Argentina face the prospect of a Fifa fine after their players celebrated the World Cup semi-final win against England with a banner in support of their country’s claims to the Falkland Islands.

The defending world champions produced a dramatic late comeback in Atlanta, scoring twice to defeat Thomas Tuchel’s side 2-1 and book a showdown with Spain in Sunday’s final.

After the final whistle, Argentina players celebrated while holding a banner reading “Las Malvinas son Argentinas”, which translates as “The Falklands are Argentine”.

The Falkland Islands, a British overseas territory in the south-west Atlantic Ocean, remain the subject of a sovereignty dispute between Britain and Argentina.

The two nations went to war over the group of islands, situated 300 miles off Argentina’s east coast, from April to June 1982.

The 74-day conflict led to the deaths of 655 Argentine and 255 British servicemen. Three people from the islands also died.

In 2014, Fifa fined the Argentine Football Association 20,000 pounds after its players held up a banner with the same message before a friendly against Slovenia.

World football’s governing body said the gesture had breached rules on political action and team misconduct.

[BBC]

The death toll in a fire at a popular live music pub in Bangkok has risen to 32 after two more people died from their injuries, as Thai police continue to investigate possible negligence as a factor in the blaze.

The Erawan Emergency Medical Centre said on Wednesday that 30 people remained in hospitals in the city, with 15 of those being treated in intensive care units. It said 44 people had been discharged.

The fire, Thailand’s deadliest in 17 years, broke out at the Rong Beer Na Ladprao late on Sunday night. It took firefighters 30 minutes to put out the blaze.

Most of the victims died from smoke inhalation, while a few died from burn injuries, Wiroon Supasingsiripreecha, chief of the Institute of Forensic Medicine, told journalists on Wednesday.

Local police said that most of the people who were found dead were trapped in windowless bathrooms, where they may have tried to escape the blaze.

The cause of the fire has not been determined, and police are investigating the possibility of negligence at the venue, including whether emergency exits were obstructed.

Authorities say an electrical short circuit in a ceiling-mounted air conditioner may have sparked the fire. Some experts say that combustible acoustic materials around the stage may have ignited, producing extreme heat and smoke.

Some survivors and family members of victims arrived at the Phahonyothin Police Station on Wednesday to give statements, gather belongings and seek compensation.

Natthaphong Lakhorn, 26, told the Associated Press news agency that he was close to the stage when the fire started.

[Aljazeera]

Father Emir Sheikh Hamad bin ⁠Khalifa Al Thani, the architect of Qatar’s remarkable transformation into an ultra-wealthy modern nation with global influence, has been laid to rest in Doha following his death at the age of 74.

Sheikh Hamad’s death was announced on Sunday morning, and his simple funeral ceremony was held after the daily evening prayer at sunset at the Imam Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab Mosque in the capital.

Mourners wearing traditional Qatari dress stood with their hands clasped in front of them during a funeral prayer, facing the shrouded body of Sheikh Hamad.

Afterwards, close family members, including his son and successor as emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, carried his body out of the mosque. Sheikh Hamad was laid to rest at the Lusail Cemetery north of Doha.

Al Jazeera’s Zein Basravi said the ceremony was “a humble event” and Sheikh Hamad was “buried in a simple grave”.

“The simplicity really is in keeping with Islamic tradition but also emblematic of how the father emir carried himself in his life,” Basravi said. “He did not concern himself with the trappings of wealth but was focused on the welfare of his own people.”

During Sheikh Hamad’s reign from 1995 to 2013, Qatar’s gross domestic product rose more than 24-fold, largely because of his focus on developing the country’s massive gas resources. By 2006, the small nation had become the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

[Aljazeera]