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Special counsel Jack Smith moved to abandon two criminal cases against on Monday, acknowledging that Trump’s will preclude attempts to federally prosecute him for retaining classified documents or trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat. The decision was inevitable, since longstanding Justice Department policy says sitting presidents cannot face Yet it was still a momentous finale to an unprecedented chapter in political and law enforcement history, as federal officials attempted to hold accountable a former president while he was simultaneously running for another term. Trump emerges indisputably victorious, having successfully delayed the investigations through legal maneuvers and then winning reelection despite indictments that described his actions as a threat to the country’s constitutional foundations. “I persevered, against all odds, and WON,” Trump exulted in a post on Truth Social, his social media website. He also said that “these cases, like all of the other cases I have been forced to go through, are empty and lawless, and should never have been brought.” The judge in the election case granted prosecutors’ dismissal request. A decision in the documents case was still pending on Monday evening. The outcome makes it clear that, when it comes to a president and criminal accusations, nothing supersedes the voters’ own verdict. In court filings, Smith’s team emphasized that the move to end their prosecutions was not a reflection of the merit of the cases but a recognition of the legal shield that surrounds any commander in chief. “That prohibition is categorical and does not turn on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the Government’s proof, or the merits of the prosecution, which the Government stands fully behind,” prosecutors said in one of their filings. They wrote that Trump’s return to the White House “sets at odds two fundamental and compelling national interests: on the one hand, the Constitution’s requirement that the President must not be unduly encumbered in fulfilling his weighty responsibilities ... and on the other hand, the Nation’s commitment to the rule of law.” In this situation, “the Constitution requires that this case be dismissed before the defendant is inaugurated,” they concluded. Smith’s team said it was leaving intact charges against two co-defendants in the classified documents case — Trump valet Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira — because “no principle of temporary immunity applies to them.” Steven Cheung, Trump’s incoming White House communications director, said Americans “want an immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system and we look forward to uniting our country.” Trump has long described the investigations as politically motivated, and he has vowed to fire Smith as soon as he takes office in January. Now he will start his second term free from criminal scrutiny by the government that he will lead. The election case brought last year was once seen as one of the most serious legal threats facing Trump as he tried to reclaim the White House. He was to Joe Biden in 2020, an effort that climaxed with his supporters’ violent attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. But the case quickly stalled amid legal fighting over Trump’s sweeping claims of immunity from prosecution for acts he took while in the White House. The U.S. Supreme Court in July ruled for the first time that former presidents have broad immunity from prosecution, and sent the case back to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to determine which allegations in the indictment, if any, could proceed to trial. The case was just beginning to pick up steam again in the trial court in the weeks leading up to this year’s election. Smith’s team in October filed a lengthy brief laying out new evidence it planned to use against him at trial, accusing him of “resorting to crimes” in an increasingly desperate effort to overturn the will of voters after he lost to Biden. In dismissing the case, Chutkan acknowledged prosecutors’ request to do so “without prejudice,” raising the possibility that they could try to bring charges against Trump when his term is over. She wrote that is “consistent with the Government’s understanding that the immunity afforded to a sitting President is temporary, expiring when they leave office.” But such a move may be barred by the statute of limitations, and Trump may also try to pardon himself while in office. The separate case involving classified documents had been widely seen as legally clear cut, especially because the conduct in question occurred after Trump left the White House and lost the powers of the presidency. The indictment included dozens of felony counts accusing him of illegally hoarding classified records from his presidency at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, and obstructing federal efforts to get them back. He has pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing. The case quickly became snarled by delays, with U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon slow to issue rulings — which favored Trump’s strategy of pushing off deadlines in all his criminal cases — while also entertaining defense motions and arguments that experts said other judges would have dispensed with without hearings. In May, she indefinitely canceled the trial date amid a series of unresolved legal issues before dismissing the case outright two months later. Smith’s team appealed the decision, but now has given up that effort. Trump faced two other state prosecutions while running for president. One of them, a New York case involving hush money payments, on felony charges of falsifying business records. It was the first time a former president had been found guilty of a crime. The sentencing in that case is on hold as Trump’s lawyers try to have the conviction dismissed before he takes office, arguing that letting the verdict stand will interfere with his presidential transition and duties. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office is fighting the dismissal but has indicated that it would be until Trump leaves office. Bragg, a Democrat, has said the solution needs to balance the obligations of the presidency with “the sanctity of the jury verdict.” Trump was also indicted in Georgia along with 18 others accused of participating in a sprawling scheme to illegally overturn the 2020 presidential election there. Any trial appears unlikely there while Trump holds office. The prosecution already after an appeals court agreed to review whether to remove Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis over her with the special prosecutor she had hired to lead the case. Four defendants have pleaded guilty after reaching deals with prosecutors. Trump and the others have pleaded not guilty.Donald Trump has yet to move back into the White House and already fissures are opening in his coalition, amid squabbling between Elon Musk and his Silicon Valley "tech bros" and his hardcore Republican backers. At the heart of the internecine sniping is Trump's central election issue -- immigration -- and the H1-B visas that allow companies to bring foreigners with specific qualifications to the United States. The permits are widely used in Silicon Valley, and Musk -- who himself came to the United States from South Africa on an H1-B -- is a fervent advocate. The world's richest man, who bankrolled Trump's election campaign and has become a close advisor, posted on X Thursday that welcoming elite engineering talent from abroad was "essential for America to keep winning." Vivek Ramaswamy, appointed by Trump as Musk's co-chair on a new advisory board on government efficiency, suggested that companies prefer foreign workers because they lack an "American culture," which he said venerates mediocrity. "A culture that celebrates the prom queen over the math olympiad champ, or the jock over the valedictorian, will not produce the best engineers," he posted, warning that, without a change in attitude, "we'll have our asses handed to us by China." Skepticism over the benefits of immigration is a hallmark of Trump's "Make America Great Again" (MAGA) movement and the billionaires' remarks angered immigration hawks who accused them of ignoring US achievements in technological innovation. Incoming White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller posted a 2020 speech in which Trump marveled at the American "culture" that had "harnessed electricity, split the atom, and gave the world the telephone and the Internet." The post appeared calculated to remind critics that Trump won November's election on a platform of getting tough on immigration and boosting American manufacturing. But it was Michael Faraday, an English scientist, who discovered that an electric current could be produced by passing a magnet through a copper wire and Ernest Rutherford, a New Zealander, who first split the atom. And Alexander Graham Bell may have died a US citizen but he was a British subject in Canada when he invented the telephone. Trump voiced opposition to H1-B visas during his successful first run for the White House in 2016, calling them "unfair for our workers" while acknowledging that he used foreign labor in his own businesses. The Republican placed restrictions on the system when he took office, but the curbs were lifted by President Joe Biden. Trump is known for enjoying the gladiatorial spectacle when conflict breaks out in his inner circle. He has been conspicuously silent during the hostilities that Politico characterized as "Musk vs MAGA." Many MAGA figures have been agitating for a complete closure of America's borders while the problem of illegal entries is tackled, and hoping for a steer from Trump that would reassure them that he remains firm in his "America First" stance. For some long-time loyalists, Silicon Valley has already inserted itself too deeply into MAGA politics. "We welcomed the tech bros when they came running our way to avoid the 3rd grade teacher picking their kid's gender -- and the obvious Biden/Harris economic decline," said Matt Gaetz, the scandal-hit congressman forced to withdraw after being nominated by Trump to run the Justice Department. "We did not ask them to engineer an immigration policy." When Musk almost single-handedly blew up a deal painstakingly hammered out between Democrats and Republicans to set the 2025 federal budget, Democrats used "President Musk" to mock Trump, who is famously sensitive about being upstaged. It remains to be seen whether these cracks can be smoothed out or if they are a portent of further strife, but critics point to the chaos in Trump's first term as a potential indicator. "Looking forward to the inevitable divorce between President Trump and Big Tech," said far-right conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer, a MAGA figure with so much influence that she had a seat on Trump's plane during the campaign. "We have to protect President Trump from the technocrats." Loomer has subsequently complained of censorship after she was stripped of her paying subscribers on X, which is owned by Musk. "Full censorship of my account simply because I called out H1B visas," she posted. "This is anti-American behavior by tech oligarchs. 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What's next for Rahm Emanuel? DNC chair? Or replacing Pritzker or Durbin if they don't runAs 2025 approaches, uncertainty looms over two wars raging in Gaza and Ukraine, with West Asia destabilised by the sudden fall of Syria’s Assad regime on December 8. The passing away of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a day after Christmas, symbolises the end of India’s post-Independence era. The unseemly debates in Parliament and beyond, commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Indian Constitution, became a Congress-BJP brawl over B.R. Ambedkar’s role. The saga involved the Congress embracing a fictional past, where it more abused than used the Constitution, and the BJP feigning respect for constitutionalism while desiring to shape it as per its majoritarian instincts. Political churn is not specific to India alone. In 2024, 76 nations held polls, constituting half the world’s population. In some, like Russia and Venezuela, it was a rigged exercise to claim legitimacy for authoritarian rulers. In others, like the UK, where Conservatives lost power after 14 years, or France, where the adverse parliamentary elections’ verdict challenged the sitting President Emmanuel Macron, electoral results signalled change. In India too, people left the BJP in parliamentary elections dependent on allies’ support, which the BJP, by its self-centred agenda and arrogant governance, is defying. The most challenging development is Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election. Although his term begins only on January 20, he is already in the limelight, continuously nominating individuals that reflect loyalty to him and commitment to the Make America Great Again (MAGA) agenda. Some have been forced to withdraw due to past sexual indiscretions, while some others may yet face the Senate’s disapproval due to lopsided views. For instance, Robert Kennedy Jr., named to lead the health departments, advocates the rejection of vaccines. The Economist magazine anticipates, in the coming year, an “interplay between Donald Trump, technology, and radical uncertainty.” The global worry is over his threat of imposing retaliatory tariffs of 20% on all nations trading with the US, with China attracting an even higher percentage. Some aides of Trump argue that his bark may be worse than his bite, as he often uses threats simply as a negotiating tactic. However, Indian analysts missed the implications of Trump’s remark that the US and China could effectively address most contentious global issues if they collaborated. This has, for decades, been precisely the Indian strategic concern: that bipolar Sino-US convergence would automatically relegate India to a secondary position. Although unstated publicly, the External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s hurried US trip post-Christmas, when official business languishes due to the holiday season, indicates this concern. The fact that Trump invited, albeit unsuccessfully, Chinese President Xi Jinping for his inauguration without extending a similar offer to Prime Minister Narendra Modi reflects Trump’s priorities. Reportedly, Hungarian President Viktor Orban, a Trump acolyte who rejects European military support for Ukraine, may also be on the invitees list. No previous US president has invited foreign leaders for the inauguration. Trump has claimed that he would end the Ukraine war almost instantaneously after assuming office. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who deliberately delayed congratulating Trump after his win, may accept a ceasefire only if Ukraine is arm-twisted into accepting the status quo over land held by either side currently. Perhaps that explains reports of Russians employing North Korean soldiers to eject Ukrainians from their Kursk region. Ukraine wants to use that occupation to bargain for the return of Ukrainian territory under Russian control. Although Trump is likely to give Israel a carte blanche to conduct its military operations, Israel, having already decapitated Hamas, may be ready for a ceasefire. Trump fathered the Abraham Accords to normalise Israel-Arab relations. These are now stymied by Israel rejecting both a ceasefire and a two-nation solution to the Israel-Palestine dispute. Thus, globally, Trump 2.0 can either be an agent of disruptive but positive change or an initiator of global economic and geostrategic bedlam. The US deterrence has mostly stabilised the world, especially since the end of the Cold War in 1991. Chinese ascendancy and alliance with Russia, Iran, and North Korea is resurrecting a new bipolar order. But China faces economic headwinds, and its GDP, having become three-quarters that of the US, fell to two-thirds by 2021. The European Union faces economic challenges due to its energy dependence on Russia being disrupted by the Ukraine war and its slow transition to industries of the future. The feared new standoff between the US and China catches Europe on the backfoot, already hobbled by its centrist ruling alliances breaking down, causing the rise of far-right parties. India is adopting a wait-and-watch strategy, like most of the world. At the United Nations, the Chinese contribution to the UN budget, at 20% of the total, now rivals that of the US. Trump is likely to withdraw the US from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNESCO. Ideally, after some turbulence, the Trumpian storm would pass. But diminished US deterrence and an isolationist America bode ill for global peace and friendship. KC Singh is former secretary, Ministry of External AffairsNone

Teacher in space still inspiresSenate Republicans derailed President-elect Donald Trump’s first jaw-dropping pick for attorney general, Matt Gaetz . But it’s unclear if they will be able to block any other controversial nominees despite skepticism from some rank-and-file Republicans. In the weeks since Trump’s dramatic election victory, the power struggle between the president-elect and independent-minded Senate Republicans has been playing out in plain view. There had been questions about whether the new Senate GOP majority would simply kowtow to Trump, the party’s most dominant figure, and toss aside its constitutional duty of advise and consent. Instead, a handful of GOP senators flexed their muscles and rejected Gaetz . Now their political resolve will be tested several more times as Trump’s frustration builds and the MAGA base demands that Republicans rally behind Trump and quickly get his team in place. Senators are getting a brief reprieve from questions about Trump’s nominees as they celebrate Thanksgiving. But when they return next week, the scrutiny will intensify and focus on a trio of Cabinet picks who are raising alarm bells on Capitol Hill and beyond: Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence ; Pete Hegseth for d efense secretary ; and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for h ealth and h uman s ervices secretary . With the media spotlight off Gaetz, some Republican senators conceded that Trump’s other embattled picks will now be under the microscope. Hegseth, for example, is facing questions about a 2017 incident where a woman told police he took her phone and blocked her from leaving his hotel room before sexually assaulting her. Hegseth was not charged and has denied the allegations while confirming he paid the accuser in a confidential settlement, but the issue has come up in his meetings with Armed Services Committee members whose votes he will need . “Well, it’s a pretty big problem, given that we have ... a sexual assault problem in our military,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., who added that he backed bipartisan legislation by Sens. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., to prevent sexual assault in the military. “This is why you have background checks, this is why you have hearings, this is why you have to go through the scrutiny,” Cramer continued. “I’m not going to pre-judge him, but yeah, it’s a pretty concerning accusation.” Political capital Before Gaetz withdrew his name, Cramer had warned that the Trump transition team was at risk of spending too much “political capital” fighting for a doomed Cabinet pick before the party even begins tackling its 2025 legislative agenda. The former Florida congressman had too much baggage, Cramer and others said — stemming from a yearslong sexual misconduct ethics probe and Gaetz's successful campaign to topple GOP Speaker Kevin McCarthy last year — to win the 51 votes needed to be confirmed as the nation’s top law enforcement official. Republicans will control 53 seats in the new Senate, meaning they can only afford three GOP defections on any vote to confirm a nominee or pass legislation with Vice President JD Vance serving as the tie-breaker. Rather than drag out the fight for several more weeks, Gaetz dropped out of contention Thursday, paving the way for Trump to name former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to lead the Justice Department . The Bondi choice was cheered by Republicans, and she is expected to have a much easier path to confirmation. How much political capital Trump is willing to burn on other picks with baggage of their own is still an open question. Some Senate Republicans who leveled some of the strongest criticism at Gaetz said they could live with Hegseth, despite the 2017 assault allegations. “He wasn’t charged. He wasn’t even kind of charged in this. There was no crime committed. The police dropped everything there. ...” Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., a Trump ally and vocal Gaetz critic, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday. “And so that doesn’t prevent Pete from moving forward in this.” Potential red flags Kennedy and Gabbard have their own past controversies that could become red flags for senators. Kennedy, whom Trump picked to be one of his top health officials, has made numerous false or misleading claims about vaccines, fluoride, raw milk and other things that would come under his purview if confirmed. As HHS secretary, Kennedy would oversee 13 federal agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health. Asked about RFK Jr’s position on vaccines, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, a member of the Senate Health committee that will host Kennedy’s confirmation hearing, told reporters that “as a parent” she would continue to advocate for the “benefits of modern medicine.” ​​Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., a close Trump ally, said on Fox News on Sunday he’s done an “unofficial whip count” on RFK, adding that he’s heard concerns but felt assured that the soon-to-be HHS nominee should be “confirmed quite easily.” Gabbard, the former Democratic congresswoman who changed parties and endorsed Trump, has faced scrutiny by Democrats — as well as some Republicans — for making positive comments about Russia and meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in 2017 . “I think she’s compromised ... Russian-controlled media called her a Russian asset,” Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., a decorated Iraq War veteran and Armed Services member, said on CNN Sunday. She added that she didn’t think Gabbard could pass an FBI background check. Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., shot back on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” labeling Duckworth’s insults about Gabbard “a slur.” “There’s no evidence that she’s an asset of another country,” he said. In a statement, Trump communications director Steven Cheung said, “President Trump is nominating high-caliber and extremely qualified candidates to serve in his Administration.” No vetting FBI background checks are typically conducted on executive branch nominees and appointees. But the Trump team has yet to submit any of his picks for such vetting. On Sunday, Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., defended the move, saying Americans do not care about who conducts the vetting process. “I don’t think the American public cares who does the background checks. What the American public cares about is to see the mandate that they voted in delivered upon,” Hagerty, Trump’s former ambassador to Japan, said on ABC’s “This Week.” Democrats say that FBI background checks may save Trump and his team a lot of hassle and embarrassment. “He may have still decided to nominate Matt Gaetz, but if they did a thorough vetting, he may have decided not to,” Sen.-elect Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said on NBC’s “Meet the Press" on Sunday. “That vetting process, having the FBI review potential nominees, is not only to protect the public interests, it’s to protect the president-elect’s interests, to make sure that he’s not embarrassed by nominating someone like Matt Gaetz.”

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NEW YORK — Israel Vazquez, a three-time super bantamweight boxing world champion, has died from cancer at age 46. His death was announced early Tuesday morning by World Boxing Council president Mauricio Sulaiman. “Israel is finally resting in peace. May God give strength and support to his wife Laura, their children, family and friends during these difficult times,” Sulaiman wrote on social media. “Thank you champion for leaving such a special mark. You will always be ‘El Magnifico.' ” Trainer Freddie Roach mourned Vazquez on Instagram. “Forever a world champion and legend in boxing. One of the best boxers I ever had the privilege of working with,” Roached captioned a photo of them after Vazquez won the WBC title. “Israel, my friend, may you rest in peace now.” Vazquez revealed last month he’d been diagnosed with stage 4 sarcoma and was receiving treatment in Los Angeles. “He can hardly speak and, when he does, he is short of breath. He is very weak,” his wife, Laura Vazquez, told the Los Angeles Times in early November. A celebrated Mexican fighter who combined devastating punches with speed, Vazquez was most known for his rivalry with Rafael Marquez. The two faced off in four title fights, which they split. In their third fight, in 2008, Vazquez won despite suffering a detached retina which kept him out of the ring more than a year and a half. He was able to make a comeback, but lost to Marquez in what turned out to be Vazquez’s final fight. Vazquez was 44-5 in his career, with 32 knockouts. He’s survived by wife Laura, sons Israel Jr. and Anthony, daughter Zoe, his parents and sister. ©2024 New York Daily News. Visit nydailynews.com . Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.None

BEIRUT (AP) — Syria's de facto leader said Sunday it could take up to four years to hold elections in Syria, and that he plans to dissolve his Islamist group that led the country's insurgency at an anticipated national dialogue summit for the country. Ahmad al-Sharaa, who leads Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the group leading the new authority in Syria, made the remarks in an interview with Saudi television network Al-Arabiyya. It comes almost a month after a lightning insurgency led by HTS overthrew President Bashar Assad's decades-long rule, ending the country's uprising-turned civil war that started back in 2011. Al-Sharaa said it would take time to hold elections because of the need for Syria's different forces to hold political dialogue and rewrite the country's constitution following five decades of the Assad dynasty's dictatorial rule. Also, the war-torn country's battered infrastructure needs to be reconstructed, he said. “The chance we have today doesn’t come every 5 or 10 years,” said al-Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani. “We want the constitution to last for the longest time possible.” Al-Sharaa is Syria's de facto leader until March 1, when Syria's different factions are set to hold a political dialogue to determine the country's political future and establish a transitional government that brings the divided country together. There, he said, HTS will dissolve after years of being the country's most dominant rebel group that held a strategic enclave in the country's northwest. Earlier, an Israeli airstrike in the outskirts of Damascus on Sunday killed 11 people, according to a war monitor, as Israel continues to target Syrian weapons and military infrastructure even after the ouster of Assad. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the airstrike targeted a weapons depot that belonged to Assad’s forces near the industrial town of Adra, northeast of the capital. The observatory said at least 11 people, mostly civilians, were killed. The Israeli military did not comment on the airstrike Sunday. Israel, which has launched hundreds of airstrikes over Syria since the country's uprising turned-civil war broke out in 2011, rarely acknowledges them. It says its targets are Iran-backed groups that backed Assad. Unlike his criticism of key Assad ally Iran, al-Sharaa hoped to maintain “strategic relations” with Russia, whose air force played a critical role in keeping Assad in power for over a decade during the conflict. Moscow has a strategic airbase in Syria. The HTS leader also said negotiations are ongoing with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in northeastern Syria, and hopes that their armed forces will integrate with the Syrian security agencies. The Kurdish-led group is Washington’s key ally in Syria, where it is heavily involved in targeting sleeper cells belonging to the extremist Islamic State group. Turkish-backed Syrian rebels have been clashing with the SDF even after the insurgency, taking the key city of Manbij, as Ankara hopes to create a buffer zone near its border in northern Syria. The rebels attacked near the strategic northern border town of Kobani, while the SDF shared a video of a rocket attack that destroyed what it said was a radar system south of the city of Manbij. In other developments: — Syrian state-run media said a mass grave was found near the third largest city of Homs. SANA said civil defense workers were sent to to the site in al-Kabo, one of many suspected mass graves where tens of thousands of Syrians are believed to have been buried during a brutal crackdown under Assad and his network of security agencies. — An Egyptian activist wanted by Cairo on charges of incitement to violence and terrorism, Abdulrahman al-Qardawi, was detained by Lebanese security forces after crossing the porous border from Syria, according to two judicial and one security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to to talk to the press. Al-Qardawi is an Egyptian activist residing in Turkey and an outspoken critic of Egypt's government. He had reportedly visited Syria to join celebrations after Assad's downfall. His late father, Youssef al-Qaradawi, was a top and controversial Egyptian cleric revered by the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. He had lived in exile in Qatar for decades. — Lebanese security forces apprehended an armed group in the northern city of Tripoli that kidnapped a group of 26 Syrians who were recently smuggled into Lebanon, two Lebanese security officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to share the information with the media. The Syrians included five women and seven children, and security officials are working to return them to Syria.Arsenal delivered the statement Champions League win Mikel Arteta had demanded as they swept aside Sporting Lisbon 5-1. Arteta wanted his team to prove their European credentials following some underwhelming displays away from home, and the Gunners manager got exactly what he asked for. Goals from Gabriel Martinelli, Kai Havertz, Gabriel Magalhaes, Bukayo Saka and Leandro Trossard got their continental campaign back on track in style following the 1-0 defeat at Inter Milan last time out. A memorable victory also ended Sporting’s unbeaten start to the season, a streak of 17 wins and one draw, the vast majority of which prompted Manchester United to prise away head coach Ruben Amorim. The Gunners had failed to win or score in their two away games in the competition so far this season, but they made a blistering start in the Portuguese capital and took the lead after only seven minutes. Declan Rice fed overlapping full-back Jurrien Timber, who curled a low cross in behind the home defence for Martinelli to finish at the far post. Arsenal doubled their lead in the 20th minute thanks to a glorious ball over the top from Thomas Partey. Saka escaped the clutches of his marker Maximiliano Araujo to beat the offside trap and poke the ball past advancing goalkeeper Franco Israel for Havertz to tap home. It was a scintillating first-half display which completely overshadowed the presence of Viktor Gyokeres in Sporting’s attack. The prolific Sweden striker, formerly of Coventry, has been turning the heads of Europe’s top clubs with his 24 goals in 17 games this season – including a hat-trick against Manchester City earlier this month. But the only time he got a sniff of a run at goal after an optimistic long ball, he was marshalled out of harm’s way by Gabriel. David Raya was forced into one save, tipping a fierce Geovany Quenda drive over the crossbar. But Arsenal added a third on the stroke of half-time, Gabriel charging in to head Rice’s corner into the back of the net. To rub salt in the wound, the Brazilian defender mimicked Gyokeres’ hands-over-his-face goal celebration. That may have wound Sporting up as they came out after the interval meaning business, and they pulled one back after Raya tipped Hidemasa Morita’s shot behind, with Goncalo Inacio netting at the near post from the corner. Former Tottenham winger Marcus Edwards fired over, as did Gyokeres, with Arsenal temporarily on the back foot. But when Martin Odegaard’s darting run into the area was halted by Ousmane Diomande’s foul, Saka tucked away the penalty. Substitute Trossard added the fifth with eight minutes remaining, heading in the rebound after Mikel Merino’s shot was saved, and Gyokeres’ miserable night was summed up when his late shot crashed back off the post.

BEING a pro footballer around Christmas might be the most depressing time of your life. I’m not asking for huge amounts of sympathy. We are very privileged people who get paid extremely well, so I don’t expect the tiny violins to be coming out. But it is not an easy time. Your whole family is buzzing — the Pringles are out, the wine, the beers. So many things that you would normally enjoy but just know you cannot do it. I remember as a footballer having Christmas dinner and knowing we were playing a game the next day. READ MORE ON FOOTBALL I would have to ask for a third of what I would normally stuff on my plate. Now I am retired — my first Christmas away from the game for nearly 20 years — I asked my family to give me a third more than I can even stomach. I was so excited and loved it. But as a professional player, you would be counting how many potatoes you have eaten. Most read in Football CASINO SPECIAL - BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS Then the club nutritionists would be on to you. I used to have to jump in the gym straight after my turkey dinner. I was West Ham captain but I almost went to jail over bankruptcy I'm a former Man Utd star and I once stole a girl from Ronaldo I'm an ex-Man Utd star - now I own a dog-themed B&B I was Thierry Henry's toughest opponent but quit to become a pastor I’m a former Wolves striker but I left football behind to become a vicar Usually, if we had an away game on Boxing Day, we would have to train in the late afternoon or early evening on Christmas Day — and then it was straight to wherever the hotel was. I’d get up in the morning on Christmas Day, do stuff with the kids, have a light breakfast, probably run a 5k on the treadmill, then the family came over to have dinner but you are always watching the time. Let’s say we had dinner at 1:30pm. I would then get on the scales at 2:45pm and I am two kilos over. So, I have to jump in the sauna for 20 minutes. Then it is in the car, down to training, weigh yourself again and into a hotel with 20 other lads who also don’t want to be there. You’re looking on your social media and everyone is posting videos of themselves enjoying some drinks, opening presents, spending time with their kids. It really hits you. By the time Boxing Day comes around, everyone is in the mindset of, ‘Thank God that’s over’. I always tried to have a bigger dinner that day to make up for what I missed. For me and my family, our Christmas Day would be on the 27th, so you could enjoy yourself and have a few days resting before the New Year games. As players, we were generally well behaved during those periods. Sometimes at Watford, depending on the manager we had, we would have to come in for training at 8am on Christmas Day, so everyone would be home by midday. Get in, get out. There used to be a rule whereby you then did not have to report until Boxing Day morning. But that was stopped after a few players would turn up with red eyes after staying out until 2am. Those Christmas Day morning sessions were the worst, because my kids would wake up all excited wanting to open their presents and I would have to say: “No, wait until dad gets home!” It’s torture. And even when I got home, I would have to eat, shower, have a little nap and then drive back to the hotel for 7pm. When I first met my wife, she thought I would only train a couple of times a week and then play on a Saturday. READ MORE SUN STORIES She then got the biggest shock of her life. My life was so regimented, even at Christmas. Look, it’s part of the gig. You’re paid to put up with it but it was a mental strain at times, especially with kids and those who were really family-orientated.

NoneConor McGregor must pay $250K to woman who says he raped her, civil jury rulesThe NFL suspended Tennessee Titans safety Julius Wood six games on Tuesday for violating the policy on performing-enhancing substances. There are five games remaining this season for the Titans (3-9), so Wood's suspension will bleed into Week 1 of 2025. Wood, 23, went undrafted this spring and signed with the Dallas Cowboys as a free agent. They waived him in August, and he caught on with the Titans, who claimed him off waivers. Wood appeared in nine games, almost exclusively on special teams, and has recorded two tackles. --Field Level MediaIsraeli drone strikes hit Kamal Adwan Hospital on Tuesday, wounding three medical staff at one of the few hospitals still partially operating in the northernmost part of Gaza , the facility’s director said. Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya said the drones were dropping bombs, spraying shrapnel at the hospital. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. In Lebanon, a tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah has held despite Israeli forces carrying out several new drone and artillery strikes on Tuesday, killing a shepherd in the country's south. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed keep striking “with an iron fist” against perceived Hezbollah violations of the ceasefire. Hezbollah began launching rockets, drones and missiles into Israel last year in solidarity with Hamas militants who are fighting in the Gaza Strip. The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 people hostage . Israel’s blistering retaliatory offensive has killed at least 44,500 Palestinians , more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were combatants. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence. The war in Gaza has destroyed vast areas of the coastal enclave and displaced 90% of the population of 2.3 million, often multiple times . Here's the Latest: WASHINGTON — U.S. forces conducted a self-defense strike Tuesday in the vicinity of Mission Support Site Euphrates, a U.S. base in eastern Syria, against three truck-mounted multiple rocket launchers, a T-64 tank and mortars that Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said presented “a clear and imminent threat” to U.S. troops. The self-defense strike occurred after rockets and mortars were fired that landed in the vicinity of the base, Ryder said. The Pentagon is still assessing who was responsible for the attacks — that there are both Iranian-backed militias and Syrian military forces that operate in the area. Ryder said the attack was not connected to the offensive that is ongoing in Aleppo, where Syrian jihadi-led rebels taken over the country’s largest city. The U.S. has about 900 troops in Syria to conduct missions to counter the Islamic Stage group. CAIRO — Israeli drone strikes hit the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza on Tuesday, wounding three medical personnel, the facility’s director said. Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya said the drones were dropping bombs, spraying shrapnel at the hospital, located in the town of Beit Lahiya. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. In comments released by Gaza’s Health Ministry, Abu Safiya said one of the injured was in critical condition and was undergoing a complex surgery. “The situation has become extremely dangerous,” he said. “We are exhausted by the ongoing violence and atrocities.” Kamal Adwan Hospital has been struck multiple times over the past two months as Israeli forces have waged a fierce offensive in the area, saying they are rooting out Hamas militants who regrouped there. In October, Israeli forces raided the hospital, saying that militants were sheltering inside and arrested a number of people, including some staff. Hospital officials denied the claim. Abu Safiya was wounded in his thigh and back by an Israeli drone strike on the hospital last month. TEL AVIV, Israel — An Israeli court has ordered Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take the stand next week in his long-running corruption trial, ending a long series of delays. Netanyahu’s lawyers had filed multiple requests to put off the testimony, arguing first that the war in Gaza prevented him from properly preparing for his testimony, and later that his security could not be guaranteed in the court chamber. In Tuesday’s decision, judges in the Jerusalem district court said that following a security assessment, his testimony will be moved to the Tel Aviv district court. Israeli media said the session would take place in an underground chamber. His testimony in the trial, which began in 2020, is expected to begin on Dec. 10 and to last at least several weeks. Netanyahu is charged with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three separate scandals involving powerful media moguls and wealthy associates. He denies wrongdoing. NABATIYEH, Lebanon — In destroyed areas of southern Lebanon, residents clearing away rubble on Tuesday said they didn’t trust Israel to abide by the week-old ceasefire with Hezbollah. “The Israelis are breaching the ceasefire whenever they can because they are not committed,” said Hussein Badreddin, a vegetable seller in the southern city of Nabatiyeh, which was pummeled by Israeli airstrikes over several weeks. “This means that they (can) breach any resolution at any time.” Since it began last Wednesday, the U.S.- and French-brokered 60-day ceasefire has been rattled by near daily Israeli strikes, although Israel has been vague about the purported Hezbollah violations that prompted them. Imad Yassin, a trader who owns a clothing shop in Nabatiyeh, said Israel was constantly breaching the ceasefire because Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to continue the displacement of residents of southern Lebanon. “The Israeli enemy was defeated and the truth is that he is trying to get revenge. Netanyahu is trying to displace us as citizens of southern Lebanon,” Yassin said. They spoke as bulldozers cleared streets strewn with rubble and debris from destroyed buildings. Electricians worked to fix power lines in an effort to restore electricity to the city. Both men were displaced by the war and returned to Nabatiyeh on Wednesday, the day the ceasefire went into effect. Yassin found his clothing shop had been destroyed. He said he would wait to see if the state will dispense compensation funds so that he can repair and reopen his business. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Two separate Israeli airstrikes killed at least nine people in Gaza City on Tuesday, Palestinian medical authorities said. Six people, including two children, who were killed when an Israeli strike hit a school sheltering displaced people Tuesday afternoon in the Zaytoun neighborhood, according to the Health Ministry’s emergency services. A second strike hit a residential building in the Sabra neighborhood, killing at least three people, the services said. Israeli forces have almost completely isolated northernmost Gaza since early October, saying they’re fighting regrouped Hamas militants there. That has pushed some families south to Gaza City, while hundreds of thousands more live in the territory's center and south in squalid tent camps, where they rely on international aid. JERUSALEM — Israel's military confirmed it killed a senior member of Hezbollah responsible for coordinating with Syria's army on rearming and resupplying the Lebanese militant group. Syrian state media said a drone strike on Tuesday hit a car in a suburb of the capital Damascus, killing one person, without saying who was killed. Israel's military said he was Salman Nemer Jomaa, describing him as “Hezbollah’s representative to the Syrian military,” and that killing him “degrades both Hezbollah’s presence in Syria and Hezbollah’s ongoing force-building efforts.” Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets inside government-controlled parts of war-torn Syria in recent years. Israel rarely acknowledges its actions in Syria, but it has said that it targets bases of Iran-allied militant groups. Iran supports both Hezbollah and the Syrian government of President Bashar Assad, which is currently fighting to push back jihadi-led insurgents who seized the country’s largest city of Aleppo . TUBAS, West Bank — Israeli soldiers opened fire inside a hospital in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday during a raid to seize the bodies of alleged militants targeted in earlier airstrikes, a Palestinian doctor working at the hospital told The Associated Press. Soldiers entered the Turkish Hospital complex in Tubas after the bodies of two Palestinians killed and one wounded in airstrikes in the northern West Bank on Tuesday were brought there, said Dr. Mahmoud Ghanam, who works in the hospital’s emergency department. The troops briefly handcuffed and arrested Ghanam and another doctor. “The army entered in a brutal way, and they were shooting inside the emergency department,” said Ghanam. “They handcuffed us and took me and my colleague.” The military confirmed that its troops were operating around the hospital searching for those targeted in the airstrikes, which they said had hit a militant cell near the Palestinian town of Al-Aqaba in the Jordan Valley. It denied that troops had entered the hospital building or fired gunshots inside. The soldiers left after learning that the wounded man had been transferred to another hospital, Ghanam said. The soldiers wanted to take the bodies of the two men killed in the strike, but the hospital’s manager refused to hand over the bodies, Ghanam said. Israeli raids on hospitals in the West Bank are rare but have grown more common since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. In Gaza, Israeli troops have systematically besieged, raided and damaged many hospitals. About 800 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza ignited the war there. Israel has carried out near-daily military raids in the West Bank that it says are aimed at preventing attacks on Israelis — attacks which have also been on the rise. Israel captured the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians seek all three territories for an independent state. CAIRO — Palestinian officials say Fatah and Hamas are closing in on an agreement to appoint a committee of politically independent technocrats to administer the Gaza Strip after the war . It would effectively end Hamas’ rule and could help advance ceasefire talks with Israel. The rival factions have made several failed attempts to reconcile since Hamas seized power in Gaza in 2007. Israel has meanwhile ruled out any postwar role in Gaza for either Hamas or Fatah, which dominates the Western-backed Palestinian Authority . A Palestinian Authority official on Tuesday confirmed that a preliminary agreement had been reached following weeks of negotiations in Cairo. The official said the committee would have 12-15 members, most of them from Gaza. It would report to the Palestinian Authority, which is headquartered in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and work with local and international parties to facilitate humanitarian assistance and reconstruction. A Hamas official said that Hamas and Fatah had agreed on the general terms but were still negotiating over some details and the individuals who would serve on the committee. The official said an agreement would be announced after a meeting of all Palestinian factions in Cairo, without providing a timeline. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media on the talks. There was no immediate comment from Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue the war until Hamas is dismantled and scores of hostages are returned. He says Israel will maintain open-ended security control over Gaza , with civilian affairs administered by local Palestinians unaffiliated with the Palestinian Authority or Hamas. No Palestinians have publicly volunteered for such a role, and Hamas has threatened anyone who cooperates with the Israeli military. The United States has called for a revitalized Palestinian Authority to govern both the West Bank and Gaza ahead of eventual statehood. The Israeli government is opposed to Palestinian statehood. Associated Press writers Samy Magdy in Cairo and Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed. NUSEIRAT REFUGEE CAMP, Gaza Strip — Palestinians lined up for bags of flour distributed by the U.N. in central Gaza on Tuesday morning, some of them for the first time in months amid a drop in food aid entering the territory. The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, gave out one 25-kilogram flour bag (55 pounds) to each family of 10 at a warehouse in the Nuseirat refugee camp, as well as further south in the city of Khan Younis. Jalal al-Shaer, among the dozens receiving flour at the Nuseirat warehouse, said the bag would last his family of 12 for only two or three days. “The situation for us is very difficult,” said another man in line, Hammad Moawad. “There is no flour, there is no food, prices are high ... We eat bread crumbs.” He said his family hadn’t received a flour allotment in five or six months. COGAT, the Israeli army body in charge of humanitarian affairs, said it facilitated entry of a shipment of 600 tons of flour on Sunday for the World Food Program. Still, the amount of aid Israel has allowed into Gaza since the beginning of October has been at nearly the lowest levels of the 15-month-old war. UNRWA’s senior emergency officer Louise Wateridge told The Associated Press that the flour bags being distributed Tuesday were not enough. “People are getting one bag of flour between an entire family and there is no certainty when they’ll receive the next food,” she said. Wateridge added that UNRWA has been struggling like other humanitarian agencies to provide much needed supplies across the Gaza Strip. The agency this week announced it was stopping delivering aid entering through the main crossing from Israel, Kerem Shalom, because its convoys were being robbed by gangs. UNRWA has blamed Israel in large part for the spread of lawlessness in Gaza. The International Criminal Court is seeking to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister over accusations of using “starvation as a method of warfare” by restricting humanitarian aid into Gaza. Israel rejects the allegations and says it has been working hard to improve entry of aid. JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the war isn't over against Hezbollah and vowed to use "an iron fist" against the Lebanese militant group for any perceived violations of a week-old ceasefire. “At the moment we are in a ceasefire, I note — a ceasefire, not the end of the war," Netanyahu said at the start of the government meeting Tuesday. He said the military would retaliate for “any violation — minor or major.” Netanyahu also thanked U.S. President-elect Donald Trump for his recent demands for Hamas to release the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza. Trump posted on social media Monday that if the hostages are not freed before he takes office in January there would be “HELL TO PAY.” Netanyahu convened Tuesday's meeting in northern Israel, where around 45,000 Israelis had been displaced by the war as of last week, according to the prime minister’s office. Netanyahu said the government was focused on getting them back in their homes and rehabilitating the area. BERLIN — German authorities have arrested a Lebanese man accused of being a member of Hezbollah and working for groups controlled by the militant organization in Germany. Federal prosecutors said the suspect, identified only as Fadel R. in line with German privacy rules, was arrested in the Hannover region on Tuesday. The man is suspected of membership in a foreign terrorist organization and is not accused of direct involvement in any violence. Prosecutors said he joined Hezbollah in the summer of 2008 or earlier and took part in leadership training courses in Lebanon. From 2009, he allegedly had leadership duties in two groups controlled by Hezbollah in the Hannover area, organizing appearances by preachers close to the militants. According to prosecutors, he was briefly a correspondent for a Hezbollah media outlet in 2017 and was tasked with coordinating building work at a mosque. Germany is a staunch ally of Israel. It is also home to a Lebanese immigrant community of more than 100,000. BEIRUT — The Lebanese army is looking for more recruits as it beefs up its presence in southern Lebanon after the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire. Lebanon’s army is a respected national institution that kept to the sidelines during the nearly 14-month conflict. During an initial 60-day truce, thousands of Lebanese troops are supposed to deploy in southern Lebanon, where U.N. peacekeepers also have a presence. Hezbollah militants are to pull back from areas near the border as Israel withdraws its ground forces. The army said those interested in joining up have a one-month period to apply, starting Tuesday. The Lebanese army has about 80,000 troops, with around 5,000 of them deployed in the south. DAMASCUS, Syria — Syria’s state news agency says a drone strike hit a car in a suburb of the capital, Damascus, killing one person. The agency did not give further details or say who was killed. It said the attack occurred Tuesday on the road leading to the Damascus International Airport south of the city. The area is known to be home to members of Iran-backed militant groups. Israel is believed to have carried out a number of strikes in the area in recent months as it has battled Iran-backed Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon. Israeli officials rarely acknowledge such strikes. JERUSALEM — Israel’s defense minister warned that if the shaky ceasefire with Hezbollah collapses, Israel will widen its strikes and target the Lebanese state itself. He spoke the day after Israel carried out a wave of airstrikes that killed nearly a dozen people. Those strikes came after the Lebanese militant group fired a volley of projectiles as a warning over what it said were previous Israeli violations. Speaking to troops on the northern border Tuesday, Defense Minister Israel Katz said any violations of the agreement would be met with “a maximum response and zero tolerance.” He said if the war resumes, Israel will widen its strikes beyond the areas where Hezbollah’s activities are concentrated, and “there will no longer be an exemption for the state of Lebanon.” During the 14-month conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, which came to an end last week with a ceasefire brokered by the United States and France, Israel largely refrained from striking critical infrastructure or the Lebanese armed forces, who kept to the sidelines . When Israeli strikes killed or wounded Lebanese soldiers, the Israeli military said it was accidental . The ceasefire agreement that took effect last week gives 60 days for Israel to withdraw its forces from Lebanon and for Hezbollah militants to relocate north of the Litani River. The buffer zone is to be patrolled by Lebanese armed forces and U.N. peacekeepers. Israel has carried out multiple strikes in recent days in response to what it says are violations by Hezbollah. Lebanon’s parliament speaker, Nabih Berri, accused Israel of violating the truce more than 50 times in recent days by launching airstrikes, demolishing homes near the border and violating Lebanon’s airspace. Berri, a Hezbollah ally, had helped mediate the ceasefire. JERUSALEM — Palestinian officials say an Israeli airstrike in the northern West Bank has killed two Palestinians. Israel’s military said it struck a militant cell near the town of Al-Aqaba, in the Jordan Valley. It did not immediately give more details. The Palestinian Health Ministry confirmed the two deaths and said a third person was moderately wounded. About 800 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza ignited the war there. Israel has carried out near-daily military raids in the West Bank that it says are aimed at preventing attacks on Israelis, which have also been on the rise. Israel captured the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want all three territories for an independent state. BEIRUT — Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon made his first public appearance in Beirut since he was wounded in an attack involving exploding pagers in mid-September. Mojtaba Amani, who returned to Lebanon over the weekend after undergoing treatment in Iran, visited on Tuesday the scene south of Beirut where Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Sept. 27. Speaking about the airstrike that destroyed six buildings and killed Nasrallah and others, Amani said Israel should get for its act “the highest medal for sabotage, terrorism, blood and killing civilians.” Amani suffered serious injuries in his face and hands when a pager he was holding exploded in mid-September. The device was one of about 3,000 pagers that exploded simultaneously, killing and wounding many Hezbollah members. A day after the pager attack, a similar attack struck walkie-talkies. In total, the explosions killed at least 37 people and wounded more than 3,000, many of them civilians. Last month, a spokesperson for the office of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the pager attack was approved by Netanyahu.