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  • Mbappé scores twice to tie Messi for World Cup lead with 6 goals, France beats Sweden 3-0

    Mbappé scores twice to tie Messi for World Cup lead with 6 goals, France beats Sweden 3-0

    On a sweltering, low-air-quality Tuesday afternoon at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, Kylian Mbappé delivered a career-defining performance that secured France a 3-0 victory over Sweden and etched his name deeper into World Cup history, booking Les Bleus a spot in the tournament’s round of 16 against Paraguay.

    The match kicked off at 5 p.m. with temperatures hitting 32 degrees Celsius (90 degrees Fahrenheit), with thick humidity and poor air quality testing the stamina of every player on the pitch. France dominated possession and chances from the opening whistle, outshooting Sweden 25-7 overall and 15-3 in the first half alone. Mbappé came close to breaking the deadlock in the 32nd minute, his effort clattering off the goalpost, and four minutes later, Michael Olise’s acrobatic bicycle kick from inside the penalty area also hit the woodwork, leaving the French side frustrated going into the final minutes of the first half.

    It was Mbappé who finally broke through in first-half stoppage time, netting a superbly crafted opening goal. After Sweden goalkeeper Jacob Widell Zetterström tipped Olise’s original shot just wide of the post, Olise played a short corner to Ousmane Dembélé, who threaded a pass to Mbappé near the byline. The French superstar pulled off a clinical crossover step to shake off Sweden’s Viktor Gyökeres, then curled a precise diagonal shot from just outside the six-yard box into the far corner of the net, putting France ahead 1-0 going into halftime.

    Les Bleus extended their lead just eight minutes into the second half. When Sweden’s Gustaf Lagerbielke gave away possession deep in his own half, Aurélien Tchouaméni found Olise, who nutmegged Lagerbielke before playing the ball through to Bradley Barcola. Barcola took a calm controlling touch and slotted the ball past Zetterström’s outstretched right hand to make it 2-0.

    Mbappé capped off the win in the 74th minute, putting the final stamp on a masterclass performance. The build-up featured a clever backheel from Mbappé to Barcola, who shifted the ball to Olise, who then played a through ball into the penalty area for the onrushing Mbappé. He settled the ball with one touch and fired it into the far post to secure the 3-0 final score.

    With that goal, Mbappé claimed a new World Cup record: his 10 knockout stage goals are two more than the previous shared record held by Brazilian legends Leonidas and Ronaldo. The two-goal haul was his third in four matches at this tournament, bringing his total goal count at this World Cup to six, tying him with Argentina’s Lionel Messi for the golden boot lead. His career World Cup goal total now stands at 18, just one goal behind Messi’s all-time record of 19.

    After the match, Mbappé deflected praise away from himself, emphasizing the importance of the entire French squad. “I’m very aware of who I am, how I play, what I shall do, but it’s not just about me,” he said via a translator. “The entire team is aware of what should be done. It is a new competition that has started today. We did play well, but we were timid. We could have done better at the beginning.”

    The French star also spoke out in support of head coach Didier Deschamps, who recently returned to the team’s camp after traveling back to France for his mother’s funeral. When Mbappé was substituted in the 85th minute, Deschamps greeted him with a bow to the standing star. “He knows that he will never be alone with us and we will support him,” Mbappé said of the coach.

    As for the brutal playing conditions, Mbappé joked that his immediate focus after the match was not the upcoming round of 16 fixture, but the changing room’s air conditioning: “I’m looking forward to the changing room and the AC.”

    Sweden captain Victor Lindelöf paid tribute to France’s quality after the final whistle, acknowledging his side had fallen to one of the best teams in the tournament. “They are skilled at knowing when to change the pace and increase it, when to possess the ball, when to fall back,” he said via a translator. “If we look at where we were not so long ago — we’re here and we’ve played in the World Cup. We lost against one of the best countries in the world.”

    France, the 2018 World Cup champion and 2022 runner-up, enters this tournament as one of the favorites to lift the trophy, and is now targeting a third consecutive final appearance. They will face Paraguay in the round of 16 on July 4 in Philadelphia, with the winner advancing to a quarterfinal fixture against either Canada or Morocco five days later in Foxborough, Massachusetts. Through four matches, France has outscored its opponents 13-2, with Olise notching five assists to anchor the team’s attack.

    Tuesday’s match at MetLife — the venue for this tournament’s July 19 final — also helped the expanded 104-match World Cup hit a new milestone: the total attendance for the tournament surpassed 5 million, with 80,663 fans filling the stands for the fixture, the majority backing France in blue, with a section of supporters cheering Sweden in yellow at one end of the ground.

  • France forward Kylian Mbappé scores his 17th World Cup goal, a record 9th in the knockout round

    France forward Kylian Mbappé scores his 17th World Cup goal, a record 9th in the knockout round

    In a emotionally charged World Cup match played in sweltering conditions at East Rutherford, New Jersey on Tuesday, French superstar forward Kylian Mbappé etched his name deeper into tournament history by claiming the all-time record for most goals scored in World Cup knockout stages. His 45th-minute strike marked his ninth knockout goal, pushing him past Brazilian legends Leonidas and Ronaldo, who had previously shared the record at eight goals apiece.

    The record-breaking goal came from a brilliantly executed team build-up and individual finish: after a smooth give-and-go exchange with winger Ousmane Dembélé, Mbappé dribbled past Sweden’s Viktor Gyökeres before curling a precise shot beyond goalkeeper Jacob Widell Zetterström to find the back of the net. Immediately after putting the ball in the net, Mbappé ran straight to the French bench to celebrate with head coach Didier Deschamps, making the moment even more meaningful.

    This match marked Deschamps’ first return to the sideline after he missed France’s final group stage game to travel back to Europe for his mother’s funeral, adding a layer of personal emotion to the historic milestone.

    The goal was also Mbappé’s fifth of this year’s tournament, pulling him level with Norwegian striker Erling Haaland in the race for the tournament’s Golden Boot, and leaving him just one goal behind Argentina’s Lionel Messi, who currently leads the scoring charts this edition. Across his entire World Cup career, Mbappé has now notched 17 goals in just 18 appearances, moving him within two goals of Messi’s all-time career World Cup scoring record of 19 – a record Messi set across 26 more tournament appearances than Mbappé has played to date.

    France dominated the first half from start to finish, outshooting Sweden by a wide margin of 15 to three amid punishing on-field conditions. Kickoff was held at 5 p.m. local time, with temperatures hitting 32 degrees Celsius (90 degrees Fahrenheit), paired with bright sun, high humidity, and poor air quality across the venue. Mbappé came close to notching a second first-half goal, hitting a powerful strike that bounced off the left goalpost; he even began celebrating before realizing the ball had rebounded back into play. The harsh conditions forced players to seek relief during the mandatory first-half hydration break, with French defender Lucas Digne even cooling off by standing under a pitch-side sprinkler to douse himself.

  • Koeman resigns, while Netherlands report racist abuse

    Koeman resigns, while Netherlands report racist abuse

    The Netherlands’ 2026 FIFA World Cup campaign has come to an abrupt and heartbreaking close, with the team exiting the round of 16 after a penalty shootout defeat to Morocco that triggered two major developments: head coach Ronald Koeman’s immediate resignation and a sweeping crackdown by the Dutch football governing body against online racist abuse of three miss-converting players.

    The tightly contested match in Monterrey ended 1-1 after regulation time, forcing a decisive penalty shootout. When Justin Kluivert, Quinten Timber and Crysencio Summerville all failed to convert their spot kicks, Morocco secured its place in the next round of the tournament. In the hours that followed the defeat, the three young Dutch players were flooded with discriminatory, hateful and explicitly racist comments across major social media platforms, the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) confirmed.

    Just days after the exit, 63-year-old Koeman announced he would step down from his role as national team manager, ending his second spell in charge of the Oranje. In a candid public post on Instagram, Koeman reflected on his decades-long managerial career, saying he leaves feeling proud of the work he accomplished at both club and international level. “Looking back on my career, I feel especially proud. I have worked with clubs and people that shaped me and gave me memories that I will cherish for a lifetime,” Koeman wrote. “We all dreamed of a World Cup in which we would write history. That didn’t work out. No-one is more disappointed about that than me.”

    Koeman’s resignation comes amid a personal health crisis for his family: his wife Bartina recently received a breast cancer diagnosis. The departing coach noted that recent years have shifted his perspective on priorities, making clear that family health outweighs professional football commitments. “The past years have made me realise again that there are more important things than football. Football has been my life, but health is priceless. When someone you love is fighting a tough battle, your perspective changes,” he added. Koeman also hinted that his departure could mark the end of his managerial career entirely.

    In response to the targeted abuse of its players, the KNVB announced it will pursue criminal charges against anyone found to have sent discriminatory messages, marking one of the most aggressive actions by a national football association against online abuse. “We find this appalling,” the association said in a statement. “Once a report is filed, legal staff assess whether the statement constitutes a punishable offence. This can lead to a formal complaint being lodged with the Public Prosecution Service, which may then initiate a criminal investigation.”

    This is not the first time high-profile European players have faced racist abuse after missing key penalties in major international tournaments. After England’s 2021 European Championship final defeat to Italy, Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka and Jadon Sancho were subjected to widespread online harassment following their penalty misses. That case ultimately resulted in two offenders receiving prison sentences and a third given a suspended sentence.

    “Football brings together millions of different people, whereas discrimination does the exact opposite. It therefore runs counter to everything football stands for,” the KNVB added.

    Dutch football expert Arthur Renard explained that while Koeman’s contract was set to expire imminently, the timing of his exit was shaped by his wife’s illness and the underperformance of the national side during his second tenure. Koeman first took charge of the Netherlands in 2018, and his first spell was widely viewed as a success: he integrated emerging talents like Frenkie de Jong into the squad, secured impressive Nations League wins over elite sides including France and Germany, and guided the team to qualification for the European Championships. He then left the role to take the top job at FC Barcelona before returning for a second stint as national manager.

    From the start of his second term, Koeman struggled to replicate the success of his first tenure. Critics have repeatedly labeled his tactical approach overly defensive, a point highlighted by his surprise decision to field a five-defender formation against Morocco — a system the team had not trained with extensively. The tactical shift required a last-minute adjustment that left the Dutch side off-balance and allowed Morocco to control large portions of play, Renard noted. Koeman’s side never found consistent form during his second campaign: while the team earned two draws against Spain in Nations League play, it never returned to the high competitive level it reached during his first term.

    Following the defeat to Morocco, it became clear that Koeman’s departure would open the door for a new coaching era for the Dutch national team.

  • ‘Absolute madness’: Row over plan to demolish Nazi bunker under Berlin

    ‘Absolute madness’: Row over plan to demolish Nazi bunker under Berlin

    BERLIN — A bitter public debate has erupted over the fate of one of the final standing physical remnants of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi power infrastructure, as city officials advance plans to clear the site for a mixed-use development of residential apartments and commercial office space.

    Of Hitler’s central New Reich Chancellery complex, constructed in the 1930s by Albert Speer — Hitler’s preferred personal architect — almost no trace survives in central Berlin today. The main above-ground structure was heavily damaged by Allied bombing and combat during the final weeks of World War II, and Soviet occupying forces ordered its complete demolition in 1949. What has remained intact, however, is the sprawling underground bunker that served chancellery staff, sitting on an undeveloped plot of land just 120 meters south of the far more famous Führerbunker where Hitler and Eva Braun took their own lives in 1945.

    City officials argue that demolition is the clearest and most responsible path forward. Christian Gaebler, Berlin’s Senator for Housing and a member of the center-left Social Democratic Party, framed the proposal in comments to local outlet BZ, saying: “We are not standing in the way of new housing developments just to preserve a bunker that might then even become a place of pilgrimage” for neo-Nazi sympathizers.

    But the plan has drawn fierce pushback from historians, heritage preservation groups, and local historical organizations, who warn that destroying the structure would erase an irreplaceable piece of 20th-century history. Dietmar Arnold, chairman of the Berlin Underworlds Association — a group that documents and preserves the city’s subterranean historical sites — calls the proposed demolition “absolute madness.”

    Arnold, who last explored the bunker in 2007 when he confirmed it remained in excellent structural condition, told the BBC that the site is one of the last tangible links to the regime that planned and launched World War II and the Holocaust. “It is a site of the perpetrators. It was the power centre of Nazi Germany, Hitler’s New Reich Chancellery, and these are the last remains,” he said. Rather than clearing the site, Arnold has proposed partnering with Germany’s national Holocaust Museum to convert the bunker into a public memorial and museum, hosting educational exhibits focused on the final days of the Nazi regime in 1945.

    Critics of demolition note that Germany has already lost countless historical sites from both the Nazi and Cold War communist eras, and that destroying this structure would set a harmful precedent. “So much history has been destroyed here in Germany, both Communist history and Nazi history. We can’t keep doing that,” Arnold added.

    Structural assessments from Arnold’s group confirm that roughly 1,200 square meters of the bunker complex remain fully intact, with 1.7-meter-thick reinforced concrete walls and ceilings. The structure is large enough that it even housed a field hospital in the final days of the Battle of Berlin, and a well-known 1945 photo captures German General Helmuth Weidling emerging from the bunker to surrender to Soviet forces. Arnold also argues that the planned development could move forward without full demolition: it would be entirely possible to construct new buildings above the existing bunker without removing the structure itself.

    The Berlin State Monuments Council came out against the demolition plans last year, stressing that the site carries substantial historical weight. In a formal statement, the council noted: “The New Reich Chancellery was the planning centre and starting point of World War Two and also symbolises the catastrophic end of the Nazi regime. In view of its potential significance as a historic monument, its state of preservation and its inclusion on the list of listed buildings should be assessed by the State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments.” To date, no final decision on the bunker’s future has been announced.

  • Firefighters struggle to contain deadly Greek wildfire

    Firefighters struggle to contain deadly Greek wildfire

    A devastating out-of-control wildfire raging through northern Greece has left one person dead and forced hundreds of residents from their homes, as extreme weather conditions hamper hundreds of firefighters’ efforts to corral the spreading blaze. The victim’s remains were recovered Tuesday from a scorched patch of land near Liti, a small settlement located roughly 15 kilometers northwest of the country’s second-largest city, Thessaloniki. More than 100 firefighters have been deployed to the fire zone, backed by dozens of fire trucks and at least seven water-bombing aircraft, which were called in to tackle the inferno that stretched across a 5-kilometer active flame front by Tuesday evening. A woman was also hospitalized with hand burns after she attempted to put out small spot fires near her property, authorities confirmed.

    The blaze ignited around 14:30 local time Tuesday, rapidly spreading from its starting point to adjacent forested areas amid unseasonably hot, windy and bone-dry conditions. Greek authorities had issued a high wildfire risk alert for the region hours before the fire broke out, forecasting conditions that would help any spark escalate quickly and lead to repeated flare-ups even after initial containment. By Tuesday night, all residents of Liti had been ordered to evacuate to safer areas, and the fire was advancing toward the neighboring village of Melissochori, with a small number of structures already sustaining damage, according to public broadcaster ERT. Investigators have not yet pinpointed the cause of the blaze, which is the latest in a string of summer wildfires to hit Greece this year.

    As the country approaches its peak summer tourist season, the recurring wildfire threat underscores the growing risk Greece faces from increasingly frequent droughts and heatwaves linked to climate change. Summer wildfires have become a routine annual hazard across much of the country’s forested mainland and islands, forcing repeated large-scale evacuations and straining national firefighting resources year after year.

  • Almost 60,000 far-right extremists in Germany, intelligence agency says

    Almost 60,000 far-right extremists in Germany, intelligence agency says

    Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), has issued a stark warning in its 2025 annual report: right-wing extremism remains the single most severe threat to the country’s democratic foundations, and the number of identified right-wing extremists jumped dramatically year-over-year to 58,700.

    This marks an increase of more than 8,000 extremists compared to 2024, a shift BfV leadership attributes largely to the rapid expansion of the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), the country’s leading far-right political party. Of the total right-wing extremist population tracked by the agency, an estimated 5,600 are assessed to have an active propensity for violence.

    BfV President Sinan Selen emphasized that German democracy faces near-constant assault from both domestic and foreign actors. The report notes that hostile foreign intelligence operations targeting German interests originate primarily from three key states: Russia, China, and Iran.

    The AfD, which secured a historic second-place finish in 2025 federal elections, captured 20.8% of the national vote and 152 seats in the 630-seat Bundestag. Its total membership swelled to 70,000 by the end of last year, and the party is currently polling at approximately 40% ahead of September state elections in Saxony-Anhalt — a result that would give it an outright majority and allow it to form Germany’s first far-right state-level government. As the party prepares to host its national conference this weekend in the eastern city of Erfurt, German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt has publicly warned of potential violence linked to planned protests against the gathering, stressing that all demonstrations must remain strictly peaceful.

    Last year, the BfV formally designated the AfD as a confirmed right-wing extremist group. However, that classification was put on hold in February after the party filed a legal challenge to the ruling, and a final court decision is still pending. The agency currently retains the AfD on its list of suspected extremist organizations. In its latest report, the BfV concluded that “given the rising membership figures, it can be assumed that the pool of individuals with extremist leanings within the AfD has also expanded accordingly.” It added that the party and other right-wing groups regularly amplify well-known extremist and conspiracy narratives, including the racist “Great Replacement” theory, also referred to as “population exchange,” which has become a core talking point for far-right movements globally.

    Beyond the AfD, the report identifies roughly 26,000 extremists belonging to two separate far-right factions: the Reichsbürger (Reich Citizens) and Selbstverwalter (Self-Administrator) movements. Both groups reject the legitimacy of the modern Federal Republic of Germany, refuse to recognize the country’s constitution, legal system, and governing institutions, and routinely spread anti-Semitic rhetoric and conspiracy ideology, per the BfV’s analysis.

    The report also highlights growing extremism across other ideological factions. The number of tracked left-wing extremists rose by 4,200 year-over-year to hit 42,200, with a notable increase in violent attacks targeting suspected right-wing figures and German law enforcement officers. Additionally, the number of individuals linked to Islamist extremism and terrorism saw a small uptick, reaching 28,645.

    Far-right groups are also increasingly targeting vulnerable young people for recruitment, the BfV found, turning out large audiences at far-right music events — a recruitment channel that hit a record high attendance last year. The expansion of this youth outreach has contributed directly to the overall growth in extremist numbers, the agency noted.

    The 2024 classification of the AfD drew sharp international criticism from top U.S. officials at the time: U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio labeled the move “tyranny in disguise,” while Vice President JD Vance claimed Germany was “rebuilding the Berlin Wall” to exclude right-wing voices. German officials pushed back against the criticism at the time, defending the BfV’s intelligence assessment as a necessary step to protect democratic order.

  • Denmark urges IOC to recognize Greenland and Faroe Islands as independent Olympic teams

    Denmark urges IOC to recognize Greenland and Faroe Islands as independent Olympic teams

    Nearly two decades after Denmark first floated the idea, a fresh push to grant the semi-autonomous territories of Greenland and the Faroe Islands the right to compete at the Olympic Games under their own national flags is gaining new political momentum. Denmark’s national parliament announced Tuesday that it has formally sent a letter to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) urging the global governing body to grant full recognition to independent national Olympic committees for both Arctic territories, a move that would allow their athletes to compete separately from Denmark at future Games.

    This revived request comes just weeks after Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen formed a new left-leaning coalition government, which has made supporting the political autonomy of Greenland and the Faroe Islands a core policy priority. Notably, Frederiksen has previously stood firm against former U.S. President Donald Trump’s controversial 2019 proposal to purchase Greenland from Denmark, framing the island’s right to self-determination as a non-negotiable principle. The June 18 letter from parliament’s presidium, which was made public this week, is intended to codify the current Danish government’s clear political commitment to advancing more equal and expanded international participation for both territories, according to a statement from the Danish parliament.

    The proposal already has a precedent in other international sports: the Faroe Islands has been eligible to compete in FIFA qualifying tournaments for the European Championship and men’s World Cup since 1992, building a decades-long track record of independent international competition. Even within the Olympic movement, a small number of Greenlandic athletes have already competed at the Games, albeit under the Danish flag. Most recently, two Greenlandic biathletes represented Denmark at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics in February.

    Despite this new push, the odds of the IOC approving Denmark’s request appear extremely low. Currently, the IOC recognizes 206 national Olympic committees around the world — 13 more than the number of member states recognized by the United Nations. However, the organization’s formal policy, established in 1996, restricts new recognition exclusively to fully independent sovereign states recognized by the broader international community. This rule is written directly into the Olympic Charter, which defines an eligible competing “country” as an independent state acknowledged by the global community. The IOC has followed this policy consistently in recent decades: it accepted Kosovo as a new member in 2014, and added South Sudan the following year, both of which are recognized independent UN member states. The policy shift in 1996 closed the door to recognition for non-sovereign territories, putting the current request on a direct collision course with the IOC’s longstanding rules.

  • Pope promotes Italian nun to top migrant role in his first major appointment of a woman to Holy See

    Pope promotes Italian nun to top migrant role in his first major appointment of a woman to Holy See

    VATICAN CITY, ROME – In a landmark move that continues the gender inclusion agenda set by his predecessor, Pope Leo XIV announced Tuesday the first major appointment of a woman to a senior leadership role in the Holy See’s top governing hierarchy. Italian economist Sister Alessandra Smerilli will take over as head of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, the Vatican office charged with advancing policies on migration, environmental stewardship, and global human development.

    Smerilli currently serves as the second-in-command at the dicastery, and will succeed retiring Canadian Cardinal Michael Czerny, who is stepping down as he approaches his 80th birthday. To align with longstanding Catholic doctrine that restricts the priesthood exclusively to men – a requirement for some core responsibilities of senior Vatican department leadership – Pope Leo also named current undersecretary Cardinal Fabio Baggio to the parallel role of pro-prefect of the dicastery. Alongside this new post, Baggio will also lead the Vatican’s Borgo Laudato Si environmental education center located at Castel Gandolfo, the papal summer residence just outside Rome.

    This appointment marks the second high-profile role given to a woman by Pope Leo in less than a month. Earlier this March, the pontiff tapped Mexican-American leader Maria Montserrat Alvarado to oversee the Holy See’s entire global communications operations. The move builds on the deliberate legacy of Pope Francis, who prioritized breaking gender barriers in Vatican management throughout his papacy in direct response to decades of calls from Catholic women for greater decision-making authority within the institutional church.

    For generations, women have shouldered the bulk of the Catholic Church’s on-the-ground community work around the world: running most parish schools, managing faith-based hospitals and healthcare clinics, and leading intergenerational faith formation to pass Catholic teachings to younger generations. Despite this central role, women have long criticized the church for confining them to second-class status and barring them from top leadership and ordination, a grievance that continues to fuel calls for structural reform within the global institution.

  • Italy displays paintings from an ancient Etruscan tomb, its latest cultural acquisition

    Italy displays paintings from an ancient Etruscan tomb, its latest cultural acquisition

    ROME – After more than a century of diplomatic and administrative efforts to reclaim a cornerstone of Italy’s ancient cultural legacy, the Italian Ministry of Culture on Tuesday publicly unveiled the iconic fresco panels from the Etruscan Francois Tomb, the latest high-value cultural acquisition in the government’s targeted push to repatriate key pieces of the nation’s heritage to public access.

    Dating back to the 4th century BCE, the celebrated painted panels were purchased earlier this year from heirs of the Torlonia family, one of Italy’s oldest noble dynasties that held the vast, rarely displayed private collection of antiquities for nearly 160 years after the tomb’s discovery. The site itself was first uncovered in 1857 by French archaeologist Alessandro Francois on the Torlonia family’s estate in Vulci, an ancient Etruscan city located in central Italy. Just six years after excavation, the frescoes were carefully detached from the tomb’s walls in the necropolis and added to the Torlonia private collection, while other artifacts recovered from the burial site were split between Francois, his archaeological colleagues, and the noble family.

    Italy’s national government first launched formal efforts to take ownership of the frescoes back in 1921. The acquisition aligns with the country’s long-running national mission to recover historically significant artifacts and antiquities that were split among private owners or taken out of public ownership during the 19th-century boom in large-scale archaeological excavations across the Italian peninsula. Starting Wednesday, the fresco panels will open to the general public at Rome’s Villa Giulia National Etruscan Museum, Italy’s premier institution dedicated to Etruscan art and history. To complement the display, the exhibition has gathered jewelry, Etruscan ceramic vessels, and other small artifacts originally discovered inside the Francois Tomb, all on loan from museum collections across the globe that have held these items for decades.

    According to official reports, the Italian government paid approximately 15 million euros (equal to $17 million USD) to acquire the frescoes. This purchase marks the third major high-cost cultural acquisition completed by the Ministry of Culture in 2024, following the purchase of Antonello da Messina’s *Ecce Homo* for 14.9 million euros ($16 million USD) and a rare Caravaggio portrait of Maffeo Barberini, who would later become Pope Urban VIII, for $35 million USD. All acquisition funds have been drawn from the ministry’s annual dedicated budget for cultural property purchases. Ministry officials confirmed that current Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli has shifted the department’s acquisition strategy: rather than purchasing a larger number of smaller, less significant artworks and antiquities, Giuli has prioritized acquiring fewer, high-impact pieces of exceptional cultural and historical importance to the nation.
    In public comments on the acquisition, Giuli emphasized that the Francois Tomb frescoes are a “fundamental” component of Italian history, and that after more than a century outside public access, the masterpiece is finally returned to the Italian people to study and enjoy.

  • False hope and schadenfreude: Familiar feelings for Germany after another World Cup flop

    False hope and schadenfreude: Familiar feelings for Germany after another World Cup flop

    For German men’s soccer, another World Cup campaign has ended in another disappointing early exit — a bitter outcome for one of the sport’s most storied powerhouses, which had entered the tournament holding tentative hopes of lifting a fifth World Cup trophy and rebuilding its squandered reputation.

    Unlike its 2018 and 2022 campaigns, Germany did manage to clear the group stage for the first time since its 2014 World Cup triumph. But that small milestone offered little consolation after Monday’s knockout round opener in Foxborough, Massachusetts, where unranked underdog Paraguay defeated the four-time champions on penalties to send them packing.

    “We messed it up,” captain Joshua Kimmich told reporters immediately after the final whistle. The early elimination marked a familiar bitter pill for Kimmich, who was also part of the 2022 Qatar squad that crashed out in the group stage, and he offered no excuses for the underperformance.

    “As a child, when you watched the national team during tournaments, it was always semifinals, finals, or world champions. There was always lots of success. You grew up with that, cheering them on,” the 31-year-old said, as he apologized to fans for failing to meet sky-high expectations. “All of us who were on the pitch should feel that, rather than looking to blame someone else. We blew it,” Kimmich stated, per reporting from German news agency dpa.

    Head coach Julian Nagelsmann has become the central target of fan and media criticism following the exit, after a series of controversial selection decisions that have come under intense scrutiny. Most notably, Nagelsmann reversed months of public denials to recall veteran goalkeeper Manuel Neuer from international retirement just weeks before the tournament began.

    The 40-year-old Neuer failed to live up to his legendary billing, with many analysts arguing he was directly at fault for Ecuador’s game-winning goal in the final group stage match — a result that only narrowly allowed Germany to advance. His selection came at the cost of Hoffenheim keeper Oliver Baumann, who many argued deserved the starting spot. “I gave it my all,” Neuer said of his performance.

    Nagelsmann only yielded to public pressure late to hand striker Deniz Undav his first start against Paraguay, but the tactical move failed to deliver the intended impact. Undav, a Kurdish Yazidi player who had notched three goals and two assists coming off the bench in his first two tournament appearances, was unable to add to his score sheet against the underdogs. The coach also drew fire for leaving highly touted forward Nick Woltemade on the bench until the final minutes of extra time against Paraguay; Woltemade ended up as one of three German players who missed their penalties in the deciding shootout.

    Nagelsmann had built high expectations ahead of the tournament, openly stating that Germany’s goal was to win the entire title. Four games later, that bold promise lies in tatters. Germany’s campaign ended with two wins — against first-time qualifier Curaçao and Ivory Coast — followed by back-to-back losses to Ecuador and Paraguay.

    For Paraguay, the upset victory sparked wild celebrations across the capital city of Asunción. The result was one of the biggest upsets of this year’s tournament: few German fans could name a single Paraguayan player before kickoff, and most German supporters had already begun looking ahead to a projected round of 16 clash with defending champions France.

    “You have to beat such a team,” Neuer said of Paraguay. “That’s a fact when you want to measure yourself against teams like France.”

    Nagelsmann has publicly committed to staying on as head coach, though he faced additional criticism for his sharp, defensive responses to reporter questions after the match. German national team director Rudi Völler offered the coach a measured vote of confidence. “I’m still convinced that he’s probably the right one to continue,” Völler said. “It’s not only up to me.”

    The disconnect between Germany’s inflated pre-tournament hopes and harsh on-pitch reality was perfectly highlighted by a widely mocked social media post from German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. “What a match, @DFB_Team! You thrilled our country with your commitment and team spirit at this World Cup. We’re proud of you,” Merz wrote on X shortly after the loss.

    The post was immediately met with widespread ridicule from users across the political spectrum, who flooded the comment section asking “which match” Merz was referring to. The phrase “which match” quickly began trending on the platform. “I honestly don’t know which was worse. The match or this analysis,” wrote Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, a senior politician from Germany’s Free Democratic Party.