Spain dominates Argentina in a one-sided World Cup final. Andy Burnham replaces Keir Starmer as Britain’s Prime Minister. And the FDA fails to find the cyclospora parasite in any Taylor Farm lettuce samples.
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How Spain won — and Argentina lost — the World Cup final
Spain’s victory over Argentina in the World Cup final capped an unbeaten campaign that showcased the team’s trademark control, patience and relentless efficiency.
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The showdown in New Jersey matched the European champions and one of the tournament favorites against the reigning world and South American champions.
Despite the star power on both sides, the final was strikingly one-sided. Spain dominated possession with more than 65% of the ball and never allowed Argentina to register a single shot on target.
As throughout the tournament, Spain’s decisive moment came from an unexpected source. Substitute Ferran Torres scored the only goal of the match in extra time, sealing a 1-0 victory over the defending champions and securing Spain’s second World Cup title.
“I just saw the ball coming to me and I shot with the power of all the Spanish people,” Torres said of the moment.
The match was not without controversy: Argentine midfielder Enzo Fernández was sent off with a red card in the 93rd minute, adding to a long list of heated calls during the tournament.
As the tournament ends, soccer fans are left with the lingering question: Was this Lionel Messi’s last time in an Argentina jersey?
Recapping the World Cup:
- 📸 Photo gallery: Take a look at some of the tournament’s best moments, through a photographer’s eyes.
- 🏟️ Off the pitch: From the “Viking Row” to America’s beloved ranch dressing, this is what went viral.
- 👟 Gooooooolden Boot: France’s Kylian Mbappé broke Messi’s World Cup goal record and secured this year’s Golden Boot — his second in a row.
Andy Burnham becomes the U.K.’s seventh prime minister in a decade
Andy Burnham, known as the “King of the North,” is the latest in a revolving door of U.K. leaders who will attempt to halt a decade of political turbulence and economic stagnation.
Burnham, 56, was appointed unchallenged after incumbent Keir Starmer agreed to step down last month following a series of election defeats, U-turns and scandals.
Both Starmer and Burnham come from the same center-left Labour Party, and in the United Kingdom ruling parties can change leaders — and therefore the prime minister — in the middle of an election cycle without the public voting.
Read more about the U.K.’s new leader.
FDA says Taylor Farms lettuce sample tested for cyclospora produced false positive
A sample of lettuce from Taylor Farms, which has recalled products as a result of a multi-state cyclospora outbreak, produced a false positive result for the parasite, federal officials said yesterday.
The false positive was discovered when the Food and Drug Administration re-reviewed the results of a sample. It does not change the company’s earlier voluntary recall of its iceberg lettuce that was sourced from central Mexico.
“As of July 19, 2026, there are no confirmed positive sample results for product testing for Cyclospora,” the FDA said in its statement.
Donald W. Schaffner, chair of the Department of Food Science at Rutgers University, said that the recall was “the right thing” for Taylor Farms to do, regardless of the status of lab tests.
“Unfortunately testing for this organism is difficult,” he said, urging consumers not to ignore the false positive, “but realize that the science is complicated.”
📝 We want to hear how Medicaid work requirements are affecting you. If you have lost your health coverage or are at risk of losing it, tell us your story.
U.S. military recovers unidentified remains in Jordan as another service member dies in Iraq
The U.S. military recovered unidentified human remains while searching for an American service member reported missing after an Iranian missile and drone attack in Jordan.
U.S. Central Command said military personnel found the remains at the site of Friday’s strike, where two other service members were killed. Officials are examining whether the remains belong to the missing person.
Separately, CENTCOM said a service member was killed over the weekend in Iraq during the controlled detonation of a downed Iranian drone.
The U.S. and Iran continued trading strikes over the weekend, but Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last night that Washington remains open to diplomacy. However, he added that “there’s a growing split” in Tehran.
More politics news:
- Usha Vance gave birth to her fourth child, making her husband, JD Vance, the first sitting vice president in modern history to welcome a child.
- Former state Senate President Troy Jackson is racking up support to become Maine’s next Democratic Senate nominee in the race to replace Graham Platner. Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows and former public health official Nirav Shah ended their campaigns.
- The FBI will no longer investigate assault confrontations with ICE agents, according to two people familiar with the directives.
Staff Pick: America’s data center boom is coming from companies few people have heard of
A few weeks back, I became more curious about who exactly is building all these new data centers around the country. I had written about one neighborhood revolt happening in Nashville, where the city’s zoo and its supporters were rising up against a proposed data center. The developer there was a company called DC BLOX, which I had never heard of before. Sure, I knew that Google, Amazon and Microsoft were behind a lot of data center projects, but clearly they weren’t alone.
What I found next was an obscure world that is starting to get more attention. There are nearly 70 companies that are now in the business of developing large data centers in the U.S., not even counting the major companies like Google. Many of these players started a decade ago to meet demand for cloud computing, and now they’re raising billions of dollars in investment as part of the AI boom.
As the industry grows, many developers have been thrust into the public spotlight, with opponents accusing them of eroding community character and straining power grids.
To the industry, however, these companies are as vital to the digital economy as railroad builders were to the Industrial Revolution. They are constructing the computing infrastructure that powers everything from AI chatbots to YouTube streams and years of archived Instagram photos.
— David Ingram, tech reporter
Read All About It
- Scientists say there is little — if any — evidence that peptides work in humans. Here’s what to know about the seven an FDA advisory panel will review this week.
- Tropical Storm Fausto, forming well off Mexico’s southwest Pacific coast, is expected to strengthen and become a hurricane by tonight, the National Hurricane Center said.
- Demand for “The Odyssey” has been so high that some fans are reselling their tickets on eBay — one even for $1,000.
NBC Selected: Online Shopping, Simplified
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