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Morocco’s remarkable FIFA 2026 World Cup journey came to an end on Thursday after France secured a clinical 2-0 victory in their quarter-final clash to book a place in the semi-finals. The Atlas Lions, Africa’s final remaining representatives, carried the hopes of an entire continent into the blockbuster encounter but were ultimately undone by the quality and experience of Didier Deschamps’ side at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. Read Also: How World Cup 2026 is fuelling multimillion-dollar sales for Nike and Adidas Kylian Mbappe recovered from an earlier penalty miss to inspire France, scoring once and setting up Ousmane Dembele…

The port says it is making efforts to shift its business model.”We try to work together with the polluters, and slowly phase them out,” says Oscar van Veen, director of innovation at the Port of Rotterdam, speaking on a small boat in the harbour. He pauses, then corrects himself: “As fast as possible, of course.”But many of the biggest emitters in the port answer to headquarters in the US or China.Their loyalty lies with boardrooms abroad. If the rules in Rotterdam become too tight, they can simply move – as Shell shifted its headquarters to the UK and Unilever left…

Mars was not always the cold, dry world we see today. Billions of years ago, scientists believe it may have been warm, wet, and wrapped in a much thicker atmosphere, creating conditions that could have supported simple microbial life. Even so, proving that life ever existed there remains one of the biggest challenges in planetary science. NASA’s rovers have already detected organic molecules in Martian rocks, but those compounds alone cannot confirm that life was once present. Beginning in 2030, the European Space Agency’s Rosalind Franklin rover is expected to join the search with specialized instruments designed to look for…

France’s forward #10 Kylian Mbappe (L) and head coach Didier Deschamps hug as he leaves the pitch after being substituted during the 2026 World Cup football tournament quarter-final match between France and Morocco at Boston Stadium in Foxborough on July 9, 2026. (Photo by FRANCK FIFE / AFP) Kylian Mbappe recovered from having a first-half penalty saved to score a magnificent opener that set France on their way to a 2-0 win over Morocco in their World Cup quarter-final showdown on Thursday. Mbappe’s weak spot-kick was easily saved by Moroccan goalkeeper Yassine Bounou, but he made up for that by…

Nollywood actor Ibrahim Chatta has raised concerns over the impact of rising insecurity on Nigeria’s epic film industry, saying fears of banditry and kidnappings have discouraged filmmakers from shooting historical productions that rely heavily on horses. Speaking in a video posted on his Facebook page on Thursday, the actor said the decline in epic film productions has significantly reduced demand for horses at his film village, forcing him to suspend plans to expand his stable despite years of supplying animals to some of Nollywood’s biggest productions. Chatta, who has provided horses, camels and donkeys for films including “Jagun Jagun”, “House…

 Nigeria is being fought over without knowing a contest is on, contends JOSHUA J. OMOJUWA In Ankara this week, at the NATO Summit, a speaker who works at the intersection of intelligence and strategic communications said something that has refused to leave me since: “We are at war in the information domain.” He was speaking to a room whose instincts run east, to Russia, to Ukraine, to the frontiers of an alliance built for a different century. I sat there thinking about Nigeria and the continent it calls home. That is the thing about the cognitive domain. It does not…

Regional health agency warns of increased risk of a disease outbreak after Venezuela’s twin earthquakesPublished On 9 Jul 20269 Jul 2026Venezuela’s authorities say the death toll from twin earthquakes last month has risen to 3,889, as regional health agencies warn of an increased risk of disease.Lawmaker Jorge Rodrigues said on Thursday at least 16,740 people had been injured and 17,907 displaced.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listThe Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) warned that displaced people across Venezuela’s northern coast, the area most affected by the tremors, are at risk of disease because of limited access to clean water…

The hottest week in haute couture was accompanied by scorching temperatures as the biggest names in the world of fashion and celebrity descended on Paris for Couture Week.Brands such as Schiaparelli, Balenciaga, Chanel and Dior showcased custom, handmade designs that take hundreds of hours to create.Haute couture week, which happens twice a year, is so exclusive that you have to be invited to present a collection by the French fashion industry’s governing body.Shows across the four-day period attracted star-studded attendees, including Bad Bunny, Hudson Williams, Sabrina Carpenter and Cardi B.

Good morning, happy Friday and welcome to FirstFT. In today’s newsletter:We begin with SK Hynix, the trillion-dollar Korean chipmaker making its US market debut today. What to know: SK Hynix has raised $26.5bn in its Nasdaq debut, marking the largest-ever US listing by a foreign company as AI drives rocketing demand for the South Korean group’s memory chips.The company’s American depositary shares priced at $149 per ADS, a slight premium to SK Hynix’s closing share price in Seoul on Thursday. The offering was seven times oversubscribed, with more than 500 investment firms vying for shares, according to two people familiar…

Meta has sparked blowback from privacy advocates for allowing its new AI image maker to generate photos of users with public profiles by default.Users of Meta’s Muse Image AI tool, released Tuesday, can tag public Instagram profiles and generate pictures that pull from faces of people featured in these social media posts. Instagram users aren’t notified when their posts are integrated into what the company describes as its “most advanced image generation model yet”.The easiest and most comprehensive solution for those worried about their photos being sucked into Muse Image is to switch public Instagram accounts to private.“It’s a blunt…