FIFA said Thursday that it would take no action on formal complaints by the Palestinian soccer federation in 2024 against its Israeli counterpart, including to suspend membership.
FIFA did, however, fine the Israel Football Association 150,000 Swiss francs ($190,000) on disciplinary charges relating to “discrimination and racist abuse,” plus “offensive behavior and violations of the principles of fair play.”
Palestinian soccer officials have long argued Israel violates FIFA statutes by letting teams from settlements in the West Bank play in the national league.
“FIFA should take no action given that, in the context of the interpretation of the relevant provisions of the FIFA Statutes, the final legal status of the West Bank remains an unresolved and highly complex matter under public international law,” the soccer body said.
“FIFA can’t solve geopolitical conflicts,” said Infantino, who presented U.S. President Donald Trump with a specially created peace prize at the World Cup draw in December.
“[B]ut we are committed to using the power of football and the FIFA World Cup to build bridges and promote peace as our thoughts are with those who are suffering as a consequence of the ongoing wars,” he said.
One third of the fine must be spent by Israeli officials, FIFA ruled, on “implementation of a comprehensive plan to ensure action against discrimination and to prevent repeated incidents.”
“The plan shall be approved by FIFA and shall focus on the following areas: reforms, protocols, monitoring, and educational campaigns in stadiums and on official channels for an entire season,” FIFA judges decided.
The judges said they “cannot remain indifferent to the broader human context in which football operates” and the sport “must remain a platform for peace, dialogue, and mutual respect.”
Joined ESPN The Magazine after graduating from the University of Missouri.
Although he primarily covers the NFL, his assignments also have taken him to the Athens Olympics, the World Series, the NCAA tournament and the NHL and NBA playoffs.
Host and co-executive producer of the new ESPN series, “Backstory”
Member of three Pulitzer Prize-winning teams for national, explanatory and public service journalism
Author of three books, including New York Times best-selling “First Off the Tee: Presidential Hackers, Duffers, and Cheaters from Taft to Bush”
24-year newspaper career at The New York Times and Miami Herald
Multiple Authors
Mar 19, 2026, 05:41 PM ET
NFL owners are scheduled to vote on a Las Vegas Raiders succession plan that gives Silver Lake co-chief executive officer Egon Durban the option to purchase a majority stake in the team from longtime owner Mark Davis, according to multiple ownership and team executives with direct knowledge of the situation.
Although sources close to Davis say he has no intention of selling his majority stake, the vote would mean that if and when Davis, or his heirs, did decide to sell, Durban, a limited partner, would have the option to buy the club. Owners would then have to approve Durban as the new controlling owner, per league rules.
Four sources with knowledge of the situation said that owners will also vote on Davis selling roughly 7% of the team to Durban and another limited partner, Michael Meldman. That sale would put the team’s valuation at nearly $10 billion, two of those sources said.
Owners will vote on the transactions at the annual league meeting held in Phoenix starting March 29, according to the agenda distributed to clubs this week. The league’s finance committee has already approved the option agreement with Durban, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the situation.
Davis declined to comment Thursday afternoon. But a source close to Davis told ESPN: “Mark has no intention to sell his majority stake in the team. This sets up a smooth succession plan.”
An NFL spokesperson declined to comment. Spokespeople for the Raiders and for Silver Lake didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Davis family has been a cornerstone of professional football ownership for more than five decades, and Mark Davis’ late father, Al Davis, is one of the few owners in any sport whose notoriety transcended the game. Al Davis was hired as the team’s coach and general manager in 1963 and became principal owner in 1972. He won three Super Bowls and was as famous for his contributions to the game as for his lawsuits and fights with fellow owners and the league office.
Mark Davis, who turns 71 in May, inherited the team when his father died in 2011.
Since then, the Raiders have had two winning seasons and no playoff wins, and Davis has cycled through several head coaches and general managers. He moved the team from Oakland to Las Vegas starting in 2020 to play at Allegiant Stadium.
Durban has owned 7.5% of the team since December 2024, when NFL owners approved the Raiders to sell 15% of the franchise to him and Meldman, who is the founder of Discovery Land Co.
In 2024, Davis also sold 5% of the team for an undisclosed sum to legendary quarterback Tom Brady — a move that was supposed to invigorate the franchise. Instead, the Raiders went 4-13 and 3-14 in 2024 and 2025, respectively. Brady bought into the team alongside Knighthead Capital Management co-founder Tom Wagner (5%) and Raiders Hall of Famer Richard Seymour (0.5%).
Durban co-runs Silver Lake, a technology-focused private equity firm, and has a net worth of $2.5 billion, according to Forbes. Silver Lake’s portfolio includes stakes in some sports-related companies, including Madison Square Garden Sports — the parent company of the New York Knicks and New York Rangers — and Fanatics Collectibles.
The Federal Communications Commission announced Thursday evening that it had approved the $6.2 billion merger of major broadcast station owners Nexstar and Tegna. The move came on the same day that attorneys general in eight states and DirecTV filed separate lawsuits seeking to block the deal, arguing that it will lead to higher prices for consumers and stifle local journalism.
The FCC said in a statement announcing its approval that Nexstar’s acquisition of Tegna will “enable these broadcast TV stations to counter the growing power that national programmers have amassed in recent years.”
With the deal, Nexstar will still own less than 15% of television stations in the U.S., the FCC said.
In a lengthy social media post marking the approval, FCC Chair Brendan Carr said that Nexstar had agreed to “certain concrete conditions” as part of the deal, including “divesting a number of stations, increasing localism, and affordability steps.”
In its own statement, Nexstar said that the “transaction is essential to sustaining strong local journalism in the communities we serve,” with a company spokesperson adding in an email to CBS News that it would “let the press release speak for itself and will not be making any further comment.”
But Anna Gomez, the FCC’s only Democratic commissioner, blasted the approval, saying in her own statement that the merger creates a “broadcast behemoth” that violates the FCC’s National Television Ownership rule. Under that rule, a broadcast owner cannot own television stations that collectively reach more than 39% of all U.S. television households. Nexstar had said the deal would give it a reach of 80%.
“This merger was approved behind closed doors with no open process, no full Commission vote, and no transparency for the consumers and communities who will bear the consequences,” Gomez said.
Nexstar had announced last August that it had reached an agreement to buy Tegna for $6.2 billion. The deal will create a company that owns 265 television stations in 40 states and the District of Columbia, most of them local affiliates of ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC.
Nexstar has argued the deal would allow it to compete more effectively with richer legacy media companies and Big Tech.
But in Thursday’s lawsuit by the states, filed with the U.S. District Court in Sacramento, California, the eight Democratic attorneys general argued that it would come with a price. The action was filed by the top lawyers in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Oregon and Virginia. DirecTV filed a separate case in the same court.
“If this merger moves forward, cable prices will spike for consumers in New York and across the country,” said Letitia James, New York attorney general, on Thursday.
“Nexstar’s purpose in acquiring Tegna is to drive up the price it can extract from DirecTV and other distributors, which will force them to raise prices to their subscribers,” DirectTV said in a statement.
CBS News has reached out to the FCC for comment on the lawsuits.
The state lawyers argued the merger would run afoul of federal laws designed to protect against monopolies. It would also require a change in federal rules that limit how many stations that one company can own, although Carr has advocated for loosening those restrictions.
The merger was endorsed in February by President Trump, who wrote on social media that “we need more competition against THE ENEMY, the Fake News National TV Networks.”
Nexstar flexed its muscles last fall in ordering its ABC stations to yank late-night host Jimmy Kimmel following comments he made about assassinated Republican activist Charlie Kirk, briefly leading to Kimmel’s suspension by Disney. But ABC brought Kimmel back following public outcry, and Nexstar backed down.
Given Nexstar’s tendency to consolidate newsrooms in communities where it owns more than one station, both lawsuits expressed concern that the merger would hurt the already-struggling local news business. There are 31 markets across the country where Nexstar and Tegna own at least one station, according to the lawsuit.
“We all benefit when local newsrooms compete to get stories,” James said.
The attorneys general said they were open to having other states support their actions — even those whose chief legal officials are Republicans.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Thursday that Border Patrol agents have not released a single migrant into the U.S. interior for 10 consecutive months, pointing to what officials described as historically low levels of illegal crossings.
The DHS said in a press release that data from February shows U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recorded its tenth straight month with zero migrant releases at the border, as the agency credited an “enforcement-first” approach for the sustained drop.
“Ten straight months of ZERO illegal aliens released at the border. President Donald Trump promised to secure the Border, and that is a promise we delivered,” former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement. “We have the most secure border in American history. Our borders are CLOSED to lawbreakers.”
The Trump administration is restoring an immigration policy to conduct neighborhood investigations related to aliens applying for U.S. naturalization.(Getty Images)
CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott said the trend reflects a broader decline in crossings, adding that Border Patrol has not released any migrants into the country during that period.
“February marks the tenth straight month that U.S. Border Patrol has not released a single illegal alien into the interior of the United States — a clear reflection of the enforcement-first posture restoring integrity to our nation’s borders,” Scott said.
According to CBP data, agents recorded 26,963 encounters nationwide in February, down 22% from the previous month and 88% below the monthly average during former President Joe Biden’s administration.
A U.S. Army Stryker armored vehicle guards the U.S.-Mexico border as part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration and following the establishment of a 260-mile military zone along the U.S. southern border in New Mexico and Texas, in El Paso Texas, as seen from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico July 7, 2025. (REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez)
At the southwest border, agents made 6,603 apprehensions in February, a figure the agency said is 92% lower than the monthly average over the past three decades and 97% below the peak of the Biden administration in December 2023.
Officials also pointed to a sharp decline in daily crossings, with Border Patrol averaging 236 apprehensions per day in February — a 95% drop compared to the previous administration.
Venezuelan immigrant Louis Sanchez asks Texas National Guard troops to let his family pass through razor wire after they crossed the Rio Grande from Mexico on September 27, 2023 in Eagle Pass, Texas, under the Biden administration.(John Moore/Getty Images)
At the same time, CBP reported a surge in drug seizures, with agents confiscating more than 79,000 pounds of narcotics nationwide last month, the highest monthly total since October 2021.
The agency said fentanyl seizures increased 67% from January, while marijuana, methamphetamine and cocaine seizures also rose significantly.
Scott said the agency remains focused on enforcement and national security.
“While threats to our national and economic security continue to evolve, so does our resolve to meet them, as we carry out our mission of protecting the homeland while facilitating lawful travel and trade,” he said.
Greg Wehner is a breaking news reporter for Fox News Digital.
Story tips and ideas can be sent to [email protected] and on Twitter @GregWehner.
The plan is in its final stages and just requires Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s final approval.
Both officials said they expect Hegseth to sign the plan, which was finalized late last year, as Trump has repeatedly characterized the Guard’s mission in D.C. as an enormous success.
Members of the National Guard respond to reports of a bomb threat near One Franklin Square on March 13, 2026, in Washington, D.C. According to reports, police were able to clear the area without incident.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
“There are no announcements to make at this time,” Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson said in a statement to ABC News, adding that the Defense Department is “committed to supporting the President’s mission to address the epidemic of crime in our Nation’s capital.”
Some 2,865 National Guard troops are currently deployed in D.C., according to National Guard data, all drawn from Republican-led states with the exception of local D.C. Guard units.
The force includes contingents from Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Oklahoma, with units rotating in and out of the District on staggered timelines. Some troops have maintained a near-continuous presence since last summer, while others — particularly those from out of state — cycle through on shorter deployments, one of the officials noted.
The National Guard’s mission, dubbed “Make D.C. Safe and Beautiful,” launched in August as part of a broader push by President Donald Trump to flood U.S. cities with guardsmen to assist law enforcement, a move that quickly drew legal and political scrutiny.
Troops were ultimately pulled back from cities like Los Angeles and Chicago after the U.S. Supreme Court determined the administration lacked sufficient justification for the deployments. But in Washington, the Guard operates under a distinct framework that grants the president broader latitude.
Guard troops have been a visible presence in the city’s relatively safe corridors, patrolling Metro rail stations, downtown D.C. and the National Mall. Most are armed with M17 pistols or M4 rifles.
Guardsmen are also carrying out civic duties like picking up trash, tending to landscaping and scrubbing graffiti.
The deployment comes as the Guard balances competing demands at home and abroad. Units remain stretched across the Middle East amid the war with Iran.
Three airmen from the Ohio Air National Guard’s 121st Air Refueling Wing were among six crew members killed on March 12 when their KC-135 Stratotanker crashed in western Iraq.
In November, two members of the Guard from West Virginia were shot the day before Thanksgiving while patrolling in Washington. Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died of her injuries, while Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe suffered a gunshot wound to the head and is recovering.
HONG KONG — An independent committee investigating the cause of Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in decades heard accounts Thursday about how a series of failures contributed to the 2025 blaze that engulfed seven buildings and killed 168 people as hearings in the case got underway.
Former residents and relatives of the dead have been waiting for answers since November 2025, when the fire shattered the close-knit community of Wang Fuk Court, which housed thousands of people in the suburban district of Tai Po.
In his opening remarks, committee lead lawyer Victor Dawes said the most likely cause of the fire was cigarettes that lit other materials on fire on a platform in an air shaft between two low-level units in Wang Cheong House.
He said burned paper boxes and cigarette butts were found at the platform, indicating people may have been smoking at places not designated for smoking in violation of rules. At the time of the blaze, the buildings were undergoing maintenance and scaffolding had been erected outside.
Dawes noted there was no direct proof smoking cigarettes had caused the blaze.
Windows at staircases were boarded up with wooden planks, causing plumes of smoke and fire to get into residents’ escape routes, he said.
“On the day of the fire, nearly all fire safety systems meant to protect lives failed because of human factors,” he said.
During the hearing, Dawes showed the committee CCTV footage, documents and records of text messages as he laid out his arguments.
He said the labor department had previously received complaints about some construction workers smoking at the site, with a photo as proof.
However, the department said the complaints could not be substantiated after its members went to check and found no one smoking on the scaffolding. The department forwarded a complaint to the fire services department, which said that was not part of its duty, Dawes said.
The probe also heard evidence that the company contracted to do the maintenance had used non-fire-retardant scaffolding netting at the complex, something the authorities previously had not discovered, he said.
Dawes took issue with the housing department notifying the maintenance contractors of its inspection time, and the labor department’s failure to notice an outdated fire retardancy report.
After the hearing, Yip Ka-kui, who lost his wife in the fire, said much of the information he heard Thursday was “explosive.”
“It seems to be a series of … covering up for each other,” he said.
The fire broke out on Nov. 26 and quickly engulfed seven of the apartment complex’s eight buildings.
Dawes said 37 households lost at least two family members in the fire. He said one firefighter who was killed in the blaze might have fallen to his death when he attempted to escape from one of the buildings.
Police have so far arrested 38 people on accusations related to the complex, including manslaughter and fraud. Nine have been charged, the police said. The anti-graft agency also arrested 23 people on suspicion of offenses such as bribery and conspiracy to defraud.
The committee — led by a judge and set up in December — will also examine if systemic problems, such as bid-rigging, occurred in large-scale building maintenance and renovation works. The government said at the time that the committee’s work was expected to take nine months.
After listening to the opening remarks from lawyers, the committee will hear evidence from witnesses, including Wang Fuk Court residents. Various government departments were involved in the hearing.
Many former occupants of the apartment complex are living in temporary housing scattered across the city. Hong Kong officials last month proposed to buy back the homeownership rights from the fire victims, citing results from a survey of residents’ preferences, dashing hopes for those who want to rebuild their homes at the site.
Hong Kong leader John Lee on Tuesday said the government is working on plans to allow the victims of the fire to visit their damaged apartments and recover some of their belongings in April.
GREENVILLE, S.C. — TCU wasn’t short on confidence for Thursday’s NCAA tournament opener against Ohio State, with forward David Punch setting the stage of the matchup by saying he believed the Horned Frogs would beat the Buckeyes “nine out of 10 times.”
That, forward Xavier Edmonds said, added a bit of pressure on the Horned Frogs to back up Punch’s prediction.
“His words were just a little bit misconstrued and a little twisted,” Edmonds said. “Still, we saw it, and we felt like we had to stand on it.”
Given Ohio State’s raucous comeback from a 15-point halftime deficit, it’s hard to say what might happen if these two played nine more times, but on Thursday, Punch and Edmonds delivered. Punch connected on a nifty pass to Edmonds in the paint with four seconds to go for a go-ahead layup, helping TCU advance to the second round of the NCAA tournament with a 66-64 victory.
TCU was dominant from beyond the arc in the first half, but a brutal shooting performance after the break allowed the Buckeyes to claw back into the game, taking a 51-50 lead with just over seven minutes to play.
With Edmonds in foul trouble, Punch put the Frogs on his back late, however, finishing the game with 16 points, 13 boards and a pair of assists, including the go-ahead dish to Edmonds.
Ohio State had one final shot at the win, but Bruce Thornton couldn’t find an open man near the basket and settled for a half-court heave that fell short.
The win ensured Punch’s boast proved accurate, but TCU wasn’t done delivering a message to Ohio State.
“We just felt like them as a Big Ten team, they just haven’t felt or seen a defense like ours,” said Edmonds, who finished with 16 points and eight boards. “Being in the Big 12, and the different level of physicality and intensity, we just wanted to go out there and show them what Big 12 basketball is about.”
Fox Sports broadcaster Tom Verducci interviews MVP Maikel Garcia of Venezuela and his translator after a 3-2 victory against the United States at loanDepot Park March 17, 2026, in Miami, Fla.(Al Bello/Getty Images)
The telecast averaged 10,228,000 viewers, while hitting its peak at 12,148,000 from 10:30-10:45 p.m. ET on FOX.
This number was up 128% from the Team USA-Japan WBC final on FS1 during the 2023 tournament, when Shohei Ohtani struck out Mike Trout to seal a third WBC win for his country.
While this game had all the thrills, the WBC turned out to be an exciting tournament from the very start with pool play.
Whether it was feel-good stories like Ondřej Satoria’s standing ovation from Japanese fans at the Tokyo Dome during his final outing for Czechia or Italy’s espresso machine home run celebration, viewers from all over were tuning in to watch magic happen on the diamond.
Fox Sports broadcaster Tom Verducci interviews manager Omar López Team Venezuela after a 3-2 victory against the United States at loanDepot park March 17, 2026, in Miami, Fla. (Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
The tournament averaged 1,294,000 viewers across FOX, FS1 and FS2, making it the most-watched WBC in its 20-year history on English language networks.
It looked like Venezuela was going to shut out Team USA, which had just two hits and four base runners in the bottom of the eighth inning when Bryce Harper walked to the plate.
The game turned on its head when Harper belted a two-run homer to tie the game during the peak viewing window.
Venezuela, though, never blinked. Eugenio Suarez hit a rope to left-center field, scoring the game-winning run with a double.
Members of Team Venezuela celebrate with their gold medals after defeating the United States 3-2 at loanDepot Park March 17, 2026, in Miami, Fla.(Al Bello/Getty Images)
While a potential ban on the tush push was debated last offseason, this year the Cleveland Browns have floated the most notable rule change.
The proposal seeks to allow NFL teams to agree to deals that would involve draft picks as far as five years in advance. Current league policy only permits teams to trade picks as far as three years into the future.
The NFL owners will consider the Browns’ proposal and a separate proposal from the Pittsburgh Steelers when they gather for league meetings before the end of the month.
The Steelers’ suggestion centers on how players are contacted once the free agent negotiating period opens.
Huntington Bank Field before a game between the Cleveland Browns and the Miami Dolphins in Cleveland Oct 19, 2025. (Ken Blaze/Imagn Images)
Troy Vincent, the NFL’s executive vice president of football operations, said at last month’s scouting combine that no submitted proposals this year were about the tush push. However, the NFL’s competition committee will unveil its proposed rule changes next week.
At least 24 teams must vote in favor of any rule change for it to be approved.
The NFL shield logo on the field at SoFi Stadium Nov. 25, 2024, in Inglewood, Calif.(Kirby Lee/magn Images)
The NFL limits trades involving future draft picks to three years, while the NBA allows deals up to seven years in advance.
Cleveland Browns helmets on the field before a game between the Browns and Detroit Lions at Ford Field Sept. 28, 2025, in Detroit.(David Reginek/Imagn Images)
The proposal sparked some criticism, with one fan pointing to the 2022 blockbuster trade to acquire quarterback Deshaun Watson.
“Browns out here trying to trade 2030 picks before they even finish regretting 2022 one,” the fan wrote on X.
