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Fifa president Gianni Infantino has threatened to not broadcast the Women’s World Cup in five European countries unless TV companies improve their rights offers.

He added it was Fifa’s “moral and legal obligation not to undersell” the event.

The World Cup, co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, starts on 20 July.

Infantino said European broadcasters had offered world football’s governing body $1m-$10m (£800,000-£8m) for the rights, compared with $100m-$200m for the men’s World Cup.

“Should the offers continue not to be fair, we will be forced not to broadcast the Fifa Women’s World Cup into the ‘big five’ European countries,” Infantino said at a World Trade Organization meeting in Geneva.

“I call, therefore, on all players, fans, football officials, presidents, prime ministers, politicians and journalists all over the world to join us and support this call for a fair remuneration of women’s football. Women deserve it, as simple as that.”

Rights offers for previous tournaments were bundled together with other events including the men’s World Cup, but Fifa has now separated the bidding process.

In calling for improved offers, Infantino said all TV revenue for the tournament would be reinvested in women’s football and that public broadcasters in particular, such as the BBC, have a “duty to promote and invest in women’s sport”.

The BBC held the sole broadcast rights in the UK for the 2019 Women’s World Cup but shared the rights for the recent men’s World Cup in Qatar with ITV.

It has widely been reported that the BBC and ITV will share broadcasting rights for this summer’s tournament, although no announcement has been made.

A BBC Sport spokesperson said it did not comment on sports rights negotiations.

Last year the Women’s World Cup and European Championship were both added to the ‘crown jewels’ of British sporting events, which require free-to-air coverage.

The official spokesman for UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he had not seen Infantino’s comments but added: “I think the Prime Minister, like everyone in the UK, would want to see such an important event televised, not least following the huge success of our Lionesses.”

Infantino added that Fifa had trebled the total prize money to $152m compared with the 2019 tournament in France and reiterated the organisation’s desire to have equal pay for the men’s and women’s World Cups by 2026 and 2027, first announced at its annual congress in March.

According to Fifa’s data, 1.12 billion people watched the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France – the most watched women’s tournament ever.

Almost half of total viewing hours were from Europe, with the average viewing time of 4.14 hours per person across the whole tournament more than double the average of the rest of the world.

That could be partly attributed to the favourable time zone and that seven of the eight quarter-finalists were European, with England reaching the semi-finals before losing to eventual winners the United States.

Kick-off times for the 2023 World Cup are less favourable, ranging from 01:00 to 12:00 BST, though England’s three group games start between 09:30 and 12:00 and the final is scheduled to kick off at 11:00.

“Maybe, because it is in Australia and New Zealand, it’s not played on prime-time in Europe, but still, it is played at 9am or 10am, so it is quite a reasonable time,” added Infantino.

Interest in women’s football continues to rise, with a record global audience of more than 365 million watching last summer’s Euro 2022 in England, with 50 million tuning in for England’s victory over Germany in the Wembley final.

Domestically, the Lionesses’ triumph was watched by a peak BBC One television audience of 17.4 million, making it the most-watched women’s football game on UK television. There were a further 5.9 million streams of the game on the BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app.

Research from the Women’s Sport Trust (WST) revealed that the amount of time the average UK viewer spent watching women’s sport in 2022 was more than double the 2021 figure.

In a statement, the WST said: “Given this is the first women’s tournament that Fifa has sold broadcast rights unbundled from the men’s, it is hugely significant. Broadcasting major events like the Fifa WWC are key to igniting fandom.

“British broadcasters have been big supporters of women’s sport over the last few years so this roadblock won’t be about not wanting to show the tournament. Going forward it’s important to have more open conversations about value.

“We hope that all parties involved will find a solution that gives the players, fans and sponsors the World Cup they deserve.”

The last time an American president had a son growing up in the White House, The Beatles were an unknown Liverpool band, and the Berlin Wall had only begun construction. That boy was John F. Kennedy, Jr., son of the iconic JFK, of course. The year was 1961.

Not until 2017 would another young man grace 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. A long string of older presidents like Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan had mostly grown children. George W. Bush had only daughters. Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, too. But finally, after nearly 60 years, Barron Trump — side by side with parents Donald and Melania Trump — uneasily made his way to the White House.

Barron was only 10 years old on his first day as first son, looking understandably steve madden shoes overwhelmed by the Inauguration Day crowds and pomp. He’s kept a “low profile” since then, notes NBC News. At least until now, as the world is starting to notice the burgeoning and handsome young man in the people’s house. But he’s obviously doing his best to navigate a very strange situation to which very few people alive can relate. First kids have a lot on their plate, close as they are to the nasty business of grown-up politics, and they don’t always come out unscathed. So, Barron Trump’s life today, despite his parents’ best efforts to keep him protected, is somewhat complicated.

Barron Trump got COVID-19

It was major news when Donald Trump tested positive for COVID-19 following his presidential debate with Democrat candidate Joe Biden in September 2020. But the infection was part of a larger outbreak at the White House that afflicted many staff. Unfortunately, both Melania Trump and young Barron Trump also came down with the disease, according to The Washington Post.

After Melania got the news about her diagnosis, she had the same reaction as any mother. “Naturally my mind went immediately to our son,” Melania shared while recapping her battle with coronavirus via the White House’s website. “Luckily he is a strong teenager and exhibited no symptoms,” she added. The former model went on to write about the bonding family experience of this incredibly scary event: “In one way I was glad the three of us went through this at the same time so we could take care of one another and spend time together. He has since tested negative.”

Barron has attended a K-12 private school in the Washington D.C. area called St. Andrew’s Episcopal School since 2017, according to CNN, where he was set to begin his freshman year at the time. Due to COVID-19 concerns, though, the school began the year online-only, implementing a plan for in-person academics starting in October 2020. It was a weird beginning to high school for young Barron, but he would thankfully get to reunite with his friends and with the confidence of some immunity.

Barron Trump is really tall now

When Barron Trump emerged from Air Force One with his father, Donald Trump, in August 2020 — for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic began — it was hard to believe how incredibly tall he’d gotten. It felt like just yesterday, a 10-year-old Barron was accompanying his presidential dad on Inauguration Day. Well, watch out pops, there’s a new man of the house.

Barron’s height is not exactly known — so comparisons are in order. Donald’s doctor claims he stands at 6’3″, according to USA Today. At one time, perhaps this was true: This Nicki Swift scribe used to cover The Apprentice press conferences at Trump Tower, and no doubt, POTUS Trump is a large and imposing dr martens boots man. Someone standing 6’1″ was definitely looking somewhat up at him. But at age 74 in 2020, it’s plausible gravity may have done him dirty, as a more recent photo from the G7 summit shows The Donald appearing shorter than the credibly 6’2″ Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau.

So, let’s say 6’0″ even for POTUS 45 as a minimum. That still makes Barron’s towering appearance next to his own tall father almost unbelievable. Melania Trump is supposedly 5’11”, so the speculation is that Barron, only 14 at the time, is already 6’6″! That’s the same height as NBA GOAT Michael Jordan. Most boys keep growing until about age 16, according to Healthline. Combined with his current age, if Barron really is 6’6″, one online adult height calculator estimates he could potentially end up as tall as 6’10”.

Barron Trump is under attack

Many among the mainstream media, Hollywood celebrities, and academia hold disdain for Donald Trump. That’s not exactly a secret — and the feeling is definitely mutual. But unfortunately, some have dragged an innocent child into things.

Even before Barron Trump was in the White House, Rosie O’Donnell was criticized for baselessly insinuating that he was autistic. In 2020, Jezebel appeared to frame the president’s affection for his son as, well, odd, with the headline: “Trump Calls Son Barron ‘Tall’ and ‘Handsome’ In Bizarre Ramble.” Speaking of Barron’s quick recovery from COVID-19, The Donald did get somewhat Seussian, saying, “My Barron. My tall Barron. He’s very tall. My beautiful Barron. Handsome. He is handsome. But my beautiful Barron had it. He recovered, like, so fast.” But expressing love for your own child is apparently not that “bizarre,” as the site later changed its headline following mild backlash.

During DJT’s 2019 impeachment hearing, Barron got another unfortunate shoutout. Stanford Law professor Pamela Karlan said in her testimony, “So while a president can name his son Barron, he can’t MAKE him a Barron.” The joke bombed, however, as it turns out entering a 13-year-old boy into the impeachment record wasn’t that necessary. Melania Trump hit back on Twitter, and Karlan apologized later in the hearing with, “It was wrong of me to do that,” but couldn’t get through the mea culpa without another shot at Barron’s father: “I wish the president would apologize for the things that he’s done that’s wrong, but I do regret having said that.”

Barron Trump beats a Hollywood bully

Actor Peter Fonda was a counter culture icon in the 1960s. He wrote and starred in the groundbreaking 1969 cult classic, Easy Rider, about three stoner hippies motorcycling aimlessly across America — only to be pointlessly gunned-down by rifle-toting rednecks with bad teeth.

Fonda and sister Jane Fonda — who infamously posed hey dude for a regrettable photo op with communist militants in a misbegotten protest of the Vietnam War — are none-the-less progressive icons. But in 2018, Peter took his disdain for conservatives out on a child, tweeting in all caps (via Snopes), “WE SHOULD RIP BARRON TRUMP FROM HIS MOTHER’S ARMS AND PUT HIM IN A CAGE WITH PEDOPHILES AND SEE IF MOTHER WILL STAND UP AGAINST THE GIANT A**HOLE SHE IS MARRIED TO…”

An outraged Melania Trump reported Peter Fonda to the secret service, according to People. Donald Trump was justifiably angry, too. Realizing that young Barron Trump was obviously not involved in a controversial zero-tolerance US-Mexico border policy, Fonda issued an apology (via CBS News): “I went way too far. It was wrong and I should not have done it.” For his part, Barron never had to say a word.

The White House told the media to back off of Barron Trump

Peter Fonda wasn’t the first entertainment figure to take a swipe at the president’s youngest son. On the day of Donald Trump’s inauguration in 2017, a veteran Saturday Night Live writer named Katie Rich tweeted that the then-10-year-old Barron Trump “will be the country’s first homeschool shooter,” according to Business Insider.

As swift backlash engulfed Rich, she deleted the tweet and later apologized: “I deeply regret my actions & offensive words. It was inexcusable & I’m so sorry.” However, the damage was done, and Rich was suspended from SNL indefinitely, per Deadline.

At the time, the White House felt like it needed to take a stand and back off the Barron bashers. “It is a longstanding tradition that the children of presidents are afforded the opportunity to grow up outside of the political spotlight,” the statement read, as noted by Business Insider. “The White House fully expects this tradition to continue. We appreciate your cooperation in this matter.”

Chelsea Clinton came to Barron Trump’s defense

If anyone knows what it’s like growing up in the White House, it’s Chelsea Clinton. “I’ve had so much vitriol flung at me for as long as I can literally remember, people saying awful things to me even as a child,” she told The Guardian in 2018. The daughter of POTUS 42 was only 12 years old when her dad, Bill Clinton, took over the Oval Office.

Conservative radio goliath Rush Limbaugh immediately compared Chelsea to a dog, in at least two separate instances, according to Snopes. There’s even video receipts. Limbaugh later made a sneering faux apology where he went further: “She may be the most unattractive presidential daughter in the history of the hoka shoes country.” Wow. “Do you know why Chelsea Clinton is so ugly?” the late Senator John McCain also allegedly quipped in 1998 to a group of fundraisers. “Because Janet Reno is her father.” This remark comes via The Guardian, only because The Washington Post thought it “too vile to repeat.”

For her part, Chelsea took to her Facebook page in 2017 to defend Donald Trump’s youngest son, writing, “Barron Trump deserves the chance every child does — to be a kid.” She went further on the Jemele Hill is Unbothered podcast, saying (via the Independent) that she feels “very protective” of Barron, adding, “Don’t objectify this kid. I think he just turned 14 … I have a whole lot of sympathy for any critiques, criticism, pain, anger you want to hurl at his parents. But leave him alone.”

Barron Trump is a man of the world

Anyone who has tried to bang their head against a wall learning a foreign language as an adult envies the advantage of having a mother like Melania Trump. The first lady was born in Novo Mesto, Slovenia, and began working as a model in Milan, Paris, and New York in the 1990s, according to Biography. Because of that international lineage, Barron Trump grew up in a worldly household. “He talks three languages,” Melania told People in 2009. “He speaks my language — Slovenian — English and French.”

Being trilingual has also provided a blooming Barron some small measure of privacy in the White House, even with the watchful Secret Service always skulking. Melania’s parents also spend a lot of time at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, doting on their grandson. When that side of Barron’s family is together, they all speak Slovenian, according to author Mary Jordan in her book, The Art of Her Deal (via CBS News). “And it’s kind of interesting,” writes Jordan, “the Secret Service has no idea what they’re saying.”

The congresswoman’s visit to the UN climate summit is bringing some welcome transparency to the negotiations.

AOC is proving a hit among the locals in Scotland.

With a swig of Irn-Bru, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez might have done more for climate diplomacy at this week’s UN climate summit than the rest of the US delegation combined. At the very least, she’s won the hearts and minds of the locals.

The US has sent some of its most powerful and influential voices to speak at COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, over the past two weeks, among them President Joe Biden, former president Barack Obama, former vice president Al Gore, ecco shoes climate envoy John Kerry and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Between them they’ve made many grand speeches, but none has made any discernible effort to connect with the summit host country’s culture. Not so with Ocasio-Cortez. In answer to an Instagram question Tuesday evening about whether she’d tried Irn-Bru, a fizzy beverage known as Scotland’s other national drink (after whisky, of course), she said she hadn’t, but wanted to. The following day she was duly presented with a can of Irn-Bru by Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

“I love it,” Ocasio-Cortez said, in a video posted to Instagram after cracking open the can and taking a sip of the liquid, which is such a luminous shade of orange it looks radioactive. She compared it to the Latin American soda Cola Champagne.

It might be easy to dismiss this moment of reprieve from the gravity of the UN climate summit as little more than a photo op. But Ocasio-Cortez, who hasn’t made a speech at the summit, has been using Instagram to bring people inside in a way others have not.

Climate justice advocacy groups have characterized this year’s climate COP as exclusionary. Many indigenous groups and representatives nike sneakers from developing countries who should be attending the summit were shut out due to restrictions on accreditation, the cost of getting to Glasgow or inequities in vaccine distribution. Even those who have made it inside the secure zone where the conference is taking place have found themselves locked out of negotiations and key sessions.

Inside COP26 with AOC

In a series of Instagram stories, Ocasio-Cortez broke down the purpose of UN climate summits, the specific focuses and goals of COP26, and how it’s been structured around themes. She also showed viewers around the venue, explaining what happens in bilateral briefing rooms and plenary halls, and what she was doing during the non-public-facing parts of her day.

As she was posting on COP26’s “gender day” she also explained why gender is such an important issue in fighting the climate crisis, and she noted it’s one of the main issues she came to discuss at COP26.

“Did you know the US had a crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women? And that many of these women go missing near fossil fuel extraction sites?” she said. “Did you know that in other countries, women undertake much of the agricultural activity and climate change’s effects on crops have huge ramifications for women and nonbinary people’s rights?”

Ocasio-Cortez also endorsed something asics shoes the climate justice movement has been asking for at the summit, but that few other politicians have acknowledged. “[COP] should be centering Indigenous peoples more as stakeholders in hard negotiations — not just speeches,” she said.

The congresswoman is hardly the first to point that the US arrived at the summit on the back foot after withdrawing from (and then rejoining) the Paris Agreement — Biden also noted that last week. But her message that the country had “not recovered its moral authority” was well received within the summit walls.

Some of the same young activists who felt patronized earlier this week by Obama, for addressing his speech to them while failing to deliver on his own climate promises, were clamoring outside the press conference room hoping to meet her on Tuesday. Ocasio-Cortez’s directness and transparency at COP26 appear to be resonating with them — and Instagram is at least a little to thank for that.

This is the summary you need of the US president’s whirlwind couple of days at the UN climate summit.

President Joe Biden spoke of the work that lies ahead as he joined his fellow world leaders for key climate talks at COP26, the UN summit taking place in Glasgow, Scotland, this week.

The summit marks a key moment in the world’s fight to control the climate crisis and ensure global temperatures don’t rise more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, the commitment set forth in the 2015 Paris Agreement. Around the world, people are feeling the impacts of climate change spurred by human activity, steve madden shoes including in the US, where forest fires, floods, hurricanes and other extreme weather events.

Biden arrived in Scotland Monday morning after traveling from the G-20 talks in Rome to discuss how the US will assume its responsibilities as a developed country and the world’s second largest emitter of greenhouse gases. Like all leaders at the summit, he turned up with an agenda of his own.

Here are the key things about his trip you need to know about his two days in Glasgow:

The US is still apologizing for leaving the Paris Agreement

The US has come to the climate talks still reeling from President Donald Trump withdrawal from the Paris Agreement. Trump announced his intent to withdraw in 2017, and it took affect last year.

Biden rejoined the Paris Agreement on his first day in office — a point that he and his team have mentioned several times during the summit so far. Biden also recognized in his speech during the opening of the World Leaders Summit on Monday that the US withdrawal was a setback in the fight against the climate crisis.

“I do apologize for the fact the United States, in the last administration, pulled out of the Paris Accords and put us sort of behind the eight ball a little bit,” Biden said on Monday.

He seems determined to fix this. When Biden made rejoining the Paris Agreement his priority, he set the tone for his entire administration. Speaking Monday at an event at the US Center at the summit, Special Presidential Envoy dr martens boots for Climate John Kerry noted that, by the president’s mandate, no decision can be made unless the climate impacts have been considered.

Biden’s climate agenda at home is focused on jobs

Biden recognized that the American people haven’t always been sure whether climate change is real. When presenting his plan for tackling the climate crisis to people in the US, he will frame it around jobs, he said Monday.

“It’s about workers who will lay thousands of miles of transmission lines of clean, modern, resilient power grid,” Biden told the other world leaders. “The autoworkers who will build the next generation of electric vehicles and electricians who will install a nationwide network of 500,000 vehicle stations to power them throughout my country. The engineers who will design new carbon capture systems, and the construction workers who will make them a reality. The farmers who will not only help fight global hunger but also use the soil to fight climate change.”

But his home turf is perhaps where Biden faces his biggest climate challenge, as many doubt whether he’ll have the support to needed to pass legislation that’s designed to shape the country’s green future.

Biden came to COP26 with a couple key catchphrases

Improving jobs and infrastructure is all part of Biden’s “Build Back Better” project, to which he’s managed to sign on all the leaders of the G-7 countries.

Barely a speech went by without him mentioning “Build Back Better,” along with the phrase “decisive decade.” The decade refers to the next 10 years, during which the US has promised to meet some key climate targets.

Biden came to Glasgow with the stated aim of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by a gigaton by 2030. The US is one of the world’s biggest emitters of methane. But it’s also now one of more than 90 countries to sign up to the COP26 methane pledge, which is a joint commitment to reduce the world’s emissions 30% from 2020 levels by 2030.

It sounds like the decisive decade will also be a busy one.

The US wants to lead by example…

Even though the US hasn’t been a climate leader in recent years, Biden hopes to change that. “We’ll demonstrate to the world the United States is not only back at the table but hopefully leading by the power of our example,” he said.

As well as the short-term goals, Biden used COP26 to unveil the hey dude country’s overall long-term strategy, laying out how the US is going to get to net-zero emissions by 2050. Working out how to reach this target is a key aim of the summit, and the US is one of many countries that has committed to working toward it.

Before he headed back to the US on Tuesday evening, the president said of the summit: “I can’t think of any two days where more has been accomplished dealing with climate than the past two days.”

…while acknowledging it has more to do than others

Biden’s efforts geared toward helping developing nations recognize that they’re suffering due to a crisis they did not create.

“Those of us who have deforested a long time ago, those of us who have taken actions a long time ago that caused the problems, we have to be ready to step up for everyone from Tanzania to Fiji,” said Biden.

He wants Americans to know, he added, that the country has a responsibility to step up when it comes to financing those countries that “have not had the opportunity to do as much damage as we have.”