Britain

The north of Ireland’s Department of Health (DoH) has announced its plan to hack away at an already inadequate health service, aiming for 12% cuts spread over three years. In a statement, the DoH said:

The HSC [Health and Social Care] is currently spending more than £2 million a day over budget so the Reset and Recovery plan aims to restore financial balance, deliver better value for money, and shift investment towards services in the community rather than hospitals, where most funding is currently spent.

The reason that the HSC system is going over budget is because the budget simply isn’t big enough. Austerity policies are still in effect under Labour, meaning north of Ireland health services, like those in England, Scotland and Wales, still aren’t getting the money required to help an ageing population.

Jane Scott of the union Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance (NIPSA) said the budget must be:

…based on the needs of the health service, not based on the figures they can pluck out of the air. It has to be a needs-based budget to cover what the members out in the public need from their health service.

She also commented:

It’s a travesty that they are making cuts within our health service. We need to fight for our health service for our users. The safe staffing that we have saves lives and that needs to be implemented.

Cuts likely to put patient health at risk

People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll agreed, saying:

Cutting services will not fix the crisis we are facing. Our health service needs proper investment to ensure hospital staff are paid fairly, to tackle chronic levels of understaffing, and to prevent ‘corridor care’ from becoming the norm.

There are, of course, some instances of wasteful spending, which Carroll drew attention to earlier in the week. He highlighted a BBC headline drawing attention to trusts shelling out hundreds of thousands on consultants “to reduce health care costs”. In response, Carroll said:

Health service management say we don’t have enough money for the health service but then spends hundreds of thousands of pounds to ask a private organisation how to wield the axe to cut our health service. You couldn’t make it up.

Hollowing out government expertise only to then rely on overpriced private substitutes is a key feature of the neoliberal con scheme. Other wastefulness by Health and Social Care trusts includes an over-reliance on private nursing agencies, something we’ve highlighted previously.

However, rather than reducing waste, these cuts will directly impact essential staff. NIPSA’s Ian Boersma said:

The first in the firing line, we believe, will be the low paid. It’ll be the admin and clerical workers, porters, cleaners.

Stephanie Greenwood of Unison highlighted the danger such cuts pose to patients, saying:

You cannot make these kind of cuts and provide safe and effective services for patients. Nor can you bring any more pressure to the workforce.

The BBCalso quotes Derry physiotherapist Mave O’Neill, who rightly highlighted the short-termist thinking of health care cuts:

It’s absolutely not the time for cuts because cuts don’t work. Investment works when it comes to supporting the health of our community.

Money for war and superyachts — none for healthcare

Aside from the obviously immorality of leaving sick people to rot, having a permanently crocked population unable to access health care is a massive drain on the economy generally. These will be people who then can’t work, or can only work less than they previously could.

O’Neill raised the toll on patients and overworked staff stemming from continuous cuts, saying:

I love my job, and I think everybody who works there does, but it’s really hard when you’re working in a broken system and seeing patients being let down.

We’ve previously described the moral injury endured by health care workers battling to do their job in impossible conditions. They are rapidly losing patience with cruel cuts to services, and loss of pay. The Royal College of Nursing in Northern Ireland has said that:

…industrial action, including strike action, could be imminent as nursing staff continue to be denied a pay award already given to colleagues in other parts of the UK.

Again, this all results from simply not enough money being provided to essential public services. Instead, Westminster throws vast sums away on weapons of mass murder, and the super-rich are allowed to splurge their vast fortunes on obscene trinkets. Meanwhile, the working-class die on stretchers in overcrowded hospital corridors.

We live in an era of unprecedented productive capacity and technology. Things should be getting better, not worse. It isn’t a law of nature that ordinary people have to suffer like this — it’s a political choice. The unions challenging health care destruction are part of the fight to change those choices, but it will need mobilisation across all of society to drive a shift away from our current murderous oligarchic order.

Featured image via the Canary

By Robert Freeman

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Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky has just publicly boasted about a letter from war criminal Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu. And a key reason for this may be that Zelensky’s strategy of trying to link Ukraine to the US-Israeli war on Iran is finally paying off.

I received warm congratulations for the people of Ukraine from Prime Minister @netanyahu of Israel. Our countries share deep bonds – between our people in the first place, but also in the economy, culture, and other areas. It is therefore good to hear of Israel’s desire to… pic.twitter.com/WjhLg37ai6

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) August 26, 2026

Over the years, Netanyahu developed very close links with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Israel is home to many immigrants from Russia. Many of its politicians speak Russian, as do many in its high-tech sector. And Netanyahu even prioritised boosting ties with Russia at one point.

Israel can also relate to Russia’s occupation of Ukrainian land as an occupying force itself. And it didn’t want to join international sanctions on Russia in part because it fears being on the wrong end of such sanctions itself. So it didn’t embrace Ukraine as wholeheartedly as its Western allies did after Russia invaded in 2022.

The Israeli-Russian relationship has gradually declined, however, amid Israel’s genocide in Gaza and escalation of hostilities across the Middle East, and Iran in particular.

For his part, Zelensky has struggled with Donald Trump. While he has been trying to extend his shelf-life, Trump has been deprioritising the Ukraine’s war. Instead, its been increasing aggression in Latin America, and focusing more on Israel’s imperial regional ambitions. But linking Ukraine somehow to the Middle East (where a big chunk of Trump’s focus lies) could be changing that.

Zelensky jumping on the Iran bandwagon?

There have been increasing calls for elections in Ukraine, which Zelensky has refused. And although European countries (and particularly the UK) are still firmly behind him, he also faces pressure to pass some reforms to unlock money. So he’s looking for breakthroughs wherever he can find them at the moment.

Early in Russia’s war against Ukraine, Zelensky said he’d like Ukraine to model itself as “a big Israel”. And the US-Israeli war on Iran has given him a big chance to pander to the colonial powers. He quickly praised the illegal attacks, argued that Russia was helping Iran, and started showing Middle Eastern regimes how to resist Iranian retaliation.

In the boldest cry for attention yet, Ukraine attacked an Iranian ship in the Caspian Sea without provocation. It argued this was fair because Iran has supplied Russia with weaponry. But Iran’s foreign minister promptly asserted that:

what the freeloader in Kyiv [Zelenskyy] did CANNOT GO UNANSWERED

It was in this environment that he received Netanyahu’s letter. Despite the genocide Netanyahu has overseen in Gaza, along with a litany of other heinous crimes, Zelensky could hardly hide his excitement about “working fruitfully” with the apartheid state. Of course this didn’t go down well online:

So Russias occupation of Crimea = Bad

But Israel’s occupation of West Bank, East J and Gaza = “shared values, deep bonds between our people etc”…

Not a good look here @ZelenskyyUa

— Maximilian (@m4xim1l1an) August 27, 2026

Israel is to Gaza what Russia is to Ukraine. Fuck Israel

— SM (@youblewmycover) August 26, 2026

You cry everyday about Russia attacking you, but you flex a letter from someone accused of genocide? Something doesn't add up.

— Tatuco (@tatuqo) August 26, 2026

I knew you were wrongun. Collaborating with a genocidal maniac just confirms that.

— Sharon (@K4rmaRules) August 27, 2026

Given you want and need the world's compassion and support, your affair with those genocidal fucks is imbecillic.

But hey, if you want the world to know you share values with genocidaires, you're free to do it.

— Miłosz Wojtala (@milosz_wojtala) August 26, 2026

Considering the UK’s 100-year commitment to Ukraine, which gives Britain special access to battlefield data and justifies regular injections of massive funding for Ukraine, it seems unlikely that Westminster will let Zelensky’s budding relationship with war criminal Netanyahu change anything. But many people absolutely think it should:

As long as Ukraine is associating with these genocidal war criminals they should receive absolutely nothing from the EU and certainly Ireland. No money, no military support, nothing. No point complaining about Russia while championing Israel

— Roibeard Breathnach (@rfwalsh86) August 26, 2026

If apartheid, genocide, ethnic cleansing, illegal invasions and annexation of other countries isn't a red line for you, then you deserve support from no-one.

— Niamh Ní Cheallaigh (@CheallaighNiamh) August 26, 2026

A lot of people have lost sympathy for you since you joined Netanyahu at the hip. Read the room, his government is despised around the world, and tying yourself to it is costing you support bro.

— Regal (@regalvalence) August 26, 2026

If you were still at all unsure about who Zelensky is, though, at least it’s crystal clear now.

Featured image via the Canary

By Ed Sykes

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The Met Police spent five months ‘investigating’ Bob Vylan frontman Bobby Vylan for repeating his chant of ‘death to the IDF’ (Israel’s genocidal occupation forces) in March. But as with previous investigations, authorities have ended up taking no further action. And Vylan suggested the Met had pointlessly wasted public money, adding:

Maybe now you can stop the harassment and do some real work.

After 5 months of “investigating”, the @metpoliceuk have decided to NFA me for the same thing their mates @ASPolice couldn’t bring a charge about for when it was performed live on the BBC. Great use of resources guys! Maybe now you can stop the harassment and do some real work. https://t.co/BnuJFsbim4

— Bob Vylan (@BobbyVylan) August 26, 2026

Bobby Vylan: not backing down

A longstanding opponent of Israeli crimes, Bobby Vylan has clarified that he doesn’t regret his comments about Israel’s colonial occupation army. But supporters of the apartheid state and its war criminal leaders have cynically and antisemitically tried to equate Israeli occupation forces with the entire Jewish community.

A Met Police spokesperson said, for example, that there had been concerns “particularly among London’s Jewish communities” about the chant. And they said they’d keep working to “ensure the safety and security of Jewish Londoners”. Ensuring people’s safety is supposedly their job, of course, but what that has to do with Vylan’s chant is unclear.

Jewish Voice for Peace has called the treatment of “Jewish people as a monolithic group” a ‘contemporary expression of antisemitism’. So speaking about one group of mainly Jewish people (the IDF) who have participated in genocide is not the same as speaking about all Jewish people. To say otherwise is antisemitic.

Just as there are Jewish people who support the IDF, there are many, many Jewish people who abhor the IDF’s crimes.

How about punishing actual crimes?

If words were crimes, there would not still be a witch hunt against the former West Midlands Police chief for banning Maccabi Tel Aviv fans in 2025. Because in addition to the justifiable case for banning all Israeli teams during the ongoing genocide in Gaza, the chants of that team’s fans are not ones that should grace any stadium.

As we reported previously, many Maccabi Tel Aviv fans are “highly organised” hooligans who proudly chant “death to Arabs”, sing about rape, and glorify genocidal actions. And “death to Arabs” (an entire ethnic group, not just a specific army) is a “popular Israeli slogan” which the IDF has followed through on (and not just in Palestine).

There’s even an annual hate march in Israel where large groups of people chant “death to the Arabs”, “may their villages burn”, and other criminal slogans. And an Israeli song calling for the deaths of anti-genocide celebrities even topped the charts. We just don’t hear much about all this from our pro-Israel politicians or corporate media.

At the very least, though, our police forces should arrest British citizens who have served in the IDF during the genocide. And they should actually follow through on the international arrest warrants for senior Israeli politicians rather than rolling out the red carpet for genocide-inciters.

In short, we fully endorse Bobby Vylan’s request that the police stop harassing people opposing genocide and actually get on with ‘doing some real work’.

Featured image via the Canary

By Ed Sykes

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Far-right Israeli lawmaker Zvi Sukkot filmed himself taking a sledgehammer to a Palestinian memorial in the village of Madama during IOF-escorted West Bank tour, on 25 Aug 2026. The village has faced repeated settler attacks, along with the uprooting of thousands of trees.

In the video, Sukkot — a member of the Religious Zionism Party — stated that:

This is something we cannot leave standing here, because any place that glorifies terrorism, we must remove it.

The monument was erected in 2008 in memory of the Palestinians who died in both the first and second intifadas, and the battle of Karameh. The battle took place over the course of one day in 1968, with forces from the Palestine Liberation Organisation and Jordan on one side and Israel on the other.

‘Deceptively and manipulatively’

Sukkot and several aides, flanked by soldiers and a military vehicle as he approached the monument, hammer in hand. The IOF stated that it was providing ‘security’ for the lawmaker as he toured the area. However, it added that Sukkot “acted deceptively and manipulatively, without authorization”.

The Israeli military claimed that its soldiers eventually stopped Sukkot and escorted him away, before reporting his attack on the memorial.

However, in the video the IOF soldiers can clearly be seen standing nearby, apparently unperturbed:

Israeli election posturing

Sukkot filmed his little stunt in the run-up to the Israeli general elections on October 27. As such, even several of his fellow far-right-wingers like PM Netanyahu was keen to distance himself too — but only in process terms, complaining that public figures ‘taking the law into one’s own hands’ distracts the army from its ‘missions’. Not a word about the village.

Gadi Eisenkot, Netanyahu’s primary rival, took the opportunity for points-scoring:

Netanyahu… is allowing anarchists like Zvi Sukkot and his ilk to do as they please, endangering security in the settlements and damaging Israel’s standing in the world.

However, Religious Zionism Party leader and finance minister Bezalel Smotrich criticised the:

frantic rush of the left-wing opposition to condemn Sukkot rather than terrorism itself.

If this ‘left-wing’ is referring to Eisenkot’s Yashar party, Smotrich is of course sorely mistaken.

On Monday 24 August, IOF Major-General Avi Bluth is understood to have informed Netanyahu that increasing settler violence could ignite a significant escalation. Bluth is head of IOF central command and leader of the occupier’s military operations in the West Bank.

The BBCstated that:

In a number of previous incidents involving settler violence, soldiers have been filmed standing by without intervening.

Featured image via the Canary

By Grace

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‘Free Speech Union’ boss and Tory peer Toby Young has bemoaned the death of hounded Black academic Jason Arday – because Arday dying deprived the state-corporate media of “comedy gold”.

Young posted this on X, decrying the ‘loss’ – not of a life gone too early, but of the humour he and others could have enjoyed at Arday’s expense. Embedding on the post appears to have been disabled, so a screenshot is below:

“Tragic loss” of Arday

The article that Young was keen for his followers to read is no better. Under a heading “The Jason Arday Affair Should Have Been Comedy Gold”, writer Nick Rendell claims that left-wingers as well as right considered Arday fair game. This holds only for those ignorant enough to think the Guardian and James O’Brian have anything to do with the left:

For the two weeks between the Guardian publishing a piece questioning some of Arday’s more fanciful claims on August 1st and the announcement of his death on August 14th, Arday was temporarily ‘in play’ for the Left as much as he had always been for the Right.

But Rendell admits that the right had “always” wanted Arday’s downfall – just as it turned out to be. For all the Guardian’s guilt, far-right white-supremacists were behind the attack, with the abysmal Zionist Nathan Cofnas as their point man.

But for Rendell, the real tragedy was not Arday’s death. It was that his death deprived the ‘comedy’ world of the opportunity to keep mocking him:

Undoubtedly, once support from the various Leftist institutions started ebbing away, a mad scramble to commission books, line up interviewees for documentaries and prepare movie pitches would have been set in motion. All would have been comic. The situation was ridiculous, the characters ridiculous, the institutions ridiculous.

Then suddenly, with his death, Arday went from zero to hero. From sacrificial lamb to martyr. And in so doing he became, once again, untouchable. The opening chapters of the books will have been deleted, the interviewees stood down and the movie pitches binned.

The loss for the British TV and film industry is, in its own way, also tragic. No doubt your ideas are better than mine, but just for a moment indulge your creative juices and imagine the comic possibilities of the Life and Times of Jason Arday.

And, disgustingly, Rendell rounds off his poison by blaming, for Arday’s death, not the far right and liberals who mobbed him, but ‘the Left’ – which supposedly:

once it was obvious that they had been ‘played’, narrowed his choices. Self-evidently, martyrdom was the only route he could see to achieve redemption. That was the real tragedy of Jason Arday.

Contempt it deserved

Though the troglodyte right of course endorsed his X vileness, Young’s post also got the response it deserved from many, as respondents pointed out the holes that had always existed in the racist smear campaign against Arday:

And now for the truth! https://t.co/dftEyXsqgx

— Scarlet#4TheMany (@Dovepetalchile) August 25, 2026

And Young’s own mediocrity was a popular topic:

You are a disgrace who has failed upward all his life. You have no shame, but I think when you fall from grace it will still hurt. God willing. https://t.co/pZgfgJznjR https://t.co/LKjfBPOsBp pic.twitter.com/fySfxuHaKW

— Samantha Asumadu (@SamanthaAsumadu) August 23, 2026

As one offline commenter put it, Young’s and Rendell’s complaint is:

We laughed at him until he died and we want to still be able to milk it.

Each time it seems like the right couldn’t go lower, it finds a way.

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By Skwawkbox

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Thousands of families took to the streets across the occupied West Bank, demanding the Israeli occupation’s military hand over the remains of their dead relatives. This was ahead of the Palestinian National Day for the Retrieval of the Bodies of Martyrs, marked every year on 27 August.

‘Israel’ claims it is withholding 1700 Palestinian martyrs’ bodies

The Israeli occupation has revealed it is holding around 1700 Palestinian bodies. Some are buried in unmarked plots in secret military sites known as “cemeteries of numbers”. Palestinians are buried here with numbers, and not their names, while others are kept refrigerated. Bodies of those arrested in Gaza are kept in the notorious Sde Teiman torture camp. 

The National Campaign for the Recovery of the Bodies of Martyrs, and prisoner advocacy groups, know the identities of 799 martyrs whose bodies are being withheld by the occupation.

256 of these are buried in the cemeteries of numbers, 99 were prisoners of war, 81 were children under 18, and 10 were women.

The most recent case is that of a retired colonel in the Palestinian National Security Forces, known as Fathi Khazem. Israeli occupation forces (IOF) fatally shot him inside his home in Jenin, and then confiscated his body.

Khazem had endured years of Israeli harassment before soldiers targeted and killed him. He had survived several assassination attempts, but his sons were not so lucky. In 2022, the IOF killed two of them on separate occasions. Four of Khazem’sa homes had also been demolished by the IOF.

Israeli occupation punishes Palestinians in both life and death

The practice of withholding bodies, or burying them in unmarked graves, has severely escalated since October 2023. The Palestinian Prisoners Society says it has been happening for more than five decades. And it denies families the right to know the fate of their loved ones. This leaves them stuck insuspended grief. They are denied a body to identify, or a grave in which to bury the body. The right to hold a traditional funeral according to religious beliefs is also not upheld.

Even when the handover of bodies does happen, it very often comes with certain conditions attached. The occupation can demand burials take place at midnight, or that funeral numbers are limited. Families can also be forced to bury their loved ones miles from where they live.

This is a further attempt by the occupation, to control Palestinians — even the dead, and relies directly on the British Mandate’s 1945 Emergency Regulations. These were adopted by ‘Israel’ after 1967 to bury thousands in unmarked graves without telling their families.

State-sanctioned repression

According to the National Campaign for the Recovery of Martyrs’ Bodies:

The body after martyrdom is used as a means of domination and repression. Families are deprived of the opportunity to publicly mourn, and they are left waiting for prolonged periods to recover the remains of their loved ones.

The occupation’s Supreme Court found, in 2017, that the policy of withholding the bodies of deceased Palestinians lacked any legal basis. But by 2018, the Knesset amended the Counter-Terrorism Law to give police the power to keep remains, so they could be used as bargaining chips in negotiating a potential prisoner swap.

. A year later, after the Jerusalem Legal Aid Centre (JLAC) had launched a legal challenge, the Supreme Court ruled that the state can legally withhold Palestinian bodies to use as bargaining chips for potential future prisoner or hostage exchange deals. This continues today.

Withholding bodies and collective punishment are war crimes under international law. But if world leaders continue refusing to take action and look the other way, ‘Israel’s’ weaponisation of human remains will continue.

Featured image provided via author

By Charlie Jaay

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The Trump administration is talking to the interim Venezuelan government about buying a massive stake in the country’s huge oil reserves. The US kidnapped Venezuela’s president Nicolas Maduro on 3 January 2026. Since then, the US has dealt with Maduro’s successor, the much more pliable Delcy Rodriguez.

Venezuela: who saw this coming?

Axios reported on 27 August that two US officials had confirmed:

The historic deal would more than double U.S. oil reserves by drawing from a country that has the world’s largest proven reserves.

Indeed, Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world. And US military intervention was framed as a counter-narcotics mission, thought that narrative has shifted over time. The US is currently fighting a war against Iran and supporting one in Ukraine. Meanwhile, American oil reserves are at a 40 year low. Trump is also eager to bring the western hemisphere firmly under US control.

Axios reported:

Trump began privately discussing ways to have an ownership stake in Venezuelan oil fields even before he authorized the Jan. 3 capture of Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro, who faces narco-terrorism charges in New York.

One US official said:

President Trump is close to securing America’s energy future for generations to come, not just in the U.S. but in the hemisphere.

Axios also reported:

Venezuela’s oil sector fell into a relative state of disrepair because of the legacy of socialist mismanagement by Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, after he took over in 1999.

It is likely the US would need to develop this ageing infrastructure. Though there have been warnings that the Chavista movement which brought Chavez and Maduro to power is finally stirring after the January raid.

Homeland empire

As the Canary wrote in May 2026:

Latin America is still central to current US colonial ambitions. American shadow war operations are popping up left, right and centre as the US seeks to dominate.

Trump’s 2025 national security strategy said as much. The US wants to ensure:

the Western Hemisphere remains reasonably stable and well-governed enough to prevent and discourage mass migration to the United States.

And that those pliable governments, like Venezuela now has:

cooperate with us against narco-terrorists, cartels, and other transnational criminal organizations.

Trump and his cronies want:

a Hemisphere that remains free of hostile foreign incursion or ownership of key assets, and that supports critical supply chains.

Through force as much as through negotiation, the current US administration is determined to secure what is considers its ‘backyard’. That includes backing dictators and assuring access to essential resources – not least oil reserves in Venezuela. The official US narrative is one of moral panic. ‘We’re countering ‘narco-terrorism’, they say. But strip that back and you’re looking at old-fashioned colonialism.

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By Joe Glenton

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Israeli troops have guarded a far-right Knesset member as he attacked a West Bank monument with a sledgehammer. Extremist Zvi Sukkot was on what he called a ‘memorial tour’ – and the IOF had diverted troops from regular duties to protect the fascist settler as he destroyed the monument to murdered Palestinians in Kafr Madama near Nablus:

Zvi Sukkot, an Israel far-right law maker, entered yesterday a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank and smashed a monument.
Sukkot’s visit was guarded by the @IDF . https://t.co/TVMICicAQC

— Dr Cyril Chilson (@ChilsonCyril) August 25, 2026

Zvi Sukkot: proud criminal

But Zvi Sukkot was not ‘caught’ on camera – he had arranged his own camera team to capture his coloniser stunt and distributed the footage proudly to news agencies:

Sukkot claimed he had attacked the monument – and others – to deter ‘terrorism’. Spoken with the arrogance of a racist land thief who has no idea that his atrocities inspire resistance from the land’s real people, not deter it.

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By Skwawkbox

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US president Donald Trump’s justice department wants to bring back a long-dead court to seize Iranian tankers. These so-called ‘prize courts’ date back to the 18th century and were last seriously used in the US Civil War and the world wars. The Trump administration believes they can be used to decide on ship seizures. In short, they think this creaking mechanism can be used in Trump’s failed war against Iran.

The idea seems… a little chaotic… and very Trumpian. Citing a paywalled Bloomberg report, The Maritime Executive website described court as:

a special-purpose tribunal for speedily determining the legality of the seizure and forfeiture of an enemy merchant vessel.

The tribunals are very old indeed and were last used decades ago:

The American legal framework for a prize court hasn’t been tested since World War II, and only rarely after 1900; but dusty as it may be, the administration sees it as a way to circumvent the delay-prone appeals process of the civil court system.

They date back to an earlier era of violent colonial competition:

when blockades and militarily-aligned merchant shipping were part of the everyday business of warfare.

The court is convened in “a belligerent state’s seaport”:

when a captured merchant ship is brought in. If the ship meets the standard for a prize, the court transfers ownership of the vessel (and any contraband cargo) to the belligerent state.

But the move is a sign of a much deeper rot in the US empire.

Trump — A regime in freefall

US-Israel attacked Iran first on 28 February without provocation. Iran was offeringunprecedented concessions in negotiations at the time. The Pentagon has sincestated there was no imminent threat from Iran. And the UN’s atomic watchdog, the IAEA, has said there isno evidence Iran was developing a nuclear weapon.

The US has achieved none of its original war aims. Iran predictably closed the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil channel, once attacked – creating a global energy crisis. Far from being defeated, Iran has said the war will continue until “the enemy’s inevitable and permanent humiliation, disgrace, regret, and surrender”. Trump came to power on an anti-war ‘America First’ ticket. He now faces worldwide humiliation.

With talks deadlocked Trump has made Iranian tanker seizures a core part of his strategy.

Maritime Executive said that the court could be hosted in Texas, but caveated that one of six conditions must be met to enact the archaic tribunal:

• carrying militarily-useful goods toward enemy territory (contraband goods);

• transporting enemy servicemembers;

• operating under enemy control or charter;

• using fake documents;

• violating regulations near naval activity

• or attempting to run a blockade.

The US has also been seizing Venezuela-linked tankers as part of its strategy to bring the Western hemisphere to heel.

With the US empire in visibly rapid decline, Trump and his allies are groping for ways to impose their will. In this case, they want to use a form of law-fare. The truth is, prize courts will do nothing to stabilise a violent global regime which is in free-fall.

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By Joe Glenton

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The second Donald Trump administration has turbo-powered a far-right takeover of Latin America. And for the sake of peace and justice both regionally and globally, everyone should know how this happened and the damage it’s causing.

Index

• Trump lowers the mask of US terror

• ‘Communism’ and a green light for a new Dirty War

• 2026 as a turning point for Latin America

• Argentina — a laboratory of capitalist extremism

• El Salvador — the prison-loving crypto dictator

• Ecuador — Extreme wealth and an intensifying drug war

• Honduras — dodgy dealings between high-profile drug convict, Trump, and Israel

• Colombia — Trump wannabe wastes no time following razor-thin election win

• Bolivia — from left-wing success story to neoliberal lab

• Peru — nostalgia for a war criminal dictator

• Chile — a flip back to the (far) right

• Dominican Republic — wealth, racism, and US influence

• Other countries in Trump’s sphere of influence

• The lonely left-leaners

• Mexico — A slow transformation —appeasing Trump (for now)

• Brazil — outspoken Lula da Silva campaigning for another term in October’s elections

• Uruguay — a small but pioneering nation

• Key targets for US intervention

• Venezuela — finally back under the US thumb following presidential abduction

• Cuba — a genocidal US assault to finish almost seven decades of unfinished business

• Nicaragua — bunkering down in preparation

Trump lowers the mask of US terror

US elites have long seen Latin America as their sphere of influence almost by divine right. And the US waged a campaign of terror in Latin America during the Cold War to stop the region moving to the left. This quietened down after the fall of the USSR, turning mostly into more subtle influence campaigns.

The billionaire class, however, isn’t happy that Latin America has increasingly chosen to do business with China since the end of the Cold War. The first Trump regime tried to challenge China while tightening the screws on regional left-wing governments. But it had limited success.

While there was a temporary far-right coup in Bolivia under Trump 1.0, escalating hostility against Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua only hurt ordinary people. If anything, these governments dug in.

The second Trump regime, however, has unleashed all it can get away with. Along with covert influence campaigns, it has also brought a ‘might is right‘ approach front and centre once again. And this resuscitation of Cold War military intervention has helped to put the far right firmly on the front foot in Latin America.

Trump 2.0 benefited a lot from Democratic predecessors granting Israel impunity and supporting its genocide in Gaza. This set in motion a clear assault on international law, showing the billionaire class it could get away with much more than before. Trump simply escalated the attack.

Resurrecting US tactics from some of the most blatant interventions of the Cold War, Trump 2.0 has assassinated people at sea, abducted a president to steal oil, joined Israel’s wars in the Middle East, and starved an entire island, all while continuing campaigns of electoral interference.

‘Communism’ and a green light for a new Dirty War

Trump is now repeating the word ‘communism‘ over and over, even to talk about Democrats (whose party establishment has a severe aversion to even social-democratic politics). Because communism still represents fear for older generations in the US (which have tended to lean towards Trump), it’s a word worth evoking for Trump.

The resurging obsession with communism, however, also reflects US anger about superpower rival China becoming an important partner for Latin American governments. And talking as if communism is somehow a grave threat to the region helps Trump to justify his brash attempts to reassert US domination.

US elites have long wanted Latin America to itself. First came the Monroe Doctrine, asserting that European influence in the region wasn’t welcome. Then, the Roosevelt Corollary argued that the US could act as a police force to enforce this. Essentially, this attitude ended up justifying US interventionism and dominance.

This intensified after 1954’s ‘Caracas Declaration of Solidarity‘, in which most Latin American nations essentially affirmed that communism wasn’t welcome in the Western Hemisphere and that they would do what was necessary to fight against it.

Trump’s ‘secretary of war’ Pete Hegseth is just one regime figure now pushing the ‘Donroe Doctrine‘, which tries to sell the intensifying US offensive as ‘defending the Western Hemisphere from external threats‘. It doesn’t, however, defend the hemisphere from Trump’s push for regional allies to dump international law.

In some Latin American nations, violent US-backed campaigns against the left during the Cold War gained the title ‘Dirty War‘. And today, Trump is giving a green light (and active support) for a new generation of rogues to wage their own 21st-century Dirty Wars.

2026 as a turning point for Latin America

Together with academics William Callison and Verónica Gago, Shock Doctrine author Naomi Klein has described 2026 as a “turning point“, with Latin America:

fast becoming a frontyard of fascist experimentation

Countless regimes, they said, are now testing out:

authoritarian exit strategies from liberal democracy

The goal is to impose elite control over natural resources and populations via increasing militarisation and unaccountability for the billionaire class. And the regimes responsible call opponents of their anti-democratic rampage ‘terrorists’, sometimes with clear overtures to the brutal Cold War repression of pro-US dictators.

This time, however, evil tech giants are around to lend a hand.

Trump ally and fascist Palantir mogul Peter Thiel, for example, has already moved to Argentina. There, he and others have a clear path to exploit key Argentine resources with almost no regulations or accountability. Chile’s far-right president has also met secretly with Thiel, and other Trump allies also have links with firms like Palantir.

The small consolation amid all of this is that elites wouldn’t be putting so much money and effort into taking control if they didn’t fear the power of mass movements to stop their power grabs. Ordinary people absolutely have power, and that’s a key reason why the billionaire class is trying its best to reduce or erase that power.

Argentina — a laboratory of capitalist extremism

President: Javier Milei. Perhaps one of the worst far-right leaders in Latin America right now, he says he’s “proud to be the most Zionist president in the world“. His hyper-corporate agenda at home has caused great suffering in Argentina since 2023. And Trump had to bail him out in 2025 to keep him in business.

Milei’s policies: The neoliberal extremist has slashed workers’ rights, pushed for lower taxes, and removed energy subsidies while pushing for more foreign influence in natural resource extraction (with few strings attached). He has also submitted to the dangerous elitist whims of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

He wants to reform the electoral system before his next election campaign. And it’s unsurprising that he’d want to boost his chances when street-sleeping has increased massively, ordinary people are entering into more and more debt just to buy basic goods like food, and his government has enabled the worst wildfires in decades.

Milei has also sought to gut human rights policies. And he has built a close alliance with Israeli war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu, visiting the genocidal apartheid state on numerous occasions and entering new trade deals (particularly with tech firms and on ‘security’ issues). His ‘Isaac Accords‘, meanwhile, have sought to champion Israeli interests in Latin America.

Context: Argentina is by far the country that owes the most money to the IMF (almost $60bn as of 2025). US-backed dictators in the Cold War ramped up Argentina’s debt massively while increasing poverty and inequality with extreme capitalist policies.

Infighting and failures in the main left-leaning party contributed to Milei’s rise to power. In particular, poverty continued to increase under Milei’s centrist predecessor, who oversaw austerity measures despite initially criticising the IMF. This left some people in difficult situations willing to give Milei a chance.

El Salvador — the prison-loving crypto dictator

President: Nayib Bukele. Bukele is good at bigging himself up in government propaganda. People soon called the media-savvy populist a ‘cool dictator‘ as he became more and more authoritarian.

Past: During the Cold War, the US backed brutal efforts to repress the left in El Salvador. The country’s civil war left serious economic and social problems, and hundreds of thousands of people had fled to the US. When the US deported large numbers of convicts in the late 1990s, organised crime in El Salvador skyrocketed.

The country has a poor education system and high levels of poverty. Many citizens continue to leave the country. And money that Salvadorans living abroad send home accounts for a large part of the country’s economy.

Bukele’s policies: Bukele has used a ‘state of emergency‘ (an increasingly common far-right technique) to concentrate his dictatorial powers. And while his hardline approach on crime had an impact on statistics, human rights abuses ballooned (including arbitrary arrests, torture, and extreme subjugation of prisoners).

At the same time, he has done little to tackle the causes of crime – like the insatiable US demand for drugs.

Bukele’s government made Bitcoin legal tender in 2021. Although the possibility of greater financial inclusion looked attractive, the project failed in many ways (though not for Bukele) and in 2025 his government partially rolled back Bitcoin’s usage.

Ecuador — Extreme wealth and an intensifying drug war

President: Daniel Noboa. Born in Miami. Son of Ecuador’s richest person. The extreme wealth of his family – one of Latin America’s richest – comes from real estate, mining, and the banana trade. The family banana company allegedly colluded with drug traffickers in the past.

Past: At the start of the 21st century, left-leaning president Rafael Correa successfully reduced poverty and inequality, saw off regular US interference, and gave Julain Assange asylum. But Correa’s successor betrayed this project, setting Ecuador on a neoliberal path that it has remained on ever since.

Noboa’s policies: Noboa hasn’t just continued the destructive neoliberal policies of his predecessors (which have increased inequality, poverty, and militarisation). He has also been rehashing drug war failures of the past to position himself as a strongman in times of increasing violence, while putting civil rights at risk.

There are already significant humanitarian concerns about a lack of accountability for military abuses during Noboa’s drug war.

Ecuador’s prime location between key drug-producing nations Colombia and Peru means it would be difficult to free the country from drug crime without dealing with the massive demand from Global North countries like the US. But Noboa is focusing on building joint military efforts with the US, Peru and Colombia.

Controversies: From early on, Noboa made numerous controversial attempts to disempower his vice president (also a proud right-winger). There were also allegations of fraud during his 2025 re-election campaign. Amid violent crackdowns of protests, rising living costs also affected Noboa’s popularity.

Honduras — dodgy dealings between high-profile drug convict, Trump, and Israel

President: Nasry ‘Tito’ Asfura. Blatant US interference (including a Trump endorsement and threat) and dodgy efforts behind the scenes helped to secure Asfura’s controversial election win in Honduras in 2025. The proud Christian Zionist quickly boosted relations with Israel, whose name appeared in the Hondurasgate revelations.

Controversy: The Hondurasgate files revealed a secret coordination of efforts to undermine democracies both in Honduras and across Latin America. The Trump regime had been conniving with Israel, convicted drug trafficker and far-right ex-president of Honduras Juan Orlando Hernández, and Argentina’s far-right president Javier Milei.

Asfura’s policies: In government, Asfura has sought to deepen the power of private corporations while weakening state regulations. And he has faced accusations of repressing opponents in service of international and national elites. The state, for example, has labelled activists terrorists to justify violence against them.

Past: Honduras was a key military hub for US destabilisation in Central America in the Cold War. Brutal pro-US regimes led it to have one of the world’s highest murder rates and serious drug cartel problems, leading many ordinary people to flee the country. The US backed a coup in 2009 to avoid losing influence in Honduran politics.

Sharing a long border with Nicaragua, Honduras played a key role in the brutal US ‘Contra‘ war against its neighbour in the 1980s. Nicaragua had dared to overthrow an oppressive US-backed dictatorship, and the US violated international law trying to punish it. Ordinary Hondurans also suffered from the increasing militarisation.

Drug trafficking became an important tool for the Contra mercenaries in their fight against the Nicaraguan left.

Colombia — Trump wannabe wastes no time following razor-thin election win

President: Abelardo de la Espriella. Although predecessor Gustavo Petro made traditional US ally Colombia a prominent critic of the Gaza genocide, millionaire and far-right Israel fanboy de la Espriella quickly sought to change that after his extremely narrow election victory.

De la Espriella lived in Miami before the election campaign and worked for years as a lawyer to high-profile criminals. As president, he has pushed for and committed to “joint military operations to destroy terrorists”, with $1bn of US ‘security assistance’.

Controversy: Private firms have long operated Colombia’s elections. And dominant tax-haven-based logistics company Thomas Greg & Sons may have links with de la Espriella. The company’s owners have faced numerous fraud convictions, and played a role in Honduras’s highly controversial 2025 election.

De la Espriella’s policies: Amid an earthquake disaster following his inauguration, he declared an “economic emergency” to reassign public resources and establish means for channelling money (on a supposedly temporary and limited basis).

He was also quick to formally accept (alongside only the US) Israel’s annexation of the illegally occupied Golan Heights. And he welcomed Israeli figures into Colombia to ‘help’ after the earthquake, despite reportedly rejecting support from Mexico.

His election wish list was a far-right dream. Apart from cosying up to Israel, he pledged to join Trump’s regional aggression by intensifying militarisation, building mega-prisons, and increasing police powers. He also promised to boost exploitation of natural resources, slash private-sector taxes, and gut public spending.

Petro’s left-wing Historic Pact coalition could, however, put up some resistance as the biggest force in Colombia’s congress until 2030.

Past: Colombia is still emerging from a brutal 50-year civil war, and the country’s right was not happy about the peace deal that ended it. Warmonger de la Espriella looks set to give the right what they want by ramping the conflict up again.

Bolivia — from left-wing success story to neoliberal lab

President: Rodrigo Paz. He pledged “capitalism for all“, which resonated for many people because of Bolivia’s massive informal sector (in which workers lack legal and social protections).

Controversy: Paz unleashed austerity on the country following his election, sparking mass protests. His government then sent the military in.

Argentine adviser Fernando Cerimedo had been advising Paz, as he had other far-right leaders in Latin America. But he currently faces accusations of both illicit enrichment and an attempt to orchestrate the murder of an ex-partner. The woman in question had apparent links with Bolivia’s shift from left to right in recent years.

Past: Before a 2019 coup deposed left-wing president Evo Morales, Bolivia was the South America’s fastest-growing economy. Under Morales, poverty had fallen by 42% since 2006. And amid increasing public investment, unemployment also fell. A central policy helping to fuel all this was the nationalisation of key natural resources.

Peru — nostalgia for a war criminal dictator

President: Keiko Fujimori. Daughter of dictator Alberto Fujimori, whose regime committed countless war crimes during his rule in the 1990s. The Fuerza Popular party, which continues his political legacy, remains a dominant force in Peru. And Keiko narrowly won Peru’s 2026 election.

Context: Peru has one of the biggest economies in Latin America. But it also has profound poverty and the highest regional levels of informal work. It’s a very conservative country that has historically suffered from a lot of racist discrimination and US influence (including militarily).

Peru’s capital Lima is where the political and economic power lies. And left-leaning politicians have often tried to appease the conservative city to get or keep power. And the state’s rural war with Maoist rebels in the 1980s and 90s still weighs heavily on the minds of many voters. The right knows this, and plays on people’s fears.

Fujimori’s policies: The new president wants to attract private investors and launch a military crackdown against criminals. This message resonated in Lima, while her main opponent had support in more rural areas.

There are now concerns for the democratic future of Peru, though some believe she won’t go as far to the right as other regional leaders. Fujimori was quick to back Trump’s ‘Shield of the Americas’ project, however. And a pattern of immunity for military crimes seems to be continuing under her rule. several soldiers

Chile — a flip back to the (far) right

President: José Antonio Kast. Some have called the millionaire politician the “first far-right president since Pinochet“.

Past: Augusto Pinochet ran an oppressive neoliberal dictatorship after taking power in the bloody 1973 coup. After his defeat at the end of the Cold War, centre-left governments won consecutive elections for 20 years. But since 2010, the country has flipped from right to left and back again every four years.

Kast’s policies: Chile has the largest lithium reserves in the world. And the government of outgoing left–wing president Gabriel Boric had continued to insist on state regulation and control of the lithium industry. But amid pressure from Trump, Kast has promised to increase the role of the US in extracting the precious resource.

Kast has also promised Trump-style crime and immigration policies.

Dominican Republic — wealth, racism, and US influence

President: Luis Abinader. One of the wealthiest leaders in the continent, he is a far-right Israel fanboy who has cut public spending and taxes for the rich.

Abinader’s policies: He has rendered tribute to the Trump regime by expelling Cuban officials. He has also overseen racist deportation practices that violate people’s human rights. But to please Trump, he has pledged to take in third-country deportees from the US.

Context: The Caribbean matters to US elites because of both its proximity and the headache of Cuba’s independence. That’s why the US has long kept a firm foot in the island region.

In the Dominican Republic, for example, there was only a small break from decades of brutal US-backed dictatorship before the US invaded to stop the left and secure the rule of another pro-US dictator.

The country’s neighbour Haiti has had years of acute crisis, with massive poverty rates and extreme food insecurity, partly due to longstanding US meddling. And amid this humanitarian catastrophe, Amnesty International has documented Abinader’s cruel approach to Haitians and people with Haitian ancestry.

Other countries in Trump’s sphere of influence

• Panama. Current president José Raúl Mulino made genocide-inciting Israeli president Isaac Herzog the first Israeli president to officially visit the country. He is also happy to push Chinese influence out and restore US power despite its past crimes [in Panama](https://www.thecanary.co/trending/2018/12/07/watch-mehdi-hasan-nail-exactly-how-the-mainstream-me

UK ‘terror’ police detained two Irish neutrality activists as they travelled to a peace demo in London, claiming that they posed a terror and security threat.

Truth and Neutrality Alliance’s Bill O’Brien and Patrick Downey suffered intrusive body searches and were fingerprinted, handprinted and swabbed for DNA, all while denied legal representation through police-state ‘terrorism’ legislation.

The Starmer regime repeatedly used the tactic against British and international journalists, lawyers and peace activists who expose Israel’s genocide and the UK’s collaboration. The Burnham government has rapidly shown it is no better. And with the political and media push for ever more war spending, even the idea of neutrality is treated as a threat. O’Brien described the by now all too familiar threat – in this case exploiting the Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act 2019:

They told us we were being ‘detained’, not arrested – and that if we didn’t answer any questions we’d be incriminating ourselves. You don’t have the right to remain silent. They said as soon as we charge you with an offence, all your rights kick in.

The pair had been invited to London to speak at a ‘No2NATO’ protest. Border police seized their phones and held them incommunicado for around five hours — long enough to ensure they couldn’t speak at the protest. Despite asking for the Irish embassy to provide support, UK ‘terror’ police did not even contact the embassy.

The legislation is used to deny legal representation while obliging detainees to “answer all questions, surrender PINs and passcodes to electronic devices and submit to searches”. It withholds the right to silence, making refusal to provide any and all information a criminal offence in itself. Downey said:

They wanted to know if I’d ever worked for Russia, or if I had any ambitions to work for the Russian government. A tonne of questions like that.

The pair were later released without charge.

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By Skwawkbox

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A letter published by the Guardian, called “To Iran’s political prisoners, trapped ‘between two blades of a scissors’” published on August 20, is receiving backlash from progressive media outlets like BreakThrough News, Vpol, and withdrawals from signatories like American historian Robin Kelley and Nisrin Elamin, a Sudanese professor at the University of Toronto.

Elamin said she didn’t agree with the content of the letter or the process through which her name was added to it, and said the letter drew a “false and harmful equivalency” between Iran and Israel.

Kelley, who withdrew his signature from the letter, said:

The circumstances in which we were asked to sign the letter were a bit shady. What appeared in the print wasn’t exactly what I had initially seen. But I take full responsibility for that.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Robin D. G. Kelley (@rdgkelley)

According to Ali Abunimah, executive director of the Electronic Intifada, Columbia University professors Rashid Khalidi and Nadia Abu El-Haj also removed their names from “the pro-imperialist, anti-Iran Guardian letter,” joining Kelley and Elamin.

Columbia professors Rashid Khalidi, Nadia Abu El-Haj quietly removed their names from the pro-imperialist, anti-Iran Guardian letter, joining Nisrin Elamin & Robin Kelley. No explanation given as far as I know for why they signed with such conviction and why they withdrew https://t.co/J1n9ts6NMT pic.twitter.com/q3ExS4ErMa

— Ali Abunimah (@AliAbunimah) August 25, 2026

Guardian’s letter slammed

BreakThrough News interviewed historian and Tricontinental director Vijay Prashad and Tehran-based journalist Navid Zarrinnal, both of whom called the letter a “failed” attempt to manufacture consent for war, with Zarrinnal adding that “literally no one read the letter” inside Iran.

Prashad said he does not believe Mumia Abu-Jamal, an incarcerated Black activist, signed the letter, adding:

His name was put on it. And that’s Mumia Abu-Jamal, who just recently had a completely different opinion about this war, saying this war is an enormous example for the people of the Third World.

“The Guardian should conduct an investigation,” Prashad added. The letter was “misaddressed,” arguing it was written in English and published in a British newspaper, meaning “it was never addressed to Iranians at all, but to Western liberals”

Zarrinnal, who joined the panel from Tehran, pushed back against the letter’s accusation of “hollow anti-imperialism,” arguing that Iran’s material support for Palestinian resistance represents “the most real, the most material expression of anti-imperialism and decolonization in the world right now.”

Zarrinnal added sarcastically:

Somehow writing a land acknowledgement under your emails is real anti-imperialism, but Iran actually assisting the Palestinians to gain back expropriated lands in a material way  that is hollow anti-imperialism.

Vpol said that the letter appears amid threats of increased sanctions on Iran and “at precisely the moment new confrontation with Iran requires public legitimacy.”

Being vocal about Palestine has been an umbrella for actual “hollow anti-imperialists” who condemn genocide, but manufacture consent for the destruction of sovereign states and consequently killing Iranians, Syrians, Yemenis, Libyans and so on.

￭ However, we join today with… pic.twitter.com/VYtSZ3fVa6

— VPol (@VocalPolitics1) August 24, 2026

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By The Canary

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Infantino — The guarantees provided by FIFA did not end the crisis with its UEFA, but they did succeed in temporarily freezing its most critical chapters.

After weeks of tension and threats that European national teams would withdraw from Fifa competitions, the UEFA announced in a statement that it is suspending the boycott. This follows written commitments confirming the withdrawal of a project that had sparked widespread anger within European football — a proposal to sell shares in the rights to future World Cup editions to external investors.

The announcement came after the Uefa meeting in Monaco on the sidelines of the draw for the 2026-2027 European club competitions. While this move appears at first glance to be a settlement, in reality, it shifts the confrontation to a more sensitive level: who rules Fifa, and how are its decisions made?

Infantino — Retreat on the billion-dollar project

Uefa confirmed that the “FIFA Forward Enterprise” project, which was linked to the investment plan for World Cup rights, has been withdrawn finally and irrevocably. Fifa has provided written guarantees confirming that it will not be re-introduced in the future under any different name, structure, or format.

The plan pushed the relationship between the two largest unions in world football to the brink of an unprecedented confrontation after Uefa threatened the withdrawal of European national teams from Fifa competitions during the next season—a move that would have caused a significant sports and institutional crisis.

After receiving the required guarantees on July 30, the UEFA announced the temporary suspension of its threat, following consultation with member national associations. The decision includes competitions such as the Fifa U-20 Women’s World Cup, the Fifa U-17 World Cup, and the Fifa U-17 Women’s World Cup.

However, the word “temporarily” remains the most important part of the decision, as Uefa has reserved its right to re-evaluate its position should the crisis return to the forefront.

From the world cup deal to resetting FIFA

The confrontation is no longer linked solely to the withdrawn investment project. UEFA believes the deeper issue relates to how the international federation is managed and the concentration of power in the hands of its president, Gianni Infantino.

In its strongest political statement to date, the UEFA announced that football officials on the continent have authorized the Uefa president and his administration to use all available institutional, political, and legal avenues to achieve “fundamental reform” in Fifa’s management and to reimpose appropriate restrictions on the powers of the international federation president.

Uefa also demanded an independent external review of the “FIFA Forward Enterprise” project, rejecting the idea that Fifa should investigate its own project — a clear indication of the deep trust deficit between the two institutions.

The European Union also raised a fundamental question regarding the justifications for turning to external investors at a time when Fifa possesses financial reserves of billions of dollars. They argue that these funds belong to the member national associations and that a portion could be used to finance development programs while maintaining the financial stability of the international federation.

Infantino: The next target in the confrontation?

The most sensitive part of the Uefa statement was not the project that was withdrawn, but rather the upcoming elections for the Fifa presidency.

The UEFA announced that if Infantino decides to run for a new term, it will cooperate with partner continental confederations to ensure the presentation of a “credible alternative” to the national associations—one committed to integrity, accountability, and institutional reform.

In practice, this message means that UEFA has not merely forced Fifa to retreat from the investment project; it is hinting at the possibility of a political battle in the upcoming elections should Infantino decide to remain in his position.

Thus, the crisis is transforming from a dispute over selling World Cup shares into a wider conflict over the structure of world football management and the future of its leadership.

Competitions and governance are not for sale

Despite suspending the boycott, Uefa was keen to emphasize that its position remains unchanged in essence: Fifa competitions are not for sale, and world football governance is not for sale.

This reflects that the current de-escalation does not represent a final peace agreement between the two parties, but rather a truce conditioned on written guarantees.

If FIFA adheres to its pledges, the World Cup investment crisis may recede. However, if there are attempts to re-introduce the project in a different form, or if the dispute regarding the concentration of power within the international federation continues, the confrontation may return with greater intensity.

In conclusion, UEFA succeeded in temporarily halting the boycott, but it has maintained political and institutional pressure on Infantino, opening one of the most sensitive battles in the history of the relationship between the European and international football federations.

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By Alaa Shamali

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Lambeth’s Green council leader has slammed PM Andy Burnham for his ‘free youth Labour for Sainsbury’s’ plan – which just happens to benefit one of Burnham’s major donors. Burnham went to Lambeth to launch his stunt – many say con – yet did not invite local council leader Martin Abrams.

And Abrams pulled no punches in outlining the scale of the free workforce Burnham’s workfare scheme is handing to his billionaire donor’s company:

Prime Minister Andy Burnham came to Lambeth yesterday to promote Sainsbury’s workfare scheme for 10,000 young people to work for free in their supermarkets.

Sainsbury’s cut 3000 jobs last year while simultaneously posting a £1 billion profit.

Strangely the Leader of Lambeth… pic.twitter.com/eHhWo6a9mA

— Cllr Martin Abrams (@Martin_Abrams) August 27, 2026

Sainsbury’s: cut jobs, gain forced labour

Sainsbury’s, according to the government’s spin, has “created 10,000 work experience opportunities for young people”. Like army recruitment, the scheme will target poor communities:

New programme launching from October will target schools with higher levels of free school meal uptake and communities where young people face some of the biggest barriers to work

But the young people will be paid benefits from the public purse, not wages from Sainsburys’ fat accounts – and will face ‘conditionality’ that means they will lose benefits if they don’t agree to work for nothing.

Sainsbury’s, meanwhile, will fatten its profits even further – and have free workers to replace the 3,000 it made redundant last year while announcing an annual profit of over £1bn.

As well as funding Burnham directly, David Sainsbury is also a huge funder of what used to be called ‘Labour Together’ – the sabotage outfit that manufactured Keir Starmer’s leadership of Labour and now runs Burnham.

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By Skwawkbox

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On 25 August, Israeli security forces raided and seized the Qalandia Training Centre in occupied East Jerusalem, belonging to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA). They forced out the site staff, shut down operations, raised the Israeli flag, and are now refusing to leave.

Israeli forces have taken control of the UNRWA Qalandia Training Centre, removing the UN flag and replacing it with an Israeli flag to establish a new school complex in its place.

The complex has graduated more than 20,000 students across various professional specializations,… pic.twitter.com/72RVwujlft

— Eye on Palestine (@EyeonPalestine) August 27, 2026

Ben-Gvir: Seizure of Qalandia Training Centre a “major operation to remove UNRWA”

UNRWA said the incident, which happened in the Kafr Aqab neighbourhood, occurred around 10am local time. At least four armoured vehicles, accompanied by more than 50 Israeli occupation security personnel, entered the UNRWA premises. ‘National security minister,’ Itamar Ben-Gvir, posted a video on X, in which he celebrated the seizure of the facility. He said the various occupation authorities “all joined together in a major operation to remove UNRWA.”

Under international law, UN property and assets are immune from every form of interference. But ‘Israel’ has no respect for the international legal system or humanity. It has repeatedly breached, damaged, or demolished UN facilities during conflicts and operations. And it has also killed more than 390 UNRWA staff in Gaza since the start of the genocide.

UNRWA says the Jerusalem Municipality drew up a plan in April 2026 to build educational, community, welfare and medical facilities — plus a transport route — on the centre’s land, a scheme that would mean demolishing most of the existing buildings. But ‘Israel’ is stealing this land. It was provided to UNRWA by the Government of Jordan through an agreement, still in force today.

Far-right Israeli Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir led a raid on UNRWA's Qalandia Training Centre in Kafr 'Aqab, later posting a video from inside the manager's office to celebrate the takeover and vow to turn the site into an Israeli school.

The move comes amid escalating government… pic.twitter.com/i7A5onARSD

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) August 25, 2026

Centre provides a vital lifeline to Palestinian refugees

Mohammad Astan, from the Qalandia Camp Popular Committee, told Al Jazeera:

The closure of the institute means pushing thousands of Palestinian refugees towards despair. This institute served refugees from 24 camps in the West Bank. We are currently preparing a comprehensive legal fight. We want to take this file to international courts, including the International Court of Justice.

In its statement, UNRWA said the entry of armed security forces into a United Nations facility, without the authorisation or consent of the UN, was “unacceptable”.

Established almost 75 years ago, the facility was UNRWA’s first centre providing essential technical and vocational training for Palestinian refugees. The occupation ensures Palestinians continually suffer from an acute lack of social and economic resources. Every year the centre trains around 340 young Palestinian refugees in trades from electromechanics to construction — and 90% of its graduates go on to find work.

Across the occupied West Bank, UNRWA provides basic education to around 48,000 Palestinian refugee children. It says closure or expropriation of the Centre would have a hugely detrimental impact on this population, and would not serve their best interests. Many of the young people who used the Centre are poor and vulnerable, according to the agency.

UNRWA — Six unauthorised entries already this year by Israeli occupation

But this attack is not an isolated incident. Since the beginning of 2026, according to UNRWA’s statement:

there have been six unauthorised entries by Israeli authorities to the Qalandia Training Centre. Furthermore, over the past four weeks at least ten fires have broken out on the premises resulting from tear gas grenades fired by Israeli forces.

These illegal attacks on Qalandia Training Centre follow the Israeli occupation’s January demolition of UNRWA’s headquarters, also in East Jerusalem. This crime, so far, has also gone unpunished.

UNRWA wasestablished in 1949by the UN General Assembly. Its mandate is to provide relief to the more than 750,000 Palestinians forcibly displaced from their homes in the 1948 Nakba, during the violent formation of ‘Israel’.

The organisation allows children and grandchildren of these Palestinians to keep their refugee status. And it has preserved the demand for a Palestinian right to return. There are now almost six million Palestinian refugees, both in the occupied territory and the global diaspora.

‘Israel’ knows that if millions of refugees returned to their stolen lands inside its borders, it would end ‘Israel’s’ Jewish majority. So it is doing all it can to shut UNRWA down across Palestine. It has long led a targeted campaign of disinformation and intimidation against UNRWA, which has escalated since October 2023.

‘Israel’ falsely claimed a large proportion of UNRWA employees were affiliated with Hamas, leading the US to cut off all financial contributions to the organisation. Now, with the need for UNRWA’s services greater than ever, it is facing a record funding shortfall of $100 million.

Disinformation and violations of international law further advance Israel’s criminal goals

In May 2025, Israeli occupation authorities also forcibly closed six UNRWA schools in East Jerusalem, including the schools in Shuafat Refugee Camp, and the neighbourhood of Silwan.

Despite the many hardships caused by the occupation, Palestinians have one of the best literacy rates globally, and the highest in the regional Arab world. They see education as an investment towards a better future. This is why the occupation has systematically targeted educational infrastructure, throughout both the West Bank andGaza. It knows that by doing this, Palestinian history and culture will be wiped out, and the future of Palestinians will also be directly affected.

Not only is ‘Israel’ shutting down Palestinian educational facilities, it is also demolishing them. 84 schools in Area C and East Jerusalem serving nearly 13,000 students are subject to demolition orders. As these disappear, parents are left having to choose between their child’s studies and their land. This is all part of the Israeli occupation’s ethnic cleansing campaign against Palestinians. Whether in the West Bank including East Jerusalem, or Gaza, the aim is the same — to forcibly displace Palestinians and steal their land, as part of the “Greater Israel” plan.

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By Charlie Jaay

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Two experts have pilloried a dire article from a prominent columnist, who — without evidence — suggested the north of Ireland is filled with people dishonestly claimig PIP disability benefits.

Academics Ciara Fitzpatrick and Anne Devlin were responding to a recent column by Newton Emerson in the Irish News, which shamefully allowed their outlet to be used as a platform for unsubstantiated claims about people claiming Personal Independence Payment (PIP). Emerson based his column on an incoherent rant by clownish Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) councillor Darryl Wilson.

In it, Wilson blustered about the 230,000 people currently claiming PIP in the Six Counties. He alleged that:

…you and I both know there are people who know exactly how to work and to defraud the system and I’m not convinced the suspected fraud figures are anywhere near accurate.

PIP — Billionaires are the real thieves

Who needs actual evidence when you can cite the renowned scholarly source of “you and I”? Wilson went on to rave about a “fraudulent mess”, “fraudulent claimants” and bemoaned people who “exploit…compassion”. The last point piggybacks off the current trend for plutocrats to lament “suicidal empathy“, as they wage a war against kindness.

Undermining empathy, and thus solidarity, is key for billionaires to divide and rule the populations they lord it over. Distracted by infighting, we don’t recognise the realact of massive theft, which is that carried out by billionaires.

Not content with underpaying their workers and thereby hoovering up a massively unfair share of profits, billionaires use every trick in the book to avoid paying their fair share of taxes. As tax expert Richard Murphy points out:

…wealthy people can pay a smaller proportion of their income in tax than millions of people who work for a living.

That is not an accident. Wealth is taxed differently from work.

Workers pay income tax and National Insurance. They then pay VAT when they spend. Wealthy people can instead turn income into capital gains, retain profits inside private companies, use offshore structures, transfer assets between generations, and they also spend a smaller proportion of their income on items subject to VAT.

The result is a tax system that helps create and preserve wealth while imposing a disproportionate burden on ordinary households.

This sort of thing didn’t register for Emerson, who laughably described Wilson as “brave” for producing his PIP rant. Punching down at disabled people requires the same amount of courage as bashing asylum seekers or calling for more war – i.e. none. Doing any of these things is virtually cost free politically, and will see you praised by a lamentable media commentariat of which Emerson is part.

The Irish News columnist hallucinated an enormous “burden” of “unjustified claims” for disability benefits, without citing any source for this fiction. In response, senior lecturer at Ulster University Ciara Fitzpatrick and research officer in labour economics Anne Devlin responded:

The PIP system is a gruelling endeavour and is not an entitlement that claimants can simply sign on to. It requires the completion of a 20 plus page application with the onus on the applicant to provide detailed information about how their disability affects them, with additional evidence required.

Cowardly Emerson ignores conflict’s role in north of Ireland disability

The Canaryhas previously described how:

…PIP assessments were frequently “dehumanising”, “degrading” and “stressful” for claimants.

The academics also highlighted how the high figures for PIP claims in the north of Ireland are a legacy of the decades-long conflict that took place in the region:

Newton Emerson has completely ignored the context of hardship and suffering in which people require support. The long tail of the conflict continues to have an inevitable impact on our people. Research finds that older adults in NI who experienced the most intense periods of the conflict are around 21 percentage points more likely to be claiming disability benefits than those who did not experience the conflict to the same extent.

Moreover, there is a direct link between exposure to the conflict and mental ill health as well as tentative evidence of a relationship between conflict exposure and subsequent cancer diagnosis. Research by the NI Assembly highlights that mental health conditions are the most common reason for PIP claims – accounting for 45 per cent of cases.

Emerson concluded by saying that:

…the UK’s absurd disability benefits system could lose nationalism a border poll – on both sides of the border.

This is based on a claim that voters in the north would fear loss of a supposedly more generous benefits system, whereas voters in the south would reject having to pay for this additional cost. Fitzpatrick and Devlin responded by pointing out that the south of Ireland and Britain’s policies on disability benefits are diverging in a manner opposite to what Emerson suggests.

They highlight the Irish government’s planned introduction of an Annual Cost of Disability Support Payment, which has been cautiously welcomed by the Disability Federation of Ireland. Meanwhile, in Britain, Fitzpatrick and Devlin cite how:

Reform announced that should they enter government, they would reserve PIP for only the most significantly disabled, indicating that those with mental health conditions would be prevented from entitlement.

Ultimately, Emerson has shown himself to be another cowardly commentator happy to punch down at disabled people, in order to squeeze back what would be mere pennies in the context of the overall budget. The real savings could be found by ending wasteful spending on Big Death, and reforming an economic system that allows a handful of people to hoard wealth beyond the dreams of avarice, while those in dire need endure PIP humiliation rituals for a pittance.

Featured image via the Canary

By Robert Freeman

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Hours before US defence chief Pete Hegseth was due to appear at a high-profile medals ceremony, Pentagon officials found mysterious documents blaming the Democrats for the chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal. The ruling Republicans have been blaming former President Joe Biden and his party for years.

They’re not wrong to be critical. But this latest development arguably looks a little… odd.

Biden under scrutiny… but…

Politico reported on 26 August:

Pentagon officials on Wednesday claimed they have uncovered classified documents that were “hidden away in safes where they would not be found” that shed new light on the chaotic end to the U.S. war in Afghanistan five years ago — but declined to offer public details of the revelations.

Adding:

The claim comes hours before Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is scheduled to participate in a Pentagon ceremony to upgrade the valor awards for service members who served at the Kabul International Airport during the final days of the conflict.

Biden has stood by the messy Afghanistan withdrawal in 2021 which saw the US-led occupation forces flee in defeat.

Politico said:

GOP lawmakers have accused Biden of too abruptly ending military operations in Afghanistan, endangering American troops and handing over control of the country to the Taliban.

The Trump administration had planned to use the medal upgrade ceremony to make this political point. Now, these suddenly discovered hidden files are being used to emphasise their point. Pentagon officials said Wednesday the documents were:

hidden away in safes where they would not be found.

Bi-partisan imperialism

The administration have not released the files on Biden’s Afghan withdrawal, or commented on them further. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell did post an explainer video on X:

An update from Sean Parnell, Chairman of the Afghanistan Withdrawal Special Review Panel, on the Fifth Anniversary of the Abbey Gate bombing pic.twitter.com/5pkbmuuyX0

— Sean Parnell (@SeanParnellASW) August 26, 2026

He said:

The deeper we look, the more there is to look at. We are finding things that we did not expect.

Parnell claimed his team had recovered “highly relevant classified documents”:

that should have been disclosed, stashed, and hidden away in safes where they would not be found. And after the team reviewed these documents, it became clear why someone tried to hide them.

Adding that Afghanistan veterans were owed:

the full picture of how and why those decisions were made, and we’re going to give it to them.

This all certainly sounds dubious. And that is not to say the Democrats under Biden did not make a complicated withdrawal worse. But let us be clear: the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan was a bi-partisan crime. Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden – and their cronies – caused enormous pain and harm to the country and its people.

Given none of these files have been produced publicly, it would be understandable if people felt this was little more than cheap political theatre – albeit, built on the backs of the war dead.

Featured image via the Canary

By Joe Glenton

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War criminal from Bosnia Ratko Mladic — imprisoned in the Hague for the Bosnian genocide when international law still had some force — has died.

Mladic was reported as terminally ill in July 2025 and tried to obtain compassionate release to die outside prison. The request was refused. When he then tried to secure agreement to be hospitalised outside the Hague, that was refused too. Mladic slaughtered ten thousand Bosnians. His conviction exposes the lie of Israel’s apologists that the Gaza genocide is not a genocide because not every Palestinian has been murdered yet.

Butcher of Bosnia

Mladic will forever be known as the Butcher of Bosnia for the thousands of innocents he ordered killed. Reports that hell is testing punishments on Mladic to be scaled up ready for Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s eventual arrival are conjecture, but probably true.

Featured image via the Canary

By Skwawkbox

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The US government has issued sanctions against Palestine Action, branding them a “transnational terror group”.

Plus: Experts link deadly flash flooding on the Nepal-Tibet border to glacial collapse, we discuss whether it’s time to ditch the Office for Budget Responsibility, and why Fox News has made Hasan Piker its enemy no. 1.

With NoJusticeMTG, Dalia Gebrial & Steven Methven.

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Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC), along with a coalition of interfaith and civil rights groups including Hindus for Human Rights, held a press conference on Tuesday, August 25, demanding Madison Square Garden (MSG) cancel the ‘Universal Oneness Celebration’ on 29 August. Its headline speaker is Mohan Bhagwat, leader of India’s Hindu supremacist paramilitary organisation, the RSS leader of India’s Hindu supremacist paramilitary group, RSS.

At the conference, on the steps of New York City Hall, speakers spoke next to a big banner that read:

RSS KILLED GANDHI

MSG SAYS WELCOME

#RSSOUTOFNYC

IAMC also posted a picture of a van outside MSG on Tuesday that read:

MSG OWNER JIM DOLAN SELLS HIS STAGE TO RSS PARAMILITARY THAT KILLED GANDHI

The RSS was banned by India’s own government, after one of its members assassinated Mahatma Gandhi. On August 29, Jim Dolan is renting them Madison Square Garden. MSG must cancel. #NoHateAtMSG #RSSOutOfNYC pic.twitter.com/VFfkzk5Oxj

— Indian American Muslim Council (@IAMCouncil) August 25, 2026

Safa Ahmed of the IAMC said at the press conference:

The RSS is a Nazi-inspired paramilitary group aimed at turning India from a secular democracy into a Hindu ethnostate. We call on New York City to make it known that Mohan Bhagwat is not welcome here.

Bhagwat has been a full-time RSS functionary since 1975 and its supreme leader since 2009. The RSS is central to Indian politics, through its ideology and its control of the BJP, Modi’s party.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Indian American Muslim Council (@indianamericanmuslimcouncil)

Mamdani condemns the event

Zohran Mamdani, the mayor of NYC, later that day was asked about cancelling the event, to which he said:

I don’t support the rally, but I don’t ⁠know if the city has any jurisdiction on ​cancelling ⁠a private event.

He said his mother’s family still lives in India, and he grew up with the vision of India as a “pluralistic society of a secular republic” and was in “deep opposition” to an “exclusionary movement.”

BREAKING: @NYCMayor Zohran Mamdani condemns event featuring RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and denounces the organization’s exclusionary ideology, which has contributed to India’s continued democratic decline and growing authoritarianism.#NoHateAtMSG #RSSOutOfNYC pic.twitter.com/EXMMgmej90

— Indian American Muslim Council (@IAMCouncil) August 25, 2026

RSS — Banned three times

The RSS has been banned three times in India due to its extremist actions and policies.

According to Outlook India:

In 1948, following Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination by Nathuram Godse, an ex-member, the government banned the RSS, citing links to violence. During the 1975 Emergency under Indira Gandhi, the RSS was banned again due to fears of political mobilisation; thousands were jailed until the ban was lifted in 1977. The organisation’s third ban came in 1992 after the Babri Masjid demolition.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has faced bans three times in independent India. In 1948, following Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination by Nathuram Godse, an ex-member, the government banned the RSS, citing links to violence. During the 1975 Emergency under Indira Gandhi, the… pic.twitter.com/T5ycXdzujr

— Outlook India (@Outlookindia) October 15, 2025

Bhagwat does not represent Hindus, according to Sravya Tadepalli of Hindus for Human Rights. He represents a:

fringe, extremist Hindu nationalist movement, which has engaged in hate and violence against religious minority communities for a century.

Charm offensive

Earlier in August,Telegraph India reported that Bhagwat was leading an outreach to ‘Gen Z and Gen Alpha’ at “a time when the youth-led Cockroach Janta Party has mauled the aura of invincibility around the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”

RSS is desperate to reach out to Gen Z, according to the left-wing party Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation (CPIML).

The Gen Z protests in India this summer, led by the ‘Cockroach Janta Party,’ have captured the media limelight and scared the ruling Hindu nationalist government.

The participation of the “urban aspirational classes”  in these protests has been “striking,” given their unfamiliarity with engaging with public causes and the fact that they have been the BJP’s voter base.

But it reflects that the Indian post-1990s liberalisation-led growth is failing even those who benefited the most from it.

Modi had a big audience at MSG in 2014, when the BJP started ruling India on its own; at this time, the RSS’s voter base was happy. Bhagwat is trying, no doubt, to revive that “hero’s welcome.”

Featured image via WikimediaCommons

By The Canary

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Financial management has become increasingly complex. Many people are having to navigate not just the rising cost of living but also an ever-expanding range of advice sources. Traditional experts like financial advisors now share the field with social media creators and AI tools. But with so many places to turn, knowing which guidance to trust is not always straightforward.

New research from Zable, surveying 2,000 UK credit card holders, has revealed that the vast majority of UK consumers are now seeking financial guidance from non-regulated sources. And many are failing to verify the information they receive properly before acting on it.

The research assesses the reliability of popular AI platforms when it comes to financial advice. It assessed four major AI tools on the accuracy and relevance of the guidance they provided to UK consumers across a range of personal finance topics.

83% of Brits turn to unregulated sources of information for financial advice

More than four in five (83%) in the UK have sought financial advice from unregulated sources. These include AI tools and social media platforms, as well as family and friends.

Even in more complex financial areas such as investing, mortgages, and financial planning, a significant proportion of consumers are still relying on informal guidance rather than regulated professional support.

The findings also revealed a strong generational trend. Younger adults were significantly more likely to seek unregulated financial advice. 93% of 25-34 year olds and 92% of 35-44 year olds reported that they had done so.

These age groups are often navigating major financial milestones, including buying property, building savings, managing debt, and planning for families. This seems to make them more likely to seek accessible and immediate guidance online.

One in 10 turn to AI for financial advice, but its reliability for UK consumers is questionable

Around one in 10 credit card holders already use AI tools for financial advice across areas such as budgeting, investing, and insurance. So Zable put their reliability to the test. It asked four major AI tools, Gemini, Grok, ChatGPT, and Claude, common personal finance questions. It then awarded their responses either a pass or fail mark.

The results were weak across the board, with most tools defaulting to US-focussed advice. This included references to 401(k)s, FDIC insurance, and American savings guidance that doesn’t apply to UK consumers.

Claude performed best overall with six passes, although some responses still included outdated UK information. Grok performed the worst, failing all nine questions, while ChatGPT achieved two passes and Gemini three.

Over two-thirds won’t check the risks involved before following advice.

There’s growing access to financial information online. But many consumers are failing to verify the guidance they receive properly before making financial decisions. 68% don’t check the risks involved before acting on financial advice.

Shockingly, only 24% would check a financial professional’s credentials before following advice. And just 22% would investigate whether advice may be influenced by sponsorships, commissions, or conflicts of interest.

With the growing influence of online “finfluencers”, particularly on platforms such as TikTok, where complex financial topics are often simplified, this lack of scrutiny leaves many consumers vulnerable to misleading or incomplete advice.

Poor financial advice is reportedly costing Brits hundreds of pounds per year, with almost a third reporting losses from bad advice in relation to credit cards and investing.

Almost a third (29%) of credit card holders, equivalent to over 10 million people, said they had lost money through bad advice given in relation to credit cards. 21% (nearly 7.5 million) reported losses of £100 or more in the past 12 months. This suggests that when things go wrong in these areas, the financial impact can quickly escalate beyond smaller, incidental losses.

Mortgage-related advice carried even greater financial consequences, with the most common reported loss range being £500-£1,000, reflecting the higher stakes involved in property-related decisions.

With so many sources of financial guidance now available, from social media creators to AI tools, it can be difficult to know where to turn for reliable advice. Arielle Rogers-Jenkins of Zable says:

When searching for financial advice, starting with regulated or official sources such as financial advisers, banks, building societies, and government-backed guidance services is key, as these organisations are held to specific standards and accountability in the UK.

For those making more complex decisions around investing, mortgages, pensions, or long-term financial planning, speaking to a qualified financial adviser can help ensure advice is tailored to individual circumstances.

Consumers can also verify that advisers are authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) through the FCA Register and confirm businesses are legitimately registered through Companies House.

While AI tools, forums, podcasts, YouTube videos, and social media can be useful for building financial understanding, this type of content is often generalised and should always be researched further before acting on the advice.

A lot of advice online, particularly on social media, could be linked to sponsorships, commissions, or product promotions, so it’s important to seek clarification and avoid making financial decisions under pressure.

Featured image via the Canary

By The Canary

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Since his election in 2024, Rupert Lowe MP has reportedly made over £100,000 from his posts on Twitter/X. Or, to put it another way, the far-right Restore Britain leader has reportedly averaged over £900 an hour for his racist slop-posting.

An MP’s standard salary is (an already exorbitant) £98,599. As such, Lowe is now set to make money for posting hatred on trillionaire-turned-billionaire Elon Musk’s social media platform than he does from the job he was elected to do.

That is a massive problem for our democracy.

Money for hate

Since Musk’s takeover of Twitter/X, the level of extreme-right content has risen dramatically. In fact, much of it is personally promoted by the site’s owner. The platform also faced a massive public backlash recently over its AI chatbot’s creation of thousands of indecent images of both children and adults.

Musk previously backed Nigel Farage as leader of Reform UK/future prime minister. However, that changed due to the party leader’s (lukewarm) condemnation of extreme-right grifter Tommy Robinson.

Because Musk is also a massive fan of Robinson, the Twitter owner shifted his backing to Rupert Lowe and Restore Britain.

Lowe is making his ludicrous side paycheck through Twitter/X’s ‘creator revenue’ programme — a monetisation scheme for ‘premium’ users. In one particularly egregious example, a single £11,724.97 payment landed on 10 June — for five hours’ work. That’s £2,345 an hour.

The Independentreported that:

Lowe enjoys a considerable amount of engagement on his posts, which boosts revenue secured by the programme.

His five posts on 24 August alone garnered 683,000 views and over 70,000 likes on the platform.

One post, which received 20,000 likes, called for foreign nationals living in social housing to be deported.

That post read:

The honest truth is that if a foreign national is living in social housing and unable to financially support themselves? They don’t just need to be evicted from the building. They need to be removed from the country.

Rupert Lowe — Algorithmic incentives

Last month, on 1 July, MPs debated the ethics and ramifications of their colleagues holding lucrative second jobs/sources of income. In particular, Lib Dem Lisa Smart singled out Lowe’s Twitter/X posting, and Musk’s role in amplifying it:

Given the international nature of social media companies’ revenue streams, the role that Elon Musk has attempted to play in US politics and the views that he has increasingly expressed about UK politics, we should ensure that there are limitations in place to prevent potential income from social media platforms from unduly influencing politicians. We know the way that the algorithms that these platforms use push content that evokes more feeling, because it drives engagement. Therefore, the more divisive and hate-filled the content, the more some of the algorithms allow it to be seen.

Because of the obvious issues with a politician being paid directly in proportion to the level of hateful rhetoric they post, Smart proposed a solution. She suggested an amendment to the Representation of the People Bill, which would prohibit:

members of registered parties, members associations, holders of relevant elective offices and electoral candidates from receiving any payment, remuneration, or financial benefit in exchange for posting, promoting, or interacting with content on social media.

The House hasn’t yet considered the amendment, which is currently in the report stage.

The fact that an MP is permitted to hold a second job/major source of income is ludicrous in and of itself. Surely, representing one’s constituents should be a full-time job?

However, the fact that Lowe makes his money from a platform which actively rewards posting ever-more-extreme content is well beyond that. It’s a clear threat to our democracy and public discourse, and it needs ending quickly and for good.

Featured image via the Canary

By Grace

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THE government must “play its part” in holding big tech firms accountable, children’s charity NSPCC warned today.

Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden told Sky News today that he would require Meta’s new US safety measures to apply to British users, after a multibillion-pound legal settlement.

Facebook and Instagram’s parent company agreed to pay $18 billion (£13.3bn) in an agreement which closed off a legal battle between 47 US states and the tech giant.

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From Morning Star via This RSS Feed.

In July this year, Tommy Robinson joined in with a smear campaign that accused a Scottish father of filming children in the park. As it turned out, this claim was entirely false. And now the father Robinson smeared plans to take little Tommy to court for defamation:

HOLDING TOMMY ROBINSON TO ACCOUNT!

Quroum Beg, who was accused by
Tommy Robinson of being an “invader” and recording children, is taking him to court for defamation.

Please share and donate if you can as we'd love to see him get the justice he deserves!https://t.co/vCdlz4l97J

— G.T (@gingerrtom) August 27, 2026

Smear job

As we reported in July:

The man Robinson and others smeared was the 43-year-old Quroum Beg – a fourth-generation Scotsman.

Beg staged an impromptu counter-demonstration against an anti-migration protest, which swept through his area. In response, the protesters targeted Beg with racist abuse.

Police would later ask Beg not to engage with the protest. Doing what he was told, he went and sat in a nearby park. It was there that protesters began filming him while chanting “get him out”.

Tommy Robinson shared a clip that went viral, falsely accusing an innocent brown man who was in the park with his children of filming other children.

Quroum Beg, a fourth-generation Scottish man, is now fearing for his life after the video went viral.

That coke head is going to… pic.twitter.com/RApuV8DQgo

— Mukhtar (@I_amMukhtar) July 14, 2026

The post that Robinson shared read:

Another invader hanging around a park filming children.

Glasgow again too!

Robinson would later delete the tweet. This seemed like a prudent move, but Robinson would subsequently release a video stating he hadn’t apologised to Beg, because he “hadn’t even shared the story”. According to Robinson, it was one of his ‘admins’, which is the excuse he always wheels out when one of his posts attracts criticism. The problem is, it was Robinson’s account regardless of who composed it, and the account is set up to look like it all comes from Robinson.

Robinson could put ‘some posts from admin‘ in his bio; he could also have his admins sign every tweet with ‘– posted by admin‘. He doesn’t do that, and now Beg is suing him rather than one of the mysterious admins who never seem to think before they tweet.

CrowdJustice

Beg is seeking to raise funds for his legal case via Crowdjustice. His page states:

WHO AM I?

I’m an ordinary Glaswegian. I’ve never sought public attention, and I’m not a public figure by choice.

WHAT HAPPENED

On Monday 13th July 2026, Tommy Robinson (Stephen Yaxley-Lennon), an account with approximately 2 million followers on X, shared a video of me with a caption falsely alleging I was filming children with sinister intent, and describing me as an “invader.” I was in fact filming a protest. The post was viewed over 139,000 times within 48 hours.

As a direct result, I was followed, my car was searched for, and my children watched me get racially abused in the street. Police involvement was required for my safety.

It adds:

WHAT I’M TRYING TO ACHIEVE

I’m raising funds to take this through the courts and hold Tommy Robinson to account under Scotland’s defamation law. It’s not about revenge — it’s whether a lie should be allowed to travel further and faster than the truth, just because it has a bigger platform behind it.

HOW MUCH I’M RAISING, AND WHY

I’m starting with a £50,000 target. Based on similar cases, this may need to stretch further depending on how the case develops — I’ll be transparent with updates as it progresses, the same way I’m being upfront now. Money raised will go towards legal costs, and, if we win, the legal steps involved in enforcing a judgment. None of the money raised goes to me personally — it is held and used solely for the legal case itself.

Tommy Robinson Big Money

Beg’s CrowdJustice page also states:

I don’t have rich friends. I don’t have a billionaire as an ally. I have ordinary people like you. Real people. But that’s more than enough. We can stand up. They can’t fake that.

He’s pointing this out because Robinson’s backers include Elon Musk, who was briefly a literal trillionaire. This goes against Robinson’s ‘man of the people’ shtick – especially as Robinson himself is also loaded from rinsing his fans:

Tommy Robinson has left the country. Apparently, ISIS is targeting him, and he's asking for donations for the relocation and the ongoing security costs. pic.twitter.com/VOrES3YYAW

— Mukhtar (@I_amMukhtar) February 13, 2026

Tommy Robinson claims to be on the run from ISIS

Unlike with Beg, the donations to Robinson aren’t achieving anything useful.

You can donate to Beg’s CrowdJustice campaign here.

Featured image via the Canary

By Willem Moore

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ANDY BURNHAM’S visit to Wales coincided with today’s announcement of current youth unemployment. In Wales 17 per cent of young people available for employment are without work. Figures are worse in London and north-east England. Overall they are higher by 30,000 than the same figures this time last year.

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