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Afghan Paralympians to compete in Tokyo after evacuation
AFP
Afghanistan’s two Paralympic athletes have arrived in Tokyo and will compete at the Games, the International Paralympic Committee said Saturday.
Zakia Khudadadi and Hossain Rasouli were evacuated last weekend to France from the Taliban-controlled country in a “major global operation”, the IPC said.
“Zakia and Hossain have continued to express their absolute desire to come and compete at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games,” the committee’s chief Andrew Parsons said in a statement.
They “are now in Tokyo to fulfil their dreams, sending out a strong message of hope to many others around the world,” he added.
The pair arrived at Tokyo’s Paralympic Village on Saturday evening, having spent a week in Paris at a French sports ministry training centre, according to the IPC.
Khudadadi will compete in the women’s taekwondo K44 -49kg category on September 2, and Rasouli will run in the men’s 400m T47 athletics event the next day, it said.
The surprise announcement came after Afghanistan’s swift fall to the Taliban earlier this month left the two athletes among the tens of thousands trapped and unable to leave the country.
At Tuesday’s opening ceremony, the Afghan flag featured in a symbolic fashion, carried by a volunteer.
The IPC said on Wednesday that Khudadadi and Rasouli had safely left Afghanistan but would not be competing at the Games, as the focus was on their well-being.
“We always knew there was a remote chance both athletes could participate at Tokyo 2020 which is why the Afghan flag was paraded at Tuesday’s Opening Ceremony,” Parsons said on Saturday.
“Our number one priority has and always will be the health and well-being of both athletes,” he added.
Learning that the pair could not travel to Tokyo as planned “broke the hearts of all involved in the Paralympic Movement and left both athletes devastated,” Parsons said.
“That announcement kickstarted a major global operation that led to their safe evacuation from Afghanistan, their recuperation by France, and now their safe arrival in Tokyo.”
The Tokyo Paralympics are taking place under strict virus rules and largely behind closed doors, after a year’s delay because of the pandemic.
In Afghanistan, the Taliban have promised a softer brand of rule compared with their first stint in power from 1996 to 2001.
But many Afghans fear a repeat of their brutal interpretation of Islamic law.
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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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