FIFA Found a Player Ineligible. His Team Played in the World Cup Anyway. - The New York Times

Fifa allowed the Democratic Republic of the Congo to compete at this summer’s World Cup despite reports suggesting an internal investigation found that the country had fielded an ineligible player in qualifying. The player in question, the goalkeeper Lionel Mpasi, starred for his nation at the tournament, including against England in the last 32. Mpasi, who was born in France and played for Les Bleus at youth level, had never completed the process of switching nationalities, Fifa reportedly found. No punishment was levied against the Congolese federation, Fecofa. The news will again raise questions over the Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, with a series of governance scandals having brought heightened scrutiny on his position. Fifa’s investigative teams are independent and the president has no input into their proceedings. Fifa is understood to have denied that Infantino played a part in the decision-making process over Mpasi, but his name is likely to remain in focus owing to a former university associate, Véron Mosengo-Omba, being elected unopposed as president of Fecofa this May.

Israeli settlers have attacked European diplomats, including a French mayor, near the Palestinian village of Taybeh in the occupied West Bank. The delegation was visiting Palestinian olive harvesters on Saturday when the Israeli attackers confronted the group. The attack comes a day after settlers assaulted a US journalist north of Ramallah. In Saturday’s incident, the settlers targeted Belgium’s consul general, French and Polish diplomats and Catholic representatives, Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot said. “A French mayor was assaulted and a Belgian vehicle damaged,” Prevot said, linking the attack to what he called Israel’s “illegal settlement policy” and pledging to push for further European Union sanctions. French mayor Bernard Baudoux, who was assaulted, told the AFP news agency that the violence suggests that “there is a tolerance on the part of the Israeli government” towards settler violence. Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh, reporting from Ramallah, said the settlers surrounded the diplomats’ vehicles, pelted them with stones and smashed their windows.

AtlanticNova ScotiaNew BrunswickPrince Edward Island Newfoundland and LabradorCalgaryLethbridgeKitchenerGuelphNorthern OntarioSudburyNorth BaySault Ste. MarieTimminsOttawaKingstonBrockvillePembrokeReginaYorktonSaskatoonPrince AlbertTorontoWatchWeatherPeelHamiltonDurhamYorkHaltonNiagaraQueen's ParkToronto City HallIn PicturesVancouverVancouver IslandCanadaLocal SpotlightRoyal FamilyPoliticsNanosPower PlayQuestion PeriodFederal Election 2025WorldMideast ConflictRussia-Ukraine WarWatchLatestCaptured on CameraPoliticsLifestyleConsumerHealthExplainedEntertainmentTechnologyDeception DecodedAutosEnvironmentBusinessInflationReal EstateAutos

What researchers uncovered through lab testing and surveillance footage, prosecutors said, was a plot by his fellow graduate student to intentionally poison him.

Omar’s legal team says the search violated safeguards designed to protect constitutional rights of members of Congress. Lawyers for Democratic United States Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota have demanded the return of property seized in a federal raid of her Washington, DC home, accusing the US Department of Justice of conducting a politically motivated investigation and failing to follow judicial instructions during the search. “The political motivations behind this pre-election investigation and search are clear as day,” Omar’s lawyers wrote in a letter sent to federal prosecutors on Friday and obtained by The Associated Press news agency.