The upcoming World Cup semi-final clash between England and Argentina has been designated as the highest risk game, according to a recent briefing involving the FBI, event officials, and local law enforcement.

To bolster security in Atlanta, a comprehensive plan will be put into action. This includes the deployment of separate entrances for each team’s supporters, though inside the stadium, fans will not be divided.

On Monday, a meeting between the FBI, FIFA, and police highlighted the historical tensions between the two nations and the potential for clashes among their fans.

Although significant steps will be taken to maintain a distance between the rival fans outside, officials acknowledge their limited control over interactions within the stadium’s interiors, due to FIFA’s policy on non-segregated seating. Particular attention will be focused on the common areas where fans are likely to come into contact.

Tensions have already surfaced, as evidenced by video footage from Saturday showing altercations between supporters of the two teams. In one clip, an England fan is seen exchanging blows with three individuals wearing Argentina jerseys, while another video depicts a confrontation at a bar involving Argentina fans and their English counterparts.

Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni has called for calm, despite the fact his players have continuously sang a song referencing the Falkland Islands during their progression throughout the tournament. In 1982, following Argentina’s invasion, 907 people lost their lives in a conflict that saw Britain reassert control over the South Atlantic islands. Argentina’s foreign minister this week restated their claim over the territory, which was swiftly rejected by Sir Keir Starmer.

‘The message to the Argentine people is that this is a soccer match,’ Scaloni said. ‘We’re going to face a great team with a great coach, but it is just a soccer match, nothing more than that.’

England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford sounded a similar note. ‘It is just a game of football and two passionate sets of fans going there to watch a top-level game,’ he said. ‘That’s what football does. It brings fans together, it brings the nations together and it’ll be, it’s two proud nations, that’s, that’s the key word, and we’re both proud nations. The football will do its talking.’

A heavy police presence will be visible outside each team hotel while there will be a major focus in the area around the spectacular Mercedes-Benz Stadium which is where many of the fans are expected to congregate.

All of England’s games in the US have so far felt like home matches but it will be a different story when they return to Atlanta than it was for their clash with DR Congo in the Georgia city.

There is a huge Argentinian diaspora in the US, with thousands due to travel to the game from Florida. Officials expect a 50-50 situation in the stadium, but England’s fans may well find themselves outnumbered in the city itself.

As Daily Mail Sport previously reported, there will be an increased number of law enforcement officers on patrol, while attention will be paid to the fan fest, which will be screening the France versus Spain match on Tuesday.

In 1986, Argentina defeated England 2-1 in a Mexico World Cup quarter-final, when Diego Maradona scored the infamous ‘Hand of God’ goal when he punched the ball past Peter Shilton.

A small team from the UK Football Policing Unit is in the US, will be on the ground in Atlanta and has been successfully liaising with local law enforcement agencies.

In keeping with the rest of the tournament just four arrests were made around the England versus Norway game. One was for trying to gain entry without a ticket, one was a fan who refused to leave when asked to do so and two were around a disturbance between two England fans. Police have again praised the behaviour of an estimated 30,000 who supported the Three Lions at the game.

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A tragic incident unfolded in Alexandria, Louisiana, on Monday when a Deputy U.S. Marshal was fatally shot while executing an arrest warrant, as confirmed by the U.S. Marshals Service.

The event occurred around 3 p.m., according to the Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Office, in the vicinity of Rutland Road, where authorities sought to apprehend a sought-after fugitive.

The sheriff’s office reported, “Sheriff’s Detectives, along with the U.S. Marshals Violent Offender Task Force, were engaging in a law enforcement operation aimed at arresting a wanted fugitive in the Rutland Road area when an Officer Involved Shooting transpired.”

The suspect was taken into custody after a lengthy standoff, according to the sheriff’s office.

Deputies said the suspect sustained injuries during the encounter and was transported to a local hospital for treatment.

The FBI is leading an investigation into the killing of the deputy, while the sheriff’s office is probing the shooting. Louisiana State Police are also assisting.

“The FBI responded to an incident this afternoon in Alexandria with the Alexandria Police Department, Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Office, and Louisiana State Police,” the FBI New Orleans Field Office said in a statement. “The FBI is now leading the investigation into an assault on a federal officer. Louisiana State Police is also investigating potential violations of state law. The subject, now under investigation, was taken into custody and there is no ongoing threat to the public. Because this is a very active and ongoing investigation we cannot comment further at this time.”

FBI Director Kash Patel said: “FBI is investigating and offering full resources to the Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Office and our brave partners the @USMarshalsHQ after one of their deputies was tragically killed today while serving an arrest warrant in Alexandria, Louisiana. Suspect is in custody. Please pray for the deputy’s family and friends.”

A bipartisan effort to establish Daylight Saving Time as a constant is progressing to a full chamber vote after overcoming a significant legislative challenge in the House.

On Monday, the House Rules Committee set the stage for a vote on the Sunshine Protection Act, proposing that states could maintain Daylight Saving Time all year, while offering the choice to opt out. The rule passed with a 6-4 vote by the committee.

This initiative is backed by numerous coastal representatives and has gained support from President Donald Trump, who has consistently urged Congress to make this adjustment permanent, thereby eliminating the biannual clock changes currently followed by all states except Hawaii and most parts of Arizona.

Advocates for the change contend that the process of adjusting clocks is detrimental to health. They argue that establishing permanent Daylight Saving Time could enhance outdoor leisure activities, boost tourism, and stimulate economic growth, among various other advantages.

Currently, most Americans advance their clocks by one hour each spring to capture more evening daylight, only to “fall back” an hour with the arrival of November.

“Americans are overwhelmingly supportive of this policy and want to end the practice of ‘springing forward’ and ‘falling back.’ Locking the clock all year long would have positive impacts on sleep schedules, energy conservation, motor vehicle safety, and our economy,” Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., said in an opening statement Monday.

“In practice, this change would mean more time for people to exercise outside, visit family, attend concerts and sporting events, attract customers to their retail businesses, and more.”

“Floridians and Americans across the country are tired of the biannual time change, and the evidence is clear that permanent daylight saving time can improve public health, reduce traffic accidents, lower crime and encourage more outdoor activity,” Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., who authored the measure, previously said in a May news release. 

“Ending the clock change is a commonsense reform that will improve everyday life for millions of Americans,” he added.

The legislation’s momentum comes after the House Energy and Commerce Committee overwhelmingly passed the measure 48-1 in May.

“It’s time that people can stop worrying about the ‘Clock,’ not to mention all of the work and money that is spent on this ridiculous, twice-yearly production,” Trump wrote following the Sunshine Protection Act’s advancement out of committee. “It will also be a very nice WIN for the Republican Party. Take it! We are going with the far more popular alternative, Saving Daylight, which gives you a longer, brighter Day — And who can be against that — This is an easy one!”

Roughly 20 states have already passed legislation that would make Daylight Saving Time permanent if Congress were to authorize the practice. Alabama, South Carolina, Oregon, Maine and Florida are among those places.

But opponents, including several medical organizations, argue that permanent standard time — which provides more sunlight in the morning — would be the healthier option because it would more closely align with the body’s natural circadian rhythms.

Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-Pa., proposed amending the bill with language from her co-sponsored Sunshine for Our Kids Act, which would make standard time permanent nationwide. The amendment was quickly rejected.

Scanlon argued that permanent daylight saving time would pose significant health and safety risks by leaving more Americans — particularly children — in darkness during morning hours. She also pointed to the nation’s brief experiment with year-round daylight saving time in 1974, which Congress abandoned after widespread public backlash.

Rep. Nanette Barragán, D-Calif., was also the lone lawmaker to oppose the legislation during the Energy and Commerce Committee markup in May, citing concerns that year-round daylight saving time could negatively affect children’s health and sleep schedules.

Some conservative lawmakers have also argued that GOP leadership should be focused on what they describe as more pressing legislative issues, including legislation codifying Trump’s border security executive orders and the stalled SAVE America Act.

“Republicans are majoring in the minors — fiddling with the clocks while the country burns,” Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, wrote Monday.

The House has already passed versions of the SAVE America Act multiple times, but the measure has struggled to overcome the Senate’s legislative filibuster.

The Senate unanimously passed a version of the Sunshine Protection Act in 2022, but it died in the House amid opposition, including from lawmakers who voiced concerns about darker morning hours in parts of the country during the winter.

In a harrowing experience, a woman recounted how she firmly grasped her husband’s legs as he was nearly pulled from a Ryanair aircraft at an altitude of 20,000 feet, striving valiantly to save him.

Serbian native Ljubiša Karović found himself perilously suspended outside the plane after a catastrophic engine failure sent debris crashing through a window. In a panic, his wife Svetlana Grković held onto his legs, desperate to prevent him from being completely ejected from the cabin last Friday.

The drama unfolded on flight FR1879, a Boeing 737-800 en route from Thessaloniki, Greece, to Memmingen, Germany, compelling the flight crew to abort their journey and return to the original airport to execute an urgent landing.

Witnesses on board reported hearing an explosive noise shortly after takeoff, a sound that was soon identified as the shattering of the plane’s window.

Seated by the compromised window, Mr. Karović was nearly pulled through the gaping hole, teetering dangerously close to disaster.

But his wife held him by his legs for about five minutes, after which fellow passengers were able to pull him back into the cabin as oxygen masks dropped down. 

Now Ms Grković has described the ordeal in the air, which took place as she and her husband were heading back from a summer holiday in Greece.

She told Nova: ‘It was as if a part of the engine broke off and hit the window next to which my husband Ljubiša was sitting. 

‘I reacted immediately and grabbed his legs. I thought: “If we die, we die together.” It was horrible.’

Chaos ensued with some passengers panicking and others rushing to help Mr Karović.

‘Some people came to my aid, I remember one man and one woman,’ she added. ‘That man helped me a lot, Ljubiša and I.’ 

Ms Grković said she would like to thank the heroic passenger in person after he helped save her husband’s life. 

Mr Karović remains in hospital and is believed to be unable to speak due to his injuries. He also has friction burns and is in a state of severe shock.

His wife said his hand is badly injured and he also has a series of burns.

She recalled that he lost consciousness several times during the incident and cannot remember much of what happened.

Mr Karović comes from Vrnjačka Banja in central Serbia but has spent a lot of time in Greece, where he sells and rents apartments in the resorts of Paralija and Olympic Beach.

One passenger told the Informer: ‘Luckily, he didn’t unbuckle his seat belt. His wife Svetlana Grković held his legs for five full minutes, until the other passengers ran to help and managed to pull him back into the cabin.’ 

Footage, shared by a Ryanair flight attendant, appeared to show a missing engine blade and damage to the outside of the aircraft before panning to the smashed window. A large hole could also be seen in the side of the engine casing. 

Another witness told Greek broadcaster ERT that the man’s ‘head and shoulders were sticking out of the broken window’. 

Travellers feared they ‘wouldn’t make it’ as the jet flew for around 30 minutes with the damaged window.

One witness, who had been sitting at the back of the plane, said they did not initially realise what had happened.

‘We thought we were falling,’ they said. ‘We were wearing oxygen masks, we didn’t know if we would make it.’

The witness added that Mr Karović ‘had blood on his head’ and ‘fainted several times’.

A Ryanair spokesman told the Daily Mail: ‘A Ryanair flight from Thessaloniki to Memmingen on Friday morning returned to Thessaloniki shortly after take-off when a passenger window dislodged inflight.

‘The aircraft landed normally and passengers returned to the terminal.

‘One passenger requested and received medical assistance on the ground in Thessaloniki.

‘In order to minimise any delay, a replacement aircraft was arranged to bring passengers to Memmingen which departed Thessaloniki at 9.53am local this morning.’

According to publicly available flight data, the Ryanair plane landed back in Thessaloniki after one hour and 14 minutes. 

A pregnant woman also on board the flight was taken to hospital. According to local media, she is in good health and has since left hospital. 

Commenting on the incident, the president of the Panhellenic Federation of Public Hospital Employees (POEDIN) claimed there was ‘almost a tragedy’.

He said the ‘damaged’ window gave way and that part of the passenger’s body was pulled outside the aircraft before he was restrained by his wife.