If slashed ticket prices, closed stadium sections and moved seats are any indication, fans aren't exactly clamoring to attend the Club World Cup.
The tournament opens Saturday with Lionel Messi's Inter Miami facing Al Ahly at Florida's Hard Rock Stadium. Thirty-two teams are taking part in the newly expanded tournament that will be played across 11 U.S. cities. The final is set for July 13 at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk has lost some of his luster with Republicans since his messy public falling-out with President Donald Trump last week, a new survey finds.
Fewer Republicans view Trump's onetime government efficiency bulldog "very favorably" compared with April, according to the poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Spyware from a U.S.-backed Israeli company was used to target the phones of at least three prominent journalists in Europe, two of whom are editors at an investigative news site in Italy, according to digital researchers at Citizen Lab, citing new forensic evidence of the attacks.
The findings come amid a growing questions about what role the government of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni may have played in spying on journalists and civil society activists critical of her leadership, and raised new concerns about the potential for abuse of commercial spyware, even in democratic countries.

There was bad blood at Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers.
Not just on the ice.

Heavy rains in San Antonio rapidly flooded roads, swept away submerged cars and sent some people scrambling up trees to escape fast-rising waters Thursday while firefighters made dozens of rescues across the nation's seventh-largest city. At least five people died and two were still missing, authorities said.
The deaths all occurred in the northeast part of the city, where authorities found over a dozen vehicles in the water. More than a dozen smashed and overturned vehicles littered a creek after being tossed and carried by floodwaters.

The Paris Games may be over, but the flame is still rising — just don't call it Olympic.
The helium-powered hot-air balloon that lit up the French capital's skyline during the 2024 Games is making a dramatic comeback to the Tuileries Gardens, reborn as the "Paris Cauldron."

The Recording Academy has tweaked some of its rules for the 2026 Grammy Awards, including carving out a stand-alone category for best album cover — a day after Sabrina Carpenter sparked considerable discourse unveiling what is believed to be the cover for her next album.
The academy on Thursday announced that the best recording package and the best boxed or special limited edition package categories will be combined into the best recording package category, with best album cover spun out on its own. The last Grammy for best recording package went to "Brat," the Charli xcx album whose distinctive cover was immediately embraced by pop culture and meme creators.

Khaby Lame, the world's most-followed TikTok personality who left the U.S. after being detained by immigration agents, went to Brazil where he's been spending some time with friends, local authorities said Thursday.
Lame is staying with AC Milan player Emerson Royal, and has been enjoying time with local fans, Paulo Eduardo Dias Junior, a city councilman from Americana, about 78 miles (125 kilometers) northwest of Sao Paulo, told The Associated Press.

Dua Lipa has confirmed her engagement to the English actor Callum Turner, months after speculation began.
She went on the record about the engagement in a cover story for British Vogue's July issue, published Thursday, calling it "very exciting." The 29-year-old said she was obsessed with the ring Turner had made for her.

Centuries-old monasteries have been damaged by an ongoing series of earthquakes in a secluded monastic community in northern Greece, authorities said Friday.
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck the Mount Athos peninsula on June 7, followed by a series of both undersea and land-based tremors that continued through Friday.
