Maduro purges Venezuelan rivals with wave of repressionThe Sweden midfielder hailed Saturday’s 4-0 thrashing of the champions as the best game of his career. The 24-year-old delivered an outstanding performance as Spurs shattered the champions’ 52-game unbeaten home run, helping start the rout with a superb cross for James Maddison’s opening goal. Kulusevski said: “I believed (we would win) this because in the past years, we’ve come here and played really well. “So this is the game I look forward to most in the year and, once again, it happened – glory to God. “I’d say it’s the best result ever in my career. It’s a big night for the whole club, for the coach, for the players. “Because City have a lot of the ball sometimes, we can rest when we defend. There’s also so much space up there, we play one against one and then it’s always dangerous because we have a lot of quality. “It’s always great to play great teams because they always want to play football. When you play lower teams, sometimes it’s not. There’s not much football played because they are a lot of fouls, a lot of injuries and it’s slow going.” Maddison stole the show with two goals in quick succession in the first half while Pedro Porro and Brennan Johnson later got on the scoresheet. Yet Kulusevski’s performance was also eye-catching and the player himself believes there is plenty more to come from him. Asked if his form made him feel “unstoppable”, Kulusevski said: “I feel like that. I feel very good and I’m trying to keep this way. I’m very happy, I’m trying to improve. “I started the season good but there is over half of the season left and I hope I can do much better. “I think I have something that no other player has. With my engine, with my heart – I don’t get tired – I feel like I can do a lot still in my career.” Tottenham’s scintillating performance marked a spectacular return to form after their dismal loss to Ipswich in their previous Premier League outing. Kulusevski said: “We have to be much more consistent. It’s not a turning point. We just have to be better in other games. “This game suited us perfectly but we have a lot of improvement to make in the other games.”
Pakistani security forces have launched an operation to disperse supporters of imprisoned former prime minister Imran Khan who had gathered in the capital to demand his release from prison. The latest development came hours after thousands of his supporters, defying government warnings, broke through a barrier of shipping containers blocking off Islamabad and entered a high-security zone, where they clashed with security forces, facing tear gas shelling, mass detentions and gunfire. Tension has been high in Islamabad since Sunday when supporters of the former PM began a “long march” from the restive north-west to demand his release. Khan has been in a prison for more than a year and faces more than 150 criminal cases that his party says are politically motivated. Khan’s wife, Bushra Bibi, led the protest, but she fled as police pushed back against demonstrators. Hundreds of Khan’s supporters are being arrested in the ongoing night-time operation. Interior minister Mohsin Naqvi told reporters that the Red Zone, which houses government buildings and embassies, and the surrounding areas have been cleared. Leaders from Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, or PTI, have also fled the protest site. Earlier on Tuesday, Pakistan’s army took control of D-Chowk, a large square in the Red Zone, where visiting Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is staying. Since Monday, Mr Naqvi had threatened that security forces would use live fire if protesters fired weapons at them. “We have now authorised the police to respond as necessary,” Mr Naqvi said Tuesday while visiting the square. Before the operation began, protester Shahzor Ali said people had taken to the streets because Khan had called for them. “We will stay here until Khan joins us. He will decide what to do next,” Mr Ali said. Protester Fareeda Bibi, who is not related to Khan’s wife, said people have suffered greatly for the last two years. “We have really suffered for the last two years, whether it is economically, politically or socially. We have been ruined. I have not seen such a Pakistan in my life,” she said. Authorities have struggled to contain the protest-related violence. Six people, including four members of the security services, were killed when a vehicle rammed them on a street overnight into Tuesday. A police officer died in a separate incident. Dozens of Khan supporters beat a videographer covering the protest for the Associated Press and took his camera. He sustained head injuries and was treated in hospital. By Tuesday afternoon, fresh waves of protesters made their way unopposed to their final destination in the Red Zone. Mr Naqvi said Khan’s party had rejected a government offer to rally on the outskirts of the city. Information minister Atta Tarar warned there would be a severe government reaction to the violence. The government says only the courts can order Khan’s release. He was ousted in 2022 through a no-confidence vote in Parliament. In a bid to foil the unrest, police have arrested more than 4,000 Khan supporters since Friday and suspended mobile and internet services in some parts of the country. Messaging platforms were also experiencing severe disruption in the capital. Khan’s party relies heavily on social media and uses messaging platforms such as WhatsApp to share information, including details of events. The X platform, which is banned in Pakistan, is no longer accessible, even with a VPN. Last Thursday, a court prohibited rallies in the capital and Mr Naqvi said anyone violating the ban would be arrested. Travel between Islamabad and other cities has become nearly impossible because of shipping containers blocking the roads. All education institutions remain closed.Eagles receivers Smith and Brown complain about vanishing pass offense during winning streakAuthorities in Pakistan launch operation to clear Khan supporters from capital
JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to take to the witness stand Tuesday for the first time in his trial on corruption allegations, a pivotal point in the drawn-out proceedings that comes as he wages war in Gaza and faces an international arrest warrant for war crimes charges. Netanyahu is on trial at home on accusations of fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three separate matters. Netanyahu denies wrongdoing, but his appearance on the witness stand will be a low point in his decades-long political career, standing in contrast to the image of a sophisticated, respected leader he has tried to cultivate. The trial will take up a chunk of Netanyahu’s time at a crucial point for Israel. While he makes his case for weeks from the stand, he will still be tasked with managing the war in Gaza, maintaining a fragile cease-fire with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and keeping tabs on threats from the wider Middle East, including Iran. It will be the first time an Israeli prime minister has taken the stand as a criminal defendant. Netanyahu has repeatedly sought to delay the proceedings, citing the war in Gaza and security concerns. The judges ordered the trial to resume Tuesday, moving the proceedings to an underground chamber in a Tel Aviv court as a security precaution. Netanyahu’s appearance in the courtroom will also draw attention to other legal issues in the Israeli leader’s orbit. Close advisers in his office are embroiled in a separate series of scandals surrounding leaked classified information and doctored documents. While Netanyahu is not suspected of direct involvement in those, they could weaken his public image. On Monday evening, Netanyahu called a news conference, his first in three months, where he gave a glowing overview of Israel’s achievements in 14 months of war and said the fighting with Hamas and Hezbollah were directly responsible for the fall of Bashar Assad’s government in Syria. When questioned about the next day’s testimony, Netanyahu became visibly angry. “I have been waiting eight years for this day, to present the truth,” he said, railing against the “political hunt” that he asserted had “ruined the lives of dozens of people” caught up in the trial. He accused the media of pursuing fake news against him and reporting lies. Here is a look at the trial. The trial, which began in 2020, involves three separate cases in which prosecutors say Netanyahu exchanged regulatory favors with media titans for favorable news coverage and advanced the personal interests of a billionaire Hollywood producer in exchange for lavish gifts. Prosecutors have called roughly 140 witnesses to the stand — fewer than the 300 initially expected to testify. Those witnesses have included some of Netanyahu’s closest former confidants who turned against him, as well as former prime minister Yair Lapid, former security chiefs and media personalities. Lawyers have submitted thousands of items of evidence including recordings, police documents and text messages. A new documentary, “The Bibi Files,” has shined new light on the cases by obtaining footage of Netanyahu being questioned by police, as well as interrogations of his wife and some key witnesses. In a glimpse of what can be expected in the courtroom, Netanyahu appears combative and anxious at times, accusing police of unfairly picking on him and denigrating other witnesses as liars. The prosecution called to the stand its final witness over the summer, bringing to an end three years of testimony and setting the stage for the defense to lay out its case, with Netanyahu its first witness. Netanyahu’s appearance will give Israelis a chance to see the long-serving Israeli leader answer to the charges before the three-judge panel. The prosecution has sought to portray Netanyahu as media-obsessed, to push its narrative that he would break the law for favorable coverage. Witness accounts have shed light not only on the three cases but also on details about Netanyahu’s character and his family’s reputation for living lavishly on the backs of taxpayers and wealthy supporters. One former aide and a key prosecution witness called him a “control freak” over his image. Another witness described expensive gifts for Netanyahu and his wife. Arnon Milchan, an Israeli producer of Hollywood blockbuster films such as “Pretty Woman,” took the stand last year by videoconference, describing how he routinely delivered tens of thousands of dollars of champagne, cigars and other gifts requested by the Israeli leader. One key witness, a former top aide to Netanyahu, stunned prosecutors by backtracking from his earlier claims against the prime minister, opening the door for the defense to erode his credibility as a witness. The trial was jolted by Israeli media reports that police used sophisticated phone-hacking software to spy on this witness. Like other witnesses, Netanyahu will testify three days a week, for hours at a time. The defense will seek to depict him as a law-abiding leader who was a victim of careless and biased police investigations. Netanyahu’s critics have sought to draw a clear line between the cases and the war in Gaza. They say the allegations led Netanyahu to promote a contentious judicial overhaul plan last year that bitterly divided the country and created an image of weakness that encouraged the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that triggered the war. Netanyahu’s critics, including families of hostages held by Hamas, now accuse him of dragging out the conflict — and risking the lives of their loved ones — to avoid an embarrassing investigation and new elections that could force him from power. If he is eventually voted out of power, being away from the prime minister’s seat would make it harder for Netanyahu to rail against the justice system and delegitimize the verdict in the eyes of the public. A verdict isn’t expected until 2026 at least, and then Netanyahu can choose to appeal to the Supreme Court. Israel’s courts are notoriously sluggish, and the case was further delayed last year when courts went on hiatus for two months after war broke out following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. Once the defense rests, each side will summarize their cases before judges convene to deliberate over Netanyahu’s fate. Goldenberg writes for the Associated Press.