Spotlight
No "Hand of God" this time. Argentina didn't need it.
Instead it was the hallowed feet of Lionel Messi and the unbreakable spirit of a team that has repeatedly fought back at this year's World Cup that is now one step away from back-to-back titles.
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More than half the House Democrats voted Wednesday to strip $3.3 billion in U.S. aid from Israel, the most substantial signal yet that once rock-solid bipartisan support for the country is disintegrating in the aftermath of its war in Gaza that has killed thousands of Palestinians.
The vote tally, 104-314, was not enough to attach the amendment to a broader national security spending bill, but stands as a stark accounting of the shifting attitudes that are dividing the Democratic Party and the nation over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's war strategy, now approaching its third year.
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The United States intensified its strikes targeting Iran early Thursday, hitting targets further north as American forces also fired into a ship it accused of trying to break its naval blockade on the Islamic Republic. Iran retaliated with missile and drone fire targeting Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait before dawn and warned its attacks may escalate.
Days of back-and-forth strikes by the U.S. and Iran across the Middle East — and renewed threats to the Strait of Hormuz — have shredded the interim deal to end the Iran war and could tip the region back into all-out war. Already, Iranian officials say U.S. strikes have killed more than 35 people and wounded over 300 others.
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The European Union on Monday imposed sanctions on Russian military intelligence officers, hackers and private companies, denouncing what it called a yearslong cyberespionage campaign to undermine the bloc.
The move targeted nine people and four entities accused of links to an online spying network that the EU said has targeted governments and carried out sabotage operations against critical infrastructure like heating and power plants since 2010.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was due in Paris on Monday for talks with two dozen European leaders helping Kyiv fight Russia's invasion, with the war now in its fifth year.
European foreign ministers were also meeting separately in Brussels where they were expected to discuss Ukraine's needs and Russia's threats to the continent.
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A fire raging in the historic and much-visited Fontainebleau forest south of Paris on Monday prompted evacuations of some residential neighborhoods and disrupted train and highway traffic.
It was among several wildfires in western Europe as the region bakes under its third red-alert heat wave this year.
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A top European Union official on Monday called for limits to be placed on children using social media as a special EU panel looking into the challenge recommended forbidding access for those under 13 until tech companies can prove their platforms are safe.
Growing awareness of the dangers social media poses for young, developing brains has shown up in a wave of new restrictions globally. Australia, the U.K., Turkey, Indonesia and others have passed bans on kids under 16 or 15 from using platforms like TikTok, YouTube and Instagram.
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The United States launched several waves of strikes on Iran into Monday morning over an Iranian attack on a container ship in the Strait of Hormuz that set it ablaze and left a crew member missing over the weekend. Iran retaliated by targeting countries across the Middle East.
Missile alert sirens sounded at dawn Monday in Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet. There was no immediate word on damage.
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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.
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Oil prices jumped and Asian shares were mostly lower Monday after the U.S. carried out airstrikes and Iran retaliated.
The price of Brent crude, the international standard, gained 3.6% to $78.76 per barrel, while U.S. benchmark crude added 3.5% to $73.97 per barrel.
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