United Kingdom

Rescue boats from both France and the UK took part in the operation to evacuate passengers from the stricken vessel.

More than 150 migrants travelling to the United Kingdom in a boat across the English Channel have been rescued after the vessel caught fire.

A major rescue operation was launched on Tuesday morning near the French port of Boulogne-sur-Mer, with both French and British authorities working to evacuate those on board, some of whom had jumped into the sea.

The local French maritime prefecture said five of the 157 people on board had requested rescue overnight and were evacuated. It said the remaining passengers refused assistance and the boat continued its journey towards the UK, until the engine caught fire and all those on board were rescued.

Since Andy Burnham became UK prime minister two weeks ago, more than 2,000 people have crossed the English Channel in small boats.

Immigration is an extremely divisive and hotly contested issue in the UK, prompting Burnham to pledge that he will be “relentless” in stopping people from reaching the country in small boats.

A person generally must be in the UK to lodge an asylum application, as current rules do not allow people to make asylum claims from overseas. Amnesty International has argued that this makes it “impossible” for people abroad to seek asylum in the UK.

The 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention, to which the UK is a signatory, establishes protections for people fleeing persecution and recognises that those seeking safety may have to use irregular routes.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage commented on the incident in the English Channel in a post on X.

“We must put a stop to this. Our plan will save lives,” he said.

Farage’s party has pledged to abolish what is known as indefinite leave to remain (ILR) if it wins the next election, due to take place in 2029. ILR allows people to live and work in the UK without a time limit. Reform has also said it would rescind existing ILR grants.

FIFA executive Arsene Wenger backs decision to drop FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s World Cup sell-off plan.

FIFA executive Arsene Wenger has distanced himself from President Gianni Infantino’s failed plan to sell stakes in future World Cup profits to private investors and says it was “absolutely necessary” to drop the proposal.

Wenger’s statement on Tuesday on the controversy came after a preservation letter from UEFA, confirmed to Al Jazeera by European football’s governing body, was sent to FIFA, the world governing body.

Upon confirming the legal request was sent, UEFA said it would be making “no further comment at this stage”.

The Associated Press news agency, however, has reported that it has seen a letter from lawyers representing UEFA that has named Wenger, the French coaching great, among 18 executives whose data and communications should be retained as potential evidence.

“I was not involved in this strategic plan and first became aware of the project through media reports,” said Wenger, who was hired by Infantino in 2019 and is FIFA’s chief of global football development.

The statement by the former Arsenal coach did not name Infantino and comes after a weeklong furore across world football.

“The decision to withdraw the project was absolutely necessary and beyond question, because I firmly believe in an independent FIFA that serves our game with commitment, transparency, and integrity,” Wenger wrote.

Infantino withdrew his $20bn proposal early on Saturday after a furious backlash by global football officials and organisations, including UEFA warning of a boycott of all FIFA games and events.

The plan would have created a subsidiary, known as FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), to run the money-making parts of the nonprofit football body’s work, including organising tournaments like the World Cup and selling broadcasting and sponsorship rights and tickets.

It proposed raising $4.2bn from investors by selling stakes amounting to about 20 percent in FFE, based on an equity valuation of $20bn.

The “anchor investor” would have been Thrive Eternal, launched by Joshua Kushner, whose brother, Jared Kushner, is a son-in-law of United States President Donald Trump.

FIFA’s 211 member federations – already the essential owners of the governing body as a nonprofit association under Swiss law – were offered $20m each. The deadline to accept was September 19.

They also were promised a doubling of their FIFA funding for the four years through 2030 to $20m instead of the previously announced $10m.

Infantino shared details of the project to FIFA management just one week after the July 19 final of the financially successful World Cup in North America that drove FIFA’s revenues to $15bn for the 2023-2026 commercial cycle, almost double the income tied to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Wenger said his FIFA duties were to “oversee the data analysis of the game, the FIFA online training centre, the development of youth education through 60 academies across 60 countries where they are most needed, and youth competitions around the world”.

UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said his government will be “relentless” in tackling small boat crossings across the English Channel, saying crossings are down by 50% compared with the same period last year despite Britain recording its highest daily arrival figure of 2026 last week.

Seven Palestinians, including two children, have been detained by Israeli forces in overnight and predawn raids across the West Bank, according to Palestinian local sources.

Israeli settlers separately assaulted a Palestinian man and his wife on their own farmland on Saturday.

The couple was attacked in the al-Zarqa area of Beitillu, northwest of Ramallah, when a group of settlers stormed the farm where they were working, leaving both with injuries and bruising that required hospital treatment.

The latest settler attacks and raids by Israeli forces are a single day’s snapshot of activity now unfolding “in every direction” across the occupied West Bank, said Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh, reporting from Ramallah.

Odeh said Israeli military jeeps were roaming constantly through Ramallah on Saturday, as soldiers used tear gas inside a supermarket in the city. This level of everyday disruption, she said, has become difficult to separate from the settlement expansion driving it.

Settlers have erected another illegal outpost this week, Odeh added, the 12th such construction in the past seven days alone.

The military raids that produced Saturday’s detentions spanned three governorates at once. In Tubas, forces searched a family home in the town of Tammun and detained a 16-year-old; in Nablus, four Palestinians were picked up in predawn raids on the villages of Urif, Einabus and Burqa; and in Bethlehem, a second 16-year-old was detained in Wadi Fukin, with another man held at the Container Checkpoint.

In the nearby town of Asira ash Shamaliya, troops went further still, storming dozens of homes overnight and converting one house into a makeshift field interrogation centre, security sources told Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Further south, in Khashem al-Daraj near Hebron, Israeli forces chased down and detained 11 workers, beating them in the process, according to local activist Osama Makhamreh.

Israeli settlers, meanwhile, were active on parallel fronts.

In Surif, near Hebron, residents from the Bat Ayin outpost set fire to one car, damaged another, and sprayed racist graffiti on a house, the town’s mayor, Hazem Ghneimat, said.

Later on Saturday, three young Palestinian men were assaulted with pepper spray on the road between al-Mughayyir and Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah, after settlers rammed their vehicle with an all-terrain vehicle – an attack that village council head Amin Abu Aliya said has become almost a daily occurrence along that stretch of road.

In Beit Jala, near Bethlehem, Israeli authorities forced three residents to demolish their own homes rather than face the fines and costs of a state-led demolition, which, Palestinians say, is a practice used routinely to sidestep Israel’s near-total refusal to grant them building permits.

Saturday’s events fit a pattern that rights monitors have been documenting for months. Palestinian sources recorded more than 11,000 attacks by Israeli forces and settlers across the West Bank in the first half of this year alone, with Hebron, Ramallah and Nablus the worst affected.

The figures echo recent United Nations warnings – including from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who has said settler violence and forced displacement are accelerating alongside plans to expand and legalise outposts, all of which the UN maintains have no legal validity under international law.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham added his own criticism on Saturday, calling the scale of the humanitarian crisis in Palestine “unacceptable” and saying his government was weighing further measures on Israeli settlements, including possible restrictions on arms exports.

Backlash to FIFA’s private investment plan for World Cups and events was huge; now football reacts to the U-turn’s fallout.

FIFA President ‌Gianni Infantino has said that world football’s governing ⁠body had ⁠scrapped plans to sell a stake in the World Cup and other events to private investors after widespread backlash.

The response to the plan, which was announced on Tuesday by Infantino, was overwhelming.

The wording of the outcry from around the globe was damning of the proposal, but stopped short of directly criticising Infantino.

The reaction to Infantino’s decision late on Friday to scrap the investment scheme, which would have sold minority stakes in World Cups and other FIFA events, ranges from overt votes of no confidence in the FIFA president to more subtle, but equally notable, condemnation of the week’s events.

“UEFA welcomes FIFA’s decision to withdraw its plan to sell a stake in ⁠its competitions – including the World Cup – into private hands,” European football’s governing body said.

“The current FIFA leadership has not only lost UEFA’s confidence but also that of many other members of the football family.”

“UEFA will begin ⁠work immediately with partners and stakeholders all over the world and right across the game to propose a new way of distributing resources through the existing FIFA Forward programme.”

“This is a victory for the whole game. But it must not be the end of the story. The proposal ‌has gone. The task of rebuilding trust in FIFA has only just begun.”

AFC’s president, Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa

“The future of global football must always be shaped through ⁠proper consultation, collective dialogue and respect for the established governance structures of our game,” said Sheikh Salman, president of the Asian Football Confederation.

“The AFC stands ready to support any initiative that strengthens the unity of the football family, contributes to ‌the continued growth of the game globally and delivers meaningful benefits to all stakeholders.”

“We stand shoulder to shoulder with our European colleagues and fully support the collective view,” an FA spokesperson wrote on its website.

“We oppose FIFA’s plans – the FIFA World Cup belongs to football and always will.”

Dutch FA statement

“With the withdrawal of the proposal, the matter is not settled for the KNVB,” the Dutch statement read.

“The ⁠way this process has unfolded has led to a fundamental breach of trust in the leadership of FIFA President Gianni Infantino. The KNVB no longer has confidence in his leadership.”

“We welcome FIFA’s ⁠decision not to proceed with the proposal. It is in line with our expectations in light of the flawed process and the reactions the proposal ‌has provoked,” Astrom said.

“At the same time, we are still concerned about deficiencies in transparency and governance, and want to emphasize ‌the ‌importance of continued discussion and dialogue about how football should be governed and developed.”

“As a founding member of FIFA and a representative on the FIFA Council, the RBFA remains committed to a strong, independent and sustainable model for international football,” Van Damme said.

“Football has never stood still, nor should it,” Isaac said.

“Throughout its history, our game has evolved through innovation, investment and new ideas that have strengthened football, created greater opportunities for players, ⁠coaches and referees, and enhanced the experience ⁠of supporters around the world. That spirit of progress must continue.

“Some principles, however, should never change. Integrity. Independence. Good governance. Transparency. Meaningful consultation. Due process. ⁠These are not constraints on progress. They are what make lasting progress possible.”

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.

Climate change has helped southern Europe’s likelihood of wildfires double since 1981, say researchers.

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.

Saltburn’s amateur cricketer at centre of cheating allegations that grabbed global headlines is suspended by club.

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.

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.

Football’s world governing body announces plans to sell stakes of up to 20 percent in the World Cup and other events.

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.

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”.

Reinvested in the game

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.

‘World Cup is not a product’

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.”

A fertiliser explosion at a farm in Essex triggered a major incident. Dozens of firefighters worked to contain the large industrial fire and protect nearby homes.

London, United Kingdom — On his fourth day as prime minister, Andy Burnham did not stay at Downing Street in London. Nor did he go to Manchester, the home of Number 10 North. He went to Glasgow.

Hours before King Charles and Queen Camilla opened the 2026 Commonwealth Games, Burnham held his first in-person meetings with Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney and Wales’ First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth. The talks were meant to demonstrate, in Burnham’s own words, that growth is needed “in every postcode across the whole of the UK”. A meeting with Northern Ireland’s First and Deputy First Ministers, Michelle O’Neill and Emma Little-Pengelly, is pencilled in for a wider UK tour in August.

Notably absent from the agenda, at Burnham’s insistence, was any discussion of a second Scottish independence referendum.

Just days after being appointed prime minister, Burnham is testing a proposition that will define his premiership. He’s selling a vision that the office itself can be partly relocated out of London to Manchester, the city he governed as mayor from 2017 until his return to UK Parliament in the Makerfield by-election last month.

What Number 10 North actually is

Stripped of rhetoric, Number 10 North is a written ministerial statement. On July 21, Baroness Smith of Basildon, Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal, confirmed on the government’s behalf that devolution and local growth policy functions are moving out of the housing ministry and the Treasury and into a new Manchester-based operation. There, civil servants will work inside a restructured Office for the Prime Minister and the Cabinet, led by Cabinet Secretary Dame Antonia Romeo.

The interim headquarters is Heron House, in the New Islington area of Manchester, chosen partly for its proximity to a planned Manchester Digital Campus.

Caroline Simpson, the outgoing chief executive of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, has been named Burnham’s deputy chief of staff, and will be in charge of day-to-day office operations. Downing Street says Burnham himself expects to work from Manchester “at least one day a week”, though officials caution his diary may change, and insists the arrangement carries no additional cost to taxpayers.

Burnham calls it “the nerve centre of a rewired Britain” and rejects suggestions it is symbolic. “Not a gimmick,” he told his first Cabinet meeting about Number 10 North.

Plumbing, but no water

Number 10 North “establishes the plumbing, but the water isn’t flowing yet”, said Mirte Boot of the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) North. The institutional architecture is firming up, but fiscal devolution – ie, the transfer of money and tax-raising power – that would make such a policy meaningful doesn’t yet exist, she added.

Still, she calls it “a step in the right direction” after what she describes as “too much power condensed into one postcode”. Leaving Westminster isn’t enough; Number 10 North will need “strong political leadership aside from the prime minister”, she added.

The verdict that Number 10 North contains vision and ambition but currently lacks a detailed plan and delivery mechanism is a recurring response from independent voices.

Jonathan Carr-West of the Local Government Information Unit calls Burnham’s devolution agenda “the most ambitious statement … from a senior politician in a generation”, while warning that English councils are so financially hollowed out that the vision “requires a vehicle” it does not yet have.

Malcolm Morgan, a transport researcher at the University of Leeds, puts it more bluntly: genuine devolution means spending, taxation and regulatory power, not just relocated functions, and “devolution does not create more funding”.

That funding question sits unresolved alongside the national one. The 2026 English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act expanded mayors’ control over transport, planning and housing, but left fiscal devolution to a separate Treasury “roadmap” due alongside the autumn budget. According to Centre for Cities, a UK urban policy think tank, the UK remains the most fiscally centralised country in the G7: some 95 percent of tax revenue flows straight to Whitehall.

Devolution, or recentralisation?

For Scotland’s SNP government, the Number 10 North framing is beside the point. First Minister Swinney responded that “rhetoric alone will not cut it” and argued that four consecutive Holyrood elections have handed his party a mandate for Scottish self-determination, something Westminster keeps ignoring, he said. In Glasgow, Burnham declined to engage with that argument directly.

Meanwhile, Wales’ Ap Iorwerth struck a more cooperative note but still said he expected “that Number 10 North would not become Whitehall with a different postcode”.

He also used the meeting with Burnham to press for a new Wales Bill granting policing and justice powers, and a replacement for the Barnett Formula funding mechanism, which Westminster uses to calculate annual changes to the block grants allocated to the UK’s devolved governments, so Wales would have funding parity with Scotland.

Reform UK’s Nigel Farage, from the opposite political direction, warned that a Number 10 in the south and one in the north would simply “fight against each other”.

What it means in Manchester

In Bury, Greater Manchester, Scottish-born Debe Conway sells children’s books at markets and has lived in the area for 56 years, but remains unconvinced about the new prime minister.

Her biggest concern is immigration, which she called Burnham weak on. And as for Number 10 North, she wants to know how it’s being paid for, and asks how long it will last, considering that the UK has had seven prime ministers in the last 10 years.

Rich Carver, who has run pizza restaurants in Manchester for 15 years and is currently “soaking up the energy in the city”, says he cares more about what will happen in the next 10 years.

He’s also tired of the succession of governments and wants this one to last. He likes Burnham and is optimistic enough about the city’s trajectory that he is opening a new restaurant in the coming weeks, something he would not have done five years ago.

“We are all one country,” he says, hoping the rest of the UK (and the media) give the new prime minister time and the chance to implement his vision. Whether that time produces growth, or just relocated offices, is the question Number 10 North still has to answer.

England and Australia will not play Tests in the north of England after Old Trafford and Headingley not chosen to host.

There will be no Ashes matches in the north of England next year, when Australia arrive for Test cricket’s oldest rivalry.

Headingley in Leeds and Manchester’s Old Trafford have both staged some of the most dramatic clashes in the long history of Ashes cricket.

Don Bradman, arguably cricket’s greatest batsman, scored two triple centuries at Headingley in the 1930s.

Both grounds played host to remarkable individual feats by England hero Ian Botham during the 1981 Ashes series.

Headingley was also the venue for a remarkable unbeaten century by England’s Ben Stokes in a one-wicket win during the 2019 series.

But both venues have been left off the schedule for the 2027 Ashes – a decision criticised by new British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, then the mayor of Greater Manchester – when it was announced in 2023.

The England and Wales Cricket Board confirmed on Thursday the exact fixture list for next year’s Ashes, with all five matches limited to the Midlands and south of England.

Hampshire’s Rose Bowl, near Southampton, will stage its first Ashes Test from July 21 – the fourth of the series.

It will become the 10th ground in the United Kingdom to stage a men’s Ashes Test.

The series will start at Trent Bridge in Nottingham on June 18, with Lord’s – as is traditional – staging the second Test on June 30 and Edgbaston in Birmingham the third on July 8.

The Ashes will conclude at the Oval in south London with the July 29-August 2 Test.

Old Trafford and Headingley are both set to stage Ashes Tests in 2031.

Australia triumphed 4-1 on home soil during the 2025-26 Ashes. The last Ashes series in England ended in a 2-2 draw in 2023.

England’s last Ashes series success was a 3-2 home victory in 2015.

They are also due to play a one-off Test against Bangladesh at Lord’s from May 28.

The 2027 World Test Championship final will be held at the Oval starting on June 9, the second time the venue has hosted the title match.

Centre back William Saliba won’t require surgery for injury sustained at World Cup, his club says.

Arsenal ‌defender William Saliba ⁠will be ⁠sidelined for an extended period after suffering a back injury while playing for France during ⁠the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the reigning Premier League champions say.

Saliba was hampered by the injury throughout the tournament in North America, limiting his training. He was substituted in the first half of France’s 2-0 semifinal defeat by Spain and missed the 6-4 third-place playoff loss to England.

“Subsequent specialist reviews on William’s return to London this week have confirmed that he has suffered a ⁠back injury which will ⁠require a period of rehabilitation,” Arsenal said in a statement on Wednesday.

“Extensive assessments have concluded that surgery is ⁠not recommended, but William should now commence a managed ⁠recovery programme.

“Everyone is fully ⁠focused on supporting William to ensure he is back to full fitness as soon as possible.”

Saliba made 50 appearances across all competitions for the North London club last season as the Gunners ended a 22-year wait to win the Premier League title and also reached the Champions League final.

Arsenal ‌are to begin the defence of their Premier League crown at home against promoted Coventry ‌City ‌on August 21.

The 23-year-old Rogers, established as one of the Premier League’s top attacking talents, has signed a contract with the London team until 2033.

The England World Cup forward Morgan Rogers has completed his British transfer record move from Aston Villa to Premier League rivals Chelsea.

No fee was officially disclosed, but media reports on Tuesday said it is worth 117 million pounds ($156.5m), which surpasses England teammate Elliot Anderson’s 116 million pounds ($155m) switch from Nottingham Forest to Manchester City earlier this month.

The all-time record Premier League transfer is still Sweden striker Alexander Isak’s 125 million pounds ($167m) move from Newcastle to Liverpool last year.

The 23-year-old Rogers, established as one of the Premier League’s top attacking talents, has signed a contract with the London team until 2033.

“I’m so excited,” he told the club’s website. “For me, Chelsea are the biggest club in London and a club I’ve always admired since I was a kid.

“I’m really excited about the project with the new manager, the players we’ve got and where the club is heading. That’s why I’m here, and I can’t wait to get started.”

Rogers is the third major off-season signing by new Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso, following wing backs Marco Palestra and Geovany Quenda.

Rogers was part of the England team that finished third, beating France, at the World Cup last week. They had lost to Argentina 2-1 in their semifinal.

He scored 21 goals in 85 Premier League appearances for Villa, and last season helped guide the club to a top-four finish and to the Europa League title.

Rogers joined Villa from Middlesbrough in February 2024 for a reported fee of 8 million pounds (about $10.5m).

He made his England debut in November 2024 and has now won 22 caps for his country.

Chelsea’s previous record signing was Ecuador midfielder Moises Caicedo, who joined from Brighton & Hove Albion for 115 million pounds (about $150m) in 2023.

Chelsea, who finished 10th in the Premier League last season, begin their ‌league campaign away to Fulham on August 24.

The consortium is led by British-Indian investor Amit Bhatia, the son-in-law of Indian steel billionaire Lakshmi Mittal.

Liverpool are in talks with British-Indian investor Amit Bhatia over a potential deal for a minority stake in the Premier League football club.

Fenway Sports Group (FSG), Liverpool’s United States-based owner, confirmed the approach from Bhatia’s group on Tuesday.

“An investment consortium led, managed, and represented by Amit Bhatia has expressed interest in making a strategic minority investment in Liverpool Football Club,” an FSG spokesperson told the AFP news agency.

Bhatia, the son-in-law of Indian steel billionaire Lakshmi Mittal, is heading a consortium interested in buying into the 20-time English champions.

The Financial Times reported that Bhatia has hired advisers to work on the offer, which the newspaper said could value Liverpool at more than $6bn.

Just hours after Bhatia’s interest in Liverpool emerged, the London-born 46-year-old stepped down from his role as a director and co-owner of English Championship side Queens Park Rangers (QPR).

Bhatia, who spent 18 seasons with the west Londoners, will transfer his ownership of the club to majority owner Ruben Gnanalingam.

“I step back from my formal responsibilities with pride, gratitude and affection. I want to thank the players, managers, staff, the community trust, my fellow board members and, above all, the fans, who have made me and my family feel part of the QPR family for so many years,” Bhatia said.

Bhatia’s discussions with FSG – who bought Liverpool for 300 million British pounds ($400m) in 2010 – are believed to be at an early stage, with no deal struck yet.

Any investment from Bhatia would be made to further position Liverpool for success, following FSG’s move in 2023 to sell a minority stake in the club to global sports investment firm Dynasty.

Reports at the time valued that transaction between $100m and $200m.

Police say a possible political motive is under investigation in the killing of the ex-minister.

Prosecutors in the United Kingdom have charged a 28-year-old man with the murder of Ann Widdecombe, a former government minister and member of the far-right Reform UK party.

Joshua Kerry was charged on Monday and is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court in London on Tuesday, the Crown Prosecution Service said.

Widdecombe, 78, was found dead at her home near Dartmoor National Park in southwest England on July 9, a day after she missed a television interview. Police said she had been deliberately targeted but did not disclose how she died, citing only “serious injuries”.

Kerry, who is from Rotherham in northern England, was arrested on July 11. He was initially held on suspicion of murder until evidence uncovered while he was in custody led to his additional arrest on “terror” charges.

National Counterterrorism Policing head Laurence Taylor said that the exact motive was still being established.

“Given [Widdecombe’s] profile and the targeted nature of the attack, determining the motivation, including any possible political motivation, remains an active avenue of investigation,” Taylor said.

Widdecombe served as a Conservative member of parliament from 1987 until 2010 and was known for her right-wing political stances.

She later joined the Brexit Party, winning a seat in the European Parliament, and moved to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party after the UK left the European Union.

The incident adds to mounting concerns over political violence in the UK. The past decade has seen the murders of two sitting members of parliament. Labour’s Jo Cox, shot and stabbed in 2016 by a far-right nationalist, and Conservative David Amess, stabbed to death in 2021 by a man inspired by ISIL (ISIS).

Andy Burnham, who becomes the United Kingdom’s next prime minister on Monday, faces a roster of challenges as the country’s seventh leader in a decade.

Burnham was overwhelmingly backed as Labour leader on Friday after current Prime Minister Keir Starmer resigned last month.

It has been a whirlwind month for the former Greater Manchester mayor, with his vision for the country and his cabinet still unclear.

“This has gone faster than he thought. It’s only been four weeks since he won the by-election. I don’t think he knows all of the answers yet; he hasn’t had the thinking time,” Sunder Katwala, director of the British Future think tank, told Al Jazeera.

Experts say the incoming prime minister will inherit an economy that has barely grown in two decades and a challenging geopolitical environment. He also has to deal with a marked decrease in Labour’s popularity, with the party trailing the right-wing Reform UK in the polls for 18 months.

“Burnham has relatively little fiscal room for manoeuvre,” said Anand Menon, director of UK in a Changing Europe.

New spending will have to be raised via taxation rather than borrowing, though there may be scope for “hypothecated spending” tied to a clear purpose, such as defence bonds, Menon said.

“If you make it absolutely clear what these things are for, the markets will be more permissive. But the fiscal situation is tight,” he noted.

Manchester model

The government spent around 110 billion British pounds ($148bn) on debt interest in 2025-26 alone, about eight percent of all public spending. Borrowing has run higher than planned this year, and taxes are forecast to reach their highest share of the economy since World War II by the end of the decade.

Gareth Dale, associate head of Social and Political Sciences at Brunel University, points to Burnham’s record in Manchester, including the city’s fare-capped bus network, as proof that “meaningful reforms needn’t always come with a big price tag”.

Whether that scales up nationally will hinge on his willingness to confront the bond markets.

“What Burnham did in Manchester might be harder to do at a national level,” warned Menon. “He’s got to get the balance right between showing he’s aware of the fact that there’s a country outside of London and that isn’t just Manchester.”

Menon doubts fiscal manoeuvring alone will shift the public mood. He says that living standards have stagnated and services have eroded since 2008 so “people don’t just want to listen to what you’re saying, they want to see changes for the better in their lives”.

Burnham’s in-tray is complicated further by a diplomatic dispute that flared days before he is slated to take office. The government fully nationalised British Steel’s Scunthorpe works, a year after taking control of the loss-making plant when Chinese owner Jingye Group said it planned to close it.

Jingye has vowed to pursue “full compensation through legal means,” while China’s Ministry of Commerce accused London of undermining Chinese investor confidence.

It leaves Burnham managing a strained relationship with China from day one, after Starmer went to great efforts to reset relations between the two countries.

Beyond borders

Menon argues that much of what shapes a prime minister’s fortunes lies outside their control and outside Britain’s borders.

“Sometimes the drivers of political success and failure are utterly out of your hands,” he said. He cited the war in Ukraine, Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic as reminders that a “medium-sized open economy” is exposed to forces it cannot direct.

That extends to Washington, where personal chemistry with US President Donald Trump will matter “at least for a while, until he goes off people”, Menon said.

Dependence on the US for defence and technology rules out any dramatic reconfiguring of British-US ties.

Menon expects European Union relations to get less attention than under Starmer, predicting Burnham to be “more avowedly domestic” focused.

This could still be tested by Gaza, where Burnham has apologised for the previous government’s stance. Menon cautions that turning words into policy “depends heavily on events”.

“He’s given some hints he’ll be less knee-jerkly supportive of Israel than Starmer was, but whether that carries over into power, we’ll have to wait and see,” explained Menon.

He also doubts whether Burnham would risk a rupture with Washington regarding US bases in Britain, which could be used, indirectly, in US-Israel war on Iran.

Defence first

Reports suggest that Burnham is likely to put defence above welfare spending, which will again rankle some in his party.

“He’ll probably prioritise arms spending over welfare… while dialling down the ‘net zero’ programme,” warns Dale, with Burnham expected to allow for new North Sea oil and gas drilling.

“And he voted to make the asylum system more brutal. If he does set policy in these directions, it’ll put wind in the sails of the far right, and probably accelerate the shift of voters from Labour to Green,” Dale said.

Burnham has moved from Labour’s Blairite wing to its soft left, but “commands widespread support among Labour MPs” and “gets on with various factions”, he noted.

But that unity masks deeper erosion: Labour’s vote fell from 12.9 million in 2017 to 9.7 million under Starmer.

The centre-left party’s support base is also “narrowing towards wealthier, less diverse parts of the electorate, with the Greens now drawing disillusioned voters on the left”, said Dale.

Political divides

That erosion is bound up with a wider polarisation in the country that Katwala says no government can avoid.

“I don’t think it’s enough to say we’d like to talk about jobs and devolving power and therefore we won’t talk about identity, immigration, race,” says Katwala.

He argues that fairness should be framed as universal rather than a concession to certain groups of society.

“Whether it’s tackling anti-Semitism, Islamophobia or racism generally, these are issues for everybody in society. It’s not for the minority group itself to work out how to challenge the prejudice it faces,” Katwala said.

“The people who are hostile to Muslims are the people who know the least Muslims and live furthest away. It’s the government’s job to get to that really tough end of attitudes and perceptions that are making people feel less safe.”

Menon sees a narrow opening on the right-wing narratives popularised by the Reform UK party.

Labour entered government in 2024 with 33 percent of the vote against Reform’s 14 percent, a gap that has since collapsed following the right-wing party’s links to George Cottrell, a convicted fraudster.

Recent polls put Reform around 24-26 percent and Labour close behind it, a marked turnaround from polling earlier this year.

By-election results also suggest a broad anti-Reform coalition and tactical voting exist, which should strengthen Labour.

“Even if 30 percent of people are willing to vote Reform, almost 70 percent are willing to do whatever it takes to stop them being elected,” Menon noted.

Whether that holds, he said, depends on how Burnham performs once the difficulties of government set in.

“It becomes a very different game when things are going badly, and if he ends up being a lucky general, then Reform self-destructs,” Menon said.

Influencer brothers Andrew Tate and Tristan Tate have been arrested in Miami, in the US state of Florida, after prosecutors in the United Kingdom brought further rape and sex trafficking charges against them.

The brothers were taken into custody on Saturday on a sealed warrant, the United States Marshals Service said, placing the US at the centre of an international legal saga that has stretched from Romania to the UK.

Raised in the UK, the Tate brothers hold dual US and UK citizenship. The UK government says it will seek their extradition to face 38 new charges of rape, sex trafficking and assault.

Here is what we know about the Tate brothers, their arrest and the possibility of extradition:

Who are the Tate Brothers?

Andrew, 39, and Tristan, 38, are former professional kickboxers. They are known for their social media empire promoting wealth, male dominance and misogyny.

Andrew is one of the most prominent proponents of the so-called “manosphere” network of communities, many of them online, that focus on traditional masculinity, antifeminism and self-improvement. He promotes his divisive views, often incorporating alpha-male and aggressively misogynistic themes, to millions on social media, including 10.8 million followers on X.

Andrew has been banned from platforms like YouTube, TikTok and Instagram for violating hate speech guidelines. He also runs an online academy where he says he teaches young men how to get rich and attract women.

The brothers are also avid supporters of US President Donald Trump.

What are the new charges against the Tates?

British prosecutors say the 59 new charges – 42 against Andrew and 17 against Tristan – relate to alleged offences that took place between 2010 and 2017.

They said Andrew was charged with seven further counts of rape, three counts of arranging or facilitating trafficking for sexual exploitation, three counts of assault, and 19 charges for offences relating to indecent images of a child and extreme pornography.

Tristan was charged with one count of sexual assault, two counts of rape and three counts of arranging or facilitating sex trafficking.

“We have decided to prosecute Andrew and Tristan Tate for further offences including rape, arranging or facilitating trafficking for sexual exploitation and offences relating to indecent images of a child,” the UK Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said in a statement.

Since the arrest warrant was sealed, US Marshals did not disclose the charges on which the Tate brothers were arrested.

Their lawyer, Joseph McBride, said the brothers “are innocent”.

“We are confident that once a competent judge sees the facts, and once the Department of Justice confronts this egregious abuse of its own authority, Andrew and Tristan Tate will walk free,” McBride said in a statement.

What are the other charges against the brothers?

Andrew and Tristan already face multiple charges in the UK and Romania, where they moved to in 2016.

Four women have accused Andrew of physical and sexual abuse.

The claimants, who have been granted anonymity, allege the elder Tate subjected them to physical or sexual violence between 2013 and 2015. Two say they were in an intimate relationship with him, while two worked for his online webcam business.

In June, a UK High Court judge threw out a legal bid by the Tates to be told the names of their accusers.

In Romania, the siblings were arrested in late 2022 along with two Romanian women. The four were accused of participating in criminal schemes to lure women for sexual exploitation. They denied the allegations and the Romanian case has not gone forward because of legal and procedural problems. The case has not been closed.

Andrew has repeatedly claimed that prosecutors in Romania have no evidence against him and that there is a political conspiracy to silence him.

The Tate brothers are also accused of tax evasion and money laundering in the UK.

The UK CPS said it is seeking their extradition.

“The CPS has requested the extradition of the Tates from the US,” it said, adding that the latest charges stem from receipt of new evidence from Bedfordshire police that brings the total number of alleged victims in the Tates’ case to seven.

The British police previously sought the Tates’ extradition to the UK once their legal proceedings in Romania concluded.

But in February 2025, they were allowed to leave Romania after authorities lifted travel restrictions, and they flew to Florida on a private jet.

Romania’s foreign minister said at the time that a US official in the Trump administration had expressed interest in the brothers’ legal case in Romania.

Trump said he knew “nothing about” the case when asked if his administration pressured the Romanian government to release the Tates.

The FIFA World Cup 2026 final is not far away, and the predictions are coming in thick and fast.

Spain, the reigning European champions, are eyeing their second World Cup title, 16 years on from their maiden triumph in South Africa. But standing in their way are holders Argentina, the South American giants aiming to become just the third country to win back-to-back World Cup titles.

Stats provider Opta predicts Spain as the favourites to win the 2026 World Cup, with a 59.56 percent probability of lifting the trophy in New Jersey. La Roja are also the picks of several former players and pundits.

Former England striker Michael Owen said world number two Spain are the “deserved” winners of the tournament.

“Spain haven’t got the greatest individual players, I think France probably have … but Spain as a team are everything England are not – they are brave, courageous with the ball,” Owen told The Straits Times.

“Spain are just a great team that pass the ball confidently and play amazing football as a collective.”

Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the ex-Barcelona and Manchester United striker who represented Sweden at two World Cups, expects Spain to dominate the final, which comes two years on from their Euro 2024 triumph.

Spain handled France very good [in the semifinals]. I believe they can handle this Argentina,” Zlatan, now a pundit on US broadcaster Fox Sports, said.

“Argentina is not a counterattacking team. Spain are going to do their thing. They’re going to play collectively … I believe Spain are going to dominate that game.”

Spain were also John Terry’s favourites for glory, with the former England captain saying on the Sports Uncensored show that Luis de la Fuente’s side have “got too much for Argentina”.

Former goalkeeper Iker Casillas, the Spain captain during their maiden World Cup triumph in 2010, expressed his confidence in the team’s ability to bring home a second, sharing a picture of another star halfway stitched on the top of their badge.

A star represents every World Cup a team has won.

[Translation: And why not?]

While a lot of the consensus centred around a Spain win, some think Argentina have a chance, even if it is slim.

Alan Shearer, one of England’s greatest strikers of all time, backed the reigning champions, saying on The Rest is Football podcast, “If there’s one team that can do it in terms of stopping them [Spain], it’s Argentina because of their mentality and togetherness.

“They have been down so many times and in trouble, and somehow managed to get a win. That’s what you’ve got to admire about them.

“When you’ve got a genius in your side,” he added, referring to Messi, “you’ve always got a chance.”

But how can Argentina beat favourites Spain in the title clash?

English football pundit Micah Richards thinks the answer to that is low-block transition – the strategy of teams sitting back closest to their goal and, after winning possession, rapidly shifting from a compact defensive shape into an offensive counterattack.

“Get the ball to Messi, whereas [Julian] Alvarez or [Lisandro] Martinez just make it horrible, make it how they did with England,” he added.

“I think Argentina need to stay in the game as they did against England and turn it on when they see a shift in momentum.”

Meanwhile, another of England’s greats, Gary Lineker, stuck with his pretournament pick, Spain, but added that Argentina are “so gritty”, making the predictions a very tough choice.

“You cannot go against that little fella [Messi]. He’s so great; it’s going to be really, really close. It’s genuinely 50-50.”

Unlike others, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani refused to pick a side.

“Everyone I root for has lost,” he said, with a laugh. “So I feel like whoever I say is going to lose at this point.

“I’m gonna say the classic politician’s answer – I’m excited for a good game.”

Kylian Mbappe scores twice for France to hit World Cup record but England win 6-4 in third-place playoff final.

England beat France 6-4 in a chaotic World Cup third-place playoff as Kylian Mbappe became the all-time leading scorer in World Cup history.

Both teams had higher aspirations at the 2026 tournament but suffered painful semifinal exits – France were outplayed by Spain while England suffered a late collapse against Argentina.

Both coaches made multiple changes for Saturday’s match in the oppressive heat of Miami, with a host of stars on the bench at the start.

England boss Thomas Tuchel left out Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham from his starting lineup while Deschamps, stepping down after 14 years at the helm, omitted Bradley Barcola and Ousmane Dembele.

Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice put England ahead with a goal from distance in the third minute and Ezri Konsa headed home to make it 2-0.

Kylian Mbappe and Michael Olise were a threat as France searched for a way back into the game, but they found England’s second-choice goalkeeper Dean Henderson in top form.

The game threatened to become embarrassing for France when Bukayo Saka made it 3-0 after a swift break.

And it was 4-0 in first-half stoppage time when Saka scored his second goal of the game, celebrated with a fist pump by Tuchel.

France coach Didier Deschamps told French TV channel M6 that the first-half display had been “catastrophic”, urging his men to show pride.

He made four changes, bringing on Dembele, Dayot Upamecano, Lucas Digne and Barcola and was rewarded almost instantly when Mbappe scored his ninth goal of the tournament to move clear of Lionel Messi at the top of the Golden Boot standings.

The game had now totally changed complexion, and Barcola pulled another goal back, with Deschamps clenching his fist on the bench.

Mbappe then netted his second of the game to become the all-time leading World Cup goalscorer with 22 goals – slotting home from Olise’s pass.

That put him two ahead of Messi in the race to finish as top scorer at the 2026 tournament.

France squandered a number of chances to equalise, and England were handed a chance to extend their lead when Malo Gusto brought down Djed Spence in the penalty area.

Saka stepped up to the spot and converted to complete his hat-trick.

There was still time for Dembele to grab a fourth for France, but Bellingham then strode forward to score the 10th goal of the match with an individual effort.

In doing so, Bellingham became the first England player to score seven goals at a World Cup.

By finishing third, England secured their best result at a World Cup since winning the tournament in 1966, though they will carry bitter memories of their defeat by defending champions Argentina.

Deschamps led France to World Cup glory in 2018 and finished as runners-up four years ago.

Les Bleus were favourites to win the 2026 tournament after a sensational start but were well beaten 2-0 by Spain in the semifinals.

Three-time champions Argentina face European champions Spain in the final in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on Sunday.

The UK has appropriated its last working steelworks, following fears its former Chinese owners would shut it down.

Beijing has warned the United Kingdom that its nationalisation of British Steel has “severely undermined” Chinese companies’ confidence in investing in the UK.

The UK nationalised the loss-making company on Thursday in what the government said was a move taken to protect national interests.

British Steel is the only source of primary steelmaking in the UK. It supports approximately 2,700 jobs across its main steelworks in Scunthorpe and across the wider supply chain.

The company’s former owner, Jingye – which is among the 100 biggest companies in China – bought British Steel for 70 million pounds ($94m) in 2020. By 2025, Jingye said it was losing 700,000 pounds ($942,000) every day.

British Steel’s nationalisation has been in the works for more than a year.

In March 2025, Jingye carried out a consultation that concluded that the British Steel furnaces were not financially sustainable. The following month, it emerged that Jingye had cancelled orders for a key material used in the steelmaking process, stoking fears that it was planning to shut down the blast furnaces.

That month, the UK government seized operational control of British Steel from Jingye to stop that from happening. The Chinese company retained ownership, but lost operational control.

Thursday, though, saw ownership officially transfer to the UK government, which says it will appoint an independent valuer to “assess whether any compensation is payable” to Jingye.

The process has angered Beijing. The expropriation of British Steel “seriously damaged” Jingye’s legitimate rights and interests and “severely undermined” Chinese companies’ confidence in investing in the UK, China’s Ministry of Commerce said in a statement on Friday.

The UK, the ministry said, has “forcibly” taken over the company and “disregarded” Jingye’s contributions to the British economy and society.

The ministry urged the UK to fulfil obligations under the China-UK Investment Protection Agreement and said it would assist Chinese companies in protecting their rights.

Argentina players held up a banner declaring ‘Las Malvinas son Argentinas’ after beating England to reach the World Cup final. The message refers to the disputed Falkland Islands, reviving the sovereignty dispute and raising questions over FIFA’s ban on political displays.