Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham sparked plenty of backlash this summer with her comments on transgender athletes in women's sports. And she doesn't seem to have any interest in staying out of the debate this offseason.
Cunningham has now weighed in on a viral protest out of Washington, where members of a high school girls' cross-country team walked off the course in protest of a transgender teammate. Cunningham offered her support for the runners.
Cunningham first drew national attention for her views on the topic in a July ESPN feature, saying she wanted to "protect women's sports."
"I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. And I'm like, 'I never once said that,'" Cunningham said, via ESPN. "I think that I am here to extend love. But I also think with that love is truth, being honest. And I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn't have to go against biological men."
Cunningham later doubled down on her comments, saying her opinion was "common sense."

#cunningham #comments #sports #protest

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — President Donald Trump, facing protesters and a poor political climate, fought to rally Texas voters behind Senate candidate Ken Paxton on Wednesday night in a bid to stave off sweeping Democratic victories in the nation's most populous red state.
But Trump's remarks were not focused solely on Paxton.
Speaking to a packed Freeman Coliseum, Trump also pledged to award retired baseball star Roger Clemens the Presidential Medal of Freedom, restated his support for the death penalty for drug dealers and clarified recent comments in which he talked about the possibility of Iran bombing American cities as part of a recurring riff about how high fuel costs are "a small price to pay" for the war.
"You want to see problems? Let them hit San Diego, let them hit Los Angeles," Trump said. "We're not going to let that happen. We protect our cities. We protect our country."
The president's message was interrupted repeatedly by protesters, including by one who appeared to be close to the stage. In all, at least a dozen demonstrators interrupted the president. Some were led away by police.

#president #cities #antonio

Students at Cornell University began what was billed as a seven-hour sit-in on Wednesday in solidarity with "Jane Doe," the former student who alleges she was drugged and raped by multiple members of a fraternity on its Ithaca, N.Y., campus in October 2024.
"Seven hours for the seven hours she endured," a coalition of Cornell student groups said in an Instagram post announcing the demonstration. "Seven hours of solidarity. Seven hours demanding change."
About 80 students gathered in a campus dining hall named for Pulitzer Prize-winning author Toni Morrison on Wednesday afternoon, according to NBC News. The protest was part of "Zero Day," which organizers described as an "economic blackout calling on students to disrupt business as usual by not attending class or spending on campus."
A Cornell University student sits with a sign during a campus-wide sit-in on Oct. 7.
The sit-in comes two days after thousands of people took part in a campus rally protesting Cornell's handling of Jane Doe's allegations. Demonstrators held signs accusing the school of protecting the alleged rapists and demanding accountability.

#hours #student #university

LOCHIEL, Ariz. — For more than two months, activists sat high up in the branches of a giant cottonwood tree here on the border with Mexico in an effort to block federal contractors from knocking it down to make way for President Donald Trump’s $46.5 billion border wall expansion.
But that standoff came to an end Monday when demonstrators say more than 50 Customs and Border Protection agents raided the activist camp and an excavator knocked down what they called a “grandmother” tree, estimated to be 150 to 250 years old.
Footage taken by protesters shows the massive tree crashing down as border agents look on, and the activists who worked to protect it wail.
“We have been raided, **** aulted, battered, bruised, bleeding by the Border Patrol agents,” said Kate Scott, an activist who kicked off the group’s tree sit, in a call following Monday’s raid. As CBP cleared the area, about 10 people were arrested, the group of activists estimates, and another 10 received citations, including for “violation of a closure order” for being in the border-wall zone.
At least one activist showed images of scrapes and bandages on a Monday video call.

#border #tree

Tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets across France on Tuesday, as unions and teachers joined high school students who for days have been demanding better learning conditions in protests punctuated by violent confrontations.
Students have blocked the entrances to hundreds of high schools for 15- to 17-year-olds since late September, complaining of missing teachers, overloaded timetables, dilapidated classrooms and buildings that cannot cope with rising temperatures.
Unions, rights groups and the children have accused the authorities of using disproportionate force -- a police stun grenade tore the hand off one teenager on Monday and another youngster had his teeth knocked out last week after police fired a grenade launcher at his head.
"I'm afraid for my future," Selma, 15, told AFP without giving her surname, among the thousands marching in the country's second largest city of Marseille.
The unrest has erupted with just months to go before the 2027 election to choose a successor to centrist President Emmanuel Macron, with far-right veteran candidate Marine Le Pen riding high in the polls despite a graft conviction.

#students #teachers #tens

Anne Hathaway has explained why she slipped into "mom mode" and started directing paparazzi on at the premiere of her new film, Verity.
Last week, footage of Hathaway, 43, went viral after she was seen taking charge of the chaotic red carpet as she and her co-stars Josh Hartnett, 48, and Dakota Johnson, 37, posed for photos.
Hathaway recently appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where the host introduced the clip to his audience.
"I know exactly what you're going to show, it can only be one thing. It's horrifying; it is the stuff of nightmares, Jimmy" Hathaway said as the host protested.
"You kind of went into mom mode," Fallon admitted.

#show #went

Umberto Pizzi, who has died aged 88, was a paparazzo who documented Italy's Dolce Vita era, specialising in candid shots of the actors, television personalities, politicians and ***** orted hangers-on who made up the emerging class of nouveau riche.
Pizzi himself spurned the term "paparazzi", which he thought conveyed an attitude of hostility towards photojournalists. He preferred to think of his role as a kind of modern-day Petronius, documenting the spectacles and excesses of the era through its best-known personalities. He photographed stars of Italian cinema such as Marcello Mastroianni and Vittorio Gassman, as well as Hollywood golden couple Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.
In the 1970s and 1980s he ventured into the realms of Italian culture, politics and the global aristocracy. He photographed John Paul Getty III during his time in Rome and trod on bullets on his way to the scene where the former prime minister Aldo Moro was kidnapped in 1978. His archive, comprising around two million images, spanned two republics and more than 60 years of history, from economic boom to the season of protest, through to the modern era of mass communication.
The film-maker Tinto Brass pictured by Pizzi with the actress Sandra Milo, 1987 - UMBERTO PIZZI DA/Fotogramma
From the early 2000s he worked for the web publication Dagospia, which became notorious for its section headed "Cafonal": roughly, the uncouth, ostentatious rich. One Pizzi image that encapsulated the new era showed a table of important people stuffing themselves with food. Another was of Northern League and Forza Italia members dousing a reclining woman with champagne during a birthday party.

#dolce #vita #petronius

A U.S. service member was arrested on suspicion of murder and robbery after a ******* anese woman's body was discovered in a hotel in Okinawa, local officials said, describing the alleged killing as a "heinous" incident that prompted the ******* anese government to lodge a protest with the United States.
Shinjiro Koizumi, the ******* anese minister of defense, said a U.S. Marine lance corporal was arrested on Sunday after the woman's body was found early on Saturday in Naha, the capital city of the Okinawa prefecture.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said the Okinawa Prefectural Police were investigating the incident as a murder.
"The occurrence of such an extremely brutal and heinous incident is a matter of profound regret, and as the Government of ******* an, we have lodged a strong protest with the U.S. side," she said on social media.
NHK, ******* an's public broadcaster, identified the suspect as Devin Jacob Ballard, 20, who was stationed at U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, a base a few miles outside Naha. The broadcaster identified the alleged victim as Yagi Anna, 39, saying she was ******* ounced dead at the scene.

#minister #arrested #body

WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI has released a classified report to its workforce examining what it says are chapters from the bureau's history "where this institution fell short," according to an internal message obtained Friday by The ***** ociated Press.
It was unclear what episodes from the FBI's past are chronicled in the new "Patel Report." But the document's existence is in keeping with Director Kash Patel's frequent criticism of the leaders who preceded him as well as with his determination to rid the FBI of agents and other employees he contends have politicized the bureau in the past. Patel's critics, however, accuse him of politicizing the FBI.
Though Patel pledged at his confirmation hearing last year that he would not look "backward," he has encouraged investigation of former senior officials and has presided over waves of terminations, including of employees who participated in years-old investigations of President Donald Trump, were photographed taking a knee during a 2020 racial justice protest and contributed to a disputed ***** ytical memo about Catholic extremism.
"The Patel Report looks backward because accountability demands it," says a memo to the workforce signed by the FBI's co-deputy directors, Christopher Raia and Andrew Bailey, that describes the document as marking the "closing of one chapter in our history and the beginning of another complete with a brighter future ahead."
Bailey announced his resignation earlier this week, and his last day is Friday. The FBI declined to comment on the report.

#Friday #workforce #employees #backward

Ben Affleck says losing both of his parents within the same year has changed the way he looks back at the family and home that shaped him. His father, Timothy Affleck, died in April, followed by his mother, Chris Anne Affleck, in June.
The actor addressed the losses publicly during the September 30 episode of Kerry Washington's Street You Grew Up On podcast. Affleck called losing both parents "sort of a big thing" and said it had caused him to revisit his childhood in ways that felt different from before.
Much of that shift centers on his mother, who died June 2 at age 83 after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in December 2025. After her death, Affleck discovered letters she had written to her own parents as a young woman and began reading about ambitions, interests and experiences that existed decades before he knew her as his mother.
That discovery gave Affleck a fuller view of what she later devoted to raising him and his younger brother, Casey. It also fit a broader change in perspective he has described as an adult. Seeing his parents not simply through the roles they played in his childhood, but as people with their own histories, struggles and capacity for change.
The letters came from Chris Anne's younger years, including periods when she was living in California and deciding what kind of work she wanted to pursue. PEOPLE reported that Affleck found references to possible careers in teaching and social work, protests and time spent traveling to Mississippi.

#losing #childhood

When President Donald Trump’s name was ordered removed from the Kennedy Center this spring, it seemed that an opening to move on from his reign over the performing arts center might have emerged.
“I have instructed the Department of Commerce to make all necessary arrangements with Congress to allow a full and complete transfer of this Institution, giving them the responsibility for its Operation, Maintenance, and Management,” the president wrote in a late-May Truth Social post, seemingly relinquishing the control he’d seized a year prior.
Speculation even bubbled up among some of the more than a dozen “ex-officio,” board members — who don’t get a vote but are not allied with Trump — over whether the former board chairman, billionaire philanthropist David Rubenstein, could be brought back to help restore the center’s fundraising and programming, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN. (CNN has asked Rubenstein for comment.)
But after Trump said he would remain chairman, “it kind of all squelched pretty quickly,” one of the sources said. The hope that his crusade to rename a monument dedicated to the memory of John F. Kennedy had ended turned out to be wishful thinking.
Instead, nine months from a cold December day when cranes first placed Trump’s name on the marble façade, the institution has been brought to the brink by the president still very much engaged in a fight: lights have been turned off inside, infrastructure is crumbling and protests swirl while legal battles mount.

#center

MILAN — Italy's tanning industry has yet to emerge from a downturn that has dragged on for four years. During the Lineapelle trade show which ran Tuesday to Thursday, UNIC, Italy's tanners' ***** ociation reported a 6.4 percent decline in turnover and a 5.2 percent drop in production volumes in the first half of 2026 compared with the same period last year.
The situation, UNIC said, continues to reflect geopolitical uncertainty and persistent inflation, which is tightening consumer spending on fashion, furniture and automotive products.
More from WWD
Trump Threatens Tariffs as Canada Explores Deeper Trade Partnership With EU
Fashion Is Not a Contact Sport: H&M Holds the Line in London as PETA Protesters Crash Runway Show

#percent #lineapelle #thursday #Trump

Greenlanders have voiced their opposition to U.S. control, holding anti-Trump protests with signs that read, ‘Make Americans Go Away’
I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice
President Donald Trump has announced an agreement with Greenland, in which the U.S. will take permanent control of the Arctic island’s security.
“I am pleased to announce that the United States of America has entered into an Agreement with The Kingdom of Denmark, and Greenland, that gives the United States permanent control over security, and all other needs, in Greenland, completely addressing ALL of our many U.S. concerns,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Friday evening.

#Trump #states #agreement #security

Data center developer Crusoe said Thursday it raised $3.9 billion in a Series F round that pushes its valuation to $30.9 billion. The massive round was co-led by Atreides Management, Mubadala Capital, and Valor Equity Partners. Founders Fund, GIC, Nvidia, Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), Radical Ventures, and TPG also participated, according to Crusoe.
Crusoe also announced three new board members, including Cloudflare CFO Thomas Seifert; Bill Stein, partner and CIO at Primary Digital Infrastructure; and Redwood Materials founder and CEO JB Straubel, who also sits on Tesla's board. Straubel already has ties to Crusoe; he personally invested in the company in 2021, and Crusoe later became the first customer of Redwood's energy storage business.
The eight-year-old company's fresh capital infusion will help finance existing data center projects, including a large site in Abilene, Texas, used by OpenAI, as well as smaller, modular AI factories that can be transported by truck and connected to large power sources almost anywhere.
By manufacturing these modular data centers, called Spark, at its own facilities, Crusoe can deploy compute capacity quickly and without the need for large construction workforces. The smaller centers could also help Crusoe sidestep, at least in part, another major obstacle facing data center developers: backlash from local communities protesting massive complexes near their neighborhoods.
Crusoe co-founder and CEO Chase Lochmiller, who is pictured above, said in a statement he believes AI will usher in an era of abundance, but to get there will mean "controlling the infrastructure from electrons to tokens, and we're grateful to have investors who share that conviction."

#straubel #round

CAIRO (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of Iranians rallied Friday in a government-organized show of defiance after months of war, pledging their readiness to take up arms in the biggest such demonstration since the United States and Israel attacked in February.
Iran's government has sought to rally the people and stress national unity, even as the economy worsens under a U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports and new U.S. sanctions. On Friday, it claimed another attack on a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway it has sought to control since the start of the war.
Estimates varied of the number of people volunteering to receive limited military training and defend the country in an effort described as "Janfaday-e Iran," or the "ones who sacrifice their lives for Iran." They marched through downtown Tehran in combat uniform, carrying flags, as onlookers cheered.
For days, state media have encouraged Iranians to join the campaign, saying training with **** ault rifles would begin soon. The volunteers would be an additional layer of security to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and the Basij militia, which has played a key role in quashing anti-government protests.
Tehran's Guard chief, Gen. Hassan Hassanzadeh, told the state broadcaster that over 600,000 people had registered to participate, with over 1 million expected to take part in the training. On Friday morning, the broadcaster estimated over 300,000 people were on the streets.

#government #training #since

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The man who sprayed vinegar at Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar during a Minneapolis town hall was sentenced Thursday to 14 months in prison after reaching a deal with prosecutors.
Anthony Kazmierczak, 56, was sentenced nearly eight months after the Jan. 27 ******* ault. At the time, Minneapolis-St. Paul was subject to an immigration crackdown that led to angry protests, arrests and the deaths of two U.S. citizens. Prosecutors had recommended a 14-month prison term.
He was also sentenced to three years of supervised release, which includes no contact with Omar. U.S. marshals escorted him from the courtroom after the hearing.
During an earlier hearing, Kazmierczak was unable to explain his actions.
"It's fuzzy," he told U.S. District Judge Joan N. Ericksen when asked what he remembered.

#ilhan

The fate of Ed Sheeran's Loop Tour is suddenly uncertain after all of the British singer's remaining opening acts quit in solidarity with the rapper Macklemore, who was dropped from the remaining North American dates over pro-Palestinian comments.
Hours after Sheeran released a statement saying it was the promoter's decision to remove Macklemore from the tour and not his, the rest of his supporting acts — Irish singer Aaron Rowe, Danish pop band Lukas Graham and songwriter Finneas — as well as Sheeran's house band, Beoga, announced that they were pulling out in protest.
"Artists must not be silenced when they speak up for the oppressed," Finneas, the brother of Billie Eilish, wrote in a note posted to Instagram. "I have decided to withdraw from my upcoming tour dates with Ed Sheeran. I stand with Palestine and its people."
The Irish artists cited their country's history of oppression in their decisions to drop out.
"I don't take the decision lightly. Ed has been a friend to me and has changed my life, I could never thank him enough for this," Rowe wrote in his own Instagram post. "But as Irish people we know all too well about genocide, forced famine and violent occupation. I cannot stand by and allow billionaires to use their position of power to silence the rightful voices of those who speak up against Israeli genocide and who highlight the savage murder of children."

#irish #Instagram

Amid the news that Macklemore has been dropped as an opener from Ed Sheeran's North American tour, the rapper has alleged that New England owner Robert Kraft intervened to get him removed.
In a lengthy statement posted on Instagram, Macklemore alleged that Kraft had called Sheeran ahead of the singer's concert at Gillette Stadium, which is owned by Kraft. In what Macklemore called a "f***ed up position" for Sheeran, Kraft allegedly barred Macklemore from performing in the stadium and had "rallied" other stadium owners to issue an "ultimatum."
"Last Monday, in the middle of all the media attention surrounding Pink and what I said at MetLife, Ed told me that Robert Kraft called him," Macklemore wrote. "Ed told me that Kraft said I would not be allowed to perform in his stadium. Ed also told me that Kraft had rallied some of the other stadium owners and collectively they gave him an ultimatum: if Macklemore stays on the tour, you will not be allowed to play in our venues."
Macklemore opened for Sheeran on Sept. 4 and 5 at New Jersey's MetLife Stadium. During his performance, Macklemore called for a "Free Palestine" in a speech before performing his song "Hind's Hall," which was written in support of pro-Palestine protests. The performance drew criticism from many, including singer P!nk, and received a significant amount of media attention.
Macklemore, whose real name is Benjamin Haggerty, has been vocal about his support for Palestine in recent years, something that he said challenged Sheeran's "typical apolitical stance."

#stadium #called #told #robert

ARAPAHOE, Wyo. (AP) — Every Sunday morning on the Wind River Reservation, congregants gather at Foundations for Nations Church to pray while protesters outside do the same.
The two rituals have unfolded in parallel since the Christian church's pastor, Sarah Lucas, preached a sermon condemning Arapaho ceremonial ways.
The Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone Tribes that share the reservation have made clear that Lucas is no longer welcome. Lucas, who is not Native American but owns the land under her church, says she isn't going anywhere. The standoff tests the boundaries of religious freedom and the right of a tribal nation to govern according to its own values and protocols.
The conflict stems from a video that circulated in July as Arapaho people surfaced from their weeklong sundance ceremony. In it, Lucas called that cornerstone of Arapaho spiritual life "idol worship."
"Jesus is the chain breaker. He is the only God that we should be praying to," Lucas said.

#arapaho #church

Democratic state parties announced Monday that they are launching an operation for the midterm elections they're calling the "New Battlefield Project," intended to recruit 10,000 volunteers to guard polling places in case armed federal officers show up.
Activists are planning mass protests if the Trump administration tries to interfere with voting or ballot counting. And legal scholars are distributing white papers advising judges what they should do if the government tries to seize ballots.
The unprecedented efforts are in response to President Donald Trump's equally unprecedented moves to interfere in this year's midterm elections, which include attempts to impose proof-of-citizenship requirements to register to vote and directing the Postal Service to play a central role in deciding which voters should get a mail ballot.
The anxious contingency planning as voting gets underway has become a marker for how fraught democracy has become in the country that once stood as an example to the world.
"We have never prepared for an election sabotage event like we have now," said Ezra Levin of the left-leaning group Indivisible.

#interfere

Steven Kolb apologized for physically restraining PETA activists during the COS runway show at New York Fashion Week
The protesters disrupted the show to highlight animal cruelty in the wool industry, calling for brands to stop using wool
PETA criticized Kolb's actions, while an activist announced that the organization plans to file a police report
A fashion executive is apologizing for his reaction to protesters crashing a New York Fashion Week show.
While models were walking the runway for the COS fall-winter 2026 collection in the WSA building on Sunday, Sept. 13, a group of animal activists from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) emerged holding signs and shouting against supporting the brand owned by Swedish retailer H&M, CNN, The New York Times and The Business of Fashion reported.

#fashion #peta #activists #animal

Gennaro Gattuso is proud of his Lazio side after their 2-2 draw with Milan, claiming that "seeing the team not give up pleases me," as he comments that the empty Stadio Olimpico makes it "feel like the COVID period" as Biancocelesti fans continue to protest against owner Claudio Lotito.
The Aquile thought that they were on track for the perfect start to the Serie A season, as they were leading 2-0 at half-time through Matteo Cancellieri and Tijjani Noslin goals.
Speaking to DAZN, via TuttoMercatoWeb, Gennaro Gattuso was left frustrated but not despondent by the collapse. It would've been four wins out of four, but Diego Moreira came off the bench and scored twice in 120 seconds to get Milan back on track.
"In the second half, they came out with their quality," Gattuso said. "Playing the way we want to play for 90 minutes is hard, we dropped deep at the start of the second half and we struggled. That is also understandable because we conceded two goals I would describe as wonder strikes. We were also good not to get hammered, the feeling was that we could have conceded another two."
Lazio have never in their history started with four consecutive Serie A victories, and that record won't happen this season either, as Milan came back for the 2-2 result. Gattuso, though, took encouragement from how his players reacted to letting a two-goal lead slip.

#four #track #start

Manchester United supporters' group have revealed how they will protest during Sunday's Manchester derby.
The Red Army said there will be no flag display ahead of the game as part of a protest which follows the club's investigation into ticket touting.
United revealed they had banned 685 season tickets following a contentious probe which had been condemned by many, with protests already planned for Sunday afternoon.
The Red Army said they will make their own views known by removing their regular flag display in the Stretford End and replacing it with a single banner above the players' tunnel. It will read: "The way you treat us is a disgrace."
In a statement, the group said: "This isn't a 'TRA' message, it's a message on behalf of every genuine fan group, match-going supporter, supporters' club and fan representative who has either contacted us directly or been negatively impacted by the recent behaviour of the club.

#flag

Bologna coach Domenico Tedesco was given a two-match ban and President Joey Saputo suspended until September 30 for insulting the referee, with Atalanta midfielder Gianluca Gaetano also punished.
The Lega Serie A disciplinary commission verdicts are in after the Week 3 matches were completed on Monday evening.
Bologna did not take their 2-2 draw with Sassuolo well, and are going to have to do without two of their chiefs going forward.
BOLOGNA, ITALY – SEPTEMBER 6: Domenico Tedesco manager of Bologna FC 1909 looks on during the Serie A match between Bologna FC and US Sassuolo at Stadio Renato Dall'Ara on September 6, 2026 in Bologna, Italy. (Photo by Gabriele Maltinti/Getty Images)
Tedesco was sent off from the touchline for dissent and it seems continued his protests in the tunnel after the match.

#september #match

Pop star Pink is under fire online for resharing an anti-Israel message and then following it up with a series of Instagram posts directed at her detractors.
Macklemore, whose real name is Benjamin Hammond Haggerty, supported British musician Ed Sheeran on stage at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey in a show called Loop Tour on September 4 and 5. Donning a keffiyeh in front of an 80,000-strong audience, the rapper shouted "Free Palestine" and addressed Gaza and the occupied West Bank, saying that they are not being forgotten.
"Every human being walking on this earth deserves exactly the same freedom," he added, as reported by Variety.
The rapper then performed his protest song "Hind's Hall," which featured flashes of Gaza on the stadium screens. Macklemore referenced Hind Rajab, a young Palestinian girl killed in Gaza, named after student demonstrators at Columbia University who renamed a campus building in her honor. The rapper then addressed Jewish concertgoers, saying that criticizing Israel and condemning their actions as genocide is not a condemnation of Jewish people and that his message is a message of peace and dignity for everyone.
American pop diva, whose legal name is Alecia Beth Moore Hart, posted a video with the message "Awful" to her Instagram Story, claiming that Jewish fans who came to see Sheeran's performance are exposed to propaganda against Israel. According to Pink, Macklemore's speech and video presentation amount to a false accusation of genocide, and people who came to the concert are entitled to "apologies and refunds."

#Instagram #macklemore

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Two members of the Iranian women's soccer team who claimed asylum in Australia have confirmed their pivotal refusal to sing the national anthem during the Women's Asian Cup in March was a protest against Tehran.
The first media interview with Atefeh Ramezanisadeh, 34, and Fatemeh Pasandideh, 22, since they abandoned their team to become refugees was broadcast Sunday on Australia's "60 Minutes" current affairs program.
"We just wanted to stand with our people. I was scared at times, but I just tried to do what was right and say that no one should be killed just for protesting," Ramezanisadeh told Nine Network through an interpreter.
The team was criticized in Iran and branded as traitors in the media there for remaining silent when the Iranian national anthem was played ahead of their opening loss against South Korea on March 2.
Some saw it as an act of resistance, while others interpreted it as a show of mourning following the U.S. and Israeli attacks on their homeland which began on Feb. 28. The team offered no public explanation.

#team #ramezanisadeh

Kenya's government sought to reassure foreign traders that they have legal protection to operate in the country after President William Ruto raised doubts over their status in East Africa's biggest economy. Ruto reportedly ordered authorities to begin shutting down foreign-owned businesses from Sept. 7 as part of a move to restrict small-scale retail to Kenyans. However, the principal secretary for foreign affairs on Sunday said the president's comments related to a debate about proposed employment legislation.
Ruto reportedly made the remarks last week, days before ordering Tata Chemicals to leave the country, accusing it of failing to create jobs and process minerals locally.
The president, who will seek a second term in a poll next August, has increasingly focused on employment and wealth creation in his reelection pitch. He took office four years ago, after an election campaign in which he vowed to improve the lives of the poorest Kenyans. But his popularity plummeted amid tax hikes that prompted street protests.
— Alexis Akwagyiram

#ruto #kenyans #east

Pink faced backlash after reposting a statement from an advocacy group calling for an apology from Macklemore for advocating for Palestinians during his opening act for Ed Sheeran in New Jersey.
Pink reposted the message from the group StopAntisemitism on her Instagram stories. The message started with the word "Awful," suggesting that Jewish fans had purchased their tickets to see Sheeran but instead experienced what it referred to as anti-Israel propaganda. According to the group, the Seattle rapper had accused Israel of falsely committing a genocide, and concertgoers were owed an apology and a refund. Pink did not comment and has not yet given a reason for posting the message.
Macklemore, whose real name is Benjamin Hammond Haggerty, performed for Ed Sheeran in MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey, on Sept. 4 and Sept. 5 as part of his Loop Tour. Dressed in a keffiyeh, the rapper told the crowd of more than 80,000 people that he wanted to stand in the stadium and say, "Free Palestine." He mentioned that he hoped people in Gaza and the occupied West Bank knew they had not been forgotten and that every human being deserved freedom.
Macklemore then sang "Hind's Hall," a protest song he released in 2024, as images of Gaza played on the stadium screens. Moreover, the rapper spoke directly to the Jewish audience, saying that criticizing Israel was not criticizing them.
His performance led the Israeli American Council to file a petition asking Sheeran and his management to remove the rapper from other tour dates. The petition referred to his show as a concert and not a rally for activists and politics. It also claimed that Macklemore used his global platform to promote a one-sided political agenda. The petition asked whether the speech and visuals were approved before the event.

#macklemore #sheeran #petition

Iran's regime maintains an iron grip on power but still can't ignore the impact of U.S. economic warfare, which is getting even tougher.
That extends even to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who hasn't been seen in public since the U.S.-Israeli strike on Feb. 28 that killed his father.
In a written statement issued late last month, he banned Iranian officials from "committing anything that harms social cohesion" and urged them to avoid any "discouraging statements that weaken national and public motivation," according to Reuters.
That's as economic hardship and long lines at gas stations have already stirred some fresh protests, though not at the massive scale that was seen in January.
Still, a currency collapse last year and high inflation triggered widespread unrest, and the regime slaughtered thousands in a brutal crackdown. Since then, the rial has plunged to new lows and economic conditions have worsened due to the U.S. war and naval blockade.

#economic #supreme

Former U.S. Olympian David Hearn and his attorneys returned to court to urge the judge who previously oversaw his Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool vandalism case to formally bar federal prosecutors from seeking new charges against him.
In late July, the D.C. U.S. Attorney's Office moved to dismiss the criminal case against Hearn in a filing that acknowledged damage to the Reflecting Pool "was the result of flawed installation" and not the work of vandals -- prompting outrage from President Donald Trump.
Finn Gomez/Getty Images - PHOTO: Former Olympian David Hearn stands with his attorney Norman Eisen as he speaks to reporters and protestors gathered after his arraignment at Moultrie Courthouse, July 9, 2026, in Washington, D.C.
But the motion from U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro asked the judge overseeing Hearn's case, Todd Edelman, to dismiss the indictment "without prejudice," which would leave the door open for prosecutors to potentially seek to re-charge Hearn.
Hearn's attorneys have argued a series of statements from Trump and other officials in the weeks after Pirro's motion that falsely accused him and others of vandalizing the pool warrants dismissal of the case "with prejudice" -- effectively shutting the door for prosecutors to charge him again.

#reflecting