UK urges FIFA to investigate Argentina over World Cup Falklands banner
The United Kingdom and Argentina fought a brief war over the British overseas territory in 1982. Published On 16 Jul 202616 Jul 2026 A British minister has called for FIFA to investigate after Argentina’s players at the World Cup held up a banner reading “Las Malvinas son Argentinas” (“The Falklands are Argentinian”) after their 2-1 semifinal victory over England. Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Downing Street office backed the calls by Business Minister Peter Kyle on Thursday, a day after the semifinal. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list Kyle called the flag waving an “egregious violation” of FIFA rules, which ban political symbols on the field of play. “The World Cup might not be ours, but the Falkland Islands definitely are,” a Downing Street spokesperson said. Argentina invaded the British overseas territory in the South Atlantic in 1982. But the United Kingdom regained the archipelago in a brief war after then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher dispatched a naval force. Kyle urged football’s global governing body to “thoroughly” investigate the banner incident after Wednesday’s match in Atlanta in the US state of Georgia. “Politics needs to be separate from football. In fact, the World Cup has one of its central tenets that politics is separate from football,” he told BBC television. “That is now a matter for FIFA. … We expect FIFA to undertake an investigation into this,” he added. FIFA has not yet commented on the incident. Britain occupied the Falklands in the 19th century, but Argentina claims the islands are part of its territory. Argentinian Vice President Victoria Villarruel upped the tensions before Wednesday’s kickoff by calling the English “usurping pirates”. Advertisement The 1982 conflict ended with the deaths of 649 Argentinians and 255 Britons. After their World Cup semifinal victory, Argentina’s foreign minister said Buenos Aires had filed a formal protest over a British warship near the Falkland Islands. Pablo Quirno posted on X to express “the strongest rejection” of the UK’s HMS Medway’s “unconsulted and illegal” passage through Argentinian territorial waters, alleging a lack of proper notification. Quirno said the Medway, which is based in the Falkland Islands, was accused of violating bilateral agreements in a diplomatic note of protest dated on Monday and submitted to the UK embassy in Buenos Aires. Adblock test (Why?)
Air defences intercept drones over Erbil, Iraq
NewsFeed Verified eyewitness video captures multiple aerial interceptions over Erbil, Iraq where explosions were heard near the US consulate. Security sources said an explosive-laden drone was shot down, as Kurdish authorities reported coalition forces intercepted eight drones. Published On 16 Jul 202616 Jul 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
Hamas leadership run-off expected between Meshaal and al-Hayya
Hamas is set to hold a decisive run-off election next week to choose its new political bureau chief. This will complete a complex transition process initiated to fill leadership vacancies left by Israel’s assassinations of some of the group’s top figures, such as Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar. The highly anticipated vote represents a critical juncture for the Palestinian group as it attempts to renew itself, even as it faces the ongoing Israeli war. According to a Hamas source, the internal ballot to select a chairman has narrowed down to what is likely to be a close contest between former Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal and former deputy chairman Khalil al-Hayya. The winner will replace the current transitional council, which took over following Sinwar’s assassination in Gaza in October 2024. The new leader will then continue until 2027, when new elections are due to be held. Under Hamas’s internal rules, a candidate must secure an absolute majority of 50 percent plus one of the votes within the Shura Council – the group’s consultative body – to win the leadership outright. Because neither candidate achieved that threshold during the initial rounds, a run-off election has been scheduled for next week to break the deadlock. The source explained that, according to a 2021 framework, the top two leadership positions must include a representative of the Gaza region – one of the three geographical areas Hamas is divided into, with the other two being the West Bank and the diaspora. Therefore, if al-Hayya, who represents Gaza, does not secure the leadership in the run-off, he is expected to be positioned as deputy political chief. Change in process A second Hamas source told Al Jazeera that the group has been forced to abandon its typical voting process, which involves participation from the entire grassroots base. Instead, only a narrower group has been able to vote in the political bureau elections, in order to complete the current electoral term, which began in 2021. Advertisement The source explained that security challenges imposed by the war, alongside the urgent priority of filling vacancies in the group’s Shura Council resulting from the deaths of several members, had delayed the leadership selection. Despite those challenges, the source dismissed reports of a shift towards a clandestine or collective leadership structure, asserting that the identity of the newly elected chief will be formally and publicly announced once the votes are finalised. Both the Hamas sources confirmed that regardless of next week’s outcome, preparations for a fully comprehensive, grassroots election across all three traditional regions are scheduled to begin next year, subject to prevailing security conditions. Palestinian political analyst Abdullah Aqrabawi told Al Jazeera that those internal dynamics can no longer be viewed as the closed-door affairs of a local group. Since the events of October 7, 2023, Hamas has emerged as a central regional actor whose decisions reverberate far beyond the Palestinian arena, directly shaping the geopolitics of the entire Middle East. Consequently, Aqrabawi noted, the transition of Hamas’s leadership has become a matter of intense regional and international scrutiny. Institutional resilience The current electoral framework stems from Hamas’s internal general elections in early 2021. Haniyeh was chosen as the overall head of the political bureau, while Sinwar was re-elected to lead the Gaza Strip and Meshaal was selected to head the movement’s diaspora wing abroad. This institutional structure faced unprecedented disruption following the outbreak of the war, which saw Israel target multiple tiers of Hamas’s political and military commands. In July 2024, political chief Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran, prompting the group’s Shura Council to name Sinwar as his overall successor in August 2024. Following Sinwar’s death during a clash with Israeli forces in Rafah in October 2024, the group adapted by establishing a temporary, five-member ruling leadership council to handle wartime governance and negotiations. This transitional committee has since been nominally headed by Qatar-based official Mohammad Darwish. Despite Israel’s declared objective of dismantling Hamas’s command-and-control apparatus, the structured nature of this transition highlights the group’s deep organisational safety net. Palestinian political analyst Wissam Afifa told Al Jazeera that Hamas’s organisational structure operates akin to the biological process of “mitotic division” – where a single cell splits to create two identical cells. In times of crisis, pre-existing emergency procedures and backup plans automatically trigger secondary administrative and leadership layers to assume control. Advertisement Afifa emphasised that while iconic, charismatic figures are irreplaceable, the survival of the institution itself is never tied to a single individual, allowing the group to absorb unprecedented shocks. Agreeing with this assessment, Aqrabawi observed that the movement’s insistence on adhering strictly to its voting regulations and bylaws under the fire of an ongoing war reflects a deep-seated institutionalism. Rather than resorting to swift appointments or consensus decrees, he said, the group has chosen a voting process. According to Aqrabawi, the active competition between two distinct leaders shows a healthy internal debate on the movement’s political and strategic directions during a crucial moment. A shift in the decision-making hub The war has nevertheless forced structural adjustments in how Hamas governs itself. Afifa pointed out that the extensive targeting of Hamas’s long-time military commanders inside the Gaza Strip has led to an inevitable delegation of authority. To ensure continuity, the political leadership abroad has been granted broad mandates to make strategic decisions. This delegation of power allows external leaders to navigate diplomatic and political manoeuvres free from the immediate tactical pressures of the battlefield. This external pivot has persisted despite direct threats. Last September, Israel launched an attack on a residential complex in Doha targeting senior Hamas figures, though the leadership survived. Afifa noted that while collective leadership has been crucial for building internal consensus during this transitional phase, Hamas’s history suggests that strong, charismatic, individual leadership remains vital for taking decisive actions during major historical turning points. Diplomatic and post-war implications The outcome of the vote is expected to determine the organisational management of ceasefire negotiations. While al-Hayya has been deeply involved as Hamas’s main negotiator
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