World Cup 2018 Kicks Off Today
BRIGGS: One day after the U.S., Mexico and Canada were chosen as combined hosts for the 2026 World Cup, the 2018 tournament kicks off today. Host Russia plays Saudi Arabia in the opening match 11:00 a.m. Eastern and over the next 64 matches will be played in 12 venues. Let's bring in CNN's Alex Thomas who is excited for the events to get underway. He is live in Moscow for us. Just about noon there. Good morning, Alex.</s>ALEX THOMAS, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Dave, and I landed in Russia on Saturday barred the old sign. It was hard to tell a World Cup was happening here. Give it a few days later and the atmosphere is completely turned around. You can probably hear some of the vuvuzela trumpets being blasted by some of the international fans that have landed here. We expect a million to come to the country to enjoy this feat, the football, over the next four and a half weeks. As you say, it all kicks off later on Thursday with the host nation Russia up against Saudi Arabia. By ranking the two worst teams in the competition. So not exactly a mouth watering one for the footballing or soccer aficionado. Of course the United States haven't qualified along with other notable teams like Italy and the Netherlands. Still plenty of star names, though, and forget all the politics involving Russia, once the sports takes over in my experience, this is my fourth World Cup on the ground, the action takes over and that's all that everyone is going to focus on. But we got an opening ceremony involving international pop star Robbie Williams and a local Russian opera singer, too, before the action gets underway. The atmosphere is building up very nicely indeed here in Russia -- Dave.</s>BRIGGS: You're on the spot, Alex. Who wins?</s>THOMAS: If you have to pick someone, Argentina and their superstar Lionel Messi.</s>BRIGGS: I like it. OK. I'm going to go with Spain. Alex Thomas, live for us from Moscow. Thank you.</s>ROMANS: All right. A giant Martian dust storm threatening NASA's Opportunity rover on Mars. Over just a few days it's become considerably darker. That's June 7th on the left, June 10th on the right. Opportunity operates on solar energy so with the light blocked, the rover has put itself to sleep. It hasn't been heard from since Sunday. The storm itself is huge covering an area the size of North America and Russia combined. But Opportunity is pretty hardy. It was designed for a 90-day mission, but it has lasted, Dave, 15 years.</s>BRIGGS: OK. An update on the raccoon that climbed the 25-story Minnesota skyscraper and set social media on fire. Officials say NPR raccoon, as was the hashtag, was captured in a trap on the roof of the high rise baited with some delicious soft cat food. Who wouldn't resist that? Right? She's taken to a private residential property in the Twin City suburbs for release. She ran off into the woods. UBS really should have jumped all over that.</s>ROMANS: Yes, I love that.</s>BRIGGS: Claimed it as UBS raccoon.</s>ROMANS: I love that story. All right. Let's get a check on "CNN Money" this morning. Global stocks falling overnight. Wall Street closed lower after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates and hinted that faster hikes are on the way. Fed Chair Jerome Powell now plans to hold news conferences after every Fed meeting. Right now it's every other meeting. Investors think this means the Fed may raise rates more frequently in 2019. And higher borrowing costs could eat into corporate profits, Also a concern trade. The Trump administration may hit China with $50 billion in tariffs as early as today, adding another affront to America's trade war. A federal judge approved AT&T's purchase of Time Warner, parent of CNN. So Comcast is officially crashing Disney's bid for FOX. In December FOX agreed to sell Disney it's entertainment companies for $52 billion. But it's been long rumored Comcast would try to break up that deal. Now Comcast is formally offering a higher all cash bid of $65 billion. Setting the stakes for a high stakes bidding war over FOX which is great for its stock price. FOX shares jumped nearly 8 percent yesterday to a record high. Apple making it harder for law enforcement to break into iPhones.