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Spain beats Argentina to win 2026 FIFA World Cup behind Ferran Torres' extra-time goal
For the second time in FIFA World Cup history, Spain can call themselves champions.
It was Ferran Torres, who subbed into the match in the second half, who finally got the ball past Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez in extra time for the 1-0 victory at New York/New Jersey Stadium on Sunday night.
This was Spain’s second-ever trip to the World Cup Final, but just like they did in 2010, they got the job done.
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Meanwhile, if this was Lionel Messi’s final match for Argentina, it ended in heartbreak.
As expected, both squads were trying to take control of this match, which meant possession was key and chances to strike were going to be few.
In the first half, it was Spain doing what it has done all tournament, controlling the pace of play and being quick with decision-making near their opponent’s box.
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Lamine Yamal and company had some chances early on, but none were able to get past Emiliano Martínez’s goal line.
On the other end, Unai Simón faced even less pressure from the Argentina attack, as Spain’s strong defense continued against Lionel Messi and his compatriots.
By the end of the first half, no team cracked the scoreboard, as each country was immediately talking about what was needed to change that. They’d have more time to do so, as Madonna, Shakira, Justin Bieber and many other musical guests performed at halftime on the field at New York/New Jersey Stadium.
As the second half began, Spain seemed to have some answers, creating great chances, including a clear shot on Martínez. However, the goalkeeper was able to make the save.
Then, in the 55th minute, a beautiful pass to Dani Olmo into the box led to a pass back toward Marc Cucurella. But Gonzalo Montiel beat Cucurella to the spot, launching the ball out of bounds for a corner kick, keeping a grade-A chance from striking net.
Spain continued to apply pressure, though, including multiple corner kicks and shots to challenge Martínez. Ferran Torres, who had just substituted in, had a great header after a cross from Yamal in the 66th minute, but Martínez was right there once more.
It felt like every ounce of momentum was going Spain’s way, with Argentina still searching for its first shot attempt, let alone shot on goal. Spain had 10 shots, seven of which found Martínez’s goal by the 82nd minute.
Nonetheless, Martínez remained a brick wall, especially when Nico Williams came flying in during stoppage time and ripped a shot that got punched away. Yamal couldn’t believe Williams didn’t cross it over to him, as he had no Argentine defender on him at the far post.
Just seconds later, though, a key moment came in this final match as Enzo Fernandez’s poor challenge led to his second yellow card, which brought out a red card in the 93rd minute. From that point on, Argentina had to play down one man.
Just before regular time ended, a foul on Torres outside Argentina’s box led to a chance for the 19-year-old Yamal to win the World Cup. He put a great strike on the ball, and it would’ve snuck into the left side of the net if not have yet another Martínez spectacular save.
This match required extra time, but Argentina would be forced to play the next 30 minutes with less men than Spain. And it looked as if Spain finally got past Martínez when Williams buried a shot that Mikel Merino missed in front of the net. However, a foul was called before Williams scored, negating the goal and keeping the tie in place.
The call was a controversial one, as it appeared Nicolás Otamendi sold his contact with Merino a bit. But the call stood and the goal was taken off the board.
But Spain never lost its determination to get past Martínez, and the moment finally came in the second half of extra time.
As play resumed, a cross into the box was kept alive by Williams’ head, and the ball landed right at the foot of Torres. Torres wasn’t trying to be cheeky, as he ripped a shot that slammed underneath the crossbar to finally put a goal on the board in the 106th minute.
Argentina tried its hardest to generate chances on Simón to keep their World Cup hopes alive, but to no avail. In the end, Spain didn’t allow a single shot on goal, while generating 20 of their own.
Throughout the entire tournament, Spain gave up just one goal to their opponents, showcasing dominance from beginning to end. It was only right their tournament ended with trophy in hand.
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AOC accused of putting on new accent during Memphis rally: 'Going full Kamala'
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., was accused of putting on an accent during a Memphis rally last week, with critics on social media comparing her to former Vice President Kamala Harris.
Ocasio-Cortez was speaking at a campaign rally in Memphis on Friday for progressive U.S. House candidate Justin Pearson, who currently serves as a Tennessee state representative.
"We cannot afford to leave Tennessee behind," she said. "We cannot afford to leave Kentucky behind, Alabama behind, Mississippi behind, Georgia behind, South Carolina behind. There is no country where we are split apart."
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"About a month or two ago, we were in Montgomery, Alabama — Sister [Rep. Ayanna] Pressley and I were in Montgomery, Alabama, and one of the things that we said was that it is time for the North to roll up to the South," Ocasio-Cortez continued.
Critics online singled out this part of her speech, saying she put on a "fake accent."
"AOC, from the ‘Bronx’ sounding like a southern Baptist preacher while in Memphis," actor Michael Rapaport, who has said he’ll run for the New York City mayor’s office in 2029, posted on social media.
"Hillary Clinton developed an accent. Kamala Harris developed an accent. AOC is developing an accent. It’s all patronizing," conservative communications strategist Steve Guest posted on social media.
"Rep. AOC just got busted putting on a FAKE ACCENT for a predominantly black audience. She's seriously going full Kamala for 2028," another user wrote, referencing a potential presidential bid.
Harris was repeatedly accused of altering her accent depending on the group of people she's speaking to.
In 2024, Harris was slammed for using what critics called a fake Southern accent while speaking at a rally in Atlanta in July 2024, and again during a Labor Day rally in Detroit that year. During her 2021 overseas trip to France, critics claimed Harris used a "French accent" while touring a COVID lab.
Fox News Digital reached out to AOC's team for comment on the "fake accent" accusations.
RILEY GAINES: World Cup visitors are reminding Americans what makes this country great
Some of the most wholesome stories on the internet lately haven't come from celebrities or influencers. They've come from people visiting America for the first time because of the World Cup.
Take Sebastian, for example. Sebastian is a German soccer fan who flew to the United States initially apprehensive.
Like so many people overseas, he'd spent years consuming headlines portraying America as a country overrun by crime, division and chaos. Before he even stepped off the plane, he was worried about his safety.
Sebastian watched Germany play Paraguay in Boston. After the game, he found himself stranded without a way back to his hotel. That's when he met a man named Bob.
Bob didn't know Sebastian from Adam. He didn't ask about politics. He didn't care where he was from. He saw a man in need and didn’t think twice about helping out by giving him a ride back to his hotel.
In a video that's now been viewed millions of times, Sebastian fought back tears while describing the kindness he experienced from Bob. He admitted he was more upset about leaving America than he was about Germany being eliminated from the World Cup.
Full honesty? I can think of plenty of Americans I'd trade for Sebastian.
With only the championship match remaining, social media has been flooded with videos from international visitors documenting what they've found here. They rave about the hospitality of ordinary Americans. They marvel at our diversity, our national parks, our food, our culture, and yes, even our patriotism.
They've danced in the streets with complete strangers after matches. They've sung "Take Me Home, Country Roads" shoulder-to-shoulder with thousands of Americans they'd never met. They've stood speechless overlooking the Grand Canyon. They've tried real American barbecue for the first time. They've talked about feeling welcomed in cities they were told to fear.
Watching these videos, I kept asking myself one question: Why do people from halfway around the world seem to appreciate America more than so many Americans do? Maybe it's because they haven't spent years being told to hate it.
For decades, we've been fed a version of America that focuses almost exclusively on what's broken. Turn on the news and you'd think our streets are constantly on fire, neighbors hate one another, and every conversation ends in a political screaming match. That's simply not how most Americans actually live.
The unfortunate reality is outrage sells. Fear gets clicks and conflict gets ratings. Good news rarely goes viral because it's harder to monetize content that leaves people feeling hopeful.
If you consume outrage all day, eventually you become outraged. If every headline tells you your country is falling apart, eventually you start believing it.
The same anti-American propaganda is being pushed in our education system. Teachers, professors, and other educators are quick to teach students about America's failures while hardly covering its successes. Kids learn at a young age that America is filled with colonizers and oppressors, and are left feeling shameful and guilty for their heritage or their skin color.
For clarity, I’m not saying we shouldn’t teach students about slavery, segregation, Japanese internment, and every other dark chapter of our history. Pretending those things never happened serves no one. But that's not the whole story.
We also abolished slavery. We defeated fascism. We landed on the moon. We built the most innovative economy the world has ever seen. Millions of people have willingly left everything behind for the chance to achieve the American dream. That doesn't happen by accident.
Loving your country doesn't require believing it's perfect. It requires recognizing that, despite its flaws, it's worth protecting and improving. Ironically, it took millions of foreign soccer fans to remind many Americans of that.
Sports have always had a way of cutting through the noise. Anyone who's ever played on a team or even sat in the stands knows it. It’s the one place where identities and feelings don’t matter — well, at least they shouldn’t.
Nobody cares what color your skin is when you score the game-winning goal. Nobody asks whether you're Catholic, Baptist, Jewish, Muslim, or only show up to church on Christmas and Easter. Nobody pauses to ask who you voted for before celebrating a touchdown or lifting a trophy. The only things that matter are your ability level and your dedication to winning.
Fans aren't much different. For ninety minutes, thousands of complete strangers become one team. They cheer together, celebrate together, and sometimes even cry together. That's the kind of unity we've been told is impossible, yet it happens every single weekend in stadiums across America.
Sports remind us of something we've forgotten in almost every other part of American life: We have a lot more in common than the people and institutions making money off our division would like us to believe.
The World Cup didn't magically make America kinder. It just gave the rest of the world an excuse to see the America that has always existed beneath the click-bait headlines. The America where someone like Bob helps a stranded stranger because it's the right thing to do. It’s the same America that millions of visitors are now discovering isn't the caricature they've been sold.
My biggest takeaway from this World Cup isn't about soccer at all. Maybe it's that America looks a whole lot better when you experience it yourself instead of letting someone else tell you what to think about it. Most Americans could stand to remember that too.
First World Cup halftime show draws mixed reactions for Shakira, Justin Bieber, BTS, Madonna performances
The 2026 FIFA World Cup Final is historic for a number of reasons. Argentina has the opportunity to become the first repeat champion since Brazil in 1962. It's among the most expensive sporting events ever, and the culmination of the most attended World Cup in tournament history.
Oh, and it featured the first halftime show of a World Cup Final, curated by Coldplay's Chris Martin.
In a short, at least by Super Bowl halftime show standards, performance, the show featured performances by Madonna, The Muppets, BTS, Justin Bieber, conductor Gustavo Dudamel, an appearance by Jason Sudeikis as Ted Lasso, Shakira with guest Burna Boy, and a closing song from a group of children assembled in the middle of the field.
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Madonna started her performance in the tunnel, before moving out onto the field to cheers from the crowd.
Dudamel "conducted" The Muppets in their performance of "Seven Nation Army," before BTS joined to sing "Dynamite," one of the group's biggest hits. Ted Lasso then "subbed in" Bieber to sing "Everything Hallelujah," a quieter ballad that he adjusted the lyrics to incorporate "World Cup."
Shakira and Burna Boy performed the official World Cup anthem, "Dai Dai," surrounded by backup dancers, which added some energy before the show closed. Children, joined by Chris Martin and many of the other performers, sang about "love" on the field.
Many compared it favorably to the Super Bowl halftime show from Bad Bunny, saying it had more energy and was intelligible, unlike most of Bad Bunny's "singing."
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Others criticized the length of the show, saying that it took 27 minutes to go from the end of the first half to the start of the second. Former English soccer star Wayne Rooney had some harsh words on the BBC broadcast, saying he thought it was "crap."
Still, while many questioned the need for a World Cup halftime show at all, most seemed to think it was well done, flowed well and didn't drag on too long.
What needs more excitement? The actual play during the final, with both Spain and Argentina taking their time to warm up into the match and unable to find many good scoring opportunities. Given the success of the show, however, it seems like this will become part of the tradition at the conclusion of the World Cup.
Angel Reese thanks WNBA for suspending Sandy Brondello, frames 'protected species' comment as discrimination
Atlanta Dream star Angel Reese addressed Toronto Tempo head coach Sandy Brondello’s "protected species" comment prior to the Atlanta Dream’s game against the Chicago Sky on Sunday afternoon.
Reese said she was "grateful" the WNBA took action against Brondello and said there is "no place for discrimination or hate" in the league.
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What Reese didn’t mention was Brondello’s Australian background or the fact that "protected species" is a common Australian sports expression used to describe a player who receives favorable treatment from officials.
She also didn’t acknowledge that there is no evidence Brondello’s comment had anything to do with Reese’s race or that the WNBA didn't publicly allege racial intent in its suspension announcement.
"I’m sure everyone knows about the situation that happened last game and I’m going to address this one time," Reese said.
"First, I appreciate Sandy’s apology, but I also appreciate the love and support that I have had for the last 48 hours. It has been very overwhelming with a lot of love and also other things.
"But I am grateful that the league did take action... There is no place for discrimination or hate in this league from anyone, from fans to coaches to players.
"And I’m just grateful that we are able to move on from the situation and just play winning basketball. The WNBA is supposed to be positive and we are going in a great light right now. So I just want to continue that and move forward."
Reese never explicitly called Brondello racist. She didn’t have to. Her social media response framed the comment as an attack on a Black woman, and her remarks Sunday placed it squarely in the category of "discrimination or hate." The accusation was clear, even if Reese avoided saying the word herself.
The controversy started Friday night after Reese collided with Tempo forward Nyara Sabally while battling for a rebound. Sabally fell to the floor and remained down in pain, but officials called the foul on her.
Brondello, upset with the call and concerned about her injured player, complained from the sideline that Reese was a "protected species."
It was obvious that Brondello believed the referees were protecting Reese.
The phrase is also common in Australian sports, where it is used as shorthand for perceived favorable treatment from officials.
Brondello is Australian.
None of that stopped Reese from quoting an X post that read, "Calling a Black woman a species…" and responding, "ARE WE SURPRISED?!" with a clown emoji.
Brondello apologized the next morning.
"Angel, I’m sorry," she wrote on X. "Last night, in the emotion of the moment after Nyara’s injury, I used a phrase that I shouldn’t have used, and I take full responsibility for that. My frustration was with the officiating, but my words unfairly put the focus on you."
She didn’t stop there.
"I also understand that my words carried an impact beyond what I intended, particularly for Black women in our league, and I’m deeply sorry for that," Brondello continued. "I’ve spent my career competing with, coaching and learning from incredible Black women."
Then Brondello addressed it again while speaking to reporters on Sunday.
"I wanted to put that out as soon as I woke up," Brondello said of her apology.
She explained that she contacted the Dream after the game and asked to speak directly with Reese "because she doesn’t really know me very well."
"It was a heat-of-the-moment, emotional statement," Brondello said. "It’s very common in Australia. And it wasn’t directed at Angel."
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Brondello said she was emotional after Nyara Sabally suffered another injury and used an expression that Australians "say all the time."
She also acknowledged that she should have stopped to consider how the phrase might be interpreted in the United States because "racism is such a big issue" in America.
Brondello has spent 27 years in the WNBA and said the people she has worked with throughout her career know what she stands for.
"I know I’m not racist," she said. "It’s a really unfortunate situation."
Brondello added that she wants to be "part of the solution, not the problem."
She didn’t merely issue a carefully written public statement and move on. Brondello reached out to the Dream, asked for a direct conversation with Reese and then publicly pleaded for the opportunity to explain herself.
"Hopefully, I can have that chat and she gets to know me and my heart," Brondello said. "I am truly sorry."
Based on Brondello’s comments, Reese had not returned that outreach as of Sunday.
Reese could put the controversy to rest by speaking with Brondello, accepting the apology and acknowledging that the coach used a common expression from her home country while complaining about officiating.
Instead, Reese thanked the WNBA for suspending Brondello and categorized the incident as "discrimination or hate."
Brondello has apologized publicly, attempted to apologize privately and repeatedly explained that the remark had nothing to do with Reese’s race.
Of course, none of that seems to be good enough.
Stephen A Smith warns politics is causing 'division' within America's last unifying pastime
Sports have brought Americans together despite political differences for decades, and Stephen A. Smith is determined to keep it that way.
The outspoken media personality issued a passionate warning about politics encroaching on sports during a July 17 episode of SiriusXM's "The Stephen A. Smith Show," broadcast from the third annual Fanatics Fest sports convention in New York City.
Smith warned of politics hijacking the discourse surrounding how WNBA star Caitlin Clark is treated by the league and the media, pleading with sports fans not to let "divisiveness" take over.
"This is America, baby. This is America — for all the divisiveness, for all the problems, for everything that we endure," he said. "Bottom line is this: people from all over the world want to get here, because it's the land of opportunity. The politicians that sit up there and run their mouth, and try to invade the sports world and contribute to the division — don’t let them do it. Don't let them do it."
Smith sounded the alarm over NBA commissioner Adam Silver's labeling of the Clark debate as "political ping pong," predicting it could add more fuel to the fire.
"When the (NBA) commissioner comes along, and he says, ‘political ping pong,’ because she's White, and she can play, and we're living in the climate that we're living in — these damn politicians are going to utilize that to contribute to a divide," he said. "You got a binary system, and you got to vote for one side over the other. So they're going to favor her because they're trying to paint somebody else on the other side of the enemy, and that divisiveness kicks in. And we all buy into it — I'm saying we need to stop that. We need to stop buying into that stuff."
Smith also urged Clark and her fellow WNBA players to put their differences aside in hopes of cooling the heated debate over her popularity, while pleading with lawmakers to stay out of the conversation.
"Caitlin Clark is not the enemy; she's your friend. Those other ladies ain't her enemies, and she has to know that too," he said. "And the (WNBA) commissioner has to commit herself to being a leader and bringing everybody together, so we're able to look at politicians that try to politicize it and tell them to kiss our a--. Go up on Capitol Hill and do your job. Stop trying to sit up there and get in the way of regular folks out here just trying to work hard, earn an honest living and live their life. Go do your damn job. That's what we’ve got to get accustomed to do. ‘Cause if we don't, it's gonna be a collective sinking ship. And you don't want that."
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Fox News Digital reached out to the WNBA for comment.
Several prominent political leaders and commentators have given their two cents on Clark. Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., previously said the Indiana Fever star gets the "thug treatment" in the WNBA and called it "pathetic."
Rep. Brandon Boyle, D-Pa., got into an online spat with former ESPN host Jemele Hill over the WNBA's perceived lack of marketing for Clark despite her otherworldly shooting talents. Boyle later declared, "The WNBA detests Clark," sparking more debate on X.
Even President Donald Trump weighed in in recent weeks while addressing the media, praising her as a "wonderful basketball player" while slamming Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas for committing a hard foul on Clark during a game. Thomas received a one-game suspension as a result.
"I thought she was treated rather rough, if you want to know the truth," Trump said. "That was a much different kind of event — that was a pretty bad event."
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Smith has continued to use his massive platform to criticize both sides of the political spectrum, blaming Trump for the New York Knicks' Game 3 loss to the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals and calling out the rise of democratic socialism within the Democratic Party.
Fox News' Ryan Morik and OutKick's Dan Zaksheske contributed to this report.
'We want land invasion': Iran mouthpiece touts new missile, boasts decades of war prep
Tehran has spent decades preparing for — and welcoming — a U.S. ground invasion, a senior Iranian official has claimed, as fresh explosions rocked the region on the eighth day of renewed U.S.-Iran strikes.
Seyed Mohammad Marandi, an Iranian American academic identified as a regime "mouthpiece," also boasted that Tehran had just launched a "new missile" while decentralizing and burying its arsenal deep underground to withstand sustained American air campaigns.
"The Americans are planning an invasion. I'm not saying it will necessarily happen. I'm not saying it will necessarily happen in the next few days. But they have plans for an invasion," Marandi, a former advisor to Iran's nuclear negotiation team, said in an interview with political analyst Glenn Diesen.
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"Whether they carry them out or not, we'll see. But the Iranians, as you pointed out, the focus of Iranian strikes is on Bahrain and Kuwait, and that's because that's where most American assets have been placed for a ground invasion," Diesen said.
Marandi’s comments came as the conflict expanded across western and southern Iran in the run-up to Saturday.
Iran also launched missile and drone salvos targeting U.S.-linked facilities in Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain.
Jordanian officials confirmed they intercepted 10 missiles early Saturday, while authorities in Kuwait reported casualties and severe damage to a domestic power and desalination plant.
In response, U.S. airstrikes struck bridges, a key road tunnel, surveillance outposts and reinforced underground weapons storage facilities.
Multiple explosions also rocked the city of Khorramabad in Iran's Lorestan province. Iranian state media claimed the blasts were caused by U.S. missiles launched from regional bases in Kuwait, according to reports.
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Khorramabad houses the Imam Ali Missile Base, one of Tehran's primary underground silo facilities engineered to store and deploy liquid-fueled Shahab-3 medium-range ballistic missiles, according to Washington’s Nuclear Threat Initiative.
The complex was damaged by Israeli airstrikes during the 2025 campaign targeting Tehran's military and nuclear infrastructure.
Marandi also detailed what he described as a resilient, subterranean network central to Tehran's military strategy.
"When Iran wants to fire missiles or drones, they don't put them inside buildings or in piles somewhere. They take out whatever they need," Marandi said. "They fire them, and then they go back to their bases, or they take out different missiles and drones, spread them out in different areas, put them apart from one another so that the Americans cannot bomb them in large numbers."
He added: "Everything has been spread out in Iran and placed underground."
The latest escalation between the U.S. and Iran ended a recently signed memorandum of understanding (MOU) to establish a 60-day ceasefire and facilitate nuclear talks.
The key issue has centered on control of the Strait of Hormuz, with the strategic waterway turning into the conflict's main battleground.
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President Donald Trump ordered renewed airstrikes within weeks of the truce, or MOU, being implemented, and on July 14, he floated the possibility of launching a ground campaign.
According to Marandi, Iran's military command is actively counting on a ground scenario and has since introduced a new weapon to the theater.
"Iran has that advantage, and of course, it has been accumulating missiles and drones for decades now, and it is doing so even now," Marandi claimed.
"They, I think, last night introduced a new missile to the war," he said of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRCG).
"The Iranians are hitting very hard, and they are prepared for a land war. They've been preparing for decades."
Marandi concluded by claiming that Tehran views a U.S. ground operation as the most direct path to ending the conflict on its own terms.
"The Iranians — we discussed this during the 40-day war before on your show — when I said that the Iranians actually want the Americans to carry out a land invasion, and the same is true now, because they felt that if there was a land invasion, they would win," he told Diesen.
US service member killed in Iraq as troops recover unidentified remains in Jordan: CENTCOM
A U.S. service member was killed Saturday during an operation involving explosive remnants from a downed Iranian drone in northern Iraq, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced Sunday.
A second U.S. service member was also wounded in the incident, officials said.
The announcement came as CENTCOM confirmed unidentified remains were found Sunday during the search for a U.S. service member reported missing in Jordan following a separate Iranian attack on Friday.
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According to officials, the incident in Iraq happened after U.S. forces recovered a downed Iranian drone and began handling the explosive material left behind.
"A U.S. service member in northern Iraq was killed in action July 18 during a controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance from a downed Iranian one-way attack drone," CENTCOM wrote in a post on X.
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The military did not immediately release further details about the incident, but said the other service member injured in the operation is receiving medical treatment.
In Jordan, officials said the unidentified remains recovered Sunday will also undergo an examination to determine their identity.
"After a thorough search, U.S. military personnel found unidentified remains at the location earlier today," CENTCOM said. "An examination process to verify the remains is ongoing."
Friday's Iranian attack on a U.S. base in Jordan killed two U.S. service members, CENTCOM previously said.
Four American service members were also medically evacuated to Jordanian hospitals, officials said. They have since been discharged.
"CENTCOM is withholding additional information, including the identities of the missing and fallen warriors, out of respect for the families during the notification process," the agency said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Tipster charged with murder after police say anonymous call helped solve 30-year disappearance
More than 30 years after an Alaska man vanished without a trace, an anonymous confession breathed new life into the cold case and ultimately led investigators to the alleged killer.
Christopher Popps, 54, of Michigan, was arrested after Alaska State Troopers said they traced the confession back to him, accusing him of fatally shooting his former co-worker, Patrick Orville Dearth, in 1993 before dumping his body inside a barrel off a remote highway.
Dearth, 34, disappeared in November 1993 after he was reported missing to the Fairbanks Police Department. For decades, investigators had few answers.
The breakthrough came on Jan. 22, 2025, when Alaska State Troopers received an anonymous tip from someone claiming to have committed a murder in the Fairbanks area in 1993, according to the agency.
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The Alaska Bureau of Investigation's Cold Case Investigation Unit took over the case, but investigators couldn't immediately search the area because it was buried under snow and daylight was limited, Alaska State Troopers spokesperson Austin McDaniel told Alaska Public Media.
When investigators returned in May 2025, they found human remains inside a barrel down a steep embankment near Mile 47 of the Steese Highway. The Alaska State Medical Examiner's Office later identified the remains as Dearth and ruled his death a homicide.
As investigators dug deeper, they identified the anonymous tipster as Popps.
McDaniel told Alaska Public Media that Popps had made multiple anonymous tips to different Alaska law enforcement agencies claiming responsibility for Dearth's death.
Investigators have not said why they believe he began confessing more than three decades after the killing.
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Authorities said Popps and Dearth worked together in Fairbanks and that an altercation at an auto shop ended with Popps allegedly shooting Dearth.
"Based on our investigation, we determined there was an altercation at an auto shop, which led Popps to shoot Dearth," McDaniel told the outlet.
A Fairbanks grand jury indicted Popps on two counts of second-degree murder on June 25, 2026, and a warrant for his arrest was issued the same day, according to court records.
Michigan State Police arrested Popps near Kalamazoo on July 16. He remains jailed in Kalamazoo County awaiting extradition to Alaska.
As of Friday, Popps did not have an attorney listed in Alaska court records, and no future hearings had been scheduled, according to Alaska Public Media.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Alaska State Troopers and Michigan State Police for additional information.
The daytime habit that could transform your sleep, according to new study
Spending more time in bright daylight could help people fall asleep earlier and get deeper sleep at night, according to new research.
A study led by researchers at the University of Manchester found that adults with brighter and more consistent daytime light exposure tended to fall asleep earlier, wake up earlier and experience more deep sleep during the first part of the night.
The findings, published in the journal NPJ Biological Timing and Sleep, were based on more than 500 days of data collected from 89 adults who wore light sensors and sleep trackers while keeping daily sleep diaries.
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Participants who spent more time in brighter daylight generally fell asleep and woke up earlier than those with less light exposure. Those with more consistent daytime light exposure also experienced healthier sleep timing and more deep sleep early in the night, according to the study.
Jennifer Martin, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist and professor at Florida International University's Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, said the findings align with what sleep experts already know about how light affects the body's internal clock.
"Light impacts human sleep through a specific pathway, starting with the eye," Martin, who was not involved in the study, told Fox News Digital.
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"When light hits specific cells in the retina, it communicates to the brain that it's daytime, meaning we should be alert and active."
Morning light is especially beneficial because it helps keep the body's sleep-wake cycle consistent, Martin said. She recommends spending time outdoors early in the day when possible.
"Exposure to sunlight early in the day is really good for healthy sleep," she said. "Regular morning light helps people feel sleepy around the same time each evening and build a strong sleep routine."
Limiting bright light in the evening can also help improve sleep, Martin said.
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She recommends avoiding bright light during the last couple of hours before bedtime and maintaining a consistent wake-up time each morning.
"Varying your wake time by more than about one hour can lead to feelings of 'jet lag' and contribute to trouble with regularly sleeping well," Martin said.
She added that adults should aim for at least seven hours of sleep each night and seek help from a sleep specialist if sleep problems become chronic.
While the findings suggest brighter daytime light may support healthier sleep, the researchers said the study has several limitations.
They noted that the research found an association between daytime light exposure and sleep patterns but did not prove that one directly caused the other.
The researchers also measured light exposure using wrist-worn devices rather than at the eyes, where light directly influences the body's internal clock, and did not account for factors such as physical activity or meal timing that could affect sleep.
Fox News Digital reached out to the study researchers for comment.