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Somali ref Artan picked for showpiece UEFA game after being barred by US from World Cup

By The Associated Press

GENEVA (AP) — Somali referee Omar Artan who was barred by the United States from the World Cup was picked on Thursday for the showcase UEFA Super Cup game in August.

European soccer body UEFA said Artan will referee the Aug. 12 game between Champions League winner Paris Saint-Germain and Aston Villa, the Europa League winner. The game will be in Salzburg, Austria.

“Football is made to connect people and UEFA wants to show its respect to Omar and his outstanding officiating skills,” UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin said in a statement.

Artan got a hero’s welcome returning to Somalia on Wednesday, days after he was refused entry in Miami and questioned for 11 hours by U.S. authorities despite being picked by FIFA for World Cup duty. He was sent away on a flight to Turkey.

U.S. officials claimed Artan had connections to terror organizations, though without providing proof.

Artan’s treatment heightened concerns about U.S. immigration policy around the World Cup that was criticized by the United Nations ‘ top human rights official on Wednesday.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino said on Wednesday it was powerless to prevent Artan’s ordeal, and “we need to respect that we are not the kings of the world who can rule over governments and police forces.”

The 34-year-old referee was judged the best in Africa last season and worked the decisive game in the continent’s Champions League final last month.

Čeferin said UEFA worked on the plan with the Confederation of African Football and its president Patrice Motsepe. Čeferin and Motsepe both are FIFA vice presidents.

“Omar Artan has made Somalia and the entire people of the African continent extremely proud,” Motsepe said in the UEFA statement.

“This is a great honor for Omar Artan and for African referees and is also an excellent example of football bringing together and uniting people from Africa and Europe and worldwide,” Motsepe said, hours before his native South Africa opened the World Cup against co-host Mexico. They play at the storied Azteca Stadium in Mexico City.

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AP World Cup: https://apnews.com/fifa-world-cup

Iran attacks Bahrain and Kuwait following US strikes, threatens to end talks to end the war

By The Associated Press
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard launched drone and missile attacks Sunday targeting Bahrain and Kuwait in response to U.S. airstrikes that hit the Islamic Republic, and threatened a “complete halt” could come to negotiations to end the war if Washington continues its attacks. Efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf that once carried a fifth of the world's oil and natural gas, without Iran's direct oversight sparked the crossfire now gripping the region. A multinational maritime body overseen by the U.S. Navy said Saturday that it would expand a route near Oman in the Strait of Hormuz to allow for both inbound and outbound traffic — setting up a new flashpoint with Tehran. Iran insists it alone must govern the strait after the war, upending decades of the world considering that the strait was international waters free for all, despite its sitting in Iran and Oman's territorial waters. Tehran has twice attacked vessels going through the Oman route, backed by a United Nations agency, in recent days. Early Sunday, the U.S. military’s Central Command said it struck Iranian military “surveillance infrastructure, communication systems, air defense sites, drone storage facilities and minelayer capabilities” following an attack on a ship at sea early Saturday morning. That ship, the Panamanian-flagged tanker Kiku, carried crude oil for the state-run energy company of Qatar, a key negotiator between Iran and the United States.
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