Global Pulse

标签： South America

南美洲

  • Brazil reports drop in Amazon deforestation rates, pushing back on US tariff accusations

    Brazil reports drop in Amazon deforestation rates, pushing back on US tariff accusations

    SAO PAULO — In a direct challenge to one of the core justifications the Trump administration cited for imposing new trade barriers on Brazil, Brazilian environmental and space officials unveiled dramatic new data Thursday showing a steep decline in Amazon rainforest deforestation rates.

    According to joint figures released by Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE) and the Ministry of Environment, deforestation across the Brazilian Amazon fell 61.4% in May 2026 compared to the same month in 2025, marking the lowest May deforestation total ever recorded. Even with the sharp decline, 370 square kilometers (nearly 143 square miles) of forest were still cleared last month. In the Cerrado, a threatened central Brazilian savanna that has been heavily targeted by large-scale agribusiness operations, deforestation also dropped by 12% over the same period.

    Environment Minister João Paulo Capobianco told reporters that May typically sees elevated deforestation activity, as it marks the beginning of the Amazon’s dry season, when land clearing operations become easier. Cumulatively, over the 10-month monitoring period from August 2025 through May 2026, Amazon deforestation is already down 37.5% compared to the same period a year earlier. Capobianco said the trend puts Brazil on track to hit its lowest annual deforestation rate on record once full-year data is finalized in the second half of 2026.

    The new data comes less than a week after the Trump administration formally proposed 25% additional tariffs on all Brazilian imports, claiming the South American nation engages in unreasonable trade practices that harm U.S. commerce. A U.S. Trade Representative investigation leading up to the tariff announcement specifically cited illegal deforestation in Brazil as a core complaint, alongside claims of unfair Brazilian trade policies.

    Capobianco argued that the updated deforestation numbers completely debunk the U.S. claims, saying “the unfair and unfounded accusation by the United States, which cited deforestation to justify imposing tariffs” has no basis in fact. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who was present for the announcement, echoed the criticism, doubling down on his rejection of the U.S. framing.

    Lula noted that the Trump administration previously lied about a U.S. trade deficit to justify earlier tariffs on Brazilian goods last year, and has now shifted to false claims about deforestation. “They don’t understand the work we are doing to bring deforestation down to zero by 2030. This is not a decision by any COP or by the United Nations. It is a decision of our government,” Lula said. “It’s a matter of justice, of Brazil’s contribution to the planet, fulfilling our obligation to avoid deforestation as much as possible. Preventing deforestation benefits Brazil, benefits the Amazon and benefits the world.”

    Deforestation is the single largest contributor to Brazil’s greenhouse gas emissions, which drive global climate change. As the world’s largest tropical rainforest, the Amazon plays an outsized role in regulating global climate patterns; scientific research has linked widespread Amazon forest loss to disrupted agricultural output as far away as the U.S. Midwest and Western Europe, alongside accelerating planetary warming.

    After declining for decades following record highs in the 1990s and early 2000s, deforestation surged again during the 2019–2022 presidency of Jair Bolsonaro, whose administration rolled back nearly all major environmental protections and enforcement for the Amazon. Since Lula returned to office in 2023, however, deforestation has fallen steadily, hitting its lowest annual level in a decade last year.

    Even with the recent progress, the Amazon still faces a range of ongoing and emerging threats. Forest degradation driven by wildfires, illegal logging, and drought now impacts roughly 40% of the rainforest, and in recent years has outpaced full clear-cutting as the leading source of forest damage. A strong El Niño event this year is expected to worsen these risks, bringing higher temperatures and drier conditions that increase the likelihood of large-scale wildfires across the basin.

    This climate and environmental reporting from The Associated Press receives funding from multiple private foundations, with AP retaining full editorial control over all content.

  • What is El Niño and why could it mean record temperatures?

    What is El Niño and why could it mean record temperatures?

    U.S. climate scientists have officially confirmed the formation of a new El Niño event, a naturally occurring climate pattern capable of triggering extreme weather disruptions across every inhabited continent, with forecasts indicating it could rank among the most intense events recorded since 1950.

    The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced the onset of the new El Niño phase after detecting consistent sea surface temperature anomalies of more than 0.5°C above long-term averages across the central tropical Pacific, paired with a measurable shift in atmospheric pressure: lower pressure over the central Pacific and higher pressure in the western Pacific. The Japanese Meteorological Agency has independently verified the presence of El Niño conditions, matching NOAA’s findings.

    What makes this event particularly concerning to researchers is the unusually high temperature of sub-surface Pacific waters, which have measured up to 6°C above average in some regions, per data from the United Nations’ World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Historical climate patterns show that deep ocean heat typically rises to the surface over the course of an El Niño event, driving further warming. NOAA’s latest probability calculations put the chance of this El Niño reaching “very strong” or “super” status—defined as a sustained surface warming of 2°C or more across the central tropical Pacific—at 63%, meaning it will almost certainly rank among the most significant events in the modern observational record. The event is projected to persist at least through the early months of 2027.

    First documented by Peruvian fishermen in the 1600s, who named the warm December current El Niño de Navidad (the Christ Child) for its seasonal timing, the climate pattern forms when trade winds that normally blow east to west across the tropical Pacific weaken or reverse direction, allowing warm surface water that usually accumulates near Australia and Southeast Asia to spread eastward toward the coasts of North and South America.

    When combined with decades of anthropogenic global warming, this new El Niño is expected to push 2027 to become the hottest year ever recorded on a global scale. “El Niño conditions will pour fuel on the fire of a warming world. Impacts will hit even harder, travel even farther, and cross borders with devastating speed,” U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres warned, urging nations to begin preparation for widespread disruptions immediately.

    WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo added that a strong El Niño will exacerbate already dangerous climate extremes, worsening droughts, extreme rainfall events, and heatwaves on both land and ocean as the Pacific transfers accumulated heat into the atmosphere.

    While no two El Niño events produce identical impacts, consistent historical trends outline broad regional effects. A strong event typically brings prolonged hot, dry conditions to parts of South America, Southeast Asia, and Australia, dramatically increasing the risk of severe droughts and destructive wildfires—conditions that mirror the devastating blazes that swept across Indonesia during the record 2015-16 El Niño event. It also tends to weaken the critical Indian monsoon, reducing rainfall across South Asia. In the southern United States, El Niño amplifies rainfall, raising the probability of life-threatening flooding. For tropical storm activity, the pattern increases cyclone formation in the eastern and central Pacific while suppressing activity in the tropical Atlantic, including off the southeastern U.S. coast. The impact on U.K. weather is less consistent, but the U.K. Met Office notes El Niño often increases the chance of a mild early winter followed by a cold late winter.

    Beyond immediate weather disruptions, the event poses serious risks to global food security. Droughts in major agricultural regions of South America and Southeast Asia could reduce crop yields at a time when global fertilizer distribution is already disrupted by the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz. A smaller harvest would tighten already strained global food supplies and push prices higher, worsening food insecurity for vulnerable populations. For South American fishing communities, the event reduces the upwelling of cold, nutrient-rich water that sustains popular commercial species such as anchovies, leading to smaller catches and economic hardship.

    Many researchers are drawing parallels to the 2015-16 El Niño, one of the strongest events on record. That event caused widespread water shortages in the Caribbean, a record-breaking tropical storm season in the central Pacific, and prolonged drought in the Horn of Africa. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that the combined climate shocks linked to that event left millions of people across the globe facing food insecurity.

    The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has noted that El Niño events recorded since 1950 have been stronger on average than events between 1850 and 1950, though historical data from tree rings confirms that frequency and intensity have varied naturally since the 1400s. There is currently no clear scientific consensus that anthropogenic climate change has altered the frequency or intensity of El Niño events, though some climate models project that El Niños may become more frequent and more intense as global warming continues. Regardless of its link to climate change, this El Niño’s impacts will be amplified by the long-term warming driven by greenhouse gas emissions, making extreme weather more dangerous than it would have been in a pre-warming world.

    El Niño is the warm phase of the Pacific’s natural ENSO (El Niño-Southern Oscillation) cycle, paired with its cooler counterpart La Niña. During La Niña events, central-eastern Pacific surface temperatures fall below average and atmospheric pressure patterns reverse, bringing wetter conditions to Australia, Indonesia, and equatorial South America and drier conditions to the southern U.S. El Niño and La Niña typically alternate, though repeated back-to-back events of the same phase are not uncommon. On average, the full ENSO cycle produces an El Niño or La Niña every two to seven years.

  • El Niño under way and threatens weather extremes, scientists say

    El Niño under way and threatens weather extremes, scientists say

    After three years of the cooling La Niña pattern that wrapped up earlier in 2026, United States climate scientists have made a formal announcement: El Niño, the naturally occurring Pacific climate cycle that drives global temperature increases, is now officially active.

    The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) confirmed that tropical Pacific sea surface temperatures have surged sharply in recent months, crossing the 0.5 degrees Celsius above-average threshold that the agency uses to mark an official El Niño event. In a statement, NOAA noted that above-average sea surface temperatures spanning the central to eastern equatorial Pacific confirm the pattern’s development over the past month. Beyond ocean warming, the agency has also recorded a shift in equatorial Pacific trade winds, a key indicator that the atmosphere is responding to warmer ocean conditions — confirming the event is not just an isolated ocean warming trend.

    What has caught climate researchers off guard is the high confidence climate models have already shown in forecasting El Niño’s intensity. While a strong El Niño is defined by sea surface temperatures 1.5°C above average and a very strong event crosses the 2°C threshold, NOAA’s June outlook estimates there is a 63% probability this event will reach very strong strength between November 2026 and January 2027. If it hits that mark, it will rank among the most powerful El Niño events recorded since systematic tracking began in 1950. The three most intense events in that historical record are 1982/83, 1997/98, and 2015/16. Some cutting-edge models from both US research teams and Europe’s ECMWF go even further, projecting that tropical Pacific sea surface temperatures could rise more than 3°C above average by the end of 2026. Even so, NOAA has urged caution around extreme projections, noting that even very strong events do not produce uniform expected impacts across the globe, though more intense events do significantly increase the likelihood of classic El Niño-related disruptions.

    The greatest source of concern for climate experts is that this El Niño is developing on a planet that has already warmed dramatically from decades of human-caused climate change. Adam Scaife, head of monthly to decadal prediction at the UK Met Office, explained that this new El Niño is developing on top of existing long-term global warming. This combination means regional temperatures in areas affected by El Niño could reach unprecedented levels, as the natural warming from the climate pattern adds to the warming already driven by greenhouse gas emissions. A strong El Niño typically raises global average air temperatures by roughly 0.2°C, as it releases stored ocean heat into the atmosphere. This extra warming comes at a time when global temperatures are already hitting consecutive record highs: 2024, already boosted by a relatively weak El Niño, remains the warmest year on record, and even with the cooling influence of the recent La Niña, 2025 ranked as the third-warmest year ever recorded — hotter than the 2015/16 super El Niño year. Scaife projects that by late 2026 and through 2027, global temperatures will reach extraordinary levels, with 2027 very likely pushing global average warming above 1.5°C compared to pre-industrial late-19th-century levels for another full year.

    While every El Niño event has unique characteristics, the most severe impacts are concentrated in tropical regions. Classic El Niño patterns bring increased flooding risk to northern Peru, southern Ecuador, parts of East Africa, Central Asia, and the southern United States. Conversely, Australia, Indonesia, and much of northern South America face elevated risk of severe drought and wildfire, threats that directly damage agricultural production and put global food supplies at risk. El Niño also typically suppresses Atlantic hurricane activity, which might sound beneficial, but Liz Stephens, a professor of climate risk and resilience at the University of Reading, points out that this reduction in storm activity comes with a downside: it also brings reduced rainfall and heightened drought risk to Central America. Even regions as far north as the UK see subtle shifts, with El Niño slightly increasing the probability of a mild early winter followed by a cold late winter, though the connection is weak.

    For vulnerable communities around the world, this forecast is not an abstract climate update. Mohamed Adow, director of climate advocacy group Power Shift Africa, emphasized that an official El Niño declaration acts as a dangerous warning for millions of people. It portends failed rainy seasons, crop failures, spiking global food prices, and increased economic hardship for communities already reeling from repeated climate disasters in recent years, particularly in East Africa.

    Japan’s Meteorological Agency has aligned with NOAA’s assessment, confirming El Niño conditions are already present and are nearly certain to persist through the Northern Hemisphere autumn. Not all national climate agencies have formally declared the event underway, however. Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology uses a stricter threshold of 0.8°C above average sea surface temperatures. This week, the bureau noted that the tropical Pacific is approaching El Niño conditions, with central Pacific temperatures already meeting its threshold, but it has declined to make a formal declaration yet, while still projecting that a strong El Niño will develop later in 2026.

    El Niño occurs naturally every two to seven years and typically persists for roughly 12 months. While there is still no definitive scientific consensus that climate change is making El Niño events more frequent or more intense, researchers agree that a long-warmed planet amplifies the harmful impacts of every El Niño that develops.

  • Messi, Maradona or Pele? Ranking the top 10 World Cup legends

    Messi, Maradona or Pele? Ranking the top 10 World Cup legends

    Narrowing down thousands of elite players across 22 men’s FIFA World Cup tournaments spanning nearly 120 years to a final list of just 10 all-time greats is no small feat, according to senior BBC Sport journalist Alex Bysouth. While Bysouth notes the top six or seven selections are largely undisputed, debate will inevitably rage over the final spots on the ranking, with many iconic players forced to miss out.

    Among the standout omissions is Miroslav Klose, the men’s World Cup’s all-time leading goalscorer, who lands just outside the top 10 at 11th. Also left off the final list are Brazilian dribbling legend Garrincha, Italian icon Roberto Baggio, 1958 single-tournament 13-goal record holder Just Fontaine, Dutch revolutionary Johan Cruyff, Portuguese powerhouse Eusébio, German clinical finisher Gerd Müller, and no individual from Spain’s universally celebrated 2010 World Cup-winning squad, whose collective strength left no single player standing out enough to claim a spot. With that context, here is Bysouth’s ranking of the 10 greatest World Cup legends in history:

    10. Sir Geoff Hurst, England (1966 Winner)
    England’s 1966 home World Cup final was meant to see star striker Jimmy Greaves return from a group stage injury to start, but manager Alf Ramsey opted to retain Hurst — a player who had made his international debut just months earlier. That decision went down in football folklore: the West Ham forward scored the only hat-trick in a men’s World Cup final for 56 years, leading England to their first and to date only World Cup title. Hurst was not the most naturally gifted player in that England squad, but his historic final feat — only matched 56 years later by Kylian Mbappé in Qatar, who finished on the losing side — cements his place in World Cup history. Without Hurst, there would be no iconic “they think it’s all over” commentary, nor the decades of national longing that have followed England’s 1966 triumph.

    9. Cafu, Brazil (1994 & 2002 Winner)
    The only player in history to feature in three consecutive World Cup finals, Cafu’s legacy stretches from the favelas of São Paulo to the world’s biggest football stages. He came off the bench to claim his first winners’ medal when Brazil beat Italy on penalties in the 1994 Rose Bowl final, finished as a runner-up in 1998 on home soil for France, and lifted the trophy as captain in the 2002 co-hosted tournament in Japan and South Korea. Across four tournaments, Cafu notched 16 World Cup wins — a total only topped by the omitted Miroslav Klose. Before lifting the 2002 trophy, he wrote “100% Jardim Irene” on his Brazil shirt, a tribute to the working-class favela where he grew up, cementing his status as both a World Cup great and a grounded icon of the game.

    8. Paolo Rossi, Italy (1982 Winner)
    Rossi’s 1982 World Cup run remains one of the greatest fairytale redemption stories in tournament history. Returning to international football just months after a two-year ban over match-fixing allegations he always denied, Rossi rose to the occasion in one of the most iconic World Cup matches of all time: Italy’s second-round clash with tournament favorites Brazil at Barcelona. Expected to rely on their solid defense to grind out a result, Italy found their match-winning hero in Rossi, who scored a hat-trick — including the game-winner — to knock out the Seleção. He went one step further, bagging a brace against Poland in the semi-final, and scoring the opening goal of Italy’s 3-1 final victory over West Germany at the Santiago Bernabéu, securing Italy’s first World Cup title since 1938. His six tournament goals earned him the Golden Boot, Golden Ball, and FIFA World Player of the Year honors.

    7. Zinedine Zidane, France (1998 Winner)
    A second-generation Algerian immigrant raised in the public housing towers of northern Marseille, Zidane became the face of France’s multicultural 1998 World Cup-winning squad, a team that united the nation behind the tournament hosted on home soil. After a red card against Saudi Arabia in the group stage sidelined him for two matches, Zidane returned in the knockout stage to lead France past Italy and Croatia, before delivering a masterclass in the final against favorites Brazil. He scored two trademark header goals from corner kicks, sparking mass celebrations across Paris that saw a million fans pack the Champs-Élysées, with chants of “Zidane for president” ringing out around the Arc de Triomphe. Zidane’s World Cup legacy is equal parts brilliance and controversy: he is also remembered for a red card after headbutting Marco Materazzi in the 2006 final, which France lost to Italy, but that moment does not overshadow his status as one of the tournament’s greatest ever players.

    6. Kylian Mbappé, France (2018 Winner)
    Mbappé’s World Cup legend is still being written at just 27 years old, with potentially two or three more tournaments left in his career before he retires. As a 19-year-old at the 2018 Russia World Cup, he became France’s youngest ever World Cup goalscorer, the first teenager to score twice in a knockout round match since Pele in 1958 (in a last-16 win over Argentina), and the first teen to score in a World Cup final since Pele, as France lifted the trophy against Croatia. Despite his prolific club success at Paris Saint-Germain and now Real Madrid, Mbappé has yet to win a UEFA Champions League title — his greatest performances have consistently come on the World Cup’s biggest stage. His sensational hat-trick in the 2022 Qatar final against Argentina, including a stunning volley, was a performance worthy of a second title, even if he ultimately ended on the losing side against Lionel Messi.

    5. Franz Beckenbauer, West Germany (1974 Winner as Captain, 1990 Winner as Manager)
    Nicknamed Der Kaiser, Beckenbauer is one of only a handful of people to win the World Cup both as a player and as a manager. After finishing runner-up in 1966 and third in 1970, he captained host West Germany to the 1974 title against the heavily favored Dutch side led by Johan Cruyff. Despite falling behind to a second-minute penalty before the German side had even touched the ball, the elegant ball-playing defender led his team to a comeback victory over Cruyff’s revolutionary Total Football side, a style that had influenced Beckenbauer’s own approach to the game. After retiring as a player, he moved to the dugout, leading West Germany to the 1986 final (a loss to Argentina) before securing revenge and the 1990 title in Italy, cementing his unique multi-decade World Cup legacy.

    4. Lionel Messi, Argentina (2022 Winner)
    For years, it looked like World Cup glory would elude Messi, one of the greatest players of his generation and of all time. As he entered his mid-30s, Messi had never lifted the trophy, even after leading Argentina to the 2014 final. His fifth tournament in Qatar got off to a disastrous start, with a shocking opening defeat to Saudi Arabia that left Argentina facing early elimination. But Messi turned the tournament around single-handedly: he notched a goal and an assist in a critical win over Mexico, scored against Australia in the last 16, converted a penalty against the Netherlands in the quarter-final, and scored another spot kick against Croatia in the semi-final to send Argentina to the final. In a classic final against France, Messi scored twice to bring his tournament total to seven goals, and converted his penalty in the shootout to secure Argentina’s first World Cup title since Diego Maradona’s 1986 triumph, finally completing his legacy.

    3. Ronaldo (Brazil, 1994 & 2002 Winner)
    Ronaldo’s 2002 World Cup triumph remains the sport’s most iconic redemption arc. Like Cafu, the teenage Ronaldo was part of Brazil’s 1994 World Cup squad but did not make an appearance. By 1998, he was the best player on the planet, a dynamic combination of blistering pace, technical skill and ruthless finishing, and carried Brazil to the final, scoring four goals en route. But a pre-match seizure left him disoriented for the final, and Brazil fell to France, leaving the star with a painful legacy he carried for four years. Years of serious knee injury kept him out of club and international football for long stretches ahead of 2002, leaving his place in the squad in doubt. But in Japan and South Korea, the Brazilian legend reclaimed his status, scoring eight goals — including two in the final win over Germany — to erase the memory of 1998, and brought his total World Cup goal tally to 15, a record that stood for years.

    2. Diego Maradona, Argentina (1986 Winner)
    No player in World Cup history brought more drama, star power and iconic moments than Maradona, who claims the second spot on this list. Left out of Argentina’s 1978 home World Cup win at 17, he made his tournament debut in 1982, where he was sent off for retaliation in a fiery knockout clash with Brazil. His defining tournament came in 1986 in Mexico, where he delivered what many still consider the greatest individual performance in World Cup history. His quarter-final clash with England produced two of the most famous goals in history: the controversial “Hand of God” opening goal, followed by a moment of pure genius, where he dribbled from inside his own half past six England players to score one of the greatest goals the tournament has ever seen. He scored twice more against Belgium in the semi-final, and captained Argentina to a final win over West Germany, finishing the tournament with five goals and five assists. Maradona’s World Cup career ended as dramatically as it played out: he led Argentina to the 1990 final, where they lost, and was sent home from the 1994 tournament after failing a doping test.

    1. Pele, Brazil (1958, 1962 & 1970 Winner)
    There was never any question who would top this list: Pele remains the only player in men’s World Cup history to win three titles, across three different decades, and for generations, he was the most iconic name in global football. As a 17-year-old in 1958, he fulfilled a promise he made to his father after Brazil’s devastating 1950 Maracana final defeat to Uruguay, scoring a semi-final hat-trick against France and two more in the final win over Sweden to claim his first title. He was part of the 1962 Brazilian squad that retained the trophy, though he missed most of the tournament through injury after scoring in the opening match. A series of brutal tackles in the 1966 tournament led him to vow he would never play in the World Cup again, but he returned in 1970, leading what many consider the greatest World Cup squad of all time to victory in Mexico, scoring in the 4-1 final thumping of Italy and setting up two more goals. Across four World Cups, Pele scored 12 goals in 14 matches and left an unmatched legacy as the greatest World Cup star of all time.

    Bysouth has invited football fans to share their own takes on the ranking in public comments, opening the debate up to the global football community.

  • World Cup what to know: Canada earns a hard-fought draw in opener, U.S. is up next vs. Paraguay

    World Cup what to know: Canada earns a hard-fought draw in opener, U.S. is up next vs. Paraguay

    The 2026 FIFA World Cup hosted across North America is now underway, with live match updates available to global audiences in both English and Spanish. The tournament’s first full match day on Friday delivered a historic result for Canada, which secured a 1-1 draw against Bosnia-Herzegovina at a packed, energized Toronto stadium. This outcome marks a significant milestone for the Canadian men’s national team, which had lost all six of its previous World Cup matches in tournament history. The result also felt like a positive breakthrough after a tough start for Canada, which fell behind early in the fixture.

    Bosnia’s Jovo Lukic broke the deadlock in the 21st minute, connecting with a skillful header off a corner kick to silence the raucous home crowd. Canada spent the majority of the match chasing an equalizer, and it finally came in the 78th minute from recent substitute Cyle Larin, who slotted home to level the score and earn Canada its first ever World Cup point. The day’s action will close with a primetime match between the United States and Paraguay in Inglewood, California, and the tournament will shift to its full schedule starting Saturday, with a minimum of four matches scheduled per day through June 27.

    The tournament kicked off one day earlier at Mexico City’s iconic Azteca Stadium, where host nation Mexico opened with an impressive 2-0 victory over South Africa in front of a capacity, boisterous crowd.

    ### What to Watch on June 13: Broadcast Information and Full Match Previews
    Fox holds exclusive English-language broadcast rights for the entire tournament in the United States, with all 104 matches airing on either the main Fox broadcast network or cable channel FS1. All fixtures are also available to stream via the Fox One app. For Spanish-language audiences, Telemundo and Universo will carry every match, with streaming access available through Peacock and the official Telemundo app.

    Four matches are scheduled for Saturday, June 13, across four North American host cities:
    1. Qatar vs. Switzerland, 3 p.m. EDT at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California (FOX/Telemundo/Peacock)
    2. Brazil vs. Morocco, 6 p.m. EDT at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey (FOX/Telemundo/Peacock)
    3. Haiti vs. Scotland, 9 p.m. EDT at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts (FOX/Telemundo/Peacock)
    4. Australia vs. Turkey, midnight EDT at BC Place in Vancouver, British Columbia (FS1/Telemundo/Peacock)

    #### Qatar vs. Switzerland
    While Qatar qualified automatically for the 2022 World Cup as tournament host, the nation earned its spot in the 2026 field through competitive qualification, marking a new milestone for the program. The side is led by all-time career scoring leader Almoez Ali, who has notched 60 goals across 126 international appearances for Qatar.

    Switzerland is appearing in its sixth consecutive World Cup, entering the tournament ranked 19th in the official FIFA men’s rankings. Despite advancing past the group stage on three separate occasions in tournament history, the Swiss men’s national team has never won a knockout round fixture. Veteran midfielder Granit Xhaka, who earned 145 international caps, leads the side as it chases a historic deep run.

    #### Brazil vs. Morocco: Top-10 Group Stage Clash
    Brazil enters this tournament as one of the most historically successful men’s World Cup programs, claiming five tournament titles in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002. However, the side has struggled to replicate its historic success in recent decades, falling at the quarterfinal stage in four of the last five tournaments. Even so, Brazil remains a formidable contender, ranked 6th in the world entering Saturday’s fixture, and head coach faces intense pressure to deliver the nation’s sixth World Cup title.

    Morocco, ranked 7th globally, is one of Africa’s top men’s programs and made history at the 2022 World Cup by becoming the first African nation to reach the tournament semifinals, where it fell to eventual champion France. The match marks a high-stakes early group stage showdown between two of the top-ranked sides in the tournament.

    #### Haiti and Scotland: Long-Absent Underdogs Make Their Return
    Both Haiti and Scotland are making their return to the World Cup after decades-long absences, earning their spots against pre-tournament expectations. Haiti is appearing in the World Cup for just the second time in history, with its last appearance coming all the way back in 1974. Ranked 83rd in the world—one of the lowest-ranked sides in the 2026 field—Haiti secured its place in the tournament by outperforming more established Central American powers including Costa Rica and Honduras.

    Scotland is also back on the world’s biggest football stage for the first time since 1998. Premier League midfielder Scott McTominay leads the Scottish side, having scored 14 goals in his last 33 international appearances.

    #### Australia vs. Turkey: Two Sides Marking Return Trips
    Australia is making its sixth consecutive World Cup appearance, and seventh overall, entering the tournament ranked 27th. The side reached the round of 16 at the 2022 tournament, falling to eventual champion Argentina, and has embraced a diverse squad built around immigrant talent ahead of 2026, with a public message that “soccer is for everyone.”

    Turkey is competing in its first World Cup since 2002, when the nation pulled off a surprise third-place finish. The Turkish program has climbed steadily up the rankings in recent years, entering the 2026 tournament ranked 22nd globally.

    ### U.S. Men’s National Team Chases Historic Breakthrough In Home Opener
    The host United States men’s national team enters the tournament ranked 17th in the FIFA rankings, with high hopes that home-field advantage can help the side make its first deep run in decades. The U.S. has advanced to the knockout round in four of the last six World Cups it has competed in, but has not advanced past the quarterfinal stage in any modern tournament.

    Former top European club manager Mauricio Pochettino was hired as head coach in 2024, tasked with unlocking the team’s potential. Star forward Christian Pulisic enters the tournament in the peak of his career, carrying high expectations from American fans.

    Paraguay, the U.S.’s opening opponent, is ranked 47th in the world—lowest in Group D—and is competing in its first World Cup in 16 years. Star attackers Ramon Sosa and Julio Enciso lead the underdog side.

    ### Breaking: Palestinian Football Head Denied U.S. Visa For Tournament
    In off-the-field breaking news, Jibril Rajoub, president of the Palestinian Football Association, remains stranded in Mexico City after being denied a U.S. visa to attend the 2026 World Cup. Rajoub was able to attend the tournament’s opening match between Mexico and South Africa on Thursday, but is one of multiple accredited attendees who have been either denied entry or are still waiting for visa approval from U.S. authorities.

    While the Palestinian national team did not qualify for the 2026 tournament, FIFA routinely invites football association presidents from every member nation to attend the quadrennial event as part of its mission to celebrate global unity through the sport.

    Other recent tournament news includes the viral rise of a Bosnian song about disillusionment with the American Dream becoming an unexpected World Cup fan anthem, Arsenal star Thomas Partey being sidelined for Ghana’s opening match against Panama in Toronto after he was also denied a U.S. visa, and Mexico manager Javier Aguirre earning opening match praise for a youth-focused tactical gamble that delivered the opening win against South Africa.

  • Watch: Skier tackles Peruvian mountain ridge

    Watch: Skier tackles Peruvian mountain ridge

    A skilled alpine skier from Bedford in the United Kingdom has pulled off a remarkable feat of endurance and skill, tackling one of the most challenging terrain stretches in the Peruvian Andes: the icy southwest ridge of 6,162-meter Mount Ranrapalca. Fay Manners, an experienced climber and backcountry skier known for pushing her limits in high-altitude environments, recently reflected on the journey that tested every ounce of her training and nerve.

    The southwest ridge of Ranrapalca has long been regarded as a formidable objective for even the most seasoned mountaineers, with consistently unstable ice conditions, sharp vertical drops, and rapidly shifting high-altitude weather that can turn a routine descent into a life-threatening situation in minutes. Manners spent weeks acclimatizing to the thin Andean air, scouting the route from lower vantage points and adjusting her equipment to account for the unique challenges of the glaciated terrain.

    In her post-expedition reflection, Manners described the mix of focus and exhilaration that defined the descent, recalling how every turn required deliberate, careful judgment to avoid hidden crevasses and ice sheets that could give way without warning. She also highlighted the quiet awe of being on one of the Andes’ most striking peaks, with panoramic views of surrounding glacial summits stretching out across the horizon as she made her way down the ridge.

    The successful descent cements Manners’ reputation as one of the UK’s most ambitious backcountry alpine athletes, and adds a notable new entry to the list of challenging high-altitude ski descents completed in the Peruvian Andes in recent years. For the alpine community, Manners’ achievement highlights both the growing interest in exploring under-documented big mountain routes in South America, and the level of preparation and respect for the mountains required to pull off such a challenge safely.

  • Paraguay fans are eager for their long-awaited World Cup return, in the country they now call home

    Paraguay fans are eager for their long-awaited World Cup return, in the country they now call home

    As the 2026 FIFA World Cup gets underway on U.S. soil, global soccer fans have turned their collective attention to the host nation’s squad. But for the tight-knit community of Paraguayans living across the United States, this tournament marks a far more personal milestone: the return of their beloved national team to the world’s biggest soccer stage after a 16-year drought.

    Paraguay last qualified for the World Cup in 2010, when the squad recorded its best-ever finish, advancing all the way to the quarterfinals. This year’s appearance marks the ninth time the nation, currently ranked 40th globally by FIFA, has competed in the tournament. Drawn into Group D alongside the U.S., Turkey and Australia, Paraguay will face off against Australia on June 19 and Turkey on June 25, both matches hosted in Santa Clara, California.

    For the estimated 37,000 Paraguayans calling the U.S. home, the moment has been decades in the making, and fans have been organizing watch parties, community gatherings and match-day celebrations across the country. While steep ticket prices for the opening Group D match against the U.S. — with some seats reselling for more than $1,000 apiece — have put the fixture out of reach for most local fans, many have scraped together funds to secure tickets for the team’s later matches in California.

    Thirty-two-year-old Santiago Araujo is one of the lucky fans who scored tickets to Paraguay’s match against Australia, set to take place just 80 miles from his family’s Paraguayan restaurant, Cafe Guarani, in the coastal California town of Pacific Grove. Araujo, who moved to California with his family when he was 11 years old, says soccer is woven into the cultural identity of every Paraguayan. “Every Paraguayan I know wants to go,” he explained. “It’s not like there’s seasons of any other sports in Paraguay. I used to sleep with a soccer ball as my toy.”

    His family’s restaurant is leaning into the excitement, hosting pre- and post-match celebrations that bring the local Paraguayan community together over traditional dishes including manioc empanadas and iced yerba mate. Similar gatherings are planned at I Love Paraguay Restaurant in Queens, New York, where a large concentration of Paraguayan Americans resides. Other major Paraguayan American communities are based in Bernardsville, New Jersey — an affluent town that Paraguayan President Santiago Peña visited in 2024.

    For many fans, even the dream of attending a match comes with steep barriers. Ana Di Sessa, a Paraguayan American based in New Jersey, says she would love to travel to the California matches, but the combined cost of flights, accommodation and overpriced tickets puts the trip out of budget for most working-class fans. Zoraida Pereira, a 43-year-old travel agent based in Bernardsville who moved to the U.S. from Paraguay more than 30 years ago, says she has only sold travel packages for the later Santa Clara matches, as opening game prices are prohibitive for nearly all her clients. Even when forced to choose between her host and home nations on the pitch, Pereira’s loyalty is clear: “I am rooting for Paraguay this time around. They’ve been out for so long.”

    For the team itself, the moment carries just as much emotional weight. Midfielder Miguel Almirón, a 32-year-old veteran who plies his club trade with Major League Soccer’s Atlanta United, grew up watching the 2010 World Cup squad and dreamed of one day getting the chance to compete on soccer’s global stage. “It’s going to be something beautiful in that moment, not just for me, but also for my family and for all the Paraguayan fans, and for anyone who’s been with us through all the tough moments,” Almirón said. “There are going to be a lot of emotions at that moment. We take it on with responsibility, because we know so many people are depending on us.”

    That excitement extends 5,000 miles back to Paraguay, a small landlocked South American nation of roughly 7 million people bordered by Argentina, Bolivia and Brazil, best known for its vast grasslands, rich biodiversity and indigenous Guarani cultural heritage. A new documentary titled *El Renacer Albirrojo* (The Red-and-White Rebirth) chronicles the national team’s 16-year journey to qualify for the tournament, and the squad was sent off to the U.S. with a massive public celebration capped by fireworks. Many Paraguayan Americans report that friends and family are traveling from Paraguay to the U.S. to attend the matches, joining local fans to cheer on the team.

    For 34-year-old Rodrigo Valdez, a computer engineer based in San Diego who was born in the U.S. but raised in Paraguay, the tournament is a once-in-a-generation opportunity. Even with a 4-month-old newborn at home, his wife encouraged him to buy a ticket to the Australia match as a first Father’s Day gift. Valdez will drive more than 450 miles to Santa Clara to see the match, after gathering with local family and friends to watch the opening game against the U.S. in San Diego. “It was a unique opportunity for us that we are living in California,” he said. “It will be very meaningful.”

  • Author honoured with Caribbean literature prize

    Author honoured with Caribbean literature prize

    One of the most prestigious honors in Caribbean literary circles has found its 2025 recipient: Guyanese-born author and University of East Anglia creative writing professor Tessa McWatt, who has won the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature for her deeply personal memoir *The Snag: A Mother, A Forest and Wild Grief*. The award was presented during a formal ceremony held in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, the Caribbean nation that held special meaning for McWatt’s late mother.

    Widely recognized as the leading international award for writing rooted in Caribbean experience, the OCM Bocas Prize carries exceptional prestige for authors working in the region and across the global Caribbean diaspora. For McWatt, the honor is far more than a personal career milestone — it is a tribute to the woman at the heart of her memoir.

    In an interview with BBC Look East, McWatt shared that winning the prize felt like “a real joy, as it feels like a win for my mother, who is the central figure in the book and my heart’s inspiration.” The memoir traces the two-month-long journey of losing McWatt’s mother to dementia, from the difficult transition of moving her out of her long-time home to the quiet, profound lessons McWatt learned while caring for her.

    What sets the work apart is how it weaves personal grief into a broader meditation on collective loss. While navigating her mother’s decline, McWatt also grieved the death of a close friend, supported another friend facing a stage four cancer diagnosis, and confronted the growing “climate grief” tied to widespread environmental destruction, exacerbated by cascading global crises including the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing armed conflict. Rather than turning away from this overlapping pain, McWatt set out to explore how to embrace grief as a natural, meaningful part of life.

    The book’s evocative title draws from a forestry term: a “snag” refers to a dead or dying tree left standing in a woodland. While many might see such a tree as useless and ready for removal, ecologists recognize snags as critical to forest ecosystems — they provide habitat for wildlife, cycle nutrients back into the soil, and sustain the forest’s long-term health. For McWatt, this concept became a powerful metaphor for her mother’s journey with dementia, and for the inherent value of aging and lives nearing their end.

    “It became a metaphor for my mum and richness of the elderly and the richness of watching someone go through dementia. I was learning some amazing things from her,” McWatt explained.

    Receiving the award in Port of Spain held extra emotional weight for the author, who noted her mother traveled to Trinidad every year. “It felt like going home and to give that honour to her there, it was really lovely. It was an award for her,” she said.

    For emerging writers hoping to share their own vulnerable stories, McWatt offered simple, direct advice: “write your truth, don’t stop.”

  • Messi scores on a penalty as Argentina beats Iceland 3-0 in its final World Cup tune-up

    Messi scores on a penalty as Argentina beats Iceland 3-0 in its final World Cup tune-up

    AUBURN, Alabama (AP) — The soccer world breathed a collective sigh of relief Tuesday as Lionel Messi confirmed he is fully prepared to compete in his sixth FIFA World Cup, shaking off a recent muscle injury to mark his return with a penalty goal in Argentina’s final pre-tournament friendly. The reigning world champion’s captain entered the match off the bench, playing the final 20 minutes of Argentina’s 3-0 rout of Iceland, just days out from the global tournament kicking off and his 39th birthday.

    Messi’s injury scare came in late May, during his last club appearance for Inter Miami, where he picked up muscle fatigue and a minor strain in his left hamstring that kept him out of action in the weeks leading up to Argentina’s pre-World Cup warm-up slate. The injury had sparked widespread concern among soccer fans worldwide about whether the Argentine legend would be at full fitness for what is widely expected to be his final World Cup campaign.

    Coming on in the 70th minute of the tune-up match, Messi needed just two minutes to find the back of the net. After Argentine forward Lautaro Martínez was fouled inside the Icelandic 18-yard box, Messi stepped up to take the penalty and rifled a left-footed shot high into the net to seal the three-nothing win. The goal pushes Messi’s all-time record for Argentina to 117 international strikes, keeping his status as the nation’s leading goal scorer intact.

    Argentina, which enters the tournament chasing its fourth World Cup title following victories in 1978, 1986, and 2022, will kick off its 2026 campaign against Algeria on June 16 in Kansas City. The South American giants are drawn in Group J alongside Austria and Jordan. Tuesday’s clash marked just the second meeting between Argentina and Iceland. The two sides first faced off at the 2018 World Cup, where the European underdogs earned a 1-1 draw – a match remembered for Messi missing a late penalty that would have given Argentina the win.

    For up-to-date coverage of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, follow AP’s full coverage hub at: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-world-cup

  • Colombia passes law to track cattle and keep deforestation-linked beef out of supply chains

    Colombia passes law to track cattle and keep deforestation-linked beef out of supply chains

    BOGOTÁ, COLOMBIA – In a groundbreaking move for global forest conservation, Colombia has signed into law a first-of-its-kind mandatory framework requiring the entire domestic cattle industry to implement full livestock traceability, guaranteeing that national beef supply chains are completely free of deforestation-linked production. Environmental advocates across the globe are hailing the legislation as a historic precedent, marking the first time any tropical forest country has rolled out such a sweeping nationwide rule to curb forest loss driven by cattle ranching.

    Under the new law, government regulatory bodies and private sector actors across the cattle supply chain are mandated to integrate three core systems: individual cattle tracking, official land ownership verification, and real-time deforestation monitoring. This cross-system integration is designed to flag any livestock raised on land cleared of forest, blocking these animals from entering legal commercial supply chains entirely.

    For decades, unregulated expansion of cattle ranching has stood as the single largest driver of deforestation in Colombia’s portion of the Amazon basin, with large swathes of protected forest cleared illegally through land grabbing to create new pasture. Proponents of the legislation argue it will close longstanding regulatory gaps that have allowed cattle reared on illegally deforested land – including grazing areas inside protected national parks and conservation reserves – to launder into legitimate domestic retail and international export markets.

    Susanne Breitkopf, U.S. forest campaigns director for the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), an international watchdog that has spent years documenting deforestation tied to Colombia’s cattle sector, emphasized that the law sets a replicable blueprint for other tropical forest nations grappling with the same issue. “This is a win for forests, for Indigenous and local communities that have acted as the world’s most effective forest stewards, and for consumers around the world who are increasingly demanding that the food they buy does not contribute to forest destruction or illicit land activities,” Breitkopf noted.

    The legislation comes at a moment of mounting global pressure, as both governments and agribusiness face growing requirements from international import markets to prove major commodities including beef are not linked to deforestation. Environmental advocates point out that robust traceability systems are quickly becoming a non-negotiable prerequisite for accessing key overseas markets, while also giving law enforcement clearer tools to identify and crack down on illegal land grabbing and forest clearing.

    Data from organizations backing the law shows Colombia has lost roughly 3.3 million hectares (8.2 million acres) of forest in recent decades – an area nearly identical in size to the entire country of Belgium – with the Amazon region seeing the most severe rates of loss. While Brazil’s Amazonian state of Pará has previously implemented cattle traceability rules for producers, environmental groups stress that Colombia’s new law goes further by codifying a uniform, nationwide legal mandate rather than a subnational policy.

    A 2025 EIA analysis underscored the urgency of the reform, finding that hundreds of thousands of cattle were moved between 2020 and 2024 from production areas overlapping protected national parks into legal supply chains. The new law is the culmination of more than five years of coordinated advocacy from environmental organizations, policy researchers, and progressive lawmakers, who have long warned that fragmented oversight and weak regulation allowed illegally deforestation-linked cattle to flow through Colombia’s disjointed cattle supply chain.

    Natalia Katixa Escobar, a researcher with Colombian legal and policy think tank Dejusticia, which has documented the links between cattle expansion and deforestation, explained that the law addresses a long-standing institutional disconnect between Colombia’s agricultural and environmental regulators. “One of its most immediate achievements is that it builds a formal bridge between environmental policy and agricultural oversight,” Escobar said. “For years, the control mechanisms for cattle ranching and traceability had absolutely no integration with environmental monitoring – that gap is what allowed illegal activity to thrive.”

    Colombian Environment Minister Irene Vélez Torres told reporters the new framework will help the government clearly separate responsible, law-abiding cattle producers from actors linked to forest destruction. “This means it will become increasingly hard for forest destruction and illicit economic activity to hide behind the facade of legitimate supply chains,” Vélez said.

    The law sets a phased two-year implementation timeline to give stakeholders time to adapt. Within the first six months, the national government must roll out compliance support programs for small and medium producers, launch an official certification system for deforestation-free beef products, and allocate dedicated funding to strengthen monitoring systems in active deforestation hotspots. After one year, regulators must finalize formal rules for national cattle identification and traceability protocols, and formalize mandatory due diligence requirements for deforestation-free cattle ranching.

    By the end of the second year, all major supply chain actors including slaughterhouses, meat processors, cattle auction houses, traders, and live cattle exporters will be required to have full due diligence policies in place to guarantee their supply chains are deforestation-free. A core component of the reform is the mandatory gradual integration of separate government databases, which for the first time will allow officials to cross-reference data on land tenure, cattle ownership, and recent forest loss to flag illegal operations.

    While supporters say these structural changes will dramatically improve regulators’ ability to intercept deforestation-linked cattle before they reach legal markets, observers warn that the law’s ultimate success hinges on consistent, well-funded enforcement – particularly in remote Amazon regions where illegal deforestation remains rampant and state presence is often limited.

    If implemented fully, the policy could become a global model for other tropical forest countries working to protect their forest ecosystems while retaining access to increasingly sustainability-focused international commodity markets. “The real test will be what happens on the ground,” Escobar emphasized. “While the law fixes critical gaps in oversight and information sharing, reducing deforestation will also depend on improved governance and consistent enforcement in the most remote parts of the Colombian Amazon. Whether it will deliver significant reductions in Amazon deforestation remains to be seen.”

    This coverage from The Associated Press, which received funding from private philanthropic foundations for its climate and environmental reporting, maintains full editorial independence over all content.