World Cup Begins, 'I Love the Inflation' & Knicks' Historic Comeback - Thursday, June 11, 2026

**Erica Mandy** (0:00)
Today is Thursday, June 11th. What to know about the World Cup kicking off today, from American cities bracing for a surge of fans, to the big name celebrities getting ready to perform. Also, the new numbers are out and prices are rising, why President Trump says he now quote, loves the inflation. Plus, a new study splits Americans into nine political groups. Canada is considering a social media ban for kids. And the greatest finals comeback makes this a historic playoff run for the Knicks. Those stories and even more news to know, next.
Welcome to The NewsWorthy, all the day's news in less than 15 minutes. I'm Erica Mandy. Thanks so much for being here. Let's do this.
The largest single sporting event in the world starts today. The 2026 FIFA World Cup begins at Asteca Stadium in Mexico City with co-host Mexico facing South Africa. That's just the first game of a 104 set to be played across Mexico, Canada, and the US. Over the next five and a half weeks, billions of people are expected to watch, and millions of them are flooding into host cities now, planning to take part in the festivities in person. Here in the US, there are 11 cities that have been preparing for this, and now comes the test of how their transportation, security, infrastructure, and tourism industries can handle the surge. Because it's not just people with tickets to the games who are coming to these cities. All 11 are turning public spaces into public fan celebrations, and the festivities are expected to continue all hours of the day and night. The first time the US plays will be tomorrow, when the US men's national team will face Paraguay in Inglewood, California. Ninety minutes before kickoff, there will be a big opening ceremony performance featuring stars like Katy Perry and Future. There will also be two other star powered opening ceremonies before the first games in Mexico and Canada. The final game of the tournament is happening Sunday, July 19th in New Jersey. That one will feature a half time show with Madonna, BTS, Shakira and characters from The Muppets. There are actually some tickets available for people who want to watch the games in person though ticket prices are pretty high at this point. For those planning to watch from home, all the games will be on Fox channels. By the way, we talked all about the World Cup in our special edition Saturday episode from last weekend. It's a few episodes back in your podcast feed or check out the link in today's episode notes.
For the second night in a row, the US military launched attacks on Iran. But this time, it wasn't in response to any Iranian action but actually inaction. American officials say these attacks are meant to pressure Iran to sign a peace deal since negotiations have stalled. President Trump told a reporter last night that on top of bombing with fighter jets, the US fired 49 Tomahawk missiles at targets inside Iran. And he says, if Iran doesn't agree to his latest offer, there will be more attacks tonight. So far, no comment from Iran on a potential deal, but Iranian officials did say they retaliated with attacks on US airbases in Kuwait, Jordan and Bahrain, and that some facilities were actually destroyed. So far, that has not been confirmed. Stay tuned.
Once again, Congress is facing a deadlock, and President Trump is pressuring lawmakers to end it fast. This time, it's over Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, aka FISA. It's a surveillance program that's set to expire tomorrow. And unless it gets extended, US intelligence agencies are set to lose the legal authority to collect emails, texts and cell phone data from overseas when US communication systems are used. FISA has been criticized in the past for not having enough privacy protections for Americans, but it's also been credited with helping prevent terror attacks, disrupt drug trafficking and track foreign threats. Now, intelligence officials say letting it expire could create a major blind spot at a time when the US is hosting the World Cup and remains involved in conflicts overseas.
The issue is Democrats are holding up the extension in protest of President Trump's appointment of Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence. Some Republicans have also pushed back against putting a Trump loyalist without any national security experience in charge of all 18 agencies within the US intelligence community. Trump says Pulte will serve only temporarily while he searches for a more experienced candidate. Granted, Trump has also said the interim period will give Pulte time to shrink what he views as an overly large intelligence bureaucracy, something he says is long overdue.