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Asia’s first Gay Games to kick off in Hong Kong, fostering hopes for wider LGBTQ+ inclusion

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:00 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — Football enthusiast Gina Benjamin is not just training for victory in the upcoming Gay Games in Hong Kong, but she’s also on a mission to help push for legal reform for same-sex marriage.After moving to Hong Kong from Britain in 2016, Benjamin, 33, met her true love in the semi-autonomous southern Chinese city. But local laws, recognizing only heterosexual marriages, forced the couple to travel to the British Embassy in Vietnam to get married in August. Their inability to marry in the city where their love story unfolded left her frustrated.This weekend the drama teacher along with diverse teams of male, female and transgender players will take to the pitch with what she calls “a big purpose.” She hopes participation in the games can show the government the city’s strong support for equal rights for same-sex couples.“We’re playing to possibly change laws,” she said. Set to begin on Friday, the first Gay Games in Asia are fostering hopes for wider LGBTQ+ ...

One-armed table tennis player eyes both Olympics and Paralympics

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:00 GMT

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Bruna Alexandre wants to break barriers and spend a lot of time in Paris next year.The one-armed table tennis player, who starts competing at the Pan American Games on Thursday, is trying to make Brazil’s team for both the Olympics and the Paralympics in Paris, meaning she’ll be in France training and playing from late July until early September.Alexandre, 28, wants to join a group of five other athletes who, according to the International Paralympic Committee, have participated in both competitions in the same year: Archer Neroli Fairhall of New Zealand; Polish table tennis player Natalia Partyka; swimmer Natalie du Toit and sprinter Oscar Pistorious, both of South Africa; and Iranian archer Zarah Nemati.Brazil’s No. 3 women’s table tennis player, Alexandre will be the first athlete from the Americas to join that exclusive group it if she is picked for the Olympic team. Her spot at the Paralympics is already secured.Several other athletes have com...

US officials hold their breath for Iranian cyberattacks

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:00 GMT

The U.S. government is prepping for a potential onslaught of Iranian cyberattacks in retaliation for support for Israel in its conflict with Hamas.It’s far from just Israel at risk of cyberattacks from the Hamas-aligned regime’s cyber operatives, U.S. officials say. They also see the U.S. and other nations that support the Israeli government as likely targets.Such attacks could take the form of attempting to damage critical systems like water or electricity, would likely involve widespread disinformation efforts and could also involve proxies to keep Iran’s fingerprints off the incidents.“The cyber targeting of American interests and critical infrastructure that we already see conducted by Iran and non-state actors alike we can expect to get worse if the conflict expands, as will the threat of kinetic attacks,” FBI Director Christopher Wray testified to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Tuesday.Multiple U.S. federal agencies have stressed that they h...

Big, brawny and flush with cash: Poland’s military gets strong backing from incoming government

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:00 GMT

WARSAW — Poland is set to change governments following the October 15 election, but the incoming administration isn’t planning any major revolution in procurement, defense spending or military posture. “We’re not going to cancel any contracts. We don’t want our allies to view Poland as unpredictable,” Tomasz Siemoniak, who served as defense minister from 2011 to 2015 and is seen as a potential candidate to return to the post, told POLITICO.He is a senior member of the Civic Coalition grouping led by Donald Tusk, the candidate to be prime minister of three opposition parties that together have a majority in the new parliament. Tusk, for now, has been silent on defense issues.However, Siemoniak’s views are shared by other parts of the future ruling coalition.“We voted to increase spending on armaments and we said during the campaign that we would maintain all the armaments contracts we had started,” Stefan Krajewski, an MP with the Third Way grouping, told Poli...

Chula Vista councilmember faces fraud charges

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:00 GMT

SAN DIEGO – Chula Vista Councilmember Andrea Cardenas and her brother Jesus Cardenas, former chief of staff to San Diego councilmember Stephen Whitburn, are charged with multiple felonies related to federal COVID relief funds.  “The indictments did not come as a surprise to me, or in fact, many people in the city of Chula Vista,” John Moot said. Moot is a current attorney, former Chula Vista councilmember and longtime Chula Vista resident who points out Andrea had been questioned and even had a formal complaint launched about her campaign spending in the past.  A six-page criminal complaint filed by the San Diego County District Attorney’s office accuses the pair of fraudulently obtaining a roughly $176,000 PPP loan, meant to keep employees paid during the pandemic.  According to prosecutors, the siblings got the loan for their political consulting firm Grassroots Resources by listing employee and business information from a San Diego marijuana dispensary, Harbor Collective. &n...

EU boosts humanitarian aid to displaced Karabakh Armenians with almost €1.7 million

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:00 GMT

The Commission is increasing its humanitarian funding in Armenia with almost €1.7 million in response to the mass influx of people from Nagorno Karabakh.The new funding will aim to further strengthen the existing EU humanitarian response to the displaced people by providing cash assistance, shelter, food security and livelihoods assistance, protection, and healthcare. This funding comes in addition to the €10.45m already announced by the Commission in response to the crisis, bringing total humanitarian funding to more than €12m in 2023.Crisis Management Commissioner Janez Lenarčič said: “Karabakh Armenians will not be forgotten. As the winter sets in, the displaced people in Armenia will face additional challenges. The EU is boosting its humanitarian funding to be prepared for the winter. We continue working together with our humanitarian partners on the ground to provide assistance to the most vulnerable.”With more than 100,000 people having fled their homes, often taking minimal b...

USC student allegedly raped by Lyft driver after WeHo Carnaval

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:00 GMT

A female University of Southern California student was allegedly raped by her Lyft driver after returning home from the West Hollywood Carnaval, the university's Department of Public Safety said in a crime alert.  The incident reportedly happened in the 3600 block of South Grand Avenue at around 3 a.m. Wednesday morning, the alert stated.  Officials said the victim used a Lyft to return to her apartment near the University Park Campus and when they arrived, the driver raped her in his car.  The suspect was described as a Black male, approximately 25-35 years old with black hair, a thin build and a black colored beard.  Anyone with information about the alleged sexual assault is urged to contact the university’s Department of Public Safety at 213-740-6000.  

Video captures obscene act in downtown Long Beach; businesses, residents outraged

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:00 GMT

In response to a recent sexual assault and new video of lewd behavior, residents and business owners in downtown Long Beach say the area is deteriorating due to the number of mentally ill and drug dependent people living on the street.  “It’s daily, it’s daily. It’s scary. You don’t not feel safe walking the streets here,” Zoe Garcia who works in the area told KTLA’s John Fenoglio.  Garcia is referring to another disturbing video out of downtown Long Beach where a man exposes and touches himself sexually in front the windows at Salon 500 on East Broadway in broad daylight Wednesday afternoon.  Witnessing the incident from her shop across the street, Garcia called the police.  “They took two hours to arrive,” she said. “Most times, they don’t even come out.”  Video captured a man exposing and touching himself outside the window of a salon in downtown Long Beach on Nov. 1, 2023. (Salon 500)Rebekah Pederson was sexually assaulted just last week as she left the same ...

Democracy in decline worldwide, new report says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:00 GMT

The bedrock of democracy is trembling amid a surge of authoritarianism around the world, according to a report published Thursday. Hard-line rule by current and former leaders, including Viktor Orbán in Hungary, Donald Trump in the U.S. and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Turkey, has contributed to the downturn observed in the past few years, the Global State of Democracy 2023 report by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) has said. “In Hungary, Poland, Turkey, Slovakia, Israel, and the United States, just to name the most familiar examples, the erosion of democratic norms has been engineered by leaders claiming to speak in the name of, and with the authority of, the people,” the new report warned.The six-year decline is the longest consecutive period of deterioration — in which countries with net declines outnumbered those with net advances across a range of metrics — since records started being kept in 1975, Seema Shah, the head of IDE...

North Korea outpacing the EU on shell deliveries

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:00 GMT

Presented by ASD By JOSHUA POSANER with LAURA KAYALI, CALEB LARSON, PAUL MCLEARY, VERONIKA MELKOZEROVA and JOE GOULD PRESENTED BY View in your browser or listen to audioSNEAK PEEK— Intelligence reports indicate that North Korea has delivered a million artillery rounds to Russia — easily beating the EU’s aim to dispatch the same number to Ukraine.— The Indian government has reportedly reached out to the French government with a request to buy 26 Dassault-made Rafale fighter jets.— Five European countries will work on a Spanish-led project worth €100 million to define what a joint interceptor would look like.Good morning and welcome to Morning Defense. Tips to [email protected], [email protected] and [email protected] or follow us at @joshposaner,@LauKaya and @calebmlarson.DRIVING THE DAYPYONGYANG BEATS BRUSSELS: North Korea has delivered more than a million artillery s...