercepting hostile aerial targets within Kuwaiti airspace,” the head of Kuwait’s army said in a statement published by the state-run news agency KUNA.

Bahrain’s military on Monday accused Iran of targeting civilians with its latest attacks on the kingdom, after Tehran said it had struck US military facilities and infrastructure there.

“Iran continues its systematic hostile approach through its heinous attacks with missiles and drones that target civilians in the Kingdom of Bahrain,” the general command of Bahrain’s military said in a statement, adding that air defenses “intercepted and destroyed a number of Iranian aerial attacks” on Monday morning.

Bahrain sounded its missile alert sirens twice on Monday, with the interior ministry instructing residents to take shelter following attacks on the island nation..

“The siren has been sounded... citizens and residents are urged to remain calm and head to the nearest safe place,” the Ministry of Interior posted on X.

Iran said Sunday it was closing the Strait of Hormuz and launched missiles and drones at Gulf neighbors after the US carried out a new round of strikes as their conflict escalated.

The latest exchange of fire was sparked by another Iranian attack on a commercial ship in the strait, whose crew were forced to abandon the vessel after it went up in flames.

The escalation is the latest to undermine an interim agreement between Washington and Tehran aimed at ending their war, which broke out in late February with US-Israeli strikes that killed Iran’s supreme leader.

Mediators have been trying to salvage a diplomatic solution after President Donald Trump this week declared a ceasefire over.

US and Iran vie for Strait of Hormuz waterway in latest attacks

By Jon Gambrell, DUBAI United Arab Emirates 

The United States and Iran each asserted Monday they controlled the Strait of Hormuz after a weekend of attacks stretching across the wider Middle East, further threatening any diplomacy to end the war.

The attacks, sparked by Iran striking a container ship Sunday in the strait off the coast of Oman, again underlined that the waterway that once saw a fifth of the world’s traded crude oil and natural gas pass through it remained the key issue in negotiations. 

The narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf has seen shipping disrupted since the start of the war as Iran maintained a chokehold on it by attacking commercial vessels around it, intimidating shippers.

Iran and the U.S. are nearly at the midway point of the 60-day period of an interim deal that was supposed to set up talks for a permanent end to the war. Instead, it has devolved into a series of attacks over the strait and its future, worrying world leaders the Iran war fully could resume.

“A return to full-scale hostilities would have catastrophic consequences,” United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement.

The U.S. military’s Central Command described its forces as hitting dozens of sites in the strikes Monday, including air defense systems, radar sites, missile and drone equipment and small boats.

“The Strait of Hormuz is a vital maritime corridor for global trade,” Central Command said. “Iran does not control it.”

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, a key power center in the country’s theocracy that controls its ballistic missile arsenal, sharply rejected America’s statement.

“The Strait of Hormuz is our territory, and we will not allow a rogue and child-killing army from the other side of the world to continue its illegal interference in it,” the Guard said.

Missile alert sirens sounded three times Monday in Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, and Kuwait said it was intercepting hostile fire. There was no immediate word on damage in either country.

In Jordan, the kingdom’s military said it shot down four Iranian missiles in an incident that “resulted in zero casualties or material damage.” Jordan also hosts U.S. military forces and aircraft.

Iranian state media acknowledged the latest attacks on its soil early Monday, describing explosions in several locations with at least one person being killed.

Iranian attacks on Sunday stretched Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan and even Oman — whose territorial waters with Iran make up the strait. Oman, which long has been an interlocutor between Tehran and the West, summoned an Iranian diplomat to criticize the attack.

Meanwhile Monday, a base belonging to the armed wing of the Kurdistan Freedom Party, an Iranian Kurdish opposition group based in Iraq’s semiautonomous northern Kurdistan region, came under drone attack. 

Rebaz Sharifi, commander of the Kurdistan Militia Corps, said the strikes targeted the group’s Chamshar base, without giving details on casualties or damage. No group immediately claimed responsibility.

The U.S. military early Sunday said it hit some 140 targets, including missile and drone launch sites, ammunition dumps, communication equipment and other sites — a far-heavier set of attacks than in two previous rounds of strikes in the last week.

“We bombed the hell out of them last night,” U.S. President Donald Trump told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Iran retaliated by attacking nations in the region hosting U.S. military forces, while insisting it alone must control the strait and potentially charge vessels for traveling through it.

“The era of one-sided deals is OVER,” Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s Parliament and a main negotiator, wrote. “We told you: keep your word or pay the price. Reality is knocking.”

Iran described the strait as being closed, while the U.S. military and Trump asserted that the strait remained open.

Iran’s chokehold on the strait, however, has loosened as the U.S. military provided support to vessels moving along a southern route hugging the coastline of Oman. That new route has angered Iran, which launched repeated attacks on ships using it.

Iran’s grip on the strait led to a global energy crisis, though oil prices have sharply dropped since wartime highs of $120 a barrel.facebook

At least 27 killed, eight critically injured in Bangkok bar fire

BANGKOK, Thailand 

At least 27 people have been killed and eight left critically injured after a fire tore through a bar in Bangkok's popular Chatuchak district.

Firefighters were called to the scene just after midnight on Monday, and discovered patrons fleeing through the flame-enveloped front door of the venue.

Eyewitnesses say the fire started near the bar's stage and spread rapidly. Footage posted on X show flames blasting out of the bar as people are seen running out, some screaming and falling over.

This is not the first time such incidents have occurred in Thailand. Despite official promises to improve fire and electrical safety standards following previous accidents, they are still often poorly enforced.

Firefighters arrived at the scene just after midnight, reportedly after a passing driver saw the venue on fire around 23:30 local time. He told local news outlet the Daily News that he leapt out of his car and broke windows to help two people escape.

The official cause of the fire is still under investigation, said Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul.

He also told reporters that he had spoken to a musician, who was performing when the fire started, who recounted what happened.

"He said that there was a fire at the cut-out switch, and after that things happened very quickly. There was blasting and everybody tried to flee from the smoke and flames," he said.

"Many of them were not able to make their way out because they went to the back of the building and tried to hide themselves from the smoke and flames in the toilet, and that's where we found most of the bodies."

Firefighters were reportedly able to bring the flames under control in about half an hour, but despite this - some nine men and 18 women were killed, and more than 60 are being treated in hospital, eight of whom are critically injured.

Initial findings suggest that majority of the victims had died from smoke inhalation, said Suriyachai Raviwan, the director of Bangkok's disaster department. However, he added, further investigation was needed to confirm this.

One motorcyclist, Surin Jaiharn, told AFP that he helped about five people flee the burning bar, using clothing to extinguish flames on their bodies.

"I feel depressed. I saw many deaths and I do not know the fate of the people I helped," he told AFP.

As of Monday morning, the bar - Rong Beer Na Lat Phrao - has been cordoned off, with shattered windows and furniture piled up outside its entrance. An acrid smell of burning lingers in the air.

Confronting pictures taken after the fire had been brought under control show many body bags lined up outside the bar, and a large cordon around the area.

Inside, the furniture, walls and ceiling are completely blackened, and parts of the ceiling is peeling off.

Bangkok governor Chatchart Sittipunt visited the scene and claimed the fire had spread quickly through the flammable interior decorations on the bar's ceiling. Toxic smoke from the burning decorations might have also caused victims to lose consciousness, he added.

There were also reports of numerous people found unconscious near the building's emergency exit, said Chatchart, who added that there might have been tables or other objects obstructing the area.

"However, this matter requires a thorough and official investigation by forensic officers," he added.

This is not the first time such an incident has occurred.

Four years ago another fire in a bar in a town south of Bangkok killed 22 people; in 2009, 66 people died in a nightclub fire in the capital.

EAST AFRICA NEWSPAPERS 13/7/2026