The Starmer regime’s war on human rights continues with the passage of Shabana Mahmood’s punitive ‘Immigration and Asylum Bill‘ through Parliament.

Burnham rallies behind Mahmood

The bill’s provisions demonise asylum seekers and wage war on human rights and Britain’s obligations under international law. Presumptive next prime minister Andy Burnham supposedly represents change — at least that’s the claim — but it’s not borne out by events so far.

And the same goes in this case, as Burnham voted yesterday in support of Mahmood’s racist new law.

Budget bigotry

Among its multiple abusive provisions, Mahmood plans to have asylum appeals decided by people without legal qualifications. Legal experts and human rights groups have pointed out how dangerous this move to prioritise speed over justice really is. Mahmood sneeringly dismissed the warnings, saying:

To those who say that such decisions can be taken only by a judge, I need point only to the complex and weighty decisions taken each and every day by those without law degrees… A person does not have to be a judge to have good judgment.

That might be so, but a person does need legal qualifications to know what is lawful.

The bill also removes or severely narrows the application of human rights law to asylum claims, slashes ‘modern slavery’ protections for people trafficked into slavery and doubles the amount of time refugees must be in the country before being able to claim permanent residency or apply for citizenship.

Doesn’t work

The United Nations Refugee Agency has pointed out that similar changes in Australia did the opposite of what Mahmood says she wants. Instead of speeding up the asylum system, the changes increased backlogs and created big delays. This has not deterred Mahmood from her attempt to pander to the racist right. It did not deter Burnham from supporting it.

The bill passed its second reading. Yet again, Burnham is indicating that he will be ‘continuity Starmer’ in a less drab package.

Featured image via the Canary

By Skwawkbox

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In a scathing new report, the International Development Economics Associates Limited (IDEAs) has documented the heavy toll Global South continues to pay for a war it did not create — as corporations cash in.

The report describes a state of siege across the Global South region, with countries facing mounting economic pressure as the fallout from the US-Israeli war of aggression against Iran spreads.

Global South picks up the tab

The report stated that operations of Epic Fury waged by the US, and Roaring Lion waged by the colonial-settler state Israel have led to substantial hardship for countries throughout the global south.

real and financial effects being felt across the three continents of Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean, due to the contraction of energy supply and rise in energy prices.

NEW REPORT: “The War on Iran and the Global South”, focusing on significant realised & potential economic impacts of US–Israeli war on Iran & the #GlobalSouth, & analysing transmission channels through which the effects of conflict are likely to unfold. https://t.co/qmkuiLT6W2 pic.twitter.com/bx9jqWwrbo

— International Development Economics Associates (@DevEconNetwork) July 14, 2026

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While defense contractors, oil giants, and Wall Street banks reaped record profits, countries across Asia, Africa, and Latin America watched their economies crumble, their food supplies dwindle, and their people succumb to a crisis thousands of miles away of Trump and Netanyahu’s making.

The report criticises these Western corporations: their actions have intensified economic challenges particularly for many nations in the south, many of which are deeply affected by global policies.

There have been a few winners able to exercise their economic power to benefit from an otherwise damaging set of developments. Defence companies have seen exponential and sustained gains. Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and RTX Corporation are some of the major beneficiaries of the war, with Lockheed Martin’s stock price increasing nearly 40% since the beginning of 2026. The US remains the world’s largest military spender and arms exporter and it has proposed a $1.5 trillion defence budget for the financial year 2027, the largest in history and a 50% increase relative to financial year 2026.

The war has also boosted profits of global giants in the energy sector. According to estimates from diverse sources, Shell, BP and TotalEnergies reported extra earnings of between $3.3 bn and $4.75 bn in the first quarter of 2026. US Commercial banks have also reaped huge sums of profit in a short period of time.

As central facilitators of global finance, major Wall Street banks are capitalising on the current volatility through a surge in trading activity.

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Hedge funds and operators in prediction markets also emerged as significant profit takers. In the first few weeks of the war, hedge funds increased their net-long positions on Brent crude.

Asia feels the sting

The report states that challenges facing Asia are a microcosm of issues affecting the South on a global scale.

the impact of the ongoing war will be particularly severe on countries in the Asian continent due to their geographical proximity with Iran and the Gulf countries.

Nations like Pakistan, the Philippines, and Vietnam face dire consequences, who, as is explained in the report, represent significant populations within the global south socioeconomic landscape.

both source between 85-90 percent of their oil from the Middle East, [and] are likely to face dire effects.

They added that across Asia: countries have brought into force various kinds of austerity measures such as energy rationing… moving to a four-day work week… and requiring airlines to switch to emergency operations mode.

It notes that China is relatively unscathed as it:

took the precaution of building considerable reserves equivalent to several months of [oil] imports, allowing it to weather a temporary shock and smooth the effects of a price spike.

The report warns that the overriding risk for countries in the south is a balance-of-payments crisis as the fallout from the war deepens and influences global conditions.

The forgotten victims of the Global South

It also stated that the war has hit Gulf-based migrant workers hard.

They note that migrant workers — estimated at 25 million across the Gulf — comprise between 76 and 96 percent of the labour force, describing them as the “backbone of these economies” and demonstrating how the movement of people from the south impacts global economies.

The report details how: migrants from the south, particularly, have been disproportionately affected by the conflict.

migrant workers are frequently situated in labour camps or exposed areas (such as construction sites, ports, and airports) that are less protected from military attacks.

Employers are also reportedly using the war as a pretext for withholding wages, denying exit, or dismissing workers without compensation in contravention of existing laws.

Economic shocks ripple into Africa

Meanwhile, Africa is being pummeled by the “5Fs” — fuel, freight, fertilizer, food, and finance. As the IDEAs’ report notes, African countries despite not being directly involved:

are, in direct or indirect ways, exposed to its devastating effects due to the continent’s structural external vulnerabilities.

rising energy prices do not necessarily translate into a net gain for African exporters, given the potential slowdown in global growth and the simultaneous rise in import costs.

[The war] can have lasting impacts on global fertilizer production and trade… compromis[ing] food security in African countries, especially Eastern African ones.

They added that:

For Africa, the war against Iran aggravates an already precarious African debt situation. Twenty-two sub-Saharan African countries figure among those with the highest ratios of external interest or principal payments to revenues, and collectively account for 44 percent of total interest payments of all low-income countries (LICs) projected over 2024 to 2027 (IMF, 2025).

These vulnerabilities mirror struggles seen throughout the Global South more broadly, and devastatingly.

Latin America and the Caribbean feel the squeeze

Energy-importing economies, particularly in Central America and the Caribbean, are likely to face worsening external balances and inflationary pressures, as well; these regions are key components of the global south.

The countries most exposed to rising international prices are those most heavily reliant on energy imports, including the Dominican Republic, Chile, Nicaragua, Uruguay, and El Salvador, the report adds.

Epic Fury (United States) and Roaring Lion (Israel) leave behind an economic trail of misery, Lockheed Martin, BP, and other corporate giants reap the rewards — and the Global South pays the price.

Featured image via the International Development Economics Associates Limited (IDEAs)

By Nandita Lal

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DALLAS, Texas — The World Cup was supposed to be Dallas’s moment to shine. The city is famously image-conscious, and the powers-that-be trumpeted the fact that more Cup matches were scheduled here than any other host city. It seemed like a coup for a town whose football team (the other kind of football) bills itself as “America’s team.”

But off the pitch, Dallas leaders have spent the spring and summer fighting a series of political fights, many of them centered around sports. It’s a cautionary tale to the many European tourists who have marveled at America’s glittering sporting venues, but are unaware of the complex economic and political forces that have shaped them, for better and for worse.

Before the soccer tournament even started, the city’s pro basketball team had announced it was leaving its downtown arena. Then the hockey team decamped for a new arena in the suburbs.

Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson was booed when he attended a World Cup Fan Fest. Along the way, the city was forced to furlough non-essential workers because of a budget shortfall, so the public libraries were closed for a day last week.

“There’s a lot of — the only word I can think of is — drama,” City Councilmember Paula Blackmon said.

To be clear, the World Cup matches aren’t being played in Dallas. They’re 15 miles west, in Arlington, Texas. The Texas Rangers play baseball a few blocks away.

But Dallas proper could still stake a claim as a professional sports hub. The Dallas Mavericks (basketball) and the Dallas Stars (hockey) have spent the last 25 years at American Airlines Center, a retro-styled arena just north of the central business district, which is served by its dedicated light rail stop. That arena’s future has been at the heart of the fighting.

Last fall, the city began discussing the idea of tearing down its City Hall to make way for a new sports arena. The building is showing its age — or its neglect — and city officials estimate it’ll take hundreds of millions of dollars to repair it.

Some in Dallas questioned whether the teams need a new arena, since the American Airlines Center — which is 1.6 miles from City Hall — seems to work just fine. Others objected to tearing down the building since its architect, I.M. Pei, is kind of a big deal.

The conflict divided the city council into two factions — the majority in favor of tearing down the building, the minority trying to preserve it. Blackmon and another council member, both of whom favor preserving the old City Hall, sued the city in June trying to block a vote on tearing down the building.

To some extent, the fight has been a proxy for the broader fight over how to preserve downtown Dallas. AT&T, the telecom giant which has had its corporate headquarters in Dallas since 2008, announced this spring it’s moving to the suburbs, citing rising crime, homelessness and government dysfunction. Even the luxury retailer Neiman Marcus, the most Dallas of institutions, is closing its downtown store.

Former Dallas Mayor Laura Miller, who got into politics after a career as an investigative reporter, said the fracas over the sports arena is a symptom of the city’s dysfunctional government. Dallas has a weak mayor and its city council has been divided for decades, which gives developers — and sports teams — the upper hand in negotiating with the city.

Miller is famous locally for turning down the Dallas Cowboys when team owner Jerry Jones asked for a publicly-financed stadium inside the city in the early 2000s.

The Cowboys — like the Mavericks and Stars before them — promised to help redevelop neglected parts of the city. Miller argued that the city was better off putting its funds into basic services like public safety and infrastructure — and pointed to a string of broken promises from the sports teams and other big developers.

“It’s kind of Dallas’ Achilles heel, because Dallas will just do anything to quote unquote ‘save the teams,’ even though all the teams are all within a 30-minute drive of all of our homes,” she said.

Dallas’s local organizing committee for the World Cup declined to comment for this story, as did a spokesperson for the Mavericks. A spokesperson for the Stars didn’t respond to requests for comment. Johnson, the Dallas mayor, also declined several interview requests.

Most of the fighting has been invisible to World Cup fans, who will flock to town Tuesday for the region’s final World Cup match, which is the semi-final between France and Spain. But the outcome of the city council fight could affect Dallas for decades to come.

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Pressure on the government to ban the importation of foie gras is intensifying. Activists from animal protection organisation Animal Equality have unfurled a giant banner on Victoria Embankment.

It says “KEEP YOUR PROMISE: BAN FOIE GRAS IMPORTS”, in direct view of parliament. The action follows the launch of 150 billboards and ads running across south east England sharing the same message. These are likely to reach 30 million passers-by.

Foie gras is produced by force-feeding ducks and geese via a metal pipe inserted down the throat, multiple times a day. This cause their livers to swell up to ten times their natural size.

The practice is so cruel that it has been illegal to produce in the UK for 20 years. Yet the UK continues to import the product. This allows restaurants to profit from suffering that would be a criminal offence if it took place on UK soil.

Just days before the last General Election, the government promised to ban foie gras imports. A senior Labour Party representative watching an Animal Equality investigation into a French foie gras farm reacted:

…great big pipes down those animals’ throats, and they’re just forcing that food in. Oh, they’re terrified. Disgusting. Look at the tiny little cages they’re in as well. That is just shocking. It is beyond disgusting. They’re force-feeding these terrified animals to fatten their livers.

Continuing, he added:

Vote for change. A vote for Labour is a vote for animals.

Foie gras ban at risk

Years on, that promise remains unfulfilled, and campaigners now fear the ban is at risk due to ongoing EU-UK Sanitary and Phytosanitary trade negotiations which aim to ease trade.

Abigail Penny, executive director of Animal Equality UK, said:

The government made a promise to the British public and we have not forgotten. Every day this ban is delayed is another day that ducks and geese are violently force-fed – a practice that deliberately induces organ failure and is so cruel it is a crime to carry out in the UK.

The government’s negotiators must not trade away animal welfare commitments. Ministers would do well to remember who they represent; with nearly nine in ten Brits in favour of a ban, they have a clear mandate. The government must keep its word.

Public opinion is overwhelmingly behind a ban. The latest YouGov polling shows that almost nine in ten (87%) of the UK public support banning foie gras imports. This makes it one of the most widely supported animal welfare reforms across the UK. Animal Equality’s petition calling for a ban has surpassed 329,000 signatures.

At a recent parliamentary roundtable, hosted by Labour MP Irene Campbell, Dr Huw Golledge, chief executive and scientific director of Science for Animal Welfare, said:

The disease is not a side effect. Causing the disease is the purpose of the production system. Anyone looking objectively at the evidence would conclude that this is something that should not continue.

Featured image supplied

By The Canary

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The French national team arrived in Dallas on Sunday aboard an Airbus A320 jet. The day before, the same jet had been used for an ICE deportation flight to Nicaragua.

The French team has traveled on GlobalX charter flights to travel during the World Cup, as The Guardian first reported Thursday. GlobalX, a Miami-based charter airline, has maintained its traditional business while also operating a growing number of deportation flights since the Trump administration launched its mass deportation campaign.

This dual use has created a stark contrast, with planes used to carry deportees shackled to their seats soon returning to routine charter service. Although many Americans back deporting unauthorized immigrants, U.S. President Donald Trump’s aggressive deportation campaign has drawn extensive backlash over its forceful tactics and violent clashes with protesters.

POLITICO tracked the jet that carried Les Bleus to Dallas and asked researchers with ICE Flight Monitor, which tracks deportation flights, whether it had been used for Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportations. The team posted Monday a video of players deboarding in Dallas from a jet with a “Global Crossing Airlines” insignia, the legal name of GlobalX.

“Under the second Trump administration, this particular plane conducted 323 ICE flights,” said Savi Arvey, director of policy for refugee and immigrant rights at Human Rights First, which oversees ICE Flight Monitor.

After departing Nicaragua on Saturday, the GlobalX jet flew on to Harlingen, Texas, an ICE deportation hub, and then Boston, the French team’s training base, according to data provided by ICE Flight Monitor. About 15 hours after landing in Boston, it departed for Dallas with the team aboard.

Representatives for the French football federation and GlobalX did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Less than an hour after landing in Dallas, the GlobalX jet flew to Harlingen to conduct another deportation flight to Mexico.

Meanwhile, the Spanish national team arrived in Dallas aboard an American Airlines jet. The airline has not operated any ICE deportation flights.

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There are few things more taken for granted in my humble kitchen than my seemingly never-ending supply of black pepper.

Ideal as a topper for salads, scrambled eggs or even just a plate of chips, black pepper is present in most of the meals I prepare. However, I’d never once considered where it actually comes from.

In fact, much like pasta and tea bags, I assumed it just came as part of having a kitchen, tbh.

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Where black pepper actually comes from

According to McCormick Science Institute: ”Black pepper is native to Malabar, a tropical region on the Western Coast of Southern India (part of the Indian state of Kerala).

“The pepper vine is a perennial ivy-like climber which adheres itself to a support tree or man-made structure.”

Schwartz explained: “The black peppercorn is a small berry picked just as it ripens from green to red: the centre is a white seed which contains more piperine and gives the pepper its heat and bite, while the black husk is the flesh of the fruit and gives the fruity, floral aromatic character.”

However, the spice experts added that while black pepper is best when it’s been crushed by pestle and mortar or a peppermill, you need to act quickly to maintain that punchy flavour.

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They said: “Once crushed, the punchy, volatile oils concealed inside each corn soon evaporate.

“Be sure to add towards the end of cooking, or at the table – which can add a certain amount of finesse when serving. A natural companion to steak in particular, its natural flavour is enhanced by heat, and its distinct, woody aroma is instantly recognisable to many.”

I’ll never take my trusty black pepper for granted again.

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Showing that political fundraising doesn’t have to be all fancy dinners and shady crypto-related windfalls, the Green Party is instead heading for the dancefloor.

Green Space is taking its “party with purpose” model to Bristol this month, as the community and culture project builds what organisers describe as a repeatable, transparent and people-powered fundraising model for Green politics.

The Bristol event, taking place at Sawmills on Sunday 26 July 2026, will be the fourth Green Space party in the series, following two events in London and one in Leeds.

Putting the party into Green Party

Together, the first three events have raised around £37,000 for campaigning:

• Approximately £13,000 for London Greens at Heaven.
• £17,000 for Leeds Green Party.
• £7,000 for the national Green Party of England and Wales at The Cause in London.

The Bristol edition marks the next stage in proving the model can be built out beyond one-off city events, with locally rooted events raising money for local Green Parties while also supporting the wider national movement across the country.

The format offers a sharp contrast to traditional political fundraising, which is often a world of private dinners, big donors and closed-door access. Green Space events are publicly ticketed, culturally led and help people connect to politics through music, community and joy rather than formal party meetings or high-cost donor events.

The Bristol party will raise money for Bristol Green Party, with tickets accessibly priced at £10 – £15. Confirmed speakers include Zack Polanski, leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, and climate justice activist Dominique “Domi” Palmer, with more speakers to be announced.

The event will also feature a large DJ line-up spanning drum and bass, jungle, techno, hardcore, and bass – sounds long associated with Bristol’s pioneering music scene.

Confirmed DJ line-up:

• Anna Prank b2b Junction 17.
• Amen4Tekno.
• Euphonique.
• DJ Hybrid.
• DJ Gurl Power.
• El-Ze b2b Josie Bee.
• Gucci Libre.
• Hardcore Energy.
• Hypershé b2b Mousai.
• IffyHype.
• Origin8a & Propa b2b Buckfast Boys Club.
• REVRT.
• Tommy Leng (My Nu Leng).
• Visla.
• Lobsta B.
• Daunder.
• Das Ist Vas x Engineer.

More artists TBA.

Polanski said:

Politics shouldn’t be funded in private rooms – and only by people who can afford expensive dinners. What Green Space is showing is that there is another way that is open, transparent, joyful and rooted in community.

These events are more than just about raising money – they are changing who politics feels like it belongs to. A ticket to a day party should never be dismissed as less serious than a private donor dinner.

In many ways, it is more democratic. It brings people together. It is transparent about what it is raising money for. And it gives people a way into politics that feels alive rather than alienating.

It’s great to see events supporting local Green Parties and helping build a national movement powered by people, culture and hope.

Niall Moore, co-founder of Green Space, said:

Bristol is the beating heart of what we’re trying to build. This is a city with deep roots in club culture, climate justice, community organising and Green politics. It represents the spirit and the sound of the movement we are building.

Whilst this event is about raising money for the local Bristol Green Party, it’s also about making politics feel social, creative and open again. We want people to leave Sawmills feeling like they’ve been part of something joyful, local and politically meaningful.

British politics is being pulled apart by hate and division. We’re putting it back together with love and community.

Green Space aims to widen political participation by reaching people who may care about issues ranging from climate, housing, inequality and public services, but may feel alienated by traditional routes into politics.

Organisers hope the Bristol edition will show how the model can be adapted city by city, connecting national politics with local music scenes, venues and communities.

Profit from ticket sales goes directly to the Bristol Green Parties. You can get tickets to the event here (£10 / £15).

Featured image supplied

By The Canary

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