By Christina Macfarlane, Ben Church, Hilary Whiteman, CNN

(CNN) — Seven members of the Iranian women’s soccer team have remained in Australia, while the rest of the squad has now left the country for Iran, a source has told CNN Sports.

Earlier on Tuesday, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed that five players had been granted humanitarian visas, amid fears over their safety should they return to Iran.

Now, a source close to the squad has told CNN Sports that another two members of the team – a player and a member of staff – have also sought asylum in Australia.

Meanwhile, the rest of the team is now believed to have left the country, heading back to Iran. It’s not yet clear which route they will take or when they will arrive.

An observer at the scene told CNN that people gathered outside the hotel where the squad was staying on Tuesday had tried to stop the team bus from leaving for Gold Coast Airport in Queensland, Australia.

The person at the hotel also said that one of the players looked to be crying as what appeared to be security guards escorted the team onto the bus.

How it started

The Iranian women’s soccer team was in Australia after playing in the Women’s Asian Cup last week, where it lost all three of its group stage matches to exit the tournament.

Before their first match of the tournament on March 2, the Lionesses players stood silent during the playing of their national anthem, a gesture they didn’t explain but one that was interpreted by some hardliners inside Iran as a sign of treason.

Sources close to the team told CNN Sports they were then forced under threats to their families to sing the national anthem ahead of their next two group games. There are now fears the squad will face persecution back in Iran.

On Tuesday, according to Iranian state media, Iran’s Attorney General’s office encouraged the women’s team to return home.

“Some hardworking members of our women’s national football team—who are children of this very land—acted unintentionally, influenced by emotional provocation stemming from enemy schemes and mischief,” the statement said.

It added: “They are invited to return to their homeland with calm and confidence. By doing so, they can not only ease the concerns of their families but also stand alongside the great and admirable people of Iran in confronting the conspiracies of the enemies of our beloved country.”

Meanwhile, Iran’s Minister of Sports Ahmad Donyamali said that “enemies” had tried to “distract” the players from returning home with “tempting offers.”

“They are now returning to their homeland and the warm embrace of their families,” he added on Tuesday, without providing any details.

Global concern

After the loss in their final match of the tournament on Sunday, supporters crowded around the team bus, shouting at police to “save our girls” as it pulled away.

Hadi Karimi, a human rights advocate and member of the local Iranian community, said supporters outside the bus could clearly see at least three players inside making the international han

Por Brenda Goodman

El medicamento recetado leucovorina está recibiendo una actualización de etiqueta, pero no es lo que la Administración de Alimentos y Medicamentos de Estados Unidos (FDA) sugirió durante una reunión informativa en la Casa Blanca en septiembre, cuando los funcionarios promocionaron el medicamento como un tratamiento potencial para miles de niños con autismo.

Este martes, la FDA aprobó la vitamina B en dosis altas —un tratamiento utilizado desde hace tiempo para contrarrestar los efectos secundarios de la quimioterapia— para la deficiencia cerebral de folato en el gen del receptor 1, una afección genética que se estima que afecta aproximadamente a 1 de cada millón de personas. Se han identificado menos de 50 casos en todo el mundo. El Dr. Marty Makary, comisionado de la FDA, calificó la aprobación de este martes como un “hito significativo” para los pacientes con esta afección.

Pero en septiembre, Makary y el secretario de Salud y Servicios Humanos de EE. UU., Robert F. Kennedy Jr., indicaron que el medicamento estaría disponible para ayudar a muchos más niños. Junto al presidente Donald Trump en una sesión informativa en la Casa Blanca, Kennedy afirmó que habían identificado una terapia prometedora que podría beneficiar a un gran número de niños con autismo.

La actualización sobre la leucovorina podría afectar especialmente a algunas familias con niños autistas. En la sesión informativa de septiembre, cuando Trump hizo afirmaciones infundadas sobre el analgésico Tylenol como causa del autismo y advirtió a los padres sobre vacunar demasiado a sus hijos, el presidente afirmó que cambiar la etiqueta de la leucovorina “da esperanza a los numerosos padres con hijos autistas de que es posible mejorar sus vidas”.

En los meses transcurridos desde entonces, las prescripciones de leucovorina aumentaron, lo que hizo que el medicamento fuera difícil de conseguir.

Con la deficiencia cerebral de folato en el gen del receptor 1, un defecto provoca un mal funcionamiento de las proteínas que guían el folato al cerebro. Como resultado, se mantienen niveles normales de folato en la sangre, pero no en el cerebro ni en el sistema nervioso, donde es esencial para el pensamiento, el habla y el movimiento.

En un artículo de opinión publicado en Politico y republicado en el sitio web de la Casa Blanca el otoño pasado, Makary dijo que su agencia “aprobaría la leucovorina recetada como tratamiento para niños con deficiencia de folato cerebral y síntomas autistas”.

Makary dijo en la conferencia de prensa televisada que entre el 20 % y el 50 % de los niños con autismo podrían producir anticuerpos que bloquean las proteínas que ayudan a transportar el folato a sus cerebros, lo que significa que algunos de los síntomas más graves del autismo podrían ser causados ​​por una enfermedad autoinmune.

Aunque señaló que la leucovorina no era una cura para el autismo, Makary destacó pequeños estudios que mostraban que entre los niños con deficiencia de folato y autismo, podría mejorar el habla en aproximadamente un 60 %.

El Gobierno de Trump estaba tomando una decisión audaz para expandir el uso del medicamento, “abriendo la puerta al primer tratamiento reconocido por la FDA para el autismo”, escribieron Makary y otros líderes del HHS.

Altos funcionarios de la FDA dijeron en una reunión informativa el lunes que si bien los datos eran lo suficientemente sólidos como para aprobar el uso de leucovorina para los raros casos genéticos de deficiencia de fola

The post Santa Maria Gang Suppression Team and Detectives Make Drug and Weapons Arrests appeared first on edhat.

By Katelyn Polantz, CNN

(CNN) — Ed Martin, an outspoken Trump administration official, is facing attorney discipline proceedings in Washington, DC, for a letter he sent to Georgetown Law about its diversity programs, the district’s professional conduct investigator announced on Tuesday.

Martin is formally accused of violating his ethical codes as an attorney for telling Georgetown Law’s dean last year that his Justice Department office wouldn’t hire students because of the school’s diversity, inclusion and equity initiatives programs, according to the filing from Hamilton Fox, the disciplinary counsel for DC who acts as a quasi-prosecutor on attorney discipline matters.

Unlike unsolicited complaints, Fox’s formal disciplinary complaint kicks off professional conduct proceedings for Martin in which he will need to respond and could be sanctioned or ultimately lose his law license.

Fox’s announcement on Tuesday marks the first major bar discipline proceeding against a high-profile administration official or attorney supporting President Donald Trump during Trump’s second term. Several Trump lawyers faced disciplinary proceedings after the efforts to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election, including Rudy Giuliani, who lost his law license.

“Acting in his official capacity and speaking on behalf of the government, he used coercion to punish or suppress a disfavored viewpoint, the teaching and promotion of ‘DEI,’” Fox wrote in the complaint. “He demanded that Georgetown Law relinquish its free speech and religious rights in order to continue to obtain a benefit, employment opportunities for its students.”

Martin was removed from the top prosecutor job in DC after senators made clear he would not be confirmed to the role, but has remained at the Justice Department in several roles, including as pardon attorney.

“Mr. Martin knew or should have known that, as a government official, his conduct violated the First and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States,” Fox wrote.

Martin is being represented by a Justice Department attorney, a source told CNN.

A spokesperson for DOJ attacked Fox’s complaint. “The DC bar’s attempt to target and punish those serving President Trump while refusing to investigate or act against actual ethical violations that were committed by Biden and Obama administration attorneys is a clear indication of this partisan organization’s agenda,” DOJ said.

Martin had sent the letter to Georgetown Law while serving temporarily as US attorney for DC, a prominent Justice Department position, and told the school his federal prosecutors’ office wouldn’t hire Georgetown’s law school students. It came at a time when the Trump administration was beginning to crack down on universities for their DEI efforts.

In his letter, Martin claimed a whistleblower told him that the school was teaching and promoting DEI.

Martin also violated attorney ethics rules by contacting judges of the DC court directly, Fox alleged, rather than going through official channels, once he was informed he was under investigation for his professional conduct. The DC Court of Appeals ultimately signs off on attorney discipline findings.

CNN Editorial Research

(CNN) — Here is a look at the life of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Personal

Birth date: 1982

Birth place: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Birth name: Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa

Father: Hussein al-Sharaa

Mother: Name unavailable publicly

Marriage: Latifa al-Droubi (2012-present)

Children: Three children

Religion: Muslim

Other Facts

His family moved back to Syria in 1989, and he grew up in Damascus.

Went by the pseudonym Abu Mohammad al-Jolani for many years.

Timeline

2003 – Goes to Iraq to fight against the United States.

2005 – Caught by US forces and imprisoned.

2011 – He is released from detention. He crosses back into Syria and starts fighting against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, which has crushed a peaceful pro-democracy uprising, sparking a civil war. He returns to Syria with the backing of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who would later become the leader of ISIS. The militant group Jabhat al-Nusra is formed.

December 2012 – The US State Department designates Jabhat al-Nusra a foreign terrorist organization.

May 2013 – Placed on the US Specially Designated Global Terrorist list for heading al-Nusra and allegedly orchestrating suicide bombings across Syria.

2016 – Jabhat al-Nusra breaks ties with al-Qaeda.

January 2017 – Jabhat al-Nusra becomes Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).

2021 – Gives an interview to Frontline for their documentary about him.

November 27, 2024 – Rebel groups, led by HTS, launch an offensive against the Assad regime.

November 30, 2024 – HTS launches a surprise attack and takes control of Syria’s largest city Aleppo.

December 5, 2024 – In an interview with CNN, Al-Sharaa publicly uses his real name for the first time instead of the name Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, by which he is widely known. He makes it clear that the goal of HTS is to overthrow President Assad.

December 8, 2024 – Syrian rebels declare the capital of Damascus “liberated” after entering the city with little resistance from regime forces. Assad flees to Moscow. Al-Sharaa addresses Syrians, saying “This victory, my brothers, is a victory for the entire Islamic nation. This new triumph, my brothers, marks a new chapter in the history of the region.”

December 20, 2024 – Following a meeting between Al-Sharaa and US delegates, the United States removes the long-standing $10 million bounty on the de-facto leader of Syria.

January 29, 2025 – Read more