Palestine Action’s co-founder Huda Ammori has been granted permission to challenge the UK government’s decision to designate the group a terrorist organisation at the Supreme Court.
Published On 30 Jul 202630 Jul 2026
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More than 1,500 migrants have reached Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta by sea over the past week, many swimming from Morocco using wetsuits and inflatables. Local authorities say reception centres are overwhelmed and have called for an emergency response.
Published On 30 Jul 202630 Jul 2026
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Climate change has helped southern Europe’s likelihood of wildfires double since 1981, say researchers.
Published On 30 Jul 202630 Jul 2026
Southern Europe is “becoming more flammable,” with the number of summer days featuring conditions likely to produce fires having more than doubled since 1981, according to a new report.
The study, published on Thursday in the Scientific Reports journal, said that this “major intensification” of fire-prone weather is driven by climate change. It noted that these effects are especially pronounced in France and Spain, which have been battling some of their largest blazes since records began in recent weeks.
The steep increase in the frequency of fire weather – characterised by searing temperatures, low humidity, dryness, and strong winds – “can only be attributed to global warming,” said study co-author Raul Cordero.
European countries are enduring an above-average season for wildfires, and have already overtaken 2025, which was a record-breaking year for destructive blazes.
Cooling weather and rain helped to calm the worst of the fires in France and Spain on Thursday.
France told 84,000 evacuees in the southwest of the country that it was now safe to go home, as France’s largest wildfire since 1949 pulled back.
Spain ended its state of national emergency as wildfires threatening areas near Madrid – the largest Spain has experienced since records began in 1961 – began to come under control.
However, as high temperatures moved eastwards, fires were being fought in Greece, Turkiye, and the United Kingdom.
In Greece, two firefighters died on the island of Crete on Wednesday, the fire department said, as several fires started around the country, fanned by gale-force winds. Another died in a separate fire in the Peloponnese region as the blazes continued into Thursday.
“We have difficult days ahead of us,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said.
Firefighters in Turkiye have been battling at least 115 fires across the country, although at least 110 were under control, according to the country’s agriculture minister.
An enormous wildfire has forced evacuations and prompted road closures in eastern England. The fire at Dunwich Heath, a significant biodiversity site, is one of the largest the region has seen.
Estimates of up to 2,000 migrants have entered Spain’s territory of Ceuta in recent days in attempts to reach Europe.
Published On 30 Jul 202630 Jul 2026
Authorities in Ceuta have raised the alarm after thousands of migrants breached the border to the North African Spanish enclave from neighbouring Morocco in recent days.
The government of Ceuta said on Thursday that between 1,500 and 2,000 people had entered in the last 10 days. Hundreds more were estimated to have arrived on Thursday, prompting regional President Jesus Vivas to declare an “absolute humanitarian and social emergency” and call on Madrid to send troops to reassert control of the border.
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Spain’s Interior Ministry rejected calls to declare a national emergency, saying such a measure does not cover migration crises, but promised additional resources.
Footage showed some of the migrants shouting “Viva Espana!” as they entered the territory, many of them having travelled by water from the Moroccan side on inflatable devices.
Crowds were shown walking around the breakwaters onto local roads, reported The Associated Press news agency. State news agency EFE said others had crossed by the border by land, scaling fences.
Migrant rights activist Zakaria Zarroqui told the Reuters news agency that the surge in migrant numbers was similar to one that occurred in May 2021, when some 10,000 Moroccan and sub-Saharan youths entered the enclave within days.
“The situation remains out of control as we speak,” Zarroqui said, adding that people were still flocking to the Moroccan city of Fnideq in an attempt to cross the border.
Ceuta, together with Melilla — another autonomous Spanish city in North Africa — represents the European Union’s only land border with Africa. Both cities often experience surges in attempted crossings by people seeking to migrate to Europe.
Earlier this month, Spain’s Supreme Court ruled that migrants intercepted at sea while attempting to reach Ceuta or Melilla cannot be returned to Morocco.
“It has been a slow trickle since the Supreme Court’s ruling, but today has been an explosion,” a Guardia Civil spokesperson told Reuters.
Spain’s Interior Ministry said it was working closely with Morocco to address the surge in irregular arrivals, blaming people-smuggling networks for exploiting the Supreme Court’s ruling and encouraging undocumented migration.
Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska is expected to visit Ceuta on Friday to evaluate the situation.
Outsourcing credit lets the Chinese EV maker scale fast while leaving asset risks to lenders.
This article appears in the July/August issue of Global Finance Magazine.
Walk the streets of cities like Valencia or Paris, and you don’t need the data to see BYD everywhere, especially in ride-hailing fleets and private transportation. These days, the sleek logo you notice isn’t always Tesla’s or Kia’s; it’s often BYD’s.
Sales of BYD’s electric vehicles surged across Europe last year, up roughly 270% year over year. In the first quarter of 2026, sales increased by another 156%.
While most coverage frames this as a product story, the bigger story is financing: BYD’s rise has less to do with design or price than with how the cars are financed.
BYD hasn’t expanded in Europe by building a traditional captive-finance arm. Instead, it has plugged directly into the region’s existing banking and leasing infrastructure, achieving captive-finance reach without the balance-sheet burden. In doing so, it has turned Europe’s financial system into a distribution engine that moves vehicles by turning them into financeable assets.
At first glance, BYD’s success seems straightforward: strong demand, rapid adoption, and a new entrant quickly gaining share. But in a market where vehicles are often financed, leased, and cycled through multiple channels before reaching long-term ownership, the headline numbers don’t always tell the whole story. The surge in European BYD registrations may signal demand and financing strength, or it may reflect window dressing shaped by the way the system works.
BYD relies on a familiar but strategically deployed set of financing and leasing arrangements. Vehicles are sold in bulk to leasing companies, fleet operators, and dealer networks, which then finance or lease them to end users, including corporate clients, ride-hailing drivers, and private buyers. European banks and auto-finance platforms provide the underlying credit, while leasing firms structure contracts and manage residual-value assumptions.
What stands out in BYD’s case is the speed and scale of the operation.
“European OEMs [original equipment manufacturers] built their captive finance arms over 30 to 40 years, and those businesses now function as profit centers,” says Stefan Bratzel, founder and executive director of the Center of Automotive Management (CAM) in Bergisch Gladbach, Germany. “BYD cannot replicate this overnight, nor does it try to.”
Instead, he notes, the company is partnering with established asset finance providers to accelerate market entry. BYD gains “speed to market at the cost of margin while it accumulates the balance sheet and regulatory standing to eventually internalize these functions.”
In effect, BYD is compressing a decades-long buildout of captive finance into a partner-led model, trading margin and control for faster access to Europe’s credit and leasing channels.
It’s easy to see the appeal for lenders: Vehicles placed into leasing or fleet programs become financeable units, bundled into loan or lease portfolios that generate predictable cash flow. In a market where electrification is both a policy priority and an investment theme, high-volume EV programs provide a steady pipeline of assets.
The speed of BYD’s expansion raises questions about the numbers.
“BYD’s channel mix is improving,” says Matthias Schmidt, an independent analyst tracking the European auto market. Retail share in Germany rose to 32.5% of volume in the first four months of 2026, compared with 12.4% for all of last year, suggesting a shift toward a more balanced sales mix. But the relationship between registrations and vehicles actually on the road is less straightforward.
“Out of more than 30,472 BYD models registered in Germany since it entered the market in December 2022, only 18,536 are currently on the road,” says Schmidt, suggesting that “after models have been registered, they are then being exported to other European markets as used-car inventory or are going back into used-car inventory in Germany. This could be a strategy to demonstrate to market observers that they are performing better in Europe’s largest market than they actually are. We call it window-dressing the data.”
In a system driven by leasing, fleet placement, and dealer networks, that gap is not necessarily unusual. Vehicles can be registered into the channel before reaching long-term ownership, then repositioned through resale, export, or short-term use across markets. For financial stakeholders, the distinction matters: registrations may signal momentum, but they do not necessarily show sustained demand.
For the institutions partnering with BYD and helping fund its expansion, the focus is less on BYD’s near-term concern — speed to market — and more on how those assets perform over time.
Residual value assumptions underpin the economics of leasing. If vehicles retain value, the system works: Monthly payments remain competitive, credit risk remains contained, and lenders and leasing firms can recycle assets efficiently through secondary markets. When they don’t, the economics tighten quickly.
“The EV residual value question is the single biggest structural challenge in automotive finance right now,” Bratzel says. “Whoever solves that problem credibly — either through data, scale, or balance sheet — will have a significant structural advantage.”
Bratzel points to one potential factor that could shape how banks ultimately price that risk: “Vertical integration around the battery — especially battery cells — can have a positive impact on risk assessments, as this is based on a lot of their own data.”
BYD’s advantage stems in part from how much of that data it controls. Unlike many automakers that rely on third-party suppliers for critical components, the company produces its own battery cells and key parts of the EV supply chain. That level of vertical integration gives BYD clearer visibility into battery performance over time, arguably the most important variable in determining how an electric vehicle depreciates.
The geographic distribution of BYD’s growth in Europe adds another layer.
According to Schmidt, roughly 70% of Chinese EV registrations in Western Europe in the first quarter of this year were concentrated in Spain, Italy, and the U.K.: markets that tend to be more price-sensitive and open to new entrants.
While this doesn’t invalidate BYD’s growth, it suggests that location-dependent finance dynamics are driving expansion as much as consumer demand.
| Traditional OEM Captive Finance |
BYD Partner-Led Model |
|---|---|
| Builds and operates own finance arm |
Uses banks and leasing partners |
| Significant capital commitment |
Lower capital burden |
| Controls lending and leasing directly |
Outsources financing functions |
| Often takes decades to build |
Can scale immediately |
| Retains finance profits | Trades margin for speed |
| Higher control | Faster market entry |
BYD’s approach is working. It has outsourced the slowest component of automotive expansion — credit formation — while maintaining control of product supply and commercial momentum.
As Bratzel suggests, this is not a permanent structure: It’s transitional. It’s designed to gain scale first, then possibly internalize financing over time. Meanwhile, European banks and leasing platforms are providing balance-sheet support to enable growth.
Schmidt’s analysis leaves little ambiguity: Not all growth is created equal. Registration data may reflect momentum, but it can also reflect channel dynamics — fleet placements, dealer inventory, cross-border repositioning — that cloud actual on-the-ground demand.
For lenders, the distinction is not academic. They are not underwriting registrations. They are underwriting residual values, which is where the rubber meets the road.
Over the next two to three years, vehicles deployed and financed today will begin to cycle back through the system via lease returns, resale markets, and secondary channels. At that point, the assumptions that anchor today’s financial models will be tested against real-world market conditions.
But the next phase will be less about volume. It will instead focus on testing the model that facilitated BYD’s rapid entry into Europe. If BYD’s vehicles hold their value, the company’s partner-led model will look less like a workaround and more like a fast-track version of what legacy automakers spent decades building. If residual values weaken, or if too much of the growth proves channel-driven rather than demand-driven, the financing engine that built BYD’s presence could become a constraint.
That’s the real question for banks: Can the vehicles BYD has placed in Europe retain their value once they return to the market? Because in a financing-driven system, growth can be engineered, but asset performance determines whether it lasts.
Rocco Pendola is a contributing writer based in Spain.
Saltburn’s amateur cricketer at centre of cheating allegations that grabbed global headlines is suspended by club.
Published On 30 Jul 202630 Jul 2026
An English amateur cricketer at the centre of allegations of finger-clicking trickery has been suspended and will not play “for the foreseeable future”, his club has said.
The fielder, dubbed “Clicky Ponting” on social media in a punning nod to former Australia captain Ricky Ponting, allegedly tricked umpires by clicking his fingers to make the sound of a ball nicking the bat as deliveries were missed and caught by the wicketkeeper.
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The video footage went viral on social media and made international headlines.
Saltburn Cricket Club, run by volunteers, said on Wednesday in a statement it was treating the allegations “with the utmost seriousness”.
“The player at the centre of the complaint has been suspended and will not play again for the club this season or in the foreseeable future, pending the outcome of this investigation.”
It said initial discussions between club officials and the North Yorkshire and South Durham league had already taken place.
The league said on Tuesday it had received a formal complaint “regarding alleged incidents in a Division Two game on Saturday 25th July 2026”.
Saltburn said it had been a distressing and stressful experience for all concerned and asked for “personal boundaries” to be respected.
The club are top of the Division Two table with 10 wins from 15 matches.
Historically, cricketers – even at the highest level of the game – have been accused of trying to trick umpires with noises, including chomping on a biscuit, to fool umpires into believing the ball hit the bat.
Cricket cheating allegations have even extended to dirt being applied to the ball, for which former England captain Michael Atherton was once fined, and the use of bottle tops to scuff the ball.
Both were attempts to create extra swing for the quick bowlers.
Returning from the US, Zelenskyy says Ukrainians’ safety depends on allies’ willingness to provide anti-missile defences.
Published On 30 Jul 202630 Jul 2026
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko says some non-residential sites in the city caught fire as Russia struck the Ukrainian capital with ballistic missiles.
Multiple explosions were heard in the city at 1:18am on Thursday (22:18 GMT Wednesday), according to Kyiv Independent reporters on the ground. Klitschko instructed people to seek shelter.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had warned on Wednesday that a massive Russian attack on Ukraine was likely and the safety of Ukrainians depended on the willingness of allies to provide anti-missile defences.
He was returning from the United States, where he said President Donald Trump had agreed to give Ukraine licences to make Patriot missiles.
Zelenskyy also repeated his request to Ukraine’s allies to supply Kyiv with the missiles its air defence system lacks in an X post.
In early July, Trump had expressed his intention to allow Ukraine to make the surface-to-air missiles at a time when Russia had stepped up its ballistic missile strikes.
Only US Patriot systems are capable of shooting down Russian missiles, but Ukraine is short of PAC-3 interceptor missiles.
This shortage has worsened since the war on Iran launched by the US and Israel in February.
In Washington, DC, Zelenskyy held what he called a “good meeting” with Trump, as he underscored Russian President Vladimir Putin’s loss of initiative on the war front due to heavy losses.
Zelenskyy spent just over an hour with Trump at the White House, in talks that came as Kyiv and Moscow intensified long-range strikes, as US-led diplomatic efforts to end the war stalled.
After the meeting, Trump posted photos to social media with a note that said: “Many things were discussed. The meeting went very well!”
Relations between Zelenskyy and Trump have warmed since the start of the US president’s second term, with Trump suggesting earlier this month that Ukrainian strikes inside Russia “could help” end the war.
This week FIFA announced plans to form a new subsidiary company to run part of the World Cup and offer a 20% stake to private investors, worth over $4B. Jared Kushner’s brother’s investment firm Thrive Eternal has been named a likely buyer. Al Jazeera’s Mohammad Saleh explains.
Published On 29 Jul 202629 Jul 2026
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Disruptions across Strait of Hormuz, Bab al-Mandeb and the Black Sea threaten supplies and raise costs for consumers.
Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz remains in effect halted.
Tankers are now avoiding another critical waterway – Bab al-Mandeb – as Yemen’s Houthi forces threaten Saudi-linked vessels. Ukrainian strikes have hit Russian export infrastructure.
Three major routes are now disrupted at once: the Gulf, the Red Sea and the Black Sea.
Together, they threaten trade flows equivalent to nearly a quarter of global oil supplies just as reserves sit at multiyear lows.
Goldman Sachs says oil could rise above $120 a barrel by the fourth quarter if disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz alone persist.
Economies worldwide are bracing for another energy shock.
Published On 29 Jul 202629 Jul 2026
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FIFA’s president lobbies for latest proposal for investment in football’s governing body, which has met with criticism.
Published On 29 Jul 202629 Jul 2026
FIFA President Gianni Infantino has set a September 19 deadline for the 211 member federations to accept a one-off $20m offer to each underwritten by the investment firm of Jared Kushner’s brother as part of a project to sell stakes in the World Cup.
Infantino set out the “singular and unique funding opportunity” in a letter detailing why he wants to create a $20bn FIFA subsidiary that would be 20 percent owned by private investors and would run the football body’s competitions and events like World Cups and Club World Cups.
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“It is my duty and responsibility as FIFA president to present such game-changing opportunities to you, our members,” Infantino wrote on Wednesday in the letter seen by The Associated Press news agency.
The proposal, revealed on Tuesday and backed by Joshua Kushner’s investment firm Thrive Capital, was met with immediate fury by Infantino’s former colleagues at the European football body UEFA, which said the World Cup “is not FIFA’s to sell”.
UEFA is expected to call its 55 member federations to an emergency online meeting, likely on Thursday.
Joshua Kushner’s brother, Jared Kushner, is a son-in-law of United States President Donald Trump.
FIFA’s private equity plan is the latest ambitious project proposed during Infantino’s 11-year presidency, during which he has increasingly seemed to be an executive leader acting without consulting football’s major stakeholders.
Previous plans include creating a FIFA Peace Prize and trying to reorganise football’s calendar with World Cups every two years instead of four.
Concerns about the previously secret plan were aired on Wednesday by the continental football bodies for Asia and the North American, Central American and Caribbean region, known as CONCACAF.
“We are deeply concerned by the lack of due process,” CONCACAF said in a statement.
The Kuala Lumpur-based Asian Football Confederation said it was “disappointed that a matter of such significance entered the public domain before the AFC family had been afforded the opportunity to examine and discuss it.”
Continental bodies that organise their own international club and national team competitions – such as the Champions League, European Championship and Copa America – likely will see threats to those events from FIFA wanting to increase revenue and value for investors by playing World Cups and Club World Cups for men and women more often.
If the FIFA Forward Enterprise subsidiary is approved by a majority of the 211 members, they are each promised $20m in funding from the four-year commercial cycle tied to the men’s 2030 World Cup.
That would lead, Infantino wrote, to “a pool of diverse international investors” joining Joshua Kushner’s Thrive as the anchor investor. “This process will be led by J.P. Morgan,” his letter said.
If Infantino’s plan is rejected, those members will get their previously promised $10m over the next four years, the letter stated.
FIFA’s plan met quick opposition from British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, whose government is preparing to support hosting the 2035 Women’s World Cup in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. FIFA is to confirm that lone bid for 2035 at an online meeting in November.
“Football does not belong to investors,” Burnham, a longtime football fan, said in a video message on Instagram. “Once you have sold a piece of [the World Cup], you have sold out. Football belongs to the fans. It always has, and it always will.”
Resistance by British lawmakers – including threats of legislation by then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson in 2021 – previously helped stop the divisive European Super League project that was criticised as an existential threat to UEFA’s Champions League and which Infantino had discreetly supported.
The dust has barely settled on the expanded 48-team FIFA World Cup 2026, yet further development of the competition’s future has already been mooted, as well as struck by a fierce backlash.
The shine on the trophy, now held by Spain after their defeat of Argentina in the final, still glitters brightly, but there were tarnishes to this year’s event.
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Now, the game’s global governing body, FIFA, and its president, Gianni Infantino, face yet more criticism after a plan was released to sell stakes in future World Cups and other events to private investors.
From European football’s governing body, UEFA, to the United Kingdom’s new prime minister, Andy Burnham, FIFA’s plan has been slammed. There has even been a suggestion of a boycott by UEFA.
Al Jazeera Sport takes a look at what the latest proposals on FIFA’s desk mean.
FIFA announced plans on Tuesday to sell stakes in future World Cups and other events to private investors in a bid to maximise revenue for the sport.
The proposal is to create a $20bn subsidiary to run the World Cup and other events.
FIFA says it would retain the majority share of a newly created FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) scheme, meaning it would still preside over football governance, competitions, match calendars and regulatory and sporting decisions.
Minority stakes, however, would be sold to external investors to raise up to $4.2bn as part of the new proposal.
Debate raged for months in the build-up to World Cup 2026 that FIFA’s ticket pricing was pushing fans out of “the people’s game”, as it has long been regarded.
FIFA’s defence was that the World Cup is their main source of income to support the game around the globe – from the sport’s grassroots to the administration of the major international events.
This latest proposal is FIFA’s attempt to stretch that revenue potential even further.
Billions of dollars are already raised by FIFA tournaments, largely from broadcasting rights, sponsorship and other commercial deals.
This new commercial subsidiary, the FFE, would extend beyond traditional means of raising funds and would be akin to the franchise model that many sports have now turned to.
The Indian Premier League (IPL), a T20 cricket tournament, was one of the first competitions to fully exploit the potential of franchise models, selling stakes in teams in a newly formed competition.
On Wednesday, the IPL – only formed in 2008 – announced its value had soared more than 11% this year to 20.6bn.
Teams in that competition are owned by majority investors, who therefore hold significant sway in how it is run.
Other models, including The Hundred of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) – an attempt to rival the IPL – have sold minority ownership of the teams.
ECB, as a result, retains control of the competition, and this is what FIFA is proposing for the share of the World Cup and its events that it intends to sell privately.
Nonetheless, a share is a share and new investors, be it in cricket’s The Hundred or in the FIFA World Cup, will expect at the very least to be heard when it comes to decision-making.
This is where concerns are being raised about the proposals.
Thrive Eternal, a United States venture capital firm, has been put forward to lead the proposed investor group, FIFA said.
The vehicle was founded by Joshua Kushner, the brother of US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
Any potential investors would thereafter buy into the FIFA events via Thrive Eternal.
FIFA has said all net benefits will be reinvested in football, and that all countries should benefit from the ever-increasing profitability of the sport.
“Football is the world’s most popular sport,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in a statement.
“Parts of the game have turned that popularity into remarkable commercial value – and we celebrate that success and want it to continue, because it lifts the whole game.
“Our job is to make sure the rest of football grows with it: FIFA exists to support sustainable, inclusive development in every corner of the world.”
FIFA has already clashed with domestic and continental governing bodies during World Cup 2026. The European powerhouse, UEFA, was the first to speak out against the new proposals.
“This crosses a line that football’s governing institutions should never cross,” UEFA said.
“UEFA takes it extremely seriously. So should every National Football Association. So should every stakeholder who cares about the future of the game.
“The soul and governance of football are not assets to trade – especially with zero transparency as to who gains financially. None of us are the owners of football. It is not FIFA’s to sell.”
Andy Burnham, who only replaced Keir Starmer as the United Kingdom’s prime minister last week, wrote on X: “Let me say this very directly. Football does not belong to investors. It belongs to the people who fill the stands and who stand on the touchline week in, week out, rain or shine.
“The World Cup is not a product. It is the greatest competition in world sport, and it was never anyone’s to sell. Dress the deal up however you like. Once you have sold a piece of it, you have sold out.
“Football belongs to the fans. It always has, and it always will,” he added.
The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) said on Wednesday that it had not been informed of FIFA’s proposed sale of equity to outside investors and was “deeply concerned” over a lack of due process.
Any change will need to be voted through by FIFA’s 211-country membership.
Of that number, 55 nations fall within UEFA’s governance.
The European body will hold an emergency meeting later this week to discuss the proposals.
Were FIFA to implement such a plan, one possible response UEFA could take would include a boycott of FIFA competitions.
Although at just above a quarter of FIFA membership, Europe has produced the winner of six of the last eight World Cups.
Argentina and Brazil are the only teams to prevent a clean sweep by the Europeans in that time, and, indeed, are the only nations outside Europe to win the World Cup since fellow South Americans Uruguay won their second and last title in 1950.
The main criticism going into the 2026 World Cup, held in the US, Canada and Mexico, was pricing. From tickets to transport links, it was felt that football fans on median salaries around the world were being priced out of the game.
During the World Cup, the decision to suspend a red card shown to USA striker Folarin Balogun “undermined the game’s integrity and credibility,” according to UEFA.
US President Donald Trump said he called Infantino about the ban that Balogun faced – the forward lined up for USA in their next match against Belgium.
FIFA also faced a backlash over hydration breaks that were introduced midway through each half of those matches. Critics said the breaks functioned primarily as commercial opportunities for broadcasters and disrupted the traditional flow of football matches at the tournament.
Having led Europe to a comfortable win at Rome’s Marco Simone Golf Club in 2023, captain Donald stayed in post to guide them to a stunning victory on US soil at Bethpage Black, in New York, in 2025.
At Adare Manor, he could become the first captain to win three in a row and will be only the fourth captain to lead at three straight Ryder Cups after Ben Hogan, Sam Snead and Bernard Gallacher.
He says Harrington will form a key part of his backroom staff in his quest to make history.
“I’ve been around Padraig in many Ryder Cup team rooms, as a player, as a vice captain to his captaincy, and he’s been a vice captain before as well,” Donald said. “So he brings a wealth of experience.
“I do love the fact that there’s a connection. He understands the Irish crowds and all that goes with having a Ryder Cup in Ireland. I think it’s going to be very special for him.
“He’s loved in Ireland with what he’s achieved in the game, and that will only bring more energy to our team.”
It will be the first time the competition has been held in Ireland since 2006, when Harrington was in the European team that won 18½-9½ at the K Club, County Kildare.
“You wouldn’t want to miss out with it being in Ireland, so I’m very pleased,” Harrington added. “I think it will be a spectacular occasion and one of the great sporting events to be played in the country. The whole of Ireland will be behind it, watching it, enjoying it and living it.
“The fans are going to be fantastic, and I think the atmosphere will be second to none.”
In total, Harrington played in 25 matches across six Ryder Cups, winning 10½ points for Team Europe, while he also boasts 44 tournament victories across a glittering career.
He still plays on the DP World Tour and in major championships, most recently at The Open.
Since turning 50 in 2021, he has starred on the Champions Tour, including winning a record-equalling three US Senior Open titles.
Berlin, Germany – Music is a major part of Rayhan Butt’s life. The 18-year-old from the west German city of Bielefeld discovered his passion for the piano a few years ago, and now plays daily, sometimes for 12 hours a day. Picking up singing along the way, he performs regularly across the country.
Butt has now found a way to combine his love of music with his love for Germany. Next month, he will travel to Berlin for an internship with the German Armed Forces, and in autumn he will be joining full-time as part of the army’s marching band.
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“Music, especially piano and singing, is not a hobby – it’s my whole life, and I want to build my future around it,” Butt tells Al Jazeera. “The Bundeswehr [German Armed Forces] has an excellent reputation, and there are a lot of opportunities to perform at a very high professional level, for example, in front of the German chancellor.
“I have decided to enrol because I can continue receiving musical training alongside learning valuable skills within the army such as teamwork and discipline.”
As he looks ahead to joining, Butt says that he supports voluntary military and civic duty and believes all young people should pursue one of these paths. “If tomorrow I’m called away from the marching band to fight, I would not hesitate in stepping up as a soldier. I’m a child of immigrants, and I’ve had a lot of opportunities growing up here, such as freedom and a great education. I would definitely defend this country with my life,” adds Butt, who Al Jazeera met through his participation with Generation Global, an initiative by the Liz Mohn Foundation that aims to prepare young people for future leadership roles.
That’s a sentiment the German government is desperately counting on, as it seeks to ramp up its military recruitment.
![Rayham Butt playing the piano [Photo courtesy Rayham Butt]](https://i0.wp.com/occasionaldigest.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IMG-20260716-WA0000-1784876666.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)
The Bundeswehr wants to increase its active-duty force by 80,000 men and women to 260,000, through a voluntary recruitment drive. In addition, it wants 200,000 men and women in the reserves.
The drive forms part of the Military Service Modernisation Act, which came into effect on January 1 and lays out a new set of requirements for young Germans. Since January, more than 300,000 letters have been sent to 18-year-olds to gauge their willingness to join the armed forces, as well as requesting information on their physical fitness and education. Women have also been sent the letter but, unlike young men, are not legally required to respond.
It’s one strand within Germany’s broader military expansion plans, initiated in 2022 after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In one of his first major speeches as chancellor last year, Friedrich Merz pledged to build the “strongest conventional army in Europe”.
Most recently, a new military concept outlining how Germany intends to fight and a capability profile were published three months ago.
Moritz Graefrath, an assistant professor of international security at the University of Oklahoma’s School of International Studies, said that more than this new document, the timing of its publication is what’s significant.
“One of the most plausible explanations is that it’s part of an effort to show, particularly to Washington as well as potentially other European allies within NATO, how serious the German government now is about ‘Europeanising’ European security and taking on more of the burden of continental defence,” he told Al Jazeera. “In many ways, this is a relatively costless signal of commitment to that idea of burden shifting within NATO, to that idea of taking on more responsibility.”
![Bela Breitner, a member of a students group that’s campaigning against conscription [Photo courtesy Bela Breitner]](https://i0.wp.com/occasionaldigest.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Bela-Breitner-1784900189.jpeg?w=640&ssl=1)
Yet the latest measures on conscription are not being welcomed by all.
Official figures published on July 14 showed that so far this year, 6,000 young men have applied to remain out of the military service on “religious” and “moral” grounds, more than the number throughout the whole of last year.
A clause in the new law that required young men between the ages of 17 and 45 years old to seek prior approval for long stays abroad was repealed following a backlash by opposition voices, including student activists who have arranged three large-scale demonstrations attended by a reported 50,000 young people across 90 German cities since December.
Bela Breitner is a 22-year-old computer science student living in Bochum in western Germany. He is part of the Schulstreik Gegen Wehrpflicht (School Strike Against Conscription) campaign group, which formed late last year in response to what they see as the “militarisation” of German society.
“Our main focus point is conscription,” he tells Al Jazeera. “Many students are in opposition to these measures because within the last few years, we feel like we haven’t received anything positive from the state.
“Many young people lost opportunities during the COVID pandemic, the school system in Germany is criminally underfinanced, and now they want to implement conscription to force us to be trained in combat. Many of us feel like our voices are not being listened to.”
Conscription was first introduced in Germany in the mid-1950s, and suspended only in 2011. Graefrath says the suspension was driven by societal factors as well as government calculations around things such as budgets.
“On the one hand, there was a sense of post-Cold War peace where it seemed inconceivable for another war in Europe to take place, let alone one that would involve Germany, so the conscription framework was seen as a relic of the past,” he said. “On the other hand, it became apparent, especially to young Germans at the time, that if the model was abandoned, they could study, start apprenticeships and enter the workforce, rather than having at least one year of compulsory service. So there was that societal element there.”
While the Bundeswehr says it is optimistic about achieving its targets, only about 500 recruits have been enrolled so far this year. The figures prompted one senior politician earlier this month to say that Germany will have to decide by next July at the latest whether to reintroduce compulsory military service.
Analyst Graefrath said that Germany would need to decide the future of conscription based on its reading of wider geopolitical challenges. “This would be how unreliable the United States is right now and in the foreseeable future, and how big a threat Russia actually poses.”
Meanwhile, the clause for young men to seek permission before shifting abroad remains repealed but only as long as conscription remains voluntary.
Student activist Breitner says the issue doesn’t just affect students, but people from across society, and the campaign group will continue efforts to mobilise wider support.
“I don’t know any Russians, but I believe there are many people in Russia and around the world who have dreams and want to achieve something else with their life other than fighting a war,” he said. “I believe that there are more people who share values such as peace, freedom and the right to choose over what may separate us.”
Football’s world governing body announces plans to sell stakes of up to 20 percent in the World Cup and other events.
Published On 29 Jul 202629 Jul 2026
FIFA has proposed a plan to sell stakes in the World Cup and other events to private investors, provoking a furious response from the European football governing body, UEFA.
Under the plans announced by FIFA on Tuesday, a $20bn subsidiary would be created to run the World Cup and other events.
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World football’s governing body said it would retain a majority share in the new FIFA Forward Enterprise, offering minority stakes to external investment to raise up to $4.2bn.
The plan still needs to be voted on by FIFA’s 211 member nations.
If successful, the proposed investor group is expected to be led by a vehicle founded by Joshua Kushner, the brother of US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, FIFA said.
UEFA said the proposal “crosses a line that football’s governing institutions should never cross”.
FIFA has just held a 48-team World Cup across the United States, Canada and Mexico – the biggest in the tournament’s history.
It is one of the world’s wealthiest sporting organisations, generating billions of dollars, largely from broadcasting rights, sponsorship and other commercial deals linked to the World Cup.
But it says this proposal can increase funds to widen access to the sport and strengthen global participation, with all net benefits to be reinvested in football.
“Football is the world’s most popular sport,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in a statement.
“Parts of the game have turned that popularity into remarkable commercial value – and we celebrate that success and want it to continue, because it lifts the whole game.
“Our job is to make sure the rest of football grows with it: FIFA exists to support sustainable, inclusive development in every corner of the world.”
FIFA said that in addition to retaining sole control of the subsidiary, it would retain authority over football governance, competitions, match calendars and regulatory and sporting decisions.
The proposal deepens the divide between FIFA and UEFA, with Europe positioning itself as football’s custodian, while FIFA, a not-for-profit organisation, says it is focused on broadening access with financial largesse.
In a statement, UEFA said it takes the new proposals “extremely seriously”.
“So should every National Football Association. So should every stakeholder: leagues, clubs, players, supporters, governments and everyone who cares about the future of the game.
“The soul and governance of football are not assets to trade – especially with zero transparency as to who gains financially. None of us are the owners of football. It is not FIFA’s to sell.”
The United Kingdom’s new prime minister, Andy Burnham, joined critics, saying on social media that the sport does not belong to investors.
“The World Cup is not a product. It is the greatest competition in world sport, and it was never anyone’s to sell,” Burnham wrote on X.
“Dress the deal up however you like. Once you have sold a piece of it, you have sold out.”
Graffiti has marked the walls of Rome for millennia. Now, as one content creator builds a following cleaning spray-painted walls, his videos are fuelling a wider debate over heritage, street art and where the line between the two should be drawn.
Published On 28 Jul 202628 Jul 2026
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Both countries expect to see temperatures soar into Wednesday, which could cause the blazes to spread.
Published On 28 Jul 202628 Jul 2026
The spread of wildfires in France and Spain that had come dangerously close to the cities of Bordeaux and Madrid appears to be slowing, authorities say, but they are bracing for yet another stifling heatwave this week, which could fan the flames of current blazes and ignite new ones.
Nearly 4,000 people were evacuated from tourist sites in the Lacanau area of the Gironde region in southwestern France on Tuesday, bringing the total number who have fled Gironde to well over a quarter of a million. The wine-growing region, which includes the historic city of Bordeaux is the worst affected in France by the wildfires
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“We are at a point of fragility,” Eric Brocardi, spokesperson for France’s national firefighters federation, told BFMTV on Tuesday. “We will continue attacking this fire despite the forecast rise in temperatures.”
Images posted by the French newspaper Le Figaro showed ash on a beach in Lacanau. Sophie Brocas, Gironde’s prefect, has banned all sporting and cultural events until August 8.
France’s fourth heatwave of 2026 is expected to begin on Tuesday as temperatures are forecast to reach as high as 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in the coming days. When the heatwave reaches Spain on Wednesday, temperatures are expected to be even hotter there.
In Spain, 116,000 people have had to leave their homes since the wildfires began, but some have since been able to return. In the central province of Toledo, people from nine of 11 evacuated towns were allowed to go back to their homes on Tuesday.
Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said people “can be a little more at ease” after progress overnight in tackling the many blazes in the country, which are mostly concentrated in central Spain.
Firefighters are also dealing with blazes in the neighbouring provinces of Avila and Toledo. About 800sq km (310sq miles) of land have burned.
One Spanish evacuee from the east of the country told the Reuters news agency he had witnessed “total chaos”.
“It was like in the movies where hell cracked the ground open, and you see the red hell.”
The scorching heat has renewed concerns about climate change with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez describing the fires as “the most painful expression of a climate emergency”.
Sanchez said authorities are beginning “to see the light at the end of the tunnel in the fight against wildfires” but cautioned that the upcoming heatwave still has to be dealt with.
THE most beautiful buildings in the entire world have been named and one surprising estate from the UK has made the list.
However, if you want to visit the pretty British attraction book to go as soon as possible is set to close for a multi-million pound revamp.
The Barbican in London has taken second place to India‘s grand Taj Mahal as Time Out’s 26 ‘most beautiful buildings’ to see in 2026.
The free-to-visit landmark attracts over a million visitors each year and is set to undergo a huge upgrade to save it falling into disrepair.
At the estimated cost of £231million, The Barbican will upgrade its indoor rainforest in its Conservatory which is home to 1,500 species of plant.
Also included in the plans is to protect Barbican’s brutalist foyers and lakeside terrace.
Outside in the courtyard, the pond will be revamped to stop water leaking onto the Metropolitan Line below – there will be new fountains and seating outside too.
The visitor destination is already free to visit, and this will continue once the revamp is complete.
The refurbishment project is set to start in 2028 when it will close until 2029.
The Barbican was pipped to the post by the Taj Mahal, a picture-perfect landmark in India built in the 1600s – it’s not hard to see why it got top spot.
Coming in third place was the Hallgrímskirkja in Iceland which is a church standing at 244 feet.
Not only is it a place of worship, but it has an observation tower where visitors can get incredible city views.
In Europe, other honourable mentions go to the Sagrada Familia in Spain which is very near completion after 140 years.
The outside of Gaudi’s basilica was completed in February, but there is some work still to do before it’s officially finished.
The Twist in Norway came in twelfth position and is a spectacular art gallery that is also used as a bridge.
It’s part of the Kistefos Sculpture Park and sits across the Ranselva River.
Another UK building did make the list coming in at number 21 – and it’s the Maggie’s Centre at St James’s Hospital in London.
The publication described it as having “mushroom-shaped forms grow from the floors to form the tiered roofs, and the stems are deep enough to contain loos and lifts.
“The space is decorated with mostly natural materials – think cork-topped tables, resin floors and cascading potted plants.”
Some more classic monuments and structures on the list include The Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, the Pantheon in Italy and Ad-Dayr in Petra, Jordan.
Colombia‘s impressive Santuario de Las Lajas comes in at number 19.
The enormous basilica sits on a bridge over the Guáitara River – it has been a pilgrimage destination since the eighteenth century and now gets up to 900,000 visitors each year.
Ex-superstar player succeeds Didier Deschamps as France manager after the national team’s bitter semifinal exit in the United States.
Published On 28 Jul 202628 Jul 2026
Former France midfielder Zinedine Zidane will take over as national team head coach, the French Football Federation posted on X on Tuesday.
The appointment of the former Real Madrid manager comes two weeks after Didier Deschamps’ tenure as coach ended following France’s fourth-place finish at the World Cup. His final match in charge was the 6-4 defeat by England.
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Zidane, 54, is expected to begin his reign with an away UEFA Nations League game against Turkiye before France host Italy at the Stade de France on October 2.
Deschamps, who left after 14 years at the helm, oversaw 185 matches and 120 victories, guiding France to the 2018 World Cup title, the 2020-21 Nations League trophy and the Euro 2016 and 2022 World Cup finals.
Both share a long association, having been teammates in the 1998 World Cup-winning side at home in France.
Zidane played a pivotal role in that triumph and won the Ballon d’Or that year.
The US Senate will vote Tuesday on Russian sanctions, days after Ukraine attacked an Iranian vessel in the Caspian Sea.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to meet United States President Donald Trump in the White House on Tuesday, a meeting that could coincide with the introduction of tough new sanctions on Russia.
Zelenskyy, who will attend the funeral of US Senator Lindsey Graham, is also scheduled to meet with the Senate on Tuesday evening, the Reuters news agency reported, citing two Senate aides.
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The vote on Russia sanctions, legislation that has been pending for months and was championed by Graham, could happen that same day.
If enacted, the Russian sanctions bill would ratchet up pressure on Moscow by imposing 100 percent tariffs on goods from the five largest importers of Russian oil and gas, including China and India.
In a last-minute intervention, Trump sought to add sanctions on Iran to the same bill. Zelenskyy told Trump ally Laura Loomer last week that he thinks the move is a “great idea”.
The two wars, taking place roughly 2,500km (1,550 miles) apart, have converged in recent days.
On Saturday, Ukraine attacked an Iranian tanker in the Caspian Sea that Ukraine’s ambassador to Israel, Yevgen Korniychuk, said was carrying drones and military components from Iran to Russia. Iran has promised to retaliate.
By attacking Iranian ships, Kyiv is not only doing itself a favour but also attacking Washington’s “enemy number one”, which will please the US, former US ambassador to Kazakhstan and Georgia, William Courtney, told Al Jazeera.
But while Zelenskyy supports Iranian sanctions as part of the Russian sanctions bill, Ukraine is unlikely to want to be too closely associated with the “unpopular” US war on Iran, he added.
The US no longer provides direct financial aid to Ukraine for its war against the Russian invasion, but it still provides crucial intelligence for long-range strikes and sells weapons to Europe that are then passed on to Ukraine.
While their relationship seemed tense during a heated exchange in the White House in February 2025, relations between Zelenskyy and Trump have improved significantly in recent months.
The two leaders agreed earlier this month to allow Ukraine to jointly produce Patriot air defence interceptors, a crucial component for the country’s defence against Russian aerial attacks.
Ukraine and the US are also moving closer to a deal on joint drone production, a move that could help the US catch up with Ukraine in this crucial military technology.
Ukraine is on track to produce 6 to 7 million short-range attack drones this year, while the Pentagon’s $1.1bn production programme will have ordered just under 200,000 drones cumulatively by February 2027.
Heavy fighting continues on Ukraine’s front lines, and long-range strikes are taking place almost every day.
On Monday, Russian strikes on eastern Ukraine killed seven people and injured more than 20, officials said.
In Russia’s Belgorod region, a Ukrainian drone struck a commercial building, killing one person and injuring two.
Fighting is heaviest in Ukraine’s Konstantinyvka and Pokrovsk directions, both of which are in the Donetsk region.
US accused France of “condescending” rhetoric over its human rights stances
Published On 27 Jul 202627 Jul 2026
United States diplomats walked out of a United Nations Security Council meeting on Russia’s war against Ukraine as France’s delegation took the floor.
The walkout on Monday came two days after an online exchange between US and French officials over Washington voting against renewing the four-year term of UN human rights chief Volker Turk.
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France’s UN Mission in Geneva wrote on Saturday that the US was no longer a “beacon of human rights” and stood isolated alongside North Korea, Nicaragua, Mali and Russia.
US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz replied on X that France had voted for a rights chief who “has been lecturing free, sovereign democracies like the United States, the UK, and Israel, while cozying up to the world’s worst oppressors”.
After the walkout, Dan Negrea, an alternate US representative, told the council that his delegation would keep walking out until France renounced its “condescending and disrespectful rhetoric”.
France’s ambassador, Jerome Bonnafont, did not mention the walkout when he spoke, saying France was working to preserve the UN’s independence and its capacity to act.
Turk, who has criticised violations of international law by Israel and the US in Palestine and Iran, was reappointed by a UN General Assembly vote of 144 in favour, 10 against and 13 abstentions.
The administration of US President Donald Trump has cut funding to UN agencies and withdrawn from dozens of UN entities since 2025. It had also threatened to reassess its engagement over Turk’s mandate.
Washington and Paris have also clashed over NATO spending, trade policy and Trump’s threats to occupy Greenland, a territory of NATO member Denmark.
France, along with other European states, has also drawn Trump’s ire for refusing direct participation in the US-Israel war on Iran.
Three women were wounded, two of them seriously, in a knife attack near Porte de Clichy in Paris. Bystanders and an off-duty police officer restrained the suspect, whose motive remains unknown.
Published On 27 Jul 202627 Jul 2026
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Europe’s lakes and mountains have seen a huge surge in summer tourism in recent years, as holidaymakers look for alternatives to the crowded coastal resorts of the Med. Whether it’s a walking holiday in the Tirol, a lakeside cabin stay in Scandinavia, or a spectacular train journey through the Alps, we’d love to hear about your favourite experiences.
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