LONDON (AP) — The Los Angeles Rams landed in London just 30 hours before kickoff against the Jacksonville Jaguars in October.
That won’t fly when they play in Australia next season.
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FILE - Players of Paris Saint-Germain and Reims warm up prior to the French Cup soccer final at the Stade de France stadium in Saint-Denis, outside Paris, Saturday May 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, file)
FILE - A shaft of sunlight streams into the stadium before an NFL football game between the Washington Commanders and the Miami Dolphins in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez, file)
FILE - Fans cheer during the opening ceremony prior to the NFL game between the Indianapolis Colts and the Atlanta Falcons in Berlin, Germany, Nov. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)
FILE - Kansas City Chiefs fans cheer against the Los Angeles Chargers in an NFL football game, Sept. 5, 2025, in São Paulo, Brazil. (AP Photo/Jeff Lewis, File)
The Melbourne game is part of a multiyear commitment and represents a new frontier for the NFL’s aggressive international plan. The league has never staged a regular-season game so far from home, and Commissioner Roger Goodell has already said Asia will follow “shortly thereafter.”
Goodell hopes to eventually stage 16 games per season internationally — an escalation that could be facilitated if the league moves to an 18-game NFL season. The current maximum number of international games allowed per season is 10 under the collective bargaining agreement with the NFL Players Association.
Ahead of the Super Bowl, the league announced Paris as a new host as well as a return to Madrid and Mexico City for next season. As of Monday, there are a record-high nine international games scheduled for 2026. But not everyone is as enthusiastic as Goodell about the league’s global ambitions. There are questions about scheduling, the risks to players as the air miles add up, and the quality of play.
“The voice of the players and what’s in their best interests come from our membership, not management,” NFLPA media relations director Brandon Parker told The Associated Press. ”That’s why it’s imperative for the union to be a partner in assessing and making decisions on all aspects of the international player experience.
"Any sort of expansion must be balanced against how it impacts players’ bodies along with health and safety data.”
An 18-game schedule likely would include adding a second bye week and reducing the number of preseason games to two — all of which would need to be agreed on between the league and the NFLPA. The current labor deal runs through the 2030 season.
The NFL has added at least one new host city each season since 2022, when Munich joined the ranks. The following year it was another German city — Frankfurt. Brazil’s Sao Paulo became a host in 2024, and this season saw debuts for Dublin, Berlin and Madrid as the NFL staged seven regular-season games abroad — a record that will be eclipsed next season.
For 2026, three more first-timers — Paris, Melbourne and Rio de Janeiro — join Munich, Madrid, Mexico City and old stalwart London — to bring the international lineup to nine games.
The league said London is currently scheduled to host three games. Tottenham Hotspur Stadium hosts two games each year, apart from the Jacksonville Jaguars’ arrangement with Wembley Stadium. The Jags have the option of playing two home game internationally in 2026 because of their stadium renovation project. The labor agreement's 10-game limit on international games includes an exception for stadium construction and renovations.
The Paris game will feature the New Orleans Saints and will be held at the 80,000-capacity Stade de France.
Goodell had previously confirmed — and the league made official Monday — a return to Mexico City now that Azteca Stadium has been renovated ahead of the World Cup. The Dallas Cowboys expect to play at Azteca, team owner Jerry Jones said in September.
A typical flight from Los Angeles to Melbourne is nearly 16 hours, “which is about as challenging as it gets from a body clock perspective,” said Tom Brownlee, associate professor in Applied Sport Sciences at the University of Birmingham.
The Australia game — at the 100,000 capacity Melbourne Cricket Ground — is expected to be Week 1 and raises the unusual prospect of the NFL starting its season before Labor Day, which falls on Sept. 7. It could be as early as the Wednesday or Thursday before the federal holiday.
“Players still have to adjust several times,” Brownlee said. "They prepare in the U.S., then try to function normally in Australia, and then have to readjust again on the way home before their next game. That second adjustment is often overlooked but can be just as difficult."
Brownlee, who formerly worked at Premier League club Liverpool, said gameday effects of long-haul travel can include “slower reaction times, reduced sharpness or feeling heavier than normal."
The NFLPA has also raised concerns about field conditions for international games. Parker, the union spokesman, said players “appreciate the global stage” but expect that “proper travel standards, working conditions, scheduling and protections must be in place to maximize player recovery and performance.”
In a statement, the NFL said the health and safety of players “is always a priority no matter where we play.”
“For international games, the league’s football operations team works alongside club operations staff and local support on the ground in markets to ensure every detail is considered and planned for to optimize the traveling and playing experience for all involved,” the league said.
The European games are timed to kick off Sundays at 9:30 a.m. Eastern, which is 6:30 a.m. Pacific. The league could eventually sell it as a new broadcast window.
The six international games that were on NFL Network this season averaged 6.2 million viewers (TV and digital), which doesn’t include over-the-air stations in the markets of the two teams playing. During the 2025 regular season, the NFL averaged 18.7 million viewers per game.
“I don’t see the economic sense of sacrificing US audiences on this scale,” said Stefan Szymanski, a University of Michigan professor of sport management.
The sport also can be hard to understand for new audiences, he added.
“By contrast, the NBA has a much better chance of making it internationally," he said.
Teams have mostly bought into the league's plans, though Browns co-owner Jimmy Haslam said in October that if Goodell was sitting in front of him “I’d tell him, I would much rather play at home in Cleveland than travel all the way over to London.”
There's no shortage of interest among the international fans and host cities, however. International games typically sell out quickly and game-week events bring mini-Super Bowl vibes to locations where soccer usually dominates the sports landscape.
League officials haven’t specified which Asian countries they are exploring as future hosts. Tokyo has staged preseason games. China is one of the eight countries outside the United States where the NFL has an office.
The NFL has looked at the United Arab Emirates. Gerrit Meier, managing director and head of NFL international, told the “ Leaders Worth Knowing ” podcast the Middle East “is very, very attractive for us.”
"Our commitment is that we will go into more markets, more countries, more continents as we move forward,” Meier said. “Again, we’re just at the beginning of our global expansion.”
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL
FILE - Players of Paris Saint-Germain and Reims warm up prior to the French Cup soccer final at the Stade de France stadium in Saint-Denis, outside Paris, Saturday May 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, file)
FILE - A shaft of sunlight streams into the stadium before an NFL football game between the Washington Commanders and the Miami Dolphins in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez, file)
FILE - Fans cheer during the opening ceremony prior to the NFL game between the Indianapolis Colts and the Atlanta Falcons in Berlin, Germany, Nov. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)
FILE - Kansas City Chiefs fans cheer against the Los Angeles Chargers in an NFL football game, Sept. 5, 2025, in São Paulo, Brazil. (AP Photo/Jeff Lewis, File)
President Donald Trump’s administration is expected to unveil its grandest plan yet to rebuild supply chains of critical minerals needed for everything from jet engines to smartphones, likely through purchase agreements with partners on top of creating a $12 billion U.S. strategic reserve to help counter China’s dominance.
Vice President JD Vance is delivering a keynote address Wednesday at a meeting Secretary of State Marco Rubio is hosting with officials from several dozen European, Asian and African nations. The U.S. is expected to sign deals on supply chain logistics, though details haven't been revealed. Rubio met Tuesday with foreign ministers from South Korea and India to discuss critical minerals mining and processing.
The meeting and expected agreements will come just two days after Trump announced Project Vault, or a stockpile of critical minerals to be funded with a $10 billion loan from the U.S. Export-Import Bank and nearly $1.67 billion in private capital.
Here's the latest:
He defended the government’s push to ramp up production of the rare earths metals used in electronics, military hardware, phones and other goods.
Vance said markets have been unable to deliver on key economic priorities at a State Department conference on building out the rare earths supply chain that is now dominated by China.
“But even in some cases, even in the United States, some of these projects are struggling to attract investors,” Vance said. “This is crazy.”
The vice president added: “We in the Trump administration believe it is the business of the government.”
Vance said the U.S. government will create baseline prices for rare earths to ensure that foreign competitors are unable to undercut domestic producers and a trading bloc among the U.S. and its allies.
Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday said prices for critical minerals must be made “more predictable and less erratic” for the U.S. to rebuild its critical minerals industry to counter China in the global market.
Vance is speaking at a ministerial meeting at the State Department where Secretary of State Marco Rubio is convening ministers from several dozens of countries on building supply chains that should be less reliant on China.
“We see telltale signs of a market distorted beyond recognition, one that punishes strategic investment, one that punishes diversification, and one that punishes long term planning.” he said.
The Trump administration is reducing the number of immigration enforcement officers in Minnesota after state and local officials agreed to cooperate by turning over arrested immigrants, border czar Tom Homan said Wednesday.
About 700 federal agents will be withdrawn from the immigration operation around Minnesota, Homan said during a news conference. Roughly 3,000 federal officers are currently deployed in the state.
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the issue is a “top priority for the world.”
He introduced Vice President JD Vance, who joked about the many hats Rubio wears in the administration. Vance said that when Rubio invited him to the State Department, he countered that Rubio should come to the White House instead. But then Rubio said he has many jobs and Vance said he’d do Rubio a favor since Vance has just one job.
A few of Rubio’s other responsibilities are national security adviser and acting archivist of the United States.
That, combined with aggressive actions by Russia and China, has wreaked havoc on human rights protections globally, according to the annual report.
”President Donald Trump’s second administration has been marked from the start by blatant disregard for human rights and egregious violations. The U.S took significant steps backward on immigration, health, environment, labor, disability, gender, criminal justice, and freedom of speech rights, among others,” the 536-page report said.
In his message, entitled “Will Human Rights Survive a Trumpian World?” executive director Philippe Bolopian said U.S. actions at home and abroad in the past year may be seen as a tipping point and places them in a class with Russia and China and leaves a vacancy in leadership in pursuit of world human rights.
In an email to The Associated Press, Bolopian said “The deterioration of democracy and human rights in the US. the past year is probably the worst I have seen in my lifetime. I cannot remember a similar assault on domestic checks and balances, coupled with such an open disdain for international human rights norms.”
The White House didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The semiofficial ISNA and Tasnim news agencies, as well as the Student News Network, all reported the talks would take place.
Oman didn’t immediately acknowledge it would host the talks. The sultanate hosted multiple rounds of earlier nuclear talks between Iran and the U.S.
The U.S. hasn’t acknowledge the talks would take place in Oman, though the White House said it anticipated the negotiations would take place even after the U.S. shot down an Iranian drone Tuesday and Iran attempted to stop a U.S.-flagged ship.
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Hamas released Keith Siegel in February 2025 after 15 months in captivity as part of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire with Israel.
Melania Trump had met with Siegel’s wife, Aviva Siegel, in the weeks before Donald Trump opened his second term as president. She was released during a brief ceasefire in November 2023, shortly after the militant group launched a surprise attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that killed about 1,200 people and took 251 others hostage.
The first lady included footage of her meeting with Siegel’s wife in a documentary film that opened in theaters last week.
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Ryan Routh is scheduled to appear Wednesday before U. S. District Judge Aileen Cannon in Fort Pierce. Her courtroom erupted into chaos in September shortly after jurors found Routh guilty on all counts, including attempting to kill a presidential candidate and several firearm-related charges. Routh tried to stab himself in the neck with a pen, and officers quickly dragged him out.
Routh’s sentencing had initially been scheduled for December, but Cannon agreed to move the date back after Routh decided to use an attorney during the sentencing phase instead of representing himself as he did for most of the trial.
Prosecutors said in a sentencing memorandum filed last month that Routh has yet to accept any responsibility for his actions and that he should spend the rest of his life in prison, in accordance with federal sentencing guidelines.
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The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in November ordered U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein to reconsider his decision to keep the case in state court instead of moving it to federal court, where President Trump can seek to have it thrown out on presidential immunity grounds.
A three-judge panel ruled Hellerstein erred by failing to consider “important issues relevant” to Trump’s request to move the New York case to federal court. They said they “express no view” on how he should rule.
Trump, a Republican, isn’t expected to attend Wednesday’s arguments in federal court in New York City, which were preceded by lengthy written submissions from Trump’s lawyers and the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which prosecuted the case and wants it to remain in state court.
Trump was convicted in May 2024 of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal a hush money payment to adult film actor Stormy Daniels, whose allegations of an affair with Trump threatened to upend his 2016 presidential campaign. He was sentenced to an unconditional discharge, leaving his conviction intact but sparing him any punishment.
Trump denies Daniels’ claim and said he did nothing wrong.
Despite rare negotiations between Democrats and President Donald Trump, a bipartisan agreement on new restrictions for federal immigration enforcement in the next two weeks will be exceedingly difficult — or even “an impossibility,” as Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune said.
Congress is discussing potential new rules for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection after officers shot and killed two Minneapolis protesters in January. The negotiations come amid some bipartisan sentiment that Congress should step in to de-escalate tensions over the enforcement operations that have rocked Minnesota and other states.
But it’s unclear if the president or enough congressional Republicans will agree to any of the Democrats’ larger demands that the officers unmask and identify themselves, obtain judicial warrants in certain cases and work with local authorities, among other asks. Republicans have already pushed back.
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A complaint made about Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard months ago relates to an allegation that she withheld access to classified information for political reasons, according to a memo sent to lawmakers by the Inspector General’s Office and obtained by The Associated Press.
That allegation in the complaint filed in May appeared to not be credible, according to the former watchdog for the intelligence community that initially reviewed it. It has become a flashpoint for Gabbard’s critics, who accuse her of withholding information from members of Congress tasked with providing oversight of the intelligence services.
Copies of the top-secret complaint are being hand-delivered this week to the “Gang of Eight” lawmakers — a group comprised of the House and Senate leaders from both parties as well as the top Democrats and Republicans on the House and Senate intelligence committees.
Gabbard’s office has denied the allegations and disputed that it withheld the complaint, saying the delay in getting it to lawmakers was due to an extensive legal review necessitated by the complaint’s many classified details, as well as last year’s government shutdown.
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President Donald Trump’s administration is expected to unveil its grandest plan yet to rebuild supply chains of critical minerals needed for everything from jet engines to smartphones, likely through purchase agreements with partners on top of creating a $12 billion U.S. strategic reserve to help counter China’s dominance.
Vice President JD Vance is set to deliver a keynote address Wednesday at a meeting that Secretary of State Marco Rubio is hosting with officials from several dozen European, Asian and African nations. The U.S. is expected to sign deals on supply chain logistics, though details have not been revealed. Rubio met Tuesday with foreign ministers from South Korea and India to discuss critical minerals mining and processing.
The meeting and expected agreements will come just two days after Trump announced Project Vault, or a stockpile of critical minerals to be funded with a $10 billion loan from the U.S. Export-Import Bank and nearly $1.67 billion in private capital.
▶ Read more
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after signing a spending bill that ends a partial shutdown of the federal government in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after signing a spending bill that ends a partial shutdown of the federal government in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
