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Trump’s Iran war plunges the Global South into a state of siege

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Trump’s Iran war plunges the Global South into a state of siege

In a scathing new report, the International Development Economics Associates Limited (IDEAs) has documented the heavy toll Global South continues to pay for a war it did not create — as corporations cash in. The report describes a state of siege across the Global South region, with countries facing mounting economic pressure as the fallout from the US-Israeli war of aggression against Iran spreads. Global South picks up the tab The report stated that operations of Epic Fury waged by the US, and Roaring Lion waged by the colonial-settler state Israel have led to substantial hardship for countries throughout the global…

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Animal activists drop giant banner on the Thames demanding foie gras import ban

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Animal activists drop giant banner on the Thames demanding foie gras import ban

Pressure on the government to ban the importation of foie gras is intensifying. Activists from animal protection organisation Animal Equality have unfurled a giant banner on Victoria Embankment. It says “KEEP YOUR PROMISE: BAN FOIE GRAS IMPORTS”, in direct view of parliament. The action follows the launch of 150 billboards and ads running across south east England sharing the same message. These are likely to reach 30 million passers-by. Foie gras is produced by force-feeding ducks and geese via a metal pipe inserted down the throat, multiple times a day. This cause their livers to swell up to ten times their…

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Ditching donor dinners for dancefloors and putting the party into Green Party

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  • Post last modified:14 July 2026
Ditching donor dinners for dancefloors and putting the party into Green Party

Showing that political fundraising doesn’t have to be all fancy dinners and shady crypto-related windfalls, the Green Party is instead heading for the dancefloor. Green Space is taking its “party with purpose” model to Bristol this month, as the community and culture project builds what organisers describe as a repeatable, transparent and people-powered fundraising model for Green politics. The Bristol event, taking place at Sawmills on Sunday 26 July 2026, will be the fourth Green Space party in the series, following two events in London and one in Leeds. Putting the party into Green Party Together, the first three events have…

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FIFA adopts new match ball for the final four matches of the 2026 World Cup

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  • Post last modified:14 July 2026
FIFA adopts new match ball for the final four matches of the 2026 World Cup

FIFA and Adidas have announced the launch of a new official match ball for the final four matches of the 2026 World Cup. This marks the first time the tournament has seen a change in the official match ball before the competition draws to a close. After the ‘Trionda’ ball has been in use from the start of the tournament through to the end of the quarter-finals, the new version – named the ‘Trionda Final’ – will feature in the semi-finals between France and Spain, and England and Argentina, as well as the third-place play-off and the final. This change is…

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Poll shows big movements in the Greater Manchester mayor race

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  • Post last modified:15 July 2026
Poll shows big movements in the Greater Manchester mayor race

New polling has come out for the Greater Manchester mayor race, and it’s showing some significant movements: A new poll has just dropped for Greater Manchester. Labour – 25%Greens – 15%Reform – fighting a bin in Clacton Sign up to our actions days to help get Geraldine Coggins elected Mayor of Greater Manchester. pic.twitter.com/DolJ8JKpxo — The Green Party (@TheGreenParty) July 13, 2026 Does this show that the Greens are on a path to victory? Greater Manchester mayor race Admittedly, Zack Polanski is being a bit cheeky by not showing the overall polling, which looks like this: POLL | Greater Manchester Mayor:…

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The Murdoch rags & the Mail are at war with Reform UK

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  • Post last modified:14 July 2026
The Murdoch rags & the Mail are at war with Reform UK

The observant among you may have noticed that the mainstream media have recently rounded on Reform UK and Nigel Farage. Interestingly, the outlets ganging up on Reform include the Daily Mail and Rupert Murdoch’s the Times: Pleased as I am to see the Murdoch and Rothermere press attacking Farage as stridently as they previously lavished praise on him, I can't help wondering what has brought on the recent U-turn — David__Osland (@David__Osland) July 13, 2026 Reform: right-on-right violence The broader strokes of what these outlets are reporting on are things independent journalists began covering years ago. The Times and others have certainly…

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The Washington Mirage and the Scars of Southern Lebanon

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The Washington Mirage and the Scars of Southern Lebanon

While diplomats in Washington smile for triumphant group photos, the reality on the ground in southern Lebanon reveals an unbridgeable chasm between political theater and human devastation. Covering the frontline return of families to the border region, I see no celebration; only the hollowed-out expressions of a traumatized population navigating a conditional surrender. Entire villages have been erased into toxic, ordnance-littered rubble, and a systematic ecocide has left ancient olive groves and agricultural fields poisoned and charred. By completely omitting accountability and Israeli reparations, the Washington-backed agreement ignores this profound structural violence, leaving an abandoned community entirely alone to rebuild their…

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The Best Scaffold Tower Choices for Construction Projects

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The Best Scaffold Tower Choices for Construction Projects

Choosing the wrong scaffold tower doesn’t just slow a job down. It creates genuine safety risks, wastes budget, and can put a project in breach of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. Construction sites vary enormously in floor space, ceiling height, and the kind of access required. The catch is that not every tower suits every environment, so selecting without proper thought tends to cost more in the long run than taking a few minutes to get it right. Stable platforms. Appropriate sizing. Load capacity that matches the task. These matter. So here are five types of scaffold tower that work…

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‘Man of the Match’ — Bellingham equals Messi and Maradona and closes in on Pelé

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‘Man of the Match’ — Bellingham equals Messi and Maradona and closes in on Pelé

Jude Bellingham’s brace in England’s victory over Norway saw them through to the semi-finals of the 2026 World Cup. It was not merely another goal-scoring contribution. Instead, it turned into a historic night. This placed the English star among the greatest names to have shaped the tournament’s legacy throughout its history. In the space of a single match, the Real Madrid player managed to equal a record set by Lionel Messi and reclaim an achievement that had not been matched since Diego Maradona. Furthermore, he joined a list in which the only player younger than him is the Brazilian legend Pelé.…

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Big Oil must foot the bill for urgent heat protection as Europe swelters

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  • Post last modified:13 July 2026
Big Oil must foot the bill for urgent heat protection as Europe swelters

As deadly heat covers Europe, governments must act quickly to protect lives and force fossil fuel companies to foot the bill. That’s the view of campaign group 350.org. There were more than 10,000 excess deaths across Europe during record-breaking heatwaves in June. Deadly wildfires are still raging in France and Spain. And even in the normally less extreme UK, the death toll has topped 2,700 and multiple fires have taken hold. Climate campaigners urge European governments to take urgent measures to protect the public, especially vulnerable populations, from heat impacts. This includes measures such as upgrading hospitals, care facilities, schools and…

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Refuge hope police reforms signal the “beginning of a future where women feel protected”

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Refuge hope police reforms signal the “beginning of a future where women feel protected”

As of the 13 July, new regulations have come into effect for all police forces which will impact vetting procedures and suspensions. The government is rolling out the “complex and wide-ranging” rule change as part of its pledge to end violence against women and girls (VAWG). It follows a campaign from the charity Refuge, ‘Remove the Rot’, which kicked off in 2023 and subsequently found a “shocking scale of police-perpetrated VAWG” which meant women and girls could not trust the police to protect them. Refusing to allow there to be no place to turn for justice, the domestic abuse charity pushed…

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IRGC proscription is another masterclass in British hypocrisy — What about the genocidal IOF?

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IRGC proscription is another masterclass in British hypocrisy — What about the genocidal IOF?

The UK is set to proscribe the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) under the new National Security (State Threats) Act 2026, which received Royal Assent last week. The government said: The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the Islamic Movement of Companions of the Right (IMCR) and Russia’s GRU Volunteer Corps will become the first bodies designated under landmark new state threats powers. If approved by Parliament later this week, those conducting acts of sabotage including arson on behalf of these groups could face life imprisonment. However, this move was met with accusations of hypocrisy, as critics pointed to the UK, which…

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FIFA’s new ‘Mistaken Identity’ law — at the World Cup

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FIFA’s new ‘Mistaken Identity’ law — at the World Cup

The new ‘Mistaken Identity’ rule, introduced by FIFA for the 2026 World Cup, has now been put into practice. Swiss forward Breel Embolo became the first player to be sent off as a direct result of this refereeing amendment, marking a potential turning point in how VAR technology is utilized. During the quarter-final match between Switzerland and Argentina, Portuguese referee João Pinheiro initially issued a yellow card to Argentine midfielder Leandro Paredes, believing he had committed a foul against Embolo. However, a VAR review revealed that the situation was the opposite: the Swiss forward had actually attempted to deceive the referee…

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Messi turned walking into the deadliest weapon in modern football

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Messi turned walking into the deadliest weapon in modern football

A viewer watching Lionel Messi for the first time might think the Argentine captain has drifted out of the match. He avoids constant pressing and chasing. Instead, he spends long periods walking or standing to watch his surroundings. This approach defies the high-tempo, continuous pressure demands of modern football. But behind this image that suggests calmness lies one of the most complex tactical ideas in the game. Walking is no longer just about conserving energy. It is now part of his philosophy for managing the game. He reads the play carefully before deciding when to act. This economy of movement allows…

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Why was Bosnian support for Palestine so passionate during the World Cup?

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Why was Bosnian support for Palestine so passionate during the World Cup?

The sight of Bosnian fans at the World Cup raising Palestinian flags, chanting for Gaza, and showing solidarity in the stands and on American streets was more than just sympathy for a people enduring a cruel war. Rather, it seemed like a retrieval of a personal and collective memory that has not left them for three decades. While millions of fans around the world were watching what was happening in Gaza from afar, many Bosnians were reliving their own lives. They were not just spectators; they saw a part of their past in every image. Every scene from Gaza brings back…

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Disability charities and campaigning organisations react to the interim Timms Review

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  • Post last modified:11 July 2026
Disability charities and campaigning organisations react to the interim Timms Review

Disabled people’s charities and advocacy organisations have been swift to respond following the publication of the interim Timms Review into the Department of Work and Pensions’ (DWP) Personal Independence Payment (PIP) system. The preliminary findings recognised the benefit as vitally important, but also criticised the “degrading” and “dehumanising” assessment process. Ultimately, it determined that PIP was “not fit for purpose”. Almost universally, the response from advocacy organisations was something along the lines of ‘That’s what we’ve been trying to tell you for years’. Likewise, most also welcomed the review’s initial findings, and echoed the vital necessity of PIP. In this article,…

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How did Messi save the World Cup economy?

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How did Messi save the World Cup economy?

The final minutes of the match between Argentina and Egypt in the round of 16 of the 2026 World Cup were not merely decisive moments in determining who would progress to the quarter-finals; they also proved to be a turning point for the tournament’s economy. With Egypt leading by two goals to nil, Argentina were just minutes away from being knocked out of the World Cup, which would have meant the exit of their star player, Lionel Messi — a scenario that would not only have altered the landscape of the competition but would also have had a direct impact on…

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A team-by-team preview of the 2026 World Cup quarter-finals

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A team-by-team preview of the 2026 World Cup quarter-finals

From 48, we’re down to eight. The quarter-finals arrive with four ties that feel evenly matched, each carrying its own storyline. Here’s the clean, accurate, team-by-team guide to France vs Morocco, Spain vs Belgium, Norway vs England and Argentina vs Switzerland. France’s route to the quarter-finals France breezed through a brutal group containing Senegal, Morocco and Norway, winning all three. A 3-0 dismissal of Sweden in the round of 32 reinforced their status, though the last‑16 win over Paraguay was hard work due to them being the worst team to play a World Cup match. Best player so far: Kylian Mbappe…

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Cuba and Iran: the duality of American power

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  • Post last modified:10 July 2026
Cuba and Iran: the duality of American power

The war on Iran was brought to a provisional close this month when Donald Trump finally signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the Palace of Versailles, on the sidelines of the G7. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed the same document electronically from Tehran. The president has presented the deal as a win – in the narrow sense that he has stopped an active war spilling into global catastrophe and reopened a global oil chokepoint. Nevertheless, the terms of the deal tell a story at odds with the triumphalist narrative, since almost every substantive concession in the fourteen-point framework favours Iran.…

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Mosque replica on loyalist bonfire reveals moribund ‘culture’ circling the drain

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Mosque replica on loyalist bonfire reveals moribund ‘culture’ circling the drain

Loyalists in the village of Moygashel have torched a replica of a mosque, sparking predictable outrage. There’s little question the action was a grotesque, hateful display, and such sentiments represent a real material threat to Muslims, as recent racist pogroms prove. What the blaze truly shows, however, is a dead-end loyalist culture that will ultimately burn itself out through its own bigotry and parochialism. Its only hope may lie in the embrace of its core tenets by reactionaries beyond the north of Ireland. This is perhaps the punt being taken by the pyromaniacs of the County Tyrone village, and those elsewhere…

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