Britain

Scandal-riddled Nigel Farage “routinely” introduced criminal crypto-financier ‘Posh’ George Cottrell as his “chief of staff”, according to new revelations in the Guardian.

Cottrell is one of two donors at the centre of the scandal of Farage’s massive undeclared donations, which he was legally obliged to report on becoming an MP. Farage is now trying to staunch the bleeding by resigning his Clacton parliamentary seat and standing for re-election. However, his claim that the donations have been a purely personal matter among friends is shattered by the latest exposure.

Farage panic

As well as his own donations and the alleged provision of vehicles to Reform MPs, bank staff suspected that a £1m donation from Cottrell’s mother was not her own money. Reform denies Cottrell had any “official role”.

The introductions and other issues mire Farage even further in a scandal of his own making. Even his attempted ‘reset’ is in trouble. Panicked Reform is begging supporters to ignore the Manchester mayoral contest and get to Clacton to campaign after bookmakers made comedy candidate ‘Count Binface‘, Farage’s only real challenger, only 5/1 to defeat him in the now-vacated seat.

Featured image via the Canary

By Skwawkbox

From Canary via This RSS Feed.

Israeli PM Benyamin Netanyahu has said Israel will occupy Lebanon for as long as required. The settler colonial state pushed deep into the country’s south during the most recent invasion and is still holding swathes of Lebanese territory.

Netanyahu said on 9 July:

We will remain in the security zone in southern Lebanon for as long as necessary to guarantee the security of our communities in the north.

The war criminal PM was addressing a group of Israeli pilots. The Times of Israel reported that he told them:

The war is not over. Alongside old challenges, new ones continue to emerge. Old axes collapse, and new ones arise. We are preparing for every scenario. We know one thing: we must always remain stronger than our enemies.

Adding:

Preserving Israel’s air superiority is a cornerstone of our national security doctrine. It is equally essential for maintaining stability in the turbulent Middle East.

We achieve this by continually improving both our people and our technology.

Israel, Lebanon’s government and the south

The Canary’s Guy Smallman reported on 4 July that the Lebanese government’s sell-out of the people under occupation in the south has caused widespread outrage.

protestors took to the streets of South Beirut to vent their anger as news spread of the ‘framework agreement’ between the Lebanese government and Israel. Youth on foot, and riding scooters, blocked the main road to the airport with burning barricades. It took the army several hours to regain control of the area.

One local told him:

What kind of president can sign a deal when there are still bodies under the rubble and the battles are still ongoing. How can he even talk to the enemy when our land is occupied and so many people are displaced?

Smallman wrote:

Many here are questioning how this agreement can ever realistically be implemented on the ground in Southern Lebanon. The fighters holding the line against the Israelis reject it, as do the local people.

Adding:

The Lebanese army are unlikely to intervene on behalf of the government to disarm the resistance, and the speaker of the parliament has just said that the agreement will not be implemented as it threatens serious internal division in a country that was ravaged by civil war for a decade and a half.

For Zionists, Netanyahu among them, Lebanon is already theirs. His belligerent speech about preparation for future wars — and his ongoing ethnic cleansing in Lebanon — speak to the Israeli vision of a land cleansed of its indigenous inhabitants.

Featured image via the Canary

By Joe Glenton

From Canary via This RSS Feed.

Incoming PM Andy Burnham has said the Labour Party got it wrong on Palestine and will fix up. He’s pledged to put more pressure on Israel, including possible bans and sanctions. But is he to be trusted?

Burnham told the Guardian:

I know many people feel that at the start of Israel’s military action in Gaza my party didn’t get it right and I am sorry about that. The response has too often not been good enough. We need to do better.

Adding:

We’ve got to do more to put pressure on the Israeli government … Yes, we have taken some important steps … But let’s be honest, the UK was too slow to call for a ceasefire. And we must now do more to strengthen our approach.

As the newspaper pointed out, Burnham has stopped short of naming the genocide for what it is. He prefers to talk about “war crimes”:

I have been absolutely appalled by what I’ve seen and read about the destruction of Gaza. There’s increasing evidence that war crimes appear to have been committed.

Adding:

There must be accountability for the depth of the suffering the people of Gaza have experienced. Ultimately, however, it must be for the international courts to determine, rather than politicians.

But what to make of it?

Burnham, Israel and the soul of Labour

Burnham is certainly a better communicator than Starmer. But underneath the ‘Manchesterism’ gimmickry, his politics are cut from the same cloth. Not least on foreign policy…

As Jody Macintyre pointed out on 30 June:

Any illusions of Labour Party “change” under Andy Burnham were dispelled last week when he appointed lobbyist, Blairite minister, ex-Labour Friends of Israel chair, and Peter Mandelson’s “boy” James Purnell as his chief of staff.

And:

When Andy Burnham served as a Labour government minister, his most senior special adviser was Jennifer Gerber, an ex-chair and current director of Labour Friends of Israel. Until today, LFI refuses to reveal its donors.

But there is something else here too. And it comes down to what the Labour Party actually is. In the early days of Corbynism, eldritch lord Tony Blair penned one of his rare monthly essays slamming Jeremy Corbyn. He said that the party owed more to Methodist Christianity than Marx.

Socialist writer Richard Seymour contested this idea in his 2016 book ‘Corbyn: The Strange Rebirth of Radical Politics.’ He argued that Labour’s historical trajectory and commitment to empire and capitalism is best explained by the “enduring significance” of “its origins in Victorian Liberalism.”

He added:

Those Labour MPs who, today, find simply unthinkable the break-up of the United Kingdom, the repudiation of Trident, and the end of the ‘special relationship’ with the United States, are in fact authentic legatees of their party’s traditions.

There are lots of arguments to be had about what Andy Burnham will do, or what he thinks on some philosophical level. And they will be had. But what isn’t going to change is that Burnham will lead a party dedicated to US empire and global capitalism. And support for the settler colonial state of Israel is a central and non-negotiable strut of those commitments.

Featured image via TRT

By Joe Glenton

From Canary via This RSS Feed.

On 9 July, the interim Timms Review branded Personal Independence Payments (PIP) “not fit for purpose”. The news comes as the Labour Party searches for a new leader, and a new UK prime minister, to boot. Right now, Andy Burnham looks like a shoo-in — and he’s got a golden opportunity to scrap PIP as we know it.

Stephen Timms, the minister for social security and disability, began his investigation back in October. The interim report drew on well over 38,000 responses to the government’s call for evidence.

It highlighted that PIP assessments were frequently “dehumanising”, “degrading” and “stressful” for claimants. This was particularly true for people with “multiple or fluctuating conditions”, meaning that the assessment process “fails to reflect real-life impacts”.

Likewise, the interim report demonstrated that — contrary to its stated aim — PIP often acts as an obstacle to full participation in work and social life. Writing for the Canaryearlier today, Rachel Charlton-Dailey emphasised this point:

It’s laughable that Timms is talking about wanting to ensure PIP can support people into work, when, as the Canary has previously reported, the DWP penalises disabled people for returning to work. A memo to DWP staff informed them that starting work can still trigger a change in circumstances reassessment that could result in the claimant losing PIP.

‘Improving trust in the system’

One of the review’s co-chairs, Sharon Brennan, stressed that PIP was clearly important and necessary as a benefit. However, she added that:

Improving trust in the system – both from the public and those going through the system – is vital if PIP is to be fit and fair for the future. Of those that responded to the steering group’s Call for Evidence, over 90% described negative experiences of the process of claiming PIP, with concerns raised around all aspects of the process from application through to assessment and appeals.

It’s utterly unsurprising that there’s very little trust in the system as it stands. The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), which presides over PIP, more often functions as a barrier to disabled people’s independence than a facilitator. Charlton-Dailey explained:

support is already supposedly there, but the DWP is trying to erode it. Access to Work is supposed to support disabled people into work with funding for support workers and specialist equipment. But instead the DWP is quietly cutting Access to Work. The scheme is also plagued with delays; the last figures show 66,000 disabled people are still waiting.

What’s more, the people in charge of the department clearly don’t take Access to Work seriously. As the Canary reported, Neil Couling, director general of DWP services and fraud, made a joke about reasonable adjustments outside the inquiry into Access to Work.

‘First big tests for Burnham’

Given the damning nature of the interim report’s findings, a key question has emerged: will the government once again try to tweak the fundamentally flawed PIP assessment process, or will it start again from the ground up?

With the near-certainty that newly minted Makerfield MP Andy Burnham will be the next PM, that question will likely define his first months in No. 10.

As part of the Guardian’s analysis of the interim report, Frances Ryan wrote:

If disability cuts last year was a key nail in the coffin of Starmer’s leadership, Pip reform will be one of the first big tests for Burnham. Will he oversee the long overdue overhaul of a broken benefits system? And will he resist calls to make cuts part of it? The path he chooses will affect millions of disabled people – and send an early signal for what a Burnham government will really mean.

It’s certainly true that the mainstream media are already pushing the narrative that disability benefits spending is too high. Likewise, and playing into the DWP’s narrative, they’re demonising recipients of PIP and other benefits as unworthy fakers.

The Guardiancalled the question of PIP both an “opportunity — and headache — for Andy Burnham”. However, we’d argue that there could be no better way for Burnham to prove that he’s genuine in his intent to provide change for the UK than ignoring the likes of the Times’ opinion on disability benefits.

Starmer’s short time as prime minister was marked by extreme hostility towards disabled people. In his place, and in order to begin to regain the trust of the disabled community, Burnham — or whoever becomes PM, for that matter — must act immediately to scrap PIP as we know it.

Instead, we must build a truly equitable disability benefit — one that genuinely acknowledges the circumstances of those it intends to serve.

Featured image via Facebook

By Grace

From Canary via This RSS Feed.

The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) has taken a fresh step towards historic ignominy by pushing through a vote to fulfil its Nations League fixtures against the genocidal apartheid entity of ‘Israel’.

In a statement, the FAI explained:

At an Extraordinary General Meeting on Wednesday, July 8th, members were asked to vote on the following ordinary motion:

“While acknowledging the strength of feeling regarding support for Palestine and the upcoming UEFA Men’s Nations League fixtures, that the members recognise the profound impact that any non-fulfilment of UEFA fixtures would have on Irish football as a whole and on its future development, and accordingly endorses the Association fulfilling its obligations in respect of those fixtures.”

Disgracefully, members of the sporting body’s General Assembly voted by a margin of 75 to 32 in favour of taking to the field opposite ex-Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) thugs.

FAI shows contempt for public’s wishes

The FAI continued to mewl its way through a statement, saying dishonestly:

The Association understands and respects the views expressed by its members, as well as players and staff, supporters, campaigners, members of the public and the Irish footballing community in relation to the 2026-27 UEFA Nations League fixtures between Ireland and Israel.

If it actually respected the views of players, supporters and the public at large, it wouldn’t even countenance appeasing the criminal settler-colony. Players from across Ireland comprehensively rejected going ahead with the shameful spectacle, with 63% of Professional Footballers Association Ireland (PFAI) members voting against it. 75.6% of Irish football fans don’t want the national team to be used as pawns to normalise the most abnormal, criminal ‘state’ on the planet.

The matches themselves will also be anything but normal. The first one is scheduled to be played in Hungary on September 27, rather than on the stolen Palestinian land of so-called ‘Israel’. As for the home leg, the conniving FAI have surrendered home advantage in favour of hiding their disgrace away behind closed doors in a small town in Northern Serbia. That leg is set for October 4.

The Stop the Game campaign, who have been the primary proponents of cancelling the fixtures, put out their own statement in response to the FAI’s appalling vote:

Tonight’s result is a disappointing indictment of the Football Association of Ireland and does not reflect the will of the Irish public or professional players. The Stop the Campaign remains resolute that Ireland will not play Israel in the Nations League Championship.

They raised “serious questions” about how the “vote was brought forward”. Their objections included:

…the denial of an initial request for proper debate on the match, the failure to address the questions brought by co-proposers before requisitions were sent, the three week delay between receipt of requisitions and them being deemed ineligible, the wording of the motion and the misrepresentation of the PFA’s position.

Football bosses shunning historic opportunity

So, once again, scheming machinations from the pathetic FAI, who made a feeble attempt to lie about getting Palestinian backing for the matches. It’s likely their move to play the game is illegal, with human rights solicitors Phoenix Law currently going after them and the Irish government for potentially failing to fulfil their “domestic human rights obligations”.

Prior to the vote, Labour’s Dublin MEP Aodhán Ó Ríordáin had said:

…when you take a leadership position on an issue such as Palestine, well then you have to go the whole hog. And I think there sometimes comes a moment in history where one country does something, or one football association does something that gives other people the space and the bravery to do the same.

This is the crux of the matter. Aside from the potential illegality, and the contempt for democracy shown by ignoring players’ and fans’ wishes, the FAI is botching a historic opportunity. Eventually, some country will be bold enough to say “no, we’re not sportwashing a holocaust any more”. Why not Ireland, given the near-unparalleled support for Palestine that exists here?

Once one stands up, others will be emboldened too, ultimately triggering the end of the Zionist entity’s participation in international sport, as was the case for apartheid South Africa. FAI bosses have an opportunity to be the first to rise in a historic “I’m Spartacus” moment, but reject heroism in favour of meekly entering history’s annals as villains appeasing genocide.

Featured image via FootballAssociationIreland

By Robert Freeman

From Canary via This RSS Feed.

Unions across Europe are calling on governments to introduce legislation to safeguard workers from rising temperatures, after western Europe recorded its hottest June on record.

Three of Europe’s largest trade unions, representing 12.6m people in 40 countries, have urged the European Commission to include heat-protection measures for workers in a new law. 

The unions want to see maximum working temperatures based on recognised scientific metrics.

Under the proposals, employers within the European Union would be legally required to suspend work if temperatures exceeded 30C for more demanding jobs in sectors like agriculture and construction, and 32.5C for low-intensity jobs, or face sanctions.

Across the continent, as many as 130 million workers are exposed to workplace heat stress annually, resulting in an estimated 277,000 injuries and 230 deaths, according to research by the European Trade Union Institute.

Currently, rules vary within Europe, with some countries leaving it down to employers to relax worker requirements during periods of increased heat.

“Extreme weather is now a workplace reality across Europe… Climate change is one of the defining challenges of our time, but workers are still being sent into increasingly extreme weather conditions without clear and enforceable protections,” said European Federation of Building and Woodworkers secretary general Tom Deleu.

In May, coinciding with Britain’s first heatwave, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) reiterated its calls to introduce maximum working temperatures in the UK, too. While there is a minimum legal temperature of 16C, there is no maximum temperature equivalent. The union said employers should take steps to cool down workplaces once temperatures exceed 24C, with workers able to stop working if temperatures reach 30C, or 27C for those doing manual labour or working outdoors. A TUC-led petition for maximum workplace temperatures has passed 64,000 signatures. 

TUC General Secretary Paul Nowaksaid: “With heatwaves becoming more common, we need to adapt. We need new laws on maximum working temperatures, improvements to workplaces to keep them cool, and climate action to reduce global heating.”

From Novara Media via This RSS Feed.

The US and Iran are back to tit-for-tat strikes as both countries vie for control of the Strait of Hormuz.

Plus: We speak to the Greens candidate Geraldine Coggins, who is hoping to fill Andy Burnham’s shoes in the Manchester mayoral race, and Robert Jenrick has found himself in hot water over his finances.

With NoJusticeMTG & Dalia Gebrial.

From Novara Media via This RSS Feed.

The crisis surrounding the lifting of the suspension of American striker Folarin Balogun has taken a new turn, after dozens of Members of the European Parliament called for an investigation into the president of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, following allegations that he succumbed to political pressure from US president Donald Trump, in one of the most controversial issues surrounding the 2026 World Cup.

According to the Associated Press, 35 MEPs signed a letter calling on FIFA’s Ethics Committee to investigate Infantino’s role, after the Disciplinary Committee decided to lift Balogun’s suspension, allowing him to play against Belgium in the round of 16, despite having received a red card in the previous match.

Accusations of bowing to political pressure

The parliamentary initiative was led by MEPs Barry Andrews, Lara Walters and Niels Fuglsang, who argued that the incident raises serious doubts about FIFA’s independence, accusing Infantino of bowing to pressure from the Trump administration.

The joint statement read:

Once again, we have seen Infantino and FIFA bow to the demands of the Trump administration.

The MEPs also described the decision to change the application of the suspension resulting from a red card during the tournament as “a disgrace and a distortion of justice”.

Independence of sport threatened

The MEPs called on football associations in EU countries to put pressure on FIFA’s Ethics Committee to open a formal investigation, not limited to the decision to lift the suspension, but also to examine whether there have been breaches of the principle of political neutrality within the international federation.

The signatories to the letter emphasised that the integrity of sport is based on fair and transparent rules, and that any political pressure affecting players’ eligibility to participate undermines the principle of sporting justice and the independence of competitions, warning that such a precedent could open the door to future political interference in football decisions.

FIFA denies Infantino interference

In response, FIFA denied that Infantino had interfered in the decision, emphasising that the lifting of the suspension was issued by the Independent Disciplinary Committee in accordance with its powers, and not by a decision of the FIFA President.

Despite this denial, pressure on FIFA continues as European criticism mounts, at a time when the Balogun case has become one of the most prominent crises facing Infantino during the 2026 World Cup, amidst growing questions regarding the independence of sporting decisions from political influence.

Featured image via the Canary

By Alaa Shamali

From Canary via This RSS Feed.

A new B’Tselem report examines the Israeli occupation’s killing of Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank, with special emphasis on 2025. The report provides a stark overview of the brute force Israel uses to maim and kill Palestine’s youth.

**Titled — Unshielded Childhood: Palestinian children and teenagers killed by Israel in the West Bank —**reveals the scale of the killings, and the circumstances in which children have been shot and killed by Israeli occupation forces (IOF). It also discusses the policies and practices enabling these violations to continue with total impunity.

“Israel” attacks all aspects of Palestinian life

Since the start of “Israel’s” genocide in Gaza, for want of revenge, the occupation has attacked all aspects of Palestinian existence in the territory. This includes the right to life.

Lethal violence carried out by the occupation’s military and settler militias has led to an unprecedented increase in the number of Palestinians killed by the occupation. This includes children. Between 7 October 2023 and 7 June 2026, the IOF killed 1,086 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. Almost one in every four, or 235, of those killed was a Palestinian child. But, since October 2023, no charges have been filed in any of these cases.

The report also documents how the violence extends beyond the moment children are shot. In nearly a quarter of the cases involving children killed in 2025, the IOF deliberately delayed or prevented critically wounded children from receiving life-saving medical treatment.

These findings expose a consistent pattern. Palestinian children are killed by “Israel”, intentionally denied urgent medical care. They are also denied dignity even after death, with 18 of the 54 bodies still being withheld by the occupation, as of 6 June 2026.

54 Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank killed in 2025

120 Palestinian children were killed by “Israel” in 2023. 80 of them in under three months after 7 October, 2023. In 2024, 89 children were killed. These two years saw a record number of Palestinian children killed.

54 children, who were 17 years old and younger, were killed by the Israeli occupation in 2025. Five of these were between the ages of just two and 10 years old. This figure is lower than 2023 and 2024. But it is still four times the number of children killed by the occupation between 2005 and 2021. During this time, an average of 19 Palestinians were killed by the IOF and illegal colonial settlers each year. Israeli occupation authorities are withholding the bodies of 18 of these 54 children. So they deny their families the opportunity to bury them, and prolong their suffering.

Of these 54 children killed by “Israel” in 2025, thirteen were shot while throwing stones at roads or armoured tanks. Even though no injuries were reported from the stone-throwing. And at least 21 were not involved in any clashes, even when they were taking place nearby.

B’Tselem Executive Director Yuli Novak tells the Canary:

“The widespread, unprecedented killing of Palestinian children and teenagers in the West Bank is the result of a broader Israeli policy. The policy enables the killing of Palestinians with virtually no accountability. When the military commander of the area boasts that Israel is killing Palestinians ‘like we haven’t killed since 1967,’ he is confirming exactly that: the system does not merely back those who pull the trigger – it effectively grants them a license to kill.”

Shoot-to-kill directives

Novak is referring to major general Avi Bluth, head of the army’s central command in the West Bank, who also claimed 96 percent of those killed were involved in “terrorism”. This allegation has been proven to be a “blatant lie” by B’Tselem documentation.

The report explains that the increase in child fatalities started in 2022. New regulations brought in during that year, allow occupation soldiers to use lethal fire against any Palestinian throwing stones. This also applies to those who supposedly throw stones, but who flee the scene, and so pose no danger.

47 of the 54 children were killed by the Israeli occupation gunfire, in a range of military operations and confrontations, although B’Tselem says it was unable to verify many of these claims.  The other seven were killed by Israeli occupation airstrikes.

B’Tselem’s report details each of the 54 children killed by “Israel” in 2025. In most of these cases, testimonies are also given by eyewitnesses and family members.

Nidal Shaghnubi, 16, was killed on 17 May 2025, in Burqah, Nablus district.

Along with two other teens, Shaghnubi was throwing stones at Route 60. This is the main road running North to South of the occupied West Bank, and is used by both settlers and Palestinians. Israeli occupation soldiers opened fire at them. Shaghnubi was critically wounded, but his two friends, who were also injured, managed to flee and were taken to hospital in an ambulance. No residents or ambulance was able to reach Shaghnubi, as the soldiers continued firing into the air. He died as a result of his wounds and “Israel” is still withholding his body.

“We weren’t given the chance to say goodbye, or bury him.”

According to B’Tselem, in cases where the IOF have removed the wounded from the scene themselves, it is often unknown whether they made any attempt to save the victim’s life before they died.

As part of a testimony he gave to B’Tselem on 28 March 2026, Nidal’s father Wael Shaghnubi, 54, says:

“I still haven’t seen my son. They wouldn’t let me see him after he was wounded, or after he died. When he was lying there in the grove, they didn’t let me go near him or look at him. And I don’t know where on his body he was wounded. His body hasn’t been returned to us, and we weren’t given the chance to say goodbye to him, or bury him.”

Amru Ali Ahmad Qabha, 13, was shot and killed on 18 July, 2025, in Ya’bad, Jenin district.

The IOF were raiding the town of Ya’bad, and Qabha happened to pass by the soldiers. At the same time they ordered him to stop, they also fired at him. The ambulance was only allowed to enter once Qabha had died of his wounds. In a press report, the occupation claimed he had thrown an IED at the military and another one had been found at the scene.

As part of a testimony she gave to B’Tselem on 28 March 2026, Amru’s mother Ayidah Qabha, 42 says of her only son:

“I can’t forget the moment I saw my son’s body, with deep wounds in his neck and legs, and nine bullets that pierced his body.”

Israel targets Palestinian children

Muhammad Bahajat al-Halaq, 9, was killed on 16 October 2025, in a- Rihiya village, South of Hebron.

Two military jeeps stopped next to the school in the centre of the village, so the children ran away and hid. Some threw stones at the armoured jeeps as they passed. An occupation soldier fired live bullets, and one hit al-Halaq in the pelvis. He collapsed, bleeding. Then the soldiers fired tear gas at him, and fired live bullets at a young man who tried to reach him. He was pronounced dead at 6pm that evening.

“Israel” prevents medical personnel reaching critically injured

According to the report, at least nine out of the 54 cases of children killed by “Israel” in 2025, involved soldiers firing live shots in the air or at residents and medical personnel to keep them away from the wounded persons.

As part of a testimony she gave to B’Tselem on 27 October 2025, Muhammad’s mother Aliyah al-Halaq, 32, says:

On 22 October, some military vehicles arrived at the place where Muhammad was shot, accompanied by some Israeli journalists. At first I thought they were going to conduct a real investigation into the incident. But I lost hope when I heard the soldiers threatening the residents over loudspeakers, saying Muhammad’s name and that they had no regrets over his death, and would not hesitate to shoot anyone who threw stones, even such a young child. They threatened to do to us what they did in Gaza, and to destroy our village’s streets, like they did in Jenin and Tulkarm.

The occupation’s killing of Palestinian children has become “routine.” Even the killing of 21,000 children during the occupation’s genocide in Gaza has failed to lead to demands for change. This shows, according to the report, the “Israeli” public’s indifference to, and dehumanisation of, Palestinians.

The sharp rise in the killing of children in the occupied West Bank cannot be viewed in isolation from Israel’s genocide in Gaza. More than 21,000 Palestinian children have been killed here since October 2023. But such an unprecedented death toll has not brought about widespread public demands for a change in policy. B’Tselem argues this is because Palestinians have been dehumanised to such an extent in “Israeli” society.

This climate of impunity and indifference, it says, has helped normalise the “routine” killing of Palestinian children.

Featured image via B’Tselem / the Canary

By Charlie Jaay

From Canary via This RSS Feed.

44% of American Jews say they support New York mayor Zohran Mamdani, compared to just 32% who support Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In an AP-NORC poll conducted in June, Mamdani polled higher among Jewish adults, than President Trump (38%) and America’s most prominent Jewish politician, Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro (41%).

In last year’s election, just 26% of New York Jews voted for Mamdani, who got 50.8% of the overall vote share. In May, the mayor fulfilled his campaign trail promise to skip New York’s annual Israel Day Parade, having consistently described Israel’s actions in Gaza as a genocide. 

Mamdani has said he will uphold an arrest warrant for Netanyahu issued by the International Criminal Court in November 2024 if the Israeli prime minister comes to New York. This could be tested in September, with Netanyahu saying he will attend the UN General Assembly in the US city. Of the 3,040 Americans polled, including 1,022 Jews, 31% agreed that “Israel’s actions in the war in Gaza amount to genocide”, while almost half said they did not know.

Among just American Jews, a similar proportion said a genocide had occured (30%), but almost half (49%) said it had not. The vast majority of American Jews (73%) also said that Israel’s immediate military response to Hamas’ attack on 7 October 2023 was justified, compared to just 43% of the wider American population. 

The findings suggest American support for Israel is in steep decline – including among the Jewish community – almost three years after Israel launched its all-out assault on Gaza following the 7 October attack by Hamas.

Asked whether they supported the establishment of a Palestinian state that includes the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, American Jews were evenly divided between support (33%), opposition (36%) and neither supporting nor opposing (30%). Meanwhile, 43% of American Jews said that the US was not supportive enough of Palestinians, compared to 28% who felt Israelis needed more support. 60% of Jews also said that US military action in Iran had gone too far. 

From Novara Media via This RSS Feed.

ANDY BURNHAM must urgently invest in the NHS to regain public trust, campaigners warned today, as official data revealed an increase in corridor care cases last month.

More than 3,181 patients were treated in corridors in June, with 2,432 patients in A&E and 749 in other wards, as officials said summer now puts as much strain on the service as winter.

NHS England recorded the increase from May, which saw 2,900 patients receiving at least 45 minutes of care in corridors.

From Morning Star via This RSS Feed.

Hard-right Restore Britain MP Rupert Lowe has caused uproar by telling grating Yank podcaster Joe Rogan that the 1996 Dunblane massacre was only ‘one murder’.  The tone-deaf right-winger also lamented that his father lost his pistols due to changes in law brought in after the killings.

Well, boo-bloody-hoo, for daddy.

The Oxford-educated ex-banker was talking about UK gun laws with Rogan, who is himself the human embodiment of divorced-man-whose-kids-won’t-speak-to-them energy.

Let’s get this straight. In March 1996, Thomas Hamilton, an alleged nonce, walked into a primary school in Dunblane, Scotland, and massacred 16 primary school pupils and a teacher. He stalked through the halls, at times executing children at point-blank range.

Hamilton also injured 15 more people, then shot himself. The massacre was a significant moment in recent British history. It shocked the nation and galvanised major changes to UK gun laws.

Hard-right MP Rupert Lowe has sparked fury after dismissing the Dunblane massacre as 'one murder' during a pro-gun rant on the US-based Joe Rogan podcast pic.twitter.com/3sdjgDdMDK

— The National (@ScotNational) July 9, 2026

The tone-deaf and frankly bizarre Rogan-Lowe exchange went like this.

Lowe told the Trump-backing podcaster:

As you probably know they banned handguns in the late 90s because there was a murder up in Dunblane.

Rogan asked:

One murder?

Lowe replied:

One murder.

Poor Lowe – papa got his guns taken away?!

Lowe then told Rogan how his father’s guns had been taken away as a result of post-Dunblane reforms:

So, everybody, my father used to shoot pistols for Oxford University and he had, he’s dead now bless him, but he had all his pistols were taken away, the pistols he used to shoot with at Oxford University.

Needless to say, Lowe has been panned by both victims and politicians. Minister for Scottish Parliament (MSP) Stephen Kerr’s children attended a nearby school:

They’ll never forget being kept in the gym hall until everyone learned the gunman was dead.

They’ll never forget the teachers trying to hold themselves together while reassuring frightened children. To reduce that atrocity to ‘one murder’ is deeply insulting.

Adding:

It wasn’t a single murder. It was a mass murder. In a primary school.

Jack Crozier’s sister Emma was murdered by Hamilton. He said:

Rupert Lowe’s father had his pistols taken away. My father had his daughter taken away.

He knew exactly what happened at Dunblane. He made an active choice, on one of the world’s biggest podcasts, to describe the massacre of 16 five and six-year-old children and their teacher as ‘one murder’.

Adding:

The people of Great Yarmouth need to seriously consider if this is who they want representing them.

Lower originally hyped his appearance on Rogan as being about the standard far-right ‘rape gang’ talking point:

A privilege to join @joerogan and hopefully inform a global audience about what has been happening in Britain – mainly the rape, abuse and torture of countless young white working class girls.

I hope you all find our conversation as informative as I did.https://t.co/ApsHRzcffC pic.twitter.com/YOsnLVFkhH

— Rupert Lowe MP (@RupertLowe10) July 8, 2026

Only a day earlier Tory leader Kemi Badenoch had praised Lowe, saying he was better than Reform UK leader Farage:

.@KemiBadenoch praised hard-right Restore Britain leader Rupert Lowe for his work in parliament.

“He turns up to work. Nigel Farage doesn’t,” she said at #POLITICOPlaybookLive.

Rewatch the full conversation: https://t.co/2guaiegerQ pic.twitter.com/0H522qAIn1

— POLITICOEurope (@POLITICOEurope) July 7, 2026

Billionaire Elon Musk has also praised Lowe in the past:

I have not met Rupert Lowe, but his statements online that I have read so far make a lot of sense.

It is hard to know what the worst element of Lowe’s comments is. They were certainly grotesque in their own right. The fact Lowe – a hyper-wealthy, elite-educated banker – was using Rogan’s platform trying to position himself as a defender of ‘white, working class’ children in the first place makes his words all the more contemptible.

Lowe has proven once again why he – and his political bedfellows like Farage, Musk and so on – should be nowhere near power. Not now, not ever. The Canary’s thoughts are with the victims of Dunblane forced to listen to this utter garbage. May God have mercy on his soul. Because we certainly won’t.

Featured image via YouTube screenshot

By Joe Glenton

From Canary via This RSS Feed.

The Manchester Evening News (MEN) hosted a hustings debate for the mayoral candidates in Greater Manchester, scoring the candidates on how well they commanded the room, how comfortable they were facing questions, and who presented strong arguments for their political parties.

It also graded people on their ability to save face answering the toughest questions and exposed how some of the candidates are just not up to the task of being a political leader.

With the Green Party’s Geraldine Coggins coming out on top, and the Reform candidate just behind her, it really does seem that the race will be between Reform UK and the Green Party for who can break through to the local electorate. However, neither has it in the bag – with audience members not entirely convinced in any direction.

Nevertheless, Manchester has seen quite enough centrist politics from former Mayor Andy Burnham And, a Reform UK mayor-elect could see disaster ensue for a neglected region which has long deserved far better than politicians out for their own interests instead of those of local people.

Scores are below, but you can judge for yourself by watching the full hustings below:

The @MENnewsdesk hustings for the Manchester Mayoral election in full, the first major hustings of the racehttps://t.co/sNrclmTyFs

— Ed Barnes (@edbarnesjourno) July 9, 2026

Green Party not afraid to challenge Reform UK

The MEN scored the mayoral candidates with those at the top being Green and Reform which we’ve included their key takeaways below:

• Geraldine Coggins – Green Party: 8/10.
  Describing her as a “confident voice” and “impressive” on the day, they said it was clear that she was popular with those attending and provided a consistent argument throughout. The MEN also say her comments likely “resonated” with leftists in the audience.
  However, they said that the repeated suggestion that the battle is between Reform and Greens is “wearing somewhat thin” and that there were palpable “groans” at saying Greens wouldn’t give Labour their second preference vote.
• Sian Astley – Reform UK: 7.5/10.
  Astley showed some nerves, but the MEN say she recovered and showed strong communication skills. They even say she differentiated herself from other Reform candidates in the past, showing an ability to grasp more complex issues with better understanding. She dodged hardline immigration rhetoric, instead focusing on how ordinary people have had enough.
  They state a negative which arguably is a positive for Astley on the whole, in that she appeared to try to distance herself from the crypto funding scandal currently plaguing the party which reeks of corruption and ‘cash-for-services’ in politics.
  Nevertheless, her loyalty and defence of party leadership is unlikely to please Reform leaders under fire, but it might better her chances increasing the challenge for the left-leaning Green Party.

The Tories and Restore Britain came last on the scorecard with pretty unimpressive performances according to the MEN, with them saying of the Tory Phil Eckersley:

The chiselled Tory was an imposing presence on the panel, somewhere between a Greek god and a Van Gogh portrait. His answers were nowhere near as interesting however and he sometimes struggled to articulate any vision for Greater Manchester at all, sometimes seeming to misunderstand the questions.

The Greens have since announced their manifesto for the mayoral seat, should Coggins be elected, which we covered earlier today:

Ahead of the Greater Manchester mayoral election, @TheGreenParty have unveiled a significant break from the Burnham model

By @MaddisonW92 https://t.co/YkfXG68aAL

— Canary (@TheCanaryUK) July 9, 2026

Good scores don’t necessarily mean they broke through

However, this doesn’t mean they broke through to the husting’s audience in the prestigious Carole Nash Hall at Chetham’s School of Music.

The MEN reported afterwards how not a single member of the audience that they spoke to had been won over by any one candidate to give them their vote. There were 100 people in the audience, which presents a pretty bleak image of how much distrust and misalignment there is between politicians and the public.

With just three weeks to go until polling day on July 30th, these politicians need to get a grip and find a way to break through. The Green Party have heavily focused on housing, but judging by feedback afterwards, people are exhausted about hearing ‘housing, housing, housing’ and want to hear something they truly believe will impact their own futures.

The most favourable feedback came for the Green and the Lib Dem candidates – but it’s hardly enough for Coggins to count her chickens, so to speak.

This came from Sarah Howarth-Flanagan who works for a social enterprise in Salford, Places for People, who told the MEN:

I was surprised by the Greens and the Lib Dems.

They’re not my party that I would usually vote for, but I thought the Green candidate was a very good public speaker, quite humorous and down to earth with a lot of experience.

The Lib Dems candidate was very down to earth, very normal, a lovely guy. I don’t like the Lib Dems in general but he came across well.

Restore and Reform came across how I thought they would and were quite controversial. Labour sat on the fence a little bit and the Tories struggled.

With this election, this hustings probably has swayed me one way rather than the other but I’m not happy to say yet who I’d vote for.

Time will tell – all bets are off

Therefore, it doesn’t seem like anyone has truly come out shining, but it does seem that Coggins has managed to connect with local people marginally better than others suggesting a tight race lies ahead!

Featured image via the Canary

By Maddison Wheeldon

From Canary via This RSS Feed.

SOUTH Korea’s Supreme Court upheld a seven-year prison sentence today for former President Yoon Suk Yeol in the first case to reach the country’s highest court related to his brief imposition of martial law in 2024.

From Morning Star via This RSS Feed.

Zahra — a Lebanese citizen from the south of Lebanon — was on her balcony, pouring coffee, telling two journalists — one British, one Lebanese — what it is like to live in a town which has now become inside Israel’s yellow line of occupation, and why she can’t leave. Then BANG!!

An Israeli drone had dropped a stun grenade — a flash-bang, the kind police lob to scatter riot crowds — around 30 metres from where they sat. On the recording, you can hear it detonate. You can hear her voice change:

https://www.thecanary.co/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Guy-and-Mohamad-%E2%80%94-stun-grenade.wav

The translation of the Arabic from the audio clip:

Zahra: Your veins are blocked and you have a weakness because of lack of nutrition and lack of…

Mohamad Kleit: Lack of nutrition because…

BANG!

Zahra: the drone struck us, the drone struck us. This is how we’re living!! This is the Lebanese government’s’ ceasefire!

We sent two of our journalists to the south of Lebanon last Monday, 6 July. Guy Smallman, a veteran British photojournalist who has spent decades covering war and protest, and Mohamad Kleit, an accredited Lebanese reporter. Both write for the Canary. Their assignment was the most ordinary thing a journalist can do: sit with people, and listen.

This is how Israel received them.

The Lebanon town Israel ordered to evacuate

They went to Al-Mansouri, a town in the Tyre district. If the name rings a bell, it is because I wrote about it only days ago. Al-Mansouri is one of the towns Israel ordered to evacuate on the very day it signed its “framework” deal in Washington — now stranded behind the new Israeli “yellow line” carved deep inside Lebanese soil.

Guy and Mohamad went to interview the people who refused to leave. They wore body armour marked with PRESS. Mohamad’s car had PRESS on the roof. The Lebanese army stopped them at the edge of town to check Guy’s accreditation, as it does. There were no fighters. There were no other journalists. There was a drone overhead — as there is every day now — and there were families getting on with their lives.

Mohamad Kleit in south Lebanon

Here is Mohamad’s account, in full:

On the 6th of July 2026, Guy Smallman and I headed to Mansory town in Tyre district to document the situation there with the residing people after the town has become a “border town” due to the newly-imposed Israeli yellow line inside Lebanese territories. As we’ve reached the town around 11AM, there was no sounds of Israeli drones, even though the IOF was present in the neighboring town of Majdalzoun.

We were stopped by the Lebanese military at first as a standard procedure to check on Guy’s accreditation. We were halted for around 15min, while wearing our PPEs with evident PRESS written in them, as well as on the top of my car. 15min later, we heard the drone flying above Mansory, which is a usual thing in the past 3 years, and we kept working as usual. 40min later, we met a local resident that invited us to interview her on her big balcony. As Guy was recording the interview on his phone, an Israeli drone threw a sound grenade around 30m from the balcony. The woman said “they’re trying to terrorise the people here to leave, it’s a daily thing now”.

Another 30min later, under the sound of the Israeli drone, a young man who’s related to the woman joined us for coffee and chatted with Guy, he offered to show him his hometown – Buyout al Siyad – that’s occupied by the Israelis, which is located a few kilometers away from Mansory. Guy and the young man went to a nearby open field to see the occupied town, and that’s where the Israelis dropped another sound grenade near us, around 25m away this time. I told Guy that apparently they’re trying to intimidate and terrorize us to leave, as they’re weary of the presence of journalists documenting the daily lives in these towns. We didn’t leave immediately, we stayed for almost an hour and a half and met even more residents, until we left at around 2:30PM.

Read that line from the woman again, it was around 20 seconds after the bang: “they’re trying to terrorise the people here to leave, it’s a daily thing now.” That is the whole policy, in eleven words.

“They can cause serious injury”

Guy has met these devices before — from the wrong end. Here is his account:

There were two stun grenades dropped near us as we were speaking to locals in Mansoura. These ‘non lethal’ flash-bang devices (which are typically used to scatter hostile crowds during riots) are being used [regularly] by the IOF to harass and intimidate families returning to their homes. Ironically I got seriously injured by one these in 2003 when covering a protest against the G8 in Geneva. They can cause serious injury if detonated near the body.

“Non lethal” is doing a great deal of work in that sentence. Guy was seriously injured by one of these in Geneva in 2003. They are not fireworks — detonated close to the body, a flash-bang can burn, deafen, and maim. Israel knows exactly what it’s doing. That is the point of throwing them.

Guy Smallman in south Lebanon

This is not an accident

Let us be clear about what happened here. Two journalists, plainly marked, interviewing civilians, with no combatants anywhere near them — were targeted twice by a military that has made a habit of it.

And it is a habit. Israel has killed more journalists than any government on record, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) — responsible for two-thirds of all press killings in both 2024 and 2025. In Lebanon alone, at least seven journalists have been killed in recent weeks. Among the dead: Ali Shuaib and Fatima Ftouni, killed in the south in March. Amal Khalil, killed in a “double-tap” strike in April — while covering the very thing Guy and Mohamad had gone to cover: Israel demolishing homes in the occupied villages of the south.

Lest we forget my friend, comrade, and frequent collaborator Issam Abdullah — a Reuters photojournalist — who was killed by an israeli tank with a shell straight to his PRESS marked body back on 13 October 2023.

The CPJ have called this a systematic effort to silence journalists — “killing them, targeting them, imprisoning them, intimidating them.” The stun grenade is the intimidation. The missile is the following-through. They are two sides of the same coin: no witnesses to the ethnic cleansing of the south.

Amal Khalil knew exactly why she was a target. Her job, she said before Israel killed her, was to puncture “the enemy’s narrative of targeting only military sites” — to show the bombed homes, the flattened farms, the extermination of people trying to carry on with their lives. That is what Guy and Mohamad were doing on that balcony. That is what the grenades were for.

Lebanon to London

Here is the part that matters most to us. Guy and Mohamad did not leave.

They finished their coffee. They met more residents. They stayed almost another hour and a half, and drove out at half past two in the afternoon — on their own terms, not Israel’s.

The families of Al-Mansouri do not get that choice. For them, the drone and the flash-bang are, in the woman’s words, “a daily thing now.” They cannot write the story and go home. They are home! And a coloniser is trying to make their lives unbearable enough to drive them out of it.

The Canary’s debanking from Lloyds in London and the stun grenades from Israel in south Lebanon. They both have the same intention. To silence truth. To silence solidarity. To cut connections between people. So that the powerful will remain powerful. And those without platforms or anyone to listen will continue having their flesh devoured by vultures.

We cannot allow this to be our reality.

So we will keep trying to give a voice to our siblings in the south of Lebanon. Because the alternative — the thing Israel is spending stun grenades and missiles to achieve — is an occupation and ethnic cleansing carried out in silence, with no one left to write it down.

To Guy and Mohamad: thank you. Stay safe. Keep going. We are all with you.

Love. Solidarity. And power .

Featured images via Guy Smallman and Mohamad Kleit

By Jamal Awar

From Canary via This RSS Feed.

UKRAINIAN drones hit more Russian oil facilities today and set two oil tankers ablaze in the Sea of Azov.

Ukraine’s strikes on oil refineries across Russia have triggered a widespread fuel crisis, with petrol shortages and fuel rationing reported in multiple regions and drivers waiting for hours to fill their tanks.

The acting governor of Russia’s western Tver region, Vitaly Korolyov, said a Ukrainian drone strike triggered a fire at an oil depot in the city of Tver.

From Morning Star via This RSS Feed.

Sarah Cotte, one of the ‘SOAS 2’ defendants accused of supporting a banned group, has walked free from the Old Bailey but faces a retrial in September.

The judge discharged the jury in the first trial on 1 July after jurors refused to convict, but decided yesterday that Cotte would face a retrial, also at the Old Bailey, on 14 September. A defiant Cotte told gathered supporters that:

We know that we are on the side of justice. We are on the side of liberation. We are on the side of people who fight back, people who strive for a better world, people who want to build a different system. The British state is on the side of terrorism, it’s on the side of apartheid, it’s on the side of colonialism, it’s on the side of imperialism.

So we know where we stand. They know where they stand.

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A post shared by Revolutionary Communist Group (Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism!) (@rcgfrfi)

SOAS — Lobby-driven charges

Cotte was accused of supporting a banned organisation after saying that Palestinians have the right to defend themselves against illegal occupation. This is entirely in agreement with international law. She faces two counts under Sec­tion 12 of the Ter­ror­ism Act 2000 for the speech in Octo­ber 2023.

As so often, the Israel lobby was at the centre of the trouble. The charges were brought after a com­plaint by notorious “apartheid apologist” group ‘UK Law­yers for Israel‘ triggered a police raid on her home in the early hours of Janu­ary 2024.

During the now-abandoned trial, Cotte’s defence barrister had reminded jurors that her comments were com­pletely legal and described their duty to defend solid­ar­ity with Palestine as “an abso­lute neces­sity in a demo­cratic soci­ety.”

A spokesperson for the ‘Defend the Soas 2’ campaign group said after the trial that:

This trial has never been about justice; it is about intim­id­a­tion. The Ter­ror­ism Act 2000 is being deployed by a zion­ist­-sup­port­ing Labour gov­ern­ment pre­cisely as it was inten­ded: to sys­tem­at­ic­ally crim­in­al­ise anti­im­per­i­al­ists and silence solid­ar­ity with lib­er­a­tion move­ments.

While Israeli war crim­in­als enter Bri­tain fresh from com­mit­ting gen­o­cide in Gaza without a glance from the police, a young woman is dragged through the courts for speak­ing the truth. Sarah did not break under the pro­sec­u­tion’s pres­sure, and neither will we.

Featured image via DefendSoas2

By Skwawkbox

From Canary via This RSS Feed.

NEW SUSPECTED cases of Ebola have been reported in parts of Congo that were previously unaffected as the death toll in the country’s latest outbreak reached 600.

The government’s latest report said two new cases were suspected in Kisangani in the Tshopo province, where cases had not been previously recorded. The total number of confirmed cases across the country has now reached 1,759.

From Morning Star via This RSS Feed.

TADEJ POGACAR delivered a statement victory over the Tourmalet today as he retook the yellow jersey on stage six of the Tour de France.

Pogacar attacked with a little over four kilometres left of the 17-kilometre climb over the Pyrenean giant, 43km from the end of the stage, and rode clear of his rival Jonas Vingegaard down the descent and up the final climb into Gavarnie-Gedre.

From Morning Star via This RSS Feed.

THE US launched new air strikes against Iran early this morning, and Tehran responded by targeting US-allied countries in the Middle East, leaving the interim peace deal between the two countries seemingly in tatters.

Back-and-forth attacks have repeatedly threatened the fragile ceasefire. But today’s appeared bigger all around, with sirens sounding at least three times in Bahrain, home to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet headquarters, and missiles targeting Kuwait and Qatar.

Sirens sounded this afternoon in Jordan as well, where the US has stationed troops and aircraft.

From Morning Star via This RSS Feed.

PAKISTAN: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed to continue operations against militants during a visit to south-west Balochistan province today.

Authorities have responded to the back-to-back attacks by launching operations since Monday, killing at least 54 insurgents, according to the military and local officials.

The escalating violence prompted Mr Sharif to travel to Quetta, the provincial capital, where members of the Baloch Liberation Army have killed at least 42 people in separate attacks since Monday.

From Morning Star via This RSS Feed.

ANDY BURNHAM was accused of “continuity Starmerism” today as the potential prime minister pledged to back Labour’s arms build-up and backing for Nato and nuclear weapons.

In his first pronouncement on foreign policy and the military build-up, Mr Burnham emphasised backing for the continuing Ukraine conflict and support for the escalating arms bill.

He also failed to mention Palestine or the crisis in Gaza at all in the article, which appeared in The Times, despite claiming he would be “guided by our values.”

From Morning Star via This RSS Feed.

A LANDMARK legal case seeking to challenge the government’s use of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism was launched today.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is accused of breaching 76-year-old Bea Foster’s human rights when it applied the definition to sanction her over a social media post condemning Israel’s “system of apartheid.”

From Morning Star via This RSS Feed.

A prominent oil analyst has claimed that China’s dramatic reduction in crude oil imports since the US/Israel war of choice on Iran helped prevent a full-blown global energy shock.

Real demand for oil plateauing in China

In an interview with German DW, oil analyst Rory Johnston said:

Chinese crude oil imports fell by roughly 40- 45%, roughly 5 million barrels a day from pre-war levels to the levels we saw average through June. That is gargantuan. That is a larger shift than the entirety of the world’s SPR (Strategic Petroleum Reserves) releases combined.

According to Reuters, since the unprovoked war on Iran began ​at the ​end ⁠of February, overall U.S. inventories, including commercial ​and SPR stocks, have ​fallen ⁠by 120.71 million barrels to 734 million barrels as ⁠of ​June 26, the ​lowest since 1984.

Bloomberg quoted Vortexa’s figures, estimating that Chinese seaborne oil imports plunged last month to a decade low of 5.9 million barrels a day, down about 50% from prewar levels.

Vox explained:

To put it simply, there are millions of more barrels per day for other countries to import than anyone thought was possible.

According to Citi analyst Francesco Martoccia, they have been constantly arguing that real demand for oil in China is plateauing.

He told CNBC recently that last year, for instance, 900,000 barrels a day of oil demand was for Chinese strategic reserves, and that they were not sure whether this demand would return.

Eroding Western fossil advantage

Johnston pointed out to DW that Beijing’s concerted policy effort to dominate renewable energy technologies, from photovoltaics to lithium-ion batteries, has made China “ambidextrous” across the entire energy space.

He argued that while the West has long prided itself on fossil fuel dominance, China has been quietly building an equally formidable position on the demand side, saying:

China, the world’s largest crude oil importer, has clearly demonstrated that it can cut back imports by nearly half and have very little effect immediately on its economy. That’s a kind of superpower in the global oil and global energy market.

Trump has frequently tried to play both rising and falling oil prices- benefiting the USA.

“The United States is the largest Oil Producer in the World, by far, so when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money,” Trump said in March.

After signing the MoU in June – which he violated of his own accord this week, as he restarted bombing Iran – he said–

THE STOCK MARKETS ARE ROARING, JOBS ARE AT RECORDS, AND PRICES ARE DROPPING (AFFORDABILITY!)

Basically, Trump can boast all he wants about being the largest producer of oil – China is actually setting the terms.

Featured image via the Canary

By Nandita Lal

From Canary via This RSS Feed.

At World Cup tournaments, there are players who score goals, and there are players who create moments that remain etched in the tournament’s memory for decades. When it comes to Ismael Saibari, he has done both.

At the 2026 World Cup, the Moroccan international was not merely one of the tournament’s stars; he became the embodiment of one of the greatest individual achievements in the history of Arab and African football. Three goals propelled the “Lions of the Atlas” into the knockout stages and secured his place in the history books, as he became the first African player to score three goals in a single World Cup, and the first to find the net in three consecutive World Cup matches.

But this story did not begin in the United States, Canada or Mexico; it began many years earlier… when simply getting to a football pitch seemed like a distant dream.

When doctors doubted his future

Ismael Sibari was born in Spain to a Moroccan family who carried their connection to their homeland with them, but his childhood presented a greater challenge than any opponent he would later face on the pitch.

In his early years, he suffered from problems with his feet that caused doctors concern; some even went so far as to doubt his ability to play sport normally, let alone turn professional.

That was the first real test of his life, and between treatment and rehabilitation sessions, the Moroccan boy learnt that the path to his dreams was not determined by medical reports, but by willpower. He gradually regained his ability to walk, then returned to chasing the ball, as if he had been running ever since towards his rendezvous with history.

Talent alone does not make stars

Whilst his childhood battle had ended in victory over his illness, the start of his professional career presented a challenge no less difficult.

At the PSV Eindhoven academy, Sibari possessed everything a talented player needed, but he lacked the most important prerequisite f or success: physical fitness.

His excess weight nearly cost him his future, and warnings came thick and fast from the club’s coaches, who demanded he change his lifestyle if he wanted to remain part of the team’s plans; that was the turning point in his career.

He decided to take on the toughest challenge of his life: a battle with himself. He changed his eating habits, doubled his physical training, lost weight and completely reshaped his physique, transforming from a player at risk of losing his place into one of the best players in the Dutch league and one of the Moroccan talents most sought after by European clubs.

When the World Cup opened the doors to Bayern Munich

Within a few days of his performances in the World Cup, he went from being a player known only to fans of the Dutch league to a name dominating the headlines in European newspapers, with the biggest clubs vying to secure his future.

The question was no longer about the extent of his talent, but about which club would succeed in signing him.

The answer was not long in coming. Following his exceptional performance with Morocco, Bayern Munich secured one of the summer’s most high-profile signings, announcing the signing of Saibari after being convinced that the player who had captured the world’s attention at the World Cup possessed all the qualities needed to become a cornerstone of their new project.

His move to the Bavarian giants was not merely a reward for a successful tournament, but the culmination of a long journey that began with a child who was told that football might not be his future, continued with a player whose dream was nearly dashed by excess weight, and ended with a star taking centre stage on one of European football’s biggest stages.

For this reason, the story of Ismael Sibari cannot be summed up by three goals, nor by a major transfer deal, nor even the historic records he set at the World Cup; rather, it is the story of a player who overcame everything that might have prevented him from reaching his goal, until his name became part of World Cup history, a new face for the future of Moroccan football in Europe, and proof that the greatest victories are not forged in the moment the ball hits the net, but in the years that precede it.

Featured image via the Canary

By Alaa Shamali

From Canary via This RSS Feed.