
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday that talks to begin a democratic transition in Venezuela will start in early August. Rubio, who leads Washington's relationship with Caracas, said a group representing the National Assembly elected in 2015 —the last one the United States recognizes as legitimate— met with the interim government and agreed to establish a forum for reconciliation talks and to begin the transition process.

Spain were crowned world champions for the second time in their history by beating Argentina 1-0 in extra time in the final played on Sunday at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. The winning goal came in the 106th minute, after a cross from Pedro Porro that Nico Williams headed on and that, according to the match report, Ferran Torres finished to settle a game clearly dominated by the Spanish side.

US President Donald Trump was one of the central figures off the pitch at the 2026 World Cup final, co-hosting alongside FIFA President Gianni Infantino the trophy presentation to Spain, champions after beating Argentina 1-0 in extra time at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. Trump, who watched the match from the VIP box with his wife, Melania, also held the original trophy before kickoff, in images that circulated widely on social media.

Two Latin American migrants were shot dead by agents of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) within a week, in operations in which, as federal authorities and lawmakers acknowledged, neither was the intended target. The deaths revived protests and calls for accountability over President Donald Trump's immigration policy.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva publicly called on his US counterpart, Donald Trump, to explain the reasons behind the 25% tariffs he imposed on most Brazilian products, a measure Brasília attributes to political rather than commercial motives. The levies, announced on July 15 by the Office of the US Trade Representative, will take effect on July 22.

United States forward Folarin Balogun said he thought it was a joke when he was told FIFA had suspended the sanction for his red card, allowing him to play in the World Cup round-of-16 match against Belgium. Two days before the Belgium match they told me I was allowed to play again, and for me it was unreal; at first I thought it was a joke, the player said during a conversation with basketball star LeBron James at the Fanatics Fest in New York.

Argentina's president, Javier Milei, championed diplomacy as the path for the sovereignty claim over the Falklands and dismissed as tantrums certain reactions that followed the national team's victory over England in the World Cup semifinal, without specifying at whom the criticism was aimed.

US President Donald Trump accused China of interfering in the 2020 presidential election and of having the complicity of officials who, he said, concealed that information. He did so on Thursday night in a primetime address to the nation from the White House, announcing the declassification of documents that he claimed reveal vulnerabilities in the US electoral system.

A dense cloud of smoke from the hundreds of wildfires burning in Canada covered much of the US northeast and southern Canada on Thursday, sharply worsening air quality in cities such as New York, Chicago, Detroit, and Toronto. Health authorities advised residents to stay indoors, three days before New Jersey's MetLife Stadium hosts the World Cup final between Spain and Argentina.

A federal judge in Miami ordered $314 million in damages to be paid to three US citizens who were imprisoned in Venezuela, where they said they were tortured by intelligence services before being freed in a 2023 exchange with Washington for Colombian businessman Alex Saab.