Iraq coach shielding players from war ahead of World Cup bid

Indonesia will make cuts to its free school meals programme from Tuesday as it seeks to set aside billions of dollars to counteract budget pressures brought on by the Middle East war and soaring oil prices.

The programme, which feeds an estimated 60 million children and pregnant and breastfeeding women at a cost of nearly a tenth of the annual budget, is President Prabowo Subianto's signature project.

Here's what we know:

- What is being cut? - 

At a cabinet meeting over the weekend, ministers and Prabowo decided to trim the programme from six days per week to five in primary and secondary schools starting Tuesday.

In regions with high malnutrition rates, meals will remain available on Saturdays, when many Indonesian schools are open in Southeast Asia's biggest economy.

The move will save "around 40 trillion rupiah ($2.3 billion)," Nanik Sudaryati Deyang, deputy head of the government's National Nutrition Agency, told AFP on Sunday.

The cut may be reviewed if conditions change.

Launched in January 2025, the initiative was touted by the government as a way to tackle a malnutrition and stunting crisis in the country of 284 million people.

The program has a target of ultimately feeding 83 million people, but it has come under the spotlight after thousands of recipients contracted food poisoning.

- A harbinger of more to come? - 

The Indonesian government is also weighing options for curbing fuel consumption as the war in the Middle East has disrupted global energy supply.

The country produces crude but is a net importer of the commodity. It heavily subsidises fuel and natural gas for domestic consumers.

The government has so far defended the subsidy, which at $12.3 billion represents about five percent of the total annual budget for 2026.

Observers say the government's hand may be forced given that Indonesia is required by law to keep its fiscal deficit under three percent of gross domestic product.

The 2026 fuel subsidy calculation was premised on a global oil price of $70 per barrel, but prices have since topped $100.

Firman Noor, a political researcher with the government-funded National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), told AFP the cut to the meal programme "indicates that the pressure on our financial strength stemming from the war is already beginning to be felt".

"This is a warning that we must get prepared like other countries. And just be frank, we need an adjustment because we never know when the war will end, which will surely drive oil prices higher."

Previous subsidy cuts have led to mass riots.

- Is it enough? -

Earlier this month, presidential spokesman Prasetyo Hadi said the government was seeking to set aside as much as 80 trillion rupiah to shield its economy from the Middle East fallout, without disclosing further details.

Measures under consideration include ordering government workers to work from home one day per week, cutting back on official travel and encouraging bicycle, electronic car and public transport use to preserve valuable fuel.

Analysts said savings from trimming the free meals programme were not nearly enough if the government intends to meet its fiscal deficit limit.

"Without changes in big budget (programmes), I don't see steps taken by the government, such as cutting back on free meals from six to five days or one day work-from-home per week, as adequate to tackle" the widening deficit, said Deni Friawan, a researcher of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). 

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As soon as Wednesday, NASA is poised to make history -- sending the first woman, the first person of color, and the first non-American on a voyage around the Moon.

Canadian Jeremy Hansen is among the four-person crew, what astronaut and fellow countryman Joshua Kutryk called "a very big deal."

Wearing a traditional royal-blue flight suit, Kutryk -- who is currently training for his own mission to the International Space Station -- made the trip to Florida's Kennedy Space Center to cheer on his colleague, who could take off as early as April 1.

In an interview with AFP, Kutryk discusses the significance of this new chapter of American space exploration:

- How do you feel ahead of this mission? -

It is a huge deal. It's the first -- not just the first Canadian lunar mission -- it's the first mission in the world that isn't purely a US crew.

So, it's a very big deal in Canada. I feel very excited, very proud.

Jeremy is a great friend and a great astronaut and a great ambassador to Canada, and I'm just excited to see him go do this.

- Why does this launch matter for Canadians? -

It's not a coincidence that Canada was invited to participate in this mission. It's because of what we've done in Canada that is valued by NASA, and that's something that makes me excited, but even more so proud to be from Canada right now.

Canada has been partnered with the United States throughout most of human space exploration. We started back with the Space Shuttle Program. We had astronauts flying in the 80s... We helped to construct the space station. We designed and built the suite of robotic systems that still operates a space station, even as you and I speak today.

Particularly with Artemis though, we were the first country to join the United States in this vision of going back to the Moon.

Now there are many countries in the Artemis Accords -- Canada was the first. And we contribute, or rather, we committed to contributing technology to help these missions take place.

And we've committed to developing robotics technology, to developing lunar rovers that are going to help explore the surface.

- Why should we return to the Moon? -

There's a lot of things in the world right now -- more than enough -- to leave people, myself included, feeling pessimistic about things.

This leaves me optimistic... it shows us that we can still do this stuff, the really hard stuff.

We can still do it together -- Canada, working with the United States, international cooperation -- and we haven't backed down from doing the really hard, next to impossible things, which are going back to the Moon.

That's really cool as an astronaut, to think that I have a friend who's going to go around the far side of the Moon.

But it's more than just cool. It's important for us. It's important for societies. It's important for Canada. It's important for our future, because this is how we get better.

It's how we advance and develop new technologies, make new scientific discoveries that chart a better course for us going forward.

And so for me, space is opportunity, and missions like this make me optimistic.

- What's different about the Artemis mission? -

What we're trying to do, technology wise, is very different. 

The Apollo program was designed to send small crews there for short periods of time and bring them back, and not really to do anything there.

The whole mission with Artemis is sustained, permanent exploration and presence.

If you think about what we do in low Earth orbit now, we have humans working from all over the world together for long periods -- six, seven, eight, 12 months at a time -- that's what I'm getting ready to go do.

We want to do that on the surface of the Moon. That's what Artemis is about, and that's something that we couldn't have done during Apollo because we didn't have the technology to do it.

Another difference that I think is worth pointing out is that Apollo was just the United States, for good reasons at the time.

But Artemis is entire collaboration of dozens of countries from around the world -- and it's an important difference from that point of view.

cha/mdo/pnb/mlm

Don't call it the "Marty Supreme" effect: table tennis is a growing sport in the United States, in part because of a new professional league giving the parlor game an ultra-competitive edge.

Founded three years ago by tech entrepreneur Flint Lane, Major League Table Tennis (MLTT) is now home to several ping pong players in the global top 100, including Amy Wang and Lily Zhang, who represented Team USA at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

At a weekend MLTT match in Princeton, New Jersey, about 100 spectators watched Kotomi Omoda secure victory for the Portland Paddlers against the Florida Crocs.

Nikhil Kumar, who also plays for the Paddlers and competed in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, told AFP he was "a little bit skeptical" when he first heard of Major League Table Tennis.

Now that the league has been around for a few years, however, "there's been a lot of progression for us in terms of the level of the play and the players that are coming to play stronger," he said.

The Olympic sport's growing US fandom is evident in MLTT ticket sales, which are up 50 percent compared to last year, according to founder Lane.

"I don't know if I would be a season ticket holder, but I'm killing a Saturday afternoon," Richard Kurland, a spectators at the match, told AFP.

"It's something different. I'll have stories to tell my friends for the next few weeks, some photos. I would definitely come back."

Despite the league's professional status, MLTT players hold day jobs to support themselves.

"I hope one day that it could be enough," said Kumar, who works as an engineer at a New York tech startup. "I'd love to play table tennis as a living."

- 'A good boost' -

Lane told AFP that MLTT ranks among the top professional leagues in the world, though it still trails the Chinese, Japanese, French and German leagues.

"But we're not competing against them either," Lane said, comparing it to Major League Soccer, the US football league that generate billions of dollars without being among the top leagues globally.

To grow the American audience for the sport, MLTT launched its own streaming channel in September, Table Tennis TV. It also created a ranking system, Spindex, with the hopes of making it a ratings scale similar to golf handicaps.

USA Table Tennis, the nonprofit governing body for the sport in America, had around 14,000 members as of late 2025.

PingPod, a chain of table tennis venues in the United States, reported it had 160,000 registered users.

"Having a well-funded, well-organized professional league in the United States is a good tailwind, a good boost for the sport, both in terms of participation and spectatorship," PingPod co-CEO David Silberman told AFP.

The sport also came to recent prominence in popular culture with the release of the Oscar-nominated film "Marty Supreme," which saw famed actor Timothee Chalamet portray table tennis player Marty Mauser in 1950s New York, based loosely on real-life player Marty Reisman.

The film grossed almost $100 million in the United States, becoming the top-grossing picture for independent film distributor A24.

"The buzz about Marty Supreme, the way that I talk about table tennis at work, or at the store in public, is completely different with the movie," said table tennis fan Revan Raguindin, who supports the Princeton Revolution MLTT team.

"I think there's so much more recognition of the sport this way, and I am really grateful for it."

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Italy have one last obstacle standing between them and a return to the World Cup in the shape of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who host the Azzurri on Tuesday in what promises to be a tense qualification play-off final in Zenica.

A battling win over Northern Ireland in last week's semi-final did little to ease Italian supporters' fears about missing out on a third straight World Cup, goals from Sandro Tonali and Moise Kean stopping a lacklustre display from turning into another disaster.

Coach Gennaro Gattuso called Tuesday's showdown in Zenica "Everest" due to the weight of expectation on his shoulders to guide Italy back to the world's biggest football tournament after 12 years away.

The prize for Italy is a spot in Group B at this summer's finals alongside co-hosts Canada, Switzerland and Qatar, and something to look forward to for a powerful football nation that has fallen behind its rivals since last lifting the World Cup in 2006.

Gattuso has said that he's not "interested in the performance" of his players in what will be a soaking and rowdy Bilino Polje Stadium, which has seen snow in the last few days.

"When you do this job you want to experience nights like this, there's nothing better," Gattuso told reporters on Monday.

"Throughout our history we have got our greatest victories not necessarily by playing the best football but digging in, showing pride and an impeccable mentality."

But his players have also come under fierce criticism for the way they greeted Bosnia's win on penalties over Wales in Tuesday's other semi-final.

A group of players, most prominently full-back Federico Dimarco, were filmed fist-pumping in celebration when Kerim Alajbegovic shot Bosnia's winning spot-kick in Cardiff.

That gesture led former Roma and Juventus midfielder Miralem Pjanic to tell the Gazzetta Dello Sport that "Bosnia is waiting for them with open arms".

- 'No disrespect' -

The controversy even caused former Italy goalkeeper Dino Zoff, a World Cup winner in 1982, to criticise the current team for making their task in Bosnia more difficult than it needs to be.

"It wasn't a good thing to do because it will just further fire up our opponents, I would have behaved differently," Zoff told newspaper Il Giornale.

Dimarco was wheeled out on Sunday to put an end to the controversy, the Inter Milan star insisting that he "wasn't showing disrespect for Bosnia or the Bosnian people".

"I've heard people say we were arrogant. There's really no reason to be, we've missed the last two World Cups," said Dimarco.

That so much attention is being placed on such an innocuous gesture from a group of players is emblematic of the tension surrounding Tuesday's match.

Italian media have even suggested that Clement Turpin being selected as referee is a bad omen, as the Frenchman was the official in charge of the play-off disaster with North Macedonia which cost Italy a place at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

But more than superstition it will be a dangerous opponent and hostile crowd that will be Italy's biggest hurdle.

Bosnia captain Edin Dzeko showed with his late equaliser in Cardiff that at the age of 40 he can still do damage up front and his successful career in Italy with Roma and Inter will also add to the fear factor.

Dzeko could play alongside Red Bull Salzburg forward Alajbegovic, a promising 18-year-old who will join Bayer Leverkusen in the summer, and who set up his veteran teammate's goal on Thursday.

"Italy won't underestimate us, but they don't have players like (Francesco) Totti or (Alessandro) Del Piero anymore. They have good players, but it's a different type of player than once upon a time," said Dzeko on Monday.

"It's up to us to show what we're made of. We're playing at home with the support of our fans. Italy could find themselves in a lot of trouble against us."

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Junior Trent Pierce announced his intent to return to the Mizzou men's basketball program for the 2026-27 season via Instagram on Monday. It will be his fourth year with the program. 

Pierce finished his junior season averaging 10.4 points per game. He entered the mix after recovering from a lower-body injury that sidelined him for the team's nonconference games.

Robinson enters transfer portal

While Pierce decided to stay with the Tigers through his senior year, Anthony Robinson II entered the transfer portal for the 2026-27 season, according to On3. 

Robinson, who played three seasons in Columbia, took a step back in his junior season. He was predicted to be a key part of the Tigers' plans, both offensively and defensively, after a standout sophomore season by the point guard. 

Robinson finished his time at Missouri averaging 8.9 points per game. He capped off his season with a stellar performance against Miami in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, tallying 11 points, five assists and three steals.

Four spots remain open for the Tigers to fill as they sit at 11 players currently. 

Future Tigers meet in McDonald's All American game

Mizzou signees Jason Crowe Jr. and Toni Bryant are set to face off in the McDonald's All American game at 8 p.m. Tuesday in Glendale, Arizona. 

Bryant is playing for the East while Crowe is playing for the West. Bryant is ranked as the No. 2 center and No. 19 player nationwide by Rivals whereas Crowe is ranked as the No. 4 shooting guard and No. 11 overall player.

The McDonald's All American game annually showcases top high-school prospects, with Crowe and Bryant becoming the sixth and seventh players to represent Mizzou. The Tigers are one of three programs to have multiple signees playing in the game, alongside Duke and Southern California.

Crowe, Coleman to play in Jordan Brand Classic

In addition to the McDonald's All American game appearance, Crowe made the roster for the 2026 Jordan Brand Classic alongside another recruiting target for the Tigers, Quentin Coleman.

The Jordan Brand Classic is set to tip off at 7:30 p.m. April 17 for the boys competition in Torrance, California. The JBC is known to showcase future stars, including past stars Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul and Napheesa Collier. 

Coleman is a four-star recruit out of Principia High School in suburban St. Louis. Coleman and Crowe faced off in the Norm Stewart Classic back in December, when Principia defeated Inglewood 85-69. Principia won the MSHSAA Class 3 title for the second year in a row. 

Though Coleman received an offer from Mizzou on March 1, he officially visited Illinois on Monday, according to 247Sports.

NASA began its two-day countdown Monday ahead of what is slated to be its first crewed moonshot in more than half a century, a long-anticipated loop around Earth's satellite that is to pave the way for future exploration.

The first window to launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida opens Wednesday, April 1 at 6:24 pm (2224 GMT), and NASA officials said the countdown began at 4:44 pm.

"The vehicle is ready, the system is ready. The crew is ready," Amit Kshatriya, the US space agency's associate administrator, said in a briefing.

"Behind this flight stands a campaign," he continued, noting recently announced plans including constructing a lunar base.

If Wednesday's launch is cancelled or delayed for any reason, there are more liftoff opportunities through April 6.

As of Monday evening, NASA officials voiced confidence that engineering operations and final preparations were proceeding smoothly.

"We'll fly when this hardware is ready," launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson told journalists.

"But certainly all indications are right now we are in excellent, excellent shape."

The four astronauts set to carry out the Moon voyage -- Americans Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch along with Canadian colleague Jeremy Hansen -- are in quarantine ahead of their journey.

NASA officials said Monday evening that they would have the opportunity to have dinner with their families at a Florida beach house.

- Cloudy with a chance of history -

The odyssey will mark a series of firsts: the first time a woman, a person of color and a non-American will venture on a Moon mission.

It is also the inaugural crewed flight of NASA's new lunar rocket, dubbed SLS.

The mammoth orange-and-white rocket is designed to allow the United States to repeatedly return to the Moon in years to come, with the goal of establishing a permanent base that will offer a stepping stone for further exploration.

But getting it off the ground has not been simple. The Artemis 2 mission was originally due to take off as early as February but repeated setbacks stalled that goal and even necessitated rolling the rocket back to its hangar for analysis and repairs.

And then there is the weather: as of Monday, NASA reported that the forecast shows "an 80 percent chance of favorable weather conditions."

"Cloud coverage and potential for high winds on the ground" were their primary concerns, the agency said.

Teams are also monitoring solar weather.

"I'm just gonna make an appeal to the space gods, okay?" Kshatriya said to laughter on Monday.

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Chicago Bulls guard Jaden Ivey was sacked by the team on Monday after condemning the NBA's support for the LGBTQ community.

A brief statement from the Bulls said the 24-year-old had been waived by the team for "conduct detrimental to the team."

The decision came after Ivey appeared to take aim at the NBA over its support for Pride month throughout the league.

"They proclaim Pride Month in the NBA. They proclaim it. They show it to the world. They say, 'Come join us for Pride Month,' to celebrate unrighteousness," Ivey said in an Instagram live post.

"They proclaim it. They proclaim it on the billboards. They proclaim it in the streets — unrighteousness. So how is it that one can't speak righteousness? How are they to say that, 'Man, this man is crazy'?"

Ivey, who only joined Chicago two months ago in a trade from the Detroit Pistons, also took aim at Catholicism in an exchange with a commenter.

"Catholicism is a false religion. And is not the true Doctrine of Christ. (It) does not lead to salvation in Jesus Christ," he commented.

Ivey was regarded as one of the brightest prospects in the NBA when he was chosen with the fifth pick of the draft by Detroit in 2022.

However his career has been disrupted by injuries over the past two seasons, and he played only four times for Chicago after joining the team in February.

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A host of tech giants including Facebook and YouTube are under investigation for potentially breaching Australia's world-leading social media ban for under-16s, the nation's online watchdog said Tuesday. 

Australia in December banned users under 16 from the world's largest social media platforms, citing the need to protect them from "predatory algorithms" and online bullying.

There were "significant concerns" that Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube may have breached the ban, eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said.

"While social media platforms have taken some initial action, I am concerned through our compliance monitoring that some may not be doing enough to comply with Australian law." 

Possible breaches included providing "insufficient measures to prevent new under 16 accounts being created". 

"As a result, we are now moving into an enforcement stance," said Inman Grant. 

Inman Grant said "powerful" tech interests were always expected to push back against the laws, likening their efforts to "Big Tobacco". 

"This reform is unwinding 20 years of entrenched social media practices," said Inman Grant. 

"Durable, generational change takes time -- but these platforms have the capability to comply today and we certainly expect companies operating in Australia to comply with our safety laws." 

A growing body of research suggests too much time online is taking a toll on teen wellbeing. 

Australia's ban has been widely hailed as a godsend for parents sick of seeing children glued to their phones. 

Malaysia, France, New Zealand and Indonesia are among the nations now eyeing similar measures. 

Social media companies bear the sole responsibility for checking Australia-based users are 16 or older. 

Some platforms have said they would use AI tools to estimate ages based on photos, while young users could also choose to prove their age by uploading government ID.

- 'Legally erroneous' -

While most tech companies have pledged to abide by Australian laws, they have warned that the heavy-handed move could simply push teens to darker, less-regulated corners of the internet. 

Initial impacts of the legislation "suggest it is not meeting its objectives of increasing the safety and well-being of young Australians", Meta argued in January. 

Meta said parents and experts were worried about the ban isolating young people from online communities.

Online discussion site Reddit has filed a legal challenge against Australia's ban, which it described as "legally erroneous". 

The US-based company said there were serious privacy concerns associated with platforms verifying age, with the collection of personal data creating a risk of leaks or hacks. 

Reddit's challenge is yet to be heard in Australia's High Court.

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Iraq coach Graham Arnold said Monday he is trying to shield his squad from news of the war in the Middle East as they prepare for a crunch 2026 World Cup playoff against Bolivia.

Arnold's Iraq-based players were forced to train and travel under the shadow of conflict embroiling the region, and arrived in Mexico after a gruelling journey that involved overland travel to Jordan.

However Arnold is determined not to let the troubled build-up distract his team as they bid to secure Iraq's first appearance at the World Cup since the 1986 finals in Mexico. 

"Representing 46 million people is a unique experience," Arnold told reporters in Monterrey on Monday. "A major part of my job has focused on the mental aspect. 

"The players need to concentrate on themselves -- thinking of their families and a few close friends -- rather than the entire country; otherwise, the pressure becomes too great," the 62-year-old Australian added.

Iraq's preparations for Tuesday's intercontinental playoff have been heavily disrupted over the past month by the war in the Middle East — a conflict involving Israel and the United States against Iran — whose shockwaves have rippled across the region.

Most of the Iraqi squad only reached Mexico around 10 days ago after a three‑day journey from Baghdad that began with an overland crossing into Jordan.

At least 101 people have been killed in Iraq since the conflict erupted on February 28, according to an AFP tally.

"It has been a very difficult month," admitted Arnold, who had initially pushed for Tuesday's playoffs to be delayed.

"I prefer not to talk about it right now (the war in the Middle East). I have tried to shield my players from it. 

"A tremendous amount is happening in the Middle East; if they dwell on it too much, it will mess with their heads. They know what they have to do for their country. These past 20 days have been very difficult for them, but now they are relaxed."

Arnold said he believes qualification could "change a country and the perception of it."

"In Iraq, there is an obsession with football; it is the national sport," he said. "It is an honor to work with these players; I tried to be a father figure this week because I have experienced these situations (playoffs) before with Australia," he added.

rg/rcw/dmc

(The Center Square) – The U.S. officially reopened its embassy in Caracas on Monday for the first time after its ousting of former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

The U.S. shuttered its Venezuelan embassy in 2019, after a breakdown in diplomatic relations with the country. The U.S. would not recognize Maduro as the legitimate leader of Venezuela and diplomats were facing increasing hostility, including orders from Maduro to leave the country. Since 2019, the U.S. has carried out diplomatic engagement with Venezuela through a team operating from its embassy in Bogotá, Colombia.

“The resumption of operations at U.S. Embassy Caracas is a key milestone in implementing the President’s three‑phase plan for Venezuela and will strengthen our ability to engage directly with Venezuela’s interim government, civil society, and the private sector,” the State Department said in a statement Monday.

The department sent longtime ambassador Laura Dogu, who has previously served as the ambassador to Nicaragua and Honduras, to Caracas in January to lead diplomatic efforts on the ground and the restoration of the chancery building. The U.S. conducted its targeted nighttime operation to oust Maduro on Jan. 3. 

The U.S. will eventually resume consular operations once the building is restored enough for full personnel.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a transcribed interview with Al Jazeera that after stabilization and recovery, the final phase of American efforts in Venezuelan a is “a full transition” to a truly democratic form of government.

Currently, Delcy Rodríguez, who was vice president under Maduro since 2018, is serving as the acting president of Venezuela.