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Bale wants World Cup to round off 100-cap journey with Wales
AFP
Gareth Bale said he wants to round off “an incredible journey” by taking Wales to a first World Cup since 1958 as he prepares to win his 100th cap against Belarus on Saturday.
The Real Madrid forward became the then youngest player to appear for his country in May 2006 when making his debut in a friendly against Trinidad and Tobago aged just 16.
More than 15 years on, Bale will become the second Welshman after Chris Gunter to reach a century of caps after recovering from a hamstring tear that has kept him out for the past two months.
“It has been an incredible journey and one that started very young,” said the 32-year-old, the country’s record scorer with 36 goals.
“To get 100 caps will personally be an incredible achievement and one you never think about when you start out.
“We have been through the lows when I first joined to grow Welsh football, to try to put it on the right path and inspire the generations coming through. We have done a great job and hopefully there is more to come.”
A four-time Champions League winner at Madrid, Bale has also led his country to two European Championships, including a run to the semi-finals in 2016.
But he admitted playing at a World Cup remains a glaring omission on his sparkling CV.
“The World Cup is something at the top of everyone’s list,” he said. “It is the next thing we want to do — the thing we haven’t done before.
“As much as I will enjoy hopefully getting the 100th cap, the most important thing is the game and not the occasion.”
Wales are guaranteed a World Cup qualifying playoff spot in March due to their Nations League success.
But they could make life easier for themselves with positive results at home to Belarus and Belgium, whom they play on Tuesday, in their final two qualifiers.
Four points would be enough to secure second place in Group E and home advantage in their playoff semi-final.
Two wins would even secure automatic qualification in the unlikely event Belgium lose at home to Estonia.
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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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