Daily Archives: 6 July 2026

FIFA rulebook faces stress test after Trump intervention

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FIFA rulebook faces stress test after Trump intervention

Not every crisis to hit football begins with a refereeing error. Some begin when fans lose faith that the law will have the final say, and when politics fills the space left behind. The latest controversy surrounding Folarin Balogun’s red card is no longer about whether the punishment was right or wrong. It is about whether FIFA’s disciplinary rules can withstand political pressure. Politics enters the equation Referees can make mistakes, but the rules have always been the final word. In fact, that was football’s strongest defence against those who suspected something more sinister. Errors are part of the game. However,…

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UK Government lied about ‘renewable’ Scottish data centre plans

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UK Government lied about ‘renewable’ Scottish data centre plans

Plans for a supposedly “renewable” multi-billion pound data centre project in Lanarkshire entirely misrepresented their actual environmental and economic impacts. The Guardian‘s recent investigation reveals that the £8.2bn-valued data complex, touted as being energy self-sufficient, was unfeasible from the start. The centre and adjoining power-plant in Scotland’s central belt was supposed to be powered by on-site renewables and nuclear energy. In theory, anyway. Built jointly by US corporation CoreWeave and Scottish data firm DataVita, the complex was supposed to power itself entirely by 2030. However, internal correspondence documents obtained through Freedom of Information (FOI) requests show that the site had an…

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Trump confirms he asked FIFA to revoke US striker’s red card

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Trump confirms he asked FIFA to revoke US striker’s red card

Donald Trump has, remarkably, confirmed that he intervened with FIFA to overturn a red card for US striker Folarin Balogun. The World Cup 2026 has not been without political themes this tournament, particularly considering how players and referees have been prevented from making it into the US to compete with their national teams.  However, Trump’s latest intervention really takes the biscuit. The lawless US President lobbied FIFA in three phone calls made since 29 June to suspend a red card levelled against US striker Folarin Balogun. This lobbying has been successful, with the President saying: Thank you to FIFA for doing…

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Greens or Reform will lead Kirklees Council, but Tories block progress

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Greens or Reform will lead Kirklees Council, but Tories block progress

In the West Yorkshire borough of Kirklees, only the Green Party‘s group leader or Reform’s are in a position to lead the council. But Conservative councillors’ refusal to pick a side has been blocking progress, with two votes already failing to produce a winner. Ahead of another vote on 15 July, local Green leader Andrew Cooper told the Canary that Tory councillors should either “pick a side” or just “stay at home”. Green experience vs Reform incompetence In May’s local elections, Kirklees voters totally wiped out the Labour Party, whose previous administration had been incredibly controversial. On one side, this led…

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PSNI slammed for paramilitary policing cutbacks

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PSNI slammed for paramilitary policing cutbacks

Anti-racist group End Deportations Belfast (EDB) has strongly criticised the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) for failing to reallocate resources to tackling paramilitary violence. This comes in the wake of violent racist pogroms carried out by loyalist mobs, which the PSNI now confirm paramilitaries played a role in coordinating. As EDB note, in 2025 the PSNI chose to “collapse one of the three PCTF [Paramilitary Crime Task Force] investigative teams“. This followed Stormont’s decision to cut funding to the anti-paramilitary group by 21% for 2024/25. Upon the launch of the PCTF in 2017, the British National Crime Agency (NCA) described…

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Exclusive: disgusted Your Party exec members call no-confidence vote over suspensions

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Exclusive: disgusted Your Party exec members call no-confidence vote over suspensions

Outraged members of Your Party’s elected executive (CEC) have called for a no-confidence vote in the CEC’s chair and secretary. It is clear that committee members are outraged over the chair’s move to suspend three well-known members last week. Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi, Solma Ahmed and Mel Mullins were suspended for attending a socialist conference – even though Wimborne-Idrissi hadn’t attended. Your Party: more revelations In an email leaked to the Canary, one exec member wrote to fellow CEC members: Dear CEC members It is with huge regret that I write this email. But I feel strongly that it is needed. I have…

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The Future of Sustainable Outdoor Space Management

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The Future of Sustainable Outdoor Space Management

Sustainable outdoor space management has become an increasingly important consideration for facilities managers, estate managers and commercial property professionals as organisations seek to balance environmental responsibility with operational efficiency. External environments are no longer viewed solely as aesthetic assets; they are expected to support biodiversity, improve climate resilience, enhance user wellbeing and contribute towards wider Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) objectives. As expectations around sustainable land management continue to grow, investing in professionally managed grounds maintenance and landscaping has become essential for protecting both the value and functionality of commercial estates. When supported by strategic commercial grounds maintenance programmes, businesses can…

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Labour’s Lucy Powell targets free speech, not Big Tech

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Labour’s Lucy Powell targets free speech, not Big Tech

During a recent LBC interview, deputy leader of the Labour party, Lucy Powell rightly called out X as a “toxic and difficult environment“, adding that the government should consider stronger regulation. But her comments, as usual, have missed the mark. For Powell, the concern is less about the harm social media causes to everyday life, but the influence it can have for political parties during election campaigns. When it comes to protecting children online, the outgoing Labour leader, Starmer, chose to restrict access rather than properly regulate these platforms. Yet when social media, which is undeniably more democratic than traditional media, could…

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SOAS student ‘terror trial’ – final hearing approaches

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SOAS student ‘terror trial’ – final hearing approaches

Wednesday 8 July will be a key hearing in the case of 22-year-old pro-Palestine student activist Sarah Cotte. Like every day of the trial, supporters from the Defend the SOAS 2 campaign will protest outside the Old Bailey. They’ll draw attention to what they say is the application of a pernicious terrorism law that has not just been misapplied in this instance but which should be repealed in its entirety. They say that a victory in this case would reinforce the right of protesters to support the Palestinian struggle for self-determination, which has been under consistent attack in recent years. Cotte,…

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Significant successes for PAME trade union activists in critical battles in Greece

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Significant successes for PAME trade union activists in critical battles in Greece

Two important battles that were underway in Greece’s trade union movement have been completed with significant successes for PAME (the All Workers Militant Front). This has sent a hopeful message in the effort to change the balance of forces against employer-led and government-controlled trade unionism. At the Labour Centre of Evia, in a region with a significant concentration of factories and workers, the workers and their trade unions reaffirmed their confidence in the forces of PAME, which in previous years had stood at the forefront of organising the struggle. Despite the offensive of the employers, their mechanisms and the forces of…

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Polymarket’s secretive links to Israel exposed

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Polymarket’s secretive links to Israel exposed

Journalist Whitney Webb has published a detailed report looking at the secretive history of Polymarket. It’s a history which includes links to US and Israeli intelligence services: We've been quiet recently because Mark Goodwin and I have been working to write the most comprehensive investigation into Polymarket's origins and ambitions to date. We found that Polymarket's "official" origin story, that Shayne Coplan founded the company alone in 2020 and then… — Whitney Webb (@_whitneywebb) July 1, 2026 What is Polymarket? If you’re unfamiliar with Polymarket, it’s an online ‘prediction market’. Yahoo Finance describes prediction markets as: exchanges where people can bet on event…

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Falconer’s empty words for Dr Abu Safiya draw backlash

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Falconer’s empty words for Dr Abu Safiya draw backlash

Middle East minister Hamish Falconer’s platitudes for Gazan pediatrician Hussam Abu Safiya, a hospital director abducted in 2024, were rebuked for their hypocrisy. On 5 May, Falconer took to X to say: I am aware of the concerning reports about the treatment of Dr Hussam Abu Safiya who is still in Israeli detention. We have raised his case again today with the Israeli authorities. Britain’s commitment to the rule of law and a fair trial is resolute. Falconer’s empty talk Nothing says ‘resolute commitment to the rule of law’ quite like arming the very regime (Israel) that flouts it, does it, Hamish?…

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Activist cleared of violent disorder in Palestine Action raid

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Activist cleared of violent disorder in Palestine Action raid

A jury has acquitted an activist of violent disorder at an Israeli-owned arms factory targeted by Palestine Action in August 2024. William Plaistow, 35, was acquitted on Monday at the Old Bailey due to what presiding Judge Patrick Field said was a lack of evidence over the incident in the Filton area of Bristol. “The prosecution has not produced enough evidence against him to show that he intended that there would be a violent disorder at Filton or that he assisted anyone to commit that offence,” Field said. Plaistow, who is from Manchester, still faces a criminal damage charge alongside seven…

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Defence secretary confident Burnham will resource the military

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Defence secretary confident Burnham will resource the military

Dan Jarvis, the new defence secretary, has told the Guardian he doesn’t have “a shred of doubt” that incoming prime minister, Andy Burnham, will ensure the military gets the resources it needs. Jarvis, whose donors include Labour Together millionaires and recruitment firms PSD and Odgers Berndtson (who are linked to private healthcare), says he is confident the PM-in-waiting “values national security”. He said: What I absolutely will want to see is that in the next spending review we commit the resources to evidence the trajectory to 3.5% [of GDP]. I’ve known Andy for a very long time, and I have not…

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Israel’s approval of new illegal settlements will further isolate East Jerusalem and deepen its unlawful occupation

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Israel’s approval of new illegal settlements will further isolate East Jerusalem and deepen its unlawful occupation

Israel’s approval of plans to establish 13 new illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is yet another example of the abhorrent and utter disregard of the international rules-based order by Israel. This forms another troubling development in the rapidly deteriorating situation on the ground in the Occupied Palestinian Territories which calls for urgent and substantive measures by all states. The approved ‘Binyamin’ plan is yet another attempt to further fragment Palestinian territory and isolate East Jerusalem from its surrounding Palestinian communities. It is situated along Route 60, the central north-south artery running through the West Bank that links Palestinian cities,…

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Prince Andrew: ‘No evidence’ of Pizza Express visit

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Prince Andrew: ‘No evidence’ of Pizza Express visit

Investigations by the BBC and Pizza Express have found “no evidence” that Prince Andrew visited the chain’s Woking branch. In his notorious 2019 BBC interview, Andrew claimed he couldn’t have had sex with Epstein victim, Virginia Giuffre, on 10 March 2001, as she alleged, as he had been at Pizza Express. By contrast, witness Shukri Walker was prepared to give sworn evidence that she saw Giuffre with the then-prince in a London nightclub. Andrew eventually paid Giuffre an estimated £12 million to settle out of court. Prince Andrew’s claims interrogated In January, the US government released further files from the investigation into…

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Another Sharon Graham die-hard asks Unite members to vote for her challenger

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Another Sharon Graham die-hard asks Unite members to vote for her challenger

I now need to put right my wrong. These are the words of long-time Unite executive member and union convenor, Steve Hibbert, in a video he has published for the union’s general secretary election. Hibbert campaigned in 2021 for Sharon Graham to become Unite’s general secretary. Now, like fellow former-diehard Dave Williams, he wants union members to support her challenger, Simon Dubbins. Hibbert cites “grave concerns at the actions taken by the union under Sharon” and the “toxic” environment she (and her husband) have created. https://www.thecanary.co/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Hibbert-Unite-Subbed-hb.mp4 Unite exec member’s video could have been longer Hibbert’s succinct video could have been far,…

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Dog lockdown only way dogs can beat the heat, says RSPCA

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Dog lockdown only way dogs can beat the heat, says RSPCA

The RSPCA is calling on dog owners to implement an urgent routine change, with more extreme hot weather forecast across England and Wales. The charity is urging dog owners to prepare for another spell of high temperatures. It says that even without the extreme 35°C highs seen in June, upcoming conditions could still be hazardous for pets. ‘Dog lockdown’ Pet experts are recommending a ‘dog lockdown’ for the hottest coming days. They’re highlighting that temperatures in the high 20s still pose a serious threat to pets and owners should treat the conditions with caution. The call comes as the Met Office…

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Boris Johnson’s ex-adviser loses Somaliland libel case

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Boris Johnson’s ex-adviser loses Somaliland libel case

When a remote east African city was being shelled by Somaliland soldiers three years ago, a German academic became an unlikely messenger for the beleaguered inhabitants of Las Anod. Dr Markus Hoehne, an anthropologist then at Leipzig University, spoke Somali and had previously spent time in Las Anod researching for his doctorate in the early 2000s. As the city’s hospital came under attack, his local sources provided a daily stream of information, which he posted on Twitter. Hoehne’s war diary helped foreign media outlets, like Declassified, cover the assault on Las Anod, which started when a police unit – possibly British…

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Deal or No Deal and the British love affair with the game show format

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Deal or No Deal and the British love affair with the game show format

Britain has a long tradition of television game shows, with formats that have remained part of popular culture for decades. Programmes such as Play Your Cards Right, Blankety Blank, The Generation Game, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and Deal or No Deal have become well-known references in the history of British television. Many of these productions combined simple rules with studio audiences, presenters and carefully structured moments of suspense. Although television consumption has changed significantly over time, these formats continue to influence the design of other forms of digital entertainment. A television tradition that has endured Game shows have occupied…

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