Security staff have twice assaulted a Cardiff University student — for holding a Palestine flag and then for trying to take a photo of them. The Caerdydd Students for Palestine (CS4P) group described what happened:

As a student was on the way OUT of graduation she was physically assaulted and had the Palestinian flag ripped out of her hands with such violence it ripped her acrylic nails off.

She was simply carrying the flag in her hands on her way out of the building. She was then assaulted AGAIN when trying to get photos of the staff after they refused to give their names as seen on this video.

The blonde woman also mocked the word genocide and said graduation “isn’t political.” The arena supervisor said there’s nothing they could do!

Please share this everywhere and say SHAME on @utilitaarenacardiff and their violent staff. This was the actions of SUPERVISORS.

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@cardiffuni this is who you trust to manage your graduations?

The group posted footage of the two staff involved:

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A post shared by Caerdydd Students For Palestine (@caerdyddstudents4palestine)

Cardiff University — a shameful record

This is not Cardiff University’s first rodeo when it comes to suppression of Palestine solidarity — nor the Utilita Arena’s. In July 2025, the university threatened to remove students for a display of solidarity, while Utilita staff harassed and intimidated students wearing keffiyehs:

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A post shared by Caerdydd Students For Palestine (@caerdyddstudents4palestine)

At the beginning of 2025, the university was accused of spying on pro-Palestine staff and students. A month earlier, it had suspended two students for taking part in an anti-genocide protest. In May 2025, it set police on students holding an anti-genocide picket and in June went to court for an injunction against them.

CS4P has asked opponents of genocide to share news of the latest incident widely.

Featured image via Cardiff.ac

By Skwawkbox

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A 14-year-old boy has been charged with a terrorism offence over an alleged plan to attack two mosques in the Sutton area of south London. The plan, the latest in a flood of Islamophobic violence, was linked to “extreme right-wing terrorism”.

The youth was originally arrested on suspicion of criminal damage, but a subsequent search of the address revealed “a number of documents of concern” according to the Met Police. He is in custody and will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ court tomorrow ,16 July 2026.

“Very serious terrorism”

For once, after months of the establishment ignoring Islamophobic violence, police officers responded appropriately to the planned attack. Detective Chief Superintendent Nick Blackburn said:

These charges come just days after 12 people were arrested for a suspected threat to an Islamic festival in Suffolk and a man was arrested for an alleged assault outside a mosque in Leyton.

We should not underestimate the cumulative impact of incidents of this nature on the Muslim community.

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His colleague counter-terror Commander Helen Flanagan added that this is a “very serious terrorism charge against a young boy” that is “particularly concerning” to the Muslim community.

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By Skwawkbox

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US president Donald Trump’s much-hyped national guard deployments did nothing to lower crime rates. Canary readers will recall how Trump filled the streets of US cities with troops at the start of his second term.

A major centre-left US thinktank has now debunked any claims that the military presence lowered crime. And what’s more, the whole project has ripped off taxpayers to the tune of billions.

The Center for American Progress (CAP) warned in a new report:

The second Trump administration is trying to take credit for the historic drop in violent crime across America despite the fact that this trend began before it took office, and it is using these declines to justify expanding policies that are unpopular, ineffective, and costly.

However, CAP claims the data “clearly shows” violent crime and homicides were:

already dropping in American cities in 2023 and 2024.

Yet:

the Trump administration has continued to threaten city and state leaders and argue that its extreme actions, such as deploying the National Guard to support law enforcement operations, are improving public safety.

CAP reported:

analysis finds no evidence that National Guard deployments have reduced violent crime.

And they added that:

if these deployments are extended and continue through the end of 2026, they could cost American taxpayers more than $1.7 billion.

The authors were very blunt in their conclusions. Trump has no basis to make any claims his deployments worked as stated:

This analysis should give policymakers confidence to reject out of hand the Trump administration’s claims that its actions have materially improved public safety in these cities, call out its falsehoods, and demand better solutions for the American people.

Trump’s ICE are still killing people

And while the story has largely dropped out of international media, Trump’s immigration thugs are still killing people in the US.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reportedly killed a Colombian national in the north-eastern US state of Maine on 14 July. The BBC reported:

An ICE agent has fatally shot a Colombian national during an immigration enforcement operation in the US state of Maine.

The killing came only:

a week after the agency used deadly force against another migrant in a Texas traffic stop.

The authorities have not identified the man killed, but:

local lawmakers and neighbours have identified him as Joan Sebastian Guerrero.

The truth is Trump’s military deployments and increased ICE thug raids were never about security for the public. They were about militarising public spaces, hunting terrified migrants and rebuilding the US in Trump’s image: as a fearful place with a more obedient and, ultimately, whiter population.

Featured image via the Canary

By Joe Glenton

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Yesterday, 15 July, the Covid Inquiry published its latest update — this time focusing on the Johnson government’s failure to secure adequate personal protective equipment (PPE). In response, both anti-corruption campaigning organisations and the unions representing affected hospital workers have been swift to issue their condemnation.

As the Canary’s Joe Glenton previously reported:

Boris Johnson’s government wasted £10bn on unusable personal protective equipment (PPE), the Covid inquiry report has found. Inquiry chair Heather Hallett also slammed the then-Conservative government’s use of firms with Tory ‘VIP’ connections to fulfil major PPE contracts.

BMA: Government performance ‘an omnishambles’

Reacting to the Module 5 report, British Medical Association (BMA) council deputy chair Dr Emma Runswick said:

What we saw unfold was an omnishambles; a scramble in procurement, supply and distribution, resulting in chaotic and slapdash approaches to try to get PPE to those who needed it.

Yet we know they often didn’t receive it. Time and time again, from the beginning of the pandemic, and right through the multiple waves of 2020, doctors and our colleagues were left without the PPE needed to protect them and their patients from a fatal disease. This impact was uneven, with women and ethnic minority doctors either unable to access suitable fitting PPE, or indeed, facing greater pressure to work without proper protection.

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Runswick also highlighted that the report “makes a number of positive recommendations” for preparation. However, those recommendations served to highlight the UK’s current sorry state:

it is shocking, six years on, to see in black and white that still not enough is being done to ensure both the size and quality of the PPE stockpile, or prepare more widely.

A new pandemic, as well as wider global risks in an increasingly hostile world, remain very real threats to our healthcare systems and the safety of our population. Yet we remain unprepared – both in terms of supplies like PPE, but also in the state of the very buildings we work in, the facilities to provide critical care, and the staffing capacity we have to treat people.

Royal College of Nursing: “is unforgivable”

Meanwhile, the Royal College of Nursing’s (RCN) reaction was similarly outraged. Rose Gallagher, the RCN’s leader for infection prevention during the pandemic, said:

This report is a damning indictment of just how badly nursing staff were let down. The total failure to plan meant stockpiles of PPE were too low, while much of the equipment meant to protect our profession didn’t fit or work effectively. That so many staff were forced to repurpose shower caps, or wear bin bags in desperate attempts to protect themselves, should be marks of shame for the successive governments that left us so unprepared.

Gallagher also praised the nurses who continued in their vital work despite the dangerous position the government placed them in. The infection-prevention lead added:

Despite this litany of government failures to prepare, nursing staff continued to show up for their patients knowing the very real risk to themselves and their families. We know so many died after being sent onto wards, into care homes and into the community with inadequate protection. Meanwhile, scores more continue to live with the long-term effects of Covid to this day. It is unforgivable.

Even back in 2021, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) had already noted the disproportionate level of deaths among nursing staff. The ONS recognised 157 deaths among nurses, averaging over 50 fatalities per 100,000 members of the profession. [ED NOTE: (24.5+79.1)/2=51.8]

Anti-corruption campaigners on PPE report

Given the scandal of the bogus procurement contracts, corruption watchdogs also offered comment on the latest report. For example, Gavin Hayman – executive director of the UK Anti-Corruption Coalition’s Open Contracting Partnership — said:

The British Government bought the wrong things, from the wrong people, in the wrong way. The Inquiry has shown what happens when emergency powers, weak controls and political access collide with disastrous results. Giving huge direct awards to untested companies [specialising in lingerie, drinking straws, confectionery and the like] recommended by politicians harmed the UK’s Covid emergency response.

Likewise, Transparency International UK works with governments and businesses to tackle corruption both at home and around the world. Chief executive Daniel Bruce, who previously gave evidence to the inquiry on behalf of the UK Anti-Corruption Coalition, said:

The inquiry’s report lays bare the failings of the so-called VIP lane for PPE contracts. It confirms our earlier findings that there was systemic bias in awarding contracts to those with connections to the party of government and that, in a majority of cases, there was no objective assessment of those firms’ ability to actually deliver PPE.

The inquiry underscores the damage done to public trust by a prolonged and unnecessary failure of transparency in public spending.

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It also challenges the new government to go further to guard against the risk of corruption in future emergencies.

And for PPE Medpro?

Spotlight on Corruption is a research and monitoring organisation which publishes findings on the UK’s implementation of its anti-corruption laws. Executive director Sue Hawley criticised the so-called ‘VIP Lane’:

Its ongoing use, beyond the very early stages of the pandemic, undermined trust in government, and trust in government is never more important than during a public health emergency.

VIP contracts failed at three times the rate of standard ones and cost 80% more per unit, even as nurses resorted to bin bags on the frontline. Five years on, nearly £10 billion has been written off, only one supplier has been taken to court, and the public is still owed a full accounting.

The supplier Hawley alluded to there is PPE Medpro. The firm, which has links to Tory peer Michelle Mone through her husband Doug Barrowman, is at the centre of an ongoing criminal investigation. Mone recommended the company to other ministers, who promptly awarded it over £200m in PPE contracts.

Mone and Barrowman have denied any wrongdoing. The National Crime Agency is still investigating, but hasn’t yet brought charges. However, the company has already had to pay back £148m to the government by order of the High Court.

Whilst the Covid Inquiry held a full day of hearings on PPE Medpro, it can’t yet publish the results due to restrictions surrounding the criminal proceedings.

Featured image via Senedd

By Grace

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SAS troops currently under investigation for war crimes dropped prisoners from a forklift “for fun”, an inquiry has heard. And one soldier who served with them was allegedly called a “Taliban-loving apologist” for raising concerns about the elite unit’s behaviour.

The inquiry into allegations that the SAS extrajudicially murdered Afghan civilians between 2010 and 2023 occupation heard from two whistleblowers on 14 July:

Monica Grenfell, a former journalist, and Christopher Green, who was part of the Army Reserve, contacted the Afghanistan Inquiry to give evidence after the chairman issued a request for information.

According to Sky News:

Both witnesses spoke behind closed doors with only redacted excerpts released on Tuesday.

Green served alongside special forces as an attached army reservist. He tried to raise concerns about the killings of three Afghan brothers. Green said the deaths were:

described to him as having “gone wrong”, forcing special forces to shoot lawfully “in self-defence”.

However, Green said the army’s intelligence was:

pretty clear that there was nothing to suggest that the sons were anything other than farmers and even less to suggest that they were Taliban commanders.

When he raised these concerns with a liaison officer, he encountered strong resentment from the elite commandos:

At some point he did call me a ‘Taliban-loving apologist’.

Green also asked to see so-called ‘gun tapes’ — video recordings of the raids — but was denied access despite having the right security clearance.

SAS — Forklift ‘fun’ with prisoners

Monica Grenfell served alongside the SAS as a stores person and kitchen staff member. She told the inquiry she was informed by a soldier that special forces troops had abused prisoners by lifting them up on the forks of a forklift and then dropping them.

I specifically recall him telling me that he would put prisoners on a forklift, raise it up and drive very fast so that they fell off.

Grenfell said she had:

Never been anywhere that was as bad as there.

There was a sense that:

People had been let off the leash somehow.

Adding:

You felt no one was really watching them [the soldiers], and the language was just… I’ve never known the language like it.

After the US-led occupation of Afghanistan collapsed in 2021, then-PM Boris Johnson said UK troops should be:

Proud of their achievements and we should be deeply proud of them.

The nature of allegations which have since the war included suppressed evidence, murdered children, and failure to report serious allegations simply to spare the alleged killer’s morale. They make this kind of grandiose claim even more precarious than before.

The story of the UK’s shadow war in Afghanistan may never be fully known, but the kind of stories starting to appear are shocking indeed.

Featured image via the Canary

By Joe Glenton

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LOS ANGELES — Some of the most powerful Latino politicians in the United States were invited to wear their favorite soccer jerseys. But few chose Argentina’s Abiceleste. 

Mayor Frank Figueroa of Coachella, California said his feelings toward Argentina as a “Latin American country” (in finger quotes) were so strong, he was willing to back England, the team that knocked out Mexico — where Figueroa traces his heritage — in a contentious quarterfinal match.

“Just by looking at their soccer team. For me, it’s like who’s playing on the soccer team compared to all the other Latin American countries who had the people playing on their team,” said Figueroa. “That is a big thing for me. They all look European.”

With the World Cup semi-finals coinciding with one of the country’s largest gatherings for Latino policymakers, organizers of the National Association of Latino Elected Officials annual conference embraced the timing. They have scheduled Telemundo World Cup watch parties in a hotel ballroom and are selling NALEO soccer jerseys to celebrate the organization’s 50th anniversary. Multicolored soccer jerseys — most commonly the green of Mexico’s El Tri — were scattered among the polished suits and business-casual attire in the conference venue.

But the absence of support for the tournament’s only remaining Latin American team was notable. In fact, it was easier today to spot England’s colors than Argentina’s hours before the two countries faced off in Atlanta.

Argentina’s history of blanqueamiento policies encouraging mass European migration, sanctuary for Nazis after World War II and its “genocide” against Afro-Argentines contributes to the “systemic problems and challenges” in Argentina’s history, said Karina Moreno, a councilmember representing Palm Desert, California. It’s a history that Moreno said continues the “fallacy” of superiority from Argentina to other Latin American countries.

Animosity towards Argentina was compounded after Argentine media personality Eduardo Feinmann said he “detested Mexicans” in on-air comments after Mexico’s tournament exit last week. Feinmann went on to describe “the envy the Mexicans feel for us Argentines, not just in football, but in everything.” The ensuing controversy escalated with a public rebuke from Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum.

“It’s not the first time, and it validates what we’re talking about,” Moreno said, referring to the incident.

The behavior of Argentina fans has also come under scrutiny, with FIFA opening an investigation into a supporter’s alleged racist abuse of American streamer IShowSpeed during the team’s victory against Cape Verde earlier this month. Egyptian coach Hossam Hassan’s made FIFA’s designated gesture to report racist abuse — a crossed-arm “X” gesture — against Argentina..

Salta Lake City councilmember Alejandro Puy, a Salt Lake City councilmember sported one of the rare Argentina jerseys. Raised in Buenos Aires, he says “rivalries are expected” between countries in soccer.

“Ultimately we are all brothers and sisters of this continent and we stand by it,” Puy said, though he still says there’s “no doubt” Argentina has the best team in Latin America.

Though he said he appreciated the Latino camaraderie in the conference, Puy was headed to Argentina’s Consulate in Los Angeles to watch the game and not feel “a little alone.”

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Tory Leader Kemi Badenoch was in a jovial mood during the usually combative PMQs by calling for all MPs to unite behind England against Argentina this evening.

Badenoch said that while Keir Starmer may be “disappointed that he won’t be emulating his hero Harold Wilson in winning multiple elections … we all hope that he may be about to emulate him in another way, by being the prime minister when England win the World Cup.” England’s only previous success came in 1966.

The Tory leader said that was something “every single one of us in this house should get behind, especially the SNP.” But the diminished rump of Scottish independence-supporting MPs, possibly still bruised from going out in the World Cup group stage, shook their heads.

Indeed, opposition to England’s success crossed party lines.

Scottish Labour MP Brian Leishman told POLITICO he’ll be watching “from behind the couch and the cracks in our fingers,” adding it will be “unbearable” if England makes the final.

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LONDON — Soccer fans in Atlanta may be exchanging chants about the Falklands — but there’s another British Overseas Territory making news today.

The 118-year-old border between Gibraltar and Spain will disappear on Wednesday. You can thank Brexit.

Today is the culmination of a decade of uncertainty for the British Mediterranean territory, which back in 2016 voted by 95.9 percent to stay in the EU — but was pulled out against its will.

Life immediately became harder for the thousands of people who cross the Gibraltar-Spain border every day, including 15,000 Spaniards who go to work in the territory.

Passport checks became more onerous and transporting goods became more complicated. As a result Brussels, London, Gibraltar and Madrid have spent the last 10 years negotiating an agreement to remove physical border controls from the frontier with Spain.

It’s an ironic move given it was triggered by Britain’s decision to leave the EU. While Gibraltar will remain fully British and sovereign, the border will become, for the most part, just a line on a map.

The agreement’s details will be familiar to anyone who has ever taken a Eurostar train under the English Channel. As at London St Pancras station, passengers arriving at Gibraltar’s airport will go through both Gibraltarian passport controls and EU passport controls in succession. Once through, they’ll be free to roam both Gibraltar and the Schengen area, provided they get the approval of both authorities.

As a result, Gibraltar and Spain will do away with border controls at the land border. Gibraltar will also align with various EU single market and customs rules to ease the flow of goods, which have sometimes become harder to source since Brexit.

Gibraltar is adamant it isn’t joining the EU passport-free Schengen area. Legally, it is right.

For many passengers, though, it will feel pretty similar, with no passport checks to walk into Spain. The difference will be that Gibraltar will still set its own visa policy.

The U.K’s Europe Minister Stephen Doughty is formally signing the agreement Tuesday in Brussels with the EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič.

The deal was a bipartisan effort on the British side, with former Foreign Secretary David Cameron working to get it over the line during his time in office. In spring 2024 the deal looked close to being done — only for Rishi Sunak to call an election. The resulting change in government delayed it by another year.

Some critics, notably Tory Euroskeptics, have said the agreement harms Gibraltar’s sovereignty, but the Rock’s government is very keen on the plan.

“Brexit was sold to the British people in a false prospectus,” Gibraltar’s Chief Minister Fabian Picardo told the Telegraph newspaper in the run-up to the dismantling of the border. “The United Kingdom needs to seriously reconsider its relationship with the European Union, whether that is to return to membership or a much closer relationship.”

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Irish comedian Tadgh Hickey has a simple message as the World Cup progresses in the US: “Fuck Messi”. The Israel-linked Argentinian football star has been silent on Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Hickey posted a heart-breaking video to his YouTube channel. While Egypt’s football coach has spoken out against the silence of many clubs and stars on the genocide, Hickey added no comment to his post apart from the pithy title. None is needed for those who watch the chilling video to the end:

Fuck Messi.

Featured image via Twitter

By Skwawkbox

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