Football in the occupied West Bank has been brought to a near standstill since Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza.
Palestinian players struggle to reach training grounds, matches are routinely cancelled because of checkpoints and military closures, and hundreds of sports facilities have either been damaged or destroyed.
But in illegal Israeli settlements, Israeli football teams are thriving, with players continuing to train and compete while clubs expand their facilities.
An investigation by Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ) and Bridges Investigations for Middle East Eye has found that illegal settlement-based clubs are participating in Israeli domestic competitions with the backing of the Israel Football Association (IFA), while Fifa and Uefa continue to recognise and financially support the IFA.
According to the investigation, Fifa, which formally says it is committed to respecting internationally recognised human rights through its statutes and strategic goals, has not only declined to take action against settlement clubs; its Fifa+ platform also broadcasts their matches.
How football's governing bodies support illegal Israeli settlement clubs
Tennessee national guard fatally shot armed man in back, autopsy shows
Tennessee national guard members assigned to a federal anti-crime taskforce in Memphis fatally shot an armed 20-year-old man in the back, according to an autopsy report obtained by the Associated Press, contradicting police accounts that said the man was facing the troops when they fired.
Authorities have said that Tyrin Johnson turned toward guard members with a gun while running from them in the early morning hours after the Fourth of July holiday in Memphis when he was fatally shot in the chest.
But according to an autopsy report shared by Johnson’s family, a single bullet went in the right side of his back and exited through his upper right chest. The autopsy findings, reported earlier by the Commercial Appeal, the Memphis news outlet, were prepared by the West Tennessee regional forensic center office of the medical examiner, which did not respond to a request for comment.
The guard members were assigned to the Memphis Safe Task Force, created by Donald Trump, as the US president last year sent troops and federal agents to Democratic-run cities that he described as overrun with crime. The taskforce was involved in four fatal shootings between May and July.
Trump arch will alter sightlines of many Washington DC landmarks, report says
A new National Park Service report backs Donald Trump’s proposed arch, despite what it says are adverse effects to the sightlines of a host of landmarks in Washington, including the Washington Monument and the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials.
The report released on Friday says the 250ft-tall (76-meter) memorial arch is likely to disrupt the historical significance of dozens of sites near its planned location adjacent to the Arlington Memorial Bridge.
Many of Washington’s monuments, buildings and sites have been carefully planned over decades to reflect significant moments in the nation’s history and to evoke symbolism through sightlines that connect them to other sites. The arch will disturb the sightline between more Washington landmarks than anticipated, the report said.
But the Park Service report says “the same characteristics that make Memorial Circle sensitive from a preservation perspective are also the characteristics that make it the historically appropriate location for the undertaking”.
Hegseth blocks promotions of 4 Army officers with ties to sacked generals
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth blocked promotions of four Army officers picked for promotion to one-star rank, some of whom have ties to top Army generals the Pentagon chief ousted earlier this year, The Hill has learned.
Some of the officers pulled from the list have links to former Army Chief of Staff, Gen. Randy George, who Hegseth removed in April, and to Gen. Chris Donahue, the commander of U.S. Army Europe and Africa who was ousted by the defense secretary in June, a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters, told The Hill on Friday.
“Military promotions are given to those who have earned them. This has always been the case under Secretary Hegseth and will not change.” Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell told The Hill in a statement on Friday.
Earlier this year, Hegseth intervened and removed four Army officers — two women and two Black men — from a one-star general promotion list to the dismay of Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and other service branch officials, The Hill and other news outlets have reported.
See how a glacier collapse caused a deadly flood in Nepal and Tibet
At least 359 people have died, and nearly 1,000 others are reported missing after a flash flood struck a mountainous area in Nepal and the Tibet region of China on Aug. 26.
The working theory is that a glacial collapse produced the flood that washed away buildings, cars and people with incredible speed and force, scientists told USA TODAY. The U.S. Geological Survey said a glacial collapse, in which part of a glacier breaks away, produced a seismic event at about 8:37 a.m. local time.
The collAs emergency officials continue to search for the dead and missing after a horrific Himalayan river flood, scientists race to assess the risk of even more flooding and piece together how it all began. It could take days or weeks to fully understand the event. Here's what we know so far:
Girl Scouts USA responds to controversy over 'Islamic' badges
The Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) came under fire online this week after being accused of "Islamising" its programmes.
On 24 August, White House correspondent and War Room co-host Natalie Winters shared a thread on X titled "The Islamisation of Girl Scouts Across America", featuring photos of badges including one labelled "Girl Scout of the Islamic Faith", alongside others tied to Islamic practices such as Ramadan and Hajj.
“Mosque-based programs operate in Sacramento, Naperville, Long Island, Virginia, Maryland, Brooklyn, San Diego, and more—embedding prayer, hijab rules, Ramadan, Islamic education and mosque outreach into Girl Scouting,” Winters wrote.
The Girl Scouts of the USA responded to the controversy, claiming it is not a religious organisation, does not incorporate religious teachings in its programmes and welcomes girls from every faith.
“Any other faith-based patches are developed by independent organisations, not Girl Scouts of the USA,” the organisation wrote on X.
Islamophobia has become Israel's Trojan Horse to win over westerners
Israel's Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli has explained his own strategy more candidly than any critic could.
Antisemitism, he told an interviewer, does not much interest the average European or American, whereas fear of "radical Islam" interests them "very, very much", and Israel therefore needs "to take advantage of that".
Here is a senior cabinet minister admitting that Islamophobia has become a Trojan Horse for Israel to win over European and American hearts and minds.
And it is the clearest account yet of what his ministry has become under Benjamin Netanyahu; an office that once existed to protect Jewish communities abroad now works to turn European fear of Muslims into political capital for the Israeli government.
His ministry was built for the opposite work.
DOJ insists new Trump inscriptions are ‘not renaming’ Kennedy Center
The Justice Department (DOJ) on Thursday defended renewed plans to inscribe President Trump’s name on the Kennedy Center, insisting it does not run afoul of previous court rulings that found the change was unlawful.
A DOJ lawyer told U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper during a nearly two-hour hearing that the renowned performing arts center was in “structural and financial disarray” and the inscriptions only sought to recognize Trump’s role in helping restore it.
“We think it’s quite clear that there’s no renaming here,”Brantley Mayers said, claiming the Kennedy Center board’s decision does not violate a federal law that establishes the institution as a “living memorial” to former President John F. Kennedy Jr.
The hearing came in a challenge brought by Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat and ex officio board member who has been suing to halt the changes. The congresswoman was present in the courtroom.
Trump directs federal government to rename Lake Ontario to Lake America
President Trump is escalating his ongoing dispute with Canada over tariffs with a new executive order renaming Lake Ontario, which sits between New York and Canada, to Lake America.
The order, which Trump signed Thursday, directs the federal government to rename the smallest of the great lakes "effective immediately." However, the order also outlines administrative steps that must occur first. He made a similar move last year renaming the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America.
"We have a gulf, and we have a lake, now all we need is an ocean," Trump told reporters at the Oval Office signing.
He went to blame Canada for the renaming.
"We deal with a lot of people, and people oftentimes they'll ask me, 'Who's the worst to deal with on trade?' And I said, 'That's easy, Canada. They are the worst to trade, and they they feel entitled, and just we can't have that,'" Trump explained.
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