KOLKATA:&nbsp;Angry spectators broke down barricades and stormed the pitch at a stadium in India after football star Lionel Messi, who is on a three-day tour of the country, abruptly left the arena. As a part of a so-called GOAT Tour, the 38-year-old Argentina and Inter Miami superstar touched down in the eastern state of West Bengal early Saturday, greeted by a chorus of exuberant fans chanting his name. Hours later, thousands of fans wearing Messi jerseys and waving the Argentine flag packed into Salt Lake stadium in the state capital Kolkata, but heavy security around the footballer left fans struggling to catch a glimpse of him.<img src="https://paktv-assets-7d41fab8.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/2ce5531b-722c-4bf1-a3ff-b463a45089cc.jpg" style="width: 727px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib fr-fil">KOLKATA: Inter Miami&#39;s Argentine forward #10 Lionel Messi arrives at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata on December 13, 2025. (Photo: Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP) Messi walked around the pitch waving to fans and left the stadium earlier than expected. Frustrated fans&nbsp;Frustrated fans, many having paid more than $100 for tickets, ripped out stadium seats and hurled water bottles onto the track. Many others stormed the pitch and vandalized banners and tents.<figure class="fr-media"><img src="https://paktv-assets-7d41fab8.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/9c7e4f83-11c2-4bdd-9f67-8807a4d8cee9-Messi - - - - -.jpg" alt="Messi - - - - -.jpg" class="fr-fic fr-dib" style="width: 1000px; height: 563px;"><figcaption class="caption-cover-image text-sm text-gray-600 italic">KOLKATA: Security personnel shield themselves with chairs whilst the crowd reacts as Inter Miami&#39;s Argentine forward #10 Lionel Messi departs from the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata on December 13, 2025. (Photo: AFP/Dibyangshu Sarkar)</figcaption></figure> &ldquo;For me, to watch Messi is a pleasure, a dream. But I have missed the chance to have a glimpse because of the mismanagement in the stadium,&rdquo; businessman Nabin Chatterjee, 37, told AFP. Before the chaos erupted, Messi unveiled a 21-metre (70-foot) statue which shows him holding aloft the World Cup. He was also expected to play a short exhibition game at the stadium. Another angry fan told the Press Trust of India (PTI) that people had spent &ldquo;a month&#39;s salary&rdquo; to see Messi. &lsquo;Management is to blame&rsquo;&ldquo;I paid Rs5,000 ($55) for the ticket and came with my son to watch Messi, not politicians. The police and military personnel were taking selfies, and the management is to blame,&rdquo; Ajay Shah, told PTI. State chief minister Mamata Banerjee said she was &ldquo;disturbed&rdquo; and &ldquo;shocked&rdquo; at the mismanagement. &ldquo;I sincerely apologize to Lionel Messi, as well as to all sports lovers and his fans, for the unfortunate incident,&rdquo; she said in a post on X, adding that she had ordered a probe into the incident. Messi will now head to Hyderabad, Mumbai and New Delhi as part of the four-city tour. Possible meeting with ModiHis time in India also includes a possible meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Messi won his second consecutive Major League Soccer Most Valuable Player award this week after propelling Inter Miami to the MLS title and leading the league in goals. The former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain attacker will spearhead Argentina&#39;s defense of the World Cup in June-July in North America.

Football

Frustrated fans, many having paid more than $100 for tickets, ripped out stadium seats and hurled water bottles onto the track; many others stormed the pitch and vandalized banners and tents.

Fans vandalize India stadium after Lionel Messi's abrupt exit

SYDNEY: Tech giant Meta urged Australia on Monday to rethink its world-first social media ban for under-16s, while reporting that it has blocked more than 544,000 accounts under the new law. Australia has required big platforms, including Meta, TikTok, and YouTube, to stop underage users from holding accounts since the legislation came into force on December 10 last year. Companies face fines of Aus$49.5 million (US$33 million) if they fail to take &quot;reasonable steps&quot; to comply. Billionaire Mark Zuckerberg&#39;s Meta said it had removed 331,000 underage accounts from Instagram, 173,000 from Facebook, and 40,000 from Threads in the week to December 11. The company said it was committed to complying with the law. &quot;That said, we call on the Australian government to engage with industry constructively to find a better way forward, such as incentivizing all of industry to raise the standard in providing safe, privacy-preserving, age-appropriate experiences online, instead of blanket bans,&quot; it said in a statement. Meta renewed an earlier call for app stores to be required to verify people&#39;s ages and get parental approval before under-16s can download an app. This was the only way to avoid a &quot;whack-a-mole&quot; race to stop teens migrating to new apps to avoid the ban, the company said. Meta said parents and experts were worried about the ban isolating young people from online communities, and driving some to less regulated apps and darker corners of the internet. Initial impacts of the legislation &quot;suggest it is not meeting its objectives of increasing the safety and well-being of young Australians,&quot; it argued. While raising concerns over the lack of an industry standard for determining age online, Meta said its compliance with the Australian law would be a &quot;multilayered process.&quot; Since the ban, the California-based firm said it had helped found the OpenAge Initiative, a non-profit group that has launched age-verification tools called AgeKeys to be used with participating platforms.

Australasia

Australia has required big platforms, including Meta, TikTok, and YouTube, to stop underage users from holding accounts since the legislation came into force on December 10 last year; companies face fines of Aus$49.5 million (US$33 million) if they fail to take "reasonable steps" to comply.

Meta urges Australia to change teen social media ban

Asfandyar Yahya

It&rsquo;s not English. It&rsquo;s not nonsense. It&rsquo;s everywhere. Lorem Ipsum has outlived empires, printing presses, and software updates, and somehow ended up on your Canva template.In this episode, we explore the history behind the internet&rsquo;s favorite filler text.

Tell Me Why

Tell Me Why: Lorem Ipsum matters

SYDNEY: Australia&#39;s leading Adelaide Festival is battling a slew of artist withdrawals and board resignations after disinviting a Palestinian-Australian author citing &quot;cultural sensitivities&quot; raised by the Bondi Beach shooting. Scores of artists have reportedly torn up their invitations, several board members &mdash; including the festival chair &mdash; have quit, and the blocked author&#39;s lawyers have demanded an explanation. Australia&#39;s premier annual cultural event, which lures artists from around the world, unleashed the storm last week when it told Randa Abdel-Fattah it did not &quot;wish to proceed&quot; with her appearance at its Writers&#39; Week. &quot;Whilst we do not suggest in any way that Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah or her writings have any connection with the tragedy at Bondi, given her past statements, we have formed the view that it would not be culturally sensitive to continue to program her at this unprecedented time so soon after Bondi,&quot; it said in a statement. The festival board said it was &quot;shocked and saddened&quot; by the December 14 mass shooting at a Jewish festival on Bondi Beach, which killed 15 people, and its decision to exclude Abdel-Fattah was not taken lightly. But the shunned author and academic said it was a &quot;blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism.&quot; It was a &quot;despicable attempt to associate me with the Bondi massacre,&quot; she said in a statement. Her legal representatives, Marque Lawyers, sent a letter to the festival on Sunday demanding that it identify statements by the author that justified excluding her. Marque Lawyers&#39; managing partner Michael Bradley said the festival had &quot;trampled&quot; on Abdel-Fattah&#39;s human rights, and the board would have to answer for it. Festival chair resigns Abdel-Fattah has faced criticism over some statements, including a post on X in October 2024 saying: &quot;The goal is decolonization and the end of this murderous Zionist colony.&quot; Local media said her exclusion had led more than 70 participants to withdraw from the festival, which runs from February 27 to March 15. They included author and former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, who posted a video on social media of himself tearing up his invitation. Three Adelaide Festival board members reportedly resigned their positions at an extraordinary meeting on Saturday. On Sunday, the festival chair, Tracey Whiting, announced she, too, had resigned with immediate effect. &quot;Recent decisions were bound by certain undertakings, and my resignation enables the Adelaide Festival, as an organization, to refresh its leadership and its approach to these circumstances,&quot; she said. South Australia&#39;s Premier Peter Malinauskas said he was legally prevented from directing the board&#39;s decisions. &quot;However, when asked for my opinion, I was happy to make it clear that the state government did not support the inclusion of Dr Abdel-Fattah on the Adelaide Writers&#39; Week program,&quot; he told local media. The Adelaide Festival said it had &quot;temporarily unpublished&quot; the list of participants and events in Writers&#39; Week while it works through changes to its website.

Australia's premier annual cultural event unleashes storm after telling Randa Abdel-Fattah it does not "wish to proceed" with her appearance at its Writers' Week; scores of artists have torn up invitations, several board members have quit, and the blocked author's lawyers have demanded an explanation; shunned author and academic says it is a "blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism."





Arts festival faces exodus after dropping Palestinian Australian author

COPENHAGEN: Denmark&#39;s prime minister on Sunday said her country faces a &quot;decisive moment&quot; in its diplomatic battle with the United States over Greenland, after President Donald Trump again suggested using force to seize the Arctic territory. Ahead of meetings in Washington from Monday on, the global scramble for key raw materials, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said that &quot;there is a conflict over Greenland.&quot; &quot;This is a decisive moment&quot; with stakes that go beyond the immediate issue of Greenland&#39;s future, she added in a debate with other Danish political leaders. Frederiksen posted on Facebook that &quot;we are ready to defend our values &mdash; wherever it is necessary &nbsp;&mdash; also in the Arctic. We believe in international law and in people&#39;s right to self-determination.&quot; Germany and Sweden backed Denmark against Trump&#39;s latest claims to the self-governing Danish territory. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson condemned US &quot;threatening rhetoric&quot; after Trump repeated that Washington was &quot;going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not.&quot; &quot;Sweden, the Nordic countries, the Baltic states, and several major European countries stand together with our Danish friends,&quot; he told a defense conference in Salen, where the US general in charge of NATO took part. Kristersson said a US takeover of mineral-rich Greenland would be &quot;a violation of international law and risks encouraging other countries to act in exactly the same way.&quot; No &#39;immediate threat&#39; Germany reiterated its support for Denmark and Greenland ahead of the Washington discussions. Before meeting US counterpart Marco Rubio on Monday, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadehpul held talks in Iceland to address the &quot;strategic challenges of the Far North&quot;, according to a foreign ministry statement. &quot;Security in the Arctic is becoming more and more important,&quot; and &quot;is part of our common interest in NATO,&quot; he said at a joint news conference with Icelandic Foreign Minister Thorgerdur Katrin Gunnarsdottir. &quot;If the American president is looking at what threats might come from Russian or Chinese ships or submarines in the region, we can of course find answers to that together,&quot; he added. But &quot;the future of Greenland must be decided by the people of Greenland&quot; and Denmark, he said. Asked about a possible strengthening of NATO&#39;s commitment in the Arctic, Wadephul said Germany was &quot;ready to assume greater responsibilities.&quot; Earlier Sunday, German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil said: &quot;We are strengthening security in the Arctic together, as NATO allies, and not against one another.&quot; He was speaking ahead of an international meeting on critical raw materials in Washington. European nations have scrambled to coordinate a response after the White House said this week that Trump wanted to buy Greenland and refused to rule out military action. On Tuesday, leaders of seven European countries, including France, Britain, Germany, and Italy, signed a letter saying it is &quot;only&quot; for Denmark and Greenland to decide the territory&#39;s future. Trump says controlling the island is crucial for US national security because of the rising Russian and Chinese military activity in the Arctic. NATO Supreme Allied Commander General Alexus Grynkewich told the Swedish conference that alliance members were discussing Greenland&#39;s status. While there was &quot;no immediate threat&quot; to NATO territory, the Arctic&#39;s strategic importance was fast growing, the US general added. Grynkewich said he would not comment on &quot;the political dimensions of recent rhetoric,&quot; but talks on Greenland were being held at the North Atlantic Council. &quot;Those dialogues continue in Brussels. They have been healthy dialogues from what I&#39;ve heard,&quot; the general said. A Danish colony until 1953, Greenland gained home rule 26 years later and is contemplating eventually loosening its ties with Denmark. Polls indicate that Greenland&#39;s population strongly opposes a US takeover. &quot;I don&#39;t think there&#39;s an immediate threat to NATO territory right now,&quot; Grynkewich told the conference. But he said Russian and Chinese vessels had been seen patrolling together on Russia&#39;s northern coast and near Alaska and Canada, working together to get greater access to the Arctic as ice recedes due to global warming.

Europe

PM Frederiksen says “we are ready to defend our values — wherever it is necessary  — also in the Arctic. We believe in international law and in peoples' right to self-determination"; Swedish PM condemns US "threatening rhetoric" after Trump repeats that Washington was "going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not."

Danish PM says Greenland showdown at 'decisive moment' after new Trump threats

LONDON: Demonstrators rallied in London, Paris and Istanbul on Sunday in support of protests in Iran that have been countered with a deadly crackdown by the country&#39;s security forces. London demonstrations, initially in front of the Iranian embassy and later in front of the British prime minister&#39;s residence, grew to several thousand as the day progressed. &quot;We want revolution, change the regime,&quot; Afsi, a 38-year-old Iranian, who declined to give her last name, told AFP at the rally in front of Downing Street. Afsi has lived in London for seven years, and has not been able to contact her family in Iran because of an internet blackout imposed by authorities since Thursday. &ldquo;It&#39;s so frustrating, but it&#39;s not the first time,&quot; he said. &quot;This time, we have hope ... we feel like we can do it (overthrow the government) this time.&quot; In Paris, more than 2,000 people waving Iran&#39;s flag from before the Islamic Revolution in 1979 demonstrated, to chants of &quot;No to the terrorist Islamic Republic.&quot; Police did not allow them to approach the Iranian embassy. &quot;Close the mullahs&#39; embassy, the terrorist factory,&quot; some demonstrators yelled. A 20-year-old Iranian student living in Paris, who gave his first name as Arya, said: &quot;In Iran, the people are rising up in the streets, and we Iranians outside Iran are here to show we are with them, and they are not alone.&quot; He said he was waiting to hear what the son of Iran&#39;s last shah, US-based Reza Pahlavi, &quot;will tell us to do.&quot; Pahlavi has emerged as a potential figurehead for government opponents. The protests, initially sparked by anger over the rising cost of living, have lasted two weeks and become a movement against the theocratic system in place since the 1979 revolution. Iranian authorities have called the protesters &quot;rioters&quot; who are backed by the United States and Israel. In Istanbul, demonstrators voicing support for the Iranian protesters gathered in steady rain. Police cordoned off the area outside the Iranian consulate and the crowd was kept away from the mission. &quot;It&#39;s been 72 hours since we had any news from the country, from our families. No internet or television, we can&#39;t reach Iran anymore,&quot; said Nina, a young Iranian living in Turkey who had the Iranian flag and red tears painted on her face. &quot;The regime kills at random &mdash; whether families are on foot or in a car, whether there are children. It spares no one,&quot; she added. The crackdown by Iran&#39;s authorities has resulted in at least 192 deaths, according to the Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights. The US-based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said it had received &quot;credible&quot; accounts of &quot;hundreds of protesters&quot; killed across Iran since the internet clampdown started. The leaders of Britain, France, and Germany on Friday condemned the &quot;killing of protestors&quot; in Iran, while US President Donald Trump said Saturday his country stood &quot;ready to help&quot; as Iranians protest. One of the demonstrators in London, Fahimeh Moradi, 52, said she was taking part &quot;to support the Iranian people who are killed and murdered by the Iran regime &mdash; we don&#39;t want the Islamic Republic of Iran, we hate them!&quot; She added, &quot;My son is there, and I don&#39;t know if he&#39;s alive or not. We just want this murderous regime to leave Iran, that&#39;s it!&quot;

Middle East

The protests, initially sparked by anger over the rising cost of living, have lasted two weeks and become a movement against the theocratic system in place since the 1979 revolution; Iranian authorities have called the protesters "rioters" who are backed by the United States and Israel.

Demonstrators in London, Paris, Istanbul back Iran protests 

STOCKHOLM: Sweden will invest 15 billion kronor ($1.6 billion) on bolstering its air defenses, notably potential civilian targets, the government said Sunday, the latest European country to beef up military spending since Russia&#39;s invasion of Ukraine.&nbsp;The money will go to ground-based aerial defense systems, the government said, as Russia&#39;s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the United States&#39; increasingly strained ties with NATO allies under US President Donald Trump prompt a European rush to rearm.&nbsp;&quot;Experience from Ukraine demonstrates the importance of a robust air defence,&quot; the Swedish government said.&nbsp;The announcement follows similar moves by countries, including Germany, where parliament approved $59 billion in new defence spending in December.&nbsp;The initial purchases under Sweden&#39;s new plan will be made in the first quarter of 2026, the government said.&nbsp;&quot;With this broad investment in air defence, we are protecting the whole of society, from our military units to urban areas and critical infrastructure,&quot; Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said in a statement.&nbsp;&quot;It is a matter of people&#39;s lives, our freedom, and our ability to withstand attacks in all parts of the country.&quot;&nbsp;Sweden had announced in November it was spending around $366 million on IRIS-T surface-to-air short-range missiles to protect itself against missiles, drones, and combat aircraft.

Sweden will spend 15 billion kronor to strengthen its air defences, focusing on protecting civilians, cities, and critical infrastructure, with ground-based systems to be bought starting in early 2026.

Sweden to spend $1.6B to bolster air defenses

Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar held a series of bilateral meetings with counterparts from Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia and other member states on the sidelines of the 22nd Extraordinary Session of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Jeddah, reaffirming Islamabad&rsquo;s commitment to regional cooperation and strengthened bilateral relations, the Foreign Office (FO) said on Sunday.&nbsp;The 22nd extraordinary session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers was convened in Jeddah to address developments concerning Israel&rsquo;s recognition of the Somaliland region and the situation in Palestine.&nbsp;The meeting adopted resolutions underscoring the importance of state sovereignty, territorial integrity, and international law.&nbsp;Dar attended the session, condemning Israel&rsquo;s recognition of Somaliland as &ldquo;illegal and unlawful,&rdquo; reaffirming Pakistan&rsquo;s support for Somalia&rsquo;s sovereignty and for an independent Palestinian state based on pre-1967 borders, while also engaging counterparts from several OIC member states on the sidelines.&nbsp;According to an FO statement, Dar met Bangladesh&rsquo;s Adviser on Foreign Affairs Touhid Hossain, with both sides expressing satisfaction over the &ldquo;robustness of Pakistan&ndash;Bangladesh relations.&rdquo;&nbsp;The leaders discussed cooperation across a range of areas, including high-level exchanges, trade, and educational collaboration, and also exchanged views on regional and global developments.&nbsp;On the sidelines of the Jeddah moot, Dar separately met Saudi Arabia&rsquo;s Deputy Foreign Minister Waleed bin Abdulkarim Al-Khereiji.&nbsp;The discussions focused on further strengthening the Pakistan&ndash;Saudi strategic partnership and reaffirmed close coordination within the OIC framework, with both sides emphasizing the importance of continued cooperation to promote &ldquo;peace, stability, and security in the region.&rdquo;&nbsp;With Azerbaijan, FM Dar met Deputy FM Yalchin Rafiyev, where both sides appreciated the frequent high-level exchanges, underscoring the commitment of the leadership of both countries to strengthening bilateral ties.&nbsp;&ldquo;Deputy Prime Minister / Foreign Minister, Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar, met with Dr. Abdulla Khaleel, Foreign Minister of the Republic of Maldives, on the sidelines of the 22nd OIC Extraordinary CFM in Jeddah,&rdquo; the FO said.&nbsp;Pakistan and the Maldives underscored their shared commitment to further strengthen bilateral ties, expressing satisfaction with the friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries.&nbsp;In another engagement, Dar met his Egyptian counterpart, Badr Abdelatty.&nbsp;&ldquo;On the sidelines of the 22nd Extraordinary OIC CFM in Jeddah, DPM/FM Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar met Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty,&rdquo; the FO statement said.&nbsp;During the meeting, Pakistan and Egypt reaffirmed their commitment to expanding cooperation across multiple domains and exchanged views on the situation in Gaza and broader regional developments, underscoring support for international law and the just cause of the Palestinian people, the FO added.

Foreign Affairs

On the sidelines of the 22nd OIC Extraordinary Session in Jeddah, Dar holds bilateral talks with Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, Maldives, and Egypt, promoting regional cooperation.

Dar pushes ‘regional cooperation’ in talks with Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia and others

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia suspended access to Elon Musk&#39;s chatbot Grok over AI-generated pornographic content, the country&#39;s tech regulator said on Sunday.&nbsp;The decision follows global backlash after it emerged that Grok&#39;s image creation feature allowed users to sexualize pictures of women and children using simple text prompts.&nbsp;On Saturday, Indonesia became the first country to deny all access to the tool, which has been restricted to paying subscribers elsewhere.&nbsp;The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission said in a statement it had &quot;directed a temporary restriction on access to the Grok artificial intelligence for users in Malaysia&quot; with immediate effect.&nbsp;When an AFP reporter in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur fed Grok prompts on Sunday, there was no response.&nbsp;&quot;This action follows repeated misuse of Grok to generate obscene, sexually explicit, indecent, grossly offensive and non-consensual manipulated images,&quot; the regulator said.&nbsp;The statement cited &quot;content involving women and minors, despite prior regulatory engagement and formal notices&quot; issued to Musk&#39;s X Corp. and xAI startup which developed Grok.&nbsp;The AI tool is integrated into social media platform X.&nbsp;The Malaysian regulator said it deemed the platform&#39;s safeguards inadequate, adding that access would resume only after the required changes are verified.&nbsp;X Corp. had &quot;failed to address the inherent risks posed by the design and operation of the AI tool&quot;, relying &quot;primarily on user-initiated reporting mechanisms&quot;, the regulator said.&nbsp;European officials and tech campaigners on Friday slammed Grok after its controversial image creation feature was restricted to paying subscribers, saying the change failed to address concerns about sexualized deep fakes.&nbsp;Grok had appeared to deflect the criticism with a new monetization policy, posting on X on Thursday that image generation and editing were now &quot;limited to paying subscribers&quot;, alongside a link to a premium subscription.

Artificial Intelligence

Malaysia suspended access to Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok after it was misused to generate pornographic and sexualized images, including of women and minors, citing inadequate safeguards. The ban follows similar global backlash and Indonesia’s earlier move.

Malaysia suspends access to Musk's Grok AI: regulator

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump urged Cuba on Sunday to &quot;make a deal&quot; or face unspecified consequences, warning that the flow of Venezuelan oil and money to Havana would now stop.&nbsp;&quot;There will be no more oil or money going to cuba - zero!&quot; Trump said on his Truth Social channel. &quot;I strongly suggest they make a deal, before it is too late.&quot;&nbsp;His remarks come a week after US forces seized Venezuela&#39;s authoritarian leader Nicolas Maduro in a nighttime operation in Caracas that killed dozens of Venezuelan and Cuban security forces.&nbsp;Earlier on Sunday, Trump reposted a message suggesting that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio could become the president of now communist-ruled Cuba.&nbsp;Trump shared that post with the comment: &quot;Sounds good to me!&quot;&nbsp;In his own post soon afterwards, Trump said that &quot;Cuba lived, for many years, on large amounts of oil and money from Venezuela. In return, Cuba provided &#39;Security Services&#39; for the last two Venezuelan dictators, but not anymore!&quot;&nbsp;&quot;Most of those Cubans are DEAD from last week&#39;s U.S.A. attack, and Venezuela doesn&#39;t need protection anymore from the thugs and extortionists who held them hostage for so many years.&quot;&nbsp;Under a US trade embargo, Havana since 2000 has increasingly relied on Venezuelan oil provided as part of a deal struck with Maduro&#39;s predecessor Hugo Chavez.

Americas

US President Donald Trump warned Cuba to “make a deal” or face consequences, saying Venezuelan oil and money to Havana would stop following US actions against Venezuela’s leadership.

Trump tells Cuba to 'make a deal, before it is too late'

JERUSALEM: Israeli police said Sunday they detained a senior aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suspected of obstructing an investigation, with local media reporting that it was tied to leaks of military information during the Gaza war.&nbsp;Police did not name the individual, but Israeli media reported it was Tzachi Braverman, Netanyahu&#39;s current chief of staff, who is designated to be Israel&#39;s next ambassador to the UK.&nbsp;&quot;This morning, a senior official in the prime minister&#39;s office was detained for questioning... on suspicion of obstructing an investigation,&quot; the police said.&nbsp;&quot;The suspect... is currently being questioned under caution.&quot;&nbsp;Former Netanyahu aide Eli Feldstein recently alleged that Braverman tried to obstruct an investigation into a leak of sensitive military information to the foreign press during the war against Hamas in Gaza.&nbsp;In September 2024, Feldstein leaked a classified document from the Israeli military to the German tabloid Bild, for which he was later arrested and indicted.&nbsp;The document aimed to prove that Hamas was not interested in a ceasefire deal, and to support Netanyahu&#39;s claim that the hostages captured by Palestinian militants in their October 7, 2023 assault on Israel could only be released through military pressure instead of negotiations.&nbsp;In an interview with Israel&#39;s public broadcaster KAN, Feldstein said Braverman asked to meet with him soon after the leak.&nbsp;Braverman informed him that the army had launched a probe into the affair, and said he could &quot;shut down&quot; the investigation, according to Feldstein.&nbsp;In the same interview, Feldstein said Netanyahu was aware of the leak and was in favour of using the document to drum up public support for the war.&nbsp;Israeli media reported that police also searched Braverman&#39;s home on Sunday, and that Feldstein was expected to speak with police later in the day regarding Braverman&#39;s suspected involvement in the affair.&nbsp;Feldstein is also a suspect in the so-called &quot;Qatargate&quot; scandal, in which he and other close associates of Netanyahu are suspected of having been recruited by Qatar to promote the Gulf monarchy&#39;s image in Israel.&nbsp;Qatar hosts senior Hamas leaders and has played a mediating role between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement during the war in Gaza.&nbsp;An investigation is under way, and Feldstein, together with another Netanyahu aide, was taken into custody in late March.&nbsp;In response to Braverman&#39;s questioning by the police on Sunday, opposition leader Yair Lapid called to suspend his appointment as ambassador to the UK.&nbsp;&quot;In light of the new developments in the Qatargate affair, the appointment of Tzachi Braverman as ambassador to Britain must be immediately suspended,&quot; Lapid wrote on X.&nbsp;&quot;It is unacceptable that someone suspected of involvement in obstructing a serious security investigation should be the face of Israel in one of the most important countries in Europe.&quot;&nbsp;Braverman is not suspected of direct involvement in the Qatargate affair, according to Israeli media.

Israeli police detained Netanyahu aide Tzachi Braverman over alleged obstruction linked to Gaza war leaks. Opposition demands suspending his UK ambassador appointment as investigations continue.