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Algerian boxer Imane Khelif wins gold in Paris Olympics following gender misconceptions
Algerian boxer Imane Khelif has won a gold medal Friday at the Paris Olympics, emerging as a champion from a tumultuous run at the Games where she endured intense scrutiny in the ring and online abuse from around the world over misconceptions about her womanhood.
Khelif beat Yang Liu of China 5:0 in the final of the women’s welterweight division, wrapping up the best series of fights of her boxing career with a victory at Roland Garros.
Cheering crowds embraced Khelif in Paris — draping themselves in Algerian flags and chanting her name — even as she faced an extraordinary amount of scrutiny from world leaders, major celebrities and others who have questioned her eligibility or falsely claimed she was a man. It has thrust her into a larger divide over changing attitudes toward gender identity and regulations in sports.
Khelif told SNTV, a sports video partner of The Associated Press, last weekend that the wave of hateful scrutiny she has received “harms human dignity,” and she called for an end to bullying athletes. She also said a gold medal would be “the best response” to the backlash against her.
The scrunity stems from the Russian-dominated International Boxing Association’s decision to disqualify Khelif and fellow two-time Olympian Li Yu-ting of Taiwan from last year’s world championships, claiming both failed a murky eligibility test for women’s competition.
The International Olympic Committee took the unprecedented step last year of permanently banning the IBA from the Olympics following years of concerns about its governance, competitive fairness and financial transparency. The IOC has called the arbitrary sex tests that the sport’s governing body imposed on the two boxers irretrievably flawed.
The IOC has repeatedly reaffirmed the two boxers’ right to compete in Paris, with President Thomas Bach personally defending Khelif and Lin while calling the criticism “hate speech.”
“We have two boxers who are born as women, who have been raised as women, who have a passport as a woman and have competed for many years as women,” Bach said.
That hasn’t stopped the international outcry tied to misconceptions around the fighters that has been amplified by Russian disinformation networks. It also hasn’t slowed two boxers who have performed at the highest levels of their careers while under the spotlight’s glare.
Khelif’s gold medal is Algeria’s first in women’s boxing. She is only the nation’s second boxing gold medalist, joining Hocine Soltani (1996).
Hundreds of flag-clad, loud supporters of Khelif crowded the paths through the famed Roland Garros tennis complex in Paris and packed the stands, chanting, cheering and waving Algerian flags. Khelif also has become a hero across her North African country where many fans have seen the world’s dissection of Khelif as criticism of their nation.
Khelif’s fight was dubbed “The Night of Destiny” in local newspapers. Projection screens to watch the bout were set up in public squares throughout Algiers and other cities. In the city of Tiaret, in the region where Khelif is from, workers braved scorching summer heat to paint a mural of Khelif on the gym where she learned to box.
“Imane has managed to turn the criticism and attacks on her femininity into fuel,” said Mustapha Bensaou of the Tiaret gym. “The slander has given her a boost. … It’s a bit of a blessing in disguise.”
The gold medal fight is the culmination of Khelif’s nine-day run through an Olympic tournament that began with a bizarre event. Khelif’s first opponent, Angela Carini of Italy, abandoned their bout after just 46 seconds, saying she was in too much pain from Khelif’s punches.
An already brewing story suddenly became major international news, with the likes of former President Donald Trump and “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling weighing in with criticism and false speculation about men competing with women in sports. Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni personally visited with Carini to share her condolences and to cast doubt on Khelif’s eligibility.
Carini later said she regretted her actions and wished to apologize to Khelif. The Italian newspaper La Stampa detailed Carini’s mindset in the days leading up to the bout, describing pressure from both inside and outside her team to avoid the fight amid the growing speculation over Khelif’s status.
Khelif has never done as well in another international tournament as she did in these Olympics. When she was cast as some sort of unstoppable punching machine last week by pundits and provocateurs who had never seen her fight before, opponents and teammates who know her were shocked by the characterization.
Then she lived up to the notion of being one of the best Olympic boxers in the world.
The banished governing body for boxing did nothing to help its argument about her disqualification at the world championships last year during a shambolic news conference in which its leadership contradicted itself about the tests and declined to answer basic questions about them, citing privacy concerns from the Olympic committees of Algeria and Taiwan.
Lin also fights for a gold medal Saturday on the final card of the Olympics. She takes on Julia Szeremeta of Poland with a chance to win Taiwan’s first boxing gold.
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GOP Rep. French Hill says it’s up to House Ethics Committee to decide on releasing Gaetz report
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Calvin Klein model charged with murder in stabbing death in New York City
A model who has appeared in campaigns for Calvin Klein and Levi’s has been formally charged in the stabbing death of a man in New York City, prosecutors said Saturday.
Dynus Saxon was arraigned in Bronx criminal court late Friday in connection with the Nov. 10 killing of Kadeem Grant, according to Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark’s office.
Police say they found the 35-year-old victim stabbed in the chest in an apartment in the New York City borough of the Bronx.
They haven’t disclosed a motive or any other details surrounding the incident other than to say that Grant was pronounced dead at the scene and that a knife was recovered. The knife was discovered near the victim’s body and a trail of blood was seen on the front steps of apartment building, the New York Post reported.
Saxon was arrested Monday on charges of murder, manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon.
At his arraignment Friday, the 20-year-old resident of Manhattan’s East Harlem neighborhood was held without bail until his next court date on Dec. 3, Clark’s office said.
Saxon, who has also appeared in fashion publications such as Vogue Italia and L’Officiel Baltic, didn’t speak during the proceedings, the Daily News reported.
Prosecutors said he had a large bandage over his right hand because of an injury he sustained while repeatedly jamming the knife into Grant’s chest, the newspaper said.
Grant’s father, Christopher Grant, told the Daily News that his son cared for his young daughter and his grandmother.
“He was just a loving kid who was there for his family and his daughter. It’s just so sad that she has to grow up without a father,” Christopher Grant told the Daily News.
Bronx Defenders, a public defender nonprofit representing Saxon, didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment Saturday.
Saxon’s Instagram profile, which has since been made private, featured photos of his modelling work, as well as attending red carpet events, including the New York premiere of the Marvel film “Deadpool & Wolverine” this summer.
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Transcript: Rep. French Hill on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” Nov. 17, 2024
The following is a transcript of an interview with Rep. French Hill, Republican of Arkansas, on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that aired on Nov. 17, 2024.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And we are joined now by Republican Congressman French Hill. He joins us from his district in Little Rock. Good morning to you, Congressman.
REP. FRENCH HILL: Good morning, Margaret. Thanks for having me.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Glad to have you here. You served with Congressman Gaetz. You heard the Speaker who has said, while he doesn’t want to specifically wade in to the ethics matter, he also thinks it would set a bad precedent to release a report on a former member. Do you think the Ethics Committee should make that decision for itself?
REP. HILL: Well, I think the Ethics Committee does make that decision for itself, but I think Speaker Johnson makes a important point, which is, Mr. Gaetz has resigned from Congress. There are many investigations that the House Ethics Committee has done, and we don’t want to set a precedent where we, under any circumstances, will release documents from that committee, but that decision is theirs. Speaker Johnson has made his views known, and now it will be up to the Senate to conduct their advise and consent confirmation process.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You know, CBS News reported back in June that four women informed that committee they were paid to go to sex and drug fueled parties with Mr. Gaetz. Also the Ethics Committee has Venmo transactions showing Gaetz’s payments for the women, since taxpayers paid money for this report to be conducted and it was done, do you think if you were a Senate you would consider this material information to confirming the top lawmaker for the United States of America- law enforcement officer, I should say?
REP. HILL: I don’t, I don’t have, I don’t, I don’t personally know any details about the ethics investigation or the allegations, because I haven’t, don’t serve on that committee. But your point is, would the Senate Judiciary Committee asked to see that report, and that may well be a decision that they take, and the ethics committee has a decision that they have to make, and Mike Johnson’s expressed his view on on that as well. So as I say, this is an important process that the Senate has to do, advise and consent for all the nominations, and President Trump has the prerogative to nominate the people that he thinks can best lead the change that he believes the American people are seeking in each of the agencies of the federal government.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You have spoken to us before here on “Face The Nation” about your work around Syria and Bashar Al Assad’s oppressive regime there. You actually visited northern Syria, an area that he wasn’t in control of, back in 2017. The first lawmaker since John McCain to do so. Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, when she was in office, went to Syria and met with Mr. Assad himself, then publicly, she came out and questioned U.S. intelligence assessments of his chemical weapons attacks that were carried out on civilian areas, not just once, multiple times. These were high confidence assessments by the intelligence community. Would you feel comfortable with her at the helm of all 18 of them?
REP. HILL: Well, I served on the House Intelligence Committee during this past Congress, and I know the important job that the DNI performs in coordinating, collecting and reporting on our intelligence. And I think should Tulsi Gabbard be confirmed, she would know with high confidence as to precisely how we collect intelligence, how we coordinate and collaborate on it, and how we then report it to the President of the United States and to the two intelligence committees. So again, this is an important assessment for the Senate to make, but I remind you Margaret, Donald Trump won the election. He wants people that he has a good relationship with, that he trusts, that he believes can do a good job in the agencies to send the message that we want change in Washington. And the Senate, too, has their important job, and we’re going to have to wait and see how the Senate handles each of these confirmations.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So it was John McCain who went in 2017, you went in 2023 I may have misspoken there on the year, but so, you believe the US intelligence community conclusions, though? You don’t mean to question those?
REP. HILL: No, I don’t.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay.
REP. HILL: I’m simply saying, as a member of the committee, I don’t question that public assessment that’s been made in the public domain over many, many years, and I’ve led the charge against the Assad regime. I do not support that the Arab League put him back into diplomatic standing by admitting him to the Arab League. And I think America has a lot to do to limit Assad’s influence in the region, which is a partner with the Russians and the Iranians. And that’s not in the interest of the United States, Iraq, Israel or peace in the region.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You have also been a supporter of Ukraine, and you’ve been trying to find some creative ways to help allow them to gain access to continued U.S. support. There was a tremendous attack just overnight there by Russia. The Biden administration wants to provide a $20 billion loan backed up by frozen Russian assets. Will the Congress give them permission to use that money for military assistance?
REP. HILL: Well, the REPO Act that was included in the national security package I worked on very closely with Chairman Mike McCaul of the foreign affairs committee gives the United States the authority to not only take frozen assets, but confiscate them and use them for the benefit of Ukraine. The loan you’re referring to has been negotiated between the Europeans and the Americans to back the Ukrainian government. I believe that will go through in my judgment. But I would urge President Trump, as he takes office, to actually follow the law and confiscate those Russian assets, as I believe that gives both Ukraine, the United States and Europe a much stronger negotiating position with Russia. And I don’t believe Biden, nor the G7 countries, have been tough enough on Russian on sanctions, on the delivery of weapons that were needed to have ended this war long ago.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You’re gesturing to what we know, which is that this is a pretty dangerous world right now. One of the selections that the President-elect has made to run the Pentagon at this time is Pete Hegseth. He would be the defense secretary, 44 years old, decorated Army vet, TV commentator. Do you think experience is necessary, or is on the job training OK at the Pentagon?
REP. HILL: Well, again, I think this will be assessed by the Senate in their confirmation process. He has a distinguished background in the military, and that counts for a lot, and I think his plans, his thoughts, his leadership, will be exposed when he goes through that Senate confirmation process. But once again, I have to say, President Trump, when he came into office in 2017 had cabinet members that he really had no personal relationship with, had no working background with. He wants to correct that this time by finding people that he has a good working relationship with. He knows how they think. They know how he thinks, because he thinks it will lead to better decision making in his administration. He’s got that prerogative to nominate those men and women and the Senate will have their advice and consent function well underway, and majority leader-to-be John Thune has said look, he’ll be effective. He’ll be speedy. He’ll take it done, get it done in the right course of action.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Congressman, thank you for your time today.
REP. HILL: You bet. Thank you, Margaret.