Al Jazeera : The 2018 FIFA World Cup officially kicked off on Thursday with host nation Russia beating Saudi Arabia five goals to none.
The first World Cup on Russian soil will be played in 12 stadiums located across 11 cities.
With a maximum capacity of 80,000 spectators, the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow was the site of the opening ceremony and will also be the grounds for the final game, scheduled for July 15.
Hosts Russia roared their World Cup intent to the rafters with a 5-0 tournament-opening win over Saudi Arabia to end a nine-month winless run.
Substitute Denis Cheryshev scored twice – the first after a piece of skill that would have graced a Lionel Messi highlights reel – and the second a superb shot in stoppage time on Thursday.
Yury Gazinsky had headed the World Cup’s first goal after 12 minutes, Artem Dzyuba got the third a minute after coming on as a 70th-minute substitute and Aleksandr Golovin completed a memorable day by smashing in a free kick with the last action of the game.
Photos FIFA
Russia holds a parliamentary election on September 18 to 20, the first since it launched its full-scale war in Ukraine in February 2022.
The political system is tightly controlled and...
Bulgaria will begin supplying critical infrastructure facilities with anti-drone systems and has directed police to increase patrols at weapons production and storage sites, the governme...
Morning Briefing
MEP request for Fenech perjury investigation referred to police
The Attorney General’s Office has confirmed that a request by Nationalist MEP David Casa for an inv...
Morning Briefing
Foreign Firms Cut Jobs as Maltese Businesses Expand
Foreign-controlled companies in Malta reduced their workforce in 2024 while locally controlled businesses reco...
The European Commission has unveiled an ambitious package of tax reforms aimed at simplifying tax rules across the European Union, reducing compliance burdens for businesses and strength...
The European Union's new Migration and Asylum Pact enters into force on 12 June, ushering in the most significant reform of the bloc's migration framework in years and placing renewed em...
The public prosecutor's office in Reggio Calabria has opened an investigation into a case involving the banking services company Revolut, founded in London, which is now reportedly being...
Wizz Air sees few if any opportunities from airBaltic's bankruptcy and expects a wider shakeout of other European airlines that were unable to hedge against high fuel prices, the budget...
Artificial intelligence has already transformed industries such as finance and education, but one of its most important tests may come in medicine: discovering new drugs.
Pharmaceutic...
Malta’s new pay transparency regulations, which came into effect on the 5th of June, aim to strengthen fairness and equality in the workplace, but employers are warning that the rushed i...
Malta Public Transport is encouraging passengers attending Una Notte Con Le Stelle at The Granaries, Floriana, on Saturday 5 September to make use of the regular night bus services opera...
The first edition of HEKATECH.HEALTH 2026, to be held in Malta on November 26, will focus on how health systems can reconcile two increasingly urgent demands: expanding access to new med...
Fears of renewed escalation gripped the Middle East on Wednesday after the United States and Iran exchanged their biggest barrage since July, with Washington striking Iran's southern co...
President Donald Trump announced late Saturday that he had called off planned U.S. strikes on Iran, saying renewed negotiations had raised hopes of easing the conflict and reopening ship...
At least 32 people have been killed and more than 700 injured after two powerful earthquakes — measuring 7.2 and 7.5 — struck central Venezuela seconds apart, causing widespread destruct...
Thousands of Cuban security personnel have begun leaving Caracas after nearly two decades in Venezuela, as Washington ramps up efforts to dismantle the long standing alliance between the...
Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he expected Moscow to escalate the war in "in the coming weeks", following Russian strikes that hit a Warsaw-bound train in Ukraine, just two kil...
The departure from Moldova of a plane carrying Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to Norway was delayed when authorities closed the country's airspace over a drone alert, a Moldov...
