Will Yamal, Salah and Ekitike miss the World Cup 2026 due to injury?
Mohamed Salah has become the latest player to sustain an injury weeks ahead of the World Cup, adding to his team’s and supporters’ woes as Egypt return to the tournament after missing out on the previous edition. Salah suffered a hamstring injury during Liverpool’s 3-1 win over Crystal Palace in the English Premier League on Saturday, with a top Egyptian football official confirming the forward will miss the rest of his club’s season. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list The Egyptian talisman is not the only player to have suffered a blow ahead of the global tournament, and joins an increasing list of major players spending the rest of the club football season on the sidelines. With the World Cup kicking off in less than two months in Canada, Mexico and the United States, several players find themselves in a race against time to overcome injuries and prove their fitness. Title contenders and former champions Spain, Brazil and Germany will be among those hoping some of their key players recover in time for the tournament, which begins on June 11. Here are some of the big names who have sustained injuries ahead of the World Cup: Mohamed Salah: Egypt The Egyptian and Liverpool forward was in pain as he limped off the field and held his hamstring after being substituted in the league game. While his club manager Arne Slot refused to say whether Salah would miss the rest of Liverpool’s season, his national team’s director confirmed that the 33-year-old will be out for four weeks. “We have to wait and see how his injury is and if he is able to return to play,” Slot told reporters after the match. Advertisement “What I do know about Mo is that throughout all of these years, he has taken such good care of his body that he will have the minimum time required to recover from an injury,” he added. However, Egyptian football official Ibrahim Hassan confirmed that Salah’s club season was over. “He has suffered a hamstring tear and will require four weeks of treatment,” Hassan told the Reuters news agency. Hassan said Salah would be fit for the World Cup, where Egypt face Belgium, New Zealand and Iran in Group G. Salah is no stranger to pre-World Cup blows, having injured his shoulder before the 2018 edition in the Champions League final. He missed the Pharaohs’ opening game, but recovered for the remaining two group matches and scored two goals in a campaign that ended at the group stage. Egypt at World Cup 2026: Belgium (June 15), New Zealand (June 21), Iran (June 26) Lamine Yamal: Spain All eyes will be on the award-winning football prodigy, but his World Cup debut has been thrown into doubt after a hamstring injury in his left leg (biceps femoris muscle). Barcelona announced that Lamine Yamal’s domestic season in Spain is over, but the international forward should be fit to represent Spain at this summer’s World Cup. The 18-year-old’s participation is still doubtful since it could take four to six weeks to recover as he follows a “conservative treatment plan”. Yamal was an integral part of the Spain side that lifted the Euro 2024 title with their 2-1 win against England. Then just 16 years of age, he showed speed and guile on the ball that marked him as one of the hottest properties in global football. Spain at World Cup 2026: Cape Verde (June 15), Saudi Arabia (June 21), Uruguay (June 27) Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Serge Gnabry: Germany The 33-year-old first-choice goalkeeper for Germany has spent more time recovering than playing this year after a severe hamstring injury in February sent him into rehabilitation. German national team coach Julian Nagelsmann told Marc-Andre ter Stegen in March that his chances of playing for the national side were “very slim” and that he had to speed up his recovery to be fit for the tournament in June. The four-time champions could rely on Oliver Baumann in Stegen’s absence. Meanwhile, Germany’s Serge Gnabry took to social media this week to announce he would be “supporting the boys from home”. The 30-year-old suffered a torn adductor muscle in his right thigh that also ruled him out of Bayern Munich’s remaining Bundesliga season. Germany at World Cup 2026: Curacao (June 14), Ivory Coast (June 20), Ecuador (June 25) [Al Jazeera] Estevao, Rodrygo and Eder Militao: Brazil Brazil and Chelsea forward Estevao has also been ruled out of the remaining Premier League season after suffering a hamstring injury that left the teen in tears as he was taken off the pitch. Advertisement Chelsea’s interim coach Calum McFarlane expressed his hope for the 19-year-old to make it to the Brazilian squad, though he cautioned there was no guarantee yet. Estevao joined Chelsea from Palmeiras last year and has scored eight goals this season. He was expected to be part of Carlo Ancelotti’s squad for the World Cup after scoring five times in his last six international appearances. Unlike Estevao, Brazil forward Rodrygo has been decisively ruled out of the World Cup squad due to a torn meniscus and anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his right knee. “One of the worst days of my life, how much I always feared this injury,” the 25-year-old wrote in a social media post after the setback in March. Rodrygo made five appearances for Brazil at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Yet another blow to Brazil comes from a hamstring injury sustained by Eder Militao during Real Madrid’s 2–1 win over Deportivo Alaves. The 28-year-old defender is set to undergo surgery, and according to reports, will not be available for Brazil’s World Cup campaign as previously expected. Brazil at World Cup 2026: Morocco (June 13), Haiti (June 19), Scotland (June 24) Hugo Ekitike: France France striker Hugo Ekitike has also been ruled out of the World Cup entirely after tearing his Achilles tendon in April during the Champions League defeat to Paris Saint-Germain. He recently underwent surgery, which Liverpool
‘State of war’: Why Israel has escalated attacks in Gaza
Israel has escalated its attacks on the Gaza Strip in the past week, with at least four Palestinians killed across the devastated enclave, including a 40-year-old woman in Khan Younis, in the past 24 hours amid daily violations of the October “ceasefire”. Medics and local health officials report more than 25 Palestinians have been killed in the past week alone, taking the number of people killed since the ceasefire to more than 800. The enclave has been devastated by more than two years of genocidal war, which killed more than 72,500 Palestinians. The rising attacks come as the new United States-backed governance structures seem to have been sidelined. Chaos and the ‘yellow line’ On the ground, the Israeli military has intensified its targeting of Palestinian police officers, recently acknowledging the killing of six officers it claimed were involved in planning imminent strikes. It provided no proof that they were planning to attack. However, Palestinian analysts argue the targeted strikes are part of a broader strategy to maintain a state of war and undermine the US-brokered agreement. Ahmed al-Tanani, a political analyst in Gaza, said Israel is targeting police forces to eradicate any possibility of restoring stability and to push the enclave into internal chaos. “It wants to make it an unlivable environment, forcing residents to seek displacement, which serves the strategic goal of this war,” al-Tanani said. Simultaneously, Israeli forces are advancing further into western Gaza and expanding the “yellow line” delineating areas under Israeli military control. Al-Tanani noted that Israel has added 37km (23 miles) to this eastern zone, meaning it now controls approximately 60 percent of the enclave, effectively partitioning Palestinian territory and severely restricting freedom of movement. Advertisement Under the “ceasefire” agreement, Israel was expected to withdraw its troops from Gaza by the end of phase one, but it has refused to do so despite the truce entering its second phase. (Al Jazeera) An ’emptied’ technocratic committee The military escalation coincides with the effective paralysis of the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), a body of Palestinian technocrats established under US President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace“. While Washington framed the 12-member NCAG as a roadmap for “reconstruction and prosperity”, Iyad al-Qarra, a political analyst, argued that the committee has been “emptied of its role” and isolated in Cairo by Israel to prevent it from functioning on the ground. “It is difficult to separate the committee’s work from providing services to citizens, and it is hard to separate serving citizens from the security apparatus and the presence of the occupation,” al-Qarra explained. He added that a real transition requires an Israeli withdrawal from the areas it controls, which has not happened. Academic and Israeli affairs expert Mohanad Mustafa noted that the ceasefire agreement was initially forced upon Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by the US. Now, Mustafa argued, Israel is deliberately blocking the entry of the NCAG to prevent the return of any political or civil life to Gaza, aiming to maintain a status quo of indefinite military occupation. Al Jazeera repeatedly reached out to the NCAG for comment on these developments, but the body declined to speak to the media. Disarmament and the US umbrella The “Board of Peace” is chaired by Trump and features pro-Israel US figures like Jared Kushner, Steve Witkoff and Marco Rubio, who have the power to decide Gaza’s future. Adolfo Franco, a Republican strategic analyst in Washington, defended the Israeli military’s actions, stating that Israel has paused its implementation of the ceasefire because Hamas refuses to disarm. “President Trump said two things: Hamas will be disarmed either the easy way or the hard way, and the hard way will be Israel taking over the disarmament if Hamas refuses to do it itself,” Franco said. Hamas has said it would not disarm until Israeli forces are no longer occupying Palestinian territory. Palestinians maintain that Israel has manipulated the agreement since day one. While the ceasefire originally stipulated the entry of 600 aid trucks daily, current figures show only 150 to 190 trucks are crossing. Al-Qarra noted that the amount of aid entering does not exceed 20 percent of what was agreed upon, with essential equipment for clearing rubble and repairing hospitals remaining entirely blocked. Advertisement Al-Qarra argued that Israel has successfully used Trump’s overarching peace narrative as a cover to continue its military operations while demanding “disarmament” – a condition he described as “a vague and unrealistic excuse”. “Israel is now successfully taking this banner and legitimacy from the US, trading everything for the issue of disarmament,” al-Qarra said. Meanwhile, al-Tanani revealed that Nickolay Mladenov, the representative linking the NCAG to the Board of Peace, privately acknowledges Israel’s daily violations and manipulation of aid during meetings with Palestinian factions, despite publicly adhering to the US and Israeli narratives. A ‘sovereignty-minus’ reality Critics have previously described the overarching US-led structure as a “corporate takeover” that reduces Palestinians to municipal workers with zero political agency. With Israeli militias allegedly operating on the ground and international stabilisation forces failing to deploy as planned, confidence in the newly established administrative councils has evaporated among the Palestinian public. As Israeli forces maintain their grip on the territory and continue their targeted killings, the prospect of an independent, functional administration in Gaza appears increasingly remote. “We have returned back to square one, unfortunately,” al-Qarra concluded. Adblock test (Why?)
New footage shows moment of deadly bus bombing in Colombia
NewsFeed Newly released dashcam video shows the moment that a bomb-laden bus exploded in Colombia, killing at least 13 people on the Pan-American Highway. The country’s president says that dissidents from the FARC movement are responsible. Published On 26 Apr 202626 Apr 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
Delhi-Zurich-bound Swiss flight carrying 228 passengers cancels takeoff after engine failure, 6 injured
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Ex-cricketer Harbhajan Singh gets CRPF security after AAP protest outside Jalandhar residence, days after switch to BJP
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Rain coming? Back-to-back Western Disturbances to bring relief from severe heatwave in North India
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PM Modi slams Mamata Banerjee’s TMC at Bengal rally: ‘BJP will hunt down every single goon, rapist’
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Raghav Chadha, other AAP rebels to be disqualified from Rajya Sabha? Arvind Kejriwal’s party moves petition
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Security under scrutiny as WHCD attendees cite inconsistent screening before shooting
A shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner is raising fresh questions about security at one of Washington’s highest-profile events, with some attendees describing what they saw as lapses in screening and access control. While the Secret Service and federal law enforcement moved quickly to secure President Donald Trump and other officials, accounts from attendees and lawmakers have painted a mixed picture of the security posture at the Washington Hilton. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS’ DINNER SHOOTING SHARPENS FOCUS ON TRUMP’S BALLROOM CONSTRUCTION PROPOSAL Misha Komadovsky, a journalist for Germany’s DW, shared a photo on X of the paper ticket used by attendees to gain access to the event, saying it was “the only thing required” for entry into the Washington Hilton ballroom. “There was no security screening prior to entering the lobby,” he wrote. ABC News reporter Beatrice Peterson, who wrote on X that she has attended the event for more than a decade, offered a more measured assessment, saying the overall security posture appeared consistent with past years. She noted that pre-event gatherings tend to be more fluid, while the dinner itself is typically more tightly controlled, and that security — both plainclothes and uniformed — is always present inside and outside the venue. Peterson described the crowd and security presence as “typical-ish” for a year in which the president attends the dinner, suggesting no obvious deviations from past practice. However, she said multiple investigations are expected to examine what happened and whether any failures occurred, adding the incident could permanently change how the event is handled going forward. SECRET SERVICE IN LINE OF FIRE AT WHCA SHOOTING STILL UNPAID DUE TO DEM-LED SHUTDOWN Harrison Fields, a former White House principal deputy press secretary, told “FOX & Friends” there were “no checkpoints to get into the hotel,” adding that the gunman could have been “roaming” and observing attendees before the incident. “There was a VIP reception right off the main ballroom where Cabinet secretaries were, where the president could have been — and there was no security apparatus leading up to that point,” Fields said. Fields acknowledged that the Secret Service and local law enforcement “took immediate steps to keep us safe,” but said there was “no real buffer” in place, which he noticed as soon as he arrived. WORLD LEADERS CONDEMN ‘UNACCEPTABLE’ VIOLENCE AFTER ARMED ATTACK DISRUPTS WH CORRESPONDENTS’ DINNER Even as some attendees described the security posture as typical, lawmakers offered a far more critical assessment. Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., pointed to what he described as “glaring security issues,” even as he acknowledged that the Secret Service and federal law enforcement “acted swiftly” to secure the ballroom and move President Donald Trump and other officials to safety. In a post on X, Lawler said there was no photo ID requirement or verified attendee list, which he noted is standard for White House events. He also cited the absence of magnetometers before entry to the ballroom and said multiple pre-event receptions with limited security created potential access points. Lawler said the building remained open to the public and raised concerns about accountability inside the room, noting there was no clear handle on how many members of Congress were present or where they were seated. He called for a “complete and thorough after-action” review, focusing on how the gunman moved from his hotel room into what he described as a secure area with multiple firearms. ARMED MAN SHOT AND KILLED AFTER ‘UNAUTHORIZED ENTRY’ INTO MAR-A-LAGO: SECRET SERVICE Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., who attended the dinner, also raised concerns about the venue itself. “We were there front and center,” Fetterman said. “That venue wasn’t built to accommodate an event with the line of succession for the U.S. government.” Similarily, Kari Lake, a Trump ally in attendance, echoed criticism of the security measures. “I was there. Security was terrible at the event,” Lake wrote on X. “It was the easiest event I’ve ever gained access to that the president was at. It was so bad we talked about it at our table before the shots rang out.” The Washington Hilton has long hosted high-level government events, including gatherings attended by the president, vice president and members of Congress beyond the annual dinner. Last week, the First Lady’s Luncheon was held in the same ballroom, where first lady Melania Trump and second lady Usha Vance delivered remarks. The Secret Service’s familiarity with the venue helped enable a swift response — and is one reason the White House Correspondents’ Dinner has been held there annually since 1968.
White House Correspondents’ Dinner suspect checked into Hilton hotel one day before the shooting: sources
Suspected gunman Cole Allen checked into the Hilton Hotel hosting the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Friday, just one day before the event, sources told Fox News. Allen, 31, a computer scientist from Torrance, California, is accused of opening fire at the event where President Donald Trump was in attendance. Initial reports say Secret Service agents fired 3-4 shots, and Allen fired at least one. The FBI is conducting a ballistics investigation at its lab in Quantico, and authorities are also working with credit card companies to go through purchases going back in time. Authorities said Allen was initially talking with police, but he began refusing to speak as of Sunday morning. NORTH CAROLINA MAN RECOUNTS SHOOTING AFTER TRUMP BANNER TORN FROM MOTHER’S YARD: ‘SOME PEOPLE JUST SNAP’ Sources say Allen is scheduled for his initial court appearance sometime Monday. Allen told law enforcement after his arrest Saturday night that he was targeting Trump administration officials, according to senior federal law enforcement sources. Allen said he planned to “shoot Trump administration officials,” the sources said. TRUMP WOULD-BE ASSASSIN IN BUTLER HAD MASSIVE ‘DIGITAL FOOTPRINT,’ ALLEGES COLUMNIST Authorities have said Allen rushed a Secret Service checkpoint at the event at the Washington Hilton while armed with multiple weapons. He allegedly then opened fire, striking a Secret Service officer in his ballistic vest. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Sunday that authorities do not believe Allen worked with any accomplices. Trump said Saturday night that the shooter was a “lone wolf.” “Well, what President Trump said is that as of now we think that, that’s what the police chief said as well,” Blanche told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “But this is an investigation that is 12 hours, 13 hours old, and so those facts can change, and they often do change. And if there’s anybody else involved we will leave no stone unturned to find out everything we can about that.” “But from what we know right now, from what we know given what happened last night, and the evidence we’ve gathered so far, we don’t believe anybody else was involved, but again, we have a lot of work left to do, and a lot of evidence left to go through and to collect,” Blanche added. Fox News’ David Spunt contributed to this report.