Scenario archive

World Cup: 2026 tournament "repackaged football as a luxury product"

🏆⚽"I don't think there's been a tournament quite like this." David Webber tells #F24Debate this "celebrity-driven" #FIFAWorldCup has "repackaged football as a luxury product", driving up ticket demand and prices ➡️https://go.france24.com/85Xw

July 29, 2026

From colonial symbol to sanctuary: Paris's Grand Mosque turns 100

The Grand Mosque of Paris, built in 1926 in the Latin Quarter as a tribute to Muslim soldiers who died for France during World War I, marks its 100th anniversary this year. French historian Benjamin Stora traces its little-known role as a geopolitical bridge – not only between France and Algeria, but also between Muslims and Jews.

July 29, 2026

Up to 1,500 hospital beds to be commissioned this year — Russian deputy defense minister

The number of military hospitals in military districts and naval fleets is also expanding, Anna Tsivileva said

July 29, 2026

Starmer was a fabricator and a fraud. Good riddance

Starmer was a fabricator and a fraud. Good riddance Submitted by Peter Oborne on Fri, 07/17/2026 - 16:08 From attacking Corbyn for political gain, to abandoning the key pledges that got him elected, the UK leader leaves office in disgrace Starmer rose to power by twisting and distorting the truth - and he leaves office in exactly the same fashion (Henry Nicholls/AFP) Off The most serious parliamentary misdemeanour that a minister can commit is to deceive MPs. That is exactly what Keir Starmer did when he answered questions, for his last time as prime minister, on Wednesday. Exploiting the occasion to justify his record, he told MPs that when he became UK Labour leader, “we had just lost the 2019 election, which nearly broke my party. It was the worst result since 1935, and we were found to be institutionally antisemitic.” This statement contained a serious falsehood. Many would call it a lie. Starmer’s predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn, swiftly issued a statement in response : “The prime minister today falsely claimed that Labour was found to be ‘institutionally antisemitic’ under my leadership. There was no such finding.” It’s not difficult to guess why Starmer levied such a damaging - and false - allegation against Corbyn. He has been driven out of office by parliamentary colleagues who did not like or trust him, and who thought he was useless at his job. It has been a terrible humiliation. It’s human, natural and entirely forgivable that Starmer should seek to boast of his achievements in office. But it’s despicable to justify those claims by making false insinuations about a former colleague. Ugly questions Starmer repeated the falsehood on his trip to Kyiv on Thursday, telling Sky News that he wished to be remembered “as the person that saved the Labour Party, turned it into a party that could face the public again.” He added: “We were a party that were found to be institutionally antisemitic, that was not fit to actually face the country and the electorate.” A month ago, as part of his mission to restore his reputation by trashing Corbyn, he claimed that he had “inherited a Labour Party that was politically, financially and morally bankrupt”. Needing to gain the support of Labour's left-wing membership, he presented a pitch that was entirely at variance with the way he subsequently ran the party This was another fabrication. Corbyn’s Labour was nowhere near bankruptcy; in fact, the party’s 2020 annual report noted that the party had emerged from the 2019 election campaign “with our finances intact”. Starmer, who served as a senior member of Corbyn’s shadow cabinet, must have known that his statement about Labour’s finances was false - but he made it anyway. I have written two books about lying in British public life. One book, The Rise of Political Lying , focused on former Prime Minister Tony Blair and his deceitful inner circle. The second, The Assault on Truth , dealt with former Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the sordid coterie that surrounded him. I don’t think Starmer was as serious a liar as Blair (remember weapons of mass destruction and the Iraq War ) or as habitual an offender as Johnson. But ugly questions surround his personal integrity, especially his dealings with Corbyn. Seven years ago, Starmer actually went on record dismissing claims that Labour was institutionally antisemitic. Now he’s saying the opposite. This kind of double dealing is typical of Starmer. Back then, Starmer described Corbyn as a “friend” of his. Three years later, he insisted that Corbyn was “never a friend”. Structural dishonesty Consider, too, Starmer’s campaign for the Labour leadership at the start of 2020. He presented himself as a radical politician who would build on the best elements of the Corbyn era, end factionalism and unite the party. In an interview with Jamie Driscoll, then Labour’s popular mayor for the North of Tyne region, he said : “If you’re going to go for unity, you’ve got to inspire people to come together. You can’t force them to come together. Disciplining people to be united is going nowhere.” In his campaign launch, Starmer described the party’s 2017 manifesto as a benchmark and said : “We are not going to trash the last Labour government … nor are we going to trash the last four years.” He presented the party membership with 10 policy “pledges” , which included a hike in taxes for higher earners and taking “rail, mail, energy and water” into public ownership. He went on to abandon almost all of these pledges. It’s impossible to avoid the conclusion that in 2020, Starmer ran a leadership campaign that was deliberately dishonest. Needing to gain the support of Labour’s left-wing membership, he presented a pitch that was entirely at variance with the way he subsequently ran the party. This structural dishonesty helps to explain why Starmer went on to be held in such contempt not just by Labour Party members, but also by so many British voters. Twisting the truth To sum up, Starmer rose to power by twisting and distorting the truth - and he leaves office in exactly the same fashion. In October 2020, the UK government’s equalities watchdog published its investigation into antisemitism in the Labour Party. It found “specific examples of harassment, discrimination and political interference”, and said that Labour could have tackled antisemitism more effectively “if the leadership had chosen to do so”. How Starmer's exit could revive the British left Read More » At no point did the report deem Labour under Corbyn to be “institutionally antisemitic”. That claim was made by Alan Johnson , a senior research fellow at the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre. On Thursday, I approached Starmer’s media office with a question. I pointed out that the ministerial code, signed off on personally by Starmer, insists that “it is of paramount importance that ministers give accurate and truthful information to Parliament, correcting any inadvertent error at the earliest opportunity”. I asked a media officer whether the prime minister would return to parliament to correct the record, as the ministerial code demands. The officer heard me out, then asked me to put my request in writing - so I did. No answer. I chased the office for a response. Still no answer. After Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, Starmer received a standing ovation from colleagues. He was widely praised for a dignified performance. Meanwhile, British journalists have been writing kind articles, saying what a decent man he was. I can’t agree. Starmer is a fabricator and a fraud - a thoroughly nasty piece of work who has inflicted deep damage on the Labour Party and dishonoured British public life. Good riddance. The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye. UK Politics Opinion Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:29 Update Date Override 0

July 29, 2026

Israeli general praises illegal outposts driving Palestinian ethnic cleansing

Israeli general praises illegal outposts driving Palestinian ethnic cleansing Submitted by Elis Gjevori on Fri, 07/17/2026 - 15:44 Israel portrays violent settlers as a fringe group abroad while treating its illegal outposts as security assets at home Palestinians attempt to extinguish a fire set by Israeli settlers on wheat fields in the village of Salem, east of Nablus, in the occupied West Bank, on 3 July 2026 (Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP) Off The Israeli military commander responsible for the occupied West Bank has praised illegal settler outposts as security assets, laying bare the state support behind a network instrumental in the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their land. Major-General Avi Bluth, head of Israel’s Central Command, told a conference organised by the Farm Union on Wednesday that the agricultural outposts “align well with the security concept. It does not contradict it”. “It integrates with it, provided that this is also reflected in operational conduct, as well as ethical conduct, and in accordance with the law,” he said. Like every Israeli settlement in the occupied Palestinian territory, the outposts are illegal under international law. They are also illegal under Israeli law. "This indicates a complete submersion of settlements and these farms, as he calls them, but what they are violent, radical posts, they're not even outposts, they are posts, and as he says, they serve the IDF [Israeli army] agendas in that they control the tactical territory that the IDF can't," said Ori Goldberg, an independent Israeli analyst and political commentator speaking to Middle East Eye. Bluth, himself a settler, went further. “All of this greatly strengthens security,” the commander said. “I have great faith in the people here. I look each and every one of you straight in the eye. I love you, I appreciate you and I appreciate what you do.” One message in English, another in Hebrew The remarks also puncture Israel’s carefully managed narrative abroad. When addressing international audiences, Israeli leaders depict violent settlers as an unruly fringe. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described attackers as “a small minority” who do not represent the wider settler population. Church of England votes to hear Palestinian Christians on Israeli genocide in Gaza Read More » In Hebrew, however, a senior general publicly embraced the outposts as partners in Israel’s security system. "These [outposts] are the ones who've been conducting the pogroms against the Palestinians, the ones who play a key role in the attempt to perform the ethnic cleansing that's being carried out in the West Bank," Goldberg said. The "farming outposts" allow a handful of settlers to seize vast areas by grazing livestock across Palestinian land, blocking shepherds from pastures and subjecting neighbouring villages to sustained attacks and intimidation. A report published on 7 July by the Israeli advocacy and research groups Peace Now and Kerem Navot said violence and harassment linked to 120 "farming outposts" established since October 2023 had displaced 118 Palestinian communities. Netanyahu’s government has supplied the outposts with equipment and livestock subsidies while working to legalise them retroactively. Amnesty International has described the expulsions as a state-driven campaign of ethnic cleansing, rejecting attempts to blame isolated settlers or extremist ministers. Its investigation found that settler farms operate as a strategic tool for dispossessing Palestinian herding communities and expanding Israeli control over occupied land. Occupation News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0

July 29, 2026

Three children injured in Russian guided bomb attack on Izium in Kharkiv Oblast

Three children and a 40-year-old man have been injured as a result of a Russian guided aerial bomb strike on the town of Izium in Kharkiv Oblast on 17 July.

July 29, 2026

Wild Weather Disrupts Copper Mines and Ports in Central Chile

Copper mines and ports in central Chile curtailed some operations in the face of a powerful winter storm, while major mining installations in the north remained unaffected.

July 29, 2026

High-tech medical care provided to military personnel at their place of duty and residence

Deputy Defense Minister Anna Tsivileva emphasized the progress made in streamlining prosthetic fitting procedures at regional prosthetic and orthopedic centers

July 29, 2026

Florida man arrested for allegedly stealing over $200,000 in crypto using Steam game malware

Federal authorities have arrested a Florida man suspected of stealing at least $220,000 in crypto through malware-infected Steam games, as reported earlier by local news outlet Local10. In the complaint, officials accuse 21-year-old Zyaire Wilkins and co-conspirators of launching eight malware-embedded games from around May 2024 to February 2026, allowing them to infect about 8,000 […]

July 29, 2026

Wut über Minister - Rauswurf : Proteste setzen Selenskyj unter Druck

July 29, 2026

US , Iran Each Attack Infrastructure in Risky Escalation of Conflict

July 29, 2026

প্রতিরক্ষামন্ত্রীকে বরখাস্ত করে নিজের পায়েই কুড়াল মারলেন জেলেনস্কি ?

July 29, 2026

Homenajeados nueve empleados públicos y cargos electos de los ayuntamientos de Las Palmas y San Lorenzo represaliados tras el Golpe de Estado de 1936

July 29, 2026

ইরান - যুক্তরাষ্ট্র দ্বন্দ্বে ট্রাম্পের সামনে এখন জোড়া সংকটের ফাঁদ

July 29, 2026

Why doesnt Iran have a right to a nuclear weapon ? ( Opinion )

July 29, 2026

US , Iran each attack infrastructure in risky escalation

July 29, 2026

IRGC says it hit US special operations unit in Syria as bombs fall on Iran for sixth night

IRGC says it hit US special operations unit in Syria as bombs fall on Iran for sixth night Iran 's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it launched an attack on a US special operations command centre at al-Tanf in Syria on Friday, as the US bombed Iran for a sixth consecutive night. According to a statement carried by the Tasnim news agency, the IRGC said the attack was in retaliation for the killing of Iranian soldiers in Iranshahr. Middle East Eye could not independently verify the claim. A Syrian military source told Reuters that Iran carried out an attack near al-Tanf, but it had not hit the base itself. There were no casualties or material damage, the source added. The episode is the first reported attack on Syria since the US- Israeli war on Iran began in late February. Read more: IRGC says it hit US special operations unit in Syria as bombs fall on Iran for sixth night A missile is launched from an undisclosed location towards US targets in Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain, according to video published by IRGC on 16 July 2026 (Sepahnews.com/AFP)

July 29, 2026

Satellite images show how Russia is winning the race for the Arctic as the US plays catch - up

July 29, 2026

Ukraine divisive reshuffle and defense shake - up : what we know

July 29, 2026

Kommentar zum Machtkampf in der Ukraine : Selenskyjs Entfremdung

July 29, 2026

US launches attack on Iran bridges as strikes continue for 6th straight night

July 29, 2026

Putins Bomberbasis brennt – Ukraine ändert offenbar ihre Taktik

July 29, 2026

« Dấu hiệu dễ tổn thương ». Hoa Kỳ bắt đầu chiến dịch mới chống Iran

July 29, 2026

Συνεχίζονται οι διαδηλώσεις διαμαρτυρίας στην Ουκρανία μετά την αποπομπή ...

July 29, 2026