The Post previews Group H ahead of World Cup 2026. Here's what to know about Spain, Uruguay, Saudi Arabia and Cape Verde.
The flags around the world are diverse in color schemes, symbolism and much more, but are Americans well-read on them? Brandon London hit the streets of New York City to find out.
In four minutes on Wednesday morning, Donald Trump promised to bomb Iran and wished for world peace.At 11:50, gathered in the Oval Office for the signing of a $70 billion immigration enforcement bill, President Donald Trump turned to reporters with a warning about Iran. "We hit them hard yesterday, and we're gonna hit them again hard today — in case you miss it, in case you don't turn on your television set," he said.Four minutes later, a reporter asked what Trump wished for himself ahead of his 80th birthday."Peace for the world," he said.The day's strikes follow the downing of a U.S. Army Apache helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz on Monday night. Both crew members were rescued by an unmanned drone boat — the first such operation in U.S. military history.Trump posted on Truth Social Tuesday that the U.S. "must, of necessity, respond to this attack." By 5 p.m., CENTCOM had launched strikes on Iranian air defense and radar sites near the Strait — "a proportional response to unjustified Iranian aggression," it said. Iran hit back within hours, targeting U.S. bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, and Jordan.Trump also declined Wednesday to rule out hitting civilian infrastructure. Asked about power plants and bridges, he replied: "I'm not gonna say that to you, but I could do that."He blamed Tehran for the collapse of peace talks, accusing Iran of running out the clock on a deal he called "fully negotiated.""They keep playing us for suckers," Trump said. "They dealt with some very stupid presidents."The war began February 28 with joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iranian military and government sites. It has now surpassed 100 days.
“I have to wait another 30 or 40 years to go to another World Cup, I’ll be 70, 80 years old — so I feel like this is our last chance to go,” one big spender told The Post.
President Trump is losing his mind over a New York Times report detailing how the White House panicked over Jeffrey Epstein in multiple instances.Early Wednesday morning, MS NOW host Joe Scarborough mentioned the report on his show, Morning Joe. Less than an hour later, Trump attacked Scarborough on Truth Social, calling him “one of the most inaccurate detailers of truthful facts on television.”“His serious case on Trump Derangement Syndrome, often referred to as TDS, has made him a laughing stock among those who know what is going on in the ‘Wonderful World of Television,’’’ Trump posted.Scarborough’s show was still going on after Trump dropped his post, and the hosts called him out for basically confirming the Times’ reporting that mentioning Epstein triggers the White House.“Sometimes I go talk to you in the White House, and we disagree on things, but nothing deranged here, sir, unless you’re deranged,” Scarborough said to Trump. “If there’s any derangement, it would have to be on your side of the relationship, because I’m not deranged. Not about you. I just state the facts, and maybe that makes you deranged.“Ohhhh, that actually sort of affirms the reporting that this is something you cannot mention around the president of the United States,” Scarborough added. “We just read what Maggie and Jonathan wrote about Epstein. Is that what that was?”The Times article is a detailed look at how Trump’s inner circle met in the Situation Room to handle each development regarding Epstein and the government’s files on the billionaire sex offender. Shouting matches, arguments, efforts to get different officials fired, and clashing strategies are all outlined in the article, which is based on reporting from the forthcoming book Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump, by reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan. The main thesis of the article is that Trump could not make the public forget about Epstein, no matter what he did, and he continued to prove that Wednesday morning.
Inflation hit a three-year high last month as President Donald Trump's war in Iran continued pushing energy costs higher, and an analyst warned that could hurt Republican chances in the midterm elections.Consumer prices rose 4.2 percent in May from a year earlier, surpassing the 3.8 percent hike the previous month, and CNN's Jeff Zeleny said those higher consumer prices could get baked in as a political issue even if they alleviate before the election."There is no question that this really just underscores what we've all been seeing all year long, that affordability and the rising costs of everything are really driving this election," Zeleny said. "Just a short time ago, we obtained a memo from the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which makes this exact point."Zeleny summarized that memo, which warned Republicans not to get complacent in Maine despite the Democratic primary win by controversial candidate Graham Platner because voter anger over affordability gives him a real shot of unseating GOP Sen. Susan Collins."They're talking about the economy," he said. "That is exactly what is driving this race and so many others. I was with the president just on Friday in Wisconsin and talking to so many voters there, and farmers and dairy farmers, they are just deeply concerned about the rising prices here, and everything is sort of connected. I mean, what we're seeing happening in the Middle East, there's no end in sight to the Iran war here.""So it's all driving together," he added. "So huge warning signs for Republicans, no doubt." - YouTube youtu.be
Other members of President Trump’s Cabinet began to consider Vice President JD Vance a “conspiracy theorist” as he pushed for the release of the Epstein files and an interview with Ghislaine Maxwell in the midst of their panicked attempt to snuff out the biggest controversy of Trump’s second term.New reporting from The New York Times reveals that while the Cabinet remained staunch in their public defense of Trump, there was chaos behind the scenes last year over Trump’s deep connections to the sexual predator. Vance played a large role in the internal discord, as he seemed to be the loudest voice pushing “the darkest theories about Epstein and a cabal of predators hidden within the country’s ruling class”—leading White House chief of staff Susie Wiles to call him a major conspiracy theorist.When Trump’s Cabinet learned that The Wall Street Journal was set to publish their story on Trump’s birthday letter to Epstein, the team met in the Situation Room to discuss their options. Vance pushed for the administration to fully release the files quickly, suggesting that they have Epstein coconspirator Ghislaine Maxwell either do an interview with Tucker Carlson or testify before Congress. In Vance’s mind, this would solidify Trump’s alibi and secure confidence with their MAGA base—which happened to care very much about the Epstein files. Both plans were struck down and the team pointed out that Maxwell would want something in return. “Pardoning Maxwell, a trafficker of young girls, would create a huge P.R. problem,” Communications Director Steven Cheung argued. “We can’t offer Ghislaine Maxwell anything,” said White House deputy chief of staff James Blair. “A, I don’t know why we would. And B, if we give Ghislaine Maxwell any sort of break whatsoever and then she turns around and says nice things about us, or says nice things about us and we give her a break, it will undermine the entire point of her saying good things. That will feed the conspiracy theory, period. If there’s nothing for her to say that hurts us, we shouldn’t have to offer her anything.”The report makes it abundantly clear that there was no consensus on how to handle the political tsunami of the Epstein files, as it also details the falling out between former Attorney General Pam Bondi, former FBI Co-Deputy Director Dan Bongino, and FBI Director Kash Patel. The drama between them came to a head after a tumultuous few months in which Bondi went from claiming she had Epstein’s client list sitting on her desk, to handing out big white binders to MAGA influencers, to then claiming there was essentially nothing new in the files. “You fucked this thing up from the start,” Bongino screamed at her a day after the DOJ memo claiming there was nothing more in the files to be released. “The way you’ve been talking about this—that dumb fucking charade with the Epstein files, the ‘They’re on my desk’ nonsense, all the promises to the folks out there.”While it’s unclear where Vance stands among Trump and the rest of the Cabinet now, it’s clear that he’ll have to answer for the internal decisions made last summer for the entirety of his political career.
Omar Abdulkadir Artan may be the best soccer referee in Africa. He’s certainly one of the best in the world. We know this because he was one of just 52 people chosen to officiate the 2026 World Cup, which kicks off on Thursday. His appointment was historic, as well as deserved: He was set to become the first Somali to referee a World Cup game. Artan is decorated and experienced—but he’s Somali. That, ultimately, is probably the reason why he won’t make history. On Monday, Artan was turned away at customs at the Miami International Airport, after border officials reportedly questioned him about, among other things, the Islamic insurgent group Al Shabab. The Trump administration has waged a bitterly racist campaign against Somalis and Somali Americans in recent months. The nation is on the president’s travel ban list, and President Donald Trump has called Somali Americans “garbage” and said “they’re all crooks.” The Trump administration, it seems, determined it would not allow a World Cup principally hosted by the United States to provide a showcase for a Somali—even if he earned his place; even if he really wasn’t there to represent his country. Just last year, Gianni Infantino assured fans that none of this would happen. “There is a lot of misconception out there,” the FIFA president said in August. “Everyone will be welcome in Canada, Mexico, and the United States for the FIFA World Cup next year.” That tune has changed: When the Artan news broke, a FIFA spokesperson shrugged off the fact that one of its handpicked referees had been denied entry to participate in a tournament where “everyone will be welcome.” FIFA, the spokesperson said, is not involved in host-country immigration processes, including visa adjudications, and has been informed by authorities that Mr. Artan’s status will not be changed at present.” Welcome to the 2026 World Cup, a Frankenstein’s monster of a tournament, stitching together the rot of FIFA with the ruin of its principal host nation. With kickoff a day away, there are many reasons to despair—or just to tune the whole thing out. But there are also reasons to be hopeful. Donald Trump poisons everything he touches, as does Infantino. But the competitive spirit of the World Cup, in spite of it all, can be remarkably resilient—an often poignant, sometimes magical spectacle that often reminds us that there are many things that vulgarians like Trump and Infantino simply can’t desecrate. At the moment, the vibe is bad; there is very little magic and almost no poignancy. Instead there are the stories, like Artan’s, bubbling up as the World Cup approaches. The United States has denied visas to Iranian officials, detained Iraq’s star striker Aymen Hussein for seven hours at Chicago’s O’Hare airport, and has denied entry or put up significant hurdles for many fans who are citizens of nations that aren’t subject to the administration’s travel restrictions, like Jordan and Scotland. If you have followed U.S. politics in any capacity since Trump returned to the White House last January, you have probably spotted Infantino lurking. He was at the inauguration and has popped up at Trump’s side in the Oval Office and on state visits—he even donned a red Trump hat at a meeting of the president’s absurd, fantastically corrupt “Board of Peace”—where he pledged to spend tens of millions building soccer stadiums in Gaza, a tin-eared, inhumane gesture even by Infantino’s depraved standards. The conventional wisdom at the time was that Infantino was playing the long game. Sucking up to Trump would be humiliating for most, but Infantino is a virtuoso at ritual self-abasement—indeed it might be his only real talent. The prevailing theory was that Infantino was attaching himself like a barnacle to America’s gormless and corrupt president for the sake of the World Cup. By June—which is to say by now—the effort would pay off in the form of a tournament that ran smoothly, the way he wanted it. To accomplish this, Infantino went so far as to create the single dumbest and most ridiculous award in the history of humanity—the fantastically absurd “FIFA Peace Prize”—which he bestowed on Trump. A month later, Trump sent U.S. troops to kidnap the president of Venezuela; a month after that, he started a war with Iran, a World Cup qualifier. Infantino, of course, doesn’t care about national sovereignty or human suffering; he certainly doesn’t care what kind of a person leads World Cup host nations. He does care that he—and by extension FIFA—gets what he wants from the tournament. And if that requires a warmonger to be the first—and let’s face it, likely only—recipient of a FIFA-branded award, so be it. It can be credibly argued that Infantino debased himself for little in return. The lead-up to the tournament has been pure chaos and dysfunction. FIFA has known—or at least should have known—that there would be travel issues related to the tournament from the moment Trump won the election in 2024.
Of course, says Dr. Steve. A master class in grifting and gouging right here.