By Max Feliu, CNN

(CNN) — For nearly five years, dozens of Afghanistan’s women soccer players have lived in exile — scattered across Australia, the United States and Europe — unable to officially represent their country’s national team. A landmark amendment to the regulations of soccer’s worldwide governing body is set to change that.

The ruling Tuesday by the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) allows Afghan female players to compete as the Afghanistan women’s national team in official international matches for the first time with full sporting recognition.

The decision, issued at a FIFA Council meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, rewrites a long-standing rule that required FIFA to recognize a national team through the country’s own soccer federation. Afghanistan’s federation, operating under Taliban influence since the radical Islamist group returned to power in 2021, has refused to acknowledge the women’s program, effectively keeping its female players off the international pitch.

The amendment gives FIFA’s council the power to establish or approve a national team registration under exceptional circumstances, specifically to protect players from being excluded from international soccer due to situations beyond their control.

“This is a powerful and unprecedented step in world sport,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in a statement. “By enabling Afghan women to compete for their country in official matches, we are turning principles into action.”

CNN has reached out to the Taliban-led Afghan government for comment.

A women’s team in exile

The team, which has played under the name Afghan Women United as a FIFA-supported refugee squad, has been pushing for this decision since the Taliban swept back into power and immediately suspended organized women’s sports across the country. Players were forced into hiding, their equipment and medals buried or abandoned, before a coordinated evacuation — led in part by former team captain and activist Khalida Popal — brought dozens of players out of the country.

What followed was years of fighting not just for the right to play but for FIFA to designate the group as Afghanistan’s official women’s national team. CNN reported in October that players had grown frustrated with the “refugee” label that defined their squad.

“We are tired of getting called refugee,” player Zainab Mozaffari told CNN Sports. Tuesday’s ruling directly addresses that grievance.

The team took its first tentative steps back onto the international stage in October, competing in an unofficial FIFA-organized tournament in Morocco.

“For these players, representing Afghanistan is about identity, dignity and hope,” Popal said in a statement Tuesday. “This moment also shows that when we stand united, we can achieve more.”

The change comes too late for Afghanistan to qualify for the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil, but the team could now enter qualifying for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. A training camp is scheduled for the first week of June in New Zealand, where the team will face the Cook Islands. FIFA has committed to providing financial, technical and human support for up to two years through the transition.

The governance amendment is also broader than one country, setting a precedent that could apply to any national federation that discriminates against its own players in the future.

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LOMPOC, Calif. (KEYT) - Ashlee Buzzard, the mother of Melodee Buzzard, appeared in court this morning for a hearing on her attorney’s motion to compel forensic evidence.

Public defender Erica Sutherland says she argued the District Attorney is obligated under law to disclose more forensic evidence such as police reports and witness statements, which she says she has yet to receive.

Sutherland says the DA seemed unfamiliar with the law she cited but that Judge Stephen Dunkle knew about it.

Still, Sutherland says Judge Dunkle wants to know which evidence items remain outstanding, and continued the case to May 7th for his ruling.

Buzzard agreed to waive time through July for scheduling of the preliminary trial hearing.

A hearing on Sutherland’s motion to quash and traverse a search warrant is confirmed for May 6th at 1:30pm before Judge Hippach in Santa Maria.

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By Holmes Lybrand, Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN

(CNN) — Days after a gunman charged security at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in what investigators say was an attempt to kill President Donald Trump with legally owned firearms, his Justice Department is seeking to further roll back gun control measures.

“We’re repealing rules that went beyond what the law allows,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Wednesday at a press conference. “We are cutting unnecessary red tape, and we are replacing confusion with clear, straightforward language so that everyday Americans don’t need a law degree just to understand their rights.”

The administration is proposing 34 new rules — mark the largest amount the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has issued “in the last 15 years combined,” Blanche said, adding that “nothing we are doing today weakens law enforcement.”

According to Blanche and the newly confirmed ATF Director Robert Cekada, the new rules will help gun sellers more easily abide by the law, including by adopting a more narrow definition of who must be a licensed seller.

Cekada also said the ATF would formally rescind a 2023 rule that restricted pistol braces. That rule was struck down in federal court.

Gun industry leaders stood behind Blanche as he spoke.

The administration has long been looking for ways to review current gun control laws.

Weeks after entering his second term, Trump signed an executive order requiring the Justice Department to review any regulations or “actions by the Biden Administration regarding firearms” and “to eliminate all infringements on Americans’ Second Amendment rights.”

In the executive order, Trump alleged the Biden administration went after people who sell firearms as part of their livelihood, known as federal firearms licensees, which Trump said “led to a nearly six-fold increase in enforcement actions against” those sellers.

President Joe Biden’s “zero-tolerance” policy for FFLs was meant to revoke licenses from sellers who failed to conduct background checks, sold firearms to an unlawful buyer, and other violations of the law.

“Firearms manufacturers have been de-banked or denied services simply because they make guns — which allow Americans to exercise a constitutional right,” Trump’s executive order from February last year said.

On Saturday, Trump himself was a target of a gunman, investigators say.

Cole Tomas Allen was arrested after rushing through security at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington, DC, armed with guns. He allegedly sent a note to his family sharing anti-Trump sentiment around the time of the attack.

“Let me reiterate that the Second Amendment will never be treated as a second-class right in the Trump administration,” Blanche said.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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SANTA BARBARA, CALIF. (KEYT) - A Santa Barbara woman who rebuilt her life after homelessness is now just days away from losing the home she worked years to secure — after an injury set off a financial spiral she couldn’t recover from in time.

Shawn Hernandez starts each morning walking her small dog, Oliver, through her neighborhood — a routine she says represents stability she once thought she might never have again.

“I worked really hard to get here,” Hernandez said. “I was on the streets before this.”

Her apartment now holds the markers of that recovery: a sofa, a television, and a workspace where she creates Betty Boop artwork. For a while, she said, life finally felt steady.

Then an unexpected injury kept her from working.

Hernandez said the loss of income quickly pushed her behind on rent. Although she returned to work, she said it wasn’t enough to catch up.

By the time she sought assistance, she was already in crisis.

“We kept seeing people right on the edge with nowhere to turn,” said Al Ortiz, who now leads a new non-profit focused on preventing eviction before it happens. “If we step in early, we can keep someone housed.”

Ortiz, a former outreach worker in Santa Barbara, said the goal is to intervene during what he calls a critical window — before housing is lost and recovery becomes far more difficult.

City officials say Hernandez’s situation reflects a broader gap in the system. Some residents are at risk of losing housing but don’t qualify for assistance until it’s too late to prevent eviction.

“There are people at risk who don’t qualify for help until it’s too late,” said Deputy City Administrator Anthony Valdez.

Hernandez now has until April 30th to resolve her rent arrears and keep her apartment.

She says leaving would mean starting over again.

“I don’t want to go back,” she said.

For now, the door remains open — but time is running out.

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SUMMERLAND, Calif. (KEYT) - During the intense winds Monday, a sailboat broke away from its anchor spot and ended up on the beach in Summerland.

Now it is a serious concern if it should break up against the coast and begins to lose parts or has a leak of oil and gas.

It is slightly up the coast from Lookout Park in a very difficult spot for the owner to retrieve it, even if it is possible at this point.

It's not exactly clear where the vessel was anchored when it began drift.

Heal the Ocean and Marborg are assessing it and TowBoat US is aware of the vessel. It may be crushed and removed on site if it can not be hauled back out at high tide. After two days, that effort had not taken place.

(More details, photos and video will be added here later today.)

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