Mexico is preparing to make history as the first nation to host football's biggest tournament three times. But Mexico is also making a bold claim: "The ball comes home." Why? As many historians believe the world's first ball games were played in Mesoamerica more than 3,500 years ago. After centuries in the shadows, those ancient games are making a comeback. FRANCE 24's Laurence Cuvillier and Quentin Duval report from Mexico City.

Northern Ireland braced Wednesday for a potential second night of violence directed at immigrants, following unrest that UK authorities say was stoked by far-right activists on social media after a brutal Belfast stabbing. Britain's ​media regulator warned online platforms of possible legal consequences if their services are used to ​incite ‌violence. FRANCE 24's Mark Owen speaks with Jack Crangle, Queen's University Belfast Lecturer in Contemporary British History.

FIFA's president Gianni Infantino has been most visible ingratiating himself with US President Donald Trump ahead of the 2026 World Cup, so much so that he has had to defend himself from accusations of breaching FIFA's duty of political neutrality. FRANCE 24's Emerald Maxwell reports.

Three Indian crew members were reported missing after a vessel was attacked off Oman, India said Wednesday, before the US military announced it had fired on a tanker attempting to breach its blockade of Iran. In a statement, the Indian foreign ministry condemned the attack on the vessel, the Settebello, saying: "Of the 24 Indian crew onboard, 21 Indians have been rescued thus far and three Indians are reportedly missing". FRANCE 24's International Affairs Editor Kethevane Gorjestani has more.

Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon killed at least 13 people on Wednesday as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged the Lebanese people to join Israel's fight against Hezbollah. Israeli forces seized a local councillor and a municipal worker from the border town of Kfarshuba, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) said, while Israel said it "apprehended" two people who approached its soldiers. FRANCE 24's Antonia Kerrigan reports from Beirut.

Kim’s balancing act. As #China and #Russia vie for influence in #NorthKorea, Victor Cha tells #F24Debate Pyongyang is wary of becoming too entangled with either power➡️https://go.france24.com/oFbt

Eight jets from France's air force acrobatics team staged a flyover of the Statue of Liberty on Tuesday, soaring above the iconic statue gifted by France to the US in 1886. The flight was part of a mission highlighting France's support for the US during the War of Independence and comes ahead of the 250th anniversary of the US Declaration of Independence.

Pope Leo was set to visit Barcelona's Sagrada Familia on Wednesday to inaugurate the newest of its soaring geometric spires ​that makes ‌the modernist marvel designed by Antoni Gaudi the world's tallest church. Leo, after celebrating Mass ⁠inside the vast church, will walk outside to bless the 172.5-metre Tower of Jesus Christ, crowned with a five-storey ceramic cross ‌visible across the Catalan capital. FRANCE 24's Sarah Morris reports from Barcelona.

French prosecutors said Wednesday they had requested pop icon Patrick Bruel be charged and placed in pre-trial detention over nine allegations of sexual abuse including rape and sexual assault. The 67-year-old, a major figure in French pop culture with multiple top selling albums and dozens of film appearances, has denied any wrongdoing. He is the latest top French celebrity to face investigators in the wake of the #MeToo movement, after film legend Gerard Depardieu was handed a suspended 18-month prison sentence last year for sexually assaulting two women on a film set. FRANCE 24's James André reports from the courthouse near Paris.

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said Tehran has taken too ​long to negotiate a deal and would now "have to pay the price" after Iran and the United States exchanged strikes in the region amid reported efforts to continue ​talks. "Iran ‌is all talk and no action," Trump wrote in ⁠a social media post. "They’ve taken too long to negotiate a deal that would have been great for them, ‌now they will have to pay the price!!!"

Genie Godula is pleased to welcome Simon Chadwick, Professor of AfroEurasian Sport and Specialist of 21st century global sport. On the eve of the FIFA World Cup, Chadwick offers a sobering assessment of the political realities surrounding the world's biggest sporting event amid the convergence of hard-line immigration policies, conflict, diplomatic tensions, security concerns, and civil unrest. From the exclusion of a Somali referee to uncertainty surrounding Iranian football staff and supporters, Chadwick suggests that sport and geopolitics have become inseparable. 

FRANCE 24 journalists Taise Parente, Selina Sykes, James Vasina and Kethevane Gorjestani discussed this during a live on everything you need to know about the World Cup before kick-off this Thursday, June 11. Watch for more ▶️

Haxie Meyers-Belkin is pleased to welcome Renaud Foucart, Senior Lecturer in Economics at the Lancaster University. According to Foucart, the French parliament hearings are fundamentally driven by a desire to establish responsibility in the wake of a national tragedy that has sparked outrage across France. He argues that French society may be entering a period of reassessment regarding safeguarding standards, parental responsibility, and the balance between children's freedom and security. And stronger measures may come at a social cost, potentially signalling "the end of innocence or the end of children roaming freely," a trade-off that many societies are increasingly confronting.

Similar to places like Barcelona and San Francisco, an African city is carrying the weight of its own popularity: Cape Town, where an increasing amount of housing is reserved for tourists. A new by-law could allow the city to charge special rates for property owners who rent out their homes for commercial purposes.

The United States launched airstrikes early Wednesday against Iran after blaming Tehran for the crash of an American attack helicopter, and Iran fired back at countries in the region — another escalation that threatened to derail efforts to end the war. Hours after Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan came under Iranian fire, U.S. President Donald Trump posted on his his Truth Social platform that Iran was taking “too long to negotiate a deal” and that “now they will have to pay the price.”

Anti-immigration protesters torched buildings and vehicles in Belfast on Tuesday evening and blocked roads, a day after a stabbing allegedly by a Sudanese refugee, captured in a graphic video that shocked the country. Hundreds of protesters, many masked, gathered at several locations across Belfast, AFP journalists saw. A bus and several cars were set alight, while a building fringing the city centre caught fire and its residents had to be evacuated. FRANCE 24's Angela Diffley tells us more.

A snowballing political crisis over the judiciary's handling of child sexual violence cases ⁠erupted in France after the killing of an 11-year-old girl known only as Lyhanna, who went missing in the town of Fleurance on May 29 after leaving school. Attention focused on the justice system after prosecutors said the main suspect had been ‌accused of raping a minor in an investigation opened following a complaint filed in August 2025, but was not questioned until his ⁠arrest over Lyhanna's disappearance. Tens of thousands of people gathered across France on Monday night to protest over the handling of the case, chanting "protect our children".

The Sagrada Familia basilica features sandcastle-like spires, stone carved to look like lush flora, a kaleidoscopic interior and a trove of treasures, some hiding in plain sight. Even regular worshippers at Barcelona’s world-famous landmark find themselves dumbstruck with wonder.

With the World Cup set to kick off in North America, controversy over ticket prices is kicking up. Football may be nicknamed "the people's game," but the sport's less wealthy fans are finding themselves priced out of this year's contest. With the cheapest seats at the final in New Jersey going for some two thousand US dollars, for many it's a ball-kick of a different sort – as the 2026 World Cup is set to be the most expensive ever.

A Sudanese man was due to appear in court in Northern Ireland Wednesday over a brutal knife attack captured on video that triggered a night of violence by anti-immigration protesters. Demonstrators torched buildings and vehicles, and blocked roads in Belfast on Tuesday evening, a day after the stabbing, allegedly by a refugee originally from Sudan, shocked the United Kingdom.