Egyptian fencer Nada Hafez reveals she competed at the Paris Olympics while 7 months pregnant
Updated 30 July 2024
PARIS: Egyptian fencer Nada Hafez has revealed that she fought at the Paris Olympics while seven months pregnant. Hafez posted on Instagram that she was “carrying a little Olympian one” hours after she had reached the round of 16 in women’s saber Monday. The 26-year-old fencer from Cairo upset Elizabeth Tartakovsky of the United States, a former NCAA champion, before losing to Jeon Hayoung of South Korea. “My baby & I had our fair share of challenges, be it both physical & emotional,” Hafez wrote. “The rollercoaster of pregnancy is tough on its own, but having to fight to keep the balance of life & sports was nothing short of strenuous, however worth it. I’m writing this post to say that pride fills my being for securing my place in the round of 16!” A former gymnast with a degree in medicine, Hafez is a three-time Olympian who won gold medals in the individual and team saber events at the 2019 African Games. She finished Monday’s competition officially ranked 16th, her best result in any of her three Olympic appearances.
Justin Trudeau reportedly says Trump’s talk of making Canada a US state is ‘a real thing’
Updated 8 min 29 sec ago
AP
VANCOUVER, British Columbia: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday said President Donald Trump’s talk of making Canada the 51st US state is “a real thing” and is linked to the country’s rich natural resources, local media reported.
Trudeau’s comments to business and labor leaders in a closed-door session were mistakenly carried by a loudspeaker, Canada’s public broadcaster CBC reported.
“Mr. Trump has it in mind that the easiest way to do it is absorbing our country and it is a real thing. In my conversations with him on…,” Trudeau said of making Canada a US state before the microphone cut out, according to CBC.
“They’re very aware of our resources, of what we have and they very much want to be able to benefit from those,” Trudeau reportedly said.
Trudeau’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a post on social platform X, Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labor, confirmed what Trudeau said.
“Yes, I can confirm that Trudeau said his assessment is that what Trump really wants is not action on fentanyl or immigration or even the trade deficit, what he really wants is to either dominate Canada or take it outright,” McGown wrote.
Trump has repeatedly suggested Canada would be better off if it agreed to become the 51st US state.
In public comments Friday, Trudeau said Canada must think “tactically and strategically” on how to deal with Trump’s threats to impose hefty tariffs on all Canadian imports.
Speaking in Toronto at the opening of a one-day summit on the Canada-US economic relationship, Trudeau said the country must work with the US to avoid tariffs, adding that Canada needs to eliminate internal trade barriers and expand its trade with other nations.
“This is a moment,” said Trudeau. “This is a time in our country’s history that really matters.”
Trump on Monday agreed to a 30-day pause on threats to impose 25 percent tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada, with another 10 percent tariff on Canadian oil, natural gas and electricity.
Trump had threatened the tariffs to ensure greater cooperation from the countries to stop illegal immigration and prevent fentanyl smuggling, but he has also pledged to use tariffs to boost domestic manufacturing and raise revenues for the federal government.
Trudeau said Canada can use the 30-day extension to show US officials the country’s increased spending on border security. Canada has announced a $1.3 billion Canadian dollars ($900 million) border security plan that includes drones, helicopters, more border guards and the creation of a joint task force.
Trudeau also has promised to appoint a new fentanyl czar, who will serve as the primary liaison between the Canadian and US governments, even though less than 1 percent of the fentanyl and illegal immigrant crossings into the US come from Canada.
“We need to be very deliberate about how we continue to engage closely with the United States to make the case that Canada is responsible for a tiny part of the North American fentanyl problem, but that we are also bitterly touched by this tragedy,” Trudeau said.
He added that Canada needs to be prepared if Trump decides to go ahead with the tariffs after 30 days.
“We need to be ready to respond robustly,” he said. “We also have to be ready to support Canadians through the responses we’re giving and through a difficult time of tariffs.”
Canada had planned to retaliate to the US action with 25 percent tariffs on $155 billion Canadian dollars ($109 billion) worth of American goods.
Trudeau said it’s also time to have “genuine free trade in Canada,” while strengthening its trade relationships with other countries.
Candace Laing, president and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said she is happy the meeting is focused on internal trade, trade diversification and responding to US tariffs.
“It’s clear that we can’t just tinker around the edges with incremental steps right now,” she said. “We’ve got to be bold so that businesses and communities can pivot to be more resilient and less reliant on what happens in the US,” Laing said in a statement.
Maguire heads late winner and Man United beats Leicester in dramatic FA Cup match
The result marked the first time in United’s history that the club has won three times at home against the same team in the same season
Updated 43 min 35 sec ago
AP
MANCHESTER, England: Harry Maguire scored a controversial injury time winner as Manchester United came from behind to beat Leicester 2-1 and move into the last 16 of the FA Cup on Friday.
United went behind to a Bobby De Cordova-Reid goal four minutes before halftime. Joshua Zirkzee equalized in the 68th minute and Maguire grabbed the late winner.
There was a heated debate over whether the England center half was in an offside position but there is no VAR in the FA Cup and the goal stood.
“This (loss) wasn’t necessary,” an unhappy Leicester coach Ruud van Nistelrooy told broadcaster ITV.
“This was half a meter (offside). Then extra time, stay in the game, you never know what happens. We deserved to go into extra time and maybe penalties. Decisions like these in our level are hard to swallow.”
The result marked the first time in United’s history that the club has won three times at home against the same team in the same season. United beat Leicester 5-2 in the League Cup and 3-0 in the Premier League at Old Trafford.
The result was a boost for new coach Ruben Amorim and a bitter letdown for Van Nistelrooy, who was the interim manager at United before being moved on and taking charge at Leicester.
Leicester, a one-time FA Cup champion, was 1-0 up at the break. Manuel Ugarte was dispossessed near the touchline and Bilai El Khannouss’ low cross was hit goal-bound by Wilfred Ndidi but deflected in off De Cordova-Reid.
The introduction of substitutes Alejandro Garnacho and Zirkzee lifted United in the second half and Zirkzee got the equalizer with the simplest of finishes after good work from the Argentine player down the left flank.
Then, just as the game looked like going into extra time, Bruno Fernandes threw a long ball into the box for Maguire to head the winner.
“(It was a) great finish to the game,” Maguire said. “The second half we played a lot better. The first half was nowhere near good enough, we played at a slow tempo and we didn’t really get going.
“He (Garnacho) made a big impact. He always does that when he comes off the bench, so credit to him, he’s ready, he’s focused.”
Alaska lawmakers push back on Trump’s mountain name change
A resolution passed unanimously by the Alaska state senate on Friday urged Trump to rethink his plan.
Updated 56 min 11 sec ago
AFP
LOS ANGELES: Donald Trump’s order to change the name of the highest mountain in the United States faced pushback Friday from members of his own party.
Alaska’s Republican-dominated senate voted overwhelmingly against his plan to ditch the Indigenous name Denali for the huge peak, which Trump has rechristened Mount McKinley.
The president has unleashed a flood of executive orders in his first few days in the White House as he attempts to remake the US government.
Orders have included mass pardons for pro-Trump rioters, a federal hiring freeze and an attempt to overturn the constitutionally mandated practice of granting birthright citizenship.
But his order to rename the 20,300-foot (6,200-meter) Denali drew the ire of Alaska’s state legislators.
A resolution passed unanimously by the Alaska state senate on Friday urged Trump to rethink his plan.
“The name Denali is deeply ingrained in the state’s culture and identity,” the motion said.
“Residents of the state believe that the names of the geographic features in the state should be determined by state residents and representatives.”
The motion, which earlier cleared the lower chamber by a sizable majority, notes that state lawmakers called for the mountain to be known by its Indigenous name as far back as 1975.
Four decades later, then-president Barack Obama officially recognized that push and dropped the moniker Mount McKinley, which had been the peak’s official name since 1917.
It was coined in honor of Republican president William McKinley who served in the Oval Office from 1897 until his assassination in 1901.
The resolution by the state legislature appeared unlikely to change Trump’s mind, but was notable as a rare display of disobedience from members of his largely quiescent Republican Party.
Sarkozy’s lawyer Jacqueline Laffont said he continued to contest the conviction for influence peddling and would lodge an application with the European Court of Human Rights this month, after exhausting all legal avenues in France
Updated 08 February 2025
AFP
PARIS: Nicolas Sarkozy was fitted with an electronic tag Friday after being convicted of graft, prosecutors said, in a first for a former French president.
France’s highest appeals court in December ordered Sarkozy to wear the tag for a year, after finding him guilty of illegal attempts to secure favors from a judge.
Sarkozy, who turned 70 last week, was fitted with the ankle monitor at his home, the Paris prosecutor’s office said.
A judge summoned the ex-president on the day of his birthday and told him he would wear the monitor from February 7, a source close to the case said. The ankle bracelet was imposed as an alternative to spending one year in jail.
The right-wing politician, who was president from 2007 to 2012, would only be allowed out of his home between 8.00 am and 8.00 pm, the prosecutor’s office said.
He would however be allowed an extra hour and a half in the evenings three days a week when he attends court as an accused in another case.
In hearings that started last month and run through to April 10, Sarkozy has been charged with accepting illegal campaign financing from Libya before his 2007 election.
Sarkozy’s lawyer Jacqueline Laffont said he continued to contest the conviction for influence peddling and would lodge an application with the European Court of Human Rights this month, after exhausting all legal avenues in France.
Theoretically, the former head-of-state could also apply in France for a conditional release that can be given to people aged 70 and above.
Sarkozy has been shadowed by legal troubles since he lost the 2012 presidential election.
But he remains an influential figure and is known to regularly meet President Emmanuel Macron.
Before the latest trial, Sarkozy, his wife singer and former supermodel Carla Bruni and daughter went on holiday to the Seychelles. He is no longer able to travel.
In the case which led to the ankle bracelet, a court found that Sarkozy and a former lawyer, Thierry Herzog, had formed a “corruption pact” with judge Gilbert Azibert to obtain and share information about an investigating judge.
The deal was done in return for the promise of a plum retirement job for the judge.
The trial came after investigators looking into a separate case of alleged illegal campaign financing wiretapped Sarkozy’s two official phone lines, and discovered that he had a third, unofficial one.
It had been taken out in 2014 under the name “Paul Bismuth,” and only used for him to communicate with Herzog. The contents of these phone calls led to the 2021 corruption verdict.
Before Sarkozy, the only French leader to be convicted in a criminal trial was his predecessor Jacques Chirac, who received a two-year suspended sentence in 2011 for corruption over a fake jobs scandal.
But Sarkozy is France’s first post-war president to be sentenced to serve time.
Trump revokes Biden’s access to government secrets in payback move
“JOE, YOU’RE FIRED. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” Trump said in a social media most stating that Biden "could not be trusted with sensitive information"
Trump also removed security details assigned to protect former government officials who have criticized him, including his own former secretary of state, Mike Pompeo
Updated 08 February 2025
AP
PALM BEACH, Florida: President Donald Trump said Friday that he’s revoking former President Joe Biden’s access to government secrets and ending the daily intelligence briefings he’s receiving in payback for Biden doing the same to him in 2021.
Trump announced his decision in a post on his social media platform shortly after he arrived at his Mar-a-Lago home and private club in Palm Beach for the weekend.
“There is no need for Joe Biden to continue receiving access to classified information. Therefore, we are immediately revoking Joe Biden’s Security Clearances, and stopping his daily Intelligence Briefings,” Trump wrote. “He set this precedent in 2021, when he instructed the Intelligence Community (IC) to stop the 45th President of the United States (ME!) from accessing details on National Security, a courtesy provided to former Presidents.”
The move is the latest in a vengeance tour of Washington that Trump promised during his campaign. He has previously revoked security clearances from more than four dozen former intelligence officials who signed a 2020 letter saying that the Hunter Biden laptop saga bore the hallmarks of a “Russian information operation.” He’s also revoked security details assigned to protect former government officials who have criticized him, including his own former secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, who faces threats from Iran, and former infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Biden didn’t immediately comment on the move.
Donald Trump's post on his Truth Social media platform, announcing his move to revoke former President Joe Biden's access to government secrets.
Biden ended Trump’s intelligence briefings after Trump helped spur efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and incited the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. At the time, Biden said Trump’s “erratic” behavior should prevent him from getting the intel briefings.
Asked in an interview with CBS News what he feared if Trump continued to receive the briefings, Biden said he did not want to “speculate out loud” but made clear he did not want Trump to continue having access to such information.
“I just think that there is no need for him to have the intelligence briefings,” Biden said. “What value is giving him an intelligence briefing? What impact does he have at all, other than the fact he might slip and say something?”
in 2022, federal agents searched Trump’s Florida home and seized boxes of classified records. He was indicted on dozens of felony counts accusing him of illegally hoarding classified records and obstructing FBI efforts to get them back. He pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing. A judge dismissed the charges, ruling the special counsel who brought them was illegally appointed, and the Justice Department gave up appeals after Trump was elected in November.
In his post, Trump cited the special counsel report last year into Biden’s handling of classified documents, saying, “The Hur Report revealed that Biden suffers from ‘poor memory’ and, even in his ‘prime,’ could not be trusted with sensitive information.”
He ended his post by saying, “I will always protect our National Security — JOE, YOU’RE FIRED. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Special counsel Robert Hur investigated Biden’s handling of classified information and found that criminal charges were not warranted but delivered a bitingly critical assessment of his handling of sensitive government records. The report described Biden’s memory as “hazy,” “fuzzy,” “faulty,” “poor” and having “significant limitations.” It said Biden could not recall defining milestones in his own life such as when his son Beau died or when he served as vice president.
Trump has the right to end the briefings for Biden because it is a sitting president’s decision on whether a past president should continue to have access to classified information.
Steven Cheung, the president’s communications director, shared Trump’s post on the X social media platform and said, “Hit the road Jack and don’t you come back no more!”
