Global football is moving toward a new phase of organisational debate, as the proposal to expand the 2030 World Cup to 64 teams has resurfaced in discussions within the FIFA, a development that reflects a broadening scope of thinking about the future of the world’s most-watched tournament.

According to AS newspaper, the idea, which originated as a proposal from the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL), is no longer a fleeting suggestion, but has transformed into a file under discussion within some decision-making circles at FIFA, amidst growing support from parties who believe the World Cup should move toward a more inclusive and expansive model.

This shift comes at a sensitive time, as the first expanded 48-team edition of the World Cup in 2026 has not yet begun, making the discussion about the new expansion a proactive step that reflects a remarkable acceleration in redrawing the shape of the tournament.

Greater inclusivity and a new philosophy driven by FIFA

The newspaper confirms in its report that this trend resonates within the general vision of the International Federation of Association Football, led by its president, Gianni Infantino, who constantly puts forward the idea that the World Cup is not exclusive to traditional powers, but a global platform that should provide an opportunity for the largest possible number of nations.

This philosophy is based on the gradual shift in the landscape of rising national teams, with teams such as Jordan, Uzbekistan, Cape Verde, and Curaçao getting closer to participating in the 2026 World Cup, which is read within FIFA as evidence of the expanding global competition base.

In this context, the idea of 64 teams seems like a natural extension of the desire to transform the tournament into a more “open” space, even if this comes at the expense of some traditional balances in the quality of competition.

World Cup 2030 — the centennial edition

The 2030 edition carries an exceptional character as it celebrates 100 years since the start of the first World Cup in history. Hosting duties are shared by Spain, Morocco, and Portugal, alongside symbolic matches in Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay, in a geographically and organizationally unprecedented format.

However, this great ambition collides with clear practical challenges, most notably infrastructure and the pressure of the international calendar, in addition to renewed controversy within Spain regarding the readiness of some host cities.

Although the official structure of the tournament is still based on 48 teams, the report indicates that FIFA has not yet entered the final decision-making phase regarding organizational details, leaving the door open for adjustments that could completely reconfigure the shape of the tournament.

The ‘AS’ newspaper believes that what was viewed years ago as an exaggerated or impractical idea is now part of a realistic discussion within decision-making offices, a clear indication that the next World Cup may not only be a celebration of the centenary but a turning point in the history of the tournament itself.

Featured image via Ton Molina/Getty Images

By Alaa Shamali

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Labour has announced some cost of living policies that treat voters as children. Rather than any significant economic strategy for real change, the ruling party is offering voters temporary gimmicks like no import tariffs on chocolate and biscuits for the summer.

Instead, Labour could deliver cost price essentials such as water, energy and telecomms to significantly reduce costs for every person and business.

Labour — The gimmicks

It’s almost laughable. This is the Groupon administration. As well as cutting costs for supermarkets on trivial items, the ruling party is cutting VAT on summer days out for families to 5% from 20%.

The temporary tax cut is from 25 June to 1 September.

Labour says it only ‘expects’ companies running supermarkets not to simply keep the reduced tariff gains. The same seems to be true of the reduced VAT gains on theme parks, zoos and other days out. Companies could just pocket the cost decrease and keep prices the same.

The policies show an affront to democracy

The way Labour is conducting the policies show a further entrenchment of corporatism. The government is proposing policies to supermarkets that the corporations can choose whether or not to accept. Indeed, corporations rejected a proposal on price controls on food staples.

That’s opposed to Labour actually regulating the economy for the public good. That said, it would be easier to do so if the ruling party was working off a democratically-backed manifesto instead of just doing whatever once in government.

“Shield workers”

The secretary general of the TUC, Paul Nowak, told the Guardian Labour needs to be “bolder” than its summer policies:

Any practical steps to help families with the cost of living crisis are a good thing, but we’ve barely begun to experience the economic fallout of the Iran war – and the threat to living standards is going to grow as the war drags on. The government will need to be bolder to shield workers and households from Trump’s illegal war.

Indeed, the huge profits made by corporate middlemen and utilities shows the ‘cost of living crisis’ is manufactured. Labour could do more.

Featured image via Stefan Rousseau-Pool/Getty Images

By James Wright

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Bolivia is in full-scale political crisis mode over one week into an indefinite general strike. Workers are organising against the neoliberal US-aligned administration led by President Rodrigo Paz.

A massive crowd assembled in La Paz’s working class twin city, El Alto, to demand Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz resign

Indigenous-led demonstrations come as the Bolivian regime was caught preparing to launch a US-backed operation to kidnap Evo Morales with 2,000+ troops & cops pic.twitter.com/DWwwaLGGf8

— Wyatt Reed (@wyattreed13) May 17, 2026

The South American state is fraught with popular mobilisations, fuel and inflationary crises, widespread discontent and blatantly escalating US interference.

Many demonstrators direct their anger against the relatively new Paz-led government. Unions are leading strategic road blockades and walkouts to pressure Paz’s neoliberal regime to not betray the promises which brought him to power.

Security forces have clashed with strikers and protestors in multiple cities, allegedly under government direction to shoot even live ammunition at protestors.

Caravans numbering thousands of marchers are converging on administrative capital La Paz. Unions representing peasant and proletarian workers are leading the charge.

Unions in significant industrial regions, Potosí and Santa Cruz, have now joined. These represent dominant mining and agro-industry regions respectively.

Unionised medical worker Almin Arminda Iglesias explained the situation directly to the Canary:

…the situation here in Bolivia is serious. The workers’ representatives submitted their list of demands as they do every year, but this government turned a deaf ear to our requests, especially the wage increase — in other words, it doesn’t want to raise our salaries.

The cost of the family food basket has gone up, this government is favoring big businessmen by lowering their taxes and allowing free export of certain foods, leaving the population without adequate supply. It has already been several days of strikes and mobilizations.

On top of that, the persecution of workers’ leaders has begun.

Bajan de lo mas profundo de Bolivia los campesinos, indígenas, a sumarse al clamor popular por una Bolivia soberana y rechazar los paquetazos impuestos por el BM, FMI, bajo la anuencia de Rodrigo Paz y sus marionetas serviles en complicidad con el gran capital extranjero. pic.twitter.com/jJ5oc74oFp

— El Fantasma (@AlTopeyPunto891) May 21, 2026

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Bolivia — On the edge of revolution?

Bolivia’s staunchly militant indigenous, peasant and industrial working classes have sustained peaceful but effective road blockades in the countryside. Demonstrators in the cities have clashed with police forces.

One militant wing, the ponchos rojos (Red Ponchos), was recorded practicing combat-style formations and promising to take up arms against their right-wing government if necessary. They vow to defend their class, their 36 national communities and their natural world by any means necessary.

This is what Bolivia’s general strike looks like in rural areas. All the villages occupy the stretch of highway nearest to them, cutting off all trade and travel between cities.

This is in Tiraque Province, Cochabamba. pic.twitter.com/QNLL3ZYPU6

— Ollie Vargas (@Ollie_Vargas_) May 18, 2026

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Os “Ponchos Rojos” estão liderando ENORMES rebeliões populares contra o governo de extrema direita de Rodrigo Paz na Bolívia

Vídeos mostram a polícia RECUANDO diante de manifestantes armados com chicotes, paus e pedras em El Alto, enquanto bloqueios e greves se espalham… pic.twitter.com/gRTfUyObUS

— O Papo (@O_Papo_) May 17, 2026

The Paz government was elected in 2025 on a promise of what was called “centre-right” reform by the global corporate media. Paz campaigned on a platform of “capitalism for all” and quickly bowed to the US.

One of Paz’s immediate moves in office was to cut fuel subsidies, which were a lifeline for many in the low-income country but which also drained the state’s coffers. Bolivia became dependent on imports following the commodity boom and then sold these imported petro-fuels at a discount.

Speaking directly to the Canary, unionised indigenous Bolivian food seller Vilma Paredes said:

The people endure, the people have memory, they neither forget nor forgive. A people that removed two presidents in this century — do you think they won’t be able to do it now? More and more lies are being exposed, coming to light.

If the president doesn’t come clean with the indigenous peoples and ask for forgiveness, there’s no going back. The government is sinking deeper and deeper…

La policía es corrida a LATIGAZOS por los ponchos rojos de Bolivia.
La revolución obrera y campesina está triunfando.
El régimen de Rodrigo Paz está en sus últimas horas. pic.twitter.com/AXCEwXPPuG

— The Chad Grabois gordo geopolítica (@ChadGrabois) May 17, 2026

#Bolivia: Members of the indigenous “Ponchos Rojos” movement have threatened an armed uprising against President Rodrigo Paz amid Bolivia’s worsening economic and fuel crisis and the ongoing nationwide unrest.

The group, historically linked to Aymara mobilizations and allied… pic.twitter.com/RwTgEuwUCL

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— POPULAR FRONT (@PopularFront_) May 19, 2026

Not without costs

The popular uprising underway in Bolivia is not without costs. ‘Struggle’ bears its name for a reason.

Unionised psychiatrist Roger Peña told the Canary that, although many understand the Paz administration appears to be set on directing wealth upwards, there is genuine need for some reform around fuel. But the illegal US-Zionist war on Iran has exacerbated fuel crises further, and the people are reacting, Peña said.

Some people understand that Evo Morales and the popular movement are trying to carry out a coup, according to Peña, or see it as sedition by the COB. (I contend that the name of a ‘coup’ driven from below, rather than imposed from above, is rightly called a revolution.) Others support the COB but with great difficulty:

There are people who, if they do not work a day, they cannot eat. … Sadly, it’s the poorest.

Certainly, there are people who are against these mobilisations. …

But it’s the government who are presenting charges for sedition.

Miles de mineros y obreros bolivianos se unieron contra el régimen de Rodrigo Paz, títere de EEUU, que quiere entregar los recursos y privatizar el pais para entregárselo al imperio.

El imperialismo quiere que Bolivia sea otra Argentina, el pueblo mandó a parar y está luchando… pic.twitter.com/ChMd9vfQXU

— Daniel Mayakovski (@DaniMayakovski) May 22, 2026

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Yet clearly the mobilisations have drawn out many thousands, if not millions, across the country. Two contacts in Bolivia’s union movement, more and less sympathetic, confirmed to the Canary that it’s led overwhelmingly by indigenous and peasant workers. As white power reasserts itself over the historic progress made by indigenous Americans nationally and regionally, Morales wrote on X:

[Paz,] Being a foreigner, he surely hates Bolivians. He criminalizes, persecutes, and represses indigenous people. He thinks and acts like an imperialist, neoliberal, and neocolonialist.

Separately, Morales wrote of US hypocrisy on X:

The US does not defend democracy nor respect International Law. It finances right-wing coups d’état. It invades countries and steals their natural resources. It defends submissive and sellout governments. The US supported the 2019 coup d’état of the Gringo against the Indian to seize our lithium.

The Bank of Bolivia

Now Bolivians charge, against Paz, that his government seemingly intends to sabotage any potential incoming popular government. Footage emerged of armoured private bank vehicles “vacating” the Bank of Bolivia, with accusations that they seek to empty it like was done to Venezuela under the US-backed anti-democratic Juan Guaidó coup in 2019. The Bank of England holds Venezuelan gold for ransom years later.

In one heart-breaking video shared online, an older man tells viewers that his own son, a policeman, is “there to repress me.” It underscores the structures and divisions that can tear apart a society. See it below:

Bolivian worker on strike: My own son is standing over there to repress me. pic.twitter.com/a00OyIlAFq

— Ollie Vargas (@Ollie_Vargas_) May 20, 2026

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There appears to be no end in sight for many until the resignation of Rodrigo Paz. Many doubtless recognise that, whatever the immediate costs of popular revolt, the cost of subservience to US empire are greater.

Day 9 of the general strike in Bolivia. People are composing protest songs while doing night shift at the barricades pic.twitter.com/FnY5OZYTEa

— Ollie Vargas (@Ollie_Vargas_) May 22, 2026

Featured image taken from X via the Canary

By Cameron Baillie

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Bolivia — Government targeting leftist leaders

Strikes and police crackdowns across Bolivia have led to at least 90, perhaps over 120, arrests on leftists.

The Bolivian justice department and policing Commander General have issued arrest warrants for the ongoing general strike‘s leadership. This is aimed explicitly at the Bolivian Workers’ Central (COB)-led strikes.

COB strike leaders — David Quispe Machaca, Juan Hector Huacani Guachalla, Justino Apaza Callisaya, Winston Jemio Quispe Gutierrez and Nilton Condori Alanoc — are being charged with:

• “Terrorism;”
• “Financing terrorism;”
• “Instigation of delinquency;”
• “Delinquent association;”
• “Activities against the security of transport routes;” and
• “Activities against the security of public services.”

The government has presented no clear evidence for “terroristic” activities or the financing of them. Meanwhile, “delinquency” can be stretched to cover basically anything. As regards transport routes and public services, the Bolivian people frequently disrupt roads for political action (I experienced these firsthand in July 2025, with zero arrests). Attempts to criminalise this activity now indicate fragility in Paz’s regime.

These targeted attacks come as the indigenous movement, still led from formal political exile by Evo Morales, made the Paz administration an ultimatum of 90 days. They demand a new general election after Paz secured only two governorships out of nine in April’s regional elections — despite his election less than a year ago.

Bolivia’s government has ordered the arrest of all the main leaders of the indigenous movements and mineworkers unions.

They’re being charged for Terrorism for having organised the general strike against hunger. Strike continues regardless, now in day 7. pic.twitter.com/5ISk3KPb68

— Ollie Vargas (@Ollie_Vargas_) May 19, 2026

US imperial involvement

Ex-president of Bolivia and longstanding indigenous socialist leader Evo Morales claimed on 15 May that the US military sought to “detain or kill” him in a military operation. Regional independent journalist Ollie Vargas confirmed the operation with leaked documents detailing over 2,300 troops and DEA (US) involvement. (See the Canary‘s full explainer.)

US Deputy Secretary of State Chris Landau pinned the popular uprising on the “support of organized crime and drug traffickers,” without any supporting evidence. It’s a common tactic of US imperialists to equate coca farmers with narcotics producers, where coca has an ancient connection to indigenous Andean peoples.

Let there be no mistake: those who lost overwhelmingly at the ballot box in Bolivia last year are trying to overthrow President @Rodrigo_PazP by organizing RIOTS and BLOCKADES with the support of organized crime and drug traffickers. I spoke with my friend President Paz this…

— Christopher Landau (@DeputySecState) May 19, 2026

Now US hemispheric hawk, Landau’s boss, Marco Rubio himself has joined in the fray. Absurdly, Marco ‘Narco’ Rubio — whose brother-in-law is a convicted cocaine trafficker — declared on X that the US:

will not allow criminals and drug traffickers to overthrow democratically elected leaders in our hemisphere.

This comes after Trump’s presidential pardons of high-profile convicted drug traffickers, like Honduran ex-president Juan Orlando Hernández. This suggests clear bias in how the US selectively deploys narcotics laws. Deepening US collaboration with the Ecuadorian presidential Noboa oligarch family, credibly accused of drug trafficking, demonstrate how selectively the US weaponises these sentiments.

The US has a long and dark history of doing exactly that, from Panama to Colombia to, most recently, Honduras. The latest is with the direct aid of Benjamin Netanyahu (see: ‘Hondurasgate‘). In every instance the US has happily backed or overlooked drug lords and despots wherever they were an alternative to leftists.

Regional solidarity and hostility

Colombian socialist President Gustavo Petro repeatedly voiced support for the Bolivian workers’ struggles. He denounced weaponised US equation of indigenous coca farming with narcotics production. Petro adds:

An attack on a legitimate former president and indigenous leader like Evo Morales will only fill all of Latin America with blood.

As the flag of the early US proclaims, it is by respecting diversity and dialogue that democracy and liberty will grow in the Americas.

Evo Morales thanked Petro for his messages of solidarity, alongside Honduran socialist ex-president Manuel Zelaya. The latter also voiced support for the Bolivian workers’ struggles.

National governments across the Americas are making clear their entire submission to the imperial control of the US Pentagon complex. They’ve all banded themselves neatly together under the (seemingly Marvel-inspired) name ‘Shield of the Americas‘.

Astonishingly, the US-led ‘Shield’ — note which countries it includes — denounced actions they see as:

subverting the constitutional order and destabilizing the democratically elected government of Bolivia.

…Because the US would never do that to a sovereign Latin American government, right? (See: Cuba, Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela today; Chile, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, etc. yesterday.)

People rightly mocked Paz‘s Bolivian Foreign Ministry for merely translating and sharing US government statements without any amendments. It’s hard to crystallise subservience to empire much clearer.

There could be no greater confirmation that Paz’s government is captured. Paz, and so Bolivia’s unmatched access to lithium reserves, are entirely bent to US and foreign capitalist interests.

Featured image taken from X via the Canary

By Cameron Baillie

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Greater Manchester mayor and Makerfield by-election hopeful Andy Burnham has dumped his past defence of Trans people to protect his bid for Westminster, it seems. Journalist Alex Wickham has revealed that Burnham now backs the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) restrictions on single-sex spaces. This u-turn appears to be nothing but a transparent bid for Reform votes, something we could have predicted coming a mile off.

NEW: Another Andy Burnham u-turn appeared designed at dropping his past positions to win Reform votes

He says he supports the EHRC guidance on single sex spaces and the Supreme Court ruling

Previously he said trans women should be able to use female toilets

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— Alex Wickham (@alexwickham) May 22, 2026

A political shapeshifter

This policy shift directly contradicts Burnham’s previous stance and public record. He had previously slammed single-sex restrictions on bathrooms, claiming only a minority of people object to Trans women using female toilets.

However, the EHRC has now laid its 300-page statutory, and very confusing legislation before parliament on Thursday 21 May 2026. The new rules allow providers of services to exclude Trans people from single-sex spaces like hospital wards and bathrooms. And of course, Burnham has bent to government pressure and has toed the line. And not least of all because his bid for Westminster could be scuppered by Reform UK.

This updated code creates a total mess of legalese that simply ignores everyday, lived experiences. As a relatively masculine cis woman, this new code scares me. The thought that I could be stopped going to the toilet by some dude because I have a partially shaved head and a deeper voice is unsettling as hell. And where does this end? Are we going to have genital inspectors on the door, offering you a polo and a spritz of perfume if your body conforms enough to get in? And if this is a scary thought for me, how the hell are our Trans brothers and sisters feeling right now? And what about Intersex people? Urgh, this reeks of misogyny. Any woman who sees this legislation as a positive has no idea the power they have just given to a male dominated society.

Trans rights lead Jess O’Thompson warns it treats trans people as a third sex by forcing them to use separate spaces, which violates human rights law. O’Thompson stated:

It still treats Trans people as a third sex, suggesting they should be made to use separate spaces – entirely ignoring the harm this causes, and human rights law. We will keep fighting this discriminatory approach.

Prioritising legal definitions over reality means the EHRC creates an even more hostile environment for people who just want to live their lives. We need to just learn to leave people alone.

Reform has Burnham running scared, it seems

This ridiculous u-turn comes as Burnham is campaigning as Labour candidate for the Makerfield by-election. The safe-seat was specifically resigned by Josh Simons to give Burnham a clear path to return to Westminster.

But then again, Burnham may have a reason to panic, as Reform candidate Robert Kenyon may actually pose a threat. Burnham needs to win back a fifth of the voters who have drifted to Reform to secure the seat. And what better way to do that than to throw Trans people under the bus?

Look he’s desperate to win the by-election and one day emerge as PM. Principles and previous policy opinions are completely dispensable- 4 U turns this week already. Consistent with how he was when last MP. He will let down his soft left supporters. https://t.co/bFFWGueoeg

— Gwynoro Jones (@Gwynoro) May 22, 2026

Additionally to this, he has pivoted on a number of policies to win those votes back. He used to say he wanted the UK to rejoin the EU in his lifetime. Binned that one on Thursday, claiming it wasn’t a priority. Actually more likely because Makerfield constituents voted overwhelmingly to leave. His previous criticisms of Westminster’s fiscal rules on strict borrowing limits? Binned.

Burnham has proven he’s willing to throw marginalised people under the bus for a sniff of a seat in Westminster. The question is, will the people of Makerfield see through it? Or are they going to be happy to elect a man who shapes his principles around nothing but gaining more power?

Time will tell.

Featured image via Facebook

By Antifabot

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Tory-Reform turncoat, MP Suella Braverman, is angry that Brits are leaving Britain. Falling immigration has not yet filled the void that exists in place of her soul.

“The brightest and the best are leaving the UK,” Suella Braverman wrote in response to a Telegraph report featuring immigration stats from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). She noted that the position was untenable. The Telegraph reported that in 2025, 75,000 more Britons aged 16–34 left the UK — the highest number on record since the ONS changed its methodology in 2021.

The brightest and the best are leaving the UK.

This can’t go on. https://t.co/Z5JKxQtK2Z

— Suella Braverman (@SuellaBraverman) May 21, 2026

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The Telegraph’s article — headlined ‘Young Britons turn their backs on Starmer’s high-tax UK’ — implies this was due to Starmer’s high-taxation policies. However, data published by the ONS suggests work and study patterns are likely drivers. Suella Braverman doesn’t seem to agree.

Sharp fall in net migration

Overall, the ONS report found that net migration to the UK fell to an estimated 171,000 in the year ending December 2025. That’s nearly half the revised estimate of 331,000 for the year ending December 2024.

The ONS also cited a 47% drop in non-EU nationals arriving for work-related reasons. This followed government changes restricting skilled worker visa and stopping most foreign students from bringing dependants, as well as closing the Health and Care route for overseas care workers. Critics have argued that these policies were strongly influenced and pedalled during Suella Braverman’s tenure as home secretary.

Even the Telegraph concedes that the fall in net migration stems from Tory policies introduced during her time in office. This included restrictions on workers and students ability to bring dependants, as well as salary increases to and raising the salary threshold for foreign workers.

The former (Tory) home secretary defected to Reform just earlier this year. Since then, Suella Braverman has blamed the Tories for ‘out-of-control immigration‘ and high taxes. But isn’t something missing here — didn’t she loyally serve in the very government she’s now publicly bashing. It’s safe to say that Suella Braverman really is politically homeless.

The real problems of inequality, soaring corporate profits, complicity in genocide are the ones Reform conveniently sidesteps, just like the ‘uniparty’ system they claim to oppose.

Immigration was never the real issue, was it, Suella?

Featured image via the Canary

By The Canary

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The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) and War on Want have issued letters to 15 Premier League clubs. They’re raising concerns about the clubs’ complicity in Israeli atrocities via their ties to companies linked to Israel’s genocide in Gaza and apartheid across the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

These findings come from War on Want’s latest report: Red Card: English Premier League Sportswashing of Israel’s Atrocities against the Palestinians. ICJP has also supported the report.

The report details the connections of at least 15 Premier League club sponsors to Israel’s devastating military assault and blockade on Gaza, construction of illegal settlements, and wider system of apartheid.

The companies identified include:

• AXA.
• BP.
• Canon.
• Carlsberg.
• Cisco.
• Coca-Cola.
• Eurobank.
• Evelyn Partners.
• Expedia/Hotels.com.
• Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
• HSBC.
• Standard Chartered.
• Oracle.
• Sony.

The report names nine clubs with complicit sponsors:

• Arsenal.
• Chelsea.
• Crystal Palace.
• Everton.
• Fulham.
• Liverpool.
• Manchester City.
• Manchester United.
• Tottenham Hotspur.
• Two others, Brighton and Burnley, have sponsors at risk of complicity.

Premier League itself is complicit

Alarmingly, every single one of the 20 Premier League clubs has indirect sponsorship from Barclays Bank. Barclays is the main sponsor of the Premier League despite decades-long links to systematic racial discrimination. That includes apartheid South Africa and Israel’s apartheid against Palestinians. The sponsorship deal with Barclays makes a mockery of the Premier League’s campaign to ‘kick racism out of football’.

War on Want and ICJP wrote to the clubs in March, as well as to the English Football Association (FA) and the English Premier League (EPL) itself, to inform them of the report’s main findings and the risk of complicity in the atrocities themselves faced by clubs if they do not cease the business relationships as soon as possible.

Israel’s attacks on Palestinian football

Red Card reveals how Israel’s genocide, illegal occupation and apartheid has hit Palestine’s football ecosystem hard. Since October 2023:

• Israel has destroyed or damaged 265 sports facilities.
• Israel has killed at least 565 members of the Palestinian Football Association, including the “Palestinian Pelé” Sulaiman al-Obaid.
• Domestic football leagues in Gaza and the West Bank have collapsed.
• Israel has turned stadiums into detention sites.
• Israel has blocked the import of astroturf for Palestinian teams to play on.

Israel’s attacks on Palestinian football are a microcosm of its wider genocide. Since 2023, at least 72,000 Palestinians have been killed and 172,000 injured in Gaza. 92% of homes in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged. And 93% of schools have been destroyed or severely damaged.

War on Want’s report is calling for:

• The Premier League to introduce an immediate ban on sponsorship from companies linked to genocide, apartheid and illegal occupation.
• Clubs to review and terminate sponsorship agreements identified in the report.
• The UK Government to uphold international law and ensure that UK-based companies are not contributing to illegal occupation, apartheid and genocide.

Órlaith Roe, ICJP’s public affairs and communications officer, said:

Premier League football prides itself on standing against racism and discrimination, but as with so many other areas, Palestinians are the exception, with Israel uniquely being granted impunity for its human rights abuses against Palestinian people. The failure to act is a glaring double standard, standing in sharp contrast to the response taken against other states, including Russia.

The rhetoric of equality and inclusion rings hollow while Palestinian footballers and fans face oppression, and Israel and the Israel Football Association are allowed to continue competing as though nothing has happened. Football’s governing bodies can no longer avoid meaningful action – the case for showing Israel a red card is now overwhelming.

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Neil Sammonds, War on Want’s senior campaigner on Palestine, said:

These clubs speak proudly about equality, inclusion and community. Yet behind the branding, some are helping sanitise corporations connected to some of the gravest crimes and humanitarian catastrophes of our time.

Palestinian footballers are being killed. Stadiums are turned into detention camps. Child players are buried beneath rubble. The Premier League has shown before that it can act when sponsorship becomes morally toxic. The question is why Palestinian lives appear to count for less.

Featured image via Alex Pantling / Getty Images

By The Canary

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Former Al Qaeda member and US-backed Syrian president Ahmed Al-Sharaa will be a guest at the influential G7 forum. Al-Sharaa’s presence is about Syria’s reintegration into the global capitalist economy. Syria’s use by Western powers as a “potential strategic hub for supply chains” will also be discussed given the Strait of Hormuz is blocked.

The G7 is a multinational economic and political forum made up of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US. The EU is a non-enumerated member.

It meets annually:

to coordinate policy on global economic, security, and other critical issues, acting as a platform for shaping international responses to challenges like climate change, economic crises, and security threats.

Modern Diplomacy reported on 21 May:

Syria will participate in the upcoming G7 Summit in France as a guest nation, marking its first presence at the forum since its creation in 1975.

The country will be represented by President Ahmed al Sharaa, following an invitation linked to broader discussions on global supply chain stability and post-conflict economic rebuilding.

Economist Joseph Daher told New Arab:

The meeting is part of a continuous process to legitimise this government and reintegrate it regionally and internationally, as evidenced in the last few weeks, for example, by the issuance of visa cards and allowing international transactions.

Al-Sharaa replaced Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad in 2024. He was previously head of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a split from the Syrian wing of Al Qaeda.

Syria — Al Qaeda and the global economy

Al-Sharaa visited the White House in November 2025. It was a bizarre spectacle. The Canary wrote at the time:

for 25 years the US carried out a campaign of world-spanning violence. Entire countries were destroyed, with millions killed, injured and displaced in the process. Unknown and unnamed thousands were imprisoned and tortured. All in the name, as global audiences were told, of defeating Al Qaeda – a sinister network of death. Never mind that we created and turbocharged one of our own, on a far bigger scale, to attempt the task.

Adding:

Clearly, these narratives still hold a singular power. Al-Qaeda and 9/11 are still cited to justify officially sanctioned use of violence — from bombing Venezuela to repressing the American left in recent months.

But the undeniable fact is that yesterday a former Al-Qaeda leader — until very recently — was in the White House smiling.

Daher felt Al-Sharaa’s guest appearance was less about helping ordinary Syrian’s and more about serving a colonial agenda:

The Syrian people are clearly not on the agenda for these meetings; this is about consolidating a state that serves [foreign] interests.

New Arab reported:

An invitation to Sharaa to attend the 15-17 June summit in Évian-les-Bains, southeastern France, was hand-delivered to Syrian Finance Minister Yisr Barnieh, who attended the group’s financial talks earlier this week in Paris.

The outlet said that the country was seeking to attract economic investment to rebuild. The leadership saw the Hormuz crisis as a chance to do so:

Regional powers, particularly the Gulf Arab states, and international interests, notably Western states, are converging on Syria, all seeking stability and commercial opportunities, facilitated by a government willing to serve their needs.

And:

At the same time, the ruling authority headed by Ahmed al-Sharaa seeks to embed itself within Western hegemonic infrastructure, while hedging its bets by pursuing ties with Russia and other alternatives.

The Western powers have gone a step further than before. Under a former Al Qaeda leadership, Syria is being reintegrated into the global economy.

This is being done under the aegis of Trump’s failing war in Iran. The G7 nations seem to hope that after a decade and a half of brutal civil war, Syria can be a hub for some form of economic workaround, offsetting the impacts of the latest US-Israeli disaster in the region.

Featured image via Justin Tallis – WPA Pool/Getty Images

By Joe Glenton

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Programming note: We’ll be off this Monday but will be back in your inboxes on Tuesday.

DAYS THE BUDGET IS LATE: 52

ALBANY AUTOPSY ANGST: National Democrats entrusted their 2024 autopsy to a strategist entwined with another long-ago party calamity: the Obama-era implosion of the New York Senate.

Paul Rivera previously served as a key adviser to state Senate Democratic leader John Sampson, a Brooklyn lawmaker who led an infamously dysfunctional majority for part of 2009 and into 2010 — and was later convicted of federal fraud charges.

Rivera arrived in the Senate with a strong resume after working on gubernatorial and presidential campaigns, including Al Gore and John Kerry. Staffers and lawmakers alike found him to be an inscrutable, enigmatic aide who murmured advice in the background. It was the kind of shapeless profile many advisers hone in power centers across the globe, but seemed especially befitting a state Capitol known for its bewildering opacity.

“The man lurked in the shadows. No one knew where he came from,” former Democratic Senate press aide Travis Proulx said. “It was like a ship in the night working with him. Of everyone I’ve ever worked with he stands out as the man behind the curtain. No one knew how he got there.”

Rivera did not return five phone calls and text messages seeking comment on Thursday and Friday. Sampson also did not return messages seeking comment.

The strategist has little national profile, but his involvement in crafting the widely panned autopsy report was befuddling to Albany Democrats who recall with unease a deeply broken era of New York politics. They still shudder when thinking about their unhappy two-year state Senate majority during the Obama years.

Rivera’s Zelig-like reputation was fostered during that benighted era and even lawmakers struggled to figure out where his power flowed from in the building.

“You never know who he was really loyal to, on whose behalf he was acting,” said former Democratic state Sen. Diane Savino.

Rivera’s name does not appear on the Democratic National Committee’s 192-page report on the 2024 election, formally released Thursday after it was published online by CNN. The autopsy was widely criticized by party officials, ex-Harris campaign aides and former Biden staffers.

The report did not include any references to the party’s challenges over Israel and Gaza, while only making passing references to President Joe Biden’s decision to step aside — widely considered two crucial reasons for the party’s failure two years ago.

DNC Chair Ken Martin apologized for the document in a long statement. But that hasn’t stemmed widespread calls for him to resign the leadership post he’s held for less than 18 months.

Democratic alumni of the fractious state Senate Democratic conference in Albany were flabbergasted that the national party would hand such an important job — analyzing why droves of Americans backed President Donald Trump’s unlikely White House return — to a strategist associated with a disastrous era for Empire State Democrats.

“He sold himself as a guy who knew everything and that he was a master of politics,” Savino said of the former Senate aide’s Albany tenure. “He didn’t know what the fuck he was talking about.”

Read more from POLITICO’s Nick Reisman.

From the Capitol

MICAH’S SUPERNATURAL VOTE: Assemblymember and former teen magician Micah Lasher seemingly made a miraculous journey to New York City from Albany on Thursday.

And Lasher — who is running for the congressional seat held by retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler — is refusing to answer questions about how it happened.

The assemblymember apparently was able to cast his vote from Albany at around 4:50 p.m. and make it to Manhattan’s Upper West Side in time for a 7 p.m. candidate forum.

Anyone who’s ever driven the roughly 150 miles from Albany to New York City knows that timetable stretches the limits of reality — unless you’re driving well over the speed limit and get a lucky streak of zero traffic congestion.

Lasher’s campaign refused to say where he physically was at the time he voted, and then ignored multiple follow-up calls from Playbook.

The vote was on a budget bill that included a slate of measures designed to protect immigrants from the Trump administration’s aggressive enforcement tactics. Lasher has called for the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement on the campaign trail, and even traveled to Minnesota in January to join protests against the federal agency.

Earlier today, Lasher touted passage of the bill, saying “I am incredibly proud to have authored this legislation to protect the dignity and safety of all.”

Assembly rules state members need to be in the “bar of the House” in order to be considered present. The “bar” is defined as “the entire Assembly Chamber and lobbies contiguous thereto as designated by the Speaker.”

As our Playbook colleague Bill Mahoney reported last month, members have taken advantage of the policy by routinely being absent from the chambers during votes and debates. Instead, many clock in during the morning and then spend session elsewhere in the Capitol or the adjacent Legislative Office Building. Because they’re technically checked-in and considered present, the members are automatically counted as a “yes” vote on legislation — even if they’re holed up somewhere else in the Capitol complex.

But there’s no indication the “bar” of the House extends to the Catskill exit of the New York State Thruway — a reasonable, but still tight, starting point for someone hoping to make it all the way to West 97th St. in 130 minutes.

And if members do need to leave town early, they’re instructed to tell Assembly leadership so they don’t get mistakenly counted in the vote tally when they’re in another zip code.

Assemblymember Alex Bores, who is also running for the congressional seat — along with Kennedy scion Jack Schlossberg and former Republican Trump antagonist George Conway — made it to the forum late because he voted for the bill and also took time to explain his vote on the floor.

After Bores apologized for his tardiness at the forum, which was hosted by a group of tenant associations, he expressed befuddlement at how Lasher was seemingly able to beam across the Hudson Valley and also cast his vote.

“You got to tell me the route that gets me here in two hours. That’s remarkable,” Bores said, in a video reviewed by Playbook. “You voted on it?”

“I did,” Lasher said, giving a nod. — Jason Beeferman

BURSTING INTO TIERS: A package of changes to the Tier 6 pension plan have been finalized as state budget talks come to an end, two people familiar with the conversations said.

“Tier 6 is done,” said one of the people, who was granted anonymity to relay the closed-door negotiations.

The changes will allow teachers to retire at age 58 after 30 years of service. Employee contribution rates for many public workers will fall to 3 percent of their pay checks. The total cost stands at more than $550 million a year spread out between the state government, municipalities and school districts.

The provision is expected to be tucked inside the transportation and economic development budget bill.

The overhaul represents a major victory for labor, which has detested the less-generous pension tier since its 2012 inception.

Read more from POLITICO Pro’s Nick Reisman.

FROM CITY HALL

SIGNS OF LIFE: The zombie charter revision commission created by former Mayor Eric Adams will release a report next week listing proposed changes to the City Charter the body may pursue — even as state legislation seeks to kill the outfit altogether and ensure it stays dead.

The report, which was obtained by Playbook, is set to appear in the City Record Tuesday. In addition to the prospect of open primaries, it suggests more reforms to the city’s land use process, prohibiting elected officials from giving themselves pay raises and making it harder to change term limit laws. The report also muses about making permanent several mayoral offices relating to combating hate crimes and antisemitism and forcing City Hall to fund future charter revision commissions. That last one is key.

This particular commission was created on the last day of Adams’ tenure and is being spearheaded by his first deputy mayor, Randy Mastro.

The rogue body is advancing proposals that would make life difficult for Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Open primaries, for example, would empower more moderate candidates and complicate the mayor’s reelection prospects. The report also recommended putting to voters several executive orders related to combating antisemitism that were signed by Adams — also in the waning days of his term — and left to lapse by the current mayor. The expiration of the executive orders predictably sparked consternation with many Jewish residents.

The commission has been criticized as an abuse of the process by city and state government ethics organizations — even by those who support the concept of open primaries. And while Mamdani has starved the commission of funds, Albany went a step further by passing legislation Thursday that effectively dissolves the body.

The mayor has been playing coy about what he will do (despite being the person who asked for the state provision in the first place). He said at a press conference Thursday he is still considering his options.

The commission remains undeterred, however. It plans to sue over the state legislation while plowing ahead with its work. A public hearing remains on the schedule for next week.

Kayla Mamelak Altus, a commission member, said state lawmakers are attempting to silence the will of the people, who would otherwise be able to help shape the commission’s eventual ballot questions.

“That should send chills down the spines of all New Yorkers who care about having a voice in our local democracy,” she said in a statement. “This attempt to retroactively dismantle a legally constituted Charter Revision Commission in the middle of its work flies in the face of municipal home rule.” — Joe Anuta

FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL

BREWING SUPPORT: City Council member and Upper West Side fixture Gale Brewer has endorsed Stephanie Ruskay in the race for an open state Assembly seat covering the vote-rich enclave.

“We need leaders who are smart, compassionate, and deeply rooted in the communities they serve,” Brewer said in a statement shared exclusively with Playbook. “That’s why I’m proud to support Stephanie Ruskay for State Assembly.”

Ruskay, who would be the first female rabbi elected to the state Legislature, is running for the seat being vacated by Assemblymember Micah Lasher, who himself is vying for an open congressional seat.

In addition to Brewer, who has represented the area over two stints in the Council, Ruskay is being backed by a number of sitting officials including City Comptroller Mark Levine, Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal and City Council member Shaun Abreu.

She’s locked in a battle with Eli Northrup, a public defender who has received endorsements from local Democratic clubs and organizations farther to the left in a proxy war between different wings of the Democratic Party. — Joe Anuta

IN OTHER NEWS

— PRESSURE FROM WITHIN: Hundreds of immigrants detained at a Newark immigration detention center went on a hunger and labor strike, demanding the facility’s closure, their release and visits from elected officials. (Gothamist)

— PLAY NICE!: Kathy Wylde, former head of the Partnership for New York City and a key business broker, is again playing go-between for Mamdani and corporate leaders. (New York Post)

— FARE FIGHT: World Cup fans are opting for $20 buses over $98 train rides to MetLife Stadium, amid backlash over steep transit prices. (The New York Times)

Missed this morning’s New York Playbook? We forgive you. Read it here.

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Kylie Minogue has spoken for the first time about undergoing IVF treatment shortly after being diagnosed with cancer in her mid-30s.

The Grammy winner was 36 years old when she was first told she had breast cancer in 2005, and in her new self-titled Netflix documentary, she shared that having children had already been on her mind around this period of her life.

She began: “There’s so much more to cancer than ‘you had it, you got through it and you’re fine – or fine for now’.

“I was 36 when I got my diagnosis, so already it’s… you need to be thinking about children.”

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Kylie continued: “I did try. I even postponed my chemotherapy to try, which was quite scary at the time because you just want [the cancer] out. Gone. [I felt like,] I want to feel safe, I don’t want this.

“I did try a few times with IVF. Always, it was with such a thread of hope. But I couldn’t not try. If it had happened, it would have been just shy of a miracle. But it didn’t work out that way.”

The Confide In Me singer admitted: “One can’t help but wonder what it would have been like. And I’m so close to my family. But it wasn’t my path.”

At this moment in the documentary, she was seen reading out the lyrics to her song Flower, written for her 2008 album X and eventually included on her compilation album The Abbey Road Sessions, which she said was inspired by the child “that might have been”.

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Later in the documentary, Kylie shared that she’d privately undergone cancer treatment for a second time after being diagnosed in early 2021.

“I was able to keep that to myself,” she said. “Not like the first time.”

“Thankfully, I got through it. Again,” she added. “And all is well.”

Kylie then recalled: “I just couldn’t [go public with the diagnosis] at the time. Because I was just a shell of a person. I didn’t want to leave the house again at one point.”

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All three episodes of Kylie are now streaming on Netflix.

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