United Kingdom

For Palestinians, the olive harvest is both an essential source of income and a treasured cultural tradition. Each year, families gather beneath the groves to pick olives, press oil, and celebrate a connection to the land that spans generations. But this season has seen increasing attacks from settlers and Israeli troops, damaging or uprooting thousands of trees. With tens of thousands relying on olives for their livelihoods, each loss carries economic and emotional weight. This episode examines the harvest as a means of livelihood, a celebration, and a form of resistance.

Presenter: Stefanie Dekker

Guests:
Sami Huraini – Palestinian activist
Sarah Sharif – Palestinian American food blogger

Bundled into vehicle with blacked-out windows, British journalist recounts detainment in US due to Palestinian support.

British journalist Sami Hamdi, who says he was held illegally for more than two weeks by United States immigration authorities for his pro-Palestinian commentary, has described his detention as “like something from the movies”.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Hamdi accused the US Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of using “loopholes” to abuse people, and he directed attention towards the plight of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli detention.

The 35-year-old British citizen was stopped at San Francisco International Airport in California on October 26 midway through a speaking tour discussing Israel’s war on Gaza.

Hamdi said Laura Loomer and other right-wing activists and allies of President Donald Trump created the grounds for his arrest by posting his lectures and calling for his visa to be revoked.

Homeland Security Department authorities stopped Hamdi at the airport and told him his visa had been revoked. However, they refused to allow him to immediately leave the US by flying to London instead of his planned domestic flight.

“And then four other ICE agents appeared out of nowhere,” he told Al Jazeera. “They surrounded me, and then they escorted me outside of the airport where a black car with tinted windows was waiting for me. They told me, ‘Get in the car.’”

He was given a few moments to use his phone after insisting on his legal rights as a United Kingdom citizen, which he used to contact the Council on American-Islamic Relations. The civil rights group agreed to help him get legal representation and inform his family of his detention.

After three car rides in handcuffs, he arrived at an ICE detention facility and was checked in with a number of other people of various ethnicities.

He later discovered through a lawyer that he was being held in Golden State Annex in McFarland, California, in what he labelled “a very politically motivated manoeuvre”.

Hamdi said he and 20 other men were held in a small cell with no facilities. Inmates repeatedly had their cases delayed through bureaucracy, he said.

One Latino man named Antonio whose wife and children are US citizens had been in detention for 10 months without charge, Hamdi said.

“This is the tragedy. You have these people who are illegally detained, who shouldn’t be there longer than six months, according to all habeas corpus rules, but who stay there longer because of bureaucratic loopholes,” said the journalist, who returned to London on Thursday.

ICE agents were “particularly aggressive” and most displayed “little sympathy for the people they were dealing with”, Hamdi said. They appeared to feel that they could act with “impunity”, he continued.

The journalist noted that while his case has received much attention, he believes it is important to remember that thousands of Palestinians remain incarcerated in Israeli military prisons in appalling conditions.

“It’s important to note that arbitrary detention for the sake of expression of freedom of speech isn’t something that’s under threat just in America or in the UK.”

Foreign minister says Iran has not been enriching uranium at any of its sites since Israel and the US bombed them.

Tehran, Iran – Iranian authorities maintain that the United States and its allies are set on a forceful approach over the country’s nuclear programme, so negotiations appear far off.

The administration of US President Donald Trump has left no room for talks by repeatedly presenting “maximalist demands”, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday at a news conference in Tehran.

“The current approach of the US government in no way shows readiness for an equal and fair negotiation to secure mutual interests,” he said on the sidelines of the state-organised Tehran Dialogue Forum, which diplomats and envoys from across the region attended.

Iranian officials said they have been receiving messages from neighbouring countries that are trying to mediate and keep the peace. A letter from Araghchi was also delivered to Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani on Sunday that deals with Iran, the ceasefire in Gaza and other issues, according to Iranian media.

Araghchi said communication channels remain open with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as well. Iran’s envoy to Vienna, where the nuclear watchdog is based, was joined on Friday by counterparts from China and Russia in a meeting with the representatives of the United Nations agency.

“There’s no enrichment right now because our nuclear enrichment facilities have been attacked,” the foreign minister said at the news conference. “Our message is clear: Iran’s right for peaceful use of nuclear energy, including enrichment, is undeniable, and we will continue to exercise it.”

Last week, the latest IAEA confidential report on Iran’s nuclear programme was leaked to Western media, which reported that the UN agency has not been able to verify Iran’s stockpile of 60 percent-enriched uranium since its facilities were bombed and severely damaged by the US and Israel in June.

The IAEA said it needed “long overdue” inspections of seven of the sites targeted during the war, including Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan.

Iran has granted the IAEA access to the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant and the Tehran Research Reactor but has said security and safety conditions have not been met for inspections at other facilities as the high-enriched uranium stays buried.

Another resolution?

Iranian officials signalled over the weekend that three European powers – France, the United Kingdom and Germany – which were part of the country’s now-defunct 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, may be mobilising to introduce another Iran-focused resolution to the IAEA’s board.

Iran responded to several previous censure resolutions with escalations in uranium enrichment, and Israel launched its June attacks on Iran a day after the IAEA passed a European-tabled resolution that found Tehran noncompliant with its nuclear safeguards commitments.

Speaking to reporters in Tehran on Sunday, the deputy for international and legal affairs in Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kazem Gharibabadi, said Iran “reserves the right to reconsider its approaches” if a new resolution moves through.

He said the three European countries’ effort was a US-backed move to reinstate UN sanctions against Iran despite strong opposition from China and Russia last month and it “eliminated them from the field of dialogue and diplomacy with Iran”.

“Another resolution will bear no additional pressure on Iran, but the message it will send shows that collaboration and coordination are not important to them,” Gharibabadi said.

Iran’s nuclear programme chief, Mohammad Eslami, also slammed the West and the IAEA, telling reporters on Sunday that the UN agency is being used for political purposes, which “enforces double standards and a law of the jungle that must be stopped”.

“The attacks on Iran’s facilities were unprecedented. It was the first time that nuclear facilities under agency supervision were attacked, which meant a violation of international law, but the IAEA did not condemn the attacks,” Eslami said.

Iran’s military commanders continue to signal defiance as well. Defence Minister Amir Hatami told a meeting of lawmakers on Sunday that armed forces have been “sparing no moment in improving defence capabilities” after the 12-day war with Israel.

Tensions remain high in the region after the war with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Saturday confirming that it seized a Cyprus-registered tanker that transited through the Strait of Hormuz.

The plans, inspired by Denmark’s approach, aim to slash irregular immigration and counter the UK’s far right.

The United Kingdom has announced a drastic reduction in the protections for asylum seekers and refugees under a new plan aimed at slashing irregular immigration and countering the far right.

The measures, modelled on Denmark’s strict asylum system, were announced late on Saturday as Prime Minister Keir Starmer comes under pressure from surging popularity for the anti-immigrant Reform UK party.

“I’ll end UK’s golden ticket for asylum seekers,” Interior Minister Shabana Mahmood declared in a statement, with the Home Office, as her ministry is known, calling the new proposals the “largest overhaul of asylum policy in modern times”.

Mahmood is due to lay out the policy in parliament on Monday.

Meanwhile, the head of the UK’s Refugee Council warned the government that the measures would not deter people from trying to reach the country and urged a rethink.

“They should ensure that refugees who work hard and contribute to Britain can build secure, settled lives and give back to their communities,” Enver Solomon said.

Currently, people get refugee status for five years, after which they can apply for indefinite leave to remain and eventually, citizenship.

Mahmood’s ministry says it would cut the length of refugee status to 30 months. That protection will be “regularly reviewed”, and refugees will be forced to return to their home countries once they are deemed safe, it added.

The ministry also said it intended to make those refugees who were granted asylum wait 20 years before applying to be allowed to live in the UK long-term.

Asylum claims record high

Asylum claims in Britain are at a record high. Polls suggest immigration has overtaken the economy as voters’ top concern.

Some 109,343 people claimed asylum in the UK in the year ending March 2025, a 17 percent rise on the previous year and 6 percent above the 2002 peak of 103,081.

The Home Office said the reforms would make it less attractive for irregular migrants and refugees to come to the UK and make it easier to remove those already in the country.

A statutory legal duty to provide support to asylum seekers, introduced in a 2005 law, would also be revoked, the ministry said. That means housing and weekly financial allowances would no longer be guaranteed for asylum seekers.

It would be “discretionary”, meaning the government could deny assistance to any asylum seeker who could work or support themselves, or those who committed crimes.

Starmer, elected last year, is under pressure to stop migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats from France, something that also troubled his Conservative predecessors.

More than 39,000 people, many fleeing conflict, have arrived this year following such dangerous journeys – more than for the whole of 2024 but lower than the record set in 2022.

The crossings are helping raise the popularity of Reform, led by firebrand Nigel Farage, which has led Labour by double-digit margins in opinion polls for most of this year.

More than 100 British charities wrote to Mahmood, urging her to “end the scapegoating of migrants and performative policies that only cause harm”, saying such steps are prompting racism and violence.

Conor Benn scored a unanimous points victory over Chris Eubank Jr in their rematch at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Conor Benn dominated Chris Eubank Jr for 12 rounds in their middleweight clash at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday to claim a unanimous decision victory, exacting revenge for his defeat in the pair’s first meeting in April.

Benn lost that fight after all three judges scored it 116-112 in favour of his opponent, but there was no doubting who won Saturday’s clash as the 29-year-old put on the most complete performance of his professional career over 36 minutes.

Similar to the first fight, Benn came out strongly in the opening rounds, coming in under his opponent’s jab to land some heavy blows, but this time, there was to be no fall-off in production as Eubank Jr struggled from the opening bell.

Eubank Jr looked to make his height and reach advantage tell midway through the third round, punishing Benn when he allowed his head to go over his front foot, but Benn’s fast footwork allowed him to get in and out without suffering too much damage.

With Benn controlling the tempo, Eubank Jr found himself forced to lock his opponent up in the clinch to avoid damage when his guard was breached.

Sensing his adversary beginning to tire, Benn stepped on the gas in the seventh round, launching savage shots to the body to slow him down even further. Eubank Jr tried to respond, but there was little malice in his usually potent jab until he finally landed some offence late in the eighth round.

That was to be as good as it got for Eubank Jr, and Benn went for broke in the final frame, knocking his opponent to the canvas twice, with the bell coming to Eubank Jr’s rescue at the end of another epic clash between the two British boxers.

Benn-Eubank feud closed

With the two boxers’ fathers engaging in a heated rivalry in the 1990s that echoed in their sons’ two 2025 clashes, Benn recorded his family’s first victory over the Eubanks and quickly drew a line under it, saying there would be no rematch.

“I feel like this is the end of the Benn-Eubank saga. Done. Finished. It’s over … this ends here,” he said, before taking a swipe at his detractors and praising Eubank Jr.

“Everyone’s saying, I can’t box? Put that in your pipe and smoke it … credit to Chris man, that’s all I say. Thank you for sharing the ring with me.”

For his part, Eubank Jr was gracious in defeat, giving no excuses for his flat performance and hailing his opponent as the better man.

“I’ve been through hell and back to get to this night, and it is what it is. I tried my best, and listen, the kid fought hard. He fought tough. He’s got power,” he said.

“Who knows, maybe we will see something new between me and him, and maybe we won’t, but for right now, it’s all about this man. It’s his night.”

The US president signals legal war even as the British network apologises for an ‘error of judgement’ in editing his January 6 speech.

United States President Donald Trump says he would likely sue the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) next week for as much as $5bn after the British broadcaster admitted it wrongly edited a video of a speech he gave, but insisted there was no legal basis for his claim.

“We will sue them for anywhere between a billion and five billion dollars, probably sometime next week. I think I have to do it. They have even admitted that they cheated,” Trump told reporters on board Air Force One late on Friday.

Trump’s lawyers had sent the BBC a letter on Monday, accusing it of defaming the US president with the video of the speech before the 2021 US Capitol riot and giving it until Friday to apologise and pay compensation for what they described as “overwhelming reputational and financial harm”.

The controversy centres on the BBC’s edit of Trump’s remarks from January 6, 2021, the day his supporters stormed the US Capitol. The dispute has pushed the network into its most severe crisis in decades, triggering the resignations of two senior leaders and prompting a wave of political scrutiny.

“The people of the UK are very angry about what happened, as you can imagine, because it shows the BBC is fake news,” Trump said.

He added that he planned to raise the BBC issue with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has backed the broadcaster’s independence while avoiding taking sides against Trump.

“I’m going to call him over the weekend. He actually put a call into me. He’s very embarrassed,” Trump said.

‘Beyond fake, this is corrupt’

The documentary, aired on the BBC’s flagship Panorama programme, stitched together three separate clips of Trump’s January 6 speech. His lawyers say the sequence created the false impression he was inciting the riot, calling the edit “false and defamatory”.

In an interview with GB News, Trump accused the BBC of misconduct. He said the edit was “impossible to believe” and likened it to election interference.

“I made a beautiful statement, and they made it into a not beautiful statement,” he said. “Fake news was a great term, except it’s not strong enough. This is beyond fake, this is corrupt.”

He dismissed the BBC’s apology as insufficient, arguing that the broadcaster had spliced together remarks that were nearly an hour apart. “It’s incredible to depict the idea that I had given this aggressive speech which led to riots,” he said.

BBC chair Samir Shah issued a personal apology to the White House and told British lawmakers that the edit was “an error of judgement”. Culture Minister Lisa Nandy said on Friday the apology was “right and necessary”.

The crisis has already cost the BBC its director general, Tim Davie, and its head of news, Deborah Turness, both of whom resigned this week as accusations of bias and editing failures mounted.

The British street artist has created several versions of the iconic painting across London, as well as in Palestine.

A man has been sentenced to 13 months in prison by a British court for stealing a print of street artist Banksy’s iconic Girl with Balloon from a London gallery in September last year.

Larry Fraser, 49, was jailed on Friday by a judge in southwest London after he pleaded guilty to the smash-and-grab burglary of the elusive artist’s painting, valued at 270,000 pounds ($355,200).

Despite trying to conceal his identity with a mask, Fraser was caught on camera, and police tracked him down two days after the theft. The artwork was recovered shortly afterwards, according to London’s Metropolitan Police.

“This is a brazen and serious non-domestic burglary,” said Judge Anne Brown, passing the sentence at Kingston Crown Court.

The Girl with Balloon first appeared on the streets of London’s Shoreditch neighbourhood in 2002, with Banksy creating versions of the painting on London’s South Bank in 2004 and in the occupied West Bank in 2005.

One version of the painting shredded itself into pieces the moment after it was sold for more than one million British pounds ($1.3m) by London auction house Sotheby’s in 2018.

Detective Chief Inspector Scott Mather said: “Banksy’s ‘Girl with Balloon’ is known across the world – and we reacted immediately to not just bring Fraser to justice but also reunite the artwork with the gallery.”

Banksy’s paintings in Palestine

The secretive British street artist has returned to Palestine on multiple occasions to create artworks, including a version of the girl with the red balloon.

In 2005, he sprayed nine stencilled images at different locations along the illegal, eight-metre-high (26-foot) separation wall that Israel has constructed in the occupied West Bank.

They included a ladder reaching over the wall, a young girl being carried over it by balloons and a window on the grey concrete showing beautiful mountains in the background.

In 2007, he painted a number of artworks in Bethlehem, including a young girl frisking an Israeli soldier pinned up against a wall.

In February 2015, he allegedly sneaked into the Gaza Strip through a smuggling tunnel and painted three works on the walls of Gaza homes destroyed in Israeli air strikes during the previous year’s conflict.

In 2017, he opened the Walled Off Hotel in Bethlehem, just four metres from Israel’s separation wall.

Earlier this year, authorities attempted to scrub a Banksy painting on a London court wall that depicted a judge hitting a protester and was believed to refer to the country’s crackdown on the Palestine Action protest group.

Banksy rose to fame for sharply ironic outdoor graffiti with political themes. Once a small-time graffiti artist from the English city of Bristol, his artwork has become hugely popular worldwide and valuable.

United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer has sought to distance himself from an unofficial briefing to the media by unnamed “allies” that he intends to fight off a leadership contest which, they say, could come just 18 months into his premiership.

On Tuesday evening, unnamed sources were cited in The Guardian newspaper saying Health Secretary Wes Streeting has gathered significant backing to supplant Starmer.

But on Wednesday morning, Streeting denied this, telling journalists that he was “not challenging the prime minister”.

“I’m not doing any of the things some silly briefer said overnight,” he stated.

Asked if those responsible for the briefing should be sacked, Streeting said, “Yes. But he’s [Starmer] got to find them first, and I wouldn’t expect him to waste loads of time on this.”

“There are people around the prime minister who do not follow his model and style of leadership,” he said.

In response to the ensuing media storm, Starmer, whose premiership since last year has been marred by poor polling, told reporters in north Wales on Thursday that briefings against ministers are “completely unacceptable”.

“I have been talking to my team today. I have been assured that no briefing against ministers was done from Number 10, but I have made it clear that I find it absolutely unacceptable,” he said.

The current internal party strife has shone a light on the prime minister’s standing as leader of the Labour Party.

In its most recent poll on Tuesday, pollster YouGov said of 4,989 people polled, only 27 percent thought he should continue as Labour Party leader.

Here’s what we know about the rumours of a leadership plot:

What are the rumours about a leadership challenge?

On Tuesday evening, unnamed senior Starmer aides told The Guardian newspaper that any attempt to remove the prime minister would be “reckless” and “dangerous”. According to the aides, deposing Starmer so early in his term as prime minister would undermine financial markets and reverberate on the stock market, the party and its international relationships.

“The party would not recover for a generation,” one of the unnamed sources told The Guardian.

Number 10 sources also told The Guardian they are concerned about rumours that Streeting could be planning a “coup” and is just one of several Labour ministers who are “on manoeuvres” to take the leadership if the opportunity arises. However, none of them were likely to move against the prime minister right now.

They said the most likely moment for a leadership challenge would be after the autumn budget – the government’s tax-and-spending review, due in parliament on November 26 – if higher taxes are announced, or after May elections next year if the Labour party performs poorly.

“Keir will not stand aside at this point, for Wes or anybody else,” one source told The Guardian.

On Friday, the UK’s Financial Times cited an unnamed minister who claimed that support for the health secretary was growing following the news of the unsanctioned “briefing”.

Streeting was not the only name mentioned as a potential leadership contender. Both Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and Energy Secretary and a former leader of the Labour Party, Ed Miliband were named as possible contenders, the sources said.

Who briefed the press?

The British press is speculating that the unofficial briefing may have been organised by Starmer’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, as a tactic designed to put off any ministers thinking about challenging him.

McSweeney, who has been widely credited with helping Starmer to win the July 2024 election, is now facing calls to resign from unnamed members of parliament, according to reports.

However, Starmer appeared not to support such a move on Thursday when he reiterated that he “of course” has complete confidence in his chief of staff.

What do opposition parties say?

Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch was quick to respond, accusing Starmer of losing control of his party during Wednesday’s Prime Minister’s Question Time.

Badenoch called Starmer a “weak prime minister at war with his own cabinet”.

“Two weeks before the budget, isn’t it the case that this prime minister has lost control of government, he’s lost control of his party and lost the trust of the British people,” she said.

Earlier in the debate, Badenoch referred to an interview Streeting gave to the BBC in which he accused Downing Street of having a “toxic culture”, and asked Starmer if his minister was correct.

“Any attack on any member of my cabinet is completely unacceptable,” Starmer said in response.

Meanwhile, the far-right Reform UK party’s head of policy, Zia Yusuf, wrote on X on Thursday that the “terrifying thing about the coup against Starmer is that Labour members will choose his replacement”.

“Their favourite Labour minister is Ed Miliband. Some of the most unhinged people in the country will choose the next Prime Minister,” he added.

Reform’s popularity has risen hugely in the UK since last year’s election.

How does the autumn budget fit into this, and how is Labour polling?

The briefing came just two weeks before Starmer and his chancellor of the exchequer, Rachel Reeves, announce the autumn budget on November 26.

The budget, which outlines the government’s tax-and-spending plans for the next year, has been the subject of intense speculation in recent weeks, as it was widely expected to break one of Labour’s main election pledges: not to increase income taxes.

However, the Financial Times reported on Friday morning that Reeves is now ruling out any rise in income tax amid concerns that it could seriously anger voters and backbench legislators.

Why else is Starmer losing popularity in the UK?

Since winning the election in 2024, the prime minister has received backlash from across the political spectrum, including from Labour voters, over several issues.

According to a YouGov poll in September, if an election were to be called now, the far-right Reform UK would win, leaving the Labour Party as the second-largest party and the former governing party, the Conservatives, in third place.

Here are some of the main areas of domestic policy which are causing the popularity of Starmer’s Labour Party to wane.

Migration

The opposition Reform UK party has risen in popularity largely on the back of its calls for stricter migrant control. The key issue is the rapid rise in the numbers of people arriving in small boats across the English Channel from France, particularly in the past year.

In September, Starmer struck a “one-in-one-out” migrant exchange deal with France in an effort to deter people from attempting the Channel crossing. Under the deal, France will accept the return of asylum seekers who crossed to the UK but cannot prove a family connection to the UK.

For each migrant France takes back, the UK will grant asylum to one person who has arrived from France through official channels and who can prove they have family connections in the UK.

But only a handful of migrants have been deported under the scheme so far. Furthermore, on Monday, the Home Office reported that a second migrant had re-entered the UK after being deported to France.

Rise of the far-right

Starmer has faced criticism for his lukewarm response to the rising number of far-right protests across the country.

In September, at least 11,000 people joined a “Unite the Kingdom” march, displaying the St George flag in London.

While Starmer denounced violence against police officers during the protests and argued that the US was “built on diversity”, the antifascist group, Hope Not Hate, and several MPs have urged the government to take stronger action against the rise of far-right groups.

Critics also say Starmer has not done enough to appeal to people who support Reform, or to address their concerns about migration.

Accidental prison releases

In a major blunder, HMP Wandsworth prison in London wrongly released two offenders in early November, including an Algerian sex offender.

Both men were eventually returned to prison but, in the case of the Algerian offender, only after the man handed himself in. Conservative Party shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick said the mistake revealed “the incompetence of this government”.

Economy

Starmer has been grappling with a low-growth economy since the start of his term in government.

According to new figures from the Office for National Statistics on Thursday, between July and September, the UK’s gross domestic product (GDP) increased by just 0.1 percent in comparison with growth of 0.3 percent between April and July.

Meanwhile, inflation remained stuck at 3.8 percent in September 2025 – unchanged from July and August. This is the highest it has been since the start of 2024.

Conditions at Syrian al-Hol and al-Roj camps are “inhuman, dangerous, and degrading”, independent report says, urging UK to comply with international obligations.

The United Kingdom government should voluntarily facilitate the return of former repentant ISIL (ISIS) member Shamima Begum and others living in Syrian camps and deprived of British nationality, a new report has urged.

The Independent Commission on UK Counter-Terrorism Law, Policy and Practice said the current stance of the government towards nationals and former nationals detained in Syrian camps was “increasingly untenable” as they were living under “inhuman” conditions.

“The government should facilitate voluntary repatriation for British nationals, including those deprived of British nationality,” it asserted.

“A coherent, humane, and security-conscious repatriation strategy would strengthen compliance with international obligations and promote long-term public safety and social stability.”

Begum’s case lies at the heart of the UK policy of revoking the citizenship of nationals who joined armed groups in Syria. She left London in 2015 as a minor, at the age of 15, with two school friends, and later married an ISIL fighter. Begum gave birth to three children, all of whom died in infancy.

In 2019, the UK government revoked her citizenship soon after she was discovered in a detention camp in Syria.

Since then, she has challenged the decision, which was turned down by an appeals court in February 2024. Born in the UK to Bangladeshi parents, Begum does not hold Bangladeshi citizenship.

She had admitted that she joined the organisation knowing it was proscribed as a “terror” group, and has said she was “ashamed” and regretted joining the group.

Conditions at camps ‘dangerous’

Citing the United Nations, the report described conditions at the camps, including the infamous al-Hol and al-Roj camps, as “inhuman, dangerous, and degrading”.

“Many detainees, especially women and children, are victims of coercion, trafficking, or exploitation, even if some have been involved in terrorism-related activity,” it added.

According to the commission, between 55-72 UK-linked individuals remain in the camps and other detention centres, including 30-40 children.

The report said the UK’s “reluctance” to repatriate its citizens, including those stripped of their citizenship, made it an “outlier” among “comparable jurisdictions” and could prove to be “counterproductive to long-term security interests”.

“Pressure from the US government, which has called for all states to take back their nationals, the change in the Syrian regime, and as other states repatriate, the prospect of what was referred to as ‘Europe’s Guantanamo’ becoming ‘Britain’s Guantanamo’, may force the government to begin returns,” the report pointed out.

Police seized 61,000 Bitcoin from Zhimin Qian, 47, as part of a years-long money laundering investigation.

The United Kingdom has sentenced a Chinese woman to 11 years and eight months in prison for a years-long scheme to launder investment scam proceeds into Bitcoin, luxury property, and other assets now worth about 4.8 billion British pounds ($6.3bn).

Zhimin Qian, 47, was sentenced by the Southwark Crown Court in London on Tuesday, in a case that saw UK police seize a record-breaking 61,000 Bitcoin as part of their investigation.

Qian, who is also known by the alias Yadi Zhang, was found guilty of money laundering and possessing illegally obtained cryptocurrency.

Will Lyne, the Metropolitan Police’s head of Economic and Cybercrime Command, described the case as “one of the largest and most complex economic crime investigations ever undertaken by the Met”.

“This is currently the largest cryptocurrency seizure by law enforcement in the UK and is the largest money laundering case in UK history by value,” he said in a statement.

UK authorities allege that Qian helped mastermind an investment scam in China between 2014 and 2017 that defrauded 128,000 people out of roughly £4.6bn, according to sentencing remarks from Judge Sally-Ann Hales.

Much of the funds were later recovered by police in China, but Hales said that a “sizeable amount was siphoned off and used by” Qian, and transferred into 70,000 Bitcoin stored on a laptop wallet.

Qian fled China in 2017, spending the next seven years on the run, and travelling between the UK and other countries without an extradition agreement with China.

Qian and an accomplice, who has since been sentenced, came to the attention of UK authorities in 2018, when Qian tried to buy three London properties worth 40.5 million pounds ($53.2m) but failed “know your customer” regulations, according to the Crown Prosecution Service.

Qian disappeared from the UK in 2020, but not before police seized items from a safe deposit box, including a laptop smuggled from China.

Hales said that documents found during the search “give an indication of the level of the defendant’s monthly expenditure, and the grandiose ambitions she held for her future using the proceeds of her criminal conduct”.

Qian returned to police attention last year, when she began to use a dormant wallet with the help of a second accomplice, Senghok Ling, 47, a Malaysian national based in the UK.

When police arrested Ling and Qian in April 2024, the pair was living a “lavish” lifestyle in the UK, according to Hales. At the time, Qian was found in possession of 62 million pounds ($81.4m) worth of cryptocurrency, a large quantity of cash, and two false passports.

Ling was separately sentenced to four years and 11 months in prison.

Richard Hermer, Attorney General for the UK and Wales, on Tuesday praised the sentencing of “two prolific fraudsters”, who together “caused misery upon thousands of victims to fund their lavish lifestyles”.

Hungarian-British writer David Szalay has won the prestigious Booker prize for his novel Flesh, which tells the story of a tortured Hungarian emigre who makes and loses a fortune.

Szalay, 51, beat five other shortlisted authors, including Indian novelist Kiran Desai and the United Kingdom’s Andrew Miller, to claim the 50,000 British pound ($65,500) award at a ceremony in London on Monday.

Written in spare prose, Slazay’s book recounts the life of taciturn Istvan, from a teenage relationship with an older woman through time as a struggling immigrant in the UK to a denizen of London high society.

“A meditation on class, power, intimacy, migration and masculinity, Flesh is a compelling portrait of one man, and the formative experiences that can reverberate across a lifetime,” organisers of the award ceremony in London said in a statement.

Accepting his trophy at London’s Old Billingsgate, Szalay thanked the judges for rewarding his “risky” novel.

He recalled asking his editor “whether she could imagine a novel called ‘Flesh’ winning the Booker Prize”.

“You have your answer,” he said.

In addition to the 50,000-pound ($67,000) prize for the winner, as well as 2,500-pound awards to each of the shortlisted authors and translators, the writers also gain a boost in popularity and benefit from increased book sales.

Szalay’s book was chosen from 153 submitted novels by a judging panel that included Irish writer Roddy Doyle and Sex and the City actor Sarah Jessica Parker.

Doyle said that Flesh, a book “about living, and the strangeness of living”, emerged as the judges’ unanimous choice after a five-hour meeting.

“We had never read anything quite like it. It is, in many ways, a dark book but it is a joy to read,” said Doyle in a statement.

“I don’t think I’ve read a novel that uses the white space on the page so well. It’s as if the author … is inviting the reader to fill the space, to observe – almost to create – the character with him.”

Szalay, who was born in Canada, raised in the UK and lives in Vienna, was previously a Booker finalist in 2016 for All That Man Is, a series of stories about nine wildly different men.

Flesh was Szalay’s sixth work of fiction.

“Even though my father is Hungarian, I never felt entirely at home in Hungary. I suppose, I’m always a bit of an outsider there, and living away from the UK and London for so many years, I also had a similar feeling about London,” Szalay told BBC Radio.

“I really wanted to write a book that stretched between Hungary and London and involved a character who was not quite at home in either place.”

The frontrunners for this year’s prize, according to betting markets, were Miller for his early-1960s domestic drama The Land in Winter, and Desai for the globe-spanning saga The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, her first novel since The Inheritance of Loss, which won the Booker Prize in 2006.

The other finalists were Susan Choi’s twisty family saga, Flashlight; Katie Kitamura’s tale of acting and identity, Audition; and Ben Markovits’s midlife-crisis road trip, The Rest of Our Lives.

The Booker Prize was founded in 1969 and has established a reputation for transforming writers’ careers.

Its winners have included Salman Rushdie, Ian McEwan, Arundhati Roy, Margaret Atwood and Samantha Harvey, who took the 2024 prize for space station story, Orbital.

The separate category of the International Booker Prize was awarded in May to Indian writer and activist Banu Mushtaq for her novel, Heart Lamp, which tells 12 stories of the everyday lives of women and girls in Muslim communities in southern India.

Manchester City celebrated Pep Guardiola’s 1,000th game in management with a statement 3-0 win over Liverpool to close to within four points of Premier League leaders Arsenal.

Erling Haaland shrugged off missing an early penalty on Sunday to head in his 99th Premier League goal before Nico Gonzalez’s deflected effort and a wonder strike from Jeremy Doku confirmed City’s status as Arsenal’s major title rivals.

Liverpool have now lost four of their last five league games to leave the defending champions down in eighth, eight points off the top.

Arsenal’s 10-game winning run came to an end in a 2-2 draw at Sunderland on Saturday and Guardiola’s men took full advantage in the battle of the two sides that have dominated English football’s Premier League over the past decade.

Even if decisions went against Arne Slot’s men, this was another display of how far they have fallen since cruising to a 2-0 win at the Etihad in February.

The Reds showed signs of a revival in beating Aston Villa and Real Madrid in the past eight days, but had no answer to the slickness of a rejuvenated City, who have won 11 of their last 14 games in all competitions.

Conor Bradley shut down the threat of Madrid’s Vinicius Junior on Tuesday, but was given a torrid time by the pace and trickery of Doku down City’s left.

Early in the first half, Doku made the most of Ibrahima Konate’s clearance off Bradley to round Giorgi Mamardashvili before his trailing leg was clipped by the Georgian goalkeeper.

Referee Chris Kavanagh was initially unmoved, but pointed to the spot after a VAR review.

Haaland has struck 28 times already this season for club and country, but has yet to score for City from the penalty spot in 2025-26.

Mamardashvili redeemed himself by getting down low to his left to turn the Norwegian’s penalty to safety to briefly lift the mood among the Liverpool players and travelling support.

City remained in control of the game, though, as Rayan Cherki’s effort was deflected wide before Mamardashvili turned Doku’s strike after another mazy run into the side netting.

Haaland has only failed to score in two of his 18 appearances this season, and duly delivered with a looping header to meet Matheus Nunes’s wicked delivery at 29 minutes.

Liverpool thought they were level nine minutes later, when van Dijk’s header from a corner arrowed into the far corner.

However, Andrew Robertson ducked out of the way of his captain’s effort and was deemed to have interfered with Gianluigi Donnarumma from an offside position.

Instead of going in all square, City rubbed salt in the wounds of Liverpool’s perceived injustice.

The visitors were slow to get out from a corner, and Gonzalez had time to take aim before his shot deflected off van Dijk to wrong-foot Mamardashvili.

Liverpool only had themselves to blame for not getting back in the game early in the second period as Cody Gakpo blazed over with the goal gaping at the end of a fine move involving Mohamed Salah and Bradley.

But Doku fittingly rounded off arguably his best performance in three seasons at City to seal a statement victory.

The Belgian jinked inside the leaden-footed Konate before curling into the top corner from outside the box.

Salah summed up Liverpool’s day and season so far when he dinked wide a glorious chance 10 minutes from time.

Despite the visitors’ need for goals, Slot left 125-million-pound ($165m) striker Alexander Isak on the bench for the entire match due to his lack of match fitness.

The decision to tear up the squad that coasted to the title with a near 450-million-pound ($692m) spend in the transfer window looks more misguided by the game as Liverpool find themselves in a battle just to make the top four rather than the title race.

After the game, Doku told Sky Sports that he was very happy with the team’s performance.

“It is always good for the confidence [to dominate a match], but I have great players around me. That gives me the feeling that I have to do more in every game and every day I want to improve,” he said.

Van Dijk said Liverpool struggled to recover from a difficult first half.

“Our pressing just wasn’t good enough; it should have been better. We need to find more consistency. Losing hurts, always, but 3-0 especially,” he said.

“There were some good moments in the game, but you play Man City at home, who can make it very difficult. The focus should be on reflecting on this when we come back and then fight again.”

Earlier on Sunday, Aston Villa thrashed Bournemouth 4-0 to move into seventh place in the Premier League. But Newcastle United’s poor domestic form continued as they slumped to defeat at Brentford.

Nottingham Forest ended a winless Premier League run stretching back to the first weekend of the season as they came from behind to beat Leeds United 3-1 at the City Ground.

Crystal Palace and Brighton and Hove Albion shared the spoils in a dour 0-0 draw at Selhurst Park.

Davie’s exit caps a week of attacks on Britain’s public broadcaster, with Trump’s press secretary describing BBC as ‘100 percent fake news’.

The director-general of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has resigned after a row over the editing of a speech made by US President Donald Trump on the day of the 2021 attack on the United States Capitol.

Sunday’s joint resignations of Tim Davie and head of news Deborah Turness capped a turbulent week of accusations that the broadcaster edited a speech Trump made on January 6, 2021, to make it appear as if he encouraged the riots that followed his defeat in the 2020 presidential election.

Davie said he took “ultimate responsibility” for mistakes made, saying that quitting his role at the helm of the public broadcaster after five years was “entirely my decision”.

“I have been reflecting on the very intense personal and professional demands of managing this role over many years in these febrile times, combined with the fact that I want to give a successor time to help shape the charter plans they will be delivering,” he said.

A documentary by flagship programme Panorama aired a week before last year’s US election, splicing together clips of Trump’s speech uttered at different points.

The edit made it seem as if Trump said: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol and I’ll be there with you, and we fight. We fight like hell.”

Critics said it was misleading as it cut out a section where Trump said he wanted supporters to demonstrate peacefully.

‘Buck stops with me’

Turness said the controversy about the Trump documentary “has reached a stage where it is causing damage to the BBC – an institution that I love”.

“As the CEO of BBC News and Current Affairs, the buck stops with me,” she added.

Earlier on Sunday, UK Culture, Media and Sport Minister Lisa Nandy called the allegations “incredibly serious”, saying there is a “systemic bias in the way that difficult issues are reported at the BBC”.

Reporting from London, Al Jazeera’s Rory Challands noted that the BBC has always been in a difficult position.

“It is pilloried by the right, who perceive it to be a hotbed of liberal bias. It’s pilloried by the left, who think that it kowtows to the establishment and pumps out government lines when it comes to things like Gaza, particularly, not holding the powerful to account as it should do as a broadcaster.”

Accusations of anti-Israel bias

The controversy, whipped up by UK right-wing media, reached the other side of the Atlantic with Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt describing the BBC as “100 percent fake news” and a “propaganda machine” on Friday.

The story broke on Tuesday when The Daily Telegraph cited a memo complied by Michael Prescott, a former member of the BBC’s editorial standards committee, which raised concerns over the Trump edit, as well as criticising perceived anti-Israel bias in the BBC’s Arabic service.

On Saturday, the newspaper reported right-wing lawmaker Priti Patel, of the Conservative Party, demanded the UK Foreign Office review its funding of BBC Arabic through its grant for the BBC World Service, alleging “pro-Hamas and anti-Israel bias”.

The broadcaster has also been accused of giving Israel favourable coverage in its reporting of the war on Gaza, coming under criticism from its own staff.

Davie’s resignation was celebrated by Nigel Farage, leader of the populist hard-right Reform UK party, which is soaring in opinion polls.

“This is the BBC’s last chance. If they don’t get this right there will be vast numbers of people refusing to pay the licence fee,” Farage said on X.

The military has not gone into details about the sort of equipment or number of personnel that will be sent.

The United Kingdom is sending military equipment and personnel to Belgium after a spate of disruptive drone sightings forced the temporary closures of two major airports.

Air Chief Marshal Richard Knighton told the BBC network on Sunday that the military had agreed to “deploy our people, our equipment to Belgium to help them” after a request from Belgian authorities.

“We don’t know – and the Belgians don’t yet know – the source of those drones, but we will help them by providing our kit and capability, which has already started to deploy to help Belgium,” said Knighton, who did not give details about what sort of equipment would be sent or how many personnel.

In the past week, both Belgium’s main international airport at Brussels and one of Europe’s biggest cargo airports at Liege were forced to close temporarily because of drone incursions. That came after a series of unidentified drone flights near a United States military base in Belgium where nuclear weapons are stored.

Drone sightings also forced the temporary closures of airports in other countries, including Sweden, on Thursday. The Belgian government held an emergency meeting to address the drone sightings.

Knighton said it was not known yet who was behind the drone sightings but noted Russia has been involved in a pattern of “hybrid warfare” in recent years.

Russia has been blamed in some cases, but Belgium has not said who has been operating the drones. Russia has denied any connection with the incidents, and there has been no evidence to directly link the drones to Russia.

Belgian Defence Minister Theo Francken said he believed some incidents were part of “a spying operation” that could not have been done by amateurs.

Drone incidents have also caused major disruptions across Europe in recent months amid deepening concerns that Russia’s war in Ukraine might spill across Europe’s borders. Since September, drones have been spotted near civilian airports and military facilities in countries including Denmark, Germany and Norway.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has called the incursions “hybrid warfare”. While she did not hold Russia responsible for the incidents, she said it was clear Russia’s aim was to “sow division” in Europe.

In September, Polish and NATO forces shot down drones violating the country’s airspace during a Russian aerial attack on neighbouring Ukraine.

Belgium is home to the headquarters of NATO and the European Union as well as Europe’s biggest financial clearinghouse, holding tens of billions of euros in frozen Russian assets. Many EU countries want to use those assets as collateral to provide loans to Ukraine, but Belgium has so far resisted.

The United Kingdom’s government is considering an amendment to immigration rules modelled on Denmark’s controversial policy amid pressure from the far-right groups, who have attacked the Labour government over the rising number of refugees and migrants crossing into the country.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood last month dispatched officials to study the workings of the Danish immigration and asylum system, widely considered the toughest in Europe. The officials are reportedly looking to review the British immigration rules on family reunion and limit refugees to a temporary stay.

The Labour government led by Prime Minister Keir Starmer has been under immense pressure amid growing public opposition to immigration and the surge in the popularity of the far-right Reform UK, which has centred its campaign around the issue of immigration.

So, what’s in Denmark’s immigration laws, and why is the centre-left Labour government adopting laws on asylum and border controls championed by the right wing?

What are Denmark’s immigration laws?

Over the last two decades in Europe, Denmark has led the way in implementing increasingly restrictive policies in its immigration and asylum system, with top leaders aiming for “zero asylum seekers” arriving in the country.

First, Denmark has made family reunions tougher, keeping the bar of conditions comparatively higher than it is in allied countries. Those who live in estates designated as “parallel societies”, where more than 50 percent of residents are from so-called “non-Western” backgrounds, are barred from being granted family reunion. This has been decried by rights groups as racist for refugees’ ethnic profiling.

In Denmark, a refugee with residency rights must meet several criteria for their partner to join them in the country. Both must be age 24 or older, the partner in Denmark must not have claimed benefits for three years, and both partners need to pass a Danish language test.

Permanent residency is possible only after eight years under very strict criteria, including full-time employment.

Christian Albrekt Larsen, a professor in the Political Science department of Aalborg University in Denmark, told Al Jazeera that successive Danish governments’ restrictive policies on “immigration and integration have turned [it] into a consensus position – meaning the ‘need’ for radical anti-immigration parties has been reduced”.

Noting that “there is not one single Danish ‘model’”, but that the evolution has been a process of adjustments since 1998, Larsen said, “In general, Denmark’s ‘effectiveness’ lies in being seen as less attractive than its close neighbours, [including] Germany, Sweden, and Norway.”

Copenhagen is more likely to give asylum to those who have been targeted by a foreign regime, while those fleeing conflicts are increasingly limited in remaining in the country temporarily.

However, Denmark decides which country is safe on its own. For example, in 2022, the Danish government did not renew permits for more than 1,200 refugees from Syria because it judged Damascus to be safe for refugees to return to.

In 2021, Denmark also passed laws allowing it to process asylum seekers outside of Europe, like negotiating with Rwanda, though putting this into practice has been controversial and challenging.

Denmark has reduced the number of successful asylum claims to a 40-year low, except in 2020, amid the coronavirus pandemic’s travel restrictions.

How do these differ from the UK’s current immigration laws?

The UK allows individuals to claim asylum if they prove they are unsafe in their home countries. Refugee status is granted if an individual is at risk of persecution under the United Nations’ 1951 Refugee Convention. Refugees are usually granted five years of leave to remain, with the option to apply for permanent settlement afterward.

Most migrants and refugees can apply for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) after five years, followed by eligibility for citizenship one year later. Requirements include English proficiency and passing the “Life in the UK” test.

The UK system currently does not impose an age limit beyond 18, but requires a minimum annual income of 29,000 British pounds ($38,161), and is subject to a rise pending a review, for sponsoring partners.

Asylum seekers are excluded from mainstream welfare and receive a meagre weekly allowance. However, once granted protection, they access the same benefits as British nationals.

The UK under the previous Conservative government passed controversial legislation to enable deportation to Rwanda, but the policy has not yet been implemented due to ongoing legal challenges.

Before September this year, the UK Home Office allowed spouses, partners, and dependents under 18 to come to the UK without fulfilling the income and English-language tests that apply to other migrants. That is currently suspended, pending the drafting of new rules.

Why is the Labour government changing the UK’s immigration laws?

Facing heat from the opposition over the rising arrivals of migrants and refugees by boats, Prime Minister Starmer in May proposed a draft paper on immigration, calling it a move towards a “controlled, selective and fair” system.

As part of the proposal, the standard waiting time for migrants and refugees for permanent settlement would be doubled to 10 years, and English language requirements would be tightened.

The Labour Party, which advocated for a more open migration model, has been on the back foot over the issue of immigration.

From January through July of this year, more than 25,000 people crossed the English Channel into the UK.

The opposition has seized on this issue.

Nigel Farage, the leader of the Reform UK party, has accused Labour of being soft on immigration. Farage has pledged to scrap indefinite leave to remain – a proposal Starmer has dubbed as “racist” and “immoral”.

Successive British governments have tried unsuccessfully to reduce net migration, which is the number of people coming to the UK, minus the number leaving. Net migration climbed to a record 906,000 in June 2023. It stood at 728,000 last year.

Starmer’s administration has framed the new immigration rules as a “clean break” from a system they see as overreliant on low-paid overseas labour.

A survey released by Ipsos last month revealed that immigration continues to be seen as the biggest issue facing the country, with 51 percent of Britons mentioning it as a concern. That is more than the economy (35 percent) or healthcare (26 percent).

However, at the same time, a YouGov poll found only 26 percent of people said immigration and asylum was one of the three most important issues facing their community.

Concern about immigration is a “manufactured panic”, a report published by the Best for Britain campaign group noted.

The group’s director of policy and research, Tom Brufatto, said that “the data clearly demonstrates that media exposure and political discourse are fanning the flames of anti-immigration sentiment in the UK, causing the government to lose support both to its right and left flank simultaneously.”

Is there opposition to the change within the Labour Party?

The left-leaning leaders of the Labour Party have condemned the “far-right”, “racist” approach of the British government’s moves to adapt the Danish model.

Labour MPs urged Home Secretary Mahmood to dial down her plans for a Danish-style overhaul of the immigration and asylum system.

Nadia Whittome, Labour MP for Nottingham East, told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme that she thinks that “this is a dead end – morally, politically and electorally”.

“I think these are policies of the far right,” she said. “I don’t think anyone wants to see a Labour government flirting with them.”

Whittome argued that it would be a “dangerous path” to take and that some of the Danish policies, especially those around “parallel societies”, were “undeniably racist”.

Clive Lewis, the MP for Norwich South, said: “Denmark’s Social Democrats have gone down what I would call a hardcore approach to immigration.

“They’ve adopted many of the talking points of what we would call the far right,” Lewis said. “Labour does need to win back some Reform-leaning voters, but you can’t do that at the cost of losing progressive votes.”

Meanwhile, members of Parliament from the traditional “Red Wall” constituencies, where the Reform UK party has a support base, are receptive to Mahmood’s plans.

The fissures grew more apparent after Lucy Powell, who won the Labour deputy leadership contest last month, challenged Starmer to soften his stance on immigration.

“Division and hate are on the rise,” Powell said last month. “Discontent and disillusionment are widespread. We have this one big chance to show that progressive mainstream politics really can change people’s lives for the better.”

How do immigration laws vary across Europe?

European countries differ widely in how they manage immigration. Some are major destinations for large absolute numbers of migrants and refugees, while others have adopted restrictive legal measures or strong integration policies.

In 2023, the largest absolute numbers of immigrants entering European Union countries were recorded in Germany and Spain, over 1.2 million each, followed by Italy and France, according to the EU’s latest Migration and Asylum report.

These four countries together accounted for more than half of all non-EU immigration to the EU.

EU member states operate within EU migration and asylum rules, and Schengen zone rules where applicable, and are bound by international obligations such as the UN Refugee Convention. But individual states apply national legislation that interprets those obligations, and in recent years, public sentiment has turned against immigration amid a cost-of-living crisis.

YouGov polling conducted in Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Sweden found that respondents believe immigration over the past decade has been too high. In Britain, 70 percent of those surveyed said that immigration rates have been too high, according to the survey released in February.

On the other hand, countries like Hungary, Poland, and Austria, in addition to Denmark, have formed immigration policies focused on building border fences and restrictive family reunification rules, alongside expedited deportations and limits on access to social benefits.

Austrian and German ministers have referenced the Danish model as a source of inspiration for their own domestic policies.

Several EU states have also tried a version of externalising asylum processes, including Italy with Albania, Denmark with Rwanda, Greece with Turkiye, Spain with Morocco, and Malta with Libya and Tunisia.

Rights groups have criticised the EU for immigration policies that focus on border control and for policies to transfer refugees to third countries.

Follow the build-up, analysis and live text commentary of the match as City host rivals Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium.

Who: Manchester City vs Liverpool
What: English Premier League
Where: Etihad Stadium, Manchester
When: Sunday at 4:30pm (16:30 GMT)
How to follow: We’ll have all the build-up on Al Jazeera Sport from 13:30 GMT in advance of our live text commentary stream.

Games between Manchester City and Liverpool have often been regarded as key battles in Premier League title races in recent seasons, but Sunday’s encounter may merely point to which of the two clubs is best equipped to try to chase league leaders Arsenal.

By the time the weekend’s big game kicks off at the Etihad Stadium, Arsenal – who visit surprise-package Sunderland on Saturday – could be 10 points clear of champions Liverpool and nine ahead of Pep Guardiola’s City.

That scenario would increase the pressure on City and Liverpool, who head into the last round of fixtures before another international stoppage second and third respectively.

There are signs that both clubs are finding form. City have lost only once in their last 13 games in all competitions and on Wednesday pummelled Borussia Dortmund 4-1 in the Champions League with Erling Haaland scoring his 18th club goal this season and a rejuvenated Phil Foden bagging a brace.

Liverpool have also emerged from a run of six defeats in seven matches in all competitions to beat Aston Villa and Real Madrid in their last two games.

Guardiola ‘desperate to play against Liverpool’

City lost home and away to the Reds last season as they were dethroned as champions, and City boss Pep Guardiola admitted he was surprised at Liverpool’s stumbles this season.

“Of course, but sometimes it’s about momentum,” Guardiola stated. “All the clubs are there except Arsenal, who are more consistent than anyone.

“But the season is long, so we try to be there and see what happens. To be hones,t I’m so excited and happy to prepare for Sunday. I’m desperate to play against Liverpool.”

Foden is ‘back’ warns City’s boss

The City and England forward lit up the win over Dortmund, scoring twice to register his first European goals this season and double his tally in all competitions.

City’s star academy graduate struggled for much of last season, opening up about off-field issues and injuries that affected him, but the signs are that the 25-year-old is back to his best, having been the stand-out player in City’s Premier League-winning 2023/24 campaign.

“Phil is back,” Guardiola said. “How many times have we seen Phil score these type of goals? We miss this a lot last season but this season I think he is going to help us a lot.”

Guardiola added, “He’s a special player [and] we need his goals and hopefully today was the first step to do it. It’s important to have him for the big, big match on Sunday [against Liverpool].”

Van Dijk says Liverpool must build from the back

Prior to a 2-0 win over Aston Villa on Saturday, Liverpool had gone 10 matches without a clean sheet.

“It is easy to say now because we won twice in a row. In a world of chaos you have to stay calm and see perspective of things,” captain Virgil van Dijk said. “We all know how football works – it can change overnight.”

Liverpool face another huge test of their title defence on Sunday when Van Dijk faces Haaland, who has struck 26 times this season for club and country.

“You can see at the moment Arsenal are flying, and it is down to clean sheets and not conceding chances,” added Van Dijk.

“We have the quality to hurt anyone on the break – it starts with the defending. Today, you saw the hard work.

“We have to keep going. Sunday is going to be another difficult one.”

Slot looking forward to ‘Clasico’ against City

Liverpool boss Arne Slot said he was not surprised by his team’s return to form to win their last two games, but warned that playing at Manchester City would pose a far more difficult challenge.

“Our main focus is on consistency at the moment, as you know we’ve lost a few games, much more than we usually do … We were consistent but we were consistently losing. That wasn’t the idea,” a laughing Slot told reporters ahead of Sunday’s clash.

“It wasn’t a surprise for me how the last two games went. It was helpful that the other team did what we expected them to do,” he added.

Slot said Guardiola’s City were his immediate focus rather than the league table.

“Similar to the ‘Clasico,’ these are the few games everyone is looking forward to,” he said.

“What I like about Pep Guardiola’s teams is that 10 out of 10 times you get what you are hoping for – a great game of football, no time wasting or those kinds of things that I start to dislike more and more about football,” Slot said.

Head-to-head

Liverpool boast by far the better win ratio from the two clubs’ 218 encounters, with the Reds winning 110 matches, City winning 60, and 58 ending as draws.

The Reds’ league double over City last year included a 2-0 win at the Etihad in February, courtesy of goals from Mohamed Salah and Dominik Szoboszlai, that sent the eventual champions 11 points clear of City.

City’s last win over the Reds was a 4-1 thrashing at the Etihad in April 2023, on a tense day that included an apparent attack by Liverpool fans on the City team bus and Guardiola being accused of disrespectfully celebrating directly in front of Liverpool substitutes.

City’s team news

Guardiola seems to have the luxury of a fully-fit squad to choose from, with talismanic midfielder Rodri set to come into the team after recovering from injury to likely form a double-pivot with Nico Gonzalez.

While left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri has recovered from injury, Nico O’Reilly has excelled in his absence and may be the one tasked with trying to shackle Salah.

City’s predicted starting lineup

Donnarumma; Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly; Rodri, Gonzalez; Cherki, Foden, Doku; Haaland

Liverpool’s team news

The Reds’ first choice keeper Alisson Becker remains injured, but Liverpool have the impressive Giorgi Mamardashvili to rely on between the sticks instead.

Slot confirmed that record signing Alexander Isak may be fit enough to make the squad following a groin problem but he may not be risked, while Curtis Jones is back in training after also suffering a groin injury.

Conor Bradley put in a sensational defensive display against Real Madrid in midweek and will surely retain his spot at right-back with Jeremie Frimpong ruled out for another six weeks, while Andy Robertson also impressed at left-back and may start again as new signing Milos Kerkez continues to adjust to life at Liverpool.

Liverpool’s predicted starting lineup

Mamardashvili; Bradley, Konate, van Dijk, Robertson; Gravenberch, Mac Allister; Salah, Szoboszlai, Wirtz; Ekitike

Matthijs de Ligt equalised in the sixth minute of a dramatic period of stoppage time to earn Manchester United a 2-2 draw at Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League.

Tottenham looked like claiming all three points on Sunday when Richarlison glanced in a header in the first minute of added-on time, completing a Spurs comeback from a goal down.

There was still time for de Ligt to find space at the back post at a corner to direct a header goalwards and over the line before Tottenham goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario clawed the ball away.

Trailing to Bryan Mbeumo’s 32nd-minute header, Tottenham dominated the second half and grabbed an equaliser in the 84th through substitute Mathys Tel’s shot that deflected in off de Ligt.

De Ligt said United deserved more from the game than a point.

“I’m proud of the team for how we fought back and got a point in a really difficult stadium,” he said.

“You can see that we still have the fire in our belly to get a goal, to get a point – even with 10 men,” he added, as United played the last few minutes a man down as Benjamin Sesko was forced off injured after United had made all their five substitutions.

However, Tel said he felt Spurs merited all three points.

“We are feeling 50-50, we conceded a goal, but our reaction in the second half was top,” Tel said.

“We changed the game, but we are mad because we have to win today. The subs brought energy to change the game, and we showed great mentality; we deserved to win.”

United extended their unbeaten run in the league to five games – three wins followed by two draws – while Tottenham have only won one of their six home games so far.

However, the Red Devils have now failed to beat Spurs in their previous eight meetings, but it was the most recent of these that will live long in the memory of the Tottenham support.

Spurs ended their 17-year trophy drought thanks to a scrappy 1-0 win in the Europa League final in May, which also took them into the Champions League while United missed out on European football altogether.

Despite the huge blow to United’s finances and prestige, Ruben Amorim is making the most of having more time on the training field to finally build some momentum after a tough first year at Old Trafford.

Unlike most of United’s big-money signings in recent years, Bryan Mbeumo has proved his worth since a 65-million-pound ($86m) move from Brentford in July.

The Cameroonian was named Premier League player of the month for October and took his tally to four goals in as many games when he headed in from Amad Diallo’s cross on 32 minutes.

Spurs were booed off after a woeful attacking display in losing a London derby 1-0 to Chelsea last weekend.

After another dreary first 45 minutes, the hosts came to life early in the second period.

Senne Lammens produced a brilliant stop to turn Cristian Romero’s flick behind.

The Belgian goalkeeper was quickly called into action again to parry Joao Palhinha’s effort.

Brennan Johnston, who scored the winner when the sides last met in Bilbao, was then denied an equaliser by the offside flag.

Tottenham’s burst of attacking threat quickly fizzled out, though, and discontent among the home fans with manager Thomas Frank showed when his decision to replace Xavi Simons was roundly booed.

However, the Spurs boss can claim his changes turned the game around.

Destiny Udogie crossed for fellow substitute Tel to turn and fire into the top corner via a deflection off de Ligt.

Wilson Odobert, introduced off the bench at half-time, then curled a shot towards the far corner that Richarlison flicked in to leave Lammens helpless.

The Brazilian tore off his shirt and was reduced to tears in his celebration.

Yet, it still was not enough to earn Tottenham a first home league win since the opening weekend of the season.

De Ligt was offered too much space at the back post from Bruno Fernandes’s corner, and his header was too powerful for Vicario.

Later, Arsenal take a six-point lead into a match at Sunderland, while Chelsea host Wolverhampton in one of three other games.

Follow the build-up, analysis and live text commentary of the game as Spurs host United at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

“If they’re able then to treat Sami in this way, it’s only a matter of time before they start to treat US citizens like that too.”

The wife of pro-Palestinian commentator and journalist Sami Hamdi told Al Jazeera that his detention by US immigration authorities poses a threat to every American citizen and visitor to the country.