The 2026 World Cup is not only the biggest World Cup in history. It’s the most expensive.
With dynamic pricing and rising travel costs, the game may be global, but access isn’t to your average football fan. So who gets to be in the stands? Al Jazeera’s Samantha Johnson explains.
Published On 14 May 2026
After a tense day of intense attacks on Wednesday, Russia has continued its strikes on Ukraine overnight, with at least one dead and 40 injured in the capital, Kyiv, after reported hits on civilian infrastructure.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded to the strikes, saying:
“These are definitely not the actions of those who believe the war is coming to an end. It is important that partners do not remain silent about this strike.”
He said that over the last 30 hours, Russia deployed more than 1,500 drones against Ukraine.
Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko said at least 18 apartments were destroyed as a direct result of the attack, with water supply problems reported in left bank Kyiv. He added that 40 people were injured, with 31 requiring hospitalisation.
Elsewhere, I will be jealous of parts of Europe that are off on bank holiday today looking at the Charlemagne ceremony in Germany, the meeting of Finnish and Lithuanian presidents to discuss regional security, and media reports about potential US troops movement out of Poland (although denied by the Polish government).
Oh, and it’s the second Eurovision semi-final tonight!
It’s Thursday, 14 May 2026, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.
Key events
Things are heating up in Latvian politics today.
A major government crisis has been brewing in the last few days over how a recent drone incursion incident was handled, and early reports suggest prime minister Evika Siliņa might actually step down.
Latvia’s public broadcaster LSM is reporting that she plans to resign from the position.
I will keep an eye on this for you and bring you the latest lines here.
After a tense day of intense attacks on Wednesday, Russia has continued its strikes on Ukraine overnight, with at least one dead and 40 injured in the capital, Kyiv, after reported hits on civilian infrastructure.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded to the strikes, saying:
“These are definitely not the actions of those who believe the war is coming to an end. It is important that partners do not remain silent about this strike.”
He said that over the last 30 hours, Russia deployed more than 1,500 drones against Ukraine.
Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko said at least 18 apartments were destroyed as a direct result of the attack, with water supply problems reported in left bank Kyiv. He added that 40 people were injured, with 31 requiring hospitalisation.
Elsewhere, I will be jealous of parts of Europe that are off on bank holiday today looking at the Charlemagne ceremony in Germany, the meeting of Finnish and Lithuanian presidents to discuss regional security, and media reports about potential US troops movement out of Poland (although denied by the Polish government).
Oh, and it’s the second Eurovision semi-final tonight!
It’s Thursday, 14 May 2026, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.
Punjab Murder News: The news of a heart-wrenching incident has come to light from Gurdaspur, Punjab, where due to a land dispute, an elder brother shot dead his younger brother and his wife. The police have arrested the accused.
On receiving the information, the police of Bhaini Mian Khan police station reached the spot and started investigation. The police have sent the dead bodies to the civil hospital for post-mortem. This entire matter is said to be related to the distribution of ancestral land. This incident happened on Tuesday night in Nainkot village falling under the jurisdiction of Kahanuwan police station. The deceased have been identified as 52-year-old Ajaib Singh and his 50-year-old wife Kamal Kaur. Elder brother Amarjeet Singh alias Amba has been arrested for his murder.
The crime was committed with a revolver
According to the family and villagers, Ajaib Singh’s elder brother Amarjeet Singh alias Amba committed the double murder with his revolver. Harjeet Singh, a relative of the deceased, said that the three brothers were having a long-running dispute regarding property. The family had moved to their native village Nainkot from Tata Nagar (Jharkhand) and were living in different localities. For the past one year, several panchayats were called to discuss the distribution of nine acres of land in the village, but no agreement could be reached.
Firing at two different places
Due to rivalry, Amarjeet Singh chased both of them and killed them late on Tuesday evening. He first chased his brother Ajaib Singh and shot him on the way to a poultry farm outside the village. Ajaib Singh was taking a walk at that time. During this time the accused entered the house and shot his sister-in-law Kamal Kaur inside. Relatives told that Ajaib Singh has two sons and both were not at home. One son of the couple lives in Australia and the other works in Bihar. They have been informed about the incident.
20 year old youth stabbed to death in broad daylight, son kept in pain, people kept making video
Police reached the spot and started investigation
On receiving information about the incident, Chief Officer of Bhaini Mian Khan Police Station Gurnam Singh and DSP Kulwant Singh Mann reached the spot along with the police force and started investigation. DSP Kulwant Singh Mann confirmed that the double murder was due to a land dispute.
The police took immediate action and arrested the culprit Amarjeet Singh. Statements of the families of the deceased are being recorded and further legal action is being taken on the basis of these statements.
Maharashtra Murder News: A case of a sensational murder that took place in a complex web of relationships has come to light from Hadapsar area of Pune, Maharashtra, where a young man, fed up with the pressure being put on his girlfriend’s family and the constant threats he was receiving, killed a person along with his friends. In this case, the police have arrested six accused including a notorious criminal.
The incident took place on the night of 3 May
This incident happened at around 10:30 pm on May 3 in Kalepadal area of Hadapsar. The deceased has been identified as 25-year-old Ganesh Biradar, who was a resident of Sasanenagar area. There was a sensation in the area after the murder. On the complaint of the deceased’s wife, the police registered a case and started investigation.
What is the whole matter?
Police investigation revealed that Ganesh Biradar had a love affair with a woman. The daughter of this woman was in a love affair with a young man named Durwang alias Paras Mankar. Ganesh did not like this relationship and was constantly pressurizing the girl to end the relationship. It is alleged that Ganesh had threatened the girl and her boyfriend Durwang several times. Durwang was very angry about this matter. Amidst the increasing tension, he along with his associates conspired to commit murder.
murder with sharp weapon
On the night of 3 May, the accused surrounded Ganesh Biradar and attacked him with a sharp weapon and killed him. After committing the crime, all the accused had absconded.
Six accused arrested
The police acted swiftly and arrested six accused. The arrested accused include Durwang alias Paras Sunil Mankar, Paras Kishore Gaikwad, Abhijeet alias Abhi Ingle, Somnath Dorkar, Sahil Shelar and Chandrashekhar Javir. At present the police is investigating the matter thoroughly. In the initial investigation, a dispute over love relationship is believed to be the main reason for the murder.
Maharashtra News: A shocking incident has come to light in Beed district of Maharashtra. A 65 year old criminal tried to rape a three and a half year old innocent girl in his house in the limits of Cage Police Station. Due to this incident, intense anger is being expressed in the entire area and strict action is being demanded against the brute.
According to the information received in this regard, the mother of the victim girl had gone to work, while her father was ill at home. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the suspected accused hatched a very cruel conspiracy. The 5-year-old elder brother of the victim girl was playing outside the house, when the accused lured him with money for food and sent him to the shop. After that, he called the three and a half year old girl alone to his house and closed the door from inside.
A major incident was averted due to father’s vigilance.
After some time, when the son returned from the shop, he did not see his sister. He immediately informed this to his ailing father present at home. When the father came out and searched, he found the neighbour’s house locked. When in doubt, he shouted loudly and got the door opened. As soon as the door opened, the suspected accused and the girl were found in the house. During this, the accused tried to rape the girl.
Police registered a case?
After this incident, the relatives of the victim girl immediately reached Cage police station and lodged a complaint. Understanding the seriousness of this incident, the police have registered a case against the suspected accused. Such a despicable act by an elderly citizen has created a wave of anger in Cage taluka and strict action is being demanded against the scoundrel. Police are investigating this matter further.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Amidst his appeal, he has also reduced his own convoy. Other leaders and ministers of NDA and BJP are also reducing the number of vehicles. Someone is using an EV. Although the effect of PM Modi’s appeal is visible, the opposition says that the government has no vision. There is no roadmap. RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav made this allegation on Thursday (May 14, 2026). He was talking to the media in Patna.
Attacking the Prime Minister, Tejashwi Yadav said, “…tomorrow they will say don’t wear clothes… It is the responsibility of the Prime Minister and the government to solve the problems… That’s why the government is formed so that if there is a shortage of something, it should be removed. This is the kind of appeal that PM Modi is making… He has done demonetization earlier also, what was the benefit, we want to know. People suffered losses. Many people became unemployed. Many industries were closed… So the Prime Minister will continue to do this kind of work. He will not talk about the issue. He does not have any vision or There is no roadmap…”
Journalists asked whether a lockdown situation is being created the way the Prime Minister is indicating? On this, Tejashwi Yadav said, “Now if you have to do it then do it, there is a government, you can do anything… what will we comment on that.”
Also read- Tejashwi Yadav Bail: Big relief to Tejashwi Yadav, got bail from MP-MLA court in this case.
On the question whether there is shortage of petrol and diesel in the country? On this he said, “If there is a shortage of petrol and diesel, then who will fulfill it? You will do it? We will do it? The government as it is sitting will not do it?”
Reference #18.6e560e17.1778746290.1107e8d9
https://errors.edgesuite.net/18.6e560e17.1778746290.1107e8d9
Old tropes about Jewish people – such as those found in the fraudulent and debunked Protocols of the Elders of Zion – have morphed and been melded into modern-day antisemitism, the royal commission has heard.
On Thursday morning, the royal commission into antisemitism and social cohesion heard from Dr Dave Rich, the Community Security Trust’s policy director.
Most of the hearings at the commission, set up in the wake of the Bondi terror attack, have focused on people’s lived experiences of antisemitism.
Thursday’s hearing was about how antisemitism developed, and how it should be defined.
Rich described antisemitism as “prejudice, discrimination, hostility or hatred towards Jewish people, Jewish organisations, Jewish institutions, or people perceived to be Jewish” that can manifest in both violent and non-violent ways.
“Broadly speaking, it’s built on a set of negative stereotypes, attitudes and tropes about Jews,” he said.
Governments must define antisemitism in order to develop policies against it, he said, while acknowledging there would always be “edge cases”, where there are good faith disagreements on whether something is antisemitic.
He talked about the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, which is used by many groups, including in Australia, and has been criticised for seeming to conflate criticism of Israel with antisemitism.
He said it’s a “practical tool” to identify antisemitism and people shouldn’t get hung up on it as a “definition”.
Its imprecision is its strength, he said, and people on both sides misread and over-interpret it.
In other cases, Rich said, antisemitism is very often a “shadow form of legitimate discussion”, and that sometimes “we have to tread delicately in teasing them apart”.
“It’s a very emotive debate,” he said.
“People have very strong feelings which are often very linked to their personal identity.
“I think it is only right that when a complaint is made and an investigator comes to that complaint, all these things are taken into account … rather than just branding someone an antisemite because they used a particular word or a particular phrase.”
Rich, who has written an expert report on antisemitism, took commissioner Virginia Bell through the long history of antisemitism, and how those tropes developed and persist.
There are the tropes of Jews as greedy, and stingy, which have stemmed from the medieval Jewish moneylenders.
For 1,000 years, up to a 1965 papal declaration that Jews were not permanently responsible for the death of Jesus Christ, Jews were frequently accused of being Christ killers, he told the commission.
Rich spoke about the blood libel myth, entirely false and “bizarre” accusations that Jewish people committed infanticide against Christian children, that have continued since the Holocaust, and the “ridiculous”, fraudulent and debunked Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
A more recent trope, he said, was that Jews were modern-day Nazis, showing how antisemitism adapted and continued after the Holocaust.
Today the “fundamental building block of racism” was the idea of collective guilt, he said.
“Holding Jews collectively responsible for the actions of the state of Israel is the justification provided by terrorists who murder Jews around the world, who attack Jews around the world while shouting abuse about Israel, about Gaza,” he said.
The next block of hearings will start on Monday, 25 May, and will focus on the conduct of the security agencies.
BJP once again appeared on the defensive regarding the famous NEET paper leak case in Rajasthan. After the arrest of accused Dinesh Biwal and his family, the opposition is continuously targeting BJP. Meanwhile, BJP state president Madan Rathore, in a phone conversation with ABP News, tried to clarify many things while presenting the party’s side.
Madan Rathod said that the arrested Dinesh Biwal is neither a BJP official nor has he ever held any post before. He said that it is also being ascertained whether he is a member of the party or not.
He told that there are about 68 lakh members of BJP in Rajasthan and more than 65 thousand of them are active members. In such a situation, it is not easy to have complete information about every person available immediately. The party is currently gathering information in this matter.
The BJP state president also reacted when photographs of the accused along with the leaders surfaced. He said that any person can get his photo clicked with any minister or big leader. Merely having a photograph does not prove that someone is a party official.
Madan Rathod said, “Now I will personally avoid taking photographs with anyone. I will have to think about the photographs also.”
In this entire matter, BJP has accused Congress of doing politics. Madan Rathod said that Congress is deliberately spreading false propaganda and trying to link the accused with BJP.
He reiterated that Dinesh Biwal did not hold any post in the party nor had he ever held any responsibility in the organization before. BJP says that agencies are investigating the matter and action should be taken against whoever is found guilty.
Details have emerged about a new variant of the recent Dirty Frag Linux local privilege escalation (LPE) vulnerability that allows local attackers to gain root access, making it the third such bug to be identified in the kernel within a span of two weeks.
Codenamed Fragnesia, the security vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2026-46300 (CVSS score: 7.8) and is rooted in the Linux kernel’s XFRM ESP-in-TCP subsystem. It was discovered by researcher William Bowling of the V12 security team.
“The vulnerability allows unprivileged local attackers to modify read-only file contents in the kernel page cache and achieve root privileges through a deterministic page-cache corruption primitive,” Google-owned Wiz said.
Advisories have been released by multiple Linux distributions –
“This is a separate bug in the ESP/XFRM from Dirty Frag which has received its own patch,” V12 said. “However, it is in the same surface and the mitigation is the same as for Dirty Frag. It abuses a logic bug in the Linux XFRM ESP-in-TCP subsystem to achieve arbitrary byte writes into the kernel page cache of read-only files, without requiring any race condition.”
Fragnesia is similar to Copy Fail and Dirty Frag (aka Copy Fail 2) in that it immediately yields root on all major distributions by achieving a memory write primitive in the kernel and corrupting the page cache memory of the /usr/bin/su binary. A proof-of-concept (PoC) exploit has been released by V12.
“Customers who have already applied the Dirty Frag mitigation need no further action until patched kernels are released,” CloudLinux maintainers said. Red Hat said it’s performing an assessment to confirm if existing mitigations extend to CVE-2026-46300.
Wiz also noted that AppArmor restrictions on unprivileged user namespaces may serve as a partial mitigation, requiring additional bypasses for successful exploitation. However, unlike Dirty Frag, no host-level privileges are required.
“A patch is available, and while no in-the-wild exploitation has been observed at this time, we urge users and organizations to apply the patch as soon as possible by running update tools,” Microsoft said. “If patching is not possible at this point, consider applying the same mitigations for Dirty Frag.”
This includes disabling esp4, esp6, and related xfrm/IPsec functionality, restricting unnecessary local shell access, hardening containerized workloads, and increasing monitoring for abnormal privilege escalation activity.
The development comes as a threat actor named “berz0k” has been observed advertising on cybercrime forums a zero-day Linux LPE exploit for $170,000, claiming it works on multiple major Linux distributions.
“The threat actor claims the vulnerability is TOCTOU-based (Time-of-Check Time-of-Use), capable of stable local privilege escalation without causing system crashes, and leverages a shared object (.so) payload dropped into the /tmp directory,” ThreatMon said in a post on X.