Not once, not twice, but thrice. France winger Ousmane Dembélé scored three goals in the first half of its World Cup match against Norway on Friday, putting the Paris Saint-Germain star firmly in the mix for the Golden Boot race for the tournament’s top-goal scorer. All of Dembélé’s goals came in the first 32 minutes of the match at Boston Stadium. He became the first player to score a first-half hat trick at a men’s FIFA World Cup since Russia’s Oleg Selenko in 1994, who finished with five goals in the match against Cameroon. The fastest World Cup hat trick took only 7 minutes, 42 seconds. Hungary striker Laszlo Kiss, who had come on as a substitute, managed that feat late in the match against El Salvador at the 1982 World Cup in Spain. Dembéé’s the second fastest from a starter. Dembélé completed the feat with three completely different goals. The third goal was a combination of his first two — a curler with his left foot from the same spot he powered his first goal in with his right foot. Dembélé entered Friday’s match with one goal. With four goals, he sits behind Lionel Messi (five goals) in the Golden Boot race. He joins Messi and Canada’s Jonathan David as the third player with a hat trick at this tournament. Dembélé is tied with France teammate Kylian Mbappé, with four goals at the tournament. Mbappé assisted on two of the goals. Dembélé By The Numbers 1: Ballon’Or award, which he won in 2025 as the world’s best player. 3: Dembélé is the third player to score a hat-trick for France at a men’s World Cup, after Just Fontaine (two in 1958) and Kylian Mbappé (one in 2022). 11: Number of international goals he now has, with his first coming back in 2017 in a friendly match vs. England. 19: The number of previous major international tournament games without scoring a goal before France’s last game; Dembélé now has four in the last two.20: By assisting Dembélé on two of his goals, Mbappé has tied Germany’s Miroslav Klose for the second-most most goal contributions (goals + assists) at the World Cup since 1966 (20: 16 goals, 4 assists). Only Lionel Messi has more than Mbappé (26). 32: The number of minutes for Dembélé to achieve his hat trick. It’s the second earliest ever in World Cup history (Austria’s Erich Probst did in 24 minutes in 1954 vs. Czechia).Latest Sports News from FOX Sports
Dan Sullivan of Petersburg (left) filed to run against Republican incumbent U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan. (Campaign photo by Dan Sullivan and photo of the senator by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
An Anchorage judge heard oral arguments on Thursday in a case poised to decide whether the Alaska Division of Elections has the authority to remove a candidate with the same name as the incumbent from the race for U.S. Senate.
The court is expediting the case and a decision is expected Friday. Any appeals are expected to be before the Alaska Supreme Court on Monday, ahead of a looming deadline for the division to print primary ballots no later than noon on Tuesday, June 30.
The division made the unprecedented decision to remove Dan J. Sullivan, a retired teacher from Petersburg, from the ballot on June 15, citing a “preponderance of evidence” the candidate had not filed a “good faith candidacy” and filed with the purpose to “confuse or mislead” voters.
Sullivan appealed that decision, saying he meets all eligibility requirements to run for office. He challenged the state’s decision as unlawful, and requested the court overturn the decision and restore his candidacy on the Alaska ballot for U.S. Senate.
In opening arguments, attorneys for the Division of Elections defended the decision to disqualify Sullivan from the ballot. They said the state has a duty to protect voters from confusion, and that the state is not obligated to place a candidate on the ballot where evidence shows t
Sullivan was one of sixteen candidates to file to run for one of Alaska’s U.S. Senate seats, challenging Republican incumbent U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan in the high-stakes election that could determine the control of the U.S. Senate after the November elections. One candidate has withdrawn since then, leaving 14 challengers, including former Democratic U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola. The November election results will determine a candidate for a six-year term.
Critics of Sullivan said he was trying to confuse voters to the benefit of Peltola, the Democratic front-runner. Officials with the Peltola campaign and the Alaska Democratic Party have said they have no affiliation with either Sullivan.
Attorneys representing the Petersburg Sullivan and the Alaska Division of Elections went head to head in livestreamed Superior Court hearing, where over 300 viewers tuned in but others were not able to watch the stream. Officials with the court later apologized calling it a “record-breaking” livestream and posted a recording on their website.
Jeffrey Robinson, representing Sullivan, opened his argument reiterating that Sullivan met all the constitutional requirements to run for office: at least 30 years old, a U.S. citizen, and an inhabitant of Alaska if and when elected.
Jeffrey Robinson, an attorney for Dan J. Sullivan, argues his appeal case in Anchorage Superior Court on June 25, 2026. (Screenshot of court livestream)
“Mr. Sullivan unambiguously meets each of these criteria,” Robinson said. “As seen in previous cases, states are not allowed to add to those qualifications.”
He cited the case where the Alaska Democratic Party sought to remove Eric Hafner, a U.S. House candidate imprisoned out of state, and the division did not investigate his motives but found he met the qualifications to run for office. Robinson argued the state has subjectively and unlawfully added additional criteria for Sullivan, including restrictions on his perceived political goals, how he presents his name, campaign and his party affiliation.
“Here the division imposed a substantive mental state-based qualification for U.S. Senate candidates in Alaska, and then it cynically and arbitrarily determined that Mr. Sullivan did not meet that qualification,” he said.
Robinson said it’s up to political campaigns to distinguish candidates and educate voters. He agreed the division has the authority to make sure candidates appearing on the ballot do not confuse voters, and noted that there are state regulations that offer solutions, like adding middle initials. But he said there are no “good faith” requirements, nor any other regulations that would give the division such broad authority to look at a candidate’s motives for office.
“They have no explicit authority in situations like this to even look into a candidate’s motives. Any subjective standard for candidates imposed by the division necessarily erodes the trust of voters,” he said. “If this standard were to apply, the director could challenge any or disqualify any potential reasons of personal dislike, or that the candidate may lose to their preferred candidate.”
Arguing for the Division of Elections, attorney Chris Murray said the division has the authority to review candidates and make sure the ballot is not presented in a way that would be confusing to voters.
Chris Murray, an attorney for the Alaska Division of Elections, argues against the appeal of Dan J. Sullivan in Anchorage Superior Court on June 25, 2026. (Screenshot of court livestream)
In this case, he said the division director, Carol Beecher, reviewed complaints against the candidate filed by the Alaska Republican Party and the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which works to elect Republicans, that say his name, party affiliation and campaign materials mimic the incumbent’s. Murray said Beecher found that Sullivan “accentuated the similarity” between himself and Sen. Sullivan.
“She was stuck with the preponderance of the evidence pointing to this being a declaration of candidacy filed for the purpose of seeking office, but a declaration of candidacy filed for an ulterior purpose to cause voter confusion,” he said. “The director does not have the ability to permit that.”
Murray said in the Hafner case, there was no complaint filed prior to the primary on Hafner’s candidacy. He said the division has authority to review complaints and determine whether candidates made a “proper filing” before the primary, which they did for Sullivan.
“So where’s the line? The line is: the decision on qualification has to be made before somebody is placed onto the primary ballot, that is where Alaska law, that’s where the ‘properly filed’ comes in, that’s when there’s discretion in the Division of Elections — but that’s when the Division of Election decides who goes on the ballot, it’s before the primary election, that case was after the primary election,” he said.
Judge Thomas Matthews asked Murray how the division would handle the situation of three Dan Sullivans, in a hypothetical situation where a former Anchorage mayor, Dan A. Sullivan decided to enter the U.S. Senate race.
Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews presides over the appeal case brought by Dan J. Sullivan challenging the Division of Elections decision to disqualify him for running for U.S. Senate on June 25, 2026. (Screenshot of court livestream)
Murray said a “genuine candidate” would seek to distinguish himself from other candidates, and the division could use a middle initial or notation like “challenger” or “nonincumbent” on the ballot.
“I would say that if you were dealing with all of them, and all of them were trying to get on the ballot in order to win, I think they would all be cooperatively participating in a process where they could be effectively distinguished from each other, so as to avoid voter confusion. That’s not what we have here,” he said.
Judge Matthews asked if there was a way to effectively distinguish the two Dan Sullivans.
Murray said he did not believe that is the division’s responsibility if the candidate’s goal is to confuse voters. “Where the confusion is the goal, Your Honor, we don’t believe the division is under an obligation to try and mitigate it or accommodate it,” he said. “The court could order that the division implement some method to distinguish him, and I’ll say right now, we don’t think a middle initial is sufficient.”
Murray also argued the court ruling would be an important precedent for the division to administer elections.
“If this decision is not affirmed, and it turns out that the court holds that Alaska is just simply powerless, and the division is powerless to stop this sort of behavior, we’re going to be inviting more of this,” he said.
Judge Matthews said he will announce a ruling by Friday, and it could be after business hours.
Attorneys for Sullivan also filed a stay with the court to delay the division printing primary ballots until a final decision is ruled on by the courts. Matthews said he would consider the petition.
After the ruling, both parties are expected to appeal before the Alaska Supreme Court on Monday.
We have tragic news to report out of France today.
Luis de la Rosa, the acclaimed animator, whose credits included Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, died Friday after he was struck by a train while attending the Annecy International Animation Film Festival.
He was just 34 years old.
A commuter walks on a platform to catch her train at Paris Saint Lazare railway station on January 29, 2009 in Paris, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)
According to local newspaper Le Dauphiné Libéré (via TMZ), emergency crews responded after a man was hit by a locomotive near the train station in Annecy, a city located close to the French-Swiss border.
Despite their efforts, the victim could not be saved.
Authorities initially did not publicly identify the victim. However, the Annecy International Animation Film Festival later confirmed that the man killed was de la Rosa.
Early reports indicate that de la Rosa was killed while walking too close to the tracks, but that detail has yet to be confirmed by police.
De la Rosa had built an impressive resume over the past decade, beginning his career in animation in 2016 with work on Nickelodeon’s Pig Goat Banana Cricket.
He later contributed to several major productions, including My Little Pony: The Movie, Animaniacs, Space Jam: A New Legacy, and the Oscar-winning animated hit Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
He was reportedly attending the Annecy festival’s industry market to showcase his original project, Ash Raider World, while also meeting with fellow artists and potential collaborators.
Festival organizers have announced that Artistic Director Marcel Jean will honor de la Rosa during Saturday’s closing ceremony, recognizing both his contributions to animation and the devastating loss felt throughout the industry.
News of de la Rosa’s death has sent shockwaves through the animation community, with many remembering him not only for his talent but also for the promising career that was tragically cut short.
Our thoughts are with Luis de la Rosa’s family, friends, and colleagues during this incredibly difficult time.
SEATTLE — On Thursday, the Washington state House speaker and its Senate majority leader — likely the country’s first-ever pairing of openly gay state capital legislative leaders — met to strategize with progressive campaigners against a pair of conservative-backed ballot initiatives that would impose new rules on transgender children in schools and sports.
To defeat the measures, the campaign will have to convince voters beyond Seattle’s progressive enclaves to accept their arguments about privacy, liberty and acceptance.
But on Friday, Washington’s LGBTQ+ leaders were thinking about how they might address an even more hard-to-reach constituency: citizens of Egypt and Iran, whose governments criminalize homosexuality but have seen their national teams paired through a scheduling quirk in the World Cup’s only official “Pride Match.”
Members of Seattle’s World Cup organizing committee set out to make the June 26 game a showcase of the city’s inclusivity before a random draw ensured two of the world’s most repressive states toward sexual minorities would take the field. While FIFA has banned critics of the regime in Tehran from flying the country’s prerevolutionary flag (under rules prohibiting the display of political symbols), soccer’s governing body has said it will permit rainbow flags over objections from Iranian and Egyptian soccer officials.
“How many opportunities do you have to get positive messages about happy queer people beamed into Iran and Egypt?” said Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen. “I don’t think there’s going to be any way for people who are watching the game and seeing images of the stands to be able to avoid the fact that there’s going to be a huge contingent of rainbow flags waving.”
Pedersen and state House Speaker Laurie Jinkins have known each other since the 1990s, when they first worked together on a failed campaign to pass a statewide nondiscrimination law. Both were subsequently elected to the legislature — she from Tacoma, he from a Seattle district encompassing Capitol Hill, the traditional seat of gay power — and rose to lead Democratic majorities in their respective chambers. Along the way they became friends, attending each other’s marriages and raising children in parallel.
Now they are collaborating with the No Hate in WA State campaign to defeat two separate initiatives that will appear on the November ballot after the two leaders refused to take them up in their legislative chambers. One, characterized as a parents-rights measure, would allow parents to opt out of classes related to sexual education or gender diversity and compel educators to notify parents if their children request medical attention. A separate measure would “prohibit biologically male students from competing with and against female students” in interscholastic sports, and require girls to receive a medical examination confirming their biological sex.
Both Pedersen and Jinkins said they expected to build on the coalition that helped enshrine gay and lesbian rights at the ballot, first by passing a domestic-partnership regime in 2009 and then three years later by approving a same-sex marriage law that had passed the legislature before facing a citizen’s-veto threat. (Let’s Go Washington, the campaign committee organized to pass the two transgender-related initiatives this year, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)
“What we saw, going back to the 1980s and 1990s, is people didn’t think they knew anyone who was gay or lesbian. Once they started to realize they knew people, that started changing opinions dramatically,” said Jinkins. “It stopped the other side from being able to use stereotypes to characterize us.”
In interviews Friday morning, both of the legislative leaders cast the day’s unusual Pride matchup — and its likelihood for friction with soccer fans in Seattle’s streets — as a healthy development for the state’s LGBTQ+ community.
“That’s one of the best things about the World Cup, some of the exposure that different communities are having to one another,” said Jinkins. “It’s not just Iranian and Egyptian fans learning about Pride, it’s us learning about Iranian and Egyptian culture and thought.”
Neither, however, planned to attend the match itself despite receiving invitations to do so. Jinkins said she would likely visit a “fan zone” watch party being hosted by the Puyallup Tribe of Indians at its administrative headquarters in her Tacoma district. Pedersen, who concedes he is “not a sports fan,” was scheduled to participate in a Trans Pride event in Capitol Hill, the historic heart of gay Seattle where he is deep in an aggressive reelection campaign against a challenger to his left.
“I feel bad when I take up the ticket for something where there is a lot of demand,” Pedersen said. “People who really enjoy it should be having this experience, and probably not me.”
The United States men’s national team walked off the field at Los Angeles Stadium Thursday night with its first blemish of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, but not much else changed. A dramatic 3-2 loss to Türkiye denied the Americans a perfect group-stage record when Kaan Ayhan scored on the final kick of the match in the eighth minute of stoppage time. But for a U.S. team that had already secured first place in Group D and a spot in the Round of 32, the objectives entering the night went beyond simply collecting three more points. Avoid injuries and red cards. If Mauricio Pochettino’s squad was able to accomplish that, they could officially turn their attention toward the knockout round. Mission accomplished. The ongoing debate before Thursday night’s final group-stage match centered on how important momentum would be for the USA. A third consecutive win would have sent the USA into the knockout stage unbeaten, but the team’s starting lineup made it clear that preserving a healthy, available roster was the priority. Pochettino ran out nine new starters in the match, including eight players making their first World Cup starts. The new-look lineup nearly delivered a victory if it weren’t for Türkiye’s late goal, which literally came on the last kick of the ball. According to FOX Sports soccer analyst Zlatan Ibrahimović, the outcome should not alter the way the World Cup is viewed by the USA. “It doesn’t matter because now starts the real deal against Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Ibrahimović said. “This game was more about putting those legs that haven’t played so far and getting them some minutes. The result will not change anything.” Perhaps the most encouraging development came in the second half when captain Christian Pulisic entered in the 58th minute. The American star had not played since suffering a calf injury during the first half of the tournament opener against Paraguay, but he looked sharp and healthy in his return. “When he’s on the field, anything can happen for the U.S. team,” FOX Sports’ lead soccer analyst Thierry Henry said. Henry viewed Thursday’s result as a win in just about every way outside the final score itself. “Nobody got injured. Carry on the momentum. That’s the only thing they didn’t do because they didn’t win,” he said. Now the focus shifts entirely to Bosnia and Herzegovina, which finished third in Group B after drawing against Canada, losing heavily to Switzerland and closing group play with a 3-1 victory over Qatar. For the USA, the mission was always survive and advance. Pochettino’s team did exactly that, winning Group D and reaching the knockout round with its most important player healthy and available. “You’re going through. You won the group. That was the aim. That was the goal,” Henry said. “Now perform against Bosnia, and we’ll see what can happen.”Latest Sports News from FOX Sports
After being forced to take nearly three months off to recover from surgery to repair a burst eardrum at the end of 2025, Cody Johnson discovered that the unexpected break ended up shaping his brand-new album, Banks of the Trinity, in ways he never could have planned.
Looking back, the Texas native admits the project wouldn’t be the same if he hadn’t been forced off the road. In fact, at least a quarter of the album came from songs that landed in his Dropbox during those three months, tracks he likely wouldn’t have had the time to fully consider if it weren’t for the unexpected pause.
“I mean, it would’ve been a completely different album,” he admitted to Country Now and other outlets.
Cody Johnson; Photo by Chris Douglas
Johnson compared that chapter to 2020 when the world shut down. Just like back then, he initially was faced with a wave of depression, fearing that his career would take a hit, but after some time he leaned into his faith and realized that it was actually the best thing that could have happened to him.
“Banks of the Trinity wouldn’t be Banks of the Trinity without those three months. And I thank God for his crazy weird way of giving me three months off,” Johnson continued. “I thought it was going to be detrimental to my career. This has been one of the greatest years out here on the road of my career. I mean, everything happens for a reason. So I would just say that whenever the bad things happen to you, lean on him and see what he’s up to.”
The final result is a 16-song collection that isn’t a concept album but has one theme running through its core: Cody Johnson. He may not have written every track, but elements of his life, upbringing and musical inspirations are woven throughout, starting with the cover art. Normally, Johnson says he doesn’t usually put as much attention on the artwork for a project, but this one hits extra close to him.
The cover features Lawrence’s Grocery Store, a small country store in his hometown that played a meaningful role in his childhood, giving fans a visual representation of the place that he describes in the title track. He says that store was owned by a man named Harold Lawrence, but everybody called him Hootie, and his wife, Lela.
Cody Johnson – Banks Of The Trinity
This was one of just a few local places in town, along with a church and an old bar. Johnson remembers riding his bike two miles down a dirt road to go pick up groceries from Lawrence’s and later in life he ended up carrying on his dad’s job of bailing hay and working cows for “Mr. Hootie.”
“It was just that little place in nowhere, Texas that while Ms. Lela was bagging up the groceries, I’d sit and listen to old men bi**h about the weather and talk about whether the fish were biting or the cattle market. And she always gave me a free Bluebell ice cream bar and a cream soda. And it was just one of those things that when they tore it down, that was a sad day. So it was one of those if you know, you know. And I love talking about how I was raised because everybody thinks that I grew up on some big cattle ranch. We grew up fishing and hunting for food,” he admits.
A few other songs also draw inspiration from the way he grew up, including “Cricket On A Hook,” which reflects on carefree summers spent at the lake, and the closing track, “Yippy Ty Oh Hey Hey,” a cowboy story set along the Trinity River.
“I wanted the album, whether you’re holding a vinyl or you’re holding a CD or you’re looking at the clips of it online, you kind of see a little bit more of where I’m from visually. And then when you listen to that song, ‘Banks of the Trinity,’ it kind of paints that image of what it was like growing up in a little rural town right there on the Trinity River.”
He added, “I think it kind of opens up this conversation that we’re having where I can have the opportunity to tell you more about how I was raised.”
From top to bottom, fans will find a large variation of tracks, from the humorous edge of “Horseback,” the project’s debut radio single, to honky tonk ready collaborations like “Fool Proof” with Brothers Osborne and “Shoot The Bull” with Luke Combs, tongue-in-cheek love-filled tunes such as “Kissing A Married Woman,” powerful reflections on “Bible For A Boy (For Jaycee)” and “Every Man” and more.
When putting Banks of the Trinity together, Johnson made a conscious effort to include a wide range of sounds. He said listening to a few recent albums by artists, whom he chose not to name, left him feeling like the songs all began to blend together. That became his motivation to create a project where each track offered listeners something fresh.
“When I was a kid growing up, I would listen to all kinds of music. If you went through my music on my phone, I think you would be extremely surprised at some of the stuff that gets played the most. I mean, there’s Tejano bands on there that I can’t understand. I just love the way it makes me feel. Go from there to old classical stuff to…I mean, I’m all over the place. And so the difference between myself and a lot of other artists in this genre is I’ve been doing this for 20 plus years. I know who I am. I don’t have a producer or a label head saying, ‘This is who you are.’ I’m me. And that’s a really fun place to be in a creative space…”
He continued, “…My goal is for you to not get bored listening to this album. I’m not going to name the artists. I’m not going to name the albums, but there’s about two or three albums that I’ve listened to in the last year or two that although I love that artist, I love their voice, I love their writing, just got bored and it was kind of an eye-opening thing of, man, I need to make this like a, you don’t want to look at a menu and every section of the menu be some form of a cheeseburger. It needs to have some variety to it. You need a little spice to it.”
Cody Johnson; Photo Courtesy of Academy of Country Music
There’s no denying the ACM Entertainer of the Year is in one of the best seasons of his career. As he nears 39 years old, Johnson says he’s in the best physical and mental shape of his life, his marriage and family are thriving, and he’s reached a level of financial and career success he once only dreamed about. Looking back, he credits it all to the way he was raised and the challenges he had to overcome along the way before making it to the top.
Because of all that, if Johnson could go back and tell the young boy growing up along the banks of the Trinity River where he’d end up, he says he wouldn’t. In his eyes, the struggles, the uncertainty, the unexpected milestones, are all were what made him the man he is today.
“If I had the opportunity to tell that kid where I am now, I wouldn’t because it might change everything. Hard times make tough men…I wouldn’t have want that kid to know where I am now because he might think he has a silver spoon and he turned out soft.”
Produced by longtime collaborator Trent Willmon, Banks of the Trinity marks Cody Johnson’s sixth studio album. It arrives in the midst of his 2026 tour which continues tonight in Milwaukee, WI before he heads to Nashville to perform at Nashville’s Nissan Stadium on June 27 as part of Alan Jackson’s final concert of his career.
The federal government wants credit for mounting the World Cup’s best defense.
The Transportation Security Administration this week said its federal air marshals have seized more than 300 drones that broke through Federal Aviation Administration airspace restrictions imposed over World Cup stadiums or at nearby fan events in what the Department of Homeland Security called “the most comprehensive airspace security and drone mitigation effort in U.S. history.”
As part of that effort, local Federal Bureau of Investigation offices across Atlanta, Miami, New York, Dallas and elsewhere have released rolling social-media updates on their counter-drone enforcement activities, including the interception of dozens of unauthorized drones, along with warnings to recreational drone operators to keep their aircraft grounded.
“These incidents reflect the reality that drones are becoming part of the security environment surrounding major public events,” Michael Robbins, president of the Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International, told POLITICO.
“The encouraging news is that authorities successfully detected and mitigated these incursions, demonstrating both the professionalism of the teams on the ground and the value of investing in effective counter-unmanned aircraft systems capabilities,” said Robbins, whose group represents drone manufacturers and suppliers.
Beyond countermeasures kits that include portable or wearable detection or jamming tools, law enforcement officials and security personnel are also utilizing enhanced training measures at the FBI’s drone training center in Alabama, which opened last year. FBI director Kash Patel boasted to Congress that “every single agency across the country wants their police officers there.”
As enforcement ramps up, a more fundamental question persists: whether many of the operators behind these incursions are knowingly breaking the rules or simply unaware they are flying where they shouldn’t be.
A former drone industry executive, granted anonymity to candidly discuss how drone policy has evolved in the last few years, said some drone manufacturers have simply put more responsibility on operators to figure out restrictions instead of baking it into the technology.
“Stepped up enforcement has some deterrent effect, but ultimately technology solutions will be most effective at preventing or mitigating incursions,” the executive said.
For now, as large-scale events continue across the U.S. — including the upcoming Olympic games — the next phase of thwarting drones must include “continuing to modernize our counter-UAS framework, expanding the deployment of proven detection and mitigation capabilities, and ensuring federal, state, and local partners have the clear authorities and tools they need to protect the public while preserving the tremendous economic and public safety benefits that drones provide every day,” added Robbins.
