Australia wins Ashes series 4-1 with a five-wicket victory in Sydney
Sydney (AP): Australia completed a 4-1 Ashes series victory with a five-wicket win in the fifth and final cricket test on Thursday.
The Australians bowled England out for 342 on the fifth morning of the series finale and were chasing 160 for victory.
Tension grew with a succession of wickets and a contentious DRS review before Alex Carey hit the winning runs to guide the Australians to 161 for five in 31 overs.
Carey finished unbeaten on 16, Cameron Green was unbeaten on 22, and 39-year-old Usman Khawaja was sent into retirement with a victory.
The Australians retained the Ashes with wins in the first three tests, but England was determined to narrow the margin after its drought-breaking win in the Boxing Day match at Melbourne.
Khawaja's kiss goodbye
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The 39-year-old veteran walked to the crease after Steve Smith was bowled by Will Jacks and Australia was 92-3. He was given a guard of honor from the England players lining his way to the pitch, shook hands with Stokes and then gave teammate Marnus Labuschagne a hug.
He got off the mark with a paddled reverse sweep to the boundary and edged another ball between the wicketkeeper and Stokes at first slip for another 2.
Labuschagne had a chance on 20 when he slashed at a short ball from Tongue and was dropped by Bethell. Labuschagne took 16 off the next over, bowled by Jacks to get the chase down to 41.
That's when Khawaja was out — his last innings lasting seven deliveries and netting six runs — when he dragged a delivery from Josh Tongue onto his stumps. He kneeled and kissed the turf in front of a “Thankyou Uzzy” sign that was painted onto the field, and walked back to the pavilion for the last time after 88 test matches.
Labuschagne was then run out for 37 off 40 balls when he drove to mid-off and took off for a single, only to get sent back by Carey.
At that stage, Australia was 121-5 and tension was building until Carey and Green guided the hosts home.
Fifth morning
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England resumed on Day 5 at 302-8, a lead of 119 runs, and was bowled out for 342, a 159-run lead with 2 1/2 sessions remaining.
Mitchell Starc dismissed Jacob Bethell for 154 and Tongue (6) to finish off the England innings and finish the series with 31 wickets at an average of 19.9. The haul of wickets and some important runs earned him the player of the series honors.
The Australians started their second innings quickly, scoring 10 in the first over — including a pair of boundaries from Travis Head, who has scored three centuries in the series.
Head was caught in the deep for 29 and finished with 629 runs across five tests.
After getting a major reprieve on a contentious DRS decision on 16, Jake Weatherald misjudged a short ball from Tongue and his top edge was caught out for 34.
Contentious call
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England's continued bad luck with the decision review system added extra spice to the last day of the series.
England reviewed umpire Ahsan Raza's not out decision to a caught behind appeal when Weatherald wafted at a delivery from Brydon Carse with Australia on 33-0.
DRS technology appeared to show a slight murmur when the ball passed the toe of Weatherald's bat before going through to the wicketkeeper. But TV umpire Kumar Dharmasena deemed there was inconclusive evidence the ball touched the bat.
The England players were stunned, after watching the DRS replays on the stadium screens, and Stokes had to step in to move Carse away from umpire Raza as he demanded an explanation. Stokes calmly approached the umpire, discussed the decision-making process, and got on with the game.
Crowd record
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The total crowd across five days of the fifth test was 211,032, a record for the Sydney Cricket Ground.
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Venezuela releases imprisoned opposition figures and activists, which Trump says US requested
Guatire (Venezuela)(AP): Venezuela released a number of imprisoned high-profile opposition figures, activists and journalists — both citizens and foreigners — Thursday in what the government described as a gesture to “seek peace” less than a week after former President Nicolás Maduro was captured by US forces to face drug-trafficking charges.
President Donald Trump, who has been pressuring Maduro allies now leading the country to fold to his vision for the future of the oil-rich nation, said the releases came at the request of the United States.
In the interview on Fox News on Thursday night, Trump praised the government of acting President Delcy Rodríguez, saying: “they've been great. ... Everything we've wanted, they've given us.”
Jorge Rodríguez, brother of the acting president and head of Venezuela's National Assembly, said a “significant number” of people would be freed, but as of late Thursday night it was still not clear who or how many people would be released.
The US government and Venezuela's opposition have long demanded the widespread release of imprisoned politicians, critics and members of civil society. The Venezuelan government insists it doesn't hold political prisoners.
“Consider this a gesture by the Bolivarian (Venezuelan) government, which is broadly intended to seek peace,” he announced.
High profile releases
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Among those released was Biaggio Pilieri, an opposition leader who was part of Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado's 2024 presidential campaign, according to Foro Penal, an advocacy group for prisoners based in Caracas. Also released was Enrique Márquez, a former electoral authority and candidate in the 2024 presidential election, the organisation said.
Videos posted by journalists on social media show Márquez and Pilieri embracing loved ones on the streets outside the prison. One video showed Márquez beaming and video-calling family members, saying, “Soon I will be with you all.”
Five Spanish citizens — including the prominent Venezuelan-Spanish lawyer and human rights activist Rocío San Miguel — were also released in the afternoon and, as the night wore on, reports trickled out of more detainees walking free. Relatives who were waiting for hours outside one of the prisons on the outskirts of Caracas briefly chanted, “Libertad! Libertad!”
Venezuela's government has a history of releasing people imprisoned for political reasons — including real and perceived opponents — during moments of high tension to signal openness to dialogue. The releases on Thursday were the first since Maduro was deposed.
Human rights groups and members of the opposition were encouraged by the move, though it wasn't clear yet what it represented — whether the growing pains of a government in transition or a symbolic overture to placate the Trump administration, which has allowed Maduro's loyalists to stay in power as it exerts pressure through crippling sanctions.
Nothing brings back the 'stolen years'
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For opposition leader Machado – whom Trump has snubbed by endorsing Rodríguez to lead the transition — the gesture was “an act of moral restitution."
“Nothing brings back the stolen years,” she said in an audio message from exile addressed to families of released detainees, urging them to take comfort in the knowledge that “injustice will not be eternal and that the truth, though badly wounded, eventually prevails.”
Alfredo Romero, president of Foro Penal, expressed cautious hope "that this is indeed the beginning of the dismantling of a repressive system in Venezuela ... and not a mere gesture, a charade of releasing some prisoners and incarcerating others.”
Despite a widespread crackdown during the tumultuous 2024 election — in which the government said it detained 2,000 people — Venezuela's government denies that there are prisoners unjustly detained, accusing them of plotting to destabilise Maduro's government.
Romero's organisation said that as of December 29, 2025, there were 863 people detained in Venezuela “for political reasons.”
The Spanish government said Thursday that five of its citizens, including dual national San Miguel, had been released from custody in Venezuela and would soon return to Spain.
Speaking to Spanish broadcaster RNE, Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares identified the other Spanish nationals released as Andrés Martínez, José María Basoa, Ernesto Gorbe and Miguel Moreno.
Two of them, Martínez and Basoa, were arrested in Venezuela in September 2024 and accused of plotting to destabilize Maduro's government as Spanish spies — allegations vehemently denied by Spain.
Spain's El País newspaper reported Thursday that another freed detainee, Gorbe, was arrested in 2024 on allegations of overstaying his visa.
Families wait outside prisons
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As the news of the release broke Thursday, families of detainees rushed to prisons across the country, seeking information on their loved ones.
Pedro Durán, 60, was among those hoping to reunite with his brother Franklin Durán as he waited outside a prison in the town of Guatire, around 25 miles (43 kilometers) outside of Caracas. Durán said his brother was detained in 2021 on charges of trying to overthrow Maduro's government — an accusation his family denies.
Durán, who has been living in Spain, heard rumours on Wednesday that the government could release a number of detainees and immediately bought a plane ticket from Madrid to Caracas to find his brother.
“I don't have words to express the emotion I'm feeling,” Durán said. “We're feeling a lot of hope ... We're just waiting now.”
Despite the anticipation, fear persists.
“Of course everyone here is very scared, but what more could (the government) do to us that they haven't done already,” he added.
'A bargaining chip'
Ronal Rodríguez, a researcher at the Venezuelan Observatory at the University of Rosario in Bogotá, Colombia, said the government releases prisoners at politically strategic moments.
In July last year, Venezuela released 10 jailed US citizens and permanent residents in exchange for the repatriation of over 200 Venezuelans deported by the Trump administration to El Salvador, where they had been held in a prison built to house criminal gangs.
“The regime uses them like a bargaining chip,” he said of prisoners in Venezuela. It will be telling to see not only how many people the government releases, he said, but also under what conditions and whether the releases include anyone high-profile.
On Wednesday, the Trump administration sought to assert its control over Venezuelan oil, seizing a pair of sanctioned tankers transporting petroleum and announcing plans to relax some sanctions so the US can oversee the sale of Venezuela's petroleum worldwide.
Both moves reflect the administration's determination to make good on its effort to control the next steps in Venezuela through its vast oil resources after US President Donald Trump pledged after the capture of Maduro that the US will “run” the country.
Trump on Thursday night said that Machado may be visiting Washington next week and that he may be meeting with her.
“I understand she's coming in next week some time and I look forward to saying hello to her,” Trump said in the Fox News interview with Sean Hannity. “And I've heard that she wants to do that.”
