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The local organizing committee helping Seattle host the2026 FIFA World Cupis moving forward with plans for a "Pride Match" over the fierce objections of both countries slated to play in the game.

Egypt and Iran were randomly placed in Group G together and then selected to face one another on June 26 in Seattle as part oflast week's World Cup draw, setting up the odd twist of a match with previously scheduled LGBTQ+ celebrations featuring two countries that impose severe penalties on LGBTQ+ people.

The Egyptian Football Association said earlier this weekit sent a letter to FIFA stating it "categorically rejects any activities promoting LGBTQ during the match." Iran Football Federation president Mehdi Taj also confirmed during a state television interview that his country filed a formal complaint,according to ESPN, and planned to bring up the issue during a FIFA Council meeting in Qatar next week.

But organizers in the Pacific Northwest remain steadfast in holding the event as planned in conjunction with the annualSeattle PrideFestand addressed the brewing situation in light of displeasure expressed by Egypt and Iran.

Photos show Trump and celebs gather for 2026 World Cup draw

OFF THE FIELD:FIFA accused of breaking ethics rules after giving Peace Prize to Trump

"As the Local Organizing Committee, SeattleFWC26's role is to prepare our city to host the matches and manage the city experience outside of Seattle Stadium," Seattle FIFA World Cup 26 Vice President of Communications Hana Tadesse said in a statement provided toUSA TODAY Sportson Wednesday, Dec. 10. "SeattleFWC26 is moving forward as planned with our community programming outside the stadium during Pride weekend and throughout the tournament, partnering with LGBTQ+ leaders, artists, and business owners to elevate existing Pride celebrations across Washington.

"Football has a unique power to unite people across borders, cultures, and beliefs. The Pacific Northwest is home to one of the nation's largest Iranian-American communities, a thriving Egyptian diaspora, and rich communities representing all nations we're hosting in Seattle. We're committed to ensuring all residents and visitors experience the warmth, respect, and dignity that defines our region."

Same-sex relations can carry the death penalty in Iran,according to Reuters, while in Egypt, morality laws are often used to prosecute LGBTQ+ people. FIFA has not yet commented on the situation, though the "Pride Match" festivities surrounding the June 26 match are not officially affiliated with soccer's international governing body.

At the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, FIFA threatened yellow cards for players wearing the "OneLove" armband in support of LGBTQ+ rights because of the host nation's culture,prompting teams like England and Wales to scrap plans to use it.

The Egyptian Football Association said its position was based on FIFA's statutes related to neutrality in political and social matters during competition and fan behavior. Taj called it "an unreasonable and illogical move that essentially signals support for a particular group, and we must definitely address this point."

"These activities directly conflict with the cultural, religious and social values of the region, particularly in Arab and Islamic societies," the Egyptian Football Association wrote. "While FIFA is committed to ensuring a respectful environment that welcomes all fans, it is essential to avoid activities that could spark tension or misunderstanding between supporters from Egypt and Iran. We call on FIFA to guarantee that the match takes place in an atmosphere focused solely on sport and free from displays that contradict the beliefs of the participating nations."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Seattle World Cup 'Pride Match' still on after Egypt, Iran complaints

Another batch of World Cup tickets hit the primary market on Thursday morning, with fans focused on the recently unveiled match schedule and their ballooning credit card balances.

This will be the first box office sale sincelast week's drawthat determined group settings and nearly the fulllisting of matchups, dates and times.

Previous ticket sales were just for dates and venues, without the benefit of knowing which teams would be playing at each site and time slot.

How to buy tickets for the World Cup

• After establishing an account with FIFA, fans can sign in between 11 a.m. EST Thursday and Jan. 13. The timing of entry does not impact success, according to FIFA.

• That's when and where fans can pick matches they want to attend and the price category of tickets.

• Credit cards will be automatically charged for all tickets they win in this lottery draw. So fans should not apply for more tickets that they can afford.

• The maximum number of tickets that can be purchased for any one match is four; and the max for the entire tournament is 40, throughout all FIFA sales.

Now, 42 of the tournament's 48 teams have already qualified and consumers can shop for their individual favorite team, as long as they're among the three and a half dozen squads to have already punched their tickets for North America for this summer.

Six more slots are still open and will be filled in the coming months, with squads such as four-time champion Italy, sentimental favorite Ukraine, or Turkey, seeking its first tournament appearance since its third-place finish of 2002, vying for those cherished spots.

If the secondary ticket market is any indicator, matches at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City or those featuring hosts the United States, Canada or El Tri will be the competition's hottest ducats.

There are 72 group stage matches spread across 16 North American venues, each playing host to three, four or five matches.

Three contests slated for the Mexican capital have some of the tournament's highest "get in" prices, in other words, the highest amount of money needed just to purchase the worst seats in the house.

At about midday Wednesday, the cheapest pair of tickets into Match 1 on June 11, featuring host Mexico vs. South Africa, cost just over $3,900, according to American secondary seller StubHub. The three group stage contests in Mexico City are going for an average of $2,300 a ticket.

The most affordable admissions could be inAtlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium, where five matchesthere had average get-in prices in the low $300s on Wednesday.

That's a bit surprising when considering that local Atlanta United FC is among the biggest draws in the MLS and group stage matches there feature two games of perennial powerhouse Spain and itsteen superstar Lamine Yamal.

Overall, in group stage action, matches involving Mexico cost more than $2,600 to get inside, according to StubHub listings on Wednesday afternoon, while Americans and Canadian baseline prices were hovering around $1,100.

Other big ticket teams include Brazil, Portugal, Argentina and Colombia with get-in prices averaging more than $1,000 a ticket. Argentina, the defending champion, boasts a team that will likely feature Lionel Messi, while Portugal has Cristiano Ronaldo.

Cost-conscious soccer fans could satisfy their fix for the beautiful game by checkingout first-time qualifier Cabo Verde. A ticket to a Blue Sharks match, at this moment on the secondary market, could go for in the low-$300s.

Tickets for matches between Tunisia and Saudi Arabia are now in the mid-$300s.

Longtime play-by-play man Joe Buck has beenannounced as the 2026 recipient of the Ford C. Frick Award, which is given by the baseball Hall of Fame for excellence in broadcasting.

Buck and his dad Jack are now the only father-son duo to win the Frick Award. Jack Buck, who worked St. Louis Cardinals and national broadcasts for nearly half a century, won the award in 1987.

"Joe Buck authored his own historic legacy while following in the footsteps of his father on a path to Cooperstown," said Josh Rawitch, President of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. "During an era of unprecedented audience growth throughout the game, Joe was the voice of the World Series and the All-Star Game, calling the biggest moments in baseball for more than a quarter of a century. He was a Saturday staple in homes across America while still serving as the voice of his hometown St. Louis Cardinals."

According to the baseball Hall of Fame, Joe Buck was one of 10 finalists along with Brian Anderson, Skip Caray, René Cárdenas, Gary Cohen, Jacques Doucet, Duane Kuiper, John Rooney, Dan Shulman, and John Sterling.

Buck got his start with the Cardinals' Triple-A affiliate in Louisville in 1989 before joining his dad in the big leagues on Cardinals broadcasts from 1991 through 2007.

A little over a decade after his start calling games, Buck was hired to do national NFL and MLB broadcasts for Fox Sports. In 1996, he called his first World Series at age 27 as the New York Yankees defeated the Atlanta Braves.

"The Yankees are champions of baseball!"27 years ago today, the Yankees won the 1996 World Series.pic.twitter.com/9eIqc35IU0

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees)October 26, 2023

During Buck's time as the national broadcaster for the MLB on Fox, he called 26 League Championship Series, 21 All-Star Games and 24 World Series.

In 2022, Buck joinedESPN to be the play-by-play voice of Monday Night Footballwith Troy Aikman, his NFL broadcast partner at Fox.

Buck was named the winner of the2020 Pro Football Hall of Fame Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award, which is given to broadcasters "for longtime exceptional contributions to radio and television in professional football." He joined his dad, Dick Enberg, Curt Gowdy, Al Michaels and Lindsey Nelson as the only broadcasters to win the award and the Frick Award.

The 56-year-old Buck is the second-youngest Frick Award winner. Only Vin Scully was younger when he won the award in 1982 at 54. He will be honored during Hall of Fame Weekend, July 24-27.

The U.S. military knew the identities of the 11 men killed in aSept. 2 boat strike in the Caribbeanand approved the hit because the crewmembers apparently had loose ties to a drug cartel, the military commander who led the operation told lawmakers last week, according to two people with knowledge of the briefing.

In a Dec. 4 classified briefing with a select group of lawmakers, Adm. Frank "Mitch" Bradley, who has been on the hot seat for weeks due to his role in the attack, said the military deemed the people on board legitimate targets because some had contact with members of drug cartels the Trump administration has declared foreign terrorist organizations, the two people said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter.

Bradley did not provide lawmakers with documentation that the boat carried drugs. He also stated that follow-up strikes sank the wreckage of the bombed boat, destroying possible evidence of drug trafficking, the people said.

US military conducts deadly boat strikes against alleged drug traffickers

NBC previously reportedthat the 11 men were on an internal list of "narco-terrorists" who were cleared to be targeted.

Survivors couldn't radio for help

Bradley, the commander of Special Operations Command, has come under scrutiny in recent weeks after the Trump administration confirmed that he ordered a second strike on the wreckage of the boat roughly 40 minutes later, killing two people who had survived the first attack. The Washington Postfirst reportedthe strike on the survivors.

In previous briefings with lawmakers, Pentagon officials rationalized that the second strike was necessary because the two men clinging to their demolished ship were trying to radio for backup, or for another vessel to collect the drugs,CNN and other outletshave reported. However, Bradley revealed during the Dec. 4 briefing that the survivors did not have the means to radio for help, one of the people with knowledge of the briefing confirmed.

More:Who is the US killing in its boat attacks? Hegseth won't say, and lawmakers want answers

The Sept. 2 strike was the first of at least 22 known strikes by the Trump administration on boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific Ocean that have killed at least 87 people. It marked the beginning of a new policy of killing suspected drug traffickers that has come under fire from critics who say it is illegal and needlessly inhumane. Critics say the Trump administration cannot carry out such strikes without formally declaring war.

The strikes have not been approved by Congress. The boats hit were thousands of miles from trafficking routes for fentanyl, which flows into the U.S. from Mexico. Bradley told lawmakers that the vessel struck Sept. 2 was headed to Suriname on South America's east coast, according tonews reports.

"Since the Department of War began striking these vessels, we have consistently said that our intelligence did indeed confirm these boats were trafficking narcotics destined for America," Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement to USA TODAY. "That same intelligence also confirms that the individuals involved in these drug operations were narco-terrorists, and we stand by that assessment."

"Every Presidentially directed strike conducted against these Designated Terrorist Organizations (DTOs) is taken in defense of vital U.S. national interests and to protect the American homeland from narco-terrorism. These strikes send (a clear) message directly to the narco-terrorists: you will find no safe harbor if you continue to poison our people with deadly drugs."

Boat crews were low-level 'foot soldiers'

In decades past, the U.S. treated drug trafficking as a law enforcement issue, and the Coast Guard was assigned to interdict boats carrying drugs, issuing arrests and seizing contraband.

James Saenz, who served as the Pentagon's deputy secretary for counternarcotics and stabilization during the Biden administration, said that during his tenure, the department did not have the intelligence network in place to pick up a detailed profile of the people aboard drug boats like those targeted in recent months.

"If we wanted to know the crew identities, it would take significant effort and a lot of time before we would be able to develop that much information with confidence," he said.

"Leaders (of drug cartels) and people with unique skills are not the ones riding these boats," he said. "It's traditionally low-level foot soldiers" on board.

More:Trump says Venezuela sends US lethal drugs, but data tells different story

The Trump administration has painted its campaign of killing suspected drug traffickers as a new War on Terror, comparing the toll of deadly drugs to the threat posed by terrorist groups like Al Qaeda. PresidentDonald Trumpdesignatedeight Latin American cartels as foreign terrorist organizations in February.Experts have told USA TODAYthat designation is primarily an economic tool and does not give the administration additional authority to target affiliated people with military force.

The Pentagon said in a notice to some lawmakers this fall that the president determined the U.S. isin a "non-international armed conflict"with drug cartels, whose actions are an "armed attack" against the country.

Critics, including lawyers and former military officials, have said that the comparison does not hold water.

"This is summary execution," said Wes Bryant, a former senior Pentagon adviser on mitigating civilian harm during military operations. "Somewhere in the chain, someone knows that this is either blatantly illegal or somewhere near illegal."

Bryant formerly headed the Pentagon's Civilian Protection Center of Excellence, whichworked to improvethe military's procedures for minimizing and reporting civilian casualties. The Trump administrationdismantled itin the spring.

When the Trump administration launched its bombing campaign againstHouthi forces in Yemensoon after, it became clear that the Pentagon's threshold of tolerance for civilian deaths had been drastically raised, Bryant said. At least 238 civilians, including 24 children, were killed in the less-than-two-month operation, according to theYemen Data Project.

"Everything that the U.S. had been working towards – I had been working towards – in hand with special operations command, a lot of that was thrown out the window," Bryant said.

Bryant, a retired Air Force master sergeant who worked with special operations on counterterrorism missions during the War on Terror, said the boat strikes had further entrenched the administration's disregard of civilian life. It would be hard to confirm the identity of a couple of individuals, let alone 11 people on a boat, he said.

"This is so severe (that) at this point, the Trump administration needs to release the names of every single person," he said.

Building a 'pattern of life'

Mark McCurley, a retired Air Force pilot who flew many drone missions in the Middle East, said the military is likely observing boats traversing the Caribbean or Eastern Pacific using satellites or aircraft to build a "pattern of life." Common routes and travel times for boats that are believed to be carrying drugs could be compiled to "build that picture," he said. The military may be using aircraft to surveil boats as soon as they leave the harbor and then firing on them once they enter international waters, he added.

Establishing a "pattern of life" was essential to building a case that a target was legally justified, said McCurley, who also flew surveillance missions of counternarcotics operations in Latin America in the 1990s.

During the War on Terror, he said, the military would invest significant effort in verifying the "identity and intent" of a potential target.

"The justification is pretty thin," he said. "How is a boat carrying a product to Suriname a direct action against the U.S. or a direct threat to our existence?"

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Deadly boat strike OK due to cartel ties, commander told lawmakers

New US citizens use handheld fans to take shade from the sun during a naturalization ceremony at George Washington's Mount Vernon in Mount Vernon, Virginia, US, on Friday, July 4, 2025. Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images Credit - Kent Nishimura—Bloomberg via Getty Images

Jane was one month away from her naturalization ceremony, the day she would swear the Oath of Allegiance to the United States and become a citizen. It would mark the end of her decade-long journey as animmigrantsince arriving from the Republic of Congo in 2015.

Then, out of the blue, she received a letter in the mail informing her that theceremony had been cancelled.

"I followed the rules, paid the full fee, waited years, passed every step; I was at the finish line pretty much," Jane, who is using a pseudonym to protect her identity because she fears speaking out could affect her case, tells TIME. "Having my ceremony canceled at the last minute makes me feel anxious, powerless."

Read more:Trump Has Made Sweeping Changes to Immigration Since the D.C. Shooting. Here's What We Know

Jane is not alone. Lawyers for legal aid groups and individuals seeking citizenship have reported across the country that their naturalization interviews and oath ceremonies have been cancelled, some at the last moment as they waited in line.

These cancellations, at the last stage of a bureaucratic journey that can last for years, have caused chaos and confusion for thousands of immigrants who did everything by the book.

The cancellations stem from sweeping newrestrictions on legal immigrationintroduced by President Donald Trump in the aftermath of the killing of a National Guardsman in Washington, D.C., particularly targeting immigrants hailing from the 19 countries listed in aJune White House proclamationthat imposed new travel and visa restrictions on countries "of concern."

Immediately following the shooting, Trump said in a post onTruth Socialthat he would "permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries" and "terminate all of the millions of Biden illegal admissions," and on December 2, USCISannounceda hold and review of all pending immigration benefit requests for applicants born in one of the 19 countries "of concern."

Gail Breslow, Executive Director of Project Citizenship, which provides legal services and assistance to immigrants in Massachusetts, tells TIME that one of her clients turned up to their ceremony on the day of the event only to be disappointed.

"As people were arriving, they were being asked what their country of origin was. And the woman from Haiti was, along with people from Haiti, Venezuela, and other so-called travel ban countries, pulled out of line, and told that their own ceremony for that day was canceled," she says.

"There's a tremendous amount of confusion, there's a tremendous amount of fear, there's a tremendous amount of anxiety," Breslow says. "We've had clients ask us what they did wrong. Why is this happening to them? We, unfortunately, at this time, don't have good answers to give people about what is going to happen next."

Breslow emphasizes that the people whose ceremonies are canceled have already been accepted for citizenship—the ceremony is supposed to be a formality.

Jane and all those whose ceremonies were canceled were within reach of a long-held dream; now they are stuck in limbo, unsure whether they will ever become U.S. citizens.

USCIS told TIME in a statement that it has "paused all adjudications for aliens from high-risk countries while USCIS works to ensure that all aliens from these countries are vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible."

"The pause will allow for a comprehensive examination of all pending benefit requests for aliens from the designated high-risk countries. The safety of the American people always comes first," the statement added.

The Trump Administration has argued that the new changes are needed to allow extra "vetting" of immigrants, but anyone accepted has already undergone a years-long process. To become a naturalized citizen, applicants must have been lawful permanent residents for three to five years, meet the continuous residence and physical presence requirements, demonstrate "good moral character," and pass the English and U.S. civics tests.

The oath-taking ceremony occurs at the very end of the process, after the applicants' interview and USCIS approves the application. It is often an emotional occasion, as newly declared citizens are given small U.S. flags and take photographs with their families to celebrate a new chapter in their lives.

"It's one step removed from denaturalizing someone. Literally, you receive your naturalization certificate at these ceremonies," Breslow says. "And so the act of pulling the rug out from under people at this point in the process is just unspeakably cruel."

Hasan Shafiqullah, Supervising Attorney at the Legal Aid Society's Immigration Law Unit, says that although this is likely "just a pause" on naturalization, and not a denial of these cases "straight out," the chaos and fear are clear, and it can leave these prospective citizens in "limbo" for an extended period of time.

"The stakes are very high, and what immigrants get from these oath ceremonies are considerable," Shafiqullah says. After the ceremony, citizens can apply for a U.S. passport and for their parents, siblings, and fiancé to come to the United States. It also prevents deportation. Although their cases could be reopened and rescheduled after vetting, or potentially reopened under a "friendlier" Administration, the damage is "incredibly problematic," he adds.

These legal aid groups make clear that this is not an isolated incident that discourages people from becoming citizens, but rather another move in a series of moves from the Trump Administration that targets not just "illegal immigration" that it has claimed to focus its immigration enforcement efforts on, but legal pathways altogether, especially this fall.

As of October, USCIS requires all application fees to be paid via electronic payments, even though,by its own estimates,over 90% of USCIS payments are made by check or money order. USCIS announced in September that the civics exam required for naturalization will bemore complex and more subjective, a month after the Administration introducedmore stringent criteriafor assessing "good moral character" in citizenship applications.

"It's been one thing after the other to discourage people and to thwart their efforts to become U.S. citizens," Breslow says.

Allison Cutler, Supervising Attorney for New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG)'s Immigrant Protection Unit, notes that cancellations have been happening for months for their green card applicants, a move that she says leaves her clients in an even more vulnerable position."When you have a naturalization ceremony that's canceled, you're still in the exact situation that you were before, right? You still have your green card and you're eligible to reapply for citizenship in the future," she says. "But for these green card interviews, it's different. It leaves them in a more vulnerable situation legally, where it actually allows ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] to more easily reopen your case before the judge."

Shafiqullah says that although the ceremony cancellations have been in direct response to the National Guard shooting, he believes the new restrictions have "nothing to do with the shooting," and more to do with the expressed denaturalization priorities of the Administration:

"I think all these policies were pre-written and sitting on a shelf waiting for the perfect pretext, and the shooting gave them the pretext to roll all these things out."

Contact usatletters@time.com.

Self-driving Waymo taxis have gone viral for negative reasons involving the death of a beloved San Francisco bodega cat and pulling an illegal U-turn in front of police who were unable to issue a ticket to a nonexistent driver.

But this week, the self-driving taxis are the bearer of happier news after a San Francisco woman gave birth in a Waymo.

The mother was on her way to the University of California, San Francisco medical center Monday when she delivered inside the robotaxi, said a Waymo spokesperson in a statement Wednesday. The company said its rider support team detected "unusual activity" inside the vehicle and called to check on the rider as well as alert 911.

RELATED STORY |Waymo self-driving car gets pulled over by police for an illegal U-turn

Waymo, which is owned by Google's parent company, Alphabet, declined to elaborate on how the vehicle knew something was amiss.

The taxi and its passengers arrived safely at the hospital ahead of emergency services. Jess Berthold, a UCSF spokesperson, confirmed the mother and child were brought to the hospital. She said the mother was not available for interviews.

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Waymo said the vehicle was taken out of service for cleaning after the ride. While still rare, this was not the first baby delivered in one of its taxis, the company said.

RELATED STORY |Viral Waymo crashes put driverless cars in the spotlight

"We're proud to be a trusted ride for moments big and small, serving riders from just seconds old to many years young," the company said.

The driverless taxis have surged in popularity even as they court higher scrutiny. Riders can take them on freeways and interstates around San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Los Angeles and Phoenix.

In September, a Waymo pulled a U-turn in front of a sign telling drivers not to do that, and social media users dumped on the San Bruno Police because state law prohibited officers from ticketing the car. In October, a popular tabby cat named Kit Kat known to pad around its Mission District neighborhood was crushed to death by a Waymo.

RELATED STORY |Waymo driverless taxi kills beloved bodega cat, KitKat, in San Francisco

The NFL Draft is, generally, a slow process. With 10 minutes in between picks in the first round, the opening night of the event can last until nearly midnight Eastern Time despite starting almost five hours earlier.

In an attempt to allow football fans to get more sleep, the NFL reportedly reduced time between first-round picks from 10 to 8 minutes. That new mandate will go into effect during the 2026 NFL Draft in Pittsburgh, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter.

Two-minute warning: The NFL notified teams today that it will shorten the time between picks in the first round of the draft from 10 to 8 minutes starting with the 2026 draft in Pittsburgh.This will shorten the length of the first round, which had been finishing around 11:45p…pic.twitter.com/yMsym354PY

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter)December 10, 2025

The move should wind up being a positive for fans, as the time between the biggest action — the picks — will be much shorter. While the change also means commentators will have less time to talk about every single team when on the clock, that's probably a trade-off most fans will support.

The decision, however, could have a negative impact on one area of the draft. With the shortened time between picks, that puts more pressure on teams to complete trades quickly. It's possible the change will make it tougher to see draft trades in the first round, at least until general managers adjust to losing two minutes between each pick.

While that's a concern, it's probably not significant. Teams were reportedly on board with the decision to shorten time between picks, a sign executives feel they can still make deals and debate picks while on the clock.

It's also not the first time the NFL has cut down on time between picks during the draft. Prior to 2007, teams had 15 minutes to make their first-round selections. That number was dropped to 10 minutes for the 2008 NFL Draft.

It's unclear whether the NFL will look to shorten times in other rounds. NFL teams have seven minutes in between picks in the second round, five minutes in the third through six rounds and four minutes in the seventh round.