Category News

The Tanzanian government has cancelled Tuesday’s Independence Day events as protesters called for a day of action.

Liverpool bounced back from a damaging row with Mohamed Salah by beating Inter Milan 1-0 and kicking their Champions League campaign back into gear.

Dominik Szoboszlai’s late penalty gave the Reds a huge win on Tuesday at the San Siro, in the absence of Egypt star Salah, who was left in England after publicly criticising manager Arne Slot at the weekend.

Liverpool fans loudly chanted Slot’s name at the end of a largely drab match, which was decided by Felix Zwayer’s decision to give the English champions a perfect chance to snatch the points.

Inter’s players were enraged at the awarding of the spot kick for a light shirt tug by Alessandro Bastoni on Florian Wirtz, but it gave Slot a happy end to a troubled few days.

The closest either team came to scoring before then was when Ibrahima Konate had his close-range header ruled out, after a lengthy VAR check, for a Hugo Ekitike handball in the 37th minute.

Tuesday’s win puts Liverpool on 12 points from six games and inside the top eight positions, which offers direct qualification for the last 16, ahead of Wednesday’s fixtures.

Inter, meanwhile, are fifth on the same tally, but have lost their last two European fixtures and created nearly nothing against an injury-hit Liverpool, who were missing not just rebel player Salah but also unfit Cody Gakpo, Federico Chiesa and Wataru Endo.

Last season, 16 points was enough to skip the playoffs, and Cristian Chivu’s team are by no means guaranteed that as they host Arsenal before travelling to Borussia Dortmund in their final two league phase fixtures.

And another defeat in a big game means dropping out of the top eight is a real prospect.

Liverpool’s trip to Milan has been dominated by Salah’s extraordinary criticism of Slot, who on Monday admitted that he had “no clue” as to whether the rebel attacker had played his last game for the Reds.

Salah sparked a firestorm when he said he felt like he had been “thrown under the bus” by the club and no longer had a relationship with Slot after being left on the bench for Saturday’s 3-3 draw at Leeds, the third match in a row for which he has been relegated to the role of substitute.

His outburst led to Saudi Arabia saying on Tuesday that it will do “whatever it can” to recruit the 33-year-old in January, even though he signed a new contract in April.

Liverpool had won just four times in 15 matches in all competitions coming into Tuesday’s match, but Inter failed to pile any early pressure on their opponents.

Inter did not have their first shot of any description until the 37th minute, while Liverpool, who were nowhere near their best, had good attempts from Curtis Jones and Ryan Gravenberch, before Konate’s header was eventually ruled out.

That woke up both Inter and a strangely flat home crowd of nearly 74,000, and Lautaro Martinez ended up wasting the best chance of the first half when he headed Alessandro Bastoni’s cross straight at Alisson Becker.

But the second half was a total flop, and as the minutes passed, it became clear that a deadlock was fine for both teams until Szoboszlai rifled home his winning penalty.

Slot praised his side for the commitment and pressing that helped them come away with the win, before commenting on Salah’s absence.

“He has been so influential for the club and his teammates, and it is sad for the club and his teammates,” the Liverpool manager told Amazon Prime.

“The focus should be on this result. I know that all the questions will still be about Mo on Friday, ahead of the next game.”

Liverpool skipper van Dijk said it was an important victory for the players amid intense scrutiny and criticism.

“Winning is a good feeling, especially in the period we are in – trying to find consistency, something to build in,” the Liverpool defender told Amazon Prime.

“It was always going to be tough here. It nearly ended 0-0, but it ended positively for us.”

Elsewhere in the Champions League on Tuesday, Bayern Munich’s 17-year-old midfielder Lennart Karl produced an audacious bit of skill to continue his high-scoring start to life in the Champions League in a 3-1 win over Sporting Lisbon.

Chelsea were beaten in the Champions League for the first time in nearly three months as Belgium forward Charles De Ketelaere set up the equaliser and scored an 83rd-minute winner, and Atalanta came from behind to win 2-1 in Bergamo.

Atletico Madrid came from behind to beat PSV Eindhoven 3-2 away on Tuesday and move up to the seventh spot in the Champions League standings, all but ensuring their progress to the knockout stages.

Two headers by Jules Kounde, three minutes apart, gave Barcelona a 2-1 comeback victory over Eintracht Frankfurt at Camp Nou.

Tottenham Hotspur moved up to ninth after beating Slavia Prague 3-0 on an own goal and two penalties, and Marseille held on for a 3-2 win over Union Saint-Gilloise – whose players and fans twice celebrated what they thought were goals to level the score late on, only for both to be ruled out for narrow offsides on video review.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) says it is in the process of filing a lawsuit against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for designating the civil rights group as a “foreign terrorist” organisation.

Hiba Rahim, the interim executive director of the state chapter of CAIR, told Al Jazeera on Tuesday that while DeSantis’s decision will not have any immediate effect on the group, it could fuel Islamophobia in Florida and across the United States.

“We’ll continue doing the work that we do every day to defend civil liberties and protect American Muslims, and to protect the community at large and to uphold the Constitution,” Rahim told Al Jazeera.

DeSantis announced his decision to blacklist CAIR on Monday, calling upon state agencies to take action against anyone who provides “material support” to the civil rights group.

But critics point out that the governor’s “foreign terrorist” designation appears to be largely symbolic. Such designations can only be made at the federal level.

Moreover, CAIR is a domestic group with dozens of chapters across the country and hundreds of employees and contributors who are US citizens. It therefore cannot be labelled a foreign group.

“Material support to terrorism” is a serious criminal charge that would require legal proceedings, and the civil rights group has not yet faced any formal accusations.

But DeSantis’s announcement echoes a similar move taken by Texas Governor Greg Abbott, another Republican, last month.

DeSantis ‘welcomes’ lawsuit

Founded in 1994, CAIR describes itself as the largest Muslim American civil liberties organisation. The group says it supports “free enterprise, freedom of religion and freedom of expression” and opposes all violence against civilians.

CAIR has been involved in major lawsuits defending Muslim civil rights, including cases that made it to the US Supreme Court.

The group has also filed legal challenges to protect the free speech of US citizens involved in advocacy for Palestinian rights.

In his executive order on Monday, DeSantis — who launched an unsuccessful bid for president last year — also designated the Muslim Brotherhood as a “terrorist” group.

Israel is mentioned throughout the decree, which says that Hamas is seeking “the eradication of Jews from their historic homeland of Judea and Samaria”, another term for the occupied West Bank, a Palestinian territory.

CAIR has long been a target for right-wing, pro-Israel advocates. The Israeli government itself has asked its Ministry of Defence to consider designating the US nonprofit as a terrorist group.

In Tuesday’s interview, Rahim criticised DeSantis for pursuing “Israel First” policies, instead of protecting US citizens who might be affiliated with CAIR.

She underscored that, in 2019, DeSantis held his first official cabinet meeting as Florida governor in Israel, a sign of his close relationship with the country.

Rahim also slammed the governor for failing to speak out about the plight of his Palestinian American constituents.

In July, Israeli settlers in the West Bank beat to death Florida ice cream shop worker Sayfollah Musallet, and 16-year-old Florida teen Mohammed Ibrahim was jailed by Israel for more than eight months this year without any public protest from the governor.

“What type of priorities is he showing the people of Florida when he elevates an ‘Israel First’ policy and ignores the needs of the Floridian people?” Rahim told Al Jazeera.

Earlier on Tuesday, Rahim told reporters that CAIR is proud to be “America First”, highlighting the patriotism of the Muslim group while questioning DeSantis’s loyalties. She said CAIR’s mission was to defend the rights enshrined in the US Constitution.

The Florida governor has said he would welcome a lawsuit against CAIR’s “terrorist” designation, arguing that a legal challenge would give the state “discovery rights to be able to subpoena” the group’s bank records.

However, if CAIR were indeed suspected of any criminal activity, state officials should be able to seek a search warrant to investigate its activities, without waiting for a lawsuit.

Rahim appeared unfazed by the prospect of having the group’s records made public. “We welcome it as well, and we will see him in the courtroom,” she told reporters.

Islamophobia on the rise

The targeting of CAIR comes amid a spike in Islamophobia across the country, with politicians, including allies of President Donald Trump, sharpening their anti-Muslim rhetoric.

Earlier this year, several right-wing Congress members, including Chip Roy and Tommy Tuberville, introduced bills against the establishment of Islamic law — measures that critics consider a red herring.

Rather than addressing a real issue, rights advocates say the legislation is instead aimed at demonising the Muslim community and portraying Islam as a threat to the Constitution.

Last month, anti-Muslim activists also marched on the city of Dearborn, Michigan, which is home to a large Muslim community. There, they hurled racist insults at residents and tried to burn the Quran.

Muslim American activist Ahmed Bedier, who hosts a radio show in Florida’s Tampa Bay area, said there appears to be a concerted effort by right-wing and pro-Israel advocates to paint Muslims as a threat to distract from the atrocities in Gaza.

“This definitely feels like there is a coordinated campaign to convince Americans that somehow Muslims are the real enemies — that there’s this Muslim scare: ‘The Muslims are taking over. Sharia is conquering,’” Bedier told Al Jazeera.

He added that targeting CAIR is a “political stunt masquerading as a security policy”.

So far, the federal government has not commented on DeSantis’s move against CAIR. The US State Department, which has the authority to label groups as “terrorist”, did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.

But Trump himself has been intensifying his anti-immigrant rhetoric, recently calling the largely Muslim Somali community in the US “garbage”.

As far back as 2015, when he was campaigning for his first term as president, Trump has called to ban all Muslims from entering the US.

However, during his re-election campaign last year, Trump actively courted the Muslim community, visiting Dearborn and inviting imams to join him onstage at one of his rallies in Michigan.

On Tuesday, Rahim called on the US president to side with CAIR against DeSantis.

“Every person and every politician has a chance and an opportunity to make the right decision,” she told Al Jazeera.