FIFA president Gianni Infantino blasted the "hypocrisy" of Western critics of Qatar's human rights record on Saturday, making a passionate defence of the World Cup in the Gulf state on the eve of the kick-off.
The build-up to the tournament has been dominated by concerns over Qatar's treatment of migrant workers, women and the LGBTQ community, to the visible annoyance of organisers.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino hit back at criticism of Qatar's human rights record on Saturday, blasting the "hypocrisy" of Western critics on the eve of the World Cup kick-off.
Infantino, speaking at his opening press conference of the tournament in Doha, also expressed support for the LGBTQ community and migrant workers.
"This moral lesson-giving -- one-sided -- is just hypocrisy," said the Swiss.
"I don't want to give you any lessons of life, but what is going on here is profoundly, profoundly unjust."
A fraught UN summit wrapped up Sunday with a landmark deal on funding to help vulnerable countries cope with devastating climate impacts -- but also anger over a failure to be more ambitious on cutting emissions.
The two-week talks in Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, which at times appeared to teeter on the brink of collapse, delivered a major breakthrough on a fund for climate "loss and damage".
Canada's spy agency said Friday it is investigating credible death threats against people in Canada by Iran, days after Britain levelled similar accusations against the Islamic regime.
"CSIS is actively investigating several threats to life emanating from the Islamic Republic of Iran based on credible intelligence," Eric Balsam, spokesman for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, told AFP.
"Ultimately, these hostile activities and foreign interference undermine the security of Canada and Canadians, as well as our democratic values and sovereignty," he said.
Several global stars have refused to take part in the opening ceremony of the Qatar World Cup, and with two days to go, it is still not clear who will perform.
The most likely appearance is Jungkook of K-pop megastars BTS, who was rumoured to have already arrived in Qatar on Friday.
Britain's Robbie Williams, who performed at the last World Cup in Moscow, is also considered a likely participant.
But several musicians have made clear they will not perform, in protest at Doha's human rights records, particularly with regard to LGBT rights.
- Rod Stewart -
The White House denied Friday it was seeking to smooth over frayed bilateral ties with Riyadh when a recent US government court filing granted immunity to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over journalist Jamal Khashoggi's 2018 murder.
"This legal determination has absolutely nothing to do with the merits of the case itself," said White House national security spokesman John Kirby, referring to the civil lawsuit against the crown prince and other Saudis by Khashoggi's fiancee Hatice Cengiz.
Egyptian artist Bahia Shehab had one goal at the COP27 climate talks in Egypt: to let people experience the "hell" that is global warming.
At first, she said, she wanted to "hack the rooms" to literally turn up the heat on delegates from nearly 200 countries who have been talking for two weeks about how to drive forward action against worsening climate change.
With wealthy and developing nations struggling to agree on final deals, talks were extended to Saturday.
Acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi on Friday praised the "courage" of Iranian protesters, telling AFP he "salutes" the ongoing calls for political change in his homeland.
Iran has been gripped by a wave of protests sparked by the death in mid-September of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, after her arrest by the country's morality police for allegedly breaching the strict dress code for women.
Funerals for young Iranians, including a small boy, who families say were killed in a state crackdown, sparked a new wave of anti-regime protests on Friday in the Islamic republic.
Iran's clerical leadership under Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is facing its biggest challenge since the Islamic Revolution of 1979 in two months of protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini.
The authorities have responded with a crackdown that a human rights group says has left 342 people dead, half a dozen already sentenced to death and thousands more arrested.
Thousands of Palestinians turned out Friday for the funeral of 21 people who died in a Gaza Strip apartment building fire, an AFP correspondent said.
At least seven children were among the dead in the blaze at Jabalia Palestinian refugee camp on Thursday night, said the head of the Indonesian Hospital there, Saleh Abu Lai.
Mourners carried the coffins, draped in Palestinian flags, through crowds in the camp toward Beit Lahia cemetery for burial.
