Graham was the Republicans’ “last highly effective advocate for the idea that American power must shape events before hostile powers reshape them,” according to the experts and analysts.

“Senator Graham’s family appreciates prayers at this time and asks for privacy during this incredibly difficult period,” the statement said.

Graham’s office said Sunday that the preliminary cause of death was “aortic dissection due to arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease,” or a rupture of his aorta due to a hardening of his arteries.

A top Graham staffer says ‘no indication’ the senator wasn’t feeling well before death.

President Donald Trump led tributes Sunday to “one of the greatest people and Senators I have ever known,” describing Graham as a “true American Patriot” in a Truth Social post.

He later with NBC News’ “Meet the Press” told that he spoke with Graham on Saturday night, hours before the senator died, adding that “other than being tired, he was fine.”

At the White House, flags were lowered to half-staff. In a later post on Truth Social, Trump ordered that all American flags must fly at half-staff until Saturday at 6 p.m.

Graham was chairman of the Senate Budget Committee and was seeking a fifth six-year Senate term in November. He was one of the most well-known members of the chamber and a key voice within the party on defense and foreign policy.

Emergency personnel responded to a call for “cardiac arrest” at Graham’s Capitol Hill home on Saturday night, according to police .

Senator Graham had been scheduled to appear on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” on Sunday, NBC report say. A top staffer to Graham told NBC News early Sunday that there was no indication the lawmaker was feeling unwell prior to his death. Graham was a frequent guest on the broadcast, appearing a total of 63 times over the years.

In June, Graham defeated multiple primary challengers to secure the nomination for a fifth term, with the election set for November. South Carolina Republicans must now find a replacement nominee for that race, with a special primary expected by Aug. 11 under the state’s election laws.

Graham was fresh off a trip to Kyiv, Ukraine, where he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday. “Lindsey was a true defender of freedom and of the values that make our world safer,” Zelenskyy said in a statement, noting that he had visited Ukraine 10 times during the war.

“We were in constant dialogue, which I will miss,” he said, adding that “in recent weeks he worked on important initiatives that could help bring peace closer, including strengthening sanctions against Russia.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., paid tribute to a “strong advocate for the United States and a strong ally to freedom-loving countries across the globe,” while South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said Graham had been “the fiercest of fighters for South Carolina and America — and a loyal and steadfast friend.”

Former President George W. Bush said Graham “understood how the world works and how important America’s international engagement is to resist tyranny.”

“He was a powerful advocate for America who believed strongly in the NATO Alliance and was actively working to bring an end to Russia’s war against Ukraine,” NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told “Meet the Press”: “America has lost a great patriot. Israel has lost one of the great champions of the American-Israeli alliance. And frankly, I’ve lost a beloved friend who I’ve had for many decades.”

He added that Iran would be celebrating the news.

Tehran’s state media celebrated Graham’s death, describing him as “warmongering” and “anti-Iranian.” The country’s former crown prince Reza Pahlavi, an opponent of the regime, said on X that Graham “stood alongside the people of Iran in their struggle against tyranny.”

His death comes as fellow Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky remains in the hospital after paramedics responded to a call at a known residence last month for an individual experiencing cardiac arrest.

A McConnell spokesperson has said the former GOP majority leader is continuing to recover, but his team has not provided further details about his condition.

Graham grew up in the small town of Central, South Carolina, where his parents ran a restaurant and pool hall. The first of his family to go to college, he earned a law degree from the University of South Carolina before embarking on a career in the military, serving in the U.S. Air Force as a lawyer. Graham served a total of 33 years in the Air Force, Air Force Reserve and South Carolina Air National Guard, fulfilling his reserve duties while holding his seat in Congress. He retired in 2015 at the rank of colonel.

Graham first arrived in Congress as a member of the House of Representatives, where he served from 1995 to 2003.

He ran for Senate in 2002, winning the South Carolina seat previously held by the retiring Strom Thurmond.

Graham made a name for himself with his work on foreign policy. In recent years, he pressed both the Trump and Biden administrations to back Kyiv’s fight against Russia’s invasion, and pressed the Trump administration for a hawkish stance on Iran.

He found allies for his foreign policy positions in the upper chamber, befriending Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., dubbed the “Three Amigos” for their shared hawkish stances.

In the Trump era, Horowitz added, “his foreign‑policy leverage shifted from shaping broad Senate consensus to shaping Trump’s own instincts, using loyalty and flattery to keep hard‑line positions on Iran, Ukraine and Syria in the room even as the party’s base turned more inward.”

Graham chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee from 2019 to 2021. He most recently served as chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, where he helped shepherd through a major tax cut and spending package during Trump’s second term.

Graham was initially a critic of Trump’s, whom he briefly ran against during the 2016 Republican presidential primary, warning: “If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed.” Graham even voted for a third-party candidate for president in 2016, saying he could not support either Trump or Hillary Clinton.

The pair’s relationship had evolved in the intervening decade, with Graham frequently praising Trump while sometimes pressing him on policy decisions. In an interview with NBC News in February, he called himself the president’s “North Star.”

“We disagree, but he knows where I am coming from,” Graham said of the president. “He sees me helping him as much as anybody in the Senate.”

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A thousand “missiles are Locked and Loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran, with thousands of more to immediately follow, should the Iranian Government act on its threat,” Trump wrote on his website.

The U.S. president described his threat as coming over threats “to assassinate, or attempt to assassinate” him. During Khamenei’s funeral, mourners repeatedly held posters or banners calling for him to be killed along with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Trump added in his post that the U.S. military would “completely decimate and destroy all areas of Iran — PRAISE BE TO ALLAH!”

Trump made the comments on his Truth Social after senior U.S. officials demanded that Iran make a public statement saying the Strait of Hormuz is open and that ships crossing the vital corridor won’t be attacked any longer.

So far, Tehran has not done so, instead insisting the route remain under its control and that it be allowed to charge ships moving through it, upending decades of precedence considering the strait an international waterway.

There had been multiple days of U.S. airstrikes targeting Iran, as well as Iranian retaliatory fire targeting nations across the Mideast. Those strikes had been sparked by Iran attacking three ships in the strait earlier this week.

The Iran war’s opening moments on Feb. 28 saw an airstrike that killed Khamenei, 86. Iran only buried Khamenei this week in a dayslong funeral ceremony that saw his body taken to cities in both Iran and Iraq.

Trump repeatedly during the war and its uneasy ceasefire has invoked the name of God in Arabic, as well as threatened to destroy Iran’s very civilization. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a nationwide advocacy group, in the past has criticized Trump’s “deranged mocking of Islam.”

, Iran has insisted its theocracy is unified after the war under the country’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei.

The U.S. officials said Friday that Trump is giving U.S. negotiators limited time to reach a deal with Iran, but, in a sign of the challenges ahead, they underscored that the president had a wide range of options if talks fall apart.

Moments before the U.S. officials spoke, however, Tehran’s diplomat at the United Nations told reporters that any activity in the Strait of Hormuz, including its opening or demining operations, “rests exclusively with Iran.”

Qatari mediators separately traveled to Iran to meet with officials on Friday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said.

Iran has said the strait must now be under its sole control and that vessels should begin to pay fees to Tehran — even though the world for decades has considered it an international waterway. About a fifth of all traded oil and natural gas passed through the strait before the war began.

Iran’s grip on the strait during the conflict led to a global energy crisis, though oil prices have sharply dropped since wartime highs of $120 a barrel.

After the U.S. wrapped up its latest strikes on Thursday, more attacks reportedly hit Iran, leaving questions about who else may be targeting the Islamic Republic. Israel didn’t claim them, meaning the Gulf Arab states may have launched them, likely as a means to deter Iran from attacking them again. Iran on Thursday retaliated for U.S. strikes by targeting Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait and Qatar.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi plans to discuss the strait with his Omani counterpart at a meeting Saturday in Oman, Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency said. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told his country’s state broadcaster TRT that he believed “a solution can be reached” this weekend between Iran and Oman, which lie on opposite sides of the narrow waterway.

However, Araghchi on Saturday accused the U.S. of violating the interim deal by ending waivers allowing Iran to sell crude oil on the open market in U.S. dollars. Washington did that in response to the attacks on ships in the strait.

“Reality check: There can only be mutual compliance,” Araghchi wrote on X.

The U.S. continues to urge mariners to travel on a southern route through Oman’s territorial waters to avoid Iranian waters and the commands of its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. That has angered Tehran and sparked the attacks in the strait.

U.S. insists nuclear deal will require Iran to turn over enriched uranium

The U.S. officials also told journalists that any deal on Iran’s nuclear program would require Tehran to turn over its stockpile of highly enriched uranium. That’s something Iran has repeatedly refused.

If the U.S. does not reach a deal with Iran to turn over its nuclear material, it has military options to ensure that it remains buried underground forever, the officials said. They did not detail those options.

The uranium, enriched to near weapons-grade levels, is believed to be at nuclear sites the U.S. bombed in 2025. Iran long has insisted its nuclear program is peaceful, despite the International Atomic Energy Agency saying the Islamic Republic is the only country in the world to enrich uranium so highly without a weapons program.

The officials also insisted that they would never reach a nuclear deal with Iran if it would not first stop its attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

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“We pledge to avenge your pure blood and the blood of all the martyrs,” said Khamenei, who took his father’s place as the head of Iran’s leadership after a deadly Israeli airstrike in late February.

“This vengeance is what our nation is demanding, and this must definitely be done,” he added.

The new threats come after the breakdown of a ceasefire between Washington and Tehran. The U.S. launched new strikes on Iran earlier this week in response to the Iranian regime’s attacks on shipping in the critical waterway of the Strait of Hormuz.

The U.S. has given Iran until Saturday to stop its attacks in the strait. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi travelled to Oman for talks to mediate the dispute.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump issued threats of his own, promising to “completely decimate and destroy all areas of Iran” in response to any attempts on his life.

Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen in public for months, and has been rumored to have been left disfigured after being injured by an airstrike.

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“Israeli settlers, brandishing American made M4s, detained me & other Americans on my trip to Palestine,” Khanna wrote in a social media post.

“When the IDF arrived, they sided with the settlers & continued our detention,” he continued. “They made a huge mistake.”

The Democratic lawmaker and potential 2028 presidential contender told The New York Times that he was visiting a small Palestinian village in the southern West Bank on Wednesday when armed men blocked the road and began swearing at him and his team and kicking the minibus they were traveling in.

After the progressive lawmaker and his team contacted the U.S. embassy, Khanna told CNN that four IDF soldiers arrived at the scene and sided with the settlers. Eventually, the group was freed after communication between the U.S. embassy and a high-level Israeli official.

Khanna, who has long been critical of Israel and accused the country of genocide in Gaza, called on the Israeli government to prosecute the involved IDF soldiers and settlers in an interview with CNN on Saturday.

He also warned in his interview with the Times that it was “not a good idea to detain long-shot presidential candidates,” and he indicated this experience would inform a potential presidential run in 2028.

The Hill has reached out to Khanna’s office, the State Department and the White House for more information about this incident.

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A 35-year-old man was shot in the head, a 28-year-old man was hit in the shin and a 22-year-old woman was shot in the arm when shots rang out in the court in the back of 70 Lenox Ave. just before 10:30 p.m., authorities said.

All three victims were rushed to the hospital, where the 35-year-old was pronounced dead, officials reported. The 28-year-old and 22-year-old were expected to survive.

Kinu Rochford, 35, was shot and killed during a basketball tournament in Harlem, authorities said on Saturday. Rochford’s former school, Fairleigh Dickinson University, confirmed his role in a social media post.

 “FDU is devastated to hear of the tragic passing of former men’s basketball player Kinu Rochford (‘13),” read the social media post on Saturday. “A standout Knight and leader, Rochford built a legacy in Hackensack.”

Rochford was one of three people shot on the basketball court behind 70 Lenox Ave. in Harlem on Friday just before 10:30 p.m., police reported.

A 28-year-old man who was shot in the shin and a 22-year-old woman who was hit in the arm were also taken to the hospital and expected to survive.

What led up to the shooting remains under investigation. The identity of the man killed was also not immediately made known.

The organizer of the local tournament, known on social media as Kingdome Basketball, acknowledged “the tragic loss of life” during the opening game of the 2026 season.

“Our hearts are with the individual’s family, loved ones, teammates, and everyone affected by this devastating tragedy,” read a social post from Saturday. “The Kingdome Games were founded to unite our community through faith, fellowship, and sportsmanship. We unequivocally condemn all forms of violence and remain steadfast in our commitment to providing a safe and positive environment for our youth and community.”

Rochford was a Brooklyn native who began his college basketball career at the Globe Institute of Technology before transferring to FDU, according to the school’s athletics website. As an FDU Knight, he served as the team’s forward and appeared in 53 games, averaging 14.8 points per game, totaling 96 blocks and securing ten double-doubles.

He was recognized with the FDU George Braun Leadership Award in 2013 for displaying exemplary leadership skills among their peers, officials from the university say.

Rochford went on to play internationally for the Netherlands, France, England, Switzerland, Iceland and Lithuania.

“Our hearts are heavier today hearing the tragic news,” said Director of Athletics Jason Young. “Those who knew Kinu described him as a fierce competitor with a big heart who made many positive contributions to the FDU community. Today is another reminder to value each other and every day that we have.”

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On Wednesday, the newspaper published an anonymously sourced story that the Secret Service urged President Trump to leave the recent NATO summit in Turkey on an older version of Air Force One instead of the Boeing 747 donated by Qatar last year because of security concerns. The following day, the Times reported, again citing anonymous sources, that the gifted plane lacked “defensive countermeasures that were security features of the old model, including its advanced antimissile capabilities.”

The four reporters bylined on Wednesday’s article — Julian E. Barnes, Eric Lipton, Tyler Pager and Eric Schmitt — all received subpoenas, according to the Times. The paper said federal agents delivered the subpoenas Friday evening to some reporters at their homes.

The subpoenas “seek to force the reporters to testify before a federal grand jury in Manhattan on Wednesday,” the Times reported. Their testimony, according to the subpoenas, was requested “in regard to an alleged violation of federal criminal law.”

“The appearance of Federal law enforcement agents on the doorstep of news reporters should shock the conscience of any American who believes in the Constitution and the press freedom it protects,” David McCraw, senior vice president and deputy general counsel for the Times, said in a statement. “Our journalists report the facts and advance the American public’s right to know how their government is operating and their taxpayer dollars are being used. This brazen act should be seen as nothing more than an attempt to prevent the public from knowing what is happening in their country by intimidating journalists from doing their jobs.”

Before the Times published the Wednesday article, a senior FBI official had contacted a reporter and editor and asked that the story be held, without explaining why, a New York Times spokesman tells NPR. The FBI official also asked that the sources for the story be identified. Both Times employees refused to do either. (The Times itself was first to report an account of these events.)

The president of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, Bruce D. Brown, said in a statement Saturday, “The subpoenas … issued to journalists at The New York Times break from longstanding Justice Department practice to protect the public interest and press independence by requiring prosecutors to only seek information from reporters as a last resort when all other avenues have been exhausted. When Jay Clayton appears before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday, members of both parties must not let him escape accountability.”

The move to subpoena the Times journalists is the latest escalation in Trump’s years-long effort to cow and control U.S. media outlets, following previous financial settlements with ABC News and CBS News’ 60 Minutes program, alongside civil lawsuits and federal criminal actions taken against The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, the BBC and others since he resumed office last year.

In an unusual step earlier this year, the FBI searched the property of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson, seizing her phones and laptops, as part of an investigation into leaked information. Natanson had written a series of in-depth stories about the Trump administration’s attempts to reduce the federal workforce.

Trump is currently embroiled in several simultaneous personal legal disputes with the Times over its coverage of him. He has accused the publication of disparaging his reputation, undermining his efforts to win reelection and defamation. The newspaper has rejected his claims.

The Times has also launched its own legal action against the Defense Department for seeking to restrict Pentagon access to reporters, and the paper is involved in a separate claim and counterclaim with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The commission accuses the paper of discriminatory employment practices based on a complaint filed by a white male editor who said he had been passed over for a promotion, while the Times said the commission’s lawsuit was part of the Trump administration’s retaliation for its coverage of the president.   Courtesy-NPR

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The Trump administration is “demanding” a statement from Iran vowing to keep the key shipping lane open with no tolls and a promise to stop attacking commercial ships, said the officials, who were granted anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations.

The U.S. is giving Iran a quick deadline to state the Strait of Hormuz is open, a second official said. The administration is “expecting” Iran to take that position in a meeting with Omani officials on Saturday, the second official said, adding, “if it’s not their position, then it’s not going to be a great day for them.”

The U.S. also wants the statement to have a part “explicitly or at least implicitly acknowledging that they screwed up,” the first official added, noting that Iranian officials made that clear to them privately.

The first official also noted that Iran will have to give over “nuclear dust” in any final deal with the U.S.

“Simply, if they don’t give us the dust, we don’t have a deal. However, we have a lot of options. We have a lot of options if they resist giving the dust. There are continued military, diplomatic, economic leverage points,” the first official said.

The administration official conceded that a long-term deal may not come to fruition.

A third senior official described the current dynamic as a “wait-and-see moment” and said Iran wanted to wait until the funeral of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which was held Thursday, to “conclude some of the big items.”

“It’s binary: we either make a deal or we don’t, and we’ll see how it all plays out,” the second senior official said.

Trump declared that the ceasefire with Iran, which began in mid-June, was over during the NATO summit in Turkey this week after Tehran struck commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

On Friday, Trump said negotiations would continue, but that the ceasefire was still “over.”

“The Islamic Republic of Iran has asked us to continue ‘talks.’ We have agreed to do so, but the United States has stated to them, in no uncertain terms, that the Cease Fire is OVER!” he wrote on Truth Social.

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The South Asian nation’s longest-serving leader said she and members of her Awami League aim to return voluntarily to the country they fled two years ago and present themselves in court, testing Bangladesh’s handling of its most prominent political opponent.

“They may arrest me on my return, they may even kill me,” Hasina, 78, said in the nearly hour-long telephone interview late on Thursday and into Friday.

“Still, I have to go,” she said. “My party leaders and workers are being subjected to tremendous repression. If death comes, I want it to come on my own soil, where my parents are buried and where their blood was shed.”

BANGLADESH-INDIA TIES STRAINED BY EXILE

Hasina fled Bangladesh in 2024 after protests ended her 20 years as prime minister across multiple terms. The country’s war-crimes court sentenced her in November to death in her absence for ordering a deadly crackdown on a student-led uprising. She has denied the charges from exile.

A return could sharpen political divisions in the garment-export powerhouse as the government in Dhaka seeks to restore stability ⁠after two years of upheaval. On the other hand, it could improve strained ties with India, which deteriorated sharply after New Delhi gave her refuge.

Bangladesh has repeatedly urged India to extradite her.

Hasina, who has fielded written questions from news outlets but not previously given an interview during her exile, said she has not consulted with any foreign government on whether or when to return.

This is the first time she has set out a timetable for her return, said she plans to surrender or said other exiled Awami League leaders would do so. Among them, former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal also faces a death sentence. Reuters could not contact the other party members or establish where they were.

The authorities in Dhaka “want to take me back, they are repeatedly sending letters to India seeking to have me sent back”, she said. “I will go myself.”

Spokespeople for the Bangladesh government did not respond to requests for comment on Hasina’s remarks.

India’s foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment. In April, the ministry said it was examining Bangladesh’s request to extradite her and that it wanted to “engage constructively with the new government and further strengthen bilateral ties”.

ONETIME DEMOCRACY CHAMPION ACCUSED OF CRUSHING DISSENT

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina takes oath as the country’s Prime Minister at the Bangabhaban in Dhaka

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina takes oath as the country’s Prime Minister at the Bangabhaban in Dhaka, Bangladesh, January 11, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

Hasina was a dominant figure in Bangladesh for half a century after being thrust into the spotlight by the assassination of her father, an independence leader, and much of her family in a military coup.

She fought for democracy ⁠early on and was credited with turning around the economy of the Muslim-majority nation of 170 million, but her long rule generated accusations that her government had crushed dissent and dismantled democratic checks and balances — allegations she denies.

The crackdown that led to her downfall killed as many as 1,400 people, according to a U.N. report.

“Cases have been filed against almost all of our leaders and workers, and many of them are in hiding,” Hasina told Reuters from her exile home in Delhi. “So I said that this time I am returning home, and one day, all of you should come. All together, we will all surrender in court.”

She declined to give a date for her return or say exactly when she would surrender or to what court.

“I believe in justice and ⁠I feel that once proceedings start, it will be clear to the people how farcical the court is — and that I want to prove it.”

‘LET THE PEOPLE DECIDE,’ HASINA SAYS

Many Awami League workers have faced arrest, legal cases and physical attacks since her government was toppled, according to media reports and government officials.

Hasina said she had not been in touch with Dhaka over her plans to return. “Democracy, voting rights, the political rights of the Awami League and justice are not subjects for secret talks.”

She said she was ⁠not worried about jail time, noting that she had been arrested several times before.

After returning from exile in 1981 following her father’s assassination, she was detained repeatedly during campaigns against military rule. She was jailed again in 2007 by a military-backed caretaker government on corruption charges before being freed and winning elections in 2008.

Leading her to flee this time, she said, were threats on her life as crowds advanced towards her residence.

“When a government works for a long ⁠time, mistakes can happen — no government is above error,” she said. “But the right to judge the good and bad, the right and wrong of a government belongs to the people. I leave that judgment to the people.”

Hasina said she has held online meetings covering 125 of Bangladesh’s 300 parliamentary constituencies as part of efforts to reorganise the Awami League.

“They may have convicted me, and I may not be able to contest elections,” she said. “But why should they suspend the Awami League? If we have done badly, let the people decide.”

Reporting by Krishna N. Das in New Delhi; Additional reporting by Ruma Paul in Dhaka; Editing by William Mallard

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France dominated much of the first half, preventing Morocco from even taking a shot until stoppage time at the end. France went to on the attack as expected.  In the fourth minute, striker Kylian Mbappé just missed putting Les Bleus up early with a shot that zipped by the left post. It was billed as a battle of the World Cup heavyweights, and it looked close for a half.

The best first-half opportunity for France came in the 25th minute. Mbappé was tackled near the Morocco goal and won a penalty kick.

The resulting video review took three minutes, frustrating Mbappé, who wanted to take the kick much sooner. When he eventually shot the penalty, Morocco’s keeper Yassine Bounou dove, low and to the right, easily saving the weak effort by Mbappé.

The French defense stymied Morocco, preventing their offense from getting into a rhythm on a 89 degrees hot, sunny day. At halftime, it was 0-0. France could do no better.

Morocco’s midfielder Neil El Aynaoui (left) reacts to a missed chance during the World Cup match against France.

Morocco’s  government has made it a point to invest heavily in the Moroccan national team, even building a state-of-the-art facility and academy, 15 years ago, that experts say rivals France’s soccer training site to becoming a respected contender at the World Cup.

“The king of that country made a decision,” said Zayn Nabbi, host of the podcast On The Whistle, about African soccer. “They were gonna invest in football, and they were gonna use it as soft power. A host of stars are turning down the opportunity to play for European nations to play for Morocco.”

Consider 18-year-old Moroccan midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi, who was born in France to Moroccan parents, and was courted by the French national team, but ultimately chose Morocco. “Bouaddi is a symbol of a generational shift in which playing for national teams in Europe is no longer treated as the highest form of recognition,” wrote journalists Aomar Boum and Brahim El Guabli in the blog Africa is a Country.

But they were no match for French soccer, which attacked relentlessly in the second half: in the 60th minute came the first French goal. A sensational shot by Mbappé beyond the long stretch of Bounou. It was Mbappé’s eighth goal of this tournament, a record 12th in the knockout round, and his 20th goal in the World Cup.

Shortly thereafter, Moroccan player Issa Diop received a yellow card for tackling Mbappé, the first and only card of the game.

The French scoring continued six minutes later. Mbappé flicked a pass to Ousmane Dembélé, who darted through the Moroccan defense and made it 2-0. Mbappé was subbed out in the 77th minute with a slight limp (he sat on the bench with an ice pack on his right ankle).

Morocco did not give up the fight, creating several scoring opportunities late. But they could not find a way to get the ball into the net.

France now moves on to the semifinal next Tuesday against either Spain or Belgium, which are playing their quarterfinal match tomorrow in Inglewood, Calif.

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A New York jury in 2023 held Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll in the dressing room of Bergdorf Goodman in the mid-1990s and defaming her in 2022 when he denied her claim, and decided she is entitled to $5 million in damages.

A jury in a separate but related case determined Trump owes Carroll an additional $83 million in damages, but that is still going through the appeals process.

The decision comes after the U.S. Supreme Court last month, with no dissents, declined to hear Trump’s appeal of the verdict and judgment.

Trump’s attorneys filed a notice on Wednesday saying they would appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit — though it’s unclear if the court will act in time to prevent the flow of money.

The same court has already denied Trump’s initial attempts to appeal the case, in addition to the Supreme Court’s ruling.

After Supreme Court rejects Trump’s appeal, attorneys for E. Jean Carroll say ‘time for him to pay’ $5M

Three years ago, Trump deposited $5.55 million in the federal government’s Court Registry Investment System — which effectively held the money in escrow during his appeal.

Judge Kaplan on Wednesday ordered the clerk to move the money into an account belonging to Carroll’s lawyers. The transfer of funds may have already taken place, though the court docket does not indicate either way.

After the Supreme Court decision, attorneys for Carroll asked a federal judge to order Trump to pay the money, saying Trump’s lawyers told them the president may ask the Supreme Court to reconsider.

“[A]fter four years of litigation across every level of the federal court system, it is time for this case to end,” Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan wrote in a court filing. “And under the Court’s Stipulation and Order, Carroll is now entitled to obtain payment of the money due under the judgment.”

In a post on his social media platform after the Supreme Court rejected his appeal, Trump vowed to continue to fight the case. “I will continue the fight against this Weaponization and Lawfare Case against me, including the ridiculous claim of Defamation, with all of my power and strength,” Trump said in the post

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