England and Wales open their World Cup campaigns today in Qatar amid ongoing uncertainty about potential FIFA punishments for their activism.
Captain Harry Kane is due to wear a One Love multicoloured armband when England face Iran at Khalifa International Stadium at 1pm UK time.
Then at 7pm, at Al Rayyan Stadium, Gareth Bale is due to wear the same armband promoting inclusivity when he leads Wales out against the USA.
The armbands do not directly reference Qatar‘s anti-LGBT laws.
But FIFA has still declined to respond to questions publicly for more than two months about whether they would be permitted or considered unsanctioned messaging on equipment.
There is the potential the captains wearing the armbands could be booked and FA chief executive Mark Bullingham told Sky News last month that England were braced for a possible fine.
While FIFA remained silent on the request from England and Wales – and some other European nations, it suddenly announced on Saturday that teams could wear armbands of its choosing at the World Cup.
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The FIFA messaging is vague – such as #FootballUnitesTheWorld – for the first round of matches. The slogan for the quarterfinals – #NoDiscrimination – comes despite the tournament host nation discriminating against gay people.
FIFA does already permit England’s other planned activism, with players deciding to take the knee to highlight racial injustice.
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England manager Gareth Southgate said: “Of course we understand in the Premier League that the clubs have decided to only do that for certain games, big occasions.
“We feel this is the biggest and we think it’s a strong statement that will go around the world for young people, in particular, to see that inclusivity is very important.”
Both England and Wales have an elevated status in the world game, holding two of the eight votes deciding the laws of football.
It allows them to have a say on what is allowed on equipment, but the International Football Association Board is dominated by FIFA’s four votes along with Scotland and Northern Ireland having a seat each.
‘Dare to dream’
On the pitch, Southgate is trying to end a six-match winless run that includes England being relegated in the Nations League.
He is trying to revive the form that took England to the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup and final of the European Championship last year.
Wales are back at a World Cup for the first time since 1958.
Nearly 2,400 fans applied for tickets for the Iran game via the England Supporters’ Travel Club, while Wales expect more than 2,500 fans to be there.
Many more are set to travel from nearby countries such as UAE and Saudi Arabia.
England kick off at the 40,000 capacity Khalifa International Stadium, with temperatures forecast to be about 26C (79F).
Wales, who are in the same group as England, play the USA six hours later at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium.
First Minister Mark Drakeford said Wales should “dare to dream”, while Prime Minister Rishi Sunak tweeted a video of himself circling fixtures on a wall chart and posted “do us proud” next to two flag emojis.
US President Joe Biden also got in on the action by calling the American team and urging “you got some of the best players in the world on your team… let’s go shock ’em all”.
The two top teams from each group progress to the next round, with England and Wales meeting on 29 November in their final group game.
Specialist search teams, police dogs and divers have been dispatched to find two sisters who vanished in Aberdeen three days ago.
Eliza and Henrietta Huszti, both 32, were last seen on CCTV in the city’s Market Street at Victoria Bridge at about 2.12am on Tuesday.
The siblings were captured crossing the bridge and turning right onto a footpath next to the River Dee in the direction of Aberdeen Boat Club.
Police Scotland has launched a major search and said it is carrying out “extensive inquires” in an effort to find the women.
Chief Inspector Darren Bruce said: “Local officers, led by specialist search advisors, are being assisted by resources including police dogs and our marine unit.”
Aberdeenshire Drone Services told Sky News it has offered to help in the search and is waiting to hear back from Police Scotland.
The sisters, from Aberdeen city centre, are described as slim with long brown hair.
Police said the Torry side of Victoria Bridge where the sisters were last seen contains many commercial and industrial units, with searches taking place in the vicinity.
The force urged businesses in and around the South Esplanade and Menzies Road area to review CCTV footage recorded in the early hours of Tuesday in case it captured anything of significance.
Drivers with relevant dashcam footage are also urged to come forward.
CI Bruce added: “We are continuing to speak to people who know Eliza and Henrietta and we urge anyone who has seen them or who has any information regarding their whereabouts to please contact 101.”
Britain’s gas storage levels are “concerningly low” with less than a week of demand in store, the operator of the country’s largest gas storage site said on Friday.
Plunging temperatures and high demand for gas-fired power stations are the main factors behind the low levels, Centrica said.
The UK is heavily reliant on gas for its home heating and also uses a significant amount for electricity generation.
As of the 9th of January 2025, UK storage sites are 26% lower than last year’s inventory at the same time, leaving them around half full,” Centrica said.
“This means the UK has less than a week of gas demand in store.”
The firm’s Rough gas storage site, a depleted field off England’s east coast, makes up around half of the country’s gas storage capacity.
Glasgow has been a city crying out for solutions to a devastating drugs epidemic that is ravaging people hooked on deadly narcotics.
We have spent time with vulnerable addicts in recent months and witnessed first-hand the dirty, dangerous street corners and back alleys where they would inject their £10 heroin hit, not knowing – or, in many cases, not caring – whether that would be the moment they die.
“Dying would be better than this life,” one man told me.
It was a grim insight into the daily reality of life in the capital of Europe’s drug death crisis.
Scotland has a stubborn addiction to substances spanning generations. Politicians of all persuasions have failed to properly get a grip of the emergency.
But there is a new concept in town.
From Monday, a taxpayer-funded unit is allowing addicts to bring their own heroin and cocaine and inject it while NHS medical teams supervise.
It may be a UK-first but it is a regular feature in some other major European cities that have claimed high success rates in saving lives.
Glasgow has looked on with envy at these other models.
One supermarket car park less than a hundred metres from this new facility is a perfect illustration of the problem. An area littered with dirty needles and paraphernalia. A minefield where one wrong step risks contracting a nasty disease.
It is estimated hundreds of users inject heroin in public places in Glasgow every week. HIV has been rife.
The new building, which will be open from 9am until 9pm 365 days a year, includes bays where clean needles are provided as part of a persuasive tactic to lure addicts indoors in a controlled environment.
There is a welcome area where people will check in before being invited into one of eight bays. The room is clinical, covered in mirrors, with a row of small medical bins.
We were shown the aftercare area where users will relax after their hit in the company of housing and social workers.
The idea is controversial and not cheap – £2.3m has been ring-fenced every year.
Authorities in the city first floated a ‘safer drug consumption room’ in 2016. It failed to get off the ground as the UK Home Office under the Conservatives said they would not allow people to break the law to feed habits.
The usual wrangle between Edinburgh and London continued for years with Downing Street suggesting Scotland could, if it wanted, use its discretion to allow these injecting rooms to go ahead.
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The stalemate ended when Scotland’s most senior prosecutor issued a landmark decision that it would not be in the public interest to arrest those using such a facility.
One expert has told me this new concept is unlikely to lead to an overall reduction in deaths across Scotland. Another described it as an expensive vanity project. Supporters clearly disagree.
The question is what does success look like?
The big test will be if there is a spike in crime around the building and how it will work alongside law enforcement given drug dealers know exactly where to find their clients now.
It is not disputed this is a radical approach – and other cities across Britain will be watching closely.