Sin categoría
Germany’s Kroos retires from international football
AFP
Germany midfielder Toni Kroos said Friday he was retiring from international football, days after the team was knocked out of Euro 2020 by England.
“I have played 106 times for Germany. There will not be another time,” the 31-year-old Real Madrid star wrote on Twitter.
“I had already made the decision to retire after this tournament,” he added, referring to the European championships which ended for the Germans when they lost 2-0 to England in the last 16 on Tuesday at Wembley.
“It had been clear to me for a while that I will not be available for the World Cup 2022 in Qatar.”
Kroos said he planned in the next years to place his “full concentration” on Real Madrid.
“I would also like to be there more as husband and father for my wife and children,” he wrote.
“Due to the (international) breaks that I will get in the future, I believe that I can recharge my battery better,” he added.
Thanking supporters and critics alike, Kroos also had special words for Joachim Loew, who bowed out as national coach on Tuesday following 15 years in the job.
“He made me a national team player and a world champion. He trusted me. We wrote a success story together.”
Loew first picked Kroos for a friendly against Argentina in 2010. He went on to play a bit-part in that year’s World Cup campaign in South Africa when the Germans finished third.
Four years later he was a key component, playing every minute of every game and scoring twice in the 7-1 semi-final demolition of hosts Brazil, as Loew’s side lifted the World Cup trophy.
Kroos said he had considered retiring after Germany’s disastrous 2018 World Cup campaign in Russia, when they finished last in their group, but Loew talked him out of it.
“The trainer had to call more than once,” Kroos told German daily Bild, revealing that Loew’s replacement Hansi Flick had wanted Kroos to stay on after Euro 2020.
Kroos says he would have “loved” to have seen Germany go on to reach the Euro 2020 final and win “this one big title”.
“It was a great honour for me to wear this jersey for such a long time. I did it with pride and passion,” he added.
There had been calls to drop Kroos during Euro 2020 after below-par performances in the group stages.
Yet the midfielder said the doubters only spurred him on, “thanks to all the critics for their extra motivation,” he wrote.
Sin categoría
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.
Sin categoría
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.”
Sin categoría
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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