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The Union of European Football Associations, or UEFA, is pulling out of future World Cups over FIFA’s plan to sell shares to the highest bidder, including members of President Donald Trump’s inner circle. UEFA announced Thursday that the organization of 55 national associations “will not participate in FIFA competitions” going forward. The decision comes shortly after FIFA President Gianni Infantino threatened to cut funding from teams that don’t get behind his moneymaking scheme. “We unanimously and unequivocally reject FIFA’s proposal to transfer ownership interests in the World Cup and other FIFA competitions to private investors,” the statement said. Last week, FIFA announced the creation of the FIFA Forward Enterprise, or FFE, which is expected to raise up to $4.2 million in the next year by “carefully selecting long-term investors who will purchase minority, non-controlling interests in FFE.” Critics immediately decried the decision to sell stakes in the World Cup, which is managed by FIFA, a nonprofit organization. The move could potentially earn Infantino tens of millions of dollars. “This model has no place in the world of football,” UEFA said in its statement. The group said it would continue to boycott so long as Infantino’s proposal “stayed alive.”Shortly after UEFA’s decision, the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football released a statement saying its 41 members had also rejected FIFA’s proposal. CONCACAF membership had “expressed deep concerns about the lack of due process surrounding the proposal, the artificially short deadline imposed, and the absence of any review or approval by the relevant FIFA governance bodies,” the statement said.“In addition, the need for private equity investment to fund new and existing FIFA Forward programs following the most profitable FIFA World Cup in history was questioned.”Infantino reportedly held investor discussions with members of the Trump administration. The move came amid mounting concerns over Infantino’s relationship with Trump, after the U.S. president openly bullied FIFA into lifting a red card against a player on the U.S. men’s soccer team.In addition, FIFA reportedly stated that once the approval was granted, the investor group would be led by Thrive Eternal, a venture capital firm run by Joshua Kushner, the brother of Trump’s son-in-law Jared who is under investigation for alleged corruption. This story has been updated.
The Department of Health and Human Services keeps saying it's turning over a new leaf, but it has only been partially successful — and controversial vaccine policymaking appears to be back on the table.Why it matters: Though the agency reset was launched with the midterm elections in mind, it's already under strain and the elections are still more than three months away.State of play: Until this week, the administration had spent most of this year toning down its approach to vaccines, after it became clear through polling that vaccine skepticism was a political liability for the GOP in the midterm elections.But it wasn't just vaccines. The Food and Drug Administration had become dysfunctional enough that critics were warning of irreparable harms to the biotech industry and lost cures for patients, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been without a Senate-confirmed director for the vast majority of Trump's second term.At the same time, HHS elevated people with much more traditional backgrounds to senior positions within the department, most notably installing Chris Klomp effectively as chief of staff.Former FDA commissioner Marty Makary and top regulator Vinay Prasad both left their jobs in the following months, signaling what the biopharma industry hoped would be a reset on a relationship that had become poisonous.Other controversial personnel either left the administration or — in the case of surgeon general nominee Casey Means — failed to be confirmed.Where it stands: The projection of a return to business as usual experienced some serious cracks this week.The Senate confirmation of Sean Kaufman, the administration's nominee to lead the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, seemed to be in trouble over his past anti-vaccine statements, though the Senate health committee did approve his nomination Thursday.And most prominently, the WSJ reported that President Trump has been pressuring Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to do more on vaccines, including probing the alleged connection between vaccines and autism and reducing the number of shots children receive."💯 true," a source close to HHS and the White House texted Axios in response to the story.That's a stark departure from White House staff urging the department to tone it down — but a testament to the president's genuine commitment to the topic.Scientists have repeatedly said there's no evidence of a connection between vaccines and autism.The other side: The administration's nominee to lead the CDC, Erica Schwartz, was approved by the Senate health committee with significantly less drama Thursday, even earning a Democrat's vote.And while the FDA is lacking permanent leadership, both the acting commissioner and the acting heads of drug regulation have received widespread praise from industry and other critics of the agency under Makary's tenure.Klomp, who has been nominated as deputy secretary, continues to be largely regarded as competent and a steadying hand.HHS said in a statement: "We have an exceptional team in place across the Department, that is dedicated to serving the American people and carrying out President Trump's bold vision to reverse the chronic disease epidemic, restore trust in public health, and put prevention at the center of health policy as we Make America Healthy Again."Between the lines: The likelihood that controversial vaccine policy returns with a vengeance post-midterms is completely underappreciated across Washington.Sources close to the administration are confident that vaccine-skeptical rhetoric and policy actions will resume in a few months."I have full expectation that many of MAHA's goals will reappear after midterms. They'll actually get finalized in the second half of the administration, and the real question is what happens in the next administration?" said David Mansdoerfer, a senior HHS official during Trump's first term.What they're saying: Parents' "questions and concerns about America's skyrocketing autism rates have long been ignored if not mocked. That changed the day President Trump took office, and the Trump administration is committed to leaving no stone unturned to finally address these concerns with Gold Standard Science," White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement.The intrigue: Trump's urgency could add longevity to Kennedy's tenure. There's been rampant speculation about whether the secretary will leave the administration after the midterm elections, with many sources believing he'll be gone after they're over."Of course this means that the Secretary will stay to the end of the Administration," the source close to HHS and the White House told me."He's been stymied time and again by staff who were worried about the political optics of questioning vaccines.
Leftwing Democrats are having their political moment in the sun, with Zohran Mamdani in New York, Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan and the endless calls for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to run for president in 2028. Has Democratic socialism shifted from the political fringe to the mainstream? And can this group lure back the all-important swing voters? Jonathan Freedland speaks to Bhaskar Sunkara, the president of the Nation magazine, founding editor of Jacobin and author of The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme Inequality Continue reading...
A United States cybersecurity agency is investigating a coordinated cyberattack on over 30 municipal water facilities in Minnesota which contains details of possible Iranian hackers. The Minnesota Information Technology (MNIT) agency released an advisory Tuesday about the attacks, saying it was coordinating its investigation with federal agencies including the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA),…
