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Ukrainian sporting legend Bubka calls on sporting world to aid refugees
AFP
Ukraine’s former Olympic pole vault champion and world record holder Sergey Bubka called on the sports world to help provide essential goods for Ukrainians who have had to flee their homes as a result of Russia’s invasion.
The 58-year-old — who was crowned world outdoor champion on six successive occasions and broke the world record 35 times — had said on Friday Ukraine would win the war.
Bubka said he was going to use all his international connections to “defend his country” and he backed up his words through an open letter.
“Please, allow me to turn to you at this difficult times of the war in my country,” he wrote.
“It is a very hard time for me — the time of hard working and the time of decisions on how to help my country, my compatriots, athletes and coaches, my colleagues and friends, who need help as never.
Bubka, president of the Ukrainian National Olympic Committee, said: “Over a million people, mostly women and children have been forcibly displaced from their homes.
“Millions of people lose their livelihoods and stay without medical care, food and clothes on the Ukrainian territories.
“From the sports community side, we are trying as much as we can to channel and reinforce the soft power of our global unity to support people in Ukraine as much as we can in these unprecedented times.”
Bubka, who is also senior vice-president of World Athletics, said there was an urgent need for basic products as well as sportswear for children, who could find playing sports in refugee camps a welcome distraction for them.
“We are inviting everybody to help thousands of women and children that left their homes without the opportunity to take anything with them,” he wrote.
“The key priorities at this stage will be first aid medical materials, hygiene products, clothes for kids, long-lasting food and financial support.
“Secondly, I think about the possibility to organize sportswear, sport shoes, equipment of any sport for children who are now living in refugee camps.
He said while displaced children might not have the opportunity to study at school, “at least they will be able to play sport and spend their leisure time properly distracting from the horror of the life in which they find themselves now.”
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Trump files $15 billion defamation suit against The New York Times
U.S. President Donald Trump has filed a $15 billion defamation and libel lawsuit against The New York Times, which denounced the legal move on Tuesday as an attempt to silence the press.
In this new stage of his presidency, the 79-year-old Republican leader has escalated his long-standing hostility toward traditional media, repeatedly attacking critical journalists, limiting their access, or taking them to court.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in Florida, seeks $15 billion in damages, along with additional punitive compensation “in an amount to be determined at trial.”
The New York Times had reported last week that Trump threatened legal action over articles concerning a birthday letter allegedly sent by him to financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The letter featured a typed message inside the outline of a nude woman. Trump denies that the accompanying signature is his.
“For too long, The New York Times has been allowed to lie, defame, and slander me freely — and that ends NOW!” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social.
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Maduro warns Venezuela would enter armed struggle if attacked by foreign forces
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro stated on Friday that if his country were attacked, it would enter a phase of armed struggle, amid his claims of “threats” from the United States, which is conducting a military deployment in Caribbean waters near Venezuela’s coast under the pretext of combating drug trafficking.
Maduro emphasized that Venezuela is currently in the non-armed phase, which he described as political, communicational, and institutional, but added that if the country were somehow aggressed, it would move to a planned, organized armed struggle involving the entire population, whether the threat is local, regional, or national.
“We would enter a stage of armed struggle, in defense of peace, territorial integrity, sovereignty, and our people,” Maduro said during an event activating citizen militias, broadcast on state channel Venezolana de Televisión (VTV).
He also noted that Venezuela is currently in a phase of readiness and preparation to defend the country and will proceed to the deployment of defensive capacities, including training and retraining of the entire Venezuelan population.
Maduro described the Venezuelan people as pacifist yet warrior-like, asserting that “no one will enslave us, neither today nor ever.”
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USCIS gains law enforcement powers: Agents now authorized to investigate and arrest immigration violators
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), traditionally responsible for handling naturalizations, visas, residence permits, and work authorizations, is now expanding its role to include law enforcement powers, according to a statement released by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Under the new directive, specially designated USCIS agents are now authorized to investigate, arrest, and bring to justice individuals who violate U.S. immigration laws. Previously, USCIS primarily managed administrative and bureaucratic processes, while enforcement responsibilities were handled by agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Illegal immigration has been a central issue under President Donald Trump’s administration, with DHS reporting that over 300,000 migrants have been arrested in the first six months of his presidency. However, the number of people who have crossed U.S. borders illegally in recent years remains controversial, with experts estimating between 8 to 10 million individuals.
The policy shift also comes amid heightened legal battles over immigration enforcement. Recently, a federal judge blocked the deportation of minors to Guatemala, who were moments away from boarding a flight. Trump’s aggressive measures, including large-scale raids in cities like Los Angeles, have faced multiple judicial challenges, some upheld and others overturned at various federal levels, including the Supreme Court.
According to the DHS statement, the expanded authority allows USCIS to “manage investigations from start to finish rather than referring cases to ICE,” aiming to reduce backlogs and combat fraud within the immigration system.
USCIS Director Joseph B. Edlow will have the power to appoint and train special agents under the order signed by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, ensuring that the agency can effectively execute its newly granted enforcement responsibilities.
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