England and other UEFA nations are prepared to boycott the next World Cup should FIFA go ahead with their plans to sell shares of their flagship tournament. 

Europe’s governing football body has been staunchly opposed to plans shared this week by FIFA president Gianni Infantino. 

FIFA want to create a new company that would generate £3.1billion in private investment for FIFA tournaments, with Joshua Kushner – brother of Jared, Donald Trump’s son-in-law – leading the group of potential investors. 

In the wake of this summer’s World Cup, Infantino now plans to force FIFA’s associations to decide on the proposal by September 19. 

But after a crisis meeting held on Thursday, England’s Football Associations and fellow UEFA members confirmed that they will boycott FIFA’s tournaments, including next summer’s Women’s World Cup, should the proposal receive the green light. 

UEFA’s 55 member nations met virtually and their decision could all but kill FIFA’s plans due to the sway they hold in international football. 

Gianni Infantino has been widely criticised for his decision to put the World Cup ‘up for sale’

One international football insider told Daily Mail Sport: ‘This is at the nuclear button end of the spectrum, which is impressive’. 

Issuing a statement in the wake of the decision, UEFA underscored that the ‘World Cup is not for sale’ and called the secrecy around the plans ‘irresponsible and indefensible’. 

‘UEFA and its national associations will not participate in FIFA competitions,’ the statement began. ‘UEFA and its 55 member associations stand as one. We unanimously and unequivocally reject FIFA’s proposal to transfer ownership interests in the World Cup and other FIFA competitions to private investors.

‘The World Cup cannot be treated as an investment product. It is one of football’s greatest sporting legacies. It has been built over generations by players, national teams and supporters across every continent. No part of it should ever be surrendered to private investors. The World Cup is not for sale.

‘It is both irresponsible and indefensible that a proposal of such significance for football was conceived in secret and brought to the brink of approval without any meaningful consultation with those entrusted with stewarding the game. This is not merely a profound failure of leadership, but an abdication of FIFA’s duty as the custodian of world football.

‘National associations around the world are now presented with an ultimatum: accept the irreversible capture of football’s greatest competitions or bear the consequences. This is not a “democratic decision”, but governance by intimidation – an act of coercion unworthy of an institution entrusted with the stewardship of the global game.

‘But our opposition goes far beyond process.

‘The moment external investors acquire ownership interests in FIFA competitions, football changes forever. Commercial return becomes a permanent obligation. Investor expectations become a daily pressure. From that moment onwards, every decision on the international calendar, every decision on competition formats and every decision shaping the future of football is no longer driven by what best serves the game, but by what best serves shareholders.

‘This model has no place in world football. Football’s future cannot be dictated by the expectations of those whose first duty is to maximise financial return. Nor can the interests of national associations, leagues, clubs, players and supporters become subordinate to investor returns. Football cannot mortgage its future for financial gain.

Football Association chief executive Mark Bullingham came under pressure to take action

‘Europe’s position is clear. We will never lend this model our legitimacy. No one has the moral authority to sell what they merely hold in trust for the next generation.

‘As a result of today’s discussion, no UEFA national teams will participate in any FIFA competition for so long as these proposals remain alive, unless this proposal has been abandoned in its entirety and binding assurances have been given that FIFA will never again open its governance or competitions to private ownership.

‘Nobody should be in any doubt: UEFA and its national associations will oppose these plans with absolute determination.

‘There are moments when institutions are judged not by what they are prepared to accept, but by what they refuse to compromise. This is one of those moments.

‘Some things are simply too important to sell. The FIFA World Cup belongs to football. It always will. And so long as Europe has a voice, it will never be for sale.’

On Wednesday, UEFA had accused FIFA of trying to bribe associations into agreeing with the proposals, which could see them receive up to an additional £15m in revenue. 

In another blow to the plan, the president of the Asian Federation Sheikh Salman wrote of his ‘great concern and disappointment’ in FIFA’s decision to prepare the plans without consultation. 

CONCACAF, which represents 41 countries in North and Central America and the Caribbean, is another federation which has also expressed early skepticism in the wake of the bombshell plans.  

The northbound carriageway was shut at junction 31 near Ribbleton after a collision involving three cars and two vans shortly before midday on Thursday, July 30.

The incident, described by police as involving “minor injuries,” caused traffic to back up for several miles, extending as far south as junction 29 at Lostock Hall and also affecting the M61 at junction 9 at Clayton Brook.

A spokesperson for Lancashire Constabulary said: “At 11.52am today (Thursday, July 30) we were called to reports of a minor injury collision on the M6 northbound, at Junction 31, Samlesbury, involving three cars and two vans.

“Officers are on scene, and the motorway is currently closed northbound across all three lanes.

“If you witnessed this incident or have any footage, please call 101 quoting log 521 of July 30.”

The closure led to severe delays, with traffic monitoring service Inrix at one point reporting queuing traffic and delays of more than an hour between Charnock Richard Services and junction 31.

At 1.54pm, Inrix issued the following update: “Severe delays of 62 minutes and delays increasing on M6 Northbound between M6 (Charnock Richard Services) and J31 A59 Preston New Road (Samlesbury).”

National Highways advised drivers to expect delays of up to 45 minutes on the approach to the incident.

Long queues also formed on surrounding routes, including Preston New Road at Samlesbury, as traffic sought alternative routes around the closure.

By 1.57pm, police confirmed the road had reopened, though long queues and residual delays continued for some time after.

The final queues cleared by mid-afternoon and normal traffic flow was restored.

NEW YORK (AP) — A Senate committee on Thursday advanced Dr. Erica Schwartz’s nomination to be director of the nation’s top public health agency, setting aside concerns that she will not stand up to political meddling.

If confirmed by the full Senate, the 54-year-old would become the 22nd director of the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is charged with protecting Americans from preventable health threats. Her resume includes medical and law degrees, a stint as deputy surgeon general, and a leadership position at the U.S. Coast Guard.

Schwartz appeared to be on shaky ground after a hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee this month. The chairman, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and others questioned whether she would be willing to stand up to Republican President Donald Trump’s health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., if he ordered CDC to do something that was unsupported by science and good public health practice.

But when the committee met last week, Cassidy said he had spoken with Schwartz after that hearing and to others who knew her.

“I’m confident that she knows what she is doing and will stand against those who do not,” said Cassidy, whose support was necessary for the nomination to go forward.

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The committee’s near party-line vote Thursday moved Schwartz’s nomination ahead.

Among those who opposed her was Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent.

“The issue at hand is not complicated,” Sanders said last week. “Will we have people in the Trump administration who have the guts to stand up to people who are anti-science and into conspiracy theories?”

The CDC has faced more than a year of unrest

The CDC has been in turmoil since Trump returned to office last year.

Largely due to layoffs and resignations, the agency has lost 3,000-plus employees, more than one-quarter of its workforce. Morale has plummeted as a succession of mostly temporary leaders have come and gone. The front office has been staffed by political appointees with little or no training in medicine or public health.

When Schwartz was nominated in April, public health experts were cautiously optimistic, citing her background. They also noted she was the choice of Trump and not Kennedy, a leading voice in the anti-vaccine movement before he was tapped to oversee the CDC and other federal health agencies.

Kennedy had promised not to change the nation’s vaccination schedule but later attempted a substantial rewrite of vaccine recommendations for kids. Some of those efforts were put on hold this year by a federal judge.

Kennedy’s actions have rankled Cassidy, a physician who initially expressed doubts about Kennedy as Trump’s pick to be health secretary. Cassidy ultimately signed off on the nomination after Kennedy promised not to change the nation’s childhood vaccine recommendations.

Public health groups seek reassurance

At Schwartz’s hearing in July, Cassidy and some other senators asked her what she would do if Kennedy or other political appointees instructed the CDC to make changes that were not supported by science. Schwartz pledged to “never betray the science,” but she repeatedly declined to dissent from some of the actions Kennedy has taken.

The National Public Health Coalition, an organization of former and current CDC workers, was not reassured by her responses.

“The public needed to hear clear commitments about how she would protect CDC guidance from political pressure,” the group said in a statement. “Too often, her stated commitments were incomplete, vague, or missing.”

The group said senators should require specific written commitments from Schwartz on scientific independence, evidence-based vaccine policy, conflicts of interest and other issues.

At the hearing, Schwartz said she was unaware that CDC programs that worked to prevent smoking and promote vaccinations had been curtailed. She declined to commit to taking down a CDC website that suggests a link between childhood vaccines and autism. She said she had not seen it, though she agreed existing medical evidence has not found a link.

Last week, Cassidy said that “as a sign of good faith” officials at the Department of Health and Human Services had modified the page. But this week, it continued to argue that “vaccines do not cause autism” is not an evidence-based claim, despite numerous studies that have found no such link.

Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, interpreted Schwartz’s performance as someone trying to please different factions. He disagreed with how she answered several questions, but continued to support her nomination.

Schwartz is qualified, might be able to rebuild the CDC’s depleted command structure and could start to rebuild public trust in the agency by focusing on bipartisan concerns such as foodborne disease outbreaks, he said in a recent interview.

Dr. Daniel Jernigan, a former top CDC official who resigned from the agency in August, echoed that.

If Schwartz is not confirmed, “it will mean a continued rudderless journey for CDC,” he said.

For Kennedy, “having to start over is probably what he wants — many more months with no one stopping him from pursuing the same anti-science and anti-vaccine efforts he has been pursuing,” Jernigan said.

The CDC has had several leaders under Trump

Schwartz was the third Trump nominee for the office in the past 18 months.

The first was a former Florida congressman, Dr. David Weldon. His Senate hearing in March 2025 was canceled an hour before it was to begin. Weldon said at the time that he had been told not enough senators were willing to vote for him.

The White House then moved on to Susan Monarez, who had been serving as the CDC’s acting director. Monarez was confirmed by the Senate, but she was ousted in less than a month. Trump administration officials said she was not aligned with the president’s agenda so they terminated her.

Since then there have been a series of HHS officials as acting CDC director.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

PASSAIC, N.J. (AP) — A boy died and a second child was missing after the two 10-year-olds went into a rain-swollen river while playing in a park in Passaic, New Jersey, authorities said.

A third child in the water, age 11, survived. The local mayor said her life might have been saved by her brother, the 10-year-old who drowned.

“As he was going under, he pushed her and she ended up by the rocks and she climbed up,” Passaic Mayor Hector Lora told reporters Wednesday night. “She’s alive right now.”

The other 10-year-old, a girl, was still missing early Thursday. Multiple boats and divers searched the river.

“The families really need your prayers and your support,” Lora said early Thursday in a video on Facebook.

No names have been released.

The three children were seen in the Passaic River in Pulaski Park. It wasn’t immediately clear how they ended up in river, which was higher than usual because of heavy rainfall in the region, police in neighboring Paterson said. Firefighters in that community had rescued about 20 people who became trapped by rapidly rising floodwaters.

Lora said that first responders got calls at about 6:20 p.m. and a man in the park tried to rescue the children before they arrived.

“He went in about 5 meters deep (16.4 feet) and when he got too deep and the current was pushing him away, he could not reach them,” Lora said. “The gentleman expressed to us his obvious pain and hurt.”

Rescuers used sonar technology to search the river.

The river flows about 80 miles (129 kilometers) through forest land and suburbs before entering more urban areas and emptying into Newark Bay. Passaic is about 10 miles (16 kilometers) north of New York City.

GP practices could close if temperatures continue to climb to sweltering highs, fresh guidance suggests.

The Royal College of GPs has made the extreme recommendation to keep doctors and patients safe in the ongoing heatwave.

The UK is currently battling its fourth spell of scorching weather, with temperatures reaching 34C on Wednesday.

The heat is expected to ease off slightly before picking up again next week and reaching 27C in some parts of the country.

The medical body has published a series of guidelines on its website for family doctors, advising ‘closure or relocation if indoor temperatures reach 30C (86F) inside’.

It comes amid scores of accounts from patients who say they’re struggling to see their GP. Around a third of all appointments take place over the phone, NHS data shows.

A recent poll found that one in three elderly patients were forced to fill in online forms by their doctors surgery, which put many off booking an appointment.

Patients have told of waiting months to see a GP, with some claiming their health deteriorated as a result.

As well as potential closures, the Royal College guidance advises clinic staff to ‘use thermometers to check room temperatures frequently – for comfort, temperatures should be below 26C.’

High indoor temperatures in sweltering conditions can leave staff dehydrated, stressed and more likely to make errors in judgment, the RCGP said.

Vulnerable patients are also more susceptible to the adverse effects of heat, increasing the risk of dehydration, stroke and organ failure. 

As such, the college is advising practices to take extra measures to keep their premises cool, and fast track high-risk patients for same-day appointments in hot weather. 

GP surgeries should also consider earlier start times to avoid the hottest part of the day, the RCGP’s guide reads.  

It comes as the Doctors’ Association UK called for a maximum legal working temperature in GP surgeries in June, after a survey of NHS staff saw 83 per cent of staff describe their workplace as ‘very’ or ‘dangerously hot’. 

Earlier this month, surgeons admitted they were having to stop operations part way through due to dehydration, dizziness and risk of fainting. 

‘There is nothing extraordinary, nor is it an isolated incident,’ Dr Tim Lane, president of the Royal College of Surgeons, said. 

‘It is a symptom of a deeper problem: too many of our hospitals are no longer equipped to deal with the hot summers Britain now experiences.’ 

The latest guidance comes amid the cancellation of blood tests due to the hot weather and restrictions on air-conditioning units. 

Blood samples are susceptible to degradation in the heat, resulting in unreliable test results.

But guidance states that GP surgeries should explore every other avenue to reduce indoor temperatures before using air conditioning units, making it extremely difficult for surgeries to keep room temperatures below the 25C required to store blood samples safely.  

Meanwhile, the NHS faces a ‘summer onslaught’, with record A&E attendances in June. 

Shocking figures today revealed deaths in Britain linked to soaring temperatures in May and June this year are already nearly double the entire figure for 2025. 

Across these two months there have already been 2,877 heat-related fatalities. Last year, there were just 1,504 total heat deaths recorded.  

‘These figures highlight the significant danger that very hot weather can pose to people’s health,’ Dr Ross Thompson, Principal Environmental Public Health Scientist at UKHSA said.

The total of 2,877 deaths is almost double the 1,504 across the UK heatwaves over the three months from June to August last year.  

Health Secretary Yvette Cooper added: ‘The sweltering heat has had a serious impact this summer on people’s health and on our NHS.

‘For many years, we have been used to winter pressures in our NHS and the need to support those who are vulnerable in the coldest weather. 

‘But now we are seeing the summer heat have an increasingly serious impact on the health of thousands of people, and on the pressures facing our NHS too.’

Thousands of migrants have stormed Spanish territory with dramatic videos showing large crowds overwhelming border guards in the enclave of Ceuta in northern Africa.

Extraordinary footage shows huge numbers of migrants sprinting up beaches, swimming ashore and dispersing into the streets of the tiny Spanish territory which borders Morocco, with some shouting ‘Long live Spain‘. 

The president of the territory, Juan Jesus Vivas, has declared a ‘total humanitarian and social emergency’, with at least 60 migrants washing up dead and camps completely overwhelmed.

It comes after Spain’s socialist government approved plans to give around 500,000 undocumented migrants legal status earlier this year. 

‘In the past few days more than 1,500 migrants, both adults and minors, have come to Ceuta by sea,’ said Vivas in televised comments on Wednesday.

‘The reception centres are saturated – there is no more room for anyone in them and according to yesterday’s figures the number of people entering is more than 200 a day.’

According to EFE, hundreds of youths ​could be seen scaling the security fencing – ⁠which was not being guarded by police ​at the time – and entered Ceuta, while members ​of the Moroccan auxiliary force responsible for security on the ground withdrew as the young people passed. 

Spain’s interior ministry said in a statement that several ministries were ‘acting in coordination to respond with the utmost speed and efficiency to the situation in Ceuta’.

Migration from Morocco into Spain’s two north African territories, Ceuta and Melilla, has long been a politically sensitive issue between the two countries

Police help migrants who crossed into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta from Morocco

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Migrants try to cross into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta from Morocco, Thursday, July 30

Migrants cheer after they cross into Spain from Morocco

Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska would travel to Ceuta on Friday ‘to monitor the situation’ and meet officials, it said. 

The ministry said the government had increased its resources ‘to guarantee security and control of migration as well as the necessary humanitarian aid, so that no lives are put in danger at sea’.

It said the Moroccan government was working ‘faithfully and permanently with Spain and collaborating closely to deal with the situation’.

The ministry added: ‘Moroccan security forces are preventing the arrival of numerous people who are trying to reach Ceuta from Morocco.’

Vivas said facilities for unaccompanied minors were operating at 2,400 per cent of capacity.

In comments to Onda Cero, he described the situation as a national emergency and called for a ‘decisive, forceful, immediate and coordinated’ response under a single command structure.

Ceuta, together with Melilla – another Spanish autonomous city located in North Africa – represents the European Union’s only land border with Africa. 

Both cities periodically experience surges in attempted crossings by migrants seeking to reach Europe. 

Arrivals were currently averaging about 300 people a day, according to Vivas. 

At that pace, he warned, Ceuta could face a situation comparable to the May 2021 migration crisis, when more than 8,000 people entered the enclave in just two days.

Vivas also pointed to the human cost of the crossings, saying 60 bodies had been recovered at sea in recent months, and argued that stronger migration controls would help prevent further deaths.

The interior ministry said Moroccan security forces were helping to curb arrivals from its territory.

Vivas called for changes to Spain’s immigration framework, saying legal shortcomings exposed by a recent Supreme Court ruling needed to be addressed.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court ruled that migrants intercepted at sea while attempting to reach Ceuta or Melilla cannot be summarily returned under the enclaves’ special border-rejection regime.

The ruling established that migrants who arrive by sea cannot be immediately pushed back across the border without due process, unlike those who cross into Spain by land – by climbing over the border fence, for example. 

Grande-Marlaska, in an interview with Spanish television channel laSexta, acknowledged authorities were facing ‘an extraordinary, exceptional situation’.

He asserted that ‘we are dealing with it with the means that we already have deployed there permanently’.

Spain’s Civil Guard, maritime Rescue Services and even the Red Cross have been using boats to pick up swimmers before taking them to Ceuta. Hundreds of migrants are now sleeping outside a migrant reception centre that is over capacity.

Those attempting the crossing are mainly Moroccans, along with a small number of Algerians who had been living in Morocco while trying to migrate to Europe, according to activists in Morocco and Ceuta.

It was not clear what prompted so many migrants to swim to Ceuta.

Some activists, including Omar Naji, president of the Moroccan Association of Human Rights in Eastern Morocco, expressed doubt that the Supreme Court ruling was behind the surge. 

Most Moroccans would have been unaware of such legal decisions, he said.

Vivas called for changes to Spain’s immigration framework, saying legal shortcomings exposed by a recent Supreme Court ruling needed to be addressed

The interior ministry said Moroccan security forces were helping to curb arrivals from its territory

Thousands of migrants pictured on the beach of Ceuta

A migrant uses a rubber ring while trying to cross into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta

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Migrants are intercepted by Spanish Civil Guard officers after arriving in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta from Morocco

The timing of the crossing, occurring after Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez met with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune last week, reminded Naji of the border crisis of May 2021.

At the time, Morocco was accused of easing border controls and allowing migrants to cross into the enclave after Spain allowed Polisario Front leader Brahim Ghali to receive medical treatment at a Spanish hospital, triggering a diplomatic crisis between Rabat and Madrid. 

The pro-independence Polisario Front for decades has claimed to be the legitimate representative of the indigenous Sahrawi people of disputed Western Sahara.

On Wednesday, Spain’s interior minister praised Moroccan authorities, saying they were cooperating and that the relationship with the kingdom was ‘close and based on loyalty’.

‘They are also limiting irregular departures,’ he told laSexta.

It comes as four migrants died attempting to cross the Channel overnight.

Three women and a man lost their lives in separate incidents on the French side of the Channel overnight.

The tragedies unfolded shortly after Wednesday witnessed what was thought to have been the largest number of small boat crossings this year.

Unofficial estimates reported by GB News put the total at 730, beating the 710 seen on June 15.

And a small boat overturned in the early hours of Thursday causing the death of a passenger and leading to the ‘near drowning’ of a baby.

The disaster unfolded in the early hours of Thursday morning in the sea off Neufchâtel-Hardelot, south of Boulogne.

Local mayor Paulette Juilien-Peuvion described how more than 100 people, including women and children, were attempting to board a flimsy inflatable designed for around 15 passengers.

‘One man died and six were seriously hurt,’ she said during a visit to the scene later in the day.

Meanwhile, three women were found dead near the port of Dunkirk, French authorities said on Thursday. They are understood to have been on a separate boat to the man who died. 

The women were brought to shore as French emergency services rushed to the scene; however, attempts to resuscitate them failed and all three were declared dead.

They were reportedly aged around 20, 30 and 50.

Alice Haine, head of personal finance at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Savings rates have been gradually drifting lower since peaking in the autumn of 2023, but with inflation easing to 2.6% in June, savers can still secure inflation-busting returns of up to 5% on both easy-access and fixed options.

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Significant damage was caused to the home

An investigation is ongoing to find out if a house fire this morning was started deliberately.

Emergency services were called to the Mullavilly Heights area of Tandragee in the early hours of Thursday, July 30, following reports of a fire.

No one was in the home at the time but significant damage was caused. Police are now investigating to establish the full circumstances surrounding what happened, including whether ignition was deliberate.

A PSNI spokesperson said: “Police in Armagh are appealing for information and witnesses following a house fire in Tandragee.

“A report was received shortly after 3.20am this morning, Thursday 30th July, of a house on fire in the Mullavilly Heights area of the town.

“Officers attended the scene, along with colleagues from the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS), who extinguished the blaze.

“Thankfully, there was nobody present in the property and therefore no injuries reported. Significant damage was caused to the property, however.

“Enquiries are ongoing at this time to establish the full circumstances surrounding what happened, including whether ignition was deliberate.

“Officers are appealing to anyone who was in the area at the time and saw any suspicious activity, or who might have any information which might assist, to contact police using our witness appeal form at https://reporting.psni.police.uk/appeals quoting 161 of 29/07/26 or call us on 101.

“Alternatively, you can submit a report online using the non-emergency reporting form via http://www.psni.police.uk/makeareport/ or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at http://crimestoppers-uk.org/“

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