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EAST RUTHERFORD, USA: Palmeiras drew first blood in Club World Cup Group A with a 2-0 victory over Al Ahly on Thursday in New Jersey.

Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami face Porto later on in the group’s other clash after two goalless draws in the first round of fixtures.

The match was suspended in the 63rd minute because of a weather warning, with players and fans at the MetLife Stadium instructed to “take shelter” because of a nearby storm.

Palmeiras were leading by two goals at the time, with a Wessam Abou Ali own goal sending the Brazilians ahead in the 49th minute before Flaco Lopez doubled their lead on the Egyptians 10 minutes later.

Victory took Palmeiras provisionally top on four points, with the other three sides level on one point each.

It was the third match at the tournament affected by adverse weather at the tournament.

On Tuesday Mamelodi Sundowns game against Ulsan HD was suspended just before kick-off for just over an hour due to a weather alert.

Then on Wednesday RB Salzburg’ s match against Pachuca was suspended in the second half for 97 minutes because of a storm.

Palmeiras, led by talented youngster Estevao Willian, who is set to join Chelsea, played well but were held by Porto in their opening clash.

Al Ahly kept them at bay in a tight first half, in which English referee Anthony Taylor sent off Palmeiras midfielder Raphael Veiga for a foul on Ahmed Zizo, before overturning his decision following a VAR review.

Palestinian striker Abou Ali headed Anibal Moreno’s free-kick into his own net to hand Palmeiras the lead.

Lopez finished coolly for the Brazilians’ second after Mauricio played him through on goal.

After the suspension of around 45 minutes for the weather warning, Palmeiras played out the remainder of the match comfortably without risking their advantage.

South American sides have come into the tournament strongly, in good condition given they are in the middle of their domestic seasons, and have stayed unbeaten to this point.

CAIRO: Israel has resumed limited natural gas exports from surplus supplies, the country’s Energy Ministry said on Thursday, nearly a week after shutting down two key offshore fields as Israel and Iran waged an air battle.

A ministry spokesperson told Reuters that exports are now resuming “from surpluses, after domestic needs are met.”

An energy ministry source said most of the limited exported gas is currently flowing to Jordan, and only “tiny volumes” reached Egypt this week.

Egyptian fertilizer producers, who were forced to halt operations due to the supply disruption, told Reuters they have yet to receive any gas but expect flows to resume next week.

The Egyptian Petroleum Ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Following military escalation in the region, Israel halted exports on June 13 after closing the Leviathan field, operated by Chevron and the Karish field operated by Energean. Only the Tamar field has remained operational, supplying mainly domestic demand.

Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen said on Wednesday that exports would only resume once military authorities deemed it safe.

“I don’t want to use our strategic storage, so therefore, I needed to cut exports,” he told Reuters.

Egypt, which has increasingly relied on Israeli gas since a domestic production decline in 2022, is scrambling to compensate for the supply gap.

The country has ramped up fuel oil use in power plants and has signed deals to import over $8 billion worth of liquefied natural gas, while preparing additional floating regasification units.

Israeli gas typically accounts for up to 60 percent of Egypt’s total gas imports and around a fifth of its total consumption, according to data from the Joint Organizations Data Initiative (JODI).