Submit your Article

Late goals from Gianluca Mancini and Francesco Pio Esposito helped Italy to a 2-0 win away against Moldova on Thursday, keeping alive their faint hopes of automatic qualification for the 2026 World Cup with their sixth consecutive victory, Reuters reported.

The result lifted Italy to 18 points, three behind group leaders Norway, who earlier beat Estonia 4-1, with the two sides meeting on the final qualifying matchday on Sunday. The Azzurri now face what looks an impossible task, needing to win and overturn Norway's goal difference of 17.

"I saw an Italy that played well, we were out there and (Moldova) never shot on goal," Italy manager Gennaro Gattuso told Rai. "I am very satisfied, we did what we had to do and gave some of the lads some playing time."

The following is a list of teams that have qualified for the 2026 World Cup, which will be hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada from June 11 to July 19.

Best performance: Third place (1930)

MEXICO:

Taking part as hosts

Best performance: Quarter-finals (1970, 1986)

CANADA:

Taking part as hosts

Best performance: Group stage (1986, 2022)

JAPAN

Qualified on: March 20

Best performance: Round of 16 (2002, 2010, 2018, 2022)

NEW ZEALAND

Qualified on: March 24

Best performance: Group stage (1982, 2010)

IRAN

Qualified on: March 25

Best performance: Group stage (1978, 1998, 2006, 2014, 2018, 2022)

ARGENTINA

Qualified on: March 25

Best performance: Winners (1978, 1986, 2022)

UZBEKISTAN

Qualified on: June 5

Best performance: Never previously qualified.

SOUTH KOREA

Qualified on: June 5

Best performance: Fourth place (2002)

JORDAN

Qualified on: June 5

Best performance: Never previously qualified.

AUSTRALIA

Qualified on: June 10

Best performance: Round of 16 (2006, 2022)

BRAZIL

Qualified on: June 10

Best performance: Winners (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002)

ECUADOR

Qualified on: June 10

Best performance: Round of 16 (2006)

URUGUAY

Qualified on: September 4

Best performance: Winners (1930, 1950)

COLOMBIA

Qualified on: September 4

Best performance: Quarter-finals (2014)

PARAGUAY

Qualified on: September 4

Best performance: Quarter-finals (2010)

MOROCCO

Qualified on: September 5

Best performance: Semi-finals (2022)

TUNISIA

Qualified on: September 8

Best performance: Group Stage (1978, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2018, 2022)

EGYPT

Qualified on: October 8

Best performance: Round of 16 (1934)

ALGERIA

Qualified on: October 9

Best performance: Round of 16 (2014)

GHANA

Qualified on: October 12

Best performance: Quarter-finals (2010)

CAPE VERDE

Qualified on: October 13

Best performance: Never previously qualified

SOUTH AFRICA

Qualified on: October 14

Best performance: Group stage (1998, 2002, 2010)

QATAR

Qualified on: October 14

Best performance: Group stage (2022)

ENGLAND

Qualified on: October 14

Best performance: Winners (1966)

SAUDI ARABIA

Qualified on: October 14

Best performance: Round of 16 (1994)

IVORY COAST

Qualified on: October 14

Best performance: Group stage (2006, 2010, 2014)

France kept celebrations restrained after qualifying for the 2026 World Cup with a 4-0 win over Ukraine on Thursday, with captain Kylian Mbappe saying the emotional weight of the evening — the 10th anniversary of the November 13, 2015 attacks — mattered more than the result, Reuters reported.

Coach Didier Deschamps also underlined that reaching the finals was simply where Les Bleus are expected to be.

Mbappe, who scored twice and put France in control with a penalty, said: “Very proud to be there, even if it wasn’t the most important thing of the evening — the most important part was the commemoration.”

Russia's oil processing has fallen just 3% this year despite Ukraine's biggest drone attacks to date as refineries averted a steep decline in fuel production by leveraging spare capacity to offset damage from the strikes, sources said and data showed, Reuters reported.

Ukraine has ramped up drone attacks deep inside Russia, aiming to knock out oil refineries, depots and pipelines and cripple Moscow's biggest source of funding for the war in Ukraine.

Most of the attacks occurred at the start of 2025 then resumed from August. Ukrainian drones struck at least 17 major refineries in total, forcing Russia, the world's second-largest crude exporter, to curb fuel exports and order extra drone defences, according to Reuters.

A gold pocket watch recovered from the body of one of the richest passengers on the Titanic is expected to fetch £1m ($1.3m) at auction, BBC reported.

Isidor Straus and his wife Ida were among the more than 1,500 people who died when the vessel travelling from Southampton to New York sank after hitting an iceberg on 14 April 1912.

His body was recovered from the Atlantic days after the disaster and among his possessions was an 18 carat gold Jules Jurgensen pocket watch that will go under the hammer on 22 November, according to BBC.

An improvised explosive device (IED) detonated and damaged a restaurant near the Las Vegas Strip in the US state of Nevada, BBC reported.

The building, which houses Piero's Italian Cuisine and is across the street from the city's famed convention centre, was empty at the time of the explosion early on Thursday morning. 

A cleaning crew discovered the damage when they arrived about eight hours later and notified authorities of a suspected bombing, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police said, according to BBC.

After 43 days, the longest US government shutdown in history is coming to an end.

Federal workers will start receiving pay again. National Parks will reopen. Government services that had been curtailed or suspended entirely will resume. Air travel, which had become a nightmare for many Americans, will return to being merely frustrating, BBC reported.

After the dust settles and the ink from President Donald Trump's signature on the funding bill dries, what has this record-setting shutdown accomplished? And what has it cost?

Senate Democrats, through their use of the parliamentary filibuster, were able to trigger the shutdown despite being a minority in the chamber by refusing to go along with a Republican measure to temporarily fund the government, according to BBC.

Nepal and India have signed an agreement which will facilitate the movement of rail-based freight between Jogbani (India) and Biratnagar (Nepal) including bulk cargo under an expanded definition.

The agreement was signed in a bilateral meeting between Anil Kumar Sinha, Minister for Industry, Commerce, and Supplies and his Indian counterpart Piyush Goyal, Minister for Commerce and Industry India. 

This liberalization extends to key transit corridors- Kolkata-Jogbani, Kolkata–Nautanwa (Sunauli), and Visakhapatnam–Nautanwa (Sunauli), thereby strengthening multimodal trade connectivity between the two countries and Nepal’s trade with third countries, according to a press statement issued by India. 

The Letter of Exchange (LoE) enables direct rail connectivity along the Jogbani–Biratnagar rail link for both containerized and bulk cargo, facilitating transport from the ports of Kolkata and Visakhapatnam to the Nepal Customs Yard cargo station located in Morang District, near Biratnagar in Nepal. This rail link, constructed with grant assistance from the Government of India, was jointly inaugurated by the Prime Ministers of India and Nepal on 1 June 2023.

The meeting also welcomed ongoing bilateral initiatives to enhance cross-border connectivity and trade facilitation, including the development of Integrated Check Posts and other infrastructure. India remains Nepal’s largest trade and investment partner, accounting for a significant share of its external trade, according to the statement.  These new measures are expected to further consolidate economic and commercial linkages between the two countries and beyond.