Belgium’s Charles de Ketelaer celebrates after scoring a goal to make it 0-1 during the 2026 FIFA World Cup Round of 16 match.
Robbie Jay Barratt – Ama | Getty Images Sports | Getty Images
Hello, my name is Leonie Kidd and I’m from London. Welcome to today’s Daily Open Newsletter.
Sometimes things just work themselves out. Not always, but sometimes.
Last night’s soccer result may be some consolation for Belgium as they advance to the quarter-finals.
But it will still be a tough week for Europe, as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit turned into a messy affair during the Trump administration.
What you need to know today
As people across Europe wake up this Tuesday morning, the alarm most likely to be ticked off will almost certainly be the result of the overnight Belgium-USA final.
Belgium secured the victory with a 4-1 victory over the hosts. But the political tensions off the pitch rival anything the match has to offer. President Donald Trump called FIFA president Gianni Infantino to defend his decision to appeal the previous red card for striker Folarin Balogun.
FIFA’s decision to lift the sanctions ahead of the match against Belgium then sparked a scandal within the football association. So while the tournament will conclude with a final on July 19, it could take even longer to repair the damage done to FIFA’s reputation.
Battle for Ukraine attracts NATO attention
President Trump is scheduled to arrive in Türkiye later today for a NATO summit. Preparations for the meeting have been tense, with defense spending remaining a contentious topic. Overnight, the president claimed on Truth Social that “the Department of the Army is hotter than ever,” adding, “We have to spend $350 billion on defense and pass Reconciliation 3.0.”
CNBC’s Steve Sedgwick asked NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte about tensions with the United States and other countries, but Rutte stressed that the United States is not dividing the alliance.
Meanwhile, Ukraine faces a new wave of attacks from Russia, amid the deadliest attack on Kiev since the start of the war in 2022. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in an interview with the Financial Times that he believes President Trump’s attitude toward the war has changed in Ukraine’s favor. The two leaders are scheduled to hold a summit meeting in Ankara over the next two days.
judgment day
Today is an important day in France, as the court will decide on far-right politician Marine Le Pen’s appeal.
She was found guilty of embezzling European Parliament funds and banned from public office for five years, a charge she denies. If the Paris Court of Appeal blocks her from running in the 2027 presidential election, it would end her long reign as leader of the National Rally and be a career-defining moment for far-right Jordan Bardera.
to the moon
And finally…
OpenAI, Chinese AI models are rising in U.S. companies as human costs soar
Chinese-made AI models are attracting attention among U.S. companies because they can narrow the performance gap with larger U.S. rivals while offering significantly lower usage fees.
Recently released models from Chinese companies such as DeepSeek and Z.ai are seen by many to be more competitive compared to major frontier systems such as Anthropic and OpenAI. Advances in these capabilities come as token prices for cutting-edge models at many U.S. AI labs rise, leaving companies saddled with unexpectedly high costs associated with using the technology.
— Kai Nicole Schwartz
